Xia Tian didn't dare use his X-ray vision to look at his cousin, but he wasn't about to let any other woman go—least of all the peerless beauty standing before him. Not only did she have an excellent figure, she was also astonishingly beautiful. Tang Yan was undoubtedly mixed-race.
She combined Chinese features with the deep-set eyes of a foreigner, making her appearance flawless.
At this moment Tang Yan and Ye Qingxue were glaring at one another, neither yielding; both seemed prepared to fight to the death.
Bing Xin was pessimistic about today's match. She felt powerless just looking at the opponents' height. Although they had borrowed two players from other clubs, those two could not match the athletes from the basketball department. A twenty-point deficit sounded large, but the game lasted a long time and the opponents' height advantage could completely overwhelm them.
"Beautiful lady, how about we make a bet?" Xia Tian said suddenly.
The two women who had been confronting each other turned their eyes to Xia Tian, wondering what he intended.
"A bet? I don't like betting with hooligans." Tang Yan still remembered Xia Tian's teasing when she first arrived.
"Oh, forget it—you'll lose anyway." Xia Tian sounded indifferent, but his remark hit a nerve. As coach of the basketball team and director of the basketball department, how could Tang Yan tolerate someone suggesting her team would lose?
"What are you saying? We will never lose." Tang Yan glared at Xia Tian.
"Shall we make a bet?" Xia Tian asked again.
"Let's bet—who's afraid of whom?" Tang Yan snapped. She had fallen straight into Xia Tian's trap.
"Okay. If you lose, you will be my little wife from then on, and you must call me 'dear husband' every time you see me." Xia Tian smiled at Tang Yan.
"You are shameless." Tang Yan was furious.
"Yes, I am. Look—my teeth are so white." Xia Tian flashed a grin.
"Coach, he's teasing you. Let's go teach him a lesson." Three basketball players stepped forward.
"Come back!" Tang Yan shouted. "Fine, I'll bet. I won't lose. So what if you lose?"
"I won't lose," Xia Tian replied confidently.
"No—you have to say what will happen if you lose!" Tang Yan had seen shameless people, but never anyone like Xia Tian.
"Then I'll take a small loss if I lose. From now on, I will call you my dear little wife," Xia Tian said seriously.
"You are shameless." Tang Yan moved to kick him at high speed.
Seeing Tang Yan's anger, the three basketball players began to sympathize with Xia Tian—everyone knew how terrifying Tang Yan could be when enraged. She had trained in Taekwondo.
Just as everyone expected Xia Tian to be kicked to the ground, Xia Tian grabbed Tang Yan's leg, shamelessly using his other hand to hold her beautiful leg.
"Ah!!!" The scream rang through the restaurant; the servers were stunned.
"You little bastard—how dare you molest our coach!" Three tall boys rushed at Xia Tian. Their height made them formidable, like small mountains. Xia Tian, however, stayed calm. He twisted his body to avoid a punch; as he dodged, his arm swept and ended up under Tang Yan.
Caught off guard, one of the tall men couldn't withdraw his hand in time. Xia Tian placed his right hand on Tang Yan's back, lifted her with both hands, and turned to evade the punch.
Tang Yan was completely in Xia Tian's arms, and he deliberately tightened his grip on her.
Everything happened so fast that even Ye Qingxue and Bing Xin were momentarily stunned. Ye Qingxue recovered first.
"Stop! What are you doing, Xia Tian? Let her go," she demanded.
At Ye Qingxue's plea, Xia Tian had no choice but to release Tang Yan. Though he hadn't hugged her for long, his cousin had spoken—he had to comply.
Tang Yan stood and slapped Xia Tian, but he caught her hand and said, "Do you want to kill your husband?"
"You make me so angry. Fine, I accept the bet. If you lose, you will run naked across the court." Tang Yan shoved her hands on her hips. When had she met someone so brazen—someone who took advantage of others yet acted innocent?
"Okay." Xia Tian smiled faintly.
"Let's go—let's have dinner somewhere else." Tang Yan left the restaurant with the three basketball players trailing her.
"You're such a good man, Xia Tian. Earlier, when I asked you for help, you said you'd try your best. Now you have a beautiful woman as your wife—you really forgot your sister for beauty's sake," Ye Qingxue said, excited. She had asked Xia Tian to try his best, and he had answered perfunctorily; yet now he had actually made a bet with Tang Yan.
"Wrong. Although she's beautiful, she can only be a concubine," Xia Tian said seriously.
"You—Xia Tian, you're terrible. Now that you've grown strong, you're even looking for a concubine. Don't you know she's your sister's enemy?" Ye Qingxue punched Xia Tian. He didn't dodge. He might have dodged on the first day, but not the fifteenth.
"If anyone in this world slanders me, insults me, belittles me, laughs at me, bullies me, or despises me, how should I deal with them?" Xia Tian said very earnestly. "Beat them—beat them—beat them—beat them—beat them—beat them—beat them. Then just wait and see what happens."
"Cousin, don't you still trust me?" Xia Tian asked with a mysterious smile. Bing Xin looked at Xia Tian curiously. She had heard Ye Qingxue describe him, but the Xia Tian she had met seemed like a completely different person.
Tang Yan was almost furious after leaving the restaurant.
She swore she would win today's game. How could Jianghai University's basketball team lose to a bunch of scattered amateurs? If they fell twenty points behind Ye Qingxue's team, assuming everyone was in full form, she would push the score to 120.
She wanted not only to make Ye Qingxue lose face, but also to make that hateful man run naked.
"Coach, don't worry—we'll make sure those arts club guys stay in single digits," one team member said confidently.
Many people can play basketball, but only those who make the basketball team are truly strong. Even substitutes are superior to those outside the team.
"Good. Work hard. Only victory is acceptable. I'll have Fang Li play with you—score heavily. I want to see that little girl Ye Qingxue stop being so arrogant toward me," Tang Yan said angrily.
Jianghai University buzzed with activity. Ye Qingxue, ranked fourth among campus beauties, and Tang Yan, ranked sixth, were now in direct competition.
Fans from both sides had begun trading insults. More and more people supported Ye Qingxue. After all, Tang Yan had arrived later and many students had already heard about the basketball match, which made Ye Qingxue's supporters angrier. They questioned why Tang Yan wouldn't let her rougher teammates compete against Ye Qingxue's art crowd.
Some said the basketball players were real men and handsome; the fervent girls who liked them made their voices heard.
Everyone anticipated the afternoon match: Arts Department versus Basketball Department.
"Sister Huo, why don't you intervene? If these two keep causing trouble, it will have a bad effect," Dao Tian, the vice president of the student union, asked anxiously. At Jianghai University, the men who knew Huo Wen called her Sister Huo, and the women called her Sister Wen—she was also president of the student union.
"Intervene? Why should I? You know their tempers. They've always been at odds. This time that silly Qingxue accepted a challenge against the basketball department—how could she possibly win? Look at those delicate arts students. Even if she recruits outsiders, they can't compare to professional basketball players," Huo Wen complained.
Ye Qingxue and Huo Wen had a good relationship, and Tang Yan had some ties with Huo Wen too. Huo Wen couldn't take sides with the Arts Department. As student union president, even if she tried to find reinforcements outside the school or hire professionals, she'd be looked down upon—and that would only make Ye Qingxue lose more face.
On the surface, Tang Yan appeared to be conciliatory: she only fielded one first-string player and the rest were second-string. But even the second-stringers were carefully chosen; the so-called twenty-point advantage was merely a pleasant-sounding figure. The strength gap was enormous—let alone twenty points, even two hundred was conceivable.
Many protested the unfairness, but Ye Qingxue, as the protagonist of the dispute, had agreed to the challenge.
The afternoon game attracted a large crowd, especially supporters of the basketball team and Tang Yan. A few came for Ye Qingxue, but too few to make a difference—most didn't believe the arts team could win and avoided watching to spare themselves disappointment.
"Xia Tian, are you confident?" Ye Qingxue asked him seriously.
"For my little wife, I'll fight to the death. Victory will be ours," Xia Tian shouted, brimming with morale.