As another year of summer holidays ended, our main character and his friends saw many strange faces in school; meanwhile, Liu Qi farted out his usual boring activity of "observing new beauties". The senior's "Hall of Honor" was posted on the bulletin board at the school entrance and people come and went again. Zhang Jun and his friends were now in their sophomore year.
There were Art and Science classes in sophomore year while the three classes in which Zhang Jun were placed in were dismissed as liberal arts classes. Most of his classmates during the first year had been split into seven other classes. Of course, being a dunce in Science, Zhang Jun chose to be left at the third class, which was his new liberal arts class. But as he took a look around himself, he wondered why Su Fei ended up in the liberal arts class too when she was a Science genius.
The liberal arts education in Shu Guang High School was not really good since the Art students were completely annihilated in last year's college entrance exams. How would her chances be of getting into the exam, being in the third class? Also, why were Yang Pan, Kaka, An Ke and Ren Yu De in the same class too? Was it not a little too coincidental? Why were they all from the soccer team? Zhang Jun was pretty confident that the head teacher of the third class, Liang Ke would not care much.
An Ke bluntly said, "Why did I end up in the third class? I'm better in Science than the liberal arts! Argh, our coach must have performed some black magic! My God! The dark Chinese Education―" Before he could finish talking, his brain began to shut down.
As Liang Ke walked onto the podium, he faced everyone with a smile and said, "Welcome to the third class everyone. I hope we can happily get through the next two years together. After this, everyone's task is to take the college entrance examination. So, don't be lazy because your responsibility is to study!"
At least four people gave him a cheer in their hearts.
...
No matter what it was, they were already in their second year. After a year had passed, what would the new year bring everyone?
Liang Ke gleefully watched as the new batch of first-year recruits trained on the field. There were a few new members in the team this year; last year's miracle and their glorious defeat at the hands of Zhongyuan had greatly elevated Shu Guang's popularity.
What made him even more excited was the fact that some of the newly recruited members possessed great potential. They could definitely fill in the missing spots of the previous seniors.
Lin Xiaofang was their new defensive midfielder at a height of 187 cm. His heading was not bad and he joined the school team in his first year. The only thing he lacked was the experience of participating in a match. Liang Ke's main focus was to train him in the skills and experiences of the world's outstanding defenders. He also gave him a few video clips of the world's best defensive midfielders for him to observe. Fortunately, many schools volunteered to play warm-up matches this year and he hoped that he could train him more before the preliminary matches started.
Chen Bo was the new right-sided defender with a height of only 167 cm. He joined his school team in his first year as well. He had a good build as well as speedy movements, which were fierce and tenacious. He was the type who would risk his own life to play soccer. There were times where he could be impatient and that was when he would have poor judgment of timing, making his soccer skills a little rough on the edges. There was also an issue of experience; he needed to improve step by step in matches. However, Liang Ke was unsure if he could wait.
Wang Ning was 183 cm tall and was originally the new front attacker. But then, Liang Ke realized that he was better at snatching the ball, and awareness in defense was better than passing the ball. In addition, his physical fitness was good so he was more suitable at the back. During practice sessions, he would arrange him to be at the back and the results were similar.
If these players were properly trained, Shu Guang would definitely be able to make it into the finals this year. Liang Ke was not boasting. Last year, Shu Guang was defeated due to its defense, which was a mess and that left him heartbroken. This year, all the new recruits had potential to be defenders. On the basis of consolidating the defense, he would leave the full play of offensive power and tacit understanding to the front four year-two students. This would really make the other schools in Luoyang suffer.
...
The training session came to an end. Zhang Jun had already packed up his things earlier, so he waited at the school entrance for Su Fei and Yang Pan. He was bored until he saw a guy juggling balls nearby. But truth to be told, his juggling skills were awful. It had been half a day but he could only manage to juggle three before he dropped them. At this moment, one of the balls dropped and rolled towards Zhang Jun's feet.
Zhang Jun suddenly became interested as he picked the ball up with his left foot.The ball obediently jumped and Zhang Jun kicked it, causing the ball to fly up high. When it fell, Zhang Jun caught the ball and glided it with his thighs, after which he began to juggle it with his legs. The ball obediently bounced up and down between his legs. He kicked the ball up with his left leg and spun around with the ball on his right. After that, he kicked the falling ball with his left heel, causing it to fly up from behind. Zhang Jun did not even have to look before he used his right shoulder to balance the ball. It rolled to his front, where he secured the falling ball with his left foot before gently kicking it. The soccer ball passed through the group of people and finally flew by the guy's legs.
At first, Zhang Jun thought that the person would catch the ball, instead he was too stunned by Zhang Jun's performance. He did not move at all. The ball then hit someone and after that, everyone heard the sound of a bicycle crashing.
"Who's the bastard that―" An Ke was already prepared to scold whoever it was responsible for his dirt-covered face. That was until he realized that a very familiar-looking soccer ball lay in front of him. He jumped and saw an even familiar face as he turned around.
"Sis?"
Zhang Jun was also confused. "Sis? Who's sister and who is it?" There were clearly only two guys in front of him. How could he call one of them his little sister?
That person began to speak, "Big brother, I've been waiting for you here. I was bored, so I decided to practice juggling." It was indeed a girl's voice. "But the one who kicked the ball wasn't me, it was him!" She pointed at Zhang Jun, who was foolishly standing around.
An ke looked at Zhang Jun but when he saw Su Fei standing behind him, he expression quickly changed into a smile. "Let's introduce each other. This is my cousin sister, He Wen."
Yang Pan and Zhang Jun reacted majorly. Yang Pan pointed at He Wen in shock and said, "He? She? She's a girl?" In Yang Pan's sight, she had short hair, was flat-chested and only had a little slide in her hips. He could not believe the person in front of him was a girl.
"What are you looking at? Pervert!" He Wen glared at the dazed Yang Pan.
"P-Pervert? Hey! What parts of your body would I be looking at?" Yang Pan rebelled.
"I…"
"Alright, that's enough!" An Ke put a stop to the fight between the two of them. "You have to respect those who are older than you!"
He Wen immediately kept quiet the moment he showed his authority as an older brother.
"Hehe, so cute!" Su Fei laughed. "An Ke, I never thought you'd have such a cute little sister!"
"That's right! I still can't believe…" Zhang Jun swallowed his words. He actually wanted to add, "Even a person like you can have a little sister." Nonetheless, he still wanted to leave An Ke with a bit of dignity.
"Haha! Is that so?" An Ke picked his bike up and pulled He Wen to sit behind him. "We'll be off now!" They left in a cloud of dust as he did not dare stay any longer. Who knew if He Wen turned out to be as ugly as him? If he allowed Yang Pan and Zhang Jun to see more, would he still have face to meet them?
...
Looking at the two in the distance, Su Fei shouted, "You guys are so cute!"
Yang Pan sulked and replied, "There isn't even one bit of cuteness, hmph!"
"It's because she called you a pervert, isn't it? Hehe!" Su Fei laughed.
"But her eyesight's pretty accurate though. Isn't that right, pervert?" Zhang Jun patted Yang Pan on the shoulder.
"You still have the face to call me that? You dirty-minded guy!"
Zhang Jun blocked his ears.
Yang Pan surrounded him as he screamed, "Dirty! Dirty! Dirty!"
"Hehe! That's enough, stop arguing," said Su Fei. "Don't you guys find it interesting? When An Ke was dealing with his little sister, someone like him could act really serious too! He's really like an older brother."
"I suspect that he's spoiled his little sister." Yang Pang would never forget about "pervert".
"But, for the first time, I saw An Ke's eyes naturally flowing with gentleness when he looked at his sister," Zhang Jun gave it a thought. "I've never seen him with that kind of expression before…"
...
"Didn't I tell you so many times not to find me in school. You didn't listen and look what happened. Do you want others to misunderstand you?"
An Ke spoke to He Wen while he cycled.
"Hmph! Who asked them to be so narrow-minded? Just because I was kicking a ball, does that make me a boy?" Although He Wen was bickering with him, her tone was different compared to the one she used when she argued with Yang Pan.
An Ke sighed deeply. He was always calm and at ease when he was faced with any girls. The one behind him would especially render him helpless.
"Did you contact the school?" An Ke changed the topic.
"Yes."
"Which one?"
"Zhongyuan."
An Ke almost rode his bicycle to the sidewalk.
"Why do you want to go to that school?"
"Hihi! I don't want you to worry about me!" He Wen made a silly face.
"Any other school would have been fine. But Zhongyuan…"
"I know, it's because you lost to them last year, am I right?"
An Ke was speechless.
"No problem! I'll help you to investigate when I'm there!" He Wen did a little dance at the back. "I am a spy!"
"Is that so…"
"Hihi! I've decided to join Zhongyuan and become the soccer team's manager!"
An Ke almost rode his bicycle towards the wheel of a car.
"Hey! Be careful!"
...
"Let me introduce you. This is Zhongyuan's third manager, He Wen." Sun Lai Hong pointed at He Wen, who was beside him and introduced her to every one of the members.
He Wen, who was dressed in Zhongyuan's uniform gave them a sweet smile and said, "Hello everyone!"
There was a huge round of applause.
"Wow! She's so cute!"
"Hehe! Finally, we have a cute manager!"
"Yes! Our team's manager and records are obviously matching! Look at Shu Guang's manager!"
"This is great! We can finally lift our heads up!"
As the team members had their own little discussion, He Wen continued to keep her doll-like smile.