Chapter 162: Badminton Match 2
The audience seats erupted in an uproar, and everyone was shocked.
The contestants from Third Middle School stood dumbfounded, unable to believe they had ended the first game with zero points!
Ling Hanmu said with a half-smile, “This is just the beginning.”
With that, he and Xia Chenge walked towards the rest area.
The teacher leading the team rushed over, his face full of excitement, “Were you guys holding back your strength all along?”
“It depends on my mood,” Ling Hanmu said casually, glancing at Liu Li intentionally or unintentionally. “Of course, this Young Master never lets anyone who makes this Young Master unhappy off the hook!”
Liu Li broke out in a cold sweat.
“Are you tired?” After a pause, Ling Hanmu turned to Xia Chenge, his face full of tenderness, and personally took a towel to wipe her sweat. “How about you slack off in the next match?”
Xia Chenge couldn’t help but laugh, “This is a Mixed Doubles Match, not your solo show. I don’t want people to say I’m being carried.”
“Then just play casually, I can handle them by myself.”
“Won’t you steal all the limelight then?”
“But my only glory is you.”
Xia Chenge looked at him intently, then after a moment, lowered her head and chuckled, “You dummy!”
“Don’t be your senior brother.”
“Silly.”
To others, their playful banter painted a different picture.
The two contestants from Third Middle School gritted their teeth, resentful that Ling Hanmu and Xia Chenge were too ruthless and showed no mercy!
They must have underestimated them earlier, which is why they lost so miserably.
Just you wait, Ling Hanmu, we’ll make sure you two can’t smile later!
The halftime break ended quickly, and the second game began.
Xia Chenge and Ling Hanmu walked onto the court side by side.
Ling Hanmu suddenly noticed that Xia Chenge’s hair was a bit messy. He stopped her, then in front of thousands of live audience members and viewers watching the live broadcast by major media outlets, he untied her hair and then quickly and skillfully re-tied it.
Afterward, he smiled and patted Xia Chenge’s head, seemingly very satisfied.
Xia Chenge looked up at him, then raised her hand to touch her tied hair, her smile blooming like a flower.
The entire stadium fell into a dead silence. No one could believe that the gentle-looking, smiling young man was the infamous Young Master Ling of Haicheng!
Holy crap, they must be seeing things. The person acting so dotingly and tying someone’s hair couldn’t possibly be Ling Hanmu.
However, the match had already started. And the two people attacking and defending with overwhelming momentum on the court, who else could it be but Xia Chenge and Ling Hanmu?
The contestants from Third Middle School no longer dared to be careless and faced the match with full concentration.
Yet, as they played, their hearts grew more alarmed. Xia Chenge and Ling Hanmu’s coordination was too perfect, and their playing style was extremely unrestrained, with no discernible pattern.
“Third Middle School, go!”
“Third Middle School first!”
“Third Middle School is the best!”
…
At this moment, the audience from Third Middle School began to shout loudly, cheering for their contestants.
Seeing this, the students from Yan Sheng High School, unwilling to be outdone, also wanted to cheer for Xia Chenge and Ling Hanmu. However, Meng Yufei raised his head and stopped them, “Don’t disrupt the match. Winning relies on strength; what’s the use of just cheering?”
“The contestants from Third Middle School are already flustered. It will be difficult for them to win this match,” Li Yuming commented objectively from the side.
Meng Yufei curved his lips slightly, “When Ling Hanmu was six years old, he never lost a badminton match. It’s not that he stopped playing all these years, but rather that he was too lazy to play because there were no opponents!”
Li Yuming turned her head in surprise, “You know quite a lot!”
Meng Yufei raised an eyebrow, “He knows many things. Ling Hanmu has never been just a superficial prodigal son; he is a true genius, but…”
At this point, Meng Yufei abruptly stopped speaking, pursed his lips, and looked at the court, saying no more.
Li Yuming frowned slightly but didn’t press further, following his gaze.
The contestants from Third Middle School were already in a sorry state, being dominated by Xia Chenge and the other. The score on the court was still 0 for Third Middle School, while Yan Sheng High School had already secured 15 points.
At this moment, another ball from Third Middle School went astray. Yan Sheng High School reached 16 points, only 5 points away from victory.
Third Middle School called for a timeout.
Xia Chenge and Ling Hanmu also walked to the rest area.
Teacher Lin glanced at the Third Middle School side. The team leader of Third Middle School had a very grim expression.
“Hanmu, Chenge, why don’t you give Third Middle School a point? Don’t let them lose too badly?” Teacher Lin cautiously tried to negotiate with the two.
Ling Hanmu said with arrogance, “If you’re not as skilled, you should accept it. If you want to score, do it with your own ability! What’s the point of being given a point? What about fair competition?”
Teacher Lin was speechless.
Xia Chenge pretended not to hear. She had just seen the team leader of Third Middle School approach Teacher Lin!
Now that people were spreading rumors and trying to smear her everywhere, why should she give them a point and save their face?
Moreover, she clearly remembered the arrogant demeanor of the two contestants from Third Middle School when the match first started.
Not finishing them off quickly and decisively was already showing them great respect!
The timeout ended, and Xia Chenge and Ling Hanmu returned to the court. The two from Third Middle School shot them a resentful glance.
Xia Chenge curved her lips slightly. Those who can’t accept defeat, what right do they have to talk about fair competition?
Perhaps it was their innate chemistry, but in the next five points, they no longer played around with Third Middle School and directly dominated, ending the match.
Yan Sheng VS Third Middle School 21:0.
“Wow!”
The entire audience stood up, dumbfounded.
The two contestants from Third Middle School stood on the court with ashen faces, dumbfounded, staring blankly as Xia Chenge and Ling Hanmu walked over to shake hands. They extended their hands unconsciously, like puppets, completely out of their senses.
“Matches are won by strength, please forgive us!” Ling Hanmu said in a voice only the four of them could hear, using their own words from the start of the match to retort.
With that, he didn’t care how much cold sweat broke out on their faces or how pale they were, and directly left the court.
The morning’s matches were over. Xia Chenge and Ling Hanmu informed Teacher Lin and then packed their things and left the venue directly.
As they passed by Liu Li, Xia Chenge said intentionally or unintentionally, “If you don’t want others to know, you shouldn’t do it!”
Upon hearing this, Liu Li trembled all over, a chill running down his spine.
He looked at Xia Chenge in terror. Xia Chenge had already passed him, not even glancing at him, as if what she said was just Liu Li’s auditory hallucination.
“Why waste so much time talking to that kind of person?” Ling Hanmu said unhappily, putting his arm around her shoulder, regardless of the public gaze.
Xia Chenge nudged him lightly with her elbow, “Naturally, to scare him first!”
“You’re not allowed to talk to such a despicable person again, hmph!” Ling Hanmu became proud.
Xia Chenge found it amusing and shook her head helplessly.
She took out her mobile phone and logged into Weibo to see what kind of stir this match had caused online.
As expected, the homepage was full of videos of the Mixed Doubles Match.
However, the topics were quite unpleasant, such as “#Match-fixing revealed through bribery#”, “#Genius player OR Black curtain player#”, “#Capital in competition#”, and so on:
Hehehe, no wonder they had the nerve to say they would win the championship. So all the contestants were bribed to let them pass?
It’s just a small City Games, and it can be manipulated like this? Two 21:0 games? Do they think we’re brain-dead idiots?
Too terrifying, is such blatant match-fixing really okay? Are we blind?
Oh my god, can you guys stop hating for the sake of hating? You’re really good at lying with your eyes open. Is it that hard to admit that others are rich and excellent?
The naval forces upstairs are whitewashing, you’re a disgrace, go lick your master’s stinky feet!
