Chapter 3

Although Qin Weihang had tried his best to reduce his sense of presence in school, he wasn’t someone who could easily hide all trace of his movements after all. His personality was prickly, and the friction with Chai Meng was just the tip of the iceberg. The ‘Ye Gong likes dragons’ type of people soon discovered that this ‘dragon’ was not well liked. He was too cold toward girls and too imposing for boys. If he hadn’t been born tall and handsome, people wouldn’t be so tolerant of him, and those who didn’t like him didn’t dare provoke him, then perhaps he would have long been caught by someone looking for trouble.

[*TN: For anybody who doesn’t remember, it’s a metaphor for people that say they like something but are actually scared of them. The idiom is derived from a story about Ye Gong who pretends to like a dragon but was actually scared of it.]

Later, trouble inevitably still happened.

One time, after Dengism class, An Ning and Liang Shenghan went to a nearby cafeteria for lunch. This cafeteria was close to the dormitory of the Faculty of Arts. Among the cafeterias on campus, it was the most popular one. However, it was far away from their own dormitory, so it was An Ning’s first time to come here to eat.

It was the same-looking scrambled eggs with tomatoes, but with one bite, An Ning couldn’t help but feel that this was the authentic kind of scrambled eggs with tomatoes. No wonder this cafeteria was so popular. He had just immersed himself in a few mouthfuls when Liang Shenghan suddenly said “Hey,” then pointed in a certain direction. “The school flower*.”

[*TN: Basically the prettiest girl in the school.]

An Ning turned to look, and he couldn’t help but see a light in front of the crowd in line to eat. There were several girls, but at a glance, he could tell which girl Liang Shenghan was referring to. That girl with long hair smiled a bit like Aragaki Yui. No wonder she was the school flower. There was no doubt about it, since he also liked Aragaki Yui.

Liang Shenghan smiled and said, “You know why there are so many people here now, right?”

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An Ning let out an “ah” sound. It was not…actually because of this? In an instant, the plate of delicious scrambled eggs with tomatoes became a little pitiful.

That was too exaggerated, though. He didn’t see their cafeteria bursting with popularity because of Qin Weihang…

“Qin Weihang doesn’t go to the cafeteria to eat. If he went to the cafeteria on time everyday, our cafeteria may be even more popular than here.” Liang Shenghan said, “However, with Qin Weihang’s personality, he will cause trouble sooner or later.”

“No way,” An Ning shook his head while eating, “He is very nice.”

“How can you tell?” Liang Shenghan asked, “You and him talked?”

An Ning nodded hesitantly, “Uh…you can consider it as so.”

“What did you talk to him about?” Liang Shenghan approached curiously.

An Ning was really embarrassed to mention the content of the conversation, so he just said, “Just a normal greeting, and he replied to me, so…”

Oh, so embarrassing! He even lied about this kind of thing… He quickly bowed his head and took two mouthfuls of rice.

“How can this show that he’s a good person?” Liang Shenghan laughed and pointed to himself, “Then, top student, what do you think of me? Not only do I say hello to you, but even eat together with you. In your heart, am I close to becoming the sage Gandhi?”

An Ning couldn’t help but laugh, then said, “Don’t make fun of me.”

Liang Shenghan continued to chat with him as he ate, “Our school flower is a photography major. Last week, they organized a club activity. They wanted to borrow Qin Weihang’s motorcycle to take a photo of it… Doesn’t he have a motorcycle?”

An Ning had seen Qin Weihang’s motorcycle once. It was a sport bike and was indeed very eye catching. He nodded, “It seems he has a black one.”

“Yes, it’s the black one. She just wanted to take a photo of that motorcycle. The school flower even asked personally, but Qin Weihang didn’t agree.” Liang Shenghan frowned when he said that. “The people of the photography department posted the video and the situation became awkward for a while!”

After listening, An Ning didn’t give any response. If he didn’t allow it then they should’ve accepted that. It was not like he must let them.

Liang Shenghan said, “I also think Qin Weihang didn’t have to agree, but that’s Huang Qinzhen!(school flower’s name) Do you know what those people online said about Qin Weihang?”

An Ning raised his head. “What did they say?”

“They said that he’s overconfident, is a poser, and that his sexual orientation is a mystery. Thus, he ended up offending the majority of the straight men. The scolding was as bad as you can imagine it to be.”

An Ning felt very uncomfortable after listening. He looked at the direction of the school flower, then silently finished his meal. When he went to the library in the afternoon, he took a moment to find the video on the campus network. The video was shot by a male senior from Huang Qinzhen’s photography department. Huang Qinzhen’s smile was really sunny. If it were him, he wouldn’t be able to refuse any request from the girl who smiled like Aragaki Yui. Thinking about it, for Qin Weihang to be able to refuse someone like Aragaki Yui, An Ning couldn’t help but admire him.

The camera followed Huang Qinzhen down the stairs of the administration building, where there was an eye-catching black motorcycle. They were talking about the motorcycle at first, but after a while, the camera turned around and captured Qin Weihang coming out of the administration building. He walked down the steps, wearing a black round-neck sweater and a motorcycle helmet in his hand. Huang Qinzhen and the photographer took a step forward.

Turning up the sound a bit, he heard Huang Qinzhen say, “Hello, classmate. This motorcycle is really beautiful, can you let us take a picture? It won’t delay you too long.”

Qin Weihang was preparing to wear the helmet while he listened to her. After she finished speaking, he frowned and asked, “What are you taking pictures of?”

Huang Qinzhen said, “There is a stone arch bridge a few hundred meters past the back school gate. The scenery there is particularly nice. We want to take a shot of a motorcycle racing past there.”

Qin Weihang frowned. He thought for two seconds, then said, “It’s too far.” He raised his eyes and glanced at the camera. The lens was already very close to Qin Weihang. Qin Weihang lowered his head and said to Huang Qinzhen, “Can you tell him not to take pictures of me?”

Huang Qinzhen turned around and said to the photographer, “Senior, stand back a little.” Then she said to Qin Weihang, “Not far, you can drive with us. It will only delay you for about ten minutes.”

“I have been delayed for five minutes now.” Qin Weihang glanced at his watch and said, “If you want to take a picture, you can take a still picture here.” Then he looked in the direction of the camera again and raised his hand to block the lens, “Don’t take pictures of me, okay?”

Although it was an ‘okay’, the tone was quite harsh. The camera was blocked tightly by one hand, and the photographer took a few steps back.

Huang Qinzhen reluctantly said, “How can I take a still photo?” Qin Weihang said, “Then you can find someone else, I really don’t have time.” After speaking, he stepped on the motorcycle and put on his helmet. Huang Qinzhen wanted to say something, but Qin Weihang directly closed the face shield and buckled up. In the following shots, only Qin Weihang, who hit the accelerator pedal, went off. Huang Qinzhen and his senior were left awkwardly in place.

An Ning still felt that Qin Weihang had done nothing wrong after watching it. He had always rejected people in such a tone, and there was nothing excessive in his words. It was obvious that the photographer, who had been taking pictures of his face, had done something wrong.

He put down the phone and opened the textbook with a peace of mind. In short, Qin Weihang was not wrong.

Dengism class and English class was simply Qin Weihang’s must-avoid classes. Qin Weihang also has never attended gym class. During gym class that day, the teacher couldn’t hold back anymore and shouted loudly, “Who shares a dorm with him?”

An Ning groaned inwardly and had to raise his hand.

“Go back and tell him that his grades are counted as usual. Don’t think that physical education class is a place you can mess around!”

Qin Weihang didn’t come, so the teacher’s anger could only be directed at his roommate. An Ning opened his mouth and said, “I…”

Before he could say “I share a dorm with him but I am not close with him,” the teacher had already gone to warm up.

Liang Shenghan ran past him, showing him a sympathetic expression.

The next afternoon, An Ning went to the library to study as usual. When passing the stadium, he saw Qin Weihang’s motorcycle!

The sky above the stadium had a wide view. The sky was dark blue, and the black motorcycle was parked on the side of the stadium, bathing in the afternoon sun. Motorcycles all looked alike, so he got closer and recognized the word YAMAHA on the chassis. There was also a very cool “R1” sign on the side of the lights. This was Qin Weihang’s motorcycle that he had seen in the video. There were not many people who own a sport bike at school, furthermore, it happened to be a Yamaha R1, which Qin Weihang should be the only one who own one.

He looked at the direction of the stadium and heard a bam dunking sound. He followed the sound and saw Qin Weihang wearing a large black short-sleeved T-shirt. Under the sunshine, his sneakers were almost white. The view of Qin Weihang under the basketball hoop was too dazzling.

An Ning remembered that there will be gym class tomorrow, so he went to pass on the message.

Walking down the stands, the voices below gradually became clear. An Ning saw three boys walking to the side of the basketball court with a ball in their hands. They were shouting to Qin Weihang:

“Leaving just like that? Playing alone is so boring, let’s compete.”

The tone seemed to be a little provocative, but An Ning wasn’t sure if he was just thinking too much.

Qin Weihang walked to the place where he put his backpack on the sidelines and was putting on his diving watch. After hearing that, he looked over and said, “You versus me?”

The boy smiled and said, “Just the two of us is too boring, three vs. three.”

Qin Weihang didn’t say a word. He buckled the strap of his watch and stuffed the water bottle into the side of his backpack.

“My name is Lei Jun.” The guy suddenly introduced himself. He continued by saying, “Why didn’t you lend my girlfriend your vehicle that day?” An Ning was taken aback, and quickly held up his glasses to look at the guy. He was quite tall and handsome, with half-length hair tied in a stylish pigtail, and an unbuttoned dress shirt with a T-shirt underneath. Was he really Huang Qinzhen’s boyfriend?

Qin Weihang paused and turned his head back, frowned, and looked at him. “What do you want?”

Lei Jun said, “Nothing, just wanted to play with you. Don’t say you have no time, classmate.”

Qin Weihang completely turned around this time. He got up, put his backpack to the side, and said, “Sure, I will return the time I owe your girlfriend.”

Lei Jun clapped twice, then looked around. There were still a lot of people on the basketball court. The guys who were playing on the opposite side stopped to watch the good show. He said loudly, “Who wants to be on the school grass’s team?”

Seeing that there were no movements at all, An Ning saw that Liang Shenghan was right—Qin Weihang was really not popular among the boys.

“No one wants to team up with you. You’re a bit too miserable.” Lei Jun and his group laughed gleefully.

Qin Weihang indifferently bounced the ball twice and looked at him. “Why do you refuse to go one-on-one with me?”

“I don’t want to go one-on-one with you. It makes it seem like I’m looking for revenge.” Lei Jun said, “It’s just that I didn’t expect such a dignified school grass can have such poor relations with others…”

An Ning couldn’t stand it anymore. He walked to the sidelines and said, “Qin Weihang! If you don’t mind that I’m not tall, I can form a team with you!”

In an instant everyone looked in his direction.

Qin Weihang also looked over. An Ning regretted a bit, not for standing up at this moment, but for not eating more meat to grow taller. Perhaps his actions were unnecessary, after all, he wasn’t the kind of assist player who could help Qin Weihang add points. However, impulsiveness took over at that moment; he just didn’t want Qin Weihang to look bad in front of everyone.

Qin Weihang only glanced at him and said, “Okay.”

Lei Jun was a little surprised. “Are you really going to team up with him?”

Qin Weihang had already lowered his head and took off the diving watch again and flung it directly on the jacket that was on the chair. He said, “Enough, stop talking nonsense. Let’s begin.”

Lei Jun said, “You are still one person short.”

Qin Weihang looked at him. “Are you going to play or not? Or are you here to compete shooting one’s mouth off with me?”

Someone was laughing next to him. Lei Jun was a little annoyed by the words and walked onto the court. “Okay, then I won’t take advantage of you!” He called one of his friend over to join his team.

Two-on-two, four people walked to the center of the court. They were surrounded by shouts. People in the stadium gradually gathered in the direction of the basketball court.

Qin Weihang walked to An Ning’s side and said, “You are only responsible for paying attention to me and helping me pass the ball.”

An Ning shifted his glasses up and nodded solemnly.

Some of the onlookers shouted, “Top student, can you really do it?”

An Ning did not expect that there were people who knew him at the scene. It was a little suffocating. Qin Weihang didn’t even look at the direction of those people’s booing—he slammed the ball to the ground, interrupting the noisy voices with a bang, then said, “Ignore them.”

An Ning withdrew his attention. He actually didn’t know much about basketball. He wasn’t considered good at it, but… He glanced at Qin Weihang on the right and thought, although there was a huge difference in skill level between the two, as long as Qin Weihang was watching him, there should be no problems.

They lost in head or tail, so the opponent made the first move. An Ning kept watching Qin Weihang closely. Qin Weihang took the ball to face Lei Jun and the other person. After lowering his body’s center of gravity, his whole body immediately became extremely oppressive, like a large black panther with his back hunched. The ball bounced rhythmically on the ground. Qin Weihang’s hands were big enough, so he controlled the ball very firmly. It was not easy to steal the ball from his hands. And because of his long legs, he could move side to side with great range. On top of that, there was the distance between the ball and his arm. Almost immediately his body started to pass through the two people, went down the court and straight to the hoop. Lei Jun ran up to stop him, but failed to do so. Qin Weihang easily scored a basket. Someone on the sidelines applauded, while An Ning couldn’t help but yell “Nice!”

This one score made him feel at ease. All he had to do was obediently pass the ball to Qin Weihang! Next, it was Lei Jun’s turn to attack with the ball. It was not a problem for Qin Weihang to guard against Lei Jun, but for An Ning, it was still a bit hard to guard against the opponent one-on-one. One, there was a physique difference, and two, he had not warmed up enough. The clothes and shoes on his body were not for exercising. Lei Jun’s friend easily pushed him away. He was almost unable to stand firm when he was knocked into. When he stepped on the sideline, he thought with lingering fear, basketball was really a sport of fighting physique.

Instead of them going on the offensive, Lei Jun and his friends were clearly prepared this time. The two closely guarded Qin Weihang. There was no room for Qin Weihang to pass, but Qin Weihang was tall, so he wanted to raise his hand to pass the ball. He quickly switched from the posture of holding the ball and breaking through, to the posture of straightening up and passing the ball. The ball passed from the top of the two people’s heads. An Ning caught the ball and moved forward—Qin Weihang broke through the defense at that moment. Although Lei Jun and his friends were both over 1.8 meters tall, Qin Weihang still hovered over them. It was also obvious that Qin Weihang had the upper hand in physique. Like how Lei Jun’s friend knocked into An Ning before, Qin Weihang also used the same method to knock Lei Jun away. Lei Jun couldn’t take Qin Weihang’s physical superiority at all, so his body staggered several steps back after being pushed. Qin Weihang raised his hand to ask for the ball from An Ning, and An Ning immediately passed the ball to him. The pass was very thrilling, because it was almost broken by Lei Jun’s friend by extending his arm. After Qin Weihang received the ball, An Ning breathed a sigh of relief and watched. After Qin Weihang crossed the three-second zone* with his long legs in two steps, he dunked the ball into the hoop and landed in place.

[*TN: It’s the free throw area or the “key” area.]

The score was 2 to 1. An Ning took a deep breath and exhaled. Qin Weihang went to him and said, “This time we won’t let them score points.” He glanced at Lei Jun’s friend and said, “You try to delay him as long as possible.”

“Got it!” An Ning nodded seriously. It felt like his blood surged due to Qin Weihang’s influence.

This time, the focus of the target was no longer Qin Weihang, but Lei Jun’s teammate. He doesn’t have much ability to guard against the other, and he can’t win the fight, but he can pester the opponent. The posture may not look good, but what does it matter. As long as it works!

Lei Jun’s friend was obviously harassed by him. When An Ning was entangled with him for the third time, An Ning was maliciously knocked over by the other party with a vicious movement. Due to this, he fell directly to the ground and his glasses were knocked off. He was worried that he couldn’t help Qin Weihang, and turned his head nervously without retrieving his glasses. Lei Jun had already made a layup directly under the basket. When he jumped, Qin Weihang took off almost at the same time as him. Qin Weihang, however, jumped even higher. He harshly slapped the ball in Lei Jun’s hand while in front of the basket!!

This blocking scene made the boys watching the game unable to resist yelling. They whistled one after another, but Lei Jun was very annoyed.

An Ning was overjoyed. Then he turned to look for his glasses. Qin Weihang walked over, bent down a little in front of him, and picked up the glasses for him. He wiped it with the hem of his T-shirt and gave it to him. An Ning stood up and couldn’t help but say, “Too cool! Too bad I didn’t see it clearly!”

Qin Weihang surprisingly laughed after hearing this, and said, “It was thanks to you. If they had two people at the basket, I wouldn’t be able to do it.”

An Ning was also delighted when he heard this, because it turned out that he still had some use for Qin Weihang. He originally thought that Qin Weihang was repelling people thousands of miles away, but at this moment, he was overwhelmed by this laugh that lasted less than a second. He followed Qin Weihang and proactively said, “When you ran into them, it was like a motorcycle hitting a bicycle. We definitely won!”

Qin Weihang thought that this description was a bit funny, and unconsciously pursed his lower lip; the smile concealing itself at the corner of his mouth. An Ning saw that Qin Weihang wanted to laugh but didn’t. He was a little ashamed, thinking that Qin Weihang was embarrassed by his words…

Soon the score was 4 to 1. An Ning’s ears were full of Qin Weihang’s dunks, layup sounds, and the audience cheering. The formerly unpopular noble school grass turned the stadium into his home ground. Lei Jun and his friend lost face, but they couldn’t get off the ground.

This time, when Lei Jun took the ball, An Ning still focused on the other person like usual. Lei Jun passed the ball to his teammate. An Ning immediately stepped forward to defend. The opponent, who was so angry at that moment, raised the ball. An Ning thought he was going to pass the ball, yet he did not expect the basketball to slam on his forehead with considerable force!

An Ning’s head was completely hit, and he felt his glasses being scraped from the bridge of his nose and ears. He heard the other party laugh, “I’m sorry, I originally wanted to break through…”

An Ning barely supported himself. He thought, while his head was spinning, oh please, your steps were way too short…

He felt sluggish for a while until he returned to normal. When his field of vision stopped spinning, he vaguely saw Qin Weihang approaching. He squatted again to pick up his glasses, but didn’t stand up to return them to him. He looked up at Lei Jun’s teammate.

Seeing Qin Weihang’s gaze, the boy shrugged and said, “Don’t play basketball if you’re wearing glasses.”

Qin Weihang stood up and walked towards the guy, but An Ning held him back. “It’s okay, forget it!”

Qin Weihang didn’t go any further, An Ning lowered his head to take the glasses in his hand, but Qin Weihang did not let go. Holding the glasses that were probably broken, he said to Lei Jun and the others, “I already won. I don’t want to play anymore.”

Lei Jun said in a desperate manner, “It’s not over yet!”

Qin Weihang ignored them. He turned to An Ning and said, “Let’s go.”