She picked up her racket again and practiced serving against the wall, correcting her posture and footwork.
Yan Xinyuan stood by the window with his hands behind his back, his brows furrowed.
Coach Liang didn't leave either, staying by his side: "She played a little conservatively today. Actually, based on her ability, she shouldn't have gotten this score."
"As the saying goes, one should strike while the iron is hot, but the second attempt will be less effective and the third attempt will be exhausted. Jian Changnian's fighting spirit was dissipated by Xie Shi'an in the first game, and her performance afterward was unsatisfactory. Moreover, when she got anxious, she forgot everything she had been taught. She didn't handle the details of her footwork and smashes well. In doubles, it would be better if she had her teammates to help her, but in singles, her problems were exposed all at once."
"Should you give her some pointers?" Coach Liang asked.
"Normally it's fine, but now it's assessment period. In order to ensure the fairness, openness and transparency of the competition, I won't say anything to them in private. Besides, the one who tied the knot must untie it."
Yan Xinyuan puffed on his pipe and gestured towards the venue.
"Look, the one who tied the bell has arrived."
Xie Shi'an had actually been standing here for a while, since she usually stayed to play ball for a while after training. But she never expected that in the short time she stood there, Jian Changnian had already served countless bad balls.
The boy couldn't stand it anymore, so he sat down in the rest area, pointed at the bottle of water in his hand, and said, "Hey, why don't you just forfeit?"
Jian Changnian was playing a game when she suddenly heard these words. She turned around and glared at the speaker, but when she saw that it was Xie Shi'an, she lowered her head dejectedly.
"Do you also think I definitely won't pass the assessment?"
She bit her lip slightly as she said this, feeling a little wronged. She felt that she and Xie Shi'an had played ball together several times and had even gone through life and death together, so they should be considered true friends.
If Zhou Mu were here, he would definitely encourage her and wouldn't say such discouraging things. She wanted affirmation from her friends, especially Xie Shi'an.
"Do you want to hear the truth?" Xie Shi'an shrugged indifferently.
"To be honest, I never thought you were a good candidate from the very beginning."
Her nonchalant attitude completely enraged Jian Changnian, and the grievances she felt grew bigger and bigger.
She was already feeling terrible about getting the worst score today.
Jian Changnian, holding the racket, her eyes reddening, sniffled and wiped away her tears as she yelled, "Then why did you ask me to play ball with you? You even took me home and tried to introduce me to a job. How can you look down on your friends like that..."
"I'm already upset because I got the worst score today, and you still have to say this to me. Do you know how hard it was for me to come to this training camp? I don't want to go home like this, sob sob."
Seeing her with her teary eyes and pitiful expression, as if she were dying, anyone who didn't know better would think she had done something terrible to her.
Thinking of this, Xie Shi'an couldn't help but slightly curve the corners of his lips, but quickly returned to normal.
She picked up her racket and walked over to the opposite side.
"Let's have a fight."
Yan Xinyuan, who was outside the window, pulled Lao Liang away.
"Let's go, let's go, we're not looking anymore."
"Huh? You're not watching anymore? It's so exciting right now!"
Yan Xinyuan grabbed his arm and dragged him away.
"I bought some wine, and some leftover braised pork from lunch. Let's go, let's have a couple of drinks."
Jian Changnian was sobbing uncontrollably when she heard those words and was suddenly stunned, unable to process what she was hearing.
She looked at Xie Shi'an with teary eyes. His expression was very serious, and he was already in the serving position, showing no intention of teasing her.
Jian Changnian suddenly remembered the conversation that happened the night they bumped into each other on their way back from their first game of ball.
Hsieh Shih-an said, "I don't play with people who are worse than me."
So now—
Jian Changnian snapped out of her daze, her eyes wide with disbelief.
Xie Shi'an didn't have much patience to waste with her. Seeing that she hadn't replied for a while, he put away his racket and said, "If you don't want to play, then forget it."
Jian Changnian quickly wiped away the tears on her face: "I want to fight you."
Having already experienced her terrifying dominance in singles once this morning, Jian Changnian still found it very difficult to cope with her again.
She had to be constantly on edge, guarding against Xie Shi'an's sudden attack.
Her shot, like her personality, is unpredictable and moody. She might be hitting a high clear, but suddenly she'll hit a cross-court shot, forcing her to run all over the court, constantly on the go.
It doesn't look like they're playing ball; it looks like they're putting on a monkey show.
Jian Changnian still harbored resentment.
"Xie Shi'an, are you ever going to stop! Just say you want to tease me!"
Xie Shi'an didn't reply. He leaped to the center of the court with a scissor step and smashed the ball.
Jian Changnian's pupils contracted, and he quickly stepped forward to defend, but still failed to catch the ball.
She was a little annoyed. She glanced at Xie Shi'an, who looked perfectly normal and returned to the backcourt to prepare to serve.
The way she raised her hand seemed familiar. Jian Changnian frowned, but still couldn't remember that it was the exact same starting stance she had used when sparring with her that morning.
From that point onward, every single ball Xie Shi'an made, whether defensive or offensive, seemed familiar to Jian Changnian, yet something felt off.
She remembered what Coach Yan had said: when playing, you should observe more, observe the opponent's every move, every step, the position of raising the hand, the angle of landing, and even every facial expression.
As Jian Changnian watched, her own image and Xie Shi'an's every move gradually overlapped in her mind. She finally realized what was wrong; Xie Shi'an was like a mirror.
Her hand-raising angle was more perfect, and her footwork had a larger arc, which made her always a second or two faster in returning to defense.
Her starting stance and the height and landing point of the ball were well controlled, greatly reducing the error rate of the ball hitting the net.
Jian Changnian served the first ball, and slowly learned from her movements, consciously correcting some of her own minor mistakes.
She stopped thinking about how many balls she had received or how many points Xie Shi'an had won, and instead focused intently on Xie Shi'an's movements and the incoming shuttlecock, observing, imitating, and correcting her own actions.
Neither of them spoke; the only sounds in the stadium were the thuds of the ball hitting the shuttlecock and the scraping of their shoes on the floor.
Time passed by, and the night grew deep.
As the ball landed, Xie Shi'an stretched his shoulders.
That's all for today.
After saying that, he turned and walked straight out of the training room.
Jian Changnian was completely absorbed in playing badminton, and when she suddenly stopped, she was still a little dazed. After a while, she looked at Xie Shi'an's back and then at the badminton shuttlecock that had landed on her side.
Jian Changnian jumped up with her racket in hand: "I won!! I beat her by one point!!!"
Hearing the cheers behind him, Xie Shi'an slightly curled the corners of his lips.
After returning to her dormitory and washing up, she was about to lie down and rest when Qiao Yuchu poked her head out from the top bunk.
"Why are you only getting back now?"
"I went to the training room and played ball for a while."
Qiao Yuchu said "Oh": "Alone? You didn't go out to do anything under the guise of playing ball but actually teaching students, did you?"
...
Xie Shi'an turned over and pulled the blanket over himself.
"sleep."
Qiao Yuchu couldn't help but chuckle, then lay down on the bed and turned off the bedside lamp.
When Jian Changnian returned to the dormitory, Sun Qian was still awake.
She heard a noise from the lower bunk, sat up and took a look.
"Why are you only getting back now?"
"I played ball for a while."
Sun Qian, thinking about her poor grades today, offered a few words of comfort.
"It's okay, there are still four days left. We'll definitely be able to win back."
Jian Changnian smiled, looking like she was in a good mood.
"Well, I'm not looking for any particular ranking, as long as I make it in, that's fine."
Jian Changnian noticed the light was still on in the upper bunk: "Why aren't you asleep either?"
Sun Qian took her phone out of bed: "Let's watch the match video."
Jian Changnian couldn't help but gasp: "Your grades are already so good, why are you still working so hard?"
Sun Qian smiled and said, "Who knows the outcome until the very last day? I might get squeezed out."
Seeing that it was getting late, Jian Changnian said, "That's true, I'll go to sleep first, you should get some rest too."
"good."
Chapter 24 Cheating
The next day, whether it was sheer luck or something else, Jian Changnian perfectly avoided several strong opponents such as Xie Shian and Qiao Yuchu in the draw, and successfully obtained four points. Combined with the two points from yesterday, she rose to nineteenth place.
Coach Liang was a little excited: "Look, the late-night practice wasn't in vain, was it? The details were handled very well today."
Yan Xinyuan smiled and said, "Not bad, your mentality is more stable than yesterday. Xie Shi'an is doing a good job as a coach."
After saying that, the two of them burst into laughter.
When the day's competition ended, Jian Changnian stayed until the very end. A teammate asked her, "Why aren't you going to eat yet?"
Jian Changnian smiled and said, "You guys go ahead, I'll practice a little longer."
The lights in the training room stayed on until late at night before she dragged her tired body back to her dormitory to rest.
The third day.
Xie Shi'an has a habit of morning exercise. In winter, when it gets light late, she gets dressed, goes downstairs, and runs to the playground just as dawn breaks.
Footsteps could be heard on the track. She looked through the thin mist and saw Jian Changnian running towards her, grinning.
Good morning.
"Good morning, when did you arrive?"
Xie Shi'an kept up with her pace and ran ahead.