CH 72

Humanities 1 started off strong, exciting the audience in just a few minutes. A lot of people were waiting for Sciences 1 to put out the Humanities classes’ last hope, especially because they got to automatically advance to the second round.

But they didn’t expect Sciences 1, who were already a pretty strong team, to be suppressed like this right at the beginning, so the audience was eager to see the results. 

Some people started to cheer for Humanities 1 instead, and the rest kept encouraging Sciences 1 by standing at the sidelines to scream out different strategies and positionings. The cheerleaders were all a mess, by now they only screamed and waved the things in their hands crazily.

Huo Ran managed to score a difficult shot from the end of the court, putting them in the lead by 11 points. Sciences 1 missed a shot.

Sciences 1 called for a timeout. 

Huo Ran reckoned they’d be doing that, his team was wild, and without a timeout to cool down a bit, the opponents would be having an even harder time.

Xu Zhifan stood by the courts, and when they approaches, he smiled and said: “We’ll win for sure.”

“It’s alright.” Huo Ran calmed down a lot once he left the court.

Wu Xiaochen and a couple of other girls ran over with water and towels.

They were sweating a bit, but they weren’t thirsty. They did still drink the water though, a timeout is a timeout, they have to take advantage of it.

Huo Ran opened the bottle of water, and Tang Wei suddenly reached over and switched his out with Jiang Lei’s.

“What?” Jiang Lei asked confusedly.

“Nothing.” Tang Wei smiled, and then the girls ran off. 

“What was that?” Jiang Lei raised his bottle, “I’m scared to drink it now! Is it poisoned or something?”

Huo Ran was a little confused too.

“Just drink it.” Xu Zhifan said. “I guess they only got two bottles with red caps, the rest are white.”

Huo Ran realized that they had two brands of water. The ones he and Kou Chen were holding were the only ones with red caps. 

Kou Chen tilted his head back and drank, giving him a smile as he did it.

Huo Ran smiled back, and looked away.

The collar of Kou Chen’s jersey was a little crooked, and his OCD was acting up. He really wanted to reach out and adjust it, but there were so many people looking their way, as well as people suggesting strategies, so it felt embarrassing to do it.

In the end, he really couldn’t stand it: “Fix your shirt.” 

“Hm?” Kou Chen put his water off to the side and tugged randomly at his shirt, then he asked, “We’re gonna play the same later, right? Do you think they’re gonna substitute someone?”

His tugs did nothing to fix his crooked collar, but he changed the topic, so Huo Ran didn’t want to keep insisting, it would make him look weird.

“Not now. Nobody did anything wrong, and they’re not tired.” Huo Ran looked at the players. “We don’t need to change anything either, play like we just did.”

“We were pretty good just now, right?” Wei Chaoren asked. 

“I just didn’t want to yell at you guys.” Huo Ran said. “If I didn’t hold myself back, I could yell at you for ten minutes about each of your moves… But we did play well, or else we wouldn’t be forcing Sciences 1 into a timeout now.”

They all laughed.

“Tired?” Xu Chuan asked. “If you need to timeout or substitute just motion to Xu Zhifan, he’ll call it.”

“Mhm.” Huo Ran nodded. “We’re going strong right now.” 

“I won’t get tired at all, as long as Captain Huo doesn’t yell at me too much.” Kou Chen said.

“Fix your collar!” Huo Ran turned to him. He really couldn’t take it anymore, “I’m scared my OCD’s gonna affect my performance later.”

“Fuck?” Kou Chen paused, but he still quickly fixed his collar. “Is this okay?”

“…Yeah.” Huo Ran breathed a sigh of relief. 

“Man, you’re so fucking demanding.” Kou Chen put an arm around his shoulder and leaned on his back. “It’s gonna be crooked again after I start playing.”

Huo Ran didn’t say anything. Kou Chen’s action just attracted the gazes of all the girls. He could even see the girls with their phones out to record them zoom the camera in.

He suddenly felt Kou Chen’s body heat burn him from his shoulders to his back.

As his ears were about to burn as well, the referee blew his whistle and he quickly said: “Let’s go, maintain our previous rhythm.” 

Everyone made a circle and shouted: “Let’s go!”

Kou Chen was still hanging off of Huo Ran’s shoulders, and he shouted right beside his ear: “Let’s go!”

“Let go!” Huo Ran pulled his arm away as he walked onto the court. His shout just now almost deafened him, pushing away the burning feeling as well.

“Ztw, jgf atfs rajgalcu klat atf yjii?” Bbe Jtfc cbvvfv, yea tf vlvc’a ifa ub. Ktf akb bo atfw rkjsfv bcab atf mbega ilxf atja ecali atf gfofgff ibbxfv bnfg, jcv tf olcjiis ifa ub.” 

“Tfjt.” Leb Ejc cbvvfv.

Bbe Jtfc mbeiv tfjg atf ijeutr jcv pffgr ogbw atf qfbqif yftlcv atfw yfmjerf bo tbk tf kjr teuulcu Leb Ejc.

He didn’t do it on purpose, he was actually still a little nervous. 

In the past, he rarely participated in any competitions. Now, with everyone’s yells, cheers, screeches, applause, and whistles all aimed at their team, he would get nervous no matter how nonchalant he acted normally. It was a competition after all, someone was gonna lose, and someone was gonna win. And he didn’t want to embarrass Huo Ran.

But being near Huo Ran calmed him down. During the match when Huo Ran spoke, even if it was to yell at someone, it would make him concentrate and try his best.

Huo Ran was like a charging station. The kind that could do the splits.

As for why Huo Ran made him feel that way, it was obvious. Because he was just too skilled. 

Even Kou Chen could feel the nervousness and pressure coming from the guys in Sciences 1 when they faced Huo Ran, especially the two on the school team.

He stared at Huo Ran and recharged for a couple seconds, and then Huo Ran suddenly disappeared from his line of sight. Right after that, he heard Huo Ran yell: “Kou Chen, if you’re not gonna move then get the fuck out!”

He spat that out really fiercely.

Kou Chen immediately started moving. He didn’t even look, he just ran towards the direction of the sound, and then he looked around him. 

Sciences 1 had already pushed to their side of the court, and Gao Jie went from directly the midcourt line to the three point line with the ball.

Looks like they’ve boosted their morale during that short break.

Ma Hao received the pass and was about to shoot, and that was when Kou Chen realized that not only was he about to get yelled at, he would probably get beat up too.

Because he was half a beat too slow. There was a hole in the defense, and Ma Hao found an opportunity. 

Kou Chen jumped up beside Ma Hao with all that he had. He could even clearly see the two whorls in Ma Hao’s hair… But it was just slightly too late. The ball had already left Ma Hao’s hand, and his hand only touched air.

The ball went in.

Sciences 1’s cheerleaders immediately cheered and jumped up.

“Did you fucking fall asleep?” Huo Ran made his way in front of Kou Chen in a second. His nose almost bumped into his face. 

“I…” Kou Chen didn’t know what to say. He was pretty upset about it too.

Huo Ran suddenly leaned forward and harshly knocked his forehead into his.

The girls’ screeches immediately replaced the silence that came from a lost point.

“Are you awake now?” Huo Ran glared at him. 

“Yes.” Kou Chen said.

“You can’t let them gain momentum, got it?” Huo Ran said.

“Got it.” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran smacked his face twice: “Block Ma Hao.” 

“Mhm.” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow. “Leave it to me.”

“I’ll fucking kill you if you fall asleep again!” Huo Ran took two steps away before turning to point at him again.

“MUA!” Kou Chen gave him a flying kiss.

Huo Ran had probably just processed the screeches, so he glared and yelled: “Fuck off!” 

Luo Feiyu passed the ball, and Kou Chen ran as soon as he caught it. The track and field guy on the other team wanted to block him, but he shoved him to the side the moment he appeared.

No whistle was blown, so he continued forwards.

Kou Chen didn’t mind getting yelled at by Kou Chen, what he did mind was embarrassment. 

It would be even worse if somebody else was embarrassed because of him, if he embarrassed Humanities 1.

He couldn’t even hear the cheers as he rushed towards the basket, all he could hear was the wind roaring.

But he was still a rational person. He stopped under the basket with the ball.

“Shoot!” Huo Ran yelled. 

Kou Chen chose to take three steps to steady himself over a three-pointer.

Two steps out, Ma Hao appeared in front of him. He pushed off with one leg and jumped before Ma Hao could steady himself. He felt that this was the highest he’d ever jumped, Ma Hao’s face almost bumped into his stomach. If he went just a bit higher, then that would be a pretty awkward moment.

As he flew up, he made the shot.

It went in. 

“Nice shot—!” The audience called.

Only his landing wasn’t very pretty. He pretty much landed on Ma Hao as he went down.

“You okay?” He patted Ma Hao’s arm.

“Fine,” Ma Hao glanced at him. “Are you on something? That was crazy.” 

“I drank alcohol.” Kou Chen raised an eyebrow, and looked in Huo Ran’s direction.

Huo Ran looked at him without much of an expression.

He raised his eyebrow again.

Huo Ran was still looking at him, so he kept raising it. 

“What?!” Huo Ran yelled for some reason. “If you don’t want your eyebrows you can give them to Luo Feiyu!”

“Fuck,” Luo Feiyu laughed, “My eyebrows aren’t that light!”

“You yell at me when I mess up!” Kou Chen pointed at Huo Ran. “But you don’t praise me when I make the shot! What kind of captain are you?”

“…That was a really great shot.” Huo Ran finally realized what he meant. “The whole play was perfect.” 

“Back to defense!” Kou Chen said.

Huo Ran glanced at him, then turned back.

They finally got two points, but it quickly went back to a 11 point difference. Sciences 1 started playing fiercer than ever. 

Jiang Lei was literally knocked out of bounds as he dribbled.

But they didn’t lose momentum. Even Huo Ran’s yells were as steady as ever. They were in the lead by 15 points after the first half of the match.

“We’re going steady.” Jiang Lei sat in the chair with a towel on his head. “What about the other teams?”

“Nothing unexpected.” Xu Zhifan said. “The ones in the lead are all the teams we know are strong. You guys need to get as many points as possible, or else there’s no chance for first place.” 

“Winning this match is already good enough.” Wei Chaoren said. “We should relax.”

“What do you mean relax?” Huo Ran said. “The fuck kind of match are you playing so relaxedly? You need to want to win! Why don’t you go relax in the audience?!”

“Fuck,” Wei Chaoren laughed. “Good thing I’m not in the fucking school team. How many times have you yelled at me today?”

“Be glad he hasn’t called you stupid yet.” Jiang Lei said. 

Kou Chen glanced at Huo Ran. Their first conflict resulting from Huo Ran calling someone in his class stupid, and Kou Chen just so happened to have heard.

Looks like that habit of Huo Ran’s was maintained during any competition.

“Hurry, Old Yuan wants me to take some photos of you guys resting. Like sweating all over and breathing hard.” Wu Xiaochen ran over and knelt down in front of them with her phone up. “The feeling of youth…”

“Do we need to pose?” Jiang Lei asked. 

“Nope, just stay like that.” Wu Xiaochen said.

“We should focus on them still.” Xu Chuan said. “Us substitutes can stand in the back, with the main team in front. Pick a seemingly careless pose, but it’s secretly conniving…”

“Got it.” Wu Xiaochen nodded. “Us girls take pictures just like that.”

Everyone stood in the conniving poses, and the five starters sat in the middle. Some were drinking water, and some were staring off into the distance. Some wanted their faces shown even with a towel, and the substitutes were free to do whatever as well, standing, sitting, leaning, anything. Some had their jackets on, and some showed off their jerseys.

Huo Ran drank his water slowly, and turned to look at Sciences 1. They would probably be switching out some players for the next half. Two of the more muscular guys had taken their jackets off and were warming up.

“They’re switching in the taller guys, remember to watch the basket.” Huo Ran said.

They all nodded. 

“Mhm.” Kou Chen hummed, and then he asked Wu Xiaochen. “Is my whole body in?”

“Yup, I got everything.” Wu Xiaochen.

Kou Chen didn’t say anything, he only reached his leg out suddenly, kicking Huo Ran’s right leg.

Huo Ran was leaning back against the chair, so his leg was easily kicked out a bit. He was about to ask Kou Chen what was wrong with him when he also stretched his leg out beside his. 

The two leather tape measures.

Huo Ran didn’t move, he quickly looked up at Wu Xiaochen.

Wu Xiaochen had a serious face on, and was biting her lip with all her strength. She would probably be screaming otherwise.

Huo Ran didn’t know how to describe this feeling. 

It was a little embarrassing, but more than that, he secretly enjoyed it.

He was obviously not enjoying Wu Xiaochen’s and the other girls’ gazes, of course…

So what the fuck was he enjoying?

He couldn’t say. 

For the latter half of the match, Humanities 1 didn’t substitute anyone. They were all still fine to play the whole match if nothing unexpected happened.

Even after switching some players, Sciences 1 still couldn’t quite break free from the earlier pressure.

Sciences 1 called another timeout after Huo Ran made two three-pointers in a row, but something like morale was very hard to get back up after you lost it. That’s why Huo Ran yelled at Kou Chen after he let Ma Hao make the shot. 

They had no doubts about winning the match now, all they focused on was scoring as many points as they could.

They were all pumped up, passing and shooting the ball with complete confidence.

Especially Kou Chen.

He was a little nervous at the beginning, but now, as long as he had the ball in hand, he dared to shoot it with his eyes closed. 

“Take it a little steadier, will you?!” Huo Ran had to remind him.

“Too late,” Kou Chen said as he ran. “I’m already hyped up now, I’m literally flying. How am I supposed to take it steadier?”

Huo Ran glanced at the time. There was only about a minute left.

Time flies by when he’s having fun playing basketball. 

Sciences 1 started to stall. Even if they had no hope of winning, they could at least prevent them from getting more points.

Gao Jie moved slowly with the ball, and Kou Chen didn’t follow his rhythm. He moved quickly to steal the ball from him, but even with low morale, Gao Jie was still skilled. He moved the ball behind him.

This time Huo Ran didn’t do the splits, he directly swept past Gao Jie and stole the ball. 

This was pretty much the last shot of the match. The cheerleaders were all jumping and screaming, and the audience had all stood up too. Huo Ran could almost hear the metal stands thump from people stamping their feet.

“Huo Ran—Huo Ran—”

There was no difficulty in this shot. Sciences 1 had given up, so Huo Ran only faced an empty court. He easily jumped up and made the shot.

And then the whistle blew. 

All of Humanities 1 leapt down from the stands.

“We won!” Kou Chen ran over excitedly, grabbing Huo Ran in a hug. He kissed his forehead harshly, and then he started smacking him on the back.

“Fuck off!” Huo Ran pushed him away and ran a hand through his hair.

The girls laughed: “Huo Ran! Get him! Get him!” 

Huo Ran was in a great mood. Usually he would feign deafness, but this time, he hesitated and stared at Kou Chen for a few seconds. Then he pounced and rubbed his hands all over Kou Chen’s hair.

“Fuck you!” Kou Chen cursed, “My hairstyle! My hairstyle!”

“What fucking hairstyle?” Huo Ran ruffled him a few more times before finally letting go.

He almost couldn’t hold back his laughter.