harleyscars 064 Susie
064 Susie
Following the joint meeting of the Lionheart Society and the Student Council, quiet changes began to occur within the college.
The number of students choosing physical education classes has doubled. Long-distance running and weight training, which used to be incredibly boring, are now fully booked. The reason is simple: the briefing on the Kuimen operation was like a bucket of cold water, waking everyone up. In the face of the real Dragon King, every extra breath is an extra second of life, and every extra bit of strength is an extra choice.
Susie sat on a bench by the playground, drinking mineral water. She heard footsteps approaching from afar, their steps steady and their breathing even.
It's Chu Zihang.
Susie had seen Chu Zihang like this many times: on the playground at six in the morning, in the gym at ten at night, and in the kendo dojo during lunch break. He was always training, always alone.
Lu Mingfei ahead of him was running with his head down, his posture awkward, his steps faltering like he was pedaling a sewing machine. Chu Zihang was clearly much faster than him, but after catching up, he deliberately slowed down and followed behind Lu Mingfei, keeping a steady pace to run a full lap with him.
"Your stride is too small," Chu Zihang said.
"I know," Lu Mingfei said, panting, "because of my short legs."
"It's not about your legs, it's about your hips not opening wide enough." Chu Zihang reached out and pressed on Lu Mingfei's side. "When you landed, your center of gravity was too far back, and your pelvis didn't follow. Open your hips, and your knees will naturally move forward."
Lu Mingfei tried taking two steps, like a giraffe just learning to walk.
Chu Zihang demonstrated by raising his knees, opening his hip joints, and swinging his arms from the position of his shoulder blades.
Caesar cut in from the outside and landed on the other side of Lu Mingfei. The three of them ran side by side for a while, forming a loose horizontal line.
"Lu Mingfei," Caesar said, turning his head as he ran, "You run so hard, I thought you only made a living with your words."
"Word Spirit is treating me like food, Senior Brother!" Lu Mingfei almost choked on his breath.
Caesar raised an eyebrow: "As expected of an S-rank, you're really clear-headed."
The three of them ran around the track, with Chu Zihang occasionally correcting Lu Mingfei's posture, and Caesar interjecting occasionally. At the end, the three of them walked to the edge of the lawn, where Lu Mingfei plopped down on his back like a stranded fish.
Susie watched from afar.
There's always a layer between Chu Zihang and everyone else, but when he's with Lu Mingfei, that layer disappears.
"What are you thinking about?" Nono sat down next to Susie, crossed her legs on the bench, and was drinking yogurt with a straw in her mouth.
"Look at those three people," Susie pointed to the lawn with her water bottle, "when did they get along so well?"
"Of course," Nono mumbled, "Caesar wasn't always like this."
"Um?"
"At first, he really thought Lu Mingfei was a genius who could do everything." Nono took a sip of yogurt. "But in the end, Ling did all his homework for him, read the dragon text to him, and even got him elective courses. After Caesar found out, he felt much better."
Susie suppressed a laugh: "Caesar's grades aren't much better, are they?"
"Yeah," Nono rolled her eyes, "and lately he's been acting crazy, asking me if I could do his homework for him. Does he think he's Lu Mingfei?"
"Would Lu Mingfei be suitable?"
Nono licked the yogurt lid: "Lu Mingfei already has that little sister Ling, he doesn't look down on me, the older sister."
The two looked at each other and burst out laughing at the same time.
After laughing enough, Nono patted Susie on the shoulder and stood up: "I'm going to eat."
She took two steps, then suddenly stopped. "Susie."
"Um?"
"Do whatever you want."
Susie watched her run towards the lawn. Nuonuo ran as casually as she walked, her ponytail swinging high. She shouted at Lu Mingfei from halfway across the playground, her voice so loud that even people on the track turned around to look.
She looked at the four people on the lawn.
Caesar's magnanimity was enviable. He knew perfectly well that Nono had an inexplicable "special" feeling for Lu Mingfei, yet he wasn't jealous. He even found it amusing, his gaze towards Lu Mingfei carrying an expectant look of "I'll see what other tricks you have up your sleeve." Susie couldn't achieve that level of composure.
Nono's carefree nature is enviable. She can laugh loudly in a coffee shop, joke around with Lu Mingfei casually, and become familiar with anyone. She acts like she owns her own place wherever she goes. Susie can't be this carefree.
Zero's courage was enviable. She approached whomever she wanted, offered cookies whenever she wanted, wiped her mouth whenever she wanted, completely disregarding the gazes of those around her, as if the rules of this world had nothing to do with her. Even Susie couldn't possess that kind of courage.
Lu Mingfei's talent is enviable. He seems to have a knack for making everyone like him and believe in him.
But Susie knew that this jealousy was fake.
Chu Zihang appears on the track to run at 6:30 every morning, while Su Qian warms up in the equipment area at 6:20 every morning. She tells herself that it's just a habit of waking up early, and it has nothing to do with Chu Zihang.
While she was warming up, Chu Zihang was running. As she was doing hanging stretches on the horizontal bar, Chu Zihang happened to run past the bend in the weight training area. There was a patch of grass between them, and neither of them looked at the other.
Occasionally, after Chu Zihang finished running, he would walk to the water dispenser next to the equipment area to get water, while Su Xi would bend down to tie her shoelaces or pretend to adjust her watch.
One rainy morning, when the alarm clock rang, the view outside the window was hazy, and raindrops were hitting the glass in dense rain.
Susie arrived at the playground at 6:20, changed her gloves, and grabbed the horizontal bar. The rain was icy and slippery on the iron bar. She did three before falling down, only then realizing that she didn't need to practice pull-ups in the rain at all.
The playground was deserted, with only a few lights on in the distant school building, as if viewed through frosted glass. Susie released her grip on the horizontal bar, wiping the water from her face. At that moment, she felt a sense of relief.
These ten minutes belonged entirely to her.
She tilted her head back, closed her eyes, and let the rain hit her face.
Then the rain stopped overhead.
Susie turned around, and Zero stood behind her, holding an umbrella in one hand and a thermal lunchbox in the other.
"I brought food to Lu Mingfei, but he didn't want to go to the cafeteria." Ling took another folding umbrella out of her backpack and handed it over.
Then she took back the umbrella she had been holding over Susie's head and turned to walk towards the dormitory.
The umbrella was dry; it had obviously been in Ling's bag for a while. She always carried two umbrellas, one for herself and one for Lu Mingfei. She just happened to be passing by and saw Susie getting wet in the rain, so she handed it to her.
It's that simple, that natural.
At this moment, the sunlight bathed the playground.
On the lawn, Nono patted Caesar on the shoulder, and the two walked side by side toward the cafeteria. Zero walked up to Lu Mingfei and handed him the insulated lunchbox. Lu Mingfei took it, opened it, his eyes lit up, and he said something. Zero nodded slightly.
Chu Zihang stood a few steps away.
He was alone.
Susie walked up to Chu Zihang.
"Chu Zihang".
Chu Zihang looked up at her, his golden pupils reflecting the sunlight.
"Let's go eat."
"Um."