November 12, 1999, Friday. At 8:00 p.m., a friendly basketball match for the 1999 freshmen was underway at the basketball courts of Guangzhou Yixian University. Sixteen teams were competing across eight courts, with half being men's teams and half women's. One court featured a men's match between the School of Foreign Languages (SFL) and the School of Physics (SOP). Among the players on both teams were Guan Xuchen and Gao Xinglang.
The game was in the third quarter, and the SOP team was leading 50-40.
Just then, Guan Xuchen received an underhand pass from Xue Jiang (pron.: shweh jiang chien) of the Japanese Department. He held the ball, standing still to watch the movements of his teammates and opponents. His eyes found Gao Xinglang, who was once again glancing toward the sidelines.
"He's definitely checking out that girl again." The thought irked Guan Xuchen a little. He lifted the ball and tossed it in Gao Xinglang's direction.
He had meant to pass it to Wen Yuwei, standing about half a meter from Gao Xinglang, but Gao instantly tore his gaze from the sidelines and snatched the ball with lightning speed. Gao Xinglang dribbled, nimbly weaving past several SFL players' attempts to block him. He reached the three-point line, jumped high, and launched the ball. It sailed in a graceful arc and swished cleanly through the hoop.
"Guan Xuchen, focus! We're falling behind!" Shan Kai growled under his breath as he passed by.
Guan Xuchen mumbled an "Oh," his eyes drifting back to Gao Xinglang. He saw Gao Xinglang beaming, flashing a peace sign at the cheering, screaming girls on the sidelines—all from the SOP, of course. Most girls from the SFL stayed quiet, but a few like Tu Jingli stood up to cheer their team on: "Go SFL! Go SFL!"
As for Fan Yueming, in her black pants and pink short-sleeved top, she watched the game with two other girls, whispering now and then and breaking into giggles.
"It's not even our school scoring—why are they so happy?" Guan Xuchen thought indignantly, seeing their delighted faces.
The game went on. Besides teaming up with his teammates to snatch the ball, Guan Xuchen would also, now and then, deliberately or seemingly casually, run over to Gao Xinglang's side, blocking his view of the sidelines. Gao Xinglang didn't seem to mind. He just gave Guan Xuchen a silly smile and then ran off elsewhere.
After a while, Wen Yuwei got hold of the ball at midcourt. He dribbled towards the SOP team's basket, but was soon surrounded by opposing players, unable to move an inch.
"Go Wen Yuwei!" Fan Yueming and Chen Yunwei suddenly stood up and shouted this out of the blue.
Wen Yuwei was distracted for a moment, and the ball in his hand was swatted away by a guy from the SOP team. That guy got the ball, dribbled it a few times, and then threw it hard towards Gao Xinglang, who was in the SFL team's half.
The "Little Basketball Prince", who was usually quick on the court, stood there staring blankly at the sidelines, seemingly having no intention of reaching out to catch the ball.
Seeing the basketball was about to hit Gao Xinglang in the face, Guan Xuchen, who was standing not far away, shouted "Watch out!" and then rushed towards Gao.
Before Gao Xinglang's brain could react, his body automatically made a move to grab the ball, which resulted in a collision. By the time he realized it was Guan Xuchen and tried to hold back, Guan had already been knocked to the ground by him.
Gao Xinglang threw the basketball, which he somehow had grabbed, to the side. He quickly walked over to Guan Xuchen, bent down, and asked somewhat nervously, "Soupy, I'm sorry. Are you okay?"
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Love Me in Another Universe
General FictionIt was such a long time ago that you don't even remember why you fell for that person in the first place. You just remember stubbornly that you were once deeply in love with someone with that name... It's a story about the bond between two Chinese b...
