The Promise

"Hmm?" Zhu Zhan looked at Li Ke.

"How long have we been playing basketball?" Li Ke asked, staring at the hoop.

"How long?" Zhu Zhan murmured.

"Feels like it's been many years." After thinking for a moment, Zhu Zhan answered uncertainly.

"Yeah, many years!" A nostalgic look flashed through Li Ke's eyes.

"Xiao Zhan, do you remember when we entered competitions as kids?" Li Ke asked softly, raising his head to look at the sky.

Zhu Zhan nodded. "I remember. We were both so young back then..."

"Tch, like you aren't still childish now!" Li Ke retorted with a grin.

"Am I childish?" Zhu Zhan blushed and asked, wanting to say that he had already started doing many things.

But Li Ke merely looked at him with a mischievous smile. "A little boy who's never even dated—how could you not be childish? Hmph!"

Li Ke, who looked quite pleased with himself, seemed to have finally recovered some strength. His complexion was much better now.

"Is dating really that important?" Zhu Zhan muttered to himself.

Li Ke did not hear Zhu Zhan's murmur. Instead, he recalled Wang Cheng's arrogant display earlier and clenched his fists in fury. "Damn it, that bastard Wang Cheng. I definitely won't let him off!"

Seeing Li Ke gritting his teeth, Zhu Zhan said worriedly, "Don't act impulsively."

"Don't worry, I'm not an idiot. I'll make that guy understand the price of provoking me!" Li Ke ground his back teeth together.

"Let him be arrogant for a while..." Li Ke clenched his teeth, a cold glint flashing through his eyes.

"When our class plays against theirs, I'm going to teach him a good lesson!" Li Ke clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked.

Zhu Zhan silently nodded. He knew Li Ke was angry.

"Come on, let's keep playing one-on-one!" Li Ke said, shaking his head.

"We've played basketball for so long. It'd be great if we could make it to the NBA someday!" Li Ke said to himself.

"The NBA?" Zhu Zhan frowned.

Li Ke nodded as if it were nothing. "Is that so strange? Ever since Yao Ming retired, China hasn't had any superstars in the NBA. I don't believe Asians are inferior to Black or white players. The only difference is training intensity!"

"Training intensity?" Zhu Zhan nodded thoughtfully.

After training with Uncle Jiang these past few days, he had indeed felt his skills improve considerably. Setting everything else aside, even his confidence had grown by quite a bit.

"If I made it to the NBA, I'd go to the Houston Rockets or the Magic!" Zhu Zhan said softly after taking a deep breath.

Li Ke curled his lip. "Why? Yao Ming has already retired!"

"I just feel like it was such a shame that Yao Ming and McGrady never made it to the NBA Finals. If I went to the Houston Rockets..."

"Stop, stop!" Li Ke hurriedly cut Zhu Zhan off.

"You think you can get into the NBA just because you say so? You have to go through the draft. Only players selected in the draft can go, and if another team picks you, you won't be able to join the Houston Rockets!" Li Ke looked at Zhu Zhan with disdain.

Besides, with your level, if you can make it into the NBA, then I definitely can too—and as the first overall pick...

Zhu Zhan nodded. Though he did not catch Li Ke's mockery, his expression still turned a little dejected.

His dream was to step onto a professional basketball court, but that court was only the court of the CBA, China's top domestic league.

As for the NBA, he had never considered it and did not dare to dream of it.

Thinking about how Jiang Shi, a middle-aged man, had beaten him six to nothing that day—and how even Zhang Yuqing shot more accurately than he did—made Zhu Zhan feel a little miserable.

Right now, let alone dreaming of the NBA, even the CBA was still an unimaginably distant goal for him.

Yet what naturally surfaced in his mind was the alluringly deep curve revealed when Zhang Yuqing bent forward...

"If I make it to the NBA, I'll join the Lakers!" Li Ke suddenly said.

Zhu Zhan shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Why the Lakers?"

Li Ke raised his head and glanced at him, grinning. "You don't know? Kobe is on the Lakers. If I could play beside Kobe, I'd be willing to be a ball boy. That's Kobe—my god..."

The moment he mentioned Kobe, Li Ke could barely control himself. Stars seemed to shine in his eyes.

But Zhu Zhan was thinking, If I could play beside McGrady, I'd be willing to be a ball boy too. It's a shame I don't know whether I'll ever get the chance to watch McGrady play in person. McGrady has already retired...

A shadow crossed Zhu Zhan's face.

Li Ke grew more and more excited as he spoke. "You know Sun Yue, right? One of China's top point guards! When he went to the Lakers, all he could do was sit by the water cooler. He even said that his talent had been buried on the Los Angeles Lakers. I think he was absolutely right. Tell me, with Kobe there, who could possibly compare to Kobe in talent?"

Zhu Zhan thought about it. "James is pretty good. I think Durant is amazing too..."

Before he could finish, Li Ke was displeased again.

"James? His movements are so rough—are they as refined as Kobe's? Durant? He's good, sure, but he still lacks a bit of presence. It's still Kobe. Kobe, Kobe!" Li Ke looked practically insane, as though he would fight anyone who dared insult Kobe.

"All right, we were just talking. It'd already be great if we could make it into the CBA!" Zhu Zhan said.

Li Ke said with a bright smile, "If I make it into the CBA, I definitely won't be on the same team as you!"

"Why?" Zhu Zhan asked curiously.

"Because you're too useless. You'd drag me down!" Li Ke laughed loudly.

"..." Zhu Zhan was speechless.

Zhu Zhan and Li Ke sat down side by side on the ground at the edge of the court, gasping for breath. After a long while, Li Ke turned to Zhu Zhan, took a deep breath, and asked, "Xiao Zhan, did you visit Coach during this break?"

At those words, Zhu Zhan's calm gaze flickered. Then he slowly shook his head, his voice low. "No. I didn't dare go."

He knew the coach Li Ke meant was Yang Weimin, who was currently lying in the hospital. Only when they spoke of Yang Weimin did Li Ke simply call him Coach. He had been their first coach in life, dating back to elementary school, the man who had introduced both of them to basketball.

He was also the one who had placed great hopes on them both.

Hearing that, Li Ke smiled, but bitterness filled his smile. He took another deep breath and said softly, "I didn't go either. Same as you—I didn't dare!"

As Li Ke's words fell, the two of them sank into silence again. It was as if the scenes of Yang Weimin teaching them basketball when they were children had appeared before their eyes once more.

But now, Coach Yang was lying in the hospital with cancer.

They both knew that even as he lay in that hospital bed, Coach was still unwilling to accept it. His greatest dream in life had been for people to recognize his basketball philosophy, yet back then, he had left professional youth training in disappointment.

Li Ke let out a long breath and spoke softly. "Xiao Zhan, do you remember our promise from before?"