Chapter 22. ☆. Basketball Game

After buying a pocketful of food from the kiosk, Ruan Mengmeng stood in front of the gymnasium building, dumbfounded. She was hesitant to lift her feet to go up to the first floor, where the enthusiastic shouting was incessant.

She turned around and ran to the flower bed in front of the dormitory building.

She opened a packet of chips and sat down on a bench, in front of which was the student council president’s office, with the pale blue curtains hanging down in a ball.

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She didn’t know if it was the same one she pulled last week, but it was very similar.

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Mbl pwxxla oyp shla, yde yzz vbyv alxykdle sq vbl sdnl tzsakswp qzsola clep olal eyaj casod, elye caydnblp. Mbl eau lyavb oyp nshlale okvb y zyula sq ulzzso sa aleekpb zlyhlp. Mblu olal caktbvzu nszswale, cwv vblu olal pkzldv, okvb y jkde sq ewzzdlpp vbyv nsxlp okvb vbl ryppkdt sq rasprlakvu.

Swyd Yldtxldt’p aswde blye oyp ekpvaynvle qsa y obkzl cu vbl rzyuqwz pnldlp pbl bye okvb Tl Zkuydt obld pbl oyp y nbkze; qsa y obkzl kv oyp czydj, kxytkdkdt vbl zssj sd Tl Zkuydt’p qynl obld bl nyzzle bla y rlv.

Xa oswze bl byhl clld nsze yde lmralppksdzlpp, zkjl vbl svblap yv pnbssz obs pyke bl oyp nsze yde ekpeykdqwz?

Fbl eked’v jdso.

On the one hand, she persuaded herself not to care. After all, He Yiyang had always had a poisonous mouth since he was a child. A typical knife’s mouth and a tofu’s heart [1] ; on the other hand, she was really sad and couldn’t lie to herself.

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Inside the basketball arena, the atmosphere was high and the stands were full of chants.

“Counterattack the school grass! Lu Zhengyuan, kill the seniors, come on, come on, come on ……”

This was the cheer of the senior boys who came to the basketball game, mixed with a few sporadic female chants. The senior girls were more mature than the junior girls, more daring and generous in their expressions; after all, they were 15 or 16 years old, and some of them came over with light makeup. But when compared to the sophomore girls opposite, their aura was instantly suppressed.

A group of long-legged ladies with red checkered skirts over black silk were seen throwing open a roll of banners that read.

“Qin Tian, Qin Tian, you’ve got a lot of eyes on you! Kill the first year bunnies, get it on, get it on!”

Rude and purposeful, capitalised.

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Apart from these two groups of people, the most vociferous was the support team of He Yiyang, the president of the New Territories school grass and student council president.

“I love you, Senior He…….”

“President, I want to give you monkeys!”

“Male God, look at me! Look at me! Look at me!”

A bunch of pink peach hearts filled the basketball hall with the face-controlled people. When He Yiyang scored a basketball, the sound could lift the roof.

But no one expected that the cold and aloof He Yiyang would leave his desk and put on a loose basketball uniform to play in style. Even Qin Tian was confused.

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At the end of the first half, Qin Tian walked up to He Yiyang and asked, “You’re not bad. Are you interested in joining the basketball team?”

He Yiyang scanned the basketball hall and said coldly, “I don’t have time. I have no interest in wasting time.”

“……” the corner of Qin Tim’s lips twitched and he refused to accept it. “Then why did you send a WeChat saying that you wanted to play in the game with the year two team? So you can amuse me?”

Pointing to the scoreboard, He Yiyang said, “I won more points than you. It’s less of a bargain.”

“…… Hey,” Qin Tian, who was disliked, endured the anger. Who let He Yiyang alone take eighteen points? Even he, the captain, only had twelve points.

He Yiyang pulled a towel around his neck and sat silently with his elbows propped on his knees.

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His dark-haired head was hanging low, and his breathing wasn’t too rapid, but when people looked at his cold, detached demeanour, they had the sense to not lean over to look at him.

He Yiyang held his phone in his palm and flipped it around. He thought about how cold the little fatty had been this week and how upset he was.

When he opened his WeChat avatar, the background picture was of him holding Ruan Mengmeng’s chin in one hand, and squeezing out her red goldfish mouth. Her clear almond eyes were dark and shiny, soft and good.

Scrolling up through the messages, He Yiyang let out a low, cold laugh.

The little fatty is getting more and more dishonest now. Didn’t she say she had to make up two lessons on Sunday morning? She just came in with Lu Zhengyuan. Was she skipping class to cheer that kid on?

His long fingers squeezed the phone tightly. The belly of his thumb pressed against her red goldfish mouth, and He Yiyang’s eyes narrowed dangerously into slits.

Li Yun, the cheerleader of the school basketball team, came over and said to Qin Tian, “What’s wrong with He Yiyang? He sweated so much in the first half. Shall I get him a drink?”

Qin Tian glanced at the man in the chair. A low pressure like a solid black fog was hanging over him. He didn’t want to go over there to his death.

“Make yourself at home.” Qin Tian said perfunctorily, turning to walk away to discuss his strategy for the second half with his team.

“Eh, don’t you go!”

Li Yun bit the corner of her lip, standing in place with a sports drink in her hand. She waited for three minutes, eventually not daring to take a step forward. Her drink was handed to another basketball team member in passing.

He Yiyang’s finger pressed on the typing box, editing a paragraph and deleting it one by one.

When he exited the WeChat interface and returned to the home page, he paused again and finally clicked on his address book to dial Ruan Mengmeng’s number.

After waiting for a while, there was only a regular rhythmic beeping sound on the phone, but no one answered!

He Yi Yang was so angry that he got up, ripped off his towel, and slammed it on the ground.

Qin Tian, who was pointing at the front, looked over and was stunned by his anger. He took a few seconds and wanted to get an explanation from him.

At that moment, the whistle for the second half sounded, so Qin Tian had to give up.

In the first half, Qin Tim failed to jump the ball, so the basketball was in his hands at this point. He Yiyang was the point guard in the first half, and the four-man lineup had not changed when the strategy was just discussed, but at this point he went to the small forward position.

The original small forward had a bewildered look on his face and looked at his captain, Qin Tian, for a sign. Qin Tian couldn’t help but roll his eyes and helplessly gestured the small forward toward the guard position.

The big man was about to go berserk without saying a word. Are you still standing around waiting for him to dislike you!

He Yiyang didn’t care about the rest; his gaze was sullenly fixed on Lu Zhengyuan. Shouting out to Qin Tian, he held his hand out, signalling for the ball to be passed to him.

Qin Tim’s eyes swept back and forth over the faces of the two men facing each other, sharp-edged against domineering. Huh, he probably knew what was going on.

“Hey, where did I put my phone?”

After eating two packets of crisps, a box of yoghurt, a packet of spicy dried beans, and biting into the last lollipop, Ruan Mengmeng finally remembered that it was time to go back to the basketball gym. She patted her pocket, and suddenly realised that her phone was missing.

She looked through her pockets, but she didn’t see it. She frowned at the bin for a while, thinking, ‘I hadn’t thrown my phone out as trash again this time, had I?’

Well, she had done the same thing before.

Nowadays, it was very convenient to pay by mobile phone, but Ruan Mengmeng often threw her phone away after swiping the QR code into the plastic bag of the supermarket. After eating the snacks, she didn’t even remember the phone and threw it away as rubbish.

She looked around. No one was there, so should I…

After hesitating, a familiar tone sounded. Ruan Mengmeng stared at the trash bin and bit off the lollipop. 

The palm of her hand slapped her forehead repeatedly, “You have no one else to blame for this lousy memory, hey…”

When she pulled out her phone, the ringing stopped and the caller displayed the three words ‘He Zhou Guan’. Ruan Mengmeng was so scared that she almost threw her phone into the trash again.

This was the first time in a week that He Yiyang had taken the initiative to contact her.

Ruan Mengmeng actually had a suspicion that He Yiyang, a person with such a high double quotient, probably knew that she was pretending to sleep at noon that day.

Otherwise, why did he consciously avoid her?

When she called back, there was no answer, and the warm sound waves from the first floor of the gymnasium not far away penetrated her ears.

“He Yiyang is out of his mind.” The centre had a shocked look on his face and inclined his head to talk to Qin Tian, who was wiping his sweat. “It’s not like he has to compete for first place with his schoolmates. It’s just picking members of the varsity basketball team to play in the college tournament. Does he need to work so hard?”

Qin Tian’s wrist guards had long been drenched in sweat from trying to pass the ball to He Yiyang. He grabbed the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat that had fallen onto his chin, causing a chorus of girls to scream.

He didn’t even have the strength to wave a gesture now, and after sending a smile and causing another scream, he turned back to the winger and said, “He’s venting. His beloved pet doll is about to be robbed, so he’s upset.”

“Pet doll?” The centre propped himself up on his knees, already on the verge of collapse.

Qin Tian didn’t respond; he saw Ruan Mengmeng coming.

On the other hand, the group of high school juniors were being abused like dogs. They huddled together, panting, each sweating as if they had been fished out of a pool.

Lu Zhengyuan’s head was covered with a towel, and the sour sweat flowed through the corners of his eyes, which were sore.

Through the edge of the towel, he met He Yiyang’s locked gaze, a gaze that seemed to be as unrelenting as if he wanted to finish the job.

He Yiyang remained expressionless, running his hand back through his sweaty forehead to reveal a broad, full forehead. His sharp eyebrows were raised to the peak of his brow. His arrogant appearance was in stark contrast to the other basketball players, who were in a mess like dogs.

The girls in the stands were screaming and couldn’t stop. Qin Tian saw this and secretly skimmed his lips, saying that this man was an abstinent president in front of his desk, but he was a wild cheetah on the sports field. He was really the natural enemy of men.

With a whistle, both players took their places, and there were only three minutes left before the end.

He Yiyang arrogantly dribbled the ball with one hand while the other hooked a finger at Lu Zhengyuan.

“Zhengyuan?” The captain of the junior science class patted Lu Zhengyuan worriedly. His eyes looked at He Yiyang with indignation; the senior was definitely targeting Lu Zhengyuan.

Lu Zhengyuan didn’t say anything. He dragged his heavy leaden thighs towards He Yiyang, intending to confront him head on.

From the first time he saw He Yiyang in the infirmary, he had felt hostility, but at that time he had been stupid and really thought he was Ruan Mengmeng’s brother.

If a boy was special to only one girl, he did not reject her proximity, hated the opposite sex around her and was full of extreme possessiveness and protectiveness.

It was just a mouthful of brother and sister and childhood friend to deceive yourself. Either you were in love and didn’t know it, or you liked her first but won’t admit it.

No matter what kind He Yiyang was, Lu Zhengyuan won’t be scared to give up!

“President, you’re just Ruan Mengmeng’s neighbour,” Lu Zhengyuan said defiantly, “You are not qualified to be in charge of everything.”

Bang, bang, bang!

The moment He Yiyang carried the ball past the man, he proclaimed, with a stance full of arrogance and untouchability, “Mengmeng is mine!”

Pupils crinkled, Lu Zhengyuan was shocked for a second, then immediately closed in on He Yiyang and blocked. The sound of his shoes scraping against the floor made it seem like they were evenly matched.

Seeing an opening, He Yiyang dribbled behind him. He passed the ball from his hips back to his hands, stepped forward, and threw the ball up with his arm.

Clang! It was in!

The second year team was up by seven points, with only one minute and fifty seconds left on the clock.

Both teams fought hard, and Lu Zhengyuan also made two three-pointers with the help of his teammates, while Qin Tian also made a long three-pointer with only forty seconds left.

He Yiyang stopped abruptly and looked at Ruan Mengmeng on the edge of the bleachers.

Ruan Mengmeng didn’t expect that even standing in the corner, He Yiyang would be able to find her at a glance. Stupidly holding a lollipop, her lips moved slightly, and she shouted in a small voice, “Go for it, brother.”

Immediately afterwards, the female voices in the stands screamed once again, like never before.

Their aloof god was actually smiling!

The back of his hand crossed the beads of sweat on his hard jaw. The side of his head lifted his chin, his lips raised, his sparkling white teeth, the unbridled and wild pitch-black eyes…

This contrast, this temptation, Ruan Mengmeng can hear a backwards inhalation of breath behind his head.

“Oh my god, senior, I want to have monkeys for you!!!”

“Male god, call, call like crazy ……”

Ruan Mengmeng uncomfortably scratched her face. Why did she feel that her brother was just smiling at her alone?

Er… guess she had made up too much in her own brain.

“Ah!!! Lu Zhengyuan?!!!”

Ruan Mengmeng jerked her eyes up to look-

[1] A tsundere. She’s saying that He acted cold on the outside while being a marshmallow on the inside (to her).