Chuanhai City Girls’ Sports School was a famous all-girls athletic school nationwide, known as the youth training camp for the national women’s team. Compared to the students of Chuanhai No.1 High School, who were either rich or well-connected, the athletes at Chuanti were much more ordinary. They rarely talked about luxury brands or car makes. What they cared about more was the competition schedule for the second half of the year.

Today was September 1st, the opening day of the new term at Chuanti. Of course, the girls here didn’t really care whether school had started or not. After all, they spent two seasons a year in training camps at the gym, and the other two traveling around the country for competitions.

Zou Yameng had just finished today’s training. She brushed her sweat-soaked hair back, her cheeks flushed, her whole body glistening with perspiration. Whenever a provincial league was coming up, she would consciously double her training load. In just one week, she would be representing Chuanti in the Six Provinces League.

This was her final year at Chuanti. Student athletes like them couldn’t really apply to college the normal way. If she wasn’t recruited by a city-level team or higher before graduation, then the only path left would be applying for a PE teacher job in some county town. If it came to that, then all her years of hard work and struggle would feel worthless.

This year, Zou Yameng had submitted applications to the provincial teams of three neighboring provinces. Not one of them had replied. Maybe it was because she was still a nobody. Because she had never placed in a provincial competition before.

She twisted open her bottle cap and gulped down a mouthful of cool, sweet mineral water. She was about to keep training when the coach stopped her.

The coach was a retired national team athlete. She had worked at Chuanti for over twenty years, and had a diligent husband and an obedient daughter. Zou Yameng often envied her. In her eyes, the coach had already lived a complete life. She had won trophies, and she had a happy family. Zou Yameng always used the coach’s life as the blueprint for her own dreams.

“You need to rest,” said the coach, who usually only ever pushed the girls to train harder. But now, worry showed on her face. “Your training intensity is too high. It’s putting too much strain on your body, and it could leave lasting problems. I heard your foot cramped up during training yesterday?”

It was just a cramp. Nothing serious. That was what Zou Yameng thought. Besides, if she didn’t go all in, how was she supposed to make the provincial team? This Six Provinces League might be the last major tournament of the year. If she missed this one, then she really might not get another chance.

She knew Li Zi wanted to go to college, but they didn’t have money. If she made the provincial team, the monthly salary would be eight thousand yuan. Prize money for competitions could reach fifty thousand. If she won a few more matches, wouldn’t Li Zi’s college tuition be covered?

The coach talked to her earnestly for a long time. Zou Yameng listened obediently, but not even the slightest bit of her resolve wavered. She felt her body was still young. It could handle high-intensity training. At the very least, nothing would go wrong in the next five years... right?

The gym closed for the night, so Zou Yameng could only sling her shoulder bag on and leave with her teammates.

The girls at the sports school were more passionate and lively than ordinary high school girls. Their toned thighs, bare beneath their athletic shorts, looked dazzling in the sunset. One of Zou Yameng’s close friends wrapped her arms around her waist and wailed, “Ya~meng, Coach Dan is inhuman~ I’m dying here~ Hug me and let me recharge a little, okay?”

The girls burst into laughter. Zou Yameng laughed too and scolded back, “Why don’t you go ask your boyfriend for a hug?”

“Wuwu~ We broke up. Last month.” The girl pouted. “Men are the worst. Remember that time we went to Jindong for the competition?”

Jindong was in the far north, vast and sparsely populated, and very far from Chuanhai. Zou Yameng remembered that trip vividly. Not only was the journey long and exhausting, they had also been utterly crushed by one of Jindong’s girls’ school teams. On the way back, everyone had been listless and devastated.

“Didn’t we spend two whole months in Jindong? Just two months apart, and that bastard already fell for someone else!” The girl made a bitter face. “And he even said it was because I couldn’t spend enough time with him, so he couldn’t feel the warmth of having a girlfriend. You tell me, is that fair? I train myself half to death every day and still have to compete. Where am I supposed to find the energy to go on dates?”

The girls always formed a united front on matters like this. The whole flock chirped and complained as they condemned faithless men. But in Zou Yameng’s heart, a sense of crisis surfaced that shouldn’t have been there.

She was about to leave for the Six Provinces League too. It would last more than a month. By the time she came back... would Li Zi have brought home a girlfriend?

She normally wouldn’t have these kinds of petty, clingy worries. But lately, whenever she was with Lu Li, all kinds of insecure thoughts kept popping up. When she saw stylishly dressed girls on the street, she even felt strangely inferior. These delicate little thoughts had only started appearing in the past few days. Heaven could testify to that. She had always looked down on those syrupy, melodramatic little women.

“Exactly, exactly. Men are all like that. Ugh, being a woman is so hard.”

“Hmph. Let them bleed for a few days every month too, then they’ll know. A bunch of heartless jerks.”

The chatter went on and on. Zou Yameng instinctively wanted to avoid the topic, so she pulled out her phone and pretended to check her messages. Then someone suddenly gave an exaggerated gasp.

“Yameng, did you change your phone? It’s so pretty~ Hehe, who gave it to you?”

Zou Yameng felt a little smug. My adorable little brother gave it to me. But she was worried they’d keep pressing her, so she pouted and said, “Can’t it be something I bought myself?”

Like any of you have a little brother this thoughtful. Hmph. I’m not telling.

“Pfft~ Yameng, you’re usually so stingy. No way you’d spend money on such a pretty phone.”

“It had to be from a man.”

“No wonder you looked like you wanted to say something just now. Oho, has spring finally come for Yameng too?”

Zou Yameng’s face turned red. The girls always talked with zero filter. If this kept going, who knew what nonsense they’d start saying. So she hurriedly explained, “My little brother gave it to me. He earned the money from a summer job.”

Her feelings were complicated. She wanted to show off her little brother, but she also didn’t want them paying too much attention to him. She quickly found herself an excuse. These women were all reckless and shameless. She was protecting Lu Li from a pack of she-wolves.

“Yameng, you actually have a little brother? Why’ve you never told us?”

“I think I’ve seen him before. Wasn’t it that time he brought you clothes at the school gate?”

Zou Yameng hadn’t expected them to remember that one time Lu Li had brought her clothes. That day, she had rushed out in such a hurry that she forgot her training uniform. She only realized it after arriving at school. Just when she was panicking, Lu Li had already shown up with the clothes.

“That fair, clean-cut boy? Ah, I remember him.”

“Hehe, Yameng, you’ve been hiding a little brother from us? That’s so mean. Hurry up and send us his photo and contact info. Let me inspect whether his development is normal~”

The girls collapsed into noisy laughter, one dirty joke after another. Zou Yameng’s face grew redder and redder. Luckily, the afterglow of the sunset hid the blush on her cheeks. Otherwise, she’d probably have wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground.

Normally, she was immune to her teammates’ dirty jokes. She knew these girls were all bark and no bite. The moment they met a genuinely good man, every one of them would run far away. But today, hearing them turn the topic onto Lu Li, she couldn’t stay calm at all.

“Honestly, though, even a little brother only stays in date for a few years.” The girl who’d been dumped still wore a bitter face. “Once he gets a little older, he’ll meet a girl he likes. Then little by little, he’ll forget he even has an older sister. My pen pal’s little brother was exactly like that. He used to be so obedient and sweet when he was little. Super adorable. Then later he started skipping class every day to kiss little girls. His sister kept getting called in by his homeroom teacher. Talking didn’t work, scolding made him talk back, and if they hit him, he’d run away from home. Ugh, such a headache.”

“Is that really how it is?” Zou Yameng honestly didn’t know. She felt like Lu Li probably wouldn’t be that rebellious... right?

“Mhm. Who knows, maybe when you come back from this league, you’ll be meeting your future sister-in-law.”

It was meant as a thoughtless joke, but it struck right at the heart of Zou Yameng’s recent fears. Her expression turned ugly. She imagined the scene for a moment: Lu Li holding hands with some unfamiliar woman, embracing her in the room that used to belong to just the two of them.

Her heart felt like it was being clenched in a fist. She knew she was making herself miserable for no reason, but once the thought appeared, she couldn’t stop it.

After returning to the low-rent apartment, Zou Yameng took a shower and then went next door to Lu Li’s place. For reasons she couldn’t quite explain, she put on that camisole and hot pants from last time, exposing large stretches of soft, pale skin still fresh from the bath. Usually, she felt relaxed and at ease in Lu Li’s home. But today, her heart was restless.

She stood in front of the full-length mirror in Lu Li’s room and lifted her pair of papayas a little, feeling that they had grown heavier and fuller than last month. She had always thought of them as a burden of being an athlete. But now, the hand holding that lush softness began to rub unconsciously amid her tangled thoughts.

Then suddenly, her phone alarm rang, jolting Zou Yameng out of her daze.

It was the six o’clock alarm, the one she used for making Lu Li’s dinner. But Lu Li still hadn’t come back from school. Had he been kept behind? Zou Yameng walked into the narrow, cramped kitchen and started cooking for him.

Half an hour later, she set the dishes on the little folding wooden table. But Lu Li still hadn’t returned.

She reheated the food once more. Finally, Zou Yameng couldn’t sit still anymore. She was about to go back and change clothes so she could go look for Lu Li. But just then, she heard the sound of a key turning in the lock. Lu Li appeared in the doorway.

He looked a little tired, but at least he was in one piece. Zou Yameng immediately threw her arms around her little brother. The heart she had been holding up finally settled.

Because of what they had gone through in childhood, she and Lu Li were both people who lacked a sense of security. Every time Lu Li came home even a little late, she couldn’t stop her thoughts from running wild. Had he been in a car accident? Had he been robbed? Had something else happened...?

Lu Li was the only family she had left, even if they weren’t related by blood. She didn’t want to lose the little brother who had depended on each other with her for over ten years.

Lu Li could feel Sister Yameng’s concern, and warmth spread through his heart. He wrapped an arm around her waist too. Only then did he realize the fabric of her clothes was thinner than he had expected. Her soft, warm body pressed against his arm. Their skin wasn’t actually touching, yet it felt even more intimate than direct contact.

An adult mind couldn’t fully control a teenage body. Embarrassed, he quickly pushed his sister away, afraid she would notice his awkward reaction.

“School just started today. I had some things to go over with the class officers, so I got back a little late.”

He had actually stayed behind to explain his game development plan to Chu Jingyi. Unexpectedly, the always well-behaved Chu Jingyi had been wildly enthusiastic about horror games. She kept asking question after question. If An Baili hadn’t deliberately interrupted and stirred things up, he probably would’ve had to answer a million more questions from that curious baby.

Meeting Lu Li’s gaze, Zou Yameng felt heat spread all over her body. She thought she must’ve been crazy to dress so lightly today. No, wait. She had dressed like this at home before too. So why did she feel embarrassed now?

Afraid Lu Li might ask, she hurriedly pulled him to sit down. “Hurry and eat. The food’s getting cold.”

Then suddenly, Zou Yameng’s nose twitched. The shyness on her face faded, replaced by full suspicion.

“Why do you smell like perfume?”

It wasn’t perfume. It was the faint milky scent on Chu Jingyi. Lu Li hadn’t expected his sister’s nose to be this sharp. Chu Jingyi must’ve gotten too excited and forgotten all sense of personal boundaries between boys and girls. She had kept pressing him about horror plot ideas like a total fanatic. No wonder she had wanted to buy that Hanmo Ding Jin horror novel at the bookstore that day.

Lu Li didn’t want to get too deeply involved with people like An Baili and Chu Jingyi. He only wanted to finish making this game. Because this was the first nail he was driving in on the road toward his dream.

With twenty years of industry experience and vision from his previous life, he believed this first game of his would definitely blow up.

But whether it blew up or not was a matter for the future. The problem right now was how to explain things to Sister Yameng.

“That class officer... was it a guy or a girl?”

Lu Li felt that Sister Yameng was acting a little strange today. She didn’t feel like an older sister. She felt more like a thirty-year-old housekeeper catching a cheating husband.

A little awkwardly, he scratched his head and told her the truth from start to finish. He didn’t want to lie to Sister Yameng. From his game development plan, to class monitor Chu Jingyi’s musical talent, to their long talk after school, he told her everything in full detail.

As he spoke, his sister’s expression became stranger and stranger. It was hard to say exactly what it was. She seemed conflicted, but also a little angry.

In the end, Zou Yameng only let out a sigh.

“Eat.”

All of a sudden, she felt like she was nothing at all. She couldn’t draw. She couldn’t sing. She couldn’t even do planning work. She was no help whatsoever to Lu Li’s dream. A wave of irritation surged up in her heart. This powerless feeling of being an outsider made her want to cry.

Her little brother really had grown up. He didn’t need her anymore.

Lu Li picked up a piece of beef and placed it in her bowl.

“Sis, I actually have something to ask you too. If my game gets a demo version, could you help me test it and give me some feedback? For me, a non-professional player’s experience is really, really, really important. Other than you, Sis, I can’t think of anyone else who could help me.”

When Zou Yameng saw Lu Li’s gentle smile, a thought surfaced in her mind: Had Lu Li noticed how sad she was, and said that on purpose?

She couldn’t help but smile. Softly, gently, she gave a quiet hum of agreement.

Then she heard Lu Li murmur to himself, “Once this game becomes a huge hit, I’m definitely getting a big house for my sister and me. We’ll be able to eat beef every meal. That’s what I’m working so hard for.”

Zou Yameng’s eyes instantly reddened. She completely understood now that Lu Li was trying to comfort her.

Her little brother was so thoughtful. How could he not see that she was upset?

Rather than comforting words, what he’d said felt more like a confession from the heart.

Lu Li was working hard for her. And wasn’t she fighting just as hard for him?

That sense of fulfillment, of giving to each other like this, filled her heart with warmth. She secretly glanced at Lu Li, only to see him lowering his head obediently as he ate. Her gaze drifted, without her meaning to, to his lips, glossy and damp with oil.

And then, a thought flashed through her mind. A thought that went against all reason and morality.

Zou Yameng quickly looked away. She barely managed to suppress that strange thought, yet her heart still pounded wildly.

She felt like she was constantly testing the edge of doing something wrong. Like a seed planted for more than ten years, forcing out a fragile sprout through a crack in solid rock, and once it had broken through, it could no longer be stopped from growing.