As Wednesday’s PE class approached, many people started backing out. Before class, messages started popping up in the group chat:
[There’s so many of us going, what if they don’t agree? That would be very embarrassing.]
[Embassament is a minor issue, but if there’s a conflict, that’s a major issue. My brother’s a sports student, they all have explosive tempers in that department…]
[Damn it, am I going to get beaten up?!]
Some were overthinking, while others were calm and rational:
[Don’t scare yourself with stereotypes.]
[Sports students are just athletically gifted, not a primary evolution of the Tyrannosaurus. Why would they beat you for no reason?]
And among the calm rational ones, there were also those with… unusual focus:
[Rumor has it, that class is full of handsome guys.]
[I’m a little nervous, what do I do!]
[You’re not going on a blind date, what’s there to be nervous about?]
[I’m not nervous about seeing handsome guys. I’m nervous about seeing handsome guys naked for the first time. Isn’t that something to be nervous about?]
[…I haven’t graduated yet, but based on my limited knowledge, swimming still requires at least a pair of trunks, right?]
As for Ye Wenyu, he was a bit different from everyone else.
The indoor swimming pool was closer to the south gate, so it did take a while to walk there from the outer courtyard of the dorms. But it still didn’t justify getting ready to head out an hour and a half in advance.
Chi Dongting had been sitting for a while, stretched lazily, and was about to get some water.
He picked up his cup and stood up. When he turned his head, he saw Ye Wenyu with his laptop shut and all his things neatly packed, ready to leave at any moment. He froze for a moment and suddenly fell into self doubt.
He looked down at his own big slippers and loose pajama pants. A vein popped on his temple as he quickly checked the time on his phone. Sure enough, there was still one hour and twenty-eight minutes until class.
He double-checked the class group notices. Still right…class was at 3:30 PM.
Xiao Chi’s heart, which was about to jump out of his throat, finally settled down.
He patted his chest, let out a breath, and looked at the person who had triggered his small panic attack: “Wenyu, do you have something to do before PE class?”
Ye Wenyu: “No.”
Chi Dongting: “Then you’re all packed now because… you’re heading to the pool?”
Ye Wenyu nodded.
Chi Dongting paused for two seconds: “But there’s still an hour and a half until class. You’re really… really…”
The words “impatient” swirled around on his tongue a few times, but in the end, he swallowed them and replaced them with something milder: “…taking it so seriously, huh?”
Ye Wenyu had no words for that.
It wasn’t about taking it seriously, he just couldn’t focus on anything else when he thought about seeing that person later.
He had no answer for Chi Dongting’s question, but fortunately the counselor’s phone call came in at just the right time, asking him to stop by the Third Teaching Building’s auditorium around 4 PM.
Ye Wenyu agreed, hung up the phone, and saw Chi Dongting still squatting in front of the water dispenser, staring at him eagerly.
Ye Wenyu: “…”
Ye Wenyu: “I’m going to Sanjiao later to receive the award from the previous competition.”
“Wow!” Chi Dongting cheered, nearly spilling the water in his cup. He quickly steadied it by hand. “Was it first place?”
Ye Wenyu: “Yeah.”
“I knew it! When Wenyu takes action, no one can defeat him!”
Chi Dongting was as happy as if he had won the award himself. “No wonder you got ready so early. You were nervous, right? Let me tell you, it’s nothing. When you’re on stage, just treat everyone below as big cabbages, ignore them…”
It was obvious Chi Dongting misunderstood, and Ye Wenyu went along with it, not correcting him.
Chi Dongting kept rambling on, and just when they were about to leave, he suddenly remembered to ask Ye Wenyu, “But if you’re gone, who’s going to talk to the Sports Department guys later?”
“The award ceremony is at four. I have enough time to go to the swimming pool first.” Ye Wenyu pulled the door open. “Let’s go.”
Outside the swimming pool, several students from French Class 3 were already waiting, hesitant to go in.
It wasn’t until Ye Wenyu and Chang Sichen arrived that they finally had someone to follow and trickled into the building after them.
A single door, two different temperatures.
As soon as they entered the swimming pool area, the sweltering heat in the air burst like a balloon and vanished. In its place was the cool, misty moisture that slowly engulfed the lingering heat on their skin.
Near the pool and along the edge were sports students in training. They were all wearing uniform loose black swim trunks, revealing defined and strong upper bodies with distinct abdominal muscles. At a glance, the visual impact was quite huge.
Hearing the murmurs of appreciation and admiration behind him, Ye Wenyu calmly scanned all the visible faces.
That person wasn’t there.
A worried thought emerged from the chaos in his mind, and anxiety started to creep in: what if he took the day off and didn’t come to class?
Many people by the pool were looking their way.
Likewise, several on their side were craning their necks to look over.
“Did you see Yan Chen?”
“No.”
“I didn’t either. Are you sure he’s in this class?”
“He should be…”
Ye Wenyu approached a boy nearby who was drinking water and asked, “Excuse me, is Yan Chen in this class?”
The boy: “Yeah, you looking for him?”
Ye Wenyu said yes, then asked, “Where is he now?”
“Where is he… let me see…” The boy looked around, then raised his hand and pointed toward the other end of the pool. “Oh, over there!”
Ye Wenyu turned in the direction he pointed, just as a whistle blew. Several people at the starting point dove into the water simultaneously, swimming rapidly across the lane.
The boy: “The one in front is Yan-ge. They’re doing 100-meter freestyle sprint training. You can wait for him at the finish line.”
After saying that, he was worried Ye Wenyu wouldn’t know where the finish line was and added kindly, “See, it’s where they just dove in from.”
Ye Wenyu thanked him and walked over to the finish line. By the time he got there, the person in front had already turned and was heading back.
Ye Wenyu’s swimming skills only extended to being able to float.
So for him, anyone who could swim properly was already impressive, and at this moment, the figure not far away was completely redefining his extremely limited worldview.
He had watched countless swimming competitions on TV, live broadcasts and recorded videos, but he never realized how completely different it felt from watching in person.
The speed was extremely fast and full of explosive power, as if born for the water. He couldn’t even clearly see the person, just a ripple of black in the waves far ahead of everyone else, getting closer and closer without pause.
As the figure came closer and closer to the finish line, the oncoming wave seemed about to sweep him in too, and Ye Wenyu subconsciously wanted to step back, but then the splash of water suddenly disappeared.
That agile figure swiftly dove underwater and the shift from roaring movement to complete stillness happened in the blink of an eye.
Only the speed never slowed.
Ye Wenyu: “?”
The flickering water reflections blurred the figure beneath the surface, and Ye Wenyu couldn’t make out anything clearly.
He was about to take a step back, but paused. Just as he couldn’t help squatting down to look, the figure suddenly emerged from the water.
With a loud splash, water exploded at the end of the lane, splashing into Ye Wenyu’s clothes, with one droplet even wobbling onto the tip of his nose.
“50.66 seconds.” With a whistle, someone called out Yan Chen’s time for the 100-meter freestyle.
Ye Wenyu didn’t understand the number, but from the murmurs of awe around him, he could tell it was impressive.
He had reflexively turned his head away as the water splashed and wiped the drop off his nose. Then he turned back to the source of it all, who was removing his goggles in the pool.
Just one glance, and his heartbeat silently skipped a beat.
Yan Chen’s looks were undoubtedly outstanding and one in ten thousand. His wet black hair kept dripping, and his eyes still hadn’t fully relaxed. Like a black panther that had just finished hunting, slowly licking its paws, waiting for its boiling blood to cool down.
Probably because being in water for too long affected the color of his lips, they looked even darker than the previous two times Ye Wenyu had seen him.
His lips were slightly parted due to heavy breathing after intense exercise, and water droplets kept falling from his temples, slipping into the gaps of his lips, leaving wet traces behind, or else dropping and rolling into the water and stirring up ripples that couldn’t be wiped away.
To Ye Wenyu, this was undoubtedly a breathtaking kind of beauty.
His gaze was glued there, and as if afraid of disturbing something, he subconsciously slowed down his breathing.
Until the other person wiped the water from his face with one hand, probably mistaking him for a classmate, and naturally reached out toward him. “Lend me a hand.”
Ye Wenyu watched the water traces being wiped away and felt a wave of regret rise up, but it couldn’t cover the already blooming sense of joy.
It was like his heart chambers were filled to the brim with soft, colorful soap bubbles, expanding and bursting one after another, over and over again.
For the first time, he realized that even the purest and simplest admiration for perfection could bring such unparalleled joy.
With a newfound sense of satisfaction, he obediently extended his hand, letting the other person close his fingers around it after a brief pause, completely enveloping his hand in a wet palm.
Author’s note:
Wenyu: Join the class group chat? That’s probably not a good idea, it’s a bit immoral.
Yan-ge: Hm? What’s immoral? Oh oh, my wife is talking in the group again. I have to look!
