153: Chapter 153 Tang Tian Invites You to the Movies

He hadn't walked far when a voice called out.

He stopped in his tracks and looked back.

Tang Tian was jogging toward him, her wavy hair swaying gently on her shoulders, and her pleated skirt fluttering with her steps like a flower stirred by the wind.

She was running a bit hurriedly, her ponytail swinging back and forth behind her head, a smile on her face.

She ran up to him, slightly out of breath, her cheeks flushed a faint red from the running, her eyes sparkling.

"Your performance today was truly amazing," she said, her tone filled with undisguised admiration.

Chen Fan raised his hand to wipe his face, his fingertips brushing against his damp, messy hair. His voice was slightly hoarse from exercise. "It was alright, just a normal performance."

"How was that normal? That dunk was so cool!" Tang Tian's eyes brightened even more, and she still seemed excited talking about the moment earlier.

Chen Fan didn't know how to respond, so he could only change the subject, looking at Tang Tian's rather thin attire. "Aren't you cold wearing that?"

It was already November. It was fine during the day, but now it was nearly six o'clock, the sun had set, and the late autumn wind blew in gusts, carrying a bone-chilling cold.

A few girls on the side of the court were already hunching their necks and hugging their arms, shivering.

Tang Tian was wearing a loose, creamy-white hoodie, and underneath was a dark gray pleated miniskirt, revealing a section of her legs wrapped in skin-colored stockings.

It looked good, certainly, but dressed like that in this weather, if she stood outside without moving for too long, she definitely wouldn't be able to stand it.

But Chen Fan was different. Ever since his Five Viscera Strengthening, his yang energy was vigorous, and he was like a walking little furnace.

Even without exercising, he didn't feel cold wearing short sleeves on the coldest nights, let alone now, having just finished playing ball and radiating heat from his whole body. This bit of cool wind felt like nothing to him.

Tang Tian looked down at herself, then looked up, smiling and shaking her head. "I'm not cold, the hoodie is very thick." As she said this, she pulled at the collar of her hoodie, as if to prove she was wearing enough.

Chen Fan glanced at her, but his gaze involuntarily drifted from her upper body down to her legs.

Perhaps because she had learned to dance, her legs were more slender than the average girl's, with smooth, straight lines, and the curve of her calves was just right, without a trace of excess fat.

After putting on the skin-colored stockings, the shape of her legs looked even more graceful, like lines carefully sketched by an artist.

Chen Fan couldn't help but take a few extra looks.

Seeing Chen Fan staring at her legs, a flash of slyness crossed Tang Tian's eyes, and the corners of her mouth curled up slightly. "Are you peeking at my legs?"

Chen Fan was stunned.

As an upright gentleman, how could he possibly peek? He was clearly looking openly.

"I was just checking if you were cold," he said, his expression unchanged.

A smile appeared on Tang Tian's face again, and she tilted her head to look at him. "If you want to look, then look. If it's you, I'm willing to let you look."

"Huh?"

What did Tang Tian mean by this? Could it be—

He looked at Tang Tian and found her gazing at him intensely.

Those eyes held amusement, slyness, and a trace of meaning he couldn't decipher.

Chen Fan froze.

"I'm just joking with you." Tang Tian suddenly burst into a giggle, took half a step back, and tilted her head to look at him, her wavy hair swaying on her shoulders. "Look at how nervous you got."

Chen Fan watched her without speaking.

"You didn't take it seriously, did you?" Tang Tian blinked her eyes, her tone light, unable to suppress the smile on her lips, like a child whose prank had succeeded.

Chen Fan let out a sigh of relief.

He wasn't a person with a particularly strong will. Facing a girl like Tang Tian for the first time, Chen Fan was still a bit overwhelmed.

"I'm going to head off now. I'm covered in sweat and need to take a shower."

"Mm, bye-bye."

Tang Tian waved her hand, her fingers gleaming white in the twilight.

Tang Tian stood where she was, watching Chen Fan's receding figure, a flash of resentment crossing her eyes.

Although her words just now were a joke, they weren't entirely a joke.

Although she wasn't the type of girl who was easily shy, when she said that line, "If it's you, I'm willing to let you look," her heart had still been pounding like a drum; she had just covered it up with the words "I'm joking."

But what about him?

His look of relief made her feel a bit disappointed.

Was she that scary? Did she make him heave such a huge sigh of relief?

Tang Tian lowered her head, looking at her toes, her pleated skirt lifted by the wind, brushing lightly against the back of her hand.

She pressed her lips together, suppressing the slight grievance in her heart, then looked up and took one last glance in the direction where Chen Fan had disappeared.

After returning home, Chen Fan took a shower and changed into clean clothes.

The hot water washed away the residual sweat and the heat from the court, leaving him feeling much refreshed.

He walked out of the bathroom drying his hair, collapsed onto the sofa, stretched out his limbs, and let out a long breath.

Lying there for a while, he felt full of vitality again—the recovery ability brought by his Five Viscera Strengthening was truly astonishing. If it were an ordinary person who had just finished such a high-intensity game, they probably wouldn't be able to lift their legs tomorrow, but for him, just in the time it took to take a shower, his body had already recovered.

He reached for his phone, opened QQ, and found an unread message.

It was a video sent by Tang Tian.

Chen Fan tapped it, and the video started playing. In the frame was the exact dunk he had just made on the court—from the jump and the layup to slamming the ball into the hoop, it had all taken only a few seconds. The image shook a bit, probably because Tang Tian had been too excited to hold the phone steady, but the angle was good, capturing the exact moment he hung on the rim. The hoop vibrated slightly in the footage, his white jersey stood out strikingly in the sunlight, and the number 24 on his back faced the camera like a flag.

Even with an iPhone 4, taking videos in this day and age wasn't very clear. The whole video looked a bit blurry, with grainy edges and colors that weren't vibrant enough, but one could still tell that Tang Tian had filmed it with care—she hadn't wandered around with the crowd but had held the phone steadily, keeping the focus on him alone.

Chen Fan watched it once, the corners of his mouth curving up unconsciously, then he tapped the keyboard and replied with two words: "Thanks."

Soon, Tang Tian's reply popped up at the top of the screen. First, a "hee-hee" emoticon, followed immediately by another message: "Are you free tomorrow?"

Chen Fan looked at this message, his fingers pausing on the screen, and he replied: "What's up?"

"There's a new movie tomorrow, 'My Sassy Girl 2,' and I wanted to ask if you'd like to go see it together. I heard it's quite good."

Seeing this message, Chen Fan leaned back against the sofa and stared at the screen for a few seconds.

He could be certain now—this girl, probably, maybe, possibly, was interested in him.