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"Great!" I replied excitedly, "I'll team up with Shuai Dong, and A Fei, you and Pang Hao can be on the same team, okay?" "It doesn't matter; I just want to warm up a bit. It's not an international competition, so there's no need to take winning or losing too seriously," A Fei said shyly. "I'll go get the basketball." Pang Hao turned and ran towards the school's sports equipment room. "Alright, we'll play three minutes each quarter for a total of four quarters," A Fei said as he took out his phone to set a timer. "When the alarm goes off, that quarter ends, and the points won't count." Just then, Pang Hao came running back with the basketball.
"Jie, you guys can serve first. Let's start!" A Fei placed his phone on the sidelines and he and Pang Hao got into a defensive stance against Shuai Dong. "Pang Hao, don't crowd me! A Fei, why are you sticking so close to me..." Shuai Dong complained as he started moving. "Shuai Dong, catch!" A Fei passed the ball to Shuai Dong while keeping an eye on me. Shuai Dong dribbled and tried to break through Pang Hao's defense to drive to the basket but failed several times. "Damn, Pang Hao is really tough to get past..." Shuai Dong muttered. Suddenly, a quick pass came from under Pang Hao's left arm but was intercepted by A Fei. "Shuai Dong, where are you passing it?!" I shouted anxiously as A Fei charged towards the basket. Shuai Dong couldn't keep up with him; I rushed over but was too late. A Fei made an elegant layup—0! "Idiot! You can't even get past Pang Hao! You need to stick closely to him; leave A Fei to me. You have to defend him well, got it?" "I know!" We discussed our strategy while running back.
A Fei served the ball; Pang Hao caught it and took two steps into the key before jumping for a shot. I leaped high and blocked the ball. Shuai Dong and A Fei scrambled for the rebound, and A Fei managed to grab it, spun around to fake out Shuai Dong, then took a quick shot! The ball swished through the net—40! "Don't rush; take your time," A Fei said as he patted Pang Hao on the shoulder. Looking at the time, there was about one minute and forty seconds left in this quarter. I quickly passed the ball to Shuai Dong; he passed it back to me. Facing A Fei, I faked him out and drove into the lane for a hook shot—4! Immediately after that, A Fei served again to Pang Hao. Pang Hao's quick pass was intercepted by me; I took a shot in the key but missed. A Fei grabbed the rebound and passed it out to Pang Hao, who returned it to A Fei under the basket. A Fei caught it and scored—6! With just over twenty seconds left and our possession for one last attack, Shuai Dong served me the ball. I took two steps before passing it back to Shuai Dong. He dribbled past Pang Hao and drove towards the basket as A Fei came over for help defense. Shuai Dong passed out; I had an open long-range shooting opportunity! I hesitated for a second before shooting! The ball went in!! 46! A Fei quickly served it to Pang Hao; he mishandled it and lost control, allowing Shuai Dong to pick it up easily. "Ha ha! Watch me!" He shot... uh... missed completely...
"Please don't mess around; trends need precision—if you're not careful, there won't be any precision," A Fei's phone alarm rang, signaling the end of the first quarter with a score of 46.
"Ai II is really impressive; he's great at basketball," I said helplessly while giving Shuai Dong a glare. "It's all your fault for messing up!" "What?! Who hasn't missed shots before? You missed too; don't blame me." "Alright, alright, stop arguing! Basketball relies on teamwork; if your teammate isn't doing well, it's forgivable because you're teammates. You can't blame him for anything; you need to encourage each other and work together—that's what 'No Brothers, No Basketball' means," A Fei said seriously.
"That's good!" A tall guy about six feet tall walked over. "'No Brothers, No Basketball' is great! Hey there, which class are you from? I don't think I've seen you before; are you freshmen? I'm from Class 6 in Year 2—the basketball club member—let's be friends." "Oh, you're a senior! We're from Class 3 in Year 1; we just joined the basketball club..." We chatted with him and learned that his name was Lu Yan Bing; he was 19 years old and had been selected for Team this spring (at that time he was still a freshman) as a substitute Power Forward/Center participating in this summer's city-wide high school championship with impressive stats: averaging 96 points, 75 rebounds, and 15 blocks per game. With this year's graduating seniors from Team leaving, he became an absolute mainstay in Team.
"Alright, class is starting soon; let's meet up again when we report for basketball club next Monday." "Okay, Bing Ge, see you later." We all called him Bing Ge; he was a senior we respected greatly who exuded a maturity beyond his age that reminded me of Akagi Takenori from Slam Dunk...
"zi’sphinkingabugirl..." On Saturday morning I was awakened by Super Junior's loud singing—how annoying! It disturbed my sweet dreams. "Hello? Who is it?" I picked up my phone from beside my bed and heard Pang Hao's voice on the other end: "It's me! Are you still not awake? Shuai Dong and I are already at the amusement park entrance." Then I remembered we had agreed to go play at the amusement park today. "Wow! It's so early?! My comrades! We're not rushing to reincarnate or anything... wait for me a moment; I'll be right there." "Don't forget to call A Fei..." "Okay, got it!" I hung up just as A Fei shouted: "Jie! Hurry up and get up; the sun is already shining on your butt!" "Coming!" I quickly got dressed.
After coming out, we took a bus together to the amusement park where we saw Shuai Dong and Pang Hao looking around anxiously at the entrance. When they saw us coming over, Shuai Dong looked like he could burst into tears from excitement: "Brothers! Why did you take so long? I've been waiting here with Pang Hao for more than half an hour already—at this turtle speed of yours!" "Baby, calm down," I patted his shoulder pretending to be scared. "Of course it's Jie sleeping in again; when he hears us talking it's like he's sleepwalking," Pang Hao chimed in. "Alright already! Let's hurry up and have some fun; starting next week we won't be able to play like this every Saturday," A Fei urged us on.
I suggested we go ride the roller coaster first. "Sure! Every man has to ride a roller coaster—ha ha!" Pang Hao agreed enthusiastically while A Fei hesitated slightly after buying tickets when he noticed that both Shuai Dong and he looked a bit uneasy.
"Are our Ai II and handsome Shi scared? If you're scared just say so—we'll go do something else," I pretended to tease them. "Who’s scared?! Not me!" A Fei replied defiantly. "Exactly! With my title as North China's number one Shuai Dong how could I be afraid of this?! You're joking!" Shuai Dong retorted but I could tell he lacked confidence in his tone. "Then let's go already—hurry up!" urged Pang Hao.
The roller coaster slowly started moving as I turned my head towards them: “It’s fine—if you’re scared later just scream loudly—it’s not embarrassing.” “I won’t!” Knowing that A Fei cared about his image greatly, I kindly reminded him but he still refused to budge. However... those three words “I won’t” hadn’t even left his mouth for twenty seconds...
“Ah!!!...” My goodness—the scream was heart-wrenching—it reminded me of pigs squealing when they're being slaughtered. And then there was Shuai Dong—his face was flushed red from screaming while Pang Hao seemed much calmer having ridden it several times before.
As the roller coaster twisted through its track like a flying dragon, people's screams grew louder...
"A Fei! We should get going now—A Fei..." After calling him several times without response while his eyes were wide open in sheer terror—I clapped my hands in front of him: “Hey!” “Oh—it’s over now—let’s go.” He tried to stand but his legs gave way as he fell into my arms—I quickly supported him: “Pang Hao! Help support Shuai Dong.” So we each helped one of them out of the roller coaster just as they both suddenly vomited with an exclamation of “Wow!” “Oh dear—you two are supposed to be big men yet here you are acting so delicate even though you’re almost twenty...” Just as I was teasing them about their reactions when I spotted a tall figure leading an eleven or twelve-year-old girl playing ring toss who looked familiar from behind—I told Pang Hao to keep an eye on them while I walked over for a closer look.
"Bing Ge! It really is you! Are you here playing too?" I recognized him as my senior. “Yeah—I came because my sister insisted on coming alone so I couldn’t let her go by herself,” Bing Ge replied while talking with me while gesturing towards that girl: “Mengya—call Brother Jie.” “Brother Jie!” The girl politely greeted me.
“Mengya is really well-behaved…” Just then they walked over as Shuai Dong shouted while walking: “Jie where have you been? We’ve been looking for you for half an hour…” Suddenly noticing Bing Ge standing there he paused with an apologetic smile: “Oh hey Bing Ge—you’re here at the amusement park too?” “Yeah—I’m here with my sister,” Bing Ge replied while introducing her: “Mengya—these three are also your brothers.” Mengya seemed startled by Shuai Dong’s shout and stared blankly at him without saying anything.
"By the way, I'm meeting a few classmates to play basketball tomorrow. I originally wanted to play half-court streetball. Are you interested in joining us? We can have ten people for a full game." Bing Ge said. "That's great! What time tomorrow? Where?" "Tomorrow at eight in the morning, at Lake City Park. Don't be late..." "Brother, I want to go ride the carousel," Mengya urged. "Then I'll go play with her first. Bye, remember, tomorrow at eight in the morning." Bing Ge was pulled away by Mengya. "Okay, we're going to play too." After Bing Ge left, I turned around and found Shuai Dong and Pang Hao glaring at me as if I owed them money. "Hey, what's up? I didn't provoke you this time, did I?"
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