My Mr.Mermaid

Yun Duo had thought that Teacher Sun would definitely set Qi Rui-Feng as the headline — after all, he was a die-hard fan of Qi Rui-Feng. However, when she glanced down at the ma.n.u.script, it was on Tang Yi-Bai. In his ma.n.u.script, Teacher Sun used the word count of a university entrance exam essay to describe Tang Yi-Bai"s arresting performance in the pool. He excavated the light and dark sides of Tang Yi-Bai"s history in depth, offering professional a.n.a.lysis on all of Tang Yi-Bai"s strengths and weaknesses, and predicted optimistically that: He will become another one of the brightest stars of the Chinese swimming arena.

Yun Duo found it a little hard to believe. "Teacher Sun, your affections have turned so swiftly?"

Teacher Sun responded primly, "I chose Tang Yi-Bai as the headline naturally because Tang Yi-Bai was more suitable to be the headline. We may chase an idol in private, but when it comes to reporting news, we must keep a wider view with news in mind."

The theory was simple. Although Qi Rui-Feng had a greater reputation, the compet.i.tion this time, an annual one just within the country, was really too small a stage for an Olympics champion. No matter how well he did in such a compet.i.tion, no one would be surprised. As such, all the reporters had been gunning for gossip around Qi Rui-Feng this time. Unfortunately, Qi Rui-Feng seemed to be on alert — though his att.i.tude was as arrogant as ever, he kept a strict guard over his mouth, not revealing anything important that could send the mind spinning.

Compared to Qi Rui-Feng, Tang Yi-Bai was a veritable well of talking points. Even though he was not as well-known as Qi Rui-Feng, the combination of all these hot talking points was enough to draw a significant amount of attention. Moreover, he truly had the results to showcase as well — his explosive performance as the final member of the relay was uncommon even across the entire continent of Asia; it was well worth some lengthy exposition.

Yun Duo quickly figured all this out. Looking at Teacher Sun in admiration, she sighed and said, "Thanks for the lesson!"

Done with their ma.n.u.scripts, the two of them walked out of the hotel to look for a small restaurant nearby for supper.

City-Z was a northern inland city, and its food culture was primarily made up of a myriad of noodle dishes. Yun Duo was a a geographical area in China.Jiangnan girl used to eating fish and rice ... after flipping through the thin menu twice, she finally ordered a set of a type of Chinese dumpling.
shrimp wonton. Teacher Sun ordered a bowl of beef ramen.

As they waited for their meals to be served, Teacher Sun secretly said to Yun Duo, "Yun Duo, there"s something I need to remind you of."

"What is it? Teacher Sun, you can be frank with me."

"That reporter you were arguing with today, his deputy editor is close with Director Liu of our editorial department. I think that that reporter is the type to cause trouble. Probably even before we return, Director Liu will already know of this incident. You ... prepare yourself."

"Ok." Yun Duo nodded. The relationships among those who worked in the media were very intertwined — offending one person was tantamount to offending a whole group of people. Moreover, what she had done today was obviously a taboo in the industry. It could be imagined that she was likely in for a terrible scolding once she returned.

What a headache ...

Yun Duo rubbed at her forehead. "I understand. Thank you, Teacher Sun."

The steaming bowl of beef ramen was served, and Teacher Sun raised his chopsticks. "Alright, alright, don"t think so much about it. Let"s eat! I"m starving."

A moment later, Yun Duo"s wonton were served as well. She scooped up a wonton, and after blowing on it a little to cool it off, she took a bite. It was smooth and slippery, fragrant with great texture — delicious! Yun Duo was also very hungry, so she very quickly forgot all about those external problems to focus fully on her wonton.

As they were eating, Teacher Sun suddenly shouted hoa.r.s.ely, "I"ve got it!"

Yun Duo was greatly startled, almost choking to death on a wonton. After coughing for a long while, she asked Teacher Sun, "What is it?"

"I know who he is now!"

Yun Duo was even more confused. "Who? Which "he" is this?"

"Lin Zi! The one that we met today, Lin Zi!"

Yun Duo was just about to reply when a cool voice rang out from behind Teacher Sun, "Are you calling for me?"

As if he had been hit at a critical acupoint, Teacher Sun froze, mute for a long while. Stiffly, he turned his neck to look behind him. The speaker was already facing them at this time. Who else could it be but Lin Zi?

Teacher Sun"s jaw almost unhinged itself.

Yun Duo could not help but cover her mouth and exclaim in shock, "This gentleman, you must be part summoned beast, right?"

"No." Lin Zi shook his head, rising to his feet to come over and sit with them at their table. "I heard that the lamb 泡馍: a Shaanxi specialty where chopped up leavened bread or mantou is cooked with broth and meat to produce a hot stew. Often served with pickled garlic and chilli sauce.
paomo here is very good, and so I came to try it out."

He said it so casually, but Teacher Sun and Yun Duo had yet to recover fully from their shock. Teacher Sun, especially, had been truly shaken. Yun Duo saw a waiter bringing a large bowl over. Lin Zi waved his fingers at the waiter, and the waiter came over to place the bowl before him.

And then Lin Zi began to eat.

Yun Duo completely forgot about her own wonton, staring dazedly at this fellow before her. The autumn nights were colder, so he had already changed into a long-sleeved shirt, his collar and sleeves all b.u.t.toned up properly. He had perfectly straight shoulders and a slender frame, and his face was sculpted with clean lines. He had fine features and an elegant air, though his manner now was indolent. Right now, just sitting down nonchalantly like this, he still seemed like a supermodel who had just stepped off a top-cla.s.s fashion runway. He looked truly, truly stylish.

However, this supermodel was currently in high spirits devouring the large bowl of lamb paomo in his hands.

Yun Duo felt as if she could not bear to look. She glanced at Teacher Sun and found that Teacher Sun was flushed. He was twisting his fingers as he asked tentatively, "You"re that stock G.o.d Lin Zi, aren"t you?"

Lin Zi chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth unhurriedly before replying, "I"m not a stock G.o.d."

"Oh ..." Teacher Sun was a little disappointed.

"But there are people who call me that." After saying that, Lin Zi buried his head in his food and continued eating.

Teacher Sun"s eyes lit up again.

Yun Duo was very curious, but she felt embarra.s.sed to talk about someone right in front of them. So, she surrept.i.tiously began searching for information on her phone. There really was news about this Lin Zi on the internet. However, most of the news were vague and lacking in details, and the news channels themselves were questionable. From these bits of news and rumours, Yun Duo managed to compile several reliable facts. One, this person invested in quite a lot of things — stocks, futures, foreign currency ... in short, he almost 除了不炒菜他似乎什么都炒: I had to take creative liberty with this one. The original really would not make sense. Literally, "other than vegetables, he would fry almost everything else". This is a wordplay on "fry" as the Chinese informally say that stock investors/traders "fry stocks".had a hand in every investment pie; Two, he seemed to have an unblemished record of success; Three, this person used to be active in the United States, only occasionally visiting the regions of Europe and Asia. But three years ago, he had suddenly returned to China, and had been developing within the country ever since.

After she was done reading, she concluded that he was yet another prodigy that was way beyond her level. Yun Duo was an average mortal; she had very little interest in him. She put away her phone and continued to eat her wonton. Teacher Sun was rather excited. He kept sneaking glances at Lin Zi as he picked at his noodles with his chopsticks. His gaze was quite intense. Lin Zi had the mental fort.i.tude of steel — he finished his bowl of lamb paomo calmly under such an intense gaze, and he was even composed enough to order another bowl since he wasn"t satisfied enough with his first.

Yun Duo felt that Lin Zi had really been too conservative when he had said he was here to "try" the paomo. He should have said T/N: Lol. What is this even... Honestly, this humour is weird even in the raws."try try try try try try try try try".

The events in the compet.i.tion the next day did not involve Qi Rui-Feng and Tang Yi-Bai, but that minor Ming Tian was partic.i.p.ating in the 100 metre b.r.e.a.s.t.stroke. Yun Duo saw how his legs were kicking inside the pool ... he really did resemble a frog. This frog held the lead all the way from the preliminaries to the semi-finals, and he also won the gold medal by a large margin in the finals. His entire progress through the event was especially smooth, not at all suspenseful, much like old ladies going shopping.

After he came out of the water, Yun Duo rushed forwards to interview him. Before she could ask her question, Ming Tian asked, "Big sister, am I handsome and amazing and do you like me?"

Yun Duo rolled her eyes.

At the same time, in the VIP seats specially set aside by the organizers, Tang Yi-Bai and Qi Rui-Feng were seated side by side among their teammates as they watched the situation below. To them, there had been no doubt at all that Ming Tian would clinch the gold. Qi Rui-Feng was even yawning out of boredom.

"Say," said Qi Rui-Feng to Tang Yi-Bai after he finished yawning, "What do you think about the upcoming 4x100 medley relay?"

In that event, they were both representing their respective provincial teams, and they were again slotted to swim the final freestyle leg. This situation was very similar to yesterday"s 4x100 metre freestyle. When Tang Yi-Bai heard Qi Rui-Feng ask this, he shook his head lightly and replied indifferently, "No idea."

Qi Rui-Feng continued to prod, "Who do you think will be the champion?"

Tang Yi-Bai"s eyebrows did not even twitch. "Your team."

"Tsk!" Qi Rui-Feng instantly deflated. "Couldn"t you just brag a little so I can argue back?"

"No. I always try to speak truthfully." Tang Yi-Bai was sitting upright with his fingers crossed primly over his knees. His demeanour was relaxed, looking for the world like he was a senior officer at a meeting. He said, "Your team has Zhao Yue, Ming Tian, and you. If you all can"t even win a national level compet.i.tion, you all might as well commit 剖腹: j.a.panese ritual suicide by disembowelment. Warriors who do this to pay for their failures/sins are considered to have redeemed themselves and retain their honour in death.seppuku together."

Qi Rui-Feng was secretly pleased to hear these words coming from Tang Yi-Bai"s lips, but he still feigned cluelessness on the surface to protest, "Well, your team still has Zheng Ling-Ye."

Zheng Ling-Ye and Tang Yi-Bai came from the same provincial team, and they were both also part of the national team. He was considered the strongest in the b.u.t.terfly stroke among the Chinese male swimmers after Tang Yi-Bai. When Tang Yi-Bai heard Qi Rui-Feng mention the name, he turned to face the person on his other side and said, "Ling-Ye, what do you think?"

The one sitting right next to him on his other side was precisely Zheng Ling-Ye. Zheng Ling-Ye had joined the national team later, and he wasn"t very talkative, so even though he had always performed pretty well, his presence was always weak when he hung out beside Qi Rui-Feng and Tang Yi-Bai. Now, when he heard Tang Yi-Bai"s question, his eyebrows knitted together in deep thought. Although he looked very wise and insightful, Tang Yi-Bai and Qi Rui-Feng were not holding any high hopes for his opinion.

Sure enough, after a period of deep contemplation, Zheng Ling-Ye only came up with an utterly pointless "Brother Bai is right."

Fine, he was already giving Tang Yi-Bai considerable respect by saying four words in one breath.

They continued to chat, and when they looked towards Ming Tian standing by the pool, he was still speaking with reporters. This Ming Tian had a personal interest — he liked being interviewed ... this punk was especially fond of speaking freely in front of reporters. At this moment, the staff had already gone over to prompt them to disperse, and still Ming Tian was reluctant to stop talking to the reporters.

"This idiot!" Qi Rui-Feng facepalmed.

Tang Yi-Bai watched the electronic screen. "His results ..."

"Is still improving, and he"ll continue to improve in future," Qi Rui-Feng finished.

"Yes." Tang Yi-Bai nodded. He then turned to look at Ming Tian again, joy and relief within his gaze. Ming Tian was finally willing to leave, but it could be imagined how he would trouble the media again later when he was on the podium.

Qi Rui-Feng suddenly exclaimed, "How great it is to be young!"

These words, coming from the lips of a 22 year old young man, were like a joke. But Tang Yi-Bai knew that Qi Rui-Feng was not joking. For most professional athletes, 22 was considered a peak age. A peak meant a limit — it meant that their room to improve was being infinitely compressed. At 16 years old, Ming Tian was like a seedling br.i.m.m.i.n.g with water — every day, he was growing at a speed visible to the naked eye. Meanwhile, at 22 years old, Qi Rui-Feng had to throw all his strength into breaking his limits just to obtain any little bit of improvement.

That was why he would say such words with a tone filled with envy. Rather than say he was envious of Ming Tian, it was more accurate to say that he was missing the days when he was still 16.

Tang Yi-Bai"s gaze was as calm as usual, but even he could not hide the envy in his voice. "Yes, how great it is to be young."

Youth meant that mistakes were acceptable. If one fell, all they needed to do was get up again. But he, Tang Yi-Bai, no longer had the chance to make mistakes. He could no longer afford to fall.

Qi Rui-Feng glanced at Tang Yi-Bai from the side. He suddenly realised that although Tang Yi-Bai was younger than him by a year, Tang Yi-Bai had even more right than he did to make such a remark. They had once made a promise to stand on the podium of the Olympic Games together. He had achieved it, but Tang Yi-Bai ...

Qi Rui-Feng suddenly felt a little sad. "Tang Yi-Bai."

"Hm?"

"You definitely must become the fastest swimmer in this world." Qi Rui-Feng"s tone was extremely solemn.

Generally speaking, the t.i.tle of "fastest swimmer" would only belong to the men"s 100-metre freestyle swim. Men swam faster than women, and the freestyle was faster than any of the other strokes. And the 100-metre was the grandest and most awe-inspiring of the freestyle events. Therefore, the "fastest swimmer in the world" could only be the world champion of the men"s 100-metre freestyle.

Across Asia, there had never been anyone capable of obtaining this t.i.tle.

Tang Yi-Bai"s gaze was gentle and determined. He smiled, an attractive curve gracing his lips. "Without question, I will."

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