Chapter 81: The National Middle School Basketball Selection Tournament (Part 2)

  The night deepened, the round moon hanging high in the sky and the floating clouds that kept drifting by slowly wove together the scenery of the night sky. The restless clear wind pushed one piece after another of cloud to the surroundings of the moon, then moved them away, as if changing the evening dress for this bright and beautiful princess at a midnight dance party. All of this seemed unrelated to human affairs, appearing so illusory and ethereal.

  Lin Xiaoyu walked on the street in the night, boringly placing his gaze in the night sky. Beside Lin Xiaoyu was a tall girl with long hair walking slowly by his side.

  Lin Xiaoyu took on the task of sending team manager Lin Cijie home after dinner at the hotel where the team was staying. Lin Xiaoyu had sent Lin Cijie home once before, and it just so happened that Lin Cijie's house was in a neighborhood near Lin Xiaoyu's home. Now this female manager has even made a request for Lin Xiaoyu to send her home, and of course Lin Xiaoyu couldn't refuse.

  Two people who usually don't have much to talk about walked silently side by side on the street, only the sound of passing cars would occasionally shatter the silence between them.

  "Lin Xiaoyu, do you like that basketball star Jason Williams?" Lin Cijie had been walking alongside Lin Xiaoyu for a while now, and she couldn't take the dull atmosphere between them anymore, so she brought up a topic that Lin Xiaoyu should be interested in.

  "Yes, you know him too?" Lin Xiaoyu didn't expect that this girl would actually know about her liking "White Chocolate", Lin Xiaoyu felt a bit surprised.

  Generally speaking, girls who like basketball are great. The ball stars that ordinary girls can talk about are those with relatively big names. "White Chocolate" Jason Williams is not a particularly big star among the many shining stars. Of course, his unique playing style and incredible passing skills have attracted a large number of fans who love him. However, Lin Xiaoyu was still a bit surprised to hear the name Jason Williams coming from a girl's mouth.

  "I certainly know him. His 'no?look?pass' is the most handsome pass I've ever seen." Lin Cijie's tone was a bit excited. Since being rescued by Lin Xiaoyu last time, Lin Cijie had been trying to understand what Lin Xiaoyu liked, and now she finally found a topic that could bring her closer to Lin Xiaoyu.

  The awkwardness between the two was broken by a common topic of interest. Lin Xiaoyu rarely met someone who shared her love for "White Chocolate" and could discuss and share the passion and joy it brought to her. Even though she thought Lin Cijie, the team's female manager, was unreasonable, Lin Xiaoyu believed that people who liked "White Chocolate"'s playing style were always passionate about life, so she looked at Lin Cijie in a different light.

  Lin Cijie was also quite fond of Jason Williams, the ball player who was known for his incredible passing skills, before she knew that Lin Xiaoyu liked "White Chocolate". Now, when talking to Lin Xiaoyu, Lin Cijie's understanding and evaluation of Jason Williams are enough to make them click.

  The two of them chatted as they strolled along the way home, with street lamps above their heads slowly passing by. Neither of them noticed that their footsteps had unconsciously slowed down. It's really not easy to find someone in life who shares common topics...

  The winter vacation has ended, and all middle schools have started their new semester courses. However, the national middle school basketball selection tournament is still in full swing. Today is the day of Experimental Middle School's third selection match, and their opponent is a middle school from a neighboring county. It seems that the first middle school in every region is the focus of educational investment. The opponent of Experimental Middle School today is also a school with "First Middle School" in its name, and this First Middle School in the neighboring county has stronger strength than the two previous opponents.

  Lin Xiaoyu, who didn't have to go to school because of the basketball game, sat quietly on the sidelines as a substitute, observing the changes on the court. Today, Shiyan Middle School was not playing well, and Xiao Haifeng, the team's organizer and guard, was being tightly defended by an opponent's slightly chubby but very strong defender. Relying on his speed, Xiao Haifeng could easily shake off this defender with slow footwork, but the defender with a fat face kept using some very subtle foul movements to hold him back. Xiao Haifeng complained to the referee several times about the opponent's fouls, but the referee, who was slightly biased towards the opposing team, turned a blind eye. If Zhang Jialin hadn't pulled Xiao Haifeng away in time, the referee might have given him a technical foul. The reason was that the venue of this game was a gymnasium in a neighboring county, and the leaders sitting in the stands were all supporters of the first middle school in that county.

  With this, since the attacking organizer Xiao Haifeng was restricted, the experimental middle school's attack organization fell into a nearly paralyzed position. The players on the field could only score by relying on individual ball-holding and single-player attacks. However, scoring in this way not only increased the physical consumption of the players but also made it easy for the opponent to see through their attacking routes. Therefore, after the second quarter began, Experimental Middle School did not score any points under the opponent's targeted defense for several minutes.

  What's even more frustrating for Shiyan Middle School is that Xiao Haifeng, who was made a bit emotional by his opponent, played with some fire in his belly, and several attacks ended in vain due to Xiao Haifeng's mistakes or impatience. In contrast to the somewhat chaotic situation of Shiyan Middle School basketball team, the First Middle School of the neighboring county played with great momentum and clear attacking routes. They often passed the ball to a guard with a chubby face who held the ball and shot against Xiao Haifeng.

  Xiao Haifeng, who is 1.78 meters tall, really had no way to defend against this 1.80-meter-tall and much heavier fat defender. This fat defender always stuck to Xiao Haifeng's back, pressing him all the way to the basket, then bullied Xiao Haifeng, who was obviously shorter and lighter, into rebounding and scoring under the basket. In this way, the fat defender scored a lot of points and forced Xiao Haifeng to commit three fouls.

  This fat defender is particularly cunning. Every time Xiao Haifeng has a teammate come over to help Xiao Haifeng defend, this fat defender will pass the ball to a teammate with an open position, allowing his undefended teammate to score easily. The Experimental Middle School basketball team was temporarily unable to come up with a good countermeasure against their opponent's tactics, and the score was opened up to twelve points with five minutes left in the first half.

  Watching his players' somewhat dull performance on the field, Bian Guohui had no choice but to call another timeout.

  Bin Guohui glanced at Xiao Haifeng, who was sitting in the player's seat with a towel covering his face. Bin Guohui knew that this little black kid couldn't get past that fat defender today. So Bin Guohui called Lin Xiaoyu over and told him to replace Xiao Haifeng.

  Lin Xiaoyu took off his jacket and stood by the court, listening carefully to his coach Bian Guohui's reminders of the details he needed to pay attention to when he went on the field next, while quickly warming up his joints. In this slightly chilly early spring season, pre-match warm-ups were essential.

  Lin Xiaoyu was standing on the sidelines, but his eyes were fixed on the fat defender sitting on the bench of the opposing team, drinking water. In Lin Xiaoyu's eyes, a spark of hatred seemed to be flashing...

  Lin Xiaoyu is an outgoing person. From young to old, although the mischievous Lin Xiaoyu often fights with some boys, Lin Xiaoyu has never really disliked anyone, even those who have fought with Lin Xiaoyu and left her with a bruised face. However, this fat defender is the only one in Lin Xiaoyu's heart that she finds despicable.

  Lin Xiaoyu recognized the fat face with big eyes and small mouth on the substitute bench when he was practicing ball before the game between the two teams, and he still made Lin Xiaoyu dislike him as before. Lin Xiaoyu clearly remembered the fat man's big face that made himself dislike, this unlikable face always had a proud look of self-righteousness, those small eyes like green beans always showed a condescending attitude, such a mouth and face made Lin Xiaoyu think of something that made him grit his teeth.