Love Me in Another Universe

Chapter 45. A Love Letter to Guan

September 23, 1996, Monday.

Guan Xuchen and Gao Xinglang were walking to school together. Seeing Gao Xinglang's glum expression, Guan Xuchen tentatively asked, "Lang, are you still upset about what happened yesterday?"

"Alas, Soupy, it's not just yesterday..." Gao Xinglang let out a big sigh, 'You saw it too. For three Sundays in a row, I was made to clean up after practice. Now the coach keeps asking me to do odd jobs. It's fine for new players to do the dirty work. But now all the dirty work is dumped on me, while Shen Yitian and the others get off easy."

Guan Xuchen thought about it for a moment and asked carefully, "Did you—did you do something to upset the coach? Why don't you find an opportunity to explain to the coach and apologize?"

"I respect the coach very much," Gao Xinglang said helplessly. "I also asked Coach Du if I did anything wrong. But he just smiled and said I had been on the junior basketball team and knew the things better. What can I do? I always suspect that after last time, Qiao Zisheng said something bad about me in front of Coach Du..."

"It's all my fault, and I've dragged you down..." Guan Xuchen looked full of guilt.

"Soupy, don't blame yourself." Gao Xinglang put his hand on Guan Xuchen's shoulder and said reassuringly, 'I'm your good friend and your 'bodyguard'. How could I not say anything when I saw you being bullied by Qiao Zisheng?"

Then he put on an indifferent look and said, "It doesn't matter. Anyway, I'm not like Shen Yitian and the other recruited athletes; they have to stay on the basketball team. I've been playing basketball for so long. The worst thing that can happen is that I quit the team and concentrate on my studies."

"Lang, please don't say that..." Guan Xuchen knew that Gao Xinglang had always regarded basketball as a part of his life, and now he felt sad when he heard Gao say that.

The two returned to the classroom, where their classmate Zhan Wenyan (pron.: chan won yan) came up to them and handed Guan Xuchen an envelope, saying, "Guan Xuchen, someone just asked me to give you this letter."

Guan Xuchen felt a little surprised, but still smiled and thanked her. He took the envelope and saw that it was addressed in big, crooked characters: "To My Dear Guan".

"Who's that?" Guan Xuchen asked, puzzled.

"I don't know him," Zhan Wenyan replied. "He was wearing a school uniform and was very tall. He said he was in Senior Three. He asked if the English subject representative of our class had the surname Guan, and I said yes. Then he told me to give you this letter."

"Oh, okay, thank you, Zhan Wenyan." Guan Xuchen thanked Zhan Wenyan again, then returned to his seat full of doubts.

"Lang, who do you think wrote me the letter?" Guan Xuchen anxiously asked Gao Xinglang. "He's a tall student of Senior Three. So could it be Qiao Zisheng, the captain of your basketball team?"

"You don't know Qiao Zisheng well; why would he write you a letter?" Gao Xinglang laughed heartily, then jokingly added, "He wouldn't write you a threatening letter because of what happened last time, would he?"

"Ah, no way," Guan Xuchen was even more panicked.

"Soupy, I was just joking. What are you panicking about?" Gao Xinglang said with a smile, reassuring him, "If Qiao Zisheng really did write you a threatening letter, I'll go beat him up."

Then he suggested, "Why don't you open it and see what it says?"

Guan Xuchen then opened the envelope, took out the letter and unfolded it before reading it. After a few seconds, he quickly folded the letter up and looked panicked.