Episode 3: The Premonition of a Smile
Zhang Yuan was actually going to teach He Luo play basketball. Under the instigation of Li Yun Wei, He Luo half-heartedly entered their cla.s.s’s team for the open women’s basketball compet.i.tion at the end of April. A bunch of boys happily became their coaches. Red Star Kindergarten’s most invincible queen of the ball, He Luo, had retained her skills. When she competed against Zhao Cheng Jie in dribbling the ball, she was faster, had more stamina, and even had the leisure to sing a nursery rhyme: “Little ball, kick and rack, 256, 257, 2829311.”
Five girls had surrounded them, chattering non-stop and even booed him. They angered Zhao Cheng Jie, making him stop under the net. “These group of girls are too arrogant.” “We have to talk about our strategy.” Zhang Yuan got up and took off his uniform jacket. “If we want to capture the thief, we have to capture its leader [solve the main problem to solve other details].” “Right! Exterminate your seatmate’s power!” Zhao Cheng Jie raised his hand, closed an eye, and mimed a gun shot. “No. We exterminate your seatmate.” Zhang Yuan pulled up his sleeves and walked towards the centre of the court. “You toss the ball, I’ll break it.” He stood really close to her. Holding the dark brown basketball, He Luo traced his features until she began to squirm under the intensity of his gaze. She had just dribbled it a few times before the ball slipped away. Zhang Yuan picked up the ball. “Before you even enter the field, you’ve already worried yourself to death.” This time she dribbled more determinedly and the ball hit the concrete floor with loud noises. She hit so hard that a reddish brown shadow has begun to form on the floor. “Break!” Zhang Yuan shouted. In the next moment, the ball was already in his hands. “You’re so loud! Anyone would’ve had a heart attack hearing that!” The girls began to unsheathe their claws. “It doesn’t count!” Zhang Yuan lightly smiled and did not say anything. He leaned forward in a slight bent. He Luo copied his movements and tried to lower her centre of gravity. She moved the ball from in front of her body to next to her waist. But she still did not manage to escape the fate of having her ball broken again. “I concede!” Her right arm already began to hurt. Might as well be obedient and surrender. “I have to focus in order to break your ball. You’re already very good.” Zhang Yuan held the ball in one arm and used his left hand to hold onto He Luo’s wrist. “You girls come over.” He stood next to He Luo in a row and spread his palm open. Her right hand was in Zhang Yuan’s palm, his slender fingers pressed across her palm. “Look. It’s the dirtiest here. That shows she completely relies on her palm to control the ball. The right method is to use the five fingers, there should be flexibility to meet the ball’s surface.” He adjusted He Luo’s fingers. “Don’t be so stiff. You’re not practicing Nine Yin Bones Claw.” How could her hand not be rigid, even the skin on the back of her neck felt tight. Turning around right now also felt impossible. He Luo nodded mechanically and put
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on act of a carefree, studious appearance. Zhang Yuan had already released her hand and explained as he demonstrated the right technique. “When you’re dribbling, keep your centre of gravity low. He Luo has already noticed this earlier. Oh, and keep your eyes straight to the front and don’t just look at the ball…” What else did he say? He Luo can’t remember much. She can only remember Zhang Yuan’s big hands, its warmth. It was thin but felt powerful. She clenched her right hand into a fist, palm moist. * “Watching girls play basketball is a kind of entertainment!” Zhang Yuan cheerfully proclaimed on the day of the compet.i.tion. “The ball keeps on rolling on the floor, don’t you feel like playing yourself?” “I’m optimistic about the girls in our cla.s.s,” Zhao Cheng Jie said. “Gao Ting Ting has the advantage of height. Li Yun Wei has a powerful stride and is incredibly fierce! Bai Lian plays very calmly and uses her brain well. He Luo is the most serious one, she is also very stable at pa.s.sing.” “What about Tian Xin?” Zhang Yuan asked. “She’s the one you personally selected to be on the team.” “She has a loud voice! She used to sing opera. If anyone comes close, she can shout “molester” loudly!” “You are even aware of this.” Zhang Yuan pretended to pulled a straight face, all serious. “There are probably girls who called you that?” The girls from cla.s.s 6 had already scored 10 points and were close to getting an overwhelming victory because the opposing team only had a quarter of its member. Lin Shu Zhen smiled happily and treated the girls and the coaches to drinks. Zhang Yuan was sent to be the errand boy and selected a bag full of black tea and green tea, c.o.ke and Sprite. He stood in front of the refrigerator for a moment and turned around to take two strawberry yoghurts. “Boss, count this in as well.” He Luo was already very serious when she was playing basketball, but when it came to eating, she was even more serious. She took off the plastic lid of the yoghurt and licked it clean. She did not realised that she accidentally smudged her nose with it. She was still basking in the joy of victory and cheerfully described her experience during the game. Zhao Cheng Jie asked Zhang Yuan. “What are you looking at?” “He Luo’s white head on her nose.” Everyone looked over and burst into laughter. Bai Lian said, “Zhang Yuan’s eyesight is really good.” Her words carried a trace of sarcasm. She was one of the cla.s.s representatives. She was usually hardworking and never said much in cla.s.s. Today, however, she was decisive during the game and often managed to penetrate the opponent’s s.p.a.ce. She had removed her gla.s.ses and put her hair up in a ponytail instead of the usual braids. There was no trace of her usual studious nature, only of a tall, beautiful girl. Such a girl, quiet and smart, with a beautiful face too, who would not like her? * Bai Lian wrote beautiful calligraphy and was often asked by the teacher to carve it onto plates. Zhang Yuan was always good with science subjects but his English often received low scores and literature subjects made his scores felt like riding a rollercoaster. He often had a headache over the various small tests. Once, he saw Bai Lian carrying a stack of exercise books from the teacher’s office. He went over and asked, “I heard there’s a small test on Friday. Share with me what you know, can’t you?” “Is today the first day you’ve known me?” Bai Lian never played favourites. She handed him the books. “Take them to the cla.s.s representative for distribution. I still haven’t finished my carving.” Zhang Yuan recalled his extended hand. “No wonder Gao Fang said you don’t have enough loyalty!”
Bai Lian had initially thought he would take over and had already loosened her hold. The books ended up being scattered all over the floor. The teacher had often used her submission as a reference to mark other students’ work, so her book was always placed on the top of the pile. At that moment, the book was dropped face down. The cover was quickly dirtied. Zhang Yuan knew she always cherished her books. In his heart, he thought this was it, he was dead. Sure enough, the other girls who have just returned from buying ice cream rushed to comfort her once they saw her livid expression. “Huh, your usual gentlemanly face is all a façade!” Li Yun Wei stuck her tongue out at him. “Later I’ll draw a line from you!” “Haha, you should tell this to Gao Fang!” Tian Xin’s eyes sparkled. “Do you think he’ll pierce knives on both his sides [to sacrifice it all for friendship]? Or he’ll pierce those knives into Zhang Yuan instead?” “Don’t speak nonsense!” Bai Lian looked annoyed. “Don’t keep linking our names together!” Why would she be so anxious to keep a distance from Gao Fang? He Luo wondered this. She bit on her red bean ice cream and the coldness made the back of her teeth felt sore. Why was she like this? She looked down on herself for this. No matter what, Bai Lian was a new close friend she made in the past two months. She should be saying words of comfort at this moment, not blindly being jealous. Ah, jealous? He Luo was surprised by her own thoughts. True, Zhang Yuan was a smart and sunny boy. Anyone would steal a second glance at him. But wasn’t jealousy a little extreme? The self-proclaimed open-minded He Luo couldn’t understand this. But she immediately decided to stand next to Bai Lian and to say goodbye to her vulgar thoughts. “I too look down on narrow-minded boys,” she added with a smile. “I too don’t need you to take an interest in me,” Zhang Yuan retorted in an instant. Initially he still kept his smile and wanted to say he did not do it on purpose. Six girls were indeed equivalent to a group of 6,000 ducks. It didn’t matter if they were chattering non-stop, but what did they mean by narrow-minded boys? When did he, Zhang Yuan, ever took offence with a girl, or quarrelled with them, or was sarcastic to them… Well, this he felt a lack of confidence in. His words earlier was rather cold and narrow-minded. He saw He Luo turned her eyes outside the window, her mouth open as she ate her ice cream in a daze. Zhang Yuan took Bai Lian’s book. “I’ll buy you a book cover later.” “Never mind.” Bai Lian noticed the atmosphere had become dull and quickly smoothed things over. “Ay, it’s not a big deal. It’s fine, it’s fine.” “Big sister, did you want to see me carry on the name of a narrow-minded person?” Zhang Yuan smiled and glanced at He Luo. She pretended not to hear and focused on the sparrow jumping outside. Zhang Yuan took the book and a.n.a.lysed it for half a period of cla.s.s. He used a pen to trace the cover a few times. With the introduction of vines and stems, the grey of the cover became duller. Underneath were two lines of words: First year, cla.s.s 6. Bai Lian. He was incredibly satisfied with his masterpiece and pa.s.sed the book all the way over to her seat. When the book pa.s.sed through He Luo’s hands, her eyes shone and immediately shot Zhang Yuan a glance. Bai Lian waved at him when she received her book, a nice dimple showing as she smiled. He Luo looked at her, and thought about him. Her heart felt a sudden wave of grievances. * He Luo and a few girls played badminton together after school. Zhang Yuan dribbled a basketball as he walked over. “You all played well.” Bai Lian handed him the racket. “You might not be able to win over He Luo.” “Oh? Let’s compete and see!” Zhang Yuan turned the racket in his hand, waving it a few times. “Why don’t you guys play? Coincidentally I’m already tired.” He Luo handed her racket over to Bai Lian and returned to the cla.s.s to collect her bag. She once again did not give him any face. Zhang Yuan felt a little irritated and when he exchanged the ball from one hand to another, he accidentally threw the racquet away. He stared at He Luo as she walked through the field, smiling as she said goodbye to her friends along the way. Tian Xin ran over to the field. “I finally done sweeping the cla.s.sroom! Who can share their racket with me?” “Here, I’ll give you!” Zhang Yuan stuffed the racket in her hands and hurriedly grabbed his bag. He ran out to the school entrance and waited at the intersection of the road. There was no sign of He Luo in the pedestrian path. He stood there as he hesitated for a moment before reluctantly returning to the school to get his bicycle. As soon as he turned around, he saw He Luo standing at the kiosk near the school, reading a comic book with interest. “He Luo!” Zhang Yuan shouted. “Do you have anything you need from me?” Her tone was indifferent. “Uh, nope.” He was puzzled. Why did he chase her all the way outside? Earlier he thought of many words to ridicule He Luo but he had already forgotten them. “Why are the two sides of your face different?” He could tell her right cheek was somewhat puffed up. “Are there any differences?” “Here. Are you eating a candy?” Her cheek looked like a squirrel’s stuffed with nuts. “Toothache!” He Luo replied. Could it be her face was entirely swollen? She touched her cheek and put down the comic book. How embarra.s.sing. There was no ground for her to grill into and hide. She quickly rushed to catch the bus. “Have you seen a dentist?” Zhang Yuan caught up to her. “Your house is not in this direction.” He Luo was still holding her cheek as she looked up at him. “I…” He didn’t know how to answer. “Aren’t you having a toothache? Why do you have so many questions? Stop talking so much.” Zhang Yuan smiled. He Luo purposely didn’t stand by his side and walked ahead of him. Silence. No one spoke. May, north of China. The flower-covered pathway was blossoming in green, pink, yellow, all kind of colours. Under the sunset glow, the flowers looked gentle. The two of them slowed their steps as they walked, as if they both were imprinting the scenery onto their minds. At the stop sign, He Luo said, “I wait for the bus here.” “I ride the bicycle every day.” Zhang Yuan also stopped at the sign. “You must go and see a dentist. I know a good dentist who is my neighbour. I’ll give you the number later!” “Okay, thank you.” “Give me your house number.” Zhang Yuan immediately added, “I’ll ask my mom as soon as I get home later and tell you as soon as possible. What if it hurts so much that you can’t sleep?” “It only hurts for a while.” He Luo told him her house number. “It’s not acute appendicitis. It’s not as bad as you’re making it sound.” “With appendicitis, you have to undergo an operation.” Zhang Yuan held his chin, pretending like he was in deep thought. “This I can’t help you. It so happens I don’t know any butcher.” “What butcher?” He Luo was surprised and stomped her feet. “You would need a butcher for appendicitis!” She had also forgotten that she was in pain. Road 2’s bus would pa.s.s by every three minutes. He Luo boarded the bus and thought of Zhang Yuan’s serious face as he said, “That you need a butcher.” She couldn’t help her laughter. Because of her accidental words, she didn’t dare to look at him. She was worried she would make a mistake again and made him hate her. But it appeared that he didn’t. He even chased after her and told her to see a dentist. When He Luo thought about it, she couldn’t help laughing. But what did “I too don’t need you to take an interest in me” mean? This sentence became a hook and had firmly settled in her heart. “Then who do you want to take an interest in you? Is it Bai Lian?” She really wanted to ask this a thousand times. When did it start that I became so worried about the outcome? As she wrote in her diary, He Luo occasionally would grin from ear to ear, and would sigh in a moment later. Mom and Dad exchanged glances. They both understood what it meant.
Thoughts
Zhang Yuan is like a fantasy fulfillment for us who had a crush on a cute boy in school. It’s so obvious to everyone (me) but them that they like each other but the mention of Bai Lian makes me nervous.