CHAPTER 23- THE WINNER SHALL BE THE WINNER CHAPTER 24- BECOMING FAMOUS

Compared to girls, boys tend to be more competitive and when they heard that they were going to have a match, they straight out just agreed to it.

"Okay, what are we betting on then?"

Xu Zi Hang being the gentleman that holds the principle of 'ladies first', had let Song Ye decide on the betting wages.

Song Ye of course took it as it is since she was waiting for him to jump into the pit that she had prepared after all. She then turned to looked at Xu Zi Hang,

"Easy, the winner will be the leader after the match."

What?

All of them that were walking then stopped in their tracks. Xu Zi Hang had even creased his brow and he looked at her with a strange look,

"Are you serious?"

"What I don't like the most, is joking around."

Song Ye openly admitted it, without any guilt even though she's the one who challenged them.

Wang Tie Chuan on the side was so shocked that he did not know what to say while the others had began to laugh,

"This is interesting. Xu Ge, this is the first time that a girl did not look for you to confess. Seems like Song Ye didn't know about your reputation in San Zhong."

Xu Zi Hang was the leader of the gang in San Zhong territory. Not only was he handsome, he was also good in basketball. Even though he was always involved in fights out of the school compound, he still did well academically. The teachers just had one of their eyes closed while the girls went nuts for him.

He had the confidence in himself, which was why he had such a strange expression when Song Ye challenged him.

Where did this shortie came from. Not only was she a cold person, but she was also bold as well.

Facing the boy's puzzlement and teasing, Song Ye only looked at Xu Zi Hang quietly,

"Do you dare to?"

Those simple four words had somehow got everyone quiet and the surrounding froze up.

Do you dare to?

Xu Zi Hang raised his brow, his lips curled as if he heard a joke,

"Alright then. And so, if you lost…. You need to agree to one of my request."

Since he was the boss, in a situation where both sides are on equal position, exchanging conditions were actually quite normal.

Song Ye did not even notice the ambiguity feeling between the exchange of conditions between a boy and a girl and nodded her head to agree to it.

The others then exchanged glances and did not really mind much about it, but they were curious as to what conditions will their leader request as they fully believe that Xu Zi Hang will win.

There was a basketball court nearby San Zhong. It did not take up a lot of space and it was open for both the school students and public use, and so the facilities looked old.

When they entered the court, there were a few people playing basketball in there. Upon seeing Xu Zi Hang, all of them greeted him politely and moved out of the court. It can be seen just how influential his reputation was as San Zhong's leader outside the school.

The boys began to prepare themselves and removed the thick and heavy sweaters. They then began to warm up, eager to begin the game while Song Ye just moved her wrists around with her sweater covering all of her body. The others that did not know the truth and had thought that they had only brought a follower out to observe.

When they entered the court, the crowd spectating then exclaimed,

"Eh, looking from this positioning, it seems like that shortie is having a match with Xu Ge and they are also standing at the position of the main attacker."

After dividing the group, they were now having a four-on-four face off. But seeing Xu Zi Hang, who was around the height of 170cm facing off against Song Ye who was around 165cm, the scene had appeared to be quite funny and from the eyes of the spectators, the result of the match was easy to predict.

"Start."

The moment the basketball was thrown into the air, two shadows jumped up from the ground and stretched their hands at the same time; their speed were surprising.

With his height as his advantage, Xu Zi Hang was able to snatch the ball. He was quite agile midair despite his large build and he spun his body and dodged past Song Ye, dashing towards the goal. For those that played basketball in San Zhong knew one thing as a matter of fact, and that is when the ball was in Xu Zi Hang's hand, no one will be able to steal it away from him.

Xu Zi Hang was standing behind the 3-pointers line when the ball hit the board and entered the loop. With his hands still in the air and the confident smile on his face, he had appeared to be more attractive even with his handsome face.

"Alright! Xu Ge's 3-pointers always enters the goal!"

The followers that was out of the court couldn't help but exclaim.

But at that moment, when the ball dropped down, a white shadow quickly dash over and pull the ball towards them, turning their body and dashed towards the goal o the other end.

The smile on Xu Zi Hang's lips stiffened and he turned his body back and hurriedly dashed,

"Defend! Defend!"

No one had ever thought that Song Ye that had a small build was standing guard under the goal to snatch the ball. Thinking about it, Xu Zi Hang knew that Song Ye did that on purpose. Knowing that she will not be able to snatch the ball from the beginning, she then purposely went there to snatch it, it was truly a good strategy.

But when he reached this understanding, it was too late.

Even though Song Ye had a small build and was considered short, her movements were quite agile as she was able to break through the three opponents that were able to go back to defend in time. When she had reached under the goal, she raised her hands and the ball easily entered the loop. Although her gestures were stiff, the fact that she's catching up on the point had made the atmosphere in the court more intense.

Xu Zi Hang then found out that he underestimated Song Ye who was a girl. If he were to let his guard down, he will eventually lose miserably.

He's pride did not allow him to lose, and so, in the rounds later on, both sides used all their strength to play.

But as they continue the match, he felt that things were becoming weirder and weirder.

Facing Song Ye who appeared to be an amateur with very stiff movements in the beginning, her movements had become more and more trained as they had a few more rounds. In the last round behind the 3-pointers line, he was about to stopped her attack but the latter had just leaned backwards and shoot the ball into the goal.

From his position that was higher than Song Ye, he was able to see the light radiated from the sweaty face, and even her lips had softened and a smile can be seen, seemingly confident and arrogant.

Thump

As the ball entered the loop, Xu Zi Hang was able to hear his heart beat for reasons unknown.

Following the ball that entered the goal from behind the 3-pointers line, the match had then ended. And the end result was something that was out of everyone's expectation.

78 – 34. The difference between the points were almost two times apart. The winner was Song Ye which everyone had no expectations for.

"It's my lost."

Xu Zi Hang raised his hands to wipe the sweat away from his face. His handsome face appeared to be tired from the dark lighting.

He had never expected this result but he wholeheartedly accept it. That was because the opponent had not used any tricks or cheats in the match at all. In a match between two sides and the opponent being someone who was stronger, he fully understood that the one who lost was all because their ability was not as strong as the opponent.

Song Ye grabbed onto the towel and wiped the sweat as well. When she heard that, she raised her brows and appreciated his attitude,

"And so, in accordance to the bet that we had, from today onward I shall be your leader and will serve under me."

At this point, everyone had just remembered that there was such a bet. The smile that they had on earlier slowly dispersed and creased their brow disagreeably.

Deciding a leader through a basketball match was merely child's play, and now that they had to admit a girl being their leader felt like it was making a joke out of them.

Xu Zi Hang also don't know what to do.

Song Ye did not step down from that and her glance became heavier under the twilight,

"Xu Zi Hang, don't forget that you still owe me a life in the clinic."

CHAPTER 24- BECOMING FAMOUS

Clinic. Owing a life.

These two terms had let Xu Zi Hang began to think and remembered that he was tricked by Xiao Dao and his underlings a week ago and was able to escape miraculously.

Looking at Song Ye who had a cold expression on her face, he was uncertain,

"Song Ye? You're that Song Ye?"

As the image of before and after were too much of a difference, he was not able to link the both of them together. Until the person in front of him nodded, he then realized and showed a bright smile while extending his hand towards her,

"I was looking for you. Thanks for saving me back then."

Although he did not know how he was saved at that time, but he felt thankful and appreciated the fact that Song Ye had saved him.

But in the next second, the gratitude and appreciation that he had was impacted to the point that it ceased to exist.

"There will be a price for saving you. This bet was not a joke at all."

Song Ye did not even look at the hand that signify friendship and outright admitted that she had not saved him for free.

Something like this might be a usual situation in the world of the adults, but for students ages around sixteen to seventeen, it will appear to be vile and sordid; it was something that kids will not like.

The court that was filled with passion earlier had slowly froze up. The teammates that was fighting along with her earlier felt their heart went cold as if it had been frostbitten due to the cold wind and they were unable to maintain the smile on their face.

"Song Ye…"

Wang Tie Chuan was about to say something but felt that with his identity and standing, whatever he said will not be suitable. But he wholeheartedly **liked Song Ye and did not believe that she had gone near Xu Zi Hang purposefully.

But now that it had became like this, it seems that he would be the only one that thought that way.

Xu Zi Hang went silent for a while and coldly curved his lips upwards, tucked his hands into his pocket and took out the few sheets of old man out of his pocket and threw it onto the ground,

"This is as a thanks for you saving me. Sorry, but we're not interested in following you."

Saying that, Xu Zi Hang then turned to leave. The few brothers had also turned and left. The meaning behind their actions were apparent, they looked down upon Song Ye's profit-seeking attitude.

Wang Tie Chuan was torn between both sides and in the end he could only follow them to leave.

Song Ye was the only one left on the court and the crowd that was spectating just snorted, the praise and admiration that they had earlier towards her movements were all gone.

Song Ye looked at their backs that were leaving further and further away, her eyes were still calm and she lifted her legs and stepped onto the old men on the floor, leaving behind a clear footprint.

She believes that she will still meet Xu Zi Hang in the future.

Even after sweating that much from the game earlier, Song Ye still felt that it was not enough. She then walked towards the gym located in the city center and registered as a member and trained until late at night. Then she went back to the hotel to sleep, she was so deep asleep that there were no dreams that night.

The Song Ye fifteen years ago might feel all sorts of emotions, will feel lonely from being alone; but the her fifteen years later that had became an assassin that worked all alone, all of her hesitations and feeling of being lost ceased to exist. When she had a goal, she would strive to achieve it.

But in the end of it all, she had forgotten that she was only fifteen years old. she was still an underage that still needed a guardian. Her lifestyle of being alone had deviated from the norm of society.

In the morning when she had carried her bag to school as usual, she heard the owner of the hotel that was standing at the receptionist counter mumbling behind her back.

"How can a proper lady do something as shameless as that and still go to school."

In regards to the deeper meaning of this discussion, with proper thinking, one might be able to know what she had meant. Ever since that day Zhao Zhen came to look for her to discuss things, rumors began to float around. Not to mention, the fact that she was a child that was living in the hotel by herself had made everyone began to imagine more.

As she had not received any physical damage from that, Song Ye did not mind much about it and thought about using the earnings in the shop after some time to purchase a house to live in. Since the prices of the houses in the future rises quite fast, having a house to invest on was not a bad choice at all.

When she entered the school gate, the glances on her were filled with heated passion as usual. When she stepped into the classroom, everyone went quiet. It was clear as day that the commotion earlier was all because of Song Ye; but the glances on her now were not filled with mockery but it was filled with curiosity and jealousy.

Song Ye had never cared about the opinions of others about her. But when she sat herself down, a small paper strip had came from beside her.

'Hey, desk mate, you're famous now. Yesterday the strong glue had removed a layer of Tang Mei Ling's skin and she cried while screaming to pay you back for it. But there was no evidence and she was even scolded by the teacher. Now in this class, you are the hero that dared to go against the evil forces!!!"

When she saw the emphasized exclamation mark at the back of the sentence, Song Ye felt like laughing. The corner of her cold lips had then collapsed due to this childish emphasis. She then took a pencil and began to write down a few words.

'Why don't you complete your homework if you have the time to chat.'

As expected, the impact of this sentence had dealt a huge damage and Wang Tie Chuan did not reply for a long time. Wang Tie Chuan rhythmically bit his pencil and handed her another paper strip within five minutes.

'Have you done your homework, desk mate? Can you borrow it to me as a reference?'

Song Ye spun her ball point pen and slowly took out an exercise book and sleekly wrote five words.

'About to do it now.'

The mentality of Wang Tie Chuan is basically almost the same as a thousand of alpacas running about. Staring at Song Ye's empty exercise book and thought,

You wrote lesser than me but is still so calm about it. Who are you even trying to impress here, you jerk.

When he decided to continue his battle against the homework, the ball point pen with a white color body then rapidly moved and almost never stopped, causing him to freeze up like a stone.

As a classmate for three years, although Song Ye's existence was very weak, he clearly knew about how well she fared academically. Her ranking was only a few numbers in front of him who was the last in the class, making her someone that was also weak academically.

Looking at her writing so quickly, Wang Tie Chuan had thought that she had given up and was randomly writing. But when he craned his neck over, his eyes almost fell out of its sockets.

The question that Song Ye was solving was about functions, and it was a question that he was unable to solve no matter how much he wrecked his brain; but Song Ye got an answer from the beautifully done 3 steps solution. Her writings was so beautiful it was almost as if it was printed out from the book.

Quickly solving one question, she then continue on to the second question.

Wang Tie Chuan's eyes followed the movement of the pen with a stupefied look on his face. Until the whole page was filled with writings. Once a cold glance was directed towards him did he react and closed his mouth, but his eyes still showed how unbelievable it was to him.

After that, Song Ye pushed the exercise book towards Wang Tie Chuan, indicating that she had finished it and that he can refer to it as much as he wanted to.

During school days, was there any other ways to deepen a friendship other than lending your homework to be copied by others? The conclusion was naturally no.

And so, Wang Tie Chuan then diligently copied it, he was so excited that his cheeks was trembling. Although he did not know how Song Ye got all those solutions, but completing the homework was the main objective.

Although Song Ye missed out on her studies, her skills in memorizing, understanding, and absorbing knowledge was a must as a top-rated assassin. After flipping through the textbook once yesterday, all of these questions were a piece of cake to her.