Chapter 14
The standard rules for water polo are a seven-on-seven match, including two goalkeepers.
Except for the goalkeeper, no other player may touch the ball with both hands at the same time, and no single player may control the ball for more than 30 seconds during an attack.
However, since not many people were planning to play a formal match, it was eventually simplified to five-on-five with no goalkeeper.
The red team consists of Lin Langyi, Yuan Fei, Xiao Pucheng, Yuan Yinghe, and Miao Yuanju.
The blue team consists of Chu Hong, Zhuang Lan, Tao Shu, Yuan Chuyu, and Wen Yangyu.
There were three men and two women in the group. However, Lin Langyi and the Yuan siblings, who were on the same team, were playing for the first time. Tao Shu politely asked Lin Langyi if he wanted to let her win a few balls, but Chu Hong strongly refused.
“How is she acting like a woman? She even wanted to wear a swimming cap, she was so serious!” Chu Hong said, keeping a close watch on his wallet for the next three months, “Don’t let your guard down.”
Lin Langyi wanted to tie her hair up, but she didn't get the swimming cap in the end, so she had to settle for a bun instead.
The ball was placed in the middle of the field, and both the red and blue teams swam towards the middle from their goals. Yuan Chuyu got the ball first.
As expected, Xiao Pucheng had said before the competition that Yuan Chuyu was a skilled swimmer and that no one here could compete with him in terms of basic skills.
The red team immediately dispersed, approaching the blue team members one by one and standing guard beside them.
Lin Langyi stared at Chu Hong, who was waving his arms and legs at Yuan Chuyu, signaling to pass the ball to him.
Yuan Chuyu scanned the area around, then with a flick of his arm, accurately passed the ball to Wen Yangyu.
As soon as the opponent raised his hand, Miao Yuanju immediately tried to pounce, but Wen Yangyu was faster and, in a moment of desperation, passed the ball back.
Yuan Chuyu spread his five fingers and steadily controlled the ball in mid-air. He spun to the left, and before Xiao Pucheng could raise his hand to block the pass, he stretched his shoulders, twisted his body, and made a long shot over everyone.
That was a beautiful goal.
"He can make a 25-meter long pass." Xiao Pucheng didn't forget to reveal his friend's secret to warn his teammates.
Yuan Yinghe gets the ball, and the roles of offense and defense are reversed.
The ball was passed back and forth between Xiao Pucheng, Yuan Yinghe, and Miao Yuanju. Just before the countdown for the attack started, Yuan Yinghe suddenly threw the ball to Lin Langyi.
Chu Hong didn't expect that the first shot would be given to Lin Langyi. He tried to block the shot by treading water, but Lin Langyi jumped three times to feint and then lowered his position, hitting the water under Chu Hong's raised arm and scoring.
"So you really know how to have fun?" Yuan Yinghe smiled and wiped his face. Yuan Fei, soaking in the water, didn't forget to cheer for Lin Langyi.
When Yuan Chuyu got the ball again, he dribbled it and the ball was obediently held in front of him by his arm. After being blocked by his opponent several times, he rotated his forearm inward and threw the ball directly to Chu Hong.
Just as Chu Hong was about to catch the ball, Lin Langyi suddenly cut in from the side and rear, stretching out her arm to snatch it away.
He was startled, not expecting her to be so agile in the water. With a ferocious expression, he pounced on her, snatched the ball, and threw it directly at the goal without even looking.
The ball hit the goalpost with a "thud" and bounced back.
Lin Langyi lunged forward, took control of the ball, bent his leg and turned, his whole body quickly and smoothly twisting its direction, swimming straight towards the opponent's goal.
Yuan Chuyu quickly caught up with her, and Lin Langyi swayed to the left, his arm already encircling her.
She immediately used a scissor-like motion to swerve through the water, suddenly changing direction and diving to the right like a fish, with Yuan Chuyu already close in.
The underwater space suddenly compressed, and Lin Langyi kicked his thigh hard as she treaded water.
That wasn't the end of it. She didn't pull her leg back in time, and her toes quickly brushed against his thigh skin as they moved upwards. Even with his superb swimming skills, he couldn't avoid it in time. Suddenly, his left hand sank underwater and forcefully grabbed her ankle.
At least she didn't kick it.
The two exchanged a brief glance. Yuan Chuyu seemed to slow down for a moment before instantly releasing his grip on her ankle.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Lin Langyi passed the ball to Yuan Fei. Zhuang Lan was right next to her and immediately grabbed Yuan Fei's skirt. Yuan Fei was startled and immediately threw the ball to Xiao Pucheng as if it were a hot potato.
Xiao Pucheng leaped high into the air, straightened his arm, and unleashed a powerful shot from his waist. The ball flew into the net at high speed, scoring another point.
He proudly held up one finger: "I heard that professional players can reach a speed of 70 kilometers per hour when they throw the ball at full power. Do you think I'm up to the task?"
After the goal was scored, Lin Langyi finally had a chance to glance at Yuan Chuyu, but he had his back to her and did not react.
Water polo encourages physical contact, and referees are generally stricter on fouls committed on the water than on underwater fouls.
This makes water polo a highly competitive sport in official matches. Underwater cameras record the violent and intense fighting, which is why audiences often say that "it's more exciting underwater than on the surface."
Unfortunately, this was a rather informal competition, and there were no underwater cameras, so people weren't going to be so concerned about it.
Chu Hong was fed the ball by Yuan Chu Yu again, but his shot was still interfered with and bounced off the post. Amidst the screams, Tao Shu grabbed the rebounding ball and shot again, finally scoring.
"Your arm strength is pretty good," Lin Langyi praised as she swam past Tao Shu. "Nice shot!"
Tao Shu made a bitter face: "I have to do those swan arm exercises every day."
Lin Langyi: "Hahahahahahaha."
While scrambling for the ball, Miao Yuanju suddenly yelled in a panic, "Referee!!" Before anyone could react, he followed up angrily, "Wen Yangyu fouled! He almost pulled my swim trunks down!!"
"puff……"
Xiao Pucheng burst into laughter: "Good, good, I've seen this scene in professional matches."
The timer stopped, and several men surrounded Miao Yuanju while laughing, trying to prevent him from exposing himself.
Wen Yangyu suppressed his laughter and apologized frantically, admitting that it was part of the tactic, but he didn't expect the swim trunks to be so slippery, and even more slippery in the water, and he lost his sense of proportion for a moment.
Miao Yuanju was furious and splashed a handful of water on his face.
Several girls blushed and moved away, but Lin Langyi insisted on listening carefully to everything that was happening. When Miao Yuanju called out "Referee" for the first time, she curiously turned her head to look.
Before she could even see anything, a figure flashed before her eyes, and Yuan Chuyu blocked her view completely.
Then Lin Langyi heard the second half of Miao Yuanju's accusation.
She didn't know what she was thinking; on a whim, she subconsciously looked down into the water.
Yuan Chuyu followed her gaze downwards, and the two of them simultaneously noticed a distinct fresh red mark on his thigh, which was visible even through the gentle ripples of the water.
"No..." Lin Langyi stammered, instinctively reaching out to touch it before realizing it was inappropriate. "Could this be something I did?"
The swimming trunks incident was making a commotion not far away. In front of her, Yuan Chuyu slowly rubbed the red mark back and forth with his index finger, as if to soothe her, or more like to entice her to look in this direction. After lingering for a moment, he pressed hard on the reddest spot.
He had fair skin and was usually impeccably dressed, appearing tall, elegant, and extremely refined. However, once he took off his clothes, he revealed a remarkably well-defined physique with strong, toned muscles, broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and clearly defined abdominal muscles.
Because the person looks thin, their skin is exceptionally translucent, like the texture of jade. A thin layer of skin clings tightly to strong muscles, with very obvious bluish-green veins on it.
Lin Langyi saw the blue veins spreading on his lower abdomen, just like the red marks on his legs, rising and falling slightly with his breathing.
In a daze, she remembered that this was the waist of a butterfly swimmer—firm and powerful.
“It’s not your fault. I’m very prone to allergies. I went to the hospital for a checkup before, and the doctor said…” Yuan Chuyu drew a cross on his arm with his fingernail, “For most people, these marks will fade quickly, but for me they last a long time. It’s called dermatographic urticaria.”
"Ah, I'm sorry..." Lin Langyi compared the marks and found that the one she made was heavier, probably because she used too much force at the time.
"It's nothing." Yuan Chuyu smiled slightly, then slowly traced the mark on her thigh with his fingers, drawing her gaze back to it.
Lin Langyi then noticed a thin blue vein on the knuckle of his index finger, which became particularly noticeable when he exerted force, giving off a sense of intimidating violence hidden beneath his impeccably dressed demeanor, like a gun with its safety on.
"Come on, let's keep going!"
Lin Langyi suddenly came to her senses.
Xiao Pucheng called out to his men, "Have you all put your pants on yet?"
Another burst of laughter followed, and the game continued.
Several players scored goals, but Yuan Chuyu was the most impressive.
He scored three backhand goals with his back to the basket, which was absolutely superb. It gave me the illusion of a professional player smurfing in a bronze-level game. He made the inward rotation of his arm as simple as breathing, maintaining just the right amount of accuracy and power.
If you play like that every time, what's the point of playing?
The first quarter is over, and the red team has six fewer balls than the blue team.
With only two minutes left before the start of the second quarter, Xiao Pucheng took the opportunity to gather everyone together to discuss: "We need to change our mindset in the second quarter and adjust our offense and defense. They are basically relying on A Yu to score, so we need to keep an eye on him."
Maintaining a water polo buoy requires continuous treading to stay afloat and keep the upper body stable, which is extremely physically demanding.
Lin Langyi said, "After the first quarter, I saw that Chu Hong and Zhuang Lan were already exhausted. The pace of scoring in the second quarter will definitely not be as fast. We can pick two people to guard Yuan Chuyu, one person to guard Wen Yangyu, and the remaining two people to guard three people."
All three men said they were willing to defend against Yuan Chuyu.
Unexpectedly, after a moment's thought, Xiao Pucheng suddenly gave Lin Langyi a strange smile.
He suggested, "You come with me to defend against Ayu."
Everyone was stunned.
Lin Langyi did seem to be breathing smoothly, had decent stamina, and was a good swimmer. Despite having both men and women on the field, it was still absurd to expect her to defend against Yuan Chuyu.
Yuan Yinghe disagreed, stating that in competitive sports, if your weight is not in the same class, you simply cannot win against your opponent.
Lin Langyi suddenly clapped her hands, realizing something: "Are you trying to say that I'm the inferior horse in the story of Tian Ji's horse race? So you're saying that I'm the inferior horse, and then you'll all be defeated one by one?"
A good angle; everyone suddenly understood.
Out of the corner of his eye, Xiao Pucheng saw Yuan Pingran gracefully walking towards them from a distance. He was about to shake his head and say that it wasn't like that, it was because...
But when the time came, Yuan Pingran sat on a beach chair, ready to watch the game. Everyone took their places, leaving Xiao Pucheng with only one meaningful remark:
"Hmm...that's not the reason, but I think that if I put you in charge of guarding against Ayu, you might not be a bad choice."
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