My Mr.Mermaid

Leaving business matters aside, she turned on her computer and entered the words "Tang Yi-Bai" into the search engine.

She was really very curious about him.

There were a lot of hits, but most of them were unrelated. It looked like there were many people who shared his name. Yun Duo then added another word before "Tang Yi-Bai": "swimming".

This time, there were much less results, but they were also much more relevant.

Right at the front were news pieces from online media reporting on the latest results from the national swimming championships. Flipping several pages forwards to skip this topic, the search results became a little messy. Yun Duo kept her eyes wide open as she searched, and after browsing through 10 or so pages, she finally found a sc.r.a.p of news.

This news was from 3 years ago, reporting on China obtaining the gold for the 4x100 medley swim relay in the Asian Games. The members of the winning team: Zhao Yue, Song Le, Tang Yi-Bai, Qi Rui-Feng.

The article also had an accompanying picture. Tang Yi-Bai was standing beside his teammates, a bouquet of flowers in one hand with the medal in the other as he smiled at the camera. His smile was wide, but it also had a faint trace of innocent youth.

So he had already earned a gold medal before three years ago ... and it was a gold medal at the Asian Games, which carried more weight than that of the compet.i.tion yesterday.

Still, it was no wonder Yun Duo did not know about him. For the extremely youth-oriented professional sports circle, 3 years was enough time for a generational shift.

Yun Duo then looked back at the name list of the four boys and froze. This was a medley swim relay. In other words, the athletes would have to follow the fixed order of backstroke, b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke, b.u.t.terfly, and freestyle in the swim event. Tang Yi-Bai was in the third spot both on the list and on the podium, so it was clear to see that he had swum the b.u.t.terfly.

But he had clearly become the champion of today"s freestyle event!

Yun Duo could hardly believe her eyes. At first, she thought that the organizers must have just messed up the order of partic.i.p.ants on the name list, but she soon refuted this a.s.sumption. Because there was still one more person in the 4-man team: Qi Rui-Feng. This prodigy was already shining brilliantly back then, so the final leg of the relay, the freestyle, would definitely be his; it could not be anyone else.

Yun Duo looked up the news coverage specific to the Asian Games of that year, and she discovered that Tang Yi-Bai had also won the gold for the men"s 50-metre b.u.t.terfly stroke during that year"s games.

That"s right. Three years ago, Tang Yi-Bai had specialised in the b.u.t.terfly stroke. From his results in the games, he was already a mature athlete with a promising future back then. But this brother, after already achieving such good results, actually gave up on everything to start over and switched over to freestyle. Wasn"t that just asking for trouble? That was not at all professional!

Why on earth would he do that? No matter what perspective one took, he had no reason to do so.

Yun Duo was about to die from curiosity. She continuously changed her key terms to search for more info, but even after she had searched until her eyes were about to go blind, she was unable to find the reason for his switch to freestyle. It wasn"t just the reason, she could find nothing else. Ever since that Asian Games, Tang Yi-Bai vanished. In all the various compet.i.tions — large or small, national or international — his figure was nowhere to be found. Well, there were quite a few swimming enthusiasts who had been searching for traces of him all this while, but their efforts were in vain.

This complete gap continued right up till the swimming championships this time.

The gap spanned a whole three years.

In these three years, why had he not partic.i.p.ated in any compet.i.tions? Why had there been no news of him at all? Three years may not be a long time for the average person, but it was likely to be fatal for an athlete"s career.

As such, what exactly was the reason which had robbed these three years from him?

Injury? This was the first possibility Yun Duo could think of. However, even if he had been injured, there should still have been some news. Tang Yi-Bai had performed well in the Asian Games — as someone with potential, the media would certainly have had their eye on him. By the same token, no matter what the reason, there should have been news.

But there just wasn"t any at all.

Trapped outside the gateway of truth, Yun Duo felt extremely conflicted. She really wished she could grab Tang Yi-Bai by the collar and ask him about it. Moreover, she believed that after today"s results were published, there would be many others who would feel the same way.

G.o.dd.a.m.nit. After stirring up her interest so much, how was she going to find sleep tonight?!

That night, Yun Duo did not sleep well. Teacher Sun had to wake her up the next day. After having their breakfast, they headed straight for the swimming hall. Just as Yun Duo had expected, there was a clear increase in the discussion surrounding Tang Yi-Bai among her peers in the ma.s.s media circles today. Everyone had clearly come prepared. Of course, Tang Yi-Bai"s popularity was still no match for Qi Rui-Feng"s.

Today, the most highly antic.i.p.ated event was no other than the 4x100 metre freestyle relay. There were two reasons for this: One, Qi Rui-Feng was in it; Two, Tang Yi-Bai was in it.

The two of them came from different provincial teams, and they were both the As taken from Wikipedia (2019), a swimming relay of four swimmers usually follows this strategy: second-fastest, third-fastest, slowest, then fastest (anchor).anchors — the final swimmers — of their teams in the relay.

Throughout the preliminaries and the semi-finals, Qi Rui-Feng"s team had held the leading position, replicating Qi Rui-Feng"s performance in the 100-metre solo freestyle yesterday. In contrast, Tang Yi-Bai swam steadily, temporarily showing no signs of yesterday"s power and dominance. However, by now, no one would dare to underestimate him.

When the finals began, even those like Yun Duo who did not particularly like swimming also found themselves focusing their attention on the race.

The first swimmer.

The second swimmer.

The third swimmer.

Qi Rui-Feng"s team built up a slight advantage during the first two swimmers, and by the time the third swimmer took over, this advantage was growing. They were now a quarter of a body length ahead. This was the situation Tang Yi-Bai faced when it was his turn to swim. His opponent was the prodigy Qi Rui-Feng, and the other had a lead of a quarter of a body length. This was practically an insurmountable advantage.

Yun Duo could not help but clench her fists. She stared unblinkingly at the swimming pool as she waited for something that even she could not name.

Tang Yi-Bai"s entrance into the water was rapid and graceful, like an arrow leaving the bow. As soon as he was in the water, his arms drew broad strokes and his legs moved back and forth. Like a strong and beautiful dolphin, he cut through the waves under the cerulean water.

Right then, the situation within the pool was pretty much decided. Qi Rui-Feng and Tang Yi-Bai were in the top tier, while the team in third place was a little more than a whole body length behind them with basically no chance at all of catching up. Meanwhile, the distance between Tang Yi-Bai and Qi Rui-Feng remained locked at quarter of a body length. Tang Yi-Bai tried twice to overtake the other, but was unsuccessful. Whenever he accelerated, Qi Rui-Feng would also accelerate.

Yun Duo felt rather down. It wasn"t that Tang Yi-Bai wasn"t fast enough; his team had lagged behind too much at the beginning. Even though Tang Yi-Bai"s and Qi Rui-Feng"s speed were about the same now, Tang Yi-Bai would still be the one who would lose.

Finally, when they were nearly upon the 50-metre mark, Tang Yi-Bai managed to shorten the distance by just a little. Although it was just a tiny amount, it was at least still discernible by the naked eye. However, this bit of effort was very quickly wiped away in the subsequent turn.

Going all out, to no avail.

The outcome could almost be announced beforehand — Yun Duo could not bear to watch anymore. She could not bear to watch as someone continued to struggle futilely under hopeless circ.u.mstances.

She suddenly found that she rather hated this kind of compet.i.tion.

Right at that moment, Tang Yi-Bai suddenly accelerated once more. Qi Rui-Feng, in the neighbouring lane, also picked up speed almost simultaneously. Yun Duo did not know whether this was due to some tacit understanding among swimmers, or whether Qi Rui-Feng had sensed Tang Yi-Bai"s acceleration within the water. Whatever the case, they both accelerated at the same time, speeding forwards towards their common goal like two frenzied torpedoes.

This was almost a replica of the first half the race.

And yet, it was not the same! The distance between the two was gradually decreasing. Indeed, the both of them had accelerated, but Tang Yi-Bai was faster!

Almost within the blink of an eye, the gap between Tang Yi-Bai and Qi Rui-Feng had already been reduced to the length of a head, but there was also only a little more than 20 metres left to the finishing point. No one could tell whether Tang Yi-Bai would be able to make up the difference in time.

The cheers from the audience increased in intensity to an almost deafening extent. This time, Yun Duo did not feel her ears ringing. She had no mind to care about the noise; her full attention was on the pool. She held her breath, her entire body tense. Her fists were clenched tight as her eyes stared unwaveringly at the two figures in the water. The cacophony of the audience gradually drifted away; she could hear the fierce beating of her own heart.

The race was still ongoing — the gap was still decreasing — but they were also getting closer and closer to the finish line. 15 metres, 10 metres, 5 metres, 4 metres, 3 metres, 2 metres, 1 metre ...

They touched the wall!

Both swimmers touched the wall at almost the same time. Yun Duo could not tell who came first or second with just her eyes alone. She stared blankly for a moment before turning quickly to look up at the electronic screen above. Almost everyone in the hall was doing the same thing.

B-City Team, final swimmer Tang Yi-Bai, personal time 47.88 seconds. Relay total 3 minutes 19.20 seconds.

C-City Team, final swimmer Qi Rui-Feng, personal time 48.23 seconds. Relay total 3 minutes 19.22 seconds.

The two times only differed by 20 milliseconds — that was just one fiftieth of a second. One fiftieth of a second ... that was just an instant, perhaps even shorter than an instant. And yet, it was this very very brief instant that had determined the champion.

Tang Yi-Bai, the champion!

Yun Duo"s heart had been suspended for what felt like half a day. Now, her body finally relaxed, and she clung to the guardrail beside her as she gasped for breath.

That was really too nerve-wracking and exciting!

The fans who had been cheering wildly for Qi Rui-Feng were silent. In contrast, the media area was steeped in jubilation. These people were happy not because they were supporters of Tang Yi-Bai, but because "Final swimmer Tang Yi-Bai pulls a shocking reversal on Qi Rui-Feng" was clearly a much more interesting topic than "Qi Rui-Feng"s steady performance clinches him the win".

At this moment, Yun Duo still could not understand the deeper technical aspects of that final leg of the relay race. She looked towards the swimming pool and saw that Tang Yi-Bai and Qi Rui-Feng ad already been pulled ash.o.r.e by their teammates. Both of them were very tired. Their chests were heaving, and they had yet to draw enough breath to speak.

The reporters were all rubbing their palms in antic.i.p.ation to interview the two. Teacher Sun had already led Yun Duo over once again in advance in order to grab a good spot.

And then, the reporters could only stare as Qi Rui-Feng and Tang Yi-Bai, these two rivals who had just been engaged in an intense battle inside the pool, supported each other like bosom friends as they made their way to the athlete"s pa.s.sageway.

G.o.dd.a.m.nit, don"t go The author actually uses a pop-culture reference here. Literally, "Er-Kang hands". It is referencing a character from a TV show, who yells after his wife "Please stay, don"t go~". See the following pic:(grabby hands) ...

Reporters were like c.o.c.kroaches — their pa.s.sion could never be killed. Watching the two hot-topic people walk away, this group of reporters then silently turned to plan how to nab an interview later after the awards ceremony. Teacher Sun a.s.signed a mission for Yun Duo: Later when he would personally go after Tang Yi-Bai, Yun Duo just had to go after Qi Rui-Feng. She must go all out — she would definitely succeed!

As Yun Duo listened carefully to Teacher Sun"s arrangements, she kept having the strange feeling like they were planning to kidnap a bride.

Fortunately, neither Tang Yi-Bai nor Qi Rui-Feng were likely to miss the awards ceremony, so they would not be able to run this time. By the time the athletes took to the stage to receive their awards, they were all already dressed again. The uniform this time was sponsored by a well-known national clothing brand, but the design was rather ugly. Luckily, Tang Yi-Bai was so handsome that he could even hold up such awful looking clothes, still bringing a sort of grace to the outfit.

As for Qi Rui-Feng, he always sported an arrogant "this lord is number one in the world" look no matter what he wore anyway. Besides, everyone had already gotten used to seeing him mostly bare, so they could just ignore the clothes.

When the award ceremony ended, Yun Duo reacted quickly this time, rushing over to stand before Qi Rui-Feng.

Qi Rui-Feng recognised her and nodded seriously. "As expected of a fan of mine. You"ve almost charged straight into my arms."

Yun Duo: "..." She really wished she could just turn around and leave!

At this time, the surrounding reporters were already wagging their tongues and throwing out all sorts of questions, but Qi Rui-Feng did not reply, merely looking at Yun Duo. "I"ll allow you to ask the first question." That expression on his face ... it was as arrogant as arrogant could be, really provoking the impulse in others to beat him up.

Facing that incomparably arrogant expression of his, Yun Duo suddenly felt like bullying him. And so, she smiled cheekily and asked, "May I know how does it feel to lose twice to the same person?"

The surrounding reporters looked at Yun Duo in shock. This girl was way too audacious!

Qi Rui-Feng"s expression turned sour. "Next question!" Seeing Yun Duo about to speak again, he hurriedly added, "You shut up. I won"t answer your questions anymore." There was unconcealed rage in his tone, as well as a faint trace of sadness.

Yun Duo stuck out her tongue and then squeezed her way out from the throng. She did not really want to interview a prodigy with such bizarre thought processes anyway. She wanted to see how things were going on Tang Yi-Bai"s end.

Tang Yi-Bai was also surrounded by many people. Just as Yun Duo had expected, many of them were asking what Tang Yi-Bai had been doing these past few years.

"Training." This was his answer.

"Why did you choose freestyle?"

He was as calm as ever. "Because it"s free."

"Er..." What the h.e.l.l kind of answer is this?! The reporters were sweating, but they continued to ask, "Then why didn"t you join any compet.i.tions in the last three years?"

"No confidence."

Right then, a man suddenly yelled out, "Mr. Tang Yi-Bai, please explain the incident three years ago when you were banned from competing for taking stimulants."

With that, the crowd was thrown into an uproar.

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