Stringy Wind in the Ear - Chap 43
Li Xun had never been so embarrassed in his life. He returned to the dormitory in a daze, in a state similar to Song Yang’s.
As soon as he turned on the light, the first thing he saw was the paper-carved night light on the desk. It didn’t emit any light, but it had a heat that could not be ignored. Li Xun felt that his face was being burned by it bit by bit.
He walked around the room, not knowing what to do. In this completely confused state, he boiled a kettle of hot water for himself, and then sat on the sofa on the balcony in a daze.
So I’ve been being too sentimental for all this time?
Then another voice replied to him – isn’t it?
The past is like a movie, replaying in my mind frame by frame, scene by scene.
Ever since the paper-carved lamp appeared, he had deliberately gotten close to Song Yang and had even been jealous of him several times, especially the time in the cinema.
Song Yang was chatting happily with his secret crush, but he insisted on taking her phone away, thinking he was so handsome and affectionate.
Now that he thinks about it, every attempt to cross the line would make him so embarrassed that his scalp would go numb and his toes would dig into the ground.
How shameless! He slapped himself in his mind.
There was no cover on the open-air balcony. He sneezed three times after five minutes of reflection. When he returned to the house, he found that the kettle was not plugged in. He made a “tsk” sound and felt inexplicably aggrieved.
It was clearly another girl who flirted with Song Yang and rejected him, but she needed him, a heartbroken girl, to comfort her.
What is going on.
He can comfort Song Yang, but who will comfort him?
Song Yang returned to the dormitory. He was in no mood to play with his phone, nor did he feel like reading or doing homework. He just slumped over on the bed, ignoring anyone who called him.
Zhou Junlin urged him to take a shower, but he said he was too tired and would take a shower tomorrow, then he drew the bed curtains tightly to block out any air.
He groped for his past in the darkness. The alcohol made his brain groggy. He thought of what Zhou You said, then of Sun Pang, and his terrible final grades.
He fell into a dream in a daze. In the dream, Li Xun had a new girlfriend and invited him to be the best man. He refused, and Li Xun actually asked him and Chu Zhi to be flower boys together, and said, “You two are from the same generation, there is nothing to be embarrassed about.”
He was awakened by his dream and fell asleep again.
This time the scene in the dream was an archery range, and the team leader told him earnestly: “You won’t go far with your results. You might as well learn something else while you are still young and stop being stubborn.”
He was unable to digest the doubts he had received in the past, and they were like a thorn in his throat. He still felt overwhelmed in his dreams.
It was dawn outside the window, and the bracelet on his wrist vibrated slightly, waking him up. When he opened his eyes, he felt a little sore.
His roommates were still asleep, the bed curtains were drawn tightly, he tiptoed out of bed and groped his way into the bathroom.
Even though he was mentally prepared, he was still frightened by himself in the mirror.
Her hair was frizzy like a bird’s nest, and there were traces of tears at the corners of her eyes that had not been wiped away. Her eyes looked like they had been stung by a bee, with obvious bulges. The swollen skin stretched the eyelid wrinkle to the maximum, making her almost have a pair of single eyelids, and the area under her eyes was also swollen.
“Oh my god…”
Just like that, he came to the archery hall with a lot of worries, and he looked gloomy.
There is a physical fitness test today and all team members are here.
When Li Xun saw him, he was surprised at first, and then teased: “Which garden’s national treasure are you from? Why are you running around?”
Song Yang rubbed his eyes: “Is it that exaggerated?”
Li Xun said: “I’m praising you for being cute, but you don’t understand.”
Wu Jianian said faintly: “Why have I never heard you praise me?”
Li Xun blurted out: “You’re not heartbroken, I…” Before he finished speaking, he wished he could bite off his tongue. He was really talking about something irrelevant. He stole a glance at the child’s face, and as expected, dark clouds were looming.
But Wu Jianian was such a tactless person that he shouted, “It shouldn’t be like this. How can someone like this still fall in love? Who kicked her out?”
Song Yang remained silent. Wu Jianian put his arm around his shoulders and comforted him, “It’s okay, brother. A broken heart is not a big deal. I’ll introduce you to a good one later. What type do you like? Petite or exquisite?”
Song Yang glanced at him disdainfully: “Find your partner first, then we can talk.”
KO!
Wu Jianian walked away with his neck held high.
After having breakfast together and practicing archery for a while, Li Xun took them to the outdoor track and field for a physical fitness test.
The purpose of the assessment is to screen out outstanding athletes – the provincial games are divided into physical fitness tests, qualifying rounds and knockout rounds. If an athlete fails to meet the standards in the physical fitness test, he or she will miss the next competition.
This means that in this competition, coaches cannot only use everyone’s archery results as a reference, but also have to comprehensively consider everyone’s physical training results before making a decision.
The physical fitness items in archery are divided into four parts: abdominal muscle endurance, back muscle endurance, vertical jump and 3000 meters, each with 25 points and a total score of 100.
What Song Yang hated the most was the physical fitness test. Apart from long-distance running, he was not good at anything else. He also heard that the national team athletes had to practice ten items of basic physical fitness. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.
Before entering this field, he thought archery was simply about practicing arrows.
Li Xun went to the equipment room, pulled out the jump box, and placed it in the corner. The team members automatically lined up in two horizontal rows.
“Let’s start with the abdominal muscles.” Li Xun took out the timer and scorebook from his pocket and sorted them alphabetically, “Ah Hong, you go first.”
The test rules for abdominal muscle endurance are very simple. The athlete lies on his back on the jump box, hanging in the air, with his hands crossed in front of his chest and the posterior superior iliac spine placed on the edge of the jump box. The coach helps to fix the calves and keep the body not lower than the horizontal plane, but not higher than 30 degrees.
If the athlete can maintain the duration for more than two minutes, full marks will be awarded.
The teammates took the test one by one. Song Yang became nervous and unconsciously clenched his back teeth and exerted force, counting silently.
The night faded silently, and countless golden rays of light shone from under the soft pink clouds.
Many students came to the playground one after another. Some were doing morning exercises, some were reading, some were on the track and field team, and some were out on dates with their partners. They were chattering and the playground was as lively as a vegetable market.
Li Xun wrote down the score in the booklet and stood up slightly, leaving a little space between his legs and the stool.
“Next.”
Wu Jianian poked the arm of the person next to him.
Song Yang came to his senses, straddled the jump box, moved forward, and stretched his calves between Li Xun’s legs.
Li Xun was staring at the stopwatch in his hand, not paying much attention. He sat down with his butt, and a part of his body unexpectedly hit the tip of Song Yang’s shoe. With a “hiss”, he bounced up like a cat with its fur standing on end.
The whole team burst into laughter.
Song Yang put his legs back apologetically: “I’m sorry…”
Li Xun frowned: “Why are you sitting so far away?” He reached out and grabbed Song Yang’s ankle, pulling him down hard, then sat down and pinned him down with the weight of his body.
But it didn’t feel very comfortable, so he nudged forward again and whispered, “We’ll start when you’re ready.”
Song Yang covered his face and rubbed it. Li Xun’s actions inexplicably made him feel ashamed.
Blushing and a racing heartbeat are both natural reactions and are not at all under your control.
He was confused and looked away.
In addition to the members of their school team, there were many students watching around. Perhaps out of curiosity, some students took pictures of them.
Li Xun looked down at him and did not urge him, but Song Yang still felt the pressure.
He took two sets of deep breaths, forced out those messy thoughts, and took off his coat.
He wanted to pass it to his senior brother beside him, but he didn’t expect Li Xun to reach out and grab it first, then throw it on his shoulder and hang it.
The two looked at each other and then looked away.
“Are you okay?” Li Xun asked, staring at his knees.
“Yeah.” Song Yang took a deep breath, crossed his arms over his chest, and slowly fell backwards.
As he exerted force on his abdomen, he felt a dense tingling sensation in his lumbar spine. He frowned, having a bad feeling.
This is because of lumbar muscle strain caused by long-term sitting. He has had this feeling since he was in high school. At that time, he had too much homework and often had to stay up until two or three in the morning. During the most painful period, even sneezing felt like being pricked by a needle. He also went to the hospital for an X-ray. The doctor said it was a bulging joint and asked him to be careful not to lift heavy objects.
Once this problem appeared, every time he exerted force on his waist and abdomen, he would feel a tingling sensation in his coccyx, affecting his performance. This is the main reason why his abdominal muscle endurance and back muscle endurance have always hovered around the passing line.
It hurts so much.
Every second is torture.
Before sixty seconds had passed, Li Xun noticed that his upper limbs were shaking violently, as if he could no longer hold on. He pressed his palm on Song Yang’s calf and applied a little force, reminding him: “It’s only 60 seconds, hold on a little longer.”
His word “talent” made Song Yang look up at the sky helplessly and clench his back teeth even tighter.
At this moment, one second seemed to be as long as an entire winter, and many fragments flashed back in my mind.
It was so strange. He had met so many friends in school and experienced so many things, but the ones that left the deepest impression on him were almost all related to Li Xun.
The invisible mountain pressing on him was getting heavier and heavier, and his eyes were getting more and more vague. At first, only his upper limbs were shaking, followed by his tense thighs, calves, and even his teeth were chattering.
He felt like a rope tied to a heavy object, and the tangled thin lines were breaking bit by bit.
At a certain moment, he exhaled a breath of hot air weakly, and his whole body fell backwards limply like a piece of mud. Fortunately, Li Xun was quick-witted and grabbed his arm in time and pulled him back.
102 seconds.
17 points.
They spent a whole morning completing the physical fitness test. Fortunately, Song Yang got full marks in the long-distance running, and the total score just met the requirement, so they could proceed to the next round of selection.
Song Yang patted his little heart and felt in a good mood.
Ah Hong said coldly: “Take it easy, if you miss by one second you will fail.”
Song Yang snorted: “How about a bet?”
“What’s the bet?”
“I will definitely beat you in the next round.”
“Okay, what if I lose?”
Song Yang thought about it seriously and said: “If you lose, you have to brush my shoes for a year. If I lose, I will brush your shoes for a year.”
“What’s the problem with that!”
During the short break, everyone sat by the track to eat and replenish their energy. Song Yang was in a hurry to go out, he didn’t bring anything with him, and he had no appetite, so he lowered his head to play with his phone.
Suddenly, a large hand holding chocolate beans stretched out in front of him, blocking his view.
The palm was broad and rosy, and the fingers were much longer than those of an average person. You could tell who it was without even looking.
“Take it.” Li Xun touched Song Yang’s hand with the back of his hand, “They say eating sweets will make you feel better.”
Song Yang still couldn’t suppress his joy. He tore it open carefully, picked one and put it into his mouth, holding it in his mouth, not wanting to chew it.
“Who are they?”
Li Xun reluctantly confessed: “I looked it up online.”
Song Yang was a little surprised: “You are still checking this?” Soon, he realized, “Did you use this trick to coax Chu Zhi?”
“There’s no need to bother coaxing her. Just stop crying when she’s tired and she’ll forget about it the next day.”
Song Yang had never participated in Li Xun’s student days, and he loved to make up stories, so he became jealous: “Who should I bother to please?”
Li Xun stood up and patted his butt: “Who else could it be?”
