The Unreturnable Refrigerator - Chapter 12
Chapter 12: Volleyball Class
At Lu Yin’s university, physical education classes were highly sought after.
Especially the popular ones. The difficulty of getting a spot was comparable to getting the cheapest seats for a top-tier concert.
Lu Yin wasn’t worried at all. She had already seen on the school forum that her chosen volleyball class was a very unpopular choice, second only to basketball.
Her dorm room leader, who wanted to take the popular yoga class, had gone to an internet cafe early.
Cheng Siyu was rubbing her hands together in front of the computer. Lu Yin was leisurely swinging her legs and eating a pear on her top bunk.
When Song Xinlei came back, Lu Yin had just finished peeling the pear with her teeth and was biting into its juicy flesh.
“Let me introduce you. This is Sheng Xiali, my good friend from childhood.”
When Lu Yin heard the name, her chewing paused for a moment. The sweet pear juice moistened her teeth, and Lu Yin couldn’t help but lick her lips.
Sheng Xiali, so that was her name.
Lu Yin immediately recognized the person as the one she had seen at the dorm building entrance on the first day of school.
Today, she wasn’t as cold in her all-black outfit as she was that day. She was wearing a soft, light blue T-shirt, the collar a bit faded from too much washing, and a pair of slim-fit jeans. From Lu Yin’s high vantage point, her legs still looked straight and long.
Her hair hadn’t changed; it was still tied up in a neat, high ponytail just like that day. A few stray strands of hair fluttered in the breeze from the dorm’s fan.
After Song Xinlei’s introduction, her gaze first went to Cheng Siyu, who was sitting on her seat, and she gave a perfectly polite smile.
Cheng Siyu smiled back: “Hello, my name is Cheng Siyu. Feel free to come to our dorm and hang out. Such a pretty girl should come more often.”
Sheng Xiali nodded, maintaining her polite and appropriate smile.
Song Xinlei laughed and patted Cheng Siyu’s chair: “Don’t get any ideas just because she’s pretty.”
When she saw Sheng Xiali look at Lu Yin, who was sitting on her top bunk, holding onto the bed’s railing, Song Xinlei quickly introduced Lu Yin to her first.
“That’s Lu Yin.”
Then she tried to pull Sheng Xiali back to her seat: “You can choose your class later.”
Sheng Xiali’s gaze and Lu Yin’s gaze met for a moment in the breeze from the fan, and there was a slight waver.
Sheng Xiali’s movements preceded her thoughts as she caught the object thrown at her.
She looked down and saw it was a pear…
Seeing that she had caught the pear, Lu Yin smiled and tilted her head slightly, winking her left eye at Sheng Xiali.
She then took another bite of the pear, chewing even more exaggeratedly than before. Crunch, crunch, it was practically a live mukbang performance.
Lu Yin was about to open her mouth and recommend the pear, saying, “This pear is so sweet, try a piece. If you like it, you can take some more. I bought a whole box.” But before a single word could come out, she saw the pear she had given away being thrown back at her.
Song Xinlei smiled without warmth: “Xiali doesn’t eat pears.”
With that, she pulled her forward again.
Sheng Xiali was not expecting Song Xinlei to just take the pear from her hand and throw it back. She gave Song Xinlei a slightly disapproving look.
Finally, she looked back at Lu Yin apologetically: “Thank you, but I really don’t eat pears.”
Sheng Xiali doesn’t eat pears…
She made a mental note.
Lu Yin smiled, ate the last bite of pear, and threw the core down, landing it precisely in the trash can.
She picked up the pear that had been thrown back at her and, while Song Xinlei was praying to be in the same volleyball class as Sheng Xiali, she started eating the pear skin.
Just like a squirrel eating corn, she ate it slowly and methodically, going around in circles. At the same time, she opened her laptop and went to the course selection page.
Without hurry, without delay, she selected the volleyball class she had planned on taking all along.
What a coincidence.
They were all choosing volleyball.
Cheng Siyu also ended up choosing volleyball. Unlike Lu Yin, she had missed out on all the sports she wanted to sign up for because she had messed up the case of her ID number. All that was left were basketball and volleyball.
Considering her height of less than 160 cm, she tearfully chose volleyball.
When she found out that Song Xinlei and Lu Yin were also in the volleyball class, she felt much better.
She even wanted to form a four-person group with Song Xinlei, Sheng Xiali, and Lu Yin so they could play volleyball together during their free time.
But Song Xinlei refused.
“Xiali and I were on the high school volleyball team. Our skills are on a different level. It’s probably not a good idea for us to be together. You two should learn the basics first.”
Cheng Siyu was a bit unhappy, but she couldn’t argue. She looked at Lu Yin, a little worried: “Yinyin, what about you? Do you have any prior experience?”
Lu Yin saw Song Xinlei looking at her with an undisguised sense of wariness, as if she was afraid that Lu Yin also wanted to cling to them. Lu Yin then glanced at Sheng Xiali.
She wasn’t looking at her.
Lu Yin thought for a moment and smiled, shaking her head: “No, I’ve never played before.”
On the first day of volleyball class, the teacher asked the same question. After the basic instruction, when it was time for free practice, he organized a game for the students with prior experience.
From then on, it was basically this model: those without experience practiced the basics, and those with experience played games.
With this model and Song Xinlei’s strict guard, Lu Yin and Sheng Xiali barely spoke more than a few words.
This continued until the end of the freshman year, when all classes were preparing for their final exams, and volleyball class was no exception.
Lu Yin and Cheng Siyu were the two worst students in the class, so naturally, no one wanted to be their partner.
One of the exam components was to volley back and forth. Their skills were so bad that they could only manage one back-and-forth at most, which the teacher couldn’t stand.
In the end, he assigned each of them an excellent student.
So, Cheng Siyu got Sheng Xiali, and Lu Yin had a terrible time, paired up with a furious Song Xinlei, whose partner had been taken away.
“You’re a perfectly healthy person. How can you not even catch a single ball?!”
“Can you run? Do you have eyes? The ball is going to the left, why aren’t you moving?!”
“Use your arms! Why are you using your hands to hit it!”
Lu Yin watched the ball she had volleyed back. Song Xinlei didn’t even try to catch it. After it landed, she kicked it back, and it rolled away at an angle and speed that Lu Yin couldn’t possibly have caught even if she had run.
Lu Yin silently watched the ball roll away. From the first day they were paired up, she knew Song Xinlei was doing it on purpose. The balls she threw were either too close or too far. Even when Lu Yin volleyed the ball back at a standard angle that was easy to catch, she would still find fault with her form.
Lu Yin never argued.
Song Xinlei saw that she was silent and got even more angry: “Did your cerebellum not develop properly, or do you have a brain deficiency? How can you not learn anything even after being taught?!”
Her voice was so loud it was as if she was afraid others wouldn’t hear her.
In the beginning, a few other students with poor skills were also a bit unhappy when the teacher gave Lu Yin and her partners special attention.
But after seeing Lu Yin make no progress and being scolded so badly, they started to feel sorry for her.
Someone spoke up and reminded Song Xinlei: “We’re all classmates. Saying things like that is too hurtful.”
After she spoke, a few others agreed. Song Xinlei stopped speaking in surprise. She hadn’t expected anyone to criticize her.
She was kindly teaching someone, working hard without complaint, and now she was being accused of having a bad temper and saying hurtful things. Why weren’t they looking at how stupid Lu Yin was!
“Do you think I want to lose my temper? Look at her, she just can’t be taught! Why don’t one of you come and try? Let’s see who can teach her!”
After she said this, the people next to her didn’t say anything. Their skills were also mediocre, and they couldn’t teach anyone.
The commotion eventually caught the teacher’s attention. He came over and had Lu Yin perform all the assessment components.
Out of ten serves, she was successful once. Out of fifty wall volleys, which was the passing grade, she completed three. Out of thirty volleys with Song Xinlei, she didn’t successfully receive a single ball from Song Xinlei.
Song Xinlei laughed in frustration and said directly to the teacher: “Teacher, I can’t teach her. Please find her another partner.”
The teacher glanced at her. Putting Lu Yin’s skills aside, the balls she had volleyed back were also not up to her usual standard.
He looked at Lu Yin, who was looking down and not saying a word. The teacher sighed. He wanted to help her, but his hand had been injured playing ball two days ago. The exam was next week, and all the teams had already been formed. It wouldn’t be right to break up any of them now.
He scanned the court and saw Sheng Xiali and Cheng Siyu in a corner, volleying back and forth smoothly.
He had an impression of both of these students. Sheng Xiali, of course, was the one he had personally invited to join the volleyball team. As for Cheng Siyu, she was originally as bad as Lu Yin, so he naturally had a deep impression of her as well.
Seeing Cheng Siyu, who had successfully completed thirty volleys with Sheng Xiali, the teacher called a halt to their practice.
Song Xinlei was still smiling triumphantly at Lu Yin, thinking that no one would want to partner with Lu Yin at this point. She would have to beg her, and only then would she reluctantly agree to help her.
When she heard the teacher call Sheng Xiali’s name, the smile on Song Xinlei’s face immediately twisted.
Just then, she saw Lu Yin, who had been looking down all this time, making everyone wonder if she was crying, look up at her.
There were no tears on her face. She even gave her a slight smile.
Song Xinlei’s smile instantly froze. She had a bad feeling in her heart. When she heard the teacher ask Sheng Xiali to help Lu Yin, her smile disappeared completely.
Cheng Siyu, on the side, glanced at the scowling Song Xinlei. She didn’t want to change partners. She could only feel sorry for Lu Yin.
“Teacher, Sheng Xiali and I are a good team. I’m afraid I won’t get used to a new partner…”
Lu Yin saw that Song Xinlei was visibly relieved after hearing Cheng Siyu say that. Lu Yin lowered her head, wiped the smile from her face, and when she looked up again, her eyebrows were drooping, and she looked pitiful.
“Cheng Siyu, how about I just join you guys? While you practice wall volleys, I’ll have Sheng Xiali help me volley back and forth.”
“She’s not here to break up this family; she’s here to join it.” Lu Yin had to suppress her laughter to convey this meaning successfully.
When Cheng Siyu heard that she wasn’t going to be separated from Sheng Xiali, she immediately had no objections. But with this arrangement, Sheng Xiali would have to help two people volley. Oh, no, three people, since the separated Song Xinlei was also without a partner.
The teacher had obviously thought of this too. He looked at Sheng Xiali and asked if she had any problems with it.
Sheng Xiali hadn’t spoken yet, but Song Xinlei on the side said: “That’s too much work for Xiali.”
Lu Yin didn’t say anything, but pursed her lips, looking as if she wanted to say something but was worried about tiring out Sheng Xiali. She looked at Sheng Xiali with a hopeful, yet hesitant expression.
Sheng Xiali’s hand, which was holding the ball, subtly rubbed it. After a few seconds of silence, she tossed the ball to Cheng Siyu: “You go and practice serving first.”
Then she said to Song Xinlei: “You go and play. I’ll be your partner for the exam.”
Song Xinlei’s skills didn’t require her to practice the basics. Sheng Xiali could just partner with her for the exam volleying.
Out of these three people, there was only one problem for her.
Sheng Xiali glanced at Lu Yin. She said “leave it to me” to the teacher and walked toward Lu Yin.
She took the ball from Lu Yin’s hand and walked two steps forward. Seeing that the person behind her was standing there dazed and hadn’t followed, she stopped to wait for her.
“Let’s go over there and practice volleying.”
Lu Yin came back to her senses, looking at her empty palm. She could still feel the unusual sensation on the back of her hand where Sheng Xiali had touched her.
On an impulse, Lu Yin turned to look at Song Xinlei.
She was standing right where she had been, not moving. Lu Yin saw that her hands, which were holding the ball, were so clenched that her fingers were stretched out and her fingertips were white.
Lu Yin looked away and back at Sheng Xiali, who was waiting for her. She pursed her lips and walked two steps quickly.
She stood one step away from Sheng Xiali, looked up, and smiled sweetly.
“Okay, I’ll listen to you.”