Edited by Dobhsh
Fengyu High School had lengthy classes; the first and second subjects were combined into one class, while the third and fourth subjects were combined into another.
When recess rolled around, the teacher closed his book and went out into the corridor with the intention to scold the troublemakers, but instead what he saw was that Sui HouYu had fallen asleep leaning against Hou Mo. Witnessing this scene, he was so angry that his nostrils flared.
Other students passing by the corridor on their way to the bathroom couldn’t help but do a double take at the troublemakers as they passed by.
Amidst the bustling crowd, the two teenagers stood leaning on each other. With their outstanding appearance and fair skin, their bodies seemed to be radiating light as they stood in the corridor, and the onlookers couldn’t help but shield their eyes.
A few girls passed by them, arms linked together while their hands covered their giggles, their gazes lingering on the two as they walked by.
“You sleep pretty well; it must be nice to be able to sleep that deeply.” The teacher humphed with a book under his arm.
Hou Mo nudged Sui HouYu with his elbow.
Sui HouYu opened his eyes groggily. First he looked at the teacher, then he straightened up and looked at Hou Mo.
Just now… had he fallen asleep?
While standing?
Taking a look at his surroundings, it was obvious that class was over.
He didn’t even hear the bell ringing after class. How could he sleep so soundly standing up?
He was so shocked that he forgot to blink and looked down at the U-shaped pillow around his neck.
The teacher looked at Sui HouYu and asked, “What’s your name?”
This teacher was from Fenghua. He knew Hou Mo and how annoying he could be; however, since he was good at studying, the teacher didn’t bother with him.
Sui HouYu was still staring at the pillow, so he unconsciously let out his name.
“Sui HouYu.” He replied in a low voice.
“Sui HouYu.” The teacher tilted his head, thought for a while, and then took out his mobile phone to look at the stored pictures and asked, “Were you the number one in Lantau?”
“Yes.”
“Is that how you learn?”
“Roughly so.”
The teacher was not ready to let them go, so he opened his book to test them. Both students were able to answer correctly.
What else could he do?
He stared at the two again, and with his anger completely subsided, he finally let them go.
When the two returned to the classroom, Sui HouYu found that Ran Shu and Su AnYi had picked up his cards. After he sat back down on his seat, he continued to frown while staring suspiciously at Hou Mo.
What happened just now?
Why did he suddenly fall asleep?
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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*
Sports students usually train in the afternoon.
Sometimes they will attend the fifth and sixth classes, but normally, once the afternoon came around, half of the class would already be gone.
When Coach Wang came to call upon the sports students, he purposely sought out Sui HouYu and smilingly asked, “Little student, do you want to play together with them?”
Hou Mo, packing his things, casually commented, “Even if he practices, he’s no match for me.”
Sui HouYu was weak against provocation and decided to join them.
Ran Shu’s interest had been piqued before, but he hadn’t dared to ask. Since the opportunity had presented itself, he immediately went along with Sui HouYu.
Having finished placing towels and water bottles inside his backpack, Hou Mo walked behind Sui HouYu and stared at the other’s neck as they walked.
Sui HouYu was very fair-skinned, and his neck was thin and slender. The way the tips of his hair curled was also unusual, which made it interesting to look at as it swayed and bounced with every step.
After arriving at the training grounds, Coach Wang deliberately showed off the students he was training, calling them over and saying, “Hou Mo, Sang Xian, Deng YiHeng, and Shen JunJing, you guys come here and show a run for the interested players.
Ran Shu was puzzled and asked, “Is there something to perform?”
Coach Wang just smiled and instructed, “Hou Mo, take the lead.”
The four boys nodded and began to run on the track.
After a while, Coach Wang ordered Sui HouYu and Ran Shu, “Take a video of them as they run and pause it every once in a while. If there is any frame where their steps and arm swings are different, tell me, and I will punish them by adding an extra lap.”
Ran Shu couldn’t help but mutter, “So crazy.”
Sui HouYu actually took out his mobile phone and started to record. In the video, the four people’s steps, arm swings, and running speeds were almost exactly the same. It was really difficult to see the difference with the naked eye.
It was very difficult. Maybe the wrinkling of the clothes was different?
Ran Shu observed the video and began to press pause after every 30 seconds. Each time he paused, he found that the four people were really in sync.
It was absolutely amazing.
While Sui HouYu continued filming, Ran Shu asked, “ Are your…your…your students practicing to raise their legs?”
“Ah?” This amazing question stunned Coach Wang.
“They…they basically seem to be running just like each other; the way their arms swing and the way their legs flex. Especially that Deng YiHeng, his feet don’t even look like they’re hitting the ground.”
Coach Wang laughed at the question.
The students he had asked to demonstrate really seemed to be showing off.
“That’s because you haven’t seen them after they finish strength training; now that’s more interesting.” Coach Wang replied with a smile.
On the other side, Sui HouYu finished recording the whole run. When he paused to watch the action, several sports students came back just in time to hear the audio captured in the video.
They all looked at each other, before Hou Mo finally turned to Deng YiHeng and said, “Go walk and show me.”
Deng YiHeng was very puzzled and took a few steps.
After Hou Mo was done watching, he turned to Sang Xian and asked, “Do I walk like this?”
Sang Xian replied in a low voice, “Better than him.”
Shen JunJing then quipped, “Well, Da Shixiong walks like someone looking for a fight.”
Just as Coach Wang was about to go answer a phone call, he instructed Hou Mo, “Hou Mo, teach these two reserve players.”
After that, he walked away to answer the phone.
It was obvious that Hou Mo was often ordered around like this.
Hou Mo couldn’t help but mutter, “Are these the reserve players?”
Then he beckoned to Sui HouYu and Ran Shu, “Come here, I’ll teach you some basics.”
Since they were already here, Sui HouYu and Ran Shu approached Hou Mo and listened attentively.
At that moment, Hou Mo seemed like one of those men who are forced to do business. In a bored tone, he casually informed the two, “Do you know about tennis courts? Generally, there are four different types of courts: grass, red clay, hard ground, and artificial grass. Here at our school, we only have three types. After all, we are currently located in the Northeast, and natural grass needs strict conditions to grow right—not to mention that maintaining it is expensive. If we can’t have a grass court that is up to standard, then there’s just no need to bother. However, even so, our school is still one of the rare ones that has three different types of courts.”
He pointed at the outdoor field and said, “That is red clay, normally used during open tournaments.”
He took two tennis balls from a basket and handed one each to Sui HouYu and Ran Shu, then continued on with his lecture. “You can feel it with your shoes, or you can also throw the ball to feel it. This field is very rough, which gives it great friction. Friction can reduce speed.”
He bounced a ball on the ground and caught it, then continued, “So the speed of the ball after it hits the ground will also decrease, which will give the players more time to move. When we fought here last time, you felt it too, didn’t you? This tests the skills of the baseliner.”
Sui HouYu nodded and confirmed, “Yeah.”
Hou Mo asked, “What type of court did your cram school have?”
“You know I go to cram school?”
“Ah…” Hou Mo was suddenly embarrassed and tried to pass it off with a dry smile. “I heard a little about it.”
“Artificial grass.” Sui HouYu pointed to the field next to him. “That kind.”
Hou Mo nodded and told Sui HouYu, “That kind of court is more unpredictable, as some are made out of plastic while others are nylon. It’s difficult to predict the movements of the ball as the flatness and roughness of the surface differ. After you get used to that kind of court, it’ll be a challenge for you to switch courts suddenly, so you must be well versed in all kinds of courts if you want to participate in a competition.”
“Is there a reason why I was not familiar with the clay court last time?” Sui HouYu asked after thinking.
“Yes, isn’t the Queen of the national team just not good at playing on clay courts? However, it’s more due to the food you eat.”
When Ran Shu heard this, he became upset, “You…you, this is your area of expertise; why are you being so arrogant? Let’s see you do splits!”
Hou Mo quickly admitted, “They are not the same thing.”
Ran Shu let out a “tsss”.
Hou Mo led them to the indoor court, where the other team members were warming up.
Most of the members gawked at them the same way one would at foreign tourists.
Hou Mo stepped on the court and said, “This is a hard court. If you take a walk here, you can feel how hard it is. Such a smooth surface will make the ball bounce faster and more regularly. However, the place where we train most is not here, as the rebound here is strong; long-term training will cause more damage to the body. This place just allows us to familiarize ourselves with the environment.”
“How about on a grass court?” Sui HouYu asked in a soft voice.
“It has low friction, and the ball rebounds very quickly. Your playstyle seems to lean towards a baseliner, which is more effective on a grass court. Moreover, you are as flexible as a monkey and pretty agile; a grass court might become your favorite.”
“Oh…” It seemed that after several rounds with him, Hou Mo had already analyzed his playing style.
After thinking for a moment, Hou Mo continued, “Do you know the competition system? The men’s Grand Slam is three wins in five sets, while the other singles are two wins in three sets.”
“I know,” Sui HouYu replied coldly to this question.
Hou Mo rubbed his head in frustration and asked, “What else is there to say?” ”
After thinking for a moment, Hou Mo handed his racket to Sui HouYu and said, “Show me how you hold a racket.”
Sui HouYu took it and held it for Hou Mo to see.
Hou Mo took back the racket and raised it to give a demonstration. “The way you hold it is called the continental style. This is called an eastern style, while this one is a semi-western style. When I played against you, I was using the semi-western style. Do you see my thumb? Hold down the upper surface of the racket handle, and place the index finger here…”
Ran Shu wasn’t able to differentiate and got confused after watching the demonstration. “What…what’s the difference between this?”
Hou Mo replied, “I hold it this way because it makes it easier to rotate and exert more force; it is very flexible.”
At this moment, Coach Wang finally came back and told the three of them, “Hou Mo, try playing doubles with Sui HouYu. Deng YiHeng and Shen JunJing will be your opponents.”
Hou Mo didn’t want to look at the coach; he had revealed his intentions so quickly and without any warning.
Sui HouYu was confused, “Doubles?”
When he was learning tennis, he focused only on playing singles. He never tried doubles.
Coach Wang smiled particularly sinisterly and bluffed, “Yes, doubles. If you want to defeat him, you must first get to know him. Playing doubles with him is the easiest way to understand his style of play.”
The author has something to say:
*The reference material for this chapter is “Learning to Play Tennis by Looking at Pictures”, but the text has been rewritten in my own language. Just like a formula, the concept still has the same meaning even if the introduction is changed. For example, the characteristics of each venue are still the same. Please understand this.
If there is a reference from the original text later, it will be marked and reflected.
In addition, men’s matches would still be three wins out of five sets, and women’s matches are all two wins out of three. Most of the competitions in this book will be two out of three.
Nell’s Corner:
Guess who’s back after shamelessly being MIA after 6 months. That’s right, me. And I come bearing good and bad news.
Good news is I finally have a schedule: I will be updating every Sunday EST (unless if I finish the chapter earlier, like what is happening now) because I finally got my shit together enough to finally commit to a schedule. Although this would be subject to change once I get a new editor.
Which is my bad news. A small part of the reason why this chapter took so long to finish was because my editor became too busy to do this favor for me. So now I am on the prowl for a new one; if you know someone interested, or you would like to apply yourself, feel free to send me a dm on discord (mayazero#5079). A disclaimer though, I will give you a little test but no worries, it will be easy hehehe~ I have an editor now! Give it up for Dobhsh~
Also to those wondering why there are no comments, I originally made those for the private amusement of my editor. Now that they are gone, I don’t see the point in continuing them – most especially since I don’t trust myself not to make personal controversial comments lmao.
Hope you enjoy the chapter!
Thank you for the chapter!! Glad you’re back<3
thanks for the chapter ☺️
I’m so happy to see this! Didn’t even realise it’s been 6 months. Good luck on whatever is keeping you busy. Thanks for the chapter 💕