“Wow,” the crowd gasped in surprise.
“I actually dodged a bullet!?” Hao Shuai said, unable to believe his luck.
Xie Jingting arched an eyebrow with interest and leaned lazily back into the sofa, looking like a man settled in to watch a good show.
Qin Hao chuckled softly. “You hit the jackpot the moment you arrived.”
Cheng Sheng shook his head. “It is over, Shi Yu. I am already starting to pity you.”
“Do not talk nonsense; Shi Yu might just win,” Jiang Yinni, who was eating dessert nearby, could not help but interject. “What do you call that? A natural nemesis.”
“Hey,” Duan Jinghuai interrupted her with a frown.
“I do not care. I am putting my money on Shi Yu.”
Shi Yu looked down at the vigorous handwriting on the slip of paper. His fingers curled slightly, and the shadow of his eyelashes cast a crescent-shaped arc over his eyelids.
Shen Zhinian gazed at him from the side, a trace of complex emotion hidden in the depths of his eyes. He said softly, “Do not push yourself too hard. It is just a friendly match for exercise; it does not matter.”
“Brother Zhinian.”
“Hmm?”
Shi Yu lifted his gaze, and his brow arched slightly. A somewhat arrogant smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Do you think I will lose?”
Shen Zhinian froze for a moment. It was not that he was stumped by Shi Yu’s question, but rather it was the expression on Shi Yu’s face as he said it. The Shi Yu he knew had always been aloof and cold, like a lonely ice lotus blooming on the edge of a cliff. He had never seen Shi Yu display such an indomitable, flamboyant streak of arrogance. In this moment, he looked exactly like Duan Jinghuai.
Being a friendly match, there were not many rules. To save time, they played a total of six games at four points per game, with a tiebreaker if they reached a draw.
Shi Yu and Duan Jinghuai were scheduled for the third match. As the second match got underway, the two of them fell into a silent understanding and headed to the sidelines to warm up. Both looked as though they were facing a formidable enemy.
Lying flat on a lounge chair with sunglasses on, Hao Shuai took a sip of his cocktail and tutted. “Why do I feel like there is a storm brewing?”
Xie Jingting replied solemnly, “You are not the only one.”
“It is probably not great that we all bet on Shi Yu,” Hao Shuai said, feeling a bit cowardly. He took off his sunglasses and sat up. “If Old Duan gets driven to the edge, he is going to fight tooth and nail to crush him.”
Xie Jingting acted the part of a mystic. “When the dragon and tiger fight, one is bound to be injured.”
“Then why are you so calm? This is your birthday party; are you not afraid it will get ugly?” Hao Shuai shook his head. “Old Duan is probably still holding a grudge over that project.”
Xie Jingting smiled. “Relax, Old Duan knows what he is doing. He would not dare.”
Hao Shuai was shocked. “There is actually something he does not dare to do?”
Xie Jingting smiled but said nothing more.
Once the match between Cheng Sheng and Qin Hao ended and the court was cleared, Shi Yu and Duan Jinghuai stepped out. They tossed a coin to choose sides. When the referee asked for their choices, Shi Yu tilted his chin slightly toward the far side and then looked down to tie his shoelaces with feigned indifference.
Duan Jinghuai realized that normally, the act of leaving the decision to the opponent was something he did.
“I will take heads.”
Shi Yu’s hand paused while tying his laces. He automatically took tails.
The coin was tossed, and heads was up. Duan Jinghuai had the first choice. Since it was an outdoor court influenced by the sun and wind speed, players usually chose the side that favored them, leaving the opponent to choose between serving or receiving. Duan Jinghuai chose the side closer to the villa, while Shi Yu chose to serve first.
Mid-afternoon had passed, and the sunlight was turning thin. The azure sky was peaceful and pure. Standing behind the baseline, Shi Yu turned his body sideways. Holding the racket in his right hand and the ball in his left, he bounced the ball against the ground. His sharply defined profile looked like a piece of carved art.
The surroundings were silent and windless. The only sound was the soft yet heavy thud of the tennis ball hitting the grass and bouncing back up rhythmically.
Duan Jinghuai stood on the other side, holding his racket with both hands and leaning forward with his pelvis slightly lowered. Shi Yu glanced sideways, his eyelids lifting just enough to give his opponent a cold look before he tossed the ball high into the air.
The ball arched through the sky and began its descent. Shi Yu crouched slightly, sprang upward, rotated his forearm inward, and slammed the ball. The quiet air was shattered as the ball was driven fiercely into the diagonal service box.
The only thing left on the court was the whistling sound of the ball cutting through the wind. Duan Jinghuai remained rooted to the spot. He did not return the ball; he did not even look at it. He simply let it bounce in the service box and roll past the baseline.
The score was 15-0. In tennis, every ball won is recorded as 15 points. Shi Yu scored on the serve.
The people on the sidelines were stunned. Cheng Sheng, still catching his breath from his own match, grinned. “What is Old Duan doing? Spacing out during a return?”
“It was just a flat serve, or did Shi Yu add some hidden spin technique?”
“Technique is irrelevant; Old Duan did not even move his feet.”
“It is rare to see him so out of it.”
Someone analyzed the situation. “Maybe there was some outside distraction just now. Let us see what Old Duan says.”
On the court, Duan Jinghuai slowly lifted his eyes and straightened up with a faint tug at the corner of his mouth. Outside the court, everyone held their breath, watching his next move. He simply carried his racket, walked nonchalantly past the baseline to pick up the ball, and then, without a word, hit it back over the net to return it to Shi Yu.
According to the rules, the person with the service right serves for the entire game. Hao Shuai and the others were once again full of confusion.
Cheng Sheng was surprised again. “He did not raise a single objection?”
“He really was spacing out.”
“No way. Can a guy with a competitive streak as explosive as Old Duan’s actually space out?”
Hao Shuai pushed up his sunglasses and said solemnly, “I get it. He is definitely letting Shi Yu have one on purpose to humiliate him right at the start.”
Xie Jingting shoved Hao Shuai’s head with a cold face. “Get lost. Is that the kind of person Old Duan is to you?”
Hao Shuai adjusted his glasses, feeling wronged. “I was joking!”
It was not humiliation, it was not a hidden spin technique, and it was not that he was not in the zone. It was, quite simply, a lapse in concentration.
He had spaced out.
Shi Yu was wearing a baseball cap, and his tall, slender frame was clad in a loose white T-shirt. His skin, dazzlingly white like fine porcelain, occupied Duan Jinghuai’s entire field of vision. When Shi Yu leaned forward slightly, his two beautifully lined collarbones gave off an indescribable sense of cold sensuality.
On his lower body, he wore a pair of black athletic shorts that were short enough to reach just below the root of the thigh. The leg openings were slightly loose, revealing two snowy white, well-proportioned legs. As he bent his waist slightly, the full curve of his hips was visible.
When serving, Shi Yu raised his arm high. His shirt lifted with the movement, clearly revealing a section of his slender, fair waist hidden beneath the loose clothing. That waist looked excessively soft.
Duan Jinghuai had only looked for a few moments longer than he should have, and his brain felt as if it had run aground. He completely forgot where he was or what he was supposed to be doing. It was not until the tennis ball had zipped past him for several seconds that he finally reacted.
As he snapped back to reality, the first thought that popped into his head was to give Xie Jingting a thorough cursing. He wondered what Xie Jingting meant by providing athletic shorts that were this short.