Yuqing

Zhu Zhan's bedroom was tiny, with room for only a bed and a clothes rack hanging in midair. A desk stood before the window, piled with all kinds of books and study guides. Zhu Zhan would sometimes furrow his brow in thought, sometimes write furiously.

On the desk, a small picture frame occupied the most conspicuous spot.

In the frame, young Zhu Zhan smiled brilliantly. His childish face had two tiny dimples, and he laughed happily with his mouth wide open, several teeth missing, while sitting on the shoulders of a man who looked somewhat like him.

The man was tall and powerfully built, but his face was exceptionally kind. His eyes looked especially like Zhu Zhan's. He wore a faint smile as well, holding Zhu Zhan on his shoulders with both hands.

Everything in the bedroom was arranged neatly and meticulously.

The bedroom walls were covered with posters of NBA stars—Kobe, James, Wade, and all sorts of others—filling nearly every blank space in the room.

After a long while, Zhu Zhan stretched lazily. He felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier from doing problems. Checking the time, he saw it was nearly midnight. His mother should be getting off work and coming home soon. After thinking for a moment, Zhu Zhan put down his pen.

He went to the kitchen, washed some rice, put it into the rice cooker, and pressed the cook button. Only then did Zhu Zhan return to his bedroom, his eyelids heavy. Based on the usual timing, his mother would not be back for another half hour or so, and he planned to sleep for a while. Zhu Zhan set an alarm and flopped onto the bed.

Zhu Zhan slowly drifted into a dream.

He dreamed that he was playing on a brightly lit basketball court.

All around him were deafening cheers, waves of sound crashing over him like a tide. Zhu Zhan felt like he could barely breathe. Many people around him were speaking to him, but he could not hear them at all. He could only see their anxious faces flashing through his vision. They looked worried, and from the shapes of their mouths, they seemed to be calling his name.

The basketball was in his hands. He looked at the hoop in front of him, then at the basketball in his hands.

A moment of understanding seemed to dawn in his heart. He dribbled the ball, caught it, spun it once in his hands, and raised his head. His eyes saw only the hoop three meters and thirty centimeters above the ground.

"Whew..."

Zhu Zhan seemed to hear his own heavy breathing. In an instant, he entered the same state he had been in while practicing shots that morning. The entire world went quiet, and the hoop was all he could see.

He bent his knees slightly, relaxed his shoulders, and released the basketball.

His eyes were filled with intense confidence as he stared fixedly at the exact center of the hoop.

Swish!

The basketball went cleanly through the net.

The instant the ball passed through the hoop, the deafening cheers around him surged at him like seawater breaking through a barrier.

"Xiao Zhan! Xiao Zhan! Xiao Zhan..."

The voice was so familiar, so gentle, so warm.

"Wait!"

Zhu Zhan suddenly realized in his dream that it was his mother's voice!

He opened his eyes and saw his mother gently shaking him as she called, "Xiao Zhan, you're awake? Hurry, dinner's ready!"

Zhu Zhan nodded, got up, and washed his face. At the dinner table, Wei Qun looked at him and said, "Eat more. Have you been very tired lately?"

Zhu Zhan smiled at his mother. "A little tired, Mom. I found an uncle in our neighborhood to be my coach. He's teaching me basketball!"

"Oh? That's great. Bring your coach over sometime. Mom will make him a nice meal to thank him," Wei Qun said.

"Mm, got it!" Zhu Zhan replied.

After quickly finishing his rice, Zhu Zhan took his bowl to the kitchen and washed it. Then he said goodbye to Wei Qun and went back to rest.

After setting his alarm, Zhu Zhan slept especially soundly this time.

He set the alarm for three o'clock, planning to study properly after getting up, then make dinner and wait for his mother to come home.

Before long, Zhu Zhan drifted off again. This time, he slept especially soundly.

Soon, it was three o'clock.

"Ring-ring-ring..." The alarm's shrill sound rang out. Zhu Zhan rolled over and got up, rubbing his sore arms and patting his face.

He patted his slightly sore arms and thighs, went to the washroom to splash water on his face, then began preparing to study again.

His legs and arms still ached faintly, but Zhu Zhan had set himself a workout plan: horse stance training!

Every day while studying, he would hold a horse stance for a while!

Zhu Zhan was not merely thinking about it. Right now, he was reading while holding a horse stance.

After only three or four minutes, Zhu Zhan felt his thighs start to ache and swell, and he could no longer focus on reading. He had no choice but to stop.

After reading for a while, it was soon past five. After eating, he checked the time and saw it was six. Zhu Zhan put on his basketball uniform, picked up his basketball, and headed for the court.

Zhu Zhan dribbled as he walked. When he reached the basketball court, he found Jiang Shi already there.

Jiang Shi was shooting hoops with a tall, slender girl in a white basketball uniform. They chatted warmly as they shot.

Zhu Zhan walked over, gave the girl a quick once-over, and said to Jiang Shi, "Uncle Jiang!"

The girl was over one meter sixty tall. Her black hair was tied into a neat ponytail, and her large black eyes were bright and lively. She looked sunny and radiant, and with a faint smile at the corner of her lips, she was sizing up Zhu Zhan as well.

"Xiao Zhan, you came pretty early. This is the daughter of one of my former colleagues. She's one year ahead of you, and her name is Zhang Yuqing. She's the captain of the Normal University Affiliated High School girls' basketball team. The two of you can train here together on weekends from now on. Introduce yourselves!" Jiang Shi said with a slight smile.

"Hello, I'm Zhang Yuqing. Let's work hard together from now on!" Zhang Yuqing said with a smile, holding the basketball in her arms and revealing two cute dimples.

Zhu Zhan froze for a moment, then lowered his head shyly. "Hello, I'm Zhu Zhan!"

"Haha, junior brother Xiao Zhan gets shy!" Seeing Zhu Zhan like this, Zhang Yuqing could not help smiling. She patted the basketball in her hands, turned around, lightly pushed off with her right foot, and shot the ball with a hand form similar to a boy's.

Swish... The basketball slipped lightly through the hoop, making a pleasant sound as it brushed the net.

Though Zhang Yuqing was still young and only a middle school student, she had a graceful, well-proportioned figure. Dressed in a white basketball uniform, her body had delicate curves. Her movements were fluid, and there was a unique charm to the way she played, as though a ballerina with a perfect figure were dancing ballet.

Jiang Shi secretly laughed at Zhu Zhan, patting the basketball in his hands as he said, "Xiao Zhan, don't be fooled because Yuqing is a girl. She's a famous sharpshooter, and she's practiced the three sets of one hundred for a long time. She's much better than you!"

"What?" Zhu Zhan said in surprise, shooting Zhang Yuqing another skeptical glance.

As if sensing Zhu Zhan's gaze, Zhang Yuqing's lips curled slightly. She looked at him with a proud smile but said nothing, like a little girl acting cute toward someone.

Zhu Zhan was a little doubtful.

"How about this? Let's shoot the squares. Whoever loses buys everyone water later, okay?" Seeing Zhu Zhan staring at her skeptically, Zhang Yuqing smiled and said.