Just as He Chao was about to speak, a piece of chalk hit the corner of his desk with precision.

Old Wu gave them a few minutes to work on the problems, thinking that the questions were simple and they should have figured them out by now. He looked up and saw two students who were at the bottom of the class huddled together affectionately. "The two of you in the back, I know you have a good relationship, but can you please focus more on me during class...Am I really that uncharismatic?"

"You're very charismatic," He Chao replied, playing along. "Old Tang is the Guo Fucheng, and you're the Liu Dehua from No. 2 High School."

Xie Yu was quite impressed with He Chao's ability to flatter without thinking.

Amidst a chorus of laughter, Old Wu was praised to the skies. This middle-aged man, who was a far cry from Liu Dehua, casually adjusted his hair and responded, "Back in the day, I was also a prominent figure in school."

The audience burst into fits of laughter.

After the commotion died down, a few previously drowsy classmates were now wide awake. Old Wu seized the opportunity to quiet everyone down and asked, "Has everyone solved the problem I gave you earlier?"

The class had only covered a few new theorems, and the exercises were not particularly difficult. Xie Yu listened for a couple of sentences while propping up his head. Suddenly, He Chao reached over and pulled up his collar.

"What are you doing?" Xie Yu asked.

He Chao hesitated for a moment before awkwardly admitting, "Uh, the hickey."

"..."

He Chao quickly added, "I'll be more careful next time."

Xie Yu wanted to say "get lost", but before the words could leave his mouth, his ears started to feel hot.

When Old Wu finished explaining those few questions, class was over.

Everyone had been staring at the two words "physical education" on the right side of the schedule on the blackboard for a long time, and their minds were full of this next class.

After class, Old Wu still couldn't rest assured about the two students who were at the bottom of the grade. He called them over and asked, "You two stay behind. Did you understand the questions I explained in class?"

The questions weren't difficult, and Xie Yu thought for a moment before answering, "Understood."

He Chao said, "I understood too."

Old Wu didn't believe them at all. "What do you mean you understood! How many times do I have to tell you not to pretend to understand when you don't? Don't think that I don't know you just want to go play on the field during the next physical education class."

"It's not like that, it's true..."

Old Wu interrupted mercilessly, "I already know all your little tricks. Let me explain this problem to you again."

Xie Yu: "..."

He Chao: "..."

After Old Wu finished explaining and left, Luo Wenqiang continued to shout out what he didn't finish saying during the last break between classes, "Does anyone have any ideas? Who else wants to participate?"

Although Luo Wenqiang usually teamed up with Liu Cunhao and others, when it came to formal competitions, he still wanted to bring back a prize for the class as much as possible. Luo Wenqiang continued to hint, "Actually, I think as long as Brother Yu is willing to cooperate and Brother Chao uses less tricks and more sincerity, our class should be able to make it to the finals."

His hint was very clear.

Xie Yu was forcefully instilled with the life philosophy of "ignorance is shameful, don't pretend to know" by Wu Zheng, leaving him exhausted. He mercilessly replied, "Then you can just think about it."

He Chao said, "I think my desk mate is right."

Luo Wenqiang had nothing to say, "...Do you two not think you're going too far?"

When Liu Cunhao heard the words "Brother Yu is willing to cooperate", he knew the plan was doomed. "You might as well hope that my basketball skills suddenly become godly, and I become the Rukawa Kaede of No. 2 High," he joked.

Luo Wenqiang's mood was complicated, "Hao-zi, just go away."

He Chao was not interested in this kind of competition. It was fine to play privately, but competing over it was boring.

He said, "Seriously, count me out. But you guys should watch out for the team from Class 4."

This semester, the class schedule changed and Class 3's physical education class coincided with Class 4's.

Before class even started, many people had already gathered on the exercise ground, sitting in scattered circles on the track. At first glance, it was hard to tell which class was which.

The sun shone down directly, blindingly bright. Xie Yu sat behind He Chao, using him as a shield from the sun. He lowered his head and played with his phone, replying to a message from Madam Gu.

- How have you been lately? Make sure to eat well and don't stay up too late.

- Mm.

Xie Yu had just typed a word when the phone screen still reflected some light. He leaned forward, his forehead resting against He Chao's back. He could clearly feel the slight vibration of He Chao's chest when he laughed.

Then he continued to reply: I got it, everything's good.

As they were talking, the students from Class 4 came over with a ball. They passed by the small circle of Class 3 and stopped, glancing at them with a smile. "Who from your class signed up?"

They continued without waiting for an answer. "See you on the court."

Liang Hui walked at the back, not wearing a school uniform and casually sporting a non-mainstream iron chain with a cross hanging from a thin chain on his waist. He didn't say anything, but after passing by them, he turned back and gave them a subtle glance.

Last semester, there was some unpleasantness with the students from Class 4 on the basketball court, but Luo Wenqiang and the others didn't take it to heart.

Watching them walk away, Luo Wenqiang felt something was off and scratched his head. "What do they mean by that?"

As Xie Yu finished sending a text message, he looked up and met Liang Hui's dark gaze.

Then he saw Liang Hui slowly raise his hand and give the middle finger. The gesture only lasted for a moment, unsure who it was directed towards.

There was still almost a month until the basketball competition.

The basketball competition at No. 2 High School was not very formal, in order to save time, the length of the competition was compressed.

In preparation for this basketball competition, Luo Wenqiang increased the intensity of training, not only during physical education class and lunch break, but even during the ten-minute break between classes, he would take the team down to practice with the ball.

Although He Chao and Xie Yu did not participate, they would also accompany them as "opponents" to practice when they had free time.

"Hao-zi, I found that not only is your positioning magical, but your shooting skills are also very surprising," He Chao stopped and wiped his sweat with his collar, "Yesterday you were hitting every shot, but today your hand suddenly became disabled?"

Although their class had big dreams, their overall basketball team was not very strong.

Especially Liu Cunhao, his performance was unstable. When he was good, he was really good, but when he was bad, he couldn't score a goal to save his life. Class 3 had already prepared for a quick exit from the tournament.

However, unexpectedly, they narrowly won the first round and advanced to the second round.

Xie Yu stopped and casually asked, "Have they drawn the second round yet? Who are they playing against?"

Luo Wenqiang replied, "Not yet. The draw will be tomorrow before the competition."

Unfortunately, luck was not on Class 3's side, as they drew Class 4 in the second round.

During the draw, the Mad Dog repeated over and over, "All students participating in the basketball competition, please gather at the court at noon."

Luo Wenqiang opened the stack of square paper slips, and on it was a bold number: 4.

The Class 3 classmates were all sitting on the sidelines cheering for them. The surrounding area was packed with people, even students from other years came to join in the fun, chattering and making a lot of noise.

The referee took the paper and announced that it was Class 4. Liang Hui and his team got up and walked towards the center of the court.

As the referee blew the whistle, Xie Yu vaguely felt his right eyelid twitching a few times.

Immediately after, that strange feeling became stronger and stronger――

At the beginning of the competition, the Class 3 team clearly had the advantage. After Luo Wenqiang snatched the ball, he was about to pass it to Liu Cunhao, but the player in the number six jersey from the Class 4 team tightly marked Luo Wenqiang and wouldn't let go.

In a place where the referee couldn't see, he deliberately tripped Luo Wenqiang.

Later, when Wan Da got the ball and was ready to shoot, Liang Hui not only blocked his shot, but even intentionally collided with him, causing a so-called "accidental injury."

The court was crowded, with both teams fiercely competing, constantly pushing, attacking, and confronting each other. Xie Yu almost thought that the subtle movements happening in the blink of an eye were just his eyes playing tricks on him.

But it wasn't just this time.

During a rebound, he saw Liang Hui's elbow deliberately hit Liu Cunhao's eye.

Liu Cunhao winced in pain, his hand loosening as he slowly crouched down, covering his eye.

The referee blew the whistle urgently.

These small actions were done extremely covertly, hiding from the referee, and even covering for each other. Xie Yu's mind was filled with only one word, "fuck," as his temples throbbed fiercely twice.

He had heard from He Chao before that this team played dirty, but he didn't expect them to be shameless to this extent.

In front of the students from Class 4, all the preparations that Luo Wenqiang and his team had made for this basketball game in the past month seemed like a joke.

"Referee, they're fouling again! What kind of basketball is this? Is there still any meaning in it."

In just ten short minutes, there were several incidents and Luo Wenqiang couldn't take it anymore.

Liang Hui shrugged innocently and said, "Sorry, it was really an accident."

Although Liang Hui didn't have a good reputation among his peers, and many people didn't like him, basketball games like this easily stirred up a sense of collective honor. The students from Class 4 spoke up for him one after another, with one girl even shouting particularly loudly, "We didn't foul..."

Xu Qingqing exploded on the spot, turning her head and saying, "Are you blind?"

Xie Yu couldn't sit still either. Before he could even stand up, he saw He Chao sitting next to him calmly twisting the cap back onto his mineral water bottle, then suddenly throwing it out with force.

Inside the bottle was still half full of water. It smashed against the sharp edges of the steps with a loud "bang" before finally hitting the rubber floor.

The two classes that were still arguing were instantly silenced by the sound.

He Chao's face turned sour. Ever since Luo Wenqiang drew number four, his gaze had been sinking lower and lower.

After throwing the bottle of mineral water, He Chao stood up and without a word, took off his school uniform jacket, revealing only a short-sleeved shirt underneath. He casually tossed the jacket to the side and called out, "Hao-zi, come back."

"Substitute."

The other onlookers in the stands only knew that Xie Yu from the East Building was ruthless, but the rumored He Chao seemed easy to get along with. Now, looking at him, it was clear that he was not easy to get along with at all.

The title of school big shot was not just for show. His aura was too strong, making it hard to even breathe in his presence.

Liu Cunhao was still squatting on the ground, recovering from the hard blow he received from Liang Hui earlier. He covered one eye and looked a bit blurrily as He Chao stepped onto the court.

He felt like he saw the same He Chao from before, the one who was full of hostility and rubbed Yang Sanhao's face on the bathroom floor. But this time, his attitude was completely different.

He Chao took two steps and stopped, shouting without turning his head, "Old Xie, are you playing or not?"

Then Liu Cunhao saw that great master from their class who was afraid of trouble, refused to participate, and threatened not to cooperate, stand up as well.

Xie Yu rolled up his sleeves and replied with one word, "Playing."

From the looks of it, someone who didn't know better would think they were about to fight.

The students from Class 3 were the first to react.

A surge of hot blood and pride was instantly ignited within them. The morale that had just been suppressed and fallen to a low point by Class 4 rose again, and their hearts couldn't stop pounding.

Liu Cunhao was infected by the atmosphere and couldn't help but say something tough before going: "Class 4, you asked for it."