The sky is covered with clouds and the forest is covered with ink.

An old urban and rural bus is slowly driving on the winding mountain road.

The headlights penetrate the fine rain curtain, illuminating the lush forests and bamboos on Thunder Mountain, and the steep valleys and rocks.

There were only five or six passengers, most of them looked out of sight. There were only two young men holding their mobile phones together and watching a live broadcast of a basketball game.

The two of them whisper from time to time, occasionally making "hissing" laughter.

Long Xiaochuan sat alone in the last row, holding his hands in his chest and closing his eyes to rest. He didn't care about everything around him.

It was not until he vaguely heard the two people mention the word "Leizhai" repeatedly that they couldn't help but open their eyes and ask: "Brother, is it a match between Leizhai and Yucun? What's the match? Who's the lead?"

Today is the "Shangsi Festival in March 3rd" of the lunar calendar. As one of the birthplaces of "village bass", the customary thing is that all townships organize basketball friendly matches between villages on this day. This has been the case for decades, regardless of wind or rain.

The two young men turned their heads at the same time, one of them had an exaggerated expression, as if there was a shocking news: "Damn, you may not believe it when you say it, 56 to zero! Haha, the game is about to end, and Leizhai still won a point!"

Long Xiaochuan stared at him in shock: "How is that possible?!"

The other person on the opposite side clapped and smiled wickedly: "Hahahahaha, really, really! Leizhai is probably going to be shaved by Yucun. This time I'm so embarrassed!"

Their conversation immediately attracted the attention of the whole car, and the people in front of them turned to inquire about the situation.

This is worthy of being a folk basketball holy place with a solid mass base. Even the fat aunt who seems to be the most irrelevant has to comment: "In a basketball game, how can you not even shoot a single ball? Leizhai is really the only one who shits a scorpion this time!"

The old man next to her stroked his beard and pretended to be deep: "Anyway, I'm old anyway, and I've never heard of any village basketball game who brought a big zero egg back!"

Others also agreed: "Yes, we haven't heard of it."

Long Xiaochuan couldn't help but leave his seat and leaned forward: "Let me see if you have made a mistake in your mistake?"

In the live broadcast, there were at least thousands of people watching, and the results of the competition were definitely not wrong.

The live footage switched back and forth between the court and the referee's seat. The score of "60:00" on the scoreboard was eye-catching and dazzling. As he spoke, Yumura scored two more goals in a row.

At this moment, the referee suddenly blew a foul whistle.

The unique smoky voice of the anchor "Shi Lang can't surpass others" sounded outside the painting, and he ran out of his lungs: "Brothers, you're crazy! Have you ever seen such an exciting game? There is still one minute left, and the referee gave Leizhai two free throw opportunities. Do you think this ball can be made? Come, brothers, I hope Leizhai will get out of no point, and the comment area will be deducted 0..."

Before the speech was finished, the comment section "0" had been flooded.

Only then did everyone in the car notice that a mere village-level basketball game attracted 6,000 people to watch the Internet.

Long Xiaochuan frowned and stared at the stadium intently. The No. 7 player in Leizhai, wearing a dark blue uniform, was walking towards the free throw line panting.

This is a short, thin, black and unshaven middle-aged man, nearly 50 years old. His hair was wet with rain and sweat beads, and strands were pressed against his forehead. The hanging needle patterns between his eyebrows seemed to be filled with unsolvable depression and sorrow.

In the first free throw, he turned his head and looked at the scoreboard before starting to dribble and find the feel.

"Bang!"

The basketball fell onto the plastic field, and rebounded between the yellow rubber shoes he had rolled up, and the calloused big hands he wore.

"Bang!"

He knew that even if he scored these two goals, he could not win back his self-esteem, but he had to.

"Bang!"

He took a deep breath, looked up at the basket, and made a very standard free throw posture.

At that moment, the stadium suddenly became quiet, and all the noisy sounds seemed to come to an abrupt end.

Everyone stared at the basketball, watching it roll and spin, passing beautiful arcs in the rain, and some even forgot to breathe...

"Bang--"

It's really weird!

The basketball actually popped out again!

The audience was filled with an uproar, followed by booing and ridicule.

The same is true on the bus. The young man, old man, and fat aunt smiled on their faces, obviously they were happy to discover the topic of conversation that they could brag for the rest of their lives.

Long Xiaochuan looked very bad: "There is another free throw!"

Everyone disagreed, and the fat aunt muttered: "His teammates have left the field, why is this guy still shooting?"

The young man holding his cell phone also shook his head: "Yes, the game is like this. If I weren't playing, I wouldn't have played any longer. So what if I throw it in, it's not embarrassing enough."

Their sarcasm was like a heavy hammer that hit Long Xiaochuan's eardrum.

He felt a breath of anger in his heart and could no longer suppress it, and eventually turned into anger and rushed straight into his forehead.

So the boy stood up suddenly and roared at everyone in the carriage: "He will definitely make a shot, and he will definitely make a shot, because this is the last face of the entire Leizhai village!"

Everyone looked up at Long Xiaochuan, whose faces were red and trembling, and felt that this person was inexplicably confused.

The fat aunt gave him a blank look and curled her lips: "Just make the shot, why are you so excited?"

Long Xiaochuan punched the backrest of the car seat: "Because I am from Leizhai, the person who is shooting on the court is my dad!"

The carriage suddenly became silent. After looking at each other awkwardly, everyone returned to their respective seats.

The two young men also tactfully put away their phones, which made the next drive very long, and it was hard for everyone to discuss the game again, but they were also worried about whether the last free throw was shot or not. It was really five spines and six beasts and hundreds of claws to scratch their hearts...

Long Xiaochuan also returned to his seat, but his chest was still ups and downs and it was difficult to calm down. What was going on today? How could he play like this in a friendly match? The people of Yucun have healed the wounds and forgot the pain, and they have to deal with it again?

At this time, he was only worried that if he had returned to the village one day earlier, he would have caught up with this game. Even if he lost on the court, he would not have lost so ugly.

He looked down at his hands, the big hands that had caused knuckle deformation after years of practice, and suddenly gritted his teeth: "With me here, I may not lose, I am not right, I will definitely not lose!"

The bus stopped at one stop at a time, and the number of passengers on the bus gradually decreased, and when Long Xiaochuan was the only one left, the phone prompted a new news.

Under the WeChat avatar of his girlfriend Chen Qian's smile, there was anger between the lines: "Long Xiaochuan, your uncle's, has he really gone back? He broke up and never saw him again!"

A trace of bitterness appeared on the corner of Long Xiaochuan's mouth, but he did not respond.

All the things that should be said last night have been discussed, discussed and quarreled, so I returned to the village one day late, so I missed the competition in the village, which caused this situation... What else can I say?

Chen Qian was obviously resentful. Seeing that Long Xiaochuan ignored her, the news of her blame and questioning one after another:

"You said your family is poor, I don't care. We can work and struggle together in big cities!"

"I really can't understand why you have to go back to the poor valley?"

"There is nothing in the broken place. What kind of career can you do besides farming?"

...

"Put your unrealistic basketball dream! Don't forget that you were fired from the school team. Coach Liu said that you are too short and have no talent!"

Staring at the three words "Coach Liu", a proud and bad face instantly emerged in Long Xiaochuan's mind.
Chapter completed!