CH 31

Watching the match while sitting at the courtside and watching the match outside the court were completely different experiences. Mo Lingqiu could feel the wind whipped up by Jiang Chenming as he ran past, dribbling. 

Jiang Chenming had good basketball skills, and his reaction was quick. No matter what situation he encountered, he would deal with it calmly.

The Law Department basketball team coach had probably met with the players a long time ago and discussed on Jiang Chenming, instructing them to focus on him, with three people arranged to block him. 

However, freeing up three people to block Jiang Chenming also meant that there would be unguarded positions in the court. Jiang Chenming was able to seize the opportunity almost every time to pass the ball to his teammates, who lived up to his expectations. They were able to score with two balls out of three; their accuracy was high and they gradually widened the gap.

It seemed to become an unwritten rule that if the PE Department had Jiang Chenming on their team, they would definitely win. Gradually, the Law Department team grew fatigued, their physical strength was slowly chipped away, and their hope of winning became smaller and smaller.

Mo Lingqiu stared at Jiang Chenming and couldn’t turn his gaze anywhere else.

This person… surprised him. Even though his opponent was showing signs of a clear defeat, Jiang Chenming still used two hundred percent of his effort to play the match.

“Jiang Chenming is impressive, right?” The PE Department team coach suddenly sat next to Mo Lingqiu. 

“Ah… En,” Mo Lingqiu answered honestly.

“As far as I know, he was a professional player for a year or two when he was in high school.”

“High school?” Mo Lingqiu was surprised and turned his head.

“Yes, he was very talented and had an advantage in his gender.” The coach was proud of him. “When he was still in high school, he was discovered and went to play professionally for two years. But then he didn’t continue, I guess it’s because of his parents who don’t support him.”

“Do you know what his… his parents do for a living?” Mo Lingqiu asked.

“I only know it’s related to business, but I don’t know the details,” The coach answered honestly. “Anyway, they’re quite formidable. Although he doesn’t tell others about it, everyone can see it.”

“En.” Mo Lingqiu put away his curiosity when he heard that the coach didn’t know either. 

“Originally, he would have entered university later than others if he had gone to play professionally for two years, but he applied early, and even entered University A with a high score––the highest score in the entire PE Department that year.” Recalling the glory of Jiang Chenming when he first entered University A, the coach said, “His general subject scores were higher than those from many other department’s top students. The teacher who taught him at the time was so proud that he showed off whenever he saw anyone.” 

“Is that so?” The image of popular and favoured Jiang Chenming appeared in Mo Lingqiu’s mind.

“Yeah, it’s pretty funny now that I think about it. Haha,” the coach laughed. “After that, he switched to a professional course, but he still trained as hard as ever. He could obviously have used his talent to outweigh the time of others’ efforts, but he never missed a training session.” 

“En.” Mo Lingqiu carefully thought back. Indeed, ever since he started living with Jiang Chenming, no matter how early in the morning training was, or how late at night it dragged on, he didn’t miss training once.

“As a coach, who wouldn’t like a student who works hard, right?”

“Yes.” Mo Lingqiu nodded. As a teacher he also preferred hardworking students. Talent was not necessarily the most important thing; the right attitude and degree of effort must be present. 

“Speaking of which, I haven’t asked you yet, Teacher Mo… are you and Jiang Chenming… really in a relationship?” The coach still didn’t quite believe it. Although he had heard that he was Jiang Chenming’s boyfriend, he still wanted to confirm it himself.

Mo Lingqiu was caught up in the question. When he was still not sure how to answer, a ball suddenly flew straight towards him.

Due to the speed of the ball, the coach sitting next to Mo Lingqiu couldn’t react in time, and Mo Lingqiu also stared blankly at the ball.

Almost instantly, Jiang Chenming rushed in front of Mo Lingqiu. His hand touched the ball and changed its path, and, at the same time, he fell heavily to the ground.

Mo Lingqiu was so scared that he couldn’t move. Everyone around him was left dumbfounded.

A few moments later, Jiang Chenming, who had fallen to the ground, patted the dust off of himself and stood up. “Teacher Mo, are you okay?” 

“…I’m fine.” How would Mo Lingqiu not be okay; what should’ve been blocked was already blocked by Jiang Chenming. “Let me take a look at your hand.” 

“I’m fine,” Jiang Chenming immediately answered. At the same time, he put his hand behind his back.

Mo Lingqiu’s face immediately grew dark. “Show it to me.”

If it were any other time, Jiang Chenming would’ve definitely taken the opportunity to act cute towards Mo Lingqiu, but today he didn’t. Not only did he stubbornly hide his hand behind his back, but he also repeated “I’m okay” again, and ignored Mo Lingqiu’s cold expression. Then, he returned to the court. 

“Can you continue?” The referee asked Jiang Chenming as he returned.

“It’s no problem.” Jiang Chenming pretended to be relaxed as he smiled.

The referee eyed him a few more times before finally deciding to continue the match.

Mo Lingqiu kept a long face as he sat on the bench, but he couldn’t find any faults in Jiang Chenming’s movements, as if he was really fine, just like he’d said. 

The coach, however, narrowed his eyes. He specialized in teaching basketball and couldn’t be clearer about the physical details of the players. He obviously saw that Jiang Chenming’s movements were acts of bravado that would definitely be exposed if he continued playing like this.

Out of consideration for the players’ bodies, the coach raised his hand. He was about to shout “time out” when he received a glare from Jiang Chenming, who mouthed “five minutes”.

The coach hesitated, but still put down his hand.

This brat, Jiang Chenming. Although he usually looked obedient, he would still be rebellious sometimes.

The five minutes Jiang Chenming had asked for weren’t the five minutes until the end of the match. Instead, they were five minutes he wanted to use to widen the gap. He wanted the gap to be wide enough that the opponent wouldn’t be able to catch up. Then, he could get off the court. 

In the following five minutes, Mo Lingqiu could see that Jiang Chenming’s playstyle was much fiercer and cleaner than before, and less sympathetic towards the opponent. 

Although the promised duration was five minutes, Jiang Chenming had already pulled the difference to 43 points in less than three minutes. He showed off three-pointers from various angles, causing a burst of screams from the onlooking students.

Once the five minutes were up, the coach raised his hand to request a substitution and Jiang Chenming was replaced and sent to the bench.

Only then did Mo Lingqiu see that Jiang Chenming’s palms were bleeding. The injury was probably caused by his palms rubbing against the ground when he had fallen. The injury spanned from his palm to his elbow in patches, skin rubbing off in places, with blood seeping out. 

Earlier, during the match, while he was widening the score gap and bearing the pain of his arm injury, he had also been adjusting his position in order to keep Mo Lingqiu from seeing his injury. 

Mo Lingqiu’s heart sank. There was something stuck in his throat, and he felt something indescribable. When he opened his mouth, wanting to ask if Jiang Chenming was okay, a figure appeared beside him. 

It was the team’s Omega manager, carrying a medical kit in his hand. 

The omega manager squatted in front of Jiang Chenming in silence, skillfully helping Jiang Chenming to disinfect, stop the bleeding, and bandage his wound.

Mo Lingqiu stared intently. After a long while, he turned his head and swallowed all the words he wanted to say. 

When the wound was bandaged, the omega manager very carefully explained the use of each medicine, and then urged Jiang Chenming to go to the hospital to get an x-ray. 

Jiang Chenming thanked him, looked at Mo Lingqiu standing without moving, and then looked at the coach. “Coach, then, I…”

“You go back first. You did a good job today.” The coach patted his shoulder. “Remember to get an x-ray of your shoulder.”

“I’m really okay. I’m a tough person, don’t you worry.” Jiang Chenming smiled and used his uninjured left hand to pick up his school bag and put it on his back. “I’ll go first, then. I’ll leave the rest to you and the team.”

“No problem.” The coach gave him an “OK” gesture. The difference in the scores was so big, and there wasn’t much time left. The other team wouldn’t have the chance to turn the game around. 

Jiang Chenming bowed gratefully and went to Mo Lingqiu. “Teacher Mo, shall we go back?”

Mo Lingqiu took a look at his bandaged hand, gave a soft “en”, and then took the lead to walk towards the field. 

Jiang Chenming sighed in the bottom of his heart. His Teacher Mo was angry, what should he do?

Mo Lingqiu was indeed angry. Instead of his usual cold expression, his face was more gloomy. He walked silently in the direction of the South Campus parking lot. 

Jiang Chenming followed behind him and cautiously said, “Teacher Mo, I’m really fine. This small injury will heal soon.”

“So now you know that it’s an injury?!” Mo Lingqiu stopped abruptly and turned his head to look at him, angry and aggrieved.

Jiang Chenming was dumbfounded by the yell. He stood there for a while before finally coming back to his senses. He approached Mo Lingqiu, panicked. “I was wrong, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said that I was fine. I was scared that you would worry, so…” 

“Now you also know that I’m worried?” Mo Lingqiu gritted his teeth. He turned away, feeling really aggrieved, and then quickly walked off.

Jiang Chenming hurried to catch up, silently following him all the way to the unoccupied South Campus basement parking lot.

After Mo Lingqiu opened the car door, he turned around, like he was sulking, and viciously glared at Jiang Chenming. “Why are you still following me?” 

“To go home with you.” Jiang Chenming approached Mo Lingqiu and used his injured hand to pull Mo Lingqiu’s hand over.

Mo Lingqiu didn’t dare move. The feeling of the bandage touching his hand made him even more angry. “Why do you want to go home with me? I can’t help you bandage your hand, I don’t even have the right to know that you’re injured. Go wherever you like. Don’t follow me.” 

When he was done speaking, Mo Lingqiu clenched his teeth. He ruthlessly pushed Jiang Chenming’s hand away and got into the car. 

However, Jiang Chenming didn’t listen to him. He grabbed onto him and pulled him out of the car, before pressing him against the back seat window. “Teacher Mo.” 

Mo Lingqiu stubbornly stared at the concrete floor, simply not wanting to look at him. 

Jiang Chenming added a little force into his arm and held the back of Mo Lingqiu’s head, forcing him to look up. “Teacher Mo, I like you, I love you. If you’re unhappy and sad because of me, I’ll also be unhappy and sad. Hmm? So, don’t get angry anymore, okay?” 

Mo Lingqiu’s eyes behind the lenses were slightly red, like he was greatly distressed.

Mo Lingqiu felt strange. He had been living for almost thirty years, and was now throwing a tantrum at a person over such a trivial matter. 

When he had seen the Omega manager bandaging Jiang Chenming, he had felt how powerless he was. He couldn’t do anything, and Jiang Chenming wasn’t even willing to tell him about his injuries. 

When Jiang Chenming saw his red eyes and heard his silence, his heart clenched. Despite Mo Lingqiu’s struggle, Jiang Chenming leaned down and kissed him.