SSD 16. I Love Basketball

He Jiang watched as Xu Fanming finished breakfast, then shamelessly insisted on going to practice together. Xu Fanming tossed the empty paper bag into the trash, ready to see him out, when He Jiang suddenly grabbed the basketball sitting on his desk and coaxed him, “Fan-daddy, want to make a bet?”

Xu Fanming flared up even more. “If I bet with you again, I’m a dumbass!”

“Scared of losing?”

“You’re a goddamn scammer!” A shameless, manipulative scammer. Xu Fanming really didn’t know what to do with him.

“But it’s for your own good.” He Jiang blinked innocently and spun the ball in his hand. “Your roommate isn’t playing with you, and we’ve got a game coming up. We need to get some real practice in.”

That actually gave Xu Fanming pause. He Jiang wasn’t wrong, but he really didn’t want to train alone with this guy. While he was still hesitating, He Jiang pressed in, tempting him further. “Let’s go to the gym next to campus. The court’s nice and spacious.”

Xu Fanming was honestly a little tempted. He hadn’t had the chance to play in the new gym beside the school yet. Word was, the facility was professional-grade and usually packed. But he’d been too busy lately to check it out.

“If we fall behind and lose during the real match, that’s on you, isn’t it?”

He Jiang’s voice drilled right into his ears.

In the end, Xu Fanming couldn’t resist and followed He Jiang out, carrying a ball to the gym. For once, He Jiang wasn’t wearing those flashy, eyesore king-of-the-court shoes. Instead, he had on a more down-to-earth pair of black cement Air Jordan 33s. Xu Fanming had to admit He Jiang had good taste in sneakers. Every pair he bought looked sharp. Playing basketball in Air Jordans, every step carried the stink of money.

But inside that gym, it didn’t matter if someone was wearing Pomelom skate shoes or some rich kid’s limited-edition sneakers. Whether it was leather shoes, sandals, or top-shelf AJs, they all got the same treatment. No one gave a damn.
If your shoes got stepped on, rubbed against, or scuffed to hell, tough luck. If you cared, you lost.

Naturally, someone like He Jiang, who never lacked money, wouldn’t care about any of that.

It was Xu Fanming’s first time practicing one-on-one with He Jiang. At first, he was holding back. He was dribbling the ball, but all he could see was He Jiang’s sweat-damp chest moving back and forth in front of him. The whole thing felt awkward as hell. His grip on the ball felt stiff, and no matter what, he couldn’t break through He Jiang’s defense.

The gym was a much better environment than the outdoor courts, but Xu Fanming had been out of rhythm these past few days. His feel for the game had clearly dropped.

After a few too many stalled possessions, He Jiang started getting annoyed at his lack of focus. He straightened up and raised a brow. “Hey. What’s going through your head?”

“Huh?” Xu Fanming scratched his head roughly. “Nothing.”

He Jiang paused, then said, “You know why you can’t get past me?”

Xu Fanming didn’t answer. He Jiang took the ball from him, crouched low, and started dribbling while looking him dead in the eye. “Lower your center of gravity. Keep your eyes on me. Watch closely.”

A flicker of tension ran through Xu Fanming. He fixed his gaze on He Jiang, watching every shift in expression.

He Jiang gave a satisfied smile. “Good.”

Xu Fanming’s hands tightened. Suddenly, He Jiang bent his knees and lunged forward, taking a sharp step toward Xu Fanming’s back right side while keeping control of the ball. Xu Fanming instinctively thought he was going right and shifted to block. But He Jiang had already stepped past him. Xu Fanming tried to follow, but the move had come too fast and his own reaction was clumsy. He tripped backward, completely off-balance, and landed flat on his ass.

Pain shot through his body, and his head was buzzing. He immediately turned to look at He Jiang. By that time, He Jiang had already taken a step back. As he pulled the ball back under control, he smoothly spun left, took a big stride, and went straight for the basket.

The ball dropped cleanly through the hoop and bounced high off the floor. He Jiang walked over and reached out a hand to pull Xu Fanming up.

Xu Fanming’s face was red. He couldn’t get a word out.

He Jiang smiled and gave his head a rough rub. “Once you’ve got the ball and there’s a defender in front of you, you’ve only got three options. Pass, shoot, or drive.”

After helping him up, He Jiang turned to retrieve the ball. Then he stood in front of Xu Fanming and, for once, said something serious.

“Think back to what just happened. I told you to look at me. But were you really looking at me?”

Xu Fanming froze for a second. Then a chill rose up across his skin, the hairs on his arms standing on end.

He Jiang seemed pleased with the reaction. He smiled and went on. “There’s a key trick when you’re trying to break through.”

Xu Fanming replied, “A feint.”

“Exactly.”

He Jiang was right. At the start of the move, he had deliberately told Xu Fanming to keep his eyes on him. Xu Fanming now realized the problem. He had kept his eyes on He Jiang, but what he had really been focused on, was the ball.

The ball didn’t think or move on its own. The one in charge was the person behind it, yet somehow that was the part people always ignored.

In a one-on-one drive, a feint was a critical move. Just like earlier, He Jiang had pretended to break to Xu Fanming’s right, but that large step was only meant to lure him in. It worked. Xu Fanming followed and ended up crashing to the floor. That gave He Jiang the time and space he needed to pull back and drive left for the layup.

It was the moment Xu Fanming saw He Jiang take that step. His body reacted instinctively and chased. His mind had been overtaken by reflex. His instincts told him to follow the ball, but what he should have been doing was reading his opponent’s true intent.

“You already have a basic sense of how to use feints,” He Jiang smiled. “If you learn to use them more, you’d already count as high-level in pick-up games. But in a real match, just knowing a few flashy tricks won’t cut it. Sometimes, you fake a jump shot, only to get stuffed in midair.”

Xu Fanming’s brain was firing. Maybe He Jiang was right. He had spent so much time playing pickup games, always relying on brute force and charging in headfirst. So when he ran into a smart opponent, he instantly felt like he was getting played in circles. His whole rhythm got thrown off.

It seemed like today, He Jiang really did come here just to play ball with him.

Xu Fanming stood there thinking for a while. In the end, he looked up with bright eyes, excitement written all over his face. “That move you just used was solid. Teach me how to do it.”

“Sure. Buy me a milk tea and I’ll teach you.”

The kind He Jiang liked cost over forty yuan a cup. Xu Fanming swallowed hard, replaying the move in his head a few times. He turned away with the ball in hand and muttered, “Forget it. I’ll figure it out myself.”

He Jiang stood to the side watching him. Xu Fanming tried to recreate the move from memory. After a few rounds back and forth, he was actually starting to look pretty decent.

After working on it for a while, Xu Fanming stepped up to He Jiang again, eyes sparkling. “Come on, let’s go a few more rounds.”

And just like that, He Jiang ended up skipping a whole afternoon of class to practice with him. The two of them played until they were soaked in sweat. As they went on, Xu Fanming felt like his touch was starting to come back. The longer they played, the more pumped he got. Too bad his stamina couldn’t keep up with his energy. The sky was getting dark, the gym was about to close, and both their stomachs were starting to growl.

He Jiang made a suggestion. “Let’s grab dinner.”

Xu Fanming had originally planned to head to dorm right after. But thinking about how He Jiang had spent the whole afternoon helping him train, it didn’t feel right to just bail. He relaxed a little. Fine. Consider it a thank-you meal.

“Alright,” Xu Fanming said. “What do you feel like eating?”

He Jiang was actually a bit picky when it came to food. There were only a handful of places he liked, and most of them probably weren’t the kind Xu Fanming would ever go to on his own. Thinking back to that time He Jiang dragged him to some overly cute milk tea dessert shop, he could still remember the way his face went green. So this time, he gave in a little. “What do you want to eat?”

He suddenly felt that when He Jiang wasn’t being weird, he was actually kind of easy to get along with.

After a bit of thought, Xu Fanming brought him to a late-night barbecue place.

He Jiang didn’t eat spicy food often, but he could handle it fine. Downing a few skewers wasn’t a problem. October weather wasn’t cold or hot. The two of them sat down at the grill shop still in their jerseys, basketballs tossed on the stool next to them. Facing three full trays of steaming skewers, they sat across from each other, drenched in sweat and staring each other down, mouths watering. The smoky scent of grilled meat, the salty-spicy seasonings, and the faint smell of sweat all mixed in the air. It was practically the smell of love. No, more like the sacred scent of socialist brotherhood.

The only thing that didn’t quite fit the picture was He Jiang’s outfit. That blindingly shiny Adidas gear made him stick out like a sore thumb in this greasy hole-in-the-wall.

The two of them were starving, so they didn’t waste time. Xu Fanming dove in, grease dripping from his mouth, a flake of dried chili stuck to the corner of his lips. He Jiang had the urge to wipe it off for him like they did in romance novels, but then pictured the little raptor flaring up and cussing him out for it. He quietly looked away instead.

Xu Fanming didn’t notice. After polishing off a skewer of grilled intestine, he suddenly said in a daze, “Next week’s the training camp. Then the week after, the game.”

“Yeah.”

Xu Fanming shot him a wary look. “You’re not gonna disappear mid-game again, are you?”

He Jiang chuckled. “I won’t.”

Xu Fanming kept his eyes on him, still half-suspicious. He muttered, “Even if you bail, I’m not gonna care anymore. Laugh all you want. Leave if you feel like it. Even without you, we can still—”

He stopped himself.

Because he remembered too clearly. The last time he had said those exact words, they lost to Yangsheng by a single point less than thirty minutes later. A full-blown disaster of a flag.

Xu Fanming clamped his mouth shut and swallowed the second half of his sentence along with a piece of grilled potato. The spice hit his nose and his face flushed red. A dried chili flake was still stuck to the corner of his lips.

He Jiang couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore. He really found this kid fun to mess with. If you pushed him, he’d bare his teeth and come at you like a wild animal. But if you didn’t push him, he turned all dopey and blank, the kind of dumb cute that made people want to bully him even more. It made He Jiang want to keep messing with him just to see his reaction.

After thinking for a bit, He Jiang suddenly asked, “This game means a lot to you, doesn’t it?”

He had put on a serious face, and it caught Xu Fanming off guard. After a few seconds of thought, Xu Fanming nodded. “Yeah. It does.”

He Jiang looked him in the eyes. “Because you want to play in a real tournament? Or make it into CUBA? Or are you aiming for national ranking?”

“Maybe… all of the above.” Xu Fanming blinked. “Every game matters to me. I haven’t thought that far ahead, but at least this year’s provincial tournament, I want to win no matter what.”

“Why?”

Xu Fanming hesitated, then muttered, “Because… if we make it to the playoffs, the games will be broadcast.”

“Huh?”

“Live broadcast,” Xu Fanming repeated. “The kind that airs on actual TV.”

He Jiang blinked. So that’s what Xu Fanming was aiming for? Getting on television? Becoming known?

He couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Xu Fanming flushed with embarrassment. “What the hell are you laughing at?”

“Nothing.” He Jiang wiped his face. “Just a little surprised.”

“What’s so surprising? I’ve always wanted to play in an official tournament, just once. I want my mom and my sister to see it for themselves.” Xu Fanming’s face was serious. “Even if all I do is play basketball, I can still shine.”

He Jiang blinked again. This time, he was starting to get it.

“You want to prove yourself in front of your family?”

Xu Fanming nodded. Then he seemed to remember something and fell silent again. He Jiang thought for a moment, then asked in a more guiding tone, “Your family doesn’t support you playing?”

“…No.”

“Why not?”

Under He Jiang’s gaze, Xu Fanming finally looked up. “When I was little, my mom always said playing around would ruin me. She never let me touch a ball. When I was in third year of middle school and prepping for high school entrance exams, she clamped down even harder. But I loved playing. No matter who tried to stop me, I wouldn’t listen. If she told me I couldn’t play, I’d sneak off and play behind her back. I saved my allowance to buy myself a new basketball. Then my sister found out and joined forces with my mom to shut it down. In the end, I lost the ball and my allowance.”

He Jiang smiled a little, imagining a younger Xu Fanming stomping his feet in frustration after having his basketball taken away.

“But after high school, I went to a boarding school. That was when I finally got to play freely.” Xu Fanming’s eyes darkened a little. “But my grades started slipping. After a few mock exams, when the report cards came out, my mom nearly lost it.”

“My mom and sister both say playing ball will ruin me, that I’ll never amount to anything. My mom even threatened that if she caught me sneaking off to play again, she wouldn’t let me go to school anymore. She said she’d hire a private tutor, lock me in my room, and let the tutor torture me to death. But this is the only thing I’ve ever loved. I’m not willing to give it up.”

“I first got into basketball in seventh grade.” Xu Fanming gestured to his chest. “By then I was already this tall. For my age, I was developing fast. Everyone told me I should try playing basketball, so I did. That first game was… well, rough. Pretty bad, honestly. But I had a lot of fun. Everyone else said I had talent and told me to keep going.”

“From then on, I really started playing seriously. Later, I got close with a few classmates who also loved basketball. We hung out every day. After class, we’d go challenge students from other schools, just for fun. Because of basketball, I made some amazing friends. I made memories on those pickup courts that I’ll never forget. That’s why basketball means so much to me. Only when I’m playing do I feel like myself. It’s the only time I feel truly happy.”

Xu Fanming lifted his head with determination. “So I have to win this year’s provincial tournament. No matter what, I want to win big for once. This is my first official tournament. I want to prove myself on live TV and show everyone that I was right. I want them to see that I love basketball, and no matter where I go, I’ll keep playing.”

He Jiang didn’t say anything. He looked quietly at Xu Fanming’s face, then after a moment, turned his eyes away.

He understood now. Xu Fanming truly loved basketball.

On the court, he played with confidence and fire. He fought for what he loved without holding back. To him, every match deserved to be taken seriously. When he said he would keep playing no matter where life took him, his eyes were shining.

He Jiang felt it deeply. He and Xu Fanming were so alike, and yet so different.

That difference was what made it all the more compelling. It drew him in without him realizing it.

“I really want to win this provincial tournament.” As he spoke, Xu Fanming looked straight at He Jiang again. “You used to play in real tournaments too. I thought, at the very least, you would understand how I feel.”

He Jiang’s eyes dimmed slightly. “Back in high school, I was just playing for fun.”

Xu Fanming gave a small smile. He could already guess that this was the kind of person He Jiang was.

But just as he said that, He Jiang looked up again. This time, his eyes were filled with steady light. He reached out gently and wiped the corner of Xu Fanming’s mouth, brushing away the dried chili flake.

Then he took a slow, deep breath and said, “Alright. This time, I’ll help you win.”

Something about the look in He Jiang’s eyes made Xu Fanming almost believe they really would win. His expression softened a little, but only for a moment. He quickly snapped back to himself, swatting He Jiang’s hand away and snapping, “Get lost. I don’t need your help. I can fly on my own. Just don’t drag me down, alright?”