Page 5

Really?

Gu Chen could not even be bothered to lift his eyelids. He simply raised his arms again, preparing to shoot. Huo Mingzhang suddenly rushed forward to steal the ball, but Gu Chen feinted past his outstretched arm, bent his knees, and jumped. The basketball swished into the hoop—a standard three-pointer.

Huo Mingzhang turned to glance at the basket. "Nice accuracy. Interested in joining our university basketball team?"

Gu Chen remained expressionless and silent. Clearly, he was not interested.

Huo Mingzhang bent down and scooped up the basketball. "Every time you shoot, the ball rolls right to my feet. Is that intentional or just a coincidence?"

Gu Chen still said nothing.

Huo Mingzhang snorted, hugged the basketball to his chest, and accelerated toward Gu Chen. Just as he was about to crash into him, Gu Chen sidestepped, avoiding the collision. Huo Mingzhang, who had been sprinting at full speed, found his target gone and ran several more steps from inertia before coming to a stop.

Gu Chen spoke flatly. "Traveling violation."

Huo Mingzhang: "..."

"You were deliberately messing with me, weren't you?" There was a fierce look in Huo Mingzhang's expression. Gu Chen had clearly been able to dodge him, yet he had pretended not to just now and let him go for that feint layup. He had plainly been playing him for a fool.

Gu Chen lazily lifted his eyelids and crooked a finger at Huo Mingzhang.

"You've got guts!" Huo Mingzhang viciously hurled the ball at him.

Gu Chen caught the ball and jumped to shoot. Huo Mingzhang, still several steps away, charged over and leaped for a block, ready to slam down the basketball in Gu Chen's hand. But the ball right before his eyes suddenly pulled back. Gu Chen leaned slightly backward and released the shot.

As the basketball went into the hoop, the previously noisy court suddenly fell silent. Everyone stared at Gu Chen in utter disbelief. A few seconds later, they abruptly came back to their senses.

"Holy shit!"

"A fadeaway jumper! It was actually a fadeaway jumper!"

"So coolllll!"

Huo Mingzhang stared blankly at Gu Chen, then gritted his teeth and asked, "You told me you couldn't play basketball?"

Gu Chen still looked as lifeless as ever as he corrected him. "I said I didn't want to, not that I couldn't."

"Holy shit! Bro, you're amazing!" The two friends of Huo Mingzhang's who had been watching from the side rushed over. One of them threw an arm around Gu Chen's shoulders. "Interested in joining our basketball team?"

"You have to join! With your skills, bro, not joining the university team would be an absolute waste of talent~"

Gu Chen somewhat disdainfully brushed the boy's arm away. A girl wearing a pink athletic skirt rushed forward with a blush on her face and handed Gu Chen the bottle of mineral water in her hand. "Classmate, have some water!"

"Zhou Xiaoting, aren't you going too far?" The boy with his arm around Gu Chen's shoulders glanced at his friend and said gleefully, "Didn't you say you liked Mingzhang? You changed your heart pretty fast, huh?"

"Cut the crap!" Zhou Xiaoting glared at him, then explained to Gu Chen, "Don't be scared. They're not bad people, really. They just like pulling pranks and joking around. Please don't take it to heart. Our university basketball team is really good, and we're quite well-known nationally too. Think about it. Joining the university team can even earn you extra credits!"

Gu Chen said nothing. Naturally, he did not take the water either. Just as he was about to turn and leave, a figure darted out of the crowd and blocked Huo Mingzhang. "Why is it you again? Was bullying me not enough? Now you're bullying my brother too! So what if your family has money? Does having money mean you can bully people whenever you want?"

Huo Mingzhang had just been thoroughly crushed in the field he took the most pride in, and even one of his admirers had turned around to bring someone else water. He was already feeling humiliated. When he saw that the pretty little beauty he had flirted with yesterday was indignantly standing up for someone, he immediately laughed. "So it's Xiu'er! Look carefully—I didn't bully your brother. He was clearly the one bullying me."

"You're the Xiu'er! Your whole family is Xiu'er!" Gu Xiu glared viciously at Huo Mingzhang and roared, "I don't care. Anyway, you're not allowed to bully my brother!"

"Try being reasonable!" Huo Mingzhang wailed, feeling utterly heartbroken. "I really didn't bully him. How could I bully him? He completely crushed me!"

With Huo Mingzhang's pride, he would never admit in front of others that he was inferior to someone. But if it was to please a beauty, saying something like that did not matter.

Huo Mingzhang found himself a way out, then raised an eyebrow at Gu Chen. "You really are good at basketball. We can keep sparring when we have time. Think carefully about joining the university team. Usually, newcomers on our team do not get any chances to play in their first year. But for you, we can make an exception."

Gu Xiu had not figured out the situation yet. But in his impression, Gu Chen was not very good at basketball. "My brother won't join any basketball team. You're talking so big; it looks like you call the shots on that team. Are you trying to get my brother to join, then use your status as an upperclassman to bully him under the guise of it being reasonable?"

"Classmate, you can't say things like that carelessly." Zhou Xiaoting was displeased at hearing Gu Xiu slander the basketball team's reputation. "You can ask around about the reputation of the A University Basketball Team. We've won the college basketball league championship. We wouldn't specially recruit a new player for such a ridiculous reason."

"Who are you?" Gu Xiu looked at Zhou Xiaoting suspiciously.

Zhou Xiaoting said, "My name is Zhou Xiaoting. I'm the basketball team's manager."

Gu Xiu flushed as he said, "Fine, I apologize. I was worried that my brother was being bullied, so I spoke without thinking. But I still can't let him join the basketball team. He can't even play basketball."

"He can't play basketball?" As soon as Gu Xiu said that, the boy who had invited Gu Chen to join the team could no longer stand it. "If he can't play basketball, then we've all been playing soccer."

Gu Xiu froze, not quite understanding. "What do you mean?"

Huo Mingzhang shot his childhood friend a vicious glare. "You're the one who plays ball with his feet."

The boy chuckled.

Gu Chen covered his stomach, too lazy to waste words on these people. "I'm hungry. Let's go."

Gu Xiu responded and hurriedly followed behind Gu Chen. The two brothers entered the cafeteria in silence. Gu Xiu held it in all the way, but still could not resist asking curiously, "Brother, when did you learn how to play basketball?"