Chapter 84: Summer and Such ⑥
Nie Qiu swam for a while, then began to slowly adapt to the feeling in the water. Finally, unable to hold her breath any longer, she swam to the nearest pool edge and lay there, gasping for breath.
Huang Yan sat by the pool, kicking her feet in the water, looking at Nie Qiu with envy, but still not daring to get in.
After resting for a while, Nie Qiu swam to Huang Yan’s side and sat with her. They watched Peng Yu Yang swimming in the water, and Nie Qiu smiled, saying, “Peng Yu Yang is quite good at holding his breath, he can swim for so long.” Although swimming involves breathing in between, people who swim for a long time have much greater lung capacity than those who swim for a shorter duration.
Huang Yan turned to look at Nie Qiu, who was sitting beside her, and asked with a smile, “Nie Qiu, what do you think of Peng Yu Yang?”
Nie Qiu looked at Huang Yan with some confusion, “What do you mean, ‘what do I think’?”
“It’s just…”
“Hey, why aren’t you two swimming? The teacher specifically changed the water before class, it’s only about 1.5 meters deep. Come on in.” Huang Yan was about to speak when Peng Yu Yang interrupted her. He swam over, stood in the water, and looked up at Nie Qiu and Huang Yan.
“Hey, Peng Yu Yang, how about we have a competition?” Li Kai, with a towel draped over his shoulder and a bottle of mineral water in his hand, walked over and stood by the pool, looking down at Peng Yu Yang in the water.
Peng Yu Yang wiped the water droplets from his face and looked at Li Kai in confusion, “You want to compete with me? Are you sure?”
“Yes, let’s have a match. What are you best at? Breaststroke or backstroke? Freestyle or butterfly?” Li Kai glanced at Nie Qiu, then stared at Peng Yu Yang and said.
Peng Yu Yang followed Li Kai’s gaze, looked at Nie Qiu, and nodded, “Freestyle.”
“Alright then, let’s race freestyle! One length each way,” Li Kai said.
Luo Xu, Wang Chao Lei, and others also walked over. Zhang Hai Yang, standing behind Li Kai, joined in the excitement, “I’ll be the referee, I’ll be the referee!”
“Li Kai is going to compete with Peng Yu Yang. Everyone swimming, please come out. Thank you for your cooperation.” Wang Chao Lei clapped his hands and shouted loudly to those still swimming in the pool, “Li Kai and Peng Yu Yang are going to compete. Everyone in the pool, please come out. Thank you for your cooperation.”
Peng Yu Yang looked at the classmates who were gradually coming out of the water to watch. He looked at Li Kai and said, “This kind of competition isn’t very interesting. It’s more fun with stakes.”
Li Kai crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, “Tell me, what kind of stakes do you want?”
Bai Ya smiled and squeezed into the crowd of onlookers, suggesting, “How about this, the loser has to clean the construction site?”
Huang Yan rolled her eyes and smiled, “The loser treats the whole class to a meal.”
Nie Qiu’s eyes lit up, and she echoed Huang Yan, “Yes, yes! The loser treats the whole class to a meal.”
Li Kai looked at Peng Yu Yang and nodded, “The loser treats the whole class to a meal. How about that?”
Peng Yu Yang, in the water, shrugged, “I don’t mind.” Peng Yu Yang reached out his hand to Nie Qiu. Nie Qiu smiled, took his hand, and pulled him out of the water.
Li Kai narrowed his eyes, feeling a strong sense of provocation, “Let’s go! To the starting line.”
Li Kai and Peng Yu Yang walked ahead, with others excitedly following behind. Ma Xin suddenly shouted loudly, “Go Li Kai! Go Li Kai! Li Kai first! Li Kai first!”
After Ma Xin finished shouting, some girls and Wang Chao Lei and the others also started cheering for Li Kai, “Go Li Kai! Go Li Kai! Li Kai first! Li Kai first!”
Seeing this, Huang Yan, not to be outdone, shouted loudly, “Go Peng Yu Yang! Peng Yu Yang is the best! Go Peng Yu Yang! Peng Yu Yang is the best!” Nie Qiu heard this and also shouted loudly, cheering for Peng Yu Yang, who she seemed to be good friends with.
This kind of cheering wasn’t childish, but passionate. Nie Qiu shouted with some excitement, even cracking her voice, but she was shouting very happily. Of course, their volume couldn’t compare to those cheering for Li Kai.
There were people who were good friends with Li Kai, and people who secretly liked Li Kai. Also, Li Kai was the class monitor. Most people were on Li Kai’s side. Hearing Nie Qiu and Huang Yan’s cheers, Peng Yu Yang didn’t feel discouraged; instead, his fighting spirit soared.
The two walked to the starting line and stood on the starting blocks. Zhang Hai Yang came out of a tool room by the pool with a new whistle and shouted loudly, “Ready!”
Peng Yu Yang and Li Kai bent down at the same time, gripping the starting blocks. As they lowered their heads, they glanced at each other. Zhang Hai Yang looked at them, then brought the whistle to his lips and blew hard. The whistle let out a sharp, piercing ‘beep… beep…’ sound. Li Kai and Peng Yu Yang pushed off the starting blocks at the same time and leaped into the water.
After entering the water, both of them began to swim rapidly. Li Kai had a strong competitive spirit since he was young, and coupled with Peng Yu Yang’s earlier provocation, Li Kai was swimming with all his might. Peng Yu Yang naturally knew why Li Kai had challenged him to a race. Besides youth, he couldn’t think of anyone else. Otherwise, why wouldn’t Li Kai challenge someone else among so many people in the class? Thinking about the swimsuit Nie Qiu was wearing today, Peng Yu Yang could guess what was going on. He felt a great deal of displeasure. He knew how these people used to bully Nie Qiu. Now that Nie Qiu had improved, they wanted to attract her? Not a chance!
Thinking this, neither of them wanted to lose to the other, and they both put all their effort into swimming. Upon reaching the opposite wall, they both flipped and pushed off the wall in the water, starting their return journey.
Those standing on the shore held their breath, watching the two swim. Huang Yan and Wang Chao Lei continuously rallied some people to cheer for the swimmers, their loud voices echoing throughout the indoor swimming pool.
Nie Qiu stared nervously at the two swimming in the water. The passion in her heart was something she hadn’t felt in a long time, making her very nervous. Compared to exams, which she handled with ease, a competition like this made her even more anxious. So, she clenched her fists and held them to her chest. Seeing that both of them had turned back, she couldn’t help but shout loudly, “Go! Go Peng Yu Yang!”
Peng Yu Yang heard this. While struggling to breathe in the water under the pressure, he smiled. Although it looked difficult, he mustered all his strength and began to charge forward.
Li Kai clearly heard Nie Qiu’s voice. He paused, closed his eyes, and paddled hard, moving forward.
Luo Xu looked at Li Kai in the water, then at Nie Qiu, who was standing by the pool looking nervous. He sighed and turned towards the men’s changing room. After all, the outcome was just a win or a loss. He… had never seen A Kai so impulsive before.
To be honest, when he got the same bottle of mineral water as Li Kai earlier, he had been wondering if A Kai really had feelings for Nie Qiu.
Luo Xu knew that he would stare at Nie Qiu until he was lost in thought simply because of the yearning of adolescence for a beautiful girl’s body. However, Li Kai was clearly distracted, just like before…
