Chapter 59

059. Saying a Bigger Number

They ate lunch before going out. The sun was shining brightly, but the temperature outside was quite low. 

He Jin was wearing warm, autumn clothes, bundled tight in a woolen shirt and wool hooded cotton jacket. Qin Yu also wore one more coat than the last time they went out, still looking very refreshing despite the added layer.

“Do you have a subway card?” Qin Yu asked.

“I have… Do we need to take the subway?” Hua University had a great sports department, so there were sporting goods stores near the school. He Jin thought Qin Yu was taking him there.

“Yeah, let’s go to Hyde Street.” Qin Yu replied before leading He Jin to the South Gate. Hyde Street was in the south-east, near the largest gymnasium in the city. The street was famous for its sporting goods stores. Meanwhile, Hua University was in the western part of the city, so from the South Gate they would have to take the subway before changing line later. All in all, it would take at least one hour.

He Jin didn’t expect Qin Yu to take him to somewhere so far, he quickly followed him and asked: “Is there no store near school selling it?”

Qin Yu smiled: “There are some, but most stores outside the school are owned by unscrupulous profiteers. They sell goods of questionable brands and are specialized in slaughtering ignorant students. At the beginning of the semester, there were several new club members who bought rackets there, they spent one or two thousand to buy rackets that should only cost about four or five hundred.”

He Jin: “Why is it so different?”

Qin Yu: “Let me explain it to you. At present, there are three main types of racket materials on the market, the cheapest are the ones with aluminum alloy, the more expensive ones use carbon fiber nets, while the last type of rackets doesn’t fit on both categories. The last type is those using other materials such as nano, diamond, or other new technology-advanced materials like aerogel, as reinforcing materials inside the carbon fiber. It’s like a dish with added seasoning, those who don’t know about it will be easy to deceive.”

He Jin nodded in understanding.

Qin Yu continued: “I should have let Shang tell you about his experience. His experiences of being deceived were particularly rich. He has all those types of rackets that I just mentioned, he also lent them to me once. The gap between a good racket and a bad one is very big.”

He Jin laughed: “But if I go with both the president and vice president of the tennis club just to buy a racket, my face will seem too big… Having you alone is enough.”

He Jin didn’t think much when he said this, but soon after the words left his mouth, Qin Yu suddenly looked at him with a meaningful smile.

He Jin finally realized, his words “Having you alone is enough,”… Without any context, it seemed a bit strange indeed (=_=) …

But he could not explain anything, only able to let the subtle sense of shyness in his heart to ferment.

The two went to the subway. Because it was weekend, there were more people, so they had to stand in the corner between the sliding door and the seat.

Most students using this South Gate Subway Station were from Hua University. When those girls saw Qin Yu, they covered their mouths and gasped. They stood not far away from Qin Yu and He Jin, all giggles and dopey smiles aimed toward Qin Yu.

He Jin know that they were looking at Qin Yu, and probably because he was standing next to Qin Yu, their attentions were also divided to him a little. Usually, when he went out on his own, he sometimes had the same ‘being secretly recognized by other students’ experience, but it was never this intense. This made him nervous.

Because of those gossips, as well as Tong Xuan’s words yesterday, He Jin was starting to feel that there seem to be something strange between them…

At first, Qin Yu had wanted to talk to He Jin, but stopped himself as he saw He Jin slowly lowered his head and ignored him. The two of them stood quietly in the car. As the subway was speeding, the glass on the door displayed the advertisement lights across the tunnel wall intermittently.

With no interaction, it can’t be viewed as anything but normal, this should not be misunderstood right? He Jin slowly began to relax and quietly raised his eyes. However, his sight fell on Qin Yu through the reflection on the door’s glass -the other guy stood behind him, his eyes were staring straight at He Jin!

For a moment, He Jin felt like he was hit by an electric current, his whole body shivered from head to toe…

The re-emergence of the advertisement lights outside cut off the reflection, breaking the ambiguous mood that had just started to flourish. He Jin quickly lowered his head and raised his wrist, pretending to read something on his smart bracelet to divert attention. However, although he did not look it, his mind was in chaos. He repeatedly recalled Qin Yu’s look just then.

……Why is Qin Yu looking at me like that? Is he interested in me? (=_=)

No, it was probably a coincidence.

He Jin couldn’t help remembering that moment one month ago when he was teaching english to the other guy. At that time Qin Yu also looked straight at him, and although Qin Yu said it was because he had dirt on his face, He Jin felt that the way Qin Yu looked at him back then was similar to the way those girls were looking at Qin Yu right now…

His gaze made him anxious and nervous, but in addition to these, there was also a hint of excitement… Liked it or not, there was an instinctive desire from the depths of his body that was hoping to be closer, wanting to be touched … Something that He Jin would neither admit, nor dare to face.

After a while, He Jin suddenly felt  his shoulders being tapped a little and heard Qin Yu reminding calmly in his ear: “We are changing line at the next stop.”

He Jin was annoyed again and scolded his own imaginations. He was beginning to firmly believe that the only abnormal one was himself. Because the problems were within him, when he locked gazes with other people, his mind would lead him to look at it with a colored filter.

They changed subway line, the new car had fewer people than the one previously. A couple happened to get off at the station, so He Jin and Qin Yu took their seats.

After they sat down, He Jin looked up to see the map of the track and asked Qin Yu at which station they’d get off.

“There are still seven stops, about 20 minutes more.” Qin Yu stretched his legs slightly, his legs were long, with a pair of normal-sized feet, wearing large retro New Balance sneakers.

He Jin shrank backwards, sitting like a primary school student and hiding his feet as if he was afraid of the other guy finding out about his own physical defects.

But Qin Yu still found out. He stared at He Jin’s feet and asked frankly, “What shoes number do you use?”

He Jin: “…”

He Jin felt like a girl whose crush found out about the little tummy fat on her waist and was asked directly about her weight. He was so embarrassed that he wanted to dig a hole to bury himself! He hesitated for a moment before answering: “39.”

He secretly said a bigger number, not that it matters. Because in the eyes of people who were accustomed to beauty standard being someone who weighs less than 100 lbs, people with 120 or 130 lbs would still be considered fat. So in Qin Yu’s eyes who wore shoes number 43, there was no difference between number 39 and 38.

“There is number 39 for men’s shoes?” Qin Yu wondered. He used to think that only He Jin’s hands were small, but unexpectedly his feet were also so small!

He Jin bumped his head against the wall and answered “there is” in a flat tone, obviously not wanting to continue this topic.

Qin Yu also didn’t ask further. Rather than continue asking, he would like to take off He Jin’s shoes, peel off his socks, and see for himself what his feet looked like…