Chapter Fifty-Seven: Joining the Basketball Team

  At this time, the bell for class had just rung out, and the corridor that was bustling with people a moment ago was now empty of any flow of people, every student having returned to their own seats. Lin Xiaoyu's words "I'm willing to join the basketball team" rang out in this quiet corridor, sounding especially loud. Most of Lin Xiaoyu's classmates had heard it and were casting their eyes towards the corridor outside the classroom window.

  Guo Hui turned around with a pleased smile after hearing Lin Xiaoyu's words and nodded at her, saying: "I've been waiting for you to say that. Alright, let's meet on the basketball court this afternoon."

  Lin Xiaoyu slowly walked back to the classroom, Lin Xiaoyu noticed that many of her classmates' eyes were staring at her with a look of surprise. Lin Xiaoyu felt strange, wasn't it just herself joining the basketball team? Did they have to use this kind of "looking at a monster" gaze on her? Lin Xiaoyu ignored these gazes and walked straight back to her seat.

  "That tall guy named Lin Xiaoyu has also joined the basketball team. Is he good at playing ball?" Wang Rui's garrulous deskmate asked in a low voice, noticing that Wang Rui's expression was somewhat unnatural.

  "I don't know." Wang Rui had already developed a hostile attitude towards Lin Xiaoyu, who was loudly shouting outside the classroom that he wanted to join the basketball team, as if afraid that others wouldn't know about it. Wang Rui felt that his own chance to shine by joining the school basketball team had been stolen by Lin Xiaoyu. In his heart, Wang Rui felt like something had been taken away from him and couldn't calm down.

  "That kid seems to be quite impressive, the basketball team's coach even came to our class to find him. But I don't think I've ever seen him play ball before, could it be that he knows the coach?" The talkative deskmate immediately began his wild speculation.

  "Did he get in through the back door?" The words of his deskmate made Wang Rui's disdain for Lin Xiaoyu even stronger. Wang Rui thought to himself that this Lin Xiaoyu, who didn't look like a basketball player at all, must have some kind of relationship with that coach, which was why the coach had come all the way here to find him. As he thought about it, Wang Rui slowly made up his mind: next time they met on the basketball court, he would definitely teach Lin Xiaoyu a lesson and show him what real basketball was like.

  To be honest, Lin Xiaoyu doesn't look like an athlete at all. He has a pale and refined face, and except for his decent height, his delicate appearance makes it impossible for people to associate him with the robust basketball players on the court who are as sturdy as oxen.

  At this time, the classmates in the class were also secretly discussing Lin Xiaoyu.

  "Hey, look at that tall and thin Lin Xiaoyu who actually joined the school basketball team. I really can't tell, looking at his gentle appearance, I don't think he's the type to play basketball." A girl whispered to her deskmate with her hand covering her mouth.

  "Yeah, but he's really cool like that. He rarely speaks, but when he smiles, it's so bright!" Another girl whispered to her deskmate.

  "Hehe, have you fallen in love with someone?"

  "Ugh, don't be so annoying, okay? I just said he's handsome, that's all."

  "Hehe, how do I know if you're not just **. But I can tell you that Lin Xiaoyu is often with a very pretty girl from the neighboring class. I reckon she's his girlfriend."

  "How come you're so concerned about others? You only talk about me, are you interested in them? Be honest."

  "I just happened to see them together, you think I'm as infatuated as you are."

  Zhang Bo sat in his seat, he turned around and took a glance at Lin Xiaoyu who was four or five rows away from him. He saw that Lin Xiaoyu was intently reading the magazine he had given him today. Zhang Bo heard people around him speculating about Lin Xiaoyu joining the basketball team, Zhang Bo really wanted to say some words of encouragement to Lin Xiaoyu but there was no opportunity for him to do so during class. Zhang Bo had seen Lin Xiaoyu play basketball before, in his heart, Lin Xiaoyu was the most formidable player he had ever seen.

  Zhang Bo really wanted to stand up loudly and tell those who were guessing or underestimating Lin Xiaoyu that Lin Xiaoyu was the best basketball player he had ever seen. But Zhang Bo knew that if he did so, others would treat him like a madman. Zhang Bo could only sit silently in his seat, thinking to himself, "Wait until you see Lin Xiaoyu play on the basketball court, and you'll all be shocked. Lin Xiaoyu is not one of those ordinary great players..."

  A person in this world will always live in the discussions of others, whether kind or unintentional, and may even be maliciously hurt by some unfriendly people for some trivial matters. Life is just so helpless, just so full of unpleasantness. However, the only one who can give himself the final score is ourselves. Don't care about other people's ridicule and sarcasm, the one who judges your life is unique, that is yourself. Walk your own way, let those boring people go talk and laugh. Just treat it as a gentle breeze in life...

  The campus after school in the afternoon is very lively. The youth suppressed by the school's classroom for a day becomes extremely restless at the moment when the school bell rings. Those middle and primary school students who are full of youthful vitality always pursue their own happiness in this after-school time, enthusiastically engaging in various activities to release their youthful energy.

  Of course, there are also good students who will still be buried in their studies after the school bell rings (I'm not saying that those who love to study are bad, I admire those who can focus on reading books, unfortunately, I belong to the kind of person who gets sleepy as soon as they sit down and look at their textbook, and will slip out to play whenever they have the chance, being a good student is really hard, if you're studying now, please put some of your youthful energy into learning, your life will be more wonderful, really, I gaze at those good students who love to study with admiration... Ah, this paragraph seems a bit too long, sorry about that, just speaking from the heart, haha). These people who are exploring knowledge in their textbooks are also releasing their youth, their youth is scattered throughout every corner of the campus, in front of youth, everyone is equal, each person has their own choice to burn their youth in their own direction.

  The players sweating on the basketball court are also like that. Their youth is burning with great vigor.

  Lin Xiaoyu lowered his head and wiped the sweat from his forehead, smoothing out his slightly urgent breathing. Since Lin Xiaoyu still had his school team's basketball uniform, he wore a gray vest that he usually wore when playing ball to attend the afternoon training session. At this time, the gray vest was already soaked with sweat, and Lin Xiaoyu felt that if he took off the vest and wrung it out, he could probably squeeze out a puddle of water like freshly washed clothes.

  Lin Xiaoyu found that the coach of this basketball team was very special. In today's nearly two-hour training session, Lin Xiaoyu and other team members didn't even touch a basketball once. There wasn't even a shadow of a basketball on the court. Lin Xiaoyu thought that if she weren't running back and forth on the basketball court like this, people might think they were a track and field team instead. Because all Lin Xiaoyu did during today's training session was run back and forth, doing shuttle runs and so on.

  Lin Xiaoyu received such intense training for the first time. In her previous middle school basketball team, the fake coach Zhu Chenggong didn't have any training projects at all, just letting the players take the ball and play casually, shooting hoops and whatnot. Although Lin Xiaoyu didn't know what the purpose of Bian Guohui's training was, she knew that Coach Bian had experience in training from the way he wasn't yelling about details on the court.

  This training session was physically and mentally exhausting for Lin Xiaoyu, as she discovered that the female manager of the basketball team was the same savage woman who had scolded her mercilessly the other day. Although the woman wore glasses today, Lin Xiaoyu still recognized her at a glance, because the impression she left on Lin Xiaoyu was too deep. Although Lin Xiaoyu had long been prepared to meet this savage woman in this basketball team, when she really saw her, Lin Xiaoyu still felt a little uncomfortable, always worried that she would be reprimanded by this unreasonable savage woman for no reason.

  When the team was resting, Lin Xiaoyu would not rush to take over the paper cup from that savage girl like those other teammates. Lin Xiaoyu felt that these teammates who had not yet recognized him were already deceived by that savage girl's pure appearance.

  Lin Xiaoyu didn't want to get close to that savage girl, fortunately Yan Nan was always watching Lin Xiaoyu's training from the stands, which also solved Lin Xiaoyu's drinking water problem. Lin Xiaoyu was very grateful for her good friend Yan Nan who had been silently helping her all along.

  But Lin Xiaoyu didn't notice that when he ran up to the podium alone, took the water bottle from Yan Nang's side and drank water, the new female manager of the basketball team, Lin Cijie, was staring at him with an unfriendly attitude.

  Lin Cijie had long discovered that this player was the same boy who had hit himself on the head with a drink can last time and scolded himself. This boy actually didn't even greet her when he saw her, and even seemed to be avoiding her. During breaks, he would run up to the stands to drink water, completely ignoring the water she had kindly poured for them. Just thinking about it made Lin Cijie involuntarily feel a little dissatisfied with this boy, silently deciding in her heart that she must give him a small lesson next time, and not let him be so rude in front of her.

  Lin Xiaoyu, who was chatting with Yan Nan while drinking water, never thought that her attitude of not being able to afford it would become a manifestation of rudeness in the eyes of that barbaric girl. It seems that Lin Xiaoyu's basketball team life is destined to have many unexpected twists and turns...