Thirsty Skin - Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – ‘My Heart Is Beating Fast, Fast!’

Lin Wan lives on the 20th floor. Although the area was less than 70 square meters, it seemed very spacious because it was a one-bedroom apartment.

He heard from Zhou Yuang that Lin Wan’s house is rented. He wondered if the decoration was Lin Wan’s own preference.

Very… Tomb like.

The first impression is that the color is too dark, so dark that it presents a sense of seclusion and tranquility.

The walls are apricot gray, the curtains are brown, and the floor is dark brown oak.

The furniture is even simpler, with a pure black shoe cabinet that reaches the ceiling by the door, a dark gray leather sofa in the living room, and a cold slate dining table and four black chairs of the same color in the dining room.

There was no unnecessary decoration in the house, and it was as clean as if it was a fully furnished house just bought from a developer.

When he entered the room, Lin Wan told him that he didn’t need to change his shoes, “Just sit down, I’ll clean up and come out.” When he reached the bedroom door, he reminded him, “There’s water in the refrigerator, take it yourself.”

Zhu Chizhou was feeling a little thirsty, so he walked over and opened the refrigerator.

The first thing he opened was the freezer. He was shocked when he looked inside. Lin Wan had actually filled the entire freezer with ice cubes.

“A whole freezer full” meant that there was no food in the freezer and all the space was filled with neatly stacked ice trays.

Suddenly, Zhu Chizhou recalled the day in the hotel when Lin Wan insisted on taking a bath in ice water.

So it wasn’t that Lin Wan was drunk that time, but he really had the habit of taking ice baths?

When preparing for swimming competitions in the past, Zhu Chizhou would take an ice bath to relax his muscles after training. His training center also had an ice water pool specifically for athletes to use.

But why did Lin Wan do this? Did he usually exercise a lot?

Or was he really from a cult and practicing some magical skills?

Zhu Chizhou closed the freezer and opened the door of the refrigerator. This time it finally felt a bit human. There were several glass bottles of mineral water, beer and juice in the refrigerator, but there was still no sign of food.

Lin Wan probably didn’t cook at home very often.

Thinking of this, Zhu Chizhou opened a bottle of mineral water, drank it while walking to the kitchen door, and took a look inside. Sure enough, it was spotless, and there was not even a pot on the stove!

So Lin Wan really did eat just grass and drink dew!

After getting himself ready, Lin Wan went to the balcony to get his equipment. Then he came to find Zhu Chizhou with his bag on his back and saw the big boy squatting next to the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, studying the row of sweeping robots.

Zhu Chizhou heard footsteps, but he didn’t get up. He just squatted there and asked, “Boss Lin, are you a review blogger in private? Why did you buy so many sweeping robots?”

Maybe because they were at home, Lin Wan’s voice was not as cold as usual: “That was a project I was working on with a sweeping robot. At that time, in order to test their product performance, I bought all the better-selling machines on the market and tried them out.”

Zhu Chizhou: …You are worthy of it.

He turned around and saw Lin Wan wearing a white sportswear, standing in the dim light of the living room.

Zhu Chizhou had seen Lin Wan without glasses twice, but this time he couldn’t help but hold his breath.

The white color suits Lin Wan very well, and the cotton fabric made him look very soft, neutralizing his usual cold temperament.

Perhaps it was the first time that Zhu Chizhou looked up at Lin Wan, and he noticed that when Lin Wan lowered his eyes to look at people, his look was surprisingly gentle.

“Let’s go,” Lin Wan gestured to him to look at the badminton bag on her shoulder, “I’ve brought your rackets.”

Zhu Chizhou stood up and changed his gaze from looking up to looking down slightly, but the tenderness in Lin Wan’s eyes did not disappear.

Before leaving, Zhu Chizhou turned back to look at Lin Wan’s house and couldn’t help asking, “Have you seen The Return of the Condor Heroes?”

Lin Wan was confused: “I have seen it, what’s wrong?”

Zhu Chizhou: “The decoration style of your house is similar to the ancient tomb where Xiaolongnu lived.”

Lin Wan: “…”

Lin Wan turned and left.

Zhu Chizhou continued to ask, “Do you still secretly practice the Jade Girl Heart Sutra at home?”

Lin Wan ignored him and left him with a cold back.

【Guo’er, you talk too much. 】

They met Zeng Xubai and Xu Pingchuan at the gym. Lin Wan greeted Xu Pingchuan politely yet awkwardly, as if he was unaware, and ignored Xu Pingchuan’s enthusiastic gaze towards him.

When the groups were being formed, Xu Pingchuan took the initiative to invite Lin Wan: “How about joining me? I can lead you.”

【Who wants you to lead me? ? 】

Lin Wan had no expression on his face. He lowered his eyes and said, “I’m in a group with Chi Zhou.”

Zeng Xubai asked Zhu Chizhou: “How do you play?”

Zhu Chizhou didn’t play badminton much, and he had never played doubles. In addition, he was severely beaten by a retired old man before, so he didn’t dare to show off. He conservatively estimated: “It’s just so-so, not very good. Sometimes I play with retired old men in the same community.”

Zeng Xubai thought that his level was higher than Lin Wan, and he put Zhu Chizhou behind Lin Wan, so he said: “How about this, Lin Wan and I will be in one group, and Brother Xu will be in one group with Chizhou.”

Zhu Chizhou was dissatisfied. He was Brother Xu. Why should I be called just by my name??

Before he could say anything, Lin Wan had already walked to the middle of the court holding his racket and said, “I’ll be in the same group with Chi Zhou. Let’s start!”

Seeing that Lin Wan was very determined, Xu Pingchuan had no choice but to walk to the opposite court with Zeng Xubai. He stood in the front court and joked with Lin Wan, who was also standing in the front court, across the net: “Boss Lin, I will not show mercy.”

Lin Wan said, “Mr. Xu, you’re welcome.”

He said he would not show mercy, but from the beginning, Xu Pingchuan’s balls were sent to Lin Wan’s racket. When Lin Wan killed him with a ball, he would shout “good shot” and deliberately not receive it even if he could, so that Lin Wan could score.

Lin Wan could see that Xu Pingchuan’s ball skills were better than his, but she felt a little annoyed by Xu Pingchuan’s “taking care” of him.

For the next ball, Lin Wan served directly to the backcourt, and Zeng Xubai received it and also hit a high ball from the backcourt. Lin Wan withdrew his racket and let Zhu Chizhou receive it.

Then he heard the sound of the racket breaking through the wind, followed by a crisp “pop”!

This smash was not only fast and powerful, but also had a very steep angle, and was obviously a jump smash from the backcourt.

It was not a shot that an average person can hit!

Xu Pingchuan, who always thought he was good at receiving smashes, was completely helpless against this smash. Before he could react, the ball fell straight to his feet, even bouncing off a thin layer of dust on the ground!

Although Lin Wan’s ball skills were not very good, he could still tell whether the shot was good or not. He turned around and looked at Zhu Chizhou in shock: “You call this not very good?”

Zhu Chizhou was at a loss: “Ah?”

Lin Wan asked, “Have you learned this before?”

Zhu Chizhou didn’t understand why the other three looked at him like that. Wasn’t it just a normal ball? Even the retired old man could catch it.

He said honestly: “Yes, the retired uncle taught me.”

Lin Wan opened his eyes wide.

【Is it the sweeping monk? 】

Zhu Chizhou: “…”

Lin Wan really thought that Zhu Chizhou was not very good at it, so he thought that he could just exercise and sweat a little, but he didn’t expect Zhu Chizhou to directly maximize his team’s combat effectiveness.

【Haha, this kid has learned bad things, and he can even pretend to be a bronze player.】

【Then I have to fight seriously and not hold him back.】

Zhu Chizhou looked at Lin Wan’s back and couldn’t help but be shocked. He had to fight seriously. How seriously should he fight?

He had never played doubles before and knew nothing about doubles tactics. He didn’t know how to cooperate with others, so he couldn’t help but look at Lin Wan again.

【Since Chizhou is so strong in backcourt attack, I can just focus on blocking the net in the frontcourt.】

【Zeng Xubai is good at catching gaps in the midfield, so when Chi Zhou attacks, I need to retreat slightly to reduce the passive space.】

Zhu Chizhou kept it in mind, learned from it, and came up with his own way of playing.

The biggest difference between doubles and singles is that in singles, one person covers the entire court and decides his or her own positioning, offense and defense, while doubles tests the cooperation with teammates more. If the cooperation is not good, teammates will drag each other down.

Zeng Xubai and Xu Pingchuan had a hard time cooperating with each other, especially after the score gap widened. Xu Pingchuan became even more impatient and clashed with Zeng Xubai several times, fighting for position so hard that Zeng Xubai could hardly hold back his swearing.

On the other hand, Lin Wan and Zhu Chizhou had a perfect understanding and cooperation. Zhu Chizhou was able to understand Lin Wan’s intentions and strategies in time through mind reading, and the transition between offense and defense was smooth and fast, giving the opponent almost no time to react.

Moreover, Zhu Chizhou could predict Lin Wan’s movement. He cooperated with Lin Wan’s movement and left no gaps on the court, making the opponent play particularly passively.

For the first time, Lin Wan felt that playing badminton was so fun because he had a great teammate like Zhu Chizhou.

At the end of the first game, Zhu Chizhou and Lin Wan won with a large score. Lin Wan waved to Zhu Chizhou excitedly. Zhu Chizhou held the racket and walked over to hug him naturally.

On the court, it is normal for teammates to hug each other after winning, but Zeng Xubai on the opposite field was startled.

The two of them were wearing such thin short-sleeved sports shirts that they were both sweating, and then they hugged each other with their shoulders touching.

Zeng Xubai completely forgot that he was angry with Xu Pingchuan. He just looked at Lin Wan nervously, fearing that Lin Wan would turn hostile on the spot.

Lin Wan was so excited that before he could react, he was hugged into a hot and wet chest.

His face pressed into Zhu Chizhou’s neck, and his lips brushed against Zhu Chizhou’s sweaty skin, leaving obvious water marks on his lips.

In less than two seconds, Zhu Chizhou let him go.

The big boy himself didn’t realize what he had done. He thought Lin Wan was a good friend like Ji Xun. After hugging him, he remembered that this was not someone he could hug casually.

Both of them were stunned.

There were more than a dozen lights hanging on the dome of the stadium, and they looked at each other in the light as bright as day.

Lin Wan, wearing a white sportswear, having taken off his glasses, looked very soft. He opened his eyes wide and looked up at Zhu Chizhou. Under Zhu Chizhou’s gaze, he slowly extended his tongue and licked the sweat on Zhu Chizhou’s lips. 【Salty.】

Zhu Chizhou was completely stunned. His Adam’s apple slid, his face and neck turned red instantly, and his brain seemed to be stuck and unable to function. He just stared stupidly at Lin Wan’s wet, red lips.

‘My heart is beating fast, fast!’

‘He he he he he! He just licked my sweat…?!’