You Like The Smart Ones? You Should Have Said So Sooner! - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Trouble Sooner or Later

Ding Zi listened in silence, eventually letting out a long sigh. “Sigh, let them go play. One more class won’t make their English skyrocket, and one less won’t make it suddenly plummet.”

Zhang Ruting was so angry she huffed. “Fine, you’re not going? Then I’ll go call them back.”

Ding Zi suddenly grabbed her arm. “Hey, Xiaoting.”

The woman paused and looked at him, waiting to see what else he had to say.

Instead, Ding Zi changed the subject entirely. “I just remembered there’s a place on the street by the school gate that makes really good fruit bowls. It’s hot out—want to go try some?”

Zhang Ruting:

“Eat it yourself.” She stared at Ding Zi with sheer incomprehension. “I’m not trying to nag, Ding Zi, but why aren’t you worried?”

“Lately, the school leadership and even the District Education Bureau have their eyes fixed on your class! If you don’t produce results, I’d like to see what you’re going to do.”

“You know better than I do how much pressure you’re under, and yet you’re still fighting for a spot in a basketball tournament?”

Ding Zi replied nonchalantly, “What’s the rush? What’s the use of pushing them that hard?”

“It’s only been a few days since school started, and the class is already so lifeless I don’t even want to walk in there.” Ding Zi frowned. “If we keep pushing like this, there’s going to be trouble sooner or later.”

For the boarding students, the requirement was to be in the classroom by 6:30 AM and stay until 10:30 PM for evening self-study. After washing up, the earliest they could sleep was 11:00 PM. Some students even snuck under their blankets with flashlights to study until the early hours of the morning.

With insufficient sleep at night and high-intensity learning during the day, he didn’t even want to imagine what the end result would be.

Zhang Ruting glared at Ding Zi for several seconds before throwing up her hands and walking away. “Fine, suit yourself. It’s your class anyway.”

Ding Zi stood there for a while before turning toward the sports field.

On the sports field.

“Holy crap! Yu Canxing, you’ve got skinny arms and legs, but you actually have some moves!” Cao Wei exclaimed in surprise.

Yu Canxing dribbled the ball and flicked his hair. “Damn right! LeBron James, limited-time return!”

Ye Jun lunged in, stole the ball from Yu Canxing, and mocked him heartlessly: “Forget it, you scrub. I’m gonna mop the floor with you.”

Yu Canxing chased after him: “……Ye Jun, you dog!”

Qin Mian was defending under the basket. When Ye Jun went for a shot, Qin Mian blocked it clean. A second later, he snatched the ball and sprinted toward the opposite court.

“Qin Mian, you’re so cool!” “Wow, so handsome!” “Get him, Chen! What are you standing there for!?”

A circle of students from Class 18 stood around the court, clapping and cheering enthusiastically. Ding Zi stood not far away, watching with a gratified smile. “This is how young people should look.”

After watching for a bit, he turned to head back to the office, only to lock eyes with Song Ying.

“Song Ying? Why aren’t you out there playing with the others?”

“Teacher Ding,” Song Ying greeted. “I don’t know how to play, so I’m helping out with the water.”

In truth, when he had gone back to get the water earlier, he had overheard the conversation between Ding Zi and Zhang Ruting. This gave Song Ying a much warmer impression of Ding Zi as a teacher.

Ding Zi nodded, then suddenly remembered something. “Song Ying, I remember your high school was Linjiang No. 2, right?”

Song Ying nodded.

“Which class were you in?” Ding Zi asked. He knew that Linjiang No. 2 had two experimental classes, Class 1 and Class 2. The students in those classes were all potential candidates for A-University; their grades were guaranteed. Now that he had a student from Linjiang No. 2, he wanted to know if Song Ying was one of them.

Song Ying understood the moment Ding Zi asked the first question. He met Ding Zi’s gaze and answered softly, “Class 1.”

“Haha, great.” Ding Zi smiled and patted Song Ying on the shoulder. “Make sure you do well on the upcoming exams.”

Eventually, ten players were selected, including Qin Mian, Cao Wei, Yu Canxing, Ye Jun, and six others. In the days leading up to the official tournament, the ten of them often made time to practice together.

Seeing them playing so hard, Ding Zi would occasionally temper their momentum: “Basketball is fine, but don’t forget the main event. The monthly exams are at the end of the month—make sure you use your time wisely.”

Upon hearing about the monthly exams, Song Ying felt a surge of anxiety. Intentionally lowering his score to hide his identity was something only a crazy person would do, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Therefore, he needed to find the right time to confess to Qin Mian.

However, as Song Ying stared at Qin Mian’s empty seat, he regretted for the first time that he didn’t know how to play basketball. He finally found chances to confess, but the words just wouldn’t come out.

“Sorry, I lied to you. I’m actually a genius.” “Sorry, I was greedy for your looks, so I agreed to the deal.” “Actually, my grades are great; I don’t need you to teach me.”

Song Ying was so conflicted he wanted to die. No matter which way he phrased it, it sounded like a total idiot’s line. He shouldn’t have started this misunderstanding in the first place.

While Song Ying was agonizing, the basketball tournament arrived. Cao Wei took on the mission of drawing the lots. He returned and announced: “Our class is up against Class 10.”

There were eighteen classes in total, following an 18-to-8, 8-to-4, 4-to-3 elimination format before the final battle for the top three spots.

“Dragon-Slaying 18th Class, unstoppable!” “Sacrifice Class 10 to the heavens!” The group was howling with excitement.

Perhaps because Class 18 was a year older than the regular seniors, they were practically at a “one-sided slaughter” level against the other classes.

Yu Canxing used a book to fan Qin Mian frantically as he walked off the court. “That’s definitely because our Great Boss Qin Mian is here!”

“Crap, Qin Mian, that three-pointer you just made was insane,” Cao Wei praised, wiping his face with his shirt.

Qin Mian panted, responding with the calm aura of a pro: “Small fries.”

In Song Ying’s peripheral vision, he saw several girls from other classes clutching water bottles, faces flushed, peeking in their direction. Song Ying lowered his eyelashes, unscrewed a bottle of water, and handed it to Qin Mian. A second later, he saw the disappointed looks on those girls’ faces.

He glanced at Yu Canxing and said softly, “I’ll do it.”

“Huh? Oh, okay.” Yu Canxing nimbly handed the book to Song Ying and watched as Song Ying fanned Qin Mian.

For some reason, he had a weird illusion… he felt Song Ying was being a bit too attentive to Qin Mian. Like a hardworking, dutiful little wife. The key was that Song Ying didn’t do this for any of the other guys who came off the court.

Maybe Great Boss Qin Mian’s strength is just that overwhelming, Yu Canxing told himself.

Class 18 sailed through the tournament and reached the finals against Class 3—the battle for first place.

Cao Wei gathered everyone together and warned: “I heard that some people in Class 3 play dirty. Let’s be careful.”

Qin Mian looked up, meeting the unfriendly, observant gaze of the Class 3 team.

“You’re Qin Mian?” The leader of the opposing team, Jiang Feng, asked with a provocative smile. “Tsk, you don’t look like much. Skinny arms and legs.”

Yu Canxing glared at him. “Why don’t you try us in a bit and find out how powerful your ‘grandpa’ is!?”

Class 3 was considered one of the elite classes at No. 2 High, and their attitude toward the repeaters had never been friendly. Most of them felt that the repeaters were “stealing” resources from the regular seniors.