Chapter 7 - TMCTM Chapter 7

Tao Xi turned his head abruptly and saw that Yang Duole was already standing next to him with a bottle of mineral water in his hand. He had just watched the game so seriously that he didn’t even notice it.

He pursed his lips and subconsciously squeezed the phone in his hand, not covering the first moment of hostility in his eyes.

But Yang Duole didn’t seem to notice it. He blinked and said to him: “I’ll hold it for you, and give it to him when the game is over.”

Tao Xi’s first reaction was to refuse.

But he had no reason to refuse. He felt that he was a little childish. He just helped Lin Qinhe hold a mobile phone, but acting like a child who was awarded a candy by an adult and was reluctant to let go.

He finally handed the phone to Yang Duole unwillingly.

Yang Duole took it, casually clicked on the screen to check the time, then stuffed it into his pocket, watching the fierce basketball game while chatting with Tao Xi very familiarly: “Eh, Tao Xi, do you play basketball?”

Tao Xi was silent for a while before replying, “A little bit.”

Yang Duole nodded and sighed softly. He wrinkled his nose: “I envy you, I want to play basketball too, but I am not in good health. Once in junior high school, I played basketball and suffered from a pneumothorax¹A pneumothorax is a collapsed lung. Pneumothorax can be a complete lung collapse or a collapse of only a portion of the lung. It can be caused by chest injury, lung disease, ruptured air blistered, and mechanical ventilation. and had surgery. It hurt me so much.”

As soon as the voice fell, Lin Qinhe made another three-pointer and the audience was full of enthusiasm.

Yang Duole also cheered and said happily: “Qinhe ge is so amazing!”

Tao Xi felt very upset.

Listening to Yang Duole’s speech was a hundred times more irritable than listening to Auntie Zhou.

Obviously he didn’t say anything annoying, but Tao Xi just felt that he couldn’t breathe. He stared directly at Lin Qinhe who was dribbling the ball on the court, tightly holding the empty hand, trying to suppress the irritation in his heart.

Xu Ziqi was also irritated. Bi Chengfei was not good at playing ball, but had a very bad anger. He rolled his eyes angrily with winking eyebrows.

Class 2 sports committee finally got the ball and quickly passed it to Xu Ziqi, who was not far away. Xu Ziqi was shocked. After he got the ball, he was about to shoot directly but Li Xiaoyuan appeared halfway. He was afraid that this terrifying little boy would grab his ball again, so he hurriedly threw the ball in his hand toward the opponent’s rebound when he was a step away from the three-point line.

But the route was obviously skewed, and it flew directly towards the person standing beside the basketball hoop.

At the moment when Xu Ziqi pitched the ball, Tao Xi knew that the ball was bound to fly towards him, he could withdraw quickly, and could even carry one Yang Doule.

But then he saw Lin Qinhe’s gaze, looking at Yang Duole on the side with worry.

With a muffled sound, the girls all couldn’t help exclaiming.

The basketball hit Tao Xi’s head, and naturally Yang Duole was blocked. Although Tao Xi subconsciously raised his hand to block the ball, it still hit his right forehead.

Hit by a basketball, he reached out and touched the wound through the bangs. It was a little bit stinging, but there was no change in the expression on his face.

“Fuck, Xu Ziqi, did you fucking do it on purpose!” Bi Chengfei’s irritable voice came, and then he asked loudly, “Xiao Xi, are you okay, ba?”

Tao Xi put down his hand and raised his eyes to look at Lin Qinhe.

Lin Qinhe curled his eyebrows and looked at him, but he didn’t have the worry that he had just looked at Yang Duole. He was even colder than ever.

Tao Xi shook his head to Bi Chengfei, and smiled faintly: “It’s okay.”

He suddenly felt bored and mean.

The frightened Yang Duole was able to recover. He patted his chest in fear. He just wanted to say something to Tao Xi, but Tao Xi had already turned around to pick up the basketball that had fallen to the ground.

Bi Chengfei died of anger, staring at Xu Ziqi and yelling to avenge Tao Xi and continue to fight Class 2, but Yuan Hao in his team suddenly said to him with a bitter face: “Sports Committee, I got a kick when I ran. I guess I can’t play anymore.”

Bi Chengfei walked over and looked at Yuan Hao’s ankle. He didn’t see where it was swollen, but he still said, “Then you go to the infirmary and have a look. I’ll find someone to continue fighting.”

Yuan Hao ran away hurriedly.

But where was there a substitute for Class 1? Bi Chengfei raised his eyes and saw that the group of boys in his class who were watching the game among the girls turned their heads to look at the sky and the trees, just not looking at him.

Fuck, how could this be!

Tao Xi took the ball and walked in front of Bi Chengfei, his face calmly said: “I will substitute.”

Bi Chengfei was taken aback, holding Tao Xi’s shoulders with both hands, with a touch of expression on his face: “Xiao Xi, thank you for coming forward for me, but I really can’t bear to let you suffer.”

“…”

Fuck, Tao Xi felt the goose bumps on his body scrambling to come out.

Li Xiaoyuan wiped the sweat from his forehead and panted slightly: “Or, just end it. With classmate Lin here, I don’t think the opposite party really wants to continue fighting.”

The group of people in Class 2 stood side by side panting. They really didn’t want to fight anymore, they were just playing in physical education, didn’t expect it to be a battle between two classes. It also had alarmed Lin Qinhe who was not easy to provoke.

It was really not worth it.

Tao Xi waved Bi Chengfei’s hand away. He glanced at Lin Qinhe who walked to the edge of the court to find Yang Duole to take a drink. He curled up his mouth and smiled: “Why not playing? I can’t get hit for nothing, can I? “

Bi Chengfei thought so too, nodded and said: “Okay! Don’t worry, I will take care of you later!”

“…”

Just don’t mess with me.

The first game was simply abandoned because of the accident. Tao Xi crouched down and fastened the laces of his very old sneakers. When he got up, he saw Lin Qinhe coming over after drinking the water.

He moved his wrist and smiled at Lin Qinhe. Lin Qinhe glanced at him and then looked away.

This time, Class 2 also got a substitute, the jump ball was replaced by the sports committee, and Class 1 was still Lin Qinhe, who again won the ball without surprise.

Li Xiaoyuan tacitly received the ball from Lin Qinhe, guarding the ball and rushing towards the opponent’s rebound, but the Class 2’s new substitute was obviously strong. When he was about to pass the ball to Lin Qinhe, who was almost under the basket of Class 2, he cut off the ball in one fell swoop and passed it to Class 2’s sports committee with a wave.

The Class 2’s sports committee seized this rare good opportunity. After receiving the ball, he pressed into the opponent’s three-second zone under the cover of his teammates. He didn’t pay attention to Bi Chengfei, who was trying to defend, as long as he avoided Lin Qinhe and Li Xiaoyuan, he could score points!

But when he was about to shoot the ball, the ball in his hand was suddenly cut off by one person, and under the cover of Li Xiaoyuan, he got outside his three-point line in a few steps.

He was about to turn around to block, the man raised his hand almost one meter from the three-point line and threw the ball without hesitation.

Class 2 sports committee suddenly hoped that Xu Ziqi of their team could grab a rebound from Lin Qinhe.

But the ball hit the rim with great precision, without a chance to grab a rebound.

The audience boiled instantly.

“Fuck!” Bi Chengfei yelled excitedly, his gaze at Tao Xi was shocked, and he gave a respectful thumbs up, “Xi ge is awesome!”

Tao Xi hadn’t touched the ball for a few months, and he was a little surprised.

He subconsciously looked at Lin Qinhe on the side, his mouth was slightly tilted, and couldn’t help being a little proud. Lin Qinhe glanced at him lightly and whispered “Good shot.”

Tao Xi wanted to show off instantly.

After the touch came up, Tao Xi played more and more smoothly. After covering Lin Qinhe and taking another three-pointer, the atmosphere of the audience reached a climax again.

A group of this improvised team of only five people, even though there was member like Bi Chengfei and Cao Xuan who had an average strength, but because of the tacit cooperation of Tao Xi, Lin Qinhe and Li Xiaoyuan, Class 2 points were left behind almost all the time.

The slogan of girls from Class 1 had changed from “Class 1, Class 1, absolutely extraordinary” to ” Class 1, Class 1, double the points”.

The basketball game ended with no suspense. The second group was beaten and lost their temper. Fortunately, the bell rang as soon as the period was over, and people watching the game left the playground and rushed to the cafeteria.

Literary committee Jiang Xinyun and English class representative Jin Jing both had mineral water bought from a convenience store in their hands. They were planning to give it to Lin Qinhe, but when they saw that Lin Qinhe already had the water handed by Yang Duole, they ran to Tao Xi and Bi Chengfei.

Jiang Xinyun handed the water to Tao Xi first, and said with a smile: “Thank you, you were so handsome just now!”

Tao Xi glanced at the bottle of water. He had seen it in the convenience store. A bottle was twelve yuan, worth his one day’s meal in Qingshui No.1 High School, so he hesitated to accept it. He smiled and said thank you to Jiang Xinyun.

Because he had just finished playing, his white face was still sweaty, and he finally became a bit rosy. When he laughed, the corners of his eyes and eyelashes were moisturized.

Jiang Xinyun was stunned, lowered her eyelashes a little embarrassedly and said you’re welcome.

Jin Jing glanced at the extra bottle of water in her hand, and had to throw it to Bi Chengfei who was aside.

Bi Chengfei was flattered because of a water bottle. This was the first time in his life that a girl gave him water after playing basketball. And it was from Jin Jing, the flower on high peak²The flower on high peak is used as a metaphor for things that can only be seen from a distance and cannot be touched, that is, things that can only be longed for but are out of reach for oneself. Just as he was about to open his mouth to give a hundred-character testimonial, Jin Jing rolled her eyes and said, “This is for Lin Qinhe. Send you the waste for recycling.”

The waste recycling station grieved: “You buy water for Xueshen every time, but don’t dare to send it out, why bother? It’s better to give it to me.”

There were too many girls who wanted to send water to Lin Qinhe, but they had never succeeded, not entirely because there was always Yang Duole, but also because they simply did not dare.

Jin Jing gave Bi Chengfei a vicious look, and took Jiang Xinyun, who didn’t want to go, to run away.

Bi Chengfei sighed to himself:  “The falling flowers are yearning for love, but the heartless brook ripples on³ 落花有意，流水无情 (luòhuā yǒuyì, liúshuǐ wúqíng) = a chinese idiom that means one side is willing, yet the other one remains indifferent (usually of unrequited love). Is my little ditch bad? Maybe it will become the sea in the future?”

Then he patted Tao Xi on the shoulder and said, “Xi ge, I’m going to help Physical Education teacher tidy up the equipment. You don’t have to wait for me to eat.”

Tao Xi nodded and agreed.

He thought it was right to play just now, at least Bi Chengfei finally changed his name.

He turned and walked towards the cafeteria with the water, only to see a person who he didn’t want to see standing under a tree not far away.

It was Yang Duole, who called out his name, raised his hand and waved at him a few times.

Tao Xi paused and walked towards Yang Duole, holding the water bottle in his hand.

“Tao Xi, thank you for blocking the ball for me just now. If it weren’t for you, I would have been hit.” Yang Duole never had time to say thank you to Tao Xi so he waited here after the game.

Tao Xi looked at Yang Duole’s face expressionlessly. Those eyes were inherited from Guo Ping, while the natural curls were inherited from Tao Jian.

Obviously he looked very similar to Tao Le, but he was extremely disgusted with this face.

He raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, the smile did not reach the bottom of his eyes: “You’re welcome.”

You’re welcome, he did it on purpose, just to let Lin Qinhe take a look at himself. However, this kind of boring behavior instantly became the opposite in front of Yang Duole.

Yang Duole stood closer, and asked worriedly: “Then have you hurt? That ball seems to be hit hard.”

Tao Xi did have a wound on his right forehead. It was blocked by his hair and could not be seen. He had almost forgotten it, only remembered about it because of Yang Doule. However compared to the injuries he had suffered before, this hurt him more.

He took a half step back without a trace, just about to say “No” to send Yang Duole away, but then he suddenly saw Lin Qinhe walking towards this side.

So he stretched out his hand to slightly open the bangs on his forehead, touched the wound with his finger: “It seems to be a little painful, but it shouldn’t matter.”

On Tao Xi’s exposed white forehead, there was a wound that was completely red and swollen because of broken skin and sweat infiltration. Yang Duole took a deep breath and said anxiously: “You are injured and swollen so much, how can it not matter? I’ll accompany you to the infirmary for treatment”

At this time, Lin Qinhe had already walked to Yang Duole, and looked at the wound on Tao Xi’s forehead. There was no emotion in his eyes.

Tao Xi put down his bangs and pretended to be empathetic and smiled: “I’ll just go by myself. You can go to the cafeteria for dinner. There will be no good food when it’s late.”

Yang Duole asked, “You just came to our school. Do you know where the infirmary is?”

Tao Xi shook his head and said, “I don’t know, but I can ask.”

Yang Duole showed a look like this, and said to Lin Qinhe on the side: “Qinhe ge, you should go eat first, ba. I will accompany Tao Xi to the infirmary.”

Tao Xi looked at Lin Qinhe, a smile curled up at the corner of his mouth and said in a brisk and natural tone:

“Tablemate, would you like to accompany me to the infirmary, ba?”

Yang Duole was stunned.

Tao Xi looked at Lin Qinhe with a smile on his face, but his nails were tightly pinched into his palms.

It seemed that after about three seconds that seemed like a long time, Lin Qinhe looked at him and said:

“Okay.”

• 1A pneumothorax is a collapsed lung. Pneumothorax can be a complete lung collapse or a collapse of only a portion of the lung. It can be caused by chest injury, lung disease, ruptured air blistered, and mechanical ventilation.
• 2The flower on high peak is used as a metaphor for things that can only be seen from a distance and cannot be touched, that is, things that can only be longed for but are out of reach for oneself
• 3 落花有意，流水无情 (luòhuā yǒuyì, liúshuǐ wúqíng) = a chinese idiom that means one side is willing, yet the other one remains indifferent (usually of unrequited love)