Chapter 6 (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation  Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Today’s practice session ends here. There’s still a match tomorrow, so everyone get home early and rest!” Liang Ke said as he waved everyone off the field. Zhang Jun remembered that he had something to ask his captain, Su Li and he stayed behind to help pack things up.

The entire time, Su Fei was running around trying to collect the balls that were scattered around the field. She had been knocking them around awkwardly—while not one of them seemed to follow her will, it did not curb her enthusiasm. The bizarre sight prompted a jibe from Su Li. “It’s like a princess chasing little pigs!”

Zhang Jun smiled at the appropriate simile. “Captain, there’s something I’m not clear about,” he asked. “Why were the seniors so excited when they heard about the match?”

“You’re new, so you probably wouldn’t know.” Su Li smiled. “I asked about this too when I was new here. Well, in a nutshell, our team is the absolute bottom-feeder in the Luoyang high school soccer scene. Every year, there is little chance for us to have a match other than the qualifiers for the national competition.

“And, it’s not like we do well in that either; we keep losing in the first round. So, that’s pretty much why no other team would even want to play a practice match with us. Now that we actually have a proper one, everyone’s excited.”

Although his leader wore a grin as he spoke, his squad mate did not miss the bitterness in his words.

Meanwhile, using both her hands and legs, Su Fei finally managed to chase down all the scattered “little pigs” and gathered them into a bamboo basket.

“Count them. Did I leave any out?” The team manager asked Zhang Jun with a sense of accomplishment. Despite all that, her work fell to blind eyes.

…

Nighttime.

“Su Fei? Zhang Jun’s gone downstairs. You can look for him there.”

“Thanks aunty!” Su Fei turned and left the Zhangs’ apartment, thinking to herself.

It’s pitch dark out there right now, what’s he doing?

As soon as she left the apartment, she found someone beneath one of the streetlights; upon closer look, she saw that it was Zhang Jun—he was playing keepie-uppie. “Didn’t coach tell you to rest early for tomorrow’s match?”

Not stopping, her neighbor replied, “Can’t sleep if I’m not warm!”

“Zhang Jun, you’ve been acting weird today! I worked so hard when I wrapped things up after practice, and you didn’t even praise me!”

Zhang dropped the ball and wiped off a pinch of sweat. “That’s it? Really?”

“And you’ve never done warm-ups before sleeping!”

“Let me ask you this, Su Fei”—Zhang Jun replied, picking up the ball—”what would you do if people kept looking down on you?”

“Screw that! Of course I’d retaliate!”

“How would you do that? Argue with them?”

“No! Arguing is meaningless! I’ll do it through action!”

“Right! That’s right!” Zhang Jun exclaimed and applauded. “I’ve decided to learn from you!”