NOVEL WEB Chapter 46
Chapter 46
As Shan Zhu said, every morning at 6 o’clock he waited for Ling Meng downstairs. The two people would go for a morning run together, then eat breakfast in the second canteen, and then each go to class or back to the dormitory.
His roommate was even teasing him daily:
“Going on the daily date with Mang God?”
Ling Meng: ←_←
“Coming back from the daily date with Mang God?”
Ling Meng: →_→
On the day of the sports meet, Shan Zhu witnessed the reality of Ling Meng’s popularity. The men’s five kilometer race was the heavyweight event of the sports meet. The people who could participate in this event were often treated as stars by their classmates.
“Take it easy, MengMeng, Gege will rub your legs so you can relax,” this was Ling Meng’s roommate, Huo LongGuo.
“To maintain muscle tone before the race, what else can you do to help me relax?”
“MengMeng, running jiayou; take first place and Daddy will treat you to dinner,” this was Classmate Liu Lian, who was infected with Ling Meng’s Daddy disease.
“Get out.”
“Ling Meng, I bought this chocolate for you, be sure to jiayou, oh!”
“Tha-thank you…”
Undoubtedly, this was flower of the department, Cao Mei.
As the only outside help among the cheerleaders, Shan Zhu watched from a distance. Seeing Ling Meng surrounded by everyone and receiving all sorts of concern and care, he felt that he really couldn’t enter that circle.
Ling Meng’s gaze caught Shan Zhu accidentally through a crack in the crowd and the two exchanged a look.
Ling Meng smiled and waved at him.
The little feeling of loss was instantly dispersed by the smile and Shan Zhu raised his fist and made a ‘jiayou’ gesture towards him.
A cool breeze, clouds covering the sun, the heavens provided: this was the most suitable weather for long-distance running.
At the gunshot, Ling Meng left the starting line with the big troop of people. The closely-gathered crowd gradually spread out as the distance grew, slowly turning from a group into a line. Ling Meng fell into the group’s back ranks and ran unhurriedly.
“Unexpectedly, someone with a small body like MengMeng can still run long distances,” Huo LongGuo chatted with Shan Zhu during the race.
“The thought really never occurred to me.”
“When we were freshmen, no one knew each other well and registration for the sports meet was all on a voluntary basis. When Ling Meng took the initiative to sign up for the 5K, the whole department was moved, thinking he was sacrificing himself to save everyone. But guess what?”
“What?”
“The boy finished first! Doesn’t look it, but ‘men cannot be judged by their looks alone’.”
Shan Zhu’s gaze was locked on the distant slim figure. Even though there were people all around him, he could still find him at a glance.
The distance between the runners was growing more and more. The first in the pack was nearly half a lap ahead of the last person. Shan Zhu was a little worried about Ling Meng, it was hard to believe Huo LongGuo’s word that he was the previous champion.
Huo LongGuo was full of confidence and every time Ling Meng passed, he shouted to cheer for him.
“MengMeng! Water!” Halfway through the race, Huo LongGuo took the opportunity to hand him an opened bottle of mineral water. Ling Meng’s feet didn’t stop as he grabbed it, filling his mouth full with a gulp and pouring the rest over his head. He threw it as he jogged and it fell directly into Shan Zhu’s hands.
“MengMeng, jiayou!” Shan Zhu held the bottle and shouted at his back, despite his splashed clothes.
On the 400-meter track, five kilometers was twelve and a half laps. In the second half of the race, a small number of contestants would obviously lose their physical strength, including the students who ran in lead from the beginning and gradually fell behind. Ling Meng however ran steadily, rising from the back of the group to the center.
On the third-to-last lap, Ling Meng accelerated at a speed visible to the naked eye. Huo LongGuo uncontrollably chanted: “MengMeng, jiayou! Overtake the person in front of you! Overtake him!”
Ling Meng kept moving at a steady pace, passing one runner after another. There were some not resigned to giving up who also tried to accelerate, but due to their physical limits, they were quickly left behind by Ling Meng
“Lap up! Lap up!6” The students in the distance shouted as the lead runner lapped the person in last position, while Ling Meng also successfully lapped him, with only three people in front of him.
“Jiayou, jiayou! MengMeng, jiayou! If you overtake him, I’ll call you Daddy!”
Shan Zhu’s ears were filled with all the jiayou cheers, among which Huo LongGuo’s strong voice was the most prominent.
Perhaps the message reached him because Ling Meng quickened his pace and he passed the runner in third place. If he kept up this momentum, the worst he could do was win the bronze medal. However, Ling Meng was clearly not satisfied and he still sped up, passing the second-place runner with astonishing stamina.
Shan Zhu was suddenly very excited, his heart beating incredibly fast. Even when he was watching his own classmates’ events, he had never felt this kind of empathy for the participant; it felt like this wasn’t Ling Meng’s race, but his own.
He ran to the finish line, desperately shouting Ling Meng’s name from behind the line. Although it was submerged in the sea of “jiayous”, he hoped Ling Meng would still hear his voice.
Ling Meng began to sprint. He was 10 meters away from the lead runner, five meters, three meters, one meter…
“MengMeng, jiayou!” Now, even Shan Zhu couldn’t hear his own voice.
Ling Meng didn’t have a tall and lofty body, but it seemed to contain limitless power, all of which broke out at this moment. The clouds split open, the sunlight squeezed through the gap, and the earth warmed up. Apart from the sunshine, the sports field was also full of passion.
Ling Meng had caught up with first place and the lead runner kept this position for most of the distance. Of course, he wouldn’t give up and let the championship be so easily won. The two people sprinted side by side, the speed almost comparable to a 100-meter dash.
“Jiayou! Jiayou!” Shan Zhu screamed hoarsely, ecstatically watching Ling Meng’s not-slow-but-fast speed. The runner with him was obviously unable to maintain such a crazy sprint speed for a long time. He fell half a body behind, then a full body position, finally one step away from the finish line, there was no chance for the other runner to win.
Ling Meng steadily ran in the front, leading second place by a gap of nearly 10 meters, crossing the finish line without any suspense. Shan Zhu started running side by side with him the moment he crossed the line, steadying the other’s staggering pace due to his too-fast speed and helping him cushion off the inertia of the sprint.
“Great! You’re amazing!” Shan Zhu was in a moment of rare emotional agitation. I wish I could hold this person up and rotate 360 degrees to express my mood at this moment. He now completely understood Ling Meng’s passionate screen-kiss display. If there were only two of them on the track right now, he wouldn’t be able to control the urge to kiss the other’s reddened dimples.
Ling Meng was panting quickly, exuding the enthusiasm of youth after exercise. Shan Zhu pulled his arm over his own shoulder, helping Ling Meng slowly walk on the track.
“MengMeng, you killed it last lap!” A huge body sprang up from behind and almost knocked the weak-legged Ling Meng to the ground.
Huo LongGuo excitedly hooked his arm around Ling Meng’s neck, scruffing his messy hair with his other hand: “How are you so good! You’re too powerful!”
More of Ling Meng’s classmates came up, squeezing between their embrace so Ling Meng’s arm was gradually forced off of Shan Zhu’s shoulder. Soon, Shan Zhu was also pushed out of the group, further and further, into the distance. This meritorious classmate who had brought glory to their department was surrounded by the excited students and there was no space for Shan Zhu among them.
Standing outside the crowd, Shan Zhu watched the classmates, full of joy, clinging to Ling Meng and leading him away. Sunshine spilled down, making the golden Ling Meng give off golden light.
Suddenly, the golden Ling Meng turned his head and looked in the direction of Shan Zhu, raising his tired hand, laughing and waving.
Joy welled up from the bottom of Shan Zhu’s heart and he mimicked Ling Meng’s action, smiling and waving back at him.
That evening, on Mang God’s Weibo, which had always contained discussions of only gaming and broadcasting, there was a rare post of a very different painting style, like a ‘chicken soup for the soul’ message.
@Mangosteen: When you lose your heart to someone who can shine, you won’t be able to tell whether it’s love that blinds you or whether he is the light source himself.
—
Footnotes:
1. acting schizo (精分): internet slang for someone showing multiple personalities or being surprised by someone’s fickle nature (jokingly) ↩
2. lueluelue (略略略): cutesy slang from Weibo, mimics the sound of sticking out your tongue at someone like nananana~ in English, very flirty ↩
3. has wine (有酒): a specific type of dimple that looks like an ancient wine pit; that’s why they joke about being drunk from seeing his smile ↩
4. window jitter (窗口抖动): messaging feature where the screen shakes, often used when a friend is playing a game full screen to make them notice your messages ↩
5. old-fashioned mindset: feudal way of thinking, following Confucian ritual mentality, with three feminine obediences and five constants ↩
6. Lap up (套圈): cheer to shout when the fastest person laps the slowest person in a race ↩
—
the light from MangNing is what blinds me~~