Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
This morning the weather was particularly nice, with white clouds drifting in the blue sky. I got up early on purpose to breathe in some fresh air and rode my bike to school. When I arrived, Xia Ying and Shuai Dong had not yet come. Hehe, I guess I'm not the last one today. I then hurried to the gym and pushed open the big door, only to find Bing Ge, Zhongqi Senior, and Ji Fang inside. "Good morning, everyone!" I shouted as soon as I entered. "Bing Ge smiled and asked, "Why are you here so early today?" "Isn't it to pay my respects to the Party and the people?" I struck a pose like a Red Army soldier saying "Forward!" Everyone laughed casually. Suddenly, the door opened again, and Zhang Ruizhi, Qiu Junze, and Zhang Jun arrived. "Welcome, welcome!" I clapped my hands and walked towards them. Everyone seemed to have moved on from yesterday's defeat. "Let's all play well today!" Teacher Qiu came in from outside. "This is our last practice match before the new city high school league starts; we must do our best to set a good tone for it!" "Okay!" Today's training felt much more relaxed compared to the previous two sessions. Before long, everyone had arrived, and we began practicing positioning and team drills. In half a month, the new high school league will kick off. A Fei definitely won't be back; sigh... A Fei will surely feel very regretful.
After a while, Twenty-Four Middle School arrived, and Teacher Qiu sent out our "Mini Legion" to start as the first team to give us some practice. However, Zhongqi Senior was also in the starting lineup; he led us rookies in getting accustomed to each other. Twenty-Four Middle School started off strong with their aggressive playstyle. I, along with Zhongqi Senior and Ouyang's "Three Point Guard" lineup, found it a bit challenging at first. However, as the game continued, we gradually found our rhythm. Aside from Center Yubin showing decent individual skills, the rest of their players were either newcomers or inexperienced; it was clear that their fundamentals were lacking. I really couldn't understand how we struggled so much against them in the first half of our last match when this time they never led from the start. By the end of the first quarter, we were leading by eleven points with a score of 19-8.
In the second quarter, we launched an outside attack; we made 7 out of 11 three-point attempts while they clearly weren't in form, making only 1 out of 16 attempts. The opposing coach was quite patient, calling timeouts and substitutions without getting frustrated, but it seemed ineffective as well. By halftime, their Center Yubin wore a helpless smile as we extended our lead to over twenty points with a score of 58-37.
As expected, the entire second half became garbage time. Teacher Qiu substituted out Zhongqi Senior for Ouyang while the opposing team pulled their starters to give their rookies some experience. Ultimately, we crushed Twenty-Four Middle School with a final score of 108-88 while finishing this challenge series with three wins and three losses. Meanwhile, Hejiang Middle School won against City No. 1 High School at home with a score of 88-78, boasting an impressive record of six wins in six matches during this challenge series. It’s worth noting that Hejiang Middle School had always been suppressed by City No. 1 High School before this year. Teacher Qiu remarked that this transformation of Hejiang Middle School would add another obstacle for us on our path to break into the top four of this year's City High League.
The challenge series finally came to an end; now I could finally get a good night's sleep without worrying about matches! After logging onto QQ, I saw that Cookie and Xue Er were both online and chatted with them for a bit. “Xue Er, are you there?” Immediately she replied: “Yeah! Where have you been? I've missed you!” “Ah! I've been exhausted lately! By the way, how's it going with your boyfriend?” I asked her. “It's okay! How about you? Do you have a girlfriend?” she casually asked me. “Not yet; I had a crush on a girl recently but she didn't like me.” “Don't be sad! That girl just doesn't know how to appreciate you; we'll find someone better...” After chatting with Xue Er for a while, I prepared to sleep since I was really tired today.
Today was quite unusual for Cookie, who didn’t say a word; even when I greeted her she didn’t respond—maybe she fell asleep and forgot to log off? I drifted off to sleep unknowingly amidst soothing melodies.
When I woke up in the morning, my headphones were still playing "Inception." Taking them off hurt my ears terribly; they were buzzing loudly! Finally no matches today! With my backpack on my back and humming a tune, I rode my bike to school but got too lost in my thoughts that I ran a red light halfway through. Just then, an officer got furious and brought me back with a mix of shock and fear; indeed, Police Uncle is quite authoritative.
“Comrades!” As soon as I stepped into the classroom, I waved at everyone and shouted: “Comrades! You've worked hard!” "Shuai Dong" echoed me: “Wow! You two are turning into national political leaders now.” "Yin Long" laughed while waiting for Xia Ying, who usually arrives early but hadn’t shown up yet today. The classmate sitting behind him, "Zhang Yirong", is good friends with Xia Ying. So I walked over to ask her: “Zhang Yirong, is Xia Ying sleeping in today?” She put down her book: “Oh wow! Looks like our big romantic is quite concerned about Yingying!” This "Zhang Yirong" is just like "Xia Ying"—the same kind of person! They truly are sisters.
“Not at all! I'm just curious if she's dead or not,” I awkwardly replied. “Alright alright! Xia Ying is sick; she's currently at the hospital getting an IV,” said another one of her friends, "Gu Mei Jiao", who walked over.
"Xia Ying is sick?! This lively girl has such weak health," I thought. “Really? What kind of illness does she have? Does she need surgery?” I pretended not to care.
“What’s wrong with you? She's your deskmate!” "Gu Mei Jiao" defended her slightly.
“Forget him; he's just like that—carefree,” "Zhang Yirong" chimed in.
“Who’s carefree? Be careful or I'll sue you for defamation! She must be faking illness to skip class; where's she hiding in which hospital? I'm going to report her.” I tried to pry out which hospital she was at from them.
“Go die! Listen carefully: she’s at City No. 2 Hospital—go out of school gate, turn right for two hundred meters then turn right again for six hundred meters,” "Gu Mei Jiao" said angrily.
This girl is really something; all I wanted was to ask for the name of the hospital where Xia Ying was staying but ended up getting even her address! Slowly returning to my seat while pondering some things...
During self-study class, I headed towards the gym when suddenly someone called out: “Hey! Wait for me.” It was Ouyang who was also heading towards the gym.
“Ouyang bro is here! Let’s go together,” I joked dramatically using archaic language.
Ouyang chuckled first then responded: “I think so too; please lead on.” Haha! Looks like Ouyang can be quite cute when he’s playful too.
Once we reached the gym and started training near class dismissal time, "Teacher Qiu" gathered us together: “In thirteen days it will be the opening match of the City High League; we’ll begin intensive training now until five days later when we finalize our roster!” As we started walking out...
“Hey!” It was Ouyang again.
“Ouyang bro, what’s up?” From when we were walking together towards the gym earlier, I'd sensed he wanted something but kept hesitating.
He lowered his head shyly: “Can you help me with something?”
I guessed correctly—he indeed had something he wanted from me.
“Just say it; whatever it is that can help you out—I’m happy to assist since we're close friends!” I replied readily.
He slowly raised his head—wow! His face looked like a tomato: “Summer... is your deskmate right? I...”
What?! Ouyang actually likes that cunning and vicious girl Xia Ying!
“This is what I've written from my heart; please pass it on to her—and mention me often in front of her...” Ouyang handed me an envelope—writing love letters?! Is he acting like he's in an idol drama?
But why do I feel slightly displeased about this?
“Actually... I'm not very familiar with Xia Ying, we haven't talked much,” suddenly feeling uninterested in helping him with this matter.
“No way! I've often seen her cheering for you at games—and those arguments at school gate...” Ouyang looked at me suspiciously.
“Haha! Just kidding; I'll definitely deliver your letter,” but then added teasingly: “By the way, why would you fall for that wild girl?”
It seems refusing him isn’t an option now as Ouyang shyly smiled: “I find her personality very attractive—she's straightforward and bold without beating around the bush or being wishy-washy; such girls have principles and opinions.”
Ouyang listed many of her merits which annoyed me somewhat—but upon reflection he wasn’t entirely wrong either.
After school during lunch break today, I secretly slipped out following "Gu Mei Jiao"’s directions towards City No. 2 Hospital: “Nurse, which room is Xia Ying in?”
“Oh let me check... Yes! About twenty minutes ago she was discharged.”
“What?!” Ugh! Just wanted to surprise her but missed by twenty minutes—it felt like she knew exactly when I'd come!
Feeling dejected walking back towards school while growing increasingly irritated: This girl named Xia Ying, I'm really indebted to you!
Sigh... It's also my fault—I should've just called her instead of trying to be mysterious...
With my head down while walking back almost bumping into walls—I was nearing school gate when suddenly looked up...
It really was Xia Ying! She stood right in front of me smiling brightly—a dazzling smile!
Excitedly running up to her: “Why did you leave twenty minutes before me?! And how did you know I'd come?”
Suddenly putting on a serious face instead of smiling at her:
“Hey! Are you questioning me? First off—I didn’t calculate when you'd arrive; it just happened that way when I got discharged—sorry but that's not my habit.”
“Secondly—I returned after seeing you weren’t in class plus heard from Rongrong and Mei Jiao that you were asking about my hospitalization before coming out looking for you—there’s your answer!”
After answering quickly she struck a pose as if saying "Do whatever you want," leaving me speechless realizing maybe I'm somewhat at fault here too.
“Alright then—let's head back!” With just one sentence said while walking towards school again—I felt she followed closely behind me.
Hehe—even though we bickered again somehow felt warm inside.
Back in class after sitting down suddenly remembered Ouyang's request so decided to test waters with "Xia Ying:"
“Hey,Xia Ying!”
“What?” She replied irritably.
“Okay okay—I admit it was my fault earlier so I'm apologizing now,Sister Ying.” Using all my charm trying to cheer her up worked effectively!
“Haha good little brother—acknowledging mistakes is important.”
This tactic worked wonders as she seemed pleased although it left me feeling slightly wronged being over six feet tall!
“You know about that guy from Class One Year One named Ouyang Shangqiang, right? The one whose face looks like it's from an accident scene.”
Quickly diving into main topic—sorry Ouyang bro—not intentionally ruining your image here!
“Oh yeah! He’s about your height—the one who plays basketball with you right? Don’t slander him now—I think he looks much better than you!”
"Xia Ying" took this chance to mock me—what nonsense!
“Well... if he asked you out would you say yes?” Trying subtly probing her thoughts,
“Yes! Why not? I'm into sporty guys,” replied "Xia Ying", glancing at me smugly.
“Hmph! Then go ahead with him!” Slamming Ouyang's love letter onto desk turning away storming outside feeling inexplicably upset.
Comment 0 Comment Count