Chapter 36

Su Xiaoqi's whole body was immersed in the water.

She relaxed her breathing, gave up struggling, and her whole body floated up and down in the water, swaying with the waves.

At that moment, it was as if Su Xiaoqi had died, her soul leaving her body.

She suddenly opened her eyes.

There was also an interface in the water.

The numbers did not bend with the undulation of the water surface.

She stood up and found that the coach had already come over.

"Practicing holding your breath? Beginners should pay attention to safety and not hold their breath for too long to avoid cramps," the coach said.

"Got it, thanks coach." Su Xiaoqi wiped the water off her face.

Next was to continue practicing basic movements with the coach.

Kicking legs, paddling, she had been practicing for half an hour before the coach let her rest.

Xiaoqi sat by the pool, panting, watching as the coach walked over to speak with another coach. She blankly thought that when she was practicing swimming just now, she did not actually smell anything weird.

She felt that the rewards from the system, if not used properly, could also be very troublesome.

Like this sense of smell, it seemed to be ordinary smells, but now everything smelled pungent and unpleasant. She had to learn to control this feeling, otherwise she would always be in the vomiting stage... people might mistakenly think she was pregnant.

The coach over there walked over to chat with a coach she was familiar with.

"I met a good seedling, very talented. It would be great if she was willing to join our swimming team."

"You think they're all good. Let's take a look later?"

"Unfortunately, I heard she's a student from No. 1 Middle School who has already been admitted to university, so she definitely won't be willing to stay."

Xiaoqi rested for a while, and saw the coach bring another coach over.

"Your basics are good enough, next we can start getting in the water officially. Stay by my side and pay attention to my movements and breathing coordination." Exercise makes the muscles tired, but the mind relaxed.

Xiaoqi, who had been reading books all morning, really needed this.

She concentrated on learning from the coach.

Thanks to having the swimming talent buff, she learned very quickly. In addition, she herself was very serious and active. After swimming a lap following the coach, she was already swimming extremely well, with standardized and elegant movements, and it didn't seem to take much effort.

Xiaoqi discovered that with the right movements, she felt that swimming was even faster than walking.

She swam five laps back and forth, and saw that the coach was already sitting at the edge of the pool, speaking with another coach.

Seeing Xiaoqi swim over, the coach gave her a big smile.

Xiaoqi also sat at the edge of the pool and accepted the water and towel handed over by the coach.

Today's teaching time had already exceeded the normal time by a lot, nearly three hours.

Just coming out of the water, Xiaoqi felt quite tired.

She went to take a shower. After the shower, her whole body felt extremely tired, but her spirit was still good and her mind was very clear. She felt that in this state, reviewing would be very good, but her physical strength was a bit lacking.

When she came out, the coach was actually waiting at the door, as if deliberately waiting for her.

The coach handed Xiaoqi a flyer and said, "Take a look at this. On the 20th of this month, there is a provincial swimming competition. First place gets 15,000 yuan prize money, second place 8,000, and third place 5,000. I heard from your aunt yesterday that you got into Enhua University. I think you have potential for swimming. I'll give you special training during this period and you still have hope. Do you want to participate? If you do, you'll need to become a member of our swimming team. Think about it."

Xiaoqi watched the coach's back, still a little confused.

She had never thought about participating in a swimming competition, but the money above attracted her because this was open and upright that she could tell her parents about. The timing was also right. The only thing was that according to the coach, it would probably be quite tiring and she would have to join the swimming team.

She carefully read the requirements to become a member of the swimming team. It didn't seem to have any particularly rigid requirements. It just hoped that if there were competitions and activities, people would actively participate.

There was an annual assessment. If unsuitable, withdraw.

Xiaoqi felt there were no issues. On the way, she sent a WeChat message to the coach and agreed to participate in the competition, but said she still had tutoring work, so she would need to make time for training.

On her way home, she was really hungry after burning so many calories. She couldn't wait for her aunt to cook dinner. She had just learned cooking skills today and was still at beginner level, so she decided to try it herself.

When she returned to her aunt's dormitory and took a look, there were onions, carrots, string beans, shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes, preserved pork, and more - all things she brought from home before that kept for a long time. She planned to make a simple preserved pork rice, then make a tomato egg drop soup.

Afternoon.

Hospital basement, a row of cement wash basins, next to a big tree.

Sunshine filtering through just right.

Under the big tree was an enormous wooden platform. This was usually where people chopped vegetables. Actually ordinary people didn't usually come here. The place was big enough for Auntie Lin's mobile food stand where she sold snacks. She mainly did breakfast, so she took the afternoon off.

Lin Qingqing leaned back in a reclining chair under the tree, fiddling with her new headphones. Looks like after making a fuss for a few days she finally succeeded.

Pretty yellow AKGs on her head, rocking her head back and forth. Seeing Xiaoqi come to cook, she said hello, then continued to fiddle with her new headphones.

Xiaoqi washed the preserved pork and vegetables separately.

She snapped both ends of the string beans - the ends and fibrous sides of string beans were harder and needed to be removed.

When at home Xiaoqi often helped snap string beans and was very skilled at it.

A handful of string beans snapped clean in one go, then cut into small dice for later use. Next were the onions - the dry red outer skin pulled off to reveal the tender watery part inside. The tops cut off, then also diced for later use.

Carrots peeled and cut into dice. Shiitake mushrooms washed clean then cut into small dice. Then the preserved pork.

She cut a slab of preserved pork the size of her palm, about four inches square, peeled off the rind. The preserved meat was dark and the right kind properly smoked at her family home. Even before cooking, the scratchy hungry feeling already hit Xiaoqi's stomach.

Standard procedure of cutting into dice. When she finished and had piles of little diced bits on the table, Xiaoqi realized her knife skills didn't seem bad.

Lin Qingqing came over, curious, even taking pictures.

Xiaoqi didn't mind and proceeded to rinse the rice, layering the diced vegetables and preserved pork, mixing in a little soy sauce and salt since the preserved pork would be salty.

Then into the electric rice cooker and switched it on.

The whole thing seemed pretty easy, finished in less than half an hour.

Tomatoes also washed and sliced for later. Seeing Lin Qingqing, she washed a couple more and handed her one, taking one for herself to fill their stomachs first.

Home grown tomatoes, still a little hard, skins quite thick, but biting in released a sweet and sour juicy flavor, much tastier than store bought.

The stomach-filling took the edge off her hunger and felt much better.

Xiaoqi planned to practice her writing for a bit.

"Sis Xiaoqi, do homework together with me. When my mom sees me together with you she won't have anything to say or nag about."

Seeing the sunshine in the yard and not too glaring, the basement room was indeed a bit stuffy, so Xiaoqi took out her writing workbook and they did it outside together.

There was a small table outside with a layer of cloth over, and some little stools. Xiaoqi sat and felt the seat height quite comfortable, and began writing.

Lin Qingqing listened to music and secretly read her novel while holding up a textbook. Xiaoqi just smiled - she was so much like her past self.

Occasional ambulance siren sounds.

Wind rustling tree leaves.

Nurses calling aloud.

Rice cooker bubbling.

Writing scratching sounds.

A young man lying in a bed beside the window upstairs laboriously cranked up his hospital bed height to peer out the window. He had just wanted to see the tree at first, and then spotted the writing girl underneath.