Chapter 138: Once Promised to the Most Wretched of the World

Wang Haoran sauntered over at some point, flicking his proud middle-parted bangs. "Sorry, I won't be watching with you guys. I'm taking Hu Caiwei to the movies."

Zhong Jincheng retorted, "Who gives a damn if you join or not?"

Gao Qiang chuckled, "I'm planning to give our homeroom teacher a movie voucher. Heh, you guys really don't know how to play the social game."

Hearing this, Zheng Yifeng suddenly wore a mysterious smile, as if he had finally found a cover for what he was planning to do.

Zhong Jincheng turned to Gao Qiang. "You aren't into married women, are you?"

Gao Qiang: "Get lost!"

Zhong Jincheng: "Lu Yuanqiu, who are you giving your voucher to?"

Before Lu Yuanqiu could answer, Gao Qiang cut in: "Need you ask? Obviously to Bai Qingxia. The two of them are practically inseparable. 'Just good friends'—who's buying that?"

Hearing this, the girl walking behind them quickened her pace, bypassed them, and kept her head down as she walked ahead alone.

Gao Qiang: "What about you, Zheng Yifeng?"

Zheng Yifeng: "Don't know. Just give it to whoever."

Zhong Jincheng sighed. "I'm so jealous of Lu Yuanqiu. He has the highest individual score right now. Once we win the game, he’ll be the lead drill instructor on the podium tomorrow. All the girls will be staring at his back—it’s so damn showy."

Lu Yuanqiu finally snapped: "The game hasn't even started yet! Keep talking like that and we really won't have a chance! Damn it!"

With that, he shoved his hands into his pockets and marched ahead.

Aside from Zheng Yifeng, the lot of them played basketball like crap, but they sure loved to jinx things. It was truly speechless.

Perhaps because of the basketball game tonight, Lu Yuanqiu had no heart for his classes today.

At the cafeteria during lunch, Cao Shuang sat opposite him, and Bai Qingxia sat beside him. Zhang Yifei was sitting at a table to the front left with some of his varsity teammates, casting cold, sharp glares toward Lu Yuanqiu’s table.

Liu Jianqing sat alone at a table three spots away from Zhang Yifei.

Lu Yuanqiu glanced at the distance between the two, sneered, and continued eating while engaging in a silent staring contest with Zhang Yifei.

Just then, Gao Qiang, Zhong Jincheng, Wang Haoran, and Zheng Yifeng suddenly brought their trays over and sat down at the table next to Lu Yuanqiu.

The four of them turned in unison and raised their middle fingers at Zhang Yifei’s table.

*Clatter!*

Unable to hold back, the varsity players at Zhang Yifei’s table stood up, eyes glaring as they slammed their hands on the table. "Looking for trouble, huh?"

Next door, the three guys—everyone except Zheng Yifeng—saw how tall and sturdy the varsity players were and immediately lowered their heads to eat, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Three cowards!"

Cao Shuang cursed. He couldn't take it anymore; he slammed his chopsticks onto the table and stood up. One of the chopsticks bounced into Bai Qingxia’s tray.

The girl flinched, her beautiful eyes widening as she pulled back.

Lu Yuanqiu: "..."

As soon as Cao Shuang stood up, a group of boys nearby followed suit, slamming their own chopsticks down.

The varsity players next to Zhang Yifei were taken aback, their momentum crushed in an instant.

Seeing this, Gao Qiang, Wang Haoran, and Zhong Jincheng let out wicked grins. Emboldened by the numbers, they turned around again and pointed their middle fingers with mockery.

Zhang Yifei’s face darkened.

Lu Yuanqiu: "..."

On the first floor of the cafeteria, other students watched the scene blankly, confused as to why the cafeteria had suddenly split into two opposing factions. Lu Yuanqiu silently picked up the chopstick belonging to Cao Shuang that had landed in Bai Qingxia’s tray and set it aside. Just then, a familiar figure walked over. He looked at the crowd standing in the cafeteria, adjusted the belt being squeezed by his beer belly, and leaned against a pillar while munching on an apple, smiling as he spoke:

"Yo, filming a movie? *Young and Dangerous 7*?"

It was as if the various martial arts sects had climbed up to the Shaolin Temple only to run into the invincible sweeping monk. Cao Shuang immediately signaled everyone to sit back down.

The varsity players at Zhang Yifei’s table quickly sat down as well.

Ge Ritian then looked at the three who were still holding up their middle fingers.

Gao Qiang quickly lowered his head to eat. Wang Haoran acted as if his neck were itchy, putting his hand down in an unnatural way to scratch it. Zhong Jincheng, meanwhile, used that same middle finger to pick his nose and flicked it toward Wang Haoran’s tray. The latter’s expression stiffened, but he dared not retaliate at this moment.

Ge Ritian finally turned his gaze to Lu Yuanqiu.

He walked over while biting into his apple. Just as he was about to speak, he glanced at Bai Qingxia with surprise, seemingly baffled by why the quiet, top-ranked student in the grade was hanging out with this group of boys.

However, remembering that Bai Qingxia and Lu Yuanqiu were seatmates, he relaxed a bit, though he remained slightly confused. He had his suspicions, but he didn't intend to make an issue of it.

Chomping on his apple, Ge Ritian reached out and patted Lu Yuanqiu’s shoulder, saying in a low, casual voice: "Good luck."

With that, he pulled the apple from his mouth, hiked up his pants again, and headed toward the cafeteria exit.

The moment Ge Ritian walked out, the quiet first-floor cafeteria erupted into noise once more.

Lu Yuanqiu withdrew his gaze and scolded Cao Shuang: "Do you realize you dropped your chopsticks into her tray?"

Hearing this, Cao Shuang immediately put his hands together in apology: "I'm so sorry! I'll go get Bai a fresh tray of food!"

Before Bai Qingxia could say anything, Cao Shuang had already grabbed her half-eaten tray and scurried off.

Lu Yuanqiu glanced at Zhang Yifei from afar and went back to his meal.

School let out in the afternoon.

After changing into his basketball jersey and shoes in the classroom, Lu Yuanqiu stood up and hopped in place. Just then, Gao Qiang, who was sitting at his desk, suddenly frowned.

"Lu Yuanqiu, the back of your jersey..."

"What?"

Lu Yuanqiu turned to look at him.

Gao Qiang: "Take it off."

Lu Yuanqiu took off the jersey and spread it on the desk; he frowned as well.

Someone had used black ink to add an extra stroke and a dash below the "one" character in the phrase "Once promised to be the best in the world," turning "one" into "lowly."

*Once promised to be the most lowly in the world.*

Zhong Jincheng’s eyes went wide: "Who the hell did this?! Damn it!"

Lu Yuanqiu frowned: "The jersey has been in my desk compartment the whole time. Someone must have snuck in when the room was empty to paint it."

Wang Haoran picked up some tissue and wiped at it, but found it wouldn't come off.

Zhong Jincheng: "Try using water."

Lu Yuanqiu raised a hand to stop him, sneering: "Don't bother. Rather than staining the back black, I'd rather wear it and let everyone see how petty these sophomores are. Heh, what a childish stunt."

Just then, Liu Wei walked into the classroom and shouted: "We're running late! Mr. Wang is urging us from downstairs! Why aren't you changed yet?"

Seeing her enter, Lu Yuanqiu quickly pulled the jersey back on and said to the others: "Let's go, let's go."

Teacher Wang Ping had specifically requested to be the referee for today’s basketball final.