Kim Nam-ji's heart skipped a beat as he thought of the violets he had received every match day for the past few years without fail.
Is it her?
Will she come to watch her own game?
Will you continue to support her as always?
The cheers from the audience in the stadium pierced the sky.
Kim Nam-ji raised his arm again, which had been hanging down, and charged to the net like a bolt of lightning.
"Wow! That counterattack was swift, clean, and executed in one go. The score is now 11-11. Halftime."
Stepping away from the intense and exciting competition, the two people in the studio seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.
Commentator Zhao Zhao: "It seems like senior Jiang has been talking about Xie Shi'an the whole time. Before the match starts, let's also give our evaluation of player Kim Nam-ji."
"Very strong, extremely strong." Jiang Yunli never hesitates to praise players who are truly talented and don't rely on flashy moves.
"If Xie Shi'an is a genius, then without a doubt, to some extent, Jin Nanzhi can be on par with her. Moreover, she has the experience of studying in China, systematically learning the techniques and tactics of the Chinese team, and then integrating them with her own left-handed style of play, drawing on the strengths of many schools, making her very difficult to deal with."
At this point, Jiang Yunli also felt somewhat fortunate.
"A good opponent is just as rare as a good friend. Fortunately, we have Xie Shi'an. Otherwise, the world badminton landscape in recent years would be unimaginable."
ball.
The sound of the ball being hit.
Bang bang.
The sound of the wind.
Breathing sounds.
Heavy breathing.
fluorescent lamp.
The sound of running.
Sweat dripping onto the field.
The light and shadow cast on the floor.
The sharp look in their eyes as they passed each other.
Xie Shi'an cannot lose, and neither can Jin Nanzhi.
No one knows what kind of pain Xie Shi'an went through in those last few minutes. As the anesthetic wore off, every step she took felt like dancing on needles.
When Jian Changnian fell again while saving the ball, she stood up from the stands.
Lü Xiaoting grabbed the person and pulled them back.
"Sister An needs to concentrate right now. Keep chanting. Your going down there will affect her!"
"But I can't just stand by and watch her... This isn't a competition, it's suicide!"
Watching her slowly get up, Jian Changnian's eyes instantly welled up with tears.
“You, you should know why Sister An is so determined to win this championship. If you really feel sorry for her, then don’t go over there. Let her… finish this match properly.”
Jian Changnian hadn't watched her compete from the audience for a long time; usually, he would stand with her.
Her feelings at this moment were indescribable; she was tense, anxious, restless, and felt waves of bitterness rising in her chest.
Everyone else was only concerned with whether she could win, but Jian Changnian wanted to rush down, hug her, and ask:
"Does it hurt when you fell?"
Pain keeps you awake.
Xie Shi'an picked up the racket from the ground once again.
This is one of the highest-level tournaments in the world of badminton, and a competition between the world's top badminton players.
In the back and forth, there was an unseen clash of swords.
Xie Shi'an risked everything to demand justice, while Jin Nanzhi fought tooth and nail to prove the meaning of his perseverance.
In the second half, as the game progressed, both commentators stopped reading lengthy commentary and only cheered loudly when the commentators made brilliant plays at crucial moments, because their limited vocabulary couldn't capture even a fraction of the excitement of the game as seen by their eyes.
When the last ball landed.
The entire room fell silent.
The audience looked nervously at the scoreboard.
The instant it lit up.
21:19
Xie Shi'an knelt down, bent over deeply, and roared from the depths of his throat.
Her fans in the stands hugged each other, laughing and crying.
"We won! Xie Shi'an won!"
"That was truly remarkable! Shi'an, Xie Shi'an, you are invincible!"
"Xie Shi'an, the strongest on earth, keep going towards your Grand Slam!"
...
The shouts pierced the sky.
The person sitting next to Lü Xiaoting rushed down like a gust of wind.
Amidst a deafening roar.
Before Xie Shi'an stepped onto the podium, she turned back to the sidelines, and everyone assumed she was going to get the national flag.
After all, standing on the podium draped in the national flag is an unparalleled honor for every professional player.
Under the watchful eyes of the public, countless flashbulbs were focused on her.
Xie Shi'an swiftly unfurled the Asian Games flag, white with black lettering that read in English: "We need to be fair!"
(We need fairness!)
She ran around the track, then jumped onto the highest podium, spread her arms, and raised the flag high, exposing the unfair treatment she had suffered in yesterday's competition to the whole world.
Jian Changnian ran to the sidelines, saw this scene, paused for a moment, and tears welled up in her eyes: "Shi'an..."
In an instant, it felt like she had returned to many years ago, to that young boy in Jiangcheng, cold on the outside but warm on the inside, who would stand up for her when she was bullied by scoundrels, and who would lend a helping hand to her when her grandmother was seriously ill and no one cared about her.
She was always like this, kind-hearted and compassionate. Beneath her indifferent exterior lay a heart that shone like gold, and she always possessed a fierce courage, fearlessly crashing into the old and corrupt rules of this world with her own flesh and blood, even if it meant mutual destruction.
The reporters swarmed to the front of the stage.
Xie Shi'an's speech was delivered entirely in English in order to be disseminated to media outlets worldwide.
Her countless days and nights of hard work in preparing for the entrance exams for Tsinghua and Peking Universities have finally paid off.
"As an ordinary athlete, I am requesting that the Badminton World Federation, the Olympic Council of Asia, the Asian Games Organizing Committee, and the International Arbitration Commission jointly review yesterday's match between myself and Jian Changnian against South Korea's Kim Nam-ji and Choi Hye-hee."
"During the match, the South Korean team deliberately paused the game multiple times, played passively, and disrupted our normal rhythm."
"And in the final game, at match point, South Korea's Choi Hye-hee used a body shot that hit our player in the eye, making it impossible for her to continue playing normally. Choi was therefore given a red card."
"If a red card means she committed a foul, then why weren't we awarded a point? Is it just because it was Incheon's home ground?"
"At the opening ceremony, all participants pledged that athletes, coaches, and referees would unite as one, refrain from using performance-enhancing drugs, cheating, and discrimination."
"As the host country, I ask whether the actions of the South Korean team truly live up to this oath and can withstand scrutiny from international organizations?"
"In my matches against the South Korean team, there are always some unexpected situations. Calling timeouts at will, playing passively, committing fouls intentionally, and instructing players to throw the game have become their defining characteristics."
Upon hearing this, Park Min-heon flew into a rage, his face turning a deep purplish-red, and he grabbed a staff member.
"Are you all dead?! Hurry up and pull her down!"
The staff at the Asian Games site seemed to snap out of their daze and were about to push the reporters aside.
The Chinese team members climbed over the guardrail, rushed out, and stood hand in hand, forming human walls.
The entire audience stood up, their emotions running high.
"Let her speak! Let her speak!"
"South Korean team, match-fixers!"
"The match-fixing team should get out of the Badminton World Federation!"
"I won't watch any matches featuring the South Korean team!"
...
Xie Shi'an was still holding that flag.
"Until the review results are released, I will no longer participate in any world-class competitions organized by the Badminton World Federation. As a professional player, I cannot tolerate such unfairness, nor can I continue to compete on such a dirty court."
"Everyone who turns a blind eye to injustice is an accomplice to their rampant behavior today."
"Thank you everyone, that concludes my remarks."
Before the media could release the video, audience members at the scene had already uploaded it online, and it immediately sparked heated discussions on Twitter. The hashtag was:
#We need to be fair!#
#Xie Shian#
#SouthKoreanTeamMatchFixing#
#AsianGamesInsideStory#
...
The terms quickly rose to the top of trending searches and dominated the homepages of major media outlets both at home and abroad.
Crowds thronged outside the Asian Games venues.
People didn't have time to make their own support items, so some wrote on their clothes, some on their rackets, and some on the Asian Games mascots. Like Xie Shi'an, some wrote "We need to be fair!" in big letters and then held them high.
Among them were Asians with yellow skin and black hair, as well as whites, blacks, and even the elderly and children.
Sports have no borders, and justice should have no borders either.