Chapter 54

Su Huiyu especially looked down on Gu Libo and also disliked Tang Yao, so he never treated them kindly whenever they met.

In Su Huiyu’s worldview, things like “friendship first, competition second” could go straight to hell. If he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t even bother with basic politeness—he’d just keep a cold face and walk around them.

But Tang Yao just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Even after losing the match, he still had to say a few snide remarks. He took the initiative to talk to Su Huiyu:

“If it’s just the two of us, you still have some room to maneuver. But when you run into Wei-ge and the others, you won’t even have a chance to struggle.”

Su Huiyu stopped, turned around, raised an eyebrow at him, and said:

“You’re always so talkative. Last time I saw you, you also talked a lot. What did you say again?”

The first time they met, Tang Yao had said Su Huiyu’s build wasn’t suitable for tennis and that his stamina would definitely be poor.

But reality had proven otherwise—Su Huiyu not only didn’t lack stamina, he had plenty of it. He stayed active the entire match without even breathing heavily.

Tang Yao’s expression darkened as he stared at Su Huiyu in silence.

Su Huiyu suddenly “remembered” and said:

“So even the stuff Wang Xuefu taught can beat you? And that was just a one-month crash course. As for you… nothing special. And that Wei-ge you mentioned…”

He shrugged, clearly unconcerned.

Tang Yao continued unhappily:

“You can go watch Wei-ge and his doubles matches. We’re not exaggerating. And I admit we lost this time, but next time it won’t be so easy. You just got lucky today.”

“Mm. Losing means bad luck. Got it.”

Tang Yao got angry and blurted out:

“You and Hou Mo—one of you looks down on people with his nose in the air, the other looks at people with rolled eyes. Standing together you’re like those two from Huafu. Who do you think you are, so handsome?!”

Su Huiyu froze.

He had no idea what “the two from Huafu” meant.

Seeing Tang Yao getting more and more irrational, Gu Libo pulled him back, trying to take him away.

Hou Mo, noticing Su Huiyu’s confusion, said:

“I don’t like people calling me ‘Hou-ge’. Jiang Wei, though, likes being called Wei-ge. Mm… next time we meet Wei-ge, we’ll have a proper match. See you.”

When he said “Wei-ge,” it sounded like something else entirely, which made Tang Yao glare in anger. Before he could respond, he was dragged away.

Hou Mo also led Su Huiyu away.

On the way, Su Huiyu kept thinking about it and asked:

“What are the Huafu brothers?”

Hou Mo lowered his head and replied:

“Characters from a movie.”

“What do they look like?”

“Uh…” Hou Mo didn’t know how to explain.

After passing a routine urine test and taking a quick shower, they entered rest time. Su Huiyu checked his phone and, after watching clips, rolled his eyes in frustration.

It turned out he really did habitually raise his chin slightly and press his lips together when looking at people—carrying an arrogant, slightly contemptuous air.

Hou Mo often looked down and then glanced up at people with a teasing expression.

Put together, it really did look like…

Su Huiyu put his phone down and went to find Tang Yao, but Hou Mo, who had been watching him, quickly stopped him.

“Yu-ge! Yu-ge! Don’t act impulsively—fighting will get you disqualified!”

“No! I didn’t get to insult him properly because I didn’t know what the Huafu brothers were! I need to go back and roast him now.”

“Don’t, don’t—there are more people from Dongti Affiliated High than us.”

“So what?!”

“It’s illegal to kill people!”

Su Huiyu forced himself to calm down.

Hou Mo wiped his sweat in relief.

Later, they returned to the lounge. The afternoon sunlight streamed in through the narrow horizontal window, warm and quiet.

In the calm room, the two boys fell asleep. Su Huiyu’s head rested in Hou Mo’s arms, his hair gently moving with Hou Mo’s breathing.

Peaceful.

At night, Hou Mo discussed upcoming opponents on his phone while occasionally glancing up to see Su Huiyu pacing back and forth irritably.

“Sit down and rest for a bit,” Hou Mo said.

“I should’ve cursed him back. I just let it go. I can’t get over it.”

Hou Mo coaxed him:

“Next time, don’t let them off.”

But Su Huiyu kept pacing.

Hou Mo used his “trump card”:

“Rub my hand. I need it to hold my phone.”

Finally, Su Huiyu came over and sat beside him, massaging his hand.

But suddenly, he shot up like a carp:

“I should’ve called him a gorilla! A savage!”

“Right, right,” Hou Mo nodded quickly, almost startled by the sudden movement.

After venting again, Su Huiyu sat back down and continued rubbing Hou Mo’s hand.

Hou Mo tapped his face gently and asked:

“When you’re arguing with me, are you like this too?”

“At school, if I weren’t afraid of dragging others into it, I would’ve gone to your dorm and hit you!”

“Ah, so when I showed up, you were pretty happy, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“If I hadn’t gone to your place, how long would you have held it in?”

“Don’t know. Maybe until Monday.”

Later, Hou Mo tried to calm him by analyzing their next opponents:

Jiang Wei and Lu Qinghui from Dongti Affiliated High were extremely strong. They were technically complete, with no obvious weaknesses. Against them, their win rate was only about 20%.

Su Huiyu went silent.

“I don’t want to lose,” he said.

“No one wants to lose,” Hou Mo replied. “But I’ll find a way.”

“Am I holding you back?”

“No,” Hou Mo said softly. “I’m glad I met you. I want to get stronger with you and beat every opponent we currently can’t defeat.”

Su Huiyu gradually fell asleep, still holding Hou Mo’s hand.

Hou Mo looked at their intertwined hands in the dark.

A little uncomfortable… but not unpleasant.

He gently tried to pull away his hand.

Half-asleep, Su Huiyu swatted him away and held onto his injured hand even tighter, even unconsciously rubbing it.

Hou Mo’s other hand silently retreated.

Fine.

You win.

Ancestor.