Five-Man Rotation

Zhu Zhan nodded. "Of course I remember."

On the first day Zhu Zhan and Li Ke entered high school, they had made a pact: they would win the National High School Students League championship. The league had already begun attracting the attention of many media outlets.

After lifting the championship trophy, they wanted to stand before the cameras as victors and loudly declare to every basketball fan watching on television, computers, and phones, "Our coach is Yang Weimin! The coach whose youth training philosophy was rejected by everyone, who has devoted more than thirty years to Chinese basketball youth training but has never received recognition—Yang Weimin!"

Li Ke looked up at the sky and licked his dry lips. "This is our last chance this year! And it looks like it's gotten even harder."

Zhu Zhan nodded silently.

Li Ke was right. Compared to the previous two years, their lineup had indeed weakened this year. Several third-year seniors had graduated and entered college, and the departure of Xie Bin, their interior senior, had dealt a considerable blow to Jinghai's school team.

Although Zhu Zhan and Li Ke had been the team's undisputed starters and star players for the past two years, outsiders believed that as long as the team had the two of them, it could contend for the national championship.

But only they themselves understood that while Zhu Zhan and Li Ke were certainly the most important reason they had reached the final two years in a row, Xie Bin, the third-year senior in the paint, had been the foundation of the team.

Xie Bin was a typical blue-collar player. He could not contribute much on offense, but no matter what team he faced, his defense was an insurmountable barrier.

It was precisely because of Xie Bin's defensive presence that Zhu Zhan and Xie Bin had been able to play so freely, throwing all their energy into offense without reservation.

Now that the team no longer had Xie Bin's defensive wall, the impact on the team was enormous.

Zhu Zhan frowned. After a long while, he let out a breath and said softly, "Coach Fang has been checking out the new students these past few days. It seems there are two big guys. I wonder how they'll turn out."

Zhu Zhan sighed and said quietly, "If they don't work out, we can only find someone to replace him. They won't be able to do what Senior Xie Bin did, but there's no other way."

Li Ke could not help laughing. He turned to look at the grave-faced Zhu Zhan and said softly, "Xiao Zhan, don't look so serious. Although we lost Senior Xie Bin and our lineup seems to have a gap, it's not like we haven't improved anywhere."

Zhu Zhan looked at Li Ke in confusion. "Improved? Where?"

Li Ke smiled. "You."

Zhu Zhan froze. He had not expected Li Ke to mean him. Seeing him dazed, Li Ke took a breath and said, "Xiao Zhan, you've improved so much this summer. It's like you've become a different person. Haven't you noticed?"

Zhu Zhan said nothing. Of course he knew he had improved. Under Uncle Jiang's training that summer, he could feel himself getting better every day. He just had not expected his improvement to be so obvious in Li Ke's eyes.

Li Ke looked at Zhu Zhan and smiled. "Want another round?"

After a pause, Zhu Zhan shook his head slightly. "No. It's getting late. Time to go home."

Li Ke nodded, got to his feet, and patted the dust off his butt. "All right, then that's it for today. I'm heading out."

As he spoke, Li Ke walked over and picked up the basketball. He bounced it twice, flicked his wrist, and the ball spun rapidly on his fingertip. With his clothes draped over his shoulder, he whistled as he headed toward the school gate.

After walking more than ten meters, Li Ke stopped. He hugged the basketball to his chest, turned around, and looked at Zhu Zhan. "Xiao Zhan, no matter what, the two of us have to win the championship this year. We need to put that trophy in Coach's hospital room, okay?"

Li Ke's words made Zhu Zhan pause. Then determination gradually filled his eyes. He looked at Li Ke, nodded heavily, and said, "Okay!"

Having received Zhu Zhan's answer, Li Ke smiled again and walked away, whistling.

Watching Li Ke's retreating figure, Zhu Zhan slowly rose to his feet as well, clenching both hands tightly into fists.

That was right. Wasn't the reason he had worked so hard that summer, undergoing devilish training with Jiang Shi, for this year's National High School Students League championship trophy? Wasn't it to give Coach a gift? Wasn't it to clear Coach's name before all those media outlets?

Why had he lost confidence just now?

Li Ke was right. So what if they had lost Senior Xie Bin?

So what if their strength had weakened?

He was still here!

Li Ke was still here!

And he was no longer the Zhu Zhan he used to be!

No matter what happened, he would win this year's championship!

If he did not even have confidence in a high school league, how could he think about playing professional basketball in the future? On the professional court, he would face all kinds of difficulties almost every moment. Lose confidence, and he would not be able to take a single step forward!

Remembering what Jiang Shi had told him during training, Zhu Zhan's gaze gradually became even more resolute.

When Zhu Zhan returned home, his mother, Wei Qun, had not come back yet. After taking a shower, he prepared dinner himself. Just as he was finishing, Wei Qun finally returned.

Catching the scent of food from the kitchen, Wei Qun wore a loving, gratified smile. She walked to the kitchen doorway, saw her son busy at work, and said softly, "Xiao Zhan, I'm sorry. Mom came home late."

Zhu Zhan turned back, smiled slightly, and shook his head. "Mom, go wash your hands and eat. I'll serve the food in a moment."

Watching her son move so deftly around the kitchen, warmth rose in Wei Qun's heart.

Her son was so sensible. No matter how hard or tiring things were, it was all worth it.

After setting some of the food on the table, Zhu Zhan untied his apron and said softly, "Mom, eat first. I'm going to practice for a while. I'll come back and eat later."

Wei Qun nodded and reminded him, "All right. Remember to come back early."

Zhu Zhan changed clothes, came out of his small bedroom holding his basketball, and nodded. "I know."

Holding the basketball, he left home and went to the residential complex's court. He looked around but did not see Jiang Shi or Zhang Yuqing. On the other half court, several young men were playing two-on-two, while another person sat waiting by the sideline.

The five of them were rotating. Whoever got tired would step off to rest for a while, and someone else would take their place. This was generally how street basketball was played when there were not enough people.