Ji Zeyu stood beside Gu Weicheng and stared at him for a moment, discovering that not only did he have a strong figure, but its outline was smooth and not exaggerated.
Gu Weicheng and Wei Yichen were contestants from the same company. Because Ji Zeyu stirred many troubles for Wei Yichen before, he never had a good impression of Ji Zeyu.
Suddenly, Gu Weicheng heard Ji Zeyu say, “Your muscles are very impressive. Can you teach me how to train them?”
Gu Weicheng was startled; he did not expect the person before him to compliment him. He was usually the cold, handsome type with very few words, but whenever the topic became related to working out, he would become loquacious until people’s heads hurt. Therefore, few in the show dared to talk to him about working out.
Seeing that Ji Zeyu was complimenting him to this extent and with a heartfelt tone, Gu Weicheng immediately started to share his experience: “Working out is like eating; you won’t become fat from just taking one meal…”
Gu Weicheng said a lot, yet he still did not think he said enough at last. He rolled his sleeves, tensed his muscles, and told Ji Zeyu, “What is this called? It’s called bulging biceps but can also be called ‘the boyfriend’s arm.’ Here, I’ll let you feel it…”
On the other side of the gym, Wan Long re-organized his hair, sprayed some water on his face to pretend he had been sweating a lot, and said to the camera that Lu Nanyun was holding, “Hello, everyone, I am Wan Long. Just now, I have completed several groups of bench presses…”
After talking for a while, Wan Long suddenly felt something was wrong. He glanced at Lu Nanyun, who looked quite unhappy, and asked, “Is your camera recording? Why do I feel like it isn’t on?”
Lu Nanyun looked away from a certain someone who was getting a feel at Gu Weicheng’s muscles and said with an indifferent tone, “The camera ran out of battery. I’m not recording anymore.” He then took back his camera and left.
“Hey, why are you like this? I had already been prepared,” Wan Long said in a hurry, “Don’t leave…”
Ji Zeyu glanced at the silhouette that disappeared from the entrance and thought Lu Nanyun certainly hated him. He could not even stand staying in the same gym with him.
During the next few days, Lu Nanyun would wander around with his handheld camera whenever he found time. He acquired enough material for the vlog, but he could not find a chance to get closer to Ji Zeyu.
Excluding Wan Long’s disruptions, Ji Zeyu himself would deliberately avoid him.
After a few times, Lu Nanyun became so upset that he did not even want to record the vlog.
By contrast, Gu Weicheng became Ji Zeyu’s good friend; the duo were inseparable in the gym.
The trio who shared the dormitory with Gu Weicheng were surprised by this.
That day at the dormitory, Bai Shengjie could not help but ask Gu Weicheng, “How did you become good friends with Xiao Ji lately?”
Lu Nanyun and Wei Yichen were also in the room. They remained expressionless, but their movements unnoticeably paused for an instant.
Gu Weicheng scratched his head, “He’s a pretty nice person.”
“Really? But you had said before that you would always oppose him because of Wei Yichen,” Bai Shengjie said, perplexed.
Gu Weicheng hurriedly looked toward and said to Wei Yichen, “Yichen, I definitely am not forgetting what he has done to you before, but everyone makes mistakes. Besides, he hasn’t come looking for trouble lately…”
“You possess the right to make your own friends,” Wei Yichen composedly walked out of the dormitory.
Gu Weicheng hurriedly chased after him out of the dormitory, saying to Wei Yichen in a low voice, “I think Xiao Ji has changed quite a lot lately. Maybe those people on the internet scolded him so harshly that he suddenly repented. After shedding two lines of tears one late evening, he decides to be a new person…”
From Gu Weicheng’s perspective, Ji Zeyu seemed to be someone who had just finished his life behind bars.
“So?” Wei Yichen’s tone was indeterminable.
“You can try to accept him. Find a chance to chat with him because maybe there’s some misunderstanding between you…”
Wei Yichen interrupted him, “I understand.” Then, he walked away without turning back. Gu Weicheng could not picture at all what he was thinking.
Although they were from the same company, Gu Weicheng could not guess what Wei Yichen thought even once.
“He probably got PTSD because of Ji Zeyu,” Gu Weicheng sighed helplessly.
For the next few days, the contestants did not need to rehearse. To enrich their lives, the production crew announced they would host a volleyball match as a privilege for the fans.
To the contestants, this was a great opportunity. The show randomly distributed them into teams to prevent people from the same company from forming factions.
When Ji Zeyu arrived at the volleyball court and saw the rosters, he felt his world was gradually collapsing.
“Why is Lu Nanyun in the same group as I am?” Ji Zeyu stared at the list, his entire face covered by question marks.
How is this so fucking unfortunate?!
Lu Nanyun, standing not too far away, heard his voice and could not resist raising the corners of his lips. He misinterpreted Ji Zeyu’s shock as a joyful surprise.
Everyone changed into the volleyball uniform distributed by the production crew, which consisted of a light blue t-shirt and shorts.
Ji Zeyu wore a black, golden-edged hair ribbon on his forehead to hold his bangs in place and not block his sight, which made him look bold and heroic.
Although Ji Zeyu was a newbie at volleyball, this was an opportunity for him to display the results from his workout, so he decided that he would perform well later. The only thing he had to keep in mind was to avoid Lu Nanyun.
On the sidelines, Gu Weicheng, who was on the same team as Ji Zeyu, deliberately found Wei Yichen on the bench and told him, “Do you want to switch teams with me?”
“I thought we can’t switch?” Wei Yichen looked at him, confused, “Also, why do you want to switch?”
Gu Weicheng said to him in a low voice, “I want to create an opportunity for you. If you and Xiao Ji become teammates for once, maybe the misunderstanding between you will be resolved. I told the editors, and they said it would be fine.”
Wei Yichen stared at him silently.
“Ah, forget it if you don’t wanna switch.”
“Let’s switch,” Wei Yichen stood up abruptly. His figure seemed tall, and he walked onto the court under Gu Weicheng’s surprised look.
Ji Zeyu furrowed his brows. He felt as if something was wrong.
Why is Wei Yichen here?
Can it be that he’s here for Lu Nanyun?
Are they about to develop their relationship during the match?
The more Ji Zeyu thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He suddenly began to doubt the purpose of his standing here—he was a volleyball novice, but he was on the same team as the two protagonists…
“Crap,” Ji Zeyu finally figured it out and mumbled in a low voice, “So I’m just here to make them look good.”
One of the contestants in the team on the other side of the net was Tang Zhen.
Tang Zhen was in the process of warming up; he was ready to play a great match. When he saw that Ji Zeyu would be one of his opponents, he could not describe how happy he was. After losing the public performance, he had been continuously humiliated by many. Some people said that he only lost because he was too arrogant.
But Tang Zhen felt that he had been deceived by Ji Zeyu—he knew how to dance but pretended that he could not. How shameful was that!
So Tang Zhen wanted to win the volleyball match against Ji Zeyu and have his revenge more or less.
The whistle blew, and the contest had begun.
Ji Zeyu’s reaction speed and body strength were pretty good. Despite being a volleyball novice, he had no problem following where the ball went. The only thing was that Lu Nanyun and Wei Yichen were the ones who effortlessly and repeatedly blocked off attacks from the opponents. No wonder they were leads in the original novel.
Every time Tang Zhen spiked the ball, he would accurately locate Ji Zeyu, trying to embarrass him. However, Lu Nanyun would suddenly appear like a ghost every time and successfully block off his ball.
The first round ended, and Ji Zeyu’s team won. He pretty much did not even touch the ball.
Of course, I’m here to make the leads look good, thought Ji Zeyu indignantly.
But he observed in the match that Lu Nanyun was very much a team player. Although Lu Nanyun hated him, he would still block off the ball for him every time, and this surprised him.
Ji Zeyu even felt he obtained a sense of safety whenever he saw Lu Nanyun’s figure leap up; it was as if someone had built a wall before him.
“Try to drive Lu Nanyun away, or else I can’t spike,” Tang Zhen wiped away his sweat and said to his teammates. Truthfully, he wanted to distract Lu Nanyun enough so he could not block off the ball for Ji Zeyu.
The second round had started.
Tang Zhen’s team devised a new strategy; everyone focused their attacks on Lu Nanyun.
Although Lu Nanyun could casually receive each ball, he was distracted and could not always pay attention to what was happening with Ji Zeyu.
Tang Zhen stared at Ji Zeyu the entire time. When he finally found the opportunity and Lu Nanyun was very far away from Ji Zeyu, he smashed the ball toward Ji Zeyu.
Because he had not been receiving the ball for a long time, Ji Zeyu had been in the “who cares about what’s going on” state. When he saw the ball flying over, he could not help but widen his eyes.
Tang Zhen’s spike carried fury, obviously targeting Ji Zeyu’s face. The failure from the public performance, the humiliation from everyone else, and losing the match in the previous round all stimulated him.
Lu Nanyun was shocked. He stretched out his long legs and rushed towards Ji Zeyu, but it had already been too late.
Like a flash of lightning, a figure rushed forward and held Ji Zeyu in his arms, blocking off the ball with his shoulder.
The ball’s impact produced a muffled sound.
Ji Zeyu’s mind went blank.
The tall silhouette held him in his arms, and the two fell to the floor together.
In the chaos, the figure turned around quickly, and his back hit the floor hard while Ji Zeyu fell into his solid embrace.
Everything around went quiet.
Ji Zeyu opened his eyes and saw a pair of dark black eyes and a pretty tear mole at the corner of his right eye.
Nobody would ever imagine that Wei Yichen would be the one to save Ji Zeyu.
Next Chapter
Translated by: Sydney
Edited by: Dora
Vandez Translations 