Chapter 54: Future Plans

“Are you okay?” Li Yang looked down at her.

“I-I’m fine!” An Ling quickly pushed him away and took a step back. This time she remembered that their feet were still tied together, so she didn’t fall.

“Still good to continue?” Li Yang asked.

“Yeah.” An Ling took a deep breath. “Let’s keep going.”

The two continued practicing. Their coordination improved more and more, and their speed increased significantly.

After practicing for about half an hour, An Ling got tired and bent over, panting.

“Let’s take a break.” Li Yang squatted down and untied the rope.

An Ling sat on the steps, took out a bottle of water from her backpack, twisted off the cap, and took a big gulp.

Li Yang sat down beside her and also took out water to drink.

“You’re doing pretty well.” He said. “You should be fine during the competition. At least you won’t embarrass yourself.”

“Just finishing the race would be good enough.” An Ling said. “I’m not expecting to place.”

“That might not be true.” Li Yang said. “What if the other classes didn’t practice either?”

“Hope so. Though it’s probably unlikely.” An Ling couldn’t help but smile. “We practiced this much and we’re still like this. If others really didn’t practice, wouldn’t they be in a terrible spot?”

“Exactly.” Li Yang also smiled. “Maybe we can even place.”

After laughing, the two sat on the steps. The air was unusually silent. Both of them were thinking about things related to the other.

An Ling held the water bottle with both hands and sipped slowly.

Li Yang sat beside her, also drinking water, but his gaze kept drifting toward her from time to time.

Normally, An Ling was quite sensitive to this kind of attention. She would have noticed Li Yang’s sneaky glances long ago. But these past few days, her brain felt like mush. She hadn’t noticed that the person beside her had been paying attention to her the whole time — and this attention now carried many other kinds of observation.

They remained silent for a long time. Suddenly, Li Yang spoke. “An Ling, have you ever thought about what you want to do in the future?”

“The future?” An Ling tilted her head and thought for a moment. “Get into university, then find a job. What else could I do?”

“Don’t you have anything you especially want to do? Like ideals or dreams?”

“No. Just living well is enough. I don’t have high expectations.”

“It’s just…” Li Yang chose his words carefully before asking again. “Where do you want to live? What kind of job do you want? What kind of person do you want to become? What kind of identity do you want to live with?”

“That…” An Ling sighed, then said, “I haven’t decided yet. I’ll just take it one step at a time.”

“Then recently, have you had any smaller wishes? Things you want to do soon, not too far in the future.” Li Yang continued asking.

An Ling fell silent for a while.

Things I want to do?

She wanted her body to return to normal. She wanted to live a normal life. She wanted those inexplicable death premonitions to disappear. She wanted to be with Li Yang like before, without any reservations.

Although these were indeed not small wishes for her — they were huge wishes — they were also the problems closest to her right now.

But she couldn’t say any of them.

“I want to… finish high school, then get into a good university.” She finally said.

“That’s it?” Li Yang seemed a little disappointed.

“That’s it.” An Ling nodded. “You don’t need too many wishes. Being able to fulfill even one is already good enough.”

Li Yang looked at her. He seemed to want to say something, but in the end he swallowed it back.

They were silent for a while longer. An Ling stood up. “Let’s continue practicing. I’ve rested enough.”

Li Yang also stood up. Holding the rope, he squatted down and tied their ankles together again.

This time An Ling took the initiative to hug his waist. Her movements were much more natural than yesterday. Although her heart was still beating unreasonably fast, at least she could think normally.

“Ready?” Li Yang asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll count one two three…”

“One… two… three!”

They stepped at the same time and walked along the path in front of their homes, one step at a time, with steady rhythm.

After practicing for about ten more minutes, their movements had become much more practiced. Running no longer consumed as much energy.

“Next, let’s try turning around together quickly. This event is a shuttle run. Turning around like a slow train is too slow. We need to find a fast method.”

“Turn around?” An Ling was stunned for a moment. “How do we turn?”

“Let’s try it first. Two people turning together is much faster than turning slowly.”

An Ling looked ahead, then behind. “Then… should we try?”

“I’ll count one two three. When I reach three, you step with the tied foot and I’ll step with the other. Then we turn at the same time.”

An Ling was completely confused. “Say it slower. I didn’t understand.”

Li Yang sighed. He let go of her waist, squatted down, and untied the rope.

“Look, let’s untie the rope first. I’ll break down the movements for you.”

An Ling also squatted down and watched him demonstrate on the ground.

“You see, we do this first, then that, then turn together. This way we can enter the second round faster than others.”

As he spoke, Li Yang even stood up to demonstrate once. But An Ling still completely didn’t understand how two people were supposed to do it. She could only look at Li Yang with a blank expression, her eyes clear and confused.

“Didn’t get it?” Li Yang asked.

“No.”

“Forget it. Let’s just try it. We’ll figure it out through actual practice.” Li Yang said.

The two stood up again. An Ling hugged his waist.

“One… two… three!”

They stepped and turned at the same time, but their movements weren’t in sync. An Ling almost tripped.

“Again.” Li Yang said.

The second time, still no good.

Third time, fourth time, fifth time, sixth time…

Li Yang realized that the height difference between them was quite large. Even if An Ling understood the movements later, it would still be difficult to succeed.

“How about we just do the slow train turn?” An Ling asked tentatively.

But Li Yang didn’t answer. He just looked at her. This gaze was too direct.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” An Ling asked.

“I think I found another way.” Li Yang sized up An Ling’s petite figure. He estimated that lifting her up wouldn’t take much effort at all. He was still quite confident in his strength.

“How about this — when we turn, I directly pick you up, turn around myself, and then put you back down?”

“Huh?” An Ling was stunned. “Will that work?”

“Let’s try. If it really doesn’t work, we’ll go back to the slow train turn.”

“Okay.” An Ling compromised.

“Come on.”

They ran one straight lap again. When it was time to turn, Li Yang really did lift An Ling up with one arm.

So light. That was Li Yang’s first thought when he picked An Ling up.

This time they really turned around directly. Although there was a small mistake when he put her down — An Ling stepped on Li Yang’s foot — and they spent some time adjusting their steps, it was still much better than before.

“It works.” Li Yang said. “Let’s do it again.”

The second time, Li Yang paid more attention to the position when putting An Ling down. He placed her down steadily. Although they still needed to adjust their steps a little, it was even faster.

Next came the third time, fourth time, fifth time…

After practicing seven or eight times, they could finally complete the turn relatively smoothly.

……..