Chapter Ninety-Six: Bai Qingxia, You Smell So Good

Lu Yuanqiu clamped his mouth shut and stopped smiling.

Stirred up by Zheng Yifeng, Wang Ping was completely riled. He immediately waved Lu Yuanqiu over. “You! Come here, come here. Let’s have a one-on-one.”

“No, no, no!” Lu Yuanqiu shook both hands at once, wearing an ingratiating smile. “What a joke. I can’t even dribble. How could I possibly be your match, Teacher? Besides, you’ve been playing this whole time already, so you’ve used up a lot of energy. A challenge like this wouldn’t be fair.”

Hearing those words about not even knowing how to dribble, the three of them silently turned to look at this shameless fellow.

And yet you can dunk! How fake can you get, you damn fraud.

Still, none of the three exposed him, because they knew full well that there was no point in Lu Yuanqiu defeating Teacher Wang Ping here. It would not mean much.

The place where Lu Yuanqiu truly ought to shine was on the basketball court, winning honor for the team and the class.

Seeing that the boy had given him a way down, Wang Ping simply stepped onto it.

He also knew the situation was different from Zheng Yifeng’s. This kid was not only as sturdy as an ox, he also had the stamina of one. Even if Lu Yuanqiu’s basketball skills were only average, he could still wear him down by sheer endurance.

“All right then. You boys remember to do some conditioning tonight, especially Zheng Yifeng. He’s pretty good, but his stamina isn’t great,” Wang Ping said.

Then, after a pause, he added, “About just now... was that kid upset? Because I called him trash?”

Lu Yuanqiu waved a hand. “No, it’s fine, Teacher. That’s just how he is.”

Only then did Wang Ping nod in relief. “Anyway, remember to tell him the teacher didn’t mean it. He really is quite impressive.”

“Got it!”

After Wang Ping and Su Miaomiao left together, Zhong Jincheng seemed unable to hold back any longer. He promptly jabbed Gao Qiang. “Hurry, hurry! The cheer squad over there has started rehearsing. Come sneak a look with me!”

Gao Qiang frowned. “Do I look like that kind of person?”

Lu Yuanqiu turned his head and saw Zhong Jincheng and Gao Qiang already rushing off with sneaky grins, like two starving wolves.

Wang Haoran gave his parted bangs an elegant flick and complained, “Those two lose all sense of direction the moment they see girls. What the hell.”

Lu Yuanqiu said, “It seems Hu Caiwei is in there.”

“What?!”

Wang Haoran immediately sprinted after them, his center-parted hair flying backward.

Lu Yuanqiu smiled. Then he glanced toward the steps and suddenly noticed a girl lifting a textbook to hide her face.

“Bai Qingxia!”

He called out.

Bai Qingxia quietly lowered the book, revealing only her beautiful eyes above it as she looked at Lu Yuanqiu. When she saw him waving at her, she quickly stood up, set the book down, and jogged over.

Now the basketball court was left with only Lu Yuanqiu. She liked this feeling, liked this... feeling of having only Lu Yuanqiu there, with no one else to disturb them.

She ran all the way to stand before him on the court, her hands folded in front of her as she looked at him silently.

Lu Yuanqiu held a basketball in his hand and curved his lips. “Want to learn how to shoot? I’ll teach you.”

Bai Qingxia nodded. “Yes.”

Lu Yuanqiu blinked. He had assumed she would find it boring and refuse. After all, he had only come over because there was still time before class was over and he was bored, so he wanted to talk to her.

“You’re pretty eager to learn. Fine, I’ll teach you. Stand here first and take a shot so I can see what level you’re at.”

He pointed to the free-throw line.

Bai Qingxia took the basketball he tossed over, instinctively shrinking her neck as she shut her eyes.

Her hands are so small...

Looking at those pale little hands touching either side of the ball, Lu Yuanqiu could not help but sigh inwardly.

After a hesitant glance at Lu Yuanqiu, Bai Qingxia hugged the basketball, gave a light hop, and pushed upward toward the hoop with all her strength. When she landed, a hidden storm seemed to surge beneath her school uniform.

Under the evening glow, the basketball flew out in a limp parabola, missing even the rim, let alone going in.

Seeing this, Bai Qingxia turned back toward Lu Yuanqiu, her face flushed red, and stood there with her lips tightly shut, like she was being punished.

Lu Yuanqiu signaled with his eyes. “Go get the ball!”

“Oh!”

She hurried after the basketball as it kept rolling across the ground, and only caught up with it on the soccer field. Then she抱着 the ball and jogged back.

When she returned, she found Lu Yuanqiu chuckling softly to himself.

The girl stood there clutching the ball, her face turning red again.

She thought he was laughing at her.

Lu Yuanqiu cleared his throat and regained his seriousness. “Come on, I’ll teach you how to shoot.”

He had her stand again on the free-throw line. Bai Qingxia lifted the ball, and before long, two large hands of very different complexion covered her two pale little ones.

Bai Qingxia stared blankly for a moment, her throat bobbing. Her eyes immediately slid away, fixing on the hoop as if nothing had happened.

“You need to grip it a little farther back, otherwise when you push it out you won’t be able to generate any force. And when you release it, aim more upward. Try lifting the arc. Now give that posture another try.”

After carefully adjusting the position of her hands from behind, Lu Yuanqiu suddenly leaned in and sniffed her hair. “Bai Qingxia, you smell really nice.”

Bai Qingxia immediately shrank her neck and turned back to give him a strange look.

The boy laughed and stepped back. “All right, go on. Shoot it.”

This time, the ball actually hit the rim. Bai Qingxia was startled and hurried out to retrieve it. After she got it back, she did not wait for Lu Yuanqiu’s instructions. She went straight to the free-throw line and stood there on her own.

She jumped and pushed it out.

The ball went in!

Bai Qingxia looked at the scene in delight, then quickly turned around to stare at Lu Yuanqiu in astonishment.

He pressed his lips together hard and gave her a thumbs-up.

After that, Bai Qingxia seemed to get hooked. She kept holding the ball and shooting, but none of the later attempts went in. After trying over ten times, she quietly set the ball down, glanced at Lu Yuanqiu with a bored expression, and said, “It won’t go in. I’m not shooting anymore...”

Lu Yuanqiu said, “Let’s have a game. You attack, I defend.”

The girl suddenly panicked. “I don’t know the rules.”

Lu Yuanqiu raised an eyebrow. “Why worry about rules when it’s just the two of us? As long as it goes in, that’s enough.”

Bai Qingxia nodded and ran with the ball to beyond the three-point line. She even knew to stand outside the line before the game began.

Hugging the ball, the girl ran toward the hoop with a smile on her lips. In truth, she had already traveled in violation of the rules, but in Lu Yuanqiu’s game, Bai Qingxia did not need to care about rules.

Lu Yuanqiu took a long stride, spread out one hand to block, and stood in front of Bai Qingxia like a crab.

“I’m blocking you!”

Bai Qingxia, still holding the ball, froze her smile and quickly circled around him to change direction.

But Lu Yuanqiu again blocked her path like a crab, grinning wickedly. “I’ll b—lock you again!”

Seeing this, Bai Qingxia pouted unhappily and took several steps back with the ball, as if searching for an opening.

End of Chapter