Stringy Wind in the Ear - Chap 35
Li Xun woke up twice in the middle of the night. He thought Song Yang’s sleeping posture should be as obedient as his appearance, but it was just the opposite. Song Yang loved to roll up the quilt and even kicked people in his dreams.
He was woken up by the cold once, and the second time he was woken up by Song Yang’s suddenly raised knee. It was very painful, and he couldn’t fall asleep again after that. He sat on the bed and read an e-book for a while, and got up to wash up without waiting for the alarm clock to ring.
Less than ten minutes later, I walked back to the bed and found the person lying sideways in the quilt, with a part of his ankle exposed and his arms in the posture of drawing a bow. In his dreams, he was struggling with the bow and arrow.
This sleeping posture was too amazing. Li Xun couldn’t help but secretly take a photo of it.
The soles of Song Yang’s feet were like those of a kitten, with a healthy flesh-pink color. Li Xun stretched out his fingertips and scratched the soles of his feet lightly with the edge of his fingernails. The little guy shrank his legs and woke up.
“Get up and wash up. I’ll go downstairs to buy some food. I’ll go to the ward to check on Fatty and the others. We’ll go to the archery hall when it’s almost time.”
Song Yang rubbed his eyes, said yes in a low voice, and then thought of something important.
“Who will I be in a group with today?”
——In the previous draw, he, Sun Pang and Ah Hong were together. Teams must be in groups of three. Sun Pang is now ill, so their group is missing one person. Zhou Xu, Yu Shenwei and Wu Jianian’s group is also missing one person, so they have to regroup.
“Who would you like to be in a group with?” Li Xun asked.
Song Yang still clearly remembered the conversation he heard in the corridor before the game, and said without hesitation: “Of course it’s Wu Jianian.”
Before answering this question, Song Yang had a hunch that Li Xun wanted to use his opinion as a reference. Sure enough, after arriving at the competition venue, the team leader assigned him to Wu Jianian’s group.
This means that Ahong can’t compete.
Among the three newcomers, only Song Yang joined the school team through a “special channel”. Ah Hong was resentful of this and had always been lukewarm towards Song Yang. Now he was even more dissatisfied and even openly expressed his dissatisfaction.
When passing by Song Yang’s bow and arrow rack, he lowered his head to fiddle with his mobile phone and “accidentally” kicked over his bow and arrow rack, causing the things in the bow and arrow rack to fall to the ground. He left without looking back.
Song Yang looked at the things scattered on the ground, then looked at the back, and said angrily: “You are crazy, the road is so wide, why do you have to go this way?”
Ah Hong raised his phone and said perfunctorily, “I was checking the messages. I didn’t see it.”
“Now that you’ve seen it, shouldn’t you apologize?”
“I didn’t mean to do that. If you lean against the wall you won’t be able to touch me.”
This is a typical case of making a farce. It was the first time Song Yang had seen such a weird thing since he was a child. He was so angry that he became a puffer fish.
If it was something else, he wouldn’t care at all, but it was a gift from Li Xun, a gift he treasured like a treasure. He would wipe it carefully with alcohol cotton every time after practicing.
Not only was it dirty after being kicked and stepped on so many times, but the buckle at the tail of one of the arrows broke and it could not be used.
“Fuck!” He was so angry that he rarely cursed, which attracted several glances from the people around him.
The men’s team ranking competition was about to begin, and the venue was filled with players from various schools. Wu Jianian followed their gaze and saw Song Yang’s face, which had turned purple, and Ah Hong, who was playing with his phone as if nothing had happened.
“What’s going on?” Wu Jianian walked over and asked.
Song Yang wiped the arrow and said aggrievedly: “He stepped on my arrow and broke it.”
“I thought it was something serious.” Wu Jianian patted his shoulder, “It’s okay, I have plenty of spares, just use them, I’m giving it to you.”
Song Yang gnashed his teeth: “But I want an apology. Even a three-year-old child knows that he should apologize if he breaks someone else’s things!”
“Yes, yes, yes…” Wu Jianian waved his hand at Ah Hong, “Come here and apologize to him. This matter will be over. Everyone…”
Before he finished speaking, Ah Hong shouted at him with a high-pitched voice: “What do you mean it’s over? Just because his family is well-off and he invites people to this and that all the time, you all protect him, right? Are you cows? You protect your own calf?”
Wu Jianian and Song Yang were both stunned by his shouting. Students from other schools also slowed down their movements, looking pleased with themselves.
This little thing has escalated to another level. Wu Jianian was so angry that his pupils dilated: “What do you mean? What do you mean I protect him? You broke his things, shouldn’t you apologize?”
“Did he apologize to me when he took up the quota?”
Wu Jianian roared with the aura of a senior: “What do you mean by occupying or not occupying? Isn’t it hard to hear? Aren’t we all on the same team? Whoever goes up doesn’t get to go up.”
Ah Hong was very unconvinced, veins popped out on his forehead: “You are in the competition, of course you can say something sarcastic, but what about me? We are in the same group, why can he go but I can’t?”
Song Yang finally understood where this inexplicable emotion came from. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
“Whether you go up or not is all arranged by the coach. If you’re not here this time, maybe it will be your turn next time. Why are you angry with my arrows? Did they provoke you?” He originally wanted to say, “Don’t you have an idea of how you performed in the ranking competition?” However, his upbringing restrained his impulse at the last moment.
But when he heard the word “coach”, Ah Hong exploded like a lit firecracker: “Don’t think I don’t know about the little things between you and the coach!”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the room was shocked and stared at them as if they were reading the hot search headlines, trying to find some interesting gossip.
Even Song Yang, the person involved, was startled by his yelling: “What, what’s the matter? The coach and I… we are innocent!” Then he added silently in his heart: “At least that’s the case for now.”
“Innocent?” Ah Hong sneered, “How dare you say that you made it into the school team based on your own strength? It was because of your relationship with the coach. The same thing happened in today’s game. Who said that we should draw lots to arrange the teams for the team competition? Now you have eliminated me with just one sentence. Is there any fairness?”
Song Yang was speechless for a moment. How could he have known that Li Xun’s initial good intentions would become a basis for criticism? His chest seemed to be blocked by something and he could hardly breathe.
Ah Hong continued to shout: “Why didn’t you come with us last night?”
All the teammates turned their curious eyes to Song Yang.
“…” Song Yang was stuck again as a nerve was touched.
Ah Hong’s fingertips turned into gun barrels, poking at his chest, and he answered himself: “Because you have to have a good relationship with the coach.”
“You might be suffering from paranoia.”
“I’m delusional? You call me master or uncle all the time and love to be special, like a lapdog. What? Are you planning to use the coach’s reputation to get a place in the next provincial sports meeting? In my opinion, such a person is not worthy of being a coach.”
Song Yang clenched his fists and took a deep breath.
Li Xun is his bottom line that cannot be touched.
The raging rage that had been suppressed before was ignited by this “fuse”, and his blood pressure skyrocketed, like cold water poured into a hot oil pan, and his whole body was about to explode.
Following a scream, the crowd of onlookers retreated three feet away in fear, each of them dumbfounded.
No one could have imagined that just a quarrel would lead to a fight, and the blows were quite strong, with one punch sending the other person falling to the ground, his butt rubbing half a meter on the smooth ground. He stood there in embarrassment for two seconds before raising his hand to wipe the corner of his mouth.
When he found the blood, his eyes widened into bells.
With new and old grudges piled up together, Ah Hong yelled “Fuck!”, stood up, grabbed Song Yang’s neck with both hands, and slammed him against the wall. His physique was already strong, and with the soaring adrenaline, he was like a wild buffalo, and Song Yang’s neck was fragile in comparison.
There was only a few centimeters difference in their heights, so Song Yang could stand on the ground. However, after his arteries were tightened, his brain immediately became deprived of oxygen. His forehead was full of blue veins, his eyes were bloodshot, and his limbs began to struggle unconsciously.
The more he struggled, the more brutal the facial expression of the person opposite him became, as if he really didn’t intend to continue to get along with him. In the end, he was strangled to the point where he couldn’t breathe, and even his vision became blurred.
He raised his leg and kicked the opponent’s thigh, and tried to use his knee to push, but the strength of his body seemed to be drained, and he couldn’t use any strength at all. If there weren’t so many classmates around, he doubted that he would die here today.
“Are you crazy? Get away!” Wu Jianian tried for a long time but failed to pry open those thick fingers. His teammates came from all directions and pulled him apart.
“Stop pinching me! What if you break it?”
In the end, the words “The leader is here” were more intimidating, and everyone stopped, gasping for breath, and looked at each other. Song Yang covered his neck and coughed, staring at the culprit fiercely.
“What are you yelling about? What are you yelling about!” the team leader raised his voice. “You have so much energy, don’t you? Why aren’t you so energetic during the game? How old are you and still fighting? Isn’t it shameful? Someone tell me, what’s going on? ”
“He hit me first!”
“He stepped on my arrow!”
They both blurted out the words at the same time, and the team leader didn’t hear a word.
“You two come out and explain it to me.”
“But…” Song Yang’s voice was hoarse, and he cleared his throat before saying, “It will be our group’s turn soon.”
“What are you competing for? Do you still have competition in your eyes?”
The team leader angrily said “Come out everyone” and strode out. Song Yang’s heart skipped a beat and he had a bad feeling. After hesitating for a long time, he dragged his half-dead body and followed.
Sure enough, the premonition came true. After explaining the situation clearly, the team leader not only did not allow them to go back, but also punished them to run laps in the playground. The last spot in the team competition was given to Guo Jian, the team member who was eliminated in the first round of draw.
At noon, when Li Xun brought the two sick children to the venue, Song Yang was still running panting on the playground. Li Xun asked the team leader why, and the answer he got made him laugh and cry.
“How could they quarrel over such a trivial matter? Song Yang has a good temper.”
“Young people dare to say and do anything, but they get angry easily.” The team leader sat back in the audience, “How dare you. You even skipped the rock-paper-scissors process. Isn’t it obvious that you are favoring Song Yang?”
Li Xun sneered, “Isn’t the individual competition result enough to be a reason? Song Yang is fourth, so where is he? He didn’t even make it to the knockout round, and he still has the nerve to ask for qualification.”
“That’s true, but didn’t you tell that brat at the time? He’s stubborn and thinks that the spot was already reserved and you changed it for me. He feels unbalanced. Besides, the coach of the provincial team is here to select players this time. I guess he’s eager to perform.”
Li Xun said with disdain: “With his rotten character, he still wants to join the provincial team.”
“Even fierce dogs need to be disciplined.” The team leader put down his teacup and sighed, “In life, you will always encounter people who like to nitpick. Not everyone can accept everything reasonably. You have to be careful in the future to avoid giving people a chance to criticize you.”
Li Xun responded and walked to the window. From his position he could just see the brick-red plastic track.
Song Yang didn’t know how many laps he had run. He was like a zombie in Plants vs. Zombies, moving forward mechanically. His down jacket and hoodie were thrown on the lawn, leaving only a sweatshirt as a base layer, with his trouser legs rolled up high.
When the people behind him were about to catch up with him, he suddenly quickened his pace and turned back to challenge them, showing a naive and silly look.
Li Xun became amused as he watched.
A few minutes later, Wu saw him walking out and shouted at the top of his voice: “Where are you going? Don’t you want to watch the game?”
“Go downstairs and take a look. I’ll be right back.”
Although Song Yang didn’t have much strength, he walked seriously and reflected deeply on what he had said and done. The result was – he was not wrong.
I also lost a place in the competition for nothing.
I don’t know whether Li Xun will blame him when he comes back.
Li Xun’s voice came from afar. He thought he was hallucinating, but when he turned around, he saw that it was indeed a real person, holding two bottles of mineral water in his hands. His melancholy from the previous second disappeared, and he was beaming with joy.
“Master, why are you here?”
Li Xun asked: “How many laps did the leader ask you to run?”
“Fifty.”
“How many laps have you run now?”
“Twenty-six or twenty-seven… I forgot.” Song Yang took the bottle of mineral water he threw over, “I’ll start from the twenty-fifth.”
“Wouldn’t it be full if you two added together?”
Song Yang curled his lips. Although this idea was a great one, he would rather continue running twenty-five laps. However, the other person didn’t think so.
“Then coach, can I go up?”
With just one look from Li Xun, Ah Hong knew it was time to retreat.
“Thank you, coach.” He picked up his coat on the ground and walked slowly towards the entrance of the venue.
Song Yang glared at his back.
How hypocritical…
He had clearly been scolding Li Xun for being unfit to be a coach more than two hours ago.
He did not follow him upstairs, but sat silently on the court basking in the sun.
The sunshine was excellent today, the sky was clear and blue, and there was a gentle south wind blowing in my ears. Except for the lawn, everything else had been dried very cleanly. He spread his clothes under him, his chest rising and falling slightly as he breathed.
He heard warm applause coming from the stadium. Someone must have won ten rings. The sound was so close to him, yet it felt so far away.
Missing a game is far more painful than losing one.
Suddenly, a bag of peach-flavored jelly appeared in front of me.
He couldn’t control the upward arc of his mouth, and reached out to take it: “Thank you, Master… I thought you came here to scold me.”
“Why should I scold you?”
Song Yang sat up and sighed: “I lost control of my emotions and hit him, and the spot you gave me is gone just like that.”
Li Xun corrected him, “You earned this position based on your own strength, not because I want to give it to you. As for the fact that you fought with others, it really surprised me. When the team leader talked to me on the phone, I thought he was joking.”
Song Yang lowered his head and remained silent.
Li Xun was very curious: “What did he say that you can’t stand it?”
Song Yang had a pretty good memory, and he had been recalling this incident while running, so he could repeat Ah Hong’s original words in full. But after thinking about it, he decided to give up. He didn’t want this incident to cause any more trouble for Li Xun, so he perfunctorily brushed it off with a sentence, “I’m just mad at myself that I can’t scold him better than him.”
Li Xun almost laughed out loud. He certainly didn’t believe that things would be so simple, but he didn’t ask any more questions. He rubbed the back of Song Yang’s head and said, “Let’s go in and watch the competition among the seniors and learn some experience.”
“But I haven’t finished running fifty laps yet…”
Li Xun smiled and hooked his neck, pushing him forward: “With your honesty, it’s no wonder you are bullied.”
Song Yang was holding a pile of clothes, like a prisoner being escorted to the execution ground, with his head hung. He would only take two steps if the people behind him pushed him.
“Why, you’re still not happy?”
Song Yang nodded, aggrieved: “My reward is gone.”
“If it’s gone, it’s gone. I’ve seen that there’s not much money for first place, just some kind of gift certificate, and you have to go to some designated shopping malls and supermarkets to spend it.”
Song Yang turned his head: “I mean the reward you gave me is gone…”
Li Xun had forgotten about this long ago. After being stared at by the child’s clear eyes for a while, his dormant memory slowly awakened.
It seemed to be the case, but it didn’t seem to be an important prize, because he racked his brains but couldn’t remember what he had promised.
“What did I say I would reward you with?”
“…” Song Yang asked cautiously, “Is it like this when you get older?”
“Snapped!”
The head received a slap.
“Ah.” Song Yang hugged the back of his head and rubbed it, “I will become a fool.”
“Do you still need to change?” After saying that, he walked away with big strides.
“…”
Why are you still cursing in a roundabout way?
Song Yang stared at his back for a while, then ran after him: “Are you angry, Master? I was just joking. I didn’t mean to complain about your bad memory.”
Li Xun laughed in his heart. He was not angry about such a small matter.
Song Yang stared at his serious face and continued, “And I think age is advantageous in some ways. It can give people a sense of security. In short, it’s very attractive. I really like getting along with you. If I were a woman, I would want to marry you…”
Song Yang’s heart beat fast when he unexpectedly revealed his true feelings, and he carefully observed the slight changes in the other person’s brows.
But Li Xun just found it corny and couldn’t bear to listen any longer, so he quickened his pace.
“How about I give you a reward? …Master? …Hey! Wait for me!” Song Yang panted and chased after him, tilting his head and asking expectantly, “If you were a woman, would you like to marry me? I would love you very much.”
Li Xun was speechless: “I will marry myself.”
“No, that won’t work.” Song Yang boldly hooked his neck and patted his chest, “You can only choose between me and other men.”
Li Xun rolled his eyes and couldn’t stand it any longer: “Idiot.”
