Jump Training

Zhang Yuqing said nothing. After a while, she said, "Still, his personality really is a lot like Brother Jiang Tao's!"

As soon as she said that, Jiang Shi's expression visibly became a little awkward. He patted Zhang Yuqing and said, "It's getting late. Let's go, I'll take you home, or your dad will give me trouble again!"

"Fine, home it is. Tomorrow, we'll keep bullying our little junior brother, hahaha!"

Zhang Yuqing let out a clear, bell-like laugh. Zhu Zhan, who had already gone far away, suddenly sneezed loudly. He turned back in puzzlement to take a look before continuing home.

Zhu Zhan lay on his bed, thinking about today's shooting.

This shooting practice looked simple, but he had never expected it to be so tiring.

Zhu Zhan bent his somewhat sore, swollen wrist.

In truth, the workload of three sets of one hundred was roughly equivalent to the stamina needed to play thirty minutes in a basketball game. If he wasn't tired, that would have been strange.

"But..." Zhu Zhan raised his hand and made a shooting motion while lying on the bed.

It was as if he could hear the swish of a clean basket. But after making the shot, he suddenly froze.

I wonder when my shooting percentage will reach Li Ke's level! Zhu Zhan thought.

But then he considered that while he was improving, Li Ke was also constantly training and improving. He would need to work even harder to catch up, and the soreness in his wrist seemed to lessen for a moment.

As he thought, Zhu Zhan suddenly remembered Zhang Yuqing.

The image of Zhang Yuqing bending down to look at him that afternoon appeared in his mind again.

He hurriedly shook his head, pulled the blanket over his head, emptied his mind, and began hypnotizing himself.

After quite a while, Zhu Zhan finally fell asleep. The sound of his steady breathing filled the bedroom.

Suddenly, the bedroom door creaked open softly, and a figure slowly walked in.

The newcomer looked at Zhu Zhan with loving eyes and revealed a warm smile. It was Zhu Zhan's mother, Wei Qun.

"Little Zhan, keep it up!" Wei Qun said softly.

Wei Qun gazed warmly at Zhu Zhan for a while, then quietly closed the door and left the room.

Outside the window, the city night gradually grew still. Another new dawn was about to arrive.

The next morning was Sunday.

At five-thirty in the morning, when the sky had only just begun to brighten, Zhu Zhan got up to the sound of his alarm.

"Ah..." Zhu Zhan gritted his teeth and let out a cold gasp in bed. His whole body felt limp, as though it had fallen apart, while his arms and thighs were intensely sore.

Zhu Zhan struggled in bed for quite a while.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself out of bed and got dressed.

He had originally planned to do his usual hundred push-ups and hundred sit-ups, but in his condition today, that was completely impossible. Zhu Zhan could only loosen up in his small bedroom before leaving it.

When he reached the living room, he saw two boiled eggs, a fried dough stick, and a glass of pure milk already laid out on the coffee table. His heart warmed, and even the soreness in his body seemed less severe.

As he ate, he could not help sighing.

Those three sets of one hundred shooting drills were truly exhausting—more tiring than playing an entire basketball game!

Zhu Zhan thought as he ate the bread his mother had made for him in his right hand.

But that meant they were effective!

At that thought, confidence instantly blazed in Zhu Zhan's heart. His eyes seemed to light up like they were burning with fire!

After quickly finishing breakfast, Zhu Zhan picked up a broom and headed outside to help his mother sweep the grounds.

The elderly people who had gotten up early for their morning exercises saw Zhu Zhan sweeping the corridor and continually praised him.

This time, Zhu Zhan did not train his wrist strength as intensely as he had yesterday. He simply practiced more gently, first sweeping with his right hand, then immediately switching to his left once it grew tired, training his wrist strength back and forth like that.

Zhu Zhan had once watched a video at an internet cafe in which the NBA's famous basketball player, The Glove Payton, explained shooting. It carefully introduced how to shoot, explained many shooting techniques and training methods, and especially emphasized the importance of wrist strength.

If the wrist was flexible and strong enough, a player would shoot with ease. Accordingly, the body could shoot in a more fluid, relaxed posture. Not only did that make the shot look better, it also conserved stamina and helped keep the shooting form consistent.

Perfect shooting came from diligent shooting practice, and diligent shooting practice could create perfect form. Perfect form could not do without sufficient wrist strength.

Because his body was exhausted and sore, Zhu Zhan finished sweeping very slowly.

When he got home and checked the time, he found that he had actually spent over half an hour more than yesterday. He hurriedly changed into his jersey and basketball shoes and headed toward the court.

Before he even reached the court, he saw Zhang Yuqing and Jiang Shi in the distance, shooting and chatting on the court. Zhang Yuqing's bright laughter rang out from time to time.

When Zhu Zhan saw Zhang Yuqing from afar, he inwardly called her a little witch.

He stepped onto the court, and Zhang Yuqing immediately called out to him affectionately.

"Hi, my dear little junior brother. Did you miss your senior sister?" Zhang Yuqing narrowed her eyes and smiled when she saw him.

Zhu Zhan turned his face toward Jiang Shi. Hmph, who wants to pay attention to you?

Looking at Jiang Shi, Zhu Zhan said, "Uncle Jiang, let's begin!"

Jiang Shi looked at Zhu Zhan and nodded in satisfaction.

Seeing that Zhu Zhan ignored her, Zhang Yuqing wrinkled her delicate nose. "Little junior brother, didn't you hear your senior sister talking to you? Did losing to your senior sister yesterday leave you with a deep shadow? Did you have trouble sleeping in the middle of the night?"

Zhang Yuqing deliberately drew out the last phrase, "trouble sleeping in the middle of the night," wearing a mischievous expression. Clearly, she was quite pleased with having beaten Zhu Zhan yesterday.

But Zhu Zhan's face reddened. Without realizing it, he thought again of the moment last night when Zhang Yuqing had come to mind.

"The way you call me makes me feel like Lin Pingzhi from The Smiling, Proud Wanderer," Zhu Zhan muttered softly, almost to himself.

Both Jiang Shi and Zhang Yuqing were stunned.

Jiang Shi watched the two youngsters bicker with a smile.

Zhang Yuqing rolled her lively, big eyes and said, "Does it? Fine, then. As long as you beat me in shooting, I won't call you little junior brother anymore. Otherwise, no chance!"

Zhu Zhan was speechless for a moment, but he could not find any reason to refute her. He shut his mouth and began jogging around the court to warm up.

Seeing that Zhu Zhan had stopped talking, Zhang Yuqing also began running to warm up. After the two had run for a while, they began stretching their ligaments and doing warm-up exercises.

After finishing their warm-up, Zhu Zhan and Zhang Yuqing stood on the court and saw that Jiang Shi was holding two jump ropes.

Jiang Shi raised the jump ropes in his hands and said, "Today, we'll first do some jumping exercises. We'll need these jump ropes. If you get good at jumping rope, it will greatly benefit your coordination and agility."

Zhu Zhan looked at the two jump ropes in Jiang Shi's hands and nodded thoughtfully.

"First, we pick up the jump rope." As Jiang Shi spoke, he took out one of the jump ropes in his hands and set the other aside.

He unfolded the jump rope, then looked at Zhu Zhan and Zhang Yuqing. "Watch my movements. There are many ways to train with a jump rope. Today, I'll teach you a simpler one, mainly to train the elasticity of your calf and thigh muscles. It will also be very helpful for footwork training."