Ms. Tan Is The Real Boss

The second match started. The teacher smiled at Tan Rou and her teammate, and just as Tan Rou thought the teacher was going to call them up to debate again, the teacher shifted her gaze away.

She didn’t choose any of the students who had already participated, but picked a fresh group of eight instead. This really infuriated the first speaker for the opposition from the previous debate. He glared at Zhuang Liu, blaming him for ruining his debate.

In reality, their team’s failure couldn’t all be pinned on Zhuang Liu. Aside from him, the other two debaters showed little interest in arguing their case, speaking carelessly and without evidence. The only thing was that Zhuang Liu’s indifference was far too apparent. He chose to skip whenever it was an option and when skipping wasn’t possible, he would offer a vague answer.

Zhuang Liu had no intention of engaging in a staring contest with the first opposition speaker because all his attention was on Tan Rou. Tan Rou watched the debaters on stage intently; she seemed to really enjoy the debate competitions.

“Do you really enjoy debates?” Zhuang Liu asked, moving closer.

Without turning her head, Tan Rou replied, “During my four years of college, I spent two years in the debate club, and I was the ace debater of our school’s team. You should know, students in the sciences are often not good at debating, but I am an exception. My eloquence is excellent. Even students from the literature department can’t get the better of me.”

Zhuang Liu couldn’t help but laugh, “Tan Rou, you’re truly amazing!”

Tan Rou said, “You don’t seem to like debates much, I hardly saw you speak just now.”

Zhuang Liu replied with a smile, “Just like you said, we science students are not particularly good at debates. Also, because of my leg injury in university, I didn’t like participating in group activities and never took part in debates. The stand up, sit down format of speaking in debates was simply too difficult for me.”

He’d been in a wheelchair for many years. Those days in the wheelchair caused him to miss out on a lot of the joys of life. When other guys were sweating it out on the sports field in college, he could only have Xiao Mo push him around the perimeter of the court.

Most guys like sports, and Zhuang Liu was no exception. Before the wheelchair, he enjoyed extreme sports—bungee jumping, rafting; he loved them all. Unfortunately, after his legs became a problem, he never participated in those activities again.

“Does it make you feel regret?” Tan Rou asked, “I mean, having been in the wheelchair for so many years, missing out on so much, does it make you feel regret?”

Zhuang Liu answered honestly, “Back then, I did feel a lot of regret. Being a teenager full of energy, while others could stand and run, I was confined to a wheelchair, which was incredibly painful for me. In order not to worry my mom, I always maintained a detached attitude towards what was happening in the outside world. My mom even thought I didn’t like sports.”

Tan Rou felt a pang in her chest, “What sports did you like? When the weather gets warmer, I will accompany you to play.”

“It’s okay, the painful past is long gone. After meeting you, I no longer consider those missed experiences as regrets,” Zhuang Liu said with a smile. “If the pain I suffered back then was so I could meet you, I’d rather have had double the pain just so you could have come into my world earlier, to save me.”

“No!” Tan Rou interrupted, “I don’t want you to suffer. If possible, I wish you had never been hurt, and I had always lived with the Tao family. That way, we could have met earlier.”

At this, Zhuang Liu felt a renewed sense of regret. If Tan Rou had always lived with the Tao family, being Tao Zhi’s sister, she would definitely have been around him. He fantasized about such a scenario—one day after school, Tao Zhi and he would walk out of the campus together, and a little girl with twin pigtails would be waiting at the school gates, greeting them with a “Hi, Brother Zhuang Liu!”

With that thought, a happy smile spread across Zhuang Liu’s face.

Tan Rou thought today’s shooting had made Zhuang Liu very happy, so she suggested, “Let’s continue with the shoot; I still have a lot of things I haven’t done yet.”

Zhuang Liu nodded, “Alright, I’m all ears.”