Jiang Yao · chat.title

[Setting Up a Date] Linlan City, Lanan Swimming Club, Tuesday afternoon. The digital clock by the poolside ticked to 3:40 PM. Seven or eight students drifted in the pool, some clinging to the edge practicing flutter kicks, others doing laps in the deep end. You were crouched at the edge working as a teaching assistant. Your main duties consisted of handing kickboards to Jiang Yao, keeping time, and yelling whenever a student's form went haywire. When Jiang Yao originally roped you in, he had painted a rosy picture—"gain teaching experience," "expand your network," "get some free exercise along the way." Since you were unemployed and practically growing mold at home, you thought it made sense and took the gig. Only after settling in did you gradually sense something off: your assigned "assistant shifts" always overlapped with his classes with uncanny precision. Wherever you walked, he was within three meters. Even when you went to the locker room to grab something, he'd "just happen" to be strolling past the entrance. You took this as clinginess, deep devotion, the natural extension of four years of dedicated simping, and felt a little touched by it. —Of course, you had no clue about his real calculation: unemployment meant no income, and no income meant an indefinite delay on repaying that 300 yuan. By reeling you under his nose as an assistant, he ensured you had something to do and stayed under watch, allowing him to pounce the second you actually drew a paycheck. Midway through this afternoon's session, a heavyweight figure arrived at the pool: Auntie Wu Gui-fang, fifty-eight, a retired middle manager from a state-owned enterprise and a founding member of the club. She paid her annual fees more willingly than anyone, earning her the title of "club patron mom." She came to swim three times a week and spent half an hour chatting with Jiang Yao each time, covering everything from wellness tips to investments to which beauty salon in Linlan had the best membership deals. Over the past three months, however, her focus had narrowed intensely—setting Jiang Yao up on a blind date. "Xiao Jiang!" Auntie Wu hadn't hopped into the water today. Dressed in a silk two-piece suit, she sat on a poolside lounger fluttering a folding fan, her voice booming so loudly the entire natatorium could hear. "That girl I told you about last time, the one at the state-owned enterprise? Twenty-nine, sharp as a tack, family owns two apartments, parents both in the system. When are you free to meet up?" Jiang Yao stood by the pool with dripping hair, a whistle hanging around his neck, sporting his standard customer-service smile. "Auntie Wu, my schedule's packed lately. I really can't carve out any time—" "Can't carve out time? You soak here all day long!" Auntie Wu pointed her fan toward the lanes. "I have your teaching schedule memorized. Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, Saturday mornings. Where's this lack of time coming from? Just tell me honestly—are you looking down on her?" A few swimmers in the pool began sneaking glances. At the front desk, Shen Wei pretended to organize paperwork while her ears perked up like a rabbit's. Jiang Yao's smile didn't slip, but his Adam's apple bobbed. "It's not that at all, Auntie Wu. I really—" "Do you already have someone?" Auntie Wu snapped her fan shut, her eyes narrowing as she shifted gears. "If you're seeing someone, just say so. I'm not unreasonable." The poolside went dead silent for two seconds. Jiang Yao didn't answer right away. To Auntie Wu, that silence read as an admission, though she clearly doubted it—she'd observed the boy for three months. Aside from teaching, he was soaking in the pool, and during breaks, he just poked at his phone. He didn't look like someone in a relationship at all. She came here today specifically for a straight answer. "Xiao Jiang, I'll be blunt. If you say you don't have someone, I'm setting up a meeting next week. She's a fantastic catch; miss this chance and you'll regret it—" Jiang Yao scanned the natatorium. Around thirty students, half of them staring his way. Then his eyes flicked toward the edge of the pool—you were crouching two meters away picking up kickboards, completely oblivious that the storm's epicenter was about to shift. Three thoughts flashed through his head at lightning speed: First, he couldn't deflect Auntie Wu's offensive any longer; push it further and she'd literally drag the girl to the club. Second, he needed an excuse, any excuse, to shut down her matchmaking for good. Third— Third, his gaze settled on you. You were crouching by the water clutching three kickboards, glancing up at him with an utterly clueless expression. Jiang Yao made a snap decision that he would later reflect on and wonder, *Did I actually have water on the brain?* Taking two strides over, he leaned down and slipped his left arm effortlessly around your waist. With just the right amount of force, he hoisted you from a crouch to your feet, pulling you flush against his side. Turning back to Auntie Wu, his smile remained steady, his tone as light as if he were quoting an hourly rate: "Auntie, I do have someone. It's them." The surface of the pool rippled. Overhead exhaust fans droned. At the front desk, Shen Wei slapped a folder onto the counter with a loud *thwack*, shaking uncontrollably with laughter, lips pressed tight and eyes crinkled into slits. Auntie Wu's folding fan froze in midair. Her jaw dropped slightly as she looked from Jiang Yao to you, and back down to the hand resting firmly on your waist. Finally, her eyes settled on your face, taking you in from head to toe as if seeing you for the first time. "...Xiao Jiang, you... why didn't you mention this earlier, kid?" Auntie Wu snapped her fan shut, her expression swiftly transitioning from shock to a subtle, evaluating look before she broke into a laugh. "Oh my goodness, here I was worrying for nothing! You silly kid, you could've just said so. Why keep it hidden away—" A few teasing wolf-whistles echoed from the pool. Several middle-aged ladies began whispering among themselves, someone murmuring "no wonder," while others chuckled. Zhao Yiming didn't have classes today but was hanging around the club. Leaning against the locker room door, he held his phone up pretending to text, his shoulders violently vibrating like a sieve. And you— You were completely frozen. Jiang Yao's palm gripped your waist through the thin fabric of your quick-dry shirt, burning with an unnaturally high heat, firm as if welded in place. When he said "It's them," he sounded as casual as reciting a price tag, but your ears buzzed, and all the surrounding noise felt muted beneath a layer of water. Four years. He'd followed you for four entire years, and today—today he finally announced it in public. Sure, it was an excuse to dodge a blind date, the setting wasn't ideal, and his tone sounded like he was merely humoring Auntie Wu—but he said it. He said it with his arm around your waist, in front of more than thirty people. You turned to look at him. He was chatting and laughing with Auntie Wu, the clean lines of his jaw sharply defined. The tips of his ears were slightly flushed, yet his expression remained completely composed, exuding an air of "it's no big deal." Your heart pounded so hard you couldn't control it, and the three kickboards in your grip nearly tumbled into the water. Meanwhile, Jiang Yao, who was smiling politely through small talk with Auntie Wu, was running an entirely different ledger in his mind: *(Phew, barely managed to dodge that bullet. If Auntie Wu kept pressing, I wouldn't have been able to make up another lie. Wait, when I touched their waist just now, did it feel a bit tighter than before? Haven't they been eating properly? No, that's not the point—the point is Auntie Wu is finally off my back. Once word gets out, the whole club will know Coach Jiang is taken, which saves me the trouble of dealing with Lin Yue later too. Killing two birds with one stone.)* *(The problem is, what was with that look on their face just now? Eyes wide, blushing like crazy? Crap, did they get the wrong idea? ...Whatever, let them misunderstand. A misunderstanding works in my favor anyway—saves me from finding excuses to keep tabs on them. As long as the debt isn't settled, the bigger the misunderstanding, the slower they'll run.)* He released your waist, giving your back a light pat. Leaning down close, he whispered in a voice only you could hear: "Don't just stand there. Play along and do me a favor." His tone was relaxed, carrying a faint chuckle. To your ears, it translated into, *Don't be shy, I'm right here.* What he actually meant was, *Don't blow my cover. I'll explain later—though the explanation isn't remotely what you think it is.* Auntie Wu fluttered her fan and left satisfied, even patting your shoulder on the way out to say, "Good, good, Auntie will treat you two to a meal sometime soon!" Order returned to the pool; students resumed kicking drills. Shen Wei shot you a text from the front desk with just one word: "Congrats." Unable to hold it in any longer by the locker room entrance, Zhao Yiming let out a choked, bizarre wheeze, earning a deadly glare from Jiang Yao across half the pool. Jiang Yao turned back to look at you, his expression calm, carrying a faint smile. "About just now—I'll explain the details later." Pausing for a beat, he added, "Don't read too much into it." You stared at him, your head swirling with the image of his hand wrapped around your waist, ears still ringing. When he said "Don't read too much into it"—you took it as *Don't be nervous, we can take things slow.* You nodded, your face still burning hot. Seeing you nod, Jiang Yao breathed a silent sigh of relief: *Good, they're cooperating. Saves me the breath.* Then he turned, blew his whistle, and signaled the students to keep training. With his back to you, he discreetly rubbed the palm that had held your waist against his swim briefs—it was drenched in sweat, and he couldn't tell whether it was from the ambient heat or something else entirely.