Su Yue played exceptionally fiercely today, perhaps due to the long layoff or the recent events that had left her feeling stifled. This match served as an excellent outlet.
Li Niannian and the others were initially enjoying Su Yue's game. Undoubtedly, she and Song Yan had the upper hand, but after a while, Li Niannian felt something was off.
"Why is Su Yue playing so aggressively?" she asked Zhang Lu, who had some understanding of tennis.
Zhang Lu also frowned, but before she could reply, Su Yue made a powerful swing, received the opponent's shot, and returned it. The ball directly hit the opposing female player's head.
The girl collapsed immediately, clutching her head and crying out in pain.
"Stop—" the referee gestured. Song Yan looked at Su Yue, whose expression was largely unreadable. Such incidents were common on the court; if you couldn't defend yourself, you couldn't blame others for playing hard.
"Sister, you were a bit fierce today," Song Yan whispered to her. Su Yue didn't respond, her gaze fixed on the girl on the other side. The girl, supported by her teammate, stood up, shot Su Yue a glare, but then picked up her racket and requested to continue.
The referee announced the continuation.
In the end, Song Yan and Su Yue won and would play against another semi-finalist pair tomorrow afternoon.
Song Yan happily hugged Su Yue. Su Yue didn't resist, packed her racket into her bag, and tossed it to Song Yan. A hint of gentleness finally appeared on her face. "Hold this for me, sister. See you tomorrow."
As she walked, Song Yan noticed her gait was a bit slow, as if her leg was bothering her.
"Sister, what's wrong?" he hurried after her, squatting down to pull her short socks down further. He then discovered a large red mark on her left calf. He suddenly remembered that Su Yue's calf had been hit earlier.
"Sister, I'll take you to the medical room." Song Yan supported her. At this moment, Su Yue's friends also arrived.
"Big Sis, why were you so wild today?" Li Niannian chided her. Qin Xiaoxiao crouched down to examine her injury.
"It's not that serious," she said with a laugh. "A night's rest will fix it."
"It needs cold compress," Zhang Lu said, then went to ask a volunteer on site for an ice pack.
Su Yue said helplessly, "We can't do a cold compress here, can we? Can we just go?"
They agreed, so Song Yan supported her, and the group followed, exiting the sports hall.
"Officer Chen?" Suddenly, Zhang Feiran exclaimed in surprise.
Su Yue's heart suddenly quickened. She looked in the direction Zhang Feiran was looking. At the entrance stood Chen Ziming, dressed in simple, clean casual wear, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his phone. He was looking at Su Yue and Song Yan beside her with a somewhat cold expression.
Li Niannian was also surprised, but she quickly recalled that Chen Cheng had specifically asked her yesterday when Su Yue's match started and where it was. She had found it odd that he cared about it, but Chen Cheng had only said that friends they had dinner with last time wanted to watch.
Now it seemed it wasn't his friends, but Chen Ziming who was coming.
Her heart began to pound rapidly, and unconsciously, she pulled her hand away from Song Yan's support.
"Yueyue, you guys..." Li Niannian wanted to ask something, but didn't know where to start. Was Chen Ziming looking for her?
"You guys go ahead," Su Yue told them.
Her roommates were surprised, guessing that their relationship might already be unusual. Su Yue had intended to flirt with Officer Chen, and it seemed she had succeeded. They chuckled, leaving tactfully, pulling away the somewhat dazed Song Yan and the hesitant Li Niannian.
Zhang Lu even handed the ice pack to Chen Ziming.
Su Yue dared not look at him, lowering her head. He also stood in place, showing no intention of approaching her.
Passersby, more or less recognizing her, all looked at her... and Chen Ziming with gossip. Some greeted her, some whispered speculation about Su Yue's relationship with this man, and some even recognized him as Officer Chen who had captivated a crowd of girls during a lecture previously.
She didn't want this attention, so she braced herself and slowly walked up to him, still not looking at him, and asked softly.
"Are you looking for me?"
"What else?"
His voice was low, filled with displeasure.