HCILH Ch. 34

Chapter 34: Sticking with You

Sui Houyu stayed in Hou Mo’s room until the competition ended.

With Hou Mo covering for him, no one else discovered Sui Houyu’s presence.

Although the teammates felt Hou Mo had been acting strangely lately, none of them checked on him, which allowed Sui Houyu to ride his electric bike back home smoothly on the last day of the competition.

In this competition, Hou Mo once again secured first place, earning more points.

The other members didn’t perform as well in the singles events. Sang Xian placed seventh. 

While the rest had lower rankings.

In the doubles event, Deng Yiheng and Shen Junjing improved their performance, placing fifth this time.

After the National Day holiday, classes resumed. Students who lived far away usually returned to campus a day early; otherwise, it was impossible to arrive on time due to the remote location of the school.

Sui Houyu’s guesthouse was close to the school, so he rode his electric bike there in the morning, weaving through the private cars. He was truly a unique sight.

After parking his bike, he jingled his keys as he walked into the teaching building. In the lobby, he spotted some familiar faces.

Ran Shu and Su Anyi were standing in front of the large scoreboard, chatting for quite some time.

Sui Houyu walked over and stood beside them, just in time to overhear part of their conversation—they were discussing how to intervene in a fight.

Ran Shu muttered: “How about I sit next to Brother Yu? If Brother Yu makes a move, I’ll get in between them.”

Su Anyi disagreed: “No, that’ll just irritate him more since he’s already in a bad mood.”

Sui Houyu glanced at the scoreboard. He was ranked second, with Hou Mo taking the top spot. The photo Deng Yiheng had sent earlier wasn’t fake.

He stared at the board for a moment, then noticed Ran Shu and Su Anyi looking at him, their expressions serious.

He sighed helplessly and asked: “Do I look like the kind of person who’d beat someone just because I didn’t score higher?”

Ran Shu answered honestly: “Yes…”

Then, realizing what he’d said, he quickly added: “N-no! You’d just find them annoying and use that as an excuse to pick a fight, not outright beat them.”

Sui Houyu couldn’t be bothered to argue further and turned to head upstairs.

Ran Shu and Su Anyi followed closely behind him, puzzled by how calm he seemed, a little too calm.

Previously, Sui Houyu had asked Ran Shu to investigate something, but Ran Shu hadn’t found anything. Seeing the scoreboard now made him nervous, afraid that Sui Houyu might cause trouble.

As they walked away from the crowd, they overheard students gossiping: “What’s with Class Seventeen of Year 2? Isn’t it supposed to be the worst class?”

“Hou Mo and Sang Xian are both athletes, so they ended up in the same class.”

“And what about that Sui Houyu and Su… whatever his name is?”

“No idea… maybe they went there to mess around too?”

“I heard Sui Houyu is the crazy guy from Qingyu. Maybe he joined Class Seventeen just to clash with Hou Mo?”

“Even if he wanted to start trouble, how would he have known Hou Mo would also be in Class Seventeen?”

“Good point.”

Hearing this, Sui Houyu turned back to glance at them and clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Couldn’t these people lower their voices when gossiping? He had heard everything, and now he was the one feeling awkward.

After hesitating for a moment, he adjusted his bag and continued upstairs.

At the staircase landing, he didn’t head toward their classroom. Ran Shu called after him, “Brother Yu, that’s not our classroom!”

“I’m going to join the tennis team. Coach Wang told me to pick up a form and book a medical check-up.”

“Y-You’re joining the tennis team?!” Ran Shu was stunned and rushed to catch up with Sui Houyu. “Are you crazy? You don’t need to become an athlete!”

Sui Houyu’s academic performance was solid, and he could easily take the college entrance exam without relying on an athletic path.

Besides, his family’s financial situation was excellent. Even though both of his parents had remarried, he still received a monthly allowance of at least 50,000 yuan.

When his parents divorced, both sides had significant wealth. Although they weren’t willing to spend time with their emotionally troubled child, they tried to compensate with money. Each parent competed to provide more allowance, trying to prove they were doing better than the other.

Even if Sui Houyu failed the entrance exam, his family could arrange alternatives, like studying abroad. 

There was no need for him to endure the hardships of being an athlete.

While walking to the office, Sui Houyu casually replied: “I just want to play for fun.”

“A-Are you picking a fight with Hou Mo?” Ran Shu still couldn’t wrap his head around it.

t was just a National Day holiday, so how did everything suddenly change? Why couldn’t he understand Sui Houyu anymore?

He really couldn’t keep up with Sui Houyu’s pace now.

“No.” Sui Houyu reassured him, “I really just want to play tennis for fun. I’m not planning to take the college entrance exam through the athlete route.”

Ran Shu wanted to convince him otherwise, but he didn’t know how, so he hesitated before saying, “Well… well, if you really want to join, then go for it.”

Last night, Sui Houyu had texted Coach Wang, who was thrilled.

What had started as a casual inquiry ended with the coach calling him, chatting for over two hours.

Coach Wang usually only comes to work in the afternoon and spends the morning helping out at his store, since the student-athletes don’t start training until the afternoon.

But today, for Sui Houyu, he came to school early in the morning, sitting in the office waiting for him to personally arrange Sui Houyu’s entry into the tennis team.

When Sui Houyu entered the office, Coach Wang already had the forms prepared.

“There are three copies. One goes to the school’s archive, another to the athletics office, and the third to the sponsor. You’ll also get sponsored sportswear. The better you perform, the more support you’ll receive.”

Sui Houyu glanced at the forms and asked, “Does that mean I’ll get money?”

“Uh… not exactly. You’ll receive the latest sports shoes, though.”

“Oh.” Sui Houyu answered vaguely. He wasn’t that interested in it and began filling out the forms.

Ran Shu and Su Anyi stayed beside him. The two of them exchanging bewildered glances, unsure of what Sui Houyu was up to.

After a while, Ran Shu sat down and declared, “Coach, I-I’ll join too.”

When Sui Houyu transferred to Class Seventeen, he had done it with Ran Shu.

Now, Ran Shu would accompany him to the tennis team.

Coach Wang handed Ran Shu a form and asked, “Do you enjoy playing tennis too?”

“No, I’m just going to keep an eye on him. He has a bad temper. I don’t want him fighting with others, so I’m joining to watch him.”

“He’s practiced with the team before and did pretty well. I also saw your teamwork during the school sports day—it wasn’t bad.”

“I’m worried about him being on his own…” Ran Shu muttered as he filled out the form, occasionally sneaking a glance at Sui Houyu’s paper to copy his answers.

Coach Wang warned, “If you don’t perform well, you’ll be removed from the team.”

“What?!” Ran Shu was surprised and looked at Coach Wang with wide eyes.

“Of course! Training will take time away from your studies. If you’re not cut out for it, the school won’t let you continue. You’d be better off focusing on academics.”

“Then, then…” Ran Shu hesitated, realizing that he wasn’t great at studying or sports. 

Still, after glancing at Sui Houyu, he gritted his teeth and continued filling out the form.

Su Anyi watched them fill out the form. She hesitated for a while and asked:  “Can girls join?”

“Yes, but they don’t train with me, and the competition structure is different.”

“Do you need any assistants?” Su Anyi asked eagerly. “Like the manager from Slam Dunk?”

“I’m not sure whether your stepping in or not, but if you want to join, you could be an assistant. You’d help out with various things like distributing sponsored items, organizing training schedules, and sorting other stuff. It’s all sorts of tasks, pretty tiring.”

“I can do it!” Su Anyi immediately agreed.

Coach Wang smiled warmly at Su Anyi and said, “If you come, those brats will be really happy.”

Then, he turned to Sui Houyu and said, “Your friend seems to get along with you pretty well.”

“It’s mainly because I’m not very easy to trust,” Sui Houyu replied, finishing a form and handing it to Coach Wang. “Is there anything I need to add?”

Coach Wang glanced over the form and said, “It looks fine. I’ll head to the storage room and grab the sportswear for the athletes. What sizes do you all wear?”

Su Anyi pointed at herself. “Do I get one too?”

Coach Wang smiled and replied. “You’re helping out, right? A set of clothes is no big deal. Besides, these are durable and practical.”

Their school had a generous budget for sports.

After the three of them gave their sizes, Coach Wang left the office.

While filling out his form, Ran Shu asked quietly, “Can you compete? I mean… with your mania, are you allowed to participate?”

“I talked to Coach Wang about it. He said I just need to undergo a medical exam and keep things in check. As long as there’s no relapse, it won’t be a problem. I haven’t had an episode in a long time, and the only symptoms left are insomnia and restlessness.”

Indeed, since being discharged from the hospital, Sui Houyu’s symptoms had improved. Aside from subtle signs, most people had no idea about his condition and didn’t notice anything off about him.

However, Ran Shu still felt uneasy. To him, this issue was a ticking time bomb.

What if Sui Houyu became famous one day, and this information got exposed? The backlash from the public could hurt him deeply. And what if someone exploited this to force him to withdraw from competitions?

Or worse, if he had a sudden relapse during a match, wouldn’t that be like public execution?

Sui Houyu added: “Actually, some athletes have mild to moderate depression and need counseling and treatment.”

Ran Shu still wasn’t reassured: “I know, but didn’t that one athlete retire and come back because of mental health issues? She went through a lot of emotional pain, didn’t she?”

After a moment, Su Anyi said: “If Brother Yu enjoys it and feels happy playing tennis, then let him play. It gives him an outlet, a chance to exercise, and maybe even make him happy…”

Ran Shu finally nodded in agreement but couldn’t help reminding him: “Brother Yu, it’s fine as a hobby, but don’t make it your whole world. Just in case…”

Just in case something happened, and he couldn’t play tennis anymore—he wouldn’t feel too crushed.

Sui Houyu cut him off: “I know.”

Ran Shu picked up his pen again and quickly resumed filling out his form: “Anyway, I’ll stick with you no matter what!”

Sui Houyu smiled and kept filling out his form too.

Su Anyi looked around and asked: “Where’s the tennis court?”

She had no idea where it was and had already decided to join. She was clearly the most clueless one in the group.

Sui Houyu and Ran Shu laughed while filling out their forms.

Su Anyi didn’t care and continued to worry: “I don’t know the rules of tennis. Do I need to study them? Can I learn by reading a book?”

Sui Houyu replied: “When you have time, just watch the training sessions. It’ll probably be faster than reading a book.”