On the 23rd, after wrapping up his final special training session with Kobe before the Christmas break, Su Feng was "forced" to begin a two-day holiday.
Well...
Even for Kobe, it's Christmas.
It's worth mentioning that since Kobe constantly downplays Su Feng's cooking skills, even Kobe's father, Joe Bryant, is now full of anticipation for the upcoming Christmas Eve dinner.
After all, there's a tragic story involving a dish nicknamed "Kobe Steak"…
Honestly, considering how he inherited his father's basketball genes, Kobe sometimes even wondered if he had actually been born.
On the 24th, Su Feng—hoping to sleep in—was woken up early in the morning by Kobe.
And when he saw the time, Su Feng was speechless…
4:40 a.m.?
What was the meaning of this?
Seeing Kobe shivering in the cold wind left Su Feng stunned. It was nearly -7°C outside in Philadelphia.
"Wouldn't it be better to cancel outdoor training at 4 a.m. in this weather?" Su Feng asked, opening the door to a sniffly Kobe.
"Su, I've developed the habit of waking up at four automatically," Kobe explained. For some reason, Su Feng couldn't shake the feeling that Kobe was drooling just a little as he spoke.
Su Feng finally understood...
Since he'd promised to go over to Kobe's for Christmas Eve dinner, and since he was planning a big feast, Kobe clearly couldn't wait.
Now that 4 a.m. training had been canceled, Kobe had taken to showing up at Su Feng's apartment before school every day to wait for him—and to sneak a ride to school.
"Just wait a sec," Su Feng stretched. Though abruptly awakened, he wasn't actually sleepy anymore.
While Su Feng prepared breakfast, Kobe—still wrapped in a quilt—shivered and kept hurrying him along.
Su Feng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Seriously, if future generations of Komi fans found out about this side of Kobe, his legendary image would be ruined.
"You can make pizza too?" Kobe asked in surprise an hour later, staring at the dish Su Feng had brought out.
"Is making pizza hard?" Su Feng shot back.
Believe it or not…
He only learned to cook out of necessity.
In his past life, none of his girlfriends were particularly skilled in the kitchen—the best any of them could manage were fried eggs, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and the occasional scallion omelet...
Su Feng just wanted to eat something decent.
He couldn't live off greasy takeout forever.
"Hoo ~, huh ~, mm? Delicious!" Kobe exclaimed as he bit into the pizza, instantly satisfied.
Watching Kobe enjoy the food, Su Feng smiled to himself. Not only tasty, but also nutritious!
Because, as it turns out, Su Feng had added a nutrient solution to the pizza. That made it far more reliable than your average health meal.
…
At noon, Su Feng successfully won over the Bryants with a delicious Chinese-Western fusion meal.
As a great man once said: when East meets West, you get both taste and flair.
Su Feng's menu included pasta and pizza, alongside dishes like stir-fried pork belly and West Lake vinegar fish.
These recipes weren't particularly complicated—but each one had been taste-tested by his "ex-girlfriends" in his previous life.
After lunch, Joe Bryant looked at Su Feng with curiosity and asked, "Su, I imagine the rent where you live isn't cheap, right?"
Su Feng nodded. It wasn't. After all, "Su Feng" was a rich second-generation kid...
"You know, we've got plenty of empty rooms here. As a student, you should be frugal," Joe said meaningfully.
Su Feng: "..."
Aha.
He could see it now—Joe was trying to recruit him as their household cooking tool.
Without hesitation, Su Feng politely declined, explaining that he needed more personal space for now.
It's not that he didn't want to stay with Kobe, but after being annoyed by his exes in his past life, he just wanted some peace and solitude for a while...
And no, he wasn't afraid of becoming the Bryant family's designated chef—of course not.
Joe didn't press the issue, but during dinner, after Su Feng "flexed" his culinary skills again, Joe nudged Kobe and whispered, "Why not just tie Su up and keep him?"
Kobe knew his dad was joking, but for a fleeting moment… the idea didn't seem so bad.
After the meal, Pamela took Kobe's two sisters to clean up, while Joe kicked back with a Coke in front of Su Feng and Kobe.
Su Feng: "..."
Kobe: "..."
For some reason, we both want to deck this man.
Since the Christmas Day game was the next day, their dinner talk eventually turned to basketball.
Su Feng asked Joe for advice on bulking up. Joe recommended taking it slow and steady—no shortcuts.
In fact, many players who skip college and jump straight to the NBA are often still growing, physically speaking.
American trainers tend to be cautious, believing that unscientific strength training could interfere with natural development.
That's why player development in the NBA includes personalized weight gain plans designed by trainers and nutritionists, taking into account bone structure, body fat percentage, and more.
Since Wilt Chamberlain brought advanced training methods into the league, the NBA may not be as medically advanced as the future, but its programs were already world-class.
(Well… team doctors in the '90s weren't exactly at the forefront, but still.)
Joe's advice to Su Feng: eat more. After examining his frame, Joe believed Su Feng's build might be even better than Kobe's.
"And you've got a pair of enviable big hands," he added.
Su Feng noticed that when Joe said that, Kobe quietly lowered his head...
Oof.
Su Feng had always avoided mentioning his hand size—out of respect for their friendship.
"Have you measured your wingspan?" Joe asked curiously, observing Su Feng's long, lean frame.
Su Feng shook his head. He hadn't done an official test yet, but he was pretty confident—it had to be decent.
After all, when playing one-on-one with Kobe before, he'd noticed that when he spread his arms fully, they extended farther than Kobe's.
"214 cm? Not bad—really solid wingspan!" Joe nodded, suddenly wondering if he was witnessing the rise of not one, but two NBA players from his household.
"Hey Su, how tall are you now?" As he measured the wingspan, Joe realized that Su Feng looked noticeably taller than when he first started visiting.
Ah, the joys of growing—Su Feng still remembered how, in his past life, he went from the first row to the last row of class in just one semester...
"191 cm." Thanks to his system's weekly updates, Su Feng knew his exact height.
"Nice. If you make it to 2 meters one day, with those hands and that wingspan, you'll have a gift no one can buy," Joe said, clearly impressed.
…
Su Feng hadn't expected Kobe to bring him home early on Christmas Eve.
Although he didn't feel strongly about Christmas, having grown up in a place that followed rural customs, the festive atmosphere in Philadelphia quickly swept him up. Soon enough, he stopped worrying about losing two days of rest.
"I really am a dedicated and disciplined player," Su Feng thought to himself.
That said, upon entering the Bryant household, Su Feng saw Kobe's mother, Pamela, decorating the Christmas tree.
Thanks to his height, and with both Su Feng and Kobe helping out, the tree was quickly set up.
"In China, how do you usually spend Christmas?" Kobe asked curiously.
Su Feng paused for a moment. Luckily, he had good self-control—otherwise the words "People mostly just go out for fun" might have slipped out.
"Usually, young people hang out in the streets with a few friends," Su Feng replied, recalling what entertainment looked like in the 1990s.
Hearing this, Kobe nodded thoughtfully.
It's worth mentioning that by now, Su Feng was a familiar face at the Bryant home.
Especially to Kobe's mother, Pamela—after Kobe had bragged confidently about Su Feng's cooking skills, she brought him into the kitchen, gave him a quick run-through, and then ran off to watch TV…
Su Feng: "..."
Why did he feel like he'd been turned into a cooking tool?
It was time to show what real cooking looked like.
Just to note—of the four young talents, Kobe and Carter had far more stable childhoods than the other two…
In his previous life, when Kobe entered the 1996 draft, a media outlet claimed that Kobe had skipped college just for money.
Joe Bryant was furious. He marched straight to the TV station and fired back: "You can say whatever you want—but don't say I'm poor!"
You hear that? Get your facts straight.
Though Joe Bryant's basketball career hadn't been stellar, he was still a far more responsible father than many other Black American dads.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone all the way to Italy to support his family.
While Su Feng was preparing lunch, Kobe stood nearby in awe.
Especially when he saw Su Feng slicing potatoes into neat, thin shreds with a kitchen knife...
"Why were the potatoes I used to eat always in big chunks?" Kobe questioned reality.
…
After two days of Christmas break, Su Feng and Kobe dove right back into their "iron-grinding" training routine...
It's worth noting that during one of their sessions, Su Feng asked Kobe about his bounce training methods.
At this point, Su Feng hadn't yet fully unlocked his vertical potential, and since gaining muscle mass would take more time, he set his sights on improving his vertical leap over the winter holiday.
After all, the way he dunked right now...
Was honestly kind of ugly.
Kobe, to his credit, didn't hold anything back and generously shared his training techniques with Su Feng.
And just like that...
A warm, fulfilling, and surprisingly productive winter break came to an end.