He swallowed the last spoonful of rice and glanced at Fei Cheng’s tray. Seeing there was still time, he took a few more sips of soup. Once he was full and satisfied, his mood improved considerably.
Fei Cheng’s timing was impeccable; he finished his meal just as Liu Yucong put down his spoon.
The group stood up in unison, ready to leave. Li Haoran took the initiative to clear Liu Yucong’s tray for him, and the boys headed back to the dormitory, chatting and laughing.
In the past, there might have been plenty of friction between them—especially with a problem child like Liu Yucong, who seemed ready to pick a fight with the entire world—but after more than a month of training together, they had grown familiar. As they discussed basketball, the atmosphere was remarkably harmonious.
Even Yu Qing had set aside his prejudices. He slung a familiar arm around Liu Yucong’s shoulders and praised him, "Seriously, Liu Yucong, those three-pointers of yours are way too accurate. Come on, tell us the secret." He shifted his gaze, glancing at Fei Cheng as if he were plotting something.
Having received both overt and subtle care from the group, Liu Yucong couldn't bring himself to snap at them. He puffed out his chest, unable to hide his pride. "It’s pure talent. There is no secret!"
Yu Qing curled his lip.
Li Haoran, the sports rep, laughed and said, "It probably really is talent. In terms of jumping ability, Cheng Yifei isn't any worse than you, but he hits seven out of ten shots, which is a bit behind your nine out of ten."
Cheng Yifei nodded in agreement, already considering tomorrow's match. "Now that everyone knows Liu Yucong is a sharpshooter, the other teams will likely keep a very close eye on him in the next game."
Yu Qing scratched his earlobe. "That’s true. It’ll be harder to pass him the ball."
Liu Yucong’s lips twitched as if he wanted to say something, but he held back. Instead, he said, "That’s even better. If they focus their defense on me, they’ll inevitably be distracted. That’s when you and Cheng Yifei need to seize the chance to rack up points. We’ll win for sure."
Fei Cheng was quite surprised by these words and glanced sideways at Liu Yucong. He had assumed Liu Yucong was the type of vain boy who only cared about showing off, but he hadn't expected him to have such a sense of the big picture. It was impressive. Then again, at thirteen or fourteen, very few people were truly rotten to the core.
His opinion of Liu Yucong shifted slightly for the better once again.
As the sports rep and basketball captain, Li Haoran had always kept a close eye on Liu Yucong, the only "troublemaker" in the group. He had been terrified that the boy would throw a tantrum or go on strike in the middle of a game. Yet, throughout their training, even if there were arguments, Liu Yucong had never once thrown the ball down and walked away.
He happily slapped Liu Yucong on the back, his voice filled with passion. "What is our goal?"
Yu Qing and Li Donghai shouted in unison, "To win the championship!"
Liu Yucong’s voice cut through with a different energy: "To crush those sons of bitches from Class 3!"
Li Haoran, Li Donghai, and Yu Qing stared at him, bewildered.
Liu Yucong fell silent for a moment. "Is that not allowed?"
"...Of course it is!" Yu Qing reacted, remembering the incident from last Thursday. Filled with shared indignation, he added, "They’re total trash. It’d be best if we draw Class 3 for the qualifying round tomorrow. We’ll beat them until they beg for mercy and won't let them sink a single basket!"
Liu Yucong looked at Yu Qing earnestly. "Exactly. If I don't grind them under my heel, I won't be able to swallow this damn resentment!"
"Me too!" Yu Qing agreed solemnly.
Fei Cheng: "..." In the blink of an eye, these two were suddenly best friends.
***
Tuesday, 4:00 PM. The second round of the tournament began.
Class 1 vs. Class 5.
Class 4 vs. Class 3.
Classes 2, 6, and 7 continued their elimination matches.
Just as Cheng Yifei had predicted, after Class 5 spent the first half confirming that Liu Yucong’s shooting reputation was well-deserved, they assigned two players to mark him in the second half, doing everything possible to keep the ball out of his hands.
This flaw in their strategy was glaring. With two people guarding one player, it meant one of Class 1’s players was always left wide open. This match turned out to be even easier than the one against Class 7.
Liu Yucong didn't get much of the spotlight this round. Instead, Cheng Yifei became the star of the court. Although basketball was a team sport, the one who carried the game was always the most eye-catching.
Despite saying he wanted his teammates to score, Liu Yucong felt stifled throughout the game. He only touched the ball three times the entire time! And one of those times, it was stolen!
The final score for Class 1 vs. Class 5 was 70 to 32. Out of those seventy points, only five were his. Compared to the previous game, he felt like his face had been slapped silly.
Not to mention, the qualifying match between Class 4 and Class 3 was happening on the adjacent court. Just as they won their game, news came from the other side that Class 3 had also been victorious.
Yu Qing cursed under his breath, "They made it to the finals too?!"
Liu Yucong flexed his fingers, glaring in the direction of Class 3. "That suits me just fine. If they had been eliminated, we wouldn't have had the chance to settle the score!"
Li Haoran patted Liu Yucong’s shoulder to comfort him, thinking to himself: *That’s true, but if Class 3 could make it to the finals like us, they must have some skill. My biggest fear is them using dirty tricks behind our backs. They aren't honorable players, which makes them hard to deal with.*
He called out to the group, "Let’s go. We’ll eat first to recharge. We’ll see who’s boss on the court tomorrow."
Fei Cheng walked at the back. Sensing something, he looked over his shoulder. He saw the players from Class 3 following behind them, their eyes full of provocation when their gazes met.
He scanned the group and noticed that the student who had knocked Liu Yucong down last week was still in the lineup. That guy was about the same height as him but sturdier, very agile on the court, and possessed great strength.
"Chengcheng, what are you lingering for? Hurry up and catch up!"
Yu Qing had been busy blathering with Li Haoran and the others. It took him seven or eight steps to realize Fei Cheng was missing, and he quickly turned back to shout.
Fei Cheng withdrew his gaze and ran a few steps to catch up.
Yu Qing, ever the chatterbox, said to Cheng Yifei, "Brother, you should at least keep an eye on Chengcheng. He’s so petite, he could easily get lost."
When Li Haoran and the others heard this, they all burst out laughing.
Fei Cheng’s face darkened as he gritted his teeth. "Petite your ass! Get lost!"
Li Haoran mischievously pushed the 1.8-meter-tall Li Donghai next to Fei Cheng. Standing together, the contrast between the tall and the short was painfully obvious.
Fei Cheng: "..."
Li Donghai was nearly a head taller than him. Fei Cheng said expressionlessly, "Go ahead and laugh. Do you know how tall I’m going to be in the future? At least 1.9 meters! 1.9 meters!! You bunch of losers."
"Wow, bragging without even blinking and calling us losers!" Yu Qing hooked his arm around Fei Cheng’s neck.
Li Donghai laughed and stepped back to the side. A joke was fine, but he didn't want to take it too far.
Fei Cheng pulled Yu Qing’s hand away. "Just you wait. When we have a class reunion in ten years, you’ll find that we look like this—"
Fei Cheng raised his hand to measure Yu Qing’s height and then leveled it off below his own knee.
Li Haoran’s focus drifted to the wrong part of the sentence. He clapped his hands. "Yes! Let’s have a class reunion in ten years!"
Yu Qing got excited too, and he and Li Haoran started chatting enthusiastically about the idea.
Fei Cheng rubbed his nose. A ten-year reunion was just something people said when they were excited. Believe it or not, once the classes were reshuffled, contact would fade. After graduation, ten years later, they might not even remember each other's names if they met on the street.
Cheng Yifei took the opportunity to rest an arm on Fei Cheng’s shoulder and whispered, "You’ll have to get into the same high school as me then."
Fei Cheng: "?"
Cheng Yifei: "If you don't get into a key high school, you’ll be letting down my expectations for you."
Fei Cheng nearly choked. "Brother Cheng, are you looking at me like I'm your son? 'Expectations'?"
"Son? Impossible."
Fei Cheng’s expression softened slightly.
"With this height, you’re a grandson."
"Dammit. I am officially done talking to you and am throwing a Yu Qing at you."
Cheng Yifei paused for two seconds to process the joke, then laughed uncontrollably. "I’ll kick the incoming Yu Qing away and hand you back a Top Student Cheng?"
Fei Cheng gasped. "Brother Cheng, do you have no shame?"
Cheng Yifei: "..." That seemed like a difficult question to answer.
Liu Yucong glanced at Li Haoran’s group chatting heatedly on the left, then at the pair on the right—one with a dark face and the other laughing. He frowned. *Goddammit, it’s that feeling again. So annoying!*
Just as he was about to turn and walk away, Fei Cheng suddenly spoke to him. "Liu Yucong, isn't it time to change the medicine on your hand?"
"What’s it to you?" He glared at Fei Cheng, his tone harsh.
Over the past month, although he had accepted water from Fei Cheng, he had insisted on not speaking to him. Their communication had been zero.
Fei Cheng shrugged. "I’m in a good mood."
Liu Yucong didn't understand what that had to do with anything.
"When I’m in a good mood, I like to show concern for my classmates," Fei Cheng said, glancing at him. He figured this was a good chance to reconcile. After getting to know him, he realized Liu Yucong wasn't an irredeemable *chuunibyou* teenager. It was best if classmates could get along.
Yu Qing’s ears perked up, and he immediately leaned in to help. "Liu Yucong, just make up with Chengcheng. You two don't really have any deep-seated hatred. We’re all classmates living in the same dorm; it’s so cold when things are tense." He whispered, "Besides, didn't your cousin stop holding a grudge against him?"
Liu Yucong gave a cold snort. Was his cousin "not holding a grudge"? He had just left the matter for Liu Yucong to handle! In short, he just found Fei Cheng an eyesore. There was no other reason; he just felt irritated and wanted to hit someone whenever he saw him!
Li Haoran, also being a roommate, naturally understood the bad blood between them. He didn't have much of an impression of the old Fei Cheng, but he thought the current Fei Cheng was pretty good. Continuing to bully him would be going too far.
He played along with Liu Yucong’s temperament. "Yu Qing is right. We’re all brothers, aren't we? It’s much cooler for a real man to smile and let go of a grudge. Why don't you tell us exactly how Chengcheng offended you?"
Fei Cheng frowned. *Hey, don't everyone start calling me Chengcheng!*
Liu Yucong slowed his pace, racking his brain to remember exactly how Fei Cheng had crossed him. To his horror, he realized he hadn't actually looked for trouble with Fei Cheng in a long time!
He remembered the reason he was last angry with him was...
"He wet my quilt before," Liu Yucong said matter-of-factly.
At the mention of this, Fei Cheng couldn't hold back. "Fuck, I didn't! Why would Yutou, Brother Cheng, and I come to the dorm so early just to throw away my own quilt? Who has the 'Beijing time' to fetch water and soak your bed? Just because I was too cowardly to actually do anything doesn't mean I can't vent with my mouth. If I said I was going to kill someone, would you believe that too?"
Liu Yucong: "I couldn't think of anyone else but you."
Yu Qing sighed and hooked his arm around Liu Yucong’s shoulder. "Brother, for the sake of being comrades-in-arms, if you don't believe Chengcheng, at least believe me and Cheng Yifei. That day, Chengcheng was with us from the moment he entered the school gates. Cheng Yifei and I can guarantee he was just talking big; he didn't lift a finger. Seriously! If we were going to do something, we wouldn't hide it. You know Brother Cheng’s skills—with him backing us up, what would we be afraid of? So, pinning that on Chengcheng makes him more wronged than Dou E. Let it go, let it go. He really didn't touch your quilt!"
Liu Yucong knitted his brows and remained silent.
Cheng Yifei spoke up, his tone dissatisfied. "You soaked Fei Cheng’s bed and quilt until they were completely ruined, and he didn't even hold it against you. Instead of being so certain it was him, you should think about who else you saw on your way back to the dorm."
Who did he see?
It had been weeks; who the hell could remember!
***
