Meanwhile, the Canadian team's head coach was giving his players final tactical instructions.
"See? She's injured. Just attack her from the bottom three areas."
The team member nodded, and the head coach patted her on the shoulder.
"Go, do your best. There's only one Yin Jiayi who can play well on the Chinese team. The others are not worth mentioning at all."
From the moment he saw her fall, Yan Xinyuan had been frowning the whole time.
"How can you play like that? Who targets the opponent's lower body like that? That's too sneaky."
Jian Changnian was already injured, and her lower body was frequently targeted. Several smashes by the Canadian players hit her legs, resulting in a yellow card for her.
Jian Changnian gritted her teeth. After receiving the yellow card, she thought the Canadian player would tone it down a bit, but the Canadian player just shrugged indifferently. Anyway, she was leading, so she didn't care about one or two points.
Boos came from the audience.
"If you can't do it, then get off!"
"Don't embarrass yourself here!"
"Even if Xie Shi'an is sick, you can't just bring up a good-for-nothing to fill the position!"
The man who shouted was quickly escorted away from the scene by security guards.
The boy's eyes suddenly welled up with tears.
And so, they lost the game 1-2.
The moment he saw the result of the match, Yan Xinyuan got up and put on his coat. He looked at Xie Shi'an sitting on the hospital bed.
“Shi An…”
Xie Shi'an seemed to know what he was going to say.
"Coach Yan, you go ahead. I have a caregiver here to look after things."
Yan Xinyuan nodded: "Okay, I'll be right back."
Just as he was about to step out of the room, he was called back again.
Xie Shi'an gestured towards the backpack he had placed on his bedside table.
"Coach Yan, wait a minute, please take that to her for me."
Yan Xinyuan walked over and saw that there was a racket in the backpack, the one she had lent to Jian Changnian during the national competition.
Xie Shi'an nodded, gesturing for him to take it.
"Just say it's a gift from me to her, and also to the future World Championship winner."
On the first day of the competition, Jian Changnian lost a point. What could have been an easy victory was saved by Yin Jiayi playing another doubles match to turn the tide and advance to the next round without any major incident.
After all the matches were over, the team members dragged their tired bodies back to the training base. Jian Changnian lagged behind, listening to their murmurs.
"It's a good thing we had Captain Yin, otherwise this would have been the first time we didn't even make it into the quarterfinals of the World Championships team event."
"Why don't you praise me? I also won a doubles match."
"Okay, I'll praise you. The most useless one is that bean sprout. I don't know why Coach Wan would put her in such an important first singles position."
"You don't know? Their head coach is our teacher Wan's senior. It doesn't matter if they play badly, he has powerful connections."
"Isn't Coach Yan the founder of our national badminton team? How did he produce such a disciple..."
Jian Changnian was on her way to eat when she heard this. Tears welled up in her eyes, she stopped in her tracks, turned around, and suddenly took off running in the opposite direction.
The training room was empty at dusk.
A lonely shadow was cast on the floor.
Jian Changnian ran back and forth against the wall, taking steps side by side, and hitting the ball, as if she were a serving machine, tireless.
Night gradually fell.
Darkness swallowed her shadow.
Jian Changnian was finally exhausted and took a step back, her body swaying precariously, but fortunately, someone caught her and made her steady.
She turned around in surprise.
Coach Yan!
Yan Xinyuan was carrying two portions of fried rice.
"You haven't eaten yet, have you? Come on, let's find a place to eat."
The activity area at the training base.
The two found some exercise equipment and sat down. They placed their boxed lunches in front of them, and Yan Xinyuan broke open a pair of disposable chopsticks and handed them to her.
"Come on, try this. The fried rice at the hospital entrance is delicious."
With tears still on her face, Jian Changnian took the chopsticks and, having been hungry all day, began to wolf down her food.
Yan Xinyuan looked at her with a smile.
"Slow down, there's still some drink here."
He then took two bottles of Coke from the plastic bag, pulled open the cans, and handed them to her.
Jian Changnian was taken aback: "Coach Yan..."
He used to never allow them to drink carbonated beverages during competitions; if they were caught, they would either have to run 1500 meters or do 200 push-ups.
"Take it, today is an exception."
The aluminum can was shoved into his palm.
Yan Xinyuan picked up his own and gently touched it with hers.
"This is to celebrate your first time playing in a world championship today."
Jian Changnian could no longer hold back her emotions after a day of tension, and tears streamed down her face as she choked back sobs.
"But... I lost... and lost so badly... I dragged the whole team down... If it weren't for Captain Yin... we wouldn't have even made it to the top eight... If Shi An were here... it definitely wouldn't have happened..."
Yan Xinyuan looked at her and handed her a tissue.
"Although Shi'an and I weren't there in person, we were watching you on TV, Chang Nian. Do you remember what I said to you the night you played in your first national tournament?"
Jian Changnian nodded vigorously, bursting into tears.
“I remember, you said…”
The scene from that night is still vivid in my mind, and it overlaps with his words now.
"One day, you will shine on the world stage."
"Because you are my proudest student."
Jian Changnian was stunned, and tears started falling again. She wiped them away hastily with her sleeve, not wanting him to see her in such a disheveled state.
"Coach Yan... I... I'm sorry you had to see this... It's been so long, and I'm still so pathetic, I still react like this every time I lose a match..."
"Go ahead and cry. It'll be good to let your emotions out. Oh, and I have something for you today too."
Jian Changnian sniffed, curiously asking, "What is it?"
Yan Xinyuan took a racket out of his backpack.
Does it look familiar?
Jian Changnian took it, her eyes filled with surprise.
"This is... Shi'an's racket... She... she lent it to me?"
Yan Xinyuan shook his head.
"It's not a loan, it's a gift. She said she wanted to give it to you, and also to the future World Championship winner."
In ancient times, a fine sword was given to a hero. Even if Jian Changnian was clumsy, she knew what it meant for her to give him her beloved racket at this time.
This is the trust that Xie Shiquan wholeheartedly entrusted to her.
The boy was taken aback, but finally stopped crying and smiled, his eyes regaining their sparkle.
"Thank you, Coach Yan, and thank you, Shi'an. Please tell her when you get back that I... really like it."
Yan Xinyuan put a piece of meat into her lunchbox and smiled knowingly.
"Let's eat, or it'll get cold."
"Um!"
Jian Changnian picked up the lunchbox, tears welling in her eyes, and shoveled large mouthfuls of rice into her mouth, swallowing the tears and rice grains together.
***
Zhou Mu spent the night at the police station giving a statement. The next day, Zhou's mother picked him up and beat and cursed him as they walked down the street.
"You never study properly! Going out to play! And even going to a boy's house! Have you no shame?! You used to love playing badminton, and you'd run to the badminton hall every holiday, and I turned a blind eye. But now, all you do is play badminton and date! You're going to be a senior in high school soon, do you even know that?!"
Zhou Mu, her face still wet with tears, retorted loudly.
"Mom! I didn't!"
Before she could finish speaking, the schoolbag she was holding was violently ripped open, the picture book fell to the ground, and Zhou's mother picked it up and tore it to shreds.
"What is this?! What is this?! Your father and I work hard, doing several jobs a day to support your schooling, and this is how you repay us?! Let me tell you, that man is a murderer!"
Seeing the picture book torn, Zhou Mu rushed over to grab it, but her mother threw her schoolbag into the trash can and dragged her by the ear towards the school.
"Get inside and go to class! Give me your phone! You're not allowed to use it anymore! From now on, you have to come home every week after school. Your dad and I will come to pick you up. If you don't listen, we'll break your legs so you won't run away again!"
Zhou Mu cried out in a shrill voice, stumbling and being pushed around, only repeating this one sentence intermittently.
"Mom...he's not...he's not a murderer..."
The rumors started spreading the day she returned to school.
She walked down the corridor of the teaching building, and people were pointing and whispering behind her back.
"Have you heard? Zhou Mu from Class 3 was called into the police station yesterday."
"Huh? Isn't she a good student? Why is that?"
"It's said that it was her boyfriend who killed someone for her."