Chapter 1

*Slap!*

The basketball in Xiao Chen's hands was slapped away, and the audience erupted into cheers. However, to Xiao Chen, these cheers were like sharp needles in his ears.

A block! This almost humiliating way of taking the ball made Xiao Chen stare at Chen Jinpeng, gasping for breath!

Internal energy! Chen Jinpeng actually used internal energy without permission!

Wushu practitioners generally do not use internal energy. If internal energy is used in an ordinary friendly basketball game, what's the point? Unless the opponent provokes first, wushu practitioners usually disdain using internal energy to bully others.

Xiao Chen looked at Chen Jinpeng, who had passed by and taken the basketball from him, with a dark expression. He even forgot about his swollen hand! This was his former subordinate, who actually used underhanded tactics against him in the game?

*Whistle—*

With the sound of the whistle signaling the end of the game, the audience outside cheered again. Chen Jinpeng had successfully made a shot at the last moment!

Again, internal energy! Only Xiao Chen noticed that at such a distance, with Chen Jinpeng's strength, he had to use internal energy to make the shot!

"Chen Jinpeng... you're really something..." Even though Xiao Chen had strong mental fortitude, the consecutive blows still made his chest heave with uncontrollable anger!

"What are you looking at? Do you still think you're the old Master Xiao? You've been kicked out of the family, and you still come to the court to seek humiliation? Do you really think you're a basketball god? If it weren't for me always playing the double agent and bribing my teammates to deliberately lose to you, what do you think you are?" Chen Jinpeng looked at Xiao Chen with a mocking and derisive gaze, as if he were looking down at an ant.

"Fake game? No wonder you lost so badly. I thought Xiao Chen was really a basketball god, but it turns out he's fake!" Xiao Chen's teammates, upon hearing Chen Jinpeng's words, seemed to understand and began to mock and criticize him.

"Scum, always playing fake games. I said, why is Xiao Chen's technique so bad today, constantly being intercepted by Chen Jinpeng? He's a real piece of trash!"

If it were in the past, these people wouldn't dare to do anything to Xiao Chen. Although Xiao Chen currently attends an elite school, and these people's families are either rich or noble, compared to the Xiao family, one of the four major families in Songning City, there is a world of difference!

However, now that Xiao Chen has been kicked out of the Xiao family and is even a thorn in the side of the Cheng family, the leading family among the four, these people, regardless of whether Chen Jinpeng's words are true or false, all join in to echo and agree!

Xiao Chen looked at the people on the court coldly, but he had nothing to say. Could he tell them that Chen Jinpeng's basketball skills are actually not as good as his, and he only won because he used internal energy?

But who would believe him? How many of these people know about internal energy? Even if they do, who would stand up for him now? He is no longer the young master of the Xiao family, the son of the young patriarch. His former subordinates are now stepping on his head...

"Huh..." Xiao Chen shook his head. Why? Why was he still kicked out of the Xiao family? Is it because he couldn't cultivate internal energy? But who would see the efforts Xiao Chen has put in all these years?

Xiao Chen is the only son of Xiao Feng, the young patriarch of the Xiao family, but due to his physical condition, he has never been able to cultivate internal energy.

Over the years, Xiao Chen has endured immense pressure. The heirs of the four major families are all outstanding martial artists. Only martial artists can dominate and push a family to greater heights.

In public, Xiao Chen had to act like a spoiled young master, spending money extravagantly. Only by doing so could he protect himself. A useless heir is something the other three major families and the five minor families would be happy to see.

Without the ability to protect himself, he had to make others think he was harmless.

In private, however, he trained diligently for over a decade. Every night, in the basement of his room in the Xiao family, the sounds of training could be heard. But Xiao Chen's efforts did not receive the heavens' reward.

His father went missing, he was kicked out of the family, and his engagement to the Cheng family was broken off. And he was still a useless person without the ability to protect himself!

Xiao Chen took a deep breath. Regardless of whether he appeared harmless in the past, at this moment, the old man of the Cheng family hates him, and there are many people who would kick him while he's down.

The basketball game was over, and the people around him had already dispersed. Those who were fawning over the Chen family surrounded Chen Jinpeng and went to celebrate together.

"Xiao... Xiao Chen." A somewhat nervous but pleasant voice, accompanied by a beautiful figure, appeared in front of Xiao Chen.

This was a girl in a school uniform, dressed very simply, but her natural beauty could not be hidden.

"Lin Ke'er?" Xiao Chen looked at the girl, known as the civilian school beauty, with some surprise. Of course, she was also someone Xiao Chen used to pursue and harass.

Actually, speaking of which, Xiao Chen could be considered Lin Ke'er's savior. When Lin Ke'er was being harassed by thugs in a small alley behind the school, Xiao Chen, who happened to pass by, ordered Chen Jinpeng to beat up the thugs, thus playing out a scene of a hero saving a beauty.

Originally, Lin Ke'er was very grateful to Xiao Chen, but unexpectedly, the next day, Xiao Chen started pursuing Lin Ke'er at school, sending love letters and roses, which made Lin Ke'er, who only wanted to focus on her studies, feel overwhelmed.

So, she had to avoid Xiao Chen.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen was just pretending to be a playboy and didn't do anything excessive.

However, Lin Ke'er's initiative to find him still made Xiao Chen somewhat surprised.

"I... I heard you were kicked out of the family... and... and your engagement was broken off..." Lin Ke'er's face turned red, her speech was stammering, and her breathing was rapid: "But... don't be sad or give up. If you work hard and study well now, you can still achieve great things in the future... T... Then, I... I... I can... let you... pursue me..."

After saying these words, Lin Ke'er seemed to have used all her strength. Sweat appeared on her forehead, and her delicate face was flushed. She lowered her head, not daring to look at Xiao Chen again, and quickly ran away...

Watching Lin Ke'er run away, Xiao Chen couldn't help but smile bitterly. While admiring Lin Ke'er's innocence and kindness, he also couldn't help but marvel at how convincing his act as a playboy had been. Could it be that she thought he would be driven to despair by this?

However, what Xiao Chen didn't know was that a rumor had already started to spread in the school! And it was because Lin Ke'er heard this rumor that she mustered the courage to find Xiao Chen.

For the simple and pure Lin Ke'er, how much courage did it take to say these words?

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