Chapter 9: Bullfighting

  The next afternoon, after class was over, Gangzi excitedly pulled Gao Tianming towards the direction of the basketball court.

  As he came onto the court, Gangzi shouted towards the court: "Everyone stop for a moment, we have a new player joining!"

  Upon hearing Gangzi's shout, people from the surrounding courts gathered around, took a look at Gaotianming beside Gangzi, and some familiar faces couldn't help but laugh: "Gangzi, you've got your match, you've even dragged this little guy over."

  Gangzi burst out laughing and said: "That's right, and you don't know, this kid has made great progress in basketball skills during the summer vacation, I wonder what he did."

  Upon hearing Gangzi's introduction, everyone greeted each other with a nod, after all they were from the same department, perhaps some people weren't too familiar, but basically they had all met before.

  As for Gao Tianming joining the team, no one really considered him a main player. Some familiar people knew that Gao Tianming's skills were not bad, but he couldn't play as a main player yet.

  Most people just greeted Gao Tianming, but one person coldly snorted: "Gangzi, although you're the main force, don't bring in any trash. This isn't a dumping ground."

  Gao Tianming furrowed his brow slightly and turned around to see a person about the same height as him.

  "Lin Zimin, what's your business with me? What does it have to do with you that I'm playing ball at dawn?" Gangzi coldly shouted back at Lin Zimin's sarcasm.

  The teammates around knew that Gangzi and Lin Zimin had been enemies for a long time, fearing that the two would quarrel, and quickly pulled the two away from each other.

  After being stirred up by others, Geng Zi didn't feel like arguing anymore and took Gao Tianming to another court.

  It's been two months since summer vacation and I didn't play basketball at all. Yesterday was the first time I played, but my hand feeling is still a bit off.

  Clapping his hands on the basketball, a three-step layup, Gao Tianming threw the ball into the basket.

  "Clang!" The ball hit the backboard and didn't bounce into the basket.

  The players around found that the ball did not enter and could not help but feel a little disappointed.

  "Even a basic three-step layup can't be made, what's wrong with you." A voice from the side sneered and laughed sarcastically.

  "Lin Zimin, how's your ball game going? Don't need you to worry about it, do you? You damn well better not take advantage of the situation." Zhangzi was waving his fist and wanted to go up and give him a punch. But he was stopped by Gao Tianming on the side.

  "When a dog bites us, we don't need to bite back. Just take out the stick and beat it up." Gao Tianming said quietly to Gangzi.

  Picking up the basketball on the ground, Gao Tianming said to Lin Zimin with a disdainful face: "It's boring to play alone. How about we try it together?"

  "Bullfighting?" Lin Zimin pointed at himself with a look of disdain and said: "You want to bullfight with me?"

  The players around were shocked, they did not expect that Gao Tianming dared to challenge the main defender of the opposing team as soon as he came on.

  Gao Tianming nodded seriously, "Let's play a few rounds. If you lose, shut up from now on. If I lose, I'll quit the competition immediately. How about it?"

  "Fine, since you want to make a fool of yourself like this, I won't agree with you. Wouldn't that be losing face?" Lin Zimin coldly smiled and nodded, thinking to himself "Just wait and see, sometimes being arrogant without ability requires paying a price."

  When they saw the two men really fighting, people around the stadium gathered around.

  Gangzi pulled Tianming aside, "Tianming, no problem, right? That kid still has some skills."

  "Don't worry, although the feeling in my hand hasn't recovered yet, I should be able to handle that kid." Ga Tianming clenched his fist.

  "What are you two whispering about? If you regret it, now is still the time to back out." Lin Zimin said with a sly smile.

  "Alright," said Gao Tianming, holding the ball in his hand, "compared to 9 balls, whoever grabs the basket first wins. How about that?"

  "Good," Lin Zimin sneered, "we'll teach you how to play ball properly later."

  As more and more people gathered to watch, there were even a few beautiful girls in the middle. It's not easy to attract their attention normally, Lin Zimin became more and more excited.

  The ball was thrown directly in front of Lin Zimin, who caught it and pressed it without any issues. The ball was then thrown back to Gao Tianming, and the game was about to begin on both sides.

  The right to open the ball is determined by a free throw. Two people take turns shooting free throws. If one person makes it and the other doesn't, then the ball belongs to the person who made it.

  It's clear that Gao Tianming, who hasn't played for a long time, lost the free throw to Lin Ziming, and the ball belongs to Lin Ziming.

  "You'd better be careful! I won't go easy on you." Before the match began, Lin Zimeng didn't forget to verbally provoke Gao Tianming.

  Gao Tianming's face remained calm, as if he hadn't heard Lin Zimin's words at all.

  "Damn it, all you know is to pretend, let's see how long you can keep up the act." Lin Zimin cursed in his heart as he saw Gao Tianming's appearance.

  "Come on." Gao Tianming took a defensive stance and said confidently to Lin Zimin.

  As a defensive midfielder, Lin Zimin is most proud of his dribbling skills. His ball is rarely intercepted and his dribbling posture is indeed good-looking, with the most pride being able to shake off opponents.

  "Ball control is indeed good, but the ball that should be cut off won't leak away." Ga Tianming looked at Lin Zimin's continuous dribbling, adjusted his defensive posture, and waited for Lin Zimin to come over.

  Lin Zimin did not rush into the interior line, he wandered outside for a long time, showed off his ball control skills, and then started rushing into the interior line.

  (Lin Zimin made a **crossover**, moving the ball to his left hand and pretending to drive to the left. Gao Tianming quickly shifted his weight to the right, but Lin Zimin made another behind-the-back dribble, moving the ball back to his right hand. Gao Tianming hastily adjusted his defensive stance to the left, but this passive adjustment was ultimately a step too slow, and Lin Zimin easily broke through for an easy layup.)

  "Haha, so this is how it's played." Gao Tianming's heart was greatly settled.

  When Lin Zimeng dribbled the ball from behind Gao Tianming's left side, Gao Tianming deliberately slowed down a step, then closely followed Lin Zimeng from behind. At the moment when Lin Zimeng was about to score, a big hand directly covered the ball out of bounds.

  "Oh, hot pot!" As soon as they saw the neat and tidy cover, the people around them burst into cheers.

  "Come on!" Hearing the cheers around him, Lin Zimin's face turned red with rage. "Damn it, must be bad luck to have been accidentally bumped by this kid."

  "Alright." Gao Tianming looked at Lin Zimin and smiled.

  The game continued, but the outcome was heading in a direction opposite to what people expected. The ball in Lin Zimin's hands seemed to be under a spell and couldn't escape Gao Tianming's palm no matter what.

  On the contrary, Gao Tianming himself became more and more fluent, scoring several consecutive baskets after which his touch slowly returned, and some mid-range shots also went in.

  Lin Zimin found himself being restricted, and whenever he tried to break through, problems would arise. So he started trying outside shots, and although he made a few, his three-point shooting percentage was still not as high as his two-point shooting percentage.

  The final result of the match was 10:4.

  No one expected this pre-match score, and Gao Tianming surprisingly won, and won cleanly.

  P.S: If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know. I hope everyone will collect and recommend more, thank you little fish.