Chapter 46 p2
This bad mood lasted for a whole day. Qiao Xiaoxiao thought of Yang Feitang’s brilliant smile, of Sister Yang’s unreserved care and doting, of the times when she would smile and praise her and accompany her no matter what she did. Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart ached, so much so that it was as if her own old, white-haired, and weak aunt had been bullied on the street. She couldn’t tolerate it for a second.
In fact, because it was raining, when the athletes were all indoors, Qiao Xiaoxiao, who had never been interested in relationships and never gossiped, even pulled Tiantian aside and asked in a small voice, “Do you think our captain is a top or a bottom?”
Hearing this, Wang Tiantian immediately replied, “Of course she’s a top. Do you even have to ask? She’s our captain! Hey, but—”
In her mind, she suddenly recalled the time when Chu Ge was depressed because of some family matter. Everyone was useless. In the end, for some reason, she had leaned on Coach Lu Chen’s shoulder, her eyes red. Coach Lu Chen had stroked her hair soothingly, and Chu Ge had even rubbed against her hand like a spoiled child. The scene had stunned Wang Tiantian.
“But what?” Qiao Xiaoxiao listened attentively, not noticing Chu Ge walking over with a towel not far away.
Wang Tiantian pulled Qiao Xiaoxiao very close and lowered her voice. “There are no absolutes in this matter. I feel that our captain might be a switch. Look, isn’t she quite charming when she lets her hair down after a shower?”
“Is that how you determine top or bottom?”
Qiao Xiaoxiao touched her chin and pondered. If it was a competition of charm, no one could beat her Sister Yang.
If Sister Yang wanted to act cute to get something done, she could speak in a whiny, nasal voice all day.
Wang Tiantian: “You can’t judge a book by its cover. If you’re so interested, you can ask the captain yourself.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao’s fur stood on end. “Look at you. After you went to the high jump team, you’re not so honest anymore.”
“Hehe,” Chu Ge laughed, her smile cold, her eyes shining with a murderous light. “What are you talking about? So happy?”
The two brats immediately stood at attention.
At a critical moment, Qiao Xiaoxiao reacted extremely quickly. “We’re talking about what to eat later!”
Chu Ge ignored her and looked at Wang Tiantian. “Tiantian, is it because you’re not training with the track and field team anymore that our years of friendship are gone, and you even dare to lie to me?”
Wang Tiantian shook her head and chose to surrender at the first moment without hesitation. “Reporting to the captain, Qiao Xiaoxiao was asking me if you’re a bottom!”
It rained so heavily that day. Qiao Xiaoxiao ran on the treadmill for a full ten kilometers and did twenty frog jumps. She ended a day of training amidst Chu Ge’s angry roars of “I’m a top, 100% a top!”
When she got home, her calves were trembling, and she had to hold onto the wall to walk. Chu Xinrou looked at her. “How did you get so tired?”
Qiao Xiaoxiao sighed. “You can’t talk about people behind their backs. Where’s my Sister Yang?”
Recently, the first thing Qiao Xiaoxiao did when she got home was to look for Yang Feitang. Once or twice was fine, but too many times, and Chu Xinrou also felt a little uncomfortable. She looked at Qiao Xiaoxiao. “You two are both hiding from each other. When will you ever meet?”
Qiao Xiaoxiao pressed her lips together.
Chu Xinrou started to give her some chicken soup for the soul. “Brave people get to enjoy life first.”
Alright.
Qiao Xiaoxiao decided to be brave for her Sister Yang for once.
The weather had been bad recently, and a gloomy drizzle had started to fall, making people feel depressed.
The rain traced tear-like tracks on the windowpane.
When Qiao Xiaoxiao gently pushed open the door of the music room, the twilight had already soaked the entire room. She had timed it just right. Half an hour after the last student left, only Sister Yang should be left in the music room.
Yang Feitang was sitting at the grand piano, her slender fingers suspended above the keys. A half-full glass of red wine was on the piano lid, the amber liquid reflecting the gray light from outside the window. She hadn’t turned on the lights, letting the shadows climb up her brow. Her whole being was like an ink wash painting soaked by the rain, with a kind of fragmented beauty.
Chopin’s “Raindrop Prelude” flowed from her fingertips, each note wrapped in a damp mist.
Qiao Xiaoxiao stood at the door, watching Yang Feitang’s profile as she occasionally glanced out the window. When her eyelashes were lowered, it was as if she had taken away a bit of the light in the room.
This scene made Qiao Xiaoxiao’s heart ache. She raised her hand and knocked on the door.
Because of the previous “shadow,” she didn’t dare to just walk in.
The sound of her knuckles on the door startled the person playing the piano. Yang Feitang turned her head. The moment she saw Qiao Xiaoxiao, her fingers slammed on the keys, making a discordant roar.
Both of them were a little awkwardly embarrassed.
It wasn’t like before, when they would start fooling around the moment they met.
Yang Feitang didn’t know how Qiao Xiaoxiao would see her, or what she was thinking. She hesitated, not knowing how to start.
Qiao Xiaoxiao remembered her sister’s instructions. “Your Sister Yang looks carefree on the surface, but her mind is as delicate as a little girl’s. She can be melancholic at times. You’re grown up now, so you should coax her a little.”
She stepped forward, her sneakers making a dull sound on the wooden floor. When her palm pressed on the piano lid with a thump, the red wine in the glass rippled.
She didn’t know if it was because of the incident of Foreman Qiao enslaving the worker, or if this brat had grown taller again, but when she looked at her like this, Yang Feitang actually felt a sense of being looked down upon, a sense of pressure rushing towards her.
Qiao Xiaoxiao’s height had shot up quickly, and she was already over 1.65 meters. Lu Chen was even worried that if she continued to grow like this, she would turn into a giraffe.
“What?”
Yang Feitang finally spoke. Qiao Xiaoxiao stared into her eyes and said, “Jiejie, don’t worry. I won’t discriminate against you.”
Yang Feitang: …
Thank you very much.
On this sentence, the two of them had completely different understandings.
What Yang Feitang thought “won’t discriminate” meant was that she wouldn’t discriminate against her for liking women. But what Qiao Xiaoxiao was trying to express was that she wouldn’t discriminate against her for being on the bottom.
“It’s raining. The weather is quite nice. Shall we go for a walk?”
Yang Feitang always felt that Qiao Xiaoxiao was being strange, but she had missed the brat after not seeing her for a few days. She put on her coat and went out with Qiao Xiaoxiao.
Xiaoxiao had always been like this since she was a child, doing things with a plan, planning ahead.
“Jiejie, you’re not young anymore. You should exercise more in the future.”
In the drizzling rain, Qiao Xiaoxiao started to dig a pit for Yang Feitang. Yang Feitang rolled her eyes. “I’m only 26. I’m in the prime of my life.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao stopped and looked at the top of her head. “Here, you can see some of your scalp.”
Where?!
Yang Feitang felt as if she had been stabbed in the back and immediately became nervous. She loved beauty the most and would not allow herself to go bald!
Qiao Xiaoxiao had her hands in her pockets and smiled. “If you exercise more and speed up your metabolism, your hair will grow back quickly.”
Yang Feitang touched her head and took the bait. “Hurry up and show me. What exercise makes your hair grow? I’ll practice every day!”
A promise is not something to be made lightly, especially a promise to Qiao Xiaoxiao. It must be made with great caution.
Those few days, Xiaoxiao would knock on the door of the music room on time every day.
“Sister Yang, the rain has stopped. Let’s go for a run.”
“Sister Yang, get up. The sun is shining on your butt. Let’s go for a run!”
“Sister Yang, keep it up. You’re not panting like a little pig when you run anymore. We can add pull-ups tomorrow!”
…
After being tormented like this for a week, Yang Feitang took advantage of the time when Qiao Xiaoxiao was at school and ran to Chu Xinrou’s place with weak legs, hugging her leg and crying her eyes out.
“Xinrou, tell me, tell me the truth. Why is this child tormenting me like this!”
She tilted her head and pointed at her thick hair. “Look, it’s as thick as a gorilla’s. She insists that I’m going bald and need to train. She’s been training me every day!”
It was rain or shine, five kilometers every day.
And what sun shining on her butt?
It was not even six in the morning. Where was the sun?
Most importantly, Qiao Xiaoxiao would shout slogans with her as she ran.
“If you don’t work hard today, you’ll be bullied tomorrow!”
“121, work hard, be strong, and never give up!”
…
Where was she not working hard?
Where was she being bullied?
Where was she not being strong, not not giving up?
Chu Xinrou leisurely drank her tea. Seeing that Yang Feitang had been trained by Qiao Xiaoxiao to the point where her chin was sharp, she said faintly, “Your Xiaoxiao knows that her Sister Yang is being pressed down and can’t get up. She’s very heartbroken.”
Yang Feitang: ???
In her whole life, Yang Feitang had never bowed her head to anyone. With others, she was always the one who was arrogant and bullied them. Where had she ever suffered like this?
Five kilometers every day, rain or shine. She felt as if her legs were not her own.
And that little brat Xiaoxiao had a kind of resilience that could grind an iron pestle into a needle. Once she had decided on something, no one could change her mind.
On the eighth day of being tormented.
When Yang Feitang was running with Qiao Xiaoxiao, she said earnestly, “Xiaoxiao, we live in a world of constant change.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao nodded, her eyes full of determination.
She had already decided. These past few days, she had trained Yang Feitang’s lower body strength and her stamina had improved a little. She would immediately increase her upper body training. In a month, she would definitely be “full of life and vigor.”
Yang Feitang: “Humans in this ever-changing universe have to learn to be tolerant.”
Qiao Xiaoxiao turned to look at Yang Feitang. “Did you go to see my sister yesterday?”
Yang Feitang: …
That old thing Chu Xinrou, did she sell her out just like that?
Qiao Xiaoxiao was so smart. How could she not understand that Yang Feitang was trying to back out? She pressed her lips together and asked, “So, Sister Yang, are you trying to tell me that you’re willing to fall, and for that moment of laziness, you’re willing to be bullied forever and never be able to get up?”
These words were like a big hand choking Yang Feitang’s neck. She took two steps back. “I… I…”
When did she ever say that?!
Is that what she meant?!
