Section 30: Such Foolishness in Dealing with the World

Exhausted from a three-thousand-kilometer journey, Lu Youyou felt drained of all spirit. Upon returning home, she took two sleeping pills and collapsed into bed. She slept in a haze of darkness, and when she finally awoke, her mind was a blank slate; she had no idea where she was. After lingering in a daze for quite some time, the events of the past few days began to surface, scene by scene. Lu Youyou pulled the blanket over her head, feeling the sharp, venomous bite of regret piercing her heart, leaving her unable to catch her breath. She didn't want to see anyone, nor could she face anyone. She switched off her phone and locked herself away, sleeping through the days; only in her dreams could she forget who she was.

After several days of enduring this, she had grown noticeably thinner. Her cheeks were sunken, her cheekbones prominent, and her eyes appeared unnaturally large—a sight that startled even her. Always one to cherish her appearance, she decided she would no longer torture herself. She took a hot shower, summoned her resolve, and cooked a pot of porridge to soothe her stomach. After eating just enough to be half-full, she laced up her sneakers and headed out to clear her head. Without realizing it, she found herself walking into the Beizhi Foreign Studies University. The campus was quiet and nearly deserted. Following her intuition, she wandered along the tree-lined path until she reached the track and field team’s fitness center. From a distance, she could hear the rhythmic clanging of gym equipment. Pushing open the door, she saw Sima, shirtless, engaged in a heavy strength-training session, his body drenched in sweat.

He had been training for a long time and was down to his final exercise: barbell squats. Lacking a spotter, he had opted for lighter weights with higher repetitions—five sets of twelve. These were tasks that fell under Lu Youyou’s purview; she should have been the one managing his schedule. If anything had gone wrong, she, as his coach, would have been held solely responsible. A wave of bitterness rose in Lu Youyou’s throat, and her eyes welled up. She covered her mouth and nose, stifling a sob. Over the past few days, she had acted as if possessed, making one mistake after another. She was twenty-three, not sixteen; when one makes a mistake, one must own it. She could not bury her head in the sand like an ostrich.

Once Sima finished his set, Lu Youyou stepped forward, towel in hand, and offered it to him as if nothing had happened, seamlessly stepping back into her role. Sima, equally composed, acted as if everything were normal. He spent twenty minutes on his cool-down routine, and once his heart rate had stabilized, he headed to the shower room to rinse off the sweat. After a brief moment of hesitation, Lu Youyou signaled for him to lie on the mat. She draped a towel over him and began to massage his muscles.

This was not the first time she had massaged Sima, but it was their first moment of physical intimacy since they had become involved. She tried her best to clear her mind, but it was futile; her abdomen trembled uncontrollably, and her movements grew awkward. When she finally finished the massage, she felt an immense sense of relief, as if she had just endured the most arduous task of her life. Sima stood up, dressed, and invited his coach to join him for a meal. The small canteen was not yet open, so Lu Youyou followed him silently like a shadow. Once off-campus, Sima chose a Halal dumpling shop and ordered a hundred dumplings—two pounds in total—served on four heaping plates.

The fillings were beef and lamb, the skins thin and the portions generous. The shop owner even provided two complimentary cold appetizers. Dumplings again! Lu Youyou was certain he had done this on purpose. She glanced at him, feeling stifled, but she let go of her restraint and ate heartily, consuming plenty of vinegar. Seeing that she had regained some spirit, Sima brought up the preparations for the National Championships. Lu Youyou asked about his training over the past few days; it had been largely on track, and they decided to proceed as planned with only minor adjustments. They talked for a long time, finalizing the upcoming training schedule. Lu Youyou made an excuse to leave early, insisting on paying the bill before she left; she would not spend Sima’s money.

Sima finished the remaining dumplings and sipped the dumpling broth slowly. He pulled out his phone and dialed Lu Yuan’s number, only to be met with an automated message stating that the phone was powered off. This was the tenth time this had happened. Sima suspected that Lu Yuan hadn't actually turned off her phone, but had likely blocked him. If he truly wanted to reconcile with her, he should have rushed back to Changzhou to beg for her forgiveness, but Sima did not do this. In fact, such a thought hadn't even crossed his mind. She was such a bright girl in her studies, yet so foolish in her dealings with the world. When a crisis strikes, one should work together; even if a breakup is inevitable, one should talk it out clearly. What was the point of ignoring calls out of spite? It solved nothing! He shook his head, tucked his phone into his pocket, and walked out of the dumpling shop, disappearing into the crowd like a drop of water merging into a river, continuing its onward flow.

Since the knot in her heart could not be untied, she decided to set it aside. Lu Youyou forced herself to immerse herself in her work. On one hand, she guided Sima’s training with all her heart; on the other, she picked up 100-meter hurdles again, draining every ounce of energy from her body until she was exhausted enough to collapse into sleep at the end of every day. Time passed quickly. After the New Year, Zhao Ronghua returned to Beizhi Sports University, and his first order of business was to give Sima a comprehensive physical examination, followed by tests for the 100 and 200-meter sprints. He was astonished to find that Sima had maintained his form exceptionally well; all his metrics showed steady improvement, and his times were slightly faster than before the New Year. He was, quite simply, a gold mine of surprises!

Zhao Ronghua told Sima to go home and prepare his personal belongings, as he was to report to Beizhi Sports University the following day for a closed-door training camp, living in the athletes' dorms. The standards for this camp were high. Li Xiazhi’s 100-meter hurdle times were not yet good enough, so she had to remain at the Beizhi Foreign Studies University track team to receive individual instruction from Lu Youyou, only joining the main group before the National Championships. Zhao Ronghua estimated that she would likely be eliminated in the first round; it was merely an opportunity to gain experience, as there was no hope of her placing.

Sima’s times in the men’s 100 and 200-meter events were quite impressive, nearing the standards of a professional athlete. As a key talent in the joint-training program between the two universities, Zhao Ronghua had the leverage to secure him better conditions, including a single room and access to the top-tier dining hall. The single room was like a standard hotel room, equipped with air conditioning, a private shower, and brand-new bedding. Sima only needed to bring his phone, charger, tea, toiletries, and a change of clothes to move in.

Because the camp would last for twelve weeks, Sima prepared plenty of "rations." He didn't have much Pu'er tea left, so he bought several bags of jasmine tea from a famous, time-honored shop. The water in Beizhi was hard—there was a joke that the locals had to chew their water before swallowing—and hard water made green tea turn into something resembling soy sauce, ruining the flavor. Jasmine tea, however, was unaffected by the water quality, making it the preferred "staple tea" for the citizens of Beizhi. Besides tea, he also brought several original-language books, planning to "go into seclusion" and pass the time. For others, a closed-door training camp was an agonizing ordeal, leaving them too exhausted at the end of the day to even look at a book. Sima was different; as long as he fed his "spiritual parasite," it would provide a constant flow of vital energy to replenish his strength.

The next morning, with a bulging travel bag on his back, Sima hailed a taxi to Beizhi Sports University, beginning his closed-door training for the National Championships.