The boy's face burned; he couldn't tell if it was from the wind from the ball or from embarrassment.
Xie Shi'an looked up at him, and uttered two words: "Useless."
The boy's face flushed red, and he was about to swing his racket to hit someone: "You..."
Xie Shi'an didn't back down an inch, staring coldly at him: "What, you can't beat someone at a game, so you resort to violence?"
With so many people watching, the boy put down his racket, pointed at her, and gritted his teeth, saying, "Fine, fine, let's continue."
Xie Shi'an returned to the backcourt and assumed a defensive stance.
She glanced at Jian Changnian, who was equally focused on the task at hand. Jian Changnian was swallowing nervously, gripping her racket tightly, and her clothes were soaked with sweat.
Xie Shi'an turned his face away and said lightly, "That ball was well-placed."
After being criticized for so long, Jian Changnian was still a little dazed when she was suddenly praised. She scratched her head and smiled shyly.
"You seized the opportunity well."
Xie Shi'an said expressionlessly, "Don't be too happy yet. Just defend well and don't hold me back."
"Good!" Jian Changnian was also greatly encouraged by the win of that ball. She knew that she could not help the opponent in any way, so she could only concentrate on watching her opponent and try her best to defend and create opportunities for Xie Shi'an to counterattack.
"Here it comes, on the right."
Almost as soon as Xie Shi'an finished speaking, Jian Changnian moved. Although she was small, she was agile and quick, and with lightning speed, she flicked a ball that was about to hit the ground back to him.
"Chang Nian is amazing!! So fast!" Zhou Mu cheered loudly for her, and the crowd almost jumped up.
There were also many voices of admiration among the onlookers.
"Not bad, that was a save."
"When girls fight boys, the boys have the advantage of height and physical strength. It's really impressive that they can do this well."
Xie Shi'an kept his eyes fixed on the opponent's movements, not daring to relax for a moment, but the corners of his lips curled up slightly: "Well played."
A smile finally appeared on Jian Changnian's face.
The score was reversed, and the two boys on the other side looked at each other and nodded.
"Fight Xie Shi'an and suppress her performance; the other one is not a concern."
In the following time, the two players frequently served high clears to Xie Shi'an, suppressing her head and giving her almost no chance to breathe. The score was very close, and soon it reached 20-20.
It's match point.
Jian Changnian was panting heavily as she looked at Xie Shi'an's unmoving back. Her back was also mostly soaked with sweat, and her tied-up hair was a bit messy due to the intense exercise. However, her hand holding the racket was still very steady. Her profile looked like an exquisite sculpture by an Italian painter, and her tightly pursed lips revealed a hint of determination.
"On the last ball, while they are pressuring me, they will also attack your weak right half of the defense. Whether we win or not depends on this ball."
Jian Changnian nodded, her face solemn. She swallowed hard and secretly wiped the cold sweat from her palms along the seam of her pants.
The most nervous person was Zhou Mu on the sidelines. Unfortunately, the last round was a long rally. Zhou Mu was nervously counting the number of rallies while fiddling with his hands.
"10, 15, 20..."
Both sides made some brilliant plays in this round, eliciting gasps from the crowd. Jian Changnian didn't care about anything else; all she could think about was Xie Shi'an running, jumping, and smashing the ball, and her words.
"Why think so much when you're playing ball? You have to catch the ball whether you can or can't."
The shuttlecock flew over like a shooting star. Xie Shi'an was too far away to save it in time, and the shuttlecock was about to hit the ground.
Jian Changnian gritted his teeth and silently recited those words. He leaped forward, braced his left hand on the ground, and swung his right hand to scoop up a ball that was about to hit the ground. Then he fell sideways to the ground.
Ignoring the pain in her body, her eyes were fixed on the ball, and everyone held their breath.
Zhou Mu clenched his hands and prayed for them: "Pass, pass, pass..."
The ball flew crookedly over the net, and Jian Changnian's eyes lit up immediately: "Xie Shian!"
Xie Shi'an's lips curled into a carefree smile: "Here you are."
Jian Changnian's save was both timely and by sheer luck, with a very strange angle. The opposing boys could only barely flick the ball over before they could get back to defend.
Xie Shi'an stretched out her long arms, took a few steps to the net, and smashed the ball hard with a standard forehand cross-court smash. The moment she jumped up, the sunlight poured down on her, her white sportswear was blown by the wind, her hair was lightly swayed, and she was so dazzling that she was practically glowing.
For some reason, Jian Changnian inexplicably recalled a line of ancient poetry he had once read: "A young man in fine clothes and riding a spirited horse."
Xie Shi'an was looking at the left half of the court, which they hadn't had time to get back to defend.
Jian Changnian held her breath nervously.
A white feather landed on the ground.
Zhou Mu was the first to erupt in cheers: "We won! We won!"
Scattered applause also rang out from the crowd.
As the ball landed, Jian Changnian felt completely exhausted. Her racket fell to the side, and she sat on the ground with a relieved smile.
Zhou Mu rushed over and hugged her, laughing and shouting, "Ahhh, you're amazing!! I knew you could do it!"
Jian Changnian's head spun from being shaken: "Okay, okay, help me up..."
Hearing the commotion, Cheng Zhen, who was not far away, also ran over: "Well, you left me there to play chess with Grandpa Li, and came to play badminton by yourself, without even taking me with you..."
For Xie Shi'an, this was just one of the most insignificant matches in her career.
She didn't seem particularly excited about winning, as if it was only natural. She was just a little thirsty, so she snatched the mineral water bottle from Cheng Zhen's arms, twisted it open, and drank: "Stop talking nonsense. You can't play chess, so what do you know, badminton?"
"I don't like hearing that. Haven't you ever seen a pig run even if you haven't eaten pork? I've watched you two play basketball for so many years."
At this point, Cheng Zhen finally realized that only Xie Shi'an, who was usually inseparable from her, was present today.
"Hey, where's Yu Chu? Why are you the only one out playing today?"
Xie Shi'an wiped the water from the corner of her lips and tossed the empty water bottle to him: "She went home."
The moment Cheng Zhen appeared, Zhou Mu's eyes were glued to her. Jian Changnian's outstretched hand, waiting for her to help her, had been hovering in mid-air for a long time. Zhou Mu had no idea what was going on and had already dashed over to her.
Jian Changnian shook her head helplessly. Fine, she'd better get up herself.
As she stood up, supporting herself with her badminton racket, she heard Zhou Mu saying something to them: "Senior Cheng, what a coincidence, to run into you here."
Cheng Zhen scratched his head: "Who are you?"
Zhou Mu looked a little embarrassed, staring shyly at her toes: "I'm Zhou Mu from Class 3, Grade 1. You forgot, you even helped me with my luggage on the day of registration."
When Cheng Zhen heard her mention the day school started, he vaguely remembered that it happened, but he really didn't remember her name or appearance.
"Ah, I remember now, hello junior, hello junior."
Xie Shi'an turned her head slightly and smiled, which was caught by Jian Changnian. It turned out that she looked quite pretty when she smiled.
Noticing that someone was watching him, Xie Shi'an reverted to his usual cold and arrogant expression.
"Here you go, racket back."
Zhou Mu, holding his racket, sensed they were about to leave. He grabbed Jian Changnian, the "tool," and pulled her in front of him, blinking his eyes. "I'm Changnian's friend, Changnian is Xie Shi'an's friend, and you're Xie Shi'an's friend too. In other words, the four of us are friends now! Let's have a meal together!"
Xie Shi'an hadn't agreed yet, but Cheng Zhen was a simple-minded and cheerful person. Seeing that she had already said so, and that she was a junior, she readily agreed.
"Okay, okay, anyway, we have nothing to do right now, and I'm a little hungry. Shi'an, are you hungry...?"
Xie Shi'an was about to answer when he caught a glimpse of the group of boys playing ball with them preparing to sneak away while they weren't looking.
She turned her head, slightly raised her chin, and called out to the person, "Hey, you over there, didn't we agree that you had to apologize if you lost?"
Zhou Mu also realized what was happening and chimed in, "Yeah, don't deny it. You think you can just walk away after losing? There's no such thing as a free lunch."
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the boy was caught in a dilemma, his face flushed red, and his fists clenched tightly.
"You...don't push your luck!"
"Is this what you call going too far? Fine, then leave. If you leave, you're not a man."
Xie Shi'an's seemingly casual remark actually dealt another heavy blow to the boy's fragile self-esteem.
The onlookers burst into laughter.
"That's right, what kind of man goes back on his word?"
"Hey you guys, stop embarrassing your fellow men. Go back and practice some more. Losing to girls is one thing, but trying to deny it is another."
...
The boy's face alternated between pale and flushed, like a spilled palette of colorful paints, which was quite a sight.
Jian Changnian couldn't help but burst out laughing.
The boy glared at them fiercely, but under the pressure of the surrounding public opinion and Xie Shi'an's words that he was "not a man," he had no choice but to bow his head and say, "I'm sorry, I was blind, okay?"
"Isn't there another line, 'You're a noob'? Shout it out loud, you're a noob, why aren't you shouting it out now?" Xie Shi'an certainly wouldn't let him off so easily, and said leisurely.
The boy's face turned a deep shade of liver: "You...!"
"You promised this yourself."
The boy looked around at the people surrounding him, his face flushed, and whispered, "I'm a noob."
"What? Speak louder, I can't hear you—" Zhou Mu exaggeratedly covered his ears with his hands.
The boy roared in exasperation, "I'm a noob, sorry, I was blind, you guys are strong!! Okay!!!"
Xie Shi'an shrugged: "That's more like it."
As the boy and his group slunk away, he turned back and glanced at them one last time, his eyes filled with fierce malice, and whispered something.
"Xie Shi'an, I'll remember you. You just wait and see."
Chapter 15 The Chase
At the dinner table for four, two people remained silent. Xie Shi'an was not much of a talker to begin with, and Jian Changnian couldn't get a word in edgewise. Only Zhou Mu chatted with Cheng Zhen like a little megaphone, making light of trivial matters.
"Wow, senior, you're amazing! Will you come back to class after the training camp?"
"We'll see. If my grades are good, I won't go back."
"Senior, you should eat this. Swimming must be very physically demanding, so eat more."
Jian Changnian, listening from the side, got goosebumps all over.
If she was like this, Xie Shi'an couldn't stand it anymore. She quickly finished her fried noodles in a few bites and called the owner to pay the bill.