Chapter 43: The Daily Grind and a Troublesome Interview

During the holidays at X High School, while the classroom doors were mostly locked to prevent theft, other facilities remained open. This attracted many nearby residents for their morning exercises.

Old Han’s team officially began their training. They started with their usual routine: a hundred dribbles with each hand, followed by long-distance running on the rubber track near the school’s main entrance.

I stood by the track, sipping my drink. I watched them run for a while.

The school team wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined. After just one lap, it was clear their physical fitness was quite good. Although it was long-distance running, and their speed wasn’t particularly fast during physical training, the sheer distance was a challenge.

The rubber track was quite large, with one lap covering over 1,500 meters. As a few of them passed me, they were only slightly out of breath. Huang Li, in particular, didn’t even pant.

As for the young man named Xueli, he was practically done for after one lap. His small face was flushed, his eyes glazed over, and he gasped for air, his hands propped on his knees as if on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.

Old Han glanced at him, then smiled, telling him to sit on a chair before leading the others to continue running. I suspected Old Han hadn’t held much hope for him from the start.

‘I understand,’ I thought. ‘He’s a mascot, after all. His job is just to be cute.’

Xueli, however, looked rather unwilling to give up. After sitting on the chair for a while and drinking a few sips of water, he returned to the track, running and stopping, walking when he couldn’t run anymore.

I watched as Old Han and the others completed three or four laps, likely meeting their target for the day. They all stopped and slowly made their way back. Xueli, the stubborn young man, still hadn’t rested at the far end, continuing to run and stumble along the track.

Old Han walked over to me, a smile playing on her lips. She took the half-empty drink from my hand and sat on the grass, gulping it down. I sighed and sat beside her, asking, “How did it go?”

The boys were sitting at the other end of the track, chatting and laughing. Old Han glanced in their direction and shook her head. “They all have the stamina, but their technique is terrible.”

“Huang Li is decent, but largely relies on his physical prowess. As for the others, they’re simply not up to par. The standard is quite low. This school’s team has truly become a tea-serving department.”

I sighed. “It’s essentially one god carrying four burdens, then.”

Old Han seemed a bit helpless. She took a sip of the drink and said, “This X High School used to have an affiliated middle school. When I was in middle school, I remember X Middle School’s team was quite strong. Everyone could run and dribble, and their teamwork was excellent. How did our main school end up like this…”

I only vaguely knew about Old Han’s past on the school team. I patted her shoulder and stood up, saying with a helpless shrug, “Ah, well, good luck with it all.”

After I stood up, Old Han remained seated on the ground, clutching the drink bottle in both hands, looking up at me with a pitiful expression.

I thought for a moment, then understood. With a resigned sigh, I pulled a fifty-dollar bill from my pocket and handed it to Old Han. “Go buy yourself something to eat. I have to leave now for Dragon Brother’s interview.”

Old Han grinned, took the money, and stood up. “So handsome!”

Old Han walked straight towards the boys, urging them to continue training. As for me, I had plans for the afternoon and needed to accompany Dragon Brother to an interview, so I left the school grounds and headed home.

Upon arriving home, Ming Hai still hadn’t returned. I had called her earlier, but she hadn’t answered. If it weren’t for the rule that someone is only considered missing after 48 hours, I might have already called the police.

Now, with noon approaching, Dragon Brother was still in her room, puffing away on a cigarette. I sighed and asked her to tidy up a bit, as we needed to leave for the interview this afternoon. She nodded, agreeing readily, yet she remained seated, playing on the computer.

I didn’t press her. It was almost noon, and I was starting to feel hungry. I had initially thought of going downstairs to Xiao Xiu Sister’s place to buy two bowls of spicy hotpot for Dragon Brother and me, but then I remembered that Dragon Brother wouldn’t be staying at my house much longer. So, I decided to make her favorite meal instead.

I stood by the stove for a while, somewhat helplessly, and began cracking eggs again. There wasn’t much fish floss left in the can in the fridge. After pondering for a moment, I took out a corn sausage, chopped it into small cubes on the cutting board, and mixed it with the fish floss to make fried rice.

Fried rice itself was quite simple and didn’t take much effort. After I finished, I tasted a spoonful and found that preparing it this way was even more delicious than using just fish floss. ‘I should buy some corn sausages when I have time,’ I thought. ‘The next time Dragon Brother has a holiday, I’ll bring her to my house and make it for her again.’

Once the fried rice was cooked, I turned off the heat, squeezed on some ketchup, and stirred it with the residual heat until the fried rice was perfectly uniform. After I finished, I quickly washed the wok, wiped it dry with an oil-absorbing paper, and then started making an egg crepe over low heat.

There’s a little trick to making egg crepes: when the egg liquid hits the pan, you have to stir it quickly to prevent uneven heating, which can lead to one side being raw and the other cooked, affecting the texture. After making the crepe, I placed the fried rice on top of it, tilted the pan, and flipped it so the egg crepe enveloped the fried rice.

I shook the pan a couple more times to shape it, then found a plate and inverted the omurice onto it, casually squeezing some ketchup on top.

I carried the omurice into Dragon Brother’s room. It was getting late, just past noon and almost one in the afternoon. This omurice turned out quite well; even though there wasn’t much fish floss left, Dragon Brother devoured it ravenously.

The internet café where Dragon Brother had her interview was near the KFC I had taken her to previously.

I stood by, watching Dragon Brother eat, waiting to wash the plate directly afterward.

After finishing her meal, Dragon Brother finally began to get ready. She went to the bathroom for a quick shower, finishing in less than ten minutes. I had barely sat in her room, playing on my phone, when I saw her emerge in a white T-shirt and my boxer briefs, her hair dripping wet.

She sat back down in the chair, lit a cigarette, and only after finishing it did she begin to get dressed. Seeing that she was about to put on her usual tracksuit, I said helplessly, “Don’t wear that. Wear the clothes I bought you before. You look good in them, and your chances of a successful interview will be higher.”

Dragon Brother tugged at her tracksuit pants, tucking her wet hair behind her ear, and said impatiently, “I don’t like wearing that. It doesn’t have pockets. Besides, what difference does it make what I wear?”

“It makes a difference!” I retorted helplessly. “Change quickly!”

Dragon Brother shot me an annoyed glance, her hands pausing as she held her tracksuit. Then, she started taking it off.

Given that the form-fitting short skirt was meant to be worn directly, wearing a T-shirt underneath looked odd. She turned her back to me, pulled off her T-shirt, and then reluctantly shuffled towards the wardrobe.

I glanced at Dragon Brother’s petite back, then shifted my gaze away.

‘I really want to complain about how utterly unguarded she is around me,’ I thought.

I stared at the floor beside me, but on second thought, it would be strange if she *were* guarded. In Dragon Brother’s mind, even with a changed body, we were still two big guys.

‘Actually, ever since she started turning her back to me when undressing, she’s begun to compromise with the fact that she’s become a woman,’ I mused. ‘But me? I still can’t cross that hurdle.’

On one hand, I had to treat her like a brother, but on the other, I still saw her as a woman. Sometimes, my heart was incredibly conflicted.

Some say pure friendship doesn’t exist between men and women. Facing Dragon Brother, who had become a woman, I seemed to understand the meaning of that statement.

Dragon Brother, still with her back to me, clicked her tongue and said, “I’ll buy a bra in a couple of days.”