Gan Guoyang launched a sudden attack on Chen Yaoming, who had just arrived that day, his haughty demeanor in the restaurant still fresh in his memory.
In Huang Shaohua's presence, Chen Yaoming found it hard to refuse and begrudgingly gave Gan's Restaurant a 30% discount on the rent.
It was evident that Chen Yaoming really liked basketball, otherwise he wouldn't have sent Chen Xing to attend the basketball summer camp.
As Mr. Huang had mentioned, the next day at Gan's Restaurant they held a banquet to entertain guests from all around, setting the restaurant's operations on the right track.
Surprisingly, at the banquet, the most outstanding figure was not Gan Guoyang but the head chef, Gan Youwei.
Mr. Huang's great banquet finally gave him the opportunity to showcase his skills; dishes like Eight Treasure Gourd Duck, pagoda meat, Wensi Tofu, and Stuffed Yellow Fish—all top-tier—immediately captivated the assembled Chinese-Americans and several Americans who hadn't experienced authentic Chinese cuisine for a long time.
It turned out that Chinese food was not limited to sweet and sour pork, cheap Yangzhou fried rice, and various stir-fried leftovers; genuine preparation was truly broad and profound.
Following this victory, both Gan Youwei and Gan's Restaurant established their reputation, ensuring they wouldn't have to worry about business anymore.
On the 17th of August, the high schools in California began their new academic year, with Gan Guoyang continuing his high school career at Beiqiao High School in San Francisco.
Beiqiao High School, located on Sacramento Street in Chinatown, is an overseas Chinese school founded in 1921, with elementary, junior high, and high school divisions, and was celebrating its 60th anniversary that year.
The school's architecture was distinctly Chinese in style; entering the main gate, one was greeted by an ancient two-story pavilion with white walls, green tiles, red pillars, and the words "Chinatown Fuyin Hall" engraved on the wall. Above the main entrance hung the sign for "North Overseas Chinese School."
On the first day of school, Gan Guoyang instantly became a star figure that the whole school noticed, his height making it difficult not to attract attention.
Although Beiqiao High School was mainly for Chinese students, there were also students of other ethnicities enrolled there, including Vietnamese, Mongolian, and Japanese students from Asia, and a few Black students, but not a single White student.
When Gan Guoyang arrived at his classroom, he didn't even need to introduce himself, as the teachers and students already knew who he was; it was his first taste of what it was like to be a celebrity.
The school's curriculum was bilingual in Chinese and English, with Chinese as a mandatory subject from elementary to high school, using teaching materials compiled by Jinan University for overseas Chinese language education.
After all, Gan Guoyang was a 985 university student, and aside from some unfamiliarity and a few language hurdles, he found the American high school senior curriculum quite easy overall.
Everyone, from the teachers to the principal, was friendly towards him, and during breaks, students from other classes would often come to probe for information about him, similar to the way girls would hood together to check out the school heartthrob in a romance idol drama.
When school was out, Gan Guoyang opened his locker to find several letters waiting for him, one of which was even sealed with a lipstick kiss…
After the women's liberation movements of the 60s and 70s, by the 80s girls had become quite proactive and open, with girls pursuing boys not being any sort of rarity, including among Chinese girls.
However, Gan Guoyang wasn't interested in these young girls; he took the letters with him in his backpack, but he never opened them.
He was only thinking about today's basketball team practice.
Because space in Chinatown was extremely valuable, Beiqiao School could only occupy a limited area for the school building, making it impossible to have room for a gymnasium; consequently, the basketball team's practice and game venue was at the YMCA Christian Youth Center in Chinatown, four blocks away.
The YMCA had a deep connection with basketball; Dr. Naismith invented basketball while he was working at the YMCA in Springfield, and many of the early basketball games were organized by the YMCA.
Chinatown's YMCA Sports Center had a long history. Although the facilities were somewhat outdated, it was complete with a basketball court, swimming pool, gym, and even a martial arts dojo.
A master of martial arts from the Republic of China, Sun Lutang's disciple Chen Weiming, had established the Zhi Rou Fist Society which had a branch in San Francisco. It was rumored that they were involved in a private dispute between Bruce Lee and Huang Zemin in the 1960s, and the outcome of this mysterious bout is still debated to this day.
These were the stories Chen Xing told Gan Guoyang on their way to the sports center, which Gan Guoyang took as just interesting tales. He was more concerned about who his teammates and coach would be.
Right, Gan Guoyang had already gotten to know two of his teammates, which were Chen Xing and Gan Guohui.
Thinking of having these two on his team, Gan Guoyang couldn't help but worry about the team's future and record.
As for who the coach was, Chen Xing said he didn't know either, it might be the school's PE teacher or the head of the physical education department.
By the time they got to the sports center, the basketball court was already surrounded by quite a few people, all students from North Overseas Chinese School who had come to watch Gan Guoyang play.
They all wanted to see for themselves what level this Chinese basketball star from San Francisco was at, and how much weight he carried.
Gan Guoyang, on the other hand, wasn't stage-shy, and after warming up and changing into his training uniform, he started the game with an effortless dunk, eliciting screams from both the girls and boys on the sidelines.
In this era, live TV broadcasting and video recordings weren't widespread, and the internet was even more of a pipe dream, many people could only watch games live on location.
For a high school basketball team to have a player who could dunk was truly one in a hundred, a star indeed.
Gan Guoyang's dunking posture was naturally very graceful and beautiful, and his strength made his dunks look both easy and powerful, displaying an effortless beauty.
Unlike some players who might jump high but their dunks are stiff, only capable of using both hands and not one, with too monotonous postures, and always needing to grab the rim to maintain balance.
After several continuous dunks, not only were the student spectators watching intently, but even his teammates stopped warming up and cleared the court for Gan Guoyang to perform.
Just as Gan Guoyang completed a self-lob and dunk, which brought the crowd to a small climax, a piercing whistle broke the warm atmosphere.
"All those unrelated to the basketball team, get the hell out of here! Right now, immediately, cover your asses and don't look back, just leave! Scram!"
Following a roar of "Get out," the students scattered like birds and beasts, and in a moment, only the eleven members of the basketball team were left in the gym.
Gan Guoyang noticed the person blowing the whistle and chasing people away was none other than Bobby Berman.
"Coach Beelman, what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to learn cooking from you, you believe that?"
"Then you should go look for my dad, he's good at that."
"Go to hell, what I'm good at is basketball. Starting today, I am the coach of Chinatown's Beiqiao... Fuck, what's your basketball team called again? Who can tell me?"
A player shouted, "Clepsydra!"
"What? Clepsydra? What the hell does that even mean?"
"Water Clock, it means water clock, a traditional Chinese timing device, symbolizing precision and punctuality, and water also represents flexibility and wisdom."
Beelman, with his hands on his hips, muttered, "Why not call it dragon or panda or Tom Yum or something, name it water clock, clepsydra! God, what a word..."
Gan Guoyang said, "Mr. Beelman, Tom Yum is a Thai dish, not a Chinese one."
"Alright, I got it, stop bugging me with Chinese elements. Water clock, not a bad name! Precision, punctuality, these are things I abide by too. Ladies, I guess it's time for practice now."
"You have 10 seconds to get in line in front of me!"