Chapter 5 (I'll Go Soft on You Just This Once) The Delicate Youngster Shows His Might

When Zhao Yuan thought of the punishment that Lin Wenxi would face the next day, his anger gradually dissipated. The last time Zhang Dong inspected their dormitory, Zheng Kai had sneaked out to celebrate his victory over a senior brother on the basketball court. His punishment had been to do one hundred press-ups. Zhao Yuan was thinking that he could step up when Lin Wenxi's face was twisted pitifully from panting while doing the press-ups. Being the platoon leader, him honorably offering to replace Lin Wenxi would cause the latter to owe him a great favor. Naturally, he would still wait until Lin Wenxi was almost dying of exhaustion before bravely stepping forward. Zhao Yuan fell asleep happily as if Lin Wenxi had already lowered his head and plead for leniency from him with a pout. However, Zhang Dong only asked about Lin Wenxi's whereabouts, evidently not finding it a huge problem. This turn of events confused Zhao Yuan. Zhao Yuan waited for Lin Wenxi to leave the dormitory and then secretly followed after him. When Wang Xiang noticed that something was going on, he immediately hid and followed after Zhao Yuan. Zheng Kai, unable to stand to be the only one left in the dormitory, helplessly followed after Wang Xiang. Wang Xiang got a fright after finding someone behind him and he loudly asked Zheng Kai, "Why do you like walking last? Don't tell me you have feelings for me..." Zheng Kai delivered a kick at Wang Xiang's ass. "I have a bone to pick with you!" Wang Xiang couldn't help arguing, "I'll fight you to the death!" The two of them bickered for a moment, only to find no trace of Zhao Yuan and Lin Wenxi anywhere. They left on their own while complaining. Wang Xiang went to look for Zhang An'an while Zheng Kai raised his cell phone with an unwitting smile on his face. Displayed on the screen of the phone was Chen Wanxin's photograph. Zhao Yuan lost his target after tailing him halfway and resorted to asking passers-by. "Have you seen a handsome male student wearing a white t-shirt?" The girl who was carrying water stared at him for a good minute before calmly replying, "I have; aren't you one?" Zhao Yuan looked at his body and realized that he was accidentally wearing a white t-shirt. He had no choice but to correct his wording. "He has fair skin and refined looks. He wears frameless glasses and is pretty thin." The eyes of the girl carrying the water blossomed into peach flowers while she pointed at a lonesome figure in the gymnasium. "I respect him so much! He'd come over at eight or nine pm every night to practice until twelve pm! His movements are perfectly coordinated and his posture is bloody awesome!" Zhao Yuan gave her a small nod. Just as he was about to take his leave, the girl said with a smile, "These days, love between two guys is accepted! Especially you two who are born to be a couple! Hold on tight to your chance and don't let other people claim your man!" Zhao Yuan found her words to be inexplicable and confusing. After casting her a glance, he immediately walked over to the gymnasium. The only thing was that the girl appeared rather familiar. Of course, he would find her familiar, seeing as he and Shu Xiaoman once met each other briefly during the military training. Having come across a treasure on her journey, Shu Xiaoman was naturally jumping in joy. She excitedly called Zhang An'an and told her everything. Zhang An'an, who was reading her horoscope to explain her life at that time, immediately became spirited and ran to the outside of the gymnasium. There, she saw Zhao Yuan standing alone. Zhao Yuan watched as Lin Wenxi stood alone, first marching to others' stride, then marching at parade step, standing at ease, turning left, turning right, and finally saluting. Lin Wenxi repeated every movement more than ten times, so much so that he even fell down while trying to turn left because of his legs going soft. However, he swiftly climbed to his feet and continued practicing. When Lin Wenxi practiced his goose-step, Zhao Yuan secretly laughed at his kick looking as gentle as a feather. That was because Lin Wenxi didn't lift his foot high enough and his footing was often unstable. Thus, when the sole of his foot landed on the ground so weakly that not even the slightest bit of dust would fly, his movement looked disharmonious in military training that required every movement to produce a thunderous sound. However, at this moment, Zhao Yuan couldn't bring himself to laugh no matter what. In order to produce the best effect, Lin Wenxi kept lifting his leg and slamming it hard on the ground again and again. If the impact wasn't as strong as he desired, he would stop and stamp his foot on the original spot with as much force as he could muster. Under the dim light, Zhao Yuan saw the sweat on the youngster's forehead as well as the expression that was many times calmer and more tenacious than usual. So it turned out that it was only when Lin Wenxi was alone that he would show all these. "I'll go soft on you just this once," Zhao Yuan thought. "This person is really tormenting himself, not even having dinner." He slowly walked out, preparing to seek the manager to help bring some bread and fruits into the gymnasium. The minute he stepped out, he caught a glimpse of Zhang An'an and the girl who carried water earlier gathered. Both of them couldn't look more excited than if they had tried. "You don't know me, do you? I'm Shu Xiaoman, An'an's dorm mate!" Shu Xiaoman extended her hand politely. She honestly found a heroic and imposing character like Zhao Yuan to be very suited for a character with a distinguished temperament like Lin Wenxi. The two of them were simply a match made in heaven. Zhao Yuan returned the courtesy and, after thinking for a moment, said, "Can you two help him?" Extraordinarily, the two of them nodded at the same time. Their movements were even more coordinated than that of the military instructor during the training. Zhao Yuan said, "He hasn't had dinner yet. Since you're here to see him, don't you think you should do something?" An idea suddenly hit Zhang An'an. "No problem, but you must fork out the money and get the food yourself." Naturally, Zhao Yuan wouldn't care about things like this. He said brightly, "That's for sure." After Zhao Yuan handed them the milk and bread, Zhang An'an and Shu Xiaoman happily entered the gymnasium. Lin Wenxi was still practicing without stopping. The pool of sweat on the shiny floor was very obvious to the eye. Zhang An'an and Shu Xiaoman handed him the food with beaming smiles. Even though Lin Wenxi was starving, he appeared upset by the girls' abrupt disruption and politely refused. Zhang An'an couldn't stop herself from yelling, "Zhao Yuan told us to give them to you! He was outside watching you for a long time!" She was hoping that Lin Wenxi would accept the food, perfectly contented. Unexpectedly, Lin Wenxi swiftly picked up his jacket and left without even looking back. "An'an! Why did you sell Zhao Yuan out so quickly? Didn't we agree that their love should be love-hate?" Shu Xiaoman wanted to cry but no tears came. She felt as if a good script that she had penned was abruptly edited by the director. "Silly! It's time to stop fishing for results! The two of them have been fighting for a good few days. It's the time to let Wenxi find out about Zhao Yuan's feelings. Besides, you saw it, didn't you? Zhao Yuan isn't faking his concern for Wenxi. Why shouldn't we give our blessing?" Zhang An'an said, smiling. "But look, Lin Wenxi seems to be angry," Shu Xiaoman said. "He's just angry that Zhao Yuan didn't give him the food directly," Zhang An'an said, particularly confidently. She blinked and put her thumbs and middle fingers together to press onto Shu Xiaoman's forehead. "Little girl, don't tell me that you're harboring other thoughts." Shu Xiaoman lowered her head a little. "How is it possible..." Even so, she appeared incredibly pale and feeble when she said these words. She was confused herself, too. The seemingly frail and delicate Lin Wenxi had such a stubborn side to him. His pupils were so bright and firm and his standards for himself were so high. He was countless times stronger than the boys that she had met. It was so much so that in the past half hour that she had been watching Lin Wenxi, the desire of crying had appeared in her eyes. Zhang An'an laughed brightly and then returned to report this to Chen Wanxin with Shu Xiaoman. Chen Wanxin was considered the unquestionable leader of their three-person dormitory. She had also vaguely become the leader of the girls in the class. She was liberal with money and always the one who would pick up the bill at dinner. Whenever the girls had problems, she would undoubtedly take the responsibility to help them. Her background must be pretty significant.