Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation Chapter 85 – Chapter 85: Chapter 85: The King of Basketball

Chapter 85: Chapter 85: The King of Basketball
 

The first day of the monthly exam continued until six in the evening, and the students walked out of the exam room.

Jiang Ning found that Chen Siyu and her sister had switched places several times, and aside from him, no one else noticed.

After today's exams, many students went to pick up their textbooks; they still had evening study sessions to attend, which was a perfect time to review subjects for tomorrow's exams.

Xue Yuantong's textbooks were left at home, she said there was no need to go back for them, and then she lay on her desk.

Jiang Ning sent dinner right to her mouth.

“You're getting lazier,” Jiang Ning said.

Xue Yuantong argued confidently, “You don't understand, I'm preserving my energy, preparing for tomorrow's exam.”

“How are you preparing without your textbooks?” Jiang Ning asked her.

“You're blocking my food.”

“Fine then.” Jiang Ning left with the snacks.

Ma Shicheng was still gaming; he was a true player.

Wang Longlong stood by watching; he was a qualified spectator.

“Geng Lu, how did you do on your exam?” Geng Lu asked.

“I did what I could, we'll talk once the results come out.”

Geng Lu hesitantly said, “Dong Qingfeng and the others are comparing answers.”

She signaled with her eyes toward the front of the class, where Dong Qingfeng, Chen Qian, Bai Yuxia, and Shen Qing'e were gathered to compare answers; intermittent exclamations could be heard, as if they were in a completely different domain from other parts of the classroom, separated by an invisible boundary.

Ma Shicheng gamed and said,

“They're so anxious, but anyway, the results will be out in a couple of days, right?”

Wang Longlong was Ma Shicheng's diehard fan. He said,

“That's right, they have no patience. They won't achieve great things in the future. Look at Brother Ma, how calm and composed he is, a true champion's demeanor.”

“Brother Ma, jump! Ah, you're dead,” Wang Longlong sighed.

Ma Shicheng handed over his phone: “You play for a while, I'm going to grab something to eat.”

Wang Longlong happily took the phone.

While Wang Longlong was engrossed in his game, Wu Xiaoqi entered the classroom, bouncing a basketball with loud “bang bang bang” sounds.

Music emanated from his presence:

“Act like I'm over the top…”

This song had been released in the early 2000s, but only became popular in the last couple of years.

Wu Xiaoqi must have turned his phone's volume to the max, as all the surrounding students could hear it.

Wu Xiaoqi played basketball in rhythm with the song, raising and stomping his foot forcefully, swinging his body left and right in an exaggerated fashion, sometimes showing off his fancy dribbling skills.

His level of absorption was more exaggerated than Ma Shicheng's gaming, but his joy was genuine, and anyone could see it.

Geng Lu whispered, “Previously, there used to be sounds of basketball from upstairs, and I wondered what it was. After he transferred to our class, we found out he was the culprit. Such a person is really indescribable.”

Wang Longlong glanced over from his game; Wu Xiaoqi was putting on a show, dribbling the ball between his legs, stirring up clouds of dust as it hit the ground.

‘What a moron,' Wang Longlong cursed silently.

Wu Xiaoqi was basketball-crazy. He had been well-behaved during his first few days in Class 8, but then he let loose, constantly playing basketball on the empty ground behind the classroom.

He also sometimes called over Guo Kunan and others to go play basketball on the court, constantly talking about basketball and claiming he would go professional someday.

“You're not even as tall as me; what basketball are you going to play?”

Wang Longlong criticized internally, Wu Xiaoqi stood just over one meter sixty; was he planning on playing against professionals' knees?

The reason for his disdain towards Wu Xiaoqi was that once, while Wang Longlong was playing games at his desk, he got hit by Wu Xiaoqi's basketball.

Intimidated by Wu Xiaoqi's past deeds, Wang Longlong didn't say a word, but later he reported it to Shan Qingrong, only to be met with silence.

Jiang Ning activated his spiritual power to sweep the flying dust back, keeping the air in the corner fresh.

In his past life, Jiang Ning had sat in the back and been hit by Wu Xiaoqi's basketball, or rather, several people in the back rows were more or less hit by it at some point—Geng Lu's cup had been smashed by it.

Wu Xiaoqi had an even worse temperament than Song Sheng; perhaps due to his affluent family background and the belief that his family would bear any consequences, his behavior was usually arrogant, rarely caring about others' feelings.

Not until his second year of high school did Wu Xiaoqi get into a dispute with Zhuang Jianhui from Class 1 over the basketball court, supposedly over its usage. Wu Xiaoqi leaped up and slapped Zhuang Jianhui across the face.

Then, Zhuang Jianhui publicly beat Wu Xiaoqi to a pulp, and soon after, Wu Xiaoqi's parents were suddenly found to have issues and shipped off to enjoy a ten-year all-inclusive stay in prison.

Wu Xiaoqi dropped out of school and then disappeared without a trace. Jiang Ning never heard about him again.

It was also after that incident that many students at Fourth Middle School realized just how untouchable Zhuang Jianhui and his group were.

As Wu Xiaoqi dribbled to the rhythm of the song, the basketball seemed to fly.

Dan Kaiquan and the others were nearly at a loss for words. He was too much of a character.

Wu Xiaoqi lifted the basketball and smashed it against the blackboard behind him. He waited for it to rebound back and caught it, clearly enjoying himself.

The commotion attracted the attention of the top students in the front rows. Chen Qian and the others stopped discussing their questions. The noise from the back was too loud and had become a disturbance.

Bai Yuxia glanced subconsciously at Jiang Ning and immediately started to doubt herself:

‘Why am I looking at Jiang Ning?'

Bai Yuxia questioned her own motives. Would Jiang Ning step in to stop him?

He wouldn't.

During the fight between Pang Jiao and Miao Zhe, he was the most earnest spectator.

Only if Xue Yuantong was being bullied would he step forward.

At that thought, Bai Yuxia looked at Xue Yuantong, who was quietly lying on her desk. At that moment, Bai Yuxia actually felt a twinge of envy.

Not just Bai Yuxia but even Chen Qian and Dong Qingfeng turned their attention to Jiang Ning.

They hoped Jiang Ning would stand up and say something.

Chen Qian, who was a bit more devious, even hoped that Jiang Ning would have a fight with Wu Xiaoqi—a thug to grind down a thug!

Properly teach this brat a lesson and let him know class 8 is not like class 10, where he could do whatever he pleased!

As for whether Jiang Ning could lose to Wu Xiaoqi, what a joke!

Despite Wu Xiaoqi beating a classmate with a steel bar into the hospital back in class 10, Jiang Ning had established his dominance multiple times in class 8, first beating up Song Sheng, then taking on Deng Xiang from another class, each time claiming a crushingly decisive victory.

What did Wu Xiaoqi count for?

Of course, if both suffered, Chen Qian would be very happy to see that.

However, Jiang Ning remained seated and did not act as they had hoped.

The basketball bounced back, and Wu Xiaoqi failed to catch it, hitting Dan Kaiquan's desk.

Dan Kaiquan's face darkened, and he threw the basketball back:

“Wu Xiaoqi, watch yourself.”

Wu Xiaoqi caught the basketball, unconcerned, “It didn't hit you, so what's the rush?”

Then he continued to dribble.

“You have no manners at all,” Dan Kaiquan taunted.

Wu Xiaoqi continued dribbling, looking at him with a smile, challenging:

“I'm just dribbling a ball. What can you do about it?”

“Got the guts to touch me?” he said with a scornful look.

Dan Kaiquan's temper nearly made him lose it. He gripped the desk, ready to stand up.

But in the end, he didn't explode. He had a bad temper but wasn't stupid. He wasn't afraid to fight, and given Wu Xiaoqi's physique, he could definitely take him down.

Wu Xiaoqi wouldn't even get the chance to use a weapon.

At the age of high school students, unless it was someone with an overwhelming advantage like Jiang Ning, they would usually just start fighting without much discussion.

What Dan Kaiquan was mainly worried about was that if a fight really broke out, and if things escalated, he would definitely not benefit from it.

Wu Xiaoqi had sent a classmate to the hospital and only got transferred to another class.

Dan Kaiquan knew what this implied.

If he fought with Wu Xiaoqi, he'd probably have to call his parents and might even receive a major demerit.

Dan Kaiquan felt stifled and that it was unfair. It was as if an invisible set of rules were blocking him, restraining him. With this sense of powerlessness, there was nothing he could do but hold back.

Seeing Dan Kaiquan back down, Wu Xiaoqi's dribbling became even more defiant, and the dust rising from the floor seemed to dance just for him.

‘No one in this class can stop me from playing basketball!'

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on N𝘰vgo.co

Chapter end