Chapter 148: One Short

The four of them stood nearby, watching Liu Hua and the others train.

These training sessions were quite dull, lacking the excitement of a competitive scrimmage; instead, they focused on conditioning and coordination drills.

Such tedious routines seemed utterly boring and devoid of any fun. Naturally, none of them had the heart to watch, yet for various reasons, all four remained standing there.

Zhao Qi racked her brain, trying to figure out how to ask Jiang Zheng and the others to leave first, separating them from Li Wenxin before things turned truly ugly and made everyone look bad.

Jiang Zheng wanted to leave as well, but hesitated to speak up, having previously promised Liu Hua that he would take good care of Zhao Qi.

Pei Xin's mind was racing; she particularly despised the woman named Wenxin and was plotting ways to force her to leave.

Li Wenxin was furious and wanted to chase Jiang Zheng and the others away, but restrained herself out of regard for Zhao Qi, keeping her murmurs to herself. She certainly didn't dare grumble anymore, lest she be called a fly again.

Though they appeared to be a cohesive group, their hearts were already divided, each member secretly wishing for the gathering to dissolve.

Just then, Liu Hua spotted Jiang Zheng and came running over from afar.

As a member of the school's varsity basketball team, Liu Hua was naturally quite tall; without sufficient height, he wouldn't have been selected.

In basketball, height is an enormous advantage. Generally speaking, tall guys have an easier time finding girlfriends. Although Liu Hua's looks were somewhat average, they were by no means ugly, and with time, he even possessed a certain rugged charm.

Combined with the height advantage of a basketball player, he shouldn't have lacked female company. In fact, Liu Hua did have a few admirers who fancied him.

The only reason he remained single was that Liu Hua was simply too oblivious in matters of romance.

Running up to them, Liu Hua said first, "Number Four, thanks for your hard work today."

Jiang Zheng shook his head and said nothing.

Truth be told, he did feel rather exhausted today, primarily because of Li Wenxin, who had been constantly nagging and speaking ill of him ever since Pei Xin's arrival.

Jiang Zheng's fatigue was not physical, but deeply mental.

Afterward, Liu Hua turned to Zhao Qi and said, "Cousin, wait here a moment. As soon as my training session is over, I'll come find you."

"No problem, Cousin, go ahead and train, don't worry about us," Zhao Qi said with a smile.

Then she added, "Oh right, Cousin, if Jiang Zheng has anything to attend to, let him go take care of it first. We'll just wait here for you."

Liu Hua spoke up, "Actually, that's precisely what I came over to discuss. Number Four, I might need to trouble you for a bit."

"What is it?" Jiang Zheng asked.

"Well, we're planning to hold a scrimmage, but we're one person short. Since your basketball skills are pretty good, how about you play with us in the scrimmage? Just treat it like your usual pickup game," Liu Hua said.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Zheng wasn't particularly enthusiastic at first, but immediately replied, "Sure, that suits me just fine."

He agreed with remarkable promptness, purely for the sake of parting ways with Li Wenxin immediately, as he no longer wished to stay in her company.

"Perfect, let's head over right now. Oh right, Cousin, you guys wait a moment, we'll be done very soon," Liu Hua told Zhao Qi, dragging Jiang Zheng away with him.

Zhao Qi was left somewhat speechless, realizing how unreliable her cousin could be to ditch her like that. Normally, Zhao Qi would have likely grown angry.

Today, however, she felt an overwhelming sense of relief instead—at the very least, Jiang Zheng and Li Wenxin were now separated.

As for the other girl, the moment Jiang Zheng went off to play in the scrimmage, she had scurried over to a spot much closer to the court.

Zhao Qi didn't move her feet. For them, watching the match from here was quite pleasant; not only was it a shady spot, but they also had a great view of the game. Why wouldn't they?

Arriving at the court, Liu Hua said, "Number Four, just join up with their group."

Jiang Zheng nodded and replied, "Alright."

This internal training match was inherently unfair, pitting the starting players against the substitutes.

In terms of skill, the substitutes were naturally inferior to the starters; if their abilities were equal, there would be no distinction between starters and backups.

Such an arrangement was made precisely to build chemistry. After all, coordination among the starting players was far more crucial, so the current drill aimed primarily to hone the teamwork of the regular lineup.

At the same time, having undergone conditioning drills for so long, everyone needed a scrimmage to keep their shooting touch sharp.

Blending in among the substitutes, Jiang Zheng looked slightly out of place.

Among all those people, he was the only one not wearing a jersey, whereas the varsity players all sported uniform team kits.

After Jiang Zheng exchanged brief introductions with the four of them, the scrimmage began.

Since Jiang Zheng was a fresh addition and everyone was unfamiliar with him, they deliberately avoided passing the ball to him.

Jiang Zheng didn't mind; since no one was passing to him, he would simply focus on playing his own defense.

The starting player guarded by Jiang Zheng began to feel that something was amiss—why was the defense put up by the guy in front of him so utterly watertight?

Clearly, his defensive stance was riddled with vulnerabilities, yet there was simply no way to break through.

Following his physical enhancement, Jiang Zheng's bodily stats had all improved, and his reactions were quicker than an ordinary person's.

Even though his technique was lacking and his defensive posture was full of flaws, his reflexes were lightning fast. Whenever his opponent made a fake, Jiang Zheng was able to react instantly.

The match continued, with both sides scoring, but the score of Jiang Zheng's team was left far behind by the starters.

The gap had even stretched to over thirty points—a massive margin.

This was mainly because they distrusted Jiang Zheng and rarely passed the ball to him, effectively forcing them to play four against five, which naturally widened the score gap.

Now, there were only fifteen minutes left until the end of the match.

The substitute players had already mentally conceded defeat in their hearts. Losing a game felt normal to them, but trailing by such a massive margin still left a bitter taste.

One of the substitute players managed to grab the ball, but scanning the court, he saw that all three of his teammates were heavily guarded. Only his temporary teammate was left largely unmarked.

Jiang Zheng waved his hand, signaling for the ball to be passed to him.

Yet he held no real hope in his heart. There had been countless opportunities earlier to pass the ball to him, and not a single person had done so.

In the beginning, the opponents had tightly marked him as well, but upon realizing that the ball never came his way, they eventually relaxed their defense. After all, guarding him seemed largely pointless.

Holding the ball, the player thought rapidly, trying to break through on his own, but soon realized he had no way through.

The starters' defense was far too suffocating; they could find no opening to penetrate.

At that moment, he caught sight of the temporary teammate waving his hand again, and that area remained completely unguarded.

Should he pass it to him?

Things had come to this, and with no other options left, he might as well pass!

The player thought to himself.

With a crisp pass, the ball sailed smoothly toward Jiang Zheng.

Jiang Zheng leaped straight up from the spot, catching the ball out of midair.