Returning to '97, creating a new life

Swish!

Park In-ji saw not only the ball go in, but also Xu Kai turning around without hesitation after the shot.

This behavior was a bit pretentious, but when he jumped to shoot, Xu Kai felt that he was in top form today. He didn't immediately clench his fist to celebrate after shooting, which was already very restrained and low-key.

This child is too arrogant.

[With such confidence, he must have been spoiled rotten by Lao Liu, treated like a precious treasure.]

When he joins my team, the first thing I have to teach him is to follow the rules; there can be no troublemakers in my team.

[Great! Confident shooting, that's the kind of decisiveness you should show.]

[Great! That was beautiful! Seven three-pointers now.]

Even close marking couldn't stop him; his physical attributes are excellent, with explosive power and speed far exceeding his peers. Even knowing he was going to shoot, you couldn't block his shot.

[Wow! Holy crap, Lao Liu, this kid's got something amazing.]

I'm definitely getting this kid.

【ah!!!!!!!】

Teacher Park In-ji's mind was very active. In the end, she didn't think about anything else. She didn't care about the test. She just wanted him to score a goal and cheer.

A game that overturned his understanding of basketball.

With absolute overall strength, Tieyi Middle School is commendable in both offense and defense. Dong Bin is especially dominant in the paint. In ordinary middle school games, his height and physique are destined to allow him to dominate the paint like Shaquille O'Neal in the NBA. There is no other way to stop him except to send him to the free-throw line.

Today, at this moment, it is destined that Park In-ji's focus cannot be on Dong Bin.

Running tirelessly across the entire field, discussing defense in a game of this level is nitpicking. Matches with a significant skill gap tend to end quickly. Players who aren't strong enough can only run back and forth across the field, and before they even reach their own backcourt, their opponents have already completed the attack.

In amateur games, back-and-forth attacks and numerical superiority are common occurrences, and it's even common for players to launch fast breaks in the opponent's backcourt without participating in defense.

Due to insufficient physical reserves, they cannot support continuous back-and-forth running, which means they cannot execute the defensive strategies given by the coach for most rounds of the game, making them like a leaky sieve.

This also gave Xu Kai room to perform to his full potential. Close-marking one-on-one defense was his established strategy, but when they really started to run and attack, he couldn't keep up after a few rounds. Even when he was switched out, he couldn't maintain that for long, as Xu Kai's offensive area was still very large.

Running actively without the ball is almost the dirtiest and most tiring job in amateur games, and no one wants to do it. I prefer to play one-on-one, and if that's not possible, I'll catch my breath and wait for the pass before playing one-on-one. I'm not going to run around like an idiot without the ball, waiting for an opportunity to run out, and even then, there's no guarantee that someone will pass me the ball.

Xu Kai is different; he is the team's absolute core. His teammates are all secretly observing him, and as soon as he runs into open space, they will pass the ball to him immediately. Teammates who lack the ability to break through and score one-on-one against their opponents would rather stop and dribble in place, waiting for Xu Kai to create an opportunity.

"Xu Kai! Xu Kai!"

"Give it to number 8, give it to number 8!" Some players who didn't know Xu Kai's name were shouting his jersey number, telling his teammates not to hold the ball anymore and to just pass it to Xu Kai.

One person against a team, amidst despair-inducing three-pointers, even though Tie Erzhong had fewer offensive possessions, consistently lost offensive rebounds, and had a higher shooting percentage, they were not behind in the score.

What Park In-ji found most terrifying was not Xu Kai's three-point shooting, but his stamina in the second half of the game.

He was able to wear down the main players of Tieyi Middle School until they couldn't run anymore, and the substitutes had no advantage. Every drop of sweat he shed on the court dripped into Park In-ji's heart. He couldn't wait to recruit Xu Kai, and was even willing to take him directly to a high school to find the school leaders for testing, make a decision as soon as possible, and confirm the special recruitment in advance.

Given the prestige of the high school, even without corresponding competition results, special talents can be specially recruited by the school. Xu Kai, with just his junior high school graduation certificate and negligible academic scores, can be specially recruited into the high school.

What? Three-pointers aren't a regular weapon?

Pooh.

In my team, as long as Xu Kai is willing to move off the ball, his three-pointers are a regular weapon whenever he has an opportunity. With my systematic training, his passing opportunities will be more reasonable, his shooting percentage will be higher, and his stamina...

His physical abilities will be our trump card.

He glanced at Liu Duosheng beside him and patted the other's arm: "I'll treat you to drinks tonight."

Liu Duosheng nodded, then turned to look back at the arena, his eyes filled with undisguised joy.

Old classmate, does it smell good?

This player is really good.

It smells so damn good.

Exhausted, Xu Kai suddenly launched a fast break and drove towards the paint, dunking three times in a row.

In terms of momentum, we completely crushed Tieyi Middle School. Facing a deficit of nearly ten points, everyone stood blankly on the field. I desperately tried to take the lead, but was chased.

I chased after him with all my might, but I could not catch up.

When the competition ended, all the students from Tie No. 2 Middle School cheered, and the students from Tie No. 1 Middle School also applauded Xu Kai. The story of this lone hero had a huge impact.

Although their school lost the game, every student spectator from Tieyi Middle School had the image of Xu Kai standing alone during the game, scoring goals time and time again with his individual skills, tenaciously equalizing and taking the lead.

In a middle school level game, if a player scores more than 40 points, what does that mean? It means that all the memorable moments of the entire game belong to that player.

Dong Bin's face was pale. He was exhausted, his whole body aching and his muscles trembling. Sweat rolled down his face. With the stubbornness and strength unique to young men, he walked up to Xu Kai and saw the other's relaxed expression. He almost gritted his teeth, hating himself for not being strong enough. He was convinced of the strength of the person in front of him.

"You're amazing, I lost this time..."

Xu Kai simply raised his hand, patted the outstretched hand, and interrupted the boy's anime-style declaration with a smile: "I'll set up a stall selling small commodities at your school gate on Saturday noon. If you have time, we can play ball together in the afternoon."

Dong Bin's face and expression were exactly the same as a meme that Xu Kai used to frequently use: Yao Ming's bewildered expression.

[What the heck? A street stall? Did I hear that right?]

Xu Kai explained, "I used to set up a stall at the city's No. 5 Middle School on Saturday noon. Now that I know you, I'll set up a stall near your school. You have to protect me and not let me get bullied. By the way, what's your relationship with the school's security guard? He can't kick me out, can he?"

Dong Bin casually replied, "No."

In every school, athletes are at the top of the food chain. Dong Bin is 2.02 meters tall and has a strong physique. Not only do some thugs on campus avoid him, but even some hooligans off campus keep their distance. Have you ever seen fists the size of sandbags or palm-sized hands? If you want to see them, Da Bin will definitely make it happen for you.

"It's settled then. You guys have half a day of classes on Saturday. After I finish selling the goods, I'll treat you to dinner. We can play basketball together in the afternoon. Everyone, if you're free in the afternoon, let's go sweep the other schools in the city." Xu Kai waved to the members of the Tieyi Middle School basketball team. Like Dong Bin, these guys hadn't quite grasped what Xu Kai had just said.

You're a campus basketball star! After today, you'll be the campus basketball star of the entire school! Shouldn't you be surrounded by flowers and applause, secretly admired by girls with starry eyes? You say you're setting up a stall selling small goods outside the school gate? That image...

I shook my head; I still couldn't believe it.

It's not that they look down on small vendors; it's just that in their minds, campus stars and small vendors can never be equated.

………………

After the awards ceremony, Park In-ji couldn't wait any longer. Yoo Da-sung received countless eye signals from him and, after feeling his vanity fully satisfied, he pulled Xu Kai and followed Park In-ji out of the group and into a restaurant.

"Ms. Park, I'm not a good student, and my family isn't well-off, but I don't want to disappoint my mother. She's raised me alone, and it's been hard for her. I want to make her happy; she would be so happy if I could go to a good high school..."

Xu Kai didn't hide anything, but his words contained things that an observer could perceive. Liu Duosheng glanced at him, then lowered his head, concealing his smile.

As expected, Park In-ji, overjoyed, immediately started making grand promises: "No problem, with your qualifications, passing the school's test is no problem. I know your situation. Old Liu said he would apply to the higher-ups to reduce part of your tuition. If you can bring honor to the school, there will also be a certain bonus."

Liu Duosheng chimed in, "This kid is growing, but his family isn't well-off, so I'm worried he's not getting enough nutrition. I prepare meals for him every day at noon. Old Pu, don't let this promising talent be ruined by you."

Park In-ji waved her hand dismissively: "I'll take care of the lunch cafeteria."

Xu Kai shook his head: "Teachers, that's not what I meant. I can earn my own money. After all, I have a bit of vanity and I feel more at ease spending what I earn myself. I mentioned that my family is not well-off because I hope Teacher Pu can help me apply for some freedom regarding my academic courses, that I can take them independently of the school. I promise to double my training volume. I just hope to set up a small stall and earn some money on my own."

Park In-ji frowned: "This is difficult. No. 1 High School is a provincial key high school with strict discipline."

Xu Kai shook his head again: "Teacher Park, you misunderstood me. I'm not asking for special treatment. I just want to know if we can skip some self-study classes after our basketball team's training."

Park In-ji nodded. Students with athletic talents don't expect to get high scores in academic subjects. The ultimate goal is to be admitted through special sports programs. Of course, there is a prerequisite: you must be an absolute top student in a high school like this, so that the school can see your qualifications for special admission to professional sports colleges. Only then will they give you some special consideration. Otherwise, even if you are admitted through special admission, you still have to take the college entrance examination normally in your senior year and be pushed to study hard by your homeroom teacher to avoid affecting the overall college entrance rate of the class and the school.

These things were all deliberately guided out of Park In-ji by Yoo Da-sung during the meal. The latter also realized this in the latter half, but since she had already said quite a bit, she didn't hide it from Xu Kai.

Children from poor families mature early, and these words won't cause him to slack off or have a negative impact. Xu Kai understood this and assured Park In-ji that as long as he was under his command, as long as he didn't die from training, he could train to the point of exhaustion.

Liu Duosheng made a joke, summarizing the meal: "Let's not open the champagne halfway through."

Park In-ji laughed and said, "Impossible. If I didn't have that confidence, I wouldn't have dragged Xu Kai to dinner, nor would I have said so much or made so many promises at the dinner table."

Finally, he gave Xu Kai a long look and painted a huge picture: "Kid, playing basketball can also help you break free from poverty."