Chapter 9 I’ve Been Your Fan For Three Years

This was left here by her yesterday—a flyer from a boxing gym near her neighborhood.

The boxing gym was also one of the sponsors of yesterday’s park event. When Shen Youwei was doing a game raffle, she won a trial lesson.

Before this, she definitely wouldn’t have been interested in boxing, but after what happened yesterday, she suddenly felt it was very necessary to strengthen her body—after all, even if she couldn’t beat a thug, she shouldn’t die so easily, right?

In order to make it harder for anyone who wanted to harm her, Shen Youwei decided to take the trial lesson.

She was always action-oriented, so in the afternoon she found time and went to the boxing gym.

The gym was very close to her residential area, less than ten minutes on foot. The boxing gym had two floors and was about the same size as the nearby tea house. Shen Youwei held the trial card and entered through the main entrance.

The front desk saw someone come in and immediately greeted her warmly, “Hello, are you here to sign up for boxing lessons?”

Wearing a mask, Shen Youwei smiled with her eyes and said, “I want to try this trial lesson.”

The front desk took the trial card she handed over and smiled as she said, “Sure, when would you like to come for the lesson?”

“Can I come now?”

“Yes, let me check which coaches are available now.” The front desk started typing on the computer keyboard, “Coach Wang and Coach Gao are both free now, you can choose one of them.”

Shen Youwei asked, “Do you have their info?”

“Yes, it’s on the wall over there.” The front desk pointed to the display wall nearby, which had photos and brief introductions of each coach, and their records were verifiable.

Shen Youwei walked over, eyes scanning the display wall. The qualifications of the coaches here were quite good, and from their photos, they looked pretty tough. But Coach Wang and Coach Gao looked rather fierce, which Shen Youwei didn’t like much.

There was one coach named Lu Zhaoye, who looked like a college heartthrob, standing out among all the coaches.

“This Coach Lu looks very young.”

The front desk, hearing her mention Coach Lu, showed a knowing expression: “Coach Lu is indeed the youngest coach here, and also the most popular.”

Oh, the sales champion. Shen Youwei nodded, the achievements matching the face.

“Coach Lu’s classes are pretty full. If you want to book him, you might have to wait a while,” the front desk said to Shen Youwei. “Coach Wang and Coach Zhang aren’t as good-looking as Coach Lu, but they have more experience and are very professional.”

After all, unlike Coach Lu, they don’t have a company waiting for them to inherit.

“Alright, just arrange anyone for me,” Shen Youwei said. She wasn’t set on Coach Lu. Today was just to try one trial lesson, she didn’t even know if she could stick with it after the trial.

“Then I’ll arrange Coach Zhang for you, is that okay? Although he looks a bit fierce, he has the best temper here.”

“Okay.” Just as Shen Youwei nodded, she saw the coach named Lu Zhaoye walk out from inside.

Lu Zhaoye was coming out to see off a student. When he saw Shen Youwei standing in the hall, he obviously froze for a moment.

“Oh, Ms. Chen, are you leaving early?” The front desk stopped what she was doing and greeted her as well.

Ms. Chen nodded. “Something came up at the shop suddenly, so I can only come next time.”

The front desk said, “I’ll count the unused time toward your next lesson.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Ms. Chen quickly left the boxing gym. The front desk looked at Shen Youwei nearby and said, “Since Ms. Chen left early, Coach Lu’s time slot is now open. If you want to book him, I can help you change it. Your application hasn’t been submitted yet.”

Before Shen Youwei could reply, Lu Zhaoye spoke up, “Go ahead and change it, I’m available!”

“…” The front desk had never seen him so eager before, but she was asking the customer, not him.

She smiled at Shen Youwei, waiting for her answer. Shen Youwei glanced at Lu Zhaoye in front of her and asked the front desk, “You said Coach Zhang is more professional, right?”

Lu Zhaoye said, “Coach Zhang is indeed more professional than me, but may I ask—are you planning to participate in boxing competitions?”

The front desk: “…”

That was quite a bold question.

Shen Youwei said, “Not really…”

Lu Zhaoye continued, “Then is it for fitness?”

“Something like that.”

Lu Zhaoye smiled like a sunny puppy, “Then I’m totally enough for that.”

In the end, Shen Youwei chose between the professional coach and the puppy-like coach and went with the puppy: “Then it’s Coach Lu.”

“Okay.” The front desk started typing on the computer again. Lu Zhaoye smiled even more happily than before.

“By the way, I want to ask, is there a more private training room here? I don’t really want to train with everyone else.” After all, she was a female celebrity and needed some privacy.

The front desk glanced at her but didn’t ask why, only nodded, “We do have private training rooms here, but they still have surveillance cameras installed, and the cost is a bit higher.”

“That’s fine. Please arrange a private room for me.”

“Okay, since today is just a trial lesson, we won’t charge you the extra fee. If you’re satisfied after the trial, remember to buy lessons from me.”

“No problem.” After the front desk finished the arrangements, Shen Youwei followed Lu Zhaoye upstairs.

The boxing gym’s first floor was a public training area. On the second floor, besides the lounge, there were private training rooms. Lu Zhaoye walked ahead, occasionally glancing back at her. Their eyes met, then he quickly looked away.

His ears, however, were unmistakably turning red.

Shen Youwei blinked. Growing up, quite a few boys had blushed when they saw her, but now—even with her mask on—she still had that kind of effect?

Ah, her charm was truly unstoppable.

When they arrived at the training room, Shen Youwei finally took off her mask. Lu Zhaoye wasn’t surprised to see her face, but his ears turned even redder.

“Do you know who I am?” Shen Youwei had only registered her last name and phone number at the front desk earlier, so logically Coach Lu should have shown surprise when he saw her.

—That’s right, she was confident about her level of fame.

Lu Zhaoye nodded and looked somewhat shy. “I recognized you outside just now. I’ve been your fan for three years.”

“…I see.” She knew it—her claim to being a celebrity was well-founded.

“Are you living nearby now?” Otherwise, she probably wouldn’t have come here specifically to learn boxing.

Lu Zhaoye asked curiously, then suddenly remembered a recent trending topic and quickly added, “I was just asking casually. You don’t have to tell me! Don’t worry, I’m not a bad person. I definitely won’t leak your information!”

Maybe because he was nervous, his face turned even redder. Seeing how innocent he was, like a college student, Shen Youwei couldn’t help but ask, “How old are you this year?”

“I’m twenty-five, just three months younger than you!”

“…” Hmm, it was clear he really was her fan. “Okay, let’s start the lesson.”

“O-okay.” Lu Zhaoye first taught Shen Youwei some warm-up exercises, then went to get her some gear.

Since this was the first lesson, not much equipment was needed. Shen Youwei tried hitting the punching bag for a while and felt that whether or not it helped fitness, it was definitely quite stress-relieving.

“If you decide to continue learning later, you can buy a better mouthguard for yourself.” During the break, Lu Zhaoye handed Shen Youwei a bottle of mineral water and sat down beside her.

“Thank you.” Shen Youwei took the water, opened it, and took a sip. “Is this water free too?”

The mouthguard she had used earlier was given to her by Lu Zhaoye for free. Although it wasn’t expensive, it still felt a little odd that the coach was practically paying out of his own pocket for her to take lessons.

Lu Zhaoye smiled at her and said, “We provide free water here, or you can bring your own if you want.”

Shen Youwei nodded without saying anything. Lu Zhaoye cleared his throat and deliberately tried to find a topic to talk about: “Um, you mentioned before during your livestream that you’re preparing to start your own studio?”

“I do have that plan.” Besides making fashion videos, Shen Youwei had also started a special segment for ordinary people’s makeovers. After all, she originally became popular because of the makeover video she did for her roommate.

Setting up a dedicated image design studio was an idea she had developed over the past six months. She even went to get a professional certification for it. But after suddenly falling out with Xu Kaicai, the plan had to be put on hold for the time being.

“However, I’m quite busy right now, so it might have to wait for a while.”

As her loyal fan for three years, Lu Zhaoye immediately guessed her difficulty. “Is it because Xu Kaicai left? It’s okay, you can just hire another assistant.”

With Shen Youwei’s current level of fame, hiring an assistant wouldn’t be difficult.

“If you really can’t find anyone, I—ahem—I can help you.” Lu Zhaoye started to volunteer himself.

Shen Youwei glanced at him in surprise. “You know about image design too?”

“I don’t know much… but I have strength!” Lu Zhaoye immediately raised his arm and showed off his muscles. “I can help you with the heavy work.”

Shen Youwei looked at his arm. Lu Zhaoye’s muscles were nice—not that intimidating, exaggerated bulk, but a combination of strength and aesthetic masculinity.

“Not bad.” Shen Youwei casually complimented him. Lu Zhaoye’s face turned red again, his eyes shining with obvious happiness and excitement.

A little puppy really is easy to understand, much more so than the older brother at home.

“Opening a studio requires a lot of preliminary work. If you need help, just call me anytime!”

Shen Youwei smiled at him. “What about your work here? I heard from the front desk that your classes are fully booked.”

“I think it’s too full too. I’m planning to have them reduce some.” Lu Zhaoye thought for a moment, then took out his phone. “Let’s add each other on WeChat first. It’ll be easier to contact each other later if anything comes up.”

“Sure.”

While they were adding each other on WeChat, Guan Shanyan came out of his study. Not seeing Shen Youwei around, he casually asked Xie Mingqiu, “Are you home alone?”

Xie Mingqiu was watching TV and answered, “Your dad went out to have tea with someone, and Youwei went to the boxing gym.”

Guan Shanyan’s eyebrows twitched. “Why did she go to the boxing gym?”

“She said she wanted to work out. Fortunately, there’s one near our neighborhood.” Xie Mingqiu said this with a hint of a teasing smile. “I heard there’s a really good-looking coach there, and several girls from our neighborhood are learning boxing with him.”