CH 22

Chapter 22: Trusting someone with Sincerity

Julie forced me to go buy a bikini. The reason that she used to persuade me was extremely convincing: A person who is single should wear clothes that attract the opposite sex. Later, I decided that Julie was definitely a very high-level schemer. Because when I wore my bikini, I immediately changed into cannon fodder. That is, I was being used for setting off Julie’s scorching figure. I would forever just remain the friend beside the hot girl.

I accepted Julie’s bikini recommendation, but my other reason for accepting it was that swimming classes were separated into a male class and a female class. In this way, wearing a bikini was still okay, so much so that it didn’t matter if we were naked during class. But, I didn’t expect that even though the class would be divided into male and female classes, we still had to share the class location. Because Peking University had only one swimming pool, and this was a required course, males and females occupied each of the four lanes in the swimming pool. At this end of the pool, it was the female’s class. On the other side, it was the men’s class. Two classes of people were separated into broad lanes and we surreptitiously, or brazenly surveyed each other, and sized up each other’s circumstances.

In the first class, the physical education teacher wore a T-shirt and came over. She introduced herself quite frankly and said: “Hello all classmates. I was originally the teacher for the basketball class, and I am surnamed Zhang. This year, of the teachers majoring in swimming, one got pregnant, and the other one went to our national swimming team to support them. Thus, this teacher is a bit nervous, I was only used to make up for the lack of teachers. I hope you classmates can take care of me more during class.”

I was dumbstruck. What kind of circumstance was this? A student who was afraid of water had come across a teacher who specialized in doing exercises on dry land. I couldn’t say whether I could master swimming this semester.

The teacher once again said: “Those of you who already know how to swim, please raise your hand.”

About ten hands raised into the air. Among them was Julie. I calculated that our class had 20 students, which meant that the remaining individuals were what I counted…

The teacher satisfactorily indicated that everyone should put their hands down: “After a while, these students will swim for me. Remember, breaststroke and doggy paddle do not count. If your posture is to the norm, then you don’t need to come to class. Next week you can go immediately to take part in the 200m exams. The other people can only learn how to swim breaststroke with the correct posture, and cannot stop in the middle of swimming 200m. For the rest of class, you can also apply for the test early and take it early. Everyone who has passed the exam only has to sit for a makeup exam of the theoretical content on the last class. I will help you guys take this class.”

My heart thought that I was finished. Would a teacher who didn’t know how to swim and the rest of the 19 students look at me taking the 200m test on the last class? Such a humiliating prospect, please do not let it happen to me!

To let me despair thoroughly, the teacher added: “Of the remaining students, those of you who have never touched water, please raise your hands.”

I shivered as I heaved my hand up. When I looked back, I was the only one to raise my hand out of the twenty people.

Can you not be so dramatic?

I am a weak student, but you are not allowed to bully me.

The teacher let us line up along the pool, and do some warmup exercises before entering the pool. I dispiritedly followed the teacher’s tempo, extending my hands and turning my neck. Right when I was about to turn my neck to the center position, I saw that within the ranks of the schoolboys across from us, there was a familiar yet strange figure–Fang Yu Ke

I surprisedly felt my neck almost snap. At once, I gave a meaningful look at Julie. Julie had also seen Fang Yu Ke. But she was very valiant, and didn’t express the slightest amount of wonder. She only exclaimed in admiration: “His figure is so great!”

I fell backwards…This was the first time I had seen Fang Yu Ke this semester. Last time, on the bridge, when I had expressed my heartfelt feelings, I could only pretend he existed as an imaginary character. Right now, seeing him, I always felt a little uneasy, and a faint bit of regret that we had talked so frankly. When one takes off his or her camouflage and revealed his or her true opinions, then one won’t have a thread of a sense of security. It just felt as uncomfortable as me wearing this swimsuit, standing in a crowd of boys who weren’t that far away from me. But I never thought that Fang Yu Ke would be frank with me to the end …..Even though I said that from now on, I would take him as a good friend, God did not need to overlook other arrangements, right?

But, as for the charm of the present, if I didn’t take a look it would be wasted. I also managed to look quite a bit…

Yup. It was indeed a masculine figure…

I had to feel those pectoral muscles if I had an opportunity, to see if it really was as strong as it looked.

I was embarrassed to comment on the part in the middle of his body, but he had everything he should have had…

His legs were very straight and slender……

He could completely be an endorser for CK…

I drew back the corners of my mouth into a smile. Because there was a distance between us, I did not have to worry about being too engrossed. Haha…

I quietly said to Julie: “Julie, now, do you still have the mood to test early?”

Julie immediately said: “How can I take the exam early? I must come here every week to toughen up and cultivate my mind.”

I hoped that Fang Yu Ke could attract some female classmates until I learned how to swim. But I also hoped, contradictorily, that he’d better take the exam early so that I would not have to “be exposed” in a crowd that gradually lessened.

After class, Julie and I finished bathing at the public baths. We planned to go to the nearby dining hall to have a meal. We hadn’t walked a few steps before I saw Fang Yu Ke had also come out from the public baths. A towel even dangled from his neck. I hurriedly pulled Julie over. Julie didn’t understand the situation and looked around everywhere for any strange circumstances. The moment she saw Fang Yu Ke, she pulled away from my hand and loudly yelled at Fang Yu Ke: “Fang Yu Ke—”

Oh, don’t tell me that I didn’t have a single reserved woman by my side?

Fang Yu Ke nodded his head to express his greeting in return. He was very aloof. Full of joy and expectations, Julie said: “Have you eaten? Do you want to eat with us? We haven’t had time to thank you person about the computer class affair. What about we fix a date for today, and today we’ll invite you out to eat.”

I promptly persuaded: “He isn’t used to letting girls treat, so don’t court him like that. We should still go back to the dorm quickly.”

I turned my head and laughed: “See you later~~”

I didn’t think that Fang Yu Ke would say: “I am a little hungry now, but it’s a pity that I didn’t bring my food card or wallet when I went out to swim.”

Julie laughed mischievously: “Let’s go.”

It was like this that the three of us, wet and in despair, lifted a bath basket in each hand in the winter, as we walked to the Southern entrance of Shinwong temple.

Oh, who was the one who looked at him until their eyes began to become vertical lines?

Fang Yu Ke laughed: “I’m all right.”

Julie asked again: “If you guys know how to swim, can you take the exam early?”

Fang Yu Ke shook his head.

Julie smiled, pleased. She turned towards me and winked. I became depressed. How could this young lady become so excited, just like someone who had injected chicken blood [1]?

I silently drank my hot tea, not knowing what to say. The whole meal was very strange. Throughout the time, only Julie brought up special topics and talked. Fang Yu Ke and I cooperated with her and became the audience. Occasionally we would say a “Right” “Is that so?” “Of course” and other things like that to deal with her.

When Julie went to the bathroom, Fang Yu Ke suddenly opened his mouth: “So you actually can’t swim.”

“How did you know?” I immediately asked.

Fang Yu Ke laughed.

It turned out that when I raised my hand to express that I had not went into the water before, he had seen me. Then hadn’t he caught sight of that bikini? I couldn’t help but put both hands in front of my chest and strike a pose: “In the future, you are not allowed to look at me foolishly. You swim what you have to.”

Fang Yu Ke lazily said: “You looked at me for so long and I didn’t say anything. Aren’t you only stopping other people from glancing at you because your swimsuit was so open? Plus, there’s nothing to even see.”

Hey, how could this person have such a sharp mouth and teeth? I was extremely annoyed but I indeed had nothing much for people to look at……

Fang Yu Ke: “I initially thought that that you were skinny only because you took off your clothes. Right now, looking at you, you are really very skinny.”

I refused his assessment. With regards to my emotions, he was clearer than Julie was. I hadn’t much to explain. It was only that this sentence of “you were skinny only because you took off your clothes” made me feel a little out of sorts. Julie came back from the bathroom and saw us talking and said: “I just felt you two had quarreled. How come you didn’t speak at all? It turns out you can only talk when I’m not around. What were you talking about?”

Fang Yu Ke said: “Nothing much. I was just asking her to take care of her body. If she gets any skinnier, then no one will want her anymore.”

I angrily grabbed my chopsticks and poked him: “Who won’t want me? This old lady is loved upon everyone’s first glance. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the magpie bridge [2] and put my photo there. I swear that my phone will blow up and my mailbox will be paralyzed.”

Fang Yu Ke laughed: “Yup, that’s definite. Then they’ll all complain about you. It doesn’t matter if you look ugly, but if you look ugly and refuse to dive underwater, when you come out and scare people, it will be your fault.”

I regretted forgetting that he had a poisonous tongue. How could I quarrel with him?!……

[1] During the cultural revolution, injecting chicken blood was a popular way of maintaining good health

[2] Magpie bridge: It’s basically a bridge where people pin their contact info/photos to it (in honor of the myth of Niulang and Zhinu), and they hope to find their one true love just like in the myth. Lol I only remember seeing this in a comedy where they put chains all over the bridge’s sides and people could lock their photos onto the chain with their partner which would symbolize their union together.