That night, Lin Miao pondered about it for hours without end, but to no avail. She couldn’t give up her training and tournaments. She loved tournaments and training with all her teammates.
However, it was also very unfair to Yu Jingxuan. He could’ve had a girlfriend by his side everyday instead of one he would see only a few times a year.
That night, she had nightmares about various things, her brain filled with mixed thoughts.
Lin Miao fell sick the next day. Tan Jing had immediately realized when she woke up, as it was the first time Lin Miao was still on her bed instead of coming back from outside.
Tan Jing felt her forehead, “So hot, brother Shui, you’re on a fever, I’ll tell the coach.”
“I’m fine.” Lin Miao said despite feeling dizzy.
The coach obviously couldn’t let her practice while being sick, so he rushed her to the hospital and also contacted Lin Miao’s family.
The coach first contacted Yu Jingxuan, thinking that he was her real older brother. He visited Lin Miao often, and since the coach didn’t use the internet much, Yu Jingxuan was the first person he called.
Over the phone, Yu Jingxuan said he would be here soon, thanking the coach for taking care of Lin Miao.
Once Yu Jingxuan arrived, the coach left.
Yu Jingxuan sat beside her in the hospital. Lin Miao was rarely sick, even small things like catching a cold or having a light fever.
Her health was maintained when she became an athlete. However, the sickness she had days before the New Year seemed to have led this year to a bad start.
It was her second time getting infused in the hospital from a fever. It was also summer, the outside heat making it even more unbearable.
Seeing that Yu Jingxuan had arrived, she began to feel guilty.
Yu Jingxuan could read her thoughts, brushing his fingers across her face. “Can you tell me what’s wrong?”
Even though the two didn’t have much interaction, it was enough for Yu Jingxuan to understand what Lin Miao might be thinking. He had a feeling that she had been hiding something since they met each other yesterday.
Yu Jingxuan sighed, brushing her hair and looking at her with his gentle gaze.
Seeing him caring for her, Lin Miao felt even more guilty, “Gege, I don’t think I can be like other girlfriends and stay with you all the time.”
“It’s okay, I can wait.” Yu Jingxuan looked into her eyes, saying, “After you retire, we can do whatever we want. Life is long, we don’t have to be anxious about these few years.” He was anxious before, but only to the uncertainty of their relationship. Now that it’d been confirmed, he settled his heart down.
Thinking how she would be with him for the many years to come, he felt a lot less nervous. After all, this was how their relationship developed. He wouldn’t force her to surrender anything; all he wanted was for her to come back to him someday.
In his heart, he wished for Lin Miao to retire early. Life was too demanding for an athlete. It was easy for them to strain their body and wound themselves.
However, he still respected Lin Miao’s choices. Lin Miao had mentioned before that she would retire when she was twenty, after the Olympics of that year, and study in a university.
Yu Jingxuan didn’t expect the thing she had been hiding to be this. He didn’t think it was that important, but the serious tone Lin Miao spoke in made him feel guilty and heartache.
Yu Jingxuan continued to comfort her and sent her back once she felt better.
When they parted from each other, Lin Miao gritted her teeth, thinking that she would train as well as study hard.
Yu Jingxuan wanted to continue to postgraduate education for a Ph.D, which meant that they could go to school together if she were to be accepted by his university.
Tan Jing noticed that Lin Miao was trying even harder, to the point where she was almost going insane.
Have you ever seen someone who would relax themselves from competitions through memorizing books? That would be Lin Miao.
She initially thought that Lin Miao was joking when she said studying made oneself happier, however, Lin Miao actually reached this stage a few days later.
Tan Jing suspected that she hypnotized herself.
What was even more terrifying was that Lin Miao seemed to develop a strong passion for ancient literature, from《岳阳楼记》to《滕王阁序》, it became her second hobby from badminton. She would recite things like “落霞与孤鹜齐飞，秋水共长天一色”, losing herself in poetry.
(Notes: 《岳阳楼记》is know as Yueyang Tower, and《滕王阁序》is known as Preface to the Prince Teng’s Pavilion in English. The Chinese text in quotes is an excerpt from《滕王阁序》describing the beautiful scenery around the government administrative building.)
“Sister Jing, come read this, it’s so emotional.”
Tan Jing looked over, it was《陈情表》.
(Note:《陈情表》is known as Memorial Expressing my Feelings. It is a famous text written by Li Mi describing the hardships of his great grandmother raising him from childhood, thanking the government for giving him a job, and contemplating his desires to pay the favors back to everyone.)
“Just read it to me, brother Shui,” Tan Jing said.
However… She read everything with such expression that Tan Jing was still able to understand the story despite not understanding most of the sentences.
Scary Lin Miao.
Their coach soon heard of this phenomenon, calling Lin Miao for a talk.
“Shuishui, is there anything difficult going on in your life?” He asked kindly.
Their coach was an amiable person outside of training, where he was harsh and critical. He was as mean during practice as he was kind outside of it.
“Nothing’s wrong.” Lin Miao said. She was fine after falling sick that day. She felt pumped, having found another objective in life.
In Tan Jing’s words, she was overenthusiastic, likely derived from the power of love.
Her efforts in studying were quite lackluster before.
After exchanging a few sentences, the coach asked her about studying, so Lin Miao told him her truth.
“It won’t interfere with practice and training. I’m just reading to relax.”
The coach: “…” Relaxing through reading, what is she saying?
However, Lin Miao’s performance didn’t drop during the competitions and practice that followed. She was as stable as always, so the coach let her go on studying.
Lin Miao didn’t tell Yu Jingxuan, but she still kept in touch with him, occasionally calling to ask about math problems, chat about historical events and politics.
Tan Jing: “…” Lin Miao didn’t even need to avoid her anymore when she chatted with Yu Jingxuan, she could barely understand anything.
Answering questions in a workbook, Lin Miao noticed that her English was pretty good apart from listening, which was average. The workbook was pretty easy, probably because she memorized many words when she was little. She didn’t talk much to the foreign athletes during her international tournaments. Yu Jingxuan had also often recited words when he was little, but she had forgotten most of them.
To improve her speaking, Lin Miao voluntarily went to talk with a British girl during her next international tournament. She thought that British people, having created the language, would speak the most authentic English.
Even though Lin Miao didn’t speak very well, the other girl didn’t mind, probably since the other girl was also a badminton athlete. Lin Miao’s gentle appearance, and cute contrast on and off-field were pretty charming anyway.
Tan Jing also came during this international tournament. She comforted herself, thinking that Lin Miao was just trying to learn English, and not to find a friend to replace her.
It wasn’t Tan Jing being so astute, but rather because it was visibly obvious that Lin Miao’s listening wasn’t very good. She had also barely talked to any non-Chinese-speaking people in her past tournaments… So it was quite obvious.
Unlike Lin Miao, Tan Jing was the type who would ramble on forever when given the chance in an interview.
So, Tan Jing’s fans came rushing in along with the JingShui cps.
It was mainly because 80% of what Tan Jing said was related to Lin Miao.
So, through Tan Jing’s flaunting, fans of the caveman learned that the caveman was busy studying recently.
Tan Jing was competing in the women’s doubles, winning quite smoothly.
There were a few more interviews scattered in the days after their return to China from abroad.
Lin Miao also won in her field, but the team was used to her not accepting any interviews, so they didn’t schedule any for her.
Tan Jing was a person who would say everything once she lost herself in a conversation.
So, the fans knew that she cried the first night she went to her sports school with Lin Miao. Lin Miao comforted her as she shared her quilt, while also complimenting how soft it was.
They also learnt that Tan Jing used to hurt herself often during training when she was little and Lin Miao would be completely fine after the training, so she would apply creams for her, massaging the aching spots…
They knew that the two hid pumpkins in their dorm room to train their arm strength…
After all, they were two people who were together three hundred and forty out of the three hundred and sixty five days of a year. Their life was filled with various friendship PDAs, more than anyone can take in their entire lifetimes.