Chapter 24: Smiling counts as a hint, yours was seduction

The instructor spoke leisurely: “So whether you are boys or girls, whether out of admiration or jealousy, please seize this time to look at them enough now. During tomorrow’s training, I don’t want to see any more students working so hard to turn their heads to look at them while I’m not paying attention. Is that okay?”

“Okay—”

“The instructor knows my heart!”

Ye Chaoying also jeered along: “If you bring them both out every day for everyone to feast their eyes on, I think everyone will be more motivated for military training!”

“Hey, this student has a point!”

Xia Chiyi was so shy he wanted to burrow into the grass.

It was understandable for Zhou Zhexiao to be called the department hunk, but what kind of department hunk was he?

He glanced at Zhou Zhexiao. The other’s expression remained immovable as a mountain, as if accustomed to all kinds of gazes.

The instructor clasped his hands behind his back, teasing Xia Chiyi with a smile: “This student seems to lack cultivation, his state of mind isn’t as stable as the cool guy next to him; he still gets shy. Being alive means being observed and compared by different people. Since you are good-looking, let people look openly. This is your advantage; you have to learn to enjoy it.”

The instructor’s words made Xia Chiyi’s ears even redder.

The photo of him standing shoulder to shoulder with Zhou Zhexiao made the headlines of the military training newsletter again.

Someone jokingly replied in the official account: This looks exactly like registering at the Civil Affairs Bureau.

Ye Chaoying, never one to shy away from excitement, commented: We have the cover for our school’s recruitment ad.

The first day of military training finally ended. One could imagine the school’s cold drink shop must be overcrowded.

Pang Shuai claimed he was one step away from being sun-dried into lard residue. Ye Chaoying used all his strength to drag him back to the dorm. Before breathing his last, Pang Shuai didn’t forget to instruct Xia Chiyi: “You… must… bring back the popsicles…”

“Got it, got it, rest in peace quickly.”

Xia Chiyi tugged at Zhou Zhexiao’s sleeve and went to the campus supermarket with him.

As expected, the small supermarket was packed, with people nearly fighting to get to the freezer.

Xia Chiyi had to drag Zhou Zhexiao out of the school gate. After walking more than fifty meters, they found a supermarket with much fewer people.

The owner was very business-savvy; buying more than ten cold drinks came with a free insulated bag. Xia Chiyi immediately started picking at the freezer.

“Zhou Zhexiao, you definitely haven’t tasted the White Rabbit candy flavored milk ice bar. This mung bean one is also delicious! Did you often eat Häagen-Dazs in the US?”

“Too sweet, didn’t eat it often.”

“Since we sweated so much today, we can eat a bit more.”

Looking up, Xia Chiyi noticed two girls in blue and white school uniforms on the sidewalk across the glass window looking at him. One of them had just put her phone in her pocket, looking very flustered.

Did they take a photo of me?

Xia Chiyi calmly rummaged for ice pops while observing them, and couldn’t help but smile.

The two little girls were looking at Zhou Zhexiao, who had his hands in his pockets and an expressionless face.

Probably from eighty-year-old grandmas to eight-month-old human cubs, it was hard to escape Zhou Zhexiao’s beauty.

It would have been fine if Xia Chiyi hadn’t smiled, but with that smile, a kind of innocent handsomeness and an inexplicable desire to possess radiated through the glass window. One of the girls accidentally snapped a photo of this and stared at it for a long while.

Xia Chiyi picked a full bag of popsicles. After paying, he walked out with Zhou Zhexiao.

One of the girls chased after them. “You’re from Ningchang University, right? Gege (Brother), can I add your WeChat?”

Xia Chiyi initially thought she was calling for Zhou Zhexiao, but the back hem of his camouflage uniform was lightly tugged.

Turning around, he saw the girl’s face was completely red, but she couldn’t help staring at him.

Just as Xia Chiyi was about to say something, Zhou Zhexiao spoke first: “Those wearing camouflage uniforms aren’t necessarily freshmen; they might also be instructors.”

The girl was slightly stunned. Sensing the solemn aura around Zhou Zhexiao, she subconsciously took a step back. “Sorry to disturb you,” she said, then turned and dragged the other girl away.

Xia Chiyi turned to look at Zhou Zhexiao. “Hey, why did you lie to them that I’m an instructor?”

“Did I say you were an instructor?” Zhou Zhexiao asked back.

“Uh… you hinted at it.”

Zhou Zhexiao lowered his head slightly, leaning closer to Xia Chiyi. Their cap brims crossed perfectly. Under the shadow, Zhou Zhexiao’s brow and eyelashes looked like a movie scene.

“What about you? Did you smile at her?”

“Huh?”

“That is also a kind of hint.”

While Xia Chiyi was still thinking what nonsense is this guy talking about, he felt something slide past his fingers. It was Zhou Zhexiao taking the insulated bag and walking silently ahead.

Watching Zhou Zhexiao’s back all the way, Xia Chiyi felt like something scratched his heart.

If a smile counts as a hint, you leaning in to talk just now was definitely blatant seduction.

Of course, he didn’t have the courage to refute this to Zhou Zhexiao’s face.

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Back at the dorm, Xia Chiyi expected to hear Little Pang’s life-or-death pleas for cold drinks.

But the moment the door opened, Ye Chaoying rushed over frantically with open arms, a black facial mask on his face. Xia Chiyi was afraid the mask would fly onto his own face. Just as he stepped back, Zhou Zhexiao stepped forward, forcefully stopping Ye Chaoying in his tracks.

“Breaking News—” Ye Chaoying announced loudly.

“Ha? What explosive news?” Xia Chiyi asked amusedly. “Did our Fatty win a 200 million lottery?”

“Ling Huanzhen will become the head coach of our Ningchang University!”

Xia Chiyi froze. No way? This can’t be true, right?

Is Zhou Zhexiao’s word law? He said the coach would change, and it changed?

“This isn’t fake news, is it? What about Ma Wenhua? He’s just pretending to be sick, not really sick!” Xia Chiyi asked.

“Principal Feng is generous; let him stay sick until his contract expires!” Ye Chaoying knocked on the table. “Hurry, hurry open the official account, the press release is already out!”

This news was like a dream. Xia Chiyi didn’t even have time to change clothes; he immediately took out his phone.

In the entire dorm, only Zhou Zhexiao noticed the waiting-to-be-fed Little Pang. He carried the insulated bag to him, opened it, and asked, “What flavor?”

“Northeast Big Board… hurry… I’m running out of breath…”

Zhou Zhexiao calmly unwrapped the Northeast Big Board and stuffed it into Little Pang’s mouth.

Behind him were the excited discussion voices of Xia Chiyi and Ye Chaoying.

“That means, after our military training ends, when we step into the basketball hall again, we’ll see Ling Huanzhen’s magnificent two-meter figure!”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhexiao frowned. He asked Little Pang, “Is two meters very magnificent?”

“In my heart, you are the most magnificent,” Little Pang said with certainty, popsicle in mouth.

“Mn.” Zhou Zhexiao nodded very slightly.

Not just their dorm, but the teachers and students of the entire school were boiling with excitement upon seeing the news on the official account.

The campus forum exploded, with everyone discussing the news of Ling Huanzhen becoming the head coach.

At this moment, however, Head Coach Ling Huanzhen had a headache.

The school was still arranging a dedicated coach dormitory for him. In his hotel room, looking at the profiles of these school team players, he was about to scratch his head bald.

In contrast, Jiao Yingfeng was leisurely playing games on his phone on the sofa behind him.

“Jiao Jiao, I looked through it. Except for the few guys on Zhou Zhexiao’s side that day, the rest are basically useless! This isn’t Saint Seiya; we can’t brave the Twelve Temples relying only on the Five Bronze Saints… If we run into the Qingda University team led by Li Xiaoran, he has so many pieces to rotate, and I only have five here? Ah, no… only three. I just realized that the center named Du He and the power forward Shuai Bei have already left the team…”

Jiao Yingfeng didn’t answer him. Only after finishing the game ten minutes later did he come behind Ling Huanzhen and unhesitatingly thumped him on the head.

“Soldiers block the enemy, earth blocks the water; can a living person be suffocated by urine? If the center and power forward left, then win them back. Move them with emotion, enlighten them with reason—in short, paint them a big picture (make promises). If you can’t even paint a big picture, what kind of coach are you?”

“Then… what’s the second step?”

“Second step, if you don’t have chess pieces, polish the pieces. Look among the people Ma Hongming left behind to see if there are any with decent foundations. It’s a perfect opportunity to use the provincial grassroots competition to train them.”

Listening on, Ling Huanzhen, a first-time coach, seemed to get some ideas. “That He Bin is pretty good. I can tell he’s put effort into long-range shooting, but his mobility is a bit poor, and he relies too much on teammates. That needs to change.”

“See, don’t you have ideas now? You have candidates for shooting guard, what about forward candidates?”

“Hiss, although I don’t want to admit it, that Chen Chuan isn’t too bad, only heard he’s Ma Wenhua’s confidant.”

“Ling Huanzhen, you’re not a three-year-old child. Learn to use your brain; don’t let it go senile before you even use it. They are all university students; what confidant or not? It’s like when a teacher gives you the title of class monitor in school, and you help the teacher scout the movements of various classmates. If you give him a future direction, he will become your confidant too.”

Ling Huanzhen turned around and looked at Jiao Yingfeng with admiring eyes: “Jiao Jiao, I think you are the one suitable to be this head coach.”

“I can’t. I don’t have your… sunny affinity. Hurry up, freshman military training is only two weeks. If you don’t solve these problems, when the Great Demon King steps into the basketball hall…”

Ling Huanzhen shuddered. He had to race against time to quickly build a team with bench depth.

“Then Jiao Jiao, we agreed the three of us would advance and retreat together. What are you going to do?”

“I still prefer teaching techniques. I can only handle one student at a time. That little brat Xia Chiyi might be a top-notch shooting guard in Jin Province, but looking at the Southeast Division, or even the national top eight, he’s just a little sparrow who hasn’t seen the world. He’d be crushed to death in five minutes.”