“Not your bro…..”
This time, it was Liu Xie’s turn to nudge Zhu Niao, who was drinking water, with her elbow.
Come to think of it, the girls watching on the sidelines hadn’t done anything at all, but somehow they were drinking even more water than the players on the court.
“Your Gou Yu is a bit much, isn’t he? How is he still able to dunk?” Liu Xie’s look at Gou Yu was already no longer how you’d look at a normal person.
No, it wasn’t even like she was looking at a person anymore.
Beside her, Ye Qingchang added, “And just now, when he jumped, it felt like his head almost hit the backboard, right?”
Zhu Niao, on the other hand, didn’t seem surprised, looking casual as she waved her hand. “It’s normal. Probably trained up that wall-climbing ability while delivering food. After all, he is a gold-medal delivery rider.”
That’s what she said, but the little bird’s lips couldn’t hide the smile creeping up, like the one being praised wasn’t Gou Yu, but herself.
Then, when her gaze shifted to Yang Shuli, who was busy munching away, the tiny dorm leader froze, a bit of food still on her lips, looking blank. “The game started?”
“It’s fine, kid, just eat your food.”
So Yang Shuli went back to gnawing her beef jerky, which seemed pretty tough. Watching Yang Shuli chomp down bite after bite, Zhu Niao couldn’t help but mentally add the sound effects of a pixel person eating.
A sharp whistle rang out, and all the players on the court stopped moving, heading to their respective sidelines.
Bouncing over was Gou Yu.
He didn’t yell at anyone, nor did he act all arrogant—he just strutted up to Zhu Niao with a smug look on his face.
“小鸟小鸟, did you see just now?”
Zhu Niao folded her arms and turned her head away from Gou Yu. “Didn’t see it.”
“You didn’t see your dad’s awesome, dashing form? Bro feels like we’ve already won most of it. I’ve already psychologically intimidated the other side.” Gou Yu ran his hand through his hair as he spoke, like he was about to slick it back.
“Then why not just blow the whistle now and declare you the winner?” Zhu Niao shot back at the showboating Gou Yu.
“Actually, that wouldn’t be so bad.” Gou Yu thought for a moment. “How about this, if your dad wins this round, you treat me to iced black tea afterward.”
He held up two middle fingers side by side: “Two liters, okay?”
“Isn’t that basically like a soldier saying, ‘When I win the war, I’ll come back and get married’?” Zhu Niao really wanted to cover this guy’s mouth when he spoke.
“If you want me to say that, I can.”
“If you dare, I’ll buy you room-temperature iced black tea and hold it in my arms to warm it up first.” The little bird started pointing at Gou Yu’s nose, threatening him.
Maybe because they got onto this topic, Gou Yu suddenly remembered something, pinched his chin and thought for a moment, then spoke: “Little bird, you’re from Jiangxi, right?”
“Yeah, so what?” Zhu Niao wasn’t surprised Gou Yu knew her hometown.
Gou Yu looked Zhu Niao up and down, at her white dress. “Then you’re really a noblewoman.”
Yet another classic bride price joke.
It took Zhu Niao two or three seconds of brain lag before she reacted, and then she laughed in exasperation, poking Gou Yu’s chest with her finger: “Then you’re from Shandong, what are you, a tall one?”
“Damn right! If I’m not a tall guy, who is? I’m basically a flying man.”
Realizing her banter sounded like a compliment, Zhu Niao raised her fist and started aiming for Gou Yu’s kidney.
This was probably the lightest Zhu Niao had ever hit someone, since Gou Yu still had a game to play later—she couldn’t use full force.
Otherwise, she definitely wouldn’t have felt sorry for Gou Yu, definitely not.
While Zhu Niao and Gou Yu were horsing around, Xu Nian started eating beef jerky with Yang Shuli—off the same piece.
You take a bite, I take a bite, all lovey-dovey.
It gave Liu Xie, watching from the side, goosebumps.
“Can’t those two just buy two pieces of beef jerky? Sharing one huge piece, I feel like they’re about to chew into each other’s spit.” The golden-haired one hugged herself.
“This is normal, isn’t it? The dorm leader’s handed off leftovers to Xu Nian before. They’re bros, it’s nothing.” Ye Qingchang shrugged.
Liu Xie paused.
Yeah, between brothers, there really wasn’t anything to it.
Maybe it was because she’d been living with Liu Anran lately and it had unsettled her so much that she was even doubting the bonds between brothers now.
Was it possible that the dorm leader and Xu Nian, and her own little brother, were all fine, and the only one with a problem was her?
She was the one having inappropriate thoughts about her own brother?
No, no, no.
That’s way too terrifying, way too impossible.
If she really was having those sorts of thoughts about Liu Anran, that’d be a total disaster.
She felt like she wouldn’t be able to stay at home anymore.
Wait, actually, her parents seemed pretty supportive of the two of them.
No way!
The golden-haired one shook her head like a rattle drum.
Ye Qingchang glanced at Liu Xie, then at Liu Anran drinking water beside her.
She couldn’t be bothered to wonder if the second blonde had lost her mind. After all, her brother was right there to take care of her.
What she needed to do now—
She took a sports drink out of the plastic bag and looked over to the other side, where Xiao Yi’an was also at the edge of the court.
There was one for Xiao Yi’an, too, but she was sitting far away from everyone.
Who knew if it was because she couldn’t blend in, or if she was just keeping her distance.
Maybe it was because of the conversation Zhu Niao and Liu Xie had with her earlier, the almost-guidance in their words—now, just looking at Xiao Yi’an filled Ye Qingchang with fatigue.
She wondered, did she really need to go this far for Xiao Yi’an?
Yes, she had lied to Xiao Yi’an, but she’d also saved her.
Guiding Xiao Yi’an to not put all her hopes on her white moonlight, to love life itself—that was something she’d been working on, and it seemed to be yielding results.
Xiao Yi’an had shared all sorts of things with her main account: what she’d eaten, the recent basketball training, saying it brought back the feeling of high school.
Xiao Yi’an had really listened, and was truly trying to fill up her shriveled, dependent life with other things.
She had already done so much.
She had already gone above and beyond.
She was tired.
When you go all out and still don’t get any positive feedback, it’s exhausting.
She knew that Xiao Yi’an just didn’t want to be accused of “falling for someone else.” As soon as someone touched the white moonlight in her heart, she’d have a stress reaction.
Neither of them was wrong, but Ye Qingchang just didn’t want to torment herself anymore—didn’t want to keep being the good guy this way.
In the end, after saving Xiao Yi’an, everything after was just her own wishful thinking, her own stubbornness, making herself uncomfortable.
So she wouldn’t be stubborn anymore.
She was done playing—she was giving up.
Since she’d already done so much, why couldn’t she give up?
Why did she have to clean up after Xiao Yi’an until the very end, always being the good person?
Ye Qingchang squeezed the plastic bottle a little tighter, took a deep breath, and still forced out a smile.
At least she still had a tiny bit of patience left, like a little boat in the middle of a raging sea.
“Classmate Xiao, have some water.”
Xiao Yi’an turned her head to see Ye Qingchang walking toward her with the water.
Of all people, it was Ye Qingchang—only Ye Qingchang.
He had brought his own water, so he couldn’t tell if Ye Qingchang’s gesture was friendly concern, concern for a fellow player, or something else. After all, that confession was still fresh in his mind.
So he frowned slightly, stepped back half a step, and thought.
Looking at Ye Qingchang’s faint smile, he felt like there was something else mixed in.
If it was just concern between friends, he’d accept it, but he couldn’t tell.
He couldn’t accept a gesture of affection.
Of course, maybe he was overthinking it—after all, it was just a bottle of water. No big deal.
But, just like he’d said, he’d brought his own water.
So he chose the safest option: “No thanks, I brought my own.”
At that moment, the whistle blew on the basketball court, signaling the end of the opponent’s timeout. It was time for the players to get back on the court.
Xiao Yi’an turned away, when suddenly he heard a soft laugh behind him.
He couldn’t be bothered to look back—he still had a game to play.
He had barely taken two steps.
“Xiao Yi’an.”
He stopped and looked back at Ye Qingchang, who had called out to him.
Ye Qingchang just smiled faintly, but it was a much more genuine smile than before.
As if she had suddenly let something go.
“I don’t owe you anymore, Xiao Yi’an.”
Oh dear, I have a feeling we are going to see the rage of a woman scorned.
Hmm, is she finally snapping? Well, that’s her own fault