Chapter 21: The Clowns Looking at the Sky from a Well

Zhou Zhexiao turned around to face Xia Chiyi, crossing his index fingers to signify that he had scored ten goals.

The remaining five minutes were up to Xia Chiyi.

Xia Chiyi’s lips pursed upward slightly, a habitual little movement indicating he was thinking.

He just didn’t know that every time this happened, Zhou Zhexiao saw it.

Ten goals in five minutes? That’s a lot of pressure.

The second quarter was only halfway through, but Chen Chuan and He Bin already knew they were bound to lose.

In the nursing home, Ma Wenhua was pacing like an ant on a hot pan. Since this Zhou Zhexiao was so skilled, why had his cousin cut him?! Wouldn’t it have been better to recruit him into the provincial team?

Ma Wenhua had to send the video to his cousin Ma Hongming, asking what he should do.

The other party only replied with one sentence: [Victory and defeat are common occurrences in military strategy.]

“Common occurrences?!” Ma Wenhua’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Ma Wenhua suddenly regretted it. Since the team had powerful figures like Ye Chaoying and Zhou Zhexiao, why didn’t he just go back and coach seriously? This level of skill would definitely shine in the divisional tournament, boosting his own reputation.

But… would he be willing to let these freshmen do whatever they wanted?

These freshmen were born rebellious; could he really tolerate his authority being swept into the dust?

Things had come to this; even if the ship was going to sink when it reached the bridge, he had to make it go down with a splash.

Ma Wenhua messaged Chen Chuan and He Bin, ordering them to defend to the death. Even if they lost, they had to narrow the point gap, otherwise, their names would never appear in the starting lineup again.

This weighed heavily on Chen Chuan and He Bin; even if they wanted to give up, they had to fight with their backs to the river.

Perhaps because Zhou Zhexiao had turned a team battle into a single-player game, Ye Chaoying and Shuai Bei had questions written on their faces like “Do we still need to perform?” and “Can we slack off now?” Only Du He was honestly guarding against He Bin’s three-pointers.

Pressure creates motivation. Xia Chiyi exhaled, feeling heat spread from his wrists to his fingertips.

In the remaining five minutes, not a single second could be wasted!

He Bin received the ball again, reached the three-point line, and prepared to shoot, but was immediately interfered with by Ye Chaoying’s defense and had to abort.

Just as he took a step back to create distance, Xia Chiyi was already at his side. A premonition of being stripped washed over him. He tried to turn his back to protect the ball, but Xia Chiyi had already darted past, scooping the ball away!

He Bin almost coughed up three liters of blood. He didn’t understand—Xia Chiyi was clearly 1.86 meters tall too, so how could he get his center of gravity so low and run so fast?!

Xia Chiyi dribbled alone, and all five opponents chased after him. When he stopped at the three-point line, Chen Chuan took the opportunity to get in front of him.

Except for Zhou Zhexiao, everyone was probably guessing who he would pass to—Ye Chaoying on the left? Or Shuai Bei on the front right?

But Xia Chiyi jumped without hesitation, his body leaning slightly backward, sending the basketball into the air.

Ling Huanzhen’s eyes lit up: It’s here, it’s here! The fadeaway jumper that even Jiao Yingfeng praised is finally here!

Let me see if the shooting skill in the video was an occasional stroke of luck or your standard operation!

Shuai Bei rushed over responsibly to grab the rebound, but before he even jumped, he could judge that it was going in.

Xia Chiyi turned to Zhou Zhexiao in advance, mimicking him by placing a finger on his lips, meaning “That’s the first one.”

Zhou Zhexiao tapped his wrist with a finger, meaning: You don’t have much time left, what are you smug about?

With the first ball came the second.

Xia Chiyi dribbled to the three-point line, used a pump fake to shake off the defender, faced Chen Chuan directly, and jumped again.

The audience held their breath—could this guy make it again?

Shuai Bei and Du He both rushed under the basket to box out for the rebound, but the ball swished into the net.

Xia Chiyi made “OK” signs with both hands, placed them over his eyes like glasses, and looked at Zhou Zhexiao.

“Mn.” Zhou Zhexiao held up four fingers, meaning: You have four minutes left.

For the rest of the time, as if paying tribute to Zhou Zhexiao’s earlier performance, Xia Chiyi replicated his hook shot, left-handed layup, and floater.

The audience, who had previously been screaming for Zhou Zhexiao, instantly switched sides, practically banging their heads against the wall for Xia Chiyi.

“He’s so handsome! He’s really so handsome! I thought he could only shoot, but he can do everything Zhou Zhexiao can do!”

Xu Mi was shaken by her little sisters until she wanted to throw up, but she was screaming in her heart: So you really are this good!

A faint smile appeared in Zhou Zhexiao’s eyes. His gaze deliberately lingered on Xia Chiyi’s abdomen for a moment, implying: Copy the double-clutch layup if you have the skill.

Xia Chiyi felt the blood rush to his head under that gaze, almost blowing his top.

Speaking of double-clutch, it wasn’t that he couldn’t do it, but the result wasn’t as explosive as Zhou Zhexiao’s, so he’d better stick to three-pointers.

Moreover, the opposing He Bin also kept trying to use three-pointers to pull back the score difference, but unfortunately, under the immense pressure, his form was terrible.

This made Xia Chiyi hesitate—should he really win so ruthlessly?

Zhou Zhexiao passed behind Xia Chiyi. “Do you know what the full version of Ling Huanzhen’s quote is?”

“Huh?”

“Because I want to win, you must lose; you might even have to cry.”

Yes, this is competitive sports.

For He Bin, this was also an opportunity to break through and rebuild.

Xia Chiyi’s demonstrated scoring ability shook the opponents; those originally guarding Zhou Zhexiao switched to guarding him.

If Zhou Zhexiao’s dribbling relied on crisp rhythm changes with no wasted steps, then Xia Chiyi displayed silky smooth fakes that were hard to distinguish from reality, tricking the opponent’s defensive formation into fragments, like mercury spilling across the floor.

When he reached the three-point line again, many spectators stood up, shouting, “Get it in—!”

Ling Huanzhen looked at the timer; he didn’t expect this kid to attempt a buzzer-beater with only one second left!

He Bin watched that graceful parabola. It felt like a mountain was crashing down on him. For the first time, he had an incredibly dark thought: Don’t go in. Don’t score anymore. Don’t prove your long-range shooting anymore. And don’t make me feel like a worthless fool anymore!

However, just as the whistle blew, the ball swished into the basket.

All sorts of sounds erupted around them—applause, shouting, banging on railings.

“This bro is godly!”

“Our school team can definitely make the top eight in the divisionals this year!”

Xia Chiyi went up to Shuai Bei, mimicked a gun-loading motion at him, tilted his head back, and looked up at him. “Who said I don’t know how to load?”

Shuai Bei was stunned; he hadn’t expected him to remember a casual remark.

But what followed was a strange feeling he had never experienced before. In the past year, Ma Wenhua’s offensive core was centered on He Bin. Everyone had to serve him. As a power forward, Shuai Bei’s most important job was grabbing rebounds and setting picks for He Bin.

On the court, he was just a blue-collar supporting actor.

But Xia Chiyi was different. He could steal on his own, he could shoot under a double-team lockdown. He might need teammates’ screens and protection, but he was also independently powerful and could, in turn, draw the enemy’s forces.

If the opponent was pinned down near the three-point line by him, it meant the basket was empty, giving power forwards and centers like Shuai Bei and Du He more scoring opportunities.

Fist clenching and unclenching, Shuai Bei suddenly felt that his teammates—whether Zhou Zhexiao or Xia Chiyi—loved to put on solo shows, but… it actually wasn’t bad.

Xia Chiyi ran in front of Zhou Zhexiao, crossing his index fingers. “I also got ten goals, but I had more three-pointers, so my score is higher than yours!”

The next second, Xia Chiyi’s nose was ruthlessly pinched by the other.

He was very angry at Zhou Zhexiao’s act of stopping his gloating.

After struggling to pry Zhou Zhexiao’s fingers away, Xia Chiyi looked up and saw the corners of the other’s mouth slightly indented.

So, this guy was smiling?

Ling Huanzhen had watched for a full five minutes and had to admit this Xia Chiyi kid really had something.

Watching the video before, he thought Xia Chiyi was suited to be a 3D player. ‘3’ meant three-pointers, and ‘D’ stood for defense. Such players were needed by any team, but that alone wasn’t enough to be called the “Ace’s Heart.”

But at this moment, Ling Huanzhen understood. Xia Chiyi possessed not only stable shooting; although his defensive ability was slightly inferior to Ye Chaoying’s, he possessed a sharp heart. When the team’s offensive ace was intercepted, he indeed had the ability to slice open a new situation.

At this moment, Zhou Zhexiao drank water while shooting a glance at Ling Huanzhen, seemingly saying: Isn’t he great?

Ling Huanzhen rolled his eyes, thinking: You’ve played two quarters, yet you have no tactics and I haven’t seen any teamwork.

Everyone is good individually, but everyone looks like they’re playing solo.

Regarding this point, Ye Chaoying, the point guard, realized the problem.

He waved his hand, gathering everyone. “Do you guys feel like we have zero teamwork? Will we look like idiots in Ling Huanzhen’s eyes like this?”

Shuai Bei was silent; Du He kept picking at his fingers. They were thinking: Zhou Zhexiao and Xia Chiyi want to play isolation; what can we do?

“Fine, let’s cooperate. How?” Xia Chiyi asked.

“Just traditional cooperation?” Ye Chaoying said. “Like cutting during offense, and playing zone defense during defense?”

“You make it sound like the opponents are strong enough to warrant us using tactics,” Shuai Bei hit the nail on the head.

Xia Chiyi rubbed the back of his head. “A moment of silence for our opponents.”

Ye Chaoying sighed. The opponents were too weak; he, the point guard, couldn’t even get the feel of being a playmaker.

The subsequent game entered a tactical drill phase. Various tactics were used once over. Although not as exciting as the first two quarters, Ling Huanzhen, as a spectator, finally saw them playing like teammates, even if… it was extremely perfunctory.

For example, during the zone defense, Ling Huanzhen was certain he saw Zhou Zhexiao yawn!

In the end, the game was won by Xia Chiyi’s side with an overwhelming score advantage.

The basketball hall boiled with cheers. The players who were used to obeying Ma Wenhua looked up and realized there was more than just one “Ma Wenhua Step Down” sign.

Several hot-blooded boys were actually wearing white T-shirts with words written directly in marker: New Generation, Old Ma Step Down!

Shuai Bei and Du He panted. Although they had lost their qualification for the divisionals by offending Ma Wenhua, looking at the boiling basketball hall, that regret seemed to be redeemed a little bit.

Ye Chaoying looked at Principal Feng; he hadn’t failed the man’s expectations and had won the game by a large margin.

Ling Huanzhen also looked up, feeling the hot blood and rebellion of the university students. No one could use power to crush them; where there is oppression, there will be resistance.

He had no doubt that even if he hadn’t come, with so many students present, if even one-tenth of them uploaded today’s game video to social media, it would create a splash.

Perhaps the high-and-mighty head coach in the provincial team hadn’t realized that today might be the beginning of the end of his authority.

Xia Chiyi draped his arm over Zhou Zhexiao’s shoulder, rubbing his chin. “I have a thought.”

“What thought?”

“Maybe when Ma Wenhua sees today’s game results, he’ll be so angry he has a brain hemorrhage and has to stay in the nursing home a bit longer, until we finish the league finals?” Xia Chiyi leaned in close, wanting to see the expression on Zhou Zhexiao’s face clearly.

Was it because the win was too easy? This guy didn’t even have a smile.

“Don’t you find it tiring to stand on tiptoes to lean on my shoulder?” Zhou Zhexiao asked back.

“Do you have a crown on your head? If you lower your head, will it fall off and hit your foot?” Xia Chiyi said unhappily.

Amidst the enthusiastic applause and whistles of the whole arena, Chen Chuan and the others exited silently.

In the locker room, they could still hear the cheers of the surrounding classmates.

Chen Chuan looked up. Opposite him, He Bin was exhausted. Today he had run non-stop to shoot, but the opponents were too strong, and his teammates had barely created any opportunities for him. He Bin had a towel over his head, hands on his knees, expression hidden.

“Hey, Chen Chuan…”

“Hmm?” Chen Chuan was panicked. Losing like this, he didn’t know how to explain to Coach Ma.

He was a junior; would he never get a chance to start again?

His performance today was too trash… completely destroyed.

“Listen to the noise outside… do you feel like we are the villains?” He Bin asked.

The teammates who had walked over to comfort them fell silent upon hearing this.

Today’s opponents were too powerful; that was a lineup cutting through thorns toward the championship.

And they were like clowns sitting in a well looking at the sky, thinking they could stop the iron wheels of a war chariot.

Now, reality had finally descended. They knew the school team was about to change.

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The game ended. Xia Chiyi and his group didn’t have the right to use the basketball team locker room, so they packed up to go back to the dorms first.

Walking to the entrance of the basketball hall, everyone was about to part ways.

Du He wanted to go back to the study room to memorize vocabulary, and Shuai Bei wanted to rush back to the dorm to shower.

Xia Chiyi turned and shouted at Shuai Bei, “Hey, are you sure you want to ‘take the wide road and go our separate ways’?”

Shuai Bei, carrying his bag, had a photoshoot in the afternoon, but his originally unhesitating steps stopped at this moment.

“Your shooting is so accurate, you don’t even need me to grab rebounds for you,” Shuai Bei replied.

“Who said I don’t need rebounds? If the person guarding me is an opponent on the level of Ye Chaoying or Zhou Zhexiao, I’m afraid you’ll be grabbing rebounds until you lose your temper.”

Shuai Bei wanted to say where would such strong opponents come from, but then he thought about it—it wasn’t that there weren’t any. The divisional tournament was full of strong schools; there were probably plenty of them.

“But I don’t want to be a side dish anymore either.” Shuai Bei gave a self-deprecating smile.