𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝 ➝ Zhuo Zhi

36: Xing Yao

Jia Li was about to follow Da Yong as the announcer announced that the morning matches had ended and will resume in the afternoon. As she stepped into the park, she unknowingly bumped into Zhuo Zhi, who had changed his uniform and had his tennis bag slung over his shoulder.

"Woah," he held her arms, chuckling. "Where are you going?"

"I was about to follow Da Chi." Jia Li replied, craning her neck to see where her brother's partner had disappeared.

Zhuo Zhi patted her head and smiled, "I'll go look for him. I need to talk to him, too about Jia Le."

She nodded and allowed him to go instead of her.

He found Da Yong sitting on a bench in deep thought. Zhuo Zhi dropped a bottle of drink between Da Yong's clasped hands and sat beside him.

"Congratulations on winning the game." Da Yong smiled.

Zhuo Zhi turned to him with the usual ghost of smile playing on his lips, sighing, "Da Chi, do you know why you and Jia Le are the Golden Partners of Yu Qing?" The vice captain remained silent, staring straight ahead. "Because of the way you complement each other. There are other players in our team, who are more competent than you but the ability to give each other confidence and trust during a match, isn't that something unique?"

Da Yong glanced down, pondering over Zhuo Zhi's words. His hands were playing with the drink his teammate had given him.

"Jia Li's been worrying about the two of you, especially you." Zhuo Zhi continued. "I might not be that observant as her, but she definitely knows something's wrong. Try to open up to us if something's bothering you, okay?" Da Yong nodded. "Let's go, then?"

Jia Li sighed in relief as she saw the two returned to the team, sitting with their other teammates. As the remaining matches resumed, Zhuo Zhi sat between the Golden Partners the entire time, who were still trying to tone down their awkwardness with each other.

She diverted her gaze to Bai Yang then to his opponent, who suddenly performed gymnastics while entering the court, baffling everyone with his flexibility. Bai Yang of course, scoffed at that and sauntered towards the court with his usual annoyed face.

The first part of the game flew by so fast as Bai Yang continuously scored using his 'Boomerang Snake' move frequently.

Too frequently, to be exact.

He won the first four rounds consecutively but afterwards, his opponent started to fight back, counterattacking every move that Bai Yang used earlier to score. When the scores came close at 3-4, Bai Yang started losing focus, consistently failing to return the balls. Because of this, he suddenly got into an accident, hitting his forehead onto the pole that supported the net. His handkerchief flew off and Jia Li grimaced as she saw a drop of blood on the court.

I can never get used to these boys hurting themselves.

Jia Li could hear Coach Qi Na's frantic voice calling for Bai Yang to take a break. But Jia Li knew his stubbornness. From every practice and match she had seen him play, Jia Li knew Bai Yang was never one to take a break until he won. She watched as he got up and tied his handkerchief around his forehead to stop it from bleeding.

Bai Yang fought back, voicing his stubbornness to win the game through his own strategy, eventually winning and letting Yu Qing enter the top four schools qualified for the next round. His teammates gathered around him as Zhi Ming treated his wound to avoid infection. Their attention was caught by the loud cheering emitted from the students of No. 6 High School, who seemed too happy even if they lost as if happiness was the most important thing for them.

After all their matches were over, Jia Li along with Peng Xiang and Qi Ying, met them outside the tennis courts. When Jia Le saw her walking towards them, he quickly leaped and dropped an arm around his sister's shoulders, pretending to be deep in thought.

"I feel so tired after all that exercise." He sighed dramatically, his eyes glancing at Jia Li. "I'm so dehydrated, I think I need a drink."

Jia Li rolled her eyes at her brother, "You could have just told me straightaway to buy you a drink."

"You'd slap me if I did that." Jia Le pouted. "You dislike me ordering you around."

She ignored him and stepped in front to face the others, "Do you guys want any drinks, too? I could buy some along with Jia Le's."

Choruses of random drinks were thrown at her, which she quickly memorized. Right before she walked away, Qiao Chen called for her, "Oh, if you come back and not see us here, we're just at the next court, watching other schools play."

Jia Li nodded and went to buy some drinks for the team. When she went to the court where Qiao Chen told her where the team would be, Jia Li could faintly hear loud cheers echoing from the area. Whichever school was playing must be impressive to have that kind of huge support. Her eyes roamed among the bleachers, crowded with students and banners, hollering happily. Peng Xiang caught her eyes and instantly waved her over, which caught the team's attention. Jia Li took a seat beside her brother and handed the plastic full of drinks to the members, who muttered thanks.

She smiled at them, which disappeared all too soon when her gaze settled on the teams playing in front of them. It was currently Meng Yue of Yu Cen High School versus Ji Jing Wu of Xing Yao High School. She glanced at the scoreboard which showed 6-0, revealing who was leading based on the shaking player of Yu Cen and a calm Ji Jing Wu. Her body tensed upon seeing her former school play, which Jia Le noticed and wrapped his hand around hers as a comfort.

"Isn't it just the beginning of the match?" She heard Qiao Chen asked.

"Xing Yao has already overwhelmed their opponents," Lu Xia replied. "Which means they are really strong."

They all watched as Jing Wu lazily returned the balls without making any effort to chase after it, raising his arms at the crowd, who would instantly holler for him.

He never changed.

Qiao Chen scoffed at the sight, "Does he consider himself a star?"

"In this match, he is the star." Zhi Ming stated.

No, he considers himself the star in every match whether he plays or not.

"He really looks forward to compete with our captain." Zhuo Zhi noted as Jing Wu fixated his gaze at their direction, pointing his racket straight at Si Yang, who returned a hard gaze. Jing Wu smirked at that, traveling his eyes at each Yu Qing player. But as his gaze met hers, his eyes widened, shifting from a taunting gaze to a softer one. To the others, it might seem he was mumbling to himself, but Jia Li knew what he said, her name falling from his lips.

"Eh? Did he just say Jia Li's name, or my eyes were playing with me?" Qiao Chen turned to her, which made the others turn to her as well with confusion and curiosity. She gripped her brother's hand tighter.

Jing Wu then noticed who she was with, bringing back his hard gaze and walked away.

"Senior Jia Li, do you know Ji Jing Wu? Why is he staring at you like that?" Qi Ying asked.

Well, shit.