In the blink of an eye, two classes had passed, and it was soon time for the third class of the afternoon, PE.
Since PE wasn’t a subject they needed to take an exam for, the class was extremely relaxed. The PE teacher had the students warm up, run two laps around the track, and then dismissed them for free activity.
“The weather’s pretty nice today. Guys, want to play some ball?” Just as Xu Ming was about to return to the classroom with his small group of friends, Zhou Cheng suddenly spoke up.
“What kind of ball? Basketball?”
“Basketball?! Hey, I know how to play that. Isn’t it just shoulder charges and elbow strikes?” Two of the more energetic boys beside them laughed and nodded eagerly.
Before the others could turn their attention toward him, Xu Ming cooperatively nodded as well. “Sure.”
“All right, let’s go. Xu Ming, come with me to get a ball,” Zhou Cheng said. “Chen Nan, you guys stay here and claim a court for us.”
“Okay, okay…”
There were quite a few people moving around the sports field. Xu Ming followed Zhou Cheng to the equipment room to get a basketball.
Since the sky was overcast, the temperature was unusually cool today. As a result, the outdoor areas were livelier than usual. Many students were exercising outside, and there were even quite a few teachers without classes strolling around the grounds.
However, as Xu Ming and Zhou Cheng returned with the basketball, Xu Ming suddenly noticed something unusual.
“Hey, something’s wrong, Brother Cheng…” Xu Ming narrowed his eyes toward the basketball court. “Chen Nan and the others seem to be arguing with someone.”
“What happened? Come on! Let’s hurry over and take a look…”
As soon as Zhou Cheng responded, the two quickly rushed toward the court.
…
Meanwhile, on the other side of the sports field, Lin An was walking along the track with several girls from her class who were also participating in the performance.
“Hey, An’an, look over there…” One of the girls suddenly called out to Lin An and pointed toward the basketball courts. “Hey… Something’s happening. It looks like the boys from our class are having a conflict with someone.”
A pretty girl with delicate features frowned slightly as she stared toward the group of boys on the basketball court. “It… really does look that way.”
Another girl suddenly noticed two familiar figures. “Hey, An’an, both of the guys who sit behind you are there too.”
“Hmm?”
What’s going on?!
Hearing her friends suddenly mention Zhou Cheng and Xu Ming, Lin An immediately turned her gaze in that direction. She narrowed her eyes slightly and looked toward the basketball court in confusion.
“Come on, let’s go over and see if they need any help.”
“Oh… Okay.”
“Sure.”
…
“Come on, bro, what are you doing?”
“We really are going to play here, and we came over to claim this court before you guys did…”
“Exactly. Can’t you guys just play half-court? Why do you have to use the entire court?”
“Our friends only went to get a basketball. They’ll be back soon…”
“If you do this, how are we supposed to explain it to them?!”
Not everyone in the opposing group was unreasonable. One of the boys tried persuading their leader, “Forget it, Han Yi. They already said someone claimed this court. Let’s go, let’s go…”
However, the tall boy leading them, Han Yi, seemed unwilling to listen. He remained stubborn.
“Why should we leave? If they want to play, they can join us. But they’re not even playing right now, and they’re still forcibly occupying the court!”
Seeing that Chen Nan and the others refused to leave, Han Yi frowned and impatiently warned them, “You’re not leaving, right? Fine. If you get knocked over when we’re playing later, don’t blame us. You brought it upon yourselves.”
Han Yi then ignored them and turned toward his friends. “All right, forget about them. Come on, let’s split into teams…”
Just as Han Yi’s group was about to divide into teams and start playing, Zhou Cheng and Xu Ming finally arrived.
“Hey, bro, what are you guys doing? Someone’s already using this court!”
Without wasting any time, Zhou Cheng immediately interrupted them.
“Hmm?! Are you blind, bro? We’re already splitting into teams…” Han Yi turned around and impatiently looked Zhou Cheng and the others over. “First come, first served. We’re using this court. Go play somewhere else. Understand?”
“Ha… What do you mean it’s yours? Didn’t my friends get here first?” Zhou Cheng immediately became irritated by Han Yi’s impatient tone. His own voice grew confrontational as well. “You saw there weren’t many of us, so you decided to take the court by force, huh?!”
Seeing the displeasure on Zhou Cheng’s face, Xu Ming realized he should say something too.
Without hesitating, Xu Ming stepped in. “Yeah, bro, that’s not right. Look, you should’ve seen these two friends of mine when you arrived, right? They were here specifically to hold the court for us.”
“Oh… So that’s how you’re playing it? Occupying the toilet without taking a dump, huh?” one of the boys from the other group mocked.
“Ha… What are you talking about? We’re already back, aren’t we? We’re about to start playing.”
The moment Xu Ming said that, the boy who had mocked him fell silent. However, judging from his expression, he was clearly still unconvinced.
“Forget it. Don’t bother with them. Come on, come on. Let’s continue. We’ll play our game.”
Seeing his friend get shut down, Han Yi gave Xu Ming a cold sideways glance. Then he completely ignored what Xu Ming had said and began dividing his group into teams again.
Seriously…
This guy…
Seeing how unreasonable Han Yi was being, Xu Ming’s expression darkened. He was just about to speak up again when Zhou Cheng acted before he could.
“Are you guys incapable of understanding human language?!”
Zhou Cheng snatched the basketball straight out of the other group’s hands, once again forcibly interrupting Han Yi and his friends.
That sudden move instantly enraged Han Yi.
Han Yi grabbed Zhou Cheng by the collar and glared fiercely at him.
“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?! You want to fight?!” Xu Ming immediately stepped forward and blocked Han Yi. “There are surveillance cameras over there, and we’re still at school. If you start a fight, you’ll definitely be disciplined. You might even get expelled… So I suggest you think carefully before doing anything!”
Xu Ming didn’t hesitate to warn him. The moment Han Yi looked ready to attack, he moved between them and pushed him back.
Although Han Yi appeared to be over 1.8 meters tall, Xu Ming wasn’t intimidated in the slightest.
With Combat Mastery, there was absolutely no reason for him to be afraid.
“Fuck! Get out of the way! Don’t fucking touch me!” Han Yi snapped.
Although Xu Ming had pushed him away, Han Yi still hadn’t gotten his basketball back. He quickly stepped forward again and glared viciously at Zhou Cheng. “And you, give me my fucking ball back!”
Zhou Cheng wasn’t intimidated either. He calmly replied, “I’ll give it back, but you guys have to return to your own court. Otherwise, forget it.”
There wasn’t even a trace of fear in Zhou Cheng’s voice.
“Fuck you. You really don’t know when someone’s giving you a chance, huh…”
Han Yi was about to make another move when a buzz-cut boy from his group suddenly called out from behind him, “Hey, Brother Yi, don’t do anything. There are teachers walking around over there…”
“Fuck!”
Han Yi glanced toward the teachers walking along the track in the distance and reluctantly lowered his fist.
“Fuck, give me my ball back, idiot!”
He gritted his teeth and cursed Zhou Cheng several more times before arrogantly throwing out a final threat. “I’ll remember what happened today. You’d better hope I don’t run into you next time, asshole!”
Seriously…
Ha…
Xu Ming almost burst out laughing at Han Yi’s performance. He struggled to suppress his amusement as he looked at him. “Bro, what’s with that attitude? Do you still want your ball back or not?”
As Xu Ming spoke, Zhou Cheng suddenly tossed the basketball back to Han Yi’s group.
“You really think we’re giving you too much respect, huh? You’ve been barking nonstop since the moment we got here…” Zhou Cheng shot back fiercely. “Just because I couldn’t be bothered with you doesn’t mean I’m afraid of you. But you kept pushing your luck and cursing at us, didn’t you?!”
“Now get the fuck out of here!”
Zhou Cheng casually threw the basketball back to the other group.
Originally, he had wanted to get a little revenge by throwing the ball all the way over to the opposite court, forcing this loudmouthed bastard to walk farther to retrieve it. However, there were still teachers nearby. To avoid provoking Han Yi into suddenly losing control, Zhou Cheng ultimately decided to return the ball properly.
“Ha… You still dare to talk back?!” Han Yi cursed. “Who the fuck are you trying to impress, you stupid dog?!”
“You’d better watch yourself whenever you’re outside school from now on. Don’t let me run into you, or I’ll make you regret it…”
“All right, all right, Brother Yi. Let’s go. Don’t waste your time arguing with these idiots. There are still teachers over there…”
“Yeah, exactly. Let’s just go play basketball, Brother Yi. We’ve already wasted a lot of time…”
Under his friends’ repeated persuasion, Han Yi finally left Zhou Cheng’s basketball court while continuing to curse under his breath.
However, almost as soon as Han Yi and his group walked away, Lin An and the other girls arrived.