Sports Meet (1) – Revised Draft
The clock slowly crawled toward 11 p.m. Qinmu sat in a chair, yawning, on the verge of sleep. After running around all night, she was almost at her limit, half her body already slumped onto HuiXiang’s bed. Under the covers, HuiXiang had long since slipped into dreamland, letting out soft little snores, her sleeping face obedient and adorable.
No one was talking anymore. Everything had gone completely silent. It was so peaceful it felt wrong. That eerie, cold emptiness made Qinmu’s drowsiness fade in an instant.
Mom suddenly came in from the hallway and tapped on the door. “Qinmu, I’ll drive you home first. I’ll come back later to look after HuiXiang.”
Qinmu nodded. In her tired face, a faint smile appeared. “Mom, don’t overwork yourself in the second half of the night.”
“Good boy, you’ve worked hard tonight. Go to school properly tomorrow. You’ll have to help HuiXiang make up all the homework she missed.” Mom gently stroked Qinmu’s smooth hair and smiled in relief.
“Mm, got it. Tomorrow’s the sports meet anyway. It’s fine.”
“The sports meet, huh. Did you sign up for any events? I really want to go watch, but work’s too busy.”
“…Didn’t sign up for anything. But I’m one of the people in charge of the meet, so I still have to report in at school.”
“Oh wow, my son’s already a leader. Sky’s the limit for you.” Mom couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear, clearly very pleased with Qinmu.
“Mom, it’s really nothing, it’s just…”
…
After that, Mom drove Qinmu back to Listening Rain Community, 800 meters away. Their home was on the third floor of the third building on the left after you entered the gate of the five‑story walk‑ups. Back in 2006, this was a high‑end residential area in River City, with strict greenery and security management, well known to many people in Jiangzhou City. Even though its glory days had passed, the housing prices were still sky‑high. It was still a very sought‑after listing in Jiangzhou City.
Once they got home, Qinmu took a shower and went straight to bed. Mom wasn’t so lucky. She had to go back to the hospital to stay with HuiXiang in case anything happened at night and no one was there to help. She didn’t mind being tired herself, but she refused to let her daughter suffer.
The wind rattled the window frame in bursts. Tree shadows swayed outside. The moonlight was bleak, stripped of its usual crystal clarity. Leaves rustled, and every now and then something would fall or slam into something with a dull thud.
Staring at the pitch‑black window, Qinmu sighed. “I hope HuiXiang gets better soon.”
The next morning, Qinmu went to school together with Ling Xu. Without HuiXiang tagging along, the two of them didn’t talk as much. The air felt a bit heavy. But with Ling Xu’s quick tongue and endless chatter, Qinmu still forced herself to say a few more words than usual, at least enough that the silence didn’t turn awkward.
“You haven’t had breakfast yet, right? I brought you shengjian.” Ling Xu handed her a delicate little box. Inside were several steaming pan‑fried buns.
“Thanks.” Qinmu thanked her shyly, not daring to look straight into her eyes. That day when Ling Xu had exposed her “girl” identity on the spot was still fresh in her mind. Especially that moment when they hugged—those images just kept replaying in her head, refusing to fade. It was way too embarrassing. Even now, just thinking about it made her face burn.
“You’re subbing in for HuiXiang today, right? Your volleyball’s not bad, is it? Don’t embarrass our class out there.” Ling Xu teased, watching Qinmu take tiny bites of the buns.
“Mm… I can… play… volleyball.” With a bun in her mouth, Qinmu replied in broken phrases.
“Don’t eat so fast. You’ll burn yourself.” Ling Xu pushed some napkins into her hand.
“Thank you.” Qinmu looked at her, full of quiet gratitude.
“It’s nothing, really. Anyway, Qinmu, did you bring the girls’ red uniform today? You can’t step onto the girls’ court in that blue one.” Ling Xu glanced at her current uniform and suddenly remembered the most important thing.
“It’s in… my bag…” Qinmu lifted the bag dangling from her left hand.
“Good. As long as everything’s ready.” Ling Xu let out a small breath of relief and smiled slightly.
After a while, Qinmu reached the sports complex. She waved goodbye to Ling Xu, then hurried to the dark storage room behind the PE office to start the big mission: changing clothes.
This dark room was basically Qinmu’s personal secret base. The key was firmly in her hands. In the past, whenever the school needed extra equipment, they’d come here to get it. But over the years, the place had fallen completely out of the school’s line of sight. The leadership probably didn’t even remember it existed, so it was naturally abandoned.
But the more inconspicuous a place is, the better it is for hiding.
Qinmu set down the bag and quickly stripped off her clothes. She tugged off the chest binder and stuffed it into the bag, then put on a bra, a knit sweater, and finally her sister’s school uniform.
HuiXiang’s uniform fit Qinmu perfectly. Their figures were almost identical. No surprise—they were twins. Most people could never match this level of similarity.
Facing the mirror, Qinmu checked herself, trying to press down the stubborn cowlick on her head. Like this, no one could tell if she was HuiXiang or Qinmu. The twins’ advantage was fully unleashed. She could run wild on the volleyball court as “Nangong Huixiang,” and nobody would notice. As long as she lasted till the end, then came back here and changed again after the match, everything should be foolproof.
Qinmu hid the bag in a spot she could easily find later. Then she quietly closed the door and slipped out to the field, where there weren’t that many people yet. She went to Class 3’s area and stood there, quietly waiting for her classmates to arrive.
If there was any difference between Class 3 and Class 13, it was that Class 3 had a few more boys. That was the most obvious thing. Other than that, whether it was walking around in groups chatting, or joking and messing around with each other, it was basically the same everyday scene.
Sure enough, the boys from Class 3 were already heading over to where Qinmu was waiting.
“HuiXiang, morning!”
“HuiXiang, you’re really early today.”
“HuiXiang, you look good. You’ve got a nice glow.”
Qinmu didn’t know any of these guys. She had no idea which ones might be the ones HuiXiang hated. But to avoid making trouble for HuiXiang, she answered all of them anyway. “Morning.” “Good morning!” …
The boys who were usually cold‑shouldered by HuiXiang acted like they’d found a priceless treasure. They huddled together, excitedly talking about how it felt to be greeted by her.
“HuiXiang’s so gentle today. She’s so cute.”
“She actually said hi to me. Does that mean she doesn’t hate me anymore?”
“Don’t kid yourself. She said hi to me too. She’s just being more polite today, that’s all.”
…
Led by Ling Xu, Qinmu moved to her spot in the line. Ling Xu leaned in to whisper a reminder. “Try not to talk too much, okay? Don’t slip up. Got it?”
Qinmu nodded. She didn’t recognize any of the girls behind her. How would she dare to butt into their conversations? If she really got exposed, it wouldn’t just ruin HuiXiang’s reputation. Her own identity at school would be blown wide open.
After about half an hour, the student council finished their speech. Then the school leaders gave their address. “The 67th Autumn Sports Meet is now officially open.” As soon as he finished, the open space in front of the stage filled with a group of boys dancing street style to the music. Their light, sharp moves set off waves of screams from the girls.
“They’re so hot, right?”
“Hey, hey, that’s Lu Xiao, isn’t it? The class hunk from Class 12. He’s amazing.” A girl from Class 13 gushed.
“How come I don’t see Class 13’s class hunk, Nangong Qinmu? I’ve always wanted to see him. I heard he looks just like a girl, super pretty.” A Class 12 girl scanned the stage for Qinmu, then searched through Class 13’s formation, but found no trace of him.
“He’s our class flower, okay? Class flower and class hunk rolled into one. Cool, huh?”
“What’s so cool about that? He’s just a pretty boy. How’s he supposed to compare to someone like Lu Xiao—tall and actually manly?”
“That’s not for sure. I heard that Nangong Qinmu is crazy good at taekwondo and karate. Even Lu Xiao might not be able to beat him.”
“Dancing and fighting aren’t the same thing…”
Surrounded by the gossiping girls from Class 3 talking about the same topic, Qinmu’s head throbbed. The Lu Xiao they kept bringing up was actually her classmate from junior high. They’d never really interacted, so their relationship was just normal. But hearing herself compared to Lu Xiao over and over made her really uncomfortable. Why was he called “manly” and she was called “girly”… even though, yeah, she was literally a girl right now.
When the performance finally ended, Qinmu let out a breath she’d been holding. The girls also seemed to suddenly lose their focal point and went quiet, a little deflated. Then Ling Xu started organizing the class players to gather on the field, while the rest of the students stayed in the class’s rest area, waiting for the vice class rep to call them over. Whenever someone needed cheering, they’d rush to the court to hype things up.
The first event was the Girls’ Volleyball, Year 2 division. By a lucky draw, Class 3 and Class 7 got picked to face off as the opening match.
Qinmu and Ling Xu stood on the court, fully focused, just waiting for the referee’s whistle to start the heated battle with Class 7.
Outside the Class 3 court, students were already buzzing, excited and loud.
“Look, look, that’s Qinmu’s sister, Nangong Huixiang. Pretty, right?” A boy pointed her out. From his tone, he was clearly from Class 13.
“Yeah, you’re right. They’re totally identical. Twins are kinda scary.”
“Our class’s class hunk and Class 3’s class flower are twins, you know. Feifei, look, they’re really alike.”
“Ahhh, I get to see the class hunk again. I’m so happy.”
“You idiot, that’s an actual girl.”
“I don’t care. They look the same, so I’m gonna keep staring. It’s not like I lose anything.”
…
