Relaxation 1

Bring swimming gear: goggles, a cap, trunks, and a bottle of eye drops.

Rather than call on the personal assistant who worked for him, Wang Yiyang had let Lei Wei know in advance that she could take the day off and rest.

He grabbed a plastic bag, stepped outside, and set off for the swimming pool.

The elevator was still broken. The notice posted beside it had been replaced with one bearing a new date.

Wang Yiyang couldn't be bothered to look any closer. He headed down the stairs, and when he reached the third floor, he instinctively glanced at Li Ran's home.

There was no movement behind the security door. With the police involved, Li Ran was probably still busy handling the paperwork related to the inheritance.

He felt some sympathy for the young woman, but Wang Yiyang had never been one to meddle.

He had always believed that everything in the world followed its own rules, and that being able to manage oneself was the greatest achievement of all.

He had helped her twice before; that was just normal neighborly kindness between people who knew each other.

For Wang Yiyang, doing good deeds was a rather unusual kind of pastime.

Some people did good deeds in hopes of earning blessings in return, but he didn't.

He never expected anything in return for doing good deeds. Besides, he rarely did them.

There was one other thing: he did good deeds not for others, but for himself.

It was like scattering some bread crumbs for the pigeons when he passed through a square.

Sometimes Wang Yiyang wondered if, without the constraints of the law, he might do bad things just as casually.

He made his way downstairs and, as he had in the past, boarded a sparsely occupied bus. Watching the map on his phone, he joined the other passengers in inching toward the unfamiliar swimming pool with the help of navigation.

The kind of quiet he had once found tiresome now left him immersed in it, even enjoying it.

As the bus gradually filled up, Wang Yiyang noticed a mother holding a baby. Frowning, she swayed as the crowd jostled her, able to hold on to the pole with only one hand.

He looked around.

A young man in the priority seat for the elderly, children, and disabled was pretending to have his eyes closed as he listened to music.

The other passengers in the nearby seats seemed to share an unspoken understanding. They looked away, fixing their attention elsewhere.

There were only so many seats on the bus. The passengers looked everywhere—even at the trash can—but no one looked at the woman holding the baby.

Wang Yiyang smiled, fished a key ring out of his pocket, and jabbed the tip of one of the keys into the gap by the young man's backside.

"Ow!"

The young man sprang up with a yelp, nearly bumping into a man with glasses beside him.

Just then, the bus reached a stop and opened its doors. Wang Yiyang stood and let the mother with the baby take his seat, then stepped off the bus at an unhurried pace.

The young man was still searching the seat in confusion. He suspected someone behind him had jabbed him, but why would anyone do that for no reason?

When he saw Wang Yiyang getting off with a smile, he seemed to realize what had happened, and his face darkened with anger.

But it was too late. The doors slid shut.

Carrying his bag, Wang Yiyang took out his phone to check the directions and strolled toward the swimming pool.

Since the incident when the police raided the Mantis gang at a hotel, public safety in Yingxing City had noticeably improved.

Apparently, the head of the city bureau had taken the opportunity to launch a sweeping crackdown on the city's criminal forces, bringing down quite a few of their protectors.

Wang Yiyang wasn't particularly interested in any of that.

After turning a few corners, he finally spotted the swimming pool he was looking for, near an upscale residential complex.

The pool building was cylindrical, with numerous arcs and seemingly mysterious, complex alphabetic symbols covering its walls. Together, they formed an ancient pattern with a strong cultural feel.

But after taking a closer look, Wang Yiyang quickly realized that the pattern was nothing more than a single sentence, repeatedly scrambled and rearranged.

The original sentence read, "Welcome to White Bear Swimming Pool. A swim costs ten yuan, and annual passes are discounted!"

"...That's creative." Wang Yiyang was impressed.

This sort of creative advertising had taken off a few years ago.

The patterns on those exterior walls could actually be adjusted using software.

He pushed open the glass door and strode inside.

A young female attendant came over and asked if he wanted to buy a membership card—monthly, quarterly, or annual. She also asked if he needed swimming gear and reminded him to wear a swim cap.

People who had just finished swimming were milling around the lobby. The air was filled with a mixture of steam and a faint incense fragrance.

Wang Yiyang took a light sniff. To his surprise, he couldn't smell any sweat.

He bought a single-use swimming pass, then used it to change, shower, and dry himself before heading to the pool.

He didn't get into the water right away. Instead, he jogged on a treadmill beside the pool for five minutes to warm up.

Then he stood by the pool and stretched his arms, calves, thighs, waist, back, and spine.

After finishing his warm-up, he tilted his neck from side to side. Feeling ready, he looked at the cold, sparsely occupied pool.

Then he suddenly thought:

I'll be thirsty when I get out. I could buy something warm now and leave it nearby, so I can drink it after my swim.

He decided to do just that. Wang Yiyang hurried over to a small counter nearby and ordered a hot cocoa. Then he found a table and chairs by the pool and set it down.

The weather was turning cold, so there weren't many people swimming. Quite a few only splashed around for twenty or thirty minutes before getting out and leaving at their leisure. They didn't stay in the water long.

Wang Yiyang got a towel. After setting down his hot cocoa, he noticed the projected television hanging nearby.

It was showing a swimming competition. One of the athletes had suddenly developed a cramp underwater.

Medical personnel rushed to the scene and quickly carried the athlete away.

The television then began explaining how to prevent cramps while swimming.

Wang Yiyang watched and learned attentively for a while, then realized he hadn't prepared carefully enough. He had missed some stretches, which could easily cause him to cramp up in the water.

So he began stretching again to make up for it.

By the time he finished, he realized he had cooled down after his earlier warm-up.

So he jogged on the treadmill again. Just as he was about to get into the water afterward, he noticed that the hot cocoa on the table was almost cold.

Should I drink it while it's still warm? Wang Yiyang simply went over and picked it up, then gulped it down.

Two minutes later, he'd finished the cup of hot cocoa.

He burped.

I've eaten too much. I shouldn't exercise right away; I need to let it digest. Wang Yiyang thought that made perfect sense. He had always followed this rule.

So he looked at the azure pool again, then settled back onto a deck chair. He covered himself with a white towel and began waiting for his meal to digest.

Before he knew it, twenty minutes had passed.

Feeling that he had digested his food enough, Wang Yiyang promptly stood up and began stretching and warming up.

This time, he was ready to go swimming!

He put on his swim cap and goggles, adjusted his trunks, and splashed some cold water over himself.

Wang Yiyang stood motionless at the water's edge for a while.

Splash!

He suddenly made a small leap and plunged forward into the water like a fish.

Water flew everywhere as Wang Yiyang swam twenty meters in ten minutes. Exhausted, he grabbed the metal handrail and climbed out of the pool.

He checked the time.

He had been at the swimming pool for an hour.

"Have I been swimming for an hour already? I must've overdone it today. Time to head back."

He let out a breath, feeling as though the pool's wholesome, healthful atmosphere had washed over his body and mind. He felt healthier all over.

Once he was out of the water, he draped a towel over his neck. Gasping for breath, he walked alongside two burly men who had swum dozens of laps, and somehow didn't look out of place.

A faint, stifled laugh drifted over from nearby.

Wang Yiyang looked over. On the far side of the pool, several fair-skinned, beautiful girls with ponytails were playfully teasing one another on a row of white deck chairs, laughing together.

Their one-piece and two-piece swimsuits revealed pale skin that gleamed beneath the lights of the swimming pool.

Wang Yiyang looked away, figuring they must be laughing at the young man in the pool wearing a swimming ring.

He shook his head slightly and used the towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"With weather like this, I really need to exercise."

He lifted the curtain to the men's shower area and strode inside.

After his swim, shower, and hair-dry, he cleaned out his ears, then emerged from White Bear Swimming Pool feeling refreshed.

No crisis, no threats, no pressure.

He could empty his mind, exercise to his limits, and push himself as hard as he could.

Then he could enjoy the comfort that followed the exhaustion.

Wang Yiyang didn't go far. He found a hot pot restaurant nearby and sat down.

After exercising all afternoon, he deserved a hot pot meal.

He ordered a pile of meat and vegetables for himself. The thick, spicy beef tallow broth bubbled away on the electric hot plate, filling the air with a rich aroma.

Wang Yiyang picked up a slice of pork belly with his chopsticks and dipped it into the pot. Then he lifted it out and swirled it in his chili dipping sauce.

Red chili oil, green scallions, white meat and pork skin, all steaming hot, went into Wang Yiyang's mouth.

Slice after slice of meat, plate after plate of vegetables.

Soon, most of the plates that had filled the table were empty. Wang Yiyang wiped his mouth with a satisfied look, leaned back in his chair, and tipped his head back to let out a long breath.

"It's been ages since I've enjoyed a meal this much..." He rested in his chair for a while, then was about to ask for the bill.

Just then, another group came into the hot pot restaurant. There were men and women among them, and one person looked somewhat familiar to Wang Yiyang.

Before he could remember who she was, she waved at him first.

"Brother Yang! What a coincidence."

Su Ling greeted Wang Yiyang warmly.

Ever since meeting Wang Yiyang on the bus last time, she hadn't run into him again.

But he had left a deep impression on her during that bus ride, so she recognized him as soon as she saw him.

She recognized Wang Yiyang, but he looked a little lost, unable to remember who she was.

The events of the past few days had been so overwhelming that meeting Su Ling and another female office worker on the bus last time seemed as insignificant as a grain of sand beside a pile of jewels.

But since she had greeted him, he pretended to recognize her and returned a polite smile.

"What a coincidence. Are you here for hot pot too?"

"Yeah, I'm here with some friends."

"Maybe we can get together for a meal sometime?"

"Sure. I'll bring Shasha along next time." Su Ling smiled and exchanged a few polite words with him.

Shasha? Who's that?

Wang Yiyang had completely forgotten the other young woman who had been with Su Ling. Even though he couldn't remember her, he kept his expression calm.

Since Su Ling's friends were there, she couldn't say much. After exchanging a few brief words, they went their separate ways.