Chapter 58: 58
It wasn’t like the two had never exchanged blows before. For example, at the bookstore last time, Song Qinglan had achieved overwhelming victory over Ji Yushi in a very short amount of time.
But it was as if Ji Yushi had completely forgotten about that. Not only did he challenge Song Qinglan in front of everyone, but his expression was also very calm, as if he really had a chance at winning.
Such a behaviour from Ji Yushi was undoubtedly a form of provocation for Song Qinglan.
Song Qinglan’s handsome brows furrowed, “I won’t go easy on you.”
Ji Yushi copied Duan Wen’s words, “No need. I’ve also always wanted to go against someone strong.”
The provocation was even stronger.
With this, even the rest of the audience stopped trying to dissuade Ji Yushi and started to cheer.
“Ohhh!!”
Song Qinglan really didn’t want to fight against Ji Yushi but he didn’t say anything and just raised his chin, “Come.”
Both barefoot, they circled around each other.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense and even the teammates in the audience were silent.
Rather than the fight itself, it seemed that they were more concerned about whether Song Qinglan would actually throw his fist at Ji Yushi —- Based on how the two usually interacted, it didn’t seem possible.
Song Qinglan may be a little wild, but it wasn’t to the extent where he would attack Ji Yushi.
What’s more, Ji Yushi likely wouldn’t be able to take more than a few of Song Qinglan’s punches.
Sure enough, Song Qinglan didn’t take the initiative to attack.
Although he had said that he wouldn’t go easy on Ji Yushi, compared to the ferocity when facing his teammates, his current attitude could be considered as indulging.
After a short while, Ji Yushi’s expression changed, and he threw a hard right fist out.
Song Qinglan responded by tucking his abdomen in and quickly shifting his centre of gravity back. At the same time, he used his right hand to deflect Ji Yushi’s punch. What everyone didn’t expect however, was that Ji Yushi didn’t retreat and instead switched to using his elbow. It hit Song Qinglan’s chest heavily and he then grabbed his wrist and exerted a powerful force, “Bang—-”
Song Qinglan was mercilessly thrown over Ji Yushi’s shoulder, falling heavily onto the ground!
“Ugh!” Song Qinglan let out a low grunt and quickly jumped back up.
The two confronted each other again.
Ji Yushi again hooked his hand at him. It wasn’t difficult to see a trace of glee in his beautiful eyes.
Those set of moves had exceeded everyone’s expectations. Everyone immediately applauded and whistled.
“Wow!! Advisor Ji is awesome!!”
“Woah!!!”
If the enemy doesn’t move, I’ll move.
Ji Yushi firmly abided by this train of thought. Regardless of whether Song Qinglan would go easy on him, in short, he threw out several consecutive fierce blows in a row. Song Qinglan however reacted fast. As long as he wanted to, Ji Yushi wouldn’t be able to land a single punch on him.
One fought while the other blocked. In a blink of an eye, more than a dozen blows had been exchanged.
Every time a punch was blocked by Song Qinglan, Ji Yushi’s arm felt like he was hitting an iron plate. Rather than hurting the enemy, he was hurting himself instead.
Ji Yushi changed tactics. After a punch, he spun around and swept his leg out—- Everyone was anxious. This was a trick Duan Wen had used earlier. Ji Yushi would most definitely be caught! Sure enough, Song Qinglan grabbed Ji Yushi’s calf and pulled back.
Wait a minute!
Ji Yushi had practiced Jiu-Jitsu just for this very moment!
In that posture, the moment his body touched the ground, Ji Yushi exerted force at his waist and relied on his extremely flexible body to flip onto Song Qinglan’s back. From there, he locked his arm firmly around Song Qinglan’s neck!
“Fuck!!!”
“Get him! Get him!”
The two fought with their bodies pressed closely together.
When Ji Yushi was pushed to the ground by Song Qinglan, he had almost vomited out blood. His grip loosened and the two separated.
“Advisor Ji.” Song Qinglan also wasn’t in good condition. Sweat dripped endlessly, “You’re for real?!”
“Of course.” Ji Yushi, “This is called respecting the opponent.”
Song Qinglan hooked up the corner of his lips.
Following that was a show that far exceeded the imagination of the teammates. Song Qinglan finally faced his opponent squarely and for the first time, he made the first move. Sweeping his leg and hitting with his elbow and fist, Song Qinglan was so fast, Ji Yushi almost couldn’t react in time. Ji Yushi began to lose ground. Song Qinglan’s attacks were both powerful and fierce. No matter how agile Ji Yushi may be, he wasn’t able to overcome this oppressive force. Each time, he was only able to barely escape from being hit.
The situation had reversed. Ji Yushi could only try and find a chance to fight back. Using the Jiu-Jitsu he had practiced, he would stick himself firmly onto Song Qinglan, but Song Qinglan didn’t give him an opportunity for it.
“Come on!! Advisor Ji, you can do it!”
“Take him down!”
“Fight back!!”
Ji Yushi had just watched two rounds earlier as an audience. Song Qinglan’s habits and moves had all been clearly recorded into his mind.
Faced with a new round of attacks, Ji Yushi bent over to avoid Song Qinglan’s hook and then turned around and landed a punch on Song Qinglan’s face.
Song Qinglan was hit. The corner of his lips immediately began to bleed. The desire to win in his eyes grew stronger. Ji Yushi intuitively sensed that it wasn’t good. Suddenly, his body became lighter and he was thrown to the ground by Song Qinglan.
The two were pressed face to face together. Ji Yushi’s body was dripping with sweat and even his eyelashes were wet. His skin was so pale, it made it hard for one to look away, and at this moment he was panting heavily.
Song Qinglan was slightly stunned. This situation reminded him of that time when they were in the kiosk. It was just that it was so dim at that time so he couldn’t see Ji Yushi clearly and the other party also wasn’t sweating this much.
“Let me go.” Ji Yushi said in a small voice. It was so small, only the two could hear it.
Was this begging for mercy?
After Song Qinglan was hit, the corner of his lips still hurt a lot, but he immediately remembered that the other party was actually very fragile. Last time he hadn’t used all his strength, but it had left Ji Yushi with a bruise around his wrist.
Ji Yushi’s clear eyes that seemed to be coated with a layer of clean spring water looked back at Song Qinglan. He looked calm and his rosy lips opened and closed, “Cap Song, don’t you find this kind of physical contact uncomfortable?”
Song Qinglan reacted instantly.
Based on Ji Yushi’s vengeful character, did he choose close combat as a way to get back at him for their contemptuous attitude earlier when they were talking about Lin Xinlan?
But, he had never regarded Ji Yushi as the same type of person as Lin Xinlan.
While Song Qinglan was thinking his, he had lost his usual vigilance and very soon his world spun around. Ji Yushi had exerted some force and managed to flip the situation around. With him straddling on Song Qinglan’s back, he used his hands and knees to press him down.
The other teammates excitedly started the countdown, “Five! Four! Three!—-”
Song Qinglan internally cursed. These bastards. Why didn’t they countdown earlier when he was winning?
Having landed a hit on Song Qinglan, Ji Yushi had vented his anger and no longer wanted to fight. Even if he continued, he would lose anyway.
And so, he twisted Song Qinglan’s arm back, “Cap Song, do you admit defeat?”
Song Qinglan slackened completely and slumped on the floor. He let out a long sigh, “……..Mhn.”
The sound wasn’t very willing. It meant that as long as Ji Yushi was done venting, he was willing to surrender voluntarily.
Ji Yushi understood.
“Cap Song, what do you mean by mhn?!” Li Chun gloated mischievously and insisted that he made it clear, “Say it quickly. Did you lose?”
Song Qinglan gave up his dignity, “I lost.”
Although Ji Yushi didn’t win because of his abilities, he wasn’t unhappy. After standing up, he even gently kicked Song Qinglan, “Cap Song, next time don’t underestimate your opponent. Thank you for going easy on me this time.”
The crowd laughed mercilessly, “Hahahahaha!”
Ji Yushi got off the ring. The other teammates all rushed over and chattered humorously. Several even grabbed Song Qinglan by his limbs and tried to throw their captain off the ring like a sandbag.
Song Qinglan knew that this was only for fun. No one, including Ji Yushi, would take the victory or defeat here seriously.
The fight not only did not allow him to vent, but it also seemed to have made his mood worse.
Song Qinglan laid flat on the ground amidst the mocking and didn’t want to move a single finger. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Ji Yushi change into a clean set of clothes and walk towards the water station.
Kind of handsome. He thought.
*
There was pretty much everything in the illusion. As long as they thought about it, anything could appear.
Time passed by normally in the simulated world.
In the evening, Tang Qi proceeded to make a whole roasted lamb while Tang Le sorted the drinks out. After a round of eating and drinking, Li Chun even took them to disco.
The music was deafening. The courtyard filled with cultural air was at this moment filled with colourful and vulgar lights.
The group of people rocked their heads back and forth. If anyone else saw this scene, they would have thought that this was a gathering of madmen.
“I wonder what’s going on with Big Beard.” Li Chun spun around, “…..Damn that Tianqiong! Anfalahagenhe!”
Everyone, “Anfalahagenhe!”
Song Qinglan stood away from these group of madmen. He turned and clinked glasses with Duan Wen who sat next to him and drank. Since time wouldn’t change in this case of time and space hijacking, Song Qinglan as the captain allowed his teammates to indulge themselves.
Not long afterwards, he noticed that a certain someone was missing, “Where’s Advisor Ji?”
Duan Wen was lying on the bench. Probably because he was remembering the wife and daughter in the bubble world, he had already drunk until his mind was no longer clear.
After thinking for a while, Duan Wen finally spoke, “Oh, I think he said he was going for a walk?”
“Walk?”
Song Qinglan didn’t understand. The outside of this courtyard was all dark. What walk?
Song Qinglan raised his head and gulped down the rest of his alcohol. He still felt that the number of people here didn’t add up, “And where did Old Zhou go?”
Duan Wen looked like he had aged, “Went with Advisor Ji.”
With Duan Wen saying that, Song Qinglan could basically guess where they had gone. The transfer stations set by Tianqiong was different for everyone so they were either at Zhou Mingxuan’s or Ji Yushi’s transfer station.
What were they doing together?
Could Zhou Mingxuan talk to Ji Yushi? With Old Zhou’s mouth, surely he wouldn’t accidentally offend Ji Yushi?
Song Qinglan placed down his bottle. Duan Wen glanced over, “You’re going? I’ll help you watch over them.”
These young ones can go quite wild. Duan Wen thought Song Qinglan was probably worried about leaving them unattended.
Song Qinglan, “Not going.”
Since the two had left together, they must have made a prior appointment. The one who had persuaded Zhou Mingxuan to leave the bubble world with them was Ji Yushi. Perhaps Zhou Mingxuan wanted to thank Ji Yushi. That guy may act tough, but his heart was soft. He was actually a pretty good person.
Moreover, in the bubble world, Zhou Mingxuan had to some certain extent faced the same decision as Ji Yushi. This was a situation where people can only get comfort from those with similar experiences.
What’s more, Zhou Mingxuan was a straight man. Ji Yushi also has his boyfriends.
But.
Song Qinglan’s expression turned cold.
As for Ji Yushi’s attitude towards relationships, it probably didn’t matter.
Song Qinglan immediately stopped his thoughts from straying too far. When did he start using such thoughts to assess another person?
But that single tear Ji Yushi had shed when he was bewitched by the phone call in the bubble world once again surfaced to his mind —- When facing others, for example people who have shared similar experiences or lovers, would Ji Yushi entrust them with his trust and tell them the secrets and concerns buried deep in his heart? Would he also reveal his helpless and fragile side to them?
Song Qinglan couldn’t imagine what it would be like if those tears were wiped away by another person.
To him, Ji Yushi was different.
It was like there was something ready to burst out from his heart.
The belated answer made Song Qinglan very irritated. He combed through his hair with his fingers and his eyebrows twisted together in annoyance.
Ignoring those noisy teammates, Song Qinglan strode into the house.
He passed by the training room and walked deep down the corridor. He wanted to go back to the room he used to stay in as a child to rest and along the way calm himself down a little.
But the moment he opened the heavy door, he was left stunned in place.
Floor-to-ceiling window. Soft curtains.
Wooden bed. White and fluffy bedding.
There were some paper books scattered across the floor and there was a warm night light on the bedside table.
He had clearly only seen it once, but that warm, quiet and peaceful scene had remained deep in Song Qinglan’s subconscious.
He had never imagined that the place that would allow him to calm down and relax, was actually Ji Yushi’s bedroom.