My Mr. Mermaid

Untitled Part 76

Yun Duo was speechless. "What are you doing?"

"Kiss me and I'll give it back."

"Shameless. This is a public place. Do you have any sense of public decency?"

"There's no one else here."

Alright, there really was no one else around. Yun Duo gave him a quick kiss on his cheek and then reached out, "Give it to me."

Tang Yi-Bai did not move. "Not at all serious. Again."

Yun Duo had to kiss him quite a few more times before he finally judged it 'serious enough'. He lowered his arms, but he kept the popcorn bucket and did not give it back to her.

Tang Yi-Bai picked up a popcorn and brought it to her lips. "Here."

Yun Duo opened her mouth and took the popcorn with a curl of her tongue.

And so he fed her the popcorn, one by one. Tang Yi-Bai was especially fond of this 'feeding the girlfriend' activity. As he watched her chew with puffed up cheeks, like a happy little squirrel, he found that his heart was filled with a blissful sense of satisfaction. He would recommend that every man try this beneficial activity — but of course, that was provided you have a girlfriend...

After feeding her for a while, he suddenly smirked cheekily, and without anything in his hands, he brought his fingers to her lips.

Yun Duo was not looking. She opened her mouth to hook onto his fingers and flicked her tongue at it, trying to drag the 'popcorn' into her mouth.

But it would not budge...

She took and closer look and saw that it was his fingertip. She angrily slapped it away and then turned to glare at him.

But Tang Yi-Bai only stared back at her with deep, dark eyes.

Yun Duo's face became slightly warm, and she turned away from him. She went to drink some juice instead.

After a while, Tang Yi-Bai tapped her on the shoulder. Yun Duo tilted her head to look at him, only to see him approaching her with a kernel of popcorn held between his lips. His eyes were dancing with mirth. Taking advantage of her stunned state, he bent his head to put his lips to hers, and with a slight push, the popcorn was in her mouth.

Yun Duo could only worship him. Just a simple bucket of popcorn and he managed to play so many tricks with it. This was a breadth of creativity reserved for lunatics...

When the movie ended, Yun Duo exclaimed, "The movie was so bad!"

Tang Yi-Bai said, "I don't think it was that bad."

"Huh?" Yun Duo could not believe her ears.

Tang Yi-Bai explained, "A bad movie has its good points too. Because it was so boring, we were able to focus on dating."

... the logic was so profound that it was irrefutable.

Tang Yi-Bai soon returned to the national team and began his intensive training. The upcoming Champions Tournament was the true annual test. This year, the Champions Tournament would be the preliminary selections for the World Championship. Tang Yi-Bai, Qi Rui-Feng, and the other noteworthy swimmers had all received placings within the national team's roster. As long as their times in the Champions Tournament meets the World Championship's standards, they would be eligible to participate. At the same time, other major swimming countries, such as Japan and Australia, were also conducting their own selection races for the World Championship. The competition in those countries were even more brutal — one race could determine the fate of a swimmer.

For the athletes, the Champions Tournament was not just an assessment of their swimming time, but also a check on their readiness to compete. Thus, even though he was not facing much pressure in terms of swimming time, Tang Yi-Bai was unwilling to slack off. He remained serious and trainded as hard as usual.

Wu Yong was rather satisfied with Tang Yi-Bai's behaviour. Before this, seeing him so playful and cloying with that little lady Yun Duo, Wu Yong had been worried that he might become distracted by the relationship; but now, well, at least there did not seem to be any issues so far.

The coaches would usually gossip about the athletes under them while chatting in their free time. Everyone agreed that the most talented athlete in the men's swimming team was indisputably Qi Rui-Feng, but as for the athlete with the most grace and leadership presence, it was definitely Tang Yi-Bai. Tang Yi-Bai was a classic example of a competitive clutch swimmer. The more important the event, the better his performance. His only blunder in competition thus far was his mistake at last year's Asian Games — the false start in the 50-metre freestyle finals. However, he had readjusted his condition especially well and especially quickly following that mistake to go all out the very next day. After that, his performance just continued to improve like he was about to upset the heavens.

Wu Yong could not help but recall how Tang Yi-Bai had insisted on switching over to freestyle after his competition ban a few years ago. He had thought then that the child must be behaving recklessly due to the shock and so he had basically been against the decision. However, Tang Yi-Bai's determination gave Wu Yong no other choice and so Wu Yong had let him be.

At that time, Wu Yong had really considered giving up on him. This idea was not an unreasonable one. If Tang Yi-Bai had been under a more rational coach, he might just have been abandoned then. For an athlete, a 3-year ban on top of a broken leg could very well mean that the athlete would no longer be able to return to their peak condition. And here he was trying something so reckless... the resources of the national team were limited, and the coaches only had so much attention to spare. If such an athlete was put out to pasture, no one would say anything of it.

But Wu Yong did not have the heart to do so. Tang Yi-Bai was such a great child. Smart and savvy, keen and perceptive, and he also had a good heart. He was just a little unlucky and had been dragged into trouble by some idiot friends. He had been sweating from the pain during his physiotherapy, but he did not utter a single sound of complaint. He clenched his teeth and persevered. Even when the therapist called an end to his session, he would not stop. He said that he wanted to recover earlier so he could go back to swimming as soon as possible. Wu Yong felt like crying when he heard that. He truly felt like finding that Lin Sang who had mysteriously disappeared and beating her up.

Later on, Wu Yong had a deep discussion with Tang Yi-Bai, and after seeing how resolute Tang Yi-Bai was, Wu Yong no longer tried to change his mind. Freestyle it was then. At worst, let him learn on his own that it was futile before choosing to give up. The most important thing at present was for him to remain hopeful and continue to take care of his injuries.

As Tang Yi-Bai was trying to transition at a mature stage of his development, almost no one in the team believed he would be able to go far. The person who believed in him the most and gave him the most support was Qi Rui-Feng. Qi Rui-Feng's faith in Tang Yi-Bai was completely without reason.

Later, under the disbelieving eyes of the masses, Tang Yi-Bai overcame all the difficulties bit by bit, his results improving by the day.

He had never despaired at his lowest point, and he was never prideful when things went well. He was as steady as a tree.

Wu Yong was very glad that he had not been ruthless back then.