SSD 49. Beautiful Shoes for a Beautiful Raptor

In the end, the weekend meetup was set for ten in the morning. All five core players would be there.

That morning, He Jiang was still groggy in bed when a wave of thirst woke him. He rubbed his eyes, sat up, and dragged himself off to pour a glass of water. He’d been up all night gaming again and was still half-asleep.

After drinking, he picked up his phone and glanced at the screen. It was already eight-thirty.

Only then did it hit him. He had agreed to meet up with Fang Ruihan and the others.

It had been a long time since he’d gone out on a weekend. He Jiang got up and pulled back the curtains. Warm sunlight spilled in through the glass, casting soft golden patches across the wooden floor.

A day off. Going out for once. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

At the meetup spot, the four others stood around waiting. They’d been looking left and right, but still no sign of their familiar “God He.” They started wondering if maybe the divine instinct had suddenly kicked in and He Jiang realized that gods didn’t need to mingle with mortals, so he had changed his mind and decided to ghost them. But that didn’t sound like something He Jiang would do. At the very least, he’d probably give them a call to let them know.

After ten minutes of uncertainty, a silver-white Toyota rolled up and came to a slow stop in front of them.

The car door opened, and He Jiang climbed out of the driver’s seat, looking completely unbothered. “Sorry. There was traffic.”

Zhu Xuyao: “…”

Fang Ruihan and Wen Qin: “…”

Xu Fanming: What the fuck?

“One car is just right for five people,” He Jiang said, spinning the key ring twice around his finger. “Anyone got a license?”

In the end, Zhu Xuyao ended up driving. Xu Fanming insisted on riding shotgun, which meant He Jiang had to squeeze into the back with Fang Ruihan and Wen Qin.

Zhu Xuyao gripped the wheel with trembling hands and swallowed hard. “God, He, I didn’t know you… owned a car.”

He had gotten his license pretty early on, but the truth was, Zhu Xuyao barely had any actual experience behind the wheel. His family never let him touch their cars, and in daily life he had almost no chance to drive. And now here he was, thrown onto the road without warning, and behind the wheel of a classmate’s personal car, no less.

“It was a gift from my family for my eighteenth birthday,” He Jiang said blandly. “I usually leave it in the garage and don’t touch it. But since there were five of us today, I brought it over.”

Then, as if remembering something, he added, “I don’t like driving much. I usually walk.”

Zhu Xuyao swallowed his bitterness and forced it back down. He still remembered what his own birthday gift had been that year. Just an iPhone, and not even a new one. It was a secondhand phone his dad had gotten tired of using. Honestly, the gap between people was just ridiculous.

Zhu Xuyao turned and looked mournfully at Xu Fanming, hoping to spark some silent solidarity over the wealth gap between them. But the idiot wasn’t paying the slightest attention to their conversation. He was too busy holding the bag of pastries Pan Yuan had given him, crunching loudly with white sesame all over his mouth.

Zhu Xuyao couldn’t take the sound of him smacking his lips anymore. He gave up and turned on the car’s radio instead, flipping through stations until he landed on the local sports channel.

A deep male announcer’s voice filled the car. “The provincial university basketball league, hosted by the Sports Association, is now in full swing. As of the current standings…”

Xu Fanming put down his pastry, eyes lighting up. “Wait, they’re talking about our matches on the radio too?”

“Of course,” Fang Ruihan said with a smile. “It’s a provincial league. It’s totally normal for the sports channel to cover it.”

“Do they announce the results too?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Fang Ruihan nodded.

Xu Fanming imagined his mom and older sister tuning in to the radio and hearing something like, “Qinghuo Basketball Team secures a surprising second consecutive win. No. 6, Xu Fanming, especially stood out…” Would they be shocked? Dismayed? Regretful? Just the thought of it had him giddy with excitement.

Too bad neither of them had a habit of listening to the radio.

And of course, the announcer would never phrase it like that.

“If we make it into the playoffs, there’ll probably be a TV broadcast, right?” Wen Qin said with a smile from the back seat. “Even if it’s just on the local station.”

“That’d still be awesome. I’ve never been on TV before,” Zhu Xuyao jumped in, grinning. “One step at a time. Young people like us have a bright future ahead.”

They joked around a bit more, then burst out laughing together.

He Jiang looked at the people in the car. Zhu Xuyao humming along to the radio, Xu Fanming munching happily on pastries, Wen Qin quietly watching the scenery go by, and Fang Ruihan focused on the GPS. The weekend sunlight poured down through the windows, warm and golden. At some point, a faint smile tugged at the corner of He Jiang’s lips.

This kind of sun-drenched warmth, this moment wrapped in lazy brightness, would probably stay unblurred in memory for a long, long time.

The campus was about half an hour’s drive from downtown. Once they got out of the car, the five of them strolled casually toward the Nike flagship store. The sight of a group of tall, good-looking guys walking in together immediately drew attention from the store’s sales assistants.

“What are you guys looking for today?”

Wen Qin briefly explained the kind of basketball shoes he was after, and the sales assistant led him over to the shelves to take a look. Fang Ruihan followed along while Xu Fanming and Zhu Xuyao wandered around the store without much direction.

Partway through, Zhu Xuyao took a liking to a pair of couple’s sneakers. Another sales assistant quickly picked up on his interest and rushed over to give him a detailed introduction. After a moment of hesitation, he grabbed the shoes and ran off to consult Fang Ruihan and Wen Qin.

“These look pretty good,” Fang Ruihan nodded. “Go try them on.”

While Zhu Xuyao was putting them on, the sales assistant handed Wen Qin a pair of black air-cushioned sneakers. “These feel great on the feet. They’re a new release, really well-designed, with breathable and comfortable material.”

Wen Qin studied them for a while, and his expression gave away that he liked them. Xu Fanming, standing nearby, chimed in casually, “They look nice.”

Thinking he had his eye on the pair, Wen Qin immediately stepped aside and offered them to him. “Do you want to try them?”

“A gentleman doesn’t take what someone else likes,” Xu Fanming laughed, slinging an arm over Wen Qin’s shoulder with easy camaraderie. “Don’t be so polite with me. If you like them, go ahead and try them. I just meant they’d probably look good on you.”

Wen Qin’s cheeks reddened as he accepted the shoes and smiled a little sheepishly. “Okay.”

Zhu Xuyao didn’t miss a chance to poke fun. “Look at that, Fan-dad knows idioms now!”

Xu Fanming started bickering with him again, and Fang Ruihan laughed and asked, “Fanming, you’ve been walking around for a while. Seen anything you like?”

Xu Fanming hadn’t really had a specific target in mind. He just figured it was time for a new pair. But with the end of the month approaching and his budget running low, he was starting to hesitate in front of the overwhelming rows of sneakers. They all looked good, and the urge to buy was growing stronger by the minute.

At that moment, He Jiang also spotted a new release displayed at the center of one of the shelves.

He Jiang was over six feet tall, lean and athletic, and somehow made a plain sweatshirt and shorts look like a designer outfit. One of the sales assistants spotted him and instinctively hesitated, unsure whether to approach.

But then He Jiang lifted his gaze and looked straight at her. The moment their eyes met, she seemed to receive a silent command and immediately walked over with a blush rising on her face.

“You’ve got a good eye. This Jordan Proto-Max 720 is a brand-new collaboration between Nike and Jordan. The design draws inspiration from space travel, with an ivory white nylon upper. It’s equipped with a full-length Air Max sole that makes the whole shoe feel incredibly futuristic.”

The exaggerated air cushioning, the ivory and pale blue color scheme, and the distinctive strap design all spoke of flair and boldness, brimming with energy.

People often said a man’s character showed in his shoes. The moment He Jiang saw that showy, cocky-looking pair, he immediately thought of a certain feisty little forward.

He called out, “Fanming, come here.”

Xu Fanming had been browsing a display wall nearby. “What?”

“Check out these shoes.”

The word “shoes” immediately piqued his interest. He walked over curiously. He Jiang was pointing at the display, and when Xu Fanming followed his gaze, his eyes lit up on the spot.

“Damn, these are flashy.” He couldn’t help reaching out to touch them. But then he caught sight of the price tag tucked in the corner and pulled his hand back, muttering through gritted teeth, “Looks pretty average to me.”

He Jiang chuckled. “Do you like them?”

“I mean, yeah, I like them…” Xu Fanming mumbled, then added under his breath, “Maybe I’ll come back for them next month.”

Flowers were for girls. Sneakers were for boys. So He Jiang said, “Then I’ll buy you a pair.”

He had only meant to win back some points and soften his lousy image in Xu Fanming’s eyes. What he didn’t expect was for Xu Fanming to turn pale with shock and immediately back away a few steps.

“…Huh?!”

He Jiang changed tack. “When’s your birthday?”

“It already passed!”

“Then let this be a belated gift,” He Jiang replied with an innocent smile. “A birthday present.”

Xu Fanming glanced at the sales assistant, then quickly pulled He Jiang away from the display, dragging him aside for a private word.

He did really like those shoes. But still… there was a difference between buying something for yourself and having it gifted to you. Especially when the one offering the gift was He Jiang.

“Forget it,” Xu Fanming muttered after hesitating a moment. “It’s too expensive.”

He Jiang figured it wouldn’t go over two thousand. That price wasn’t exactly a big deal for him. He looked at Xu Fanming and raised a brow, smiling. “Trying to save your gege some cash?”

“Save your ass!”

Xu Fanming’s face turned a shade darker. He felt like He Jiang was deliberately pretending not to get it. Accepting something this extravagant out of nowhere, how the hell was he supposed to repay that kind of favor?

But He Jiang hadn’t been thinking that far ahead. He genuinely just wanted to give Xu Fanming a gift. Thinking back, it hit him that besides teasing the guy to death, he hadn’t really done anything nice for him. Maybe, just maybe, if he treated this little raptor a bit better, those sharp little claws might start to retract.

Or maybe he could consider it a consolation prize for that night he’d manhandled him into a mess.

Seeing how tangled up Xu Fanming looked, He Jiang suddenly felt a spark of mischief. He leaned in close and murmured something in his ear, and just like that, the flustered boy fell silent.

The strange silence lasted only three seconds before a loud commotion erupted in the store.

Fang Ruihan, Wen Qin, and Zhu Xuyao, who had been browsing shoes nearby, all turned their heads at once toward the source of the noise. There they saw Xu Fanming storming over, grabbing the display shoes off the stand and shoving them into the sales assistant’s arms. His ears and neck were flushed red, and he was shouting at the top of his lungs, “Buy them! I want this pair! Wrap them up!”

The three of them immediately understood. He had clearly been provoked by God He again.

As for the culprit, He Jiang was standing off to the side, laughing so hard he was bent over, clutching his waist.

The three exchanged glances, then sighed in unison. Even shopping for shoes could not go smoothly. These two were hopeless, a pair of cursed fated rivals.

After they finished shopping, the five of them left the store, each carrying a new pair of sneakers. They decided to find a nearby restaurant for lunch. On the way there, Zhu Xuyao, unable to hold back his curiosity as he watched Xu Fanming muttering curses under his breath, quietly pulled He Jiang aside and asked, “What happened? Why is Fanming so mad over buying a pair of shoes?”

He Jiang replied matter-of-factly, “It was a gift from me.”

Zhu Xuyao blinked. It was just like God He to be generous, but something still did not quite add up. If it was a gift, then why did Xu Fanming look so upset?

“Did you insult his old shoes or something?”

“No,” He Jiang said with a small smile. “He was just embarrassed to accept it, so I gave him a little push.”

Zhu Xuyao suddenly had a bad feeling. “A push?”

He Jiang’s expression remained calm, as if what he was about to say were the most ordinary thing in the world. “I said a few dirty lines.”

Zhu Xuyao turned to stone on the spot. He clutched his chest, marveling at He Jiang’s incredible composure. Not even a flicker of shame after saying something like that.

Of course, he could never have imagined that what He Jiang referred to as “dirty lines” were not the cheeky kind he had assumed, but full-blown obscene words, the kind that would drive the little tyrant into a rage, force him to bite down in flustered fury, and accept the gift with gritted teeth.