Chapter 8 Duan Yu

  Return to the right path.

  Duan Yu had been thinking of Wang Yuyan for a long time, and before he knew it, a month had passed since the start of school. Although Pushkin was fluent in his studies, Duan Yu and Wang Yuyan were still separated by thousands of mountains. Until one day, Linghu Chong went out for a run early in the morning and came back with great enthusiasm, like a victorious general - considering his expression at the time, we can also say that he looked very much like an old thief who had succeeded in his plot.

  "Brother, that's all I can do for you. Whether or not you can succeed depends on how high the green smoke rises from your ancestral tomb." Linghu Chong patted Duan Yu on the back, his face flushed with excitement, and said, "Don't recite poetry tomorrow, get up early and go for a run instead."

  At that time, the school required freshmen and sophomores to get up early and run around the Yueming Lake, with one exercise ticket for each lap. On average, four exercise tickets were needed per week to pass physical education. In their junior year, they switched to Tai Chi, and Zhang Sanfeng, the director of the Physical Education Department, was still vigorous in his old age, personally getting up early to practice stances with students, still one ticket at a time.

  Actually, the students prefer to run laps. In the cold winter mornings, they would practice Tai Chi, holding a high stance with their hands and feet freezing terribly, which is far from as warm as running laps. Most importantly, running laps can accumulate credits for the whole week by just running four laps early in the morning, and then you can sleep in for the rest of the week. At that time, Duan Yu was lovesick and depressed, rarely going out to run laps. When he heard Linghu Chong say this, he stared blankly for a moment, put down his Pushkin poetry collection, and said: "What nonsense are you talking about? Did you help me get the ticket?" As Duan Yu's most loyal supporter, Linghu Chong would occasionally run an extra lap to help him get an early exercise ticket.

  "Damn, with this important news, you don't even invite me to dinner or help me get a few tickets, and yet you ask me to help you get some." Linghu Cong laughed like a fox, "I just saw Wang Yuyan at Youming Lake earlier."

  "Really? Aren't they third-year students who practice Tai Chi?" Duan Yu, despite being a bit dim-witted, didn't react slowly.

  "Are you done? Don't understand? I said you're uncultured, right? Think about it, isn't the school flower from the student council? Those people who ran in circles and issued invoices are all from the student council."

  "I've gone several times but never saw her..." Duan Yu sat up from bed.

  "That's why I said you're country bumpkin." Linghu Chong made a disdainful face, shook his head, picked up his own thermos cup with tea stains and took a sip, with an air of being old and cunning, he crossed his legs, "Wang Yuyan doesn't care about the receipt, she just blocks the small path and doesn't let people take a shortcut, if it wasn't for my sharp eyesight, I wouldn't have discovered it."

  Linghu Cong boasted and talked big, completely disregarding the fact that Duan Yu didn't wear glasses while he himself was severely nearsighted with 500 degrees of myopia.

  "Cut it out," Yang Kang poked his head down from the upper bunk, "You're still sharp-eyed, aren't you? Didn't you only discover her after copying the shortcut and getting caught by Wang Yuyan?"

  "Huh?" Linghu Chong's eyebrows shot up, and he looked not only unashamed but also rather delighted. "Brother Yan Kang is indeed perceptive, could it be that you too have taken a shortcut?"

  "That's it!" Yang Kang pulled out a stack of early exercise tickets from under his pillow, made a gesture with his hand as if he was licking his fingers, and then counted them one by one.

  "If I hadn't taken a shortcut for three days last week, I would still have to get up early this week. Spring is sleepy, autumn is lazy, summer is drowsy, and winter is the hardest to wake up from. School is simply killing me." Yang Kang covered his head with a quilt, "I'm going to sleep, I swear I'll sleep through the bed!"

  Linghu Chong turned his head around and saw Duan Yu had already dressed neatly and started putting on his running shoes.

  "Hey, it's not that serious, is it? Wang Yuyan may be a precious gem, but leaving her somewhere for a day or two without anyone stealing her away is already quite late." Linghu Cong teased.

  Duan Yu's little white face seemed to redden for a moment, and the flush immediately receded: "Get out of here, I'll take my rice bowl and eat breakfast, what's the hurry..."

  Duan Yu had already taken the rice bowl and gone out, only then did Linghu Chong say behind his back: "Eating breakfast? I think it's not worth being infatuated to this extent."

  As soon as he went out the door, Duan Yu's face finally turned red. When tying his shoelaces, his mind was actually empty, only Wang Yuyan's empty butterfly fluttering up and down again. If Linghu Chong hadn't spoken, he feared he would have really gone out for a run. Wasn't it really too stupid? Duan Yu himself wasn't sure, but fortunately, he had managed to cover it up. Carrying his rice bowl, Duan Yu jogged along in the cold morning wind, taking deep breaths of fresh air, and suddenly felt better.

  Was it because of the fresh air or was it because of Wang Yuyan? Duan Yu didn't know, he just kept running forward.

  "What is this thing called love in the world?" Duan Yu walked forward, and Linghu Chong raised his tea cup to his lips, like an iron plum blossom holding a red lantern.

  "Damn it, school won't let me live and you won't either, is there no justice in the world?" Yang Kang poked his head out of the quilt.

  "Am I not thinking about philosophical issues? Can't just pursue material life like you folks, right?" Linghu Cong made a mischievous face.

  "This is simple. Romance is when two people eat and the man pays, no romance means nothing." Yang Kang said decisively, "This is the truth, remember it and you'll be set for two or three generations."

  "You're even more ruthless." Linghu Cong laughed and cursed, "Which girl wouldn't be heartbroken enough to jump off a building for you?"

  Duan Yu really went for a run.

  The misty lake in the morning is quiet, with a small island in the center still green, under the light blue sky, vast and lush.

  The quiet atmosphere of Youming Lake at dawn and midnight is the most thought-provoking, as if the poets who chanted a thousand years ago, the girls who leaned on the railing a hundred years ago, and the famous artist who drowned ten years ago all surged into my mind, and in the midst of tranquility, I kept thinking back to the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Therefore, among the famous poets who have thrown themselves into Youming Lake, there are more than twenty recorded cases, hence the name "Youming Lake".

  In such an artistic environment, if Duan Yu walked past the white-clothed girl and suddenly turned back elegantly, saying: "Excuse me, are you Wang Yuyan? We've met before." That would be a romantic thing to do. Even if Wang Yuyan's heart was as calm as still water and couldn't recall having bumped shoulders with Duan Yu in the cafeteria, she might still wonder if they had known each other in their past lives.

  Of course, this is just the fantasy of Linghu Cong. In reality, around the lake, it was bustling with people, all humming and eating. The new principal, Dongfang Bubai, had actually come to lead the run in person. This 50-60 year old old man wore a bright red sports suit, even more radiant than the young female students around him. He ran spiritedly, calling out to the lazy men wandering around: "Run, run, classmates! Run and you'll warm up!"

  The half-sized kids, of course, didn't want to admit that they weren't as energetic as the old guy, so Dongfang Bubai gathered a big crowd around him, and indeed, the more he ran, the more lively the atmosphere became. Only poor Duan Yu was running around searching for Wang Yuyan, occasionally interrupted by the shouting from behind: "Hey, make way, classmate, make way..."

  On the other side, Zhao Zhi Jing and Yin Zhi Ping were running extremely fast, overtaking Duan Yu three times. The two of them had made a bet in the morning to see who could get five tickets first, with the loser treating the winner to steamed buns from Hangzhou. As it turned out, both of them were ruthless, and they continued to chase each other until the fifth lap, enduring the pain in their legs just for the sake of the steamed buns. When they overtook Duan Yu together, Yin Zhi Ping was still muttering: "Zhao...Zhi Jing, you're really...really cruel, running like a rabbit for the sake of those steamed buns."

  In the middle of Youming Lake, there are several small paths. According to the rules, morning runs must follow the big circle, so almost every intersection has a student union cadre stationed there. As the saying goes, "one man guards the pass, and ten thousand men cannot open it." During this time in the morning, the middle path is completely closed off, except for 80-year-old elderly women and minors, everyone else is sent back. According to Qiao Feng, one time a child of a school staff member pointed at him as he walked past on the small path to use the restroom, which was just 200 meters away. As a result, he was stopped by student union chairman Zhao Min. The brother's face turned bright red and he didn't dare say anything carefully, so he said I'm not one of your students from Bian Da, I'll just take the small path once, I have something to do. As a result, Zhao Min looked at him with disdain and said, "Classmate, don't take the shortcut, okay? Running a few more laps won't kill you. You're a boy, aren't girls also running with you?"

  But Wang Yuyan didn't have that kind of prestige. Duan Yu walked around the lake for a whole circle, and finally saw Wang Yuyan on the last small path, when Wang Yuyan seemed to be playing a game of "Eagle Catching Chickens" with several boys...

  Unlike Zhao Min, who could scare off ill-intentioned people with just one glance, Wang Yuxiang only stood in the middle of the road with her hands clasped together. A cunning student approached and asked, "Excuse me, what time is it now?" Wang Yuxiang looked down at her watch, and that guy quickly slipped away from the side. Just as Wang Yuxiang was about to turn around to chase him, three or five people took advantage of the opportunity to brush past her shoulder and run off. Wang Yuxiang couldn't catch up no matter how fast she ran, so she could only mutter "disgusting" under her breath, then turned back and continued standing in the middle of the road, waiting for the next batch of people who would try to take a shortcut.

  Duan Yu's heart skipped a beat, thinking that the others had already set an example, so he might as well follow suit. Even if Wang Yuyan caught him... it would still be a glorious death under the Peach Blossom Knife, and his ghost would be romantic too.

  Duan Yu ran up to her. Wang Yuyan had originally made up her mind to catch one this time, but when she opened her arms to block Duan Yu's question, she felt a chill in her heart and took a step back instead. It turned out that Duan Yu's smiling face looked like it was sent over for her to catch, not only willing to be caught, but also being caught with great comfort.

  Then Duan Yu's words made Wang Yuyan even more convinced that she had met an idiot. Because Duan Yu was tongue-tied for a moment, his mind was thoroughly bewildered, and he didn't know what to say. So he opened his mouth and said: "Classmate, lend me something."

  "What's your name? Which department are you from?"

  Duan Yu heard this and was overjoyed, without hesitation he reported his family name and said: "Historically, my name is Duan Yu, from Yunnan..."

  The result was predictable, and Wang Yuyan immediately went to call the teacher who supervised the morning run. Dalba, a physical education teacher who specialized in aerobics, said "Oh, so blatant?", and immediately pulled Duan Yu aside, took note of his grade and dormitory number, and scolded him severely.

  Duan Yu felt a chill in his heart, not knowing that Daluba was scaring him, and thought to himself that this semester's physical education was doomed. So he didn't have the mood to look at Wang Yuyan, and humbly hung his head in front of the 1.9-meter-tall Daluba, silently enduring the scolding. Many students at Bian University were arrogant and unruly, but Daluba was a different story - he was even more ruthless towards those who were strong and fierce. Seeing Duan Yu like this, Daluba couldn't help but feel that scolding him wasn't very satisfying, so he let him off after just five minutes.

  It was Wang Yuyan who looked at Duan Yu's honest and simple appearance on the other side, thinking that Duan Yu was quite pitiful. This was also her first time using the student union's small power to oppress someone, and she felt a slight sense of apology in her heart. Thinking about it, Duan Yu's approach was actually a bit laughable, and not at all arrogant or bold.

  "Maybe it's just silly." Wang Yuyan thought secretly.