HCILH Ch. 45

Chapter 45: Provocation

At 8:30 in the morning, Hou Mo found Sui Houyu and took him to collect souvenirs while registering at the registration desk.

When they arrived at the competition venue, Su Anyi was already there, organizing a team in front of a group of boys. The team members stood obediently together, listening to her instructions.

She was the only girl on the entire team, and everyone listened to her.

Nearby, other teams had gathered, consisting of male tennis players, led by captains or assistant coaches, while the coaches were currently in a meeting and not present.

A familiar figure from Feng Yu High School peeked over at them and asked, “Hey! Hou Mo, what’s the deal with the beautiful girl leading your team?”

Hou Mo was still reminding Sui Houyu of some important points, as this was Sui Houyu’s first official competition, and he was even more nervous than Sui Houyu.

Hearing the question, he replied coldly: “Assistant.”

The group of boys erupted in excitement at this response, their expressions similar to those of Deng Yiheng and the others before Su Anyi joined the team.

“I can’t believe it! I think Fenghua has already won! They have a girl!”

“She’s definitely the type to dominate.”

“They must be selling Hou Mo’s looks, or how else would they get a girl like that to join? In the end, Hou Mo still sacrifices everything for the team.”

One tall boy asked seriously: “What should I do to casually let her see my charming abs?”

Su Anyi continued discussing competition matters: “The second round draw for the men’s doubles will take place at 3 PM this afternoon. I’ll keep an eye on it… Why are they so loud?”

She turned her head to look and saw a boy lifting his shirt to wipe sweat, revealing a solid set of abs, even more impressive than Sang Xian’s.

But given the current temperature, it wouldn’t be possible to sweat, making this action seem very deliberate.

Deng Yiheng turned to look at that direction and explained: “They’re provoking us.”

Su Anyi pursed her lips, her gaze sweeping across the boys, making them shiver in fear.

Su Anyi had been practicing martial arts for years, and her aura exuded a clear threat, especially when she was angry, radiating an intimidating presence that seemed to say, “I’ll kill your whole family if you keep making a fuss.”

The registration proceeded in an orderly fashion when someone from a distance called out to Hou Mo, “Hou Mo, I heard you’re playing doubles again? Your opponent is me!”

Hou Mo and Sui Houyu turned to see who it was, recognizing the boy as someone they had met during warm-ups before Hou Mo’s last match.

He was from the provincial sports school, had slightly dark skin, and appeared to be very carefree, but his words were quite irritating.

The two of them had a pretty solid impression of this guy.

They finished checking in, ignored the boy, and went outside to warm up, but he followed them out without caring whether they were interested. He introduced himself first: “I forgot to mention last time, I’m Yang Hong from the Provincial Sports School.”

Hou Mo explained to Sui Houyu, “The Provincial Sports School is where serious athletes train, usually starting from a young age, transitioning from amateur sports schools to provincial level.”

Yang Hong, surprised that Sui Houyu didn’t know this, exclaimed: “No way? He’s your partner?”

Hou Mo looked at Yang Hong, slightly raised his chin, and asked, somewhat irritated: “What’s it to you?”

“Did you choose your partner based on looks? You two are more suited for debuting than playing tennis. I could respect Sang Xian; at least he has strong personal skills, but this guy… seems like he doesn’t know much about tennis?”

Hou Mo lazily replied: “He’s been seriously training for a month now.”

“How long?!”

“A month.”

“A month of doubles practice?”

“To be specific… a month ago, tennis was just a hobby for him.”

Yang Hong was speechless for a long moment, finally clasping his hands: “Thank you both for the gift of my victory. I also thank you on behalf of my partner; we won’t be too aggressive during the actual match to show our sincerity.”

After hearing this, Hou Mo felt a bit annoyed, especially since Sui Houyu was the target of mockery. He quickly pulled Sui Houyu aside and said, “Calm down, Brother Yu. Don’t stoop to his level; it’s not worth it.”

Surprisingly, Sui Houyu wasn’t angry; he simply asked Yang Hong: “How long have you been playing tennis?”

Yang Hong answered casually: “I started training as an athlete in second grade. What do you think?”

“So, if I, a newbie who has only practiced for a month, beat you, won’t you feel pretty defeated?”

“Huh?!” Yang Hong didn’t expect Sui Houyu to be so confident. No matter how inexperienced, he had ranked among the top fifteen nationally, having trained for so many years. How could he lose to a rookie? “Are you kidding? I’ll admit that Hou Mo is great at singles, but everyone knows how he is in doubles. I’m not underestimating you; I genuinely meant my thanks.”

“No need to thank us.” Sui Houyu smiled at Yang Hong, his smile pure and unblemished, as if he were genuinely sweet.

But Hou Mo knew this was Sui Houyu’s way of showing he was displeased.

Yang Hong looked confused, staring blankly at Sui Houyu. He had wanted to say this kid was ridiculously good-looking; despite knowing he was a boy, he couldn’t help but look twice. Then he heard Sui Houyu add: “After the match, it’s not too late to thank me for teaching you a lesson. See you.”

Yang Hong was genuinely annoyed but also amused as he returned to the provincial team to tell his partner about what had just happened.

His partner, Hu Qingxu, laughed when he heard it: “Provoking us after just a month of practice? You don’t see many confident kids like this. Do you think we’ve been playing around for years? Plus, Hou Mo! His partner is Hou Mo! Is he really a doubles player? The kind who can push his partner out of bounds and still complains about their presence? Doubles?!”

The captain beside them joined in the laughter, texting Hou Mo while saying: “I’m going to give Hou Mo a hard time.”

The reply came back quickly.

Financial Blessings: “Haha, our kid has a bit of a temper; don’t mind him.”

Financial Blessings: “But let’s not speak too definitively. If we lose, I’ll run naked. If you lose, you run naked.”

Crazy Paper and Black Ink: “Deal!”

The captain showed his phone to Yang Hong and Hu Qing Xu, and they were both stunned: “Is Hou Mo crazy?”

The captain was quite familiar with Hou Mo, given they were old rivals, and he mused, “What’s gotten into Hou Mo? Where did the Hou Mo, who was forced to work, go?”

After thinking for a moment, the captain began to mutter, “If Hou Mo runs naked, how white would that little butt be?”

The group burst into laughter, which lasted for a long time without stopping.

*

The opening ceremony lasted only ten minutes, five of which were spent on advertisements, and no one seemed particularly interested.

After the ceremony ended, they could prepare for a bit before the competition began.

Hou Mo and Sui Houyu’s match was scheduled relatively early.

Deng Yiheng sat in front of Hou Mo and Sui Houyu, holding a piece of paper, quickly sketching while explaining, “Yang Hong and Hu Qingxu are a fast net-rushing combination. They are very aggressive at the net, and it can’t be denied that their tactical awareness at the net is exceptional. Among them, Yang Hong’s intercepting ability is very strong.”

Deng Yiheng had been studying doubles for years and was familiar with these old rivals, able to quickly offer insights before the match.

Hou Mo turned to Sui Houyu and explained: “This type of combination usually has a slower serve, which we can exploit to our advantage. Their main challenge is that if they rush the net too early and we hit a passing shot, it will force them to stay at the baseline, limiting their intercepting and movement advantages.”

Sui Houyu nodded, looking at Deng Yi Heng’s sketches: “So, if we want to counter them, we have to keep them at the baseline.”

“Exactly.”

Deng Yi Heng added: “You two can match them in strength, but you have some extra skills.”

After saying that, he pointed mysteriously at his temple.

Sui Houyu, still focused on tactics, casually asked: “Hair?”

Does playing tennis lead to hair loss? He hadn’t heard that before.

“Uh…” Deng Yiheng gave up on being mysterious, “Brain.”

Sui Houyu asked seriously: “Do they not have brains?”

Deng Yi Heng shrugged: “Actually, in doubles, what we fear most are all-rounder combinations; it puts us at a disadvantage. You two have the makings of an all-rounder combination, which will definitely catch them off guard.”

Hou Mo decided to let Deng Yiheng go: “You and Shen Junqing should go; I’ll teach Brother Yu by myself.”

Hou Mo simply loosened his body while saying to Sui Houyu: “I’ll teach you some quick breathing exercises to help you relax and relieve stress.”

“No need; I’m not stressed.”

“Not nervous?” Hou Mo looked at him.

“No, I might be different from you. I’ve never known what it feels like to be nervous. I just feel like everyone is beneath me; you could call it an overabundance of self-awareness.”

Hou Mo laughed after hearing this. “Isn’t it like looking at everyone else and raising your chin, saying, ‘All of you here are worthless’?”

“Exactly.” Sui Houyu completely agreed with this statement.

Hou Mo felt a bit more relaxed as well; it seemed that if Sui Houyu wasn’t nervous, he wouldn’t be either.

“Were you pretty unhappy when you lost to me back then?”

Sui Houyu stretched his body and replied, “Yeah, I was particularly dissatisfied. But I got over it a bit later. There are very few people I can respect.”

“Does that include Ran Shu and Su Anyi?”

“Yeah, they’re friends I acknowledge.”

“What about me?”

Sui Houyu looked at Hou Mo, paused for a moment, and answered, “You’re my partner.”

Hou Mo stared at him for a long time, then smiled, his eyes crescent-shaped like a new moon.

He bit one side of his collar, pulled down the zipper of his jacket, took off his sports outerwear and tossed it aside. After swinging his racket, he turned to Sui Houyu and said: “Let’s go, Brother Yu. Teach them how to behave.”

Sui Houyu also took off his jacket and handed it to Su Anyi, grabbing his racket and following Hou Mo onto the court.

When they flipped a coin to choose the court, they met Yang Hong and Hu Qingxu again. The two of them came over and stared at Sui Houyu’s legs without moving their gaze for a long time.

After changing into sports shorts, Sui Houyu’s legs looked a bit absurdly slim. In the eyes of the boys, they resembled bamboo poles.

Those legs would be perfect for cross-dressing; wearing black stockings or something… just thinking about it is exciting.

But this is tennis.

Yang Hong stood next to Hou Mo and murmured quietly, “Hou Mo, are you guys really serious? The captain took screenshots of the conversation and sent them to the group, saying they’d come to watch you after the match.”

Hou Mo was still fiddling with his racket and replied nonchalantly: “Yeah, we’re serious. It’ll be pretty easy to beat the two of you.”

“Tsk, I don’t like what you just said.” Yang Hong said, glancing at Sui Houyu again. “With his build… is it possible to hit him? If you really hit him, won’t you break him?”

“You can give it a try.”

Character Height Chart:

Yang Hong: 184 cm

Hu Qingxu: 186 cm

They are a net-rushing combination, with Yang Hong excelling in intercepting and having strong control at the net.