Pei Chen’s mind tightened, his fingers slightly twitching as they gripped the water bottle. He felt an unexpected tension, his palms beginning to sweat.
His throat felt dry as he forced himself to look away, turning and walking onto the court.
The game was about to start, and the players were gradually taking their positions. The atmosphere in the arena was steadily reaching a fever pitch.
As the teams chose their sides, a few more girls sat down beside Liang Zhiyi. “Good thing we didn’t miss it!”
“All your fault for dawdling so much! If I missed Pei Shen’s game, you’d be in big trouble…”
Here we go again—another group of Pei Chen’s fangirls.
Liang Zhiyi sighed, already used to it by now.
On the court, after the sides were chosen, the referee tossed the ball into the air, officially starting the game.
Wang Weibai, the tallest player on the first team, jumped up and tipped the ball to Xuan Xia, who quickly passed it to Liang Tongzhou. Liang Tongzhou spun around, dribbling past his defender, and broke through to the basket, where he gently laid the ball into the hoop.
Then came the turnover. The second team initiated their attack. Pei Chen’s eyes were focused and intense as he watched the opponent. Seizing a moment of inattention, he intercepted the ball and swiftly launched a fast break, jumping from beyond the three-point line.
The ball glided effortlessly through the hoop.
The crowd erupted in cheers.
In the following plays, Pei Chen effortlessly executed a series of graceful and agile moves, scoring points with ease.
This was Pei Chen’s first public appearance on the court after a long hiatus, and many had been eagerly anticipating his performance.
After that accident in middle school, Pei Chen had disappeared from the basketball scene, the once-revered basketball prodigy seemingly vanishing from the public eye like a fallen star.
But even after all this time, as soon as he stepped back onto the court, it was clear that he was still the brightest star.
The students who had loved watching Pei Chen play were nearly moved to tears, shouting, “He’s back!”
Chen Sihang and his friends were dumbfounded.
Holy crap, was Pei Chen really this good at basketball? This couldn’t be real!
On the court, the game continued with high intensity. Pei Chen played with a mix of aggression and fluid elegance, turning the match into what was essentially his triumphant return to the spotlight.
Liang Zhiyi watched in awe, completely speechless—not because she wasn’t excited, but because she was utterly overwhelmed by his performance.
This was a side of Pei Chen she had never seen before.
It was as if all the emotions Pei Chen had suppressed were being unleashed on the court at this moment. He was cold and aloof, yet also rebellious and radiant, shining brightly, unrestrained and bold, like a blazing fire.
He was too dazzling.
Liang Zhiyi felt her heart pounding, almost as if she was being completely captivated by him.
Even Ji Fei’er and a few other girls were screaming, “Ahhh, Pei Chen is so handsome when he plays basketball!”
“Why didn’t he play before if he could do this?!”
“From now on, I declare our class monitor as my idol!”
Liang Zhiyi had thought Ji Fei’er and the others were already excited enough, but when she glanced to her right, she saw three girls beside her practically jumping up and down with excitement, holding up a sign that read:
“Pei Shen is awesome! Pei Shen is the most handsome!”
Liang Zhiyi: ??? Is this level of excitement really necessary?
She felt a twinge of jealousy but also found these three fangirls rather endearing.
As the game drew to a close, the three girls’ enthusiasm didn’t wane. Liang Zhiyi couldn’t help but turn to them out of curiosity and ask, “You really like Pei Chen, don’t you?”
The girl beside her smiled and said, “We’ve been his fans since middle school. We play basketball too, and we especially love watching him play.”
“Were you classmates in middle school?”
“Yeah, we were in the class next to his. You should have seen him play back then—it was incredible. So many girls at our middle school were head over heels for him, right?”
Another girl nodded in agreement, “But after the car accident, he stopped playing.”
Liang Zhiyi was stunned. “Car accident?”
“Yeah, he had a car accident in the third year of middle school. He was bedridden for three months, and after that, he never played basketball again.”
Liang Zhiyi was shocked and asked for more details. The girl explained, “We don’t know much, but we remember his leg was seriously injured. He had a limp for a while and never returned to the court.”
Liang Zhiyi was taken aback.
She never knew that Pei Chen had been through such an ordeal…
She looked toward the court, where Pei Chen was running freely, and it was impossible to tell that he had ever been injured.
After a while, the referee’s whistle blew, signaling the end of the game. The first team won without any suspense, and the crowd erupted into applause.
As the game concluded, the students in the stands began to disperse. Ji Fei’er was about to take Liang Zhiyi’s hand to leave, but Liang Zhiyi said:
“You all go ahead; I have something to do.”
Ji Fei’er smirked knowingly, “Going to find Pei Chen again?”
“Since you already know, why ask?” Ji Fei’er teased, ruffling Liang Zhiyi’s hair. “Alright, we’ll head out first. Bye-bye.”
“Mm-hmm,” Liang Zhiyi responded.
Meanwhile, on the court, the coach held a brief wrap-up meeting, and then everyone began to pack up and prepare to leave.
Xuan Xia was chatting with Lan Zhi when he suddenly heard someone call his name. Turning around, he saw Liang Zhiyi approaching.
She smiled at him, “I wanted to ask you something about Pei Chen.”
She felt that it wouldn’t be appropriate to ask Pei Chen directly about something so significant, so she decided to subtly probe Xuan Xia first.
After Lan Zhi left, Xuan Xia asked, “What do you want to know?”
“I heard that Pei Chen was in a car accident during middle school. Was he seriously injured? I’m really worried and just want to know more.”
Xuan Xia was surprised. “How did you find out about that?”
“I overheard some of his old classmates talking about it while watching the game.”
Thinking back on it, Xuan Xia sighed.
“It happened during the first semester of our third year in middle school. That weekend, Pei Chen was working a part-time job.” Back then, Pei Chen often had to work on weekends, and it was always tough for him.
That day, he was working at a hardware store, moving goods. He thought he could earn an extra 30 yuan by working a couple of hours more, so it was past 10 p.m. by the time he finished and headed home.
It was raining, and Pei Chen was riding his bike down a deserted road. The slippery conditions and the darkness made it difficult to see, and at a corner, a speeding truck crashed into him.
Pei Chen was thrown off his bike and knocked unconscious when he hit the ground.
The area was remote, and there were no security cameras. The driver fled the scene, leaving Pei Chen lying there. It wasn’t until a passing migrant worker found him and called the police that Pei Chen was taken to the hospital.
“They rushed him straight into emergency surgery…”
Xuan Xia vividly recalled rushing to the hospital when he heard the news. The image that stayed with him was of Pei Yongxia, Pei Chen’s father, being helped to the hospital by a neighbor. He struggled to get out of the wheelchair, grabbed the doctor’s coat, and fell to his knees. With trembling hands, he pulled out a crumpled passbook, a middle-aged man with graying hair crying desperately, “Please, doctor, save my son. I’ll pay whatever it takes. I have nothing else, only my son. He’s my life…”
Pei Chen was eventually saved, but the accident left him with a serious injury to the meniscus in his right knee. At first, he couldn’t even walk, and this shattered his dream of playing basketball.
The driver was never caught, and without any compensation, Pei Chen’s already struggling family was hit even harder.
What Xuan Xia didn’t tell Liang Zhiyi was that Pei Chen’s family was so poor that he needed another surgery to fully recover, but they never had the money to afford it.
After hearing all this, Liang Zhiyi was in shock, her mind almost blank. “So… has his leg recovered now?” she asked, her voice tinged with concern.
“He said there’s no problem now, so it seems he’s mostly recovered. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be able to play.”
After a while, the team members, with their arms slung around each other’s shoulders, started walking past them one by one. Liang Tongzhou noticed Liang Zhiyi and called her to join them, but she made up an excuse, saying she had something to do and told him to go ahead without her.
By the edge of the basketball court, Pei Chen finished talking with the coach and walked over to the stands, where he sat down.
He removed the knee brace from his right leg and took out some liniment, intending to apply it. Just as he was about to do so, he noticed Liang Zhiyi walking toward him.
He was momentarily stunned.
A few seconds later, she was standing in front of him, handing him a bottle of water and a towel, her lips curving into a smile.
“Here, even though you said you didn’t need them, I brought these for you anyway.”
As he looked at the things she handed him, emotions stirred in his eyes. After a few seconds, he saw the smile on her face, and he reached out to take them, thanking her in a voice that was a bit hoarse from the exertion.
The water bottle and towel still held the warmth of her touch, as if she had been holding onto them for a long time before finally giving them to him.
He had said he didn’t need anything.
So why did she still insist on doing this?
Liang Zhiyi watched him, her smile bright. “Pei Chen, you were amazing today. You played so well and looked incredibly handsome.”
Her voice carried a slight lilt, her eyes reflecting his image as if filled with stars.
Normally, when playing basketball, Pei Chen never allowed himself to be distracted by anything off the court.
But today, for some reason, he couldn’t help but keep glancing in her direction.
He remembered seeing her disappear near the end of the game.
He had thought she had left early.
Pei Chen averted his gaze slightly and asked in a calm tone, “Did you watch the whole game?”
“I did! I just had to go to the restroom in the middle, and when I came back, there were too many people at the entrance, so I had to watch from there.”
Liang Zhiyi half-squatted in front of him, looking up at him. “How are you feeling? You must be exhausted after the game, right?”
He swallowed hard and replied, “…It’s alright.”
Her eyes shifted to his right knee. He was wearing sports pants, and the fabric was slightly pulled up, revealing a scar for the first time.
The scar was fierce and terrifying, something anyone would consider unsightly.
Noticing her gaze, Pei Chen quickly lowered his eyes, feeling embarrassed, and was just about to cover it up when, to his surprise, the next moment, Liang Zhiyi gently touched it. Her movements were tender and filled with compassion, without a hint of disgust.
Pei Chen’s throat tightened, and a storm of emotions surged within him.
As Liang Zhiyi looked at the scar, a wave of sadness welled up in her chest, and she glanced up at him, her voice soft and full of concern:
“Pei Chen, does it still hurt?”