As the weekend passed, cold air invaded the entire Pingchuan City.
In the classroom, everyone wore scarves, hats, and gloves, dressed in the heaviest winter school uniforms.
Winter had officially arrived, and with the drop in temperature came the revival of drowsiness throughout the body. Early in the morning, the classroom was filled with yawns, everyone sleepy and dazed.
The homeroom teacher walked into the classroom, knocking on the board: “Wake up, everyone wakes up.”
“There’s a Pingchuan Basketball Cup final at three this afternoon. The remaining two classes will be changed to self-study. Those who want to watch the game can go to the city gymnasium next to the school, those who don’t can stay in the classroom to study.”
At these words, the classroom instantly erupted in excitement, filled with screams and cheers.
The homeroom teacher was exasperated: “Just now you were all lifeless, but mention play and you come alive! If only you had this energy for studying, who wouldn’t get good grades!”
Gu Meng immediately turned around: “Wan-wan, Wan-wan, are you going?”
“I probably won’t,” Zhou Wan said, “I don’t understand basketball.”
“We’re not going to watch basketball, we’re going to watch handsome guys!” Gu Meng said, then suddenly lowered her voice, “Besides, Lu Xixiao is going too, aren’t you two recently…” She winked at Zhou Wan suggestively.
Zhou Wan paused: “Lu Xixiao is going too?”
“Yeah! You didn’t know?” Gu Meng said, “The Pingchuan Basketball Cup has been going on for two or three months now, it’s a competition between all the high schools in the city. This final should be between Yangming and No. 18 High, and Lu Xixiao should still be the team captain.”
Zhou Wan remembered how he looked playing basketball last time.
Gu Meng shook her arm pleading: “Go, please go, Wan-wan you’re the best, I want to watch.”
Zhou Wan finally nodded: “Alright.”
Gu Meng then asked Jiang Yan nearby: “Are you going, Jiang Yan?”
He was doing homework, and his fingers paused at her words, saying flatly: “No.”
Gu Meng didn’t know about the history and entanglements between him and Lu Xixiao, only saying he needed to learn to balance work and rest, not just focus on studying.
*
Class 1 of Grade 2 was the best-performing class in the entire grade, with intense internal competition. Only half the class took leave to watch the game, while the other half stayed to study. In other classes, almost everyone had left, and in Class 7, not a single person remained.
The city gymnasium was right next to Yangming Middle School, just two hundred meters from the north gate.
Zhou Wan and Gu Meng followed the crowd in and sat in the first row.
The seats were good, with an open view.
“No. 18’s people are all here, why haven’t Lu Xixiao and his team come out yet?” Gu Meng said.
Zhou Wan: “Maybe they’re changing clothes.”
Six people stood on the court, wearing white jerseys with “No. 18” and their names in pinyin on the back. Zhou Wan glanced briefly, then her gaze suddenly stopped, seeing one of them—
LUO HE.
Luo He.
She saw his face when he turned around – it was the one who had caused trouble with Lu Xixiao and fought with him before.
So he was a student at No. 18 High.
But he didn’t have any student-like qualities about him, just looking like a street thug, and not just him – all those from No. 18 were like that.
No. 18 was the worst and most chaotic high school in Pingchuan City.
Zhou Wan heard boys discussing behind her.
“Luo He and his group play street ball all the time, heard they play dirty. I guess today’s game will be pretty tough.”
“Even Lu Xixiao can’t beat him?”
“In terms of skill, Lu Xixiao should be better, but he plays too properly, and rarely goes all out. Against No. 18’s group, it’ll probably be hard. In the semi-finals, their forward elbowed someone and broke their nose.”
…
Zhou Wan’s heart tightened.
At this moment, cheers erupted throughout the venue.
Lu Xixiao led the way onto the court.
They wore red jerseys, all tall and long-legged.
Gu Meng screamed along with everyone else, exclaiming dramatically: “Is this a male model team?!”
Zhou Wan laughed, hearing such a description for the first time.
Lu Xixiao walked to the waiting area seats, picked up some bandages thrown on the ground, and wrapped them around his ankle.
His calf muscles were smooth, his Achilles tendon high, his face expressionless, completely ignoring the surrounding cheers and screams.
After finishing with the bandages, he stood up and took off his black jacket. It was then that he noticed Zhou Wan in the front row, first pausing, then raising his eyebrows.
He leaned forward, hand resting on the railing, asking without caring about the surrounding gazes: “Why are you here?”
“Came with my friend,” Zhou Wan said softly.
He handed over his jacket without saying anything, the movement extremely natural.
Zhou Wan hurriedly took it, folded it neatly, and held it properly in her arms.