Serving while specifically targeting the ground would increase ones chances of winning, however, there’s no doubt that if one plays like that, it could kill their friendship with the other side in just a few games.

If both sides adopt the unsavory strategy, the side that serves first would always maintain a one-point lead and has a greater chance of winning.

Logically speaking, Tao Yongchang not only had no need to be angry, he should also feel very happy.

But he felt slighted.

Jiao Yushi’s behavior of giving up the first serve was like blatantly giving them alms.

But after thinking about it, his mood improved again.

Jiao Yushi wanted to loose, so why should he stop him?

Shi Qian stood in the right corner, holding the racket in his hand and waving it around leisurely, looking defenceless.

Jiao Yushi stood in the middle, staring at the opposite side.

Tao Yongchang’s first serve was shot downward to the left, very close to the net, where it could hit the ground almost instantly.

Normal friends wouldn’t play distastefully even if there’s a winner and loser.

At the same time Tao Yongchang hit the ball, Jiao Yushi ran quickly to the left as if he knew the direction Tao Yongchang was aiming at, and almost turned into a shadow, indicating how good his physical fitness was.

When the ball was only a fist away from the ground, he swung the racket and hit it upwards.

Tao Yongchang originally thought Jiao Yushi would never be able to catch the ball, but he didn’t expect that not only did the other party manage to do so, he was also so fast that Tao Yongchang didn’t even see his movements clearly.

Before he could react, the ball Jiao Yushi threw flew towards his face and hit him right in the nose. The momentum was so strong that he leaned back and took a few steps back. He was shocked.

Luo Wenyao could have caught it, but the ball was flying towards Tao Yongchang’s face and the distance was too close. If he took action, he would hit Tao Yongchang’s face.

“Are you okay?” He could only ask about Tao Yongchang afterwards.

Jiao Yushi showed a slightly surprised expression and said, “Sorry, it’s the angle. I didn’t expect it to fly towards your face.”

Shi Qian stifled his laughter. He had finally seen what a real slap in the face looks like.

Jiao Yushi’s tone was nonchalant without the slightest hint of apology in it, and his expression was too perfunctory.

Rather than saying he’s apologizing, it was more like he’s showing off.

This made Tao Yongchang, who originally wanted to endure it, unable to hold back and directly cursed, “Mother f*cker, did you do it on purpose?”

Shi Qian quickly tried to smooth things over and said, “Ai, Yushi has already apologized. Besides, with that angle, it’s not strange that you got hit. If you hadn’t hit the ball that far off, it wouldn’t have caused this consequence. Don’t be angry. We’re all men, so be magnanimous.”

Tao Yongchang glared, but he couldn’t refute Shi Qian’s words, so he could only secretly resolve to return the favor.

Du Siyuan shouted, “Team Yushi, one point.”

Jiao Yushi continued to play against the other team.

Shi Qian didn’t pay attention to the battle and lazily looked at Du Siyuan, saying, “What do you mean Team Yushi? Yushi is the outside help I called, do you understand? So our team must be called Team Shi Qian!”

Du Siyuan gave him a cool glance, then continued to shout, “Team Yushi, two points.”

Shi Qian was upset. Du Siyuan was really ‘awesome’. Not only could he make annoying people upset, he could even do so to his own friend.

“Du Siyuan, don’t ignore me. Otherwise, wait for me to win and I’ll go over to take off all your clothes and let you look like a pervert!”

Du Siyuan was speechless. Childish, this person was too childish.

While counting the points, he said, “Team Yushi, three points— I say, Xiao Shitou, can you still have some face? You aren’t even moving your feet and you have the nerve to tell me to wait until you win?— Team Yushi, four points—  Your team has already got four points, yet you’re still as helpless like a female lead in an idol drama who saw the male lead cheating—  Team Yushi, five points— Ai, the situation is getting exciting now and also very tragic.”

Shi Qian couldn’t say anything back to Du Siyuan and didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

Soon, the match came to an end.

“Team Yushi, ten points!” Du Siyuan stood up and walked to Jiao Yushi. “Now let’s interview this player. Do you have a victory speech?”

Jiao Yushi’s face was expressionless. “No.”

After the match, Tao Yongchang and Luo Wenyao were each hit five times, causing pain in their faces and chests. With such an equal number, who would believe that Jiao Yushi didn’t do it on purpose?

Not only did he hit them on purpose, he also deliberately let them know that he did so.

Who wouldn’t be mad?

This little bastard wasn’t good at anything else other than annoying people. He’s indeed a bastard.

Luo Wenyao was very good at pretending to be a gentle person, but he couldn’t bear it anymore. After inwardly scolding Jiao Yushi full with superiority, he said with a supressed ill intention on his face, “Jiao Yushi, let’s play another game.”

Jiao Yushi stopped walking towards the resting area. He turned around and expressionlessly said, “Sorry, I’m not interested in games that can be won without any challenge.”

“What?!” Tao Yongchang rushed towards Jiao Yushi.

“Hey, what are you angry about?” Du Siyuan took a step forward and stopped Tao Yongchang when he was about to approach Jiao Yushi. “It’s just a game of tennis, why are you so serious? We’re all men. If we can afford to win, we must also be able to afford to lose. Be cool about it.”

Du Siyuan’s smile and tone were particularly cheerful.

Tao Yongchang was stopped by Du Siyuan and his furious mind calmed down a little. There were three people on the other side and there were only two in his. Plus all three exercised regularly, so he and Luo Wenyao couldn’t beat them.

And if they really get into a fight over something like this, they would be ridiculed wherever they go out in the future.

After thinking about this, the two men held their breath and angrily left with their female companion.

As soon as they left, Shi Qian bristled. “They weren’t so narrow-minded before. If I had known, I wouldn’t have asked them to join in. So annoying.”

Du Siyuan shrugged with a bright smile on his face. “That’s why we and them can’t get close. After all, I find it hard to accept that we’re creatures of the same species.”

Du Siyuan would only reveal his poisonous tongue to the fullest when there were no outsiders. He would normally be more restrained.

Shi Qian felt humbled. “Siyuan, compared to me, you’re really a devil.”

Du Siyuan shook his head and waved his hands. “That’s too much praise for me. Yushi is still more amazing. I’ll just talk about it but he’ll immediately take action.”

Jiao Yushi turned back to look at the laptop and ignored them.

Shi Qian and Du Siyuan were also used to his indifference.

In the early years, although they went to the same school, they weren’t actually close, not even nodding acquaintances.

At that time, Jiao Yushi had just been retrieved from a certain mountain village. He was very thin and had a gloomy face, which was very unpleasant to look at.

Shi Qian had no interest in him.

But once, Shi Qian was blocked by people outside school. Jiao Yushi, who was passing by, beat those people up and rescued Shi Qian, who actually could solve the problem on his own without any help.

Although Shi Qian had no interest in Jiao Yushi, he was still his benefactor, so he invited him to dinner, but he was unexpectedly rejected.

That made him very unhappy.

He vowed that day that he would repay Jiao Yushi. The next time, when Jiao Yushi was blocked, he happened to see him and immediately rushed to help beat the other people. Because he was so excited, he even pushed Jiao Yushi on the side and beat a group of people up on his own.

But those people only talked about Jiao Yushi and not him, which caused Jiao Yushi to transfer to another school.

Shi Qian had no idea what Jiao Yushi was thinking. He actually transferred to another school without saying a word of defence. Even when Shi Qian told everyone it was his doing, no one believed him, causing Shi Qian to doubt his credibility.

At that time, he was too young to realize that it’s precisely because he usually left a good impression on others that they didn’t believe that he would beat people and put them in hospital.

It was then that he regarded Jiao Yushi as a buddy. The guy was so righteous.

But he didn’t hold on to that idea for long before it was shattered by Jiao Yushi himself.

After Jiao Yushi transferred to another school, he went to see Jiao Yushi several times and learned from him that the day he acted ‘righteously’, he actually saw that there’s no surveillance camera in the area, and that the group of people happened to have a problem with him, so he just ‘rescued’ Shi Qian in passing.

The reason why he took all the blame was that it was better for one person to transfer than both.

Moreover, he was quite tired with that school. There was nothing interesting and there were a lot of troublesome and boring people, which hurt his eyes.

Despite that, Shi Qian still regarded him as his buddy. After all, he’s a guy who had been righteous twice—— Albeit incidentally.

Du Siyuan was Shi Qian’s best friend. He was originally abroad and returned to the country during high school. It was because of Shi Qian that Du Siyuan and Jiao Yushi knew each other.

Compared to the silly Shi Qian, who became buddies with Jiao Yushi because of things they had experienced together, Du Siyuan felt that Jiao Yushi was a black bellied^[1]outwardly kind but inwardly evil; two-faced person and was extremely to his liking, so he and Jiao Yushi soon also became best buddies.

Du Siyuan sat next to Jiao Yushi and accidentally glanced at the laptop screen. He asked, “Are you still trading in stocks? Smile Media? Isn’t that company about to go bankrupt due a lack of funds?”

Jiao Yushi said, “En, it’s about to. However, their company’s PR department is doing a good job. They published fake news online and acted miserable, attracting the sympathy and attention of netizens. They also revealed news that someone wanted to invest in them. Although it’s fake news, the stock price has risen. As long as they can successfully borrow money, they can survive. But that has nothing to do with me, I just want to take the opportunity to earn some pocket money.”

Shi Qian leaned over and took a look. “You didn’t put all your money in, right? Is your pocket money not enough? What on earth do you want to buy?”

“Buy some fun.”

Shi Qian: “……” So what kind of fun was it exactly?

Jiao Yushi’s pocket money was at least several million. He doesn’t buy watches, cars, yachts or airplanes, so what was it?

Shi Qian was dying of curiosity.

Du Siyuan asked, “There’s something that can actually interest you?”

They had known Jiao Yushi for six or seven years and understand his temperament.

He’s usually taciturn and had few hobbies. It was because he lacked interest in everything, almost to the point of being passive.

So Du Siyuan was quite curious about what would interest him. It was astonishing.

Jiao Yushi shrugged and didn’t say what it was.

After that, the three of them played a few more rounds. Playing with Shi Qian and Du Siyuan, Jiao Yushi became much gentler, and basically the serve he sent out were very easy to catch.

When playing with friends, winning or losing was secondary. The most important thing was to have fun.

Of course, while enjoying himself, Jiao Yushi still wouldn’t let himself lose.

At 6 pm, Jiao Yushi received a call from Chen Cha, who directly asked, “Where shall we meet tonight?”