Chapter 9 9. The Will-O-Wisp Boy Does Things Without Reason
After chatting for a few minutes, the three continued to practice cooperation.

Originally Harden and DeRozan were just emotional, but now they find that the tactics are indeed suitable and will help them win, so they are training more attentively.

At noon, Zhang Yang took DeRozan and Harden home. He told his parents last night that he would play a game this afternoon. His parents asked him to bring his friends home for lunch at noon to observe what his new friends were like.

When he brought the two of them home, his parents had already prepared several dishes and placed them upstairs. There was also a dining table in the living room on the second floor, but it was rarely used.

DeRozan and Harden's families have one thing in common - they are very strict with them.

Especially Harden, he has to get his mother's consent before making friends. That means it was DeRozan who asked him to come to the mountains. If it was someone else, he wouldn't be able to leave the house.

Yang Jing warmly entertained her son's two friends and chatted with them briefly. She was quite satisfied with the tutoring of the two children. She stayed for a few minutes and then went downstairs to do some work, leaving the space for the children. She was also a child herself and knew that children might not even feel comfortable sitting when an adult is around.

After Zhang Yang's mother left, DeRozan said, "Jack, I really envy you for having such a gentle mother."

Harden was also envious: "Yeah, two out of three sentences my mom said were mean to me, and one was a threat to beat me."

Zhang Yang was in a complicated mood. In his original body's memory, his mother was actually similar to Harden's mother... But after thinking about it, he decided not to explain. If his mother heard from these two people that he had "made up" her, she would probably get beaten again.

Harden and DeRozan ate very well at lunch.

The little brat ate me to death, Zhang Yang ate normally, and the rest was eaten up by these two.

Harden patted his belly and leaned back in his chair, saying enviously, "Jack, your family is so nice. Your dad is a chef, and you can eat so many delicious foods every day."

DeRozan said nothing. His mother's cooking was delicious, but now he lives with his grandmother and his uncle is responsible for cooking. He has no desire to live...

Zhang Yang replied, "You can come anytime you want. You're welcome. Another friend of mine used to come to my house often. He used to take me to play baseball. He's now studying in a high school in Southern California. He rarely comes back during holidays. He works there. I heard he's coming back to celebrate his mother's birthday these days. I don't know if he's back yet."

Harden was delighted when he heard this, but his expression soon turned bitter: "No, I have to go back in two days. Only DeMar can come to your house for dinner often..."

DeRozan rolled his eyes at Harden. After listening to Zhang Yang's words, his mind was not on that. Now he really wanted to get to know Zhang Yang's friend and ask him why he didn't do anything good to take Zhang Yang to play baseball?

Zhang Yang's physique was obviously the result of long-term exercise. He had asked Zhang Yang what sport he had played before and found out it was baseball. He also knew Zhang Yang's baseball level.

If Zhang Yang had started playing basketball two years earlier, they would have more fun playing together now.

At least I don't have to worry about losing the game against those hooligans...

Thinking of this, DeRozan felt that he had to work harder. His teammate even had tactical talent, and his sense of crisis of being surpassed increased by +1.

...

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the playground in the park was crowded with people.

Normally this time is when the crowds are the highest, but today there were so many people that no one was playing on the two courts next to it. Everyone gathered around the court in the middle.

Zhang Yang was a little surprised when he arrived at the stadium. He didn't expect so many people to watch.

Those guys must have spread the word about their plan to compete against the top junior high school student in Southern California... What on earth are they trying to achieve?

Are they so confident that they can win? Have they ever thought about how embarrassed they will be if they lose? They lost even though they were several years old...

However, a few will-o'-the-wisp teenagers don't really need any reasonable reason to do such a thing, they probably just want to do it.

If they win, they can be in the limelight. As for losing, they will be embarrassed... These people have one thing in common: they are very proud, but they are also very frank when it comes to losing. After complaining for a while, Zhang Yang teased DeRozan next to him: "DeMar, you are worthy of being the number one junior high school student in Southern California. So many people come to watch you play."

"It's No. 1 in California!" DeRozan responded instantly.

He was very dissatisfied with the prefix "Southern" and thought it would be better to remove the prefix "California" as well, but he was not shameless enough to do that.

But seeing that Zhang Yang was not frightened by the scene, his satisfaction with his friend increased by +1.

He said disdainfully: "This is nothing. In the Los Angeles County finals in March, when we played against Inglewood High School, there were more than 3 people on site."

Harden came over and said, "Yeah, I'm still excited when I think about that game now. I hope I'll have the opportunity to play in a game like that in the future."

Inglewood High School has a junior high school department for grades 6-8. One of the two finalists in this year's Los Angeles County Junior High School Basketball Tournament is the junior high school department of Inglewood High School, and the other is Compton Freedom Park Middle School where DeRozan and Harden are located.

A competition surrounded by thousands of people... Zhang Yang was also very excited after hearing about it.

However, does Harden have so little confidence in himself?
The three were chatting when three ghost-fire boys who didn't look like good people came up to them, causing cheers.

Some people were shouting 'DeRozan', while others were shouting 'Little Iverson'.

'Little Iverson' is Russell Jones on the opposite side, who is just 99 meters tall. In 40, he scored more than points in several consecutive games in the Los Angeles County Junior High School Competition, which attracted a wave of attention in the Los Angeles area. At that time, Iverson won the first scoring title after Jordan. As usual, Russell Jones was labeled 'Little Iverson' by the Los Angeles tabloid media.

This matter, in other cities, was only a hot topic at the time. In Yinshan City, it was just a topic that lasted longer. After Russell Jones failed to play well in high school, no one in the local area cared about it anymore.

But Russell Jones still regards himself as "Little Iverson". Used to being the center of attention, he attributes his failure entirely to bad luck. He cannot accept the reality of being an ordinary person, so he chooses to hang out in the streets and parks, where there are always people weaker than him and he can always find a sense of existence.

Zhang Yang's casual complaint yesterday turned out to be accurate. Russell Jones just wanted to find a sense of presence on DeRozan.

Russell Jones looked at Zhang Yang and Harden, then sneered at DeRozan, "I thought you would be so scared that you would hide in your mother's bed and cry, but I didn't expect you to actually dare to come. This pretty boy and fat guy are your teammates? I am dying of laughter."

DeMar immediately responded: "They are much better than you. At least they won't be expelled from the high school team."

Russell Jones was hit in a sore spot and started swearing. The twin Myers brothers next to him also joined in the cursing. DeRozan fought back passionately and was not afraid at all.

Zhang Yang smacked his lips. What DeRozan said... emmm... there's nothing wrong with it. Harden definitely won't be expelled from the school team. It's impossible for him to be expelled from the school team. He's not even a member of the school team.

Harden sounded very silly when he spoke, and DeRozan was like an autistic man at ordinary times. He originally planned to be the one who stood up and confronted the opponent... He didn't expect DeRozan to be so brave at this time!
Judging from Harden's look of watching the fun, Zhang Yang guessed that this was not the first time this happened.

Everyone has their own pride, and DeRozan’s pride is naturally basketball.

Zhang Yang, like Harden, started to watch the fun. The atmosphere on the scene was also brought up by the war of words, and there was constant booing.

In the noisy crowd, two people who looked like intruders were chatting.

The people who came to watch were all teenage boys and girls. The two middle-aged men seemed a bit out of place, but everyone's attention was on the court and no one paid any attention to them.

"Tony, aren't you going to say hello to the new talent recruited by your team?" The speaker was a middle-aged man of Asian appearance named Andy Tang.

After saying that, he looked at the court, but not at DeRozan and Harden, but at Zhang Yang.

This kid actually went to play basketball?

Please vote!
(End of this chapter)