HCILH Ch. 80

Chapter 80: Princess Carry

On Saturday, Coach Wang organized a portion of the tennis team to stay on campus for athlete assessment tests.

It is said that such weekends without rest occur occasionally, as their training schedule differs from traditional sports schools, where they also have to attend classes in the morning.

The testing would take place over two days: Saturday for the sophomore group and Sunday for the freshman group.

The tests included items like push-ups, pull-ups, and sprinting, each requiring at least three minutes of rest time.

During the power tests, there would be three opportunities to challenge the best records.

Since only Coach Wang and Su Anyi were keeping track of the results, it made group comparisons easier to arrange.

To their surprise, Ouyang Ge also showed up that day.

Hou Mo had thought that after causing trouble on Friday, he would at least be able to avoid Ouyang Ge until Monday. But here he was, showing up on Saturday, with a resentful homeroom teacher being a headache.

Ouyang Ge didn’t cause any trouble; he chatted with Coach Wang for a while, didn’t bring up anything else, and helped with the testing, looking like he planned to settle scores later.

The first test was push-ups.

For athletes, push-ups have strict standards; the arms must bend to a 90-degree angle. The coach places an item under the athlete, and they must touch it with their chest before they can rise. Only after completing this series of movements can it be considered a qualified push-up.

The content of the test involves repeatedly doing push-ups, with each lift requiring about a 3-second pause before doing the next one, with no time limit; they can do as many as they can until they can’t continue.

This test evaluates upper body strength and endurance.

For Hou Mo and Sui Houyu, this test was basically a war of endurance; with no time limit, they could drag it out.

Sui Houyu had a competitive mindset; he didn’t want to lose to others, even if it was just a test, so he gritted his teeth and persisted. As his curly hair swayed, sweat dripped down, his cheeks slightly flushed, and his eyes were filled with determination.

By the end, Hou Mo was also sweating profusely, his arms showing prominent veins that stood out against his fair skin.

Deng Yiheng murmured: “Over five hundred? Is this a test or a death match?”

Ran Shu was also a bit worried and whispered to Sui Houyu: “Brother Yu, don’t compete with Hou Mo; know your limits.”

Sui Houyu still had the energy to respond: “Mm.”

The average person doing 30 push-ups at once is already considered good. Those who regularly work out can reach 100 push-ups at once, but beyond that, it’s a bit exaggerated.

Sui Houyu’s situation was special, so he wouldn’t feel tired.

Hou Mo, on the other hand, had been training for years, naturally possessing impressive strength and endurance, so he wouldn’t lag behind in physical capabilities.

In the end, Sui Houyu managed to do 874 push-ups.

Hou Mo stopped at 900, seemingly aiming for a round number, and also to surpass Sui Houyu by a few.

After Sui Houyu finished and took a rest, he felt a bit of tremor in his arms and kept clenching and releasing his fists.

Hou Mo caught his breath, walked over, wrapped a towel around Sui Houyu’s arms, and gently rubbed his arm through the towel, saying: “We still have pull-ups next; if you keep this up, your arms will give out, and tomorrow you’ll struggle to lift them.”

“I heard you only did over 500 push-ups last time; why are you pushing so hard this time?” Sui Houyu asked Hou Mo.

“Last time, there wasn’t a little fool competing with me, so I did as many as I wanted,” Hou Mo replied with a smile.

Ever since he started liking Sui Houyu, Hou Mo secretly felt that he should let Sui Houyu win in some aspects but couldn’t afford to lose to him in others; otherwise, it would be embarrassing.

He had also been oddly persistent, wanting to outdo Sui Houyu physically, and the latter half was pure grit. Even after years of training, he mostly practiced tennis, so he hadn’t trained much in push-ups.

Now it was Ran Shu’s turn. He stood up, got into position, and began to pump himself up: “Ran Shu is awesome.”

Then he started doing push-ups.

Sui Houyu watched Ran Shu struggle to do push-ups, his expression resembling that of a father looking at his foolish son.

After 13 push-ups, Ran Shu gave up, stood up, and pointed at the mat, saying: “I-I improved! I never did more than 10 before!”

Everyone present was dumbfounded. Isn’t there a huge gap between these two friends?

Coach Wang threw aside the recording clip, saying: “Don’t say you’re an athlete; you’d fail even a regular student’s physical exam.”

Deng Yiheng also asked: “Don’t you usually do handstands and Thomas spins? How come push-ups don’t work?”

Ran Shu made a pained face and replied: “It’s tiring…”

Coach Wang didn’t even record Ran Shu’s results: “Do it again in a moment.”

“Oh…” Ran Shu walked back, asking Deng Yiheng: “How many do I need to do to be let off?”

“Usually around 60 in two minutes. It’s rare to do less than 100 in tests. Even the international class students aiming for studying abroad don’t do as poorly as you.”

Ran Shu made a big decision and asked: “Can I do 50?”

“Give it a try?”

Ran Shu took a deep breath and quietly waited.

Ran Shu looked at the others taking the test with a bitter expression. When he saw Sang Xian doing push-ups, he suddenly thought the scene of them doing push-ups was a bit suggestive.

So, he leaned over to Sui Houyu and asked: “Don’t you think he… looks a bit inappropriate while doing push-ups?”

Sui Houyu glanced casually and asked: “Which one?”

“The one that seems greasy and flirtatious.”

Sui Houyu found it odd: “Doing push-ups is greasy? Are your eyes smeared with lard?”

Ran Shu thought Sui Houyu was a bit too innocent to understand what he meant.

He looked again at Sang Xian, feeling an inexplicable chill at the back of his neck, and suddenly felt like the novels he read had become a bit more vivid.

How can someone do push-ups in such a suggestive way? Is this person just overflowing with hormones?

In the end, Ran Shu performed impressively, completing 67 push-ups. After finishing, he stammered and bragged to Sui Houyu as if he had discovered a new type of spacecraft.

In terms of mentality, many people couldn’t compare to Ran Shu.

The pull-up and plank tests were scheduled for the afternoon, which allowed them to catch their breath.

The following power tests included standing long jump, triple jump, vertical jump, and 30m and 60m sprints.

Among these, the four-point agility test was something Sui Houyu and Ran Shu were encountering for the first time. Hou Mo specifically took them aside to demonstrate.

To facilitate the physical tests, Hou Mo wore a short-sleeve and shorts sports outfit, and while demonstrating, Sui Houyu paid close attention to Hou Mo’s long legs, unable to help raising his eyebrows.

Ran Shu seemed to have the same focus: “Those legs are really white…”

Sui Houyu chuckled, clearly sharing the same interest; the two rarely reached an agreement.

Hou Mo had originally been very serious while doing the demonstration, but after hearing this, he turned around and walked away, calling Deng Yiheng to demonstrate for them.

When he returned, Hou Mo had changed into long pants, casually standing by and watching Deng Yiheng demonstrate while explaining key points to Sui Houyu.

After the physical tests ended, all the sophomore athletes gathered together for a meal.

It seemed the school cafeteria had anticipated this; they specially provided them with spoons today.

Sui Houyu took a couple of bites with the spoon but felt his hand was unresponsive. When he raised his hand, he saw it was slightly swollen, as if he hadn’t fully recovered from the pull-ups.

Ran Shu said beside him: “You tiger! Y-You barely did better than Deng Yiheng on the pull-ups; now you’re all out of energy?”

Sui Houyu didn’t reply, continuing to eat slowly.

Ran Shu sat next to Sui Houyu and said: “What are you eating? I’ll feed you!”

“No need.”

“If Hou Mo feeds you, it’s fine, but if I do, it’s not okay? After all these years, I still can’t compare to someone sleeping next to you, right?”

Sui Houyu was usually assertive, but the moment Ran Shu brought this up, he immediately felt guilty, acting like a baby in a second.

So, he gave up the struggle and let Ran Shu feed him.

Ran Shu wasn’t as meticulous as Hou Mo, but he was still earnest. After finishing the meal, Ran Shu stretched and said: “So tired.”

Deng Yiheng, sitting at the same table, couldn’t watch anymore: “You’re always at the bottom of the list; how are you tired?”

“Tsk—someone has to be at the bottom, and it just happens to be me for everything. I’m just helping you save face, making you all look impressive.” Ran Shu rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone to check the time.

Deng Yiheng, sitting next to Ran Shu, saw the phone’s wallpaper and asked: “Who are the two kimono girls on your screen? They look great.”

Ran Shu was speechless: “C-Can you at least have some cultural awareness? This is called Hanfu!”

“Oh, oh, oh, I just glanced and didn’t see clearly; it looked so fancy that I mistook it. So who are those two girls?”

Ran Shu stared at Deng Yiheng for a while, then glanced at Sui Houyu, noticing that Sui Houyu didn’t look too pleased either.

Deng Yiheng, foolishly going back and forth between the two, leaned closer to check Ran Shu’s phone wallpaper and suddenly exclaimed: “Damn, it’s you and Brother Yu! I couldn’t tell, Ran Shu, you look a bit stunning with makeup!”

This remark caused a stir, with everyone at the table borrowing Ran Shu’s phone to look at the wallpaper, followed by gasps of surprise.

Actually, Ran Shu and Sui Houyu weren’t wearing women’s clothing; it was just that the Hanfu they were wearing looked that way, plus they had makeup on. Combined with Deng Yiheng’s poor eyesight, he actually mistook them for girls.

Hou Mo took the phone for a quick look, licked his lips, nearly drooling.

Honestly, he felt a bit stirred.

Sui Houyu was in ancient attire, his long hair tied up with a hair crown, giving him a somewhat refined gentlemanly vibe. If this were ancient times, he would be the standard charming young master.

With every frown and smile, he brings forth the spring breeze; with every word and action, he outshines beauty.

He stands alone, unparalleled in the world.

Adding to this was Ran Shu’s small face and prominent features, which after makeup, really had a stunning effect, surprisingly suitable for ancient attire.

A group photo of the two together posted online would attract explosive clicks even without captions.

After looking for a while, Hou Mo asked Ran Shu: “Can you send me a copy?”

Ran Shu shook his head: “Y-You think I’ll add you back? No way.”

Hou Mo didn’t insist. He took his phone and aimed it at Ran Shu’s phone to take a picture, instructing Sang Xian: “Sang Xian, can you tap the screen? Don’t let it go dark.”

Sang Xian set down his spoon and glanced at the phone screen, then tapped it with his finger. After looking at the photo, he suddenly cast a curious glance at Ran Shu.

Sang Xian had a face that looked like a domineering CEO, with eyes that could tease someone with just a glance.

His gaze swept over Ran Shu from head to chest, then he looked again.

There was a playful glimmer in his eyes, something ambiguous that made Ran Shu feel flustered.

After Hou Mo finished taking the picture, he asked Sui Houyu: “Is this your “S” style?”

“No, it’s for a dance competition look.” Sui Houyu casually replied.

At that moment, Ouyang Ge slowly walked over, and the once lively group instantly quieted down.

Ouyang Ge stood with his arms crossed and said: “Seeing you all train so hard makes me feel a bit heartbroken…”

Hou Mo nodded repeatedly, interrupting Ouyang Ge’s lead-in: “Yes, we were wrong.”

Ouyang Ge glanced at Hou Mo and smiled: “It’s not that you made a mistake in tricking me, but rather you encouraged outsiders to enter the school, which is definitely not right. What you did was not safe; you should have informed the school security before they came in.”

Hou Mo replied cheerfully: “But aren’t you here?”

“What if they didn’t come looking for me?”

“They don’t look very smart. If they don’t follow the route I said, they’ll be caught on camera within ten minutes.”

Ouyang Ge was particularly angry after hearing this: “Do you still think you’re very clever?”

Hou Mo shook his head repeatedly, humbly replying: “No, no, not at all.”

Ouyang Ge scanned everyone, saying: “In the following week of training, you will be with the heavy athletics team.”

After he finished speaking, the entire room fell silent for a full five minutes.

After Ouyang Ge left, Ran Shu asked: “What’s wrong?”

Deng Yiheng replied quietly: “Coach Wang is actually soft-hearted, but Gege is stone-hearted. After our intensive training, we can still walk upright, but after Gege’s training, the heavy athletics team can only crawl back, or even be carried back on a stretcher.”

Upon hearing this, Ran Shu immediately cursed: “You bastard, Hou Mo!!!”

Once Hou Mo came to his senses, he said to Sui Houyu: “Brother Yu, why don’t you train with the first-year students?”

“Whatever, I’ll give it a try.”

Hou Mo sighed deeply, who would have thought it would come to this…

*

When school resumed on Monday, their training content was no longer the same.

Before, when things were easy, running 2,000 meters in the morning meant they could go eat breakfast. Starting from Monday, they had to run 15 laps, with each lap being 400 meters, totaling 6,000 meters. I heard this was just the beginning; after a transition period, it would gradually increase to 20 laps, and eventually 25 laps.

The morning exercise items also wouldn’t be set in stone; one day they might suddenly switch to frog jumps, or organize a hike with sandbags up and down the stairs.

In the afternoon, the quality training content was also richer than before, including various exercises like crab walks, crawling, and rope skipping, with different training methods arranged in turn.

During this period, the quality training would be conducted with the heavy athletics team, and they saw that the members of the tennis team were very excited, their enthusiasm somewhat akin to a weasel tricking a hen. When they arrived, they greeted each other, saying: “We have companions for the burial!”

“Hi, future partners in burial!”

The tennis team members didn’t want to pay them any mind.

On Friday, they conducted high-intensity core stability training.

The second-year boys from both teams gathered in the heavy combat training room, and the scheduled activities were all indoor projects, like roller crunches and weighted plank holds and side planks.

This was high-intensity training, and every now and then, students’ plaintive sounds could be heard throughout the training room.

Ran Shu, who usually had a bit of a delicate disposition, found dancing enjoyable, and even when tired, he never thought much of it. But after a day of monotonous and grueling training, he finally started to struggle.

During a weighted plank hold, his leg suddenly cramped up. Fortunately, Sang Xian, who was nearby, quickly got up, walked behind him, and used his foot to push Ran Shu’s foot to relieve the cramp.

Ran Shu had very slim legs, and one could even see the muscles in his calves twisting and twitching.

Just when he started to feel a bit better, Sang Xian let go, and as he changed positions, he cramped up again, moaning on the floor: “It hurts so much… I’m not doing this anymore…”

Sang Xian simply squatted down to help Ran Shu stretch his foot, looking up at him with his arms supporting his body, his face slightly flushed from the pain, and tears rolling down his cheeks.

For some reason, he found Ran Shu’s crying quite adorable.

Sui Houyu quickly ran over to inquire: “Are you okay?”

“Something’s wrong…” Ran Shu tried to crawl over to Sui Houyu but was pulled back by Sang Xian, who was still holding his foot.

Sang Xian coldly said: “You’re not better yet, don’t move around.”

Sui Houyu brought his towel to help wipe away Ran Shu’s sweat and tears, then said: “Why don’t you take a break for a bit, don’t push yourself.”

“Okay…” Ran Shu choked back tears, responding in a soft, pitiful tone.

Not long after, Coach Wang also came over, replacing Sang Xian and helping Ran Shu massage his calves.

Originally, Ran Shu was just crying softly, but after Coach Wang massaged him, he practically screamed like a pig being slaughtered, speaking without stuttering and at 1.5 times speed, begging for mercy as if rapping.

Sui Houyu, who had initially felt a bit sorry for him, surprisingly started to laugh, thinking that with this massage, Ran Shu might just cure his stutter.

After the afternoon training ended, all the members of both teams lay on the floor, reluctant to move for a long time.

A noisy group of boys huddled together, unusually quiet, as they were too exhausted to even talk.

Sui Houyu once thought he would never feel tired, but today he learned a lesson from Ouyang Ge and Coach Wang.

It turned out that the intensity of his previous training was insufficient.

His body wasn’t made of iron after all.

After resting for a while, the other team members gradually packed up their things and left, looking forward to the weekend break, planning to either head back to the dormitory for a day of rest before going home or teaming up to shower.

Sui Houyu lay on the floor for a long time, unable to get up.

Su Anyi only dared to come in after she saw some people leaving, as Coach Wang was worried she would disrupt the training.

When she saw Sui Houyu’s disheveled appearance, she wanted to go over and help him up, but was reminded by Hou Mo, “Don’t pull him up right now; it could cause injury.”

Su Anyi immediately stopped her movement.

Hou Mo sat up, took a breath, wiped his sweat with a towel, and said: “It’s okay, leave it to me. I’ll take him back.”

After that, he stood up and walked over to Sui Houyu, picking him up in a horizontal hold and then striding out of the training room.

Su Anyi followed behind for a bit but then stopped, watching Hou Mo carry Sui Houyu down the stairs in a “princess carry” as he headed toward the dormitory.

When Su Anyi returned to help Sui Houyu pack his things, she couldn’t help but sigh to Ran Shu: “Hou Mo is quite impressive; the training intensity is so high, and he can still carry Brother Yu that far.”

Ran Shu, who had been alternating between resting and practicing, still had the energy to chat. Hearing Su Anyi’s remark, he pouted: “He can only carry Brother Yu; Brother Yu is light! If he were to carry Sang Xian, he’d probably break his arm.”

Ran Shu and Su Anyi walked out together, but when they reached the stairs, Ran Shu stopped.

Even though he had been training intermittently, his calves were still sore, making it a bit difficult to go down the stairs.

Just then, Sang Xian came out with a bag, glanced at Ran Shu, and leaned down to throw him over his shoulder. He easily carried him down from the third floor to the first floor as if he was just carrying a piece of sugarcane.

After putting him down, Sang Xian walked straight out the door.

Watching Sang Xian leave, Ran Shu turned to Su Anyi and said again, “H-He can only carry me; if it were Hou Mo, he’d have to carry him on both shoulders.”

Su Anyi’s expression was a bit subtle, and after hesitating for a long time, she smiled: “Looks like you two have made good friends.”

“You and Lu Yanxin have a pretty good relationship too, right?”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

While they were talking, Hou Mo came back carrying Sui Houyu again, saying to Su Anyi: “Put Brother Yu’s bag around my neck. He’s going to take a shower, so I’ll take him over.”

“Oh!” Su Anyi immediately hung the bag around Hou Mo’s neck.

After they walked far away, Su Anyi suddenly realized and asked: “How is Brother Yu going to take a shower like this?”

Ran Shu thought about it and realized that in this situation, Hou Mo would have to help Brother Yu take off his clothes and wash him, making him so angry that he wanted to chase after them, but his legs were unsteady, leaving him instantly furious.

The Brother Yu he raised was going to be licked like this by a dog?

Omake:

Su Anyi sent a message to Lu Yanxin: Today, Brother Yu took a shower with Senior Brother.

Lu Yanxin: Mhm! Mhm! Mhm!