Yin Guo returned with her thermos. Many athletes were lining up for hot water, and she had waited for quite a while.
The two team golds won by the Chinese team this time were the grand finale, the main event. Among the six players, five were veterans; Yin Guo was the only one in her early twenties, naturally drawing a lot of attention. While she was in line, a young boy had even greeted her in broken English. Yin Guo had just stared at him, her mind filled with: *Hurry up and fill your bottle so I can fill mine...*
After successfully getting her hot water, she hurried back to the lounge.
As soon as the team doctor saw her return, he smilingly gave up his seat. Yin Guo quietly crept up behind the sofa.
Lin Yiyang was draped in the red-and-white Chinese team tracksuit. His back was to her, but just as she tried to peek over his shoulder, he reached back and caught her arm. "Where did you go?"
"Getting water." She had wanted to startle him, but his ears were too sharp.
He pulled her down to sit beside him. Lin Yiyang looked at her, seemingly wanting to say something.
"I was planning to give that to you as a birthday gift next year." Yin Guo felt self-conscious under his gaze, wondering what he had seen to make him look so serious.
She glanced at him. He was still tilting his head, staring at her.
Finally, Lin Yiyang lightly patted her knee with his left hand. Taking the thermos she had filled for him, he stood up to leave. Just a second before straightening his back, he whispered over the top of her head, "Thank you."
It was just like that time in the wilderness of the Big Island in Hawaii, when he had sent her a text: *Thank you.*
When the many layers of masks were peeled away, when his education and life experiences were stripped back, and the cloak of self-protection was removed, he was still that same boy from the past—
A man of few words who, the more he loved, the less he knew how to express it.
It was just like when he first met her; he had thought of a thousand things to say in his head, yet feared he would mess it up. In the end, the simple phrase "It's on me" was the result of deleting dozens of other sentences in his mind.
Yet Yin Guo felt she was truly addicted to his "poison." The fewer his words, the more she felt the man was being sincere.
Lin Yiyang’s phone was still with her, though he had already stepped out.
As soon as Wu Wei saw Lin Yiyang leave, he lunged toward Yin Guo’s side. "Have you seen it? Weibo."
"I have," Yin Guo said. She had been refreshing it constantly.
Once the men's team gold was secured, the online cynicism was drowned out by the public's congratulations on the championship. Sometimes the world was just that cruel; if you wanted to silence the critics, nothing else worked except strength. Proving yourself through results was the only way.
"You saw it and this is your reaction?" Wu Wei’s face was written with disappointment.
"...It’s alright. I’m used to seeing it."
"Used to it??" Wu Wei was shocked. He wondered if Lin Yiyang’s girlfriend had so many suitors that she was even used to *this*?
But Wu Wei had known Yin Guo the longest. After a moment of reflection, he realized she must not have understood what he was talking about.
"Lin Yiyang is on the Hot Search."
"My brother and Jiang Yang are on it too."
The Snooker men's team final had just ended, so it was naturally the hottest topic of discussion. When she was getting water for Lin Yiyang, she had seen several keywords related to the three men of the gold-medal team. It was mostly about winning glory for the country and the sudden discovery of a niche sport—and more importantly, the realization that there were so many handsome guys in this niche sport. Naturally, it sparked a discussion.
"You’ve seen all that? Did you see his alt account?" Wu Wei asked again.
*Alt account?* Yin Guo was blank.
Wu Wei shoved his phone into her hand.
The latest keyword in the Hot Search was "LinY."
He really had an alt account? Didn't he say he didn't use Weibo?
Yin Guo tapped on it and was immediately met with a screen full of screenshots from the "LinY" account. They had all been unearthed after the match.
It started before the Snooker team event. Some well-meaning netizens wanted to comfort the captain of the billiards team—who had clearly won two golds yet was still being mocked for his past retirement. They wanted to leave a message on his Weibo, only to find that Lin Yiyang didn't have a registered account.
Of course, people refused to believe it and kept searching for clues.
Soon, netizens discovered that the veteran players from Dongxin City all happened to follow an account named "LinY" that had very few followers. Based on Lin Yiyang’s competition name in the US, "Lin," the pieces clicked together.
Everyone concluded that an account followed by so many industry big shots had to be the captain himself.
The reason it made the Hot Search wasn't just because an "alt account" was rare. What was rare was that this account had only one purpose: reposting news and videos of a certain female player’s matches. A long string of the system's default "Reposted Weibo" text appeared, with only one instance of a three-word comment...
Repost: Video of the Singapore Open.
"Reposted Weibo"
Repost: Video of the China Open.
"Reposted Weibo"
Repost: Video of the 9-Ball World Cup Finals.
"Reposted Weibo"
Repost: News of this year’s Hangzhou tournament champion.
"A breakthrough."
Repost: Video of this year’s World Championships.
"Reposted Weibo"
...
Yin Guo was almost dying of laughter. He really was as brief as possible, avoiding typing whenever he could.
Lin Yiyang never mentioned her matches, so Yin Guo had assumed he hadn't watched them. After all, he had been busy enough last year competing in both Snooker and domestic 9-ball events. Seeing him reposting all the news about her matches and even going out of his way to find videos made her truly feel that during their year of long-distance romance, he had been silently following her in his own way.
Of course, besides videos and news, he occasionally posted a "nine-grid" of her latest photos. They were all from good angles—beautiful photos, and even some screenshots he had taken himself from match videos.
Lin Yiyang never added any text commentary to Yin Guo’s photos. Except for a photo leaked during this year’s 9-ball World Championship training camp, where he commented: *Who designed these clothes?*
It was under this post, where he clearly loathed the athletic uniform, that Jiang Yang’s reply confirmed "LinY" was indeed Lin Yiyang.
Jiang Yang: *Why don't you repost our matches?*
LinY: *Not interested.*
Jiang Yang: *...*
Those were the only two sentences of text in the entire Weibo history, plus that one exchange with Jiang Yang.
But it was enough to convey one message: this incredibly handsome captain of the national billiards team had a sweetheart, and she was a fellow professional—a beautiful young 9-ball player. And it seemed the little beauty didn't even deign to interact with him? She didn't even follow him back.
Billiards was too niche; in the past, no one cared to gossip about these things. So, were the two of them close? Had he won her over? Or had he not even started pursuing her and was just pining away in a silent crush? This became a massive mystery.
She couldn't stop laughing as she read. Lin Yiyang was being imagined as such a tragic, pining figure...
Soon, an even more impressive netizen posted a screenshot of Lin Yiyang’s confession to Yin Guo in the stands before the US Open, even adding a Chinese translation: "Stop guessing, everyone. Before this captain even made his comeback, he was already wildly pursuing her."
"Did he get her in the end or not?"
"I watched the video ten times. He spoke so vaguely; he probably didn't get her, right?"
"As a veteran fan of the billiards circle, according to reliable sources, he's still chasing."
"Holy crap. Someone that handsome still hasn't caught her?!"
"Calling him an 'idol' would be an insult to his skills, but calling him a 'sports genius' doesn't highlight his heart-stoppingly handsome face... I was just about to shamelessly call him 'husband,' and then you show me this... I really shouldn't have clicked this trending topic."
"I'm so jealous. What does it feel like to be pursued by someone like that? Ahhh..."
...
Yin Guo felt embarrassed by the time she finished scrolling, but Wu Wei was watching her with immense excitement. "Your vanity must be exploding, right?"
Just thinking about it was thrilling. A man who dominated the arena and commanded the attention of thousands was found to be like a little fanboy, using an alt account to either post your match videos, news, or a bunch of screenshots he took himself... No matter who that "you" was, they would be moved to tears.
And yet, the two of them were in a semi-underground relationship, and everyone still thought the man hadn't succeeded and was still struggling to win her over—it made people even more envious.
"What are you looking at?"
The man's voice came from above.
Wu Wei wiped the smile off his face and snatched his phone back from Yin Guo. "Time to go. The coach said we're leaving."
He explained that the head coach had decided to let the Chinese team lead the way out to shake hands and say goodbye to the local fans. Otherwise, it would be a pity for the crowd waiting outside and the crowd waiting inside the stadium. After delivering the message, he vanished.
Yin Guo couldn't admit she was scrolling through his trending topics with Wu Wei. "Let me help you with your jacket." She meant the team uniform draped over his shoulders.
"I can do it myself," Lin Yiyang said.
He was immediately met with a dissatisfied glare from Yin Guo. He had no choice but to let her help.
Yin Guo carefully guided his right arm into the sleeve, then the left. She moved in front of him and pulled up the zipper. The sound of the plastic zipper sliding was audible only to the two of them.
"You have an alt account on Weibo?" she asked tentatively.
Lin Yiyang went silent for a second... So that’s what they were looking at.
He explained, "Weibo is convenient for saving things."
"Oh." She suppressed a smile.
Lin Yiyang found her smile mysterious. When he first registered the account, it really was just for the convenience of saving news and videos. There was a lot of material if you searched Weibo; by comparison, you couldn't find anything on WeChat Moments. And the reason he hadn't told her was because he would occasionally leave a comment or two. Men and women think differently, and he was afraid she might be unhappy if she saw them.
In the end, Yin Guo didn't tell him about the major event of "LinY" being discovered. Imagining his expression when he went back tonight to find over ten thousand comments on his posts, she couldn't help but laugh again.
Lin Yiyang sensed something was off. "What are you laughing at?"
She shook her head and straightened the collar of his tracksuit. "I didn't expect you to always watch my matches and even save them."
He didn't think much of it. Of course he would watch. During the days they couldn't see each other, watching her matches was his greatest pastime—whether it was text updates or videos.
Yin Guo found his cue case. "Let Jiang Yang help you with your sports bag. I'll carry the cues."
Watching Yin Guo walk away, Lin Yiyang still had an intuition—something was being kept from him. He couldn't figure it out for now; he'd wait until they got back to the hotel.
Soon, all the members of the Chinese billiards team were packed up. Carrying their sports bags and holding their cue cases, they followed Lin Yiyang toward the glass doors under the guidance of the organizers.
Outside the glass doors, all the floodlights of the stadium were on. The moment the doors were pushed open, a cacophony of cheers crashed against everyone's eardrums. Yin Guo suddenly couldn't hear anything clearly.
Everyone thought Lin Yiyang would be the first to walk out, but he stopped.
Lin Yiyang held one glass door open with his left hand. Jiang Yang smiled and pushed the other glass door open. The two seniors opened a bright path for those behind them.
Leaning against the door, Lin Yiyang looked back and urged the crowd behind him, "Aren't you going?"
The others hesitated for a second before following one by one, their figures merging into the endless sea of people.
Lin Yiyang and Jiang Yang waited until the last team member had walked out before sharing a smile. They let go at the same time, and the two glass doors swung shut.
Yin Guo looked back and saw Lin Yiyang and Jiang Yang being swamped by the crowd. The two of them wouldn't be able to get away as easily as the others. Everyone was reaching out, wanting to say their goodbyes.
For some reason, she thought of the song that had been playing that day when Lin Yiyang had first returned from his long journey and accompanied her to practice in the small pool hall below her New York apartment—
*"Dominating the world, I roam at will as thousands look up in awe.*
*Dominating the world, I never need to look back.*
*Turning heaven and earth upside down, I define and write my own laws..."*
Perhaps from that day on, when she stood by the pool table and saw his silhouette—wearing a black long-sleeved T-shirt and ordinary jeans, picking up a house cue—she should have known this man would reach this day, and arrive at this place.
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 团金 | Team Gold | Refers to the gold medal in the team event. |
| 小号 | Alt account | A secondary or secret social media account. |
| 热搜 | Hot Search / Trending | Refers to the trending topics list on platforms like Weibo. |
| 九宫格 | Nine-grid | A common 3x3 photo layout on Chinese social media. |
| 叱咤风云 | Chizha Fengyun | A famous Cantopop song (literally "Shaking the World") often associated with power and brotherhood. |
