Ying Yunsheng paused for a moment, then shook his head: "It's nothing."
Actually, he just wanted to ask if there was even a tiny bit of a reason he came to the training camp because of him.
But once you calm down and think about it, you'll realize how unrealistic this guess is. After all, they hadn't even recognized each other on the day of the league. Besides, just listening to the instructor's words in class could be very beneficial for the future. It's highly likely that the other person just happened to be shortlisted and didn't want to give up this spot.
Ying Yunsheng brainwashed himself the whole way, and when he finally got off the bus, he was sure that he had completely achieved "purity of mind and few desires". Before getting up, he woke up the person next to him.
Ji Li couldn't stand the bumps in the car. When she opened her eyes, her face was a little pale. She subconsciously reached out and said, "Pull me up."
Ying Yunsheng grabbed the other person's wrist and pulled him up from the seat.
The force was too great, and Ji Li, who was already weak, was caught off guard by the sudden pull and fell forward.
Ying Yunsheng instinctively grabbed the other person to prevent them from falling, and then felt a sudden weight on his shoulders and neck.
His mind clearly deduced what the soft touch on the side of his neck was, but his body completely froze, standing motionless in place.
The teacher was shouting from outside the car.
Not wanting to waste any more time, the two grabbed their bags and jumped off the bus one after the other, consciously walking at the end of the line.
Looking at the school gate ahead, Ying Yunsheng felt that all his previous mental preparations had been in vain.
However, it turned out he was overthinking it. Once they were seated in the training classroom and received the test papers, all the messy thoughts in his mind vanished completely, leaving only the test questions in front of him.
In the life Ying Yun has lived to this day, apart from eating and drinking normally, the only thing he has persisted in doing is studying. Of course, this excludes the "degenerate" days before he met Ji Li, when he stayed out all night every day.
The older he got, the more he understood that the college entrance examination was the lowest-barrier, yet most impartial, opportunity to change his fate that he could access. He didn't want to fall apart like his parents, so he could only tighten his belt and desperately swim upstream, clinging to a lifeline.
Ji Li once told him in Tingfeng Lane that if he was afraid of contacting the outside world, he should first think about what he had as the foundation for his perception of the world.
Aside from studying, Ying Yunsheng had no idea what else he could grasp.
Beneath their contrasting personalities, he and Ji Li are, in some ways, the same. They both know what they want and what they should do. While their peers are still staying up all night working on games and animation, they have already planned for their future and will certainly do their utmost to achieve it.
The test lasted all morning. The proctor collected the papers and gave each student a meal voucher.
Their training camp was held at a key middle school in the city. After lunch, there was a lunch break, and when passing by the playground, you could hear the thud of basketballs hitting the ground.
Seven or eight hands reached out to grab a basketball at the same time. Someone slapped it hard, and the ball flew out of the court and rolled around on the ground for a while.
Ying Yunsheng raised his foot to block the ball and picked it up.
"Hey—" the boys on the court waved to them, "Could you throw the ball over here?"
Ying Yunsheng dribbled the ball a couple of times to get a feel for it, then stepped forward, leaped up, and threw it with all his might.
Everything felt like a replay of that night.
Ji Li was standing a few steps behind him, able to see every detail clearly.
The winter sun isn't intense, but at midday it's dazzling enough that even with your eyes closed, the light can seep through your thin eyelids and into your bones, warming your lungs and making them feel soft and warm.
The teenager, wearing a school uniform, had the hem of his uniform lifted up as he jumped, and the sleeves were loosely catching the wind, outlining a body that exuded a sense of agile strength.
With a loud thud, the basketball slammed into the hoop.
The boys on the field were all stunned for a moment, then burst into cheers. The one in the lead even ran over excitedly: "Hey...aren't you from our school? It's okay, it's lunch break now, want to play a game?"
Ying Yunsheng shook his head: "I can't play basketball."
The boy said "Hey," and replied, "That's not very interesting. Meeting is fate, right? Direct exchanges between schools are the only way to promote cultural development, aren't they?"
They can give you a very good explanation.
Ying Yunsheng wasn't very good at socializing. People at school had heard of him, but few would dare to approach him so brazenly, ignoring his cold demeanor. Unsure how to refuse, he instinctively turned to Ji Li for help.
Ji Li asked, "Want to go out and have some fun?"
Ying Yunsheng was taken aback.
"There are still two hours until the afternoon lecture. You can go have some fun if you want. No one will know if you sneak away from your busy schedule once in a while," Ji Li said with a smile. "I can erase your memories."
—I can erase memories.
Ying Yunsheng's heart skipped a beat, and he turned his head and said, "But I really can't play basketball."
Seeing that there was a chance, the boy quickly said, "It's okay, we're just playing around, it's not a competition. It doesn't matter what method you use, just throw the ball into the basket."
The boy's original idea was simply that he happened to run into a basketball pro from another school and wanted to play a game together to exchange experiences.
Unfortunately, he didn't realize he was wrong until five minutes into the match.
That's completely wrong.
No matter how hard he racked his brains, he would never have imagined that the other party's statement that "he can't play basketball" was not an excuse, but the absolute truth.
Aside from his impressive shooting skills, Ying Yunsheng was completely ignorant of basketball rules, techniques, and positioning, adhering entirely to the male's motto: "It doesn't matter how you throw the ball into the basket."
Since the entertainment section doesn't count towards the score, Ying Yunsheng stumbled along, learning as he went, for half an hour. Finally, he roughly understood the meaning of the key phrases the players were frequently shouting and got along really well with these students from other schools.
Ji Li sat in the audience and turned on the camera mode on his phone.
Because of the lighting, the shadows on the court were always indistinct on the screen. He changed the angle and adjusted the focus several times until the players on the court jumped up to shoot.
"Snap—"
Ji Li clicked on the photo.
The light and the stadium seemed to favor the person right in the center, even the curve of her hair was perfectly rendered. It wasn't a high-resolution, enlarged photo, yet it made her instantly recognizable.
Ji Li turned off her phone.
Half a minute later, he took out his phone again, found the secretly taken photo, set it as his desktop background, and then focused on watching the battle on the field.
Suddenly, someone in the crowd turned around and met his gaze.
A loud shout came from the side: "Quick, grab the ball!"
Ying Yunsheng suddenly snapped out of his daze, stopped the basketball from the boy who had run up to him, and tossed it to his teammate.
"Bang--"
Another basketball goes in.
Finally, someone called for a pause, and everyone scattered to the audience seats to rest.
Ying Yunsheng walked over to Ji Li and asked, "Do you want to play?"
"What?"
"You've been watching the field the whole time."
So you mistakenly thought he also wanted to play basketball, which is why he kept staring at the basketball court?
Ji Li: "Don't you think I was staring at the court the whole time just to see who was playing?"
Ying Yunsheng: "What are you looking at..."
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly realized what the other person meant, and the rest of his sentence got stuck in his throat as if he couldn't get it out.
The sun overhead was even more dazzling, making people's exposed faces red and hot, and beads of sweat appeared on their foreheads.
Ji Li watched for a while, then suddenly laughed: "I'm not cut out for sports, so I'm not going to join in the fun."
Ying Yunsheng regained his composure: "There's no one on the field now, you can come down and try."
Ji Li had little interest in sports. He often saw others playing basketball at school and while he was envious, he wasn't particularly passionate about it. Most of the time, he would just admire their skill and then forget about it. Although he had a vague understanding of basketball, this was his first time actually playing it.
Joining the competition is definitely out of the question, but since the court is currently empty, borrowing someone else's basketball to shoot from the hoop shouldn't be a problem.
Unfortunately, whether it was a common problem for beginners or a lack of natural athletic ability, Ji Li tried several times, but each time the ball either hit the rim or the tempered glass plate. The worst time, the ball even flew directly over the rim and out of bounds.
When Ying Yunsheng retrieved the ball, the other boys had regained their energy and were all gathered around the court, offering their advice in a flurry of chatter.
"You can't shoot like that, your accuracy is terrible."
"When shooting, you need to keep your eyes on the basket, not the ball."
"By the way, could you try jumping? Jumping would shorten the distance and make it easier to throw."
"Come on, he can't even make a shot while standing, and you're telling him to jump and shoot? That's not how you mislead young people."
Ji Li was not impatient. When others tried to correct his posture, he subtly avoided contact, only asking a few questions occasionally, letting them indulge in their teacher's role.
Ying Yunsheng paused for a moment, then walked over and shoved the ball into Ji Li's hands: "Do you know what a dunk is?"
Ji Li turned his head: "I know, but I can't jump that high."
Ying Yunsheng said, "I can carry you up."
Ji Li was taken aback.
Ying Yunsheng: "Is that alright?"
In this situation, can he say no?
With permission granted, Ying Yunsheng wrapped his arms around his waist and lifted him up.
It was actually less than half a meter high, but the moment the field of vision rose, everything around seemed to shrink instantly.
The basketball hoop, which was once out of reach, suddenly became within reach, just a hand's breadth away.
The basketball went into the net, bounced on the ground, and then fell back down.
The boys behind him kept exclaiming "Holy crap!"
Ji Li turned around amidst the sounds and saw the person behind him with their head tilted back, their hair damp with sweat and plastered to their forehead, but their bright eyes were full of light.
A note from the author:
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 33
Chapter 33
Small cakes
In the training classroom, the teacher was explaining example problems on the stage.
As Ji Li was constructing the coordinate axes on the exam paper, he heard a "click" sound from the side.
He turned his head.