Chapter 47

After Christmas, it was New Year’s Eve in the blink of an eye. The weekends were connected to New Year’s Day, so the school was closed for three days. An Ning originally thought that the holidays had nothing to do with him. After all, for a workaholic like him, the holidays would only be even busier. However, he didn’t expect that Yuan Xiaoye was going to his grandparent’s place during the break, and his shift at KFC on Saturday was also moved over to New Year’s Day. Thus, he was suddenly able to take a double day-off all in one go.

On Saturday morning, he went to the climbing gym with Qin Weihang as usual. When the gym opened at 9 a.m, the number of people gradually increased, which was a little more than the usual weekends. It was indeed the holidays, An Ning thought.

Although Qin Weihang said that he had employee benefits (but frankly, he doesn’t believe it) and that teaching him climbing was to return the favor, he still does not want to hinder Boss Yu from doing business during the New Year’s holiday. Furthermore, Qin Weihang was an instructor of the climbing gym, so Qin Weihang can’t always revolve around him. He also needs to ‘do business’, since a coach of Qin Weihang’s level will definitely make a lot of money by taking a single order.

In line with the principle of not hindering others’ from earning money, An Ning left early during today’s training; leaving the gym before 10 a.m.

When he packed up his things and said “See you tonight,” Qin Weihang seemed a little unhappy, and he didn’t know if it was his own illusion. After all, whether a cat was happy or unhappy, it was not easy to tell from its expression.

He put on his backpack and had already walked to the door of the locker room, but then he turned back. Qin Weihang was facing the locker while changing clothes. An Ning walked around him and patted his arm lightly.

Qin Weihang was taken aback when he was patted. He turned his head and saw An Ning’s head sticking out from beside him, asking him: “Are you okay?”

He was baffled when asked this: “I’m fine.”

An Ning smiled: “Happy holidays.”

Qin Weihang looked at him: “Mm, you too.”

When he left, An Ning even greeted Yu Ran. Yu Ran walked into the locker room and saw Qin Weihang sitting alone on the bench without changing shoes or clothes. He was in a thin black T-shirt and jeans and just sitting there while the white headphones hung around his neck. He was staring at the lockers in a daze.

After Yu Ran finished looking at him, he looked at the lockers. Confused, he said: “What’s the matter? Meditating?”

Qin Weihang snapped out of it and took a towel and stuffed it into his backpack: “Nothing. It just feels like people can be really fickle.” He lowered his head to change shoes, and Yu Ran watched the Kyrie 6 being put on Qin Weihang’s heels. Qin Weihang bent over to tie his shoelaces, but there was nothing fancy about it. He directly tied a knot on his insteps that was the same as Yu Ran’s and Zhong Jing’s ugly knot.

Yu Ran was in a daze, asking him: “What do you mean by fickle?”

“Before, he told me he liked rock climbing, but now it seems like the passion has faded.” Qin Weihang stood up and carried the dark camouflage backpack casually next to the seams of his jeans. It was like he was carrying a garbage bag.

Yu Ran suddenly smiled: “Are you talking about An Ning? He might just be tired. One moment, you’re making him do fingerboard training, then you have him lifting dumbbells, and then you have him doing push-ups. Fortunately, he has a good temper. If this was another boy who was getting bossed by you every day, then they would have long been annoyed.”

“I teach everyone the same way. If they’re annoyed by me, then don’t ask me.”

Yu Ran thought about it—that seemed to be true. This was what Qin Weihang’s coaching style was like. He doesn’t say any complimenting words, and when he speaks, it was either instructing or commanding. Even when he commanded others until they got annoyed, they would just feel indignant but would not dare speak out. At most, they would just roll their eyes and just curse at him behind his back. Tang Zi was a master at this, but the top student really does not have a single complaint against Qin Weihang. When Tang Zi complains about Qin Weihang, he would even help speak up for Qin Weihang. Yu Ran thought, in my opinion, the two of you are an S and an M, a perfect pair. He said: “When you ask him to do something, he will do it obediently. If you look at it this way, it looks more like you are bullying him. He’s not annoyed, but I’m bothered. Don’t offend all my customers. You have to learn the art of speaking, understand?”

Qin Weihang stood tall in front of him, did not speak, and the focus of his eyes was not on him. Not knowing what he was thinking, Yu Ran patted Qin Weihang’s chest with his backhand: “Do you understand?”

The focus of Qin Weihang’s eyes immediately retracted. He raised his chin and said, “I don’t understand,” then turned around and left.

Yu Ran was not surprised. He just knocked Qin Weihang on his chest and knew that this kid had a personality as tough as his pectoral muscle. Although he was born like a work of art, the word ‘art’ had nothing to do with Qin Weihang.

An Ning returned to school, sent the clothes to the laundry room, and cleaned the dorm room again. In the afternoon, he went to the library that was on a long holiday. It was quite deserted, but it made him more at ease. He was practicing with the pink finger ball in one hand, and the other one held the grammar key points. In the past, he used to read grammar in its entirety. Language was a kind of feeling, so it does not need to be logically clear like math, physics, and chemistry. But he needed to give supplementary lessons to Qin Weihang, so now he will try to understand the grammar thoroughly. Otherwise, it will be humiliating for him if Qin Weihang asks him a question and he doesn’t know how to answer.

“Why does the subjunctive mood use ‘were’…woah,” An Ning leaned back in the chair and muttered to himself, “I’m done for if you ask me that…”

He left the library at 5 p.m to go back to the dormitory. His phone rang as soon as he walked downstairs, and he was overjoyed when he saw the name of the caller, because he really didn’t expect his mother to call him today.

“Hello, Mom!”

“Xiao Ning,” the female voice on the other side of the phone whispered, “How are you doing recently?”

“Mhm, I’m doing well,” An Ning stopped after walking for a while. It was approaching mealtime, so there were a lot of people coming in and out at the entrance of the dormitory, and the voices were a bit noisy. He stood under a tree opposite the dormitory, looking at the sunset behind the dormitory, and listened to the voice of his mother who he hadn’t seen in a long time, “How about you? How’s your health?”

“I’m fine. Are your studies stressful?”

“Not stressful, it’s much easier than high school.”

“That’s good. Here’s the thing, Xiao Ning, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Ah?” An Ning was surprised, and his expectations fell a little, “… What is it?”

“So, it’s like this, your uncle’s new leader in his unit wants him to write an annual work report. You also know that your uncle’s eyes are not very good, so it’s not easy for him to use the computer. Xiao Ye is busy with his exams again, so if you have time, please write a work report for your uncle.”

The turning point came a bit suddenly, so An Ning was unprepared. It took a moment before he could respond: “… Ah, okay, sure. When do you need it?”

“After New Year’s Day. You can write it during the break. I’ll send you the information later.”

An Ning nodded numbly, but then he realized that his mother would not be able to see it, so he said, “Mm.”

Mother seemed to be busy with other things; she was probably cooking at this time. An Ning heard the sound of his little brother, Li Ye, coming back home through the phone, then his mother said to him, “I’m still cooking, so I have to go. Take care of yourself!”

The call ended just like that. It took only a few minutes for him to go from having expectations to becoming disappointed. An Ning still could not snap out of his daze. He tried to convince himself that there was no need to be dejected. They were family and don’t need to speak sappy words all the time. Wasn’t this how it had always been before? Perhaps it was because he was alone and away from home, plus his mother suddenly called today, which made him have expectations. Thus, he was saddened when his expectations were dashed.

This is nothing, it’s fine. Didn’t she also tell you to “Take care of yourself”?

He sorted out his emotions and turned to walk to the dormitory, but was stunned when he raised his head—Qin Weihang stood under another tree and was looking at him without saying a word.

He didn’t know why Qin Weihang was there, which made him suddenly feel embarrassed.

Between them, there was a distance of two sidewalk trees. He should greet him, but he didn’t know how he should go about saying it. It was as if all his awkwardness and ineptness were seen in full view by the person he liked.

It was Qin Weihang who spoke first, saying:

“Happy birthday.”

An Ning’s eyes became red.