Stringy Wind in the Ear - Chap 51
On the first night of the new environment, Song Yang slept unexpectedly soundly. He was awakened by the vibration of his bracelet early in the morning and found that the bed next to him was empty.
Li Xun maintains the lifestyle of an elderly person, going to bed early and getting up early, getting up at around four o’clock to prepare breakfast.
After Song Yang finished washing up, he shook the quilt, folded it, and also folded Li Xun’s bed into a tofu block.
It was still dark outside the window, and Li Xun was kneading a ball of dough in the kitchen.
Song Yang walked towards the light: “What are you going to do?”
Li Xun didn’t expect that he would get up so early. He was startled. He threw the kneaded dough into a stainless steel basin and covered it with a layer of gauze soaked in water. “Have you ever eaten cat ears?”
Song Yang was stunned: “Is it the fried kind? I ate it when I was in elementary school.”
“No, it’s boiled, the hot and sour kind.”
“I haven’t eaten that.”
“I’ll be back to cook for you later.”
Song Yang nodded like pecking at rice, his eyes full of anticipation.
They changed into sportswear and went downstairs for a morning run around the old street.
The city is the quietest at this time. There is no endless flow of traffic and no noisy noise. The store doors are closed, the air is moist and cool, and the pure night sky gives the light color.
The wild cat hiding behind the boxwood tree stared with its dark eyes looking for food. As footsteps approached, its pair of pointed ears reflexively pressed back, its limbs grasped the ground, and its back arched, ready to launch itself out at any time.
“Master, wait for me!” Song Yang’s physical strength was almost at its limit. He stopped halfway, propped up his knees with both hands and gasped for breath, “I really can’t run anymore.”
Li Xun slowed down his pace but did not stop. He glanced at his bracelet and said, “There are still two kilometers to go. Come on, come on.”
“Ah…” Song Yang’s throat was dry, and the cold air deep in his nose was piercing him a little uncomfortable. “Weren’t we already six kilometers just now? Why are there still two kilometers left?”
“You exceeded the time limit by ten seconds today. The extra kilometer is a penalty.” Li Xun backed up and hooked his finger at him, “Hurry up, there’s a reward for you if you beat me.”
Song Yang treated Li Xun as food and took a big breath of oxygen to chase after him.
After the figure disappeared, the wild cat behind the tree relaxed its body, shook its ears, jumped onto the trash can next to it, put its round head and claws into the hole, and continued to pick out the debris.
Li Xun calculated the distance accurately, and the end of two kilometers happened to be the gate of the community. The fog was very heavy today, and after running more than ten kilometers, the two of them were soaked, and Song Yang’s hair was wet and stuck to his forehead.
When they got home, Li Xun let Song Yang take a shower first, and then he went into the kitchen to wash his face.
Song Yang was still humble and wiped his face with a tissue and said, “You go first.”
Li Xun raised his eyebrows: “Then I’ll go with you.”
Song Yang had the desire but not the courage to do anything, so he jumped into the bathroom like a rat.
Outside the window, the inky sky gradually lost its color, the stars disappeared in the morning mist, and the sky gradually brightened.
The dough in the bowl was almost done, so Li Xun took it out, kneaded out the air, then took out the sauerkraut and tomatoes from the refrigerator, washed them again and again, and cut them for later use.
Song Yang took a quick shower and ran out with wet short hair: “Where are the cat ears?”
“It’ll be ready soon.” Li Xun cut the dough into small particles the size of a fingernail, pressed them on the sushi curtain, and rolled them gently, and small ears with patterns on them came out.
Song Yang thought it was fun and rolled up his sleeves excitedly: “Let me give it a try.”
Li Xun gave up his seat to him and went back to the room to take a shower. When he came out of the shower, the cut dough had been pinched into all kinds of strange shapes, but none of them looked like cat ears.
For this, Song Yang gave some explanation.
“This round one is a coin. Whoever eats it will have good fortune. This is a glutinous rice dumpling. This is a starfish. Oh, and this one! It’s your arrow. I rubbed it very finely!”
Li Xun bent down and looked at the little gadgets that Song Yang had made. They were indeed quite realistic. In this respect, Song Yang was very similar to Li Chuzhi, who always used small creative ideas to fill his life with surprises.
Whenever he encounters such moments, Li Xun always remembers Director Wang’s deep sigh on the day of military training – it’s so good to be young.
The dough is easy to deform after being put into the pot, so Li Xun took a photo as a souvenir.
Sauerkraut and tomatoes were added to the boiling noodle soup, and the sour taste that stimulated saliva secretion quickly spread. Song Yang tasted the noodle soup and showed a surprised expression.
“It’s delicious! I really like the taste! I found that you are really good at cooking.”
“Really?” Li Xun laughed. He suspected that even if he threw eggs into the instant noodles, Song Yang would still blow a bunch of rainbow farts.
While eating, Li Xun’s eyes moved back and forth on Song Yang like searchlights.
“Are you full?”
Song Yang puffed his cheeks and nodded. After a while, he said, “These cat ears are so chewy. Are they made by adding baking powder?”
“I beat a few eggs in it. The higher the protein content in the flour, the chewier the dough will be.” Li Xun said, using a spoon to scoop some odd-shaped small things into Song Yang’s bowl, “If you like, eat more. I haven’t made this for a long time, so I didn’t calculate the amount correctly. I’ll knead it more next time.”
When Song Yang was drinking the soup, he scooped up a heart-shaped one and put it back into Li Xun’s bowl.
Li Xun was stunned for a moment, then looked up at him. Song Yang explained, “This is the lucky heart I made. Eat it and you will have good luck for a week.”
Li Xun curled his lips and smiled, then decisively ate the little heart.
This house has been changing every day since Song Yang moved in. Today there are one more pair of couple mugs, tomorrow there are one more pair of slippers, and the day after tomorrow there is a multi-layer shoe cabinet. But at the same time, there are also many moments that give Li Xun a headache.
For example, when he opened the glass window to dry clothes, he found a green radish that Song Yang had killed with oolong tea hidden under the air conditioner’s outer case; another example was that late at night, Song Yang brought a bowl of burnt fried rice and said enthusiastically that it was a midnight snack specially made for him…
However, despite the headache, Li Xun was infected by the youthful spirit of the boy. He was refreshed every day. He would be happy for a long time if he cracked a double-yolk egg, and would high-five the children to celebrate.
With like-minded people around, the time passed surprisingly fast. Before Li Xun could figure out what was going on, a week had gone by and the exhibition match that Song Yang had been looking forward to was about to begin.
The venue for this competition was chosen to be an archery club near their school.
They arrived at the scene early in the morning. It was much larger than they imagined, divided into two areas, indoor and outdoor. Today’s exhibition match was mainly held outdoors.
The scene has been set up. The total length of the archery course is 90 meters, with audience seats and referee seats on both sides. Song Yang counted and found that there were a total of six cameras facing every corner of the venue, not counting the hidden cameras.
There were also professional hosts and commentators. Song Yang had seen these people on TV before, and it felt quite magical to see them suddenly appear before his eyes.
“What a grand ceremony,” he sighed softly.
They spotted a familiar figure near the registration area.
Song Yang tried to shout, and Wu Jianian turned around.
“It’s really you!” Song Yang asked in surprise, “Didn’t you sign up? Why are you here?”
Wu Jianian held up his work ID card and said, “My dad asked me to come over and help.”
After some investigation, they found out that Wu Jianian’s father was the legal representative of the club and one of the initiators of the event. This event was co-organized with a certain online platform and broadcast in the form of an inspirational competitive sports reality show.
Li Xun didn’t think that a game without gold content could cause much sensation, and Song Yang had the same doubts.
“Will anyone see it?”
Wu Jianian said: “My father hired someone.”
At first, Song Yang thought that this big name referred to a well-known active athlete in the archery circle, the kind “produced” by the national team, but he never expected it to be an artist in the entertainment industry.
The man’s name was Liao Tingyuan, he was 26 years old, and Song Yang had heard his songs when he was in high school.
At that time, Liao Tingyuan was just an internet singer who sang covers of some pop music on live broadcasts. Later, a live broadcast brought him out of the circle and into the capital circle. He jumped back and forth between variety shows and the entertainment industry, and gained a large number of fans. However, he had no acting skills and could only be considered a third-tier artist.
Li Xun never paid attention to news in the entertainment industry, so he asked Wu Jianian, “What is he doing here? Hosting a competition?”
Wu Jianian: “Didn’t you read our club’s official Weibo? He is here to play, too.”
The reason why Liao Tingyuan’s team agreed to the invitation was that he was an archery athlete before he graduated from school and had obtained a national first-level athlete certificate with outstanding achievements. His team planned to use this to rehash old stuff and attract some traffic for the web drama that was about to be aired. They had even thought of several eye-catching hot search titles in advance.
#Liao Tingyuan’s legs#
#Liao Tingyuan shot the camera with an arrow#
#Liao Tingyuan’s bare face#
So there is such a picture –
Liao Tingyuan posed as if drawing a bow in the warm-up area, with five or six mobile phones around him taking pictures of him from different angles.
“Hey——” Liao Tingyuan’s makeup artist pointed at Li Xun and Song Yang unceremoniously, moving her fingertips, “Can you two please move aside first? Our artists are taking pictures.”
Song Yang and Li Xun exchanged a speechless look and stepped aside.
After a while, several hostesses in formal attire slowly came out, holding medals and gifts in their hands.
Song Yang’s eyes were immediately drawn to the pair of Montblanc wireless headphones on the award tray.
He grabbed one of them and asked, “Is this the prize for the individual competition?”
The other party smiled and nodded: “Yes, do you like it?”
“I like it.” Song Yang was like a child, not hiding the desire in his eyes at all, and a little nervous, “Is this the only one? Is it only for the champion?”
“Yes, we have other gifts for the second and third place winners, and they are all very practical.”
“I see… Thank you.”
Li Xun, who was warming up not far away, had been listening to their conversation with his ears perked up, but he looked away before Song Yang looked over.
More than ten minutes later, the one who was posing for the photo finally finished. Li Xun thought he could spend some time together in peace, but unexpectedly, another thing happened that made him extremely speechless.
Liao Tingyuan’s assistant took the initiative to find him and called him to the corridor outside the rest area.
Song Yang was nearby at the time, and out of curiosity, he followed.
Liao Tingyuan’s assistant is a young man who looks to be in his twenties. He wears a pair of thick glasses, has slightly dark skin, and his hair looks a little oily.
He first shook hands with Li Xun and said hello, saying that he often watched archery competitions and was a fan of Li Xun.
Li Xun was most afraid of this kind of situation. Apart from thanking him, he really didn’t know what to say. Song Yang, on the other hand, shook hands with people enthusiastically: “What a coincidence, I’m also his fan. Have you ever been to see his game live?”
“There has never been a chance…” The assistant smiled awkwardly, pushed up his glasses, and looked embarrassed to speak.
“Just tell me what you have to say,” said Li Xun.
The assistant pushed the man to a corner and lowered his voice: “This is what happened. When our brother Liao signed up, we didn’t know you were going to participate in this competition. Your strength is obvious to all. You have won so many medals and are very famous in this circle. So, could you please be a little bit on the field later…”
Normally, the other party would understand what was said, but Li Xun had no expression on his face, so the assistant could only laugh dryly and continue, “Show some mercy. If the score is closer, the game will be more exciting, right?”
Song Yang frowned. Isn’t this just fake?
He looked at Li Xun.
Li Xun also used the same look to ask: “Do you want me to give him a break?”
The assistant gestured to lower his voice and said carefully: “Are you free at noon? Our Brother Liao wants to treat you to a meal. We can discuss the details at the table.”
Song Yang then realized that this person was not a fan of Li Xun at all, he was just trying to curry favor with him.
At this moment, a worst-case scenario flashed through his mind – once Li Xun softened his heart and agreed to give the other party enough face, the other party’s team would definitely find a group of marketing accounts to publish soft articles, or use various editing clips to hype that Liao Tingyuan defeated the national team archery athlete in a certain competition.
This is a big gimmick, enough for this person to brag for the rest of his life. If he creates a persona of an athlete, he can attract a large number of fans.
But who would care about Li Xun’s mood?
“Master…”
Li Xun exchanged a knowing look with him, then chuckled at his assistant and said, “No need to eat. Compared to archery, I think your brother Liao is more suitable for acting.”
After the man left, Song Yang thought of something and asked Li Xun in a low voice: “Do you think it is possible that other people have been bribed by them?”
Li Xun rubbed his ahoge and said, “Not really. Don’t look at Liao Tingyuan’s useless appearance. His past performance is not bad. He is a first-class athlete. Besides, they must have calculated that all the players competing today are amateurs, so they will definitely win.”
“A first-class athlete…”
As soon as Song Yang lowered his head, Li Xun figured out his little thoughts. He held his little face and lifted it slightly, maintaining an angle where their eyes met.
“Don’t worry, you’ll have everything you want.”
