Chapter 32

Su Miao Miao’s eyes were filled with confusion.

Li Zhe, who had come over to find Shang Yan, froze two meters away.

After a few seconds of silence, Li Zhe’s voice sounded almost tearful—”Yan, you… you can’t do this, Yan—”

Shang Yan, glancing away from the girl’s puzzled expression, clicked his tongue lightly in slight regret.

“How come you understand nothing, kid?”

Su Miao Miao: “—?”

Li Zhe: “………………”

Damn beast! No, worse than a beast!

But Li Zhe could only say this in his mind. Outwardly, he could only watch in agony as his beautiful little goddess remained completely bewildered.

After his moment of regret, Shang Yan stood up, lazily putting his hands in his pockets and looking down at Li Zhe.

He asked with a half-smile, “Tell me, what can’t I do?”

Li Zhe looked at Su Miao Miao with a mix of frustration and helplessness.

Then he turned back, “Brother Yan… little Su is still young, you can’t…”

“Seventeen, not that young.”

Shang Yan’s lips curved into a grin, one that seemed less than human.

“She’s only 1.5 meters tall!”

Shang Yan chuckled hoarsely and turned sideways, “Kid, tell him how tall you are.”

Although she hadn’t understood much of the conversation, height was always a matter of principle for Su Miao Miao. She glared at Li Zhe indignantly without hesitation.

“1.58 meters.”

Li Zhe: “…………”

His pure little goddess, tricked into Shang Yan’s bed, might remain naively oblivious!

The thought made Li Zhe feel like he might explode on the spot.

Shang Yan glanced at Li Zhe, a slight smile playing at his lips.

“You heard her.”

Li Zhe desperately wiped his face and lowered his head in dejection. “Brother Yan, our friendly match with Class Three is about to start.”

“Let’s go.”

Shang Yan lifted his long legs to step onto the stairs. Before taking the first step, he paused and glanced at Su Miao Miao.

“After the game, I better not see you in the school basketball team’s spectator stands, got it?”

Hearing the clear threat in his tone, Su Miao Miao wrinkled her nose.

“I won’t be.”

“And if you disobey?”

“…”

The girl stretched out her short leg and kicked the tip of the boy’s shoe.

Her voice was muffled and soft.

“Break my legs.”

“…”

Shang Yan was shaken by this light kick, his eyes reflecting an internal upheaval. The uncontrollable emotions surged and receded, turning his heart to near mush.

He stood still for several seconds, then closed his eyes and laughed softly.

“…Good girl.”

With that, he brushed past her and went up the stairs.

Li Zhe gave Su Miao Miao a pained look before following him.

After they left, Qi Wenyue, who had been holding back Liao Lanxin from afar, dragged her pale and exhausted desk mate, who had been tortured by two laps of jogging, forward again.

She stopped in front of Su Miao Miao, her face full of suspicion.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment. Then Qi Wenyue stretched out her foot and kicked Su Miao Miao’s little white shoe.

Su Miao Miao: “…?”

Qi Wenyue: “…”

Su Miao Miao: “—??”

Qi Wenyue finally couldn’t hold back anymore. She leaned in, asking mysteriously, “Is this some kind of secret code between you and your master? I don’t quite get it.”

Su Miao Miao was taken aback.Realizing what Qi Wenyue meant, she couldn’t help but lower her eyes and smile.

“No… it’s just that he always threatens me, saying he’ll break my legs if I don’t listen.”

Qi Wenyue was shocked.

“No wonder he’s called Yan the Demon… I mean, no wonder he’s Yan. Even teaching a disciple, he goes all out, huh?”

She pondered for a moment, looking even more confused. “Then why did you kick his shoe?”

Su Miao Miao’s expression was innocent and pure.

She lifted her little white shoe and tapped it against Qi Wenyue’s shoe.

“It’s like saying… here’s my leg. If I don’t listen, you can break it.”

Seeing the girl sitting on the stone steps, swinging her short legs and looking up at her with a pretty face, Qi Wenyue was momentarily speechless.

That touch left her feeling unexpectedly flustered.

After standing still for a few seconds, Qi Wenyue turned her head gradually, her expression becoming blank, and looked at Liao Lanxin.

“Desk mate, I thought I was hearing a horror story, but why do I suddenly feel so moved?”

Despite her pale face from running, Liao Lanxin didn’t hesitate to give Qi Wenyue a disdainful look.

“Probably because you’re slow on the uptake.”

Qi Wenyue: “…”

Qi Wenyue: “I don’t want to feel sour anymore. Let’s just go watch the basketball game.”

Thinking of Shang Yan’s earlier “threat,” Su Miao Miao nodded in agreement.

Liao Lanxin naturally had no objections either.

The three of them climbed the small stairs next to them and headed to the basketball court.

Class Three had finished warming up early, and they had chosen the court.

For some reason, perhaps psychological, the court chosen for the friendly match between the two classes was adjacent to the one where the school basketball team’s new players were training.

When the boys from the two classes entered, the cheering and shouting from both sides of the basketball court suddenly quieted down.

—

Normally, to prevent interference, two matches would never be held in adjacent courts when there is available space.

Noticing this scene, as the school basketball team’s training match progressed, just as Chu Ming dribbled to the three-point line, one of the new team members across from him relaxed his defensive posture and frowned, speaking up, “Chu, looks like someone wants to challenge our ‘arena’?”

“…”

Chu Ming glanced back.

Pausing for two seconds, he turned back, dribbled the ball, and jumped, lifting his palm to shoot.

*bang*

The basketball went into the hoop, a beautiful three-pointer.

The sideline fell silent for a moment, then erupted into cheers and screams.

“Brilliant!”

“Chu Ming is the coolest!!!”

“Ahhh, Chu Ming!!!”

“…”

Chu Ming landed and smiled at the new team member who was stunned in front of him. “Focus on the game.”

After scoring, as the teams switched between offense and defense, Chu Ming ran towards his team’s half-court. However, some of the older team members couldn’t resist running up to him.

“Captain Chu, what’s the deal with that Shang Yan from the second year? Is he trying to challenge you?”

Chu Ming sighed.”It might not be his doing.”

“Come on, everyone knows you two have a rivalry.”

Chu Ming: “…”

“I really don’t know. Last year, it was the vice-captain who handled the recruitment for the school basketball team. I haven’t even met this new student face-to-face. Where would the rivalry come from?”

With that, he sighed sincerely and went to chase after the ball, leaving his old teammates behind, looking baffled.

“Really? Is that true?”

Meanwhile, on the adjacent court.

Li Zhe frowned and complained, “Is Class Three out of their minds? They know you and Chu Ming don’t get along, yet they chose to play next to the school basketball team?”

Li Zhe took the jersey handed to him by a classmate and pulled it over his head.

“Brother Yan, aren’t you changing?”

“No need.”

Li Zhe was accustomed to this. He didn’t even reach out to take it when he asked, clearly just going through the motions.

– The classmates who often watched them play basketball in the class knew that Shang Yan rarely played, and even if he did, he never rolled up his sleeves…

“…Isn’t it hot in the summer?”

On the sidelines, Su Miao Miao asked curiously as she listened to Qi Wenyue explaining the situation.

Upon hearing this, Qi Wenyue couldn’t help but laugh heartily, “Hot in the summer? Didn’t I tell you before, Yan has a bit of OCD? When those guys sweat profusely in the summer, he won’t even step onto the court to play with them.”

Su Miao Miao: “…”

Ah, what a “pure as jade” master he was.Liao Lanxin stood silently by the side the whole time, and it was rare for her to interject now.

“Indeed. Shang Yan plays at most in the first quarter of each game, then he’ll be substituted,” Liao Lanxin finally spoke up.

Qi Wenyue chuckled, “That’s why during the beginning of our freshman year, everyone in our class speculated that Yan was a scion from a noble family who had time-traveled from the Republic of China era… Otherwise, how could he have such a sheltered upbringing in modern times?”

Liao Lanxin added, “You just haven’t seen it.”Qi Wenyue pouted in annoyance.

Su Miao Miao softened her gaze and chuckled, “You guys have such wild imaginations. How did you dispel that idea later on?”

“…”

There was a sudden silence among the three of them.

Liao Lanxin and Qi Wenyue exchanged a glance.

“…Let me explain,” Qi Wenyue said in a low voice, her expression unusually cautious and careful. “Actually, Miao Miao, you’ve probably heard about… um, the origin of Yan’s nickname.”

Qi Wenyue paused, a hint of fear flashing in her eyes.

“I was actually at the school gate at that time, and I saw that person being carried into the ambulance on a stretcher. Blood was dripping from his hand, and I thought he was done for… That scene still feels vivid in my mind to this day, it’s like a psychological shadow.”

Su Miao Miao fell silent.

Suddenly, Liao Lanxin spoke up, “No one saw it was Shang Yan who did it, but when people were gossiping, he never denied it.”

Su Miao Miao hesitated and looked towards the basketball court. A guy wearing a black sportswear stood out conspicuously. He was lazily doing joint warm-ups with others at the side of the court, lacking enthusiasm. Just from his cold, beautiful profile, no one would expect him to have such terrifying rumors…

The atmosphere became inexplicably awkward. Su Miao Miao glanced for a while, then changed the subject back to the original topic.

“He has never worn a basketball jersey…”

“It’s not just about not changing jerseys,” Qi Wenyue breathed a sigh of relief, returning to a smiling face. “Think about it, since you’ve known him, have you ever seen Brother Yan wearing short sleeves?”

Su Miao Miao pondered for a moment, then, after a while, a hint of surprise appeared on her beautiful face…

Surprisingly, there really wasn’t any. In her impression, that person at most rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, only up to his elbows. The rest of the time, it was always long sleeves and long pants…

Seeing Su Miao Miao’s answer, Qi Wenyue joked and pretended to be serious, repeating once more — “Republic of China, aristocratic family, young master.”

This time, Su Miao Miao couldn’t help but smile. Liao Lanxin said, “The game is about to start.”

Su Miao Miao and Qi Wenyue looked over, and sure enough, they heard the referee’s whistle.

The basketball dropped, and suddenly cheers and screams erupted from the sidelines.

Su Miao Miao’s expression changed slightly. She had never experienced such a collective activity in the sanatorium, and at most, she had only occasionally seen a few basketball games on TV. So she never expected the scene, especially standing among the audience, to be so noisy and ear-piercing. Stimulated by the cheers and shouts, her heartbeat became irregular. Su Miao Miao lowered her head, pursed her lips, and furrowed her brows.

Should she…

As Su Miao Miao hesitated, she heard Qi Wenyue beside her stop cheering and ask strangely, “Why isn’t Brother Yan moving… it seems like he’s still looking at our side?”

Not only Qi Wenyue, but others soon noticed something was wrong too. The murmurs of questioning grew louder, and the cheers and shouts from the sidelines quickly turned into hushed discussions.

Then, the referee blew the whistle again. “I mean, why call a timeout just after the game started??”

Su Miao Miao endured her discomfort and looked up. In front of her were two tall guys, blocking her view completely, so she couldn’t see anything happening on the court.

Before Su Miao Miao could react, the two guys in front, who had been discontentedly discussing something, suddenly fell silent, and the surrounding area quieted down.

“Make way.”

A low, chilling voice came from behind the human wall. After a moment of stiffness from the two guys in front of Su Miao Miao, they instinctively moved aside in unison.

The sunlight descended, casting a slender shadow. Su Miao Miao was momentarily blinded by the sudden absence of shade. She instinctively squinted and raised her arm to shield her eyes. But as she raised it halfway, she felt a tug on her wrist.

The tension spread to her.

The boy with composed eyes in front of Su Miao Miao pulled her forward until they reached the bench where the team members rested. He cleared a space among the clothes and bags piled on the bench.

With force, he directly pulled the bewildered girl following him to the front and pushed her onto the bench. Only then did Su Miao Miao suddenly come to her senses.

She looked up in panic, “Master…?”

Shang Yan remained cold, his handsome face expressionless as he stared down at the girl. “Why are you still standing in the middle of the crowd when you can’t handle noisy environments?”

Su Miao Miao was stunned by his sternness. Realizing, she lowered her beautiful doe eyes with a hint of grievance. “I didn’t know it would be so loud…”

Shang Yan glanced over half of the court. Li Zhe and three other players who were on the court hurried over.

“Brother Yan, what’s wrong? Is little Su feeling unwell?”

Seeing the girl sitting on the bench with a paler complexion than usual, Li Zhe’s usual playful demeanor disappeared, replaced by a worried frown as he asked.

“Hmm.”

Shang Yan replied absentmindedly. Then he bent down, furrowing his brows as he looked at the girl in front of him.

“Shall I have someone take you back to the classroom?”

Su Miao Miao shook her head. “I’ll be fine sitting here…”

Shang Yan fell silent. His dark eyes stared unwaveringly at the girl in front of him. After a few seconds, he lowered his gaze.

Su Miao Miao felt as if the boy had sighed silently.”Cover your ears yourself.”

“Oh.”

Under the scrutiny of many eyes, Su Miao Miao reluctantly raised her hand and pressed it against her ears.

After watching her for two seconds, Shang Yan stood up straight. With one hand, he grabbed the collar of his shirt, and with the other, he pulled down the zipper of his sportswear. He expressionlessly took off his outerwear.

The black sports jacket gracefully arced through the air, finally draping over the girl’s head.

There was a stir on the sidelines. Meanwhile, Shang Yan half-squatted, pulling the collar of his jacket forward.

“Can you see clearly?”

Su Miao Miao was stunned. “…Yes…”

And she couldn’t have seen any clearer.

—

Under the black sports jacket, the boy wore only a thin black vest. From his slender neck, to his collarbones, to his arms, elbows, forearms… the smooth and beautiful muscle lines were fully revealed, contrasting with his pale skin under the noon sunlight, exuding a fierce and bold beauty.In a daze, Su Miao Miao heard the sound of a camera clicking from the jacket draped over her head. Shang Yan, half-squatting in front of her, clearly heard it too.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he glanced in the direction of the sound, his dark eyes suppressing a hint of indignation….

Like a lion provoked in its cage.

Su Miao Miao couldn’t help but laugh softly.Instantly, the focus was back on her.

—

Shang Yan expressionlessly tugged at the corner of his lip. “Still laughing?”

Su Miao Miao obediently suppressed her laughter. The girl innocently met the boy’s gaze.

The referee’s urging came from the court.

Shang Yan lowered his eyelids, concealing his true emotions.

“…We’ll settle the score later.”

Shang Yan stood up, and the rest of the team followed back onto the court. The game officially began, and the rhythm returned to normal.

Su Miao Miao nervously watched the black figure in the center of the court, her hand covering her ear subconsciously tightening.

And indeed, the “advice” Shang Yan had given earlier proved to be very prescient.

—

More and more students crowded around the court, and the cheers and shouts grew louder and louder. Especially when the basketball landed in Shang Yan’s hands, the girls cheered with such fervor that they could almost lift the basketball hoop off the ground.

When Class Three had to call a timeout under the fast-paced attack led by Shang Yan, and some boys from Class One walked back, Su Miao Miao heard the sighs of the two leaders among them.

“I even took off my shirt back then, but they weren’t this excited.”

“Forget it, brother. Haven’t you heard the saying – ‘People die for wealth, birds die for food’? Comparing yourself to Brother Yan is just asking for trouble.”

“…”

Su Miao Miao didn’t get to hear the rest of the conversation. Shang Yan walked up to her, his eyes downcast.

“Are you okay?”

Su Miao Miao’s complexion had returned to normal by now, and with the sounds outside the jacket finally subsiding, she felt relieved enough to lower her hand.

“I’m fine.”

Shang Yan’s lips twitched slightly.

“Brother Yan, here.”

A bottle of water was tossed over from the side. Shang Yan caught it with one hand, but just as he was about to twist it open, he suddenly paused.

With a half-smile, he bent down and handed the bottle to the girl.

“Help me open it.”

Su Miao Miao: “…?”

“Master’s hands are sore, and he can’t twist it open.”

Su Miao Miao: “……”

Li Zhe, standing nearby, felt like he couldn’t watch anymore. He gritted his teeth and stepped forward, laughing, “Brother Yan, let me help you—”

“Get lost.”

Shang Yan cruelly rejected without even looking back. He raised his hand and shook the water bottle in front of the girl.

“Be good.”

Su Miao Miao: “…”

Helplessly, the girl could only suppress her anger and take the bottle with both hands, holding it tightly against her chest, and began to struggle with the bottle cap with all her might.

Whether it was because her strength was lacking or the bottle cap was exceptionally tight, she struggled with the mineral water bottle cap for a full ten seconds before finally hearing a light click.

Handing the bottle over, the girl silently extended her right hand. The slender index finger was marked with vertical lines from the bottle cap, red and swollen.

Su Miao Miao felt aggrieved and quietly held it in.

After a few seconds, she couldn’t help but raise her face to look at Shang Yan, and asked with a puffed-up expression, “If your hands are sore, can you even hold the bottle?”

Shang Yan chuckled hoarsely.

“What if I can’t?”

“…”

“You want me to feed you?”

Su Miao Miao: “…!”

“Pfft— *cough cough cough*—”

The nearby resting teammates became victims of the situation. One choked violently, while turning his head in horror to look at the two.

Shang Yan, who no longer regarded himself as human, raised an eyebrow indifferently and glanced sideways.

The teammate twisted his face in pain.

“…”

The promised master and disciple…

ojbk.

What a terrifying world

But in fact, only the closest teammate heard the commotion, while the rest of the students on the sidelines stared with curiosity and confusion. Some were secretly taking photos from various angles with their phones.

The timeout ended. Both teams returned to their positions. The game resumed.

The initiative still lay with Shang Yan. Everything was no different from before the timeout. Under Class One’s attack, Class Three was almost unable to hold their ground.

Unable to present decent defense or execute beautiful offense, the point gap in the game quickly widened.It seemed like the first quarter was about to end just like before.

Until…

“Ah—”

.”Watch out!!”

Sitting on the bench, covering her ears, Su Miao Miao suddenly heard a commotion behind her.

Before she could react, a basketball suddenly appeared in her field of vision—It bounced forcefully, then slammed against Su Miao Miao’s ankle with a thud.

After the initial numbness, a piercing pain shot through her.

Su Miao Miao bit her lip and stifled a groan.The court fell silent.

Everyone was stunned, unable to react in time.

“—!”

Shang Yan’s ball was fiercely smashed.

He strode over to the girl and without hesitation, knelt down on one knee in front of her.

Unlike his swift approach, Shang Yan’s movements to lift the girl’s calf were careful, almost slow.

Placing the girl’s shoe on his leg, pressed against the ground, his brows furrowed deeply, his gaze so intense it could almost squeeze out ink.

“The sole… is dirty…”

The girl’s soft voice carried an uncontained hint of tears, with a trembling undertone that couldn’t be hidden.

“Don’t move.”

Veins bulged slightly on Shang Yan’s forehead.

Suppressing the boiling rage in his heart, he gingerly rolled up the cuff of the girl’s baggy jeans.

As her fair skin was slowly revealed, the bruises, blue and purple, stood out even more hideously.

The other players who had snapped out of their daze rushed forward, only to freeze in their tracks at the sight.

“—Damn it!”

Li Zhe’s face twisted in anger as he exploded towards the adjacent basketball court—”Which idiot threw that?! Can’t they play basketball—Are they blind!?”

Another teammate quickly asked, “Brother Yan, it looks serious, let’s get her to the infirmary right away!”

Shang Yan remained motionless, his voice heavy with suppression.

“Call the school doctor.”

” Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’. Listen to Brother Yan. We don’t know if it’s a bone injury, it’s not a good idea to move her to the infirmary…”

“Oh, right, I’ll go right away!”

Su Miao Miao endured the intense pain, her lips pale from biting.

She clenched her fingertips tightly and lowered her head to look at the boy kneeling on the ground in front of her.

From the moment he rushed over until now, he hadn’t lifted his gaze once.

From Su Miao Miao’s angle, the messy black strands of hair hung down to cover the boy’s eyebrows and eyes, revealing only his straight nose bridge and tightly pressed thin lips.

The muscles along his jawline were tense, and his cheekbones were slightly trembling.

—

Su Miao Miao faintly sensed Shang Yan gritting his teeth ferociously.

However, his cold, pale, and refined face showed no emotion.

She felt somewhat uneasy in her heart.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.

But at that moment, amidst the chaos that followed the silence, a path opened up among the onlookers.

From the adjacent court, Chu Ming led the newcomers from his team over.

“We are truly sorry, it was a mistake on our team’s part.”

Having heard from the commotion earlier that someone had been injured, Chu Ming’s complexion was rare, looking somewhat unpleasant.

“We will take full responsibility. How is the injured person?”

—

Since kneeling on the ground in silence, Shang Yan finally reacted.

He loosened his clenched fist, the veins on his hand bulging, his movements restrained but heavy, tinged with trembling, as he slowly placed the girl’s leg on the ground.

He rose without a word.

In that moment, through the disheveled hair, Su Miao Miao saw Shang Yan’s eyes clearly.

—

Bloodshot streaks marred his black irises.

The intensity of his hostility was terrifying.

Su Miao Miao panicked: “Master…”

She reached out to pull him, but he had already passed by her.

He was now just over a dozen steps away from Chu Ming.

Shang Yan stared expressionlessly, silent, his body tense.

His right hand slowly clenched into a fist.

He walked towards them, not rushing, yet the court fell silent rapidly.

The expressions of everyone changed.

Li Zhe stood frozen in place, his words choked by the fear buried deep in his heart, unable to utter a single word.

In everyone’s mind flashed the same three words in this instant: “Shang Yan Luo”.

No one dared to intervene.

Chu Ming instinctively protected the newcomers beside him and tensed up as well.

—

The gazes directed towards them were terrifying, no longer resembling those of humans… more like beasts.

In this critical moment, amidst the deafening silence, a voice tinged with tears rang out—

“Shang Yan!”