Translator: Re

Editor: Mims

    "What would you like to drink? Is coffee ok?"

    "Oh, anything is fine!"

    Can"t Coca Cola do? Coffee smells aromatic but tastes bitter.

    Reece"s legs were slightly folded. He stood up and walked into the kitchen. 

    Nie Chuan finally let out the breath he was holding. 

    A few minutes later, Reece returned and placed a mug in front of Nie Chuan. Nie Chuan smelled it, then looked at Reece in surprise because it wasn"t coffee or Coca Cola, but chocolate milk. 

    Reece did not put Nie Chuan"s surprise in his eyes. From start to finish, his voice was light. "If you want to grow taller, you should drink more milk." 

    "Can I still grow any taller?"

    "Perhaps?" Reece"s raised a brow again, making Nie Chuan unable to tell whether he was being serious or just teasing him. 

    "Back to the subject, Ewing wanted me to teach you some offensive and defensive tactics. But things like tactics do not have a truly established template, nor are they unchanging.  Tonight, we"ll a.n.a.lyze last year"s finals. These two teams are the best in the league. In terms of tactical arrangements, their coaches have their own but the most important thing is the ability of the players to execute those tactics."

    Reece"s voice reminded Nie Chuan of one of those male anchors on TV – without any emotional fluctuations but with his own professional filter. 

    At the beginning of the game, Reece sat down beside Nie Chuan and said to him, "When you see the team in the blue jersey, think of No.4 as Montenegro, No.5 as Carlo, No.8 as me, No.14 as Ewing, and No.6 as you." 

    "Oh," Nie Chuan nodded. 

    Reece began to play the game footage. Whenever an attack or an excellent cooperation ended, Reece would stop the video, replay it, and explain it to Nie Chuan in both Chinese and English interspersedly. 

    "For example, the application of this "blockout" tactic is very good but if the defender doesn"t move towards their teammate quick enough or doesn"t keep up with their opponent"s attack rhythm, they will leave a gap for a breakthrough."

    "En!"

    After seeing an actual match and listening to Reece"s summary, Nie Chuan felt as if his mind was extraordinarily clear. 

    Reece"s explanation is very direct. In terms of launching and responding to fast breaks, he will focus on what Nie Chuan should do as a point guard and how to respond — destroying and disrupting the opponents" pa.s.ses and breakthroughs.

    When they finished watching a normal game, it was already half past ten at night. 

    Due to focusing attentively on the video, Nie Chuan"s eyes were rather tired. He raised his hand and rubbed them.

    Reece turned off the TV. "That"s it for today."

    "Oh, thank you!"

    "Did you have any problems with your legs these last two days?" Reece suddenly asked while leaning against the sofa.

    "No problems! I"m fine!"

    As soon as Nie Chuan finished replying, Reece leaned over and cupped Nie Chuan"s calf with his left hand.

    The moment they touched, Nie Chuan"s stiff muscles tensed.

    Reece"s fingers are very long, Nie Chuan even thought that he could completely circle his ankles. His palms were very warm, just like that time in the restaurant when he almost hit his forehead and was held by Reece.

    "You can"t stop doing the lifting exercises."

    "Oh, I know."

    "Alright, I"ll send you back to the dormitory."

    Reece got up, conveniently grabbing the coat on the hanger in pa.s.sing.

    "No need! I can go back on my own! I can go back!"

    "It"s very late."

    "Ah? I"m a man though so it shouldn"t matter."

    Reece, who had already arrived at the door, looked back at Nie Chuan and raised the corner of his lips, "There"s no distinction between male and female."

    "Ah? What "there"s no distinction between male and female" ?"

    Nie Chuan followed after him. He watched Reece lock the door as he pondered that sentence.

    But Reece just smiled and did not answer him.

    Although Reece looked cold, he isn"t unsmiling. In fact, Nie Chuan has seen him smile several times. As Reece shoves the key into his pocket and walked, Nie Chuan followed after him from behind.

    "That "there"s no distinction between male and female," are you worried about me being robbed? Don"t worry! There"s only students here, we won"t meet any robbers!"

    Reece bowed his head, the smile on his lips seemed even wider.

    He took his hand out of his pocket and gently nudged Nie Chuan on the forehead. Looking at his lips, he seemed to be saying "Kid."

    As Nie Chuan walked downstairs to his student dorm, Reece just raised his hand then left. 

    Nie Chuan returned to his own room. The moment he opened the door he saw Zhou Bin lying on his bed with his phone while talking to someone. Nie Chuan looked at his face full of táo huā chūn shuǐ and wanted to roll his eyes.

[T/N: 桃花春水, literally "peach blossom spring water," given the context it should be a lovestruck expression]

    By the time Nie Chuan came back from taking a bath, Zhou Bin had finished the call but was still looking at his phone with a smile. 

    "Hey— Stupid Bin! Come back!"

    Zhou Bin said in a calm voice, "Anyone in this world can call me stupid but you, Nie Chuan, really are not qualified."

    His meaning was that even in his most brainless state, his intelligence can still crush Nie Chuan"s.

    "Come on! Say it! Which girl are you getting along with?"

    "She"s in the same department as me, she"s from Shanghai."

    "Oh, how long have you been interested in her?" Nie Chuan asked as he pulled a chocolate bar out from Zhou Bin"s bedside table. He took off the wrapper and bit down.

    Zhou Bin hurriedly stretches his hand out under Nie Chuan"s chin for fear that he would leave wafer crumbs on his bed.

    "Of course it was since the first cla.s.s when school just started."

    "I…… really don"t know how I should praise your speed……"

    Nie Chuan really wanted to open Zhou Bin"s head to see just how he can be so successful in front of girls.

    Zhou Bin saw what Nie Chuan was thinking at a glance and patted the top of his head with a smile. "You ah, if you don"t always think about blonde, blue-eyed girls with big b.o.o.bs and big b.u.t.ts then you"ll definitely find the right one!"

    "Why can"t I fantasize?" Nie Chuan has an unhappy expression.

    "Do you think Jennifer Lawrence would be interested in you?"

    "Nonsense, did you think she would be interested in you?"

    "No." Zhou Bin answered Nie Chuan very seriously. "I just hope that your head didn"t go bad from being around Mao Xian for so long. Of course, liking a person isn"t about who is interested in who. Maybe one day there might be a G.o.ddess who favors you. But before that, you have to turn yourself into a diamond."

    When he finished, Zhou Bin pulled his quilt to go to sleep. 

    Nie Chuan used a pillow to forcefully smack Zhou Bin twice before returning to his own bed. "Zhou Bin, you wait! One day I will let the G.o.ddess hold me!"

    "It"s fine as long as you don"t bring someone in your arms to come meet me one day." 

    "Ha? What do you mean?" Nie Chuan tilted his head. Meanwhile, Zhou Bin only exposed a few strands of hair outside his quilt. 

    "Nothing. But Ah Chuan, did you really start to play basketball?"

    "…… probably ba. But is it too late?" 

    "I don"t know if it"s too late, but I have a hunch that as long as you persist, you will become my pride."

    Nie Chuan"s heart warmed. Stifled in his quilt, he said in a low voice, "Thank you." 

    During the next few days, Nie Chuan would follow Carlo and them in practicing after cla.s.s, especially pa.s.sing and cooperation.

    "Nie Chuan! Your most important duty is to bring the ball through the half-court. You must keep your sight broad and pay attention not only to our positions but the positions of our enemies!"

    As they cooperated, Ewing would remind in a loud voice.

    Nie Chuan, who was afraid of him before, now thought that this guy is actually kind of cute.

    It"s just that Reece usually never came to these kinds of practices. But if he thought about it, it might be better to fight alone with Reece"s personality.

    After playing for an hour or two, Ewing took Nie Chuan"s shoulder and asked, "Hey, be honest, other than a three-step layup, you can"t do anything else?" 

    Ewing finally found out ah……

    "Although I"m teaching you now, it might be too late to practice but…… would you like to learn from me?" Ewing asked.

    "Of course!"

    Someone is willing to teach him how to shoot, 

he couldn"t ask for more!

   "Boy, you"re so lucky! Ewing is one of the top ten shooters in the league!" Carlo said happily.

    "Ha?" Ewing fiercely stares at Carlo. 

   Carlo suddenly realized he said the wrong thing again. "It"s the top three."

    Ewing came up to Carlo with his hands behind his back. He stomped his foot, stared into his eyes and asked, "How come I feel that you were very unwilling when you said it?"

    "No no no, I"m willing……"

    He doesn"t know how Carlo was nearly 10 centimeters taller than Ewing but is always weak in front of him. 

    Ewing pressed his hand on Carlo"s face and forcefully pushed him away. Then he turned around and said to Nie Chuan, "Ignore this idiot, I will teach you close range shots within the center circle first. Allen, if you play normally during the practice, you should be able to take the ball behind the opponent. If all the top scorers on the team were under the opponent"s defense, then as long as the timing is right, you need to shoot the ball in time to score."

    "En!" When Nie Chuan was in middle school, he had taught himself how to shoot. Even though he knew the most basic posture, it would be considered good if he can score one shot out of a dozen.

    He also really wanted to know. If Ewing is the top scorer in the league then Nie Chuan really wanted to learn the real secrets from him.

    "Look closely." Ewing dribbled the ball, came to Nie Chuan"s side, and made a shooting posture. "Put the ball in front of your chest with your hands, this is very similar to a chest pa.s.s. Of course…… at your height, the ball can be held slightly higher than the chest."

    Earlier I thought you were cute, now I want to give you a bad review! What do you mean "at your height"? I"m still growing, alright? 

    "Your strength must extend from your feet to your waist, from your abdomen to your hands." 

Re: Happy Thanksgiving! I"m very thankful to all the readers. While I don"t usually reply to comments, I do read and appreciate every single one of them <3>

MadMadamMims: preparing for my food coma <>