"Shi'an, Shi'an, how is Coach Yan?! Say something!"
Xie Shi'an glanced at her, a mocking smile curving her lips. As she smiled, tears streamed down her face. She brushed Xie Shi'an's hand away and continued walking forward, muttering to herself.
"It's gone, all gone..."
Deep gratitude has been repaid with utmost ingratitude; even in life and death, we have remained friends and mentors. [2]
When she left the hospital, she casually threw the medal on the ground.
Chapter 104 Final Words
Xie Shi'an returned from the hospital and stayed at home for a day, completely unaware that the city was in turmoil. It wasn't until the evening of the next day, when her family ran out of water and food, that she went downstairs to the convenience store to buy some daily necessities and grab a bowl of rice noodles, which she hadn't had in a long time.
To her surprise, the auntie who usually sets up a stall at the entrance of the community was not there. At this time, she would have already set up her stall long ago.
Xie Shi'an walked into the convenience store and mentioned it while paying.
"The auntie who sets up her stall at the entrance of the residential area, didn't she come today?"
The owner, who was also quite old, smiled and packed things into a plastic bag for her: "I haven't been here for a while. I heard it was a cerebral hemorrhage. She was sleeping at night and just passed away. Her son found her when she was already cold."
"Oh," Xie Shi'an responded, numbly taking the plastic bag from the shopkeeper, pushing open the door, and walking out.
Before she even stepped into the residential compound, a group of people rushed across the street, apparently having been waiting for her.
All sorts of cameras surrounded her, shoving them right in front of her face, determined not to miss a single, subtle expression.
The reporter's face showed a hint of excitement, but his expression was also quite intriguing: "Ms. Xie, in the recently concluded Olympics, you lost 1-2 to Kim Nam-ji of the South Korean team. I heard that you two have a good relationship in private?"
"Ms. Xie, what is your opinion on the public's accusations that you fixed the match?"
"Ms. Xie, your father, Mr. Xie, has accused you of using violence against him, including but not limited to verbal abuse, and even refusing to fulfill your filial obligations. What do you have to say about this?"
...
What is all this nonsense?
Xie Shi'an gave an absurd twitch of his lips, feeling that their incessant chatter resembled a swarm of flies buzzing around.
She impatiently waved the person away and went home alone.
Back home, she finally remembered her phone, which she hadn't turned on all day. She took it out and saw that her social media accounts were covered with tiny red dots. She casually browsed a few posts.
"When are you going to die, you rigged race dog?"
"You pushed Yin Jiayi out of the competition, and then beat yourself up like that. Do you even deserve to stand on the Olympic stage?"
"Why would the national team support someone like you? Tell me, how many times did you sleep with the leaders?"
...
There were also those who created her genitals, photoshopped her picture with wreaths, added all sorts of insulting words to transform her into an AV actress, threatened and intimidated her, and cursed her to die.
As Xie Shi'an watched, he couldn't help but start trembling.
With red eyes, she turned off private messages, exited the homepage, and found that her name was the trending topic on the homepage. She clicked on one of the posts at random.
A deluge of [illegible] □□.
World champion Xie Shi'an loses to South Korean youngster Kim Nam-ji, shedding tears on the Olympic stage.
Shocking! Hsieh Shih-an assaulted a referee at the Olympics – it's normal that he couldn't win the match.
World Championships women's singles champion and London Olympics women's singles silver medalist Xie Shi'an exposed by her biological father for her poor character.
Regarding the rumors circulating online that Xie Shi'an fixed matches, the Chinese Badminton Association has not yet issued any response.
...
The most shared video was the one that was forwarded the most.
When she clicked on it, she found some of her chat history and phone recordings with her father, as well as a video of him recording the day he came to see her, capturing the scene of her verbally abusing him and kicking him out.
In the video, Xie's father appears to be a submissive and obedient father, while she resembles a wicked daughter who turns her back on her father after achieving success.
As a result, she was branded as a person of bad character.
Ding-dong, the phone rang, and Xie's father sent another message.
"Did you see the news? So, you got second place this time, you must have made a lot of money. I warned you last time, if you still don't give me the money, we'll see."
Xie Shi'an gritted her teeth, wishing she could devour him alive. She raised her hand to throw her phone, but at that moment, the phone rang again. She looked down and saw it was Wan Jing calling.
"Hey, Coach Wan."
Wan Jing's voice sounded tired and extremely urgent.
"You need to come to the provincial team right now."
"What's wrong?"
"Hearing".
Xie Shi'an was stunned for a moment, as if suddenly, the whole world's storm had rushed towards her.
When she arrived at the provincial team's meeting room, she discovered that not only Wan Jing, but also leaders from the national team and officials from the Badminton Association were present, but no one from the Binhai provincial team was there, perhaps to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
At the three-party hearing, Coach Yan was still lying in the hospital, her body barely cold, when she sat here and was judged for a full seven hours.
During this time, her phone was confiscated, she underwent two drug tests, and was repeatedly asked questions that made her want to roll her eyes, such as:
What exactly is your relationship with Kim Nam-ji?
Did you receive any money from the South Korean team?
What happened regarding your father?
"Do you know that as a professional athlete, accepting corporate endorsements without authorization is against regulations?"
"Now they want to terminate their contract with you because of your negative news. The contract states that if the spokesperson's inappropriate words or actions cause adverse effects on the company, they must pay double the contract amount as compensation. You have to bear this cost yourself."
"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"
Xie Shi'an sat there, not saying a word, only sneering.
The leader put down his pen and leaned back in his chair.
"That's settled then. Our national team absolutely cannot allow any players with blemishes. Let's suspend them for a while first, and then we'll talk about it after everything is investigated."
Xie Shi'an stood up, slammed the chair in front of him, and strode away, leaving behind a roar of anger.
"Look at her! So what if she won a few games?! Even Yin Jiayi wouldn't dare talk to me like that! This kind of person should be banned!"
"Chairman, Chairman, please calm down..."
By the time Jian Changnian returned to the training base after accompanying Coach Liang through Yan Xinyuan's funeral at the hospital, the hearing had already ended.
She heard from her teammates that Xie Shi'an had been suspended, and she was immediately anxious. Before she could even sit down, she went to Wan Jing to plead for him.
Zhang Chun grabbed the person and pulled them back.
"Don't add fuel to the fire. This isn't something Coach Wan can decide. Shi'an threw a chair in front of the Badminton Association president today."
Jian Changnian paced anxiously, and as she spoke, her eyes reddened and she choked up.
"They can't bully people like this. Coach Yan just left... Shi An clearly didn't do those things."
Mentioning Coach Yan, the teammates all looked somber, and some even wiped away tears.
In the room filled with a sorrowful and heavy atmosphere, dark clouds gathered outside the window, and thunder and rain began to fall.
When Xie Shi'an returned home, she didn't know who had revealed her home address. This time, not only reporters were crowding around her at the entrance of the community, but also some "fans" who had come from afar.
"Xie Shi'an, you've disappointed me so much!"
She felt as if someone had bumped into her back. When she reached back and touched it, she found it damp and sticky, with eggshells on it.
"Xie Shi'an, how could you do this to Yin Jiayi?! You took her spot in the competition, forcing her to retire! Bah!"
He spat out another mouthful of water.
"If you can't even beat Kim Nam-ji, you should just retire!"
The spotlights flashed wildly.
She was as if she were inside a transparent glass dome, being played with, mocked, and forced to endure malice from all sides.
She still vaguely recognized a few of the faces.
A round-faced little girl liked her very much and once gave her a scarf she had knitted herself.
There was an older man who would come to the airport to see her off every time she went abroad to compete.
There was also a boy who would wait for her outside the stadium after each match to deliver a letter to her.
Xie Shi'an looked at their faces and thought to herself, "This kind of affection is so cheap." More and more people gathered together, watching this farce. The camera was pointed at her face, and her expression was somewhat numb.
The community security guards rushed to maintain order after hearing the news, which allowed her to escape. When she got to her door, she found the word "trash" painted in bright red on the door, and some flyers scattered in the stairwell.
There was also a photo stuck to the doorknob. She pulled it off and saw that it was a black and white photo of herself. Xie Shi'an curled her lips and threw it away.
She inserted the key into the lock, but it wouldn't budge.
It was plugged with glue.
In the days that followed, Xie Shi'an did not show his face again. On the surface, everything seemed calm, but in reality, undercurrents were surging.
Jian Changnian wanted to rush out to find her countless times, but the training base was closed, new security guards were stationed at the gate, and barbed wire was installed on the walls to prevent anyone from entering or leaving.
Summer is coming to an end in the blink of an eye.
The registration period for the annual national competition is about to begin.
Coach Liang looked at the mountain of registration forms in front of him and became worried. Yan Xinyuan left in a hurry, and a new head coach had not yet been appointed. The team was leaderless, and Xie Shian was also suspended. It was unknown when he could resume training. The morale and condition of the other players had also plummeted. Let alone the finals, it was uncertain whether they could even advance from the group stage this year.
He looked at the empty table and chairs next to him, the places where Lao Yan used to sit, and a sense of powerlessness suddenly welled up in his heart.
Maybe we should just skip it this year.
***
Being suspended means she can't even participate in training. Xie Shi'an can't return to the training base or play at the Chenxing Club. As soon as she goes downstairs, she is besieged by reporters and "fans" who are waiting at the entrance of the community. She can only stay at home and count the days.
Even so, she has to endure people who come to harass her from time to time, sometimes knocking on the door, sometimes broadcasting live from her doorstep.