Chapter 2: The Penalty

  In the blink of an eye, a week has passed. Except for me, this "ball boy", who performed steadily, the level of other team members, especially the main players, did not improve but instead declined. Due to frequent confrontational training, unnecessary physical decline occurred, and team members were dissatisfied with Li Nan's constant scolding and reprimanding them all day long. This is the most important reason for the decline in their level. The 173 Literary Network team members have developed a rebellious mentality, and under this state, any collective sense of honor is just an illusion.

  Actually, our class's football level is among the top four in the grade, and we've never been at the bottom. From primary one to four, we even won a championship once. So why did this happen this time? The problem lies with Li Nan. Originally, he wasn't the sports commissioner, although he's like a flag for our class in terms of physical education, and no one can match him. But because he's a "four-no" youth, Teacher Li couldn't give him an official position, as it would be hard to convince everyone.

  Li Nan really wanted to be the sports commissioner, so he kept begging Teacher Li, but to no avail. With only two years left until graduation, he made a last-ditch effort and promised Teacher Li that if he became the sports commissioner, he would not bully his classmates, strictly follow classroom discipline, greatly improve the class's athletic abilities, and most importantly, not be among the bottom ten in the semester-end exams (he had never ranked higher than sixth since primary one). If he failed to meet any of these conditions, he would immediately resign.

  Teacher Li thought this could motivate Li Nan to study harder, and since Li Nan was indeed a talented athlete, she called a class meeting to discuss the matter. Most classmates believed Li Nan was always their representative in sports and their idol and hero, so it was only fitting that he become the sports commissioner. Faced with this result, Teacher Li agreed to give Li Nan a chance but also asked him to keep his promises and requested everyone's supervision.

  Thus, Hua Xing Primary School's first-ever sports commissioner, who became an "official" by making a military-style promise, was born.

  Logically speaking, the sports god of our class, the idol of our classmates and the team leader, should have greatly improved our class's sports performance. However, in the first test of a football match, there is a bit of an "unsuccessful start" feeling. Because Li Nan's competitive spirit is too strong, but he doesn't have the correct training methods, and he is autocratic, not listening to other team members' reasonable opinions. In the end, our class football team hadn't even had a fierce battle with the opposing team on the field, when the conflict between the team members and the captain had already reached an irreconcilable level, and in the end, everyone went on strike!

  The last class in the morning was physical education, which was a very happy thing for us, because it basically meant an early lunch break. The physical education class for elementary school students is relatively easy, and it's basically just doing some warm-up exercises and then playing, but today was a bit different.

  "Attention! Stand at ease! Report!"

  One!

  Two!

  Three!

  "Four..."

  "Reporting to the teacher, Class 2 of Grade 5 has forty-three students present out of forty-three, reporting complete!"

  "Alright, classmates. The teacher has something to attend to today, so you all line up here and wait. No one is allowed to move. Wait for me to come back and assign tasks. Did you hear that?" the physical education teacher said.

  "Got it!"

  "Alright, take a break!"

  After all, kids are kids. The teacher had just left for five minutes and they couldn't stand still. It was not only boring but also we discovered something new together.

  "What? What's that big ball on the ground over there?" was the first thing Wang Xu said.

  "That's called basketball, played with hands." Zhang Cong knew a little about it.

  "I also know, it's just throwing the ball with your hands and throwing it into the basket in front to win." Li Chao said.

  "Hey? Let's go play basketball then." Wang Xu was visibly excited.

  "What are you talking about? The teacher hasn't come back yet, no one is allowed to move! When the teacher is not here, everyone must listen to me, the class representative," said Li Nan.

  "What's wrong with the referee? Is the referee great or something? The referee should be proficient in all aspects of sports, but you're blocking us like this, are you ignorant about basketball? You probably don't even know the rules!" Wu Zhihai took the opportunity to attack Li Nan. It was a good chance to vent his anger from being scolded by Li Nan recently.

  "Who said that? I'm the sports committee, there's nothing about sports I don't understand!" Li Nang was also enraged and clashed with Wu Zhihai.

  "Alright, let's have a competition and see who's better at basketball. If you lose, you'll have to give up your position as the head of the sports committee to me."

  "If you lose, then you have to write three days' worth of homework for me."

  "Three days? A week is fine." After finishing speaking, Wu Zhihai took the lead and left the team, picked up the basketball and ran towards the basket. Li Nan started chasing after him. Everyone saw that the sports committee was taking the lead, what were they waiting for? Let's get started together.

  The court was suddenly in chaos, with basically one person holding the basketball and running around the entire court, while nearly ten people were chasing after them non-stop. There were also five or six people on the side waving their hands and shouting "Pass the ball! Pass the ball!" It's unknown how they quickly divided into teams amidst such chaos. The last five or six people were the only ones who truly understood basketball, standing still and shouting "Traveling! Double dribble! Out of bounds!" But what was the point? The group had already run off the basketball court with the ball onto the soccer field. It turned out they were a group of rugby players holding basketballs and sprinting across the soccer field. And me? Ah, right, I haven't mentioned myself yet. Okay, fine, I admit it - I was one of the people chasing after others in that chaotic mess.

  Our group of people ran a big circle around the football field and finally ran back to the basketball court, because the person holding the ball suddenly remembered that they were holding a basketball, and the hoop was its final home.

  "Shoot!"

  As the classmate shouted, the basketball was smashed towards the backboard and fell down. At that moment, I had a strange feeling, as if I could predict where the ball would fall, so I relied on my instincts to position myself in advance. As a result, because of my height and accurate positioning, the ball landed smoothly in my hands. Suddenly, I became the public enemy of the whole class, and everyone rushed towards me. Because I was fat and slow to react, the ball was snatched away immediately. Just as I was about to anxiously grab the ball back, it was smashed towards the backboard again and fell down. Without saying a word, I grabbed it again, but of course, it was quickly snatched away again. This time, I wasn't anxious because I knew that as long as they "smashed the backboard", I could "grab the backboard" and take advantage of the opportunity to touch the ball. In the next ten minutes, there were about 20 "backboard smashes", and I grabbed at least 13 times. Just as I was indulging in the joy of this advantage, the physical education teacher returned.

  "What are you all doing? Gather around!" The PE teacher's loud roar immediately brought everyone back to their senses from the excitement earlier. Our PE teacher is tall and powerful, and he manages us very strictly, so we're usually afraid of him. Just now, we had simply thrown caution to the wind in a momentary lapse of sanity, and also because basketball really attracts us.

  "Get in line and stand up straight!" The PE teacher was really angry. "What? I just left for a moment and you're all like this? Where's the class monitor?"

  "Arrived!" At the sound of the voice, Li Nan almost cried.

  "You're the class committee, how are you managing? I've been teaching students for 30 years and never had a situation like today! Can't you do your job? If not, I'll find your head teacher to replace you!"

  "Goodbye! Teacher!"

  "What else? In my class, the head of the sports committee is just the class monitor. If they can't even manage their own classmates, what are they doing? Who's leading who?"

  "Why aren't you talking? Ah? If you don't want to say it, then consider it your responsibility!"

  Li Nan still didn't speak up, originally it was because he and Wu Zhihai were competing with each other that they let everyone follow them in their craziness. Anyway, admitting it would be his fault, and being silent would also be his responsibility. Admitting it would inevitably lead to him being fired, so it's better for him to stay silent, and if the teacher misunderstood, she would think he was very loyal.

  "Go! Isn't it? Is it about brotherhood?" Oh no, the teacher really misunderstood!

  "Is there anyone who actively admits it?" Li Nan was the one who started it, but he didn't admit to anything, so who would? But no one exposed him either. The ones who were loyal weren't Li Nan, but everyone else.

  "Alright! Alright! I still appreciate your unity. Now, all the girls go back to the classroom for self-study, and all the boys line up in the middle of the basketball court, no one is allowed to move!"

  The girls were chatting and laughing as they walked back and forth, while the boys exchanged glances with each other, I roughly knew what it meant.

  "What right do they have to return while we stand here?"

  "That's right! Just now when we were playing basketball, didn't they disperse on their own to jump rope?"

  "Right, right, they even threw sandbags."

  "The teacher favors girls over boys, it's almost noon, how can you stand this heat? Can't we have class dismissed soon?"

  Not bad, and finally the classmate's heart's voice was heard by God, and his wish was immediately fulfilled. "Ding ding ding......" The bell rang, and at this time everyone's mood was like a flock of pigeons flying in the blue sky.

  "Nobody is allowed to leave class, whoever stands up first gets to go first!"

  The physical education teacher's powerful words were like a sharpshooter's bullets, and the pigeons flying in the sky all fell down.

  "Zhang Cong!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Go back."

  "Wang Xu!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Go back."

  "Wu Zhihai!"

  Half of the boys have already been approved to return to the classroom, but I haven't been called yet. I think I'm standing pretty well and I didn't leave a bad impression on him usually, but he just doesn't look my way. Originally fat, physically weak, can't hold on slowly.

  "Yang Songkai!"

  "Here!" I suddenly came to.

  "Go back!"

  "Yes!" I felt relieved and quickly turned to head towards the classroom, as if afraid that the PE teacher would change his mind at any moment. But once I entered the classroom, I was stunned. Our class teacher, Li, sat at the front desk with a furious expression, while the boys who had returned earlier stood in a row in front of the platform, each hanging their heads in shame.

  "You also stood in the past." Mr. Li said to me.

  I understand, this is to continue standing, so I also stood obediently, until the remaining students on the playground all returned. Teacher Li began to give us a supplementary lesson on moral character, and then asked each of us to write a profound 1,000-word self-examination essay. Finally, she announced lunch break. Looking at my watch, there were only 40 minutes left before afternoon classes. We had no choice but to eat lunch while writing the essay, which was very hard work. But I think it's because of this incident that I have a deep impression of basketball. Recalling how "dashing" I was just now, I suddenly realized that I'm not completely useless in sports, at least in basketball, I still have my own strengths.