My Manor

"It's coming!" After twenty minutes, Jiang Hai's expression, which was originally indifferent, suddenly became serious. His eyes, which were half asleep, also froze instantly. From the change in his demeanor, it was clear that Jiang Hai was now focused.

Through his powerful perception, Jiang Hai looked through the line and imagined the underwater situation. There were definitely fish below, and after such a long time of attraction, the shipworms should have drawn some fish to watch. However, these fish were very cautious.

They wouldn't be fooled easily, but looking at the worms that kept twisting in front of them, it was impossible not to be tempted.

Now, it was a contest between reason and nature. If the worms continued to move, some fish would inevitably succumb. However, if Jiang Hai moved now, it could scare the fish away.

Finally, a fish couldn't resist any longer. Still cautious, it swam over slowly, nibbled at the bait lightly, then immediately let go and swam away. Jiang Hai felt the line tremble in his hand.

At that moment, Jiang Hai's heart calmed. He knew that, barring any unforeseen events, the fish would soon bite. After another minute, the line trembled again, followed by another half minute, then twenty seconds... Jiang Hai had a strong feeling that the fish would bite soon!

From the previous test, Jiang Hai could tell this fish was no small fry; it was a real big one. Based on his estimation, it must be at least half a meter long and weigh over ten pounds. This fish would be more than enough for him to eat.

"Wow!" Just as the fish was about to bite, a sudden cheer erupted from the high school gymnasium in the distance. Hearing the sound, the fish under the water immediately scattered.

"Who the heck is that!" Feeling his half hour of effort wasted as the underwater area cleared, Jiang Hai couldn't help but swear. He picked up the fishing line again, glanced at the gym in the distance, then shook his head and prepared to continue.

He would have to wait again, but it seemed the others weren't going to let him have an easy time today. Cheers came one after another, driving Jiang Hai to the brink of a headache. What were these people doing? Why weren't they focusing on their studies?

"I'll go see what they're doing!" Jiang Hai threw his things aside and strode toward the gym. As for Xiao Bai and Xiao Huang, they ignored him once they saw he was leaving. If Jiang Hai were opening the car door, they would have stood up, but since he was just heading to the gym, they couldn't be bothered. These days, Jiang Hai often went to the gym, not for any particular reason, but to use the restroom. At first, they would follow him, but now they were too lazy to do so. After all, they didn't need to go to the bathroom themselves.

When Jiang Hai reached the gymnasium, he could hear cheers louder than those by the riverside. This struck him as odd.

It was the third day of school, so these students should be in class. Who would run here to practice cheering for no reason?

Curious, Jiang Hai walked into the gymnasium. As soon as he stepped inside, the noise grew even louder.

The gym wasn't full, but there were at least hundreds of people. The cheers were directed toward a game happening in the center of the court.

It was a three-on-three basketball game. No, it looked more like a coaching demonstration than a real game because, out of the six players, five were high school students, and there was only one black man, who was clearly not a student. Moreover, his strength was much greater than that of the high school players. Not only was his physical fitness superior, but his technique was also flawless. Under his defense, almost no player could score easily, and when he scored, no one could stop him except himself.

Seeing this, Jiang Hai shook his head. He didn't understand what was so exciting about this. However, he assumed such a one-sided display wouldn't last much longer.

"Hey, what are you doing here!" Just as Jiang Hai was deciding whether to wait for these people to finish humiliating their opponents before going back to fishing or heading home directly, a girl in a cheerleading uniform spotted him. She ran over with two latte flowers in her hands, smiling brightly.

Jiang Hai paused for a moment, surprised. He didn't seem to know this girl, but after thinking for a bit, he realized he had seen her twice before. He couldn't recall her name, but she seemed to be the daughter of the horse farm owner.

"I came here to fish, but it's too noisy. You scared off all my fish! What are you doing here? Don't you go to school in Boston?" Jiang Hai asked, trying to remember. Although he didn't recall the girl's name, he did remember she attended high school in Boston. What was she doing here?

"We're on vacation. It's winter break now!" the girl smiled and explained.

"Ah, I see..." Jiang Hai understood. The vacation schedules in the United States were different from those in China. Apart from public holidays like Saturday, Sunday, Independence Day, and National Day, there were four main vacation periods each year. The longest was summer vacation, from June to September. Then there was the winter break, from mid-December to mid-January, excluding Christmas and New Year. It was shorter than China's winter vacation.

Spring break, a week around Easter, and Thanksgiving break, which lasted a week, rounded out the major holidays.

Since it was already December 19, the students had already started their winter break.

"Why aren't you staying at home? Why run all the way here?" Jiang Hai asked in surprise. Was there an event today?

"We're here for a friendly basketball match between our school and Winthrop High School. As the captain of the cheerleading team and a Winthrop native, I naturally have to be here. Plus, John from our school has trained with the Celtics. He invited the current Celtics star, Avery Bradley, to come. Even if it's just to get an autograph, I had to come!" the girl said excitedly.

"Avery Bradley?" Jiang Hai frowned. He knew that name. The Celtics' starting shooting guard, a rookie in 2010, had made it to the second-best defensive lineup the year before. He was a solid defender with an average offensive game. Recently, Jiang Hai had been watching a lot of NBA games since Boston games were frequently broadcast locally.

"So, it's NBA players playing against high school students. No wonder they're crushing them," Jiang Hai said with a soft laugh, curling his lips. This NBA player really had no shame—what was the point of humiliating high school kids?

Jiang Hai didn't realize how high some NBA players would go to entertain the crowd. For example, Kevin Durant, the second-best player in the NBA, would give his all against elementary school players—albeit in a way that should be quoted as "giving."

"When will the game end?" Despite being a basketball fan, Jiang Hai had little interest in Avery Bradley. If it were James or Kobe, maybe he would have asked for an autograph, but not today.

"It might be late. This is just warm-up before the real game. The official match starts at five and will last about two hours, ending around seven," the girl said, counting on her fingers.

"Forget it, I'll go home and sleep!" Jiang Hai muttered, realizing he was destined for an empty-handed return today. Seven o'clock? He wasn't crazy enough to wait that long.

"Hey, Delia, what are you doing here... Oh, is that our manor owner? Are you here to watch the game?" At that moment, a voice came from a distance, and a boy jogged over. Jiang Hai recognized him; he had met him with the girl earlier in Boston. While Jiang Hai couldn't remember his exact name or appearance, the boy clearly remembered Jiang Hai.

When the boy saw Jiang Hai, a flash of suspicion appeared in his eyes. Clearly, he didn't think it was a good idea for his beloved girl to spend too much time with a young, wealthy man like Jiang Hai.

"Uh, no..." Jiang Hai paused, sensing the hostility in the boy's words. He was about to explain, realizing the boy was probably misinterpreting things.

"Since you're here and a basketball fan, come join us for warm-up!"