Chapter 6 (2/2)

“Huh?” Su Fei was stumped.

“Shu Guang High has been scorned at for a very long time, so much so that as a student at Shu Guang High I’m too afraid show my face on the streets! I’ve decided that I’ll hit a hat-trick during tomorrow’s match!”

“You’re saying… you’re going to score three goals?” Su Fei asked gingerly.

“Correct!”

“Yeah!” A chipper Su Fei leapt, high-fiving her friend in celebration.

“Whoa! I haven’t done it yet; there’s no need to be so excited, right?”

“My hard work these few days has paid off!” Su Fei squealed. “A hat-trick equals to a player scoring three goals! I was right!”

Zhang Jun stumbled.

…

The Xin’an County in the northwest of Luoyang was an impoverished district in the country. Still, contrary to many who believed that this in itself was a noteworthy feature of the region, there were many more breathtaking sceneries there. One example was Mount Qing’yao, a place where the vintage Chinese geographical text, “Classic of Mountains and Seas” was once poetically narrated: “Mount of Qing Yao, truly a favorable secret retreat fit for kings…”

After a 40-minute journey, the Shu Guang bus stopped outside the Xin’an Yi High School stadium. The facility was built leaning against a hill and bore the shape of a dustpan. Alongside it was a four-storey hostel building on the slope. Spectator stands were set up left and right beside the pitch, while a towering rostrum was set up on the right together with the locker rooms for both host and visiting teams. Beneath the slope was a basketball court.

There were already spectators waiting at the stands and the host team was also training on the pitch. At the sight of their opponents’ arrival, their coach approached to greet them.

It did not take more than a few exchanges for Liang Ke to hate the guy, who laughed at them. “Can’t wait for the game, haha! The big game is coming up; it’s good to pick up some confidence at least! Haha.”

At the sight of his fake laugh, Liang retorted humorlessly, “Us too!”

After a few simple warm-ups, the team went into the locker rooms where Liang asked, “Everyone, did you hear what their coach said?”

“Yes!!!”

“Any thoughts? Are you guys fine with being ridiculed all the time?”

“No!!!”

“That’s right! Let them see that we are no longer the old us!”

“Yeah!!!”

“It’s almost time,” Su Fei reminded the coach.

“Let’s go!” Liang Ke waved. “Zhang Jun, Yang Pan, stay behind for a bit.”

Both of them sat down again.

After everyone else left, Liang Ke stuck his face right in front of theirs and growled. “I only have one request, go crazy; there’s no need to save face on my behalf!”