The incident happened so suddenly that neither the people on the court nor the spectators had time to react.
Cheng Yuanchao only noticed that Yu Jiu had been knocked to the ground after seeing Zhai Chi move.
“What happened? What’s going on?”
“It looks like Yu Jiu got knocked over.”
“Isn’t that a foul?”
“…”
A wave of murmurs arose in the stands.
It wasn’t unusual for someone to fall during a basketball game, but the fact that it was Yu Jiu made it quite surprising.
Especially since the one who collided with Yu Jiu was Xu Shi.
When it came to basketball, Yu Jiu had two defining traits: agility and stability. By all accounts, there was no way someone like Xu Shi could knock him to the ground.
“Xu Shi, what’s your deal?” Cheng Yuanchao blurted out.
Xu Shi had just completed what he thought was a brilliant shot. Turning around to see Yu Jiu on the ground, he feigned confusion and asked, “What do you mean, what’s my deal?”
“You…”
Cheng Yuanchao was at a loss for words and turned to check on Yu Jiu instead.
Yu Jiu’s head was still spinning.
Just moments ago, that overwhelming stench of luosifen pheromones had nearly knocked him unconscious.
Yu Jiu wasn’t particularly picky about food, but there were two things he absolutely couldn’t stand: [mfn] Luosifen:(Chinese: 螺螄粉; pinyin: luósīfěn; lit. ‘Snail rice noodle‘)The dish consists of rice noodles boiled and served in a soup. The stock that forms the soup is made by stewing river snails and pork bones for several hours with black cardamom, fennel seed, dried tangerine peel, cassia bark, cloves, white pepper, bay leaf, licorice root, sand ginger, and star anise. Many often recognize this noodle dish as something stinky. This dish is full of umami.[/mfn]luosifen and durian.
And with his current condition, direct contact with an Alpha’s pheromones was the last thing his body could handle.
The dual impact of the physical collision and the overwhelming smell left Yu Jiu momentarily stunned, forgetting to push himself off the floor. It wasn’t until someone helped him up from behind that he came back to his senses.
“Are you okay?”
The voice in his ear carried obvious urgency.
Maybe it was the support from behind, but Yu Jiu felt his previously heavy body become noticeably lighter. He shook his head and replied, “I’m fine.”
Just as he tried to prop himself up, someone grabbed his elbow.
“Thank you…” Yu Jiu instinctively expressed his gratitude. But when he turned his head, he was met with a sharply defined face, which left him momentarily dazed.
Zhai Chi wasn’t even looking at him. He gripped Yu Jiu’s elbow firmly and said, “Come on, let’s get you up.”
“…”
Rather than standing up, Yu Jiu felt more like he was being lifted.
He half-leaned against Zhai Chi’s chest, with almost no room to refuse.
He even caught a faint whiff of a refreshing minty scent coming from Zhai Chi—not like pheromones, but something pleasantly soothing. Yu Jiu couldn’t help but find himself drawn to it.
But he quickly straightened himself up and thanked Zhai Chi again, this time in a more distant and polite manner.
Zhai Chi frowned slightly but didn’t respond.
“How are you? You’re not hurt, are you?” Cheng Yuanchao came over to check.
Yu Jiu felt a burning sensation in the palm of his hand. Without looking, he instinctively tried to hide his hand behind his back. Just as he was about to say he was fine, someone moved faster and grabbed his wrist.
“Your hand’s scraped…” Zhai Chi had intended to check the injury, but when he lifted Yu Jiu’s wrist, he noticed something else in his palm.
There was a long, jagged scar extending from the base of Yu Jiu’s thumb to the edge of his palm.
Before he could get a closer look, Yu Jiu abruptly yanked his wrist back, leaving no chance for further inspection.
Zhai Chi’s shock was evident as he looked up, but Yu Jiu avoided meeting his gaze.
“I probably braced myself instinctively when I fell,” Yu Jiu explained. “It’s just a scratch. A band-aid will do.”
Zhai Chi: “…”
Still holding his arm mid-air, Zhai Chi froze, unsure what to do next.
Before he could recover, the referee finally arrived at the scene.
The game’s referee, who was also the basketball team’s coach, delivered an unsatisfactory ruling:
“Xu Shi didn’t commit a foul. He was shooting and didn’t make physical contact with Yu Jiu. Yu Jiu was knocked over while moving, so it counts as a defensive foul.”
“…”
“You’re saying Yu Jiu was the one who fouled?” Cheng Yuanchao looked at Yu Jiu in disbelief.
He had been defending Zhai Chi at an angle and hadn’t seen exactly how Yu Jiu fell. But how could someone like Yu Jiu make such a rookie mistake?
“I smelled pheromones just now.” Yu Jiu answered Cheng Yuanchao’s doubt directly.
The pheromones had affected him, and he instinctively waved his hand to disperse the smell, accidentally committing a foul in the process.
Cheng Yuanchao immediately turned to Xu Shi. “You released your pheromones?”
“Who released pheromones?” Xu Shi denied vehemently. “Vice-captain Yu, don’t accuse me without evidence! Aren’t you a Beta? How can you even smell pheromones? How do you know it was pheromones? Even if it was, how would it affect you? A foul is a foul—don’t be such a sore loser.”
Although he was defending himself, everything Xu Shi said, from his words to his smug expression, revealed his disdain for Yu Jiu.
Yu Jiu’s gaze darkened, but he didn’t plan to argue.
Releasing pheromones was something that happened in a split second and was directed at him alone. Without others noticing, there was no way to prove it.
A pointless argument wasn’t worth the effort. Winning the game was what mattered.
“There was,” a voice suddenly interrupted. Zhai Chi, who had been silent all this time, spoke up. “It was luosifen-scented pheromones. Very unpleasant.”
Xu Shi: “…”
Yu Jiu: “…”
Xu Shi’s face changed instantly, not expecting his own teammate to sell him out.
Yu Jiu, on the other hand, was surprised that Zhai Chi would speak up for him and couldn’t help but glance at him.
And for some reason, he felt that Zhai Chi’s mood wasn’t quite right. His tone sounded… unusually cold.
Cheng Yuanchao was the first to react, glaring at Xu Shi. “Xu Shi, isn’t your pheromone scent luosifen? Still denying it now?”
“I didn’t!” Xu Shi stubbornly refused to admit it. He shot a look at Zhai Chi and gritted his teeth, saying, “Fine, I released a little pheromone, but it wasn’t intentional. I’ve been running and sweating for so long—of course, there’d be some pheromone smell! It’s not like I want to smell like luosifen. It’s just my body type, okay? What, are you going to blame me for that too?”
He had clearly decided to shamelessly double down and refuse responsibility.
“You—”
“Let it go, captain,” Yu Jiu interrupted Cheng Yuanchao’s indignation. “Isn’t the second quarter over? I’ll go take a break.”
He needed some time to recover before the second half of the game.
Turning towards the bench, he saw Yu San rushing over anxiously. “Brother Jiu, are you okay? That idiot Xu Shi—did he do it on purpose?”
“I’m fine.” Yu Jiu took the water bottle Yu San handed him, twisted off the cap, and took a sip. Then, he briefly explained what had happened on the court.
Yu San couldn’t hold back after hearing that. “Damn, Xu Shi is such a scumbag. He knows you hate Alpha pheromones the most!”
Yu Jiu, however, showed no negative emotions. After drinking some water and calming down, he said, “Do you have any scent blockers with you?”
“I do. Do you want it?” Yu San asked while taking it out.
Scent blockers were commonly used by Alphas and Omegas to prevent their pheromones from leaking out and to minimize the impact of others’ pheromones. Betas could use them too.
Although Betas, who didn’t undergo secondary differentiation, were generally unaffected by AO pheromones, they could still smell them. Since everyone had different preferences, encountering unpleasant scents was inevitable when dealing with large groups of people. Thus, using a scent blocker was often practical.
Yu Jiu took the spray and applied it liberally on himself.
On the court, Xu Shi showed no guilt for cheating. He watched Yu Jiu’s motion, which looked like spraying sunscreen, and sneered, “A Beta using scent blockers? What a pretentious faker!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than there was a loud “bang.” A basketball slammed onto the ground and bounced toward him.
Instinctively, Xu Shi caught the ball and looked up.
The person standing opposite him showed no expression. “Do you want to score?”
“…”
Xu Shi didn’t quite understand what he meant.
Although Xu Shi had recruited Zhai Chi to help him deal with Yu Jiu, they weren’t close at all. Aside from playing one basketball game during PE, they barely spoke to each other in class.
Xu Shi had thought it wouldn’t matter if Zhai Chi ignored him, as long as he helped him defeat Yu Jiu. But Zhai Chi’s earlier move to defend Yu Jiu left Xu Shi with an uneasy feeling.
Without waiting for a response, Zhai Chi continued, “I’ll pass you the ball in the second half. You score.”
Then he turned around, leaving Xu Shi to process his words.
Zhai Chi would pass him the ball so he could score?
Xu Shi froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up.
On the basketball court, the players who scored always got the most attention.
In the first half, Yu Jiu and Zhai Chi had been the stars of the show. Xu Shi had barely gotten any chances to shine, apart from a single shot he made.
But now Zhai Chi was saying he’d pass him the ball?
Excited, Xu Shi stepped onto the court for the second half with noticeably more energy.
Cheng Yuanchao, worried about Yu Jiu’s hand, said, “You focus on defense. I’ll handle Zhai Chi.”
Yu Jiu replied, “No need. I’m fine.”
It was just a scraped palm, nothing that would affect his performance.
Besides, it wasn’t that he underestimated the captain—he simply felt that against someone like Zhai Chi, they had little chance of winning. If the team relied solely on the captain to attack, their chances of victory would be even slimmer.
Feeling a faint discomfort at the back of his neck, Yu Jiu was all the more determined to win.
He glanced at Zhai Chi’s position, took a deep breath, and focused.
However, the second half of the game unfolded in a way they didn’t expect.
In the first half, Cheng Yuanchao had been observing Zhai Chi and Yu Jiu’s matchup, which was why he hadn’t coordinated much with Yu Jiu. In the second half, worried about Yu Jiu’s hand injury, he started playing more seriously.
Even so, Zhai Chi still intercepted the first rebound.
Watching Zhai Chi dribble toward their basket, Cheng Yuanchao was momentarily stunned before quickly falling back to defend. But he was already one step too late.
Just as he thought they were about to lose points again, Zhai Chi, instead of shooting, passed the ball to Xu Shi when Yu Jiu caught up to him.
“…”
Xu Shi’s face lit up with excitement as he reached for the ball, but he froze momentarily when he caught it.
The force of Zhai Chi’s pass was unusually strong.
When the ball hit his palm, it felt like his wrist bones had been jolted violently.
But Xu Shi didn’t think much of it at the time. He was eager to shoot, and with a smooth toss, the ball hit the rim and rolled in.
Xu Shi couldn’t hide his satisfaction, but that moment of glory was short-lived.
For the rest of the game, Zhai Chi completely changed his strategy, turning himself into Xu Shi’s sidekick, constantly passing him the ball.
At first, Xu Shi managed to keep up. But after receiving a few more passes, his palms started to sting, as though someone had whipped them with bamboo sticks.
“Xu Shi, catch!”
“Xu Shi!”
“What are you standing there for? Shoot!”
“…”
Zhai Chi’s reminders echoed across the court.
Yet after the first two points of the second half, their team’s score didn’t budge. Meanwhile, Yu Jiu’s team continued to widen the gap.
“What’s wrong with Xu Shi? Why is he getting worse?”
“Damn it, another miss! He’s driving me crazy!”
“Why isn’t Zhai Chi shooting himself? Xu Shi’s useless!”
“What a waste of Zhai Chi’s passes!”
The crowd supporting Zhai Chi grew increasingly frustrated watching Xu Shi miss shot after shot. They wished they could storm the court and kick him off the team themselves.
On the sidelines, Yu San didn’t care whether Xu Shi scored or not. All he cared about was whether his idol, Yu Jiu, was performing well. With a camera in hand, he frantically captured every one of Yu Jiu’s brilliant moments.
Next to him, Zhou Duo frowned at Zhai Chi, completely unable to understand what he was doing.
Several times, Zhai Chi had the chance to score himself, but instead, he went out of his way to pass the ball to Xu Shi. Was he out of his mind?
On the court, Xu Shi’s face was already livid. If he didn’t realize by now that Zhai Chi was doing this on purpose, then he might as well have wasted the last ten-plus years of his life.
He was seething with rage but couldn’t lose his temper on the court.
What made it worse was that he couldn’t just walk off either!
The game had been his idea. Losing would already be humiliating enough, but walking away halfway through would be even worse.
With no other choice, he gritted his teeth and finished the game. By the time the fourth quarter ended, his palms were completely numb from the pain.
The final score: 72–41.
Yu San was the first to rush onto the court. “Holy crap, Jiu-ge, you’re amazing! 72–41! Absolute domination!”
“Hey, you over there! Don’t forget to cough up the money! Don’t be a sore loser!”
“…”
Xu Shi’s hands weren’t the only thing hurting—his heart was aching too!
“Cash only, no transfers,” Yu Jiu added calmly, driving the knife in deeper.
Xu Shi’s chest heaved in frustration. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. With a snort, he tossed aside the basketball and stormed over to Zhai Chi.
“You did that on purpose, didn’t you?!”
Zhai Chi looked innocent. “What? Was my passing off?”
“You!” Xu Shi fumed. “You could’ve taken those shots yourself! Why did you…”
Why did you deliberately pass the ball to him, just to humiliate him?
And they were teammates, for crying out loud! Xu Shi couldn’t wrap his head around why Zhai Chi had suddenly turned on him.
Yu Jiu couldn’t make sense of it either.
For the latter half of the game, Zhai Chi had clearly been messing with Xu Shi.
At first, Yu Jiu wondered if Xu Shi had wanted to stand out and had asked Zhai Chi to create scoring opportunities for him. But after the game, when Xu Shi was the first to confront Zhai Chi, it clearly wasn’t something they’d coordinated in advance.
It was the same when Xu Shi tripped earlier in the game—Zhai Chi had seemed to side with him.
Just as Yu Jiu was mulling it over, Zhai Chi, still being interrogated by Xu Shi, suddenly chuckled. “You might not believe this, but I’m not that great at shooting. All those earlier points were just lucky shots.”
Yu Jiu: “…”
Xu Shi: “…”
What an outright lie.
Yu Jiu couldn’t help but laugh. He had just started smiling when Zhai Chi, as if sensing something, turned to look his way.
Their eyes met, and Yu Jiu’s smile froze briefly. Zhai Chi, however, brightened at the sight.
“…”
With their gazes now locked in a “close encounter,” pretending not to notice would be too obvious. Yu Jiu forced himself to smile again, then quickly looked away.
Zhai Chi’s heart skipped a beat, and after a moment, a small smile curved his lips.
He thought: It seems like Yu Jiu doesn’t hate me that much anymore.
Meanwhile, Xu Shi, still standing in front of him, nearly had a heart attack watching Zhai Chi’s ever-widening grin. Without another word, he turned to leave, determined to escape this humiliating scene.
“Oh, wait a minute,” Zhai Chi called out suddenly.
Xu Shi turned back impatiently, only to see Zhai Chi leaning closer and lowering his voice. “If you ever release your pheromones around Yu Jiu again, I’ll make sure you never set foot on a basketball court for the rest of your life.”
“…”
Zhai Chi’s words were spoken with a smile, and his expression carried no real menace. Yet Xu Shi felt a chill run down his spine.
He looked up at Zhai Chi in disbelief.
So all of Zhai Chi’s antics on the basketball court… were because of Yu Jiu?!
Zhai chi passing the ball to teach a lesson to Xu shi was so satisfying but honestly it’s funny how the author gave him(Xu shi) pheromones of something that is known to smell stinky 😂
