"Do you see?" Gan Yuan stretched out her hand to hold the barbell pressing down on Barbara and instructed the female student in a teaching tone, "This is the price of an incorrect posture. When doing a bench press, you must pay attention to the angle between your arms and shoulders, and never try to show off. Otherwise... it’s very easy to get injured."
She didn’t mind kicking someone when they were down every now and then. If someone annoyed her, she’d make them even more annoyed. That was Gan Yuan’s principle.
Barbara’s chest was pressed against the bar and she wanted to push it off but didn’t have the strength, so she could only glower at her.
The female student nodded cooperatively, "I’ll remember that, Coach Gan."
Gan Yuan raised her right hand and easily lifted the barbell off Barbara’s chest. Barbara’s eyes nearly popped out.
She used only one hand?!
After putting the barbell back in its place, Gan Yuan spoke with a stern tone.
Barbara sat up in pain, and Annie reached out to help her but was pushed away. Barbara walked out of the gym with her tail between her legs.
"Coach Gan, how did you train?"
"Yeah, you don’t seem to have a lot of muscles on your body..."
"Coach Gan, could you be my trainer?"
"I’d like to sign up too."
"Sorry, I don’t have time lately," Gan Yuan replied with an unaffected smile to everyone, then turning to the female student, she said, "Let’s go, we’ll continue. I’ll make up for the time we lost just now."
"It’s okay," the female student said nonchalantly. "To be honest, it’s quite surprising. You must have been working out for a very long time, right?"
Gan Yuan raised her right hand, her gaze falling on her palm.
The back of her hand and her palm were tender, but there was a thin layer of calluses on her five fingers. Clenching her hand, she perked up again.
"Yes, for a very long time. Let’s start with the arms first."
As she began instructing the female student with the most basic exercises, Gan Yuan leaned against the wall to watch, occasionally coming over to correct the student’s movements.
An hour flew by quickly. After scheduling the next training session with the student, she went to the changing room, changed her clothes, and left the gym with her bag on her back.
No sooner had she stepped down the stairs when several people with single-lens reflex cameras hurried towards her, snapping pictures. Two others walked straight up to her.
"May I ask what is your relationship with Mr. Huangfu?"
"Have you known him for a long time?"
"You’ve got the wrong person."
Pulling up the hood of her sweatshirt over her head, Gan Yuan raised her hand to shield her face, squeezed through the circle of reporters, and caught a taxi to leave in a hurry.
Leaning back in the rear seat and watching the receding reporters in the rearview mirror, she let out a long sigh.
Indeed, what she feared most had still happened!
That man had too many shining identities, too many people watching him. Getting close to him meant the constant threat of exposure, and it also meant danger. If those people got news about her, she and Gan Tang would never have peace again.
Turning to watch the city she had lived in for three years from the side window, she pressed her lips tightly together.
It seemed it was time to leave!
As the car approached the kindergarten, Gan Yuan spotted Gan Tang standing at the gate accompanied by a teacher from a distance.
Because of the incident with Barbara, she was a bit late, and by that time, the other children had already been picked up.