When She Stops Being Dramatic

Chapter 156: Chapter 73: Top Star of the ’60s Art Troupe (12)

At the concert, Xia Zhaoyun never thought she would see this man again.

The Capital City was vast and densely populated. With the Zhaoyang Clothing Factory located in the suburbs, she spent most of her work and personal life at the factory and rarely ventured out.

That was why she had decided to tease him, without thinking to disguise her voice.

Now, she put on a cutesy, high-pitched voice and asked, her tone a mix of joyful surprise and a slight tremor, ”Comrade, are you asking me?”

The man’s brow furrowed. ’My face is just too popular with women,’ he thought. ’Every time I have to strike up a conversation with one of them for whatever reason, they always overreact.’

Plenty of men got a strange kick out of that kind of cutesy voice, but he hated it. It sounded like a screeching bird, giving him a headache!

”Is this your first time here? The Cultural Palace is huge, so it’d be hard for me to explain. Why don’t I just take you there?” Xia Zhaoyun gushed with enthusiasm, acting as if she knew the place inside and out. Her eyes darted around behind her sunglasses, and after picking a direction, she prepared to lead him away.

The man couldn’t help but press a hand to his forehead. ’I’m supposed to be on my day off,’ he thought. ’When did I get so nosy? And now my nosiness has landed me in trouble!’

The basketball court was just behind the Cultural Palace—he could have just told him that in a single sentence. ’She really knows how to seize an opportunity to get close to someone.’

”That’s not necessary,” he said quickly. ”I just ran into someone I know. I’ll go with him.”

With that, he gave Xia Zhaoyun a nod and walked over to another man in a basketball uniform who had just walked up.

Xia Zhaoyun waved, a look of disappointment on her face. ”Alright then, Comrade... My surname is Dou, as in the tragic heroine Dou E. My name is Ni Wan...”

The man practically fled, which made his friend chuckle.

”Tianhao, you’ve got admirers blooming everywhere, huh? Can’t even handle a hottie like that? If we hadn’t been to the bathhouse together, I’d start questioning if you’re even into girls...” He didn’t get to finish his sentence before Huo Tianhao jabbed an elbow into his ribs.

”You’ve got a quick mouth. How come you’re not that quick with your three-pointers on the court?”

The man was speechless for a moment. ”Who can compare to you, old man? You’re number one at everything. We’re just here as your practice squad. If you’re not happy, I can just leave, you know?”

He pretended to turn and walk away, but when he glanced back, Huo Tianhao was already heading for the court without a care in the world, clearly having no intention of coaxing him back. He quickly hurried to catch up, leaned in, and sighed dramatically in his ear. ”I hope heaven smites you!” he muttered resentfully.

Then, his tone shifted. ”But Brother Hao, you have to go all out this time. Those guys from the North Courtyard are way too arrogant. We need to show them that there’s always a bigger fish in the sea!”

”I already told the guys. As soon as anyone gets the ball, they pass it to you...”

Huo Tianhao stopped in his tracks and gave him a wry look. ”So, what you’re saying is, it’s me against five of them? Are you guys just going to be decorations? Basketball is a team sport, you know!”

”Heh heh, Brother Hao, you’re the man,” his friend said with a cheeky grin, giving him a thumbs-up. ”You treat a full-court press like it’s nothing. The North Courtyard guys think this is a guaranteed win. They even got their hands on a Street Tracker from God knows where—fully street-legal with headlights, mirrors, bullhorn handlebars, front brakes, the works.”

”That bike is sick. Awesome design, great performance—it’s everything we’ve ever wanted. If you win, Brother Hao, the Street Tracker is yours. But you have to let the rest of us take it for a spin and get our fix.”

The two chatted as they walked around the Cultural Palace. Suddenly, their view opened up to reveal a surprisingly large sports ground carved out right in the middle of the bustling district.

A crowd of excited young men surrounded a cool-looking Street Tracker with a gray-blue, white, and black color scheme. The man straddling the motorcycle didn’t seem to mind the heat, dressed head-to-toe in leather. He casually tossed the matching helmet up and down, a smug look on his face as he basked in the crowd’s admiration.

”Well, well. Is this the ringer you guys brought in?” The moment Huo Tianhao appeared, the guys from the South Courtyard swarmed around him. The man on the motorcycle looked slightly annoyed and called out in a lazy drawl.

”He’s just a little tall. Doesn’t look like much...”

With Huo Tianhao there, the youths from the South Courtyard seemed to find their backbone. Their earlier dejection vanished, and they all stood up straighter, puffing out their chests. ”We’ll see who’s good on the court!”

Both groups were in their early twenties, a time of fierce competition and a burning desire to win. They were like the mid-morning sun, full of a restless energy, ready to pour every ounce of their passion and hot-blooded youth into this moment.

Before the game started, however, both sides repeatedly confirmed that the other could actually put up their promised stakes.

The North Courtyard’s stake was Xu Weilin’s imported, custom-modified motorcycle, which had previously won an award in a competition. The South Courtyard’s stake, contributed by Liu Mingkun, the young man who had arrived with Huo Tianhao, was an ancestral siheyuan—a sprawling four-courtyard residence that had once belonged to a First-Grade Official.