HCILH Ch. 40

Chapter 40: Mine

That afternoon, while the other members of the tennis team were warming up and stretching, their groans filled the air, and their stretching movements resembled zombies storming a city.

Sui Houyu and Hou Mo sat on a bench, eating their now-cold boxed meals, enduring the jabs and taunts from their teammates as they ate.

Hou Mo, who used to reject doubles matches and insisted on never needing a teammate, was now taking naps in class holding hands with his new partner. He even missed lunch. How ironic is that?

Only Hou Mo could brush off that kind of teasing. Anyone else would have been humiliated.

While eating, Hou Mo cast disdainful glances at his teammates but still found time to keep an eye on how much Sui Houyu was eating.

Sui Houyu was always a picky eater. If the food didn’t suit his taste, he wouldn’t eat much. Normally, to avoid going hungry, he’d order a lot and pick what he liked best.

But today, there were no such options. As athletes, their meals were standardized—low salt, low oil, with limited variety. To make matters worse, the food was cold, and after just two bites, Sui Houyu lost his appetite.

“You need to eat more, or you won’t last through training this afternoon. Also… why do I feel like you’ve lost weight?” Hou Mo glanced at Sui Houyu’s meal tray, noticing that he only finished one dish he seemed to like.

Without hesitation, Hou Mo transferred the same dish from his tray into Sui Houyu’s. “Eat more of this.”

“I don’t have much of an appetite.” Sui Houyu reluctantly took a few more bites. “Besides, it’s only been two days. How much weight could I have lost?”

Hou Mo grabbed another boxed meal from the side and pointed at it. “Take what you like from this one too. I’ll eat the other two dishes.”

“Okay.”

“Try the other dishes too. These meals are scientifically balanced to provide the nutrients you need. Eating them will benefit you in the long run.”

“Alright.”

Male athletes, especially, have hearty appetites, and many could easily eat two or three meals each.

Even though Sui Houyu was a picky eater, he could typically finish two portions. Hou Mo, on the other hand, had a smaller appetite and found one portion sufficient.

Today, their teammates had left three meals for them in total.

The cold food and Sui Houyu’s picky tastes meant that even three servings might not be enough.

Suddenly, the team grew restless, and Shen Junjing exclaimed excitedly: “She’s coming! She’s heading this way!”

Deng Yiheng followed with an explanation: “Sister Su is officially joining our team as an assistant. Today’s her first day.”

Su Anyi strolled toward the tennis court, holding a parasol. Just the sight of her approaching made the players ecstatic, and when she stepped onto the court, they burst into cheers.

They had a girl on their team!

A girl! Alive! And she was stunning!

Coach Wang barked a few reprimands before calling Su Anyi over and handing her a form, showing her how to take notes for the team.

Su Anyi, composed as always, listened attentively to the instructions and quickly grasped the process.

The coach brought over a chair, placing it in the shade for her to sit and take notes on the players’ training.

With Su Anyi seated, the team instantly forgot about teasing anyone else. Everyone perked up, eager to show off their skills in front of her, even becoming unusually enthusiastic during warm-ups.

After finishing their meal, Hou Mo and Sui Houyu took their trays to the waste station for sorting.

Since they had just eaten, it wasn’t wise to begin training immediately. So, Hou Mo took Sui Houyu to the indoor training area.

The indoor courts were mostly used by the women’s tennis team, who were practicing when the two entered.

Without interrupting them, Hou Mo found a spot with Sui Houyu.

Of course, if the girls wanted to watch them, Hou Mo couldn’t do much about it.

But when one of the girls whistled at them, Hou Mo lost his patience. He raised his hand and flipped them off. The girls erupted in laughter, clearly bold and playful.

One of them shouted, “Don’t flatter yourself! We’re looking at the guy next to you!”

Hou Mo sneered and pulled Sui Houyu closer, using his body to block the view, as if to say: The handsome guy you’re eyeing is my partner.

Then, with a mischievous smile, he mouthed: “Mine.”

This move attracted a lot of booing.

Hou Mo grabbed a chalkboard and started drawing diagrams. “Once we’re done digesting, we’ll practice net attacks. I’ll continue from where we left off. See this? The opponent usually targets this area with a straight shot, which we call the narrow zone. Your and my movement range will be between L1 and L2.”

As he spoke, he drew a rectangle on the board and labeled it.

After explaining, he turned to Sui Houyu: “Got it?”

“Mm.” Sui Houyu nodded.

“Even if you don’t get it, you’ll understand once we practice on the court. I’ll use hand signals to coordinate.” Hou Mo turned and demonstrated some signals behind his back.

Compared to seeing Huo Mo’s pig hoove drawings, Hou Mo’s nimble hands, Sui Houyu found himself thinking that they were like finely crafted works of art—even the calluses on his palms looked smooth and endearing.

Hou Mo continued explaining the meaning behind each hand signal.

Sui Houyu gave a casual glance but then found himself lingering on Hou Mo’s backside.

Hou Mo noticed and asked: “Are you paying attention?”

“Mm.”

“Your gaze seems… off.”

“Do all athletes have such toned butts?”

“…”

Caught off guard, Hou Mo coughed awkwardly, unsure how to respond.

Sui Houyu chuckled softly, savoring the rare moment of seeing Hou Mo flustered, and tactfully changed the topic. “How should I signal agreement or disagreement?”

“Whatever works for you.”

“Should I just shout at you?”

“That works. Once we’ve practiced more and our coordination improves, we’ll come up with other ways. But for now, shouting is fine.”

“Got it.”

Practicing net attacks required close coordination between partners.

During serve games, they needed effective communication—whether to attack, which tactics to use, and when to rush the net.

Coach Wang personally trained them, often going one-on-two, catching them off guard despite being outnumbered.

Meanwhile, Ran Shu and Sang Xian paired up to practice with two freshmen.

Ran Shu quickly grew tired under the scorching sun. He couldn’t stand it. He took the racket and turned to find Su Anyi: “I need a break. I’ll train later.”

Sang Xian glanced at him but didn’t stop him.

Although they were doubles partners, they rarely communicated.

They didn’t even have each other’s contact information.

Ran Shu, used to being pampered, always took breaks whenever he felt tired, as long as Coach Wang wasn’t around to push him. 

Sang Xian never bothered to intervene.

The two freshmen glanced at Sang Xian, asking: “Should we keep going?”

Two against one, it’s a bit unreasonable.

“Continue.” Sang Xian replied, gripping his racket and preparing to play. Even if there were two people on the opposite side, he was still not disadvanntaged. He was perfectly capable of handling two opponents alone.

However, in Ran Shu’s opinion, the opponents were just too weak.

Ran Shu gulped down half a bottle of water before screwing the cap back on and complained to Su Anyi: “I’m exhausted.”

Su Anyi held the umbrella for Ran Shu and asked: “Will you drag down Sang Xian like this?”

“Sang Xian doesn’t plan on playing doubles either; most of the time, he’s practicing singles. He just occasionally tags along to help me with training.” After saying this, Ran Shu looked at Sang Xian on the court, who was attacking fiercely, and quietly asked Su Anyi, “Don’t you think he looks like a fitness coach? That physique…”

“He’s not as exaggerated as a fitness coach.” For girls like Su Anyi, who didn’t like skinny boys, Sang Xian’s physique felt just right and gave a sense of security.

“He probably just doesn’t take any muscle gain supplements.”

Ran Shu wiped his sweat with the towel on his shoulder, took a picture of Sang Xian with his phone, then opened Taobao to search for items using Sang Xian’s photo.

Every time he saw Sang Xian, he noticed that Sang Xian wore a pair of wristbands, which made Ran Shu curious. Were those wristbands expensive? Why did he wear them every day?

After searching, he found that the wristbands cost 99 yuan a pair and included free shipping.

For someone like him, who loved to flaunt wealth, only really expensive items would be worth wearing all the time. If these wristbands were so cheap, why wear them every day? Were they glued to his wrists?

Ran Shu couldn’t figure it out, so he decided to stop searching, put his phone down next to Su Anyi, and leaned over to look at Coach Wang, only to accidentally lock eyes with him.

He obediently got up again to train with Sang Xian.

*

After a day of training, Sui Houyu took his toiletries and headed to the shower room with Ran Shu, planning to take a shower with the athletes.

Unexpectedly, just as they reached the door, a group of people blocked their way: “Brother Yu, you can’t join us; it’s not appropriate!”

Others chimed in: “Yeah, yeah, it’s not appropriate.”

Sui Houyu was puzzled: “Why isn’t it appropriate?”

Deng Yiheng looked embarrassed, blocking Sui Houyu and handing him a card. “It really isn’t appropriate. Here, this is a faculty card I got from Gege for you. You should go to the staff shower room across the way.”

Sui Houyu didn’t take it; he just stared at Deng Yiheng as if he wouldn’t give up until he got a reasonable explanation.

Deng Yiheng felt a bit nervous.

Deng Yiheng whispered an explanation: “Our group of bored athletes likes to compare sizes and stare; it wouldn’t be appropriate for you to come along.”

Sui Houyu finally accepted it and reached for the card in Deng Yiheng’s hand.

Ran Shu planned to follow Sui Houyu to the staff shower room but was pulled back by Deng Yiheng.

Ran Shu asked curiously, “I-I can’t go?”

“Technically, you’re Brother Yu’s close friend, so it would be appropriate for you to go, but…” After mumbling this, Deng Yiheng felt Sui Houyu’s murderous gaze and quickly explained, “Senior Brother… doesn’t like others watching him.”

Sui Houyu knew that Hou Mo, because of his fanbase, didn’t like showering with others. The last time he showered with Hou Mo, Hou Mo had been very evasive.

Ran Shu couldn’t help but complain about Hou Mo.

Sui Houyu stuffed the card into his bag and pulled Ran Shu downstairs: “We’ll shower downstairs, not with them.”

Ran Shu didn’t bother arguing and followed Sui Houyu downstairs, grumbling as he walked, “Bullsh*t, so much bullsh*t.”

Deng Yiheng sighed repeatedly: “This is too difficult.”

Shen Junqing patted Deng Yiheng on the shoulder for comfort. “It’s okay, we’ll just avoid it. After all, we’re on Senior Brother’s side. Brother Yu is a real man; it’s no big deal for him to go down.”

Deng Yiheng didn’t insist and turned with Shen Junqing to head to the athletes’ exclusive shower room.