Chapter 54 I can win no matter which class I draw [Second update...]
After the monthly exams, the only major events left this month are the basketball tournament and the sports meet, which everyone has been eagerly anticipating.
That day, just after lunch break, a notice came over the loudspeaker: "Please have your class's sports representative attend a short meeting with the grade group within five minutes."
Jiang Deyu, his face still showing signs of sleep, was pulled up from his seat by Tong Xia.
"Last year's grade-level meeting!"
Jiang Deyu was startled by the sudden, piercing sound in his already dazed mind. He rubbed his ears and said irritably, "Can't you be a little gentler with me? You're going to make me deaf even if I'm not already."
Actually, everyone knew what the meeting was about; it mainly revolved around the basketball game and the sports meet.
Sure enough, a dozen minutes later, Jiang Deyu brought back two booklets bound together with A4 paper from the grade group.
He patted the podium and said, "Everyone, please be quiet. I have something to say."
The basketball tournament at Xunning No. 2 Middle School is held in parallel for all three grades, with no competition between different grades. This means that after the finals, each of the three grades will have a first-place winner.
The competition format for first and second year high school students is more complex, using a round-robin system.
The senior year of high school adopts a single-elimination system, meaning that the winner is determined in one game, and the losing class is eliminated without a second chance.
All sixteen classes, regardless of whether they were arts or science students, were randomly selected and drawn by lot.
"That's just pure luck." Those who understood the rules started complaining. "If two strong classes are put in the same group in the preliminary round, isn't that like a premature final? The rest are lucky, it'll be a bunch of weaklings fighting each other."
"Yeah, if the liberal arts class is a bit luckier, they might just be able to coast into the top three."
There aren't many boys in the liberal arts class to begin with, and even fewer who can play basketball, let alone play it well. If their ranking is lower than that of the liberal arts class, it would be incredibly embarrassing.
"Class 4, Class 7, and Class 10 all have members on the school basketball team. If we face them in the first round, do we even have a chance?"
"Tsk, why are you boosting others' morale while belittling your own?" Jiang Deyu didn't like hearing this. "Are basketball players necessarily that good? Why don't we have a chance? With me here, one of us is worth two."
“Exactly,” Tong Xia chimed in, “I’m worth one and a half.”
After saying that, he pointed at Ji Jingyu and said, "Brother Ji, one of you is worth three!"
The joke eased the tense atmosphere considerably, and someone below teased, "Then the three of you can form a basketball team."
"Don't let Tong Xia go. He'll be carrying half a person on him, and it'll be covered in blood, which won't look good."
"Hahaha……"
—
"The basketball games for senior high school students are too casual."
Unlike the international department at Ligao University, it seems that any activity is more important than studying.
Academics are the least noteworthy aspect of this school.
Before basketball games, the school not only schedules dedicated training time for students but also hires professional basketball coaches to help improve their skills. During the games, the entire international department suspends classes to cheer on the players at the gymnasium, and television stations send reporters to broadcast the games live.
Jiang Sui remembered that Yu Chen had apparently found a few skilled sparring partners back then.
They put on a fancy setup, but in the end, they still lost to other classes.
Jiang Sui felt unlucky thinking about how she had wasted time watching him play basketball!
Yu Xiaocheng sighed, but also expressed her understanding of the school's approach, "After all, we are all in our senior year of high school. Allowing us to participate in the basketball tournament is already an act of 'leniency' from the organization. We certainly cannot meet any more of their demands."
If this were previous graduating classes, they wouldn't even have been able to touch the basketball.
As she spoke, she winked at Jiang Sui, "Do you remember what I told you before?"
"What did you say?"
Yu Xiaocheng had said a lot to her, but Jiang Sui had no idea which sentence she was referring to.
"When the basketball game starts, you'll see everything you want to watch," Yu Xiaocheng whispered.
"so what?"
"When the time comes, you should persuade Brother Ji. It's the last year, so please ask him to be generous this time and not keep things so tightly under wraps."
Her tone was firm, as if Ji Jingyu would never refuse as long as Jiang Sui spoke.
Jiang Sui's lips slowly curved into a smile, and she suddenly realized, "So none of you have seen this before."
"Isn't that right? Brother Ji, the god of stinginess."
Yu Xiaocheng kept sighing, wondering if she would be able to get what she wanted this year.
"No way." Jiang Sui refused without even thinking, her answer righteous and indignant. "It's getting colder now, what if you catch a cold wearing so little?"
"Sharing happiness is worse than enjoying it alone." Yu Xiaocheng's words were pointed.
"But I think it's better to enjoy something alone than to enjoy it with others. I'm happiest when I eat alone."
Jiang Sui revealed a sly smile, reached out and poked Ji Jingyu's arm, and when the other looked over, said, "What do you think, Brother Ji?"
Ji Jingyu was talking to Jiang Deyu at the moment and didn't hear what Jiang Sui said at all, but he still habitually responded, "Mm."
When Yu Xiaocheng met Jiang Sui's smug gaze, she almost turned into a groundhog and screamed again.
My goodness, she's definitely fallen for the real deal this time!
—
Although the school did not really approve of senior students participating in the basketball tournament, Sun Hao still set aside half a self-study period to let Jiang Deyu arrange the relevant matters for the basketball tournament.
Since they had all participated in basketball games before, the team members were basically the same as those from the second year of high school, with only minor changes.
"Time is tight and the task is heavy, so we can only train and practice in our spare time. Although we don't have to represent the school in competitions outside of school, since we have participated, we must do our best. The words 'first-round exit' do not exist in my dictionary..."
Jiang Deyu usually seems unreliable, but this time when he stood on the podium and used his scrawled chalk handwriting to analyze on the blackboard which classes had stronger overall strength, which classes were easier to deal with, and how they should cooperate and train, he actually looked quite serious.
"I'm getting so excited just listening to this." Yu Xiaocheng, sitting in the front row, stared at Jiang Deyu's back and muttered to herself, "He really is something else. Is this what they call a limited-edition skin for a major event?"
The first period of evening self-study had just ended when the classroom loudspeaker came on again.
This time, we notified each class to send one person to last year's grade level to draw lots to determine the opponent in the competition.
Just as Jiang Deyu was about to stand up, Tong Xia pressed him back down.
"what?"
"Don't interfere with the lottery."
Jiang Deyu asked, puzzled, "Why?"
Tong Xia said disdainfully, "With your luck, forget it."
The painful lessons of the past are still vivid in our minds.
"Who in our class is the luckiest?" Tong Xia scanned the classroom and finally settled on Jiang Sui. "Let Jiang Sui go."
"Me?" Jiang Sui, who had just finished solving a trigonometric function problem, was still a little dazed.
"Yes, it's you." Tong Xia's reasoning was quite convincing: "Newcomers bring new atmosphere. You're new to our class, so Lady Luck will definitely smile upon you."
That makes sense.
Tong Xia's absurd reasoning actually gained the approval of many people in the class.
"get out of class is over now, let's go take a look together."
Everyone immediately surrounded Jiang Sui and led her to the grade group.
On the way to the grade group, Jiang Sui finally realized, "If we draw a really strong class and you get eliminated in the first round, then I'll have a lot of responsibility."
Suddenly, Ji Jingyu's light laughter reached her ears, her tone exceptionally arrogant and unrestrained, "You can draw any class you want, I can beat any class you draw."
This was completely unlike his usual style, but it gave Jiang Sui a lot of confidence.
"Then I'll just pick whatever I want."
"Um."
No one will blame Jiang Sui, because he is sure to win.
—
Apart from the students who drew lots, no one dared to enter the grade group office without a reason, so the people who came to watch the excitement all blocked the doorway, making the corridor completely impassable.
The grade head couldn't get rid of them no matter what, so he figured it was the last time anyway and decided to just let them be.
Before entering the office, he warned them, "I'll only let you stay until the lottery is over. If anyone is still lingering here after the lottery, I'll send them to clean the toilets."
The crowd of onlookers included not only students from Class 2, but also students from other classes. Everyone was anxiously waiting for the lottery results, with occasional soft murmurs of discussion.
Ji Jingyu leaned slightly against the wall, a section of her pale wrist peeking out from under her rolled-up school uniform jacket. Her tall and slender figure resembled a sparse, cold moonlight.
His gaze didn't fall on any one person, but remained fixed on the tightly closed door of the grade level.
Not long after, Jiang Sui came out.
Jiang Deyu and Tong Xia immediately surrounded them, their voices urgent, "Which class are we fighting against?"
Jiang Sui opened the note and handed it to him, "Senior Three (12) Class, is this class okay?"
"Ahhh! This class is so great!"
The two boys immediately transformed into Tarzan, stomping their feet and roaring, making Jiang Sui's ears hurt.
In stark contrast to the two of them was the dejected Class 12 sports committee member standing to the side.
If they had known that Class 2 had chosen a pretty girl to draw lots, their class should have sent their prettiest girl to draw lots as well.
The principle of using softness to overcome hardness applies; even heroes cannot resist the charms of a beautiful woman, and his defeat was inevitable.
Jiang Sui tossed the note to Jiang Deyu and quickly scurried back to Ji Jingyu's side. "Mission accomplished. Let's go back."
She hadn't shown that trigonometric function problem to Ji Jingyu for checking yet.
"Walk."
Ji Jingyu had followed Jiang Sui, but now that everything was resolved, he turned around and left decisively.
"Which class? Which class?"
The students in the back row couldn't see what was on the note, but they were still shouting at the top of their lungs.
"Fight Class 12!" Jiang Deyu roared. "Class 2, hurry back to your classrooms, or you'll be caught by the principal and made to clean the toilets."
The words had barely left his mouth when the head of the grade's voice rang out from the office, "You have five seconds to evacuate, five, four,..."
The crowd immediately scattered.
"Jiang Sui's luck is pretty good. It seems like there aren't many tall boys in Class 12."
"Wait, isn't Class 12 the class Chen Xilin is in? She and Brother Ji..."
"No wonder Brother Ji left with a dark face just now; he was probably caught in a dilemma."
Yu Xiaocheng, who was lagging behind, couldn't help but feel annoyed when she heard these rumors.
"At night, anyone walking in a dimly lit place will have a dark face, okay?"
She had just clearly seen that Ji Jingyu's smile never faded as she walked away with Jiang Sui.
“Exactly.” Another girl chimed in, refuting the claim. “You guys are way behind the times. Brother Ji already clarified that he has nothing to do with Chen Xilin.”
"Where was this clarified? I didn't know about it."
“I have that voice message saved. I’ll find it and play it for you later. When we heard it, everyone in the group was shocked.”
"What group? I don't know anything about it."
"You don't know about such a famous group? I'll add you to the group as soon as I get back."
"Is Ji Jingyu in the group too?"
"They're definitely not here."
The girl was taken aback. "Then how come his voice messages are in the group chat?"
"He sent the voice message using a girl's account in the group, but it was in anonymous mode at the time, so no one knew who it was."
The two exchanged a glance and said almost simultaneously, "Holy crap, could it be his girlfriend's account?"
Yu Xiaocheng nodded repeatedly from the shadows.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
