HCILH Ch. 50

Chapter 50: Continuing the Massage

Wearing a bathrobe, Sui Houyu walked out and saw Hou Mo already back in the room, sitting on the bed fiddling with a fascia gun and changing the heads. After noticing Sui Houyu, he casually turned off the air conditioning.

Sui Houyu’s hair was still wet.

As he dried his hair, Sui Houyu asked, “Do I really need you to use the fascia gun? Didn’t you say you could massage?”

Hou Mo replied confidently, “It doesn’t need to be so grand on the first day of the competition. The fascia gun is enough; after going to the team doctor for a massage, your muscles will feel sore for a while. You’ll need me for your back, and I know which head to use on which area and for how long.”

Sui Houyu compromised and walked to the edge of the bed to lie down, asking, “Face down?”

“Yeah, face down.”

He took off his bathrobe and set it aside.

This action made Hou Mo swallow hard. He mustered the courage to look at him, and upon seeing Sui Houyu’s plain boxers, he felt relieved and walked over to turn on the fascia gun.

They usually use the fascia gun to relax after training on weekdays.

Their school has a solid foundation, equipped with good facilities, and they have several sets of equipment.

As Hou Mo helped Sui Houyu relax his back with the fascia gun, he said: “Our school has three major specialties: the team doctor’s relaxation massage, Coach Wang’s muscle manipulation, and Gege’s chiropractic adjustments. My massage technique is actually learned from the team doctor, but I’m afraid I might hurt you.”

“Do I look that weak?”

“You’re too skinny.”

“Stop talking about my physique. In what aspects am I worse than you?”

Sui Houyu is very competitive and doesn’t want to lose to others in any regard. Hearing someone say he’s skinny makes him unhappy.

After he finished retorting, Hou Mo didn’t speak for a while.

Sui Houyu pressed: “Lost for words?”

“I’m afraid that before I finish relaxing you, we’ll start fighting, so I need to be careful with my words. You excel in many areas, especially your temper; I really admire you for that.”

“…”

Sui Houyu quieted down and lay on the bed, allowing Hou Mo to help him relax.

As Hou Mo used the fascia gun on Sui Houyu’s back, he couldn’t help but admire Sui Houyu’s physique in his mind. This small frame still had right-angled shoulders, and his bones seemed to grow according to Hou Mo’s aesthetic standards.

And that dip in his lower back—perhaps because he was skinny—looked quite deep, creating a little round shape.

After watching for a while, Hou Mo got a little distracted.

About five minutes later, Hou Mo suddenly stopped and reached for a tissue.

Sui Houyu noticed and raised his head to ask, “What are you grabbing a tissue for? You’re not making me bleed, are you?”

“No! I just drooled a bit, wiping it off.”

“Why are you drooling?”

“This thing shakes a lot, so I just…” Hou Mo explained awkwardly.

“Do you have Alzheimer’s disease? Fine, I’ll do my back myself after you’re done.”

Hou Mo felt a bit reluctant, but this was also good; it would save him from feeling itchy in his heart.

After helping Sui Houyu relax his back, he handed the fascia gun to Sui Houyu and then turned to go to the bathroom.

While Sui Houyu sat on the bed relaxing his legs, he heard the doorbell ring. He immediately put on his clothes and walked over to open the door. Coach Wang had personally brought dinner for the two of them and reminded Sui Houyu about the match tomorrow.

Coach Wang was quite concerned about Sui Houyu, afraid that if he lost, his mentality would collapse, so he came early to give him a heads-up.

Sui Houyu walked into the room holding the lunch box and asked Coach Wang: “Do you think I’m going to lose?”

“I think you’re invincible, but your lack of experience might cause a few bumps on your way to being unbeatable.”

Sui Houyu smiled upon hearing this and said, “It’s fine; at worst, I’ll just feel regret, but I won’t give up on tennis.”

“Mm, then chat with Hou Mo. If you have any questions, call me.”

“Okay.”

Hou Mo came out of the bathroom in a bathrobe, still damp from his shower, heading straight for the food. “I’m starving; what’s for dinner?”

Sui Houyu had been waiting for him to eat together, and only then did he open the box.

Seeing five dishes and a soup, Hou Mo almost cried with joy. “This is the kind of treatment we can only have during competitions! Back at school, it’s always two vegetarian and one meat dish with boiled chicken for every meal!”

Sui Houyu also found the food quite good and took out chopsticks to prepare to eat.

As Hou Mo picked up his chopsticks, he began to chatter, “Let me tell you about Tang Yao and Gu Libo. Their styles are completely different from the ones we faced today because they don’t play at the net. So our tactics tomorrow will be totally different from today’s.”

Sui Houyu usually doesn’t like to chat while eating, but today he was willing to continue the conversation, asking: “So how should we play?”

“We’ll be quite passive in the first set; we need to adapt to their serves. And when we serve, they will use a lot of high balls or straight shots, making us lose our balance.”

“Sounds tricky?” Sui Houyu asked, taking another bite and speaking somewhat indistinctly.

“No, Tang Yao makes a lot of mistakes when hitting the ball; that’s just the nature of his powerful shots. Sang Xian is much more mature than Tang Yao, but when facing me, he still makes mistakes.”

“I never knew what type you were.” “I’m versatile!” Hou Mo laughed and added, “Because I’m an all-rounder, the coach wants to pair me with a partner to develop a all-around combination. As long as both players have mature tactics and sufficient accumulation, with good chemistry, it won’t cause tactical confusion. A all-around combination is the most challenging opponent in doubles tennis.”

Sui Houyu thought for a moment and asked, “Do I count as an all-rounder?”

“Is your placement control good?”

“I’m practicing that.”

“How about your power?”

“I don’t focus on that, but it’s not bad.”

“And your net play?”

“Okay, I’m pretty fast.”

“Fast but average at intercepting.”

“…”

“So, you’re an excellent all-rounder candidate. You may not excel at anything, but you seem to be decent at a bit of everything. Just keep practicing.”

“Thanks for the encouragement.” Sui Houyu couldn’t genuinely feel happy about it.

Sui Houyu suddenly thought that his question had been a bit self-defeating. If he took each aspect out separately, it seemed like other than being agile and having good stamina, he didn’t have any other standout skills.

Then thinking about Hou Mo’s serves, even as Hou Mo’s partner, he felt a shock.

In that moment, he had a longing, hoping he could serve like that in the future.

Hou Mo continued, “Actually, the simplest tactic is to tire out Gu Libo since he lacks stamina; just keep him running. As for Tang Yao, he isn’t too smart; just play mind games to get him frustrated, and his mental defense will collapse, making him lose focus and play out of anger. Then we win.”

“How can we make Tang Yao frustrated?” Sui Houyu genuinely pondered this question, seemingly acknowledging this absurd tactic.

Unknowingly, he had been led astray by Hou Mo.

Hou Mo snapped his fingers. “While playing, I suddenly sneered Tang Yao; he’ll definitely think I was mocking him.”

“You’re truly despicable.”

“Despicable can’t be defeated. Will being despicable bring me bad things? No, but it will bring me good things.”

“Being despicable will make them want to beat you up.”

“Fighting is wrong!” Hou Mo suddenly emphasized, “In a civilized society, we must be polite good youths; the most important thing is that fighting can lead to disqualification.”

Sui Houyu was too lazy to deal with Hou Mo and continued eating.

Hou Mo picked up food from his own box and gave it to Sui Houyu: “Eat more.”

It was rare to have a decent meal, and he still gave the good food to Sui Houyu.

*

At ten o’clock in the evening, Hou Mo and Sui Houyu returned to the gym, holding their rackets, planning to practice a bit more and test out the tactics they had just discussed.

Shen Junqing and Sang Xian formed a temporary pair to be their opponents.

Sang Xian did match Tang Yao’s style, but Shen Junqing was obviously not as clever as Gu Libo.

When they arrived at the gym, Liu Mo and the others were already there.

The girls had been cleared out, while many boys had come in, along with some other teams that had heard the news; a crowd gathered, chatting loudly.

When Liu Mo saw Hou Mo arrive, he walked over and said to him: “How about running a lap around the court?”

“Sure.” This time, Hou Mo was quite agreeable.

Liu Mo was straightforward and really started to take off his sportswear, while the boys around began to whistle and cheer. They were quite decent; no one was filming the scene.

Hou Mo looked at him with a smile and suddenly raised his hand to cover Sui Houyu’s eyes, saying: “Not suitable for children.”

Sui Houyu unhappily pushed Hou Mo’s hand away: “I’m four months older than you!”

“No, no, I’m afraid that black thing will scare you.” Hou Mo stubbornly continued to block Sui Houyu’s eyes, and it was hard to pull his hand away.

Hou Mo didn’t let him see but looked on with a smile, exclaiming: “As expected of Captain Liu, truly extraordinary—he’s got eggs that weigh at least two pounds.”

“You’re full of crap!” Liu Mo retorted directly, “At least five pounds!”

“Yeah, you walk like you’re dragging a suitcase.”

“Shut up!”

Liu Mo really ran a lap, and he was pretty fast. The Black Tibetan Mastiff lived up to its name; both his physique and running form were impressive.

Other than the way he swayed while running naked, there were no flaws.

Once Liu Mo put his clothes back on, Hou Mo finally let go of Sui Houyu.

As expected, as soon as his hand was removed, he saw Sui Houyu glaring at him. Hou Mo smiled back, enjoying Sui Houyu’s glare.

While Liu Mo was fixing his clothes, he walked over to Hou Mo and said, “I saw Tang Yao and Gu Libo came to watch your match. That Gu Libo is a bit wicked; after watching your match, he can come up with strategies to counter you in just one night. That human calculator is no joke.”

Liu Mo sincerely reminded Hou Mo.

The two were old rivals.

Tennis is a gentleman’s sport—opponents on the court, friends off it.

The opponent Hou Mo dreaded facing the most was Liu Mo, not because Liu Mo was exceptionally skilled or strong, but because… playing against Liu Mo was too embarrassing.

Every time Liu Mo swung his racket, he would make sounds like “hey,” “ha,” and “huh,” creating a constant barrage of explosive noises.

Hou Mo, being gay, felt quite helpless listening to it from the other side. Especially with the Black Tibetan Mastiff’s physique, it could make Hou Mo turn from being bent to straight in an instant, leaving him with absolutely no thoughts.

Hou Mo didn’t mind, saying: “He doesn’t even look at who he’s facing; is he the only one with a brain?”

“True, you’re not lacking in that regard either, but still, be cautious. They will definitely see through your weaknesses.” Liu Mo said, preparing to leave, but then turned back and said, “Let’s meet in the singles finals!”

Meeting Hou Mo early meant being eliminated early; that was the ironclad rule of singles. Liu Mo had given up struggling, only wanting to lose gracefully.

After Liu Mo left, Hou Mo took Sui Houyu to the court, saying, “We need to prepare a backup plan. I know what our weaknesses are.”

Hou Mo knew their weaknesses better than anyone else and could also think of ways to suppress them from Gu Libo’s perspective.

So, he needed to be prepared in advance.