Translator: Re

Editor: Reeeeee

    When Nie Chuan woke up with bleary eyes, he found that they have arrived at the entrance of a Hong Kong-style tea restaurant. 

[T/N: literally, it translated as restaurant but it might be a tea house or tea room]

    "Get off, Nie Chuan! Let"s eat!"

    "Wow! I like the morning tea at this chain of tea restaurant the most! Their prawn dumplings and barbecue pork buns are amazing!" Nie Chuan"s eyes lit up. He patted Ewing"s arm as he vigorously recommended dishes. 

    Ewing also laughed. "It looks like Reece is really good at finding these places."

    "Reece?"

    When Nie Chuan followed Ewing to a round table, he found Reece already seated by the window with an English newspaper in his hands. In the morning light, Reece"s five facial features appeared even more handsome. Many of the guests dining here couldn"t help looking in his direction. 

    "Hey, Reece! We"re here!" Carlo casually sat down.

    Ewing sniffed the air like a child and showed an intoxicated expression: "So fragrant……"

    Nie Chuan finally saw it, Ewing is a foodie.

    "I"ve already ordered the food," Reece said indifferently.

    "Hurry up and serve it! Serve up! I"m hungry already!" Ewing licked his lips.

    Carlo frowned, "How come I remember you also ate three hamburgers at that restaurant before coming!"

    "I can"t be hungry again?" Ewing glared at Carlo. 

    "Ai, you"re really a bottomless pit……"

    Ewing ruthlessly kicked in Carlo"s direction under the table only for Carlo"s leg to evade to one side. Who knew he would b.u.mp into Nie Chuan"s knee, causing Nie Chuan to suddenly lose his balance and fall into the arms of the person next to him.

    "Ah! My barbecue pork bun!" Nie Chuan"s eyes widened.

   By the time the bun fell on the plate, he finally realized that he seemed to be hugged by someone. 

    With a stiff neck, Nie Chuan turned to see Reece had already put the newspaper down on the table. 

    "That…… Reece don"t blame Allen! If you need to blame anyone then blame Ewing!"

    "What?" Ewing glared at Carlo and raised his fist as if he wanted to beat him up. 

    "It was you who kicked me first! Allen only accidentally b.u.mped into Reece because I b.u.mped into Allen in order to avoid getting hit by you!"

    "Alright, stop arguing, let"s eat. You two really shouldn"t be eating at the same table," Montenegro seldom showed such a helpless expression. 

    "Hmph," Ewing turned his head.

    "Eat." Reece raised his chin. His eyes swept over the barbecue pork bun that Nie Chuan had dropped on the plate, signaling him to continue eating. 

    As if he had been granted amnesty, Nie Chuan sent the barbecue pork bun into his mouth. The moment he thought of how Reece had raised his hand to clasp his left shoulder, that place seemed to heat up inexplicably. 

    When they left the tea restaurant, Ewing was still immersed："It was so delicious! That dumpling was so elastic!"

    "That"s prawn dumplings," Nie Chuan replied.

    "That bun with the sweet meat stuffing is very delicious!"

    "That"s called Cha Shao Bao (BBQ pork bun)." 

    "And that egg in the translucent wrap is also delicious!"

    "That"s Cheung Fun (rice noodle roll)."

    "Next time I"m eating double! If I had known earlier, I wouldn"t have eaten those three hamburgers!"

    Ewing"s appearance of regret made Nie Chuan temporarily tods his nervousness to the back of his head. 

    After getting in the car, Nie Chuan, who had eaten his fill, fell asleep again. 

    Carlo smiled, "This guy is really like a kid. He sleeps when he gets in the car and eats when he gets out of the car."

    "Saving your strength and energy for the practice match is good," Montenegro said. 

    Carlo saw Reece"s Land Rover following behind them in the rearview mirror and smiled. 

    They finally arrived at the basketball court where the practice match was arranged. 

    Nie Chuan found that this basketball court is unexpectedly close to the hospital where Connor is staying. Is this a deliberate act on Reece"s part or just a coincidence?

    "Hey, I rented this basketball court! Not bad, right!" Carlo patted his own chest. 

    If it was Carlo then it should be a mere coincidence. 

    "Can"t you rent a place in the gym?" Ewing pouted. 

    "Here is fine." Reece took off his jacket, throwing it aside onto the chair where it covered his sports bag. "Nie Chuan, don"t forget to warm up."

    "Ah, oh! Right! " Nie Chuan also took off his jacket. 

    At this time, their opponents from UKB entered the basketball court in an impressive manner while carrying their sports bags. 

    Their center waved at Carlo: "Hey, Carlo Brandon, long time no see!"

    The first thing Nie Chuan saw was the other person"s legs. When he looked up along the legs, he was stunned. 

    Even if the heights of these people don"t exceed 190cm, they are at least around 187 and 188cm!

    In front of them, Nie Chuan didn"t have anything worth seeing at all ah!

    "Long time no see! Did you wash your neck?" Carlo raised his eyebrows.

    The other sneered. After glancing around, his eyes fell on Nie Chuan: "Is he the new player on your team?"

    "Yeah. He has endless potential, you"d better watch your neck." Carlo"s finger made a cutting motion across his throat. 

    UKB"s center wore a look of disbelief: "Just this little kid? I"m worried he can"t even touch the basket."

    In fact, Nie Chuan himself is also worried. 

    "Just five of you came? Not even any bench players to rotate in?"

    "Five people are enough!" Carlo"s face is full of confidence while Nie Chuan"s heart was pounding.

    Their opponents came with seven players, they should have at least sent six people ah! Even sending Peter is fine! At least Peter being taller than him has its advantages! 

    At this time, two middle-aged men walked into the court. One of them has grey-blue eyes and looked very serious.

    He sat down behind UKB.

    Nie Chuan became even more nervous. Just how much importance does UKB attach to this practice match ah！

    "Nie Chuan, warm up."

    Reece raised his chin. It was just a few words but it but it immediately attracted the eyes of all the UKB players.

    Admiration, envy, and disdain. Nie Chuan can imagine that Reece is definitely the most daunting figure in the league.

    Reece pa.s.sed the ball to Nie Chuan but Nie Chuan didn"t catch it and the ball hit Ewing in the back. 

    "Ah! F*ck, which idiot……" As soon as Ewing turned around and found that it was Nie Chuan, his att.i.tude changed immediately. "Allen, don"t be nervous! Don"t be nervous!"

    The more he said that, the more nervous Nie Chuan became and even his arms stiffened. 

    The opponent"s point guard raised his eyebrows, tilted his head and complained in a neither loud or quiet voice, "Even if our rank in the league last year wasn"t very good, UDK doesn"t have to be so perfunctory with us, right?"

    Nie Chuan"s mood became even worse.

    "Don"t let other people influence you," Reece"s voice rang out behind his ear.

    "I know."

    But when the opponent"s had walked in, that feeling of oppression had become even more apparent. 

    Although Nie Chuan had played one-on-one against Mark, Reece, Montenegro, and Peter who were all much taller than himself, he had never faced so many at once!

    As the point guard, it would be an impossible task for him to bring the ball into the opponent"s defensive zone ah. He"d be knocked down in minutes!

    "Don"t back off," Reece"s voice rang out again. 

    Nie Chuan was going crazy, does Reece know how to read minds? Why does Reece know everything he is thinking in his mind?

    The match is about to start and the referee is UKB"s a.s.sistant coach.

    With the blow of a whistle, the ball was thrown into the air and Nie Chuan"s heart leaped into his throat.

    The force of Carlo"s jump was completely beyond Nie Chuan"s imagination, especially in terms of speed. He fiercely sent the ball in Nie Chuan"s direction. Nie Chuan caught the ball and Ewing shouted, "Fast break!"

    Nie Chuan realized his own duties and charged towards the opponent"s area.

    He hadn"t even ran three steps when the opponent"s small forward was blocking in front of him.

    "Pa.s.s him!" Carlo shouted.

    Unlike his usual rambling, Carlo"s voice was steady and oppressive.

    The opponent is very tall, Nie Chuan couldn"t imagine his defensive range. He tried to quickly turn around the opponent with the ball but didn"t expect that the other person would follow him closely and intercept him again.

    DK"s fast break is about to be disintegrated. At this time, Ewing shook off the defenders and came to Nie Chuan"s side: "Allen—— pa.s.s!"

    Nie Chuan pa.s.ses the ball over. Ewing quickly broke past two of the opponent"s defenders and reached the three point area. However, the opponent"s center was following closely. Just when Ewing was about to make a jump shot, he jumped to intercept, completely blocking the height of Ewing"s shot.

    Ewing pushes the ball to the side, sending it to Montenegro instead. Montenegro"s speed was evident as a slam dunk resounded.

    "Ha——" Nie Chuan exhaled.

    "Back to defense!" At the sound of Carlo"s shout, everyone quickly went back on defense with Nie Chuan was on the front line.

    The opponent"s point guard quickly swung his shoulder to the left in front of Nie Chuan before suddenly stopping and changing direction. In one go he threw off Nie Chuan, broke through Ewing"s defense, and quickly cut into the depths of DK.

    Just when he was about to face Reece, he pa.s.sed the ball to his team"s small forward who then took the ball to do a layup and encountered Carlo and Montenegro"s double block.

    Montenegro leaped up and blocked the opponent"s shot while Carlo shot down the ball from behind. 

    As soon as Ewing received the ball, the ball was stolen away by the opponent"s point guard. Ewing didn"t get angry but instead quickly ran to catch up.

    Nie Chuan follows him in running as Reece intercepted the ball. Just when he turned around, the ball was robbed the opponent"s small forward that had just arrived who then took off without any warning. A three pointer went into the basket, allowing them to overtake DK.

    The pace of all this was just too fast for Nie Chuan. 

    Not only was it changing rapidly, the most important thing is that Nie Chuan felt as if he doesn"t belong on this court. With every pa.s.s, every offense and defense, he is just like an outsider, completely unable to enter the state.

    The opponent"s small forward came up to Reece, the corners of his lips pulling into a smile: "This is a bit embarra.s.sing." 

Re: So… my apologies for the late release. The chapter kinda just sat in my Google Drive for a good couple of days as I twiddled my thumbs waiting to go over edits until I suddenly remembered the fact that Mims is on vacation until next week and doesn"t have access to the internet *face palms*

This chapter was edited (roughly) by me and is, oddly enough, the first chapter I"ve ever actually edited 0-0 Hope you enjoy and happy holidays!