Chapter 223 – Men Have to Take Risks
“You’re in a rush?”
Xiong YaoYue did not really have a good head, so I decided to distract her.
“Yue Yue, the fourth class is about to start, where are you rushing off to?”
Xiong YaoYue puffed out her cheeks and patted her flat belly.
“I’m hungry! The geography teacher had to talk about delicious traditional Brazilian cuisine and it made my stomach growl!”
“But even if the cafeteria is not open, doesn’t the snack counters sell food?”
Xiong YaoYue knitted her brows and made an expression as if to say ‘why are you so dumb’.
“How can I still eat that dry ass bread from the snack counters after I heard about Cuban delicacies! I was planning to flip over the wall to eat on the food street!”
Huh? Is it Brazilian or Cuban? You probably only remembered the word food! Were you tying your shoelaces to jump the wall? A lot of guys can’t even flip over this 2m high wall!
“Oh, right!” Xiong YaoYue clapped her hands as if she thought of something, “If you don’t want to be ridden by me, then clasp your hands together and act as a ladder. I can probably save a lot of energy if I step on your hands to climb over the wall! You choose —— do you want to be a horse or a stepping stone?”
A ladder or a stepping stoner? But it generally means the same thing, the difference is not as large as mixing up Cuba and Brazil. Otherwise, if someone like Xiong YaoYue was the American president during the Cuban missile crisis, Brazil might have been struck instead.
If I think about it, since I was at fault, it’s fine even if I let her step on my hand. I can think of it as helping out a hungry brother.
Thus I crossed my fingers together with my palms face upwards and acted as a step stool. Xiong YaoYue raised her chin with satisfaction and expressed her joy.
“Good choice!”
Xiong YaoYue bluntly stepped on my hands with her running shoes and her long legs that stretched out of her shorts made my face hot.
“Yosh!” She grunted and easily flipped over the wall with my assistance. She sat on top of the wall and looked around at the scenery, then she jumped off like a monkey.
I could hear Xiong YaoYue running further and further away like an out of control dog, and I subconsciously chuckled. I went to the sink at the back of the school and washed off the footprint on my hand. I was able to make it to class before the bell rang and I shared the history textbook with Xiao Qin in order to make it through my first class of the day.
Afterward, I heard Xiong YaoYue only realized she forgot her wallet after eating a portion of spicy hot pot. Thus she reordered another serving and ate through the next class until it was lunch break, then she called the class leader to pick her up.
During lunch break, I saw Niu ShiLi and the three rear guards from our class practicing on the basketball court. Although his dribbling was clumsy, he still had a serious attitude.
The next day after I declared the establishment of our team, Niu ShiLi acted on his own and found two substitute players.
One was as skinny as a monkey (Pi ZeGuang) and the other was uncommunicative (Mu ZhongMing).
Although their names were strange and their appearances were not that good, these two new members had a passion for basketball (or they just wanted me to drink Fu Yan Jie).
Pi ZeGuang excelled at midway shots and Mu ZhongMing excelled at guarding. Niu ShiLi asked for guidance and absorbed the knowledge like a sponge.
If he was playing a game, he probably would have raised multiple ranks at once.
Although currently, Niu ShiLi had the worst ball-handling skills, everyone treated him as the spiritual leader of the team. They followed him blindly, but it still solved my concern about the team’s cohesiveness. Niu ShiLi’s initiatives solved a lot of my problems for me.
Thus I walked next to them to do them a favor and announced Niu ShiLi would be the vice-captain of class 2-3 basketball team. He would be the leader if I was not here.
The team members chuckled and agreed. I feel like they want to see me drink Fu Yan Jie even more than China being able to take back the Diaoyu islands. Niu ShiLi, on the other hand, accepted the position earnestly.
“It’s not for you, it’s to wash away last year’s shame.” Niu ShiLi warned me to not misunderstand, “Also, basketball is pretty fun.”
Very good, as long as you have the interest, that means you have gained a rudimentary understanding! Although I wanted to say a few words about his inadequate movements, I felt he needs encouragement. Also, it’s probably not good for him to hear advice from someone he hates, so I kept my mouse shut.
After taking a quick break, I found Captain Guo SongTao wiping his sweat on the back basketball court and I had a chat with him.
“What have you been busy with recently?” Brother Tao directly expressed his dissatisfaction and said half-jokingly, “You haven’t practiced with us for a while now!”
I smiled awkwardly, “I have matters at hand! Also, it doesn’t make sense if I’m the only person who can accompany the eighteen arhats of our school, so I plan on training another person from our class!”
Brother Tao expressed his disbelief and interest at the same time.
“If it’s compared to me, then probably only Niu ShiLi has the same body type, but does he even play basketball?”
My awkward smile turned into delight, “Hmph, because I connected with him, he decided to pour his time into basketball and compete in the school basketball tournament in a month!”
Brother Tao rubbed the stubble on his chin and looked as if he had a card up his sleeve.
“Who are you trying to trick? Who doesn’t know you made a bet to drink Fu Yan Jie! It’s already been spread throughout the entire school! How about it? Do you want me to sponsor you a bottle?”
My face darkened: “Don’t worry about it, someone already beat you to it.”
Brother Tao thought for a bit and said: “Niu ShiLi has a lot of good natural requirements. If he’s willing to work hard, never mind being a training partner for the basketball team, he might even make it into the basketball team in the future… but I also heard that there are a lot of guys in school who are looking forward to your loss. They suggested that you should be heavily guarded during the game and they will deliberately give Niu ShiLi the chance to score so that they can make a fool of you and watch you drink Fu Yan Jie!
“Who would listen to them?” I joked, “If someone actually does that, be careful so they won’t lose! The goal of our class is to become the champions of our grade. If they relax the guard around Niu ShiLi, I should train his ability to score!”
Brother Tao frowned, “Shen ShaoYi and Liu HuaiShui from class 2-2 are not an easy match, also you said you would train his ability to score —— are you not afraid of it backfiring and you end up having to drink Fu Yan Jie?”
I would shiver from head to toe every time I think about the white packaging.
“It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t scared. I don’t want to drink Fu Yan Jie, but at the same time, I want our class to win. If I don’t increase Niu ShiLi’s ability to score, then it would be impossible for our class to win.”
“Xiao Ye, it seems like you’re speaking more than usual today?” Brother Tao had an indecent smile, “I heard you don’t have a good relationship with Niu ShiLi, so he might not even listen to your advice —— did you come here to beg me to help train him?”
I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment: “Haha, you saw through me! Um, you don’t have to take too much of your time, it’s fine if you just watch him from the sidelines and give him some pointers!”
I used my thumb and index finger to express a tiny bit.
“That won’t work!” Brother Tao shook his head in exaggeration, “How can you only train a player with this much potential for a bit? I will ask him if he wants to go home a bit later after school. If he agrees, I will train him for one to two hours… He might even become a player comparable to you. Do you think I would let this opportunity slip past me?”
“That’s good.” I said with a smile. “This way, even if I don’t always have time to train the team, I can still bring a substitute.”
Brother Tao suddenly said with a grim expression: “But Xiao Ye, let me say this beforehand, don’t blame me if Niu ShiLi beats you and you have to drink Fu Jie Yan! I won’t help you drink half the bottle even though we have a good relationship!”
I agreed with a smile on my face. I finished another one of my goals and gleefully walked back to the 2-3 classroom.
I was a bit tired so I took a quick nap on my desk, and I even had a dream.
I dreamed I won the championship for the 2-3 class, I was even sitting at the class leader’s dining table. There was potato stewed beef, sweet and sour pork, and stir-fried pork which would make anyone’s mouth water.
Except in the place where someone would usually have a bottle of beer, there was an open bottle of Fu Yan Jie.