CH 8

Edited by Vai

After Huo Mo asked the question, everyone who had been watching the game laughed out loud. 

Sang Xian was someone who always looked like he couldn’t wake up, but unexpectedly stood up in laughter after hearing that.

Sui HouYu looked at all the people laughing in annoyance. If they didn’t stop anytime soon, he would start a fight.

Coach Wang immediately scolded, “Hou Mo, stop talking nonsense and focus on the game.” 

Hou Mo returned to his position.

The match between Sui HouYu and Deng YiHeng could be considered as a normal game.

When it came to Sui HouYu’s and Hou Mo’s, the genre seemed to have changed, it was as if they were flirting. Hou Mo was teasing the opponent as a way of competition.

Hou Mo usually didn’t play like this during official matches, but today he seemed to be deliberately teasing the other.

Sure enough, the more Sui HouYu slapped, the smellier he became. He felt ashamed after being teased.

Hou Mo’s ability to control the ball was very good. After a few back and forth, the speed and trajectory of the ball were under Hou Mo’s control. It was useless even if Sui HouYu did the serve.

Playing against Hou Mo gave one an unusual feeling, and made people uncomfortable. 　 

For example, Hou Mo’s counterattack this time was to get the ball up, slow down its speed, and then hit back. 

During their match, Sui HouYu sensed his loss. The other person didn’t seem to think of him as competition, otherwise how could he be relaxed enough to tease?

After all, Hou Mo had been trained for tennis professionally and had participated in small and big competitions. He had a lot of practical experience. His opponents had been more professional than Sui HouYu, so the other was no match for him. 

Sui HouYu played well, but he hadn’t gone under any training. He merely learned it during gym class and played to just pass time.

Among amateur players, Sui HouYu’s skills can definitely be regarded as very good.

But against professional players, he was not even close. 

Hou Mo had good reflexes, and he calculated fast. A 3D image of the whole place had formed in his head, and he could use it to his advantage.

He could see through Sui HouYu’s every move, and not one of his predictions was wrong.

He made a topspin lob then a backspin; Sui HouYu wasn’t able to catch it and the game ended. 

Hou Mo won. 

The other players started cheering, but they did not get carried away. Obviously, they knew Hou Mo would win. 

They felt that Hou Mo had taken the other down a notch and were relieved.

Sui HouYu was not convinced, and holding onto his rocket approached the leaving Hou Mo. “One more time.”

Hou Mo looked at him, then with his chin raised slightly, smiled and said, “Okay.” 

His tone was flippant, even a little coquettish, but that expression did not make his smile look greasy, instead he looked very handsome.

The two men started another match.

Coach Wang did not allow the others to watch. He arranged some training for them while he continued to watch Sui HouYu play. 

As he had observed during the two games, he noticed some of Sui HouYu’s problems, and suddenly advised, “Give up the curve ball temporarily, your friction is not right, and playing like that isn’t good for you.”

Sui HouYu knew that Coach Wang was instructing him, so he listened.

As long as he can win. 

Curved ball was Sui HouYu’s weakness, he liked to play in that style but couldn’t control the ball comfortably.

This kind of playstyle wasn’t good for him, so better abandon it and shift to another.

Hou Mo didn’t mind Coach Wang guiding Sui HouYu in the middle of their match, he could still strike the ball opposite to Sui HouYu’s prediction.

If it was an ordinary person, there was no other way to turn the situation around. 

However, Sui HouYu’s flexibility and adaptability was at an unbelievable level. He turned around quickly and blocked the ball with his racket before going back to position. 

Hou Mo’s unperturbed expression cracked, and he looked surprised for a moment.

Sui HouYu just followed his intuition. He was wild, making people confused, but he could sense where the ball was. Even if his prediction was wrong, he could block it.

What the hell did this kid do? Why is his body so flexible? 

Even if he was taken by surprise, Sui HouYu still lost against Hou Mo.

He lost again.

Sui HouYu felt wronged and asked angrily again, “Another one!” 

His tone was really fierce.

Really stubborn. It was obvious he wouldn’t admit defeat.

Hou Mo was also excited, and complied for a third match.

Tennis requires a lot of physical effort. During a match of 3 sets, one needs to win two sets and in a match of 5 sets, one needs to win three sets to win the game. Thus the game consumes a lot of energy and sometimes it turns into a battle of attrition.

Therefore, tennis players have strict physical requirements. Hou Mo and Sang Xian have the best physical condition out of everyone in their team.

An amateur player like Sui HouYu, although thin, was still doing his best after previous  matches, as if he never got tired.

Coach Wang looked at Sui HouYu and was so excited that he had only one thought in his heart: this player must win.

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”Off duty?”

”Yes, time is up.” After Hou Mo finished speaking, he ignored Sui HouYu and walked directly to the lounge to get his things.

Deng YiHeng had been secretly watching their match. When he saw Hou Mo win the matches, he felt like his face had been restored. He approached Sui HouYu and explained, “For Hou Mo, playing tennis is like doing an errand.”

“What do you mean?” Sui HouYu asked Deng YiHeng, looking gloomy while still holding his racket.

“Our school’s sports students are exempted from tuition fees, otherwise Da Shixiong would not join. In addition, our school’s tennis team is strong – we have brand sponsorship that provides us with free clothing and shoes. He only went to participate in competitions so he could get a bonus. In the past, the national team took an interest in him, but he rejected it. That’s just how he is. He wouldn’t even make any effort to do well on the exam because there was nothing to gain, otherwise he wouldn’t be in Class 17.

Sui HouYu stopped arguing. He put down the racket and prepared to leave, but was stopped by Coach Wang. “What’s your name? Do you want to join the tennis team?” 

Sui HouYu was not interested and replied, “I don’t want to.”

”Don’t you want to try to surpass him?” Coach Wang said, pointing to Hou Mo who had just walked out from the lounge.

Sui HouYu looked at Hou Mo. 

Hou Mo was wiping his sweat with a towel, and didn’t panic over the attention. He walked  over to them and said, “He still doesn’t have the fire. It’ll be hard to defeat me.”

Sui HouYu watched Hou Mo walk past him, lips pursed tightly.

Coach Wang watched Hou Mo leave, then turned back to Sui HouYu, smiling, “How is it? Want to practice?”  

Deng YiHeng glanced at him, then complained to Sang Xian, “Coach Wang is only kind and benevolent when digging pits for white rabbits.”

Sang Xian picked up his bag and replied, “He is intelligent, so Coach Wang won’t give up so easily.”

Sui HouYu seemed a little shaken and said, “I’ll think about it.”

Coach Wang smiled more kindly: “Okay, what’s your name?”

“Sui HouYu.”

When Ran Shu came over, Sui HouYu was already walking angrily.

Ran Shu frequently looked behind while following Sui HouYu to his dorm room. He didn’t dare to ask anything.

In his dorm room, the atmosphere around Sui HouYu was very low. 

The roommate also realized this and didn’t dare to breathe after entering the room.

Ran Shu didn’t ask anything, instead he took a woven bag of an unknown person and spread it on the ground. 

He took the quilt out and sprinkled some water on it, patted the edges and corners and then folded it.   

This way, tomorrow morning he would put the quilt in the cabinet without much difficulty.

Sui HouYu was still thinking about the tennis match. He had lost three games in a row, which made him very disappointed.

He had previously represented institutions in dance competitions and had won professional contests. Tennis was indeed not his main practice, yet losing made him very upset. 

Just when he was anxious, he heard the sound of “Pa Pa Pa”, so he turned and saw Ran Shu patting the quilt like he was building a wall, and couldn’t help saying, “This may be the loudest Pa Pa sound in your life.”

Ran Shu squatted beside the quilt and thought for a while, then complained, “Why-why-why would you say that?”

Sui HouYu finally laughed. 

He would be like this in front of Ran Shu.

Only a few people were close friends with Sui HouYu. In their dorm room, everyone except Ran Shu were normal friends.

They weren’t close, but if Sui HouYu needed help, they would be there. 

They were willing to listen to Sui HouYu, but the relationship… still wouldn’t be considered as close.

Honestly, Ran Shu and Sui HouYu have been together since their childhood so they were closer than normal.

Ran Shu knew Sui HouYu had another childhood friend, and he was more attached to that person, but Ran Shu had never met them. 

However, Ran Shu had heard that that child was a foreigner. Now that one of them has returned to China, they have lost contact due to the distance.

Now, Ran Shu was the only one in Sui HouYu’s life.

* 

The fourth day of the military training wasn’t as strict as before. In the evening, students began to sing together, and Second year’s class 17 became everyone’s target.

For one, it was because Hou Mo was a popular sports student, and because Ran Shu was also popular.

In addition the class was full of good looking students, and just in a few days they had become famous throughout the school . 

Sometimes when they would walk past a class, and if that class happened to be resting, they would hear whispers, “Class 17! It’s class 17!”  

”Hou Mo’s class?”

”That’s Sui HouYu, right?” 

”Ran Shu’s face is so small.”

“Sang Xian is still the same.”

The instructors of class 17 had always been impressive, and the songs they taught to students were very bold – like “The Sword Match”, which had been sung by class 17 with such power. 

The students who heard this song for the past two days were now sick of it.

Today there were six classes sitting together, while the other classes were sitting not too far, watching and booing.

The other classes seemed to be united and began to call a person’s name: “Go Ran Shu! Go Ran Shu!”   

There were also words like: “How bashful, like a young woman.” 

Ran Shu leaned towards Sui HouYu and complained, “Just-just these words, I’ve already heard it back in junior high school, really unoriginal.”

Then he stood up and walked towards the center. He had never suffered from stage fright. 

Someone brought speakers, but the sound quality wasn’t good especially when the volume was turned to the maximum, it sounded like someone dying.

But in the current situation, this kind of speaker was already good enough .

Ran Shu walked over and said, “Play-play something man-manly.” 

Ran Shu had been learning dancing since he was young, and once participated in a youth dance competition. He came third in the competition, proving his skills.

He could dance to any music that he is familiar with. After all one can free style on any music, except for those music with a specific choreography. When you watch a lot of choreographies, you can easily learn new moves. 

Ran Shu let them choose, and he would just dance to the tune. 

After dancing for years, he could more or less do an impromptu.

The DJ gestured “OK” then played a song from a girl group.

Ran Shu was fuming with anger. He turned around and walked towards class 17. 

The crowd thought that Ran Shu was going back, so they all coaxed him, but after a while they saw him pull Sui HouYu to join him.

Sui HouYu was unwilling when he was being dragged; he sat back down. But in the end Ran Shu won by dragging Sui HouYu by his waist. 

Sui HouYu didn’t like being touched by others, even by Ran Shu. He pushed Ran Shu away and followed him to the center of the stage to save him from further embarrassment. 

If Sui Hou Yu was serious, Ran Shu would not be an opponent at all.

However, the way they got along was by Ran Shu making trouble and Sui HouYu laughing at his antics. Sui HouYu was already used to Ran Shu acting like this.

In the end the two of them stood in the center, attracting a group of girls to scream. 

Those who were familiar with Sui HouYu knew his attitude, and didn’t dare force him. But Ran Shu had dragged him, so of course they were excited, and the screams became quite a sensation.

The interim DJ was good at grasping opportunities, so when the two stood up, the music began to play again.

When the music started, Ran Shu started jumping to the beats. He was thin but he had strength, form and a good sense of balance; his movements were well coordinated. 

Sui HouYu was still somewhat embarrassed, but after a while, he too started dancing.

As soon as he moved, the girls started screaming in excitement again.

Girls nowadays admire beyond gender. They like good-looking boys and girls. 

They particularly like Sui HouYu’s androgynous looks.

They danced to a girl group’s song. The dance contained twisting the hips into different ways and angles, so it was inevitable that there would be some feminine moves.

However, boys who knew how to dance could turn something sexy into something casual, while at the same time make the change look natural instead of out of place. 

While the two of them were dancing, a group of girls from another class suddenly went towards class 17 and approached Hou Mo, “Hou Mo!”

Hou Mo looked back and saw they were the girls who chatted with Ran Shu and Sui HouYu before, but he didn’t know them.

He asked them, “What?” 

”Can you tell me your WeChat ID? My friend wants it, beauty.”  

Hou Mo calmly looked at the group of girls and smiled, asking, “Do you like boys like me?”

”Yes!” 

”Coincidentally, I also like boys like me.”

”No need to give it to us! This line is so vulgar.” 

Hou Mo smiled and chatted with those girls, asking them, “You know Sui HouYu very well?” 

A girl nodded, “I used to be in the same class as him.”

“What exactly did Sui HouYu study that he can do pretty much anything?”

He can fight, play tennis, and now dance hip-hop.

The girl squatted down next to Hou Mo, arms hugging her knees, and introduced Sui HouYu, “Yu-ge is an incredibly magical person. We don’t know what exactly he could do, but it seems that he can do anything.”

“Natural gift?”

“No,” The girl sighed. “Yu-ge has been a VIP customer of some training institute since he was a child. How important he was is uncertain but he gets picked up by the teachers at the institute when school ends.”  

Hou Mo “Oh”-ed and thought, did he learn all that from the institute?

The girl continued, “Since he was intelligent, he spent weekends, evenings after school, winter and summer vacations at the institute where he learned everything they had to offer. Special arrangements of one-on-one classes in the evenings were made by the teachers for him, and they usually lasted until 1 am.” 

”What’s the reason why the classes end so late?”

“Yu-ge’s condition is special. He couldn’t sleep and would cause trouble when he was idle, so they let him attend all these classes so he didn’t have any free time.” 

Hou Mo was convinced Sui HouYu had a manic disorder.

The symptoms were basically the same.

But Hou Mo became a little puzzled and asked, “No, where were his parents?”

“His condition was caused by his parents. Shortly after he was born, his parents divorced. He has never been coaxed to sleep and only after exhausting himself from crying would he be able to. When he grew up, he turned abnormal and was even more despised by his parents. Now, both of them are married to different people and care for him even less, merely giving him money and throwing him to the institution to live or die on his own.”  

Hou Mo went silent after hearing that. A moment later, he suddenly raised an eyebrow, “You know a lot.” 

“Handsome people have always been popular. If people know something, it’s inevitable for them to group together and gossip. Besides, Ran Shu and Sui HouYu have been close since they were young, and Ran Shu mentioned that they studied hip-hop together.” 

”Oh…”

After the girl finished talking, she suddenly got angry, “I’ve already said so much, and you still won’t give me your WeChat ID?”

Hou Mo asked her in a whisper, “Do you want Sang Xian’s?”

The girl got excited, “Yes!”

Hou Mo unceremoniously sent Sang Xian’s WeChat ID to the girl, and other girls around him also got excited.

After all the girls left, Hou Mo turned to Deng YiHeng and asked, “You usually talk about girls and yet when they approach, you become silent.”

Deng YiHeng looked at the figures of the girls who left and sighed, “Don’t mention it, I get nervous when I see too many girls.”

”Really promising.”

At this moment, the open space in the center suddenly became more lively, because students from other classes came to dance. They were from FengHua, and Hou Mo knew those boys.

It would seem that they did not like the boys from Lantau high getting the spotlight so they came to steal the show.

Deng YiHeng stared at the situation for a while before commenting, “Although I want to cover up for them, I have to admit that our class’ two leaders are good at dancing, and seem to be professionals. Those three boys just roll around the ground and rely on somersaults.” 

Hou Mo smiled in reply, “That can also be considered as a bog move in hip-hop.”

“I have a hunch that they will be slapped in the face. I have fought against that boy several times. He usually behaves properly in public, but is secretly a petty person.” Deng YiHeng suddenly became someone who knew Sui HouYu the best. 

Hou Mo didn’t reply and continued to watch the show with interest.

At this moment, Sui HouYu asked the DJ to play an ancient song instead of an intense one.

Then he walked to the center and waited for the beat to start before dancing. The soothing movements did not look as handsome as hip-hop, but they were merry and lively.

This kind of dance unexpectedly looked carefree.

Chinese dance.

Without being drilled by the basics since childhood, it would be difficult to dance this style.

Following the music, Sui HouYu lifted one of his legs, causing a burst of exclamations. 

His legs were like a pendulum. After gently swinging into a circle, they lightly fell before raising up and then falling down again. There was strength in each movement, and Sui HouYu perfectly controlled it. 

Lightly, like a flying butterfly. 

This ability to control and coordinate the body was amazing.  

No wonder Sui HouYu’s body was so flexible and light. Turns out, he had practiced dancing.

After that, Sui HouYu copied what the boys had done earlier and made a hand spin, but his version was slower. His body looked boneless and soft, and he turned with ease.

In fact, if your body was flexible and you relied on inertia, you can do a hand spin easily. Enough practice was all it took. 

But the way Sui HouYu did it was with skill.

If you still challenge Sui HouYu at this moment, you would only break your thighs trying to follow him. In the next moment, Sui HouYu changed his style and copied the moves of the Feng Hua boys and his moves looked better than theirs, like a professional choreographer. 

Sui HouYu only needed to see their moves once and could easily copy it. He even performed better than them. 

Don’t try to force him, or you won’t be able to get off the stage easily.

Ran Shu was happy after seeing this, and said with a smile, “It’s so embarrassing!”

The boys went down in disgrace. 

Ran Shu and Sui HouYu went down together, laughing and stammering along the way.

The author has something to say: 

I’ve worked hard to watch and study the game. But occasionally there may be gaps in professional knowledge. 

*

The male protagonist has a foundation in Chinese dance. He can also perform street dance, etc., and there will be more. I will say later that he is really versatile. 

The following is the difference between Chinese dance and folk dance: 

Chinese dance consists of a variety of dances including folk dance; folk dance is only aimed at self-entertainment. This dance is practiced by the people who improvise, have a stable style and are influenced by their folk culture. 

Era of their origin: Chinese dance dates back to the prehistoric period; folk dance originated  in the early 1950s.

Different characteristics: Chinese dance is characterized by the combination of flexible rhythm and dots and lines; folk dance is characterized by the close combination of dance and singing.