My Fish Pond Has One Very Loyal Customer novel · Chapter 23 of 24
Chapter 23: The Last Ping
On Tuesday, for the first time, Lu Qing went to watch Meng Yuhe coach.
The Binjiang pool was warm and bright at four in the afternoon, and loud with children.
Twenty juniors in matching caps were lined up along the edge, dripping and shrieking.
Meng Yuhe stood on the deck in a plain tracksuit with a whistle round his neck.
He had no headphones.
They were in his coat pocket, and he had not touched them all week.
"Lane three, your turn is early," he said, in his flat voice. "Kick from the hip, not the knee. Again."
A girl pushed off, and he walked the length of the pool beside her.
The filters hummed, and he did not seem to hear them.
Lu Qing sat on a plastic bench in the spectators' corner with a paper cup of tea from the machine.
He was wearing his good shirt.
He had never seen Meng Yuhe do anything he was this good at.
"Coach Meng's husband," whispered a boy of about eleven, who had been sent to fetch kickboards, and was staring.
"I'm not," said Lu Qing. "We haven't registered."
"My mum says you're on the news," said the boy.
"I'm on the news for a fish pond."
"She said you shouted at a reporter about carp."
Across the pool, Meng Yuhe turned his head.
He had heard.
His mouth moved.
For the first time in front of his whole squad he smiled, a wide tired open smile that changed the shape of his face.
Twenty children stopped kicking.
"Coach," said the girl in lane three. "You can smile?"
"Apparently."
"It's scary."
"Thank you," said Meng Yuhe.
He walked round the end of the pool, past the kickboards, and stopped in front of the bench.
He held out his hand.
Lu Qing took it and was pulled up.
Meng Yuhe put a hand on the back of his head and kissed him.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of My Fish Pond Has One Very Loyal Customer are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 22 · All chapters · Chapter 24 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend