Chapter 35: Win

Qian Lei heard them saying something a bit outrageous over the phone, and seeing Zhao Jiu and Jiang Xiangnan walking further and further away, he hurriedly corrected, "Not that kind of fighting!"

"Zhao Jiu is going to challenge Jiang Xiangnan to a one-on-one! In basketball!"

Qian Lei caught up to Zhao Jiu and Jiang Xiangnan, standing not far behind them.

Chen Xue was startled: "What? Basketball?"

Su Li and Liu Jiajia looked at her in unison: "Huh?"

Qian Lei said: "Yeah, basketball. They are heading toward the playground now, and they're about to start." After saying this, he hung up the phone.

Chen Xue said to Su Li as if stunned: "Zhao Jiu is going to compete with Jiang Xiangnan in basketball."

Su Li was taken aback; thinking of what had just happened at the KTV, she understood in an instant. Although Gouzi was very "dog-like" when working, he was extremely protective of his own, which was why in the five years since they returned to the Zhao Family, even though the Zhao Family used one tactic after another, their people never betrayed Zhao Jiu.

Su Li said: "I'll go buy water first."

He probably didn't bring any water.

Chen Xue and Liu Jiajia hurriedly followed.

Chen Xue was a bit panicked: "I'd rather they fight than play basketball!"

Liu Jiajia was also panicked: "Jiang Xiangnan is so strong at basketball, how can Zhao Jiu compete with him in that?"

Su Li was not worried that Zhao Jiu would lose; after all, Gouzi never did things he wasn't sure about.

She went to the supermarket, grabbed some room-temperature water, and just as she was about to leave, she remembered something and went to get a towel.

In the Basketball Court, the school team members were practicing; seeing Jiang Xiangnan, they were about to greet him when they saw Zhao Jiu following him in.

Someone laughed: "Jiang Xiangnan, are you trying to trick the precious little young master into the school team?"

Jiang Xiangnan caught the basketball and said coldly: "It's not too late for you to regret it now."

He knew that many people in the school liked Zhao Jiu now; if it weren't for the fact that he was too close to Su Li, the number of love letters he received wouldn't be any fewer than his own.

But if he lost now, it would be hard to say.

Zhao Jiu picked up a basketball from a bag on the ground nearby, dribbled it twice, and then aimed at the nearest hoop and shot.

"Swish," the ball went in.

The school team members immediately restrained their joking manner and looked at Zhao Jiu; it seemed he was capable?

Jiang Xiangnan didn't take it to heart at all, shot one as well, and it also went in.

"Do you really believe Su Li is innocent? Instead of her knowing the truth but pestering you anyway?"

It was indeed him who messed with Su Li, but it wasn't him who said Su Li knew about his relationship with Su Cheng from the start; it was Su Cheng.

Although he knew Su Li was innocent, he had no interest in clarifying it.

Zhao Jiu took off his jacket, handed it to Qian Lei, and then stretched his limbs: "If I don't believe her, should I believe you guys?"

Zhao Jiu: "If I win, you clarify it over the school broadcast."

Jiang Xiangnan looked at the calm Zhao Jiu; the youth was green and sunny, looking like someone who hadn't experienced the cruelty of this world, someone surrounded by love since childhood, the same type of person as the previous Su Li.

Jiang Xiangnan: "Fine, but if I win, you leave Su Li's side and get back to your Shengde."

Zhao Jiu had just bent down to tie his shoelaces; hearing this, his fingertips paused. He looked up at Jiang Xiangnan and suddenly understood why he treated Su Li that way.

He suppressed his anger: "Fine."

Qian Lei held Zhao Jiu's jacket, standing there as if stunned; are they playing for such high stakes?

The two began to warm up.

Seeing that Su Li and the others hadn't arrived yet, Qian Lei hurriedly called to urge them: "Where are you guys!"

On the other side, Hu Xiao and Yu Yangfei also hurriedly called Su Cheng to tell her about this.

Su Family

Fang Lan worried: "Su Li's grades dropped so severely in the last Monthly Exam, I wonder how she did this time."

Su Lin smoked, remembering how she looked at the Hot Pot Restaurant, as if she had suffered all the grievances and finally decided to leave home in pain.

"If she doesn't put her mind to her studies, who can she blame?" Su Lin suppressed a bit of anger, "Last time it was Jiang Xiangnan, this time it's that Zhao Jiu."

Fang Lan: "That boy is named Zhao Jiu?"

Su Lin: "Just ask at school and you'll know; his family has great influence."

Fang Lan was startled: "Why does Su Li only pick these kinds of people?"

Could such a family really look favorably upon Su Li?

Actually, they didn't support Su Cheng and Jiang Xiangnan dating in secret either, but Su Cheng hadn't been back long, and they owed her, so they couldn't say much. But Su Li was different; she had been by their side since she was small. Now that she was rebellious and going down the wrong path, they had to pull her back no matter what.

Su Lin: "She insists on following others herself; she doesn't even think about whether others can be her reliance for a lifetime. I'll see how she does on this Midterm Exam!"

Fang Lan felt anxious; Su Li wasn't coming home this week either. If she had done well, how could she not come back? It could only be that she didn't dare to come back.

"There will probably be a parent-teacher meeting next week. You go to Chengcheng's class, and I'll go to Su Li's."

She was afraid Su Lin wouldn't be able to hold back and would argue with Su Li again.

Su Lin was silent and didn't speak.

Su Cheng stood at the entrance of the living room, listening to the two of them talking about Su Li. Her face was slightly pale; her own grades had actually improved this time, but she never expected that Su Li's grades wouldn't continue to drop, but instead, she had done even better—so well that the progress was something she couldn't catch up to at all.

By comparison, her own progress wasn't worth mentioning.

"Chengcheng, are the grades out?" Su Lin turned back and saw her.

Su Cheng hurriedly regained her composure, then nodded with a smile: "Yes. I improved by more than seventy places this time."

Su Lin stubbed out his cigarette: "Good girl, Chengcheng. If you can keep improving like this all year, I'll take you all out to play during the winter break."

Su Cheng: "Okay."

She looked at the way they both thought Su Li had failed again, her heart panicking. After they found out Su Li's grades, would they start caring about Su Li again?

At this moment, Hu Xiao's call came in, excitedly saying: "Su Cheng, let me tell you, that Zhao Jiu suddenly overestimated himself and wanted to challenge Brother Jiang to basketball!"

Su Cheng was stunned: "Huh?"

She looked at her parents, who were still worried, walked back to her room, and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

Hu Xiao: "Zhao Jiu seems to want to seek justice for Su Li, and then demanded to play basketball against Brother Jiang. If Brother Jiang loses, he has to clarify the matter of Su Li chasing him last year."

Su Cheng's face turned pale in an instant; how could that matter be clarified?

Hu Xiao did not understand her fear and continued lightly: "But if Zhao Jiu loses, he cannot stay by Su Li's side anymore and has to get lost back to Shengde."

Hearing this, Su Li's complexion looked a bit better; Jiang Xiangnan was so good at basketball that when they played against Shengde High School, Shengde was also a defeated opponent.

Therefore, the probability of Zhao Jiu beating Jiang Xiangnan was very low.

She recalled again that Su Li suddenly changed back to the former Su Li all because Zhao Jiu appeared; if Zhao Jiu left, that would be another kind of blow to Su Li.

Su Li had been carefully nurtured since childhood, so her ability to withstand blows was very weak, and her mindset was also easily influenced.

"Help me record a video," Su Cheng said. Although she knew the result, she still wanted to see the process.

The sight of such a proud son of heaven being crushed by Jiang Xiangnan.

Hu Xiao: "You got it!"

Ten minutes later, the two people's match began, and the people from the School Basketball Team automatically stood on the side of Hu Xiao and Yu Yangfei.

Grade 1 and Grade 2 students who returned to school early heard that Zhao Jiu was going to play basketball against Jiang Xiangnan, so they had long since rushed to the indoor Basketball Court, and looking at the two teenagers on the green plastic floor, they felt excited.

Both of them looked good, but their temperaments were completely different.

There was a wild air about Jiang Xiangnan, while Zhao Jiu was noble through and through.

Who would win?

But the high probability was Jiang Xiangnan; they had never seen him lose to anyone to this day.

Su Li, Chen Xue, and Liu Jiajia squeezed in and asked Qian Lei: "What's the situation now?"

Qian Lei said: "Within fifteen minutes, whoever scores more goals wins."

Su Li looked at Zhao Jiu in the middle of the court wearing his summer school uniform; the boss had a face of seriousness and focus.

One of the basketball team members acted as the referee. Just as the basketball was tossed up, both of them jumped up at the same time. Jiang Xiangnan jumped higher; he snatched the ball, looked at Zhao Jiu with contempt, and just as he was dribbling toward Zhao Jiu's basket and the surrounding audience was about to scream, Zhao Jiu had already taken the ball into his own hands with one hand, rushed toward Jiang Xiangnan's basket, and shot a three-pointer in.

The whole arena went quiet for a moment, and Jiang Xiangnan froze in place.

Zhao Jiu turned back: "Don't be careless, I'm afraid you'll lose too ugly."

As Zhao Jiu spoke, the audience finally reacted. Someone let out a howl, and the whole arena followed with a roar.

"So amazing!"

"This is the first time!"

"Is Zhao Jiu this amazing!" Chen Xue started shaking Su Li's arm in excitement again, "That's Jiang Xiangnan!"

"He actually took a point from his hands first!"

Su Li was shaken until she felt dizzy; she smiled as she looked at the boss on the court—Gouzi was indeed amazing.

Zhao Jiu turned his head, found Su Li at a glance, and smiled at her.

Su Li remembered that whenever Zhao Jiu successfully negotiated a business deal, he would smile at her like this, as if to say, could he fail when he took action?

The people from the basketball team picked up the ball again and walked to Jiang Xiangnan's side, saying: "Jiang Xiangnan, don't let your guard down; it seems he is truly amazing."

Jiang Xiangnan's eyes turned cold as he looked at Zhao Jiu: "I know."

The two restarted the match. This time Jiang Xiangnan finally scored, but very quickly, Zhao Jiu scored again. The two went back and forth, and the score gradually widened.

Ten minutes later, the group of people went from their initial excitement to gradually becoming quiet, and they all looked at Jiang Xiangnan, whose rhythm had begun to fall into chaos, with a bit more sympathy in their eyes.

Since enrolling, Jiang Xiangnan had been a prominent figure at No. 1 High School, yet now he was being crushed by Zhao Jiu in the sport he was best at.

The group from the School Basketball Team also began to watch Jiang Xiangnan's disheveled state in silence.

They were all basketball players, and they could vaguely tell that Zhao Jiu seemed to have undergone professional training.

But Jiang Xiangnan had been on the basketball team since he entered the school; after the original captain moved up to Grade 3 last year, he retired, and he naturally became the new captain.

This was truly the first time Jiang Xiangnan had been beaten this miserably.

Time passed second by second, and the teenager in the school uniform shot into the basket one after another, unstoppable.

Five minutes later, the match ended. Hu Xiao and Yu Yangfei gasped, not daring to speak, watching Zhao Jiu in the middle of the court hanging from the basket with one hand before letting go and jumping down; he really had the feeling of a young nobleman.

Zhao Jiu turned his head to look at the panting and grim-faced Jiang Xiangnan; it seemed this was the first time he had suffered such a setback.

At this moment, Qian Lei excitedly threw the ball that had bounced out of the court back to him. Zhao Jiu dribbled the ball with one hand, and the basketball collided with the plastic floor, emitting a dull sound.

Zhao Jiu raised the basketball, preparing to shoot: "When I was a child, I lost at basketball to someone else and wanted to win it back, so my family hired a retired coach from the national team for me."

"Later, they hired a few basketball team members to practice with me."

Zhao Jiu shot the ball into the basket again, and Jiang Xiangnan had no reaction at all.

He turned back and said: "Jiang Xiangnan, there will always be people in this world born better than you, more amazing than you, stronger than you, and who have been pampered since childhood."

"If you have the ability, destroy it all."

Jiang Xiangnan and the others toyed with Su Li like this for no other reason than that they couldn't stand seeing Su Li's once innocent and bright appearance, wanting to see the little princess fall into the mud, struggling and sinking.

They didn't live well themselves, so they couldn't stand to see anything beautiful either.

But some people, even when at their lowest, will only try very, very hard to bury all their pain in their hearts, then step on their own pain to work hard at living, working hard to make themselves sunny and happy.

After meeting Su Li, he, who had been smooth sailing from childhood to adulthood, also had the thought for the first time that even if one is at the top, one should work hard.

Sweat flowed down Jiang Xiangnan's cheeks and landed on the ground, hitting it to create several water marks of different sizes.

His head was buzzing. He raised his head to look at the teenager in front of him, who was also covered in sweat, but he stood straight as if he didn't know how to bow.

For the first time, he discovered there was a huge chasm between them, and not just in terms of family background...

Jiang Xiangnan clenched his hands, his eyes bloodshot.

Zhao Jiu tossed the basketball back to the people from the basketball team: "As agreed beforehand, go and clarify it to the public."

Yu Yangfei hurriedly went over to defend Jiang Xiangnan: "Zhao Jiu, we are all classmates. We can just apologize for this matter privately; there's no need to go to the broadcasting station, right?"

He looked with heartache at Jiang Xiangnan, who had been stripped of his sharp edge; when had he ever been crushed like this by anyone?

Zhao Jiu kept one hand in his pocket, his gaze sweeping coldly over Yu Yangfei: "No."

Zhao Jiu turned around and took the jacket from Su Li's hands; Qian Lei had just shoved it to her, as Qian Lei felt it was a bit strange for one boy to be holding another boy's school uniform.

Zhao Jiu: "During Night Self-Study tonight, I want to hear a clarification over the broadcast."

"Or is it that a boy doesn't even have the courage to endure criticism?" He looked at him with disdain.

Jiang Xiangnan clenched his fists tightly, and the surrounding sounds seemed unable to enter his ears anymore: "Fine."

Hu Xiao and Yu Yangfei looked at him in horror; did he know what he was saying?

If his father found out about this, would he still be able to hold his head up in front of his father?

Seeing that he had agreed, Zhao Jiu looked at the water in Su Li's hands; Su Li quickly handed it to him, and Zhao Jiu opened it, took a sip, and walked outward.

Su Li quickly followed, then watched as Zhao Jiu used the remaining water to wash his face.

"What are you looking at?" Zhao Jiu suddenly felt embarrassed and turned his head to look elsewhere.

Su Li: "The boss is a bit handsome today."

Too much time had passed since the incident; she had long since moved on and no longer took the matter to heart.

She now viewed them as children playing house; she only thought about how to return without causing little Su Li to lose face.

But the boss had specifically helped her seek justice, which was truly handsome!

Zhao Jiu fidgeted with his school uniform with one hand; it was just a matter of stepping in, after all.

She was his secretary, after all; how could she be bullied by others?

Zhao Jiu walked forward, wanting to cross the Basketball Court, but his foot landed on the weeds at the edge of the Running Track, he stepped into thin air, and almost fell.

Su Li quickly placed one hand on his waist and gripped his arm with the other to steady her boss.

Zhao Jiu stood firm and froze for a moment; having just finished exercising, his body was radiating intense heat, but that hand on his waist felt soft and boneless, touching his waist through his clothes, and a sudden tingling sensation spread across his waist; his fingertips curled slightly as he looked down at the girl in front of him—Su Li's head reached his chin, her face was extremely close to his body, and he could even smell a hint of shampoo on her.

His heart was still racing.

"Boss, are you okay?" Su Li held his waist; having just beaten Jiang Xiangnan, the boss couldn't afford to fall while walking.

Zhao Jiu: "I'm... I'm fine."

He turned his head to look at the outdoor Basketball Court next door.

Su Li let go; the boss seemed to have been dazed by playing ball, as he hadn't done such high-intensity exercise in a long time.

"Let's go, back to the dormitory." Su Li held his sleeve and walked forward, preparing to send the over-exercised boss back.

Zhao Jiu followed Su Li back.

When Qian Lei came out, he saw Zhao Jiu being led away by Su Li.

Why did the two of them forget about him?

After Chen Xue and Liu Jiajia finished their excitement, they realized they had also been left behind.

Get used to it.

Sometimes Chen Xue even felt that Zhao Jiu was the one who was Su Li's deskmate.

Su Li sent Zhao Jiu into the dormitory building, turned around to head back to her own dormitory, and saw Qian Lei, feeling surprised; only then did she remember that Qian Lei was there too.

"Thanks for your hard work," she said.

Qian Lei followed silently behind, feeling as though he had suffered ten thousand points of damage.

In the dormitory, Zhao Jiu took his clothes into the bathroom to shower, the hot water rushing down and washing away the sweat from his body.

The image of Su Li supporting him just now surfaced in his mind, and the spot on his waist where she had touched him still felt strange.

Zhao Jiu pursed his lips and washed quickly; by the time he came out, the other two people in the dormitory had also returned to school.

Qian Lei was bragging to the other two roommates.

"Jiang Xiangnan used to be so arrogant, walking around without looking at people, as if no one was worthy of his notice except for those in the Key Class and the close friends who came up from middle school with him."

"Today was the first time I saw him looking so dazed after being beaten."

"The position of the No. 1 High School heartthrob is firmly held by Zhao Jiu now!"

Zhao Jiu slowly wiped his hair with both hands; he didn't listen to a single word Qian Lei was saying, letting it all go in one ear and out the other; he thought about how Su Li had supported him just now, pursed his lips, and said: "Qian Lei."

Qian Lei turned his head and quickly leaned in toward Zhao Jiu, his eyes shining as he looked at him: "Yeah!"

Zhao Jiu's fingertips gripped the towel tightly: "Have you ever liked anyone?"

Qian Lei froze for a moment: "No, why are you asking this? I'd like to have a puppy love, but no one wants to date me."

Unlike some people, who even have a girl thoughtfully escorting them back to the dormitory.

Zhao Jiu, who wanted to continue asking: "..."