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墨書 Inktalez
A Fei re-entered the game, and the opponent seized the opportunity to attack. The opponent dribbled and drove for a layup. A Fei seemed to be caught off guard; as the opponent jumped, A Fei leaped up to block but was knocked back over a meter. The whistle blew, and A Fei was called for a blocking foul. “A Fei! Are you okay?” We rushed over, and A Fei lay on the ground for a long time before slowly sitting up. We helped him up, and Teacher Qiu signaled the referee to call a timeout. Teacher Qiu substituted A Fei out for Zhang Jun. With less than a minute left in the game, the opponent made two free throws, scoring both. We regained possession, and Zhongqi held the ball, draining the shot clock down to just seven seconds before starting our offense. He then passed the ball to me, but I was double-teamed and couldn't pass it out. With no other option, I held the ball and pivoted, but the whistle blew again as the referee signaled traveling. The opponent clearly intensified their defense; they quickly inbounded and launched an attack. After passing into the paint, we all went to help defend. The opponent's Center passed the ball to the perimeter Point Guard, who hit a three-pointer! The opponent closed the gap by five points. With twelve seconds remaining, Zhongqi missed a buzzer-beater three-pointer, ending the third quarter with a score of 59-61. We had gone from a nine-point lead in the first two quarters to now trailing by two points, having been outscored by eleven points in this quarter alone. Teacher Qiu said nothing this time; he simply observed our sweaty figures before continuing with new tactics on the board. Meanwhile, A Fei remained silent beside him. As the fourth quarter began, the team realized we were pushed to the edge. After their comeback in the third quarter, the opponent's morale surged, keeping the score tight in the first half of the quarter. Later on, as Zhongqi and Bing Ge, our core players, began to tire and we lacked new players who could step up, the score gradually widened. Although we fought hard in the last two minutes to pull back within five points, even though Zhongqi Senior shot ten out of fifteen for a game-high score, we ultimately lost 77-81 to City No. 1 Middle School.
After the game, everyone was silent. We understood that winning and losing are part of sports, but we didn't want to lose like this. Upon returning to school during break time, Sha Xiaomei and Xia Ying saw our team bus arrive and rushed downstairs to greet us. “Cheng Fei, how did it go?” As soon as Yu Chengfei got off, Sha Xiaomei linked arms with him and asked. A Fei replied with just two words: “We lost.” “It's okay; it's okay! A Fei is still the best!” A Fei said nothing and walked upstairs. “Wait for me!” Sha Xiaomei followed closely behind him. I watched them walk further away together. “No matter how you look at it, he's still someone else's,” Xia Ying remarked as she noticed my fixation on them. “I've already let go of Sha Xiaomei. I'm just worried about A Fei...” “Worried about A Fei? What’s there to worry about?” Xia Ying asked in confusion. “Nothing; I'm going upstairs too.” I turned without looking back and headed upstairs. “Hey! You really are something else—leaving me hanging! Hey! You better stop right there…” Ugh… Xia Ying can be so annoying sometimes; I wasn't in the mood to talk after losing.
That night when I got home, I went to bed early and lay in my warm blanket while taking out my phone and putting on my headphones to play some music on shuffle mode while logging onto QQ. The first song that came through was a new track by Wang Sulong: “Unknowingly without asking or feeling pain or itchiness, how much time has passed? On an uncertain night in an alley, tears flow quietly…” I had heard this song by chance from Xia Ying's phone back at school and thought it resonated with me when I asked her what it was called; she told me it was called "The Love That Doesn't Break Up." Since then, I fell in love with this style of music.
Glancing at QQ, I noticed that Xue Er was online. I greeted her: “Xue Er, are you there? What are you up to?” After a moment of silence, she replied: “Dao Dao, the person I like isn't happy today, but I don't know how to comfort him…” Is tomorrow really supposed to be doomsday? Why is everyone so unhappy today? “If you don't know how to help him share his burden, then just sit quietly with him; sometimes boys crave companionship when they're lonely.” Ugh! Here I am trying to console others while I'm feeling down myself—what a failure.
Then Cookie joined: “Soda, how's your mood today?” “Terrible,” I quickly replied. “Don't be sad; I'm here for you; let's chat.” Wow! Cookie is quite understanding; her words warmed my heart. “Can you tell me your real name?” My interest in her identity piqued. “My surname is Qu; my full name is Cookie.” Anyone with half a brain would know she was brushing me off, but that night we ended up chatting until very late.
The next day we were set to face off against Hejiang Middle School. According to reports, they were slightly weaker than City No. 1 Middle School but still formidable opponents—this was a game we couldn't afford to lose. We prepared all our strategies accordingly; since it was school policy that A Fei wouldn't travel with us either, I was assigned to sit on the bench.
In the first quarter after coming on court, our opponents played aggressively—more so than City No. 1 Middle School had—and caught us off guard. Before the game started, I heard that my matchup against Zhongqi Senior would be against someone known as one of the city's "Five Great Point Guards," named Jiang Lingfeng. Standing at 181 cm tall with speed like lightning, he made it tough for Zhongqi Senior, contributing eight points along with several assists and steals just in that first quarter alone as we trailed by seven points at 18-25.
After re-strategizing during halftime in the locker room where Coach briefly laid out our tactics before addressing us: “Zhongqi, it's up to you on outside shooting; their player Jiang Lingfeng is very strong and has height advantage too—so this time you need to do your best to limit his freedom.” He then turned towards our two big men: “Yan Bing, Rui Zhi, make sure you control those rebounds.”
As the third quarter began, our outside combination of me and Zhongqi Senior performed decently well; however, their inside-outside combination proved overwhelming for us—especially their mid-range shots which had an extremely high success rate. With five minutes left in this quarter, when Zhongqi Senior picked up his fifth foul he had no choice but to rest while I teamed up with Zhou Litong. However, our offensive intensity clearly paled compared to when it was me paired with either A Fei or Zhongqi. During this stretch of time, we fell behind by double digits again as we ended that third quarter down 60-75.
By now our mentality began shifting negatively; come fourth quarter we grew increasingly anxious—there was no choice but to put back in Zhongqi Senior. He fought hard too—drawing fouls on two aggressive drives while hitting some outside threes—but it became clear that their strategy was simple: take out Zhongqi Senior. It proved effective: with just over three minutes left in regulation he drew yet another foul against him which led him being disqualified from play.
After he left court it fell upon me alongside Zhou Litong for outside shooting duties while during a tussle for possession against their Center,Bing Ge got knocked down—he missed both free throws… In conclusion we suffered a crushing defeat on their home court 79-90 against Hejiang Middle School, marking our second consecutive loss without securing any wins this new semester.
After this loss Coach merely stated calmly: “Prepare well for our next match against Twenty-Four Middle School.” He then turned towards our team bus while both Zhongqi Senior and Bing Ge wore serious expressions on their faces.
Back at school later on,Xia Ying, Shuai Dong, and Pang Hao were gathered discussing something when they saw me return—they all came over excitedly: “Hey! Our best swingman is back! Welcome back hero!” said Shuai Dong, striking a salute pose at me.
“Lost again,” I muttered softly.
“What?” They seemed not to have heard clearly.
“I said I lost again! Did you hear me?!” Suddenly feeling inexplicably angry.
“It’s okay; keep trying,” said an encouraging voice from behind—this time it was from Pang Hao.
“By the way, what happened with A Fei! Why didn’t he come to school?” After calming down I remembered about him.
“He’s having surgery at hospital; oh right—you didn’t know? Turns out he had eye problems…” said Shuai Dong.
What?! He’s at hospital?! That’s not like him at all—usually no matter how much we scold or persuade him he wouldn’t go—but why did he comply this time?
“Also—you won’t believe this—it was actually because of love that he went! It’s true! It’s actually because of how concerned his parents looked when they took him there…” So love can indeed have such power—I really don’t understand what exactly attracted Sha Xiaomei to this fool—he isn’t even as good-looking as me (at least that's what I think), doesn’t have better social skills than mine either…ugh…whatever!
Once home I opened my computer readying myself for some NBA games—I used to often play online matches against A Fei and usually beat him easily every time too! Glancing at clock—it was nearly 7:30 PM already—the NBA Finals Game Six was about start soon—I quickly exited my game heading into living room where my parents were watching TV—a historical drama featuring someone named Qingchuan or something—I suggested they watch online instead via PPV.
“Why not just stream live online?” they replied without looking away from screen.
“Oh come on—it feels different watching on TV!” I pleaded pitifully until finally seeing them relent:
“Alright fine—we’ll watch it—we’ll head into bedroom while you enjoy your show.”
“Thanks Mom & Dad—you’re so good!” Haha—I’m definitely their precious little darling!
Finally—the sixth match between Xinjiang vs Guangdong commenced! Being from Northern China naturally meant supporting Xinjiang here—besides Guangdong has won enough championships already—it’d be boring if they kept dominating everything!
The match unfolded dramatically—with incredible plays from both sides—but ultimately due largely due Xinjiang’s poor performance throughout—they lost once more against Guangdong who claimed their seventh championship trophy within eight years after coming back from being down big early on thanks largely due perseverance shown by them!
This made me think about tomorrow’s match—could we find ourselves rising from despair? Tomorrow—we absolutely cannot afford another loss!
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