Chapter 35

An Ning went to Marxism class by himself. Not only Qin Weihang, but Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang would also run away when they have Marxism class. After class, he went to the cafeteria to eat dinner, and then returned to the dormitory to fill up water. He grabbed his books and prepared to go to the nearby self-study classroom. As soon as he put the books in his backpack, the door opened.

Qin Weihang carried the hiking backpack on his right shoulder, and under his left arm was a one-meter wooden plank nailed to a metal bracket. After walking in, he turned and closed the door with a bam. Then, with a fling of his right shoulder, the backpack on his shoulder slid off. An Ning doesn’t know what was in the bag, but it was heavier than when they went to the climbing gym this morning. When the shoulder strap slipped to Qin Weihang’s elbow, he pulled it back up.

An Ning watched in bewilderment as Qin Weihang walk to the desk. Qin Weihang put down his backpack, put the wooden board with the bracket on the desk, and then turned and raised his eyebrows at him: “Are you going out?”

For some reason, An Ning tucked the book back in and said: “No, I just came back.”

Qin Weihang unzipped his backpack and said: “I brought you something.”

From his hiking bag, he took out a strange board with an even smaller groove.

An Ning asked: “Is this the fingerboard?”

This is the fingerboard. It’s also called hangboard.

Qin Weihang put the fingerboard on the desk and said: “I mainly use this. You can use it to practice, but you have to match it with this.” Then, from his backpack, he took out a set of pulleys, harnesses, and electric screwdrivers.

It was still before 8 p.m at the moment, so the dorm building was lively. Qin Weihang looked back at the door of the room, raised an eyebrow and said to An Ning: “Turn on the computer and play a song to listen to. Raise the volume to its maximum.”

An Ning probably guessed what he was going to do. He wanted to install the fingerboard in the dorm room, which the school will definitely not allow. An Ning turned on the computer according to his words, picked a few rock and roll songs like LOTUS and Sui Qingchi, then asked Qin Weihang: “Is ‘Big Wave’, okay?”

Qin Weihang took the tool and walked to the balcony and said: “Very good.”

After the rock music played, Qin Weihang turned on the electric screwdriver, which made a squeaking sound. Qin Weihang squatted on the ground and installed a fingerboard on the back of the bracket. An Ning also squatted down opposite to him to help him press the backboard.

After nailing it, Qin Weihang lifted the board up, took it in his hand and swung it down a few times. After checking it, he looked up at the balcony door and asked An Ning: “Can the window above be opened?”

An Ning looked up—that was a good question. The window next to the door naturally does open. The window above the door probably haven’t been opened before, so he shook his head: “I’m not sure.”

Qin Weihang put the wooden board by his feet and walked under the door frame. An Ning had wanted to get a stool, but Qin Weihang directly raised his hand to reach the upper window.

“Does it not open?” An Ning raised his head and pushed his glasses.

Qin Weihang stretched his hands on the window frame and tried to use a little force. He raised his head and frowned, his voice carrying a bit of strength: “Since it’s a window, it should be possible to open—”

Then, with a bang sound, the window was opened.

An Ning kept feeling that there was something wrong with this method, but he couldn’t speak up; he was immersed in the window’s submission to violence…

Qin Weihang lowered his head and smiled at him, as if saying, “I knew it.”

An Ning’s heart was like that window, making a bang sound here and there. Qin Weihang’s smile was like that of an energetic youth.

Qin Weihang put the bracket through the window and fixed it to the window frame. The fingerboard was just at the position of the door frame.

An Ning thought, don’t tell me this thing should be used like pull-up bars? But with pull-up bars, there would be a horizontal bar that both hands can grab on to. There were only a few shallow grooves on this board, “This… How do you practice on it?”

Qin Weihang took off his jacket and habitually gave it to him. An Ning took it with both hands and held it in his arms. He heard Qin Weihang say: “It’s almost the same as a pull-up, like this.” He stood in front of the door, raised his hands, and dug two fingers from both hands in the short grooves on both sides.

An Ning watched Qin Weihang pull himself up with only two fingers from his left and right hand, and was amazed. This thing was indeed a spartan pull-up, which relied on hooking the fingers to pull up.

After Qin Weihang took off his jacket, there was only a white long-sleeved T-shirt inside. When he pulled up his body, An Ning could see the bulging arm muscles through the white cloth. It was not excessive; the lines were just right and excellent.

After landing, Qin Weihang pulled his clothes down and said to him: “Would you like to try it?” An Ning’s first reaction was that he definitely couldn’t do it, but since there was no one else here, it doesn’t hurt to try, so he nodded enthusiastically.

Qin Weihang said: “Then I will install the pulley first.”

The pulley was to be installed under the fingerboard, and the other end was connected to something heavy. From a physics point of view, An Ning speculated that this would help a beginner like him lighten his own weight and reduce the burden of his fingers.

Naturally, Qin Weihang didn’t need this auxiliary device. Since this was for his own use, he took the initiative to do it. “I’ll install it. It needs to be hooked under it, right?”

Qin Weihang handed it over to him, and An Ning hung Qin Weihang’s coat by the bed. He stood under the door with the pulley and fiddled with it with his head raised. Qin Weihang was cleaning his teeth with a water flosser on the balcony. When he lowered his head, he inadvertently glanced back and saw An Ning standing on his tiptoes. The balcony door was much higher than the dorm room’s door, and it was estimated to be more than two meters higher. Although An Ning could install it by standing on his tiptoes, it looked a little laborious.

He shut off the flosser, wiped his chin, walked behind An Ning, and took the tool from above the other’s head, then said: “It’s better if I do it. It’ll be a bit faster.”

Qin Weihang unexpectedly walked behind him, so An Ning was startled. His whole body leapt forward, wondering, how did Qin Weihang managed to walk such big steps so silently?

Qin Weihang saw his reaction but didn’t say anything. He was able to take the tool and pulley and easily reach that height by just raising his head. An Ning looked at him like this. Although they were both guys, they were so different. To be able to give birth to someone like Qin Weihang, what a feat…

He dazedly watched Qin Weihang, then Qin Weihang suddenly turned his head, frowned and asked him: “Is someone knocking on the door?”

An Ning heard the knock among the clamoring electric guitar and bass.

He walked over to turn off the music and asked, “Who is it?” through the door. Xiao Pang’s voice came from the other side of the door: “It’s me!”

An Ning opened the door with ease. Xiao Pang and Liang Shenghan looked inside curiously, and Xiao Pang asked: “Ge, what are you doing in there? Such a huge racket!”

An Ning told them that Qin Weihang was installing a fingerboard for practicing over there. Qin Weihang had already installed the pulley, so he tied a black dumbbell to one end of the rope and let it fall to the ground.

“An Ning.”

Hearing Qin Weihang calling him, An Ning immediately turned and ran over with a “Yes?”

Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang looked at each other, and went into the room. Liang Shenghan closed the door of the dorm room.

Qin Weihang handed a harness to An Ning, and An Ning put it on. Qin Weihang lowered his head and fastened the rope on the other end of the pulley to his waist.

Xiao Pang was at the side, smiling, and gave a thumbs up: “Ge, you are very good at physics!”

Qin Weihang raised his eyebrows lightly: “Who doesn’t know the principle of leverage.”

An Ning lowered his head to adjust the harness while Qin Weihang’s voice came from above. He was listening and found it amusing. Qin Weihang usually looked cool and unbothered. After getting to know him for such a long time, he discovered that he also has a childish side to him. He was indeed the bigger version of Yuan Xiaoye.

An Ning challenged the fingerboard for the first time in his life. He first tried the two sets of grooves that Qin Weihang had just used. He was surprised to find that not only could he put two fingers in, but the knuckle of the first finger can go in too. He thought, no way. His hand followed along the groove of the first row, and finally touched a deeper part. He breathed out a sigh of relief.

Obviously, the wide groove was prepared for him, who was at an elementary level. He could put four fingers in, so An Ning used four fingers to dig into the two widest grooves. Qin Weihang said: “You don’t need to do pull-ups, just hang there and hold on.”

With the help of the pulley, he reluctantly held his feet off the ground and kept his body hanging for a while, until his arms began to tremble violently, and he couldn’t bear it. Xiao Pang had helped time him. He thought he had persisted for at least 15 seconds, but he only lasted 10 seconds. His face reflected on the glass was flushed; he truly was very weak.

Liang Shenghan was also eager to try. An Ning took off his harness and helped him buckle it. Liang Shenghan only persisted for 10 seconds before coming down: “I can’t do it. This is much harder than pull-ups!”

Out of the three of them, Xiao Pang persisted for the longest time, hanging for a full 13 seconds. After coming down, he touched the narrowest grooves: “Damn, it’s so shallow! It was not made by humans!” He turned around and asked Qin Weihang, “Ge, can you hang on this? Show us a demonstration!”

Qin Weihang said: “Even if I demonstrate it, you guys still won’t be able to do it.”

“We just want to admire, can’t we?”

Qin Weihang didn’t really want to do it, because he felt strange to have the three of them watching him eagerly. However, the look the three of them gave him was really pressuring. In the end, he compromised and said, “What is there to admire?” He walked under the board, with one hand and two fingers. He grabbed the shallowest point and beautifully pulled himself up with one arm.

Xiao Pang looked with his eyes and mouth wide open, and exclaimed: “That’s so cool!”

Qin Weihang immediately got off the fingerboard after hearing Xiao Pang’s voice, otherwise the whole dormitory building on the opposite side would look over here.

Xiao Pang squeezed An Ning’s arm excitedly: “An Ning-ge, I envy you. You can see Qin Weihang looking so cool every day!”

An Ning subconsciously glanced at Qin Weihang. Qin Weihang was also looking at him. An Ning then looked away and said: “This is training, it’s not called being cool.”

After Liang Shenghan and Xiao Pang left, An Ning finished washing up. When he entered the room, he saw Qin Weihang leaning on the bed reading. He had thought Qin Weihang was reading a textbook, but it was a book by Soji Shimada.

After thinking for a while, he asked Qin Weihang: “Is the strength of my fingers terrible?” Can it be saved?

Qin Weihang did not answer. He looked at him from behind the book and said: “I have a ball for training finger strength in my bag. Take it out.”

An Ning walked to his desk and opened the hiking backpack. The backpack was deep. He stretched his arm in and touched a ball from underneath. When he took it out, it turned out to be pink…

The ball was tied with a black elastic band. An Ning was curious, and then heard Qin Weihang’s voice coming from above his head: “Do you know how to use it?”

I think this is the kind of ball being described.

Qin Weihang leaned on the side of the bed. Seeing him shaking his head, he put down the book and stretched out his hand.

An Ning gave the ball to Qin Weihang. Qin Weihang directly inserted his fingers into the gaps of the elastic band and easily spread his five fingers.

An Ning watched carefully. Qin Weihang did this action right in front of his eyes. His fully open palm was so big that it could cover An Ning’s face. The pink ball moved freely in Qin Weihang’s hand, and then he closed his fingers and took off the ball with one hand: “Like this.” He threw the ball lightly to An Ning.

An Ning tried it himself, and it really wasn’t that easy to open. The elastic band looked like a rubber band in Qin Weihang’s hand, but they looked like cowhide bands* in his hand.

[*TN: I think they’re thicker than regular rubber bands.]

He said as he practiced: “Thank you! Oh, yes, there will be no class for first and second period tomorrow morning. Third and fourth period is English. If you don’t want to come, I can answer roll call for you. I get up very early, so if you get woken up, don’t mind me and go back to sleep.”

Qin Weihang nodded. The lights in the dormitory were turned off. He watched An Ning go to bed in the dark, and asked: “Have you always worked so hard?”

An Ning opened the quilt and said: “It’s not like it’s necessary to work so hard, but I want to get a scholarship.”

Qin Weihang said: “If you didn’t need a scholarship, then you wouldn’t work so hard?”

An Ning lay on the bed, turned on a small bedside lamp, thought for a while, and said: “I probably won’t need to wake up early every day.” He dimmed the lights and asked Qin Weihang, “Will this affect you?”

Qin Weihang said: “No, I am used to having the lights on when I sleep.”

An Ning was surprised: “Ah, why?”

Qin Weihang looked at the low ceiling and said: “I don’t like environments that are too dark.”

An Ning was astounded, with an expression of ‘How can you be afraid of the dark’ on his face.

Qin Weihang turned towards the wall and said: “Let’s sleep.”

Qin Weihang slept for a while, but then woke up for some reason. He found that it was already deep in the night and very quiet. It should be very late now, but there was still light in the room. He turned his head to look at the person on the opposite bed. He was lying motionless, already asleep. It may be that today was too tiring for him.

He called out: “An Ning?”

The other party did not respond, so he had to get out of the bed. From the edge of the bed, he landed on the floor. His feet lightly put on the slippers and walked to the other party’s bed. The lamp was on the side of the bed. But with his height and arm length, he can still reach it easily, but he was very careful. His hand passed a few centimeters above An Ning’s forehead, touched the knob, turned it gently, and it made a click sound before it turned off.

Maybe the surrounding area was too quiet, but the ‘click’ seemed very harsh. The moment he twisted it, he was a little concerned. However, he moved his wrist and looked again. The sleeping person did not wake up. He was still wearing his glasses, forgetting to take them off.