The Coach Was Angry

Zhu Zhan stood there, watching the two girls skip away. He squeezed the cola in his hand again. It had clearly just been taken from the freezer and still carried a faint chill.

Once he was sure this was real, Zhu Zhan patted his face, turned to Li Ke, and said, "God, Li Ke, did you see that? I'm not dreaming, am I?"

Li Ke smacked his lips, shrugged, and glanced at the fading figures of Xuexue and Feifei. "Impressive. Little Zhan has fans of his own now!"

Hearing that, Wen Ting gave Li Ke a playful punch. "You're jealous, aren't you? Don't tell me you like those two little vixens?"

Li Ke chuckled and pulled Wen Ting into his arms. "How could that be? You and I have already pledged our lives to each other. If I wanted a concubine, I'd still need approval from the first wife, right..."

Before he could finish, a miserable cry suddenly rang out. "Ah... my waist!"

Zhu Zhan shook his head as he watched Wen Ting and Li Ke fooling around ahead of him. He looked at the cola in his hand, feeling its solid, real texture, then raised his head.

Looking at the blue sky, Zhu Zhan's nose stung as he thought, Did you see my performance?

In that azure sky, it seemed as though someone had truly heard the young man's thoughts.

A breeze swept past. The young man lifted his somewhat sore feet and walked away, slowly but resolutely.

Because the morning's match had drained too much of his strength, Zhu Zhan spent the afternoon classes sprawled on his desk, asleep.

Just as Zhu Zhan was sleeping groggily, Tian Chen, his deskmate, suddenly nudged him.

"Mm, what..." Zhu Zhan hazily lifted his head and saw a mysterious smile on his deskmate's face. Her chubby face was practically glowing with excitement as she handed him a note.

Zhu Zhan could barely keep his eyes open. He raised his head, casually took the note, clutched it in his hand, and promptly sank back into a deep sleep.

He slept until school was over and most of the classroom had emptied before Li Ke nudged him awake.

Zhu Zhan lifted his head and saw that Li Ke also looked sleepy. When Li Ke saw that Zhu Zhan was awake, he let out a huge yawn. "Come on, let's go. School's been out for half an hour. If we don't leave now, training will start!"

"That's right!" Zhu Zhan suddenly shouted, all drowsiness vanishing as he immediately sprang up from his desk.

"What time is it now?" Zhu Zhan asked loudly as he gathered the books from his desk.

"Ha..." Li Ke stretched lazily and casually checked his watch. He froze, then suddenly shouted, "Damn! This is bad! It's almost seven!"

"What!?" Zhu Zhan, who was still packing up, was shocked. He hurriedly shoved every book on his desk into his backpack.

Li Ke also grabbed his bag, and the two rushed out of the school building and sprinted toward the basketball court.

On the basketball court, Coach Fang Shan paced back and forth.

His dark face was grim, and his eyes were gloomy.

Behind him stood more than ten players from the first and second squads of the middle school boys' basketball team. They were lined up neatly on the court, scarcely daring to breathe.

"Li Ke still isn't here!"

Liu Chi stood in front of Fang Shan with his hands behind his back. Seeing Fang Shan's unpleasant expression, he immediately knew that Li Ke and the others who were late would be punished this time.

"How many are still missing?" Fang Shan suddenly turned and asked.

Liu Chi quickly stepped aside and counted those who had arrived. After a moment, he said, "Eighteen are here! Three are still missing!"

Fang Shan nodded and rolled his neck, producing a series of cracking sounds.

"Do you know which three?" The team members on the court exchanged glances. After a moment, Liu Chi smiled with malicious delight. "The ones who haven't come are Li Ke, Wang Cheng, and Zhu Zhan!"

"Oh?"

Fang Shan merely gave an "oh" without much reaction. Looking at everyone, he said, "All right, go warm up with some laps first. Today's training is on basketball fundamentals, so take it seriously. In one month, it'll be the National High School Student Tournament. Whether you can make the first squad will depend on your own effort!"

After a pause, Fang Shan added, "Those of you already on the first squad, don't get complacent. If you rely on being veterans to slack off during games or fail to train seriously, I'll make sure you understand the consequences of slacking off!"

As he spoke, Fang Shan wore a stern expression and glared fiercely at the players.

The players present immediately tensed up and lowered their heads, not daring to look at Fang Shan.

"Hmph!" Fang Shan snorted coldly.

"I know the interschool Class League is being held today, and you've had games at noon these past few days, so you're tired. I understand!" His tone suddenly sharpened. "But I don't care what excuse you have—you are not allowed to be late!" By the end, Fang Shan was nearly roaring.

Just then.

"Coach, we're here!" A hurried voice suddenly came from behind him. Fang Shan turned around to see Li Ke and Zhu Zhan running over, panting heavily as they stopped in front of him.

"Oh, you're here?" Fang Shan grinned and smiled.

"Do you know what time it is?" Fang Shan continued. As he looked at Li Ke and Zhu Zhan, his eyes suddenly lit up.

This is bad. The coach is definitely going to punish us! Seeing the gleam in Fang Shan's eyes, Zhu Zhan inwardly groaned and immediately knew they would be punished for being late.

"Se... seven!" Li Ke said with his head lowered, not daring to look at Fang Shan.

Fang Shan nodded, folded his arms, and looked at them. "So you still know the time! Then let me ask you, Zhu Zhan, do you know what I hate most?"

Zhu Zhan's heart tightened. He lowered his head and said quietly, "Being late."

At that moment, another boy came running over. Before he even arrived, his voice had already carried over.

"Coach, I'm here!" Wang Cheng shouted from more than ten meters away from the basketball court.

When he saw Li Ke standing there as well, he was delighted. With a trace of joy on his face, he quickly ran over.

He glanced at Li Ke and Zhu Zhan, shot Li Ke a disdainful look, then smiled at Fang Shan. "Coach, I'm here!"

He had thought the coach would treat him a little better too, but Fang Shan's face was dark as he stared at him with an unfriendly gaze.

This is bad. Looks like the coach is angry! Wang Cheng's heart clenched. He hurriedly lowered his head as well, and the smile vanished from his face.

As one of Fang Shan's favored players, Wang Cheng's father was a teacher and had a good relationship with Coach Fang Shan. Wang Cheng would even visit Fang Shan's home from time to time. So, although he knew Fang Shan hated lateness, he had never worried about being punished. But seeing Fang Shan like this, he knew Fang Shan was truly angry this time.

"Is this how your middle school coach taught you?" Fang Shan asked with a stony face as he looked at them.