After their trip to Orlando, Su Feng and Kobe flew back to Philadelphia overnight.
For Bryant, although he was heartbroken by the legendary Hardaway during this Orlando trip, he unexpectedly got the chance to take a photo with O'Neal, the "Big Shark," and even received his autograph.
As for Su Feng, he had thought Kobe would take him somewhere exciting. Instead, to his surprise, Kobe took him to meet O'Neal, and he even acted like an old acquaintance in front of him.
Perhaps that's just how life works!
…
The next day, at four in the morning.
Even though today was Su Feng's enrollment ceremony, neither he nor Kobe slacked off.
Well… Kobe didn't show up just to eat Su Feng's sandwich, and Su Feng certainly wasn't there just because of the value Kobe could bring him.
"I'm starving—where's my sandwich?" Kobe Bryant said impatiently as soon as they met on the basketball court.
Su Feng smiled. "Don't worry, I made a special breakfast for you today."
Kobe eyed Su Feng suspiciously. "I just want a sandwich."
Su Feng took a lunchbox out of his backpack and handed it to Kobe.
"What's this?" Bryant asked curiously.
"Tofu pudding," Su Feng replied.
"Tofu pudding? Are you sure this is edible? Hmm… goo… goo… wait, it's sweet and delicious!"
Holding the dish called tofu pudding in his hands, Kobe suddenly forgot about the sandwich.
Watching Kobe eat like a ravenous beast, Su Feng felt as though the tall, confident image he had of him from his past life had completely shattered.
"I did prepare a spoon for you, you know," Su Feng said with a bitter smile. After all, in the U.S., tofu was quite expensive.
To make these two servings of tofu pudding, Su Feng had spent a lot of money.
But when he thought about the true value of this moment…
"I see money as dust," Su Feng thought to himself.
After finishing the tofu pudding Su Feng had prepared, Kobe noticed that Su Feng's own portion looked different.
"Why is yours red?" Bryant asked curiously.
"Because mine is spicy," Su Feng answered.
"Spicy?" Bryant felt his mouth water involuntarily.
Regardless of whether Su Feng agreed or not, Kobe immediately took some from him—then chomped down on it.
"FU! FU! FU!"
Watching Kobe struggle with the spice, Su Feng quickly handed him a sports drink.
One thing was certain: Kobe was a brave man. Su Feng's special tofu pudding, while not excessively fiery, was certainly the king of spicy flavors.
"How can you eat this kind of spicy food!?"
Kobe returned the tofu pudding to Su Feng like it was a hot potato, while looking at him as if to say, "You're a madman!"
Su Feng didn't bother explaining. In his opinion, "spicy tofu pudding is king," just like dumplings should always be sweet.
"But after eating just this…" Kobe patted his belly and stared at Su Feng.
Su Feng shrugged. "Relax, there's plenty of sandwiches!"
At that moment, Bryant quickly forgot his fiery ordeal.
…
Bang! Choking on laughter!
After their morning workout, Su Feng and Kobe arrived at school together. Notably, thanks to Joe Bryant's connections, Su Feng and Kobe ended up in the same class. For Su Feng, many students recognized him from the previous friendly match. After all, his heroic deeds from last semester had already spread throughout Lower Merion.
"Hey, Su, that's Tarvia. Want me to introduce you?"
Upon entering the classroom, Bryant patted Su Feng on the shoulder and pointed to a rather athletic-looking Black girl.
Su Feng shook his head. "I'm not interested in women."
"Tarvia's father is an NBA player too. When I first arrived in the U.S., she helped me a lot since my English was terrible," Kobe said.
Su Feng nodded absentmindedly, but then something clicked—he remembered a detail about Kobe's career.
"Tarvia… her last name is Lucas?" Su Feng asked curiously.
"Haha, didn't you just say you weren't interested in women? I'm telling you, Tarvia is a sports genius," Kobe teased.
Sure enough! Tarvia Lucas… If Su Feng remembered correctly, her father was the famous John Lucas: the No. 1 pick in the 1976 NBA Draft, a star in his playing days, then head coach of the San Antonio Spurs—and the future head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers! Of course, John Lucas's coaching career wasn't as illustrious as his playing days. Su Feng knew about him because he'd read in Kobe's autobiography that Kobe and John Lucas's daughter had gone to the same school. What Su Feng hadn't expected was that they were actual classmates.
In Su Feng's past life, after Bryant announced he was skipping college to enter the NBA draft, John Lucas directly reached out to the Bryant family, wanting to assess whether Philadelphia's native son had NBA-level skills. So… John Lucas invited Bryant to Philadelphia for workouts and scrimmages with the 76ers, arranging for Bryant to face Jerry Stackhouse at the Sixers' practice facility.
At the time, Stackhouse was just a first-year rookie. During his rookie season, he averaged 19.2 points per game, so when he saw Kobe, he was eager to test him head-to-head. The result… Stackhouse failed spectacularly. Rumor had it that Kobe and Stackhouse split their one-on-one matchups, but Kobe had the edge overall. Interestingly, this showdown caught the attention of a certain Lakers executive, who became even more convinced that drafting Kobe was the right move. It's safe to say this game skyrocketed Kobe's reputation. And at the same time… it changed Stackhouse's trajectory—
Well… not really! Instead of humbling himself after losing to Kobe, Stackhouse became even more aggressive in his interactions with Allen Iverson. During the 1996–97 season, Stackhouse averaged 16.1 shots per game, shooting just 40.7%. His assists per game dropped to 3.1, throwing off the 76ers' offensive system. The dream of forming an elite backcourt duo? Gone. It didn't take long. Early in the 1997–98 season, with Stackhouse still playing selfishly, the 76ers' management decided to ship him out. Although he later took his shot-heavy approach to the Pistons, elevating "brick-laying" to new heights, many still didn't see him as a real star.
Cough, back to the real story. After classes ended, Su Feng joined Lower Merion High School's basketball team for his official induction at the gym. Although it was called an "induction ceremony," it was more of a meet-and-greet. Then, the coach handed Su Feng his jersey and sneakers. Of course, Kobe wasn't going to let Su Feng off that easily.
"Su, sing a song!" At the end of the ceremony, Bryant suddenly suggested.
Su Feng glanced at Coach Gregg, who nodded helplessly. Well… singing wasn't Su Feng's forte. Sure, he could sing a few foreign songs—though not many. But what songs did he even know? "Red Plum Blossoms," "Moscow Nights," "Katyusha"… Wait, hold on. Su Feng actually knew a couple of English songs. Cough… Clearing his throat, he started his performance:
"You know you love me, I know you care,
Just shout whenever, and I'll be there…
Like baby, baby, baby, oh!
Like baby, baby, baby, oh…"
Lower Merion High School's gym fell silent. Kobe, who had been planning to tease Su Feng, was stunned. Even though Su Feng's singing wasn't great, the melody of the song was catchy. As one of the few songs in Su Feng's music library, this "Baby" by a Canadian kid was something Su Feng had studied in his past life—specifically to impress girls.
"Nice, Su! Who wrote that song? Why haven't I heard it before?" Kobe asked, clapping.
After thinking for a moment, Su Feng replied, "All I know is that I didn't write it. Anyway, Coach Gregg, what's our first practice?"
This song wouldn't even be released for another decade—if Kobe had heard it before, that would've been supernatural. Su Feng wasn't passionate about singing, much less songwriting. In his mind, protagonists in novels who somehow write scripts and lyrics flawlessly are unrealistic. Aside from a handful of classic movie quotes and lyrics, he could recall maybe one or two English songs at best. Honestly, novels are too far-fetched—reality is where it's at! Playing in the NBA, becoming a basketball star, and marrying a beautiful woman—that was the true dream, in Su Feng's opinion. Luckily, Kobe and his teammates didn't dwell on it. After all, in the '90s, information wasn't as readily available, and Kobe hadn't been exposed to much music. And just like that, Su Feng managed to avoid embarrassment—with pure confidence.
…
PS: Hey, I just wanted to let you know I had to tweak that part of the text a bit—there were a bunch of details that turned out to be incorrect, so I shifted the pacing to make everything flow more smoothly and keep it accurate.
…
One day of training was all it took for Su Feng to realize he could integrate into the team much faster than expected.
Since he was the newest member of the basketball team, Su Feng had mentally prepared himself for potential challenges from his teammates. He had even strategized how to respond if they tried to trip him up.
But…
During training, his teammates not only passed the ball to him willingly, but whether he made the shot or not, they always greeted him with a smile.
"Are they just dazzled by my good looks?" Su Feng wondered cautiously.
Luckily, after training, Lower Merion's backup guard, Swartz, cleared up Su Feng's confusion.
"Su, you should know… Actually, we're all afraid of Kobe." Swartz whispered.
Su Feng nodded.
"Last year, after we lost the state championship, Guy said, 'It doesn't matter, the other team was just too strong'… Do you know what happened to Guy next?" Swartz shuddered at the memory.
"What?"
"Kobe stared at him for exactly 4 hours and 58 minutes. And it wasn't just an ordinary stare—his eyes were like a viper watching its prey!" Swartz explained.
Su Feng hesitated. He wanted to say, "That's the Black Mamba for you," but considering Kobe was nearby, he decided to keep that thought to himself.
"After that, Kobe forced the guys to train with him day and night. He kept saying we wouldn't win a state championship without hard work."
"But Su, you know Kobe's physical endurance… There's no way we could keep up with him!"
"Soon, many of the older players quit the team."
"And the worst part? Even during training, Kobe is incredibly strict with us."
"If we don't pass the ball to him in practice or games, and we choose to take the shot ourselves… It's fine if we make it. But if we miss? God only knows how long he'll stare us down!"
"But Su, today during practice, when we passed the ball to you and you missed… Kobe smiled!"
"And when you made a shot, he even patted our shoulders and said, 'That was a good pass, just keep fighting!'"
"Su, you're our savior!"
"I've heard about you. You must have been sent by the gods to protect us!" Swartz exclaimed emotionally.
Su Feng: "..."
Look to the skies!
Sooner or later, he'd be forced to yell "Balala energy transformation!" or something equally ridiculous.
However, after hearing Swartz's explanation, Su Feng realized this was actually just a misunderstanding.
When Kobe first arrived at Lower Merion, his English wasn't great, so he struggled to communicate with his teammates.
And because of his fierce competitiveness, he naturally placed high demands on himself—and on others.
Su Feng patted Swartz on the shoulder. He wanted to say "Hang in there," but honestly…
Hadn't all future Lakers point guards suffered through this same initiation?
After his conversation with Swartz, Su Feng noticed Kobe staring at him while scribbling in a notebook. He walked over curiously.
"What are you looking at? Are we heading into extra training?"
Kobe's expression was different from usual.
"The day after tomorrow is our friendly match against Ridley Middle School," Kobe announced.
"They were last year's champions."
"They were the champions the year before."
"And the year before that."
"They've won the Pennsylvania state championship for six years in a row!"
"Aren't they basically the unstoppable kings from a sports manga?" Su Feng thought.
"If we want to win the state championship, we have to beat them!" Kobe said firmly.
Su Feng nodded. If he remembered correctly, Kobe wouldn't win a state championship until his senior year. But as far as he recalled…
Wasn't Ridley High School the dominant Pennsylvania team in his third year?
"Su, I have to win the state championship. I must win it!" Kobe declared.
"I know… Me too."
After all, if he didn't win a state championship, how was he supposed to get into the NBA?
According to the American High School Basketball League schedule, the season's main games wouldn't start until November. Until then, teams played friendly matches.
Su Feng knew he still had time to improve.
After all…
Even though high school-level training no longer felt challenging enough for Su Feng…
He had an ace up his sleeve—Kobe.
"Let's go practice, Kobe!" Su Feng urged.
"Hmm!"
Seeing Su Feng's determination, Kobe felt as if he had finally found someone who truly understood him.