Luo Na first encountered Duan Yucheng during morning exercise three days after their meeting at University A.
By then, the freshmen on the track and field team had all registered, and Luo Na had gotten up early to check out the field at the stadium. That's when she saw this sneaky young man. From a distance, she watched Duan Yucheng peering into the equipment room from the wall. She quietly walked behind him, took a deep breath, and shouted—
"What are you doing!"
"Ah—!"
Duan Yucheng hadn't expected anyone to come to the stadium at six o'clock. He screamed and slid down the wall. Luo Na was prepared and reached out to support his waist, helping him land steadily. Unexpectedly, his waist was Duan Yucheng's Achilles' heel. After landing, he continued his descent, collapsing to the ground, clutching his body.
Luo Na was surprised.
"What's wrong with you? Trying to fake an accident?"
"It tickles."
"Ticklish?"
Luo Na poked Duan Yucheng's ribs, and the boy writhed on the ground like a fish out of water.
"Hey! No! No, no, no!"
Luo Na, having had her fun, laughed and withdrew her hand. Duan Yucheng took a while to stand up, his fair face flushed red, staring blankly at Luo Na.
She apologized insincerely, "Sorry."
Duan Yucheng panted heavily, and Luo Na noticed his attire. "Up so early, morning exercise?" She gestured with her chin towards the equipment room. "What are you looking at here?"
Her question reminded Duan Yucheng, and he took two steps closer to Luo Na, his expression ingratiating.
"Coach, can I have a key to the equipment room?"
"What are you thinking?"
"I'll definitely lock the door for you before seven o'clock."
Luo Na thought for a moment and said, "Want to use the mat?"
Duan Yucheng nodded with a smile, but Luo Na refused. "No. I can't have you training alone. If you get injured, no one will know."
Duan Yucheng protested, "I won't get injured. I've been training alone since middle school."
"No."
"Really, it's okay. Give me a break. Just running without technical training isn't enough. How am I supposed to compete?"
Duan Yucheng tried everything, from gentle persuasion to threats, practically throwing a tantrum, but nothing worked on Luo Na. Five minutes later, he gave up, staring into Luo Na's eyes for a full two minutes without speaking.
Luo Na thought to herself that this little brat could be quite imposing when he was serious. She said calmly, "This is for your safety. I don't care what you did before, but here, you must follow instructions. It'll be too late if something happens."
Duan Yucheng glanced to the side and muttered, "What could possibly happen..."
Luo Na smiled without replying.
Duan Yucheng spent the day in a gloomy mood. After his run that evening, he returned to his dorm, took a furious cold shower, and then stared blankly at the photos on the wall.
He'd been staring blankly for so long that his three roommates noticed something was wrong. Hu Junxiao gave Jia Shili a look.
Jia Shili stretched out his round paw. "Bro, if you have something on your mind, talk to us. What's the point of staring at a photo? By the way, we didn't even ask who's in the photo."
Duan Yucheng said, "Holm."
Han Dai immediately opened Baidu to search. Jia Shili asked again, "You've been listless all day. What happened?"
Duan Yucheng didn't answer, his gaze vacant. Jia Shili asked several times without response, then went back to playing on the computer. Half a minute later, he heard Duan Yucheng say, "I used to be quite popular with girls..."
Jia Shili: "Don't be shameless."
Duan Yucheng glanced at him and said, "Really. My high school homeroom teacher was a woman, and she would agree to any request I made." He paused, then sighed. "Now my good fortune has run out."
Jia Shili recalled Shi Yin's attitude towards him and said with a hint of jealousy, "No, you're still doing alright now."
Duan Yucheng shook his head, slumped onto his desk, his long arms and legs hanging limply, barely breathing.
"All my confidence is gone..."
Jia Shili seemed to see a tiny ghost rising from the top of his head.
The next day, Duan Yucheng went for his morning exercise with a heavy heart, surprised to find someone had arrived earlier than him.
Luo Na leaned against the door of the equipment room.
It was not yet six o'clock. The sun had not yet colored the sky, and darkness was still visible to the naked eye. Under the blue sky, Luo Na wore a pair of three-quarter length black stretch pants and a loose short-sleeved shirt. The hem of the shirt was tied together, revealing her firm waist. Because of years of exercise, Luo Na's body had a rhythmic beauty. Her long hair was draped over her shoulders, covering half her face, and she held a document in her hand, flipping through it and making notes.
A passenger plane took off in the distance, drawing a straight line in the sky belonging to the dawn.
Duan Yucheng stood at the entrance of the stadium for a while, brushed his messy hair, and walked towards her.
Hearing footsteps, Luo Na turned her head and asked, "You're ten minutes late today. What happened?"
"Huh?" Duan Yucheng stopped in his tracks, speechless for a moment, and scratched his neck. "I... I just overslept a little..."
Luo Na said, "Were you disappointed that I didn't let you use the equipment yesterday?"
"No..."
"You're not as energetic for morning exercise, are you? Are you not coming tomorrow or the day after?"
"Who said that!" The young man was completely unable to resist the provocation, and Duan Yucheng retorted with a stiff neck. "Who said I'm not coming? How could I not come?"
Luo Na squinted her eyes. "Just saying. Why are you so agitated? Who told you to be late?"
"I..."
Luo Na put away the document, turned around and opened the door to the equipment room.
"Your willpower still needs some work. Come in."
Duan Yucheng stared at the open door, a hundred words stuck in his throat, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
Luo Na peeked out. "Come in! What are you daydreaming about? I'm locking the door if you're not going to practice." Then she retreated back inside.
Duan Yucheng took a deep breath, ran his hands through his hair, grabbed it, released it, grabbed it again. Finally, he let out a desperate shout. His emotions were being manipulated, like Sun Wukong facing the Buddha—his hair stood on end, utterly helpless.
It seemed like he didn't even need to warm up today.
Luo Na, who was tidying the mats inside, heard his shout and a slight smile curved her lips. Come to think of it, she hadn't thought he'd come today, that he'd given up after being discouraged.
She pulled the mats outside, and Duan Yucheng ran over to help.
He asked, "Are you going to practice with me?"
Luo Na replied, "Of course. I told you you can't practice alone."
He then asked, "So, will you practice with me every morning from now on?"
Luo Na glanced sideways at Duan Yucheng, who was squatting beside the mat, staring at her.
"Not necessarily. If I'm here, we'll do technical practice; if I'm not, you'll do basic training. Remember, you absolutely cannot jump alone, not even if you buy your own equipment."
Duan Yucheng readily agreed, "Okay, I promise."
"Go run to warm up."
He slapped his thigh and sprang to his feet.
The sun began to peek through the clouds, and the sky grew clearer.
Duan Yucheng started running around the track. After 200 meters, he jumped high in the air directly opposite Luo Na, shouting, "Hey! Coach!" Luo Na looked up, and Duan Yucheng yelled back, "Look this way!" He bounced around, making a heart shape with his arms in the air. He wore a light-colored tracksuit, bathed in the morning air, looking like a lively little cabbage from afar, crisp and fresh.
Luo Na scoffed, "Idiot."
After that day, Luo Na trained Duan Yucheng three days a week. Later, Luo Na spoke with the high jump coach and arranged for Duan Yucheng to train with the team on the weekend. After everything was arranged, Luo Na notified Duan Yucheng. The boy, after his initial excitement, asked a crucial question—
"Are you coming too?"
"I have something to do this week, so I'll be a little late if I come."
"Oh..."
Luo Na smiled. "I've already told you, just go ahead, don't be nervous, paratrooper."
Duan Yucheng blushed. "Who's the paratrooper!"
He stubbornly retorted, but he was still a little flustered. Duan Yucheng got up early on the weekend and trained at the stadium for half a day to ensure he was in good physical condition. Around nine o'clock, the track and field team members began to arrive.
Duan Yucheng's nervousness vanished the moment he saw Liu Shan.
"I heard you were coming." Liu Shan, wearing a tank top, strolled up to him. "You're like a persistent ghost, aren't you? Didn't the Normal University want to specially recruit you? What are you doing here?"
Duan Yucheng sneered.
"Someone who's taking my special recruitment spot dares to shamelessly arrange a school for me."
Liu Shan's eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
"Taking your spot? Excuse me?"
"Is that all you know? I'm really curious—you like speaking English so much, how come you've never passed an English exam?"
"Duan Yucheng!" Liu Shan was about to yell, but suddenly shut his mouth. A boy walked over, opened the door to the equipment room with a key, and gave them an annoyed look.
"What's all the noise about? Behave yourselves."
The boy was unusually tall and thin. Just as Duan Yucheng was about to ask Liu Shan who he was, another person walked over from a distance.
"The coach is here." Liu Shan said softly.
Duan Yucheng had previously learned about Gao Mingshuo, the high jump coach at University A. He was forty-two years old, very experienced, and his appearance and teaching style were extremely strict.
Gao Mingshuo came to the field, glanced at Duan Yucheng, and said in a deep voice, "You're the student that Coach Luo arranged?"
Duan Yucheng bowed. "Good morning, Coach."
Gao Mingshuo nodded and said to the tall and thin boy, "Jiang Tian, lead the warm-up."
Duan Yucheng followed behind Jiang Tian, his eyes scanning him from head to toe as if they were glued to his body. Liu Shan ran up to Duan Yucheng, grinning mischievously, and said, "195 centimeters, envious?"
Duan Yucheng didn't answer.
Liu Shan lowered his head and said in an even softer voice, "He's usually over 2.2 meters. He was recruited into the national team last year, but his competition results weren't good, so he was sent back."
Duan Yucheng glanced at him, and Liu Shan mouthed "his temper" silently, then made an exaggerated explosion gesture.
Jiang Tian turned around, and Liu Shan immediately returned to normal, running seriously.
The first day of training went smoothly. Duan Yucheng's attempts consistently remained above 2 meters, exceeding Gao Mingshuo's expectations. After familiarizing himself with his technique, Gao Mingshuo broke down all the movements and refined them bit by bit, as if reshuffling a deck of cards.
After training, Liu Shan stopped Duan Yucheng, frowning. "What's wrong with you? You haven't trained for so long, how could you possibly jump two meters in one go?"
"Who told you I didn't train?"
"How did you train? Aren't you in the School of Economics and Management? What were you doing sneaking around like that, you bastard?"
Liu Shan kept pressing him. Of course, Duan Yucheng couldn't tell him about Luo Na helping him practice in the mornings—that was his secret, something that made him happy just thinking about it.
Just as he thought of Luo Na, he saw her figure appear at the stadium entrance. Duan Yucheng's lips twitched, and he got up to greet her, but unexpectedly, someone else appeared halfway there. Someone else had arrived at Luo Na's side, and the two were chatting and laughing.
Duan Yucheng watched for a while and asked Liu Shan, "Who's that?"
Liu Shan looked over. "Oh, Coach Wu, from the sprint side."
Duan Yucheng was silent for a few seconds and then sat down.
Liu Shan asked him, "I haven't asked you yet, how did you get in touch with Coach Luo? Tell me the truth, did you sell your body?"
Duan Yucheng shifted his gaze to Liu Shan and uttered a single word concisely.
"Get lost."
He glanced at Jiang Tian in the corner, who was watching him, but his gaze quickly shifted away.
That brief eye contact was anything but friendly.
Turning back, Wu Ze and Luo Na were still chatting.
Duan Yucheng let out a long sigh and collapsed to the ground in a starfish shape. The sky was blue, the clouds were white, but his mood was inexplicably gloomy.
The first day of training hadn't ended perfectly.
Duan Yucheng saw Wu Ze again in Luo Na's PE class.
After hearing that Luo Na was in charge of PE for first-year finance students, Duan Yucheng had scouted out the most upscale internet cafe near the school beforehand and quickly secured a seat on the day of course selection. Luo Na's elective was track and field, and the class was packed, mostly with students from Duan Yucheng's class. A group of girls came for Duan Yucheng, while a group of boys came for Shi Yin.
The first PE class was scheduled for a sweltering afternoon.
The playground was completely exposed, with only a small patch of shade under the platform. The twenty-odd students waiting for the teacher were packed tightly together, shoulder to shoulder. A while later, Luo Na arrived, holding the attendance list, and came to the students huddled in the shade.
"What's wrong, a bunch of vampires? Can't stand the sun?"
"It's too hot, teacher."
"Sweat it out, detoxify. Ever heard of 'treating winter diseases in summer'?"
"Teacher, we're not sick..."
"Then let's take preventative measures."
Cicadas chirped incessantly in the trees outside the playground, the sound of dribbling basketballs echoed from the adjacent court, and countless cars passed by on the overpass outside the school, making the sweltering afternoon noisy and scorching.
Luo Na began taking attendance, and halfway through, Wu Ze arrived. He seemed to be just passing by, carrying two bottles of ice water. He called to Luo Na and tossed her one.
He threw it accurately, and she caught it even more accurately—a perfect teamwork.
Luo Na turned back to continue taking attendance, but when she called Duan Yucheng's name, no one answered. She looked up and saw Duan Yucheng staring motionless in the direction Wu Ze had left.
"What are you looking at?" Luo Na tapped the attendance book with her pen.
Duan Yucheng snapped out of his reverie, paused for two seconds, and suddenly asked, "What was Coach Wu's best 100-meter time when he was competing?"
The unexpected question made Luo Na raise an eyebrow slightly.
The sun was so intense it felt like the whole world was melting, and Duan Yucheng was the only one in the class standing in the sunlight.
Luo Na put away the attendance book and stood with her hands behind her back.
"What do you mean?"
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