Book 4: The Return of the King


    Chapter 10


    Ai Qing sat up on the bed for a minute, rubbed her eyes red, then walked out of


    the bedroom dressed in her pajamas.  She quietly walked out to the living room.


    Dt was lying down sideways with his eyes closed on the sofa in the living room.


    Because he was tall, he had pushed the low, solid wooden table to the front of TV


    so that he could safely sleep without knocking over the teapot and cups.  Ai Qing


    was surprised how strong he was, that table was so heavy that she couldn’t even


    budge it…..


    She walked over barefoot, opened a corner of his blanket, and duck into it, wiggling


    into his arms.  She closed her eyes as Dt opened his eyes. He wrapped her with the


    blanket and pulled her into his arms.


    “Are you awake?”  She whispered.


    “Uhm.”


    “Let’s chat.”


    “Ok.”


    Silence.


    Ai Qing muttered.  “Why don’t you talk?”


    “......I’m waiting for you to talk.”


    So, she gloomily shoved him with her knee.  “How did you grow so big?”


    “......”  Dt frowned his eyebrows……


    “Why don’t you respond?”  Ai Qing felt strange and raised her head.  After she saw


    his pained expression, she realized that she must have hit something she shouldn’t


    have…...She made the quick decision to run away from the crime scene, jumping down


    from the sofa and running into the bathroom with her clothes.  She stuck her head out


    nervously again ten seconds later. “Don’t come in here. I’m taking a shower.”


    Dt still frowned, but sat up, and nodded silently.


    ……


    The competition began at ten o’clock in the morning and it would last till ten o’clock in


    the evening.


    Ai Qing kept pacing around randomly in her house empty minded the whole day.  Dt


    didn’t show up for the competition either. He stayed with her at her house the whole day.


    He only briefly talked to Gun over the phone once during the day to inform him of his


    whereabouts. For the rest of the time, he, just like Ai Qing, had no communication with


    the outside world, didn’t go online, and didn’t even watch the competition stream.


    They seemed to be waiting for something.


    “Wu Bai.”  Ai Qing used her fork to twirl the pasta that he had cooked.  She took a bite


    and mumbled, “Is Norway a fun place to visit?”


    “It’s ok.”  He took a bite and felt that the sauce was subpar. He warned her,  “If it doesn’t


    taste good, I’ll make something else for you.”


    “Ah?”  Ai Qing continued to eat,  “It’s good. It’s far better than what I can make……”


    She wasn’t picky about what she ate usually, she wasn’t even picky about boxed lunches.


    “I just learned it from Han Shangyan’s aunt once, but I never tried it.”  He explained. “I’ll


    probably do it better next time.” “Han Shangyan’s aunt?”  She thought about it, “Do you


    mean his step mother?”


    Dt nodded, drinking the sparkling water in his glass.


    “I’ve been curious.”  Ai Qing supported her chin with her hand and looked at him.  “You


    grew up in a foreign country. Which country would it be if you win the competition?”


    “It belongs to the club if I play in a foreign country.”  He wasn’t ambiguous on this one. “I


    don’t participate in any celebration activities.  If I play for K&K China, then the award belongs


    to China. Han Shangyan has already prepared the national flag.”


    Ai Qing bit her fork and looked at him.


    National flag.


    Han Shangyan had prepared a brand new national flag ten years ago.


    “Oh, yeah……”  She was grinning,  “Then, can you sing the national anthem?”


    The man in front of her stared at her.  “Of course.”


    Ai Qing laughed.  She looked at the man who belonged to her.  “We can too.”


    Though they belonged to two different clubs and worked for the commercial success of


    their respective clubs, but at the moment their ultimate goal was the same.  Only the people


    in this environment could understand this feeling…...Ai Qing continued to lower her head and


    The clock on the wall read ten minutes past ten.  The competition was over.


    Her heart still felt like it was in her throat and wouldn’t calm down.


    She didn’t dare to look at the results or the videos of the competition.  There was an entire


    list of things she was too afraid to do and all of it weighed on her heart.  She put down the fork


    and touched his hand lightly with her finger. “Competition’s over.” He drank the last mouthful


    of water.  “Give me five minutes.”


    After he spoke, he pulled out a napkin to wipe his mouth.  He threw chewing gum into his


    mouth and squeezed the wrapper into a ball, gripping it in his hand.  He stood up and walked


    into her study.


    There was the sound of him rapidly typing on the keyboard.


    Anxious, she wandered outside the room.  If the audience reaction was too strong and her


    team performed poorly, then she definitely would take the blame and resign.  Even if the team


    had done well, she still owed an explanation to SP and SP fans.