Chapter 23: Full Stop
Lu Li’s left leg and Wen Hupo’s right leg were tied together. His calf was noticeably larger than hers, making them look quite mismatched. Most of the other three-legged race participants were paired with partners of similar build. He and Wen Hupo were the most conspicuous, due to their size difference. Wen Hupo seemed so slender and fragile.
A minute before the race, Lu Li’s mind was still wandering. He wasn’t really thinking about the competition. He still couldn’t empathize with Wen Hupo, understand why she cared so much about winning such a trivial sports meet. Shouldn’t a girl like Wen Hupo have broader horizons?
As Lu Li hesitated, the race began.
As he had expected, he and Wen Hupo were surprisingly in sync. Without any practice, they easily synchronized their steps, leaving the others far behind.
Wen Hupo was overjoyed. Panting, she said, “Lu Li, we can win!”
“Don’t talk while you’re running.” Lu Li reminded her, then his gaze drifted towards the stands. The audience was a sea of faces, impossible to distinguish. It was strange how Wen Hupo always managed to pinpoint his location in the crowd. He, on the other hand, couldn’t even find Silly Goose and An Baili.
“They’re catching up…”
The other students weren’t slouches either. This simple event only required a few days of practice to master. Sometimes, natural chemistry wasn’t enough to overcome all obstacles.
Wen Hupo became anxious. She instinctively reached for Lu Li’s hand, but couldn’t reach it. His hands were clasped behind his back, like a proper gentleman, avoiding any intimate contact with her. Wen Hupo had many reasons for wanting to hold his hand: to better coordinate their movements, to prevent herself from falling, or perhaps… But Lu Li only had one reason to refuse. Moreover, his gaze wasn’t on the track, but fixed on the audience.
Realizing this, Wen Hupo’s expression turned numb. She sped up without a word, gradually disrupting their synchronization. Their pace slowed down, and Lu Li had to speed up to keep up with Wen Hupo. But as he sped up, Wen Hupo went even faster, as if deliberately trying to shake him off.
Their movements became increasingly inefficient, and they were quickly overtaken by the other teams.
“Miss Wen Hupo, don’t rush, keep a steady pace!” Lu Li couldn’t help but call out.
He suddenly froze, noticing a flicker of tears in Wen Hupo’s eyes. The bright sunlight, refracted through the tears, created a shimmering halo. The tears didn’t fall, but stubbornly remained in her eyes.
Crying.
This was a word closely associated with An Baili, but distant from Wen Hupo.
An Baili was a crybaby, crying over everything.
But he had never seen Wen Hupo cry in his past life.
The closest she had come to crying was at her adoptive mother’s funeral. That was also the first time Lu Li learned that Wen Hupo wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth, but came from an ordinary family like most people. It was raining that day. Wen Hupo, dressed in black, looked numb and empty, like a soulless puppet. Lu Li stood beside her, holding an umbrella. Various foreigners came up to them, offering condolences in languages he didn’t understand. Lu Li just smiled and nodded in response. Even now, he still didn’t know how the Amber family had come to believe that he and Wen Hupo were in a relationship. Wen Hupo had never explained it. Since then, he received a sum of money from abroad every year, until Wen Hupo left.
Lu Li sometimes wondered, if fate had taken a different course, would he and Wen Hupo have been a match made in heaven?
A sudden thought, like an electric shock, ran through his mind. If he had such thoughts, would Wen Hupo, who always seemed to be on the same wavelength as him, have similar thoughts?
After the first lap, he and Wen Hupo were second to last. Many people noticed Wen Hupo’s red eyes. The PE representative advised her to take a break and let someone else take her place. No one objected. They didn’t trust Wen Hupo, thinking she was just dead weight.
Wen Hupo didn’t agree, nor did she refuse. In the end, it was Silly Goose who stepped in and asked An Baili to replace Wen Hupo, completing the remaining two laps with Lu Li.
With An Baili as his partner, their speed increased significantly. They stumbled a bit at first, but their coordination improved with each step. By the middle of the lap, they were jogging smoothly. During the last lap, Lu Li and An Baili easily overtook the other teams, even managing to sprint as if the tape binding their legs didn’t exist.
The loudest cheers erupted from Class 1 of the second-year liberal arts program. They chanted their names, cheering for the couple who was about to win their class’s first gold medal. Even Silly Goose, her face flushed, was waving a flag and cheering for them in the front row, looking incredibly adorable.
Lu Li smiled, trying to find Wen Hupo with his eyes, wanting to share the joy of victory with her. But the spot where she had been standing was empty, only the lonely spring breeze remained.
Lu Li didn’t see Wen Hupo again after the race.
—
After school, Silly Goose was picked up by a chauffeur sent by the Chu family. Before leaving, she waved goodbye to Lu Li and An Baili reluctantly. Not being able to walk home with her beloved and her best friend because of her sprained ankle was enough to make Silly Goose feel sorry for herself for a long time.
Lu Li and An Baili walked side by side, as if they were back in their university days in his past life. Back then, he would always stroll leisurely with An Baili, holding hands and telling silly jokes.
“Still thinking about Wen Hupo?” An Baili asked with a grin.
“Yes. I think something’s wrong with her. And I haven’t seen her since the three-legged race. Where did she go?” Lu Li still remembered the tears in Wen Hupo’s eyes. He had never seen her cry, it was like seeing a river flow upstream.
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her either.” An Baili swung Lu Li’s hand back and forth. “Just call her and ask.”
“I don’t have her number.” Only her WeChat. Lu Li felt a pang of sadness. They had known each other for so long, yet he didn’t even have her phone number. Would they lose contact after graduation? Just like ordinary classmates, disappearing into the river of time?
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