CH 33
But sometimes, the more urgent the matter is, the more delays there will be.
Lin Yuyan desperately ran to the three-story building that the club rented for training, but the door was closed.
He got told to wait until eight o clock in the evening to enter since nobody could casually go in and out of the building during training sessions.
Lin Yuyan ran back to the beach in despair. He had ran back and forth for nearly ten kilometers, and now his legs and feet were so tired, he directly collapsed on the ground.
But the saddest thing was yet to come. Mr. Zeng had drawn a bright red cross on his paper with a comment that said ‘You should be painting a scenery, not a person.’
Lin Yuyan covered his face and said, “Ow!” before getting up and changing the paper into a new one. He faced the sea and sketched out the scenery.
He felt that time moved very slowly when he had something in his mind. Although he had been trying to immerse himself in his drawing process and Mr. Zeng also gave out some pointers that he carefully remembered, as long as he had some free time, he would check the time and feel his heartbeat speed up bit by bit as the time moved forward.
“Maybe we’ll have dinner together in the evening.”
“Huh?”
Mr. Zeng explained, “After Yaoyang comes over, we should have dinner together. He has worked hard with those boys, so we should let them relax and hold a small banquet.”
At 8:30 in the evening, the team manager set up a bonfire near the homestay’s door by the sea, but it was still too cold outside, so it only acted as decoration, and they still ate in the living room. This homestay was very large, there was a party hall especially prepared for tour groups. There was a row of long tables in the middle of the hall, and the floor was covered in thick carpets. There were also several sofas, which would be a convenient spot for the players to relax.
When Gu Yaoyang brought the players over, Lin Yuyan was wearing a chef’s hat and was helping the manager prepare the turkey’s side dishes. The manager was in his thirties this year, he said that he used to work as a chef in a five-star hotel before working in the club. Lin Yuyan learned a lot from him. He was carefully cutting the potatoes when he heard someone say, “Whose little boy is this? Chef?”
Lin Yuyan raised his eyes and saw Gu Yaoyang shaking his chef’s hat in his hand. He smiled happily, and while the manager turned back to adjust the oven temperature, he grabbed a small piece of ham and stuffed it into Gu Yaoyang’s hand.
Gu Yaoyang took a look at the ham, before placing it into his mouth with his fingers and commented, “Not bad.”
Lin Yuyan smiled embarrassedly and looked a little nervous. He took a deep breath and adjusted his expression as he placed his knife down. After deliberating for a little he said, “Gu Yaoyang, I want to tell you-”
“Hey! G, can you help me read this rule?” At this time, someone ran over with a document and said, “I don’t think this is very reasonable. If the opponent launched a fatal attack on me on stage, why should I still follow these rules..”
Gu Yaoyang told him to shut up, before looking at Lin Yuyan again and asking, “What did you want to say?”
Lin Yuyan said, “It’s fine, you should go and help him first.” He hurriedly breathed a sigh of relief and expelled his nervousness before continuing, “I’ll tell you later.”
Gu Yaoyang nodded and followed the players to the side.
As soon as they left, Meng Hu and Charlie walked over, shoulder to shoulder, and sat on a nearby cushion. Lin Yuyan helped bring a turkey and sat with them. Meng Hu tasted the chicken and complained that it wasn’t good and that he missed his hometown’s food.
Lin Yuyan thought that it was okay. He looked at charlie and hesitated for a while before he asked, “Say, who gave you your Chinese name?”
Charlie said, “Meng Hu.”
Lin Yuyan said, “oh” and found that Meng Hu was blinking frantically at him. Charlie asked, “Is there a problem with my name?”
Lin Yuyan didn’t know if he should tell him or not, but Meng Hu immediately answered for him, “Nope, no problem, what could be wrong with the name I gave you?”
“Really?” Charlie seemed to have suspected something since a long time ago and asked, “Then why did the people from your country always laugh weirdly whenever I introduce myself?”
Meng Hu said, “Did the coach laugh?”
Charlie pointed to Lin Yuyan and said, “The coach will only laugh at this gentleman.”
Meng Hu coughed and tried to quibble, “I don’t think you should doubt me, there is nothing wrong with the name I gave you.”
Charlie suspiciously looked at him before asking Lin Yuyan again.
Lin Yuyan avoided his gaze for a moment, and said, “I- I’m going to the bathroom.”
The bathroom wasn’t indoors. Lin Yuyan wanted to stand at the door and wait for a few minutes to avoid the limelight, but he didn’t expect Meng Hu to follow him secretly to say thank you.
Lin Yuyan advised, “You know you could just give him a new name. It really isn’t good to call him that, it’s practically bullying him.”
Meng Hu replied, “I’m only teasing him a bit. You don’t know how badly I was beaten by him on the first day I came here. Of course, I want to find a chance to take revenge.”
“You should take your vengeance in a fair and upright way.” Lin Yuyan disagreed with him and continued, “And isn’t your relationship with him pretty good now?”
Meng Hu said, “It’s one thing to have a good relationship with him, teasing him is another matter. I couldn’t beat him, so can’t I be a little bit cheap? Anyway, he’ll be my grandson in the future, and I can’t change it.”
Lin Yuyan still thought he should persuade him to be better in time, but he glanced at his side and found that Charlie had already aggressively rushed over here with a suspicious Mr. Zeng standing beside him with a teasing face, he clearly had the intention of watching a good show.
D*mn it! Meng Hu cursed under his breath as he turned around and ran away, not forgetting to call Lin Yuyan out. Lin Yuyan trembled and said, “I- I didn’t do anything, ah?”
Meng Hu said, “You are an accomplice! Don’t report what you know!”
Lin Yuyan thought about it and realized that he really was an accomplice. He was so frightened that the chef’s hat fell on the ground and he ran after Meng Hu like a rabbit.
But he didn’t have any athletic abilities. He usually slipped around and fell when he walks on snow, let alone running. He slipped three times for each step and he nearly fell onto the ground.
“Hurry up and make some snowballs!”
After Meng Hu finished speaking, he threw a huge snowball at Charlie. It landed right between his forehead, his aim was very accurate. He shouted, “Bullseye!” before launching his second round of snowballs.
Lin Yuyan’s aim was inaccurate. but it still hindered Charlie’s vision.
Meng Hu rolled and crawled into a new position. Lin Yuyan also wanted to follow after him but as soon as he stood up, he saw a large snowball flying towards him.
He was so frightened that he quickly closed his eyes, “Idiot! Did you think if you close your eyes the snowball would magically disappear?!”
He didn’t know when Gu Yaoyang arrived and helped block the snowball for him. He grabbed his hand and led him to the back of the homestay, not far away. Lin Yuyan asked in surprise, “Why did you come out?” Gu Yaoyang patted the snow on his body then poked him in the forehead and said, “I was afraid you’ll get buried in the snow. Say, who was bullying you?”
Lin Yuyan just got hit a few times and said excitedly: “Are you going to avenge me?”
Gu Yaoyang answered, “Yes.”
“That one, wearing a blue down jacket.” Their position was quite hidden, and it was impossible for him to find them if he didn’t look carefully.
Gu Yaoyang made a snowball and threw it at the person wearing the blue jacket with a “Whoosh!-”
“Dang it! Who the h*ll hit me!”
“Oh! And that one, with blonde hair and green eyes!”
Gu Yaoyang casually responded as he made another snowball and aimed it at the back of the blonde head. With a “Whoosh!-” the snowball hit his target again. “Damn! Who the h*ll snuck up on me?”
“Hah hah!” Lin Yuyan quickly covered his mouth and said, “Charlie! He managed to hit me twice!”
Gu Yaoyang glanced at him while collecting snow, “I never thought you’d have a vengeful personality. How could you remember how many times a person managed to hit you?” Before he even finished speaking, his snowballs already hit Charlie’s head from the back twice. After a few miserable howls, Charlie turned his head and found Lin Yuyan’s white jacket exposed right outside the edge.
“It’s coach G! He’s the one sneaking up on us!”
“D*mn! Coach is playing! He has the ability to fight!”
Some people became timid, “G- Is the coach playing?”
Someone shouted, “Fight? So what if he’s fighting ah?! Just for today! Today’s the chance for us to get our revenge, revenge for those who have grievances! Don’t forget how he hit us before!”
“Tsk.” Gu Yaoyang squinted his eyes, looking a little dangerous.
Lin Yuyan was nervous and excited at the same time, “Wh- what should we do? Can you beat them?”
“Guess?”
“Can you?” After speaking, Gu Yaoyang took off his coat and covered their heads.
Lin Yuyan asked, “How are you going to fight? There are so many of them.”
Gu Yaoyang supported his clothes with one hand and dragged him up with the other. He pragmatically said, “Hit and run.”
There was a slope next to them, and while he climbed up the slope, he also managed to dodge a player’s snowball. Lin Yuyan’s face turned red when he ran, and he kept laughing. He had never played like this before. Even with Zhuo Hang and the others, he had never experienced such a feeling.
There was snow along the way and because it belonged to a scenic area, dim yellow street lights were erected every few meters, so one can see the road clearly.
Lin Yuyan said, “I thought you could knock them all down.”
Gu Yaoyang took his last cigarette from his cigarette case and asked, “What am I? Superman?”
“Yeah.”
He seemed to be getting bolder, and the clearer his mind was, the more he felt that he had nothing he couldn’t say, but his voice was a little small, and Gu Yaoyang didn’t seem to hear him.
As Gu Yaoyang was smoking his freshly lit cigarette he heard Lin Yuyan call him, “Gu Yaoyang!”
“Huh?” Gu Yaoyang turned back when he heard the voice. A loose snowball smashed towards him, and fell at his feet with a “plup”.
“Ha..haha.” Lin Yuyan laughed dryly, and just as he was about to get away with it, he saw Gu Yaoyang snort at him, then bend down and grab a handful of snow. Lin Yuyan was so frightened that he turned his head and ran.
But when he took two steps forward he felt a big hand wrapping itself around his waist as he got pulled into a half hug.
Lin Yuyan bent his eyes and begged for mercy, but he was pushed against the lamppost, waiting for his punishment.
After waiting for a few seconds, the expected pain did not come, and Gu Yaoyang flicked at his nose, only a few snowflakes fell off.
It was nothing but a little chill.
“Where are you going, bad guy?”
Lin Yuyan didn’t say anything, just looked at him with a smile. A few ribbon-shaped aurora faintly appeared in the night sky. He had been looking forward to it for a long time, but he didn’t feel like watching it. He closed the distance between them and gave a quick kiss on Gu Yaoyang’s lips.
The kiss was a bit sudden, and even he was frightened. He quickly lowered his head and said with a blushing face, “Gu Yaoyang.”
“I, I seem to.. like you.”