Xie Yu threw the ball to He Chao and the two switched positions.

He Chao dribbled the ball a few times and caught a glimpse of several people gathered outside the basketball court. Despite the weather, Luo Wenqiang was only wearing a sleeveless basketball jersey, highlighting his muscular arms.

He Chao glanced over, "They're...?"

Xie Yu pulled down the zipper of his jacket and, seeing He Chao casually dribbling the ball, couldn't care less about them and furrowed his brows, saying, "Focus."

"No, why are they surrounding two girls..." He Chao didn't finish his sentence before the two girls holding hands squeezed out from the side of Wan Da.

The two girls ran as fast as they could, almost at the speed of a 100-meter sprint in a school sports meet. They looked panicked, as if they were running for their lives, and fled into the teaching building.

......

He Chao couldn't understand how the story had developed, and couldn't imagine the cause and effect.

Luo Wenqiang and the others involved didn't really understand either.

Wan Da stood still and rubbed the back of his head, "Why did they run?"

Liu Cunhao reflected for a moment, "Our attitude when we were talking just now was still okay, gentle and polite, and we didn't scold them."

Luo Wenqiang felt tired and hugged the ball, going back to the basketball court. He really couldn't figure out what was on the girls' minds. As he walked, he said, "The problem is whether they understood or not...Remember, we are honest and good brothers, honest and upright!"

On the basketball court, there were three or four scattered teams.

Class 3 occupied half of the court, and the neighboring Class 4 could only dribble the ball and walk inside.

In Class 4, the students split into two teams for a friendly match. It seemed quite official, with one person even wearing a whistle around their neck.

He Chao shifted his gaze back to Xie Yu, and decided to take on Xie Yu one-on-one.

However, before he could even throw the ball, a sudden projectile flew over from the opposite side and headed straight towards Luo Wenqiang.

Luo Wenqiang reacted quickly, taking a step to the side as the ball narrowly missed his face, brushing past like a sharp gust of wind before slamming into the iron fence on the other side.

"Bang!"

The ball hit the rubber ground heavily, bouncing several times.

"Sorry," a male student from the other team stood two meters away, with very short hair and a poker face. He spread his hands innocently and said, "My hand slipped."

After speaking, he ran all the way to the edge of the iron fence, bent down to pick up the ball, and then raised it high, using his wrist to throw the ball back onto the field: "Brothers, catch it!"

The team cheered and shouted.

Xie Yu's first impression of the bald guy with a poker face wasn't very good. He didn't like him, and when he saw Luo Wenqiang playing so well but being disturbed by yet another accidentally 'my hand slipped' for the second time, he couldn't help but stop and ask, "Who is he? Can he play ball? Does he have a problem with his hands or his brain?"

As soon as Xie Yu finished speaking, there was a loud "bang" behind him.

Immediately following that was the sudden rise in Luo Wenqiang's voice: "What's wrong with you?"

After being interrupted several times, even someone with a good temper couldn't help but get angry.

"It's like this," he smiled and pointed to the basketball hoop where Luo Wenqiang and his friends were playing. "We usually use this one, we're used to it."

It wasn't a physical education class for Class 4, and they had never met these people before, probably because their classes were changed unexpectedly.

It seemed like they thought the basketball court was their own personal property.

Luo Wenqiang was shocked by the audacity of this person and didn't know how to respond. Suddenly, a ball hit the man's back with a dull thud.

The man cursed and turned around to see the legendary boss of the West Building standing two meters away, with an expressionless face.

"Sorry," Xie Yu said. "My hand slipped."

The person from Class 4 was a typical bully who was afraid of those who were stronger.

He knew very well where Xie Yu came from, not just Xie Yu, but also the one leaning against the basketball hoop, looking quite lazy. Although he didn't say anything, his eyes clearly carried a warning.

When he walked over just now, he saw the two of them playing basketball separately from the other students in the class, and he thought their relationship wasn't that good.

Although they were unhappy, the students from Class 4 didn't dare to say anything. In the end, they bent down to pick up the ball while holding their breath, and when they stood up again, there was a hint of a smile on their face. They lightly bounced the ball over and said, "Here's your ball."

It was still Brother Yu who was toughest.

Liu Cunhao made a "cool" gesture towards Xie Yu.

With two big shots holding the fort, the two classes played separately until the end of the PE class, and there was no more friction between them.

After class, when Luo Wenqiang was collecting sports equipment, Wan Da couldn't resist saying, "Brother Yu was so cool just now, that Liang Hui from Class 4..."

Xie Yu helped carry the ball and raised an eyebrow: "Liang Hui?"

"Yeah, the one whose hand kept slipping," Wan Da replied.

Liang Hui was somewhat famous in their year.

But his notoriety was different from that of the "school big shots." He only dared to do some petty theft and mischief behind people's backs. After playing his dirty tricks, he would deny everything when confronted face-to-face.

Privately, everyone knew what kind of person he was.

There weren't many people in the equipment room, and after Xie Yu put the ball in the storage box, he heard Wan Da continue with the gossip, "Didn't the sports committee rep always want to have a basketball competition? Mad Dog said there might not be one this year, it's all because of him."

"Wait a minute," reminded by Wan Da, He Chao suddenly remembered and interrupted, "It was that dog thing, huh?"

Wan Da was stunned by the words "dog thing": "...Brother Chao, I didn't realize you were so good at cursing."

"Thanks for the compliment. Politeness and civility are important. I generally don't curse easily," replied He Chao.

The basketball competition in their first year ended with the score being invalidated.

The entire team led by Liang Hui played dirty and rough. He Chao had originally signed up with a few boys from his class, but even before the preliminary rounds, he sat on the sidelines with a headache, thinking, "What's the point? This team is a joke."

In the end, He Chao couldn't be bothered to play.

Having only met once, he didn't have much of an impression of Liang Hui and didn't even know his name.

Old Tang fought for them to have a physical education class, and during Chinese class in the afternoon, the whole class was enthusiastic, just like during an open class*: "Teacher, I know the answer to this question, let me answer it!"

*T/N: a type of educational course that is open to the public and accessible to a wide audience.

"I can recite this section of classical Chinese!"

"Me!"

It made Old Tang feel a little embarrassed, "You guys are making me feel uncomfortable."

"Don't worry, don't worry. Teacher, we are always so proactive in class."

"Okay, let me remind you again," Old Tang shook his head and smiled, "There are only two weeks left until the final exam. Don't put too much pressure on yourselves, pay attention to your review methods. It's important to organize your mistakes and review them multiple times for each subject..."

The final exam was approaching.

Normally, they didn't have any other entertainment besides two or three physical education classes a week, which were all snatched back from other teachers by Old Tang's persuasive tongue. Although those teachers couldn't compete with Old Tang in grabbing classes, they were not willing to give up and left more and more homework for Class 3 to take home.

There were two sets of math papers alone, and when you added up all the subjects, it was a thick stack.

After taking a shower, Xie Yu walked through the corridor and pushed open the door to He Chao's dorm room. By then, He Chao had already finished all the homework except for one set of math papers.

He was quick at solving problems, mostly just checking off the answers and circling the options. For the longer questions, he was even more casual, scribbling some rough drafts and mixing the answers carelessly among them.

Xie Yu brought a pen over, running his hand through his hair with one hand while holding a black pen in the other. He casually tossed it onto He Chao's desk and asked in a not-so-friendly tone, "Which set?"

He Chao stopped and leaned back in his chair, turning to look at him. "Mock exam set A, second to last question."

Xie Yu walked over and lowered his head to look at the problem.

He had been in the middle of taking a shower when this guy called him, asking if he had done his math homework and saying there was a question that was quite interesting.

At the time, Xie Yu was dripping with water, barefoot on the tiled floor, and he didn't even know why he asked, "Is this all?"

He Chao vaguely heard the sound of running water on the other end of the phone and before he could ask, the little friend said, "I'm taking a shower, don't bother me if it's not important."

Xie Yu had just finished his shower and was feeling a bit cold, with a chill running through his whole body.

As He Chao watched, he couldn't resist and picked up the half-dry towel, awkwardly helping him dry his hair.

"..." Xie Yu was distracted by this person's actions, staring at the problem for half a minute without really seeing it.

Old Wu had intentionally marked this problem with a star, giving them time to look at it and not forcing them to solve it. The most important thing was to feel the type of problem.

"Wanna bet?" He Chao touched Xie Yu's hair through the towel, getting closer to him and smelling his scent. "Five minutes."

Xie Yu asked, "What are we betting?"

Five minutes to solve the problem.

As for what to bet, neither of them had thought about it yet. They would figure it out later.

Xie Yu sat directly on He Chao's bed and tore off a page of scrap paper.

The night outside the window was like water.

The window was half-open, and the wind blew in through the crack.

Xie Yu was dressed lightly, and his sweater looked loose. From the cuffs, you could see his wrist bones protruding.

He Chao handed him the coat hanging on the back of the chair, remembering the scene of the last time they competed in solving problems. He joked, "I'll let you have one minute?"

"..." Xie Yu looked up and said, "You're so arrogant."

The numbers on the phone timer kept jumping.

Time passed by minute by minute.

The question was innovative in its format, and the difficulty was not too great. The key was to break through the fixed mindset. Five minutes was still too short. When the timer stopped, neither of them had figured out the final answer.

However, He Chao was quick at mental math. Based on Xie Yu's last step, he took two more steps.

"Little friend," He Chao threw down his pen and turned to look at him, "Admit your loss."

Xie Yu kept his head down and continued to work on the problem until he found the answer. Then he said, "What's the bet."

"I'll think about it," He Chao had many thoughts running through his mind, but he didn't want to be too cruel to Xie Yu. Finally, he said, "...Call 'Brother', call me 'Brother' once and I'll let you go."