Transmigration: On the Gossip Front
Chapter 738 - 739 Freeloading Man 24_1

Chapter 738: Chapter 739 Freeloading Man 24_1

The court fell silent; whether they had been cheering for Chiang Yi or Xia Yuanji before, everyone quieted down now.

Even those who had been rooting for Xia Yuanji did so to give him some encouragement, not wanting him to lose face.

Chiang Yi’s friends were smug, thinking they could let Xia Yuanji slap his own face, not to be too cocky.

But the outcome was unexpected for everyone; they had thought Chiang Yi would dominate the opponent, yet it turned out this person was the one getting trampled.

Looking at Chiang Yi, already drenched in sweat, while Xia Yuanji was still wearing long sleeves with hardly any sweat on his face,

this comparison made the score even more humiliating for Chiang Yi.

Song Lei didn’t care about Chiang Yi’s feelings at all, she had advised him, but he wouldn’t listen.

"Towel." Song Lei handed over a towel and water, "I heard from my brother before that you look very cool playing basketball; I thought I’d never have the chance to watch, but now I can."

"I haven’t played in a long time; I’m a bit rusty. Do you want to come watch me play with friends on Labor Day?" Xia Yuanji had originally not wanted to play basketball with friends on Labor Day, but hearing Song Lei wanted to watch, he decided to play a game.

"Sure." Song Lei readily agreed, knowing that today he hadn’t used even a fraction of his real strength.

"By the way, you’re buying the meal." She had already sacrificed her study time; he had to treat her.

"No problem, whatever you want to eat, it’s on me." It was just a meal; Xia Yuanji indicated it was no problem at all.

Everyone initially thought with a score of ten to zero, Xia Yuanji should at least console Chiang Yi a bit.

But to everyone’s surprise, he just chatted with Song Lei, without a hint of consolation.

Chiang Yi was frustrated; he had really become a joke, and the worst part was, it was a joke he had earnestly sought.

"I told you before, you can’t beat me."

"I was on the middle school basketball team and won a national championship." Xia Yuanji said calmly.

"I’ve played in the same court as national team players." Xia Yuanji’s message was clear: you were never my match, so there’s nothing to be excited about.

"Otherwise, why do you think I kept saying I didn’t want to compete against you?"

"Even Song Lei said you can’t beat me, but you insisted on competing."

"Since you chose to compete, shouldn’t you face it calmly?"

Xia Yuanji really didn’t understand why someone would insist on this; "As a man, you should take responsibility for losing the game."

Song Lei sighed softly, "There’s always someone better, you might be good in school, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anyone better."

Ah, the crowd had not expected Xia Yuanji to be so formidable, and everyone was stunned.

Chiang Yi’s friends, who had been jumping around criticizing Xia Yuanji, now all shut up.

Chiang Yi sighed softly; having lost so miserably, all he could do was admit defeat. What else was there to do?

"I lost." Chiang Yi admitted defeat, hanging his head low.

Xia Yuanji grunted affirmation, "Let’s go."

Song Lei, of course, followed quickly, not even glancing at Chiang Yi, no matter how angry he was.

With Xia Yuanji leaving, the crowd naturally dispersed, discussing the match they had just witnessed.

Chiang Yi already felt too embarrassed to look at everyone; he knew they must all be saying how he got dominated.

The more Chiang Yi thought about it, the less it meant to him, and he just collapsed to the ground again, unable to stop his tears from flowing.

Originally, when they saw the once arrogant Chiang Yi lose like this, many were eager to mock him, but seeing his tears, the urge to jeer at him disappeared.

Mainly, they were worried that if they went too far with their mockery, Chiang Yi would seek them out for retaliation.

After all, someone had bet Song Lei on the basketball game, and now he had lost both face and "insides."

They couldn’t dare mock him to his face, but there was no way to stop the behind-the-back discussions.

Some of Chiang Yi’s friends, witnessing his state, also turned and left, leaving only a few behind.

Chiang Yi’s good friends had advised him not to compete with Xia Yuanji; even if he won, what would it achieve? Song Lei wouldn’t even give him a second glance.

Now, with both face and "insides" lost, they could only swallow the words they wanted to say, seeing just how miserable their friend was.

Xia Yuanji and Song Lei went to the supermarket to buy some drinks, and the former expressed concern, "I really didn’t expect him to be so weak."

Xia Yuanji knew that with his skills, he could definitely defeat Chiang Yi, but he never imagined that his level could be so bad.

"He is not the basketball prince; I often hear people calling him Liuchuan Feng." Xia Yuanji didn’t read comics, but even he knew who Liuchuan Feng was.

Back in junior high, he saw groups arguing over who was the most handsome boy in that comic.

Liuchuan Feng? "No choice, the tall one among the dwarfs. Compared to you, his skills are obviously lacking, but he should be pretty good in school."

"But I heard him saying before," Song Lei said nonchalantly, "that the basketball team captain didn’t like him, and it was only after the captain left for college entrance exams that he secured a spot in the starting lineup."

"Before, he often sat out the whole game on the cold bench." Anyway, the original host’s mind was full of Chiang Yi’s prowess; apparently, the basketball captain had a problem with Chiang Yi.

After Song Lei arrived, she of course had seen Chiang Yi play basketball; his skills were mediocre at best. Aside from lacking prowess among the rest, his popularity was due to having a lot of followers who would suppress others for him.

"Whenever someone had better skills and he didn’t like them, once they got the ball, his cronies would whistle and jeer."

"Once or twice is tolerable, but when it’s frequent, who can stand it?"

"Plus, being high school students, many had to prepare for college entrance exams and ended up quitting."

"When the new freshmen enter high school and learn that there’s someone like Chiang Yi in the basketball team, of course, they would not join."

"Now, what’s left in the basketball team is either trash or trash."

"But with the blow you’ve dealt today, Chiang Yi’s morale..." His psychological resilience was not that strong.

Just look at how he began to slip in his studies after she stopped paying attention to him; one could argue it was because the original host didn’t give him review materials.

Yet now, he clearly lacks the study materials, and since the beginning of the semester, his academic performance has continued to decline. English is not worth mentioning since it was never good, and the class adviser had already given up trying to save it.

Every time parents were called in, they would promise to supervise, but it was useless with no academic progress and continued regression.

Even his good subjects like mathematics, physics, and chemistry were declining. The last time Song Lei went to see the class adviser, she heard the chemistry teacher complaining that Chiang Yi wasn’t attentive in class.

Song Lei could feel the gaze of both the class adviser and the chemistry teacher on her, as she was the one whose grades had markedly improved after the breakup.

"With the embarrassment he suffered today, I predict he’ll spiral even further into neglect." If he hadn’t regressed, he could have definitely made it into a university.

With his current grades, a decent vocational school would be possible, but after today’s humiliation, he will probably go into hiding, which means a regular vocational school at best.