Su Xi returned to the locker room and took a shower.

By the time he had changed into his street clothes and returned to grab his bag and leave, the locker room was already in an uproar.

Although the team’s general manager and head coach Paul Silas were doing their best to downplay the impact of the trade, the players couldn’t help but feel a sense of shared sorrow.

"I can’t accept this!"

Tony Battie was raising a ruckus in the locker room, venting his frustration.

He was a seasoned veteran. This wasn’t his first time being traded; he had just come over from Boston. Logically, he should have been used to it.

But today, his straightforward personality compelled him to cry out against the injustice!

"This is blatant favoritism! The outside world might not know, but don’t we? Jack is clearly the better player. He’s been improving by leaps and bounds, and the team has a better record under his leadership. What has ’the Chosen One’ ever done? Has he ever won a crucial game?"

"I curse the Cavaliers! I curse the Cavaliers to never win a championship."

"I curse a certain ’Little King’ to be ringless for his entire career!"

"I’ll fucking buy out my own contract. I’ll follow Jack to Indiana, and I want you all to watch with your own eyes how Jack and I win a championship."

Tony Battie’s voice was so loud that the reporters waiting outside recorded every word.

Obviously, it was going to be breaking news.

Few reporters ever get to capture this kind of live reaction to a trade, especially the immediate response from inside the locker room.

Tony Battie had just filled that void.

Su Xi walked into the locker room, and everyone gathered around him. "Jack!" "Jack!" "Jack!"

Everyone had reluctant looks on their faces. Tony Battie stopped shouting.

Everyone in the locker room knew Su Xi wasn’t traded for playing poorly, but for playing *too well*.

A sense of grief and indignation weighed on everyone’s hearts.

Assistant coach Stephen Silas hugged Jack tightly, patting Su Xi’s back repeatedly. It was his way of showing his reluctance to see him go. "Jack, you’re definitely going to be a superstar. I’m just sorry I won’t be there to see it happen!" he told Su Xi.

Carlos Boozer and Jason Kapono were also heartbroken. They gave Su Xi a tight hug. Su Xi ruffled their hair and said, "We’ll see each other again."

Su Xi high-fived everyone goodbye, then grabbed his bag and walked out of the locker room. Led by the head coach, everyone went to see him off.

The locker room doors opened to reveal more than a dozen media outlets gathered outside, their cameras and microphones aimed at Su Xi.

Su Xi, a smile on his face, waved to everyone.

But he refused to take any interviews, unwilling to say more.

He simply said to the cameras, "My apologies to the fans who came all this way tonight. There will definitely be a chance for a more exciting Chinese Derby in the future."

Then, Su Xi walked out of the reporters’ line of sight.

...

News of the trade blew up the United States sports world, with every sports channel quickly flashing "BREAKING NEWS!" Su Xi being sent to the Pacers in a three-team trade set off a chain reaction.

First, people questioned the motive behind the trade. Why would the Cavaliers do this?

When Tony Battie’s locker room outburst was leaked, the motive became clear as day: Su Xi was playing too well, threatening LeBron’s status, and was traded as a result.

This was actually quite normal in the NBA.

When two tigers fight, one is bound to be injured.

LeBron James had won a great victory in the internal team competition. However, the instant feedback from sports channels and discussions online showed that he hadn’t won over the public. Because he hadn’t actually outperformed Su Xi on the court, his own teammates weren’t convinced, and neither was the public.

Many people said bluntly: This was LeBron James using his hometown advantage to drive out Little Sheep Su Xi.

Any other team would not have made such a hasty decision. They would have at least observed for a full season, waiting until a true winner emerged between the two young geniuses before making a move.

However, from a purely trade-oriented perspective...

The Cavaliers weren’t seen as having lost out. At least, the price they paid to get Su Xi from the Knicks wasn’t high, and now they had made a massive profit.

As for the Pacers, people felt they had paid too high a price, sending out numerous valuable, low-salary contracts and taking on two junk contracts.

If Su Xi’s arrival couldn’t turn them from a super-strong team into a championship-contending team...

...then it would all be meaningless.

Everyone knew they made this trade for a championship.

Could Su Xi really help the Pacers win a championship, just as Tony Battie claimed?

...

The Chinese Derby became a phantom bubble with Su Xi’s trade. The fans in attendance were extremely disappointed, the Rockets were disappointed, and so was David Stern.

The timing of this trade could not have been worse.

The fans vented their resentment on the Cavaliers, showering the team and James with loud boos from the very first quarter.

The Cavaliers played terribly. After what had happened, the players had no morale left to play.

Everyone knew that after this trade, the Cavaliers were now James’s team to command. He was the true king. He could even destroy laws—what couldn’t he do?

If a Cavaliers player wanted to be treated well, besides playing well, they would also have to curry favor with James.

In a way, this trade destroyed the normal locker room culture of the Cavaliers.

Normal people, players unwilling to suck up to James, probably wouldn’t last long either.

At halftime, the Rockets had a huge lead, 55-32, up by 23 points.

In the words of Charles Barkley, after Little Sheep Su Xi left, the Cavaliers lost their most important fighting spirit. Their entire team’s tactical system was now built on personal dependency—dependency on LeBron James.

But LeBron James wasn’t yet good enough to support such a massive tactical system.

His individual skills had not yet reached their peak.

"Right before Jack Su was traded, LeBron James and Little Sheep Su Xi had a one-on-one, and Su Xi won! I was standing right on the sidelines. He completely shut down LeBron James."

Barkley was still broadcasting this firsthand news from the studio. "In fact, Jack already knew he was going to be traded. He hinted at it when we spoke before the game."

During the halftime show, TNT also played the clip of Tony Battie’s shouting in the locker room, as well as the footage of all the coaches and teammates reluctantly seeing him off.

Earl Johnson commented, "Looks like Jack had more respect in the Cavaliers’ locker room than LeBron."

"That might be the very reason he was traded," Charles Barkley sighed. He continued, "The Cavaliers were designated as LeBron James’s team from the very beginning. But Jack’s sudden rise upset those plans. Although Jack’s talent might not match James’s, he’s also very capable. Not only could he lead the team to victory on the court, but he also earned everyone’s trust in the locker room. This posed a serious threat to LeBron’s authority. I think... that’s why the Cavaliers made the trade so quickly."

The meaning Barkley was conveying could be described with a Chinese idiom: his accomplishments were so great they threatened his lord.

"Knowing Jack, he’s definitely going to get his revenge on the Cavaliers. For them to trade him away right before such an important game... he’s not going to let it slide that easily," Barkley said excitedly. "Just you wait. The battle between the Chosen One and Little Sheep Su Xi has only just begun."

After that, TNT cut to a commercial break.

As they cut to commercial, Su Xi walked onto the court with a group of performers.

He had thought about it for a long time and decided not to leave the arena just yet. He put on a show for the fans who had traveled so far to watch the game. He and the invited guest performer, Chinese-American singer CoCo, sang a duet of his favorite Chinese song, "The Moon Represents My Heart."

Su Xi sang very well. His voice was magnetic, and his pitch and tone were both excellent.

Especially in his jeans and T-shirt, which perfectly showcased his slender figure. Standing next to CoCo, he looked even more like a superstar.

This impromptu addition to the program ignited the crowd’s enthusiasm.

Su Xi then spoke in Chinese, "Thank you all for coming tonight. It’s a shame I couldn’t play, but there will definitely be more chances in the future. The mountains remain and the rivers flow on; we will meet again!"

Su Xi cupped his fist in his palm, bowing to the crowd in all directions. The Rockets’ home arena erupted in the loudest cheer of the entire game.

Amid the cheers, Su Xi left the arena.

He had learned that last line from his grandfather, a Beijing opera enthusiast who would often recite it to Su Xi while practicing.

CCTV broadcast this segment live, leaving the viewers at home completely satisfied.

"I never knew Xiaosu had this kind of talent. With that stage presence and physique, anyone who didn’t know better would think he’s an international pop star," CCTV’s Coach Zhang commented.

When the trade had just happened, he and the host were furious. All their preparations had been for nothing. And from a Chinese perspective, what the Cavaliers did was completely out of line. It was like they had blindsided Su Xi and the entire nation.

So, during the first half, they had been constantly harping on the Cavaliers, criticizing the team and, by extension, James.

After Su Xi’s halftime appearance, Coach Zhang began to say, "Leaving the Cavaliers is for the best. There are no little ball hogs on the Pacers. Over there, not only will he get a championship faster, but he’ll also have the chance to become the top dog in the backcourt."

"A team like the Cavaliers, to describe it with a Chinese saying: ’A small temple with sinister winds, a shallow pond teeming with turtles.’ It’s a good thing for Xiaosu to escape that sea of misery sooner rather than later!"

Coach Zhang was letting it all hang out.

Normally, a CCTV commentator wouldn’t talk like this, and the director wouldn’t allow it. But tonight, CCTV was thoroughly disgusted. Neither the director nor the leadership stopped him, so Coach Zhang just let loose.

On the other side of the ocean, after the commercial break, TNT also broadcast Su Xi’s halftime performance across the United States.

Although they couldn’t understand what Su Xi was singing, his voice was magnetic and pleasant to listen to. Moreover, he had incredible stage presence.

Barkley couldn’t help but say, "Jack should release an album or something! Tons of people would buy it. He’s way better than O’Neal and those other guys trying to rap."

And when Su Xi finished speaking and made that gesture of cupping his fist in his palm to salute the crowd...

The commentary booth was buzzing, and the viewers at home were excited too.

They loved this kind of exotic Eastern culture, heavily influenced by kung fu movies. Su Xi’s fist-in-palm salute had the definite flair of Beijing opera. The roar of the crowd only enhanced his heroic, swordsman-like charm.

"WHOA WHOA WHOA!! KUNG FU! KUNG FU! KUNG FU!" Barkley yelled on TV.

"Jack is a super martial arts hero! After being betrayed, he has finally revealed his true identity. Hey, LeBron, just you wait, you’re about to learn something from this trade..." Earl Johnson added, just as boisterously.

Without a doubt, Su Xi’s song and his fist-in-palm salute gave the American fans a full-on cultural immersion.

And they were impressed without even fully understanding why!

They were now even more excited to see what story would unfold after Su Xi headed to Indiana.

Su Xi had already become the main storyline of the 2003 draft class.