Chapter Seventeen: Once a Legend Too
“By some stroke of luck, I finally caught that bastard!”
Before even reaching downstairs, Wei Lin had already sent the photo along with that message to Zhao Yuanqing.
After a moment’s thought, he added, “Send it to Han Ying, immediately!”
“Are you bored out of your mind? Chasing him all over the place?” Zhao Yuanqing replied instantly. Before Wei Lin could respond, another message came through: “You’re even more pathetic than him!”
“I don’t really care about Zhuang Qing anyway, but since he came after me first, I’ll make sure to mess him up.”
Humming a mischievous tune, Wei Lin sat down beside Lin Nanxi with a bright smile.
“Why are you so happy?” Lin Nanxi’s beautiful eyes were full of curiosity.
“I ran into a friend upstairs,” Wei Lin said with a grin, taking a sip of water.
Lin Nanxi immediately grew alert. “Is it a man or a woman?”
“A man, named Wang Hongyu, a good buddy of mine,” Wei Lin explained. Seeing Jimmy beginning to prepare his Negroni, he called out, “Jimmy, make mine a little sweeter today!”
“Yes, Mr. Wei,” the sharply dressed bartender responded loudly.
“Life is so wonderful; it calls for something sweet,” Wei Lin said, his smile radiating carefree joy as he put his arm around Lin Nanxi. “Forget what happened before. Let’s just pretend we met for the first time today!”
“Alright,” Lin Nanxi replied softly, her head bowed with a faint smile curling at the corners of her lips.
...
Unlike the triumphant Wei Lin, Wang Hongyu was uneasy, as if he had just endured a nightmare.
“Hongyu, are you in the mood for this?” Tech Face asked carefully.
“No, not really,” Wang Hongyu replied.
“Ding!”
After a long silence, his phone finally chimed with a new message.
Taking a deep breath, Wang Hongyu braced himself and opened it. Sure enough, there was a photo.
In the picture, his own dazed and somewhat startled face appeared alongside Tao Manwen’s surgically altered visage, captured with striking clarity due to the close camera angle.
“Damn it!” Wang Hongyu cursed, his face darkening as he insulted Wei Lin’s ancestors while quickly typing a line: “That’s my sister, a blood relative. Please don’t misunderstand.”
Zhuang Qing did not respond.
Wang Hongyu hesitated, then composed a longer message: “She’s a relative from my mother’s side, just arrived in Linjiang City these past few days. I took her out for a meal, then we came here to the bar for some cocktails…”
He edited and revised the lengthy message carefully to ensure accuracy before sending it.
Unfortunately, all his messages vanished into the void.
Apart from the photo of him sitting opposite Tao Manwen, there was no reply from Zhuang Qing, leaving Wang Hongyu restless for the rest of the night.
...
Half past eleven.
“Let’s go.”
After a couple more cocktails, Wei Lin noticed Lin Nanxi swaying in her seat. Carrying her bag in one hand and steadying her with the other, he said, “Jimmy, send me the bill later.”
“Certainly, Mr. Wei,” the bartender replied with a knowing smile.
It was he who, following Wei Lin’s hint earlier, had increased the alcohol content in Lin Nanxi’s cocktail, causing her to get drunk quickly and giving Wei Lin an opportunity.
Seeing the two arrive together today, acting intimately, he understood they had become a couple.
“I should take some credit for this,” Jimmy mused with a smile after Wei Lin left.
“It’s late. How about we find a nearby motel?”
As soon as they stepped outside, Wei Lin couldn’t hold back. “Don’t worry, I promise I won’t make a move on you tonight! You’re drunk, and I just want to take good care of you.”
“You said that last time too,” Lin Nanxi murmured, her drunken eyes half-closed as she pressed close, exhaling sweetly into his ear. “Take me to the car. My ID’s in the glove box.”
Wei Lin smiled brightly.
That night, their passion burned fiercely. Lin Nanxi took the initiative like never before, bringing Wei Lin unparalleled joy of both body and soul.
Their love meter shot up by ten points overnight.
“Affectionate intimacy feels like riding a rocket!” Wei Lin said, holding the soundly sleeping Lin Nanxi. Staring at the progress bar now reading 35 out of 50, he suddenly felt hope rekindled in life.
“You are my lucky star. I’ll cherish you well.”
He gently kissed her forehead, tugged the sheet to cover her exposed alabaster skin, ensuring she wouldn’t catch a chill in the night.
...
Waking up, it was already half past nine in the morning.
Exhausted, Lin Nanxi still slept on her side, showing no sign of waking soon.
Wei Lin found his phone, set to silent, and upon unlocking it saw missed calls from his mother and a terse message on WeChat: “Come over for lunch!”
“Saturday already,” he muttered.
As he prepared to get out of bed, a sharp pain made him wince.
From hips to legs, his lower body ached terribly, limiting even his normal movement.
Yesterday’s leg workout had been surprisingly effective—too effective, to the point it interfered with his daily life.
“If every leg day leaves me like this the next morning, should I even keep training?”
His legs hurt so much he began questioning his life choices.
Slowly, he got out of bed, quietly freshened up, sent a message to the still-sleeping Lin Nanxi, then slipped out of the hotel without a sound.
...
At half past ten, Wei Lin took a taxi to his alma mater—Linjiang University.
“Brother Wei, here to mooch off Teacher Wang’s lunch again?”
Passing by the basketball court, Lin Bo, a graduate student still at the university, greeted him in athletic wear. “It’s not mealtime yet. Want to shoot some hoops first?”
Lin Bo was a year younger; Wei Lin had been a senior when Lin Bo was a freshman. Now, six years after graduation, Wei Lin was back, and the two were old acquaintances.
“I’m not wearing sneakers. I can shoot a few hoops, but no way I’m playing a full game,” Wei Lin said, feeling the soreness in his legs and hoping some movement might ease it. As he stepped onto the court in his leather shoes, Lin Bo tossed him the ball.
Wei Lin caught it, dribbled a bit to get a feel, then took a shot from where he stood.
The ball missed all around the rim.
Lin Bo quickly moved under the basket, grabbed the ball, dribbled behind his back, and tossed it back to Wei Lin with a smile. “How long has it been since you played?”
“At least six months.”
Taking the ball again, Wei Lin shifted position and shot with textbook form.
“Thud!”
This time, the ball just grazed the backboard.
“No wonder,” Lin Bo said, picking up the ball and going for a layup himself. After scoring, he passed the ball back to Wei Lin, laughing, “I still remember how graceful you were on the court back in the day.”
“Old now. Can’t run or jump like before,” Wei Lin said, missing another bank shot.
Nearby, a few university students wearing basketball jerseys approached, dribbling as they walked. They looked surprised to see Lin Bo so eager to feed Wei Lin the ball.
They rarely saw Lin Bo so deferential to anyone, since he was widely recognized as a top player in the area, especially skilled in one-on-one matches.
Standing 192 cm tall with outstanding jumping ability, he could dunk with ease during games.
With such skill, Lin Bo had never lacked girlfriends at Linjiang University and was always arrogant, rarely yielding to anyone on the court.
“Thud!”
As the onlookers watched in surprise, Wei Lin kept missing every shot.
Only when he stood right under the basket and banked one in did he finally pass the ball back to Lin Bo, saying, “I’m terrible. I’m done embarrassing myself.”
“With your feel for the game, you’ll be back in no time,” Lin Bo said modestly, smiling. “Come by and play anytime; just think of it as exercise.”
“Yeah, next time I’ll wear proper sneakers,” Wei Lin said, not even bothering to wash his hands as he eyed the young women nearby, heading toward the faculty dormitories.
“Hey Lin, who’s that?” a skinny, monkey-like student asked.
“That’s my master,” Lin Bo replied, dribbling the ball back beyond the three-point line. After Wei Lin walked away, he raised his hand and nailed a perfect shot.
“I learned my basketball from him,” Lin Bo grinned, then added, “Not just basketball—he’s my master in all things.”
“Really? Doesn’t look like it,” the skinny student expressed doubt.
“Heh,” Lin Bo glanced around and said, “At this university, legends of him are everywhere. You just haven’t heard them because you weren’t here when he graduated.”
...