Volume One: Our Own League 163: If You Lack Culture, Read More Books!

Once this title was determined, Xu He began to think and conceptualize it seriously.

He listed out everything he intended to write, planned the overall structure, selected the content, and marked the key points that required deep and elaborate description...

After outlining and organizing his thoughts on a piece of draft paper, Xu He instantly knew how he should write it.

Then, Xu He began to earnestly write down the thoughts from his mind.

Once he started, Xu He's writing was exceptionally smooth and fluent, without a single moment of stuttering or hesitation.

Fast and fluent!

Suddenly, many people could not help but cast their gazes toward Xu He. They were astonished—this guy Xu He was way too fast, wasn't he? He had already started writing? And he was writing with such fluidity?

Was this guy even human?

Xia Yu also couldn't help glancing at Xu He. He even slowly walked down from the podium and came over to Xu He's desk to watch him write his composition. He wanted to see what Xu He was writing that made it so smooth.

Instantly, the bold characters "What can dispel sorrow? Only the National Tournament." came into Xia Yu's view, and he was immediately startled.

This creative angle for breaking down the prompt was something he had not anticipated; it was extremely unexpected.

He had guessed beforehand that for a prompt like this, many students would write about reading or studying. For example, angles and titles like "What can dispel sorrow? Only reading," "What can dispel sorrow? Only studying," "What can dispel sorrow? Only good food," and "What can dispel sorrow? Only optimism" were expected.

Never had he imagined that Xu He would actually write about the National Tournament!

Moreover, seeing this title instantly captured people's attention and provoked contemplation: what kind of "National Tournament" could possibly make Xu He feel that his sorrows were dispelled?

This naturally compelled readers to dive into the essay in search of the answer.

To be frank, this approach to the prompt was quite unexpected, and of course, currently speaking, it was also exceptionally good and novel—at the very least, it wasn't cookie-cutter.

This time, Xu He was showcasing a unique perspective to everyone, proving that he had pondered over it deeply and given it serious thought.

Xia Yu nodded repeatedly, feeling that Xu He had done a marvelous job regarding the handling of the prompt.

Furthermore, Xia Yu figured that Xu He must be writing about football. After all, he knew of Xu He's passion for football; he had even watched Xu He play and knew that Xu He had participated in the school football team's tryouts. Naturally, this national tournament referred to football.

Xia Yu nodded slightly, considering the angle chosen by Xu He to be truly wonderful.

It was something happening right around him, clearly displaying the daily life of contemporary middle school students while closely connecting with current trending topics. It was genuinely great.

Xia Yu was very satisfied. With that, he stopped reading further because some students in other areas were not paying attention and were whispering to each other. He immediately turned around, walked toward the back rows, and used his gaze to warn those fellows who were not writing their essays properly.

Xu He didn't notice Xia Yu coming over to his side at all; he was completely immersed in his writing.

Xu He wrote furiously, finishing the composition in no time.

Looking at the essay he had written, Xu He was filled with a sense of achievement.

At the same time, gazing at the words he had produced, he fell into deep contemplation.

It wasn't until the end-of-class bell rang and Teacher Xia Yu reminded everyone to hand in their essays that Xu He snapped back to reality. He immediately stood up, submitted the composition in his hand, and then came back to pack up his things, preparing to sprint to the playground to attend today's school team gathering.

This was, after all, the very first assembly of their school team, and Xu He naturally did not want to be late.

Besides, Xu He also knew from Li Liying that their coach, Mr. Yangtong Mingxiong, extremely disliked tardiness, and he certainly did not want to touch that taboo.

After packing everything up, Xu He immediately looked at Li Jie and shouted, "Old Li, hurry up! Coach Yangtong does not like people being late!"

Li Jie packed his belongings, chuckled softly, looked up at Xu He, and said, "Can you read a few more books? The man's surname is Yangtong, not Yang! Being uncultured is truly terrifying!"

Xu He instantly felt embarrassed and awkward.

He never expected to make such a fool of himself, nor did he anticipate that Coach Yangtong Mingxiong possessed a compound surname. He had assumed Coach Yangtong was like Tanglujiaming, the senior student from the second grade of junior high. Tanglujiaming's father had the surname Tang, and his mother had the surname Lu, so his parents combined both of their surnames into Tanglujiaming's name and gave him the given name Jiaming.

Xu He had thought Coach Yangtong Mingxiong was the same, assuming Yangtong Mingxiong's father was surnamed Yang and his mother was surnamed Tong. Turns out it wasn't like that at all; he had simply overthought it.

Xu He immediately looked at Li Jie and asked, "How on earth do you know that the man has the compound surname Yangtong? And how do you even know that Yangtong is a compound surname?"

Indeed, people with compound surnames in Huaxia were already few, and the compound surname Yangtong was extremely obscure—so much so that a vast number of people had never even heard of it. Who would ever guess that Yangtong was a compound surname? How on earth did Li Jie know this?

Meeting Xu He's curious gaze, Li Jie smiled slightly and said, "How do I know? It's very simple: I read more books than you do!"

Xu He rolled his eyes directly at Li Jie and said, "I don't believe that for a second! Whenever you have free time, you go to the internet cafe to play games. You don't read a damn book!"

Li Jie finished packing, waved at Xu He to signal him to walk together.

He said, "I play games, but I read books too!"

Xu He refused to believe it and retorted, "Go play your *CrossFire*! You, reading books? Yeah, right!"

Li Jie gave a cheeky laugh and said, "You really do understand me!"

Xu He immediately pressed on, "Tell me, how did you know?"

Li Jie answered right away, "Li Liying told me. At first, I also thought the coach was surnamed Yang, but Li Liying scolded me and said I was uncultured and truly terrifying! She said the surname Yangtong originates from the *Book of Chinese Surnames* and is listed among the Hundred Family Surnames!"

Xu He nodded slightly. So that was how it was!

Li Jie looked at Xu He and asked, "Do you suddenly feel like you've learned a lot of knowledge and broadened your horizons?"

Xu He nodded firmly. That was indeed the case.

Li Jie immediately declared, "That's why I'm telling you: if you lack culture, you need to read more books! From now on, you kid should read a bit more, so you don't make a fool of yourself every time you go out!"

Xu He couldn't even be bothered to argue with this guy. This fellow only ever pointed out flaws in others and never reflected on himself. Unable to watch any longer, Xu He immediately said, "Stop bantering, let's get to the playground quickly. If we're late, both of you and me are going to be in for it!"

Hearing this, Li Jie gasped, truly not daring to be late.

Coach Yangtong Mingxiong gave off an extremely stern and serious vibe. If it was really as Xu He said and Coach Yangtong detested tardiness, any delay on their part would surely result in severe punishment.

Li Jie said, "Then let's run!"

Xu He nodded slightly and immediately dashed toward the playground.

While running, Li Jie kept asking, "Hey Old Xu, where did you find out that Coach Yangtong doesn't like people being late?"

Xu He replied while running, "Of course I heard it from Li Liying!"

Xu He wasn't running very fast and didn't push his top speed; otherwise, Li Jie would have been left far behind in the dust.

Li Jie took a sharp breath and said, "Since it's something Li Liying said, then there's no doubt about it. Run faster, we absolutely cannot be late!"

Along their running route, they also spotted many future teammates who were likewise heading toward the playground. The reason they recognized these people was that they had crossed paths during the school team tryouts earlier, so they remembered their faces.

These people didn't look anxious at all, walking leisurely toward the playground one by one.

Xu He and Li Jie didn't bother to remind them. After all, there was still time, and more importantly, they weren't very familiar with these people; since they didn't really know them, how could they just go up and say something?

In truth, even if Xu He and his companion had simply walked to the playground, they wouldn't have been late, but they simply wanted to arrive early and thus had found an excuse for themselves.

Upon reaching the playground, Xu He and Li Jie saw quite a crowd.

Indeed, several people had arrived even earlier than them.

Xu He also caught sight of Li Liying and Teacher Ye Ziqing. The two of them were standing on the podium, with numerous jerseys and sports equipment piled up in front of and behind them. It seemed these were the uniforms and gear for their school team.

Seeing this, Xu He felt immensely excited.

With this, their school team could truly be considered established; they were now an official squad.

Xu He desperately wanted to rush up and take a close look at their school team jerseys, but coaches Xu Dongsheng and Luo Dongqing were also standing up there, making it rather awkward for him to just walk over.

Xu He also noticed other eager teammates itching to make a move, yet none of them dared to go up—clearly out of intimidation from coaches Xu Dongsheng and Luo Dongqing.

Xu He quickly made his way over to Zhu Ge. Gathered around Zhu Ge were several other classmates from the first year of junior high; it looked like everyone was somewhat banding together.

The first-year students congregated in one group, the second-year students in another, and the third-year students in yet another, with the three factions clearly demarcated and keeping to themselves.

Small cliques had formed in this unconscious manner, prompting Xu He to take a few extra glances at the senior students from the second and third years. Evidently, the physical conditions of these seniors were much better than those of most first-year students, and they appeared noticeably taller as well.

Except for Zhong Haokun, of course.

Zhong Haokun was simply a freak of nature; his physical fitness completely crushed these senior students from the second and third years, and could even rival that of high school students.

Xu He couldn't help but want to ask what on earth Zhong Haokun had been fed while growing up.

Reaching Zhu Ge's side, Xu He inquired, "Captain, is there still no word from Muyang? Did he come to school today?"

Zhu Ge shook his head slightly and let out a sigh.

To be honest, they all felt that the school team was missing a certain something without Muyang; his absence was absolute a loss for their squad.

Xu He also sighed and said, "I wonder what happened to Muyang. I really, really hoped he would join our school team. With him, the strength of our team would definitely rise to a whole new level."

The other first-year classmates nodded one after another in agreement.

After all, most of them had played in the first-year football league, watched Muyang play, and even competed against him, so they naturally knew how formidable he was. Muyang's absence from the school team tryouts had caught them completely off guard and left them utterly surprised.

As they chatted, everyone began to look toward the future, voicing their opinions on the school team and predicting its future achievements. They all fantasized about storming into the National Tournament—only then would their lives have been lived without regrets.

Right at that moment, Coach Yangtong Mingxiong walked in.

Xu He and the others looked over, feeling somewhat surprised.

Because the person arriving wasn't just Yangtong Mingxiong; Principal Wang was with him, alongside a middle-aged man they didn't recognize. Could this also be an assistant to Yangtong Mingxiong, an assistant coach for their school team?