SSD 65. An Unexpected Encounter Among Three

Xu Fanming slept for an entire day and night, his head buried deep in the blankets, completely unconscious. By the time he opened his eyes again, it was already the morning of the third day.

There had been nothing in his dreams. No regret, no frustration. Every emotion had somehow been processed away in that sleep. But once awake, he was seized by an inexplicable sense of emptiness.

He had two classes that morning, but it was far too late to make it now.

So he simply got changed and, stomach growling, made a beeline for the cafeteria. He ordered a meal meant for two and devoured it like a starving beast.

Only after he was somewhat full did his brain slowly begin to work again. Xu Fanming finally pulled out his phone and began scrolling sluggishly through the messages he had missed over the past couple of days. He had thought his inbox would be crammed with messages from others, but to his surprise, the only notifications were from He Jiang and Fang Ruihan.

He Jiang’s message was from two days ago and contained just a word: Where.

Not even a punctuation mark.

Normally, He Jiang’s barrage of messages would have flooded his inbox by now.

Just one word left Xu Fanming unsure how to reply. “In the cafeteria”? That would be ridiculous after taking two days to respond.

Truthfully, he did want to ask He Jiang for some clarity. But what would he even ask? He could not put it into words.

After a moment of wavering, Xu Fanming finally decided to close He Jiang’s chat and instead tapped into Fang Ruihan’s message.

It had been sent just a few hours ago.
FRH: “Fanfan, why hasn’t your phone been reachable?”

XFM: “I fell asleep and didn’t hear it. Captain, what’s up?”

FRH: “It’s nothing, no big deal.”

XFM: “Captain, is your body feeling better?”

FRH: “Yeah. I’m going to the hospital later to pick up some medicine. It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

XFM: “Then I’ll come with you! I’ve got free time anyway.”

The other side went quiet for half a minute, then responded.

FRH: “Alright. Let’s meet at the usual place.”

Xu Fanming put his phone away in good spirits, cleaned up his tray, and walked toward their usual meeting spot.

Fang Ruihan arrived right on time as well. When he saw Xu Fanming walking over carelessly, he smiled and reached out to pat the small forward’s shoulder.

“You left in such a hurry? Didn’t even wipe the bread crumbs off your mouth.”

Xu Fanming let out an “ah” and quickly wiped at his lips with his palm. Then he grinned at Fang Ruihan.

“I slept all day. I was starving, so I rushed out.”

“You really are a sleepyhead.”

Xu Fanming tugged the corner of his mouth into a half-smile. He looked at Fang Ruihan’s face. The bandage on his nose had already been taken off, but the side of his nose was still visibly swollen. Scenes from the past few days slowly resurfaced in his mind… and his gaze darkened slightly.

He understood the captain’s thoughtfulness. The two of them shared an unspoken agreement not to bring up the game.

In the end, it was Xu Fanming who changed the subject. He asked in a muffled voice,
“…Captain, when are we having our next team meeting?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Let’s wait until everyone’s free, then we’ll figure out a time.” Fang Ruihan looked a little gloomy. “To be honest… I still haven’t gotten in touch with Wen Qin. I’m a little worried.”

Xu Fanming froze, not expecting to hear that name so suddenly. “Wen Qin?”

“Yeah.” Fang Ruihan looked up. “After the game ended that day, I stayed back to chat with Kongxin’s Coach Yang for a while. By the time I got back, most of the team had already left. I haven’t seen him since. His phone’s off, and he hasn’t replied to any messages.”

Xu Fanming frowned. Wen Qin had always been closest to the captain, so Fang Ruihan must be really worried right now.

“Wait, aren’t you guys on the same campus? Have you tried looking for him?”

“Yeah, he lives right below me. I knocked on his dorm door a few times, but his roommates always said he wasn’t there.”

“Hmm…” Xu Fanming thought for a moment. “Could he have gone home?”

Fang Ruihan hesitated for a few seconds, then slowly shook his head.

“I don’t think so. I kind of have a guess. He probably… feels guilty about me getting hurt.”

“You mean he’s avoiding you?” Xu Fanming’s eyes widened.

Fang Ruihan glanced at him, then smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair. “Forget it. Let’s not talk about that. Come on, let’s get to the hospital. Thanks for coming with me today.”

The two of them ended up taking a cab to the nearest hospital.

They arrived just in time for the peak of the morning rush. The line at the registration counter was so long it looked like the whole lobby was about to burst at the seams.

Xu Fanming volunteered to take Fang Ruihan’s place in line, telling him to go rest on the massage chair while he waited. After more than ten minutes, the crowd ahead had finally thinned by half. He pulled out his phone, finger hovering over the character for “Wind,” hesitating on whether to tap it, when something familiar suddenly caught his eye from the corner of his vision.

He looked up and spotted, several rows away, a back view that looked strangely familiar. A six-foot giant, standing tall among the crowd and impossible to miss.

“He Jiang?” he muttered uncertainly.

Fang Ruihan noticed him craning his neck and walked over. “What is it? What are you looking at?”

“I think it’s He Jiang,” Xu Fanming murmured. “What’s he doing at the hospital…?”

He turned toward him and said, “Captain, cover for me a sec. I’m going to talk to him.”

Fang Ruihan nodded, patted him on the shoulder, and stepped into the queue. “Go on,” he said, then suddenly added, “Ask if he wants to eat together later.”

Xu Fanming pushed his way against the crowd, squeezing out of his line and into the one across from it. Once he got close, he saw the man’s profile and instantly confirmed it. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

He Jiang was caught off guard. He turned toward the voice and saw Xu Fanming’s puzzled face. He stayed silent for a moment, as if weighing his words, then asked instead, “Why didn’t you reply to my message? I waited for so long.”

“I didn’t know what to say. I just woke up.” Xu Fanming narrowed his eyes at him. “Don’t change the subject. What are you doing here?”

He Jiang frowned. “Helping a friend register.”

“Really?”

“Why would I lie to you?” He Jiang smiled and waved the registration slip in his hand. “What about you? You feeling sick?”

“No,” Xu Fanming said, pointing toward Fang Ruihan’s direction. “I’m here with the Captain. He needs to pick up some medicine.”

He Jiang followed his finger. Fang Ruihan gave him a small wave, and He Jiang returned the gesture with a smile. Xu Fanming asked, “Captain told me to ask if you want to get lunch with us later.”

He Jiang hesitated, then shook his head. “No need. I don’t know how long this’ll take. You two go ahead.”

Xu Fanming blinked. “How long does it take to register?”

He Jiang just smiled and didn’t answer.

Thinking back to how He Jiang had stayed behind chatting with Yuan Dan in the gym, and how he hadn’t reached out even once while he, Xu Fanming, was sleeping these past two days, the pieces suddenly came together.

He Jiang didn’t have any “friend.”

If he did… it could only be that point guard from Kongxin.

Xu Fanming wasn’t sure why, but a strange discomfort welled up inside him. Still, his pride wouldn’t allow him to ask what He Jiang had been doing these past few days. After struggling with it for a while, he gave up entirely on trying to figure it out.

“Fine, don’t come then,” he said, turning away. “I’m going back to the Captain.”

“Alright, go ahead.”

Xu Fanming returned to Fang Ruihan, who looked up and asked, “So? Is He Jiang eating with us?”

“He’s not coming. Said he was helping a friend register. Told us to go on ahead.”

Fang Ruihan looked thoughtful. “Oh…”

After that, the two focused on finishing the registration, then went to see a doctor for a quick checkup, got a few prescriptions, and collected the medication. By the time everything was done, it was already past three in the afternoon.

“Thanks for the help,” Fang Ruihan smiled at him. “Let me treat you to a meal.”

Xu Fanming nodded. Fang Ruihan glanced around again. “Where’s He Jiang? Is he done?”

“No idea.”

He looked around for a moment longer but didn’t spot the familiar figure. Then he sighed and said, “Forget it. Let’s go first. I’ll text him.”

“Okay.”

Fang Ruihan noticed how frustrated Xu Fanming looked, like he wanted to say something but couldn’t get it out. He suddenly chuckled to himself. Had the two gods on their team gotten into another fight today?

While Fang Ruihan was typing his message, Xu Fanming ran off to use the bathroom. Standing alone in the corridor, Fang Ruihan suddenly spotted a familiar figure walking toward the pharmacy with a plastic bag in hand. Inside were a few X-ray scans.

He immediately recognized him. “He Jiang!”

He Jiang heard the voice and paused. He turned around slowly, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. But when he saw it was only Fang Ruihan waving at him, something in his expression softened.

Fang Ruihan walked up with a smile and gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Where’s your friend? Why are you alone?”

He Jiang didn’t answer. Fang Ruihan blinked, and all at once, he understood.

“You…”

But He Jiang cut him off. “Captain, how’s your recovery?”

“Eh,” Fang Ruihan rubbed his nose. “Nothing serious. I just need to finish the meds.” He looked up after a moment of hesitation and asked cautiously, “You… came here alone, didn’t you?”

He Jiang smiled faintly and nodded.

Fang Ruihan glanced at the plastic bag with the X-rays and suddenly felt a pinch in his chest. “You got hurt? Was it during the game?”

When Xu Fanming had told him that He Jiang was here helping a friend, Fang Ruihan had already suspected the truth. He figured He Jiang just didn’t want Xu Fanming tagging along. He Jiang had always handled everything by himself. He went to class alone, returned home alone, and now, even his hospital visits were done quietly, without telling anyone.

He Jiang shook his head, his gaze a little distant. Fang Ruihan gave his shoulder a reassuring pat and said, “Fanfan went to the restroom. If you don’t mind, why don’t we find somewhere else to talk?”

He Jiang smiled. There was something about the way Fang Ruihan spoke that made it hard to refuse. Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal after all. Maybe it had never been from the start.

They moved to a different spot, sitting side by side in a small pavilion in the hospital’s rear garden. Fang Ruihan even went to the vending machine and bought two drinks, a bottle of cola and a peach oolong tea.

He offered them to He Jiang, who picked the peach oolong. Fang Ruihan smiled. “Let me guess, you have a sweet tooth?”

“Hm?”

“I noticed it back when we had team dinners. You never really touched anything spicy, unless Fanfan brought it up first. Then you’d maybe take a bite or two.”

Fang Ruihan really was observant. It was no wonder he was the captain.

He Jiang unscrewed the cap of the oolong tea while Fang Ruihan took a sip of his cola. They sat in silence for a while until He Jiang wiped the corner of his mouth and said, “It’s my right knee.”

Fang Ruihan was caught off guard. “I heard you got hurt going for a rebound against Xing Yunyang. So it’s that…?”

He Jiang smiled. “I’m not made of glass. It’s an old injury. I came for a follow-up.”

An old injury. Which meant the impact from that game had caused a flare-up in his knee.

Fang Ruihan looked visibly unsettled, lips slightly parted as if he wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words. He Jiang took a sip of the oolong tea, then slowly said, “Back in my second year of high school, I was in a car accident. Torn meniscus. It wasn’t too severe.”

It was a simple statement, but it hit Fang Ruihan like a wave.

“A… a car accident…” He stared at him, wide-eyed. Suddenly, all the fragmented pieces began to fall into place.

He remembered that very first encounter with He Jiang, when Xu Fanming had blurted out, “Why did you suddenly disappear after the finals last year?”

That final game a year ago had been the pinnacle of He Jiang’s high school basketball career. He had stood at the center of attention, destined to take the next step into professional sports. With his extraordinary talent and relentless effort, it should have marked the beginning of his rise. He could have gone on to join the national team, maybe even made it to the NBA.

But He Jiang had faded from view. He vanished from the sports world, left behind all that glory, and quietly became just another undergraduate studying business management.

Back then, all he said was, “It was just an accident.”

“So… the reason you didn’t apply to a sports academy back then… it was because of this?”

He Jiang lifted his head slowly. After a pause, he said honestly, “Yes. But not just because of that.”

Fang Ruihan fell silent for a long moment.

“Then… how’s your knee now?” he asked. “Is it getting better?”

During the game, He Jiang had clashed with Xing Yunyang while going for a rebound. That must have worsened the old injury.

Otherwise, why else would he have come to the hospital alone right after the match?

His gaze dimmed slightly. He rested his palm unconsciously over his right knee and paused for a moment, as if lost in thought. Then he said, “It hurt a little at the time. Now… it’s alright. It shouldn’t affect the next game.”

Fang Ruihan still didn’t look convinced. “What about the scan results? Can I take a look?”

He Jiang turned to him and smiled. “Boss, I know what I’m doing.”

Fang Ruihan said nothing. That might have been the first time He Jiang had ever called him “boss.”

By the time he finished the bottle of peach oolong tea, He Jiang stood and tossed the empty bottle into the trash. Just as he was about to get up, Fang Ruihan suddenly spoke again, as if something had just occurred to him.

“In middle school, I had a really close friend.”

“He loved basketball. I started watching games of him. Back then, he’d drag me out every day to practice. We even promised we’d play on the same team one day.” Fang Ruihan smiled, his face softened by the weight of the memory. “At the time, I never thought about playing myself. I just liked watching.”

“But…” He paused, then continued. “The summer after we graduated from ninth grade, I went with him to a youth tournament in the next city. During one of the games, their center committed a foul and seriously injured his leg. It was just an accident, but after that… for a long time, he couldn’t play basketball at all.”

He Jiang listened silently, his profile turned toward Fang Ruihan. There was something complicated in his eyes.

Fang Ruihan gave a faint smile and went on. “Later that winter, during our first year of high school, he suddenly transferred. Moved to another city. I never saw him again. But he wrote me a letter afterward.”

“In the letter, he said he was trying to get back on the court again. Said it was boring not being able to play, and he still wanted to get better as soon as possible. At the end… he asked if I still liked basketball, and told me not to forget our promise.”

He smiled for a moment longer, then said, “So from that point on, I made up my mind. Once I got to university, I’d join the basketball team. I’d start playing for real. And of course, I’d do it for the both of us.”

He Jiang smiled. The promise between those two boys, their innocent love for basketball, and all that raw sincerity were simple and pure.

Back then, the reasons they picked up a basketball were vague but beautiful. Some did it out of pure love, others because of a promise. No matter what it was, it had all been sincere.

Now that they were walking this long road together, chasing the same dream, the connection between the five of them had quietly grown stronger with every game they played side by side.

At that moment, Fang Ruihan suddenly turned and looked at He Jiang.

“He Jiang… do you think you’re kind of like that friend of mine?”

He Jiang propped his chin in one hand and stared off blankly for a moment.

“…Maybe. Who knows.”