Stringy Wind in the Ear - Chap 29
With the feeding and fitness guidance of professional breeders from the national team, Song Yang successfully gained ten kilograms in three months. This does not sound like an exaggerated number, but for a person with a physique that is prone to losing weight, it is really not easy.
Song Yang inherited the good genes of Ms. Li Huiying. He was tall and thin. He would sweat profusely when he exercised. He ate a lot and consumed a lot. He would often have diarrhea after drinking milk. He was very delicate. In the first month, he not only did not gain weight but lost two kilograms. Li Xun had to prepare a new diet for him.
The main meat is beef and chicken breast, supplemented by eggs and salmon, and the rest are various vegetables, grains and soy products. I feed the little ones different kinds of meals every day.
After a few months, the most obvious thing was that his arms became stronger. Accompanied by Li Xun, Song Yang did bench press and rope swinging every day. His arms became a whole circle thicker than before, and he also developed some decent abdominal muscles.
One night after taking a shower, Song Yang suddenly had an idea and imitated Popeye’s movements in front of the mirror. He looked from all angles and from close up, and felt that his figure was simply amazing. His skin had also improved. Since he stopped eating fried and spicy foods, he hadn’t had any pimples for a long time.
“Perfect.” He grinned, patted his belly, and blew his hair contentedly.
The room was steaming hot and a layer of water vapor soon appeared on the mirror. He used a hair dryer to dry it and was once again impressed by his own handsomeness. He pulled a bath towel to cover his lower body and took ten consecutive photos in a coquettish manner.
“Are you okay?” someone called out at the door.
Song Yang was so frightened that his whole body trembled. The phone slipped out from between his fingers and did several flips in the air. It was about to fall into the toilet. He caught it with a grimace, held it to his chest and felt it, then breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hah, hah, hah, are you masturbating in there?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the dormitory was filled with laughter.
Zhou Junlin had been waiting outside the door for quite some time. At this moment, he hunched his back, his legs forming an “X” shape, and shouted in frustration, “I’m going to push the door open. Hurry up and clean it up for me!”
Song Yang put his phone down and hurriedly put on his clothes: “It’ll be there soon! Wait a moment!”
“You’ve done it three times already!” Zhou Junlin turned the doorknob and found it was locked. He growled, “Open it for me now! Why would you lock the door if you’re not masturbating?”
Song Yang changed into his pajamas, shook his fluffy short hair, and came out refreshed. Zhou Junlin glanced at him as he passed by him: “You are quite capable. It took you so long.”
“That’s right.” Song Yang said, “A man can’t be too short.”
Several roommates laughed and cursed, and their gums twitched in a dramatic way.
The final exam was approaching, and they took turns taking a shower and concentrating on reviewing.
Song Yang propped his cheek up and spun a pen. He had just finished two questions when he absentmindedly took out his cell phone, picked out the one he thought was the sexiest from the pile of photos and posted it on his Moments.
His original intention was to send it to someone, but often things go against one’s wishes.
Winter clothes are very thick, and his classmates usually never paid attention to his body changes. But this sudden photo of his abdominal muscles lit up everyone’s eyes in the cold winter.
Fifteen minutes later, Song Yang opened WeChat again and saw the message from 99+. He was so shocked that his eyes widened.
My dad gave him a few thumbs up, and my mom said he stole pictures from the Internet. Many people left screen-licking emoticons, and a fujoshi girl I knew in high school made a rare comment: Little lamb, you will be eaten by the big bad wolf if you keep doing this.
Song Yang chuckled for a long time and replied: I’m more like eating the Big Bad Wolf.
Until he lay down in bed, the person he was waiting for still did not leave any trace, and he deleted the circle of friends with a sense of loss.
In mid-January, the busy exam week ended and large groups of people returned home one after another. The school dormitories suddenly became deserted.
Big red lanterns were hung on the streets, and the festive atmosphere was getting stronger, but some school team athletes, including Song Yang, had not yet returned home.
Two days later, they will participate in a provincial archery friendly competition with the participation of more than 40 universities at the Champions League Club in Nancheng City.
Li Xun stood with his hands behind his back, holding a document, walking back and forth in the team, explaining matters concerning the competition.
“Our team mainly participates in the men’s recurve bow individual and team competitions. The individual competition is a single-round all-around competition. The indoor venue is limited, so the shooting ranges are 15 meters, 25 meters, 30 meters and 50 meters, with a total of 144 arrows. The top 48 teams will enter the elimination round. The team competition is a group of three, with a shooting range of 50 meters, using vertically arranged target paper. Each person shoots two arrows per round, for a total of four rounds, and the whole team shoots a total of 24 arrows. It’s the same. The top 16 teams with the highest total rings will participate in the finals.”
“Players participating in the individual competition can also sign up for the team competition. We will draw lots to decide the team for the team competition. Does anyone have any opinions?”
“No–”
Students participated in the friendly match voluntarily. The organizer did not offer much reward, so many students felt that it was not worthwhile and returned home. The remaining ten people could only be divided into three groups, and the extra person only signed up for the individual competition.
Li Xun said, “I’ll go prepare some strips. You guys warm up first, and then I’ll take you outside to practice.”
Everyone nodded in response, and Song Yang went out to wash his hands.
When he came back, he heard his seniors discussing the competition and mentioned his name.
He subconsciously stopped and stood at the door.
“Please, please,” Ah Hong put his palms together and bowed to the sky, “Please don’t let me be in the same group with him.”
Yu Shenwei sneered: “If you can choose, to compete with him or not to compete, which one would you choose?”
Ah Hong said without hesitation: “Then I’d better withdraw from the competition. It doesn’t matter whether I compete or not. I probably won’t even make it to the knockout rounds.”
Yu Shenwei’s laughter became even more outrageous.
Wu Jianian couldn’t help but interrupt, “He just hasn’t practiced as long as you have. There’s no need to say that about him. Besides, his grades have improved a lot recently.”
“I’m just stating a fact.” Yu Shenwei shrugged. “Everyone has seen his long-range performance. It’s very unstable. He even scored 3 rings. It’s really scary. If he hasn’t practiced long enough, he should know his own limitations and withdraw from the competition as soon as possible to stop dragging others down.”
“That’s right. He’s a finance major, so he definitely won’t be able to go into sports in the future. I don’t know what’s in his mind that he has to occupy a spot.”
Song Yang’s breathing stagnated, as if he suddenly couldn’t walk, and he froze in place. His fists trembled slightly, and he clenched them tighter and tighter, but he didn’t feel anything.
Rather than being angry, I feel more helpless.
It turns out that the progress that he was proud of was not worth mentioning in the eyes of others.
Anger can be vented, but helplessness is helplessness, and one can only digest it in silence.
Suddenly, a big hand rubbed the back of my head, it felt so familiar.
He turned his head slowly, his eyes a little dull, and before the word “coach” came out of his mouth, Li Xun made a gesture to keep quiet.
Song Yang had not yet recovered from the excitement just now and looked lost. Li Xun patted his shoulder and lowered his voice: “Come with me.”
The two people’s footsteps were one light and one heavy as they walked through the corridor and came to the bathroom at the end. Li Xun pushed the little guy into the door and closed it behind him.
Song Yang took a deep breath: “Master, for the team competition, I still…”
“You’re still not going to participate, right?” Li Xun asked first.
Song Yang lowered his eyes, knowing that Li Xun had probably heard everything. He stared at a drop of green hand sanitizer on the sink, feeling bitter in his throat and a sour and astringent nose.
“My current grades will only drag them down…”
“So?” Li Xun crossed his arms and said sternly, “If they don’t want you to compete, then you won’t compete? What if your opponent today thinks you are too weak and says there is no need to compete, and you will definitely lose, are you also going to apply to the competition committee to withdraw from the competition?”
Song Yang looked up when he heard that. The man standing in front of him had a stern face and several wrinkles on his brows. Although Li Xun often had a sour face during training, at least his attitude towards him was always gentle, and he would not care too much even if he made a mistake.
This was the first time he saw the displeasure in Li Xun’s eyes, and he immediately bowed his head to apologize: “I’m sorry…”
“You shouldn’t say sorry to me, but to yourself.” Li Xun tapped his chest twice with his index finger, his voice low and serious, “You’ve been devastated by someone else’s words, right? Are you worthy of these pounds of flesh that you’ve worked so hard for in the past few months?”
Song Yang was poked by him and his body moved, like a straw facing the wind. He retreated two steps, then stood back with his hands behind his back, looking like he was ready to be beaten and scolded.
Li Xun raised his voice: “Speak up, are you mute? When someone says something bad about you, you give in?”
Song Yang unconsciously exerted force on his fingertips, until his nails turned white. He apologized again: “I was wrong, Master…”
He looked very nervous, and the end of his voice was trembling. Li Xun suspected that he was only apologizing out of fear and had not yet realized the problem, so he continued to explain.
“Your progress is slower than theirs. Why don’t you seize the opportunity to try? What are you waiting for? The next provincial sports meeting will be in March. If nothing unexpected happens, there will only be three spots on the school team. Do you want to squeeze in? The next one is the college sports meeting. How high are you going to rank? Do you know why there must be a mock exam before the college entrance examination and a mock competition before the Olympics?”
Song Yang lowered his head and said nothing.
The more he remained silent, the more Li Xun gritted his teeth: “Because experience is gained through repeated lessons! Only by competing can you know where the gap between you and others lies. You were so nervous this time and felt that you were dragging others down, so you didn’t want to go. Then it will be the same next time, and the next time! There will always be masters who are better than you in this world, and there won’t be so many opportunities for you to waste!”
These were all words that were powerless to refute. Song Yang’s mouth pursed and his eyes turned red.
Two months ago, Li Xun told him about this competition. They had meals together and had extra training. Li Xun changed one training plan after another for him, accompanied him from dawn to dusk, and even gave up his weekend rest time. However, he never felt grateful, and thought about giving up because of someone else’s words.
It was reasonable for Li Xun to be angry; he deserved to die.
“I’m sorry!” Song Yang bowed deeply, “I will never say such stupid things again…”
Seeing him like this, Li Xun couldn’t bear to blame him anymore. He breathed a sigh of relief and softened his tone: “As an archery athlete, the first thing you need to improve is your character. No matter what the situation is, you must learn to keep your composure and not be easily influenced by others.”
“On the field, you may hear the sarcasm of your opponents, the sighs of your teammates, and the unfair treatment of foreign referees. Once your arrow misses the center of the target, you will also hear the boos and even the abuse from the audience. While you are still on the field, you must block out those interfering information and show the right attitude.”
Song Yang rubbed his sore nose and nodded like pounding garlic.
“And the most important thing…” Li Xun raised his hand and placed it on his shoulder, squeezing it hard: “Always believe in yourself and believe in the bow and arrow in your hand.”
Song Yang looked up at him. The sunlight coming in from the window lit up their eyes. Song Yang’s eyes showed some expectation: “Do you believe I can surpass them?”
“Of course.” Li Xun replied decisively, “You are different from them.”
“What’s the difference?”
Li Xun curled the corners of his lips, showing the vigor and vitality of a young man.
“They are the ones chosen by the team leader, and you are the one chosen by me.”
After he said this, he thought Song Yang would shed tears of gratitude, but unexpectedly the little guy just lowered his head, said nothing, and the corners of his mouth even tended to turn up a little.
Then the cheeks turned red and spread to the earlobes.
Here it comes again.
Li Xun slapped his arm with his palm: “I just told you to calm down, calm down, and calm down again. I was just praising you, why are you blushing? You can’t be like this on the court. If you have two patches of high altitude red all day long, what will your opponents think of you…”
He threw down a bunch of disgusted nonsense and ran out the door.
Song Yang’s lips were finally able to open unrestrainedly, and he said in a barely audible voice: “Because I’m boiling…”
