“Your legs are long too, how come they’re not negative?” Shi Nan retorted.
“My legs and arms are long, but your arms are too short.”
Shi Nan angrily pulled over a female classmate, Jia, who was about the same height as him, and insisted on arm-wrestling with her. Before they could decide a winner, Lan Di smiled. Although he was pursing his lips, Shi Nan had never seen him smile so brightly before.
Now, when she thinks of him, Shi Nan deliberately ignores her disappointment and tries to face him with a calm smile, treating him as a good friend.
Their letters continued to come and go, each expressing their joys and sorrows, their troubles and worries, nothing more.
But it never stops.
Not long after the start of the new semester, the school organized a basketball tournament. The girls, naturally, formed the cheerleading squad.
Shi Nan wasn't actually interested in basketball. She would watch any class games in high school, but only because of Wang Fan. To put it bluntly, she was there to watch the game.
She has no one to watch now, so naturally she's not interested, let alone being a cheerleader.
But the class monitor encouraged her, saying, "Shi Nan, although you're far from being the prettiest in our school, you're still considered one of the top ten. If you go and contribute to our department's cheerleading team, it'll definitely bring good luck."
Shi Nan remained expressionless and said, "I'm not going."
The class monitor changed his tone, "Shi Nan, I haven't settled the score with you for lying about giving your boyfriend a ride back at the beginning of the semester. Consider this my way of collecting a debt, you have to go."
Shi Nan gritted his teeth and finally managed to squeeze out a sentence after a long while: "Just one game."
Our department's first match was against the French department. The class monitor demanded that the cheerleading squad all wear the same clothes as on TV: white T-shirts, white skirts, and white shoes—basically, look like a group of Sharapovas dancing.
Shi Nan had too many of these clothes. They were his main clothes. After being ordered to stop wearing them by his homeroom teacher in his senior year of high school, Shi Nan felt even more regret and nostalgia for them. He wore them even more often when he went to college.
Standing off the field, Shi Nan thought about the moves he had practiced and silently recited a silly slogan that someone had come up with, "Ouyu Ouyu, oh yeah oh yeah."
Just then, a boy passed by, heard her muttering, and laughed.
Shi looked up and glared at him. The boy smiled at her, revealing a set of white teeth. "Shouting like that will only boost the morale of the other side."
"......?"
"It sounds so unenthusiastic. The role of cheerleaders is to encourage the players on the field, but what you're saying sounds like... you're here to drag them down."
Shi Nan was furious. She looked him up and down. He was wearing long sleeves and pants, but no sports uniform. "You talk like you're the one playing on the court. Stop spouting nonsense and go cheer for your class."
The boy didn't say anything more and walked away, leaving a smile behind him that seemed to say, "We'll see."
The game started, and Shi Nan stood in his assigned position. He stared intently at the court and saw... that boy had taken off his long shirt and pants, revealing a basketball jersey and shorts underneath, and was standing on the opposing team's court.
Seeing Shi Nan's surprised expression, he gave her a smile as if he had won the lottery.
It was clear on the field that the French department was not as strong as the European language department as a whole, but the individual skills of that boy were excellent, which allowed the French department to maintain a score that was comparable to that of the European language department under these circumstances.
Remembering what he said, Shi Nan suddenly became emotional, shouted with all her might, and even increased the stride of the body movements that she never paid attention to during practice, showing the momentum of a professional cheerleading girl.
The other girls also became more proactive because of her change, and the European language team members on the field also started to get into the swing of things and scored goals frequently.
But... why does that guy on the opposing team, who looks like he's won the lottery, also seem so energized? Didn't he hear that they were shouting in European, not French?!
As the game drew to a close, the European Languages Department, relying on its overall strength, finally widened the score gap. When the final whistle blew, the entire department erupted in cheers – they had won!
Before leaving, Shi glanced at the boy, intending to taunt him, but saw him sitting on the ground, panting and staring at him.
The boy stood up and walked over, a white towel draped around his neck, his thin hair on his forehead damp with sweat and hanging down. "My name is Ye Feng."
"I didn't ask your name." Actually, what she was thinking was, "Such a cheesy name, it's like something out of a novel."
"What's your name?" he asked again.
"Why should I tell you?" He's a grown man, there's no need for him to act so childish, but Shi Nan, thinking about what happened before, just didn't want to be generous and wanted to act coy.
Before he could say anything more, Shi Nan quickly followed Zhang Fan back.
The girls on the street were chattering, but not because their department had won; it was actually about the boy.
"That striker from the French department is really handsome."
"You guys don't know, do you? His nickname is Rukawa Kaede. He looks like him, his basketball skills are amazing, and his name also has the character 'Kaede' in it."
What's his name?
"Ye Feng is one of the most handsome students in this year's freshmen."
Suddenly someone asked, "Shi Nan, why did you suddenly become such a different person in the first half of the game? You were so excited!"
"Yeah, yeah, I was shocked when I was watching from the sidelines. Shi Nan, you have no idea, you're like a Sailor Moon!"
"Shi Nan, you've never been like this during rehearsals before. I never expected you to achieve such a great victory at this crucial moment."
Shi Nan said slowly, "I was provoked."
Shi Nan kept her word and, no matter how much the class monitor tried to persuade her, she didn't go to the next few matches.
There was another competition that day, and Shi Nan was reading in her dormitory when she heard someone calling for her downstairs.
I went downstairs and looked left and right. Ye Feng? Is that him? But I don't recognize anyone else.
Just as Shi was about to turn around and ask the security guard, he walked over and said, "Don't ask, I'm here to see you."
"How do you know my name?" Shi asked warily.
Seeing her like this, Ye Feng wanted to tease her even more, "Ask the boys in your class who play basketball. I'll ask you, hey, who's that girl in your class who's been shouting 'Yay!' like crazy all day?"
Shi Nan's face was full of anger. He wanted to curse but didn't know how, and he wanted to hit but felt it was inappropriate. He turned to leave, but Shi Nan grabbed his arm.
"Just kidding."
"Let go."
"I'll let go if you're not angry." Is a person almost twenty still resorting to this coquettish act?
Shi Nan looked him up and down and then noticed that he was wearing white clothes today. Although it was sportswear, it suddenly reminded her of someone. That person always wore light colors, but never sportswear.
Shi Nan's heart softened immediately, and she gave in. "Okay, I won't be angry anymore."
Ye Feng flashed a smile, revealing his white teeth. "Then come eat with me."
repay
As you can probably guess, Ye Feng naturally took a liking to Shi Nan and began appearing in front of her more and more frequently.
Ye Feng is indeed handsome, but there are many kinds of handsomeness, and he is not the kind that Shi Nan is attracted to.
Before Ye Feng confessed his feelings, Shi Nan didn't avoid him. Whenever he contacted her, she would respond if she had time—for meals, studying, playing ball with him, participating in club activities...
After entering university, Shi Nan made almost no good friends. Zhang Fan often went home and did not live on campus, so people frequently came to ask her to do something together, which made Shi Nan happy.
So, in the eyes of outsiders, the two were already a couple.
Even Zhang Fan asked her, "Shi Nan, I heard you've been getting quite close to that Rukawa Kaede from the French department lately?"
"Yeah, we get along pretty well." Shi Nan never bothered to avoid suspicion. In high school, she was called in by her homeroom teacher because she was on friendly terms with several boys. The teacher asked her, "Shi Nan, which one are you on good terms with?" She was both amused and exasperated.
"You know what I mean."
"You want to ask if we're dating, right? Hehe, no."
"But everyone says you two are deeply in love."
"Yeah, if I were an outsider, I'd also think they look alike. Zhang Fan, Ye Feng isn't my type."
"You, you, you're getting the benefits and you're still acting innocent! Do you know how many love letters Ye Feng has received from girls? My childhood friend was in the same dorm as him, and he told me that their nightly pre-lights activity was reading out the love letters Ye Feng received that day."
Shi Nan was not surprised by this and continued, "When Slam Dunk was super popular when I was a kid, everyone liked Rukawa Kaede, but I liked Sakuragi Hanamichi."
"Hey, trying to tell me you have unique taste?"
"So what do you think of Wang Fan?"
Shi Nan's question hit the nail on the head, catching Zhang Fan off guard. A flicker of unease crossed her eyes. "Yes, it's good. Actually, I won't hide it from you, Shi Nan, I quite like him." She had told the truth.
"When I was in high school, there was a boy in my class who was admired by almost all the girls in the school, but I just didn't like him. I liked Wang Fan instead."
“At first, I even looked down on him. I thought it was a shame for a guy to have a face like that, and that he could only rely on that to attract young girls.”
"Back then, he was like Rukawa Kaede, and Wang Fan was like my Sakuragi."
"But you still broke up with Sakuragi in the end," Zhang Fan said, hitting the nail on the head.
“That’s not all,” Shi Nan murmured to himself.
"??"
"It's nothing, I'm going now, time for class." The rest of the sentence remained unspoken: It's more than that. I'm afraid that in the end, I'll still fall for Rukawa Kaede.
Ye Feng pushed the bowl to Shi Nan, "Pick out all the beef brisket you like to eat."
"It's not like I don't have any in my bowl. You eat yours and stop acting like a typical boyfriend."
Ye Feng seized the opportunity, "Shi Nan, haven't you realized yet? Actually... I'm just a typical boyfriend..."
Upon hearing this, Shi Nan choked, "Ye Feng, there's a nice girl in my dorm named Zhang Fan. I'll introduce her to you and let you experience being the perfect boyfriend."
"Don't pretend with me, I know you understand."
Shi Nan's face immediately turned serious. He wiped his mouth, put down his chopsticks, and spoke in a voice so soft it was unreal, but Ye Feng clearly still heard it: "I don't like Rukawa Kaede's type."
April has arrived in the blink of an eye, Shi Nan's birthday. No, to be precise, it's Shi Nan and Lan Di's birthday.
Shi Nan calculated the approximate date and sent Lan Di a birthday card. After traveling to many places, she finally found one she liked. It was a card with a blue sea design, a vast expanse of calm, without a ripple, with a small sailboat bobbing on the distant horizon. Shi Nan decided at first sight that this was the one.
The day before Shi Nan's birthday, he received a package from Lan Di. Before opening it, Shi Nan guessed what it would be, and the answer was a plush toy.
It was a pink leopard. The little leopard's slender limbs were restless, baring its teeth and claws. It was slightly larger than a hand, and its entire body was covered in pink leopard spots.
There was also a letter.
"Shi Nan,
I saw it in the window of a toy store a few days ago.
It stared at me with its eyes wide open and bared its teeth, as if it had a grudge against me.