Chapter 35: Sweating Already, Little Bro?
That night...
The endless darkness covered the entire city of Qingnan. The campus of Qingnan University was quiet, with only the dim yellow streetlights breaking up the darkness.
Lin Wan curled up on his dorm bed, biting tightly on his blanket as his body shook uncontrollably.
His illness had returned.
The pain that seemed to come from deep inside his bones had never truly disappeared. Now it had come back again.
After taking his medicine, the pain slowly faded, and his body gradually calmed down.
He looked at the light shining through the window and drifted into thought.
He had believed that with the spirit's help, he had already stepped into the light.
But now it seemed that wasn't the case.
Instead, it had only turned his body around after it had walked into the darkness, letting him see the light again.
"Spirit... are you really real?"
The pain had pulled all his beautiful hopes back into reality.
He was afraid that everything that had happened so far was nothing more than a dream caused by his illness.
A small fluffy ball suddenly appeared.
Feeling the sadness in Lin Wan's heart, it gently rubbed its little head against his cheek.
"I am~ I've always been here!"
Lin Wan slowly hugged the tiny fluffy spirit and gently stroked its soft fur.
"That's wonderful."
"Thank you... Spirit."
"It'll all get better~"
Feeling the warmth from the little spirit's body, Lin Wan slowly fell asleep.
……………………
The darkness faded.
Dawn arrived.
"Brother Wan! Wake up, Brother Wan!"
Lin Wan slowly opened his sleepy eyes.
Standing in front of him was what looked like a utility pole, with a toothbrush sticking out of its mouth.
It was Qiu Cheng.
Seeing Lin Wan wake up, Qiu Cheng spoke while quickly sucking back the toothpaste foam that was dripping from the corner of his mouth.
"Hurry up! We've got an 8 a.m. class! We're going to be late!"
After saying that, Qiu Cheng cupped his hand under his chin and ran toward the sink.
For college students in winter, the words "8 a.m. class" were especially cruel.
Not only did they have to wake up early, but they also had to use every bit of willpower they had to crawl out of their warm blankets and face the cold morning.
Hearing that, Lin Wan instantly woke up.
He hurriedly put on his cold clothes, jumped out of bed, and got ready.
The dorm immediately became chaotic.
After everyone barely managed to make themselves presentable, they grabbed their textbooks and rushed out together.
"Brother Wan, you've fallen!" Zhang Dingding said with a heartbroken expression as they ran toward the cafeteria.
"+1. You used to be the one who woke all of us up!" Sun Mao ran behind Lin Wan, looking worried about the future of their dorm. "Slow down a little!"
"We really have to thank my bladder today!" Qiu Cheng said with lingering fear. "If it hadn't woken me up, we'd have been late and lost another two participation points!"
"Late? I don't think we'd have gotten up before ten. We'd have skipped class completely," Zhang Dingding said as he rushed into the cafeteria.
Lin Wan thought for a moment.
"I think we should all set more alarms whenever we have an 8 a.m. class."
"Alarms?" Sun Mao shook his head. "Last time there was thunder outside and it still didn't wake us up. I think it'd work better if we just made Brother Qiu drink a lot more water. His bladder is tiny. Once he has to pee, he'll wake up."
Qiu Cheng looked at his roommates in horror.
"Please... can you guys be human for once?"
After buying breakfast, the four of them ran while eating.
Just as the class bell rang, they rushed into the classroom looking completely out of breath. But they made it on time.
Although it was Friday, their schedule was still packed.
Classes ran from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon.
When the last class ended, everyone in the class scattered across campus like rabbits released from a cage.
Not only because tomorrow was the weekend...
But also because tonight was Valentine's Day.
Countless young, restless hearts couldn't wait to be together.
Around the hotels near the university, it almost felt as if invisible pink bubbles were filling the air.
Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.
A night full of passion.
And a night when Qingnan City's "average sperm count" would jokingly rise sharply.
But for the single guys...
It was just another ordinary Friday night.
After evening practice ended, Zhuo Feng rode his bicycle with Lin Wan on the back toward their usual running area.
Looking at the unfamiliar streets, Lin Wan asked curiously, "We're not going to the riverside today?"
"We're changing places. There's a park a little farther away. We'll run there from now on," Zhuo Feng explained.
"Okay."
"Aren't you going to ask why?"
"Why?"
"I'm not telling you."
"...You're so weird."
After entering the park, they walked farther inside until they reached an area with several pieces of public exercise equipment.
There were pull-up bars, parallel bars, a waist-twisting wheel, a seesaw, and even a slide.
Everything was covered in a layer of dark dust, making it obvious that no one had used the equipment for a long time.
Seeing the confused look on Lin Wan's face, Zhuo Feng explained,
"From now on, we'll do some strength training here before we start running. And while we're at it, I'll show you what a real eight-pack looks like."
After saying that, Zhuo Feng took out some tissues and started wiping the dust off the metal exercise equipment.
"But... I don't think I need any of this."
"Tsk, don't say that. Once you build some muscles, you'll definitely attract a bunch of younger girls." After cleaning the pull-up bar, Zhuo Feng waved at Lin Wan. "Come on, try doing a pull-up."
Lin Wan walked over.
"But I'm only a freshman. Where would I even get younger girls?"
"You'll be a sophomore in the second half of the year, won't you? First, loosen up your arms."
Lin Wan followed Zhuo Feng and stretched his arms. Then he grabbed the bar and pulled with all his strength.
His face turned bright red, but he only managed to lift himself a few centimeters—not even close to a proper pull-up.
"Come down. Slowly."
Zhuo Feng thought for a moment.
"Your upper-body strength isn't enough. We'll have to start with push-ups to build your arm strength."
Lin Wan shook out his arms.
"Weren't we supposed to come here to run?"
"We will run later. Just look at how skinny you are. I feel like a strong wind could blow you over. You need to work out."
Zhuo Feng remembered how thin Lin Wan's waist was.
He's way too skinny. That's not healthy.
That was exactly why he had chosen this place.
Going to a gym would have been even better, but he knew Lin Wan would never agree to spend money on that.
His good brother was great in every way...
...except that he was a little too careful with money.
"Alright."
"If regular push-ups are too hard, start with standing push-ups against something."
"Don't underestimate me."
Lin Wan immediately lay on the ground and did several sloppy push-ups with his waist sagging almost to the floor.
When he finished, he proudly looked at Zhuo Feng.
Zhuo Feng covered his forehead with one hand, trying not to laugh.
"Keep your whole body straight. Don't let your waist sag. Put your hands shoulder-width apart, and bend your arms slowly. Try taking about two seconds for each push-up."
"Ah!"
Lin Wan followed his instructions and slowly lowered himself. But before he could hold himself up, his face slammed straight into the ground.
Zhuo Feng quickly pulled him back to his feet.
"You'd better start with standing push-ups."
"Ptoo! Ptoo!"
Lin Wan spat the dirt out of his mouth while brushing the dust off his clothes.
"Hah—"
Stare!
Before Zhuo Feng could laugh, Lin Wan shot him a sharp glare that made him immediately stop smiling.
"Ahem..."
"Just watch how I do it first. Then copy this form when you do the standing version, alright?"
"Mhm."
…………………
In the end, Lin Wan barely did any push-ups at all.
Instead, he spent most of the time watching Zhuo Feng work out.
Seeing that Lin Wan was getting bored, Zhuo Feng handed him his phone.
"Play some games or watch some videos."
After all, Lin Wan's phone was so old that even opening a video app made it lag like a slideshow.
There was nothing they could do about it.
Modern apps had so many unnecessary features that they used a huge amount of memory. Phones that were only three or four years old often couldn't keep up anymore.
After getting the phone, Lin Wan showed a mischievous smile. He secretly checked the browser history first.
It was in private browsing mode. Then he searched through the video folder.
Nothing.
Still, he refused to believe his good brother was that innocent.
So he opened the video app and looked through the liked and saved videos.
Every single one was about games. He looked disappointed.
That can't be right!
The three animals in my dorm all have dirty stuff on their phones.
Can my good brother really be the exception?
Is he even a man?
"There's nothing interesting."
The moment Zhuo Feng saw Lin Wan's changing expressions, he knew exactly what he was looking for.
"Ahem... I wasn't looking through your private stuff!" Lin Wan shamelessly lied with a completely straight face.
"If you want to look, then go ahead. I've got nothing to hide."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Then I'm checking your WeChat."
"Go ahead."
"Then I'll check your QQ Space."
Lin Wan's eyes rolled around.
Lots of people had written dramatic, emotional posts on QQ Space when they were younger.
At the time, they thought those posts were cool.
Looking back years later...
They became pure black history, so embarrassing that your toes would curl.
Today I'm definitely digging up my good brother's embarrassing past!
Lin Wan opened QQ.
Other than the class group chats and department group chats, which all had 99+ unread messages, there were no messages from anyone else.
Then he opened QQ Space. It was completely empty. Everything had been deleted.
There wasn't even a single word left, let alone a photo.
Huh?
He prepared for this?
I don't believe it!
He opened the account settings.
Sure enough...
There was a second QQ account.
Hehe.
Got you this time, little bro!
He proudly glanced at Zhuo Feng.
The moment Zhuo Feng saw that look, he immediately realized what had happened.
He rushed over, grabbed the phone, and quickly deleted the saved login information for the second account.
Only after making sure everything was gone did he throw the phone back to Lin Wan.
That second account was full of photos of him and Lin Wan, some of them were even specially cropped and zoomed in.
If Lin Wan ever saw those, it would be a disaster.
"Tsk, tsk."
"Feeling nervous now, little bro? Sweating already? Weren't you the one who said I could look at anything? Weren't you the one who said you had nothing to hide?"
Lin Wan shook his head with a teasing smile.
"Ahem... Now you can look at whatever you want."
"You already deleted all the good stuff. What's left to see?"
"Look at something else."
"But I only want to see what's in that QQ account."
"You can... but only if you let me look through your phone too. We'll trade."
"Then I'd rather not look."
"Come on, be good. Let me take a look!"
"No."