Chapter 104
The white Ford slowly backed up as Hao Ren was under Xie Yujia's care; he was listening to her speech about how important it was to be punctual as he ate the baozi she bought for him.
After eating, Xie Yujia's lecture came to an end. She stretched her body and picked up the basketball from the ground.
"We have practiced dribbling quite a bit yesterday. Today, we are focusing on pa.s.sing."
"Yes! Yes!" Hao Ren wiped his mouth and nodded.
"The key to pa.s.sing is the judgment of direction and the usage of your fingers. A standard pa.s.s is made by your fingers, not of your palm. Your wrist must be quick and flexible during this process..."
Xie Yujia demonstrated with the ball in her hand as she spoke.
She looked even more energetic and beautiful than yesterday in her white tennis gear. As she demonstrated pa.s.sing, her body moved back and forth. Her hair was blown up by the wind, and it looked as refres.h.i.+ng as the wind.
Her pet.i.te body under the refres.h.i.+ng tennis sportswear was a pleasant view as the trees behind her were the background.
Xie Yujia stopped her demonstration when she noticed Hao Ren's stare. She waved the ball in front of Hao Ren and asked, "Did you see how I pa.s.sed the ball? Did you keep it in mind?"
"Oh, oh..." Hao Ren looked up from Xie Yujia's smooth neck and said, "I need to use my fingers. I think I got the most of it."
"Ok, give it a try then," Xie Yujia put the basketball into Hao Ren's hand and backed up a few steps while saying, "Pa.s.s it to me."
Hao Ren threw the ball to her and she caught is successful. She pa.s.sed it back to him after a couple of dribbles.
"There are techniques to catching as well. You only need to learn how to catch it with both hands because we don't have enough time for other variations. In fact, when it's your ball during a game, it's usually better to catch it behind your back since it's harder to predict," Xie Yujia explained as she practiced pa.s.sing with Hao Ren.
Hao Ren could tell that she was 100% focused on the basketball. He blamed himself for getting distracted and started to pay attention as well.
"And there is the bounce pa.s.s, meaning that the ball will be pa.s.sed to your teammate after a bounce. This isn't hard at all as long as you keep in mind not to pa.s.s it straightforwardly.
Xie Yujia looked exactly like a little coach, instructing Hao Ren carefully.
"Then there is the cross-shoulder pa.s.s, which is for longer distances. I won't teach you about the hop step and jump stop since they are more complicated, and you probably won't be able to grasp it in such a short time..."
Xie Yujia demonstrated each move a few times for Hao Ren and practiced them with him for about ten minutes.
It was quite energy consuming, and she began to sweat after a little while. This was even more tiring than the day before.
Seeing how sweaty her forehead and t-s.h.i.+rt was, Hao Ren caught the basketball and said, "Cla.s.s President, let's take a break."
"It's ok, let's continue!" she said as she waved at him and shook the sweat off of her head.
Hao Ren hesitated and bounce pa.s.sed to her. Xie Yujia caught it with ease and pa.s.sed it back to him.
"The Cla.s.s President is pretty compet.i.tive," seeing how hard Xie Yujia was pus.h.i.+ng herself, Hao Ren thought to himself.
They pa.s.sed the ball so many times that Hao Ren got a bit tired with the Mount Tai bracelets on his wrists, and Xie Yujia was also sweating like crazy.
However, she didn't ask for a break during their entire training session, and she even turned Hao Ren down when he offered that they rest.
Hao Ren suddenly thought, "Does Mom like her because of the persistence in her genes? They are both capable women; no wonder Xie Yujia is such a big fan of Mom. But...maybe Xie Yujia would be a more caring wife and loving mother..."
After a while, they had to take a two-minute break.
Afterward, Xie Yujia stood up and said, "Alright, we are going to put the dribbling from yesterday and pa.s.sing from today together. Let's get a game in. Your ball and I'll
Hao Ren admired how thorough she was. "No wonder she was the Cla.s.s President," he thought.
He didn't want to keep resting when Xie Yujia was already ready for the next exercise. Hao Ren stood up reluctantly and dribbled the ball between his palms.
Xie Yujia opened up her arms in a defensive stance with her eyes glued to Hao Ren.
Hao Ren didn't want to knock her over, but she had stolen the ball when his mind slipped away.
"The ball is in my hand. You are defending now!" Xie Yujia said cheerfully.
Hao Ren immediately ran to the inside and stretched out his arms.
Xie Yujia raised the basketball up with both hands as if she was pa.s.sing it, and Hao Ren immediately waved his arms up to block her. However, she was only faking it. She quickly turned around, moved behind Hao Ren, and threw the ball into the air!
The basketball fell into the basket after leaving a beautiful arch in the air, making a pleasant sound.
Hao Ren turned around only to see it go down the basket. He said to himself secretly, "That was awesome..."
The preciseness of her aim was just as good as Zhao Jiayi. On top of that, her quick reaction and smooth movement also lingered in Hao Ren's head.
"It is such a loss since she didn't join the female basketball team...but her pa.s.sion isn't in basketball after all..." he thought.
Xie Yujia clapped her hands cheerfully and threw the ball back to Hao Ren as she said, "One more time!"
"Sigh... wasn't once enough to humiliate me..." Hao Ren thought to himself bitterly, "Thank G.o.d there isn't anyone on the street nearby this early in the morning. Otherwise, it's too shameful to be defeated by a girl like this on the basketball court..."
He got himself ready again, and Xie Yujia wasn't able to steal the ball from him this time. He also raised up his arms to make a pa.s.sing move. Xie Yujia wasn't as tall as Hao Ren, so she quickly lifted up her arms too. Hao Ren, on the other hand, suddenly bent over, turned around, dribbled and shot the ball!
Hao Ren copied her moves, and the ball knocked onto the backboard. Although he didn't score, it was still a successful pa.s.s.
Xie Yujia turned around and nudged Hao Ren's back. "Hey, that was pretty good!" she said.
Hao Ren laughed as he looked at this lively girl who had a bright smile on her face. He suddenly understood the 'comfortable feeling' that his mom mentioned about her.
"But don't let it get to your head. Let's try again!" she ran over to pick up the ball and threw it at him.
Hao Ren was still thinking about what happened; he felt like he saw her white belly under the s.h.i.+rt when she lifted her arms to block him.
"Catch!" Xie Yujia reminded him.
Hao Ren quickly reached out to catch the ball right before it hit his head.
"You can't get distracted like this during the game! Go ahead!" Xie Yujia said and was ready to defend.
Hao Ren moved around as he dribbled, but Xie Yujia suddenly cut him off again. He tried to take the ball back without touching her hand, and he reached forward when he knew where the ball was going. However, Xie Yujia suddenly changed her path, and Hao Ren's hand didn't get to touch the ball. Instead, it almost landed on her plump chest. He quickly adjusted his body, trying to avoid the situation. However, this change of position made him hug onto Xie Yujia, who was dribbling with her body lowered, when he lost his balance.
Bom, bom, bom...the ball rolled to the side.
Xie Yujia was completely flushed in Hao Ren's arms.
"Ah..." Hao Ren gasped and quickly let go as he stepped back a few steps. "Cla.s.s... Cla.s.s President, I didn't do that on purpose!" he said.
Xie Yujia nodded, biting her lip. "I know."
With that being said, her face was still as red as a ripe apple.
Hao Ren felt embarra.s.sed and suggested, "Should we...call it a day?"
Xie Yujia walked over to pick up the ball with her head down; she didn't say anything.
When Hao Ren was ready to leave, thinking that today's practice had finished, Xie Yujia threw the basketball at him again and said, "Let's continue!"
"Ah?" Hao Ren was surprised.
Xie Yujia jogged over to the basket and said, "Your ball, I will defend!"
Hao Ren was stupefied, and then he understood Xie Yujia's thoughts; she just wanted him to get better quickly.
Zhao Jiayi ran into the stadium with Xie Wanjun. He saw that Hao Ren kept having physical contact with Xie Yujia and cursed in his heart, "So sneaky, so shameless..."
The training came to an end after two hours. Xie Yujia and Hao Ren went to the cafeteria for breakfast just like the day before.
Hao Ren was still paying, but Xie Yujia was standing in line with him. She was still like a magnet for the other guys in her white tennis sportswear.
Hao Ren thought about how hard she worked during their practice and how he 'took advantage', so he bought her a hearty breakfast.
He was actually quite touched by how patient she was when teaching him.
"Cla.s.s President, there's something I don't know if it's ok to say," Hao Ren said to her as he sat opposite to her.
"Go ahead," Xie Yujia looked at him with her bright eyes and replied,
"Um...the girls are saying that you are only close to me because of my family background," Hao Ren said.
Xie Yujia blinked in surprise; she probably never thought he would mention something like this. Then, she smiled with her head down and replied, "Some of the girls like to gossip. But thank you for reminding me."
"Um...I'm not sure what is going on between the girls. But since they are pa.s.sing this gossip on, I thought you should know," Hao Ren said as he bit into an egg tart.
It was undeniable that Hao Ren had been pretty fond of Xie Yujia all along, and he was a bit upset when the girls gossiped about the Cla.s.s President. However, he decided to give her a heads-up instead of going there and arguing with them.
"Let them talk all they want. I know you come from an ordinary family, and I don't like gossiping about other girls. However, you have to be careful if you are looking for a girlfriend." Xie Yujia took a sip of her milk tea.
"Why aren't you getting a boyfriend?" Hao Ren asked hesitantly after a few seconds.
"Me? Hehe," she wiped her mouth with a napkin and said, "I have got my own plan to focus on studying during my freshman and soph.o.m.ore year and not think about those things. That will have to wait till after I'm in my third year."
Hao Ren knew that she wasn't joking by her serious look. She had always struck him as a stubborn yet organized person.
However, Hao Ren felt a little disappointed. "Does this mean she is giving me half of a goodperson card?" he asked himself.
They each went back to their dorm to change after breakfast. The two of them smiled at each other when they met at their ten o'clock cla.s.s.
Zhao Jiayi didn't have any cla.s.ses that morning, so his training lasted until noon. Under the intensive training that Xie Wanjun had been giving him, Zhao Jiayi was even too exhausted to talk.
"The Basketball Team is torturing you, Zhao Jiayi. Quit already and come to play World of Warcraft with us later instead of training!" Zhou Liren instigated him.
"Go to h.e.l.l! I have a dream now!" Zhou Jiayi knocked on Zhou Liren's forehead.
"Dream..." Hao Ren looked over at Xie Yujia who was busy taking notes. He pinched the tip of his pen and thought, "I should train hard and perform well even if it's only for Zhao Jiayi's and Xie Yujia's sake."
"Plus...my mom, who always 'play outside of the rules'...might actually drag Dad to come to see me at the game..."