May 20, 1998, Wednesday. Today is Guan Xuchen's 18th birthday. This year, Gao Xinglang gave him a beautiful wind chime for his birthday—but not the gold medal from this year's city basketball tournament.
The fourth period in the afternoon was fitness training. Even though the city tournament had ended, Gao Xinglang still needed to attend the basketball team's training for the rest of the semester. So Guan Xuchen went to play badminton with Hong Yilong and two other boys named Qin Jian (pron.: chin jyen) and Guan Xinyao (pron.: gwan shin yhow).
As the four left the classroom, Gao Xinglang happened to step out of Class 4 with his schoolbag. The five boys headed downstairs together. Once outside, Gao Xinglang smiled brightly at Guan Xuchen. "Soupy, wait for me after your game. I'll treat you to a birthday cake."
"Okay, great!" Guan Xuchen replied happily.
Then Gao Xinglang turned toward the gym, while Guan Xuchen and the other boys made for the badminton courts in the opposite direction.
When they reached a court, Guan Xuchen and Hong Yilong saw Cai Yunfei, Zhan Wenyan, Guan Muxue, and Ji Kaiying (pron.: gee kai ying) from Class 4, Senior Two playing on the neighboring court. They smiled and waved to the girls.
While playing, Guan Xuchen noticed Hong Yilong stealing glances at the neighboring court. After a while, Hong Yilong stopped and walked over to the girls' court. "You girls are really good," he said with a smile. "Wanna play mixed doubles with us?"
"Sounds great!" The girls readily agreed and then asked, "How should we pair up?"
"Cai Yunfei, would you team up with Hong Yilong?" Guan Xuchen asked with a sunny smile.
"Okay," Cai Yunfei replied, blushing as she glanced at Hong Yilong.
"Hong Yilong, you don't have a problem with that, do you?" Guan Xuchen asked with a smile.
"O-of course n-no," Hong Yilong stammered in reply.
The other three girls couldn't help but cover their mouths and snicker when they saw Hong Yilong like this.
"Good, good, so you two will be in a team," Zhan Wenyan held Cai Yunfei's hand and walked over to this side of the court. She then gently pushed Cai Yunfei toward Hong Yilong.
Then Zhan Wenyan walked over and gently tapped Guan Xuchen's shoulder with her racket and said with a smile, "English rep, I'll team up with you. Is that okay for you?"
"No problem," Guan Xuchen replied with a smile.
Guan Muxue, Ji Kaiying, Qin Jian and Guan Xinyao then went to the neighboring court and played mixed doubles.
The boys and girls had a great time playing badminton until the school bell rang.
When they were packing up, Guan Muxue accidentally dropped something out of her schoolbag, which made a "clang" sound. Ji Kaiying beside her picked it up, took a look, handed it back to Guan Muxue, and said teasingly, "So this is the gold medal that the 'Little Basketball Prince' gave you. It's quite special."
Guan Muxue took the gold medal, stuffed it back into her schoolbag, smiled lightly, and replied, "It's just a gold medal from the municipal basketball tournament, not an Olympic gold medal. And my birthday is next month, but he insisted that today is my lunar birthday......"
Guan Xuchen, who was packing his schoolbag not far away, heard the girls' conversation. He felt as if his heart had been put into a bucket of ice water. He had previously thought that Gao Xinglang wanted to keep that gold medal as a souvenir, but he didn't expect Gao Xinglang to give it to Guan Muxue.
YOU ARE READING
Love Me in Another Universe
General FictionIt was such a long time ago that you don't even remember why you fell for that person in the first place. You just remember stubbornly that you were once deeply in love with someone with that name... It's a story about the bond between two Chinese b...
