HGTM CH100
Chapter 0100: Standing Shoulder to Shoulder with My God
“When I took my first bite of the herb shrimp, I was thinking how great it would be if Zhou Zhexiao could taste it too.”
Xia Chiyi lowered his head and packed the basketball into his bag.
“Mo Xiaojie asked me what kind of TV drama heroine I liked, and I said Xiaolongnü. Probably because you are extremely similar to Xiaolongnü.”
Zhou Zhexiao slightly parted his lips. Only when he spoke did he realize his voice was a bit hoarse.
“I’m not a woman.”
“Then did you ever date anyone in your past life?” Xia Chiyi suddenly leaned in close to Zhou Zhexiao’s face.
Zhou Zhexiao took half a step back. The warmth radiating from Xia Chiyi gave him the illusion that he was going to be burned.
“No.”
“What about in this life? Have you… liked more than one person?”
“…No.”
With sharp eyes, Xia Chiyi noticed Zhou Zhexiao had a tendency to avert his gaze. He immediately reached out and pinched his cheeks, forcing Zhou to look right at him.
Zhou Zhexiao grabbed Xia Chiyi’s wrists, but didn’t use any force to pull them away.
“Then look at yourself, aren’t you ‘pure and flawless’ (like Xiaolongnü)?”
Zhou Zhexiao’s brows furrowed.
“Xiaolongnü taught Yang Guo the swordplay of the Ancient Tomb Sect, and my under-the-basket techniques were all taught by you.”
“Your three-pointers were trained by Jiao Yingfeng…”
“Did you really hit your head and forget? Aiming for the knot on the net, sinking the ball to generate power—you taught me all of that.”
“You’re not Yang Guo.”
Xia Chiyi smiled. So this was the reason Zhou Zhexiao had watched Return of the Condor Heroes so many times.
Yang Guo ignored the rules of the secular world and remained unwaveringly loyal to Xiaolongnü.
Subconsciously, Zhou Zhexiao was expecting Xia Chiyi to be like Yang Guo—that after a thousand sails had passed, his original intention would remain unregretted.
“Of course I’m not. If I lost an arm, how could I play basketball with you? Xiaolongnü told Yang Guo to wait sixteen years, and he really waited sixteen years. But my sixteen years cannot wait.”
Zhou Zhexiao froze, silently looking at the boy in front of him.
Because he knew that Xia Chiyi had finally understood the blank space he had left for his future.
“My sixteen years will be sixteen years of constantly charging forward. I only have one path, one apex, and only one Zhou Zhexiao.”
Xia Chiyi let go of Zhou Zhexiao.
“You said Mo Xiaojie is very pretty.”
“Yeah, she is very pretty, but she’s not you.” Xia Chiyi smiled and stepped back. “There are many things you don’t need to ask me. You have your own answers.”
His eyes were beautiful—the most shining existence Zhou Zhexiao had ever seen, brighter than the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
“I’m still young, and my life is still very, very long. I don’t know who I will meet in the future, whether the thirty-eight-year-old Xia Chiyi will have achieved greatness, or whether he’ll have fulfilled his and Zhou Zhexiao’s dream. But that is the thirty-eight-year-old Xia Chiyi; it has nothing to do with the me right now.”
Xia Chiyi took another step forward. In that instant, his magnetic pull was infinitely vast.
“But you have influenced every single day of my life from the age of eight to eighteen. Even at this very moment, my eyes and my heart are entirely filled with you.”
Drawn by him, Zhou Zhexiao could only approach him step by step.
Perhaps the moment they reunited at the airport McDonald’s was the true beginning of Zhou Zhexiao’s life.
He had sat by the window, watching Xia Chiyi walk toward him. The boy who used to cry in his arms had grown up. The eighteen-year-old Xia Chiyi was like a grand accident, finally allowing the him who had reached the absolute peak in the land of dreams to touch a different kind of emotion.
He wanted to possess, he restrained himself, and ultimately, his free will surrendered.
“You are not a cliff, so I don’t need to rein in my horse.”
Xia Chiyi smiled; he was far more resolute than Zhou Zhexiao had imagined.
“If we win the title of King of the Southeast, you have to confess to me.” Xia Chiyi lifted his chin, his eyes shining with pride.
“Why… do I have to confess to you?”
“I don’t care, I just want you to.”
Xia Chiyi slung the basketball over his shoulder and walked forward.
Zhou Zhexiao remained silent, then couldn’t help but chuckle.
His heart had already been firmly grasped by the other person.
Whatever Xia Chiyi wanted, he would give.
—My loneliness, my anxiety over gains and losses, the darkness in my heart, my wildly growing possessiveness, the depth of my love for you, and the sincere heart that abruptly plummeted after hacking through thorns to reach the top.
I will pour out everything I have, from the past to the future, though I don’t know if it will be enough to move you forever.
Head down, Xia Chiyi was looking at the route back to the hotel on his phone.
The faint sweep of headlights approached, about to illuminate Xia Chiyi’s face. The hair whorl on top of his head looked like a suddenly blooming firework.
Zhou Zhexiao grabbed him tightly and pulled him in. “Careful!”
A car drove slowly past them.
“Holy shit… driving this slow… who are you trying to scare…”
With his face pressed into Zhou Zhexiao’s embrace, Xia Chiyi heard his incredibly tense heartbeat.
Zhou Zhexiao held the back of Xia Chiyi’s head, his fingers gripping tightly into his hair. He didn’t slowly let go until the car was far away. “Don’t look at your phone when crossing the road.”
The next second, right over Zhou Zhexiao’s heart, a soft warmth transmitted through the fabric of his T-shirt—it was Xia Chiyi’s kiss.
The other lifted his face and glanced at him. “Then you keep an eye on me.”
The light ahead had turned green. Xia Chiyi turned and walked away.
Zhou Zhexiao raised his hand and covered the spot Xia Chiyi had touched.
This might have just been Xia Chiyi’s spur-of-the-moment prank, but it caught Zhou Zhexiao off guard and demolished all his defenses.
A certain impulse wanted to break free from the constraints of his physical shell, to burst out, wrap Xia Chiyi up layer by layer, and drag him into his very bones and flesh.
With every step, Zhou Zhexiao’s heart expanded infinitely.
Returning to the hotel room, Xia Chiyi acted as if nothing had happened and went straight into the bathroom.
He was in a great mood, singing a song Zhou Zhexiao had never heard before—most likely because he was singing out of tune.
The phone charging on the nightstand vibrated several times. Zhou Zhexiao glanced at it; they were WeChat messages from Mo Xiaojie.
Holding the phone, Zhou Zhexiao stood outside the bathroom door. “Someone sent you several WeChat messages.”
Xia Chiyi’s voice came through the door. “Who?”
“Mo Xiaojie.”
Zhou Zhexiao’s voice was deep and cold, but his heart was beating violently.
“What did she say?”
Just like the messages from Ling Huanzhen, Jiao Yingfeng, and Yang Huaiyu, Xia Chiyi had given him permission to look.
“She… asked if you’ve confessed yet.”
Mo Xiaojie’s exact words were: Have you confessed to your Xiaolongnü yet? Don’t tell me you got rejected again? Do you want me to enroll you in a remedial class for romance noobs?
“Then reply for me. Tell her that after we beat Qincheng University, Xiaolongnü will confess to me.”
After saying that, Xia Chiyi’s eyes curved into a smile. Today’s mood was truly a roller coaster, but right now, his heart was entirely filled with the drive to defeat Qincheng University.
Zhou Zhexiao’s fingers paused over the keyboard. “Reply to her yourself.”
“I won’t. I want you to reply for me.”
“Then don’t regret it.”
“What do I have to regret?”
“Alright.”
After saying it, Xia Chiyi felt a bit apprehensive. What would Zhou Zhexiao reply?
He showered as fast as he could. When he came out, he saw Zhou Zhexiao sitting on the sofa, holding the phone with a focused expression.
Usually, when he looked like this, he was either scrolling through shopping websites or watching game videos.
Xia Chiyi practically heard the sound of cash washing away.
He leaned over to look. Oh my god, Zhou Zhexiao was actually watching a live stream!
And it was Mo Xiaojie’s live stream.
The screen was flooded with comments like, “Don’t be sad baby, the next one will be better.”
What gave Xia Chiyi a heart attack was that Zhou Zhexiao seemed to have sent her a tip… a flurry of system fireworks?!
Xia Chiyi grabbed Zhou Zhexiao by the neck and started shaking him. “I’ve never even received fireworks from you, and you actually set them off for someone else?”
“We lit firecrackers together during the New Year, and even threw a whole box of pop-its outside the residential compound.”
Zhou Zhexiao said it very seriously, even though he was the one who threw away two-thirds of that box of pop-its!
“You… you’re using my account! Do you know how embarrassing this is for me!”
“She said that this afternoon she had a meal with someone she liked, and then the guy politely rejected her to go find his Xiaolongnü,” Zhou Zhexiao replied.
“Ah…”
It sounded like it was his fault. Sending a flurry of fireworks wasn’t too much then.
“Is that it…”
“She said the guy looked like the first-love male lead in a shoujo manga. The fans said pretty boys are all unreliable, and first-love male leads usually end up being fed to the dogs.”
“…”
“She also said he was gentle, considerate, didn’t play ambiguous games, stuck to his dreams to achieve a counterattack all the way, and had a galaxy living in his eyes. The fans said if you actually date him, you’ll find out he’s just an ordinary foot-picking slob, and what lives in his eyes isn’t a galaxy, but presbyopia plus astigmatism.”
“You can omit the fan comments.”
“She also said, she hopes the person he likes gets what he wishes for, and that he gets crowned King of the Southeast.” Zhou Zhexiao looked up at him.
Xia Chiyi rolled up his sleeves. “Bring it here! How is one flurry of fireworks enough! Spam her screen!”
“Spam it yourself.”
After saying that, Zhou Zhexiao got up and went to the bathroom.
After sending a flurry of fireworks, Xia Chiyi opened WeChat and saw Zhou Zhexiao’s reply to Mo Xiaojie:
[He promised to place the crown on my head.]
Reading it, Xia Chiyi was so happy he rolled around on the bed. One roll wasn’t enough; he had to do two, and he even rolled onto Zhou Zhexiao’s bed!
Zhou Zhexiao had used the pronoun “he,” but evidently Mo Xiaojie didn’t catch the hidden meaning. Instead, she replied: [Why does it sound like you’re a sugar baby relying on a woman? Shouldn’t you be the one taking the crown off to put it on her head?]
Yes, the King of the Southeast Region was also the gift he wanted to give to Zhou Zhexiao.
They would keep walking forward together. There was still the National Tournament, and an even higher, farther future.
When Zhou Zhexiao came out of the bathroom, he saw Xia Chiyi curled up in his blanket playing on his phone.
Zhou Zhexiao didn’t say a word. He sat silently on the edge of the bed and used the hairdryer to dry his hair.
Xia Chiyi immediately rolled over. One arm wrapped around Zhou Zhexiao’s lower abdomen, and his nose pressed against Zhou’s lower back, rubbing hard several times.
Zhou Zhexiao’s body went taut. Xia Chiyi keenly sensed it and grumbled, “I’m just rubbing a bit, it’s not like I’m trying to go in, what are you nervous for?”
“Where did you learn… dirty talk like that.”
Xia Chiyi tossed his phone aside and stretched his head forward, meeting Zhou Zhexiao’s lowered eyes.
“Haven’t you said similar things? Does that count as dirty talk too? If you don’t like hearing it, I won’t say it anymore.”
After saying that, Xia Chiyi suddenly felt that the temperature under his arm was really high.
Realizing what it was, Xia Chiyi instantly scrambled away. Just as he was about to roll off the bed, Zhou Zhexiao grabbed his ankle and yanked him back.
“Hey, what are you do—”
Before he could finish, Xia Chiyi’s nose bumped into Zhou Zhexiao’s back.
“What are you running for?”
Still looking down, Zhou Zhexiao used his other hand to stroke back his hair. The slightly curly strands slipped through his fingers. His amber eyes looked as if they held an entire ocean, rippling and shimmering.
Xia Chiyi had an urge to dive into his embrace and hug him tight.
“I wanted to get something for you.”
Zhou Zhexiao relaxed his grip on his ankle and said softly, “Alright, go get it.”
Xia Chiyi immediately flipped off the bed, opened the mini-fridge in the room, grabbed a can of cola, and pressed it against Zhou Zhexiao’s lower abdomen.
“Returning the favor!”
Zhou Zhexiao was stunned for a moment, intending to grab Xia Chiyi’s mischievous hand, but Xia Chiyi had already run back to the opposite bed.
He heard him declare, “The wheel of fortune turns; the heavens spare no one!”
It seemed he was getting revenge for that night when he couldn’t sleep after eating twenty oysters, and Zhou Zhexiao had iced him with a cola.
Zhou Zhexiao squeezed the can of cola. Their mini-fridge was just a decoration; the cola was room temperature. It had no effect at all.
Zhou Zhexiao got up and went into the bathroom.
Only then did Xia Chiyi let out a long breath and slowly turn around.
He looked at his palm. He had accidentally brushed against Zhou Zhexiao just now, and his heart felt like it was going to jump out of his throat.
So jealous…
That size is absolutely heaven-defying!
By the time Zhou Zhexiao came out of the bathroom, Xia Chiyi had already snuggled under the covers and fallen asleep. His eyelashes rested on his eyelids, half his face sunk into the pillow.
The exhaustion from the afternoon match had finally conquered him, and he let out a steady, rhythmic breathing sound.
Zhou Zhexiao bent down, leaning on one hand as he got closer to him inch by inch.
The Xia Chiyi of today wasn’t just handsome when hitting the final shot; he was even more handsome when he rushed right up to him.
He had understood his concerns, his bewilderment, and had given him a straightforward and affirmative answer.
Yes. If time must one day reach its terminus, I want the person accompanying me through the entire journey to be you.
Zhou Zhexiao’s knuckles lightly brushed across Xia Chiyi’s brow bone.
All hesitation and uncertainty dissipated.
He felt as if he had returned to many years ago, filled with an unparalleled desire to “win.”
The next morning, everyone met in the restaurant.
The first thing Ye Chaoying asked Xia Chiyi was: “You went on a show with Mo Xiaojie, that’s very glorious!”
“So-so, just third in the world. It goes online at 12 noon today on Coolang. Remember to like, save, and subscribe!”
Ye Chaoying really wanted to shove Xia Chiyi’s head into his plate.
“Look at you showing off!”
Chen Chuan walked past behind Xia Chiyi, glanced down, and said, “You took this much again? If you can’t finish it later, no one’s going to help you.”
“I have Zhou Zhexiao.” Xia Chiyi made a “rest assured” gesture.
Speechless, Ye Chaoying thought to himself, We really can’t rest assured.
Holding an empty plate, Zhou Zhexiao poured a glass of milk and sat down.
And in less than three minutes, half the food Xia Chiyi had taken transferred onto Zhou Zhexiao’s plate.
Watching Zhou Zhexiao pick up the steamed yam with his chopsticks, everyone tensed up, terrified he’d say something like “I’m never clearing your plate again.”
But Zhou Zhexiao just said “Thank you,” and then put the yam into his mouth.
“What is he saying ‘thank you’ for?”
Ye Chaoying and Chen Chuan looked at each other.
He Bin slowly spoke up: “The skin on the yam Xia Chiyi gave him was scraped off, the egg he gave him was peeled, and the cilantro in the fried noodles he gave him was picked out.”
Ye Chaoying sighed. “Early in the morning… force-fed another mouthful of dog food. I’m choking to death.”
After breakfast, everyone gathered in Ling Huanzhen’s room. Cheng Qing presented the match data compiled by the data analysis team.
“The focus is on their coordination methods.”
Such as Ke Yan’s passing habits, Li Shunchuan’s off-ball movement to receive passes, Meng Ting and He Zhan’s defensive switching…
With his head tilted up, Xia Chiyi listened very attentively.
Qincheng University was the only opponent they hadn’t beaten in their practice matches, and they were also last year’s Kings of the Southeast Region.
And Yang Huaiyu was probably the only guy in the Southeast Region who could go one-on-one with Zhou Zhexiao.
Xia Chiyi glanced at Zhou Zhexiao. This guy wasn’t sleeping; he was looking intently at Cheng Qing.
Especially when Yang Huaiyu’s passing, long-range shooting, and steal numbers were mentioned, a cold glint seemed to flash in Zhou Zhexiao’s eyes.
Even just looking at him like this, Xia Chiyi could feel the chilling battle intent deep within him.
The magnificent game highlights of Sheng Xingming he had seen as a child flooded into Xia Chiyi’s mind.
Sensing Xia Chiyi’s gaze, Zhou Zhexiao turned his head to look at him. “What is it?”
“When I was a kid, on my way home from school, I always stood in front of shop windows to watch your game broadcasts on TV. The scenes of Sheng Xingming scoring with double-clutch layups under the basket were like a god.”
Zhou Zhexiao looked at Xia Chiyi silently.
“But tomorrow, I’m going to play in the Southeast Regional finals with you. It feels like…”
“Like what?”
Xia Chiyi leaned close to Zhou Zhexiao’s ear and said, “I am standing shoulder to shoulder with my god.”
Zhou Zhexiao turned his face away and continued listening intently to Cheng Qing’s data explanation.
But to the naked eye, his ears had turned bright red.
At noon, the show Xia Chiyi and Yang Huaiyu recorded aired. It was only a few short minutes, but the on-demand views were quite high.
At first, Ye Chaoying was cheering for Xia Chiyi.
“Holy shit, since when could you jump this high, kid? This two-ball dunk is awesome!”
“So close, you were so close to drifting across the paint!”
“Haha, look at Yang Huaiyu’s expression after you hit that turnaround jumper. So satisfying.”
But when it got to the Rapid Fire Q&A, Ye Chaoying flew into a rage. He grabbed Xia Chiyi by the neck and shook him.
“Xia Chiyi, explain yourself clearly. What do you mean I can be the best man AND cosplay the bridesmaid! Trashing me like this, you go ask Zhou Zhexiao to be your best man and see if he kills the mood or not!”
Xia Chiyi was getting dizzy from being shaken. “Zhou Zhexiao can’t be my best man… If he’s going to be anything, he’ll be my bride…”
Ye Chaoying let go of Xia Chiyi’s neck, opting to pat his cheek instead. “Bro, what kind of bullshit are you dreaming about?”
The others were also laughing in bursts as they watched the show, teasing Xia Chiyi about his rapid-fire answers.
“The person you hate the most is Zhou Zhexiao? That’s true, you shove everything you can’t eat onto him—he’s your royal trash can!” Chen Chuan said with a laugh.
“Your favorite TV show is Return of the Condor Heroes? I always thought it was Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf! You sing it in the locker room every day, and you sing it when you win at video games. It’s so endless I want to shove my basketball shoe in your mouth.” Shuai Bei lodged a complaint.
Ye Chaoying immediately raised his hand in agreement: “Whose shoes on our team have the strongest flavor? Hurry up and contribute your shoes!”
Du He, who was eating, silently drew his knees together and whispered, “Don’t cue me…”
Compared to the relaxed atmosphere on Ningchang University’s side, Qincheng University, who were also watching the show, were a bit tense.
Holding his phone, Meng Ting licked his upper lip. “I say… Xia Chiyi’s explosive power under the basket isn’t any worse than our Yang Huaiyu’s… If his wingspan reached Yang Huaiyu’s level, he would have completed that mid-air double-under-leg pass dunk, right? And that baseline drift, although he failed, he really did fly all the way across, right?”
Yang Huaiyu said, amused: “Do you think I’m a gibbon? I rely on technique, not wingspan.”
The other teammates burst out laughing.
However, Ke Yan’s brows remained furrowed. “But Xia Chiyi’s dribbling sprint speed is too fast. I’m a bit worried…”
Coach Ren of Qincheng University looked over. “A-Yan, if you’re worried about something, spit it out.”
“With Xia Chiyi’s dribbling speed, he could replace Ye Chaoying in handling the ball and play as a combo guard. He’d be organizing the offense and scoring from the perimeter without missing a beat. That way, Ling Huanzhen could free up Ye Chaoying exclusively to play tight, face-to-face defense on Li Shunchuan.”
After Ke Yan finished speaking, everyone’s gaze turned to Li Shunchuan.
Li Shunchuan’s downward-slanted eyebrows dropped even lower. He picked at the edge of the table and asked pitifully, “Will… will it be like that?”
Propping up his chin, Yang Huaiyu asked with a smile, “Jiong Li, are you afraid of Ye Chaoying’s tight defense?”
Li Shunchuan thought about it and answered seriously, “To be honest, it’s not that I’m afraid, it’s just that it would be very annoying.”
“What we fear the least is annoyance,” Yang Huaiyu smiled.
Just as he said that, Yang Huaiyu’s phone vibrated. He saw a message from Liu Suchen: [Beware of Xia Chiyi’s offensive capabilities under the basket.]
Yang Huaiyu replied: [Thanks for the reminder.]
Liu Suchen: [No need to thank me. I just wished him to be crowned King of the Southeast.]
Yang Huaiyu: […]
In the afternoon was the battle for third and fourth place between Southeast Mining University and Fǔgong.
Xia Chiyi absolutely had to go watch. Even if he shouted his throat hoarse, he was going to cheer for Zhao Lingcong.
Outside the stadium, they coincidentally ran into Southeast Mining’s cheerleading squad handing out items to alumni—inflatable thunder sticks, plastic whistles, hand banners, and so on.
Xia Chiyi stood not far away, watching curiously.
In the past, when Ningchang University’s cheerleaders were handing out items, he was always already in the stadium locker room, so he basically never got a chance to see this scene.
Zhou Zhexiao didn’t say anything, just stood beside him with his hands in his pockets, waiting for him.
Instead, it was Ye Chaoying who quietly nudged Xia Chiyi. “Why are you still watching? Let’s go quickly. Did you forget that Southeast Mining was eliminated by us?”
“Ah? Oh…”
Just as Xia Chiyi was about to turn around, he saw over a dozen girls change into red T-shirts. They were extremely conspicuous, especially since the T-shirts had a giant headshot of Zhao Lingcong printed on them.
Xia Chiyi couldn’t hold back and shouted: “So cool! I want that—”
The girls turned their heads to look at him.
“That guy is Xia Chiyi, right? Ningchang University’s Xia Chiyi!”
“The one who dropped almost forty points on us last game?”
“Why is he looking at us?”
Ye Chaoying quickly tugged at Xia Chiyi. “Stop looking, let’s go. Pang Shuai and the others made them too. Tomorrow your giant headshot will be worn on their bodies!”
“But I…”
One of the girls walked up to Xia Chiyi holding a T-shirt. “Are you interested in the T-shirts we made?”
Xia Chiyi immediately nodded, took the T-shirt, and said to his teammates beside him: “Look, it’s printed so well, even the texture of the eyebrows is so clear. When did Brother Cong get this hairstyle? I’ve always wanted to cut it like this, but the barbershop near the school only knows how to do a textured crop!”
Hearing him say that, Ye Chaoying also leaned over to look. “This is a textured perm. If you get this hairstyle without Zhao Lingcong’s mature aura, you’ll look like a playboy.”
Hearing Xia Chiyi call Zhao Lingcong “Brother Cong,” and remembering that Zhao Lingcong had said he and Xia Chiyi were high school teammates, the girl asked tentatively, “Then did you come today… to cheer for Zhao Lingcong?”
“Yeah! Of course I’m going to cheer for him, I’ll put it on right now!”
Saying that, Xia Chiyi grabbed the hem of his own T-shirt. As his abs tensed up, the girls across from him stared blankly.
Right before his abs were completely exposed, a hand suddenly reached over, yanked his T-shirt back down, and said coldly: “Wear it over your shirt.”
It was Zhou Zhexiao.
He had clearly been standing completely still a short distance away just a moment ago. In his past life, this Great King was used to others wearing his T-shirts; how could he possibly be interested in a college student’s fan merchandise… so how did he suddenly teleport here?
“Wearing it over my shirt is too tight.”
“This is new clothing that hasn’t been washed. When you’re itching and can’t sleep tonight, don’t blame me for not warning you.”
Hearing this, the girl immediately turned around. “Wait a moment, I’ll find you the largest size!”
Ye Chaoying laughed and flicked Xia Chiyi’s head. “You’re really something! You’ve never even worn Sheng Xingming’s fan merch, yet you gave your first time to Zhao Lingcong!”
“Cough, cough… cough cough cough…” Xia Chiyi choked on Ye Chaoying’s words until he saw stars.
He glanced at Zhou Zhexiao. The other didn’t say a word, but the expression on his face was dark and gloomy—obviously experiencing low atmospheric pressure.
Realizing something, Xia Chiyi shouted: “Could you find me two of the largest size?”
“Okay! Okay!”
The clothes were brought over. Xia Chiyi slipped one on, giving it a somewhat oversized, loose, and lazy vibe.
“Are you going to take one back to bury at the bottom of your closet?” Ye Chaoying asked.
“Of course not.” Xia Chiyi slipped the other one over Zhou Zhexiao’s neck.
“Holy shit, are you two trying to wear couple’s shirts? Making Zhao Lingcong witness your plastic brotherhood?”
When Zhou Zhexiao heard the words “couple’s shirts,” his fingertips twitched slightly, and then he pulled the T-shirt over his own.
Ye Chaoying covered his eyes. “Crazy, you two are crazy.”
“Let’s go, let’s go, hurry inside!”
Xia Chiyi tugged at Zhou Zhexiao, and the two headed toward the entrance.
Zhao Lingcong’s cheerleaders shouted loudly: “Thank you! We’ll cheer for you in the finals tomorrow too!”
As they walked toward their reserved section, surrounded by college student spectators, everyone looked up slightly. Those two red T-shirts were too conspicuous.
“Aren’t those Southeast Mining’s support shirts?”
“So Xia Chiyi and Zhou Zhexiao are also fans of Zhao Lingcong?”
When they sat down, Shuai Bei in the row behind them couldn’t help but ask, “Did you two… defect to the enemy?”
“We are uniting all forces that can be united. Southeast Mining promised to cheer for us in the finals tomorrow!”
Shuai Bei shot Zhou Zhexiao a complicated look. He was truly hopeless.
Warming up on the sideline, Zhao Lingcong looked up, caught sight of Xia Chiyi and Zhou Zhexiao in the stands, and froze.
“This little brat is giving me this much face?”
Ma Tao came over, followed Zhao Lingcong’s gaze, and then leaned close to his ear. “I think they might just want to wear couple’s shirts to show off their affection.”
“I know Xia Chiyi. He’s definitely doing it because the graphic printed on that T-shirt looks handsome.” Zhao Lingcong lifted his chin in Xia Chiyi’s direction.
Xia Chiyi immediately curled his hands and put them in front of his eyes, pretending they were binoculars.
“The kid never grows up. Still exactly the same as in high school.” Rolling his wrists, Zhao Lingcong couldn’t help but smile.
Ma Tao felt a bit envious and said sourly: “He clearly calls me ‘Brother Tao’ to my face, why is he wearing your support shirt and not mine?”
“You need to have fans to make them for you first.”
Ma Tao took an arrow to the knee.
In this match, Zhao Lingcong went full throttle. He drove into the paint countless times, using all sorts of dribbling fakes—driving and pulling back, faking a shot to make a real pass. It left Xia Chiyi dazzled, biting his plastic whistle and blowing it desperately.
“Brother Cong is the best! Brother Cong is the strongest on the surface! Brother Cong scored again—”
Even the broadcast cameras swept over Xia Chiyi countless times.
Cheering with utter seriousness, his eyes sparkling, whenever Zhao Lingcong scored, the camera accurately captured his reaction.
And unlike the cheerleaders, he knew all the trendy and popular goal celebration gestures.
Placing hands together beside his cheek meant, “I could beat you in my sleep.”
Shaking fists like seaweed meant, “Beating you is as easy as seaweed swaying in the water.”
Most importantly, if Zhao Lingcong saw it, he would do the exact same motion back at him.
Even Zhao Lingcong’s cheerleaders learned several of the moves and did them together. It was enough to enrage their opponents, Fǔgong University, to death.
The viewers in the live stream room all laughed.
[Who needs commentary? Just watch Xia Chiyi’s expressions.]
[Now I’m curious how Zhao Lingcong is going to cheer for Xia Chiyi in the finals tomorrow!]
[Did anyone notice Zhou Zhexiao’s expression? Cold indifference the whole time!]
[Hahaha, Zhou Zhexiao, blink if you’ve been kidnapped!]
…
In the end, Southeast Mining University defeated Fǔgong University 95 to 78, becoming the third place of the Southeast Region.
As they were leaving the stadium after the game, Xia Chiyi received a WeChat message from Zhao Lingcong. It was actually a red envelope.
He opened it excitedly, only to find it contained exactly 6.66 RMB.
“Ah… can 6.66 even be called a red envelope?”
“I’m thirsty. I want to eat a Magnum bar,” Zhou Zhexiao said.
“No. A Magnum bar costs eight yuan. Zhao Lingcong’s red envelope is only 6 yuan.”
Zhou Zhexiao looked at him quietly.
“You didn’t pay him tuition fees either.”
“Why should I pay tuition fees?”
“You deliberately cheered vigorously to hype him up, make him show off like a peacock displaying its feathers, and then secretly learned his under-basket fakes, passing fakes, layup fakes…”
“Okay, okay, okay! Magnum bar! We’ll go buy a Magnum bar, alright?”
Xia Chiyi turned and asked his teammates, “Is anyone going to the little supermarket to buy anything?”
“No need, go by yourself,” Ye Chaoying waved his hand.
The two arrived at the small supermarket near the stadium. While Zhou Zhexiao was rummaging through the freezer for ice cream, students who had just left the match and came to buy cold drinks came up to ask for photos with them.
Xia Chiyi’s temper was always very good. With his arm draped over Zhou Zhexiao’s shoulder, he smiled so widely his eyes turned into crescents.
Someone taking a photo with them even laughed and said, “Even Mining University’s Zhao Lingcong made it into the shot!”
Looking down at his T-shirt, Xia Chiyi couldn’t help but laugh too.
Leaving the small supermarket, the two walked on the road back to the hotel.
Zhou Zhexiao gently bit into the crispy chocolate shell of his ice cream bar, making a “crack” sound.
Watching him slowly take the crispy shell into his mouth piece by piece, Xia Chiyi suddenly felt his heart grow soft and itchy.
“Have you eaten this kind of crispy ice cream bar before?”
“Yes.”
“When was the last time?” Xia Chiyi asked with a smile.
“I was teaching kids how to play basketball at a youth training camp. One little kid was sweating a lot and kept pestering me for ice cream. But the freezer in my nanny van only had this kind of crispy ice cream bar…”
Xia Chiyi’s heart fluttered slightly; this scene felt familiar.
“I sat with him on the edge of the flowerbed steps. I liked eating all the chocolate shell first before eating the ice cream inside. Then the ice cream melted and fell on the ground.” Zhou Zhexiao’s gaze swept over. “Then that little kid said, ‘It’s okay, I’ll keep you company,’ and put his own remaining half of the ice cream next to it. In the end, they melted together.”
“You still remember… I feel so stupid.” Xia Chiyi covered his face, his heart pounding wildly.
Expressionless, Zhou Zhexiao continued walking forward.
Xia Chiyi was annoyed. After all this time, am I the only one getting nostalgic?
He quickly walked past Zhou Zhexiao. History is always startlingly similar.
The entire block of Zhou Zhexiao’s ice cream fell off the stick.
With quick eyes and fast hands, Xia Chiyi instantly lowered his center of gravity and caught it before it could intimately contact the ground.
An icy cold sensation transmitted through his palm. Xia Chiyi looked at Zhou Zhexiao and asked awkwardly, “W-What do we do?”
Zhou Zhexiao still held the wooden stick in his hand, his face unreadable.
Xia Chiyi looked left and right. “Where is a trash can?”
But the milky-white ice cream was melting into water, spilling down between Xia Chiyi’s fingers.
Zhou Zhexiao grabbed Xia Chiyi’s wrist. With a soft “Don’t move,” Xia Chiyi froze in place, not daring to move an inch.
As a certain premonition grew stronger and stronger, Zhou Zhexiao had already lowered his head. Even though the ice cream was cold, Xia Chiyi seemed to feel Zhou Zhexiao’s warm breath.
It tickles so much, I want to pull my hand back.
When Zhou Zhexiao took the melting piece of ice cream into his mouth, his lips touched Xia Chiyi’s palm. Something smooth and soft licked it, and Xia Chiyi had to exert great effort to suppress the urge to shrug his shoulders.
Who does something like this…
Especially seeing Zhou Zhexiao’s forehead, the tip of his nose, and his long, upturned eyelashes from this angle… he was simply an enchanting demon!
There was still half a piece left in his palm. Xia Chiyi’s body temperature was rising, and that half piece of ice cream quickly lost its shape.
“Stop eating it… it’s all melted…”
Xia Chiyi wanted to move his hand away, but it was useless—Zhou Zhexiao had an iron grip on him, rendering him completely unable to move.
Zhou Zhexiao’s fingertips seemed to rub against Xia Chiyi’s wrist. The ice cream flowed along Xia Chiyi’s palm lines, trailing down his wrist as if lured by an invisible force, about to touch Zhou Zhexiao’s fingertips.
“It’s… it’s going to drip down. Do you have a tissue…”
If Zhou Zhexiao had been subtle just now, right at this moment he blatantly took Xia Chiyi’s wrist into his mouth. With a very soft sound, the ice cream pooled in his palm was swept away.
He let go of Xia Chiyi’s hand. Xia Chiyi was practically smoking, stammering as he asked, “W-What are you doing… You clearly could have just thrown it away.”
“An eight-yuan ice cream, weren’t you reluctant to part with it?”
Zhou Zhexiao turned and walked forward, giving off the scumbag vibe of ‘pulling up his pants and leaving.’
“But I feel like something’s not right…”
“What’s not right?”
“I feel like you were seducing me. This is… that hint…”
“What hint?”
“Where did you learn this? Or did you already know how to do it?”
“Learned it from a movie.”
“Wh-Which movie?”
“The movie your goddess starred in, A Spray of Windflower.”
Xia Chiyi froze. There did seem to be such a plot. However, the director filmed it extremely aesthetically: it was a pair of young female students, bosom friends. One was relatively wealthy and bought a cream popsicle—which was very expensive at the time—for the other girl from an average family.
“In the movie, it was art. What you did is not suitable for children.”
“Oh.” Not knowing if he was faking it, Zhou Zhexiao just replied with one syllable and kept walking forward.
Looking at his back, Xia Chiyi suddenly realized: this was Zhou Zhexiao’s revenge against him.
Just because last night, he had ignited his fire, and then tossed a room-temperature cola onto him before rolling up in the blanket to sleep.
Back in the hotel room, Xia Chiyi ran his hands under the water. The sensation Zhou Zhexiao brought still lingered on his wrist and palm.
He was reluctant to wash it off.
After applying hand soap, Xia Chiyi couldn’t help but recall the dreams he had had.
Scorching hot dreams that made his blood surge and his instincts run wild.
Xia Chiyi lowered his head, cupped some water, and splashed it onto his face.
I regret it so much. Why did I say Zhou Zhexiao had to confess only if we won the game?
I should have made him execute it right away, and then right now I could go out, jump onto him, and sniff him like crazy.
By the time Xia Chiyi came out of the bathroom, sure enough, he saw Zhou Zhexiao sitting on the sofa by the window, flipping through that melancholic poetry book again.
“Ye Chaoying sent you a bunch of WeChat messages.”
“Ah? What’s wrong with him?”
Xia Chiyi sat down on the sofa opposite him, picked up his phone, looked at it, and froze.
[Xia Chiyi, let’s go play video games?]
[Where are you? Don’t tell me you’re sleeping?]
[How can you sleep? Are you even human?]
[I’m begging you, pay attention to me!]
[The other party has canceled]
Xia Chiyi scratched the back of his head. “Ye Chaoying… he seems very anxious like this…”
“Why is he anxious?”
“Didn’t they say I should shoulder both guard roles, and let him stick to Li Shunchuan?” Xia Chiyi looked up and said. “Is he lacking confidence facing Li Shunchuan? But ever since we played the practice match with Qincheng University, his master, Gao Jinshu, has been specially training him in individual defense. And specifically targeting shooter-type shooting guards…”
Having been specially trained by Gao Jinshu, logically, Ye Chaoying should be brimming with confidence.
Zhou Zhexiao pondered for a moment. “Are you sleepy? If not, take him out and play some ball for a while.”
[Author’s Note]
Xia Chiyi: You know we’re already dating, right.
Zhou Zhexiao: ???