Chapter 228 Have you ever seen Zhennan at 4:30 in the morning?

The ball was tipped off, and everyone looked up at the ball in mid-air.

Jiang Nian sighed.

At first, he just wanted to show off a bit before dinner.

Walking past the basketball court, he saw a few familiar faces from the school team warming up in groups. A ball happened to roll to his feet, and almost by reflex, he took a shot.

“Precise.”

One-handed, half-court, swish.

He used to be on the first team, and he played a lot during his first and second years of high school. Staying fit was secondary; the main reason was to show off and to say that famous line.

“Have you seen Zhennan at 4:30 AM? (Smoky voice)”

Others couldn’t see his effort, and he hadn’t put in any effort anyway. Whenever asked, he’d just say it was talent; if asked again, he’d say he loved basketball, definitely not for showing off.

However, he quit during the summer vacation of his second year. On one hand, he was demoralized by Zhou Yuting’s clique, and on the other hand, the old geezers on the school team hit too hard.

Those who knew thought it was basketball body contact; those who didn’t might have thought it was a rugby match. A shoulder charge, a war stomp—they’d even out your kidney stones.

Oh, my dear Coach, I swear to God.

Yes, just now.

I saw my great-grandmother.

In short, Jiang Nian was half-dragged onto the court by his former teammates, much like being dragged into a foot spa by his cronies.

He thought it was just one short quarter, and he was free before dinner anyway. His hands were a bit itchy, so he might as well just cruise around the edges.

What if he crushed the opponent?

Thinking too much, like it’s a idol drama.

There was only so much time to play in the afternoon, and the first team players were all familiar with each other, playing together day in and day out.

Unless they were crazy, they wouldn’t constantly give a former teammate who quit and was showing off an assist.

To put it nastily, if you made them unhappy, they’d simply stop passing you the ball. They’d let you run around the full court like a dog, and if they lost, they’d pin the blame on you.

Clearly, Jiang Nian wasn’t there to cause trouble; he was just participating.

Three minutes before the whistle blew, Jiang Nian ran around the full court with his team. As expected, he didn’t touch the ball, but he wasn’t in a hurry.

Among the people on the court, he only recognized two.

One was on his team, a four-eyes named Zhang Xiaofan.

He looked decent, refined and scholarly. He even wore rimless glasses while playing basketball, but his grades were terrible.

His family owned a factory in the suburbs, and he wasn’t very keen on going to university.

He got his driver’s license as soon as he turned adult and had already bought a car. Unless he wanted to do manual labor, there was little hope of passing the civil service exam, so he planned to just get a vocational college degree and live a carefree life.

A phrase he often had on his lips was: “If I can’t get into a good university, can’t I at least get a female university student from a Double First-Class university?”

The other was on the opposing team, a super big dark bull named Wang Zejun.

He was tall and strong, and surprisingly, his grades were also good. However, his family background was average, so he was more focused on his studies.

While not at the level of the Olympiad class, there was still hope for him to get into a decent university. He planned to attend a cheaper public university to reduce his family’s financial pressure.

He often smiled and would say before playing: “Bro, make way, I don’t know how to play.”

When he actually played, he was incredibly fierce.

Jiang Nian’s grades were the highest among this group, on the verge of six hundred points. Besides him, this group of people couldn’t even muster one person above five hundred points.

It was a case of: no great scholars in conversation, only commoners in interaction.

“Pass it out!” the four-eyes shouted.

Right at the start, the four-eyes was heavily pressured by the big dark bull. He couldn’t defend him; in three minutes, he was forced into a layup once and also made a three-pointer.

The pressure was maxed out, and they immediately entered a disadvantageous state.

The ball was passed out from under the backboard, landing in the hands of the four-eyes, Zhang Xiaofan. He caught the ball and shot immediately; it clanked off the rim with a bang and bounced right out.

This was purely his own fault, but the four-eyes still yelled irritably.

“If you can’t shoot, pass it!”

Jiang Nian watched from the sidelines, a slight grin on his lips.

He thought to himself, “Haven’t seen him in a few months, and he’s still the same.”

Some people on the court are “mentality heroes,” always saying “no worries, no worries.” It’s no big deal if others mess up, no big deal if they miss a shot; they just act like they’re understanding.

Others are the opposite, pure internal high-pressure cookers.

The person who passed the ball raised a hand, “My bad, my bad.”

Five minutes passed.

Finally, Jiang Nian seized an opportunity, intercepting a ball from the opposing team. He hadn’t even dribbled much when the big dark bull from the other side came pressing over with another person.

At this point, Jiang Nian was positioned on the side of the half-court.

“Stop him!” The big dark bull directed the other person to flank him from the left.

He had played with Jiang Nian before and knew that this guy was like liquid; he could break through any small gap. And as he encircled from the right, it was like a black cloud pressing down on the city.

Off-court, Nie Qiqi excitedly pulled out her phone and aimed it at Jiang Nian.

“It’s about to come out.”

Cai Xiaoqing glanced at the foxy Qiqi, looking as if she wanted to speak but held back. She wasn’t very interested in basketball games; reality and idol drama basketball games were two completely different things.

“Hurry up, let’s eat after you’re done filming.”

“Oh, oh, almost there,” Nie Qiqi said excitedly.

She was already fantasizing about using that move on Jiang Nian: publicly sharing an ugly basketball photo of him, completely cut off and having the ball stolen, looking regretful and powerless. On the court, Jiang Nian was much calmer.

He had never intended to dribble past anyone or pass the ball to others.

Jiang Nian dribbled the ball very quickly, “pa-pa,” then swayed his body dramatically. After faking, he quickly pulled back and broke through a small gap on the left.

The big dark bull immediately used this time difference to chase from the right.

In this situation, you either pass immediately or face a wall alone. That’s an exaggeration, but no one was confident they could contend with the big dark bull.

And Jiang Nian, with a fresh choice, went for the third option.

Classic, half-court shot.

In the eyes of the big dark bull, Wang Zejun, Jiang Nian was just desperately trying anything. In the eyes of the team captain, the four-eyes Zhang Xiaofan, Jiang Nian was a typical selfish individual.

“Damn it, if you’re blocked, can’t you pass the ball?!”

The four-eyes was a genuine second-generation rich kid. He was fine off the court, but on the court, he’d pressure his teammates. If they didn’t pass to him, it meant they “didn’t know how to play.”

To put it nicely, he was straightforward and honest, and he tended to get too serious and hot-headed during games.

To put it less nicely, he looked down on everyone from the bottom of his heart. “What class are you? If I give you a step, you should just gracefully take it. Are you even worthy of making me angry?”

You couldn’t say he was bad; he was quite normal usually. Even if it was just an act, if he could keep it up, then it was still normal; there was no need to be too serious.

Jiang Nian completely ignored him, not even looking as he quickly shot the ball.

“Precise.”

The ball was shot from half-court, a miracle of power. In a beautiful arc, it flew directly across half the court, and under everyone’s gaze, dropped through the iron hoop.

All the hoops on the basketball court had no nets, so there was no “swish” sound.

But it was a swish!

The moment the ball landed, the entire court erupted.

Of course, the spectators were still 98% pure male students. Those male students, each a super coach, erupted in excitement at that moment.

The coach might be uncultured, but the coach had eyes.

Throwing a swish from half-court didn’t require understanding basketball. Even if it was thrown in a “bedpan” style, it was still top-notch awesome.

Cheers, like boiling water, erupted at this moment.

Mixed in were one or two girls’ screams, one from a first-year junior in a dark blue school uniform. Conquered by this highly watchable shot, she let out an excited shriek.

The other scream came from Nie Qiqi.

She hated it!

She hadn’t filmed anything just now; she had only captured Jiang Nian’s half-court three-pointer. The image of him suspended in the air, with the ball just leaving his hand, wasn’t ugly at all.

I can’t breathe, everyone.

Fuming from this annoying guy.

Most of the cheers came from the guys watching the game, as if waiting for a climax. Finally, five minutes into the game, they experienced that electrifying moment.

“Holy crap, this guy!!”

“A half-court shot and a swish? Is he even human?”

“This is so damn cool. That release speed, he didn’t even look! Either it was a fluke or pure confidence.”

“Was it a random shot? We’ll know soon enough.”

“Who cares about that? Even if it was luck, it’s still awesome.”

“Exactly. If it were me, I’d be bragging for days. This is a half-court super long three-pointer in a game; the value is through the roof.”

Cai Xiaoqing listened to the discussions of the boys next to her, and her gaze towards Jiang Nian became somewhat subtle.

He seemed to always be accurate.

So, there really is such a thing as extraordinary talent in this world. Scientifically, it should mean a more developed cerebellum or strong muscle control.

She had already fallen into the Domain of biological thought, recalling a difficult biology question she had reviewed yesterday.

“Let’s go, let’s go, I’m not watching anymore.” Nie Qiqi cried, feeling utterly defeated. “Xiaoqing, let’s go eat. I need to turn my frustration into appetite.”

“Your appetite is already strong; you don’t need to transform it,” Cai Xiaoqing snapped back to reality, interrupting her spell, and said calmly, “No rush, let’s watch a bit longer.”

“Huh?” Nie Qiqi was puzzled.

“Don’t you want to try again?” Cai Xiaoqing glanced at her, her expression calm. “Maybe you’ll be able to get an ugly photo of him soon. Just hold on a little longer.”

Nie Qiqi was stunned. Cai Xiaoqing would actually consider her feelings. She was greatly moved. Was this what it felt like to be cherished and pampered?

Waaah, why is it Xiaoqing? If only it were the class monitor.

“Mwah mwah! Thank you, Xiaoqing.” Nie Qiqi pouted her pink lips, making to kiss her. “You really do love me.”

Cai Xiaoqing: “…”

She didn’t want to speak, so she turned her gaze back to the court.

Jiang Nian’s shot directly shut Zhang Xiaofan’s trash talk. What more could he say after a three-pointer? Would passing the ball have led to a better outcome?

Clearly, it would not have.

For the next three minutes, Jiang Nian didn’t touch the ball.

The four-eyes, Zhang Xiaofan, kept directing passes, constantly moving and positioning. His gaze never turned towards Jiang Nian, as if he didn’t see a person there.

Finally, in the ninth minute, Zhang Xiaofan scored off a rebound.

The cost was that the big dark bull’s team had already scored three consecutive baskets, including two three-pointers, directly widening the score gap.

The pressure freak exploded, started trash-talking his teammates, then turned around and said,

“Run, damn it, I’m so fed up with you guys!”

“Also, Jiang Nian, why isn’t your defense active at all?”

Also