HCILH Ch. 100

Chapter 100: Night Meeting

By evening, the coaches were still busy handling the incoming teams and had no time to deal with Hou Mo, so he told Sui Houyu to return to the dorm first and went back to the fourth floor himself.

Unable to sleep that night and with Hou Mo not by his side, plus not being allowed to use his phone, Sui Houyu became agitated again.

After sitting on his bed for a while, he got up and began wiping down the desk.

When he left the dorm, there was still food on the table that had been knocked over. By the time he came back, it had been cleaned up.

He wasn’t cleaning because the table was dirty—he just couldn’t sit still.

Seeing him tidying up, He Shibi, who had been lying on the bed resting, felt flustered. He first watched Sui Houyu for a while, then got up and began helping with the cleaning.

For example, when Sui Houyu wiped the table, He Shibi would pick up the items on the table. When Sui Houyu wiped the chairs, He Shibi would move the clothes draped over the chair backs.

When Sui Houyu brought out a broom to sweep the floor, He Shibi would clear the way to make it easier to sweep.

When Sui Houyu began mopping, He Shibi moved things around again.

Two people who looked like they would fight as soon as they met didn’t exchange words, but they worked together to thoroughly clean the dorm.

No communication, yet the cooperation was very tacit.

This was probably the coordination awareness of doubles partners in tennis?

After the room was cleaned, Sui Houyu put his hands on his waist, staring at the room, deep in thought: What could he do next?

He Shibi watched him silently, seeming to wait for him. Only when Sui Houyu was asleep could He Shibi rest peacefully.

After a while, Sui Houyu spoke to He Shibi: “You should rest, I just can’t sleep.”

“Oh…” He Shibi didn’t say much, returning to his bed. Just as he was about to sit down, he saw Sui Houyu spreading a piece of paper on the floor and starting to do a handstand. He paused in his motion to sit, which caused him to hold a horse stance for three seconds before sitting down.

At this point, a coach entered to check the dorm. The check-in form had pictures on it, so no one could impersonate someone else.

The coach came in, gave a few reminders, looked around, and said: “I’ve checked so many dorms, but you two have the neatest room. The others still haven’t finished packing their luggage after all this time, and some can’t even put on a duvet cover. Those who travel for competitions frequently should have learned to be self-sufficient long ago.”

After the coach finished speaking, He Shibi didn’t respond, and Sui Houyu was still doing his handstand. Since no one spoke, the coach didn’t stay long. After confirming everyone was present, he left.

The training schedule for the next month was:

6:10–7:10 AM: Morning exercises

7:30 AM: Breakfast

8:30–11:30 AM: Morning training

2:30–5:30 PM: Afternoon training

7:30–9:00 PM: Evening training

This schedule was typical for provincial teams and sports schools. The break after lunch was ample, and they could return to the dorm for a nap.

Lights out in the dormitory was at 10:30 PM.

After his phone was confiscated, Sui Houyu didn’t even know the time anymore. He had gotten used to not wearing a watch after playing tennis, and now there was nothing in the dorm to tell time.

It wasn’t until the lights were turned off in the dorm that he realized it was already 10:30 PM. He didn’t know whether he would be able to sleep before dawn.

He suddenly understood the idiom: “A lonely pillow is hard to sleep on.”

After stopping his handstand, he returned to his bed to do a plank. Less than ten minutes later, someone knocked softly on the door.

Surprised, he walked over to open the door, and to his astonishment, Hou Mo quickly entered the dorm, shut the door, and sighed with relief, hugging Sui Houyu tightly: “Wuwuwu, I’m afraid of the dark…”

“How did you get here?” Sui Houyu asked, patting Hou Mo’s back.

“There’s an outdoor fire escape stairway. The middle of the stairs was blocked with wooden planks, so I stepped on the gaps between the stairs one by one to get down. But I accidentally touched the planks and got a splinter in my hand.”

Blocking the fire escape like that was against fire safety regulations.

But it was necessary, as this group of boys was too rowdy, and it was to prevent them from running between floors.

Also, sometimes when there weren’t enough dorms, male and female dorms would share the same floor, and this measure helped prevent problems.

Each dorm floor had a security door, and coaches were inside. To cross between floors, one would have to climb through the window or use this passage.

Sui Houyu was stunned: “You’re crazy? This is the third floor! You’re on the fourth floor! Did you think this was the first or second floor?”

“Wasn’t it because you couldn’t sleep or might fight with your roommate?” Hou Mo replied.

Before Sui Houyu could respond, He Shibi asked seriously: “Why would you fight?”

This question was so sincere that Hou Mo froze, not knowing how to answer.

Should he say: “It’s because you don’t look friendly”?

Sui Houyu answered for Hou Mo: “I have a bad temper.”

He Shibi nodded seriously and said: “Mm, I can tell.”

Sui Houyu led Hou Mo to sit by the bed and took Hou Mo’s hand, trying to see in the dark: “Where did the splinter go?”

“On the side of my left hand. There’s no light now, so we’ll check it tomorrow.” Hou Mo replied.

He Shibi spoke again: “I have one.”

He then leaned forward and pulled a small desk lamp from his suitcase and handed it to them.

Hou Mo was surprised but took it: “Thanks.”

After turning on the lamp, Sui Houyu gently held Hou Mo’s hand, inspecting the splinter: “Can I pull it out with my fingers? There’s no tweezers here…”

He Shibi’s voice came again: “I have them.”

He handed them a tool kit from his suitcase.

Hou Mo finally couldn’t help but exclaim: “Are you Doraemon?”

He Shibi, lazily lying on his bed, responded: “When we checked the luggage, we heard about a strange guy who brought yarn, like he wanted to knit a sweater, and also had eye-washing stuff.”

Sui Houyu pondered for a moment and said: “That strange person might be me. But what I brought were felt materials, packed in a bag. Why did they think it was yarn?”

He Shibi was puzzled: “Why bring such weird things?”

Sui Houyu whispered: “Something to do when I’m bored.”

He Shibi didn’t speak further, just lay back on his bed to sleep. The fact that there was suddenly another person in the dorm didn’t bother him.

Meanwhile, Sui Houyu continued to carefully remove the splinter from Hou Mo’s hand, his expression focused.

He knew Hou Mo was timid. For someone who would climb an outdoor staircase at night alone, it was clear Hou Mo was really throwing caution to the wind.

After thinking carefully, he still wanted to scold Hou Mo a couple of times, but he was afraid of disturbing He Shibi’s rest, so he held it back.

He carefully removed the splinters from Hou Mo’s hand and then gently held it, checking to see if he missed any. While inspecting, he yawned.

“There shouldn’t be any more…” Sui Houyu insisted as he finished this sentence, then fell asleep in Hou Mo’s arms.

He Shibi, who had been lying nearby, was startled by Sui Houyu’s sudden movement. He immediately sat up and asked: “F*ck, did he pass out?!”

Hou Mo awkwardly answered while holding Sui Houyu: “He just fell asleep.”

From an outsider’s perspective, Sui Houyu’s condition would indeed be alarming.

He Shibi stared in shock, blinking his eyes only after a long while before recovering: “That’s impressive…”

After this remark, he lay back down again.

Hou Mo adjusted Sui Houyu, laying him down properly on the bed, and packed away the tool box and desk lamp, returning them to He Shibi. Only then did he return to Sui Houyu’s bed and lie down next to him.

Their dormitory had neither heating nor air conditioning, and with the temperature as it was, sleep was entirely dependent on one’s endurance.

Once under the covers, Hou Mo felt Sui Houyu move closer to him, and his arm around him tightened, clearly because he was cold and was clinging to him for warmth.

Hou Mo adjusted the blankets, then draped Sui Houyu’s legs over him, holding his feet to prevent them from getting cold.

Once he felt it was enough, he finally embraced Sui Houyu and fell asleep.

*

The next morning, He Shibi woke up and sat up to look at the other bed.

From the shape of the blanket, it looked like a person was lying there. If it weren’t for the two heads on the pillow, He Shibi would have thought Hou Mo had snuck out last night.

Just how tightly were these two holding each other?

It seemed like they were stacked together.

As though hearing something, Hou Mo opened his eyes and glanced at He Shibi, sitting up as well.

Soon after he sat up, the morning bell rang, indicating it was already six in the morning.

He Shibi looked at Hou Mo and asked: “Is this how you two get along as doubles partners?”

He Shibi was truly in awe of how Hou Mo and Sui Houyu interacted. The way they got along was the complete opposite of the way he and his partner interacted.

He Shibi and his partner couldn’t sit on the same bench without accidentally kicking each other.

He Shibi didn’t even dare to imagine what would happen if they were to lie on the same bed.

Hou Mo could only smile and reply: “People don’t know, but we’ve been close since we were kids.”

“Oh…”

Hou Mo quickly woke up Sui Houyu: “Brother Yu, it’s time for morning exercises.”

While saying this, he started putting on his clothes.

Sui Houyu frowned as he lay under the blanket. With the room temperature being what it was, he didn’t want to get out of bed or put on clothes. All he wanted was to stay under the covers.

Hou Mo could only finish dressing himself, then reached under the covers to help Sui Houyu put on his clothes.

Once dressed, the two of them hurried to the water room, where they were able to share a faucet after a short wait.

The two used the same faucet to wash their faces and brush their teeth, finishing quickly and heading downstairs to line up.

On the first day of morning exercises, the teams from each province were very scattered.

The coach had them line up by height and reorganize their lines.

Since the number of people in each province varied, the team from their province was relatively large, so they were able to line up in the top three.

This time, Sui Houyu and Hou Mo were farther apart, though they were close to Deng Yiheng and Shen Junjing.

In the tennis team, a one-centimeter difference in height could make a big difference. Coaches preferred male players between 185-190 cm tall, and Sui Houyu, at 183 cm, was considered average but wasn’t in the “golden height” range.

After running, when Sui Houyu and Hou Mo were planning to head back to the dorm to wash their hair, Lu Yanxin came over and said: “Brother Yu! When our women’s team was running, we saw your hair swaying back and forth. You were the most noticeable one in the entire team. It was like a dustpan shaking out corn.”

Hou Mo laughed after hearing this: “That’s a very fitting description!”

Lü Yanxin snapped her fingers excitedly: “Right? But you stand out even more than Brother Yu. If you want to find you, just look for the person who’s really white. That’s definitely you.”

Hou Mo didn’t respond.

Recently, Deng Yiheng had been paying special attention to his looks. He got up early and washed his hair so that when he met Lu Yanxin, he’d look his best.

As many people were returning to the dorm, Deng Yiheng asked Lu Yanxin: “Do you need me to bring you some food?”

“No, I’m going to the canteen too.” Lu Yanxin replied, leaning in to look at Deng Yiheng’s eyes. “The swelling’s all gone. You look much better now.”

Suddenly having her face so close to him, Deng Yiheng turned completely red.

Sui Houyu and Hou Mo, like benevolent fathers, couldn’t help but laugh at Deng Yiheng’s expression.

Hou Mo said to Deng Yiheng: “Could you bring our breakfast up to us? We’re going to wash our hair.”

“Sure, I’ll watch out for your breakfast.” Deng Yiheng said, familiar with their tastes as it wasn’t the first time he’d brought them food. “But I think you guys will be back soon. I washed my hair in a rush this morning and had to dry it with a towel while gritting my teeth.”

Hou Mo sympathized as he glanced at Sui Houyu’s thick hair.

Sui Houyu took a deep breath.

When they went upstairs, Hou Mo and Sang Xian went to the fourth floor, while Sui Houyu went to the third floor and parted ways.

Hou Mo said to Sang Xian: “Deng Yiheng is already chasing others, and I haven’t caught up yet. But it’s okay, I still have you and Shen Junjing keeping me company while I’m single.”

Hearing this, Sang Xian shot Hou Mo a meaningful glance but didn’t say anything, only smiling slightly.

Hou Mo patted Sang Xian on the head: “You’re really a good son for your father!”

“Get lost.”