Chapter 33

The two hadn’t walked far when a car pulled up.
It was the Yu family's driver, here to pick up Yu Jingxuan.
The Yu family’s driver wasn’t new to this, so he immediately recognized the two of them.
They weren’t heading to the Yu family’s house, but to Lin Miao’s home. At first, the Yu family had been worried about their son running off like this, so Mother Yu would often follow him around.
Later, they found that it was easier to just send the driver; otherwise, he would secretly run off on his own, which made them even more worried.
It was better to have the driver follow him than to have him sneak away on his own.
Yu Jingxuan wasn’t the type to obey easily, and would sneak off to find Lin Miao, no matter how much the three adults tried to stop him.
After all, this was a boy who knew only which town the other person was in, but would still go take a taxi and bring three dogs to find them.
After a few headaches, the adults finally gave up and decided to let him go, but only on the condition that he would ride in their car.
So, Yu Jingxuan was relatively free.
As usual, Yu Jingxuan would teach Lin Miao some cultural knowledge, then listen to her marvel at how her brother was even better than her teacher, and then they’d play games.
Lin Miao was a tough girl, but of course, toughness didn’t mean she could win.
In fact, out of all the times they played, she only won once.
Her toughness was in expanding the Tic-Tac-Toe grid and still managing to lose.
They always kept things simple, which meant they drew the game boards themselves.
Yu Jingxuan watched with amusement as she filled the grid with pieces, trying to figure out where the next piece should go to ensure her brother wouldn’t win, biting the pencil, looking very serious.
Then, she suddenly found a place and happily drew her piece.
Yu Jingxuan then drew his piece, connecting the dots to show that he had already won.
Lin Miao, lying on the bed, stared at the filled board, looked it over again, and said, “Brother! Let’s go again!”
Shui Shui’s father quickly found a job, and her mother continued cooking and delivering meals to the workers on the construction site.
When Lin Miao came back, she spent more time helping her mother sort and wash vegetables, and of course, she would go to find her brother.
Life at school was relatively simple, with activities like playing badminton, learning to play badminton, attending cultural classes, and running exercises.
For Lin Miao, these were all familiar activities, and compared to other kids, she was relatively relaxed.
Although Tan Jing wasn’t afraid of the dark, the two still slept together because the blankets were warm, and they could whisper under them.
When the coach came to check the room, they could talk quietly under the covers, and the coach couldn’t hear them.
Tan Jing was a girl with big dreams, and she gave Lin Miao, who had foolishly chosen to go to sports school, a good science lesson about her Olympic dreams.
“My mom said that when I win an Olympic gold medal, my dad will like me.”
Lin Miao listened carefully, but to be honest, she had no idea about this.
She also didn’t understand why an Olympic gold medal would be linked to her father liking her, but that didn’t affect her. She said, “You can definitely do it.”
Tan Jing held her arm and quietly asked, “Shui Shui, what about you? What’s your dream?”
Lin Miao blinked. According to this, she seemed to have no dream…
However, since Tan Jing was so excited about sharing hers, if she didn’t say something, it would seem strange. So, Lin Miao said, “I want to win a gold medal too, and then...then...win another one!” It seemed like she didn’t need a gold medal for her dad to like her; her dad already liked her just fine.
Tan Jing felt like she had found her soulmate. “I knew it! You’re just like me, with big goals.”
Before she came to sports school, when she told other girls she wanted to win an Olympic gold, they all laughed at her, saying it was just a dream.
She got so excited that she reached out, but her arm ached, and she grimaced in pain. “Shui Shui, why doesn’t it hurt at all for you?”
Lin Miao rubbed her arm slowly, just like her mother used to do. Hearing her ask why it didn’t hurt, she honestly thought it was occasionally sore, but not painful. Seeing how much Tan Jing was hurting, Lin Miao said, “It hurt before, it really did. When I was little, I used to carry pumpkins all the way back home from far away. It was really painful, and I even got blisters on my feet.”
“You had to carry pumpkins?” Tan Jing couldn’t believe it. She was from the city, so she couldn’t understand this at all.
“Yeah, pumpkins grow a lot on a single vine, so I carried them with my mom.” Back then, she was small, so she could only carry the smaller pumpkins, but now, she could probably carry two big ones. Unfortunately, she didn’t need to carry pumpkins anymore, or potatoes or corn. All that running had been wasted.
Lin Miao didn’t say this out loud, but every time she saw everyone running, sometimes even carrying water, she thought it was such a waste. Carrying water back and forth, it would’ve been better to carry pumpkins together instead…
“Ugh...So after carrying the pumpkins, it didn’t hurt anymore?” Even though Lin Miao rubbed her gently, Tan Jing still felt sore. She envied Lin Miao, so she asked again.
“No, it didn’t. Then I had to carry corn and potatoes, and after that, it didn’t hurt anymore,” Lin Miao remembered. “Yeah, then it stopped hurting.”
The two girls curled up under their blankets, whispering, and eventually fell asleep.
The next time they had a holiday and the coach checked their room, he found two big pumpkins under Tan Jing’s bed.
Lin Miao had brought them from her house for Tan Jing. Whenever Tan Jing had free time, she would hug them and play with them. She thought they were still useful.
The two grew closer. Tan Jing felt that Lin Miao was different from everyone else. She didn’t keep anything from her, shared everything, and really treated her like a good friend.
The coach, hearing Tan Jing’s reasoning, just sighed.
Time flew by, and some of the schoolmates left, while new ones joined. However, Lin Miao and Tan Jing never changed dorm rooms. In summer, they slept apart, but in the winter, when it was cold, they slept together.
Actually, in summer, they wanted to sleep together too, just for company, but it was simply too hot.
The coach started having them participate in some competitions.
Lin Miao wasn’t too familiar with the concept. She thought it was just about playing badminton.
The only difference was the very tall referee chair. She was always curious about it. Every time she saw the referee climb the ladder, she wondered, “What if they accidentally fall down?”
On the audience stands, Lin Ye watched the match, the participants all wearing the same clothes and having the same hairstyle. He couldn’t help but turn to the person next to him and ask, “So, which one is Jingxuan’s sister?”
Gao Xing, who had just shaken off his elementary school title, replied, “You should ask Jingxuan that.”
Lin Ye turned around and looked at Yu Jingxuan, who was slightly shorter than the others on the court. He was holding a camera, but it was never lent to them. It was apparently for taking pictures of his sister.
Yu Jingxuan didn’t turn around, but said, “The best one.”
Lin Ye couldn’t help but grumble, “Big brother, I know you’re confident in your sister, but I still need to be able to tell who’s the best…”
They didn’t even know the rules of badminton, and they just showed up. It was impossible to figure out who was the best.
Actually, before coming here, they had no idea that the top student who skipped classes wasn’t off to the internet café playing games, but to watch a group of elementary school students play badminton…
Sure enough, they had underestimated the behavior of a doting brother.
Yu Jingxuan was actually three years younger than them because he skipped a grade, but his grades were far better than all of them combined. Plus, he was tall and deep, so when they were all still elementary school students, they had overlooked this.
Yu Jingxuan turned around and said, “Wait for two more rounds, and you’ll know.”
At first, Lin Ye thought Yu Jingxuan was a terminally ill sister complex patient who was blindly confident in his sister. However, he didn’t expect his sister to actually make it to the finals.
Lin Ye looked at the girl on the court, who was playing like it was a battle, fierce and ruthless, and then said, “Now I know which one it is…”
The other girl who made it to the finals was no slouch either, great at low balls. Lin Miao received them calmly, while the audience grew nervous, thinking, “This shot is definitely going to miss…” And then, they saw the little girl save it.
Even Lin Ye, who had been glancing around aimlessly, started to watch intently.
It wasn’t until Lin Miao’s final high ball, which her opponent missed, breaking the 0-0 deadlock.
It seemed that the opponent’s mentality broke down after this point, and they started making mistakes. Lin Miao quickly won the match.
At first, Lin Miao thought she would just get a medal and go home like her first competition.
However, unexpectedly, this time, they even gave her money!
No one had ever told her that winning first place came with money!
Lin Miao’s heart soared, and she was over the moon!