Eighth page
The basketball spun in an arc from Tan Yuze's fingertips, while Leng Yuxuan stood on the sidelines, his slender fingers caressing his wristband.
His eyes were like glaciers washed clean by a torrential rain, cold and dangerous, clashing with Tan Yuze's fiery gaze in mid-air.
"I heard that you've been mentioning my name in front of Ali more often lately than you've mentioned your mother."
Leng Yuxuan suddenly spoke, her voice like it had been drawn from an ice cellar, carrying a chilling aura. Tan Yuze's ball stopped in mid-air, his knuckles clicking crisply. "When did you start getting jealous?"
Tan Yuze slammed the ball hard into the ground; the sound of rubber hitting cement made Leng Yuxuan's eyelashes flutter. He ripped off his wristband and threw it into a bucket of water on the sidelines; the red bruises on his wrists were particularly glaring in the setting sun.
"You dare to challenge me when your hand injury hasn't fully healed?" Leng Yuxuan suddenly lifted her foot and picked up her sneakers, revealing the character "Li" embroidered on the insole. "She helped me choose these shoes yesterday, saying they match my eye color perfectly."
As he bent down to tie his shoelaces, his eyelashes cast fine shadows on his eyelids. "But you, when she bandaged your wound last time, your hands trembled like withered leaves." Tan Yuze's Adam's apple bobbed, and he suddenly shoved the ball toward Leng Yuxuan's feet.
"Then let's have a competition."
Leng Yuxuan nimbly hooked the ball back into Tan Yuze's hands. "You're still the same as ever," Leng Yuxuan raised an eyebrow, "You like to use body language instead of thinking."
Xu Li was sandwiched in the crowd, her headband askew at her temple, the minty hair wax mixed with the salty smell of sweat.
She was clutching two cups of iced lemon tea when she saw Tan Yuze suddenly rip open the collar of his school uniform, revealing a bruise on his collarbone from being hit by a basketball.
"Tan Yuze, don't do anything reckless!" She had barely shouted when Tan Yuze turned around and slammed the ball hard against Leng Yuxuan's shoulder.
The moment the basketball left his hand, Leng Yuxuan nimbly caught it, bending his knees slightly to absorb the force.
"Getting impatient?" He suddenly tossed the ball into the air, executed a perfect behind-the-back dribble, and the ball returned to his palm.
Tan Yuze's eyes narrowed instantly, like a leopard before its hunt. "The stakes should be clear." Leng Yuxuan suddenly ripped off his white shirt, revealing his well-defined chest, with a band-aid on his collarbone resembling a torn wound.
"Whoever makes the tenth three-pointer first will be qualified to watch the meteor shower with Lili tonight."
He tossed his shirt into the bushes by the field, a cluster of wisteria blossoms brushing off his sleeve, petals drifting into Xu Li's milk tea. Tan Yuze's gaze swept over Xu Li's flushed face, then he suddenly tossed the ball high into the air.
"I bet you won't even be able to touch my shadow." He leaped into the air, the ball drawing a perfect arc on his fingertips, but crashing into the backboard with a piercing clang.
Leng Yuxuan caught the rebounding ball and suddenly smashed it towards Tan Yuze's knee, but the ball landed steadily in his palm.
Xu Li's milk tea was suddenly snatched away. She looked up and saw Mu Mu holding a selfie stick: "Sister, if I record this scene and post it online, it will definitely go viral!"
Xu Li rushed to grab it, but Mu Mu nimbly dodged it. On the phone screen, Tan Yuze had just hit his own foot with the ball, and his awkward hopping on one foot was clearly captured.
Leng Yuxuan suddenly tossed the ball high into the air and then leaned back to shoot a classic step-back three-pointer.
The moment the ball swished through the net, his white shirt fluttered in the wind, much like a slow-motion scene in a movie.
Tan Yuze's face instantly darkened like a storm cloud before a downpour. He suddenly slammed the ball towards Leng Yuxuan's back, but he had already rushed to the three-point line. "One!" he roared as he shot the first ball, which bounced high off the rim.
Leng Yuxuan caught it unhurriedly, then suddenly wiped his sweat with the hem of Tan Yuze's jersey: "What's the rush? Ali is still waiting to count our points." Xu Li had just taken a bite of cheesecake when she was suddenly pushed to the center of the court.
Mu Mu held her milk tea above her head: "Sister, count the points quickly!" Xu Li hurriedly wiped the cream off her lips and was about to speak when she saw Leng Yuxuan suddenly shove the ball into her hand.
"The first point is yours." A mischievous glint suddenly flashed in his eyes. "Who told you to sneak some of the limited-edition snacks I gave you today?"
Xu Li's face flushed instantly. She remembered that when she went to his house for tutoring this morning, he deliberately hid imported cookies in his books to tease her.
Tan Yuze's gaze sharpened as if ignited by fire. He suddenly increased the pace of his dribbling, the ball weaving between his legs at a speed like drumming. "Two!"
He leaped up to shoot, and as the ball swished through the net, the warmth of Xu Li's hand still lingered on his thumb. Leng Yuxuan suddenly shoved the ball into Xu Li's hands and retreated to the three-point line.
"Ah Li, count to ten for me." His eyes held a familiar doting affection, completely different from Tan Yuze's fiery gaze.
Just as Xu Li was about to catch the ball, Tan Yuze suddenly appeared behind her, scooped the ball with one hand, and his fingertips brushed against her palm. "Three!" Tan Yuze's ball went into the basket again, and his white sneakers made a screeching sound as they rubbed against the cement ground.
Leng Yuxuan suddenly ripped open his game vest, revealing a light blue bruise on his waist: "I twisted it while playing basketball yesterday. Didn't you say you'd put a plaster on it for me?"
Xu Li's gaze was drawn to his bruises, and she suddenly remembered that last night when she was getting tutoring at Tan Yuze's house, he had also pulled open his clothes to show her the wounds.
A strange emotion welled up in her throat, and she hurriedly turned her face away, only to have Leng Yuxuan suddenly press down on her shoulder. "Four!" As Leng Yuxuan's ball went into the basket, his voice was tinged with laughter, "Ah Li, your heart was beating so fast when you put on the plaster, did you secretly like me?"
Tan Yuze's movements suddenly stopped, and the ball hit the ground with a dull thud. Xu Li's face flushed instantly, and she suddenly splashed the lemon tea in her hand at Leng Yuxuan.
He nimbly dodged to the side, but the tea splashed onto the cuff of his white shirt, leaving a dark stain.
Tan Yuze suddenly slammed the ball into his back, but he had already rushed to the three-point line.
"Five!" His ball went in again, this time he deliberately dragged out the last syllable, as if in a provocation. Leng Yuxuan suddenly tossed the ball into the air, deliberately letting it graz Tan Yuze's ear tip as he caught it.
"Six!" As his ball went into the basket, Tan Yuze's collar still retained the touch of Leng Yuxuan's fingertips. Xu Li suddenly snatched both balls from both of them, gripping them tightly with white knuckles.
She remembered watching the meteor shower together with the three of them in junior high school. Mu Mu deliberately kicked the blanket away, but Leng Yuxuan silently covered her back up.
"Enough!" Her voice echoed in the empty stadium. "You're only making me feel worse."
Leng Yuxuan suddenly shoved the ball into her arms, then knelt down on one knee: "Ali, if a wish can come true during tonight's meteor shower, I'm willing to trade all my luck for a chance with you."
Tan Yuze's hand froze in mid-air, the ball slipping from his fingers with a hollow "clang".
Xu Li looked at the tea stains on Leng Yuxuan's white shirt and suddenly remembered the fever reducer that Tan Yuze had secretly bought for him last week when he had a fever.
Just as she was about to speak, Tan Yuze suddenly tossed the ball high into the air, leaping into the air himself, the ball tracing a perfect arc. "Ten!"
As his ball went into the basket, Leng Yuxuan's ball traced a parallel trajectory in the air. The two landed at the same time, the ball bouncing around their feet, making a series of sounds.
Xu Li suddenly kicked both balls away, and they hit the wall with a dull echo. She pulled down the collar of Tan Yuze's school uniform, her fingertips brushing against the bruise on his collarbone, then turned and lifted Leng Yuxuan's white shirt, her fingertips gliding over the scars on his waist.
The two boys' breaths stopped simultaneously, and an eerie silence fell over the court. "You..." her voice trembled with tears, "one used his wounds to gain sympathy, and the other used romance to get close to him."
She suddenly pulled off the silver necklace around her neck, and the star pendant shimmered in front of them. "This necklace was a gift from Tan Yuze, and these shoes were picked out by Brother Leng."
A day earlier, Xu Li picked up the necklace, took it off, and returned it to Tan Yuze, but he returned it back, saying, "There's no reason to take back something you've given away."
She threw the necklace and shoe insoles into a bucket of water on the sidelines, saying, "Stop using me as a bet!"
Just as Tan Yuze was about to speak, Leng Yuxuan suddenly grabbed his hand, her palm still warm from Xu Li.
"Come on," he said, tearing off his white shirt and throwing it into the bushes by the field. "Let's go and complete her lucky star collection." Tan Yuze was stunned for a moment, then suddenly he was pulled by him and rushed towards the fireworks stall at the school gate.
Xu Li stood in the center of the field, watching their figures disappear into the distance, one after the other. The setting sun cast their shadows long, like a flowing ink painting.
The wind chimes by the stadium suddenly tinkled, startling a flock of sparrows returning to their nests and shattering the twilight.
As fireworks exploded in the night sky, the shadows of the two boys overlapped, just like when they watched a meteor shower side by side in junior high school.
Xu Li clenched the lucky star in her palm when she suddenly heard two voices say at the same time: "Ah Li, make a wish, I promise it will come true." She looked up and saw two familiar faces in the glow of the fireworks, one cold and one warm, but both with an unprecedented seriousness.
When the fireworks exploded in the night sky, it looked like countless shooting stars streaking across the sky at the same time.
Tan Yuze and Leng Yuxuan stood side by side in front of Xu Li, each holding a nearly burnt-out sparkler in their hands. Sparks crackled and fell, leaving patches of red.
Xu Li clutched the star pendant, her knuckles pale in the starlight. She remembered the three of them crammed into the general store at the alley entrance when they were in junior high. The fireworks that Leng Yuxuan bought with his pocket money were always the first to go out, while Tan Yuze always managed to find the brightest one.
She was young then and didn't understand the taste of love. She only felt that they were like the flames of fireworks, seemingly parallel, yet intertwined to create the most magnificent patterns.
“Ah Li,” Leng Yuxuan suddenly spoke, his voice as if purified by the cold wind, carrying a faint chill, “You always said you wanted to marry me when you were little.”
He gripped the sparkler with white knuckles, sparks splashing onto the unhealed wound on his wrist, but he seemed oblivious to the pain. "When you secretly bandaged my wound that day, your hands were shaking even more than they are now."
Tan Yuze's breath hitched. He remembered the two characters "Yuxuan" that Xu Li had written on a sticky note when Xu Li came to his house for tutoring last week. The strokes were light, yet they were powerful enough to penetrate the paper.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and he suddenly grabbed Xu Li's wrist, pressing the star pendant into her palm.
"Do you know that this star pendant was made from the medal I won in my first competition?" He traced the lines on the back of her hand with his fingertips, as if trying to etch something. "I gave it to you, but I didn't have the courage to tell you that I actually wanted to wear it around your neck."
Xu Li's palms gradually became damp with sweat, and a faint mark was left on her palm by the falling star.
She remembered that last week when she was getting tutoring at Tan Yuze's house, he deliberately threw a ball into the fish tank, and the splashing water wet her hair. He took the opportunity to stuff the star pendant into her schoolbag.
“You…” She was about to speak when Leng Yuxuan suddenly grabbed her hand. “Ah Li,” he suddenly shoved a half-burnt sparkler into her hand, sparks landing on the bruise on her wrist, “if you throw this sparkler into my arms now, I’ll consider it a loss.”
Tan Yuze's hand froze in mid-air, his white school uniform stained with blood in the glow of the fireworks.
Xu Li's fingers trembled slightly, and the sparks from the sparklers danced in her palm, as if testing the temperature of her heart.
She remembered last week when she was getting tutoring at Leng Yuxuan's house, he deliberately spilled coffee on her notebook and then lent her his school uniform. That white shirt, still warm from his body heat, still smelled of laundry detergent on the cuffs.
But when she returned the school uniform to him, she saw Tan Yuze standing downstairs at his house, his hair still covered with unmelted raindrops.
She suddenly threw the sparkler at Tan Yuze, and sparks drew an arc in the air.
Leng Yuxuan's hand suddenly covered the back of her hand, with such force that it seemed he wanted to knead her into his palm.
"You..." Xu Li's face flushed instantly. She struggled to pull her hand back, but saw that there was a small hole in the cuff of Leng Yuxuan's white shirt from a spark, as if someone had bitten him.
Tan Yuze suddenly slammed the ball into the ground, the sound of rubber hitting cement making Xu Li's eardrums ache.
He ripped open the collar of his school uniform, revealing a bruise on his collarbone from being hit by a basketball. "Ah Li," he said, his voice burning with a scorching heat.
"You said you liked my basketball, so don't let anyone else touch it." Xu Li's breath hitched. She remembered last week when she was getting tutoring at Tan Yuze's house, he deliberately threw the ball at her face, but blocked it with his body just before it hit her.
At that moment, the hem of his white school uniform was stained with ink, yet he smiled like a triumphant fox. Just as she was about to speak, she heard Leng Yuxuan suddenly pull up his white shirt, revealing a light blue bruise on his waist.
“Ah Li,” his voice suddenly became hoarse, as if it had been sanded, “didn’t you say my eyes were just like the evening breeze in midsummer?”
He ripped off his blindfold, revealing a faint scar at the corner of his right eye. "This is from when you shielded me from the glass last week." Tan Yuze's movements suddenly stopped, his white sneakers screeching on the cement floor.
He recalled that last week when he was getting tutoring at Leng Yuxuan's house, Xu Li suddenly took off his blindfold and said that Leng Yuxuan's eyes had more stories to tell than his.
He was so angry that he slammed the ball against the wall, but when Xu Li ran over in a panic, he deliberately pretended to be nonchalant. Xu Li's fingers suddenly grabbed the hem of Tan Yuze's school uniform, her knuckles turning white as she clenched it.
She remembered that last week when she was getting tutoring at Leng Yuxuan's house, he deliberately put an eye mask over her eyes, saying he wanted to teach her to distinguish the stars.
While he was tutoring at Tan Yuze's house, he secretly placed a telescope he had bought online by her window after she fell asleep.
"You..." Xu Li's voice trembled with tears, "One used wounds to gain sympathy, and the other used romance to get close to you."
She suddenly kicked both of their balls away, the balls hitting the wall with a dull echo. Just as she was about to turn around, Leng Yuxuan suddenly grabbed her wrist.
"Ah Li," he suddenly shoved the ball into her arms, then knelt down on one knee. "If you throw the ball into my arms now, I'll consider it a loss." Tan Yuze's hand froze in mid-air, his white school uniform stained crimson in the glow of the fireworks.
Xu Li's fingers trembled slightly, the ball leaving a deep mark on her palm. She remembered last week when she was getting tutoring at Leng Yuxuan's house, he deliberately stuffed his books into her bag, but took the opportunity to put the ball in as well.
But as she was leaving, Tan Yuze secretly slipped the ball into Leng Yuxuan's bag. "Enough!" Her voice echoed in the empty court. "You're only making me feel worse."
Xu Li spoke slowly, her voice trembling slightly: "I...I want to be alone. You...go back first."
As soon as she finished speaking, she turned and walked away quickly, leaving the two boys standing there, the atmosphere filled with tension and unease.
Tan Yuze's gaze followed Xu Li's retreating figure closely, his eyes revealing reluctance and worry. He wanted to catch up, but his legs felt as heavy as lead.
Leng Yuxuan sighed softly and patted Tan Yuze on the shoulder: "Give her some time. There are some things she needs to figure out herself."
Tan Yuze nodded with difficulty, his eyes filled with disappointment. Xu Li walked alone on the path home, the streetlights casting long shadows of her.
She kept recalling the moments she spent with the two boys—the laughter, the arguments—which had now become a heavy burden on her heart. She had never imagined that she would become the focus of their disputes, nor had she ever imagined the complex emotions intertwined with their friendship.
It was such a complicated and difficult decision. She stopped and looked at the sky shrouded in night, silently making a wish: "I hope everything can have a happy ending."
Then, she took a deep breath and continued walking home, her steps heavy, but each step more determined.
Because she knows that some paths must be walked alone, and some choices must be made by herself.
"I'll honor my bet and never go near Xu Li again."
“… …” He choked up and couldn’t speak.
"Brother, think positively. This way you can pursue her openly and honestly, isn't that good?" Leng Yuxuan patted Tan Yuze on the back.
"They're gone."
Only Tan Yuze remained in the vast space.
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