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After a while, everyone gradually arrived. After Ouyang came in, he didn't even glance at me and went straight to training. Teacher Qiu walked in and said, "Everyone is here quite early, right? Is everyone present?" "I'm here too!" A loud reply came from the entrance of the gym. We all looked towards the door, where Ji Fang slowly walked in. "Looks like everyone arrived earlier than I did." Ji Fang smiled as he spoke. When Teacher Qiu saw Ji Fang, he walked over to him and said, "Ji Fang, you can't participate in training today." He turned around and left. "Coach!" Ji Fang called out from behind Teacher Qiu, "I think I can return to training now." Ji Fang's tone was firm, but Teacher Qiu's attitude was also very clear: there was absolutely no joking about Ji Fang's health. However, Ji Fang was not discouraged and continued to plead with Teacher Qiu. A Fei, seeing the eager look in Ji Fang's eyes for competition, couldn't help but say to Teacher Qiu, "Coach, just let Ji Fang give it a try." "Yeah, Coach, let Ji Fang train and see how it goes. If it doesn't work out, he can rest later..." As a result, everyone stood up one after another to persuade Teacher Qiu under A Fei's lead. Ji Fang looked at us pleading for him with tears of gratitude in his eyes. Finally, Teacher Qiu was swayed by our "joint petition" and sighed lightly, saying, "Alright! Since you want to try adapting a bit, go ahead. But if you feel any discomfort at all, you need to rest, understood?" "Mm-hmm, thank you, Coach!" Ji Fang took off his shirt and picked up a basketball to start practicing, beginning with basic shooting drills and dribbling through obstacles.
We resumed the familiar atmosphere of preparing for battle when suddenly Bing Ge's phone rang. "Sorry Coach, I'll remember to turn off my phone," Bing Ge said as he walked over to pick it up. "Hello... what?!" Bing Ge's expression turned tense and anxious. "Okay! Okay! I'll be there right away." After hanging up the phone, Teacher Qiu asked him, "What happened? You look quite anxious." Bing Ge replied nervously, "Coach, it's my sister calling. My grandma is sick..." "Then what are you waiting for? Hurry back to check on her; your sister doesn't understand much," Teacher Qiu interrupted him. "Then I'll take leave now, Coach." Bing Ge hurriedly went to the sidelines to grab his clothes and rushed out. Zhongqi Senior shook his head with a serious expression. I asked Zhongqi Senior why Mengya didn't call Bing Ge's parents. Zhongqi Senior explained that Bing Ge's parents divorced five years ago; his mother went abroad with an overseas Chinese man while Bing Ge and Mengya stayed with their father. Their father was usually busy with work and couldn't take care of them since he traveled around the country frequently; thus they had been living with their grandmother. Their father only stayed home for a day or two each month. As their grandmother aged and Mengya was still young, everything fell on Bing Ge's shoulders... I suddenly realized that Bing Ge's family situation was like this! No wonder he seemed more mature than his age; thinking back on it now made me feel a pang of sadness whenever I saw Bing Ge smile in such a family environment.
After class ended, A Fei and I walked out of school together. "Xiang Jie!" Ouyang chased after me and shouted from behind. "What do you want? Want to fight?" I snapped back at him irritably. A Fei nudged me with his elbow and said politely to Ouyang, "Ouyang, what's going on?" Ouyang calmly replied to A Fei, "A Fei, I want to talk to Xiang Jie; could you step aside for a moment?" "Okay then, I'll wait for you at the school gate," A Fei said as he walked toward the school entrance. "Jie, Ouyang, you guys..." Zhongqi Senior and others came out and saw Ouyang and me standing at the gym entrance asking. "Oh, it's nothing; Zhongqi Senior you guys go ahead; we just want to calm down and clear up some misunderstandings," Ouyang said to Zhongqi Senior. "Alright then; take your time talking but don't get too worked up," Zhongqi Senior replied before leaving with the other team members. Now the quiet school had only Ouyang and me left. "So what do you want?" I looked at Ouyang indifferently and asked. "Xiang Jie," Ouyang began cautiously, “I’m not here to fight this time; I just want to talk to you. I like Xia Ying but she has repeatedly rejected me which makes me very unwilling to accept it and confused about it all. Last time I pulled her under the banyan tree on the playground just to ask her why she wouldn't accept me; initially she said she didn’t want to date so early but that was clearly just an excuse. Eventually after my persistent questioning she revealed her true reason: she already has someone she likes..." “Is that true?!” I couldn’t control my excitement as I shouted at Ouyang. Xia Ying has someone she likes? Why did that give me such a heart-wrenching feeling? Ouyang continued: “I don’t know who that person is but I can tell that person brings happiness to Xia Ying because whenever she talks about him her lips curl into a sweet smile.” For some reason hearing Ouyang say this suddenly calmed me down instead. “Ouyang, I'm sorry; I shouldn’t have hit you; I apologize. I hope we can still be good brothers fighting side by side in the future; let’s wish for Xia Ying’s happiness together…” I extended my hand toward him. “Sure! Actually I know you like Xia Ying too even though you've never admitted it; but I can see it—your hitting me wasn’t just about defending yourself; it was jealousy,” Ouyang remarked. This time I smiled without refuting or denying what he said; our hands tightly clasped together as we both thought of Xia Ying—may she be happy always; we two outstanding guys will silently watch over her.
After leaving school A Fei was on the phone. “Yeah okay then; that's it for now; Jie is out so we’re heading home now; bye.” When he saw me come out he quickly hung up the phone. “Was that Sha Xiaomei?” I asked him. A Fei smiled without answering my question. “By the way how did your talk with Ouyang go?” A Fei asked me. I sighed in relief: “It’s fine now; all misunderstandings have been cleared up; we made peace.” “Yeah Ouyang is not a bad guy so it's good that you two reconciled,” A Fei replied as we walked home together while pondering about who Xia Ying liked—who could it be? She doesn’t interact much with boys usually since most of her time is spent with Zhang Yirong and Gu Mei Jiao—the Three Sisters—could it be that Xia Ying likes girls? That’s impossible… The more I thought about it the more confused my mind became until after dinner at home when following my usual routine I went back to my room to continue thinking but after half an hour my head hurt so much that I decided not to think anymore! Time to relax! Lying down while putting on headphones listening to Dong Bang Shin Ki’s “Rising Sun,” I logged onto QQ and saw Xue Er online—no! It’s Sha Xiaomei online! Should I continue being close friends with her? She messaged me: “Dao Dao have you eaten?” Quickly switching QQ to invisible mode so as not to respond right away seemed wise given how awkward things had become between us lately. Seeing Ice Man online too made me notice his signature changed—it now read: ‘We absolutely cannot lose in tomorrow’s match!’ Huh? Ice Man is competing too? Last time it was like this too—when I'm competing he's competing too—it can't be this coincidental so… there’s only one possibility: Ice Man is part of this season’s City High League Team! But which Team is he on? Tomorrow I'll ask Teacher Qiu which Teams are competing so I'll know for sure; for now it's time for bed since there's a tough battle ahead tomorrow.
The next day was Sunday—the day of competition—and I'd warned A Fei beforehand not to run ahead of me on our way to school today so sure enough he didn’t disturb my dreams this morning either. At seven-thirty we set off punctually together: “A Fei have you seen Ice Man’s new signature?” We chatted while riding our bikes together. “Yeah I've seen it—I think Ice Man is part of some Team in this year’s City High League,” A Fei replied confidently. “Haha looks like we're on the same wavelength—I think so too!” I exclaimed excitedly as we pedaled faster towards school together saying: “Once we get there we'll find out.” “Right! Let’s hurry!” We rode our bikes swiftly towards school.
When we arrived at the gym most people were already there including Teacher Qiu but everyone looked somewhat heavy-hearted. “What happened?” A Fei asked curiously noticing something was off among our teammates when suddenly I realized someone was missing: “Hey? Where’s Bing Ge?” Teacher Qiu shook his head gently without speaking while Zhongqi Senior approached slowly saying: “Yan Bing might be absent today…” “What?!” A Fei and I exclaimed in shock simultaneously as Zhongqi Senior continued: “Yan Bing's grandmother suddenly had a heart attack yesterday and hasn’t yet stabilized…” Seeing Teacher Qiu sigh helplessly made it clear that Bing Ge's absence would undoubtedly deal our Team a heavy blow—one of our main inside players missing meant our chances against Sangyue were looking even slimmer now.
Ji Fang had returned and was practicing shooting expressionlessly while A Fei and I exchanged glances without speaking before slowly walking over to our seats taking off our shirts joining everyone else in training.
“A Fei! Jie! We’re here cheering for you!” Pang Hao along with Shuai Dong and Yin Long ran in from outside—these three guys really showed loyalty coming here to support us—and soon students from our school began streaming in one after another from all grades—I spotted Sha Xiaomei along with Xia Ying Zhang Yirong Gu Mei Jiao—the Three Sisters—around sixty students showed up altogether creating an atmosphere befitting home court advantage.
After a while our supervising teacher came over informing us Sangyue High School had arrived—we all instinctively turned our attention towards the entrance where first came in a middle-aged man around forty years old dressed sharply in a suit whose hair was thickly parted—a serious-looking Coach Fu Guoqiang followed closely by members of their Team who appeared physically fit overall averaging slightly taller than us although one player stood out significantly above everyone else towering nearly two meters tall—this must be Iron Tower Sun Yi—next to him stood another handsome guy who according to Zhao Ziyang stood 1 meter 8 tall with refined features—this must be him without doubt.
Their team began warming up actively showcasing impressive overall quality as each player practiced diligently while Coach Fu Guoqiang watched them seriously—Bing Ge's absence weighed heavily upon us making us anxious about how long we could hold out during this match which was about to begin soon.
Shuai Dong Pang Hao along with Xia Ying cheered us on loudly—I caught myself glancing again at Xia Ying feeling that same flicker of doubt: who could it be that Xia Ying liked? She still appeared carefree—is she hiding something deep down or…? Just then A Fei elbowed me lightly bringing me back from my thoughts whispering: “Focus on the match now—put everything else aside.” Nodding at him once more brought clarity back into focus when suddenly the gym doors swung open—a figure stepped inside causing silence among all spectators and players alike as they turned their gaze towards whoever entered…
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