Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 17 Nanyang Derby
"How did you do in the exam?" Wang Zhen caught up with Chen Fang and asked in the bustling campus.

"Not bad. I have reviewed all the difficult points." Chen Fang also breathed a sigh of relief and said honestly that he had never taken an exam in all these years. When he first found the test paper, his hands were shaking and his mind went blank.

"I also found a few test points. Hehe, I will definitely do better than last time."

"Where's Liu Junzhen's letter?"

"Zhen Xin seems to have failed the test, but Liu Jun is still checking the answers. Where are you going?"

"We still have to train at the stadium today. What about you? Are you going back?" Chen Fang asked.

Examinations actually have their benefits. After the exam, the day is basically considered a holiday. Why is this so? It’s not because the school is kind, but because the teachers are busy grading exams and have no time to take care of the students.

From a teacher’s perspective, the test papers after taking the exam are like children who are about to be born. Both teachers can’t wait to know what they will look like.

Then when I walked into the classroom with the test results and rankings, I felt a sense of revenge. Although the teacher scolded the students bitterly on the podium, he actually felt very happy inside.

"Can I go?" Wang Zhen asked nervously.

Chen Fang was stunned for a moment, looking at his brother's expectant eyes, and answered vaguely: "It shouldn't be possible. There must be no outsiders in the team training. I have been there several times and have never seen anyone."

"Yeah, the school team must have rules. Hey, I just haven't played basketball with you for a long time, and I'm a bit bored." Wang Zhen's eyes were full of disappointment.

"Then I'll go for a walk, and then we'll go to another court to play." Seeing Wang Zhen like this, Chen Fang felt guilty.

"Great, haha, it's just right to relax after the exam." Wang Zhen was overjoyed. Seeing his brother instantly happy, Chen Fang also realized that this decision was correct.

As soon as they arrived at the entrance of Dongsheng Stadium, they saw Yue Gang, Yang Shan, Xue Chong and others coming out. Seeing that they all carried bags, Chen Fang asked, "Are you going out?"

Yue Gang was also happy to see Chen Fang: "I was just about to look for you, let's go, there's a game today, let's go and take a look."

"Who versus whom?"

"No. 1 Middle School versus Affiliated Middle School." Yue Gang's eyes sparkled.

As soon as Chen Fang heard it, he knew why Yue Gang and others were so looking forward to it.

Nanyang No. 1 Middle School and Nanyang Affiliated Middle School are old enemies. Looking back at history, they were originally one school, but later they separated and established the affiliated middle school.

The two schools have been competing with each other in various fields since the beginning, especially in basketball. The scene was so intense that it could be called the Nanyang Derby.

After so many years of fighting, the two schools have contributed many classic games to the Nanyang high school basketball community. Especially in the past, when the league was still a three-game system and the finals were a five-game system, every game was exciting and talked about with relish.

Nowadays, many teenagers in Nanyang who play basketball fell in love with basketball and embarked on the career of basketball because of the feud between No. 1 Middle School and its Affiliated Middle School.

Chen Fang is one of them.

"Wow, where is the game?" Wang Zhen jumped up immediately, wishing he could teleport to the stadium stands immediately.

"Under the lights."

Lighted stadium!

What a familiar name! If we were to find a totem or a symbolic place for the Nanyang basketball circle, it must be the lighted stadium.

It is located next to the central square of the old city. It has existed since Nanyang was still a county town and has been hosting basketball games of various levels.

The stadium is open-air and its structure is very similar to the Dongsheng Stadium, but it is smaller than the Dongsheng Stadium and can only accommodate two thousand people. With the economic take-off and the expansion of the county town, the new urban area has become the center and the lighted stadium has also declined.

But its status in the industry has never declined, and some significant competitions will still be held there.

"Let's go!" Chen Fang couldn't help it. It had been a long time since he had been to the lighted stadium. Now that he recalled it, he couldn't control himself at all.

We agreed to meet at the north gate, and then went to the parking shed to get our cars. When we arrived at the parking shed of Xuezhi Building, we happened to meet Liu Junzhenxin. When he heard that we were going to watch the game between No. 1 Middle School and the Affiliated Middle School under the lights, the depressed mood he had just had during the exam was immediately forgotten.

When he arrived at the North Gate, Chen Fang was surprised to find that many people had heard the news. Almost all of them were students who liked to play basketball. Looking at the crowd of fifty or sixty people, someone was so quick to react and shouted, "There are limited places. Hurry up and ride."

This statement woke people up from their dreams. The 2,000 seats in the lighted stadium will definitely explode today.

Xue Chong took the lead in the charge and set off in a trail of black smoke. The crowd of young men behind him screamed and chased after him. The scene was like the Tour de France, quite spectacular.

Chen Fang, Wang Zhen and others followed behind. Wang Zhen was extremely anxious and kept urging him to speed up, but he saw that Chen Fang was still not in a hurry. He was so angry that his head was smoking.

"Hurry up, big brother!"

Chen Fang made a gesture to shut up. After riding for a few minutes, the four of them were already at the back. At this time, there was a fork in the road ahead. Strictly speaking, it was a small road, a dirt road, with weeds and vegetable fields on both sides of the road.

"Go this way!" Chen Fang turned and stopped at a fork in the road.

"This?" Everyone was confused.

"It's a shortcut. This road leads to the old city. It can save you more than ten minutes."

"Fuck, you are my godfather!" Wang Zhen was overjoyed and pushed the cart forward.

The four of them chased each other and sped freely on the country path.

The melon sheds and vegetable fields with birds flying and dragonflies hovering, the gurgling canal meandering away, and the red sun hanging in the west, create a beautiful picture of the fields in early autumn.

Chen Fang enjoyed the beauty of rebirth to the fullest and kept shouting loudly. Who doesn’t like youth, who doesn’t miss his youth!
Buildings appeared in front of him and the path turned into a concrete road. Chen Fang suddenly braked and looked back at the fields.

Three years later, the old city was renovated and this place was the first to be affected. It was turned into a high-end residential area. The small canal was covered with stone slabs and became a sewage pipe. Such a beautiful scenery disappeared.

"Come on, Chen Fang, did you lose something?" Liu Jun asked.

"It's not lost." Chen Fang turned around and pedaled forward.

When the four of them rode out of the maze-like alley, Wang Zhen shouted happily, "I know this road. Go one intersection ahead and you'll find the Old Square."

"Old Chen, you are amazing!" Several people did not forget to praise Chen Fang.

"Stop talking and hurry up." Wang Zhen got on his bike and hurried to the stadium.

When they got outside the stadium, they saw the bicycles on the street outside the gate. Zhen Xin reacted quickly: "There aren't many bicycles. We are indeed the first batch."

After locking the car, the four of them ran inside. Once they entered the stadium, they saw the blue and green players warming up on the court.

The No. 1 Middle School is sky blue, and the Affiliated Middle School is emerald green.

There were already quite a lot of people sitting in the stands, most of them were of their age. It seemed that all the basketball teenagers in the city had heard about this so-called friendly match.

"Go and occupy that seat!" Chen Fang reacted immediately.

"Take off your school uniforms and put them in one row. Put your school bags as well. We will occupy two rows, near the inner bottom line."

"Why?" Liu Jun was a little confused and pointed at many good locations, not understanding.

"Unless someone from our school comes now, there's no chance of getting these positions. It's better to grab the ones inside and delay for a while." Zhen Xin had a good brain and immediately saw through Chen Fang's intention.

There were no objections. The four of them were just about to take off their pants when they finally occupied the bottom two rows of stands on the baseline side, which could accommodate at least forty people.

"Zhao Kai, you go over there, Zhen Xin, you stand here, Wang Zhen and I will go over there." The four men stood at the head and the tail like door gods.

People kept coming in at the entrance, young men in various school uniforms, but the only thing missing was the red and white school uniform of Dongsheng.

Chen Fang was standing at the bottom line where he had to move forward. He and Wang Zhen formed a corner, and when a few people came, he took the initiative to speak out.

"Classmate, we are from Dongsheng. The main force will arrive soon. We are the vanguard. Please change positions."

"Hurry up and go to the good spots up there, there are people here."

After much persuasion and delaying for a few minutes, a large group of students in yellow and white school uniforms came over and a dispute still occurred.

"Is Dongsheng so great? Can he reserve a seat just by throwing his clothes?" A man with a buzz cut, who looked to be about 1.9 meters tall, tilted his head and spoke rudely to Chen Fang.

Lotus High School.

Problem school.

A private high school that accepts students who failed the high school entrance examination. It is said that if you are rich, you can get into this school with a score of over 300.

"Sorry, we were here first." Chen Fang was not polite. He never treated such unscrupulous people well.

"Get out of the way." The man with a crew cut said as he squeezed in. Chen Fang couldn't resist and was pushed back a few steps. Suddenly he felt someone holding his back with hands. It was Wang Zhen. The two of them worked together to hold on.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhao Kai and Zhen Xin jumped down from the platform, and the four of them blocked the intersection.
The twenty-odd people from Lotus High School immediately started to make a noise and pushed forward together. "More people, huh?" Wang Zhen was furious. He was not tall enough, and his head was only on the chest of others, so he just pushed forward.

The man with a crew cut went to press his head, and Wang Zhen immediately fought back, and the two of them immediately became entangled.

The other stands also noticed that there seemed to be a conflict here, and they all stood up to look over here. For a moment, the focus of the stadium was directly concentrated here.

"Lotus High School, what do you mean?" Chen Fang forcibly untied the hands of the two and pushed them again. Wang Zhen was furious.

"We have more people than you. What are you four doing here? Get out of here." The crew cut threatened.

"If you had any brains, you wouldn't be like this!" Chen Fang sneered.

"You want to compare the number of people, right? Look at how many people can sit in the space we occupy. What are the twenty of you?"

The guy with the crew cut hesitated, but with so many people watching, and they were all from different schools, it was impossible for him to admit defeat. With a fierce look in his eyes, he was determined to use force.

"Bang!" A basketball flew over and hit the guy with a crew cut on the head.

"Damn, who?" The man with the crew cut was furious and glared at him viciously.

A handsome boy with spiky hair, chewing gum, stepped on the pressure plate of the basketball hoop and said to the guy with short hair, "Pick it up."

"It's Bai Ye!" several young men behind the man with the crew cut exclaimed.

Bai Ye! The top high school student in Nanyang, the king of one-on-ones, his basketball skills have surpassed the level of high school students. It is said that when he plays against college players from CUBA, he can still suppress all opponents.

The most enviable thing is that many basketball university giants have given him the green light for special recruitment, which means that he can go to a key university without even taking the college entrance examination.

Bai Ye is the most dazzling legend in Nanyang High School. Throughout Nanyang, there are too many fans of his.

How could the guy with the crew cut dare not disobey? He ran over, picked up the ball, and handed it over with both hands.

He grabbed the ball with one hand and pressed it on the guy with the buzz cut: "It's my game, be quiet."

"Yes!" The man with the crew cut lost his temper and took his people to the other side.

"Fuck, he's so domineering." Zhen Xin said quietly.

After dealing with the commotion, Bai Ye glanced at Chen Fang and the others, then went back to warm up while chewing gum.

Chen Fang stared at Bai Ye's back for a long time without blinking.

Bai Ye, a person who had no connection with Chen Fang, disappeared completely when Chen Fang started to speak in Nanyang. No one knew where he went, and it has always been a mystery.

Chen Fang had never seen Bai Ye before, but had heard about him from many people. Today was the first time he saw him in person.

Damn, this guy is really handsome. He is also good at fighting. It’s hard not to be jealous of him.

Forget it, since he is helping me, I won’t be his hater anymore.

After this commotion, everyone knew that this place was occupied by Dongsheng, and people from other schools would not come here, so they were relieved. Wang Zhen and his friends watched No. 1 Middle School warm-up while talking freely.

The topic was naturally Bai Ye. Zhao Kai said that Bai Ye had many girlfriends, but Zhen Xin said that Bai Ye's family was very rich. Wang Zhen sighed, if he was rich and handsome, wouldn't women rush to him and seek some chance of survival?
As they were chatting, Dongsheng's large army arrived. Yue Gang led a group of young men in red and white and poured out from the entrance. Their formation attracted people's attention.

"Here, here!" Wang Zhen jumped up and shouted.

Yue Gang was a little surprised and trotted over with his men. When he heard that a lot of seats were taken up, he immediately smiled happily.

"Well done, Chen Fang. That's great. Awesome!" Everyone expressed their admiration.

"There are many of us, let's all squeeze in." Chen Fang greeted with a smile.

"Hey, that's enough." Yue Gang began to direct people to sit down. The two rows of seats were forced into three rows, filling up the middle corridor.

The boys put their arms on their thighs and their knees on the back of their heads. It was so lively.

Just after the arrangements were made, Yue Gang heard about Lianhua snatching a position. Xue Chong, who was standing nearby, became furious when he heard that twenty or so people were bullying Chen Fang and his four children.

"Where are these scums sitting? I, Xue Chong, will beat them to a pulp." Xue Chong immediately climbed to a high place and looked far away, and began to shine a searchlight to search.

"Xue Chong, sit down." Yue Gang used the captain's authority to suppress the furious boy, and then said to the excited crowd: "We are here to watch the game, don't steal the show. If you have anything, come find them after the game."

"The captain is right. With so many people from other schools, don't embarrass our Dongsheng." Yang Shan agreed.

Xue Chong sat down in disappointment, but soon his attention was attracted by Bai Ye's warm-up dunk.

There was a cry of surprise from the whole audience.

"Hmph." Xue Chong's face turned even darker.

Yue Gang sat next to Chen Fang, Yang Shan sat on the other side. The three of them sat sideways and saw Bai Ye pull down the basket and jump down.

"It's really fierce. He dunked four of us last year. It was like slapping us in the face four times." Yue Gang sighed.

"It will be deducted this year."

"Ha! Good idea!" Yue Gang laughed. After seeing Chen Fang's dunk, he now had the confidence. However, Yang Shan next to him did not agree with him, but just pursed his lips.

Chen Fang suddenly noticed that a player from the Affiliated High School was walking towards the No. 1 High School, and then Bai Ye went to meet him.

The two were talking face to face, but unfortunately the stadium was too noisy and one could only see the two of them talking.

"Who is that?"

"He is not the core player of the affiliated high school, Sun Yi. He looks unfamiliar, but he seems to have strong momentum." Yue Gang replied.

The more Chen Fang looked, the more familiar he looked, and suddenly a light flashed in his mind.

It’s Yan Zhen!
Yan Zhen who passed by like a comet!

Yan Zhen, nicknamed the King of Hell!

If it weren't for that accident, Yan Zhen would have been destined to compete with him for the position of the number one man in Nanyang for a long time.

That year, Chen Fang returned to Nanyang from college to play in the summer league, where he met Yan Zhen. The two of them were at loggerheads throughout the game, and it was hard to tell who would win. In the end, Yan Zhen scored the winning goal in the last seconds of the match and won the game.

After the game, the puzzled Chen Fang took a quick listen and found out that the man was called Yan Zhen, who debuted earlier than himself and achieved more than himself.

This guy was amazing. He made a splash in the Nanyang High School League in his first year of high school. Later, he joined CUBA and helped the school win the division championship, and then participated in the CBA draft. On the eve of the draft, he got into a fight with someone and was hit in the spine, which directly paralyzed him. He has disappeared since then.

I still remember that Wang Yuan used him as an example to tell Chen Fang to control his temper, not to be impulsive, and to be restrained and gentle.

Sigh, today's game was really meaningful to watch.

Seeing old friends again, we are still young.

"Captain Yue, let's make a bet."

"What bet?"

"I bet the Affiliated High School will win today."

"Then I'll bet on one."

With this bet, the odds were quickly determined. Except for Wang Zhen who followed Chen Fang out of loyalty, everyone else bet on one to win.

With so many people betting, there was no need to discuss the stakes. Chen Fang simply said to Yue Gang, "The loser has to buy the winner breakfast for a week."

"no problem!"

After Yue Gang confirmed it, Chen Fang smiled and watched the game with peace of mind.

“I feel guilty about eating this free breakfast! Chen Fang, the Affiliated High School is definitely not as good as the No. 1 High School. Apart from Sun Yi, they don’t have many talented players. On the other hand, No. 1 High School, not to mention Bai Ye, Sheng Zhi, Jiao Yun, and Xie Shan, these three are all stars.” Yue Gang knew that Chen Fang was not very clear about the strength division of the Nanyang high school circle, so he explained it to him.

"I have a feeling that No. 8 is very strong, on the same level as Bai Ye." Chen Fang said in a firm tone.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!" Yang Shan objected first, and it seemed that he was a die-hard fan of Bai Ye.

"Beep!" The referee blew the whistle to end the warm-up.

"Nothing is impossible. The answer will be revealed soon. Watch the game!"

(End of this chapter)