Chapter 25
In the outdoor basketball court of the sports center, amid the "bang bang" sound that resounded through the sky and was like dense drumbeats hitting the ground, the young man's agile and unrestrained figure was intertwined into various light and dark shadows under the bright LED light as bright as daylight.
Zhou Zifang was a little drunk after having a seafood buffet in the evening. He played two rounds on the court and looked disgusting as if he was about to vomit. Li Mu, who was born with obsessive-compulsive disorder, saw this and immediately kicked him off the court.
Fortunately, he is not alone, as Lu Jiyu is with him.
Lu Jiyu's shooting was good today, but there was a heavy feeling in his eyes. He played defense and rebounding like a joke, but his shooting remained at his usual high level. He didn't wait for others to rush him, but wisely left the court and gave his seat back to the others. Li Mu was so angry that he ran around the court, not forgetting to insult them both.
"Fuck! It's so rare for me to go back to China, and you two are acting like you're the daughters of a wealthy family. You even act so arrogant when you play basketball with me!"
Zhou Zifang laughed and cried out for injustice: "No, you chased me down with your own hands, didn't you? How about I go on stage and play with the young master for a few more rounds?" He pretended to vomit, and Li Mu gave him a middle finger and ran off to defend while cursing.
"Why don't you fight anymore?" Zhou Zifang nudged the boy who was drinking water with his elbow.
Lu Jiyu screwed the cap back on the bottle and casually placed the water on the ground beside him. He said slowly, "Are you blind? That guy in purple on the court kept picking on me and bumping into me. I ran away for most of the game, and you chased me for most of the game. He almost knocked out my leftover rice." After saying this, he touched his stomach seriously and muttered softly, "I can't afford to offend my brother, but can I not hide from him?"
Just now, the three of them finished eating seafood at the Financial Building and found that the billiard room they were going to was closed for maintenance, so they simply walked to the sports center here to play billiards. On the way here, several of them also stopped by Lu Jiyu's house to change into a set of jerseys.
Lu Jiyu is a little particular about his choice of uniforms when playing basketball. He usually wears black when practicing casually, but when it comes to a game, he will change into all white.
Zhou Zifang didn't understand his particularity and called him a show-off.
A gust of evening breeze blew, dispelling most of the heat that lingered around them.
Lu Jiyu's eyes were naturally dark and bright, and after exercise, they were like a thousand-year-old sword unsheathed, their piercing brightness shrouded in a chilling gleam that was impossible to ignore. His usual sloppy, lazy nature had vanished completely.
So people often say that Lu Jiyu is a different person once he enters the game, and he is extremely fierce. Lu Jiyu's characteristic is that he is fierce, but not brutal. He never backs down in good or bad times, and his mentality is very good.
Zhou Zifang sometimes listened from the sidelines and thought, This is just the beginning. He was one of the few people who had seen Lu Jiyu get angry, and that cold and fierce energy made even him feel a little scared. But Lu Jiyu had always been an optimist. Many people wanted to annoy him, but few actually succeeded. This dog protected himself very well.
At the moment, Lu Jiyu stretched out his legs, his hands propped up behind his back, his eyes fixed on the situation on the field, and occasionally looked up at the sky with boredom. The city's neon lights shone, but the sky was starless.
"What did you do after you sent my goddess downstairs?" The nausea in Zhou Zifang's body subsided, and his gossipy heart couldn't help but become restless again.
Lu Jiyu had been staring at the man in purple on the court, silently studying his playing style. When Zhou Zi, who was standing next to him, asked casually, "Nothing, just a quick chat."
Zhou Zifang relaxed his body and leaned towards the wire fence behind him. "How's it going?" He reached out and tugged at Lu Jiyu's hair, then quickly pulled his hand back as if he was cherishing his life. "Are you going to chase me or not?"
Lu Jiyu pointed the back of her beautiful head at him. For a long moment, there was no movement. Zhou Zifang was just beginning to get curious. Lu Jiyu punched Zhou Zifang's calf, which was stretched out on the ground, with a weak blow. Suddenly, his lips curved, and a hint of smile flashed in his eyes. His black hair was thick and brilliant under the white lights of the stadium.
It was a smile, but not a bright and cheerful one.
"You'll die if you don't mention this, right?"
"Chase him!" Lu Jiyu blurted out without waiting for Zhou Zifang to respond. He cupped his hands to his mouth and rushed onto the court, shouting in a sarcastic tone, "Li Mu, MVP! Li Shao, descendant of the dragon!"
The nickname "Descendant of the Dragon" has a story behind it. After graduating from junior high school, Li Mu secretly traveled overseas to study abroad without even saying goodbye. His friends were furious, and after a long discussion, they first expelled him from the Chinese community, and then stripped him of his nationality. Li Mu may not have been interested in being a human being, but he clearly treasured the identity of being "Chinese," so he changed his social media handles overnight to "Descendant of the Dragon."
As if he got what he wanted, Li Mu, who was panting like a dog on the court, raised his hands and gave Lu Jiyu the middle finger he had not had time to give to him, along with the money and interest.
The topic had changed, and Zhou Zifang couldn't help but comment a few more words: "Li Mu is a bit unkind. He ran away without a word. It's okay that he was cold to us, but he was really unfriendly to Li Qingxi."
As a mutual friend of the two, Lu Jiyu nodded in agreement, and then sneered: "He's just a scumbag." He thought that if his future girlfriend played the same trick as him about running away abroad, he would never want to see her again in his life.
"Did Li Qingxi also go abroad later? To the United States?"
"Yeah." Lu Jiyu lowered his head, picked up his phone, glanced at it, and then turned it off. Zhou Zifang continued to chatter, "You said they were both willing to do it. In junior high school, they dared to have a premature relationship despite the pressure from their parents and school. How did it end up like this now?"
"Who knows?" Lu Jiyu actually knew a little bit, but it all came down to a clash of personalities. Li Qingxi was a girl with strong opinions, and she was the one who made the decisions on everything. But Li Mu was different, he was a bit of a mama's boy, and he liked to rely on others. So sometimes he admired independent girls like Li Qingxi, but he couldn't stand the influence of his status as a young master. His male chauvinism would pop up from time to time, making him dizzy, but he couldn't bring himself to break up. His academic performance was not good either, and at that time his family happened to want to send him abroad, so he agreed without hesitation.
Now that three years have passed, you'd be right to call Li Mu a scumbag. But think about it now, for a 14 or 15-year-old boy back then, how good could he have been?
"He must be really regretting it." Zhou Zifang sighed, "He went crazy on WeChat several times in the middle of the night."
"It's all self-inflicted."
"So." He changed the subject and looked at Lu Jiyu: "Beibei, don't follow his example. You just said you want to pursue Jiang Wan? Have you thought about how to pursue her? Do you want me to teach you a few tricks to make your heart flutter?"
Lu Jiyu glanced at him with a dull look: "Thank you very much, you should keep it for yourself."
Seeing that his good intentions were not accepted, Zhou Zifang was curious: "Then how are you going to pursue her? She is 'not interested in men'." Although he knew that this 'not interested in men' was probably a lie made up by Chen Meiyu, it was an obvious fact that Jiang Wan was difficult to pursue.
"How do you mean I'm chasing you? Haven't I been chasing you all the time?" As soon as he said that, Lu Jiyu felt that he was a bit shameless.
"You call that chasing?" Zhou Zifang said disdainfully, "Shouldn't the first step in pursuing a girl be a gift, a confession, and a date? How can you call that chasing someone?"
Lu Jiyu sat up slightly, tilting his head to look at the person beside him. His expression finally showed some seriousness, but not much. "Confessed? And got rejected?"
Maybe Zhou Zifang had never imagined that Lu Jiyu would be rejected: "If you get rejected, just pursue her again."
"Come here." Lu Jiyu waved at Zhou Zifang, his gesture like calling a dog: "Come here, brother will teach you how to chase girls."
Zhou Zifang looked at him warily, obviously not being fooled.
Lu Jiyu shook his head and continued to look up at the sky. "Let me tell you, if you keep pestering someone after being rejected, that's not called pursuit. That's pestering, that's harassment, understand? Friend?"
Many people who claim to be affectionate are nothing but stubborn dogs.
Lu Jiyu's rare burst of words, as his close friend Zhou Zifang saw the clues clearly.
"I told my bro honestly, you're just a coward."
This word is really sharp.
Was he a coward? Although Lu Jiyu didn't want to admit it, he knew deep down that this was partly the reason. In the past, regardless of what others said or not, Lu Jiyu had always been very self-aware and knew how capable he was. He also knew there were always better people out there, but it wasn't someone else telling him there were better people out there; he'd already seen it for himself. But when he met Jiang Wan, it was a different story. You see, even when they were walking together, everyone was looking at Jiang Wan.
Besides this, he also thinks you're confessing your feelings to someone after only knowing them for a few days? Love is a one-sided thing. You have your love at first sight, and they have their own long-term affection. If you insist on using sugarcoated bullets to pressure someone into expressing their feelings, you deserve to be rejected.
"Zhou Zifang, you have to take your time when pursuing a girl. The reason two people can stay together for a long time is because their lives are compatible, not because of a momentary passion."
Lu Jiyu had seen the kind of instant romance that surrounded him at school: love at first sight, dating someone for a month or so, then quickly moving on to the next. Or perhaps it was like casting several nets at once, dating whoever caught the hook. Some people even invited him to join in on the fun, but Lu Jiyu could only say, "Everyone has their own ambitions, and that's not his."
Zhou Zifang listened to Lu Jiyu's words, then observed the dog's expression, as if he sensed something unusual. "Beibei, are you serious? But what about Chen Wulin and your aunt?"
It wasn't that Zhou Zifang wanted to spoil the fun. After all, Lu Jiyu was a sentimental man, and his feelings for Lu Lin were definitely special. If he and Jiang Wan really got together, and his family objected, wouldn't that be a disaster? He also had a vague feeling that Lu Jiyu was a potential love-sick person. If something did go wrong, he'd probably be the one who got hurt the most.
So he was anxious.
"Also, have you ever been in a relationship secretly behind my back, or did you find some guru to guide you? Otherwise, why do you talk so much about love theories?"
Seeing that the round was almost over, Lu Jiyu pushed himself up with his backhand. He stood, his loose jersey fluttering slightly in the wind, and the boy's slender shadow cast a heavy shadow on the ground beside him. Lu Jiyu was still holding a freshly consumed sports drink. Half of his profile was blurred in the night, the other half was bathed in the soft white light, and his mood seemed unclear.
"It's time to go home. Why aren't you getting up yet?" He stretched out his hand to Zhou Zifang.
Zhou Zifang looked at the time after he reminded him and realized it was already eight o'clock: "Fuck -."
"Time flies every time I'm with you." He smiled and grabbed Lu Jiyu's outstretched hand, using the force to jump up from the ground. He deliberately kicked back, and Lu Jiyu stumbled forward. The two of them bumped into each other: "Hey, bro - are you not full?"
Smiling heartily, the young man is bright and cheerful.
"Don't make me spank you," Lu Jiyu threatened perfunctorily, letting go of his hand and shoving it around Zhou Zifang's shoulder. He turned and walked away, water bottle in hand. Zhou Zifang approached from behind, "Don't run away! Where did you learn all these tricks?"
Lu Jiyu was finally speechless: "Are you mentally retarded?"
"Take my advice. When you meet someone like that, you'll understand. There's no need to think about all those tricks all day long."
As the old saying goes, sincerity is the ultimate weapon.
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