Chapter 5: Zhang Yang's Youth

  "Huh? Zhou Hao, how did you get hurt?" Li Ruolan suddenly saw that the sleeve of Zhou Hao's school uniform was torn and the skin underneath was red.

  Zhou Hao looked down and saw the wound caused by saving the beauty on his way to school earlier. After a class, it had stopped bleeding and formed a thin scab, but it still hurt when touched. He smiled at Li Ruolan, "Teacher Li, nothing's wrong, I just accidentally fell."

  "This won't do, what if it's tetanus?" Li Ruolan said, and then asked Zhou Hou to take off the outerwear of his school uniform, while she herself took out a first-aid kit from the cabinet in the staff room.

  "Teacher, no need, really." Zhou Hao felt embarrassed troubling Li Ruolan.

  Li Ruolan glared at him with a scolding gaze, "Don't you even listen to your teacher's words?"

  From Zhou Hao's mature psychological perspective, Li Ruolan's gaze was truly worthy of the phrase "a thousand charms", making it impossible for him to refuse, and he obediently took off his jacket.

  "Haha, I didn't expect you to be so strong and sturdy!" Li Ruolan said with a smile as she saw Zhou Hao's exposed arms.

  Zhou Hao was stunned and also sensed the abnormality on his body. His body lines had become very strong, and there were even good-looking muscle blocks on his arms. Zhou Hao thought to himself, what's going on? He was clearly very thin and weak at this time, and it wasn't until he went to university in his previous life that he developed a habit of working out.

  Just as he was thinking, Li Ruolan used a pair of tweezers to carefully wipe the wound with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol, and the coolness and slight pain made Zhou Hao subconsciously shrink his arm.

  "Don't move, it'll be fine soon." Li Ruolan's head was slightly lowered, carefully cleaning the wound on Zhou Hao's face. The expression on her face had a quiet and calm quality to it, making Zhou Hao's heart beat even faster as he watched her from up close, hoping that time could stand still at this moment.

  Then, Li Ruolan wrapped two more bandages around Zhou Hao's wound, not only did it wrap the wound well but also made Zhou Hao feel very comfortable, truly a skilled and thoughtful person.

  "Alright, be more careful next time." Li Ruolan said as she gathered up her medical box.

  "Thank you, teacher."

  At this time, Li Ruolan picked up Zhou Hao's school uniform jacket again. "This clothes has a hole in it and doesn't look good to wear out. Let the teacher help you sew it up, I'll give it back to you later."

  "Teacher, never mind, I'll handle this myself when I get home."

  Li Ruolan had already taken out a box of needles and threads from the drawer, "No need to say anything else, hurry up and go to class, or you'll be late."

  Li Ruo Lan drew out a thread and put it in her mouth to moisten it, then skillfully threaded the needle. Zhou Hao said "thank you" again, but in his heart, he felt a strong surge of emotion - Teacher Li was indeed a virtuous wife and good mother.

  As soon as Zhou Hao came out of the office building, he saw Liu Shichao and Luo Hui walking towards the playground because they had physical education class next. Seeing Zhou Hao coming out of the office building, Liu Shichao came over to ask: "Zhou Hao, what did Teacher Li say to you?"

  "She asked me to participate in the English Olympiad competition," said Zhou Hao.

  "Our class only has you and Gao Jingyi qualified to participate." Liu Shichao shrugged, "Huh, what's going on with your hand?" Liu Shichao also saw the bandage wrapped around Zhou Hao's hand.

  Zhou Hao told Liu Shichao about Li Ruolan helping him bandage his wound, making Liu Shichao extremely envious. He even said that he would try to get injured during the next physical education class so that Teacher Li could also help him bandage his wound.

  The bell rang, and Zhou Hao and his classmates had already gathered on the playground. The physical education teacher, Mr. Shen, was a man in his thirties who used to be a member of the provincial basketball team. After retiring due to injury, he was assigned to this school as a physical education teacher. He was very talkative and humorous, and everyone in the class liked him.

  "Are you okay? You're injured. Do you need to take a leave of absence for this class?" Teacher Shen asked Zhou Hao.

  "It's okay, teacher, it's just a minor scratch, I'm fine."

  In junior high school, physical education classes were relatively free. After doing a set of preparatory exercises under the teacher's guidance, everyone could move freely. Liu Shichao usually liked to play volleyball with the girls in his class. Although he was quite chubby, his volleyball skills were excellent and earned him the admiration of those girls.

  At this time, Liu Shichao was thinking of pulling Zhou Hao to play volleyball, but Zhou Hao looked at the boys in his class walking towards the basketball court and said, "No, I want to play basketball today."

  Although Yao Ming had not gone to the United States at that time, and basketball was not yet popular in China, many students from Yu Ning Middle School came from good family backgrounds and were able to learn about NBA through various channels. Moreover, even though basketball was not yet popular at that time, it was still a sport that could attract girls' attention, which made many boys who had other intentions more enthusiastic.

  In his previous life, Zhou Hao felt inferior in front of his well-off classmates due to his family's financial situation. His introverted personality also made him unwilling to participate in such a showy event.

  Now, after his rebirth, Zhou Hao has extremely strong confidence due to that unique advantage and believes that youth is meant to be reckless. This life, Zhou Hao does not want to remain dormant anymore.

  "Zhou Hao, you can play basketball too? How come I never knew?" Liu Shichao was extremely surprised at Zhou Hao's suggestion.

  Zhou Hao just shrugged and smiled, during his university days, due to having the habit of exercising, his physical fitness improved rapidly, and he also started playing basketball naturally. After serious training, he was also selected into the university team.

  "Are you going?" Zhou Hao patted Liu Shichao's arm.

  "Hey, even if I'm not very good at it, I should at least give you some support, let's go!" With that, he tossed the volleyball in his hand to Luo Hui on the other side and ran towards the basketball court with Zhou Hao.

  When they saw Zhou Hao and Liu Shichao walk into the basketball court, those boys curiously said: "You guys are also playing basketball? Aren't you fond of playing volleyball with those girls?"

  Liu Shichao smiled and said: "I just came to take a look, the one who is going to fight is Zhou Hao."

  One of the boys immediately threw the basketball to Zhou Hao, meaning he wanted Zhou Hao to show off his skills.

  Zhou Hao took the basketball and touched it with his hand, possibly because his palm is not as wide as before, so the basketball looks particularly big. However, this does not affect Zhou Hao's technical performance. He quickly ran towards the basket with the ball, then made a standard two-step layup, easily throwing the ball into the basket.

  "Not bad." The boys in the class lit up, unexpectedly finding out that usually quiet and unassuming Zhou Hao also had a good hand.

  Then, including Zhou Hao, ten boys started intense exercise on the basketball court.

  Compared to these young boys who have just started playing basketball, Zhou Hao's basketball skills stand out. His skilled techniques such as dribbling, crossovers, and spins are dazzling to both the players on the court and the spectators off it. Zhou Hao often only needs a quick move to easily get past his opponents with the ball, and no one can stop him under the basket. However, since shooting requires a good feel for the ball, Zhou Hao, who was an excellent mid-range shooter in college, doesn't take many mid-range shots and instead focuses on layups.

  Zhou Hao's exquisite ball skills won the applause of the audience outside the court, and Liu Shichao was the most excited. The boys in the same class on the field also panted and praised Zhou Hao: "Zhou Hao, where did you learn basketball? It's too awesome!"

  "Haha, just messing around." Zhou Hao's hand flickered, and the basketball began to spin rapidly on his fingertips, leaving the people around him in awe.

  "Hey, kid! You're not bad at this ball game. How about a match with us?" Suddenly, five boys appeared on the basketball court, led by one with long hair and an arrogant look on his face that was still somewhat good-looking.

  Seeing his hairstyle, Zhou Hao was slightly stunned, then remembered that this was exactly the same as the main character Chen Haonan in the first episode of the Hong Kong classic series "Young and Dangerous".

  Moreover, Zhou Hao also recognized the boy at this time.

  He is a second-year high school student, named Wen Shaoqiang, and is a tyrant in Yuning Middle School. It's said that his father is a notorious gang leader in Xiang City, so many teachers don't dare to manage him, which has further fueled his arrogance. In his previous life, Zhou Hao would never have associated with such a person, but he didn't expect to meet him now.

  While others saw Wen Shaoqiang, their faces all showed a hint of fear, Zhou Hao's classmate Huang Chengjian even smiled and greeted him respectfully, "Wen Shao, hello."

  Wen Shaoqiang ignored Huang Chengjian entirely and looked at Zhou Hao, "Hey, I'm talking to you, kid. Want to come with us for a round?"

  Zhou Hao saw the students outside who were as quiet as cicadas in winter and Liu Shichao who was deeply worried, so he smiled at Wen Shaogang and said: "Good."

  Then Wen Shaoqiang and a few others formed one team, Zhou Hao and four boys from his class formed another team, and they started a competitive match against Wen Shaoqiang's team.

  However, intimidated by Wen Shaoqiang's "reputation", the four boys on Zhou Hao's side were timid and hesitant to fight. To begin with, their skills weren't very good, and now they were even more disorganized. Moreover, Wen Shaoqiang and his friends were three years older than Zhou Hao's group, and had a significant height advantage.

  Although his teammates didn't play well, it made Zhou Hao's skills stand out even more. As he dribbled the ball to the front court, Wen Shaoqiang, who was a head taller than him, immediately blocked his way to defend. However, although Wen Shaoqiang was much taller and technically better than those boys in Zhou Hao's class, compared to Zhou Hao, he was still far inferior.

  Zhou Hao continuously dribbled the ball before making a fake move to the left, causing Wen Shaoqiang to hastily defend to his left. Zhou Hao then suddenly changed direction and broke through from the right side, spinning past another defender in front of him and steadily sending the ball into the basket.

  "Too awesome, Zhou Hao! Come on!" Liu Shichao shouted loudly from the sidelines, and other students, infected by his enthusiasm, also cheered for Zhou Hao, because Wen Shaogang and others were notorious in school, and now Zhou Hao had become a righteous hero fighting against evil forces.