CH 16

Time flew, and it was the second Saturday.

The indoor basketball court had swarmed with students.

Thanks to Gu Zhongyi and Yang Qing, many students filled the audience seats.

Lin Yuxing arrived late with a large backpack on his shoulders. He no longer hid his relationship with Gu Zhongyi and shouted from a distance, “Senior!”

A group of seniors turned their heads.

Yang Qing teased, “Junior, which senior are you calling?”

Instantly, there was a commotion in the crowd.

The students in the audience seats looked towards him—

“Is he Gu Zhongyi’s partner? So sweet, he even came to watch the basketball game.”

“He looks decent, but his clothes are a bit plain.”

“I heard his family is poor.”

“Oh, isn’t he using him to climb up the social ladder?”

…

Lin Yuxing was far away and couldn’t hear their idle gossip. Even if he did, he didn’t care. He easily earned three thousand in a month, free food and drinks included. Those remarks about “climbing up the social ladder” didn’t bother him at all.

After all, his salary went to his bank account.

But as he looked at the friendly gazes of the seniors, Lin Yuxing wished he could burrow into the ground. In his moment of embarrassment, Gu Zhongyi had already run up to Lin Yuxing and firmly held him.

Gu Zhongyi’s usual expressionless face turned smiley, and he seemed delighted.

“You’re here.”

“Yeah!” Lin Yuxing, experiencing the role of an audience member for the first time, curiously looked around. “I’ll go to the audience area.”

However, Gu Zhongyi held his hand and directly led him to the players’ rest area.

“Stay here.”

“Huh?”

Gu Zhongyi said, “It’s too noisy out there.”

Lin Yuxing understood and stopped worrying.

He took off his heavy backpack and it made a dull thud as he placed it on the ground. Gu Zhongyi felt something was off, so he opened it and found it filled with bottled water and towels.

“I watched a drama yesterday and learned that when the protagonist went to watch her boyfriend’s basketball game, she bought water for the team members to make her boyfriend look good.” Lin Yuxing pulled the heavy backpack closer and confidently said, “Don’t worry, I’ll distribute them to everyone later. Each person will have one.”

Gu Zhongyi rubbed his head, feeling his actions were out of character. He quickly retracted his hand. He spoke in a low voice near Lin Yuxing’s ear, “You can share the water with others, but the cheers can only be for me.”

Lin Yuxing blushed from having his head rubbed.

“I-I know. They aren’t paying me anything anyway.” Lin Yuxing replied naturally to Gu Zhongyi’s ear.

“…”

Teammate 1: “My god, did Gu Zhongyi just smile?”

Teammate 2: “…I might be dreaming. Slap me to see if I wake up.”

Teammate 3 slapped teammate 2.

Teammate 2: “F*ck! You really slapped me!”

The match began.

Lin Yuxing, sticking to his work ethics ,put all his effort into cheering for Gu Zhongyi, but he couldn’t surpass the loud noise from the audience seats, and his cheers were often drowned out.

Lin Yuxing’s throat felt hoarse, and he was getting a bit dizzy.

After resting for a few minutes, he watched Gu Zhongyi sweating on the court and unknowingly got caught up in the tension of the basketball game.

The audience’s cheers were like waves, and when Lin Yuxing snapped back to reality, he took a deep breath and shouted with determination, “Gu Zhongyi—fight on—”

That shout, perfectly timed after the wave of noise paused, and stood out like an echo in the valley, lingering for a long time.

Lin Yuxing’s face turned red, and he was drenched in sweat.

At that moment, there was a momentary pause. Lin Yuxing’s cheer finally reached Gu Zhongyi’s ears.

Gu Zhongyi dribbled the ball, broke through the obstacles, and leaped high.

The ball went into the basket, and the cheers filled the court.

The match entered halftime.

Gu Zhongyi landed on both feet and turned around.

But time suddenly jumped to a magical point, from winter to summer.

28-year-old Gu Zhongyi ran down a long corridor, with a bright light ahead, and the space turned into a pure white tunnel. He kept running forward, anxiously searching for a window on the white wall.

Outside the glass window were green trees, dappled sunlight, and a pale young man holding a basketball on the basketball court.

Gu Zhongyi’s breathing slowed down.

Slowly, the young man looked up. The young man’s innocent brows and eyes were like a newly hatched bird. He transformed into a thin man with a pale face, holding the basketball, and looked ahead nonchalantly.

It was Lin Yuxing’s face, trapped in the 28-year-old time just like him.

Separated by the window, Gu Zhongyi silently roared in anguish. His feet were glued to the ground, unable to take a step.

The person on the basketball court dropped the ball, with a lonely gaze, and was so frail that even a gust of wind could knock him over.

Gu Zhongyi felt a lump in his throat. He pounded on the window, but it wouldn’t break.

Under the scorching summer sun, the person burned by the sun showed no expression on his face. He never looked at Gu Zhongyi, instead, he looked at the rolling ball on the ground and sarcastically said, “You and your basketball are equally uninteresting and boring.”

“…”

He sneered and easily invalidated everything about Gu Zhongyi, saying, “Shouldn’t this childish trick be used to deceive me when I was in my teens?”

Ringing in the ears, the sound of the wind pierced through.

“Gu Zhongyi, I have never liked you.”

Not even once.

Each harsh word pierced Gu Zhongyi’s heart.

He took a deep breath and when he opened his eyes again, his soul returned to his 19-year-old body.

Occasionally, he would think about past events, briefly trapped at a certain point in time. He didn’t know if it was his inner demon or the side effect of occupying this body.

Gu Zhongyi forcefully opened his eyes, and his heart sank, filled with restlessness and anxiety.

He thought it had been a long time, but in reality, it took less than a second from the ball going into the basket to hitting the ground.

His memories also ended within a second.

The ringing in his ears gradually faded away, and 19-year-old Lin Yuxing, excitedly shouted nearby, “Gu Zhongyi! Gu Zhongyi, you’re amazing!”

To differentiate him from the other seniors, Lin Yuxing shouted Gu Zhongyi’s name loudly.

The entire venue erupted in cheers, and Lin Yuxing’s voice was the loudest.

This person was completely different from the one in Gu Zhongyi’s memory.

The one in his memory would never show the same expression as Lin Yuxing, that person would not praise him, that person would not keep looking at him, that person did not have the same passionate soul as Lin Yuxing, that person was not the one he was searching for.

Gu Zhongyi’s eyes became slightly red.

He walked over and stood in front of Lin Yuxing.

Lin Yuxing’s excitement had not yet faded. He forcefully unscrewed the bottle cap and called out his name, “Gu Zhongyi, here drink some water”

Gu Zhongyi didn’t respond.

Lin Yuxing’s voice was hoarse as he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Gu Zhongyi took deep breaths, suppressing the words that were about to burst out of his heart. He clenched his fist and, after several avoidant glances, bravely looked straight into Lin Yuxing’s eyes. “I… How did I play? Did I do well?”

At that moment, he resembled a child seeking praise, standing before Lin Yuxing with a mixture of naivety and sincerity. His chest gently rose and fell, carrying his genuine feelings.

Lin Yuxing’s eyelashes trembled, and he felt a tug at his heart. Gradually, a sweet and intoxicating pheromone enveloped him. To calm himself down, he quickly picked up a towel and wiped the sweat off Gu Zhongyi, diverting his attention. “You’ve sweated a lot.”

“Yuxing,” Gu Zhongyi couldn’t help but urge him, “I…”

Mid-sentence, Gu Zhongyi’s fingertips trembled, realizing that he shouldn’t be so eager. “I’m sorry.”

Lin Yuxing grabbed his wrist and, in a voice only audible to Gu Zhongyi, candidly told him, “You played exceptionally well, the best among all the seniors. I don’t know why you suddenly asked me this, but I want to tell you that in the future, even if I don’t get paid, I still want to come and watch all your basketball games.”

Lin Yuxing, who initially cheered for the sake of payment, had changed. After watching his first basketball game, he was quickly captivated by Gu Zhongyi and genuinely wanted to cheer him on.

Putting down what he held in his hands, Lin Yuxing raised both thumbs.

He spoke loudly, “Senior, you’re the best!”

Gu Zhongyi stood before him, gazing at him intently.

Lin Yuxing tilted his head and asked, “Senior?”

In the next moment, Lin Yuxing was tightly embraced by Gu Zhongyi.

This startled Lin Yuxing.

The whole arena fell silent.

Then, everyone exclaimed, “Ohhh!” followed by waves of applause.

Lin Yuxing was completely bewildered. He wondered why Gu Zhongyi, who hadn’t watched those idol dramas with him, knew about the plot development in idol dramas.

In Gu Zhongyi’s embrace, Lin Yuxing’s cheeks turned hot, and the sweet scent of pheromones made his head dizzy. He closed his eyes, and his heart started to beat faster. He didn’t dare push Gu Zhongyi away, but he quietly reminded him, “That’s enough, right? Let go of me; your pheromones are quite strong.”

Gu Zhongyi released his grip at the right moment. “Sorry, I’m just too happy.”

Lin Yuxing touched his own racing heart, thinking it was probably because of Gu Zhongyi, and tactfully suggested, “Next time you’re happy, you might want to spray some pheromone repellent.”

Only Alphas with poor control of their pheromones needed to use repellents to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and harm.

But Gu Zhongyi didn’t need it at all.

“Maybe it’s because I’m sweating,” Gu Zhongyi didn’t think much of it. He felt much happier. He picked up the bottle of water that Lin Yuxing had opened and took a few sips. His smile was genuinely radiant. “Are you still going to watch the second half?”

Once again, Gu Zhongyi’s smile dazzled Lin Yuxing.

“Of course!” To prevent himself from losing focus again, Lin Yuxing crouched down and took out several bottles of water from his backpack. He stuttered, “I… I’ll give them to the other seniors…”

He stumbled over his words.

Lin Yuxing felt hopeless inside. Why did he always stutter in front of Gu Zhongyi?

Gu Zhongyi directly reached out and took the water bottles from his hands. He threw one bottle to each of his teammates who were eating snacks nearby. “Yuxing got these for you!”

Yang Qing was the first to catch the bottle. “Thanks, junior!”

Another teammate corrected him, “Yang Qing, can’t you get it right? We should start calling him brother-in-law now! Right, brother-in-law?”

Gu Zhongyi threw a bottle of water to silence him and turned to say a few kind words to Lin Yuxing. “Yuxing, don’t mind them; they like to talk nonsense… “

Behind him, there was no trace of Lin Yuxing.

Hearing a sound, Gu Zhongyi looked around and was amused by the scene in front of him.

The Lin Yuxing who easily blushed and stuttered in front of him was now holding water and distributing it to the team members one by one. When the team members said, “Thank you, brother-in-law,” Lin Yuxing politely replied, “You’re welcome, no need to thank me. We are all family now.”

Gu Zhongyi: “…”

Yang Qing burst into laughter, unable to control himself.

The spectators in the stands were dumbfounded. “When they call him brother-in-law, it’s just being polite, but he actually responded? even monkeys can’t climb high branches like him?”

The second half of the game started quickly.

In order to show his sudden love for basketball, Lin Yuxing cheered wildly.

This exhausted Lin Yuxing to the point where he drank the two bottles of water in his backpack, even more than the players themselves.

Not only that, after the game ended, Lin Yuxing didn’t want to waste anything. After delivering water to the whole team, he started handing out towels. In the process, he took special care of wiping the sweat off Gu Zhongyi’s face and handing him water, showing a reluctant-to-part expression.

Some students who came to watch the game in the second half were puzzled, “Isn’t the Blue Team just a casual team? They even have a team manager.”

The surrounding students replied, “…Bro, can’t you see that he’s Gu Zhongyi’s partner?”

In the eyes of others, the two of them were almost kissing.

In fact, Lin Yuxing’s reluctance was because he said, “I have a full day of classes tomorrow, and I have to work in the evening. We won’t see each other tomorrow.”

Gu Zhongyi squeezed the mineral water bottle, and the sweetness in his pheromones diminished slightly. “Hmm.”

It was so obvious that even Lin Yuxing couldn’t miss the despair in his voice.

“I promise that from now on, whenever you have a basketball game, I’ll make sure to come and support you as i did today.” Lin Yuxing negotiated with him, feeling embarrassed. “Senior, can I bring my roommate next time? He wants to see you play too. You’re so good at basketball.”

“The basketball court is a public place, anyone can come.” Gu Zhongyi’s pheromones became rich and pleasant again. He was so easy to please.

Lin Yuxing wiped his nose, feeling that something was off with him.

Because, apart from him, no one around noticed Gu Zhongyi’s pheromone changes.