"Her? She must have eaten the gall of a bear and the heart of a leopard to dare fight you?"
Somehow, word got out that Jian Changnian had fought with her.
Xie Shi'an toyed with the racket in one hand, twirling it between his fingertips, while his feet dangled in mid-air, looking completely nonchalant.
"Yeah, I'm wondering too. How did they hire this year? They put in such a tiny kid, he's not even as tall as a badminton net. Is he here to be a mascot?"
"..."
Jian Changnian's throat tightened. She had intended to go over and say hello, since they had clashed once before, but upon hearing this, she turned her toes and walked away silently.
A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd, and some people were eager to try.
"Hey guys, wanna go have a spar?"
Xie Shi'an shrugged.
"I'm not interested, you guys go ahead."
Someone gave a signal, and immediately a few people surrounded Jian Changnian and walked over.
"Let's go, we're targeting those with connections."
After everyone left, Qiao Yuchu pulled Xie Shi'an down from the parallel bars. Only she would speak so harshly to Xie Shi'an.
"Didn't I tell you? You're not allowed to bully the newbies."
"How can this be called bullying? I just wanted to see if she was qualified to join the training team."
Only in front of Qiao Yuchu would Xie Shi'an occasionally reveal a bit of his childish playfulness.
Qiao Yuchu tapped her forehead like an older sister.
"You're just resentful. Why is it that she got Coach Yan to personally recruit her, right?"
"Her? A newbie like her doesn't even deserve my dissatisfaction!" Xie Shi'an snorted coldly, turned his face away, and lay down on the parallel bars.
While the two women were talking, the battle on Jian Changnian's side was already fierce. Although she gritted her teeth and accepted the challenge, her skill level was not worth mentioning at all in the talent-rich training team.
The first game ended with a crushing 21-3 defeat.
A chorus of boos erupted.
While juggling the ball with his racket to maintain his feel for it, Xie Shi'an glanced at it and said, "I wasn't even this bad when I was in elementary school."
Qiao Yuchu put her arm around her shoulder: "Hey, alright, everyone knows you're a famous genius girl in the whole Jiangcheng City. Besides, the training camp has only just begun. Maybe your results will get better and better after the training camp ends."
Xie Shi'an's face remained expressionless.
"Whether we can make it to the end of the training camp is still hard to say."
As the two talked, more and more people gathered around Jian Changnian.
"Hey, newbie, how about this, I'll give you a five-ball handicap, so people won't say I'm bullying you."
Her opponent was a player from the former Binhai Province Second Team, who was two years older than her, had decent skills, and was considered a reserve player for the First Team.
Jian Changnian's face flushed red as he gripped his racket tightly and spoke slowly and deliberately.
"I don't need anyone to give way to me."
"Oh, you've got guts. Fine, I'll let you serve first."
As the two were talking, someone called out, "Coach, the coach is here."
Turning around, Yan Xinyuan was indeed standing at the door.
"Go ahead and play! Why did you stop? Keep going! A few people, bring me the scoreboard, I'll be the referee."
To everyone's surprise, Yan Xinyuan not only didn't stop it, but also acted as a referee, sitting down at the door as if it were a serious matter.
Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment, while Yan Xinyuan smiled and blew his whistle.
"Fighting is strictly prohibited during the training camp. Anyone caught will be expelled immediately. However, we can make friends through the game. I only have one requirement: the matches must be fair, open, and just. Here, you can challenge anyone you want, including me. Okay, let's begin. Let's not waste everyone's time. Let's get this over with quickly. Got it?!"
The last sentence was clearly shouted at Jian Changnian and the others.
The player who challenged her shouted with delight, "I understand!"
Jian Changnian's face turned pale and then flushed.
She lost that match without any doubt, and her training that evening was also unsatisfactory.
The teaching assistant drew a table on the whiteboard in the training room, dividing the 100 people into four groups and writing down their rankings according to their scores. Jian Changnian was at the bottom, while Xie Shi'an was at the top, looking down on everyone else.
According to Yan Xinyuan's rules, the last-place finisher in the training match stays behind to clean. Jian Changnian finished cleaning in the early hours of the morning. She stood silently in front of the whiteboard for a long time before turning off the lights and leaving.
When she got back to the dormitory building, someone was already waiting for her.
"How was today's training?"
Upon seeing that it was Yan Xinyuan, Jian Changnian gave a wry smile.
"It's quite difficult, they... are all very strong."
Yan Xinyuan patted her on the shoulder.
"Everyone who can get here is strong. You haven't received systematic training before, have you? It will get better once you get used to it."
"Coach Yan, I... have let you down today."
Thinking about the match this afternoon, Jian Changnian still felt somewhat guilty.
Yan Xinyuan shook his head: "I treat everyone equally here. I won't be any more lenient with you just because I know you. If you don't accept other people's challenges, that would disappoint me. After all, there's a saying: 'Even in defeat, there is honor.'"
Upon hearing this, a hint of a smile appeared in Jian Changnian's eyes.
"There's also a saying, 'fight on despite repeated defeats,' and I'm not afraid to lose."
Jian Changnian is a somewhat introverted child who tends to keep things to herself, and Yan Xinyuan is afraid that she will become depressed.
"I'm relieved that you think that way. Most of the people in the training team are your peers, but in terms of skills and competition experience, they are your seniors. Open yourself up, make more friends, and exchange playing styles and experiences with each other. This will also be beneficial for improving your skills."
In the training camp, there were only two people she could say she had met: Xie Shi'an and Sun Qian.
As for Sun Qian, not to mention her "wonderful performance" that day, which left a deep impression on Jian Changnian, given her relationship with Zhou Mu, she didn't want to have any further involvement with Sun Qian.
There was only Xie Shi'an, and Jian Changnian was half envious and half admiring of her skills. She had thought about going over to say hello, but when she finally mustered up the courage to go over, she heard her say something like "bean sprout" and "don't deserve to come."
Xie Shi'an is technically skilled, but he's too arrogant.
After what happened with Yuanyuan, Jian Changnian always felt a subtle aversion to people like that, but she understood Yan Xinyuan's good intentions in saying those words—he hoped that she could make friends here and be happier.
"Okay, I understand. I'll go back and rest now." Jian Changnian smiled and replied, but was stopped by someone as she turned to leave.
"Hey, wait a minute, this is the medical money those guys gave you last time. There's still some left over from your treatment. Take it and go buy a nice pair of sneakers during your lunch break tomorrow."
Jian Changnian looked down and saw that her sneakers had cracked at the edges. She lifted her foot slightly and the soles separated.
But I've already spent all 500 yuan on hospital visits and medicine last time, so where am I going to get the money left over?
Jian Changnian looked up as if to say something, but Yan Xinyuan stuffed the money into her hand, turned around, and waved goodbye.
Good luck with training tomorrow!
Jian Changnian felt a warmth in her heart and looked at his back as she spoke.
"Thank you, Coach Yan."
Back in the dorm, my roommates were all asleep, snoring all around. The dorm was an eight-person room with no private bathroom; we had to go to the public bathroom at the very end of the corridor to wash up.
Jian Changnian's bed was at the far end, closest to the window. A few rays of moonlight shone onto the desk. She turned the desk lamp to its dimmest setting, pulled a notebook from her bag, and, pen in hand, wrote:
November 17th, sunny. I owe Coach Yan two hundred yuan.
I saw Xie Shi'an again. She was also very physically strong, but she was still as arrogant as ever. I didn't like her very much.
Chapter 12 Friends
The provincial badminton training base is located in the suburbs of Jiangcheng City, far from the hustle and bustle of the city, making it suitable for closed training, but it takes half an hour by bus to get to the nearest town.
After the morning training session ended, Jian Changnian didn't even have time to eat. After asking the assistant coach for permission to go out, she ran straight to the station.
Fortunately, the town was quite large and had a few sporting goods stores. She spotted a racket through the window and stood there for a long time.
This racket is entirely black and gold, with a fluid frame shape. When it sits there quietly, it looks like a sword that doesn't reveal its true power.
The shop owner walked over and said, "I can tell you play badminton too. You have good taste. This racket is a new model this year, the same brand as the one Lin Dan, the World Championship champion, has..."
Jian Changnian swallowed hard: "How...how much?"
The boss held out his hand, smiling as he gestured a number.
"Five...five hundred?"
"Fine, five hundred? You can't even buy a racket frame. Look closely, it's five thousand! Five thousand!" The shopkeeper emphasized, then waved his whole palm in front of her eyes.
Jian Changnian looked back every few steps, reluctantly leaving the place.
The boss spat behind her.
"Why bother going to a specialty store if you don't have money?"
After visiting several sporting goods stores, where the sneakers were quite expensive, Jian Changnian was feeling lost with only two hundred yuan in her pocket when she caught a glimpse of a shop on the street corner.
The store is small, only a few square meters, and has no storefront. Next to it are the ruins left by demolition. There are only a few yellow papers pasted on the wall that read: "Seasonal clearance sale, sneakers for 199".
Jian Changnian ran over excitedly.
The store didn't have many styles, and they were all quite old-fashioned. However, Jian Changnian didn't care about these things. Her grandmother had always told her that when buying clothes and shoes, she should buy durable ones, preferably a few sizes larger, so that she could still wear them when she grew taller.
"Oh, buying shoes?" There was only a middle-aged woman holding a child in the store. When she saw someone come in, she immediately put down her rice bowl.
Jian Changnian didn't hesitate; after trying on a pair, she felt the price was right and the quality was good, so she decided to buy them.
"This one will do."
The woman squatted down and pinched her toes.
"It's a bit big, isn't it? I'll get you a different size."
Jian Changnian waved her hands repeatedly: "No need, no need, bigger is better."
When she was about to pay, she seemed to suddenly remember something and hesitated.