Chapter 203: Chapter 25: [Who Deserves to Be an All-Star? I’ll Destroy You!]

This was the fastest Su Xi had ever made money. The domestic and international endorsements combined brought him over 10 million USD in income.

Even though Su Xi was already very rich, he still found the speed at which he was earning money to be astonishing.

However, the speed at which he spent it was even faster.

Huang Xiaoman told Su Xi she planned to use this money, along with some of his previous savings, to directly purchase a stake from one of Tengxun’s co-founders. The deal was already settled. It would amount to about 2.6% of the company’s shares.

Tengxun was seeking to go public. But no one knew what would happen after the IPO. The internet was a high-risk, emerging industry. Even the founders had never seen so much money before; with fifteen million USD on the table, who wouldn’t be dazed? Besides, after the IPO, the stocks would be locked up for a period. Although the company’s current estimated value was 6.3 billion Hong Kong dollars, no one knew what would happen next.

Su Xi completely agreed with Huang Xiaoman’s opinion. He also started planning to take out a short-term loan, intending to invest the money in another domestic internet company.

For Su Xi, this was a risk.

But he liked the risk.

After being "baptized" by the internet wars between the SS Faction and the SJ Faction, he deeply understood that the internet would be the next big thing. China was developing like crazy, and with its huge population, it was a profit trend you could see from a mile away.

Of course, he wouldn’t give up on finding good investment projects in the United States either. But these would mostly be small-scale angel investments, casting a wide net.

...

The Rookie Challenge was fast approaching.

As Su Xi was entering the Staples Center, he ran into Hilary Duff.

Duff was the guest performer for tonight’s Rookie Challenge. She was extremely popular with teenagers. Seeing Su Xi, she greeted him warmly. "Hey, Jack, how are things going with Scarlett lately?"

Su Xi gave an awkward smile. ’I can’t just say there’s been zero progress, can I?’

"I’ve heard you sing. I think there’s a song on my new album that would be perfect for you. Wanna do a collab?" Hilary Duff extended an invitation to Su Xi.

Su Xi thought for a moment. "Sure."

"Then let’s exchange numbers."

The two of them exchanged phone numbers.

The Staples Center was roaring with noise tonight, packed with spectators.

Although many called the Rookie Challenge an appetizer for the All-Star Game, it was drawing a huge amount of attention this year because it featured so many high-potential rookies and future superstars.

TNT and ESPN were both broadcasting the game to a national audience across the United States.

TNT’s ratings were a bit higher because they had already announced that Kenny Smith would make good on his promise during All-Star Weekend. He was going to kiss a male donkey’s butt, and he even had to wear pink lipstick.

However, they were saving the main event for halftime of the All-Star Game proper.

Tonight, their four commentators were: Jim Durham, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley, and Stephen Curry.

Before the game started, they made two predictions.

Jim Durham and Kenny Smith predicted that the Sophomores would win, as usual, because they were more experienced.

Charles Barkley and Stephen Curry predicted the Rookies would win because the talent of the 2003 class far surpassed the 2002 class. They had at least four players who could become future superstars in the league.

Durham and Smith thought the Rookie Challenge MVP would be either Stadumier or Ginobili.

Stephen Curry thought the Rookie MVP would be LeBron James, while Barkley firmly chose Little Sheep Su Xi.

This led the other three to poke fun at him. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"Charles, you might as well just change your name to Charles Su Barkley."

"I don’t think Little Sheep Su Xi will even take the Rookie Challenge seriously. He’s an All-Star starter, for crying out loud."

"His Rookie Challenge teammates won’t give him any special treatment. He can forget about having the same tactical role he does on the Pacers. Everyone here is a chosen one."

"If Su Xi gets MVP, I’ll not only kiss the donkey’s butt, I’ll kiss its mouth too! Charles, you dare to bet with me? If Jack doesn’t get MVP, you have to kiss the donkey with me. You dare?"

Smith was getting desperate.

Barkley didn’t fall for the bait, though. He waved his hand dismissively. "I have no interest in seeing you kiss a donkey’s mouth."

At that moment, the entrance ceremony for the Rookie Challenge finished.

When Su Xi took the court, Los Angeles gave him the loudest cheers of the night.

A good number of them were screams from teenage girls. There was even a clear confrontation of banners in the arena: "Long Live SS! Long Live SJ!"

The game started quickly.

The starting lineup for the Rookie team was: Su Xi, Wade, James, Antonio, and Kaman.

The starting lineup for the Sophomore team was: Ginobili, Jalric, Boozer, Stadumier, and Yao Ming.

James stepped up for the jump ball against Yao Ming: a deliberately arranged showdown between number one draft picks.

Yao Ming easily won the tip against James. Jalric brought the ball past half-court, and Su Xi didn’t apply any defensive pressure.

He gave Jalric space.

’It’s the All-Star Game, after all. Just have some fun and that’s it.’

Jalric didn’t try to go one-on-one. He passed to Yao Ming, who backed down Kaman in the post and hit a turnaround jumper.

After Yao Ming scored, Kaman went to inbound the ball from under the basket. Even though Su Xi had his hand out, Kaman passed the ball to James.

James brought the ball past half-court, drove quickly to the basket, and finished with a layup.

Su Xi started just going through the motions. In five minutes of play, he only grabbed one rebound, which he used to start a fast break, drive to the basket, and finish with a powerful dunk. He didn’t touch the ball otherwise.

"The Rookie team is targeting Little Sheep Su Xi," Barkley said indignantly. "They’re jealous that Su Xi became an All-Star starter before they did. Especially LeBron James. He can’t accept that after Jack was traded, he ended up becoming more successful than him."