Chapter 33: Competition
This was the second time Wen Yu accompanied her to the school hospital. The doctor on duty tonight was an auntie wearing glasses.
The fall wasn’t particularly serious, but an injury on the knee was annoying; any slight movement would pull on it and cause pain. Ye Qizhen didn’t easily say it hurt, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t afraid of pain. She was more sensitive to pain than the average person.
Ye Qizhen sat on the chair, extending her leg to let the doctor disinfect it. Watching the doctor fiddle with bottles and jars, she had already imagined how painful the application of medicine would be, forcing herself to endure.
Wen Yu stood beside Ye Qizhen. Seeing her like this, she didn’t say anything but reached out and gently turned Ye Qizhen’s head away, not letting her look.
Forced to turn her head, Ye Qizhen was almost pressed against Wen Yu’s chest. She looked up and saw Wen Yu looking down at her. The next moment, she suddenly frowned and hid her face against Wen Yu.
The doctor, holding iodine, stopped her movements and complained with a helpless smile, “I haven’t even touched it yet.”
Wen Yu laughed first.
“Sorry.” Ye Qizhen was embarrassed; it was an illusion, she thought it had started. Before she could prepare, a cold liquid washed over the wound. When the powdered medicine was sprinkled, a stinging pain hit, but it didn’t seem so painful because Wen Yu’s gentle rubbing of her head diverted most of her attention.
Wen Yu’s fingertips brushed against Ye Qizhen’s hair, silently comforting her. Even if they were just ordinary friends, she wanted to treat Ye Qizhen like this. Regardless, Ye Qizhen was different from others in her eyes.
Ye Qizhen’s heart felt warm. If it were before, she would definitely press her face against Wen Yu’s chest and rub shamelessly. She really wanted to do that now too, but hesitated and didn’t.
The first half of the year always passed quickly. After the temperature rose, it was summer again. In a blink of an eye, summer vacation arrived, and freshman year ended just like that.
Ye Qizhen didn’t return to Beilin for the summer vacation. She worked hard to secure an internship opportunity in a news program group at Nancheng TV Station, which would be a very impressive internship experience on her resume in the future. Wen Yu also stayed in Nancheng, helping out at the new art studio opened by Zhao Lin.
However, opportunities for the two to meet weren’t many. Ye Qizhen’s job wasn’t easy; she was very busy. The interns lived in the station’s staff dormitory. In the hot weather, they had to follow seniors to run field news and did a lot of odd jobs. Plus, the leaders were strict and could scold people to tears in minutes; the pressure was not small. Ye Qizhen hadn’t cried in front of anyone though. Her ability to hold back tears was superb, and she generally wouldn’t break down—except in front of Wen Yu. Wen Yu was the exception.
Ye Qizhen had one day off every week. Usually, on this day, she would meet up with Wen Yu. The two would hang out, eat, or run quietly together.
She thought her feelings for Wen Yu were just a momentary illusion because Wen Yu flirted with her. But over time, she found this wasn’t the case. She would miss Wen Yu when she couldn’t see her, and always steal glances when she did. The fulfillment and busyness of the holiday didn’t wash away certain thoughts she had about Wen Yu.
Ye Qizhen hid these thoughts very deeply. At least when interacting with Wen Yu, she remained calm and collected.
Ye Qizhen spent basically the entire summer vacation filming. At the beginning of the new semester, she was still filming. Because the Class of ’19 freshmen were enrolling, the campus TV station had to film a freshman vlog as usual, from orientation all the way to the end of military training.
In the school cafeteria in September, fresh faces in military training uniforms could be seen everywhere.
During lunch, Ye Qizhen ran into two freshman girls she had dealt with before. They politely shouted “Hello, Senior” to her and Wen Yu. Going from calling others “Senior” to being called “Senior” really happened in the blink of an eye.
Wen Yu chewed her rice carefully, her gaze fixed on Ye Qizhen’s face. “Tanned.”
“Running outside under the sun every day, how can I not get tanned?” Ye Qizhen muttered. She was tanned even more than during military training last year. Military training was only half a month; she had been under the sun for the whole summer vacation. But hearing Wen Yu say this, she cared a little. “Did I get very dark?”
“It’s okay, cute even if dark.” Wen Yu deliberately bluffed Ye Qizhen. She was only slightly darker than before; Ye Qizhen’s skin was translucently white previously.
Ye Qizhen valued looks and cared quite a bit about her own face. She asked Wen Yu again, “Am I very dark now?”
Seeing Ye Qizhen so nervous, Wen Yu asked unhurriedly, “Afraid no one wants you, can’t date?”
Ye Qizhen smiled wordlessly. Ever since Wen Yu knew she wanted to date, she always used this to tease her, as if fixated on it.
Yes, she was fixated on it. Wen Yu looked at Ye Qizhen for a moment, then said with a relaxed smile, “If no one wants you, I want you. I don’t mind.”
Joking allowed one to say many things, and to say caring words as if not caring, as if one really didn’t care.
A sentence “I want you” added a few degrees of ambiguity to the chat.
Ye Qizhen held a mouthful of rice, swallowed slowly, then revealed a smile, accepting Wen Yu’s words in a joking tone as well. “No matter how ugly I become, you won’t mind?”
“Mn.” Wen Yu smiled quietly, staring at Ye Qizhen, nodding and humming.
Ye Qizhen smiled, then lowered her head to pick up food, feeling somewhat stifled in her heart. Wen Yu definitely wouldn’t have thought that her casual words would make her feel something, even make her involuntarily want to take them seriously.
After eating another mouthful of rice silently, when Ye Qizhen looked up at Wen Yu again, she successfully transitioned the topic naturally to another one. “I entered the school finals for the Career Planning Competition. Do you want to come and support me then?”
This was a competition Ye Qizhen participated in last semester. She wasn’t busy at that time, so she signed up. After two rounds of selection, she received an email notification yesterday saying she represented the Journalism College in the school finals.
“When?” Wen Yu asked directly.
“Should be after the National Day holiday. I happen to have time to revise the PPT and speech.”
After the National Day holiday ended, it was the competition finals, held at 8:00 PM in the school’s large lecture hall.
Most finalists were from the Class of ’17. In such competitions, seniors naturally had more advantages. However, only one quota per college entered the finals, which meant Ye Qizhen beat many seniors to get first place in the college. She had always been quite clear about her career planning, plus her PPT was beautifully made.
Ye Qizhen drew lots backstage to decide the order of appearance, copied the presentation to the computer, and then returned to the audience seats.
“What number?” Wen Yu asked Ye Qizhen.
“Number five.” Ye Qizhen smiled happily. Good luck, neither too early nor too late.
After Ye Qizhen sat down, Wen Yu asked again, “Nervous?”
“It’s okay,” Ye Qizhen said.
There were more people in the audience than she imagined; leaders and judges alone occupied two rows. In such an atmosphere, it was impossible not to feel a little nervous. But Ye Qizhen wouldn’t show it. She was like this when participating in speech contests in high school—holding it in. Those who didn’t know praised her for her steady stage presence. In the end, it was still about saving face, not wanting her “image to collapse” in others’ eyes.
The competition proceeded on time. Ye Qizhen knew the script by heart, and with the PPT as assistance, forgetting the script was unlikely to happen; she was just afraid of rhythm problems.
Wen Yu accompanied Ye Qizhen, looking at her from time to time. Although Ye Qizhen looked fairly calm, she guessed Ye Qizhen should be quite nervous. When Ye Qizhen was nervous, she would stare at a certain spot, as if spacing out.
At this time, the third contestant started speaking. Wen Yu calculated the time; still ample. So she whispered to Ye Qizhen, “Want to go out for some fresh air?”
Ye Qizhen thought for a moment. “Mn.”
Wen Yu gently held Ye Qizhen’s hand and led her away.
The lecture hall was right by the artificial lake. As soon as Ye Qizhen walked out, the fresh breeze blew on her face. Leaving the oppressive and tense atmosphere briefly, her body and mind felt refreshed.
“Heard deep breathing is useful when nervous.” Wen Yu suddenly reminded her. “You relax, I won’t disturb you.”
Ye Qizhen glanced at Wen Yu. She saw Wen Yu looking in the direction of the lake surface, just accompanying her silently by her side. She suddenly felt so at ease. Some things really couldn’t be explained clearly; friends known for many years might not understand her as well as Wen Yu.
Taking deep breaths, blowing in the fresh and cool evening breeze, her brain seemed much clearer. Ye Qizhen calmly went through the speech again in her mind, finding the feeling. Just go with this feeling on stage.
Ten minutes later, Ye Qizhen looked at Wen Yu. “Okay, let’s go in.”
Not long after, it was number five. When Ye Qizhen walked onto the stage and the spotlight gathered on her alone, she was slightly stunning. White shirt and A-line skirt, appearing literary and fresh in temperament, giving an impression of gentleness but not weakness, not stage fright at all.
Wen Yu sat below the stage, staring intently at the person on stage, eyes full of smiles, watching seriously. The shirt and skirt were both picked by her for Ye Qizhen; sure enough, they suited her very well. Her gaze never moved away.
At first, Ye Qizhen was slightly constrained, but she soon steadied herself, and everything went smoothly. Including the judges’ question session, she answered fluently. After the judges’ comments, she said “Thank you” and walked off the stage relieved.
The applause was quite loud, louder than the previous ones.
“How was it?” After returning to her seat, Ye Qizhen couldn’t wait to lean close to Wen Yu and ask.
Wen Yu looked at Ye Qizhen’s face up close. “So beautiful tonight.”
Asking how the performance was… Ye Qizhen smiled, but Wen Yu looking at her like this and softly praising her beauty made her a bit shy.
The competition format announced scores every five contestants. Ye Qizhen held the highest score in the first two rounds, but in the third round, she was surpassed by someone with a 0.5-point advantage.
The last thing Ye Qizhen wanted was second prize, but she ended up smiling and taking second prize, and with only a 0.5-point gap from first place. Perhaps this was reality.
After the competition dispersed, Ye Qizhen and Wen Yu leaned against the stone railing by the lake to catch the breeze. Wen Yu saw Ye Qizhen was somewhat listless. “Not happy even with second prize?”
“Wanted first place.” Ye Qizhen didn’t pretend in front of Wen Yu, speaking the truth.
“Is first place very important?” Wen Yu didn’t care.
“No one sees the second place.” Ye Qizhen said seriously. This sentence seemed carved into her bones; she hated it yet agreed with it, at least her experience told her so. She looked at Wen Yu, rarely speaking out the true depression in her heart. “Just like I can’t compare to my sister. Everyone always likes my sister more. No matter what I do, they want me to be like her. Independent and sensible like my sister, can’t cry, must get first place…”
Sometimes she hated herself like this, always thinking about how to please those around her. She was far less sunny than on the surface. That was why she wrote “Become the person I like” as her college entrance exam wish. She hoped she could be freer and easier, not always living under others’ evaluations.
In this regard, she and Wen Yu were like two extremes: she cared too much, while Wen Yu cared too little. She was attracted to Wen Yu in high school because of Wen Yu’s free and easy nature.
Wen Yu remembered Ye Qizhen mentioning before that she had a sister who could get first place in everything. She looked at Ye Qizhen. She always thought Ye Qizhen was confident and optimistic; she didn’t know Ye Qizhen also had such an inferior and low side. “Don’t know what your sister is like, but I know you are very cute when acting coquettishly, and cute when crying too. You don’t need to be like anyone.”
“Mn.” Hearing this, emotion surged in Ye Qizhen’s heart. Unable to hold back a smile, she asked Wen Yu, “…Does anyone use ‘cute when crying’ to comfort people?”
Wen Yu turned around. “Then how do you want me to comfort you? Anything is fine.”
