Chapter 38

Yu Linran’s question mark comment was quite intriguing.

However, with the morning study session approaching, and Ying Nian being on her way to school, the situation didn’t allow for much conversation with Yu Linran. After a brief thought, she decided not to reply just yet, putting her phone away and focusing on getting to school.

At noon, after class, Ying Nian went to find Zhou Yao, and together with Jiang Jiashu and the others, they headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Once seated, she finally opened up Yu Linran’s chat and sent him a private message.

[Captain, why were you still up so late last night?]

She didn’t get an immediate reply after sending the message. After all, if she had moments where she couldn’t check her phone, then of course Yu Linran, who had his own things to deal with, couldn’t be glued to his phone 24/7 either. After glancing at her screen twice, she stopped checking and started eating.

It wasn’t until just before the lunch break ended that Yu Linran responded: [After training, we played a few rounds of games, so it was a bit late.]

Ying Nian didn’t have time to reply immediately, but after one of her classes ended, she picked up the conversation: [I see, keep up the good work!]

Their conversation continued in this “you’re around when I’m not, I’m around when you’re not” style, and by the time Ying Nian returned home in the evening, they had only exchanged a few brief messages—

[School has been pretty interesting lately?] Yu Linran had asked.

Ying Nian replied, [Yeah! Super interesting! But there are also a lot of annoying things, and some people are just downright unpleasant!] The fun stuff was, of course, related to Zhou Yao, while the annoying and unpleasant parts were mostly about certain people revealing their ugly sides.

He asked, [Made new friends?]

She responded without hesitation, with absolute certainty, [Yes! A really good friend! We get along so well!]

[Is it a guy?]

[No, it’s a girl.]

By the time they reached this point in the conversation, Ying Nian had already returned home. Having finished her homework at school, she washed up and then snuggled into bed. She saw Yu Linran’s message: [That’s nice.]

While lying there, she continued chatting with him, but she accidentally pressed the wrong button and opened the voice call by mistake. Panicking, she scrambled to hang up, but before she could, he picked up.

“Hello?”

Yu Linran’s voice echoed through her phone, filling her cozy bed. Ying Nian froze for a moment, then awkwardly replied, “Hello…”

Since the call had already connected, she decided there was no point in typing anymore.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing. Uh… Captain, what are you up to?”

“Chatting with you, getting ready for bed.”

Just like her, it seemed they were doing about the same thing. Ying Nian shifted to face the inside of her bed, and the soft rustling sounds were especially clear in the quiet night.

Before she could respond, Yu Linran spoke again, “It seems like it’s been a while since you’ve come to watch a match.”

To be precise, ever since this semester started, Ying Nian hadn’t attended any of their matches in person.

“Because I’m in my final year of high school, it’s a bit troublesome to ask for leave.” Ying Nian sighed as she said this. “Even when I promise my teachers, they still won’t approve it, afraid that it will distract me.”

“Academics are important,” Yu Linran agreed with the teachers, though he immediately corrected himself. “But it’s okay if you can’t come. It’s your last year, and after the college entrance exam, you’ll have plenty of time to watch.”

“Yeah,” Ying Nian responded obediently. “Actually, I don’t think the final year is much different from the previous ones. It’s all just studying. I don’t need to cram at the last minute or suddenly push myself. I even participated in a competition right after the semester started. I don’t feel like it’s affecting my studies…”

She added, “But it’s fine. This year, I made new friends, and things have been much more interesting. It doesn’t feel as hard to get through as before!”

Yu Linran was silent for a moment, then said, “It’s rare to see you like someone this much.”

Ying Nian thought for a moment. “…That’s true. I’m very picky, my standards are really high! I don’t take to just anyone! But my friend is different. You have no idea, she’s incredibly special. I really, really like her! For certain reasons—well, it’s hard to explain—but there were some people at school who bullied her before. It made me so angry! I wanted to kick all of them into a cesspit…”

She spoke with passion, her words pouring out nonstop. After all, with the distance between them, neither could truly grasp the other’s emotions at that moment; they could only rely on the phone to communicate.

In the end, she sighed and said, “If I could, I’d want to spend the rest of my life with her!”

There was silence on the other end for a while.

Ying Nian waited for a bit. “Captain? Did you fall asleep?”

“No,” Yu Linran’s voice finally came through, calm and steady. “I was just waiting for you to finish.”

She felt a little embarrassed. “Am I talking too much…?”

“I usually don’t think you talk a lot,” he replied. “But when it comes to talking about this person, you definitely seem different.”

Ying Nian couldn’t tell whether Yu Linran’s comment was a compliment or criticism, but she didn’t dwell on it. At worst, he might find her chatty, but he wouldn’t scold her for it, so she didn’t take it to heart.

“Because I really like her…” she muttered.

“You call her ‘little cutie’?”

“That’s the name I saved her under in my contacts! I don’t call her that to her face!” Ying Nian explained. “In person, I just call her by her nickname.”

Yu Linran then slowly asked, “So… what name did you save me under?”

Ying Nian responded without hesitation, “103!”

There was a moment of silence on the other end, slightly longer than usual, but she could still hear his breathing. Then, in a low and deliberate voice, Yu Linran spoke, pausing between each word as if almost speaking one word at a time, “Why didn’t you use my full name?”

“You prefer being saved under your full name?” Ying Nian was startled. “If you like that, I can change it to…”

Before she could finish, Yu Linran interrupted, “I’m tired. Going to sleep.”

Ding—

The abrupt sound of the call disconnecting was quick and sudden. Ying Nian stared at the screen, puzzled, wondering what just happened.

…

During her final year of high school, Ying Nian either directly participated in or closely observed many significant events.

Because of Zhou Yao, she made another new friend. This girl, named Zheng Yinyin, was different from her and Zhou Yao. She wasn’t particularly outstanding or remarkable, but she had a great personality.

As it turns out, there was some connection between Ying Nian and Zheng Yinyin. Zheng Yinyin had joined the kendo club because of a boy she liked, but the club captain, out of jealousy, used training as an excuse to bully her, causing great harm to both her body and mind.

The kendo club captain was a sophomore. By the time Ying Nian was in her senior year, she, along with other senior members, followed the rules and submitted their withdrawal forms from the club, stopping all extracurricular activities to focus on preparing for the college entrance exams.

Zheng Yinyin, however, was too confused and hesitant. Out of concern for the boy she liked and faced with deliberate difficulties from the club captain, she remained in the kendo club despite being in her senior year.

It was Ying Nian who stepped in to resolve the situation. With a display of fair and precise swordsmanship, she defeated the club captain, leaving her with no chance to retaliate, forcing her to bow down and beg for mercy.

Ying Nian also finalized Zheng Yinyin’s withdrawal from the club. She even dared to stand up to misbehaving teachers, easily dismantling the captain’s excuse that “the teacher was too busy to approve the withdrawal request.”

After that, the three became good friends. Ying Nian and Zhou Yao helped tutor Zheng Yinyin, who distanced herself from the social circle of the boy she once admired. She didn’t let Ying Nian and Zhou Yao’s efforts go to waste. When her name appeared on the top 100 list, this “ordinary” girl couldn’t help but cry, her eyes red with emotion.

In the midst of all these events, senior year passed by in the blink of an eye.

During this time, Ying Nian could count on one hand the number of times she went to watch SF’s matches. With her busy schedule, she no longer made plans to meet Yu Linran for meals like she used to. She would usually catch the game and then take a midnight flight back home that same night.

There was only one time when she acted on a whim, making a light-up sign with the words “Yu Linran, marry me” and wore it on her head, complete with an arrow pointing toward herself.

A few of her friends from the group chat, including Xiaoxiao, whom she hadn’t seen in a while, helped her hold up support signs that read, “Yu Linran, marry her.”

It was a rare moment of playful chaos.

However, her schoolwork was still heavy. After that match, Yu Linran chatted with her on WeChat, but since she had classes, they only exchanged a few scattered messages before the conversation ended.

Later on, Ying Nian was admitted to her dream university through a special recommendation, effectively crossing the finish line ahead of others. In the lead-up to the college entrance exams, she lived far more relaxed than most.

By late June, the reality of the college entrance exams being over finally sank in.

Ying Nian began attending SF’s matches again, following them to different cities, flying to wherever they competed with her small backpack in tow. However, despite watching several games, she still hadn’t been able to meet up with Yu Linran in person.

The first few times, she held back from interfering with Yu Linran. This year was quite important for him and the team, and she didn’t want to be too carefree and disrupt him. Later on, perhaps after seeing her posts on Weibo, Yu Linran found out that she had attended several matches. He messaged her on WeChat.

[Why didn’t you tell me you came to watch the matches?]

[I didn’t want to disturb you.]

It took Yu Linran a while to reply, and when he did, it was just one word: [Oh.]

Ying Nian stared at the conversation, feeling a bit down. It seemed that, as she feared, after so long without seeing each other, her relationship with him had become noticeably more distant.

With this indescribable mix of emotions, Ying Nian continued to follow a few more matches.

In between watching games, she made time to have dinner with friends. It was a rare occasion that everyone was home—those who had been traveling or visiting relatives were back—so they quickly arranged a get-together.

That day, Ying Nian used her Weibo account, “Yu Linran, Marry Me,” which had tens of thousands of followers, to follow Zheng Yinyin’s suddenly popular account, “Yinyin Yearns to Sing.” Zhou Yao’s Weibo, with almost no followers and little activity, had, of course, long been on Ying Nian’s follow list.

For SF’s match in the capital, Ying Nian invited Zhou Yao to go with her. After much convincing, Chen Xuze, who practically wanted to control everything, including the air Zhou Yao breathed, reluctantly agreed to let her travel with Ying Nian alone.

During their five-day, four-night trip to the capital, after watching the match, Ying Nian and Zhou Yao stayed for a few more days to explore. The photo Ying Nian liked the most from this trip was one she took while passing through a plaza on a night out.

In the plaza, there were two large screens—one displaying a wedding advertisement and the other showing SF’s promotional video.

Ying Nian persuaded Zhou Yao to take a photo for her.

In the picture, the left screen featured SF’s promo, frozen at the moment showing Yu Linran’s individual promotional shot, with clear, bright colors. The right screen displayed the wedding ad, with four large, bold words: “Marry Me, Will You,” standing out prominently.

In the photo, Ying Nian stood between the two screens, holding her face with a look of pure happiness, as if she was about to marry the person in the promotional image on the left at any moment.

As for Zhou Yao’s photo, taken by Ying Nian, it only captured the “Marry Me, Will You” part of the ad. There was no need to guess who she sent it to—it could only be Chen Xuze.

Ying Nian actually envied her. With the “friend” status she had with Yu Linran now, there was no way she could send him such an embarrassing photo. She didn’t even dare post it on her Moments.

Yu Linran seemed to be very busy and tired from the matches. When she arrived in the capital and messaged him saying, [I’m at the venue.],

His only reply was a simple [Mm.]

Perhaps feeling a bit awkward, Ying Nian didn’t know how to continue the conversation, and it ended there.

The day after returning from the capital, perhaps because Zhou Yao was in a good mood, Ying Nian, while casually scrolling through Weibo, saw that Zhou Yao had posted the two photos from that night in the plaza.

Without thinking much, Ying Nian liked the post.

Ying Nian was still undecided about whether to attend SF’s match the following week. Before she could make a decision, Yu Linran suddenly sent her a message.

He said, [The team has some complimentary tickets for the next match. The coach remembered you’re on break and asked if you’re coming to watch.]

She was a bit taken aback, pleasantly surprised—it had been a while since she’d felt this way. [Can I really go?]

[Do you want to come?]

[Of course I want to! I really want to go!]

Yu Linran replied, [Then come.]

Was it because she had been too busy during her senior year, or was it that this year held special significance for him, making him put in extra effort? She couldn’t quite say. All she knew was that it had been a long time since they had spoken like this.

Ying Nian felt a slight ache at the tip of her nose, and a sign of emotion welling up inside.

This indescribable feeling lingered in her heart, staying with her all the way until the day she went to watch the match.