"The timing is right."
Su Zhiyi adjusted her expression, keeping a sweet and charming smile on her lips, and looked toward Si Yanjing.
Si Yanjing scanned the audience, and in just a few seconds, his eyes locked onto Su Zhiyi's.
He was clearly startled. After holding her gaze for more than three seconds, his cheeks mysteriously turned red. Then his eyes began to dart around, avoiding Su Zhiyi's gaze, and his hands and feet became awkward.
He looked down at the ground, then up at the sky, making more fake moves than he had on the court.
Finally, he reached up to touch the tip of his nose and started chatting with the person next to him to ease the awkwardness.
Su Zhiyi tightened her grip on the unopened water bottle she had bought from the school store. She left her seat in the audience, stood up, and smoothed her skirt.
"What's wrong? Zhiyi, are you going to do something?" Li Yuexin stood up too.
Xia Wan glanced at the court, then at Su Zhiyi, seeming to guess what Su Zhiyi was about to do. "Zhiyi, are you..."
"This water is unopened, and I don't want to drink it," Su Zhiyi said with a light laugh, shaking the bottle. "To avoid wasting it, I'll just give it away."
*
The first half of the game was over, and it was halftime.
Si Yanjing had played the entire first half.
Probably because the opponents were too weak, he didn't feel very tired and hadn't even broken much of a sweat.
These guys were all dressed up like they were going to an actual school competition, making it so formal, but they weren't as good as him, a new student who had just entered the academy, saw them playing basketball, felt the itch to play, and joined in on a whim.
Second Young Master Si always spoke his mind bluntly.
His background allowed him to speak truthfully without sparing anyone's feelings.
"The opponents are way too weak. Don't tell me you're all from the basketball club?" He was probably used to speaking his mind and didn't give Zhao Chengfei any face. "When I was abroad, I played against foreign college basketball clubs, and they weren't this bad."
"This..." The teammates were startled by Si Yanjing's words. One of them nervously glanced at Zhao Chengfei, who was not far away, afraid that he might have heard. He quickly changed the subject. "Haha, it's just a friendly match, just for fun. A few of them are new members of the club. See, him, him, and the one over there—they're all new."
When Si Yanjing heard they were all new members, his interest immediately waned. "New members? No wonder playing basketball with you feels like playing around."
The teammate immediately turned into a bootlicker, praising Si Yanjing to the skies. "Of course! But mainly it's because you're so skilled, Second Young Master Si! I've been in the basketball club for three years, and I've never seen anyone as talented as you. It's an honor to be your teammate!"
"Oh, you have good taste. My basketball skills really are amazing." Si Yanjing accepted the praise naturally, without any modesty. "The one I was scoring on from the other team was your club president, right? I roughly understand your average level now. In this academy, you really won't find anyone as good as me."
He was the brightest star, and he had the right to be unassuming.
Si Yanjing's friend Zheng Yu had been watching the first half from the sidelines. He walked up to Si Yanjing with a bottle of water, offering the unopened bottle to him.
"You've been playing for a while. Are you tired? Want some water?"
Si Yanjing glanced at the water bottle Zheng Yu offered, frowned, and said bluntly, "Not tired. The opponents are too weak—no challenge at all. And... this brand of water is too cheap. I can't drink this. Keep it for yourself."
Zheng Yu looked at the common water bottle that cost two yuan in the supermarket, his eyes widening in surprise. He couldn't help but remark in front of Si Yanjing, "A real young master indeed."
He opened the bottle and took a sip himself, then pointed toward the school supermarket in the distance. "Are you going to play the second half? Should I buy you a more expensive one?"
"Second half? There's a second half? Why would I want to play such a boring game? No..."
Si Yanjing waved his hand in disinterest, lazily scanning the basketball court.
He saw Zhao Chengfei venting his anger at his teammates nearby, but didn't linger on him. His gaze naturally passed over the audience, taking in the eager spectators.
Some looked envious, others admiring—all looks he had been used to since childhood, nothing new.
But as he glanced over the audience, his eyes landed on something and seemed glued there—the most eye-catching beautiful girl in the crowd.
The girl was looking at him too, not showing her emotions as obviously as the others.
From a distance, he saw her light-colored eyes, as sparkling as spring water, gazing at him. Then, her lips, coated in glossy lip color, curved upward, and a smile bloomed on her lips—a smile that could make any young man's heart flutter.
That one smile completely captivated the innocent young Second Young Master Si.
Many guys liked the pure, white moonlight type of girl.
Si Yanjing was no exception.
He was stunned, the words "No, I'm not playing" caught in his throat and swallowed back.
During that eye contact, his mind was filled with the girl's face, her eyes, her smile...
The more the innocent Second Young Master Si thought about it, the shyer he became. He didn't dare think further, making a hundred fake moves in a second, quickly lowering his eyes to avoid her gaze. He didn't even dare look at his friend Zheng Yu, afraid that others would notice his strange behavior.
He bit the tip of his tongue; the pain brought his reason back.
Well... it didn't seem to return much.
Second Young Master Si looked up, coughed lightly into his fist, and said to Zheng Yu, "Ahem, I misspoke."
"Play, we'll play this basketball game. It's not boring at all. This kind of one-sided game is my favorite."
Zheng Yu: "???"
Was this how the script was written?
He and Si Yanjing were childhood friends. He happened to be a student at St. Desmo Academy. After Si Yanjing returned to the country and transferred to St. Desmo, he took time to show his old friend around the campus.
Today, he had originally planned to give Si Yanjing a casual tour of the academy, but unexpectedly, as soon as Si Yanjing entered the gate, he saw people playing a basketball game and suddenly wanted to play a bit too.
The rich young masters from the basketball club recognized Si Yanjing's face.