Chapter 7: Number 5

Suddenly, Xu Yin stopped.

“My phone, I dropped it in the garden.”

Duan Sili didn’t stop walking.

This had nothing to do with him in the first place; intervening just now was already an exception.

But the young girl stepped forward and tugged on his sleeve.

“Duan Sili.”

She spoke his name clearly, word by word. “I don’t dare to go back. I’m afraid they haven’t left. Will you go with me, please?”

Under the bright moonlight, the young girl’s skin was as pale as satin. It was impossible to tell if it was from fear… or if it was always like that.

Her own jacket had been torn, and his was slightly too big on her, enveloping her small, thin frame like a protective shell.

Duan Sili aloofly pulled his sleeve away, teasing, “I don’t see that you’re scared. Why don’t you cry on the spot? Maybe I’ll soften up.”

Xu Yin lowered her head, her soft, cherry lips pursing slightly.

Duan Sili didn’t waste any more time and left directly.

After he left, the subtle look of weakness on Xu Yin’s face… gradually faded.

In its place was an unexpectedly different kind of calm, like stagnant water that couldn’t be stirred into waves.

When Xu Yin returned to the garden, Zhao Yi and his group hadn’t left. Some were squatting on rocks, others leaning against trees, joking around and fooling about.

The smell of smoke filled the air, making it uncomfortable.

Xu Yin walked over slowly, and the smiles on their faces instantly disappeared.

There was also a look of surprise on their faces.

They hadn’t expected her to actually come back.

Zhao Yi slowly stood up straight, raising an eyebrow at Xu Yin. “What, not had enough? Still want to play with your big bros?”

Xu Yin looked up.

Her dark eyes were like a dense fog that had yet to clear. The timidity and weakness from before were completely gone.

In its place was a sense of calm that was almost oppressive.

Being stared at by her, Zhao Yi felt an inexplicable sense of irritation—

“What are you looking at!”

Xu Yin’s gaze shifted to another boy with dyed red hair. “You just threw my phone away. Now I’ll have to trouble you to pick it up for me.”

Her voice was soft, with a gentle smile on her face.

Yet it was inexplicably… hair-raising.

Red Hair looked at Zhao Yi. Zhao Yi cursed, “Are you sick!”

“Please, help me pick it up.” Xu Yin repeated patiently.

“…”

Zhao Yi looked around. There was no one else, and Duan Sili was not there.

But she was still wearing Duan Sili’s clothes, and he didn’t dare to touch her again.

Xu Yin was also well aware of this.

Finally, Zhao Yi’s face darkened, and he waved his hand. “Find her phone.”

Red Hair suppressed his anger, stepped into the flowerbed, turned on his phone’s flashlight, and rummaged through the grass for a long time before picking up Xu Yin’s mud-covered phone and handing it to her rudely. “Take it! Damn it.”

Xu Yin took it and casually wiped the mud off the phone on his sleeve.

Red Hair’s face turned ashen, but he stood frozen.

The aura between people is just that strange.

He no longer dared to show any disrespect to the girl in front of him and could only tacitly allow her offensive behavior.

After getting her phone, Xu Yin turned to the boy who had torn her clothes earlier.

The boy immediately felt guilty, his eyes darting away. “W-What do you want?”

“Slap yourself twice,” Xu Yin said lightly.

“No… you… are you sick!” the boy cursed. “We already let you go, what more do you want! Don’t push your luck!”

Xu Yin fiddled with the large uniform jacket on her and shook her phone. “Should I have Duan Sili come back and do it himself?”

The boy glanced at Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi didn’t meet his gaze at all, looking down as he smoked, turning his face away, afraid the fire would spread to him.

The boy hesitated for a few seconds, then could only curse as he slapped himself twice.

The crisp sound of the slaps echoed throughout the garden.

“Satisfied now!”

Xu Yin smiled and finally looked at Zhao Yi.

Zhao Yi took two steps back, looking at her defensively.

“In the future, if I see you bullying Lu Qi again, I’ll have Duan Sili kill you, okay~”

It was clearly such a beautiful and pure face, but at this moment, the more Zhao Yi looked at her, the more he felt a bone-chilling cold…

After Xu Yin turned and left, Red Hair walked over and asked Zhao Yi, “Are they really that close?”

Zhao Yi stubbed out the cigarette in his hand. “When the hell have you ever seen Duan Sili help a girl…”

Back in the dormitory, Xu Yin was sitting cross-legged on her bed, scrolling through her phone.

Hearing the noise, she looked up and asked, “Why are you back so late? It’s over an hour later than your usual self-study time. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just read for a bit longer.” Xu Yin placed her schoolbag on the chair and walked straight to the balcony.

Her mind was full of questions. After considering for a moment, she lowered her head and sent a WeChat message to her brother—

Butterfly: “Is our family in talks with the Duan family for a collaboration?”

Yan: “The Duan family has been looking to enter the jewelry industry recently and is indeed in talks with Dad. Why the sudden question?”

Butterfly: “I met someone from the Duan family. He seems to dislike me, but he helped me just now, which was very unusual.”

Yan: “The Duan family’s second son?”

Butterfly: “Mmm.”

Yan: “Yinyin, I’ll come see you tomorrow. Let’s have a meal together. Tell me about how things are at school.”

butterfly: “Okay, I miss you, big brother~”

Yan: “[pat pat]”

Xu Yin walked back into the room, and Qi Youwei suddenly noticed the ill-fitting uniform on her.

“Huh, that jacket on you… it’s a boy’s style, isn’t it? Is it Gao Minglang’s? You guys…”

Xu Yin didn’t say anything, just took off the jacket, and turned over the chest of the school uniform. Engraved on the gold nameplate were the three characters “Duan Sili.”

Qi Youwei saw the name on the clothes, covered her mouth, and looked at Xu Yin in amazement.

Disbelieving, incredulous.

“You and Duan Sili…”

“I want to pursue him,” Xu Yin said calmly.

“You like him?”

“Which girl in the entire school doesn’t like him.”

“But… that’s impossible. Duan Sili has never said yes to any girl.” Qi Youwei said quickly, “And the Su and Duan families have a marriage alliance. Su Wan’an keeps a close watch on him. If you chase after him, you’ll be bullied to death by Su Wan’an!”

Xu Yin smiled. “This way, it’s more fun.”

Qi Youwei unconsciously shrank back, looking at her suspiciously. “Xu Yin, what exactly are you trying to do?”

“I want to get into S-class, to be closer to him.”

She looked down and smoothed out the wrinkles on the jacket, her eyes displaying a kind of morbid obsession.

Qi Youwei frowned.

Liking Duan Sili was clearly a very normal thing.

But the feeling Xu Yin gave her was not normal at all.

Does she really like him?

“Xu Yin likes Gao Minglang.”

On the balcony, Su Wan’an was elegantly sipping her morning tea.

A faint, dusty rose lipstick mark was left on the rim of the porcelain cup.

Qi Youwei said with certainty, “To pick a birthday gift for Gao Minglang, she agonized over it all day yesterday.”

“Gao Minglang invited her to his birthday party?” Su Wan’an’s tone was light.

“Mmm!”

“Of course he would invite her. That little vixen has Gao Minglang completely captivated.” Chi Huanyi sneered, her eyes full of contempt. “He goes to see her every day, treating her to dinner and milk tea.”

Su Wan’an didn’t reply, just stirred her teaspoon thoughtfully and asked suspiciously, “Are you sure she’s going for Gao Minglang?”

“Of course.” Qi Youwei said with great certainty, “She said she likes the sunny and cheerful type like Gao Minglang, who makes people feel warm.”

Su Wan’an let out a sigh of relief. “What gift is she giving Gao Minglang?”

“It seems she’s going to paint a picture for him herself. She’s amazing at painting. She’s been going to the art gallery recently to rush and finish the painting.”

After Qi Youwei left, Su Wan’an put down her teacup and said to Chi Huanyi, “Since she and Gao Minglang are together, there’s no need for us to tear face. After all, Gao Minglang is one of his people. We’ll have to hang out together in the future. Don’t make it difficult for him.”

Chi Huanyi pouted and nodded reluctantly. “Fine.”

At three in the afternoon, Gao Minglang sent Xu Yin a location—Beike Basketball Arena, Pu Jing versus Pusley.

Both Pu Jing and Pusley were top private high schools in Ao Gang Wan.

They were also very close, just a few streets apart, and often had competitions.

There was a subtle rivalry between the two schools.

In the basketball arena, seeing Xu Yin looking around, Qi Youwei leaned in and whispered in her ear, “He won’t be here this early. The Pusley team didn’t even make it to the top eight of the Ao Gang Wan high school basketball tournament last year. There’s no need for our S-class ace to play.”

Xu Yin held her thermos bottle without replying, still keeping an eye on the entrance.

Lu Qi came over, his uniform jacket slung over his shoulder, a bandage still on the corner of his mouth from yesterday.

Xu Yin asked him, “Aren’t you playing?”

“It’s not my turn for this kind of basketball game. It’s always the S-class and A-class guys who play.”

As they were talking, the Pusley team members lined up and entered the court, all wearing white basketball uniforms.

Qi Youwei suddenly said to Xu Yin, “Look, look, that number 5, he’s so handsome!”

In the middle of the team, the player with the number 5 printed on his jersey was looking down, adjusting his wristband.

He had a refined and handsome face, but his muscles were very firm. When the tips of his hair fell, a faint red tear mole could be seen at the corner of his eye.

A handsome guy with a great vibe!
The most dazzling presence in the crowd.

As soon as he entered the court, not just Qi Youwei, but all the girls in the audience were talking about him.

His handsomeness was… very obvious.

Lu Qi noticed that this handsome number 5 was also looking around after he came in.

He looked towards Qi Youwei, glancing in her direction several times.

Lu Qi immediately used a basketball magazine to cover Qi Youwei’s face.

Qi Youwei pushed it away unhappily. “What are you doing!”

“The handsome number 5 seems to have taken a liking to you.”

“Really? Wow!” Qi Youwei quickly waved at the handsome guy.

Lu Qi quickly pushed her hand down. “Are you going to cheat on me?”

“Cheat on your sister!”

“You’re mine, everyone knows that.”

“Who knows, let’s see who knows.”

Xu Yin suddenly spoke up, “I know.”

“Xu Yin!” Qi Youwei’s cheeks flushed red. “I’m ignoring you.”

Xu Yin smiled.

Just then, the originally noisy basketball court suddenly fell silent.

There was only one person who could silence the entire crowd in an instant.

Sure enough, the Pu Jing school team made their entrance.

The moment Duan Sili appeared, the screams nearly blew the roof off.

Only when he came out would the girls scream like this.

Duan Sili walked at the very front, his black basketball uniform making his skin appear even fairer.

The number 11 was printed on the back of his jersey.

He casually spun a basketball with one hand, his wrist bone prominent, the lines clean.

His expression held a hint of casual weariness, completely indifferent to the screams of the entire crowd.

He was used to standing in the spotlight. Such cheers were nothing out of the ordinary.

And everyone around him became a mere backdrop.

Xu Yin had heard a saying before: in this world, there are no handsome guys who are not aware of their own handsomeness. If there are, they must be pretending.

Because from a young age… they would become the focus of the crowd.

At this moment, Qi Youwei suddenly discovered a crucial point and tugged on Xu Yin’s sleeve. “Hey, that’s strange.”

“What?”

“The dinosaur charm on Duan Sili’s schoolbag is gone.”

“Is that charm special?”

“Duan Sili is obsessed with paleontology, especially dinosaurs… They say that dinosaur charm was a gift from Su Wan’an, and it’s always been on his schoolbag.” Qi Youwei was puzzled. “Strange, when did he take it off?”

“The two of them don’t really interact much usually,” Xu Yin said. “They’re not dating.”

“Yeah, Duan Sili doesn’t seem to be into that kind of thing. But Su Wan’an is his marriage partner, after all. As long as the things she gives him are still hanging on his bag, it’s equivalent to a declaration of sovereignty.”

Xu Yin said with a straight face, “But it’s gone now.”

Qi Youwei shrugged.

The game officially began, but Duan Sili didn’t play.

The handsome number 5 from Pusley also didn’t play. They both remained in the rest area for the time being.

Duan Sili sat with his legs crossed, scrolling through his phone.

Gradually, the score gap on the court widened.

Pusley was being dominated by Pu Jing, their score plummeting all the way, taking a severe beating.

Finally, the handsome number 5 went on.

The moment he stepped onto the court, the situation instantly reversed.

With him alone, he brought the score back by more than ten points.

His three-pointers almost never missed.

“Holy crap, he’s Mitsui Hisashi!” someone shouted excitedly from the sidelines.

The score was quickly brought back, and the whole crowd was in an uproar.

But Duan Sili still sat in the rest area, casually fiddling with his phone. It wasn’t until the second half that he lazily got up.

The moment he stepped onto the court, the entire atmosphere of the court changed drastically.

Duan Sili was like a fighting beast that had been gathering strength for a long time. The entire basketball court was like his own personal domain; no one could defend against him.

When he broke through with the ball, the defending players didn’t even have time to react and would be intimidated into retreating by Duan Sili’s momentum.

A smile played on his lips, but his eyes were as sharp as blades. With a series of feints, he smoothly passed his opponents and scored with agile speed.

Waves of cheers erupted from the crowd.

Duan Sili’s name was chanted wildly…

But the handsome number 5 was clearly not an easy opponent. The score remained very close.

Xu Yin clutched her schoolbag strap tightly. Seeing this, Qi Youwei thought she was worried about Duan Sili and said, “Duan Sili has never lost, and he won’t lose this time either.”

Soon, Pusley called a timeout to adjust their tactics.

After changing their offensive strategy, number 5 was tasked with focusing on defending against Duan Sili.

Miraculously, he seemed to be able to predict every one of Duan Sili’s feints, tightly sealing off his offensive routes.

Duan Sili began to find it difficult to score. He was in a stalemate with number 5, the smile on his face gradually fading, replaced by a kind of cold, sharp competitiveness.

The atmosphere between the two of them was like a taut spring.

It was clear that Duan Sili was very annoyed with him.

In the last five minutes, Duan Sili suddenly sped up, launching a fierce attack, breaking through the siege with the ball, and heading straight for the backboard.

At this moment, there was no internal defense from the Pusley players under the backboard. Number 5 chased closely behind, and at the moment Duan Sili jumped for a dunk, he also leaped up to block.

“Boom!”

The basketball slammed hard into the net, and the number 5 boy fell heavily to the ground.

He clutched his ankle, his expression pained.

He was injured. His ankle was swollen.

The referee immediately blew the whistle to pause the game.

The next second, Xu Yin abruptly stood up and rushed down from the audience seats.

She pushed through the crowd, and under the watchful eyes of everyone, knelt down beside the number 5 boy. Her fingers trembled as she touched his swollen ankle—

“Xu Yan! Are you okay? Does it hurt?”

“I’m fine, don’t be scared.” The boy’s face was pale, but his tone was gentle.

“It’s all swollen!” Her voice was trembling as she tried to put his arm around her shoulders and support him. “I’ll take you to the school infirmary.”

In the stands, Qi Youwei was dumbfounded.

In the week since she had enrolled, for the most part, she had been as perfect as a carefully dressed Barbie doll in a display case, elegant, graceful, calm, and indifferent.

Not even a single strand of hair would be out of place!

This was the first time Qi Youwei had seen her lose control.

Seeing this scene, the basketball in Gao Minglang’s hands dropped. He turned to look at Duan Sili, confused.

Under the backboard, Duan Sili slightly lifted his chin.

His dark eyes were fixed on her.

His emotions were unreadable.