dmims Chapter 7: Canned Yellow Peaches - The Birth of a Winning Buff
Chapter 7: Canned Yellow Peaches - The Birth of a Winning Buff
As soon as Lin Hao pushed open the locker room door, he was startled by the large, dark-skinned man standing in the doorway.
Richardson, dressed in his training uniform, with messy hair and bloodshot eyes from staying up all night, furtively glanced around to make sure no one else was in the locker room before approaching, acting like a secret agent making a rendezvous.
He coughed twice, fidgeting with his fingers along his trouser seam, looking embarrassed. After a long pause, he finally asked in a barely audible voice, "Um... Lin, do you still have that canned yellow peaches you gave me yesterday?"
Lin Hao almost burst out laughing.
The team leader who was leading the mockery of him as an internet celebrity in the locker room yesterday, trying to intimidate him, is now acting like a child who hasn't gotten candy, hesitantly asking for a can. This contrast is even more outrageous than when he dunked on Shaq.
Lin Hao teased him on purpose, pretending to be clueless: "What canned food? Oh, you mean the yellow peach one? That's all, just that one can. I brought it from China, it's a real treasure."
Richardson's face instantly fell, deflated like a punctured balloon, his lips pursed so deeply they could hold an oil bottle, and he muttered relentlessly, "Gone? How could it be gone... That stuff was so delicious, I thought about it all night last night, I even dreamed about eating it..."
Seeing his pitiful look, Lin Hao finally couldn't help but laugh. He reached out and patted him on the shoulder, then opened his 28-inch suitcase and slammed the lid open.
The box was full of neatly stacked canned yellow peaches. The glass jars gleamed under the light, making Richardson's eyes widen and his mouth almost water.
"Holy crap!" Richardson exclaimed, lunging at the boxes and reaching out to touch them. "You brought all this?! Did you move the whole supermarket here?!"
"What else?" Lin Hao raised an eyebrow smugly. "We Northeasterners can forget anything when we go out, but we can't forget this. It's our Northeastern treasure, you know?"
Richardson had no idea about any treasures; all he could see was a box full of canned yellow peaches. He reached out to open one, but Lin Hao grabbed his hand.
"Hey, don't rush me." Lin Hao shook his finger mysteriously. "This canned food isn't something you can just eat casually. There's a reason for it."
Richardson stopped abruptly, looking at Lin Hao with a pious expression, as if listening to a priest preach: "What's the claim? Does it mean eating it will make you jump higher? And shoot more accurately?"
"Of course!" Lin Hao began to exaggerate in a serious tone, "We kids from Northeast China eat this when we're sick, and the fever goes down immediately; we eat this in exams, and we get perfect scores in every subject; we eat this in fights, and one of us can take on three. On the basketball court, it's a winning buff. If you eat this tonight, we're guaranteed to win the first game of the Summer League."
As soon as he finished speaking, the locker room door was pushed open, and the other teammates walked in in twos and threes. They happened to hear Lin Hao's last sentence and immediately burst into laughter.
"A winning buff? All thanks to this bottle of sweetened water?"
"Lin, did you bring Chinese witchcraft into the locker room?"
"Jason, you don't actually believe this stuff, do you? Yesterday you were telling us this kid was an internet celebrity, and now you're believing this stuff too?"
The teammates surrounded the box, their faces full of mockery as they looked at the glass jars with Chinese characters printed on them, their expressions utterly disdainful. In their eyes, these things were just canned sugar water, cloyingly sweet, utterly useless except for making you gain weight—a winning buff? Pure nonsense.
Richardson was displeased and immediately retorted, "What do you know! This stuff is really delicious! Lin said it's some kind of mysterious Eastern power!"
"Come on, Jason, you're just craving something sweet." His teammates burst into laughter, no one taking Lin Hao's words seriously.
Lin Hao didn't argue, but smiled and took out the cans one by one from the box, placing one in front of each person, even the water dispenser attendant in the corner.
"Eat or not, it's up to you. Anyway, it's a game tonight. If you eat, you can keep the prize if you win, and I'll take the blame if you lose." Lin Hao sat down in his seat, unscrewed a can, forked a piece of peach and stuffed it into his mouth, eating with great relish.
Richardson was the first to respond. Without saying a word, he unscrewed the can and wolfed it down. He finished the can in a few bites, and even licked the spoon with relish before secretly stuffing two more cans into his cupboard.
The other teammates looked at each other, some half-believingly twisted open the can and took a bite, their eyes lighting up instantly; some were stubborn, throwing the can aside and saying they wouldn't eat it no matter what; and a substitute center stared at the can for a long time, but finally couldn't resist and secretly twisted it open.
The most interesting thing was the team's assistant coach. As he passed by, his eyes kept glancing at the box. He pretended to walk by three times, and finally, when no one was paying attention, he quickly reached out and grabbed a can, stuffing it into his tactical bag like a thief, his face turning red.
In the evening, the Warriors faced the Clippers in their first Summer League game.
During the pre-game warm-up, the players who had eaten canned food were all incredibly energetic, their shooting touch was off the charts, especially Richardson, who made three-pointers one after another and dunked with incredible force, as if he had springs in his body.
Meanwhile, those who didn't eat the canned food all had ice-cold hands, and their layups were hitting the front edge of the rim, making the coach's face turn green.
At the start of the game, the Clippers caught the Warriors off guard, taking an 8-point lead halfway through the first quarter. The coach angrily called a timeout and yelled at the players, but no one listened, and they all looked dejected.
Just then, Richardson suddenly stood up and shouted to his teammates, "Get your spirits up! Have you forgotten the mysterious Eastern buff we got before the match?! Crush them!"
Upon hearing this, the players who had eaten the canned food instantly lit up, as if they had been given a shot of adrenaline.
After the timeout, the situation on the field instantly reversed.
Lin Hao came off the bench and, with his accurate anticipation, repeatedly stole passes from the Clippers, assisting Richardson for consecutive dunks, instantly erasing the point difference. He also occasionally pulled up for a jump shot, swishing it in cleanly, leaving the Clippers completely helpless.
What's even more bizarre is that the Warriors players were on fire tonight. Their three-pointers, which they usually make 3 out of 10, were going in like they were on steroids tonight; and layups that they usually miss were miraculously rolling into the basket tonight.
The commentators on the sidelines were stunned, repeatedly exclaiming, "My God, what's wrong with the Warriors tonight? They're like a completely different team! Their offensive firepower is way beyond what they've shown in the Summer League!"
Only the Warriors' bench players knew that this wasn't a different team; it was the buff from the canned peaches working its magic!
When the final buzzer sounded, the Warriors secured their first Summer League victory with a 15-point lead.
The locker room erupted in chaos.
The players swarmed around Lin Hao like madmen. Those who had previously stubbornly insisted the canned food was useless were now thoroughly humiliated, their faces swollen with embarrassment. They squeezed to the front, their faces full of obsequious flattery, asking, "Lin! Lin! Are there any more canned food?! I'll definitely eat some for the next game! I shouldn't have doubted your mysterious Eastern power!"
"My God! This canned food is amazing! I went 4-for-5 from three-point range tonight! I've never been this accurate in my life!"
"Lin, you're my god! I'll eat this canned food every day from now on!"
Richardson picked up Lin Hao's suitcase as if it were a treasure trove, and said seriously, "From today onwards, this suitcase is the treasure of our Warriors locker room! Nobody is allowed to touch it! Only Lin can touch it!"
Lin Hao sat in a chair, enjoying a can of yellow peaches with his fork. He almost burst out laughing when he saw the group of foreigners who had just been disdainful but were now like believers.
He had no idea about any winning buff; it was just that these guys had eaten sweets before the game, which put them in a good mood, and combined with their inherent skill, they naturally played well. But he didn't expose it, just smiled and waved his hand: "I told you, our Northeast's treasures are always top-notch."
Just then, the locker room door opened, and the assistant coach poked his head in, looking a little embarrassed. He whispered to Lin Hao, "Lin, um... do you still have any canned yellow peaches? I finished the one I just finished, it tasted pretty good..."
The whole team burst into laughter instantly, and the assistant coach's face turned bright red.
At the post-match press conference, reporters surrounded Richardson, asking him what the secret to his phenomenal performance tonight was.
Without a second thought, Richardson said earnestly into the microphone, "The secret is the canned yellow peaches Lin Hao gave me; they're a mysterious winning power from the East."
In short, it completely baffled the reporters.
The next morning, Lin Hao had just woken up when he was woken up by Richardson's knocking on the door.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw Richardson with messy hair, clutching an empty tin can, and anxiously grabbing his arm.
"Canned Food Guy! No, Lin! Tomorrow we're playing the Bulls, and our opponent is that second overall pick, Jay Williams. Do you have any more canned food? Give me two more! I'm going to beat him!"
Before Lin Hao could speak, he saw the hotel TV broadcasting Jay Williams' pre-match interview.
In the video, this year's second overall pick, Jaren Williams, looks at the camera with disdain and a mocking smile, slowly speaking:
"I heard there's a Warriors player who got into the league by playing the suona? I'll show him that the NBA isn't a stage for him to show off, and that internet celebrities don't deserve to play real basketball."