The Secret of the Yoga Club: The Women's Identity is Not Simple

Yang Ru called on Friday afternoon.

Lin Feng had just come from the billiard hall renovation site, his clothes still covered in sawdust and dust. The hard decoration of all seven shops was completed, and the billiard tables and massage beds were being delivered one after another. Kui Zi was overseeing things there, which allowed him to take this call.

"Coach Lin, are you free tonight?" Yang Ru's voice came through the receiver, her tone softer than usual at the club, but still unhurried. "I'd like to invite you somewhere."

"Where?"

"A place I've always wanted you to see." She paused. "Not my home. It's another place."

Lin Feng glanced at the time. It was a little past four in the afternoon, and the only thing left on his schedule for the day was meeting up with Sister Hong in the evening; there was still time. "Okay, send me the address."

The address Yang Ru sent was not in the upscale residential area in the south of the city where she usually lived, but in an ordinary residential area in the west of the city.

When Lin Feng arrived, it was already dark. One of the streetlights at the entrance of the residential area was broken, and the other was flickering. The security guard at the gate was an old man in his sixties, who was looking down at his phone and didn't even look up at Lin Feng.

Yang Ru stood at the entrance of Unit 3 waiting for him. She was dressed very casually today, in a white short-sleeved T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and flat canvas shoes.

Her hair was tied in a low ponytail, and she wasn't wearing makeup. She looked no different from any other ordinary woman coming home from get off work in the neighborhood.

"Let's go." She turned and walked into the stairwell.

This was an old-style six-story slab building without an elevator. Yang Ru walked in front, and Lin Feng followed behind.

Two of the motion-activated lights in the hallway were on, while one was off. Much of the paint on the walls had peeled off, revealing the gray cement underneath.

He stopped at the corner on the first floor, took a key out of his bag, and opened the door to 101.

After pushing open the door, you'll find a typical two-bedroom apartment. The living room isn't large, with light-colored wood-grain floor tiles, and a fabric sofa and a glass coffee table against the wall.

A small television sat on the TV cabinet, with several magazines stacked beside it. The kitchen was open-plan, and the stove was spotless, clearly having been unused for a long time. The whole apartment looked like an ordinary rental for working professionals, nothing particularly special.

But Lin Feng noticed a detail.

There's a door on the wall in the living room that faces the bedroom. It's not a typical wooden bedroom door; it's an iron door. The paint on the iron door is new, and the lock is an electronic lock with a combination lock.

Yang Ru walked to the iron gate and pressed her fingers a few times on the combination lock. The lock clicked open.

Pushing open the door, behind which is a concrete staircase leading downwards, with several small, warm yellow wall lamps mounted on the walls.

She glanced at Lin Feng, her lips twitching slightly, her expression a mix of nervousness and anticipation. "Come down."

The staircase wasn't long, only about a dozen steps. After going down, Lin Feng stood in the center of the basement, his gaze sweeping from left to right, remaining silent for several seconds.

The basement was much larger than he had imagined, at least seventy or eighty square meters. The floor was covered with dark gray non-slip flooring, the walls were soundproofed, and the ceiling lights were a soft, warm yellow.

The space was divided into several areas, each containing different items.

Against the wall stands a dark wooden frame, on which various training equipment are neatly hung.

The entire basement was spotless. Everything was hung neatly, and every rope was coiled up in an orderly fashion. There was no musty smell, as is common in basements, but rather a faint woody fragrance.

Yang Ru stood in the center of the room, her back to the full-length mirror. She clenched her fingers on the edge of her jeans, then released them, and slowly began to speak, her voice noticeably lower than during class. "I've been preparing for this place for over two years. I rented this house using a friend's ID, and the furniture and equipment were ordered piece by piece from overseas. Nobody knows about this place, not even my parents."

She looked up at Lin Feng. "Last time at my house, you only saw one side of me. Today, I want you to see the whole picture."

Lin Feng walked to the shelf, turned around and looked at Yang Ru. "Sister Yang, what do you want me to do?"

Yang Ru walked up to him and stood very close, close enough that he could smell the faint scent of laundry detergent on her.

The other person looked up at him, pursing their lips slightly, as if organizing their thoughts.

After a few seconds, she spoke, her voice more resolute than before. "I'm a perfectionist, yet I hold a high position. The pressure at the company is unimaginable. But here, I can leave everything alone. Completely surrendering myself to another person is true relaxation for me."

She walked to the full-length mirror and stood there, looking at herself in the mirror. "Nobody knows about this. I can't tell anyone. But Lin Feng, you're the first person who made me feel that my hobby could be treated normally. I felt that the first time you helped me with strength training. You just treated it as part of the training, without belittling me or taking advantage of me."

Yang Ru turned around, her expression more sincere than ever. "So I want to ask you to give me a real training session. Not a warm-up, not a test, but a serious one."

Lin Feng looked into her eyes, his gaze earnest, carrying something that had been suppressed for a long time and had finally found an outlet. It wasn't an impulsive decision, nor a spur-of-the-moment thing, but a well-considered one.

He nodded, feeling a vague sense of excitement.

Over the next hour, Lin Feng gradually completed a full set of training exercises, according to her physical capacity.

Yang Ru demonstrated extraordinary dedication during this process. Her body went from being slightly tense at the beginning to being completely relaxed later on.

When training ended, Yang Ru lay on her side on the leather bed, her body slightly curled up.

A thin blanket was placed over her, and her breathing gradually became steady.

Lin Feng sat on a chair beside the bed, unscrewed the water bottle, and took a sip. He observed her condition throughout the entire process.

After about ten minutes, Yang Ru slowly opened her eyes and looked at him.

"I can't think about anything right now." She blinked, tears still clinging to her eyelashes. "Before, every day when I got home from get off work, my mind would be racing with company reports and tomorrow's meetings. Now it's completely empty." She paused, her voice becoming very soft. "Thank you."

Lin Feng handed her the water bottle. She took it and drank a few sips, then wrapped the thin blanket tighter around herself and slowly sat up, leaning against the soft cushions at the head of the bed.

She curled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees. "I spent a long time preparing this place and this equipment. But I haven't been able to find the right people to use it. I tried to find professionals, but I felt uncomfortable after just a few words. They would immediately ask me how much I could tolerate, and I felt like a piece of merchandise with a label on it."

She looked up at Lin Feng, "But you're different. I sensed it the first time you taught me. When I asked you to help me with strength training, you were thinking about how to do it properly, not how to gain an advantage."

She buried her face in her knees, her voice muffled. "Lin Feng, I truly believe you're someone I can trust. Whether at work or in life. I've never met anyone I could let my guard down with before; you're the first."

Lin Feng placed the water bottle on the trolley and looked at her profile. Her hair was loose over her shoulders, with a few stray strands clinging to her temples.

The skin below her collarbone was faintly pink from the exercise. "Sister Yang, everyone has their own way. As long as you don't hurt yourself, your method is fine. Just let me know if you want to train in the future, and I'll come over when I'm free."

Yang Ru lifted her head from her knees and looked at him.

Her eyes were still a little red, but her gaze was relaxed. "Then I'll be your personal student from now on. I'll be there whenever you call."

Lin Feng smiled. "Okay."

I carefully packed away the training equipment from the cart, putting it back on the shelf and hanging it neatly in its original position. I also smoothed out the wrinkles on the leather bed and folded the thin blanket, placing it at the foot of the bed.

Yang Ru, wrapped in a thin blanket, sat on the edge of the bed watching him pack. Suddenly, she said, "By the way, can you assign me tasks in the future?"

Lin Feng hung the last rope back on the rack, then turned to look at her. "What kind of mission do you want?"

Yang Ru thought for a moment. "Just set a goal for me. If I achieve it, I'll get a training session as a reward. If I don't, Teacher Lin, you can decide what to do!"

When she said "we'll see," her eyes lit up. That expression was completely different from her usual self.

Lin Feng shook his head, a slightly helpless smile on his lips. "Alright, it's settled then. But the goal I've set won't be easy, so be prepared."

Yang Ru turned around to face him.

He seemed very relaxed. "The harder the better. Anyway, there's a penalty for not finishing, and a reward for finishing. No matter how you look at it, I'm not losing out."