Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 5 Saving Beauty and Causing Trouble
Dongsheng High School's starting guard Yang Shan lost a one-on-one match to an unknown junior. This news spread throughout the school's basketball circle almost before evening study began.

When the school team captain Yue Gang heard the news, he laughed and quickly ran to find Yang Shan in the next building.

"Shan, did the horse stumble?" Yue Gang is a tall and strong man, about 193 cm in height, and plays as a power forward. In this position, in terms of level and height, he is among the top five in the NY high school circle.

"Captain, are you here to laugh at me?" Yang Shan looked helpless.

"Half, and the other half is curiosity."

"Curious about the sophomore who beat me?"

"Why, have you found out?"

"I didn't put much effort into it. This guy is quite famous in school, but not in the basketball circle." Yang Shan said, "Chen Fang, Class 12, Grade 177, about cm tall, with good physique, and can easily grab the basket with both hands. He is a substitute in the Grade team. For details, you may want to ask Wen Hui. He is the captain of the Grade team."

"With his height, can he beat you?" Yue Gang asked.

Yang Shan waved his hands awkwardly: "This kid is really good at cutting the ball. He can cut it in all kinds of ways, using his hands and the knife. I'm really impressed."

Yue Gang was startled when he heard this, but then he had an idea: "Well, go contact Wen Wenhui and ask him to bring Chen Fang to Field No. 4 tomorrow."

"Captain, are you planning to recruit him into the team?" Yang Shan was a little surprised.

"Well, the city league is about to start. Although our school has no requirements, we still need enough participants. Even if we can get enough, we have to get enough before we can register. In addition, our Dongsheng has been cut off, and there are basically no strong second- and first-year students. This time, we will focus on training newcomers. If we can defeat you, at least you are worth training."

"My intuition tells me that there is something in this Chen Fang." Yang Shan said with certainty.

Yue Gang smiled and said nothing, just patted him on the shoulder. Yang Shan's character and personality are really good. Even when facing someone who beats him, he will not make subjective judgments. However, his too peaceful character is not very suitable for the competitive sport of basketball.

"Ring...!" The bell for evening self-study rang, and the two of them slipped back to the classroom first.

In another teaching building, the Xuezhi Building, Chen Fang was concentrating on doing exercises. He had already figured out his current level in each subject, and what he had to do now was to familiarize himself with problem-solving ideas by doing a large number of exercises.

Unexpectedly, someone bumped his elbow, interrupting his train of thought. He looked up impatiently, only to see Wang Zhen pouting at him. Following the direction of his pout, he saw Wen Hui at the back door.

He raised his brows, it came so quickly!

He slipped out quietly from the back, and as soon as he reached the door, Wen Hui put her arm around his shoulders and pulled him to the corner of the stairs.

"Chen Fang, didn't you realize that you beat Yang Shan?" Wen Hui said with a smile on her face.

"Lucky, Captain Wen, what are your instructions?" Chen Fang also smiled.

"Nothing. Captain Yue personally sent a message asking you to go to Dongsheng Stadium tomorrow. You can skip the third class this afternoon and tell the teacher that you want to try out for the school team."

"Tryout?" Chen Fang raised his eyebrows.

Wen Hui patted Chen Fang's shoulder vigorously and said, "Congratulations! It looks like we will have more members on the school team in our second grade."

"Thank you for your good wishes." Chen Fang saw a patrol teacher coming over, replied hurriedly, and slipped back to the classroom.

As soon as he returned to the table, Wang Zhen touched his arm, then quickly wrote a line of words on a piece of paper and showed it to him.

Chen Fang took a look, took the paper back and wrote the word "agreement" on it.

The latter's eyes suddenly widened with an expression of disbelief.

When the clock hand hanging in the center of the blackboard reached 7:20, the bell for the end of the first evening self-study get out of class rang. As soon as the bell rang, Wang Zhen pounced on Chen Fang and fired a barrage of questions at him.

"what's going on?"

"Just got in? Impossible."

"Just a one-on-one duel? Beat Yang Shan?"

"Chen Fang, I'm going to smash my head tomorrow too."

"Get out of here! I need to go to the bathroom." Chen Fang was furious. This shameless Wang Zhen was so disgusting that he almost kissed him.

"I'll carry it for you." Wang Zhen said in a vulgar tone.

"Die, don't disgust me."

The two of them ran out of the classroom playing and unexpectedly ran into the head teacher Zhang Mingde.

"Chen Fang, come here!"

With a commanding shout, the two men immediately wilted. Wang Zhen ran away without a trace of loyalty. Chen Fang approached the head teacher with an apologetic smile, "Head teacher, why are you here?"

"Heh, how come today is not my self-study class, and you dare to do whatever you want?"

"How is that possible? I have changed for the better, teacher. Really." Chen Fang looked sincere.

Zhang Deming was also frightened by the sincerity on his face. As a teacher, he certainly hopes that students will move in a good direction. Not to mention that if there are such signs, he should guide and encourage them. If there are no such signs, he should increase the intensity of ideological education. So he said, "Then I will see if you, Chen Fang, are genuine and not just a flash in the pan."

"Class teacher, let's make a bet." Chen Fang suddenly had an idea.

Zhang Deming said sternly, "Okay, what are you betting on?"

"If I rank in the top 20 in the class in the monthly exam, teacher, please promise me one thing."

"Oh, you still have such ambitions? Sure, what is it?"

Chen Fang smiled slyly: "We'll talk about it after we get in. Whether you agree or not will be decided later."

"Very good, the monthly exam will be soon, you have to hurry." Zhang Deming pointed out the deadline. At this time, the bell rang, and he waved his hand for Chen Fang to hurry into the classroom.

In less than a minute, the whole school fell silent. The occasional coughs and the creaking sounds of tables and chairs being moved became the main tone of the study class. Zhang Deming stood at the window for a while and then disappeared silently.

Chen Fang also quickly adjusted himself and focused all his attention on doing the questions, leaving Wang Zhen, who was bored and wanted to wink at him, helpless.

"Brother, are you serious?" Wang Zhen muttered to himself and focused his attention on his homework.

In the silence, Chen Fang also entered a state of ecstasy. When he heard the bell for the end of get out of class, he realized that the whole class seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye, and he couldn't help but sigh.

It is true that no matter how many times you teach someone, it is better for you to be hit once by the thing. When your mentality changes, boring study will become a paradise.

The classroom began to buzz, but not too loudly. Some students were packing their bags and heading home, while many more were still buried in their homework, never stopping mid-study. Chen Fang had rarely noticed this before, but now, watching everyone seem oblivious to the bell, he too stuffed the remaining half of his paper and textbook into his backpack and put it on his back.

Wang Zhen, who was standing next to him with empty hands, looked at Chen Fang with wide eyes. His gaze moved back and forth between his schoolbag and the gauze on his head. Finally, he sighed and silently put on his own schoolbag.

The two of them left the classroom and reached the stairs before Wang Zhen spoke: "Chen Fang, your head fall was amazing. You've really changed. This is the fifth year I've been in the same class with you, and this is the first time I've seen you carrying your schoolbag back home after evening study."

Chen Fang was shocked by this. Thinking back, it seemed to be true, but he kept a calm expression on his face: "If you say something, you must execute it. Only in this way can it be accomplished."

"Okay, you have a lot of reasons. If you are willing to accept the defeat, I will risk my life to accompany you and work hard together!" Wang Zhen was quite tragic.

Chen Fang hugged his good brother and laughed out loud. The two of them skipped down the stairs, went to the carport, took out the car, and headed north and south.

Because the Dongsheng campus was long and narrow, the distance to home from different gates varied by more than ten miles. So every time school was over, you could see two huge lines of bicycles heading north and south in opposite directions. After saying goodbye to Wang Zhen, Chen Fang had intended to speed out of the line, as following the larger group wouldn't allow him to gain speed. But after a few pedal strokes, he felt something was amiss. He lifted the handlebars, and the feel of the front wheel hitting the ground reminded him that he might have a flat tire.

Without bothering to complain, Chen stopped at the school gate. There was a row of shops here, and there were three that repaired and sold bicycles.

Business at night is definitely not as good as during the day. The boss was eating watermelon at the door. When he saw Chen Fang pushing the cart over, he immediately took a slice of watermelon and greeted him: "Give me a piece of watermelon in this weather." After seeing Chen Fang take it, he asked: "What's the problem? Let me take a look."

"The front tire seems to be leaking air, so it needs to be fixed." Chen Fang took a bite of the watermelon, and the refreshing fragrance floated along the tip of his tongue to his head. He couldn't help but praise: "Boss, your watermelon is good! It tastes so good."

"We grow them at home, without using pesticides. The yield is not much, and we don't plan to sell them." The boss had already skillfully placed the bicycle upside down on the ground, then used a spray bottle to spray water on the tires.

"There's a thumbtack stuck in it, look." The boss quickly discovered the reason and pointed it out to Chen Fang.

"You fix it." Chen Fang did not ask the price. In fact, there is no possibility of unscrupulous businessmen in the shop near the school gate, because there are too many competitors. Once they are disturbed by others, they will be completely alienated from their own students.

Sitting at the door of the store and eating watermelon, Chen Fang felt much more relaxed. After coming back from the soul travel, the burden of depression in those years was gone. Now Chen Fang was in the state of mind of the blue sea and blue sky, and he was happy about everything he saw.

Looking at the endless stream of cars coming out of the South Gate, the lights on the handlebars of the bicycles looked like fireflies in the late summer fields, embellishing the night in Chen Fang's eyes.

"gorgeous!"

Chen had never seen such a scene before. As expected, his mood was different and his discoveries were different. Thinking back to high school, it was all childish nonsense and meaningless.

Just as Chen Fang was greedily feeling the breath of youth, the commotion at the school gate attracted his attention.

At this moment, the traffic was gradually decreasing, and with the bright headlights at the school gate, Chen Fang recognized a person at a glance.

Lin Xi!

She pushed the bicycle but couldn't move because the back seat was held by a tall boy. From a distance, Lin Xi could see that his face was red.

Chen Fang stood up quickly, grabbed a wrench and ran over.

He used to be powerless, and that inexplicable guilt always came to him in the dead of night, torturing and teasing him.

Chen Fang could only force himself to forget, and even avoided Lin Xi these days. But when he saw Lin Xi being bullied, his heart exploded like ignited gasoline.

In just a few steps, he rushed forward, pushed aside a student who was blocking the way and stood in front of Lin Xi.

"What do you mean, bro? Are you acting like a hooligan in the street?" Chen Fang knocked on the seat with a wrench and squinted at the 1.88-meter-tall boy in front of him.

Xue Chong is the star among the stars of the Dongsheng school basketball team. He is the star of the school basketball team. He is handsome and has good basketball skills. He has captured countless fans.

But who is Chen Fang? He is the only star player in Nanyang five years later. Xue Chong is just a timid role player in front of him.

Xue Chong, as his name suggests, is impulsive, violent and strong as a tiger. In the past few years, he has not suffered from the harshness of society and is in a stage of overflowing self-confidence, especially in Dongsheng, where he has an arrogant cognition.

"Go away. I don't like to talk with my head down."

Chen Fang smiled, poking his wrench at Xue Chong's nose: "What a coincidence, I don't like looking up when talking either."

"Chen Fang, don't be impulsive." Lin Xi behind him became anxious. She had been a classmate of Chen Fang for a year and she knew his arrogant character very well. Looking at the white wrench, she felt that it would be swung and hit that man on the head in the next second.

"The girls in my class will not be bullied by those from other classes. Do you understand me?" Chen Fang stared at Xue Chong and explained the reason for his intervention very clearly.

This statement quickly resonated with the surrounding students. It was a consensus that conflicts within their own class were not a big deal and no one would help anyone, but students from other classes were absolutely not allowed to bully students in their own class in public.

"Bullying? Brother, you should think before you speak. I just need to talk to Lin Xi about something." Xue Chong didn't dare to cause trouble at the school gate, so he controlled his temper and explained.

"After the morning self-study get out of class tomorrow, come and talk to Lin Xi in front of all 12 students in Class 54 of Senior ." After saying this, he slammed the wrench on the back seat: "Now, let go!"

The knock of the wrench caused Xue Chong's hand to bounce up. Xue Chong rubbed his fingers and stared at Chen Fang for a few seconds before slowly uttering a few words: "Chen Fang, right? I remember it."

"Tsk!" Chen Fang curled his lips in disdain and walked out, pushing Lin Xi's cart. Lin Xi quickly followed, her two slender white hands tightly gripping the backpack straps, revealing her current mood.

The two came to the repair shop, one in front and one behind. When the boss saw another one coming, he smiled and said, "There's watermelon over there, help yourself to it."

"This melon is really sweet. Give me a piece!" Chen Fang was also very familiar. He put the wrench back to its place, picked up a piece of watermelon on the small table and handed it over.

Lin Xi lowered his head and took it helplessly.

"Thank you." A mosquito-like voice.

"What's there to thank me for? We're all in the same class. If I had seen it and didn't do anything, how would I still have the face to stay in the class if the news got out?" Chen Fang waved his hand.

"I don't know that person, and I don't know what he wants me to do. I was really panicked just now." Lin Xi suddenly remembered something, raised his head and explained quickly.

The delicate and cold facial features made Chen Fangxin jump suddenly. He quickly shifted his gaze and replied, "I know, that guy is a notorious scumbag in school. It's normal for you to be harassed by him."

"Scum?" Lin Xi didn't understand the meaning of this word at once.

"Hey, it's nothing. Next time you encounter something like this, you should be braver. The more you back off, the more excited others will be. Got it?"

"Yeah." Lin Xi lowered her head slightly again. Looking at her like an obedient young wife, Chen Fang sighed in his heart. At a class reunion ten years later, a female classmate drank too much and let slip that Lin Xi had once had a crush on someone in the class, and that person was now at the table.

At that time, Chen Fang did not look away, but he still felt that the drunk female classmate was staring at him.

How could he fall in love with me? I was useless at that time. This was something that Chen Fang couldn't figure out. He still couldn't believe it until his soul came back. But this scene made his 35-year-old soul see through it all at once.

Lin Xi likes him.

But Chen Fang didn't want to.

It's true that Chen Fang has a good impression of Lin Xi, but it's just like other boys, they have the same aesthetic taste.

What's more, after a lifetime of confusion and decadence, Chen Fang looked down upon love, and he knew very well that high school love was extremely destructive. He didn't want to affect Lin Xi's studies, and he couldn't give her a future, because this future would be at least five years later.

These days, it’s hard to predict what will happen in a month, let alone five years.

"Boss, don't be in a hurry. Slow work makes fine work." After giving a word to the boss, Chen Fang said to Lin Xi, "I don't know how long it will take. You should catch up with the main group while there is still traffic. This is the only way to be safe."

Lin Xi twisted her fingers in confusion, her face turning redder and redder. She wanted to say what was in her heart, but she couldn't utter a single word.

"See you tomorrow!" Chen Fang pushed Lin Xi's car onto the road.

"Okay, see you tomorrow!" The words "see you tomorrow" made Lin Xi figure it out. The girl waved to Chen Fang, then took a few small steps, got on the bike in a ladylike front-straddle position, and gradually went away under the street lights that stretched into the night.

Back at the repair shop, the boss took a moment out of his busy schedule to say to Chen Fang, "What a pretty girl."

"Who said it wasn't?" Chen Fang smiled, picked up the watermelon and started eating.

"But don't use a wrench next time. It's top-heavy and tail-light. If you get hit by it, you'll get seriously injured!"

"Haha, who said it wasn't!" Chen Fang laughed.

(End of this chapter)