The coach furrowed his brows as he watched Xu Liao rampaging through the basketball court aggressively like a tank. Although his strength proved to be effective, but this pure aggressive style had quite a lot of limitations. Once Xu Liao meets someone with even stronger physical abilities than him, he would be defeated without a doubt. However, the coach did not have much choice. He gritted his teeth and slapped his thigh, silently shouting in his mind:
“There’s no other way, I can only place Xu Liao as the Power Forward. For the next few days I shall give him intense training sessions, and hopefully he can improve his abilities before the compet.i.tion.”
The coach finally decided on the main players and subst.i.tutes after two tough matches, after which, he gave a short speech and dismissed everyone.
Xu Liao had plenty of free time. In the past, he wasn’t very involved in basketball, and only doing manual ch.o.r.es like tidying and cleaning. However, after finishing the match recently, he slowly started to fall in love with the sport. Just as he was waving goodbye to everyone, he felt someone tap on his right shoulder. He turned around and saw the coach putting on a strange expression on his face. The coach leaned over and whispered in a low voice:
“You are in your third year, right?”
Xu Liao nodded his head subconsciously.
Then the coach suddenly knit his brows together and continued with a stern voice:
“If our school team manages to reach at least the top ten in this National League, there will be a single spot reserved in the Northern Affiliated High School specifically for a graduate in the team.”
“And we all know that the Northern Affiliated High School is one of the best high schools in the city. The original four members had left, and Hou Tao is currently in his second year. If you manage to get into the top ten, then the spot will definitely be yours!”
He then sighed lightly and said: “I understand that the final year is tough, and the a.s.signments and examinations are important, but based on my knowledge, your results are quite average and you will have a hard time admitting even to a second-rate high school. Why not take your chances and aim for this spot?”
Xu Liao was slightly shocked. He didn’t know it was possible to enter a top rate high school through basketball. He knew that his results were average, and most probably would end up entering a third rate high school, or even worse, a technical school. A top rated school like the Northern Affiliated High School was definitely out of his league if not for the possibility of obtaining a slot through the compet.i.tion.
Then he suddenly remembered that Qu Lei mentioned that she had always wanted to enter the Northern Affiliated High School. His eyes lit up as his heart burned with fiery pa.s.sion and immediately nodded his head vigorously.
The coach let out a sigh of relief. The former four main players were not willing to gamble their future for this spot. There was an underlying reason why they were not optimistic about obtaining that spot. According to their knowledge, they knew that their school team’s ability was lacking and the chances of entering the top ten in the National League was not worth to gamble for. Moreover, the former players fared well in their studies and would not have a problem in entering a decent school. That was the reason why no one was willing to take this risk, as it would affect their future if they lost.
After training with the basketball team for the entire day, Xu Liao finally returned to his own cla.s.sroom. It already was the last lesson of the day, which was self-revision. As the name suggests, there are no teachers around. Moreover, the self-revision lessons were usually empty as those students who lived far away would rather not attend, and preferred to head back home to revise.
Xu Liao glanced over to Qu Lei’s seat and realized that she was still present. Naturally he felt relaxed, whenever Qu Lei is near him. However, he would only steal a few glances at her from a distance and not dare to start a conversation with her.
After a while, Xu Liao made his way to his seat, intending to pack his bag and return home. Just as he was about to do this, Gao Wen Hu stood up suddenly and gave a light cough.
“Xu Liao, I want to have a word with you.”
Xu Liao took a step back in surprise and stared at Gao Wen Hu. Both of them were not close at all! If Gao Wen Hu was not in the same cosplay club as Qu Lei, Xu Liao would not even consider getting along with someone so arrogant and proud. Moreover, just recently both of them had several conflicts, thus, Xu Liao just could not understand why Gao Wen Hu would look for him.
“What’s the matter?”
Xu Liao raised his brow as he casually asked back.
Gao Wen Hu laughed lightly and suddenly raised his voice: “There are two matters! Firstly, our cosplay club will be going on a hiatus because the graduating students are preparing for the final exams, so only the core members will gather when necessary. You can stop coming from now on.”
Xu Liao’s expression immediately turned sour. Noticing Xu Liao’s darkening face, Gao Wen Hu proudly continued:
“Secondly, I will pa.s.s this message from Qu Lei. She does not need you to follow her after school anymore, so you’d better know your place.”
Even though his facial expression was as dark as the bottom of an abyss, Xu Liao did not activate his demonic energy.
He glared coldly at Gao Wen Hu and then taking a deep breath before raising his voice:
“I LIKE QU LEI!! Even though I had been quiet about this, I am quite sure that everyone knows. If she, Qu Lei doesn’t want me to do something, I will stop doing it! Just when she wanted me to cut down my weight, I immediately started training continuously for three years without any grumble nor regrets! If she wants to tell me anything, I will only listen if it comes from her mouth! Why does she need to ask you to pa.s.s a message to me!?”
The cla.s.sroom went silent. n.o.body had expected Xu Liao to openly confess his feelings to her even though they were all aware of Xu Liao’s affections for Qu Lei. The silence slowly broke into cheers as his cla.s.smates started shouting excitedly. Some of the male cla.s.smates even slapped Xu Liao’s back as they cheered him on. After all, it requires a lot of courage to confess opening in the face of others. Even the female cla.s.smates viewed Xu Liao in another perspective after his confession, and were all shyly whispering to each other.
Qu Lei, who was trying to concentrate on her studies did not react when Gao Wen Hu stood up to warn Xu Liao. Only after Xu Liao’s public confession did she raise her head slightly, staring at Xu Liao.
Xu Liao was going all out. Since he had already said so much, he would go through it all the way. He simply stared back at Qu Lei, ignoring the presence of Gao Wen Hu.
Qu Lei’s eyes connected with Xu Liao for a while before she diverted her sight. With a clear and crisp voice, she said:
“I did not plead Gao Wen Hu to say these words. I don’t want anything to affect my studies, after all, this is the third and final year..”
Qu Lei then paused for a moment, and plainly said:
“… If you want to be qualified to chase me, then make sure you can at least enter the Northern Affiliated High School!” After curtly stating her conditions, she promptly kept her books and walked out of the cla.s.sroom.
The entire cla.s.sroom roared with laughter. Gao Wen Hu snorted at Xu Liao.
Everyone had been cla.s.smates for three years and they knew that it was impossible for Xu Liao to enter the Northern Affiliated High School with his current results. Thus, they viewed it as if Qu Lei was rejecting Xu Liao’s confession.
Xu Liao clenched his fist into a ball, however, his eyes shone brightly. He did not utter any word as he silently left the cla.s.sroom after packing his bag.
At this moment, Gao Wen Hu finally realized that his warnings did not affect Xu Liao. He had the urge to rush out of the cla.s.sroom to teach Xu Liao a lesson, but after noticing how large Xu Liao was, he chose to swallow his resentment.
After leaving school in a hurry, Xu Liao spotted Qu Lei on her usual path home, she was walking slowly as if not in a hurry to reach home. Xu Liao held his arm out and wanted to call out to her, but he could not find anything to say. Suddenly, Qu Lei turned around and smiled sweetly. Then she said in a soft voice:
“Back then, when we were in our first year, I told you to cut down your weight to 120kg, only then I would consider being your girlfriend. Actually, it was just a casual remark, and yet you worked so hard to train your body. I thought you would give up.”
Xu Liao just simply smiled nervously, not knowing what to reply. Qu Lei then combed her hair with her fingers and smiled.
“In the end, even though you did not manage to cut down to 120kg, I realize that it is not a problem with your determination. Anyone who had grown to your height in two and a half years would be unable to lose so much weight. But what I mentioned before still counts, so I’m giving you a second chance, though I think that you wouldn’t be able to accomplish it.”
Xu Liao could not help but reply with determination in his eyes:
“What if I can do it?”
Qu Liao laughed loudly, and then looked at him sincerely.“If you manage to enter, I will definitely stick to my promise and let you continue to chase me!”
Xu Liao was extremely excited. He felt like fist-pumping right at this very moment. Just as he was about to mention about the method he was going to use to enter the Northern Affiliated High School, Qu Lei swung back around and spoke plainly.
“However, even though I was touched by your actions, I will not accept you yet, because I still do not like you enough.”
As if his heart was pierced by an arrow, Xu Liao felt like he could not breathe for a moment. Her last words rang through his mind over and over again as he stood deathly still, watching Qu Lei disappear into the distance…