Chapter 8: Bet "I don't want to."
"Wait, I feel like something's wrong." Yu Xiang thought about it and realized the problem. "You won't be short of people to play with you."
Those girls just now were still inviting me enthusiastically!
"Their level is not high enough. I need a high-level opponent." Jiang Ci said slowly, "And I prefer one-on-one."
Yu Xiang: “That’s a lot to ask.”
Jiang Ci: "The ball is in my hands."
Yu Xiang: “…”
"I agree." Yu Xiang hesitated for a moment before finally giving up. "Long-term means long-term."
Anyway, Zhang Miao and the others weren't really that interested in badminton. They played with him before mostly because they couldn't bear to let Yu Xiang be alone.
In their words, it is to be a qualified younger brother.
If he plays against Jiang Ci from now on, Yu Xiang will have a good reason to let the two middle school boys play their favorite basketball.
"Deal." Jiang Ci didn't say anything extra.
The two reached an agreement on this, found a windless place and started.
Yu Xiang originally thought that Jiang Ci would be rusty after not fighting for so long, but the facts proved that his strength was still as good as before, and he could fight with him back and forth on equal terms.
But this situation did not last long.
"Excuse me, excuse me!" They had been fighting for more than ten minutes when a boy standing nearby called out to them.
Yu Xiang was enjoying his game, and felt a little annoyed at being interrupted. He turned to look at the person, searching his memory for the face, and finally realized that the person was from the same grade as him.
Anyway, they had probably only met a few times, and he didn't even know her name.
"Classmate, I've been watching you for a long time." The boy looked at Yu Xiang with great enthusiasm. "I noticed you last semester."
Yu Xiang was completely confused: "So?"
Jiang Ci also walked towards this side with his long legs. On the way, he bent down to pick up the ball that fell on the ground, and stood beside Yu Xiang in silence.
But Jiang Ci was taller than both of them. Even if he didn't say a word, his presence was strong enough just by standing there, so much so that the boy who was running straight towards Yu Xiang couldn't help but look at him.
Yu Xiang followed the man's gaze and looked at Jiang Ci, and subconsciously blurted out: "Let's make it clear first, we will definitely not lend you the ball."
Jiang Ci: "..."
"Hahahaha, no, I'm not here to borrow the ball. I mean, you're pretty good at playing, and I want to play against you." The boy was stunned at first, then he couldn't hold back his laughter. "I don't have any opponents in our class. It's so boring."
Yu Xiang finally understood.
It turns out I was here to challenge you.
Given Yu Xiang's personality, he would naturally gladly accept such a challenge, but he had just promised Jiang Ci a dozen minutes ago...
"Well." Yu Xiang frowned slightly in confusion and fell into a brief contemplation.
"You don't dare, do you?"
"How is that possible?" Yu Xiang immediately retorted, and before finishing, he raised his chin towards Jiang Ci and said, "You have to ask him if he's willing."
The boy didn't understand Yu Xiang's meaning for a moment: "I want to fight with you, not him."
"Yes, if you want to fight me, you have to ask him." Yu Xiang looked puzzled.
What he said shouldn't be so difficult to understand, right?
"Can't you decide for yourself?" The boy was even more confused.
Yu Xiang shook his head firmly: "No."
"Okay." Although the boy was confused, he still did as he was told and asked Jiang Ci awkwardly, "Then are you willing to..."
Jiang Ci: "I don't want to."
"No, why should I get your consent to invite him?" The boy felt a little embarrassed after being rejected so bluntly by Jiang Ci, and his tone of voice was a little dissatisfied.
"This is none of your business." Jiang Ci was not affected at all. He even turned to Yu Xiang calmly and said, "Let's continue."
"Wait!" The boy was anxious. He quickly stopped them and negotiated with them, "Just play two rounds, score, whoever reaches 15 points first wins!"
"What do you think?" Jiang Ci asked Yu Xiang calmly.
"I think it's okay?" Yu Xiang said immediately, seeing that there was still hope. "It's just two rounds, a matter of minutes."
So Jiang Ci turned to the boy and said, "A hand."
Yu Xiang: “?”
Boy: “?!”
"If you have any objections, then don't fight at all."
"Just one!" The boy was obviously very dissatisfied with Jiang Ci, but seeing Yu Xiang's attitude of "I'll listen to him anyway", he was afraid that they wouldn't be able to fight at all, so he had to agree first.
"I'll be the referee." Jiang Ci said as he retreated to the sidelines.
"You have to make sure it's fair." The boy was not so confident in him.
Jiang Ci glanced at him and said, "If you don't believe me, I can call a teacher to be your referee."
"Then there's no need to make such a big fuss." The boy stood where Jiang Ci had been standing before, holding his racket. "I'm ready."
"Who's serving?" Jiang Ci asked.
"Let him serve first." Yu Xiang said directly.
Jiang Ci threw the ball to the boy.
When the competition officially started, Yu Xiang found that this person was indeed capable, and the saying "no rival" was not an exaggeration.
But he wasn't beaten to the point where he couldn't resist.
The score between the two is so close that it is difficult to determine who will win or lose.
"Sure, buddy. I was right about you!" The boy started to get excited and swung the racket harder. The sound of the racket breaking through the wind caused by the high-speed swinging could be clearly heard.
"You're not bad either!" Yu Xiang took a step forward and hit the ball back at a tricky angle.
In the end, Yu Xiang won with a narrow advantage of one point.
Although only a few minutes had passed, both players were sweating profusely and their breathing became rapid after the game.
"Jiang Ci, where's my water?" Yu Xiang walked towards Jiang Ci and asked as he walked.
"Don't drink water right after exercising." Jiang Ci naturally reached out and took the racket from Yu Xiang's hand. "Rest here for a while first."
"Great! By the way, buddy, what's your name? I forgot to ask." The boy strode over, looking like he was still eager to get more.
"Aftersound."
"What two words are they?"
"Yu means surplus every year, and Xiang means constant thinking will surely bring about a response." Yu Xiang answered fluently and then asked, "What about you?"
"Oh, my name is Kang Jinghui, from Class 7. You should be from Class 4, right?"
"Yes." Yu Ying responded and turned to look at Jiang Ci: "I've rested well. Where's my water?"
"Here." While Yu Xiang and Kang Jinghui were talking, Jiang Ci had already gone to get Yu Xiang's bottle of drink.
"Thanks." Yu Xiang said as he unscrewed the bottle cap, tilted his head back and took a big sip.
"Can we play again?" Kang Jinghui had already put aside all his dissatisfaction with Jiang Ci. "I haven't had such a good time playing in a long time. Can we play again?"
"I don't care. I still have to look at him." Yu Xiang thought that Jiang Ci had better get such a good ball every time, otherwise it would be a big loss. "I signed a bully clause with him."
"Ah? What is that?" Kang Jinghui was full of questions.
"Nothing." Yu Xiang took another sip.
"Are you still going to fight? Come on, Yu Xiang!"
The three of them looked in the direction of the sound and saw that many girls had gathered in a circle at some point in time. They must have been attracted by the competition that had just happened.
"Wow, you're so popular. It's true that being handsome is good." Kang Jinghui's words were filled with envy. "The girls in my class only know how to insult me all day long."
"Don't feel inferior, you're not ugly." Yu Xiang wasn't very good at comforting people, so he said after thinking for a few seconds.
"But not handsome either." Kang Jinghui smiled bitterly.
"Let's have another round? You saw it, it doesn't take long. One more round and I'll give him back to you." Kang Jinghui then shifted his target to Jiang Ci.
"You can try playing a game with me." Jiang Ci's expression was indifferent.
"...You?" Kang Jinghui began to hesitate, "I've never seen you play badminton before."
"Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean I won't."
"Then I have conditions." Kang Jinghui had a flash of inspiration and his eyes lit up.
"Tell me about it."
Kang Jinghui mustered up his courage and said, "If I beat you, you can no longer stop me from fighting Yu Xiang."
But Jiang Ci's momentum was even stronger than his: "Deal, but what if you lose?"
Kang Jinghui said generously: "You can set the conditions, as long as they are not too outrageous, I can accept them."
"Okay." Jiang Ci responded calmly, "If you lose, don't play with him again."
"good."
The two quickly reached a consensus, leaving Yu Xiang dumbfounded. "Hey... no, did you two ask for my opinion before using me as a bet?"
Such a hasty decision?!
Are you kidding me?!
Jiang Ci: "If you have any opinions, please speak up."
Yu Xiang stared at him for five seconds, then waved his hand helplessly: "Forget it, I have no objection, do whatever you want."
"Then I'll trouble you to be the referee."
Yu Xiang stood in the referee's position with a lot of lawsuits on his mind.
Although Jiang Ci was the one taking the stage, the number of onlookers only increased, both men and women, all of them came to watch the fun.
Yu Xiang almost suspected that Jiang Ci wanted to take the opportunity to show off and act cool because there were so many people around.
It can't be some ridiculous reason like not wanting him to play basketball with others, right?
"Are you ready?" Yu Xiang looked at the two people on the field with mixed feelings.
"Ready!" Kang Jinghui answered energetically.
Jiang Ci just nodded slightly in response.
"Then whoever has the ball will serve." Yu Xiang played casually.
In the last round, the ball fell in Kang Jinghui's half of the court, and he was the first to serve.
Probably because he was betting on his future partner, Kang Jinghui seemed to be even more serious in this game than in the previous one against Yu Xiang. His expression was extremely serious and his serve was very powerful.
The ball that was hit out almost became a white shadow in the air. If you reacted slowly, you might not be able to catch it.
But Jiang Ci reacted quickly.
Not only did he catch it, he even hit the ball back perfectly.
A beautiful spike.
Kang Jinghui stared at the ball intently, his feet moving along with it, but he still managed to catch it with a narrow margin.
Precisely because it was so dangerous, the shot was not played very well. Jiang Ci on the opposite side was well prepared and hit it back easily.
And it was another dunk.
This time Kang Jinghui failed to catch the call.
Jiang Ci scored the first point.
The crowd watching on the sidelines couldn't help but cheer.
Yu Xiang silently took note of this point and his gaze lingered on Jiang Ci for a while.
He didn't know if it was his illusion, but he always felt that Jiang Ci's playing this time was more... ruthless than ever before.
Judging from his aura, if you know that he is playing basketball, you would think that someone stole something important from him and is angry about it.
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