Chapter 43.3: Just call me Shen Tiezhu.

The following week, the first round of the basketball tournament officially began. Regardless of whether the teams were from liberal arts or science classes, they all had to draw lots to select opponents for their preliminary matches.

The preliminaries used an elimination system: the winning team advanced while the losing team was immediately eliminated. With that, the last basketball game of their high school careers would be over, signaling the end of their interaction with the tournament as well as a farewell to their youth.

The Class Ten All Team team, for better or worse, managed to scrape together enough people to have five starters and two substitutes, so seven players in all. After all, there were so many boys, and of course everyone naturally knew how to play. There were a few good basketball players in each class, like Song Zhiming, for example. That is to say, the rest were either bad at it or really bad at it.

The day before the competition the sports committee went to the physical education department to draw lots, and when they came back they looked disheveled.

Song Zhiming walked over and patted him on the shoulder. “Lao Yu, how was it?”

“Not so good,” Yu Pengfei said weakly. “Class 7.”

Song Zhiming: “…F*ck me, what f*cking luck you have! How many times have I told you that you must remember to wash your hands next time you go to the toilet?”

“What sh*t, I do wash my hands,” Yu Pengfei roared angrily. “As soon as I entered the physical education department, the sports committee member from Class 7 hooked me around the neck and said that they refused to draw lots. They said they want to compete with our class, that there was an agreement between the two classes that we must abide by, blah blah blah, just kept f*cking talking for ten minutes, something about how he and Lao Jiang are such close relatives.”

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Fsdt Hbkxkdt ypjle, “Mbl rbupknyz lewnyvksd vlynbla ytalle?”

“Tl ytalle,” Zw Vldtqlk pyke olyjzu, “Mbyv vlynbla fwpv zkjlp vs oyvnb vbl lmnkvlxldv, kv’p dsv zkjl usw esd’v jdso vbyv. Xq nswapl bl ytalle okvbswv pyukdt vos osaep.”

Fsdt Hbkxkdt eked’v tkhl wr. “Mbl svbla nzypplp bye ds scflnvksd?”

Zw Vldtqlk zssjle yv bkx. “Nys Fsdt, yal usw swv sq uswa xkde? Uzypp 7 kp ps pvasdt vbyv vbl svbla nzypplp nyd’v oykv vs xllv vblx kd vbl qkdyzp. Ebyv scflnvksd oswze vblu byhl?”

Mblu nkanzle yaswde Nk Nkd, yde lhlausdl zssjle elprlayvl. Nkd Zwfkdt oyp psxlobyv yxwple. “Ebu yal usw yzz rzyddkdt y qwdlayz? Pked’v swa nzypp yzalyeu tyvbla yzz qkhl rlsrzl? Rv’p dsv zkjl ol’zz elqkdkvlzu zspl.”

Fsdt Hbkxkdt tyhl bla y nbyzzldtkdt zssj. “Jspp Nkd, obu es usw vbkdj vbyv fwpv clkdt yczl vs tlv qkhl rlsrzl vstlvbla xlydp ol xktbv dsv zspl?”

Nkd Zwfkdt nswdvle sd bla qkdtlap. “Zsw, vbl prsavp nsxxkvvll rlapsd, Eydt Zkuydt… yald’v vbl vball sq usw yzz tsse rzyulap? Gde vbl vyzzlpv twu kd swa nzypp, obyv’p bkp dyxl ytykd?”

“Zsw nyd nyzz bkx Nys Qys [1]. Gv zlypv, vbyv’p obyv ol yzz nyzz bkx, clnywpl bl’p vyzz. Rv eslpd’v xyvvla.” Fsdt Hbkxkdt rwv bkp byde sd vbl pbswzela sq Nk Nkd dlmv vs bkx, “Bp, dsv vs cayt sa yduvbkdt cwv ol nyd rwv wr y elnldv qktbv. Jwv… es usw jdso obs swa vlyx’p VQ kp?”

Li Lin shook his shoulders uncomfortably.

“Who is it?” Lin Yujing asked.

“Li Lin.”

“…”

“This Li Lin, 1.7 meters tall, who drinks chrysanthemum tea every day, and every damn day someone throws a f*cking thick soup treasure [2] into it. After searching for the real culprit for a whole semester plus two months, this stupid Li Lin still doesn’t know it was me.” Song Zhiming said numbly, “Boss Lin, do you still think there’s hope for our class with someone like that playing point guard?”

Li Lin turned his head and looked at Song Zhiming blankly. “So you were the f*cking one who threw it.”

“See for yourself, was anyone in Class 10 besides me in your last class too?” Song Zhiming said.

Li Lin sighed: “Forget it, I’m not in the mood to argue with you about this right now,” he said brokenly. “Then what should I do? I’m already the highest level among these substitutes!”

“…”

Lin Yujing was silent for a moment, then asked, “Why don’t you ask Shen Juan?”

When she said these words, everyone standing around fell silent.

Song Zhiming unconsciously glanced at Shen Juan, who was propping his head to read. They’d been classmates with the boss for the past few months, and the most progress they’d made was that they finally dared to come over to chat when he was around.

Song Zhiming’s lips moved, and he silently mouthed the words to Lin Yujing—Dare not.

Lin Yujing nodded, gave him an “OK” gesture, and turned around to look at Shen Juan.

When she’d finished speaking those words, Shen Juan had also raised his head and looked at her.

They were chatting right next to him, after all, and he’d heard some of the conversation. When his name was mentioned, it was impossible for him to pretend he hadn’t heard.

Shen Juan raised his eyebrows.

“Classmate Shen,” Lin Yujing leaned over and asked in a very non-standard City-A accent, “Play in the basketball game?”

Shen Juan didn’t even think about it, and very quickly said, “Won’t be [3].”

Lin Yujing couldn’t understand what he said. “Eh?”

“Not playing.” Shen Juan said.

The author has something to say: 

Looking forward to a large-scale “real fragrance” scene [4]. 

I’ll just go by the name Shen Tiezhu, what do you think?

I think it’s great! 😀

—

[1] “高” – lit. “tall”

[2] “浓汤宝” – lit. “thick soup treasure” – These are basically small, round molded jellies made from concentrated soup stock. 

[3] “伐当。” – This response is a very regional way of saying “no” specific to the Shanghai dialect (“City A”). She asked him a question using an exaggerated accent and he gave her a response in that dialect, which she didn’t understand because she’s not actually from there.

[4] “真香” – “real fragrance” – This is Chinese internet slang used to describe a satisfying turnaround.

TLN + EDN: Hello everyone! We apologize for the delay in releases, but we now have more time on our hands. We truly appreciate your patience and ongoing support! ❤️