TT Chapter 10. Ting Ge

In all his life, Wang Yuze hated nothing more than being called by his old nickname to his face. And now this damn fatass not only blurted it out loud, he was going around announcing it like a title, to the point Wang Yuze felt like his liver was about to explode.

“You fat fuck, say that again!”

“Wang Chaoshuai! Wang Chaoshuai! Wang Chaoshuai!”

Xu Fang didn’t just meet his request. He tripled down on it.

Wang Yuze blew his top. He slammed the basketball to the ground and stormed forward to “talk it out.”

But before he could get there, Pei Yiyao stepped in, nudged Xu Fang aside, and stood protectively in front of Chen Ting. Then he raised his hand and effortlessly caught the basketball that had slammed into the ground and bounced back up heading straight for Chen Ting.

Smack! Chen Ting saw a flash, and the next thing he knew, that big hand had intercepted the ball mid-air. Against the sunlight, those long fingers splayed out, locking the ball in place without so much as a tremor.

Even Wang Yuze and his friends were momentarily stunned by Pei Yiyao’s move. But Pei Yiyao acted as if it was the most mundane thing in the world. He turned back and asked, “You okay?”

Chen Ting quickly shook his head. “I’m fine.”

Pei Yiyao turned his gaze back to Wang Yuze and the others, his brow faintly furrowed.

Xu Fang lit up like he’d just won the lottery. Everyone knew that if Yao Ge furrowed his brow, then shit was about to go down. So he started rattling off like spilling beans from a bamboo tube, hyping it up with every word: “Wang Chaoshuai, you’ve crossed the line today! You said we’d settle it on the court, so how could you come at us like that? Are you just gonna disrespect Yao Ge like that in public?!”

Pei Yiyao: “Cut it.”

Xu Fang immediately went quiet. He channeled all his indignation and schadenfreude into a glare, trying to kill Chao Shuai with his eyes. The truth was, he and Wang Chaoshuai had never gotten along. Ever since Xu Fang returned from abroad and moved into this neighborhood two years ago, the two had been at each other’s throats, especially when it came to fighting over the use of the public basketball court.

Back then, Xu Fang had only just arrived, and he wasn’t as tall or good-looking as the other guy, so he rarely got the upper hand. But things were different now. Yiyao was back, and suddenly Xu Fang felt like he could stand tall for once.

Wang Yuze was thoroughly fed up with Xu Fang’s smug expression. He immediately shot back, “It was an accident. What do I look like, going after a middle schooler?”

But before he could finish the sentence, a basketball shot past the top of his head and hit the hoop with a loud bang.

Pei Yiyao walked forward at an unhurried pace and picked up the ball that had rolled back toward them. When he looked up again, the chill in his eyes made Wang Yuze freeze in place.

“Chen Ting is the boss here.”

It wasn’t just Wang Yuze who was stunned. Even Xu Fang felt like the temperature had dropped several degrees. He instantly regretted not calling him Ting ge earlier.

So it was true what they said. Never judge a book by its cover. Who would’ve guessed that someone who looked so cute and sweet could make even Yiyao defer to him?

Only Chen Ting figured it out quickly. What Pei Yiyao meant probably just referred to age.

Still, he had to admit it was cool. For the first time, he found himself thinking that his junior was actually kind of awesome. Cool and deeply satisfying.

Wang Yuze’s face turned red. Whether it was from embarrassment or anger, even he couldn’t say.

“Are we playing or not?” Pei Yiyao held the basketball, and just by standing there, his height alone gave him the upper hand.

“We’re playing!” Wang Yuze couldn’t let this go. “And after we’re done, we’ll see who’s really the boss around here!”

Xu Fang had been waiting for that. He jumped right in. “Great, great, great. If I lose, I’ll call you ge every time I see you!”

“You said it,” Wang Yuze snorted, already feeling the sting of earlier fading a little.

“Of course. A man’s word is his bond!” Xu Fang grinned to himself. But just then, Pei Yiyao glanced at him and said, flatly,

“Only this once.”

Xu Fang didn’t dare argue. Pei Yiyao had only agreed to come help after a lot of begging, and because he owed a favor for borrowing the bike. If it weren’t for that, there was no way he would have gotten involved.

But since Pei Yiyao had agreed, he would see it through. Xu Fang felt reassured. He eagerly dragged Chen Ting over to the bench by the court. “Come on, Ting-ge! I bought a ton of snacks. Eat whatever you want, it’s on me!”

Over on the other side, Wang Yuze and his group glanced over at them and were taken aback. Wang Yuze asked, “They’re not playing?”

Pei Yiyao countered, “One-on-one, or all of you at once?”

Wang Yuze thought he was hearing things. Pei Yiyao’s face was just too calm, too unreadable. It made him feel like he was being looked down on.

“One-on-one!” Wang Yuze gritted his teeth. He might lose, but he wasn’t going to lose face.

Pei Yiyao finally gave him a proper once-over, and his impression of him improved slightly. But he said nothing more. His patience was wearing thin. “Let’s start.”

Wang Yuze quickly stepped onto the court. His friends rallied around him, cheering with full force, making quite the scene.

Meanwhile, Xu Fang and Chen Ting had already opened a pack of sunflower seeds.

“Is Pei Yiyao really that good at basketball?” Chen Ting asked.

“Of course he is, Ting-ge. Back in the community where we used to live and at school too, no one our age could beat him! When we were in middle school, those cocky upperclassmen loved to mess with us. Just because those foreign-born kids were taller or bulkier by default, they thought they were all that. Same flesh and blood, yet they walked around like they were some elite species, jealous of how good-looking Yao-ge is, always challenging him to matches every other day. Bunch of clowns.”

Xu Fang went full-on Pei Yiyao hype mode. In just a few minutes, he had spilled every last legendary story from Yiyao’s middle school basketball glory days.

Chen Ting listened quietly, but his eyes never left the court.

Just then, Pei Yiyao made a sharp feint, dodged past Wang Yuze, and turned swiftly to shoot. The motion was clean and smooth, without a hint of hesitation. The ball drew a beautiful arc through the air and swished straight through the hoop.

Wang Yuze was rattled, but he was an experienced player. He forced himself to stay calm and launched into another offensive play.

Within just a few minutes, Pei Yiyao had already scored two in a row. Wang Yuze could not defend against him, so his only option was to attack, hoping offense could make up for it.

“Tsk, tsk. Not looking good for Chaoshuai. His offense is…” Xu Fang clicked his tongue and made a show of analyzing the game. Chen Ting, who did not know much about basketball, just listened quietly beside him.

But even without understanding the game, he could tell Pei Yiyao was very good. His dribbling was fluid, his focused side profile looked amazing, and he carried this effortless confidence. After all that playing, he did not even seem to be sweating.

Watching him, Chen Ting could not help but recall the scene at the pool. That figure was clearly the result of this kind of training, and it made him genuinely envious.

So when Pei Yiyao caught a glimpse of the bench in his peripheral vision, what he saw was Chen Ting resting his chin on his hand, eyes bright and sparkling, fixed solely on him.

And somehow, that made him abandon the idea of going easy. In a moment of instinct, he intercepted Wang Yuze’s ball again. Turn, shoot, score.

“Bravo! Yao-ge, amazing!” Wang Yuze clapped hard.

Chen Ting clapped too, more softly, but just as genuinely.

Fifteen minutes later, the match ended in Wang Yuze’s crushing defeat.

Although Wang Yuze had swaggered in looking cocky and short-tempered, he was not the type who could not accept a loss. He shot a vicious glare at Xu Fang, then straightforwardly ceded the court.

“I lost today, but next time won’t be the same.”

Wang Yuze could not bear to stay any longer. He grabbed his ball and turned to leave. The rest of his group exchanged glances and quickly followed.

Xu Fang called out behind him, “Don’t forget, you’re not allowed to mess with me for a whole month!”

Wang Yuze looked back and snapped, “I’m a real man. I don’t have time to play with you.”

“All right then, take care on your way!” Xu Fang was practically glowing with triumph. He felt like he had instantly shed thirty pounds, his soul about to float right out of his body. But the moment he turned and met Pei Yiyao’s gaze, he deflated again.

“All done showing off?” Pei Yiyao asked.

“Hehe, come on, Yao ge, you know how I am. If he didn’t keep trash-talking me, I wouldn’t have asked you to step in…”

“I’m heading home.”

“Come on, don’t leave yet. It’s rare for all of us to get together like this, and it took so much effort just to win the court. Let’s play a little longer. I even brought my own ball, and neither I nor Ting ge has played yet…”

Hearing this, Pei Yiyao actually hesitated for once. Then he turned to Chen Ting and asked, “Do you want to play?”

“I’m not very good.” Chen Ting did want to play. Basketball was one of those sports that almost every boy liked. He would not say he loved it, but he was definitely interested. He had gone to the campus courts a few times during his freshman year, but after realizing that people thought he was bad at it and kept leaving him on the bench, he stopped going.

“I’ll teach you,” Pei Yiyao said

Chen Ting was momentarily caught off guard. “You don’t have to go through the trouble. You two can play.”

“It’s no trouble.”

Pei Yiyao glanced at Xu Fang, who quickly handed over the basketball. Now that they were all friends, Chen Ting no longer felt it was necessary to be overly polite, so he followed Pei Yiyao onto the court.

Left standing on the sidelines, Xu Fang suddenly felt that something was… off.

Half an hour later, Xu Fang finally realized something was seriously off.

The aloof, no-nonsense, doesn’t-care-about-anyone Pei Yiyao had been shooting hoops with someone for thirty minutes straight.

That wasn’t how basketball was supposed to be played!

Yao ge, at least look at me once! I’m your sworn brother from abroad, the one who struggled alongside you in a foreign land!

Xu Fang stared in disbelief. Since when had Yao ge ever been this patient with anyone? Just making a close friend so soon after the start of the semester was surprising enough.

Who was this Ting ge?

Chen Ting was starting to get a little tired. He also felt bad for making someone as skilled as Pei Yiyao spend so much time on basic drills like passing and shooting, so he offered to take a break.

What he did not understand was why Xu Fang kept looking at him strangely.

Unaware that his thoughts were written all over his face, Xu Fang leaned toward Pei Yiyao and asked in a lowered voice, “Yao ge, what’s your relationship with Ting ge? Classmates?”

Pei Yiyao replied, “Our families know each other.”

Xu Fang nodded in sudden realization. “Ah, that makes sense. I was wondering. I’ve never seen you get this close to any of our classmates before…”

He kept talking, slipping into memories of their school days and saying more than he intended.

Pei Yiyao glanced over at Chen Ting, who was standing to the side drinking water. The memory of what had happened in the taxi the night before resurfaced, and even now, his body still carried a trace of that tension.

He did not know why, but ever since seeing Chen Ting like that, he could not help but feel that this was someone who needed to be protected, someone who needed to be coaxed. That was probably why, when he left the house earlier, he had brought him along without thinking too much about it.

There was a strange feeling lingering in his chest, and he could not shake it.

Xu Fang was still talking nonstop in his ear. Pei Yiyao turned to look at him. “Do you still want to play or not?”

“Of course I do!” Xu Fang said without hesitation. “It’s been ages since we’ve played together!”

Ten minutes later, Xu Fang was nearly in tears. “Can’t you ease up on me just a little?!”