During the courtside interview, the beautiful reporter from TNT asked Wang Yi three questions.
The first question:
"Wang, before this game, you boldly declared that you had come to conquer the NBA. That upset almost everyone. Charles Barkley even said you'd never score 30 points again. If you did, he'd kiss a donkey's butt. Today, you scored 32 points. What do you think about that?"
Hearing this, Wang Yi glanced at the beautiful reporter.
She looked quite pretty, but she was pretty mischievous.
As a Chinese player, it was already hard enough for him to establish himself in an NBA full of Westerners.
Yet these reporters kept trying to set traps for him.
Everyone knew that he'd proved Barkley wrong with his performance.
By ordinary logic, since the other guy had been hostile toward him, there was no reason for Wang Yi to be courteous in return.
Now that he'd made Barkley look foolish, and the reporter had brought it up, he should naturally take the chance to mock him.
Wasn't that what plenty of NBA stars did?
But Wang Yi's earlier declaration that he'd come to conquer the NBA had already upset almost everyone.
If he said anything else inappropriate now, the reporters would surely twist his words and make a big deal out of them.
That would only make the fans think even worse of him.
He'd said he came to conquer the NBA, and he meant it.
If that caused trouble, so be it.
But there was no need to invite even more trouble now.
Facing the reporter, Wang Yi gave her the reserved smile traditionally associated with Easterners.
He said:
"I believe Charles."
The beautiful reporter was slightly taken aback.
She'd thought Wang Yi would launch into a long speech and mock Barkley.
Then she could make a big story out of it when she got back.
She hadn't expected such a brief answer.
"I believe Charles."
It sounded friendly enough.
There was nothing wrong with it.
But if you thought about it carefully, that wasn't quite the case.
Barkley had said that if Wang Yi scored more than 30 points, he'd kiss a donkey's butt. Wang Yi said he believed him.
Wasn't that like pressuring Barkley to kiss a donkey's butt?
It seemed like there was plenty she could make of it.
But the statement was ambiguous.
No matter how much she made of it, Wang Yi could put an end to it with one explanation: I just said I believe Charles. I didn't mean anything else. The reporter twisted my words.
At this thought, the beautiful reporter's understanding of Wang Yi deepened.
This Chinese player was no simple man.
So she threw out another sharp question.
"Hachimura Rui said he was going to teach you a lesson, but he ended up with only 15 points and five rebounds. You scored 32 points and had 10 blocks. You scored 20 of those points over him and blocked him six times. What do you have to say about an opponent like that?"
Wang Yi raised his chin and replied:
"Is he my opponent?"
The beautiful reporter asked in confusion, "Isn't he?"
Wang Yi smiled. There was a hint of disdain in his voice as he flatly denied it:
"I've never considered him an opponent."
That statement was ambiguous too.
You could take it to mean Wang Yi didn't consider him an opponent because he thought of him as a friend or something.
You could also understand it to mean that Wang Yi had never taken him seriously.
Put simply: He's not worthy!
Of course, given Wang Yi's expression and demeanor, along with those words, any Chinese person would know he meant the latter.
The NBA had clear rules, however: players weren't allowed to insult or provoke opponents in interviews.
Hachimura Rui's pregame declaration had arguably been a provocation.
Wang Yi had just learned that the league would investigate the matter.
If it was confirmed, Hachimura Rui would face a fine.
In serious cases, he could even be suspended.
That was why Wang Yi had answered with words that could be interpreted in more than one way.
Seeing that Wang Yi wouldn't take the bait, the reporter shook her head to herself.
She asked a simple third question and quickly wrapped up the interview.
Only then did Zhou Ling'an hurry over with a cameraman.
She was a little excited as she said to Wang Yi:
"Wang Yi, thank you for letting me interview you. When the staff came to tell me just now, I was almost overwhelmed."
Wang Yi shook his head and said:
"Our standing in the NBA is still too low."
Zhou Ling'an and the cameraman both looked a little downcast at that.
No one understood that feeling better than they did.
Chinese people were already discriminated against in the West.
And that feeling was even more pronounced in the league.
When Chinese reporters covered games courtside, they were always assigned the worst seats;
When they did post-game interviews, they could only interview role players and could rarely get to the big-name stars.
Everyone knew that this situation wouldn't change anytime soon.
So for now, all they could do was endure it. There was no other choice.
But Wang Yi lifted his head, his face full of confidence and fighting spirit:
"But I believe that one day, our reporters will be able to interview whoever they want, wherever they want. And that day won't be far off!"
Zhou Ling'an looked at Wang Yi in surprise.
She didn't understand why he was so confident.
Still, his passion was contagious, and she couldn't help nodding.
"Mm, I believe it too."
The cameraman also nodded emphatically.
"I believe it too!"
Of course, Wang Yi had said all that in private.
After her excitement subsided, Zhou Ling'an signaled to the cameraman to turn on the camera.
Then she said to Wang Yi:
"All right, let's get started."
The footage the cameraman filmed was sent back to the Tencent NBA Live Broadcast Room.
The two commentators in the studio were discussing the game they'd just watched. When they saw the picture switch to Wang Yi, their eyes lit up.
They'd both thought Zhou Ling'an wouldn't be able to interview Wang Yi, but she'd actually managed it.
On screen,
Zhou Ling'an asked Wang Yi:
"First question: Wang Yi, you scored 32 points and had 10 blocks in a double-double today. What's your secret to such an outstanding performance?"
Wang Yi wore a smile.
That question was much more pleasant to hear.
Nothing like those foreign reporters, who were always setting traps.
Wang Yi thought for a moment and answered:
"Maybe it's because the other team has a Japanese pla—"
At that point, he pretended to misspeak and hurriedly covered it up:
"Japanese pla—player... a player who's living pretty well, so I guess I played with more passion."
As soon as he said that, the comments in the Tencent NBA Live Broadcast Room exploded.
"Hahahahahahaha..."
"'A player who's living pretty well,' 66666666!"
"Brother Yi is so good at memes. Much love, Brother Yi!"
"Was just a casual viewer, now I'm a fan. I'm a fan!"
"I've decided: from now on, I'm following you, Brother Yi!"
"Brother Yi, after that line, I forgive you for your earlier bold claims."
Even the haters didn't dare show their faces now.
Come on, who'd be stupid enough to show up at a time like this?
Even Zhou Ling'an couldn't help wanting to laugh.
But as a professional reporter, she had to keep her smile professional.
As for bursting into laughter, she couldn't.
No matter how funny it was, she couldn't laugh.
She could only stifle her laughter and continue with the second question.
Before you continue