Even if they hadn't recognized his face, just hearing the surname "Si" in A City would have commanded respect. So they naturally agreed to let Si Yanjing join the game.
After finishing the first half, Si Yanjing felt that these guys were too weak and saw no need for a second half. Zheng Yu, who knew Si Yanjing well, understood his thoughts and was about to take him to continue touring St. Desmo Academy.
But unexpectedly, Si Yanjing changed his mind halfway.
It seemed like he had seen something and suddenly wanted to play more?!
"Huh?" All of Zheng Yu's confusion condensed into a single strange sound.
Before Si Yanjing could explain why he wanted to play the second half, the next second, Zheng Yu understood why Si Yanjing had suddenly changed his mind.
A girl walked gracefully up to them.
It was Su Zhiyi.
"Classmate, I saw you playing on the court earlier. You looked really cool," Su Zhiyi said, approaching them with familiarity, starting off with a sincere compliment.
Her eyes sparkled like stars, and just from her expression, it was clear she deeply admired Si Yanjing's impressive performance on the basketball court.
Now, face to face, Si Yanjing could see clearly the girl who had stirred up his emotions in just a few seconds earlier.
She was shorter than him, with skin as white as snow, lightly made up, with a faint blush on her cheeks—whether from rouge or shyness, he couldn't tell.
Just a touch of makeup enhanced her perfect features, making them even more delicate and beautiful.
Si Yanjing was momentarily stunned again, his pupils losing focus, his thin lips slightly parted, but no words came out.
System 030, no matter how many times it witnessed Su Zhiyi's tactics in dealing with these wealthy elite, was always shocked.
The system screamed, "Host, how did you bewitch this Second Young Master Si in less than ten minutes?!"
Su Zhiyi chuckled confidently. "Him? The first time I looked at him, I knew he was a sucker for the pure, sweet, white moonlight type—exactly the same taste as Song Lian. But I think he's a bit dumber, so he should be easier to handle than Song Lian."
"Perfect... I need someone who can provide me with power and is easy to control."
No matter how Song Lian pretended, after spending some time with him, she had figured him out—outwardly gentle, but internally extremely controlling and possessive.
But Si Yanjing was different. Just from the way he reacted when their eyes met, she could tell.
Although Si Yanjing liked the pure and sweet type, his desire for control was weak.
On the contrary, Si Yanjing was easy for her to manipulate.
Plus, guys his age might not show it on the surface, but deep down, they yearned for pure love without any impurities.
In pure love, the safest role was the pure white moonlight persona.
Su Zhiyi had bet correctly; Si Yanjing indeed liked that persona.
"Classmate?" She blinked her big, sparkling eyes, showing a hint of confusion.
"Ah?" It wasn't until Su Zhiyi reminded him that Si Yanjing snapped out of it.
He responded humbly to her compliment, "Ah, thank you. I was just playing around casually. I'm not that good."
"Why are you being so modest?" Su Zhiyi continued to praise him. "If you're good, you're good. You can admit it proudly."
She affirmed him once more and added a sentence that could make any boy's heart race.
"You're the coolest and best basketball player I've ever seen!"
No guy could resist being praised like that by a girl he had a crush on.
Si Yanjing couldn't either.
His face immediately turned as red as his teammates' after a game, though slightly delayed. His heart was beating faster than when he was dribbling past defenders and dunking, nearly bursting out of his chest.
"Why is your face so red? Is it too hot? Oh, right, you were just playing basketball, so you must be hot and tired." Su Zhiyi handed him the unopened water bottle with both hands, her smile brighter than the rising sun. "Here, I happen to have a bottle of water. You can have it."
Si Yanjing instinctively reached out to take the water from Su Zhiyi without a moment's hesitation.
He looked at the water in his hands and asked Su Zhiyi, "Aren't you going to drink it?"
"This bottle was bought together with my friend earlier. But afterward, I suddenly felt like having milk tea instead of water," Su Zhiyi said with a sweet smile. "I'll go buy myself a cup of milk tea later. This water is for you."
The milk tea craving was a lie; actually, this bottle of water had been bought by her friend from the supermarket, who had gotten her one too.
She didn't mind giving away free water.
"Yanjing, he..."
Zheng Yu looked at the water bottle the girl had handed to Si Yanjing, recalling what Si Yanjing had said earlier.
He was about to politely refuse the water on Si Yanjing's behalf, but before he could finish his sentence, Si Yanjing interrupted him without mercy.
Si Yanjing naturally twisted open the bottle cap as he spoke.
"Thank you. I was just a bit thirsty. You came at the right time."
He opened the bottle in front of Su Zhiyi, tilted his head, and took a sip of "the water Second Young Master Si couldn't drink."
His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the mouthful without changing his expression. He screwed the cap back on and gave Su Zhiyi a cheerful smile.
Zheng Yu: "...?"
He looked incredulously at the water bottle in Si Yanjing's hand that had been drunk from, then at the bottle he had tried to give Si Yanjing, which had been refused on the grounds that he "couldn't drink it."
Weren't these two bottles of water exactly the same?!
He couldn't drink the two-yuan water in Zheng Yu's hand, but he could drink the two-yuan water in someone else's hand?!
Author's note: