Chapter 61: My Massage Technique Is Pretty Good
Hearing what Chen Mo said, Zhao Yuanyuan thought about it and realized it must be incredibly hard work.
This line of work was just like performing on stage—ten years of practice for one minute in the spotlight.
That moment in the spotlight was earned through countless hours of training and honing one’s skills offstage.
But then again, every field was more or less the same. Just like with studying, intelligence was one part of it, but the effort you put in privately was also crucial.
If you wanted to shine in front of others, you first had to suffer behind the scenes.
The only exceptions were those who skyrocketed to fame through pure luck, but in most of those cases, fame came as quickly as it went. It wasn’t something you could rely on.
After Chen Mo’s stunning performance in the 100-meter dash, none of the other students’ results could elicit much of a reaction from the crowd.
Even the one student athlete who, spurred on by Chen Mo’s time, gave it his all, still ended up a bit slower.
Tian Jing looked at Chen Mo with a wistful expression, deciding she would talk to He Xiaoyun later about his potential. She wanted the homeroom teacher to evaluate his talent and future prospects.
After all, it was easier for the homeroom teacher to communicate with a student’s parents.
She really couldn’t bear to see such a talent go to waste.
As the various fitness tests for the PE class concluded, Tian Jing found that at least two-thirds of the class had passed. The remaining third still had certain events they needed extra practice in to shore up their weaknesses.
But she wasn’t going to let the two-thirds who passed get complacent, either. She planned to have them do some extra training too, especially the few who had just barely scraped by.
As for the rest, she would test them again in a future PE class. If their results were consistently within the passing range, she would let them have free time during class.
The teacher kept the one-third of the class who hadn’t passed, along with some of those who had just scraped by, for extra practice.
The rest of the students were given free time.
At this point, there were only about ten minutes left in class.
"Brother Mo, are you thirsty? Want me to go buy you a bottle of water?" Zhao Yuanyuan sidled up to Chen Mo, trying to butter him up with a grin.
"You little rascal. If you want me to pay for your water, just say so," Chen Mo said with a fond smile. He took out a ten-yuan bill and handed it to Zhao Yuanyuan. "Go on."
"You got it! Your personal Thirst-Knight has accepted the order and will deliver it right away!" Zhao Yuanyuan chirped, happily taking the money and dashing off toward the campus store.
On her way, she grabbed Huang Mao and pulled him along with her.
She clearly intended to use him as a pack mule to help carry the water.
Meanwhile, Su Yuqing was resting on a nearby stone bench in the shade, gently massaging her calves with her fists.
Chen Mo walked over with a smile and sat down beside her. "Tired?"
"I’m alright. I exercise pretty regularly," Su Yuqing replied with a gentle smile, stopping the motion of massaging her legs as he sat down.
But he could tell her calves were still a bit sore.
Seeing this, Chen Mo smiled. "I know a technique that’s great for relieving lactic acid buildup after a workout. Let me give you a massage."
"No, it’s..." Su Yuqing started to refuse, but Chen Mo was a step ahead. He took hold of her legs and gently lifted them onto his lap.
Thankfully, their spot was shielded by a thick patch of greenery, hiding them from view of the running track. Otherwise, a crowd would have surely seen them.
The other students on free time had scattered to different parts of the field, so there was no one nearby.
Even so, being treated so intimately by Chen Mo in a public place, in broad daylight, made Su Yuqing incredibly shy.
At the mere thought that someone might see her and Chen Mo in such a position, her ears turned so red it looked like they might start bleeding.
Fortunately, while the regular school uniform included a skirt, the girls were all required to change into track pants for PE class.
If she had been wearing a skirt while her legs rested on his lap like this, she would have been even more mortified.
After settling her calves across his lap, Chen Mo reached out and began to gently press on her left calf.
Chen Mo’s knuckles precisely targeted the Chengshan acupoint at the lower edge of her gastrocnemius muscle. With moderate pressure, his fingers spiraled downward, following the grain of the soleus muscle.
It was a sports rehabilitation technique he had learned at the police academy, and he was deliberately using only a fraction of the usual force.
Even so, the soreness in her calf made Su Yuqing frown slightly.
As Chen Mo’s fingertips found the tender spots, Su Yuqing subconsciously flinched, her ankle twitching.
The searing heat of his palm seeped through her thin uniform socks, landing on her skin like a spark on a frozen lake and sending a shiver up her spine.
But she could also feel his gentleness, and the pleasant relief that followed the initial ache wherever his fingers pressed.
"Relax a little. Don’t tense your muscles, or it won’t be as effective," he murmured, his attention focused entirely on the massage.
Su Yuqing gazed at his serious profile, finding herself captivated.
’They say a person is most attractive when they’re focused on their work,’ she thought. ’It’s really true.’
Chen Mo continued his work, his thumb pressing precisely on a tense spot on her leg. "The lactic acid buildup is most severe right here."
Su Yuqing bit her lower lip, trying her best to relax. Chen Mo’s pressure was just right. A sensation of aching and tingling shot from her calf all the way to the nape of her neck. She had to lean back, her fingers gripping the edge of the stone bench for support.
"You can cry out if it hurts," Chen Mo said, looking up with a slight chuckle. His sweat-damp bangs hung over his brow, and the scent of post-workout adrenaline mixed with fresh grass washed over her.
Su Yuqing turned her face away, the tips of her ears scarlet. "I-It’s fine..."
Before she could finish, Chen Mo suddenly applied more pressure, kneading an acupoint on the inside of her ankle.
"Ngh~" A soft moan escaped her lips before she could stop it. She clamped her mouth shut, her panicked eyes darting left and right, terrified someone might have heard.
A triumphant smirk played on his lips. His fingertips traced a slow path up her Achilles tendon, ghosting over the back of her knee with a barely-there touch.
"Brother Mo! Your Thirst-Knight has returned!" Zhao Yuanyuan’s shout suddenly rang out.
They both froze.
Su Yuqing snatched her legs back as if she’d been shocked, but in her haste, her knee accidentally slammed into Chen Mo’s chin.
With a muffled grunt, he fell backward. Su Yuqing, who had just retracted her legs, immediately spun around and reached out to steady him. As he fell, Chen Mo instinctively grabbed for something to break his fall and ended up wrapping an arm around Su Yuqing’s slender waist, pulling her down so that she landed straddling him.
Because they had both reacted with such force, the scene that greeted Zhao Yuanyuan and Huang Mao was of Chen Mo with an arm wrapped around Su Yuqing’s slender waist as she straddled him, while Su Yuqing, in turn, was holding his head, pressing it against her chest.
"Eek!" By the bushes, Zhao Yuanyuan couldn’t help but cry out at the sight. She immediately covered her eyes with her hands, but her fingers were spread wide apart.
Meanwhile, Huang Mao, who was carrying four bottles of water, peeked out from behind her. A sleazy grin spread across his face as he looked at Chen Mo. Despite having his arms full, he managed to struggle one hand free to give his friend a big thumbs-up.