Deadlift

"Hmm..." Ye Shuang tried deadlifting forty kilograms again.

The barbell in his hands still didn't feel very heavy. At this moment, the two fishes were standing to the side with their arms crossed, watching him. Seeing that Ye Shuang kept holding the barbell up without putting it down, An Shiyu spoke up.

"Although I totally understand your desire to show off your strength in front of cute girls, aren't you afraid of throwing your back out by holding it like that for so long?"

Ye Shuang's mouth twitched. "What cute girls?"

"Am I not cute?" An Shiyu pointed to her own cheek.

"Cute, cute, dead cute." Ye Shuang gave a perfunctory reply. He then set the barbell down and chose to lift it with one hand, which still required no effort at all.

Just as Ye Shuang was about to add more weight, the two fishes let out a grunt and sat directly on the barbell plates.

Looking at An Shiyu on the left and An Shiyi on the right, Ye Shuang was momentarily stunned.

"It's time to show your masculinity. Let me see your manly side." An Shiyi rested her hands on the weight plate and lifted her legs high in the air. "Uncle, you're not going to say you can't do it, are you?"

"He probably can't. Just give up," An Shiyu chimed in.

The two fishes echoing each other left Ye Shuang a bit speechless.

"I knew you couldn't. If you could lift it for just one second, Uncle, I'd do anything for you. Any little reward~~~" An Shiyi kicked her lower legs slightly, looking as if she had Ye Shuang completely figured out.

"That's too much to ask of an old man pushing thirty," An Shiyu shrugged.

After all, a weight of over a hundred kilograms wasn't something you could just casually lift, at least not for someone who hadn't trained. Ye Shuang was usually either sitting in an office or holed up in the school infirmary. He used to have a little belly, and although he had slimmed down a bit now, he showed absolutely no signs of working out.

But in the next second, a sudden sense of weightlessness stunned the two fishes. They saw Ye Shuang easily lift the barbell, a faint smile on his face.

"Speechless now, aren't you?" Ye Shuang looked at the two fishes on his left and right. Seeing the astonishment on their faces gave him an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

At this moment, the two fishes also looked a bit surprised. They exchanged a glance—

And just as Ye Shuang was about to put the barbell down, he felt a warm, moist sensation on both of his cheeks.

An Shiyu and An Shiyi, still sitting on the barbell, each gave Ye Shuang a kiss on the cheek. Their faces were so close that he could clearly smell the scent of the two girls.

His hands subconsciously let go, and the barbell dropped to the ground. However, An Shiyu and An Shiyi easily landed steadily on their feet. The two fishes then glanced at Ye Shuang; An Shiyu's ears were tinged with a slight blush, while An Shiyi wore a half-smile.

In the blink of an eye, the two fishes quickly walked away.

"These two." Ye Shuang hadn't expected the two fishes to pull a stunt like this at all. Before he could finish his sentence, the two fishes had long disappeared, as agile as loaches.

Suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

"Brother."

Ye Shuang's body subconsciously stiffened. He turned around to find Tang Keke standing behind him, holding a water bottle.

"Are you deadlifting?"

Tang Keke looked curiously at the barbell at Ye Shuang's feet.

"Uh, well, um... yeah." Ye Shuang subconsciously took the water bottle.

"How many pounds can you deadlift, Brother?"

"I can deadlift the two fishes," Ye Shuang let slip.

"Eh?"

"Pfft." Realizing what he said, Ye Shuang suddenly almost spat out all his water. "No, I mean, I still have energy left after deadlifting."

"Oh?" Tang Keke didn't take it to heart. She suddenly pointed to her calves. "I just finished exercising. Will my calves get thick?"

"Will I turn into a muscle girl?" Tang Keke said, striking a bodybuilder pose.

"If you don't do strength training, it's actually pretty hard to build muscle," Ye Shuang explained. "If muscles were really that easy to get, those guys would probably be thrilled to death."

As he spoke, Ye Shuang didn't forget to point at the muscular men in the nearby weight area, each of them doing strength training with tense muscles, exhaling sharply as if blowing out steam.

"Uh, okay." Tang Keke was a bit intimidated and scratched her rear like a little paw. Getting to be like them did seem pretty difficult.

Seeing that Tang Keke was alone, Ye Shuang looked behind her. "Right, why are you alone? Where's Yuyou?"

"I finished my workout first. Yuyou still has five kilometers left. She asked me to bring you some water," Tang Keke said.

"Finished your workout? Weren't you just walking slowly?" Ye Shuang was taken aback, remembering that Tang Keke was merely walking slowly on the treadmill while catching up on anime.

"Walking while finishing a whole episode is also very tiring, Brother," Tang Keke said, hands on her hips, speaking with unjustified confidence.

"Then you've really worked hard."

Ye Shuang led Tang Keke back to the treadmills. Bai Yuyou was still jogging, and sweat had slightly soaked through the back of her shirt.

"You can do it!" Tang Keke cheered from the side.

"Okay..." Bai Yuyou looked back, then continued running the rest of her distance.

Ten minutes later, as the treadmill belt gradually slowed down, Bai Yuyou finally came to a walking stop, then quickly walked over and nuzzled into Ye Shuang's embrace.

"I'm tired."

"You ran quite a bit, but don't sit down immediately after running," Ye Shuang said, not forgetting to take out a towel to wipe the sweat from Bai Yuyou's face.

"Ye Shuang, it's all sweaty inside my clothes too." Bai Yuyou pointed to her sportswear and slightly lifted her shirt, revealing her fair lower abdomen.

"Ye Shuang, reach in and wipe it."

Hearing this, Ye Shuang took a look. The soaked clothes were slightly revealing the color of her underwear. He could only cough lightly and zip up her jacket. "Just go take a shower."

"Not running anymore?"

"That's about enough exercise for today. Let's go walk around somewhere else."

"Oh?" Bai Yuyou didn't really mind, since she had only come here to look after Tang Keke anyway.

"Keke, do you want to continue exercising?"

"Next time."

"Sure enough, a three-minute passion."

"N-No it's not! I'll do it next time!" Tang Keke clenched her fists.

After the two girls went to shower, Ye Shuang also went to the men's locker room on the other side to shower. Everything about this gym was great, except that the body wash and shampoo in the locker room were as thin as water.

However, Ye Shuang didn't pay it too much mind. He rinsed off his sweat, changed into a simple set of clothes, and came out.

After waiting outside for a little while, Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke also walked out in their fresh clothes.

"Wow, taking a shower after exercising is so comfortable!" Tang Keke looked completely satisfied.

Hearing this, both Ye Shuang and Bai Yuyou looked at her expressionlessly.

"W-What?"

"Heh."

"Don't just suddenly laugh at me!"

"Alright, let's go home." Ye Shuang shook his head.

And Bai Yuyou chimed in, "Keke, you're too weak."

"?!"