Pei Chen took the bottle of mineral water from Liang Zhiyi’s hand and straightened up.
At this moment, the girl’s back was pressed against the wall, and the low “stop messing around” from him made her heart race. A tingling sensation spread from her ears, almost melting her whole being.
How could he be so unintentionally flirty…
Liang Zhiyi recalled how he had just gently protected her head, and her heart felt like sugar water heating up in a pot, sweet bubbles rising to the surface.
At that moment, Xuan Xia came up the stairs after using the restroom. He noticed the two standing close to each other and sensed something unusual. Smiling, he asked, “Did I come at a bad time?”
The sweet atmosphere vanished.
Liang Zhiyi glanced at him. “You do have some self-awareness.”
“Hehe!”
The ambiguity between these two was killing him, a single person!
The three of them then walked to Coach Sun Jing’s office, where the coach instructed them to sit in the meeting room next door.
Liang Zhiyi walked into the meeting room and saw the teachers from the logistics team and the vice-captain sitting at one corner of the oval conference table. She greeted them and sat down beside them, with Xuan Xia pulling Pei Chen to sit next to him.
After a while, Liang Tongzhou and a few other boys also came in.
The teacher hadn’t arrived yet, so one of the boys offered candies to his classmates.
“Have some candy, have some candy…”
Liang Zhiyi took one. “What kind of candy is this? Is it tasty?”
Someone held back a laugh and cursed at the boy who handed out the candy. The boy, feeling embarrassed, was about to take it back, but Liang Tongzhou quickly stopped him and smiled at Liang Zhiyi. “It’s just lemon candy. Give it a try.”
The girl unwrapped it, smelled the lemon scent, and popped it into her mouth without much thought. Suddenly, her face scrunched up.
“Why is it so sour…!!”
The boys couldn’t hold back their laughter. The one who gave out the candy apologized to her, “Sister Zhiyi, I’m sorry! It was Tongzhou who insisted I give it to you!”
Liang Tongzhou chuckled. “Who would’ve thought you were so easily tricked, you haven’t even had Sour Patch before…”
Liang Zhiyi resisted the urge to spit it out and, feeling frustrated, grabbed another piece of candy from the table and threw it at Liang Tongzhou.
This little brother was so not worth it!
Ah, my brain hurts from the sourness. QAQ.
After a while, Liang Zhiyi lay her head on the table, turning to Pei Chen with a pitiful look. “Pei Chen, they bullied me…”
The boy suppressed a smile and asked softly, “Is it still very sour?”
“My face is cramping from the sourness.”
Pei Chen glanced around the meeting room and noticed a half-empty box of mineral water on the floor. He got up, grabbed a bottle, and handed it to her. “Drink some water.”
After she took a sip, he asked, “Feeling better?”
Seeing the concern on his face, Liang Zhiyi smiled. “Much better.”
In truth, the candy wasn’t as sour after a while, but she just wanted to tease him a little. Pei Chen is really nice…
A moment later, Coach Sun Jing, a few teachers from the physical education department, and Vice Principal Jiang, the team leader, walked into the meeting room.
Once everyone was present, the meeting officially began. Sun Jing first summarized the results of the first two group matches of the tournament: “We won both of our first two matches. This Saturday, we’ll be facing Lincheng No. 8 High School. They’ve also won two matches, so our points are the same. This means that regardless of who wins or loses on Saturday, both teams will advance.”
One of the teachers commented, “So there’s no need for us to be too stressed.”
Another teacher asked, “But doesn’t the outcome of this match affect the situation we’ll face after advancing from the group stage?”
Sun Jing nodded. “If we win on Saturday, we’ll advance as the top team in our group. According to the tournament rules, in the next round of 16 to 8, we’ll most likely face the second-ranked team from Group C, which is Mingchuan Private High School.”
Hearing this name, the expressions of many people became noticeably more serious.
Mingchuan Private High School is one of the strongest teams in the upper bracket and is considered the toughest opponent in the upper half of the tournament. They’ve consistently performed well and even made it to the final four last year. Their strength cannot be underestimated.
Originally, Mingchuan was expected to take first place in Group C, but they didn’t perform well in their second group match and lost a game. Now, they only have one group match left, and if they win, they’ll secure the second place in their group.
Based on their strength, Mingchuan should win their third match, so it’s likely they’ll end up in second place in Group C.
However, because of Mingchuan’s unexpected loss, there’s now a high chance that our team will face them earlier than anticipated, in the round of 16, instead of the semifinals as originally expected.
After Sun Jing explained the situation they were facing, Vice Principal Jiang looked at the players and said, “Now, I have two options for you.”
“First, we can go all out in our last group match this Saturday and aim to defeat No. 8 High School to secure first place in our group.”
“Second, we can be more strategic and avoid facing a stronger team early on. If we take second place in our group, according to the rules, we would face the first-ranked team from Group C, Xiaoru High School. Xiaoru isn’t as strong as Mingchuan, so our chances of beating them and making it to the semifinals would be greater.”
Someone was puzzled. “Are we supposed to intentionally lose the match then?”
Vice Principal Jiang responded, “Our main goal is to advance from the group stage. By doing this, we can also hide our true strength and confuse our opponents.”
Sun Jing exchanged a look with the principal before asking the players, “What are your thoughts? Feel free to share.”
Everyone fell silent. Seeing no one speak up, Sun Jing turned to Pei Chen. “Pei Chen, what do you think?”
Pei Chen’s brows furrowed slightly, his tone cold as he spoke:
“If our goal is the championship, there’s no need to avoid strong opponents.”
Everyone turned to look at him in unison.
Pei Chen lowered his gaze, his voice calm and steady. “If we’re going to compete, we should bring our best game and win every match without dispute.”
Liang Tongzhou, sitting lazily to the side, chimed in, “I agree. What’s the point of playing it safe just to make it to the top four? Our goal is the championship. Anything less isn’t even worth considering.”
“Yeah, I agree.”
“We’ll face whoever comes our way, without hesitation.”
“Vice Principal Jiang, how can you not believe in us!”
The players were united in their thoughts. Vice Principal Jiang and Coach Sun Jing exchanged a smile. Jiang then said:
“It’s not that I don’t believe in you. I just wanted to test your resolve. Now it seems that your mindset aligns perfectly with mine and Coach Sun’s. That’s right, we at No. 1 High School need to be bold and take the lead, winning in style. This is what it means to be a student of No. 1 High School.”
Coach Sun Jing laughed, “If we intentionally lose just to secure a better ranking, wouldn’t that make us a laughingstock? Our goal is to be first in the group, and in everything we do, we should aim for the top!”
The team was fired up, their determination clear. In the end, they decided to give their all in the third match.
Listening to all this, Liang Zhiyi felt her own blood boil with excitement.
Yes, at their age, they should fear nothing, charging forward with no regrets.
No matter the outcome, as long as they had no regrets, that would be enough.
Two days later, they faced the final group match. Since it was a home game, many students from No. 1 High School came to watch, creating an incredible atmosphere.
Everyone fought hard. Pei Chen and Liang Tongzhou both played for three quarters. By the end of the third quarter, No. 1 High School had essentially secured victory, so the two were subbed out in the fourth quarter to conserve energy.
In the end, they secured a solid win, finishing the group stage with a perfect record of three wins, making them the top team in Group A.
Meanwhile, the Group C matches also concluded, with Mingchuan Private High School indeed advancing as the second-place team. This meant that in the upcoming round of 16, No. 1 High School would face them.
All teams took a week to rest, with matches paused on Wednesday. Their showdown was scheduled for the following Saturday.
The competition was still being held at No. 1 High School, and the logistics were also handled by the school. In addition to preparing the necessary items for the match, they were also responsible for arranging dinner for both teams.
On Saturday afternoon, the Liang siblings arrived at the school. Liang Tongzhou had to train, and the logistics team needed to start their work.
At the school gate, Ji Fei’er met up with them, and the three of them walked into the school together, just in time to see Pei Chen, Xuan Xia, and a few other team members arriving as well.
Liang Zhiyi glanced at Pei Chen, who was dressed in his team uniform. The boy turned his head, his gaze instinctively landing on her, noticing her first.
As they reached the entrance of the gymnasium, Liang Zhiyi stepped in front of Pei Chen, stopping him with a playful smile. “Classmate Pei, how about we bring you dinner around four this afternoon? Is that okay?”
He nodded, “That’s fine.”
The boys who had already walked ahead turned back to tease Pei Chen, “Classmate Pei, are you coming or not?!”
Xuan Xia mimicked Liang Zhiyi’s tone, “Hey, can you stop interrupting their conversation!”
Everyone laughed, and Pei Chen’s ears turned slightly red. Liang Zhiyi leaned closer, her eyes curving into a smile. “Go ahead and train. I’ll go prepare for the logistics.”
The boys continued to tease as they laughed, “Classmate Pei, off to training you go!”
Pei Chen: “…”
After the boys left, Liang Zhiyi and Ji Fei’er headed to the logistics team meeting. Tasks were quickly distributed, and as the team captain, Liang Zhiyi was also responsible for overseeing the completion of each task.
Around 3 PM, the logistics team began ordering dinner. After a while, Liang Zhiyi went to check in, asking, “How’s the ordering going? All set?”
“All set. We ordered steak and chicken leg combos for each of the No. 1 High School players, with a variety of side dishes. For Mingchuan, we ordered steak combos.”
One of the girls added quietly, “And we also ordered an extra serving of cheesy baked mashed potatoes for our team members. The mashed potatoes are especially delicious.”
Liang Zhiyi was surprised. “You didn’t order any for Mingchuan?”
“Nope. Why should we? They’re our opponents, after all. Why should they eat as well as we do?”
Ji Fei’er, who was standing nearby, walked over and said, “But didn’t the teacher say our meals should be uniform?”
“Of course our players should eat better.”
Hearing this, Liang Zhiyi smiled helplessly. “But what if Mingchuan finds out later? What will they say about us? That No. 1 High School is so petty?”
The girl was momentarily at a loss for words.
She hesitated, realizing that might be true…
In fact, some schools’ logistics teams do tend to favor their own players. For instance, during the second group match, the logistics team from No. 18 High School had prepared a lot of necessary items for their own team, but only provided No. 1 High School with basic water and ice packs.
Although it didn’t have a significant impact, it did reflect a school’s character and magnanimity. There was no need to be so petty.
“Let’s change their meals to match ours, and add an extra serving of mashed potatoes for both teams. We’re not short on a few dozen bucks,” Liang Zhiyi said with a smile. “And besides, what if we win and Mingchuan says it’s because we didn’t give them enough to eat?”
Everyone around laughed, and the girl in charge of ordering nodded. “Zhiyi, you’re absolutely right. I’ll contact the vendor to change the order right away.”
Around 4 PM, Mingchuan’s team arrived at No. 1 High School. After familiarizing themselves with the venue, the logistics staff brought dinner, informing both teams that it was time to eat.