Chapter 72
As for what they’ll talk about…
En……Let’s get a good score first!
It was three days before the exam, He Shen obviously felt Qiao Shao’s anxiety.
In fact, it wasn’t just He Shen, even a certain silly husky noticed it too.
Song Yixu whispered to Qiao Shao. “Shao Ge, you don’t need to be so nervous. You’re the single thriving branch in our exam room.”
Even if you add up everyone in their exam room, no, everyone in the last three exam rooms, the amount of effort they put into studying wouldn’t equal Qiao Shao’s.
Qiao Shao responded perfunctorily. “I’m not nervous.”
But he didn’t even raise his head and continued to answer the exercise sheets.
Song Yixu looked at He Shen and gestured, ‘Is this alright?’
He Shen looked at the child and said, “Let’s take a break.”
Qiao Shao paused but still didn’t look up. “I’m not tired.”
He Shen held down his wrist and said, “Just a short break.”
Qiao Shao froze and looked up at him.
He Shen looked into his eyes. There was a seldom seen earnestness in his dark eyes.
Qiao Shao’s heart gave a jump. He looked down at his paper. “But I’m really not tired.”
“Only when you strike a proper balance between work and rest can you get trice the result with half the effort.” He Shen took his hand, “I’ll join you for a walk.”
Song Yixu quickly rushed in. “Why don’t we go play basketball? Kaizi went to reserve the field.”
He Shen asked Qiao Shao: “Do you want to play?”
Qiao Shao didn’t want to go anywhere, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull out his hand. “I …”
Song Yixu said, “After running and jumping around for a bit, when you come back, you’ll be able to finish three exercise sheets in one breath!”
He Shen said, “If you don’t want to play, then I’ll go with you to walk around the field.”
Song Yixu really wanted to drag He Shen to play, and said, “What so good about walking around there? Half of the playground’s full of couples. Did you not eat enough for dinner so now you want to eat dog food!”
With that statement, Qiao Shao’s nerves collapsed.
He Shen threw a look at Song Yixu.
Song Yixu’s hair stood on end, feeling a ghastly chill in the air. He stammered, “That … that …”
Qiao Shao pulled out his hand and said, “Let’s play.”
He Shen’s brows knitted slightly and he said, “Okay.”
Silly husky Song followed behind them, feeling that he had done something wrong, but didn’t know what.
Maybe his existence was what was wrong!
There was a lot of excitement over at the basketball court.
At this moment, there were still more than forty minutes before the evening self-study, enough time for the students to play around.
When Song Yixu came, Jie Kai called out, “Over here!”
Jie Kai immediately saw He Shen and looked very happy. “Oh, damn, Shen Ge came to abuse the noobs!”
This statement didn’t make the noobs around him upset. Instead, it sent the whole room rocking with laughter.
Qiao Shao, who was originally possessed by anxiety, laughed in spite of himself. Where’s your dignity!
He Shen saw the knit of his brows gradually loosening. He loosened his tie and said. “We’ll play with you guys for a bit.”
Song Yixu hid behind Jie Kai and said to the president of the Basketball Club, “Why do I feel that Shen Ge’s serious this time?”
Their president could be very open-minded. “Whether he takes it seriously or not, aren’t we all just noobs?”
Song Yixu was too surprised to utter a word. But he felt that this wasn’t the same…
He had this impression of seeing a great demon king holding back his fury, wanting to snatch all of them up to be offered as a sacrifice.
He was…probably…
Just imagining things! That’s right! Just his imagination!
After that, Song Yixu was made dizzy by this excellent display of skills to the point that he even thought of never touching a basketball again!
At first Qiao Shao couldn’t let go, couldn’t relax, but later he had a good time. Mainly because he was very happy to be on the same team as He Shen.
Obviously it was a game for ten people, but truth be told, it was more like one against five.
What’s more, his play was so domineering, he wasn’t even letting these five players breathe. So cool!
Qiao Shao’s stamina wasn’t very good, and after just half the game, he was already running out of breath.
He Shen asked him, “Go there and rest?”
Qiao Shao nodded repeatedly. “En!”
He Shen threw the ball to Song Yixu. “You guys play …”
He hadn’t finished speaking when Qiao Shao said, “You should finish the game.”
He Shen looked at him. “But aren’t you tired?”
The child’s forehead was all sweaty, and his skin tone became a little more watery.
Qiao Shao drank some water. “I’m going to rest but you’re not tired. You should finish the game, we’re winning.”
He Shen said, “It doesn’t matter if we win or not.” He only played to accompany Qiao Shao.
Qiao Shao had gotten enough exercise and was feeling more relaxed and he was even able to laugh. He said, “I want to watch.”
He Shen was stunned.
Qiao Shao regretted saying it a bit but he really did want to.
This was only human nature. He Shen plays so well. Who wouldn’t want to watch?
Well, “Straight guy” He probably wouldn’t want to all that much!
“When I’m on the court, I can’t see it very well.” Qiao Shao pointed to the corner over there, “I’ll go there to sit and watch.”
The corner of He Shen’s lips ticked up in a smile. “You want to watch me play?”
Qiao Shao’s face warmed up and said: “You’re not going to let me watch?”
He Shen looked at his blushing cheeks. He knew it was red from all that exercise, but this thought still flashed through his mind, ‘Then, I’ll need to put on a good show.’
Qiao Shao looked up and drank water, pretending not to care. “It’s up to you.”
His eyes kept shooting meaningful glances at him though.
When the game restarted, Qiao Shao watched in awe. Watching it on and off the court were totally different.On the court, he only felt that having He Shen as a teammate was great. As long as he gave the ball to him, he would definitely score.
His existence was inherently reassuring. Because as long as he was there, it meant victory.
Why was he so strong?
Qiao Shao stared at him, chin in hand. In his heart was both envy and like. There was also a bit of uneasiness.
There was really was a big gap between him and He Shen. He couldn’t do anything. He was also timid and weak-willed. He had lost the courage to face life just because he had been kidnapped.
He even chose to forget to run away from it all.
He even forgot about her…
Qiao Shao looked at the tall teenager running wildly on the court, and her image actually appeared in his mind.
She was sitting, basking in the sunlight. Her thin and frail body, her fair and clear complexion, and her eyes filled with love.
She was the gentlest person he had ever seen in his life.
She was the one who showered him with the most love.
She was his mother.
And he forgot her.
He didn’t even have the courage to remember her.
He Shen was in position to receive the ball when he glanced at Qiao Shao.
He knew that the child have been watching him, and he liked being watched by Qiao Shao …
“Shen Ge!” Song Yixu cried out in alarm.
It was a ball that could 100% be caught but it was like He Shen didn’t see it and he let it hit his head. With a slam, the ball bounced off and rolled on to the basketball court.
No one went to pick up the ball. Everyone stood gaping.
He Shen was hit and a red mark on his forehead. He strode out of the court as if he hadn’t noticed it at all.
No one knew what the matter was. No one knew what had happened. Until they followed the sight of his retreating back and saw Qiao Shao sitting outside the court…
Qiao Shao was sitting on the steps with a bottle of mineral water at his feet. The slender water bottle seemed to be slightly thicker than his calves. He wrapped his arms firmly around his knees and buried his head low. His body trembled as if he’d just heard news about the passing of a loved one…
He Shen squatted down in front of him, and took him into his arms. “Qiao Shao.”
His voice was so gentle, as though afraid to scare him.
But it was this light voice that awakened Qiao Shao.
Qiao Shao buried himself into He Shen’s arms, his voice quivered. “She’s dead, my mom…”
No matter what, he couldn’t say any more. It was like every word was like a sharp knife, slicing his throat raw and making him unable to utter a sound.
He Shen was shocked.
Although he already had a premonition early on, but hearing Qiao Shao say it, he still keenly felt the pain of it, like it was cutting into his skin.
He Shen knew better than anyone … He watched his mother commit suicide, and that scene became a nightmare that he could never get rid of.
“Cry,” He Shen said to Qiao Shao quietly. “Let it all out.”
He was saying this to Qiao Shao and perhaps even to himself of five years ago.