Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation-Chapter 114: Only the Eyes Can’t Lie!

Monday morning's self-study session was noisy with a cacophony of voices, mostly from the girls.

Jiang Ning tuned in and quickly figured out what the female students were discussing.

A girl who boarded at the school had lost her clothes, probably stolen—conversations of that sort.

Yep, those kind of personal garments.

Jiang Ning instinctively glanced at Dan Xiao, who sat upright at his desk. Jiang Ning wasn't sure if it was him, but he remembered Dan Xiao didn't seem to do that sort of thing.

As more girls arrived in class, the topic grew more heated, and the chatter reached the back rows.

Dan Xiao sat there, listening to the girls, looking puzzled—someone was stealing girls' clothing? That's just tasteless.

He wouldn't do such a thing; he might steal stuff, but he had a code—only things that were easy to dispose of. Girls' clothing was too troublesome; he wouldn't bother.

Ma Shicheng listened to the girls discuss this matter, saw their faces twist with disgust, mixed with nausea, and he dismissed it:

"Is losing a piece of clothing really worth getting angry over?"

He wore a look of indifference, unable to understand such a strong reaction over a stolen piece of clothing—it wasn't worth much, after all.

Ma Shicheng couldn't empathize, and even when the girls talked about telling security to look for the "culprit," he thought they were being over-dramatic.

Guo Kunnan, hearing him say that, commented, "Having clothes stolen is actually pretty serious, mainly because this kind of things is just disgusting."

Ma Shicheng scoffed, "Disgusting? I don't see it that way. If it were me, I couldn't care less if a thief took my clothes."

"Hey, you better not say that in front of the girls in class, or they'll definitely be upset," Guo Kunnan said, well aware of Ma Shicheng's brashness, not caring for the girls' feelings at all, only provoking fights.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Ma Shicheng said nonchalantly.

…

The sourc𝗲 of this content is frёeωebɳovel.com.

After school in the afternoon.

Guo Kunnan, with a group in tow, came looking for Jiang Ning.

"Brother Jiang, want to play basketball? We've got a friendly match against Class 7 today—Wu Xiaoqi, Ma Shicheng, Dan Kaiquan are all going. You in? We're short on people."

Jiang Ning shook his table tennis paddle: "No, I'm going to play table tennis with Xue Yuantong later."

"Alright then, we'll head off." Guo Kunnan was a bit disappointed; Jiang Ning had good physical fitness and was tall—if he practiced basketball, he'd undoubtedly be a great player.

While Guo Kunnan looked for Jiang Ning, Wu Xiaoqi approached Dan Xiao.

He regarded Dan Xiao as if seeing a kindred spirit and earnestly said:

"Dan Xiao, come on, lets play basketball?"

Dan Xiao replied, "Nah, I don't know how to play basketball."

"No worries, I'll teach you. When it comes to basketball, I'm a pro!"

"No thanks."

"It's okay, just come and watch me thrash Class 7, cheer me on, brother!" Wu Xiaoqi wanted to bring Dan Xiao to today's game.

He felt having someone there rooting for him would make him play better.

If he was destined for greatness, he needed a witness.

He'd chosen Dan Xiao, someone who respected others' dreams, and he, Wu Xiaoqi, was the dream chaser.

He imagined a future where he'd reach the pinnacle, lifting the trophy amidst cheers and applause, yet his gaze would seek out Dan Xiao in the crowd, their eyes meeting and sharing a smile—a moment captured by surrounding reporters.

Finally gracing the cover of Time magazine, that smile hailed as "the most tear-jerking smile of the century, a man would die for his confidant"!

Awesome!

Wu Xiaoqi looked at Dan Xiao, his eyes brimming with sincerity.

"Brother, do me the honor—come watch my game today!"

This time Dan Xiao didn't refuse, saying, "Sure!"

Wu Xiaoqi then left the classroom, heading for the basketball court.

"Let's go, Jiang Ning," Xue Yuantong said, holding a table tennis paddle. Her skills had recently surged, and today she was determined to defeat Jiang Ning!

When Jiang Ning arrived at the table tennis court, he saw the chemistry teacher Guo Ran and another female teacher playing table tennis—the latter seemed to be Class 5's young biology teacher.

Seeing Jiang Ning with his paddle, Guo Ran said something to the biology teacher and walked over:

"Do you play table tennis too, Jiang Ning?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Want to play a couple of games with me?"

Xue Yuantong pouted slightly, seemingly unhappy, but Guo Ran told her,

"Student Xue, let me play with Jiang Ning for a while, and I'll give you some snacks tonight~"

"Fine," Xue Yuantong reluctantly agreed.

Even in winter, Guo Ran exuded a graceful charm.

She served a ball to Jiang Ning.

The biology teacher now lacked an opponent and approached Xue Yuantong, who was recognized as a genius in the first grade.

"Shall we play a couple of rounds? I can teach you a few tricks, help you give Jiang Ning a hard time," the biology teacher offered, having played table tennis for many years with sharp skills.

"Oh yes, please!" Xue Yuantong was elated at the prospect of learning from a pro.

The biology teacher smiled.

Ten minutes later, the biology teacher picked up the ball, questioning her life choices.

…

Back at the basketball court, Wu Xiaoqi scored yet another point, crushing the opposition from Class 7.

Not the tallest, but passionate about basketball and well-practiced, he demonstrated good physical fitness and was fairly skilled.

He dominated the court, almost butchering Class 7's students.

"Wu Xiaoqi, you're on fire today!" Guo Kunnan gave a thumbs up; Wu Xiaoqi was like a war deity on the court today, sinking shots one after another.

"You're not bad either."

After receiving his teammate's approval, Wu Xiaoqi stole the ball again, even took a moment to gaze beyond the court.

At this moment, quite a few people had gathered around, and there were also some girls cheering and shouting encouragements, among whom some were actually quite pretty.

But Wu Xiaoqi only looked at Dan Xiao in the crowd, seeing only him in his eyes.

Then he saw the fiery look in Dan Xiao's eyes, that relentless gaze fixed on him, a look Wu Xiaoqi was all too familiar with!

It was the look of dreams, words could deceive, smiles could deceive, but eyes could not deceive, it was an undeniably unquestionable radiance.

Because every time Wu Xiaoqi played basketball, his eyes would also shine with that kind of light.

'Sure enough, Dan Xiao is the person who truly supports me. From now on, I will call him to every basketball game!' Wu Xiaoqi made up his mind and then scored another goal.

And as for Dan Xiao outside the court, he was eyeing the basketball in Wu Xiaoqi's hands as if he was starving for it.

...

There was a little incident on the basketball court, after Guo Kunnan finished playing, he was actually added on QQ by a girl who was quite pretty, causing a group of people around to cheer.

"Brother Guo is awesome, you played really well just now, so aggressive, I noticed later no one dared to come up to stop you!" Dan Kaiquan praised, though he actually felt a bit disappointed inside, being added by a girl on QQ was something that only happened in his fantasies.

And today, Bai Yuxia did not come to the basketball friendship match.

Guo Kunnan humbly said, "It's nothing much!"

Actually, he almost laughed out loud, see? He too was liked by girls now, so far in the class only Jiang Ning had received this kind of treatment, Geng Lu often chatted with Jiang Ning, he used to be quite envious, but now he was too.

Ma Shicheng came over and asked, "All sweaty, are you guys going to take a shower?"

Guo Kunnan was tempted, hesitatingly said, "Study hall is starting soon, there's not enough time, I won't go."

"Fine, then I'll go by myself," said Ma Shicheng. The first period today was self-study class, later he could just make up an excuse to the class monitor, arriving a little late was no big deal.

...

Guo Kunnan washed his face and returned to the classroom, the usually composed him now walking with a floating gait.

Being added on QQ by a girl, that was a first in his life.

He leisurely took out his phone, lit up the screen, and looking down at it like unwrapping a surprise gift.

The girl had sent him two messages on QQ, Guo Kunnan thought to himself, quite proactive!

This was the first time he had encountered such a girl.

The girl's profile picture was a cute pink anime girl, striking right at Guo Kunnan's weak spot, his favorite.

"I am the girl who added you just now on the basketball court."

"Can I talk to you about something?"

Whoa, is this a confession?

He never thought his day would come!

Guo Kunnan typed out his reply, "Go ahead, I don't have a girlfriend."

He waited for her response, surely the next line must be full of admiration, he was already considering how to accept.

Should he just accept outright? Or play it coy for a bit before accepting?

Guo Kunnan's smile overflowed.

Hu Jun next to him asked in surprise, "Brother Guo, your smile is kind of scary."

"Kids wouldn't understand, go play over there." He was now a man with a girlfriend, no longer the same as the few guys in the back row!

Someone to laugh with him, to play with him, no longer alone.

The pink profile sent another message, "If you don't have a girlfriend, go find one, why are you telling me?"

Guo Kunnan was stunned.

"Then why did you add me?"

"Your basketball skills are terrible, you only know how to ram people, next time be careful when playing, don't bump into my boyfriend."

"Smack!" The phone dropped to the floor.

Monday's night study, Guo Kunnan suffered the loss of love.

...

Ma Shicheng entered the big public bath.

On a day like this, after playing basketball, soaking in the big public bath was the most comfortable thing ever, pure bliss on earth.

Inside the big public bath, it was usually divided into two sections, one being similar to a swimming pool for bathing, and the other a spacious hall filled with massage-like leather beds for people to lie or sit and rest after bathing.

The leather beds were connected; Ma Shicheng chose one, placed his clothes there because his long johns and jacket were sweaty from playing basketball earlier, so he put his long johns on the radiator so that by the time he finished washing, the clothes would be dry.

Ma Shicheng walked towards the bath, and facing him, an old man emerged from the bath, that old man was quite greasy, had abundant hair, and sported a hairy chest plate that was rather uncomfortable to behold.

Ma Shicheng glanced at him twice and then went to soak in the bath, comfortably soaking for fifteen minutes, Ma Shicheng stood up and left the bath.

He still had to give the class monitor some respect, after all, the class monitor was a decent person.

Ma Shicheng went to the hall outside, dried off, and then went to the radiator to get his long johns and jacket.

Then he found, the radiator was completely empty.

His clothes had vanished!

"What the heck, where are my clothes, who took them?" Ma Shicheng shouted at the radiator.

A middle-aged man getting dressed nearby said, "Were your clothes on the radiator? The old man took them."

"Which old man?" Ma Shicheng scanned around but couldn't spot that person.

"The one with a bunch of hair on his chest, he took the clothes from the radiator, put them on and left, don't bother looking, you won't find him," the middle-aged man said.

"Dammit!" Ma Shicheng was resigned, there were such people, even stealing his long johns and jacket!

He was so frustrated!

Without his long johns and jacket, Ma Shicheng could only wear his overcoat and hurriedly left the bathhouse.

Walking on the road, the cold wind blew, chilling him to the bone, he thought of the hair-ridden old man wearing his underwear, every movement touching his long johns, Ma Shicheng felt like vomiting!

Hatred, disgust, a sense of violation, and embarrassment, a whirl of emotions spun in Ma Shicheng's mind.

At that moment, Ma Shicheng felt he had been humiliated.