Hearing You Say Love chapter 54
Doing Something Little Wolf Likes
They drove Su Ming’s car to the boxing gym.
The gym was stuffy, and Zou Beiyuan told Su Ming to wait for him in his private lounge, but Su Ming wanted to stay by his side and chose to sit on a bench near the training area.
A local boxing club also trained here, and at this hour, there were quite a few people around.
From his seat, Su Ming could see most of the gym, so he adjusted his glasses and looked around, seeing if there were any muscular guys he could use as drawing references.
In the equipment area, someone in a gray training vest was doing dumbbell presses, with well-toned arm muscles, but his chest didn’t match Zou Beiyuan’s. Pass.
At the rowing machine was a guy who looked a bit like Takeshi Kaneshiro, but he was too skinny with little muscle. Pass.
In the functional training area, a shirtless guy was pushing a sled, showing off an eight-pack, but he was a bit too short and bulky, lacking the balanced physique of Zou Beiyuan. Pass.
After looking around, Su Ming concluded that his Little Wolf’s physique was the best in the gym, so he rested his chin in his hand and focused on watching Zou Beiyuan.
Zou Beiyuan had changed into a black, close-fitting athletic shirt, with a patch covering the hickey on his neck, making it look like he’d slept wrong.
He hadn’t started training yet and was talking with a foreign man with blonde hair and a beard.
Su Ming had heard Zou Beiyuan mention that his coach, Joyce, was from the U.S., so this must be him.
Zou Beiyuan looked over a training schedule Joyce handed him, frowning a bit in apparent dissatisfaction, and discussed it with Joyce for a while. Joyce responded with an “OK” gesture and made some notes on the training plan.
Zou Beiyuan’s first exercise was jump rope.
When Su Ming saw Joyce hand him the rope, he wondered why a professional boxer would use jump rope—it seemed like something from elementary school.
Then he watched Zou Beiyuan start jumping, his hands moving so fast they left afterimages, and his feet moving in such intricate steps that Su Ming couldn’t follow, all while maintaining a casual, relaxed expression.
In just a few seconds, Su Ming sat up straight, speechless except for Whoa.
This version of Little Wolf was insanely cool.
Why hadn’t he come to watch him train sooner?
Su Ming’s eyes couldn’t keep up with Zou Beiyuan’s speed and had no idea how many jumps he did.
After one set, Zou Beiyuan’s gaze “accidentally” swept over to Su Ming. When he saw Su Ming watching him, he turned his face away, pretending to be unaffected.
Joyce, noticing all of Zou Beiyuan’s little actions, couldn’t help but smile despite his thick beard. “Zou, that handsome guy on the bench—is he your boyfriend?”
Zou Beiyuan, keeping a straight face, replied, “No, he’s my cousin.”
Joyce grinned. “Did he leave that hickey on your neck?”
Zou Beiyuan: “…”
Joyce: “He is staring at you jumping rope totally mesmerized.”
Zou Beiyuan wiped his sweat and said, “Oh, then add two more sets.”
So, he proceeded to perform two more high-level jump rope sets right in front of Su Ming, showing off rather than just training, to the point where everyone gathered around to watch.
Tsk, fine, go ahead and watch, but why stand in front of me?
They were blocking Su Ming’s view.
After finishing his sets, Zou Beiyuan tossed the rope aside, looking visibly unhappy.
While the crowd had blocked him from Su Ming’s view, a man had come to sit next to Su Ming.
Su Ming recognized the man—it was Yu Dian, who had been with them at the hot spring hotel for Zou Beiyuan’s birthday
Yu Dian had a friend whose kid had recently been diagnosed with severe hearing loss. When he saw Su Ming, he thought to ask about cochlear implants.
Su Ming, who was already involved in an early childhood hearing intervention project, talked with Yu Dian for a while.
Meanwhile, as Zou Beiyuan was hitting the heavy bag, he noticed them chatting and gesturing animatedly. At one point, Su Ming even pulled his hair aside to show Yu Dian his cochlear implant…
Bam! The heavy bag soared from a fierce straight punch.
Zou Beiyuan told Joyce, “I want Yu Dian to spar with me.”
Joyce glanced at the training plan. “There’s no sparring scheduled for today.”
Zou Beiyuan replied, “Schedule it now.”
Yu Dian, who had just finished his workout and was about to head home, found himself dragged into an intense sparring session with Zou Beiyuan.
Zou Beiyuan sparred unusually hard, leaving Yu Dian to wonder if he’d somehow offended him.
It was Su Ming’s second time seeing Zou Beiyuan up close in the ring, his eyes practically glued to him with admiration.
Zou Beiyuan fought even harder. As a heavyweight, Yu Dian was struggling under Zou Beiyuan’s relentless attacks, eventually taking the sparring match seriously. What started as an impromptu session turned into a captivating fight.
A crowd gathered around the ring, and Su Ming got pushed to the front, so close he could almost hear the impact of the gloves against flesh.
Zou Beiyuan’s punches were as crisp and powerful as ever, and he used his favorite technique of delivering rapid punches to suppress his opponent. Despite being smaller than the more muscular Yu Dian, he showed no fear.
His impressive dodges earned gasps of admiration from the professional boxers watching.
Unlike last time at the bar, where Su Ming simply watched Zou Beiyuan’s fight, this time he overheard people discussing his physical condition and boxing skills, and finally realized just how remarkable his little wolf truly was.
This skill wasn’t just talent; it was honed from countless hours of repetitive training.
The Zou Beiyuan in the ring made Su Ming’s heart race, but the Zou Beiyuan off the ring made him fall even harder.
When the impromptu sparring match ended, Zou Beiyuan’s shirt was soaked in sweat, clinging to him and outlining his chest and abs.
Su Ming watched him longingly, wanting to go over and talk, but after a few steps, Yu Dian stopped him.
Yu Dian asked if he could give his friend his WeChat contact to discuss cochlear implants. Su Ming, always enthusiastic about this kind of work, agreed immediately, taking out his phone to add Yu Dian as a friend.
Zou Beiyuan gave Su Ming a silent glance, then looked down and began unwrapping the boxing wraps from his hands. Joyce, standing nearby, said, “Well done. That’s enough training for today; don’t keep your boyfriend waiting too long.”
Zou Beiyuan, expressionless, replied, “What’s left on the plan?”
Joyce said, “You still have half an hour of core, an hour of cardio, nine rounds of shadow boxing, nine rounds on the bag, an hour of footwork, and half an hour of stretching.”
Zou Beiyuan: “I’ll do the footwork and stretching before I leave.”
So Su Ming ended up waiting for Zou Beiyuan at the gym until after 11 p.m. The footwork drills were repetitive, and as impressive as Zou Beiyuan was, Su Ming was getting drowsy.
Joyce was by Zou Beiyuan’s side the whole time, so Su Ming had no chance to speak to him, let alone share a tender moment.
A few times, he wanted to approach Zou Beiyuan during his breaks, but when he heard them talking in a language he couldn’t understand, he felt a bit distant.
More specifically, anytime Zou Beiyuan was with Joyce, Su Ming felt a sense of unfamiliarity. So, he stayed on the sidelines the whole time.
Zou Beiyuan’s face looked chilly, even colder than when they’d arrived earlier, and Su Ming couldn’t figure out why his Little Wolf was so hard to please that day.
So he decided to consult Chen Muchao.
Su Ming: [Are you awake? Need some advice.]
Chen Muchao, probably lying in bed on his phone, quickly replied: [Shoot.]
Su Ming: [How do you usually make up with Ling Shanshan when you argue?]
Chen Muchao understood the situation immediately: [Little Wolf? You two argued? Just give him a kiss, and he’ll be putty in your hands, right?]
Su Ming: [I tried kissing… even a full on kiss didn’t work; he’s still upset. *crying emoji*]
Chen Muchao: [Haha, nice, seems like Little Wolf’s matured a bit.]
Chen Muchao: [What’d you do to make him so angry?]
Su Ming: [First, tell me how to cheer him up.]
Chen Muchao: [Depends on the argument, and whether it can be resolved. If it can, obviously, address the issue first.]
Su Ming: [It doesn’t seem solvable right now.]
Chen Muchao: [So, you just want to cheer him up?]
Chen Muchao: [Apologize, buy him a gift, go on a date.]
Apologizing wouldn’t work—Su Ming didn’t think he’d done anything wrong and couldn’t compromise his principles to appease Zou Beiyuan.
As for gifts…
Su Ming: [What kind of gift?]
Chen Muchao: [With Shanshan, I usually buy bags, flowers, clothes, or take her shopping till she’s happy.]
Su Ming: …
None of that suited Zou Beiyuan, and he definitely wouldn’t enjoy shopping.
So, that left going on a date as the only option.
Su Ming: [When you go on dates, how do you plan them?]
Chen Muchao: [Su, you draw so many romance comics—don’t know how to plan a date?]
Su Ming: [If I followed the comics, I’d probably pass out from exhaustion.]
Chen Muchao: [For normal people, they usually just go out to eat, watch a movie, go shopping, or visit a park. The important thing is that the two of you are together, so anything will do. Then, during the date, you can do some things that he likes as well.]
Got it. Eat, watch a movie, go to the park, and then find a secluded spot in the park to do something Little Wolf would like.
Su Ming: [Thanks.]
Chen Muchao: [Remember, always do things that he likes.]
Su Ming: [Got it.]
Tonight, I’ll try one thing first.