"You, you, you... shut up!"
Jian Changnian pounced on her and choked her. The two of them playfully wrestled until they arrived at the dormitory. After saying goodnight to each other, they went to their respective rooms.
Everyone else in the room was asleep. Xie Shi'an gently placed the lotus lamp on the desk, just out of sight when he lay down.
She rested her head on her hand and slowly drifted off to sleep, as if the sadness of losing the game wasn't so bad anymore.
***
The office lights were still on after everyone else had fallen asleep.
Yan Xinyuan sat around the stove, puffing on his pipe, waiting for a reply from the event organizing committee.
In the silence, the phone rang abruptly. Coach Liang, who had been asleep, sprang up from his recliner and was about to rush over to answer the phone when Yan Xinyuan grabbed it.
"Hey, it's me! What?!"
Before he could say more than a few words, a huge smile spread across his face.
"Okay, okay, thank you, Chief Referee. We will definitely prepare well for tomorrow afternoon's tiebreaker!"
Upon hearing this, Coach Liang was overjoyed and ran to his desk.
"Is there an extra round?"
Yan Xinyuan hung up the phone and pulled his coat tighter around himself as it was about to slip off.
"Yes, the tournament organizing committee watched the video overnight and confirmed that Jian Changnian's last shot was not due to human error, but because the racket string came loose. Moreover, after their analysis, they found that even though we lost a big match, our current points are still the same as Jiangsu's. In addition, we also beat Zhejiang, so we have the advantage in head-to-head results. Theoretically, we should advance to the finals, but that would be unfair to Jiangsu. Therefore, they decided to play an extra match tomorrow afternoon to determine the final qualifying spots."
"Great! What are we waiting for? Let's get right to studying the tactics. Come on." Coach Liang pulled over a chair and sat down, spreading out papers on the table.
Yan Xinyuan puffed on his pipe twice, and at that moment, he was wide awake and full of energy.
"We must win tomorrow's match."
***
When they learned that they needed to win a tiebreaker match to secure their advancement spot, no one complained. Instead, they cheered and rushed over to surround Yan Xinyuan.
"Coach Yan, when are we going to play?"
Yan Xinyuan smiled and said, "We'll play this afternoon at the Jiangcheng City Gymnasium."
One teammate couldn't contain himself: "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go over there now!"
This drew a burst of laughter.
"Look at your watch, it's only nine in the morning."
His teammate scratched his head and laughed somewhat embarrassedly.
"I really want to play again; I didn't play well yesterday."
Yan Xinyuan looked at them, a smile always in his eyes.
"Everyone is tired from yesterday's competition, so let's rest this morning. We'll meet here promptly at 2 PM to depart."
Upon hearing this, Jian Changnian shook her head first: "No, no, Coach Yan, let's continue training. It's not tiring."
Some teammates echoed this sentiment.
"Yes, Coach Yan, we can persevere."
"We already lost once yesterday, and we don't want to lose again."
His gaze swept across their faces one by one. Xie Shi'an and Qiao Yuchu all nodded. In each of their eyes was the same: a longing for victory.
Yan Xinyuan laughed and blew the whistle hanging around his neck.
"Alright, everyone, one hundred squats, warm up!"
In the afternoon, just before heading to the competition venue, Xie Shi'an seemed to suddenly remember something. She asked the driver to wait for her for a few minutes and then went back to her dormitory to get her things.
Upon arriving at the competition venue, the Jiangsu team was already there to prepare. The two coaches met in the rest area and shook hands and exchanged greetings.
Yan Xinyuan smiled and said, "You've had your celebration too early... Since we're tied, we'll have to fight again."
The Jiangsu team's head coach was furious, but there was nothing he could do.
"It's just a tiebreaker. We'll win the same way we beat you yesterday. It's all going to be a celebration banquet anyway, so it doesn't matter if we eat it sooner or later."
"See you on the field then."
Yan Xinyuan released his hand and returned to his own team.
Jian Changnian was scheduled to be the first to play today. Before going on the court, she looked down at her racket, carefully touching the edges and corners, and fiddling with the strings to see if they were sturdy.
His suspicious and paranoid appearance is rather amusing.
Xie Shi'an picked up the racket from his bag and walked over.
"Here, use mine."
Although the tournament organizers will provide rackets for the competition, in terms of quality and feel, they are definitely not as good as the ones you use yourself.
Her racket was bought from abroad at a high price by Cheng Zhen. She has been taking good care of it and the strings have never come loose in the years she has used it.
Jian Changnian was taken aback: "You..."
Xie Shi'an thought she was worried about the weight and that she wouldn't have any left.
"I have another one, the tension is about the same as the racket you used yesterday, you can take it."
She had seen this logo on Xie Shi'an's racket in high-end sporting goods stores before; such rackets are quite expensive.
Jian Changnian swallowed hard and carefully took it.
"Then... I'll return it to you after the match."
Xie Shi'an nodded and turned to leave.
Qiao Yuchu sat to the side, handed her a bottle of water, and teased her.
"You just went back to get this? Well, you've lent out your entire fortune."
Xie Shi'an wanted to buy this racket back then, but it took her half a year's salary plus tournament prize money to barely scrape together the money. She has always cherished it and never uses it except in official matches.
Xie Shi'an was momentarily speechless. He felt a pang of tenderness when he thought of the lotus lantern, but he still stubbornly refused to admit it.
"I...I did it for the Binhai Provincial Team. I don't want to see yesterday's situation happen again, causing us to lose the game."
Chapter 42 National Competition (6)
There were no spectators or media in the stadium today, so no one came to cheer them on. Even so, both teams gave it their all, and the match went on until the fifth set before a winner was decided.
Xie Shi'an defeated the national team player with a clean 0-2 score, winning the tiebreaker.
After the referee announced the result of the match, her opponent came over and shook hands with her.
"You are very strong. I hope to see you in the national team next time."
Xie Shi'an smiled, shook hands with the person briefly, and then let go.
"Thanks."
When the dust settled, everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and rushed over to hug each other.
"Great! Great! We've made it to the finals!!!"
Yan Xinyuan looked at their excited expressions, and his usual warm smile returned to his lips, but his eyes were slightly moist.
That's great! Heaven rewards those who persevere. Just like he told Jian Changnian yesterday, he firmly believed that one day, these young people would shine on the world stage.
He wiped his eyes with his sleeve when Jian Changnian pulled him away.
"Coach Yan, come quick, let's take a group photo!"
Qiao Yuchu squatted in front, holding a selfie stick, surrounded by her teammates, with Yan Xinyuan standing at the back.
"One, two, three, eggplant!"
A group of people smiled brightly at the camera.
A snap.
Qiao Yuchu pressed the shutter, and time froze at that moment.
***
With only two days left to prepare for the final, the Zhejiang team is a tough nut to crack, and no one dares to relax. Everyone is working overtime to train. In addition to focusing on regular training, Yan Xinyuan also has to stay up late to watch Zhejiang team's previous game videos, review them, and formulate tactics.
As soon as Coach Liang stepped into the office, he was choked by the acrid smoke: "Cough cough... People who don't know better might think our building burned down. Can't you ventilate a bit?"
Yan Xinyuan held a cigarette in one hand and was busy flipping through the documents in his other hand without looking up.
"I can't do that right now, can I? Just drive it."
Coach Liang complained, but still held his nose and went inside, opening all the windows.
"Can't you take a few fewer puffs of that cigarette?"
This time, Yan Xinyuan finally looked up and glanced at him.
"It's refreshing and helps to clear your head. Why don't you have a sip?"
"Alright, alright, I don't smoke." Coach Liang slammed the box he was holding onto the table with an annoyance.
"This is?"
"I tried my best to find all the videotapes of Yin Jiayi's domestic and international competitions over the past five years, but these are all I could find."
Yan Xinyuan was overjoyed and jumped to his feet.
"Great! I'll watch it now; it might come in handy during the competition!"
While Yan Xinyuan and Coach Liang stayed up all night watching videotapes, Xie Shi'an didn't rest either. After today's training session, she stayed until the very end again.
When Qiao Yuchu came back after taking a shower, she found that there was still no one in bed.
She thought for a moment, then put on her coat and went out to find her.
The training room was brightly lit, and badminton shuttlecocks were scattered all over the floor. She stood in the middle, constantly hitting the shuttlecock towards the net.
It was another jump smash. When he landed, he might have been exhausted, or maybe he stepped on a badminton shuttlecock, slipped, and fell backward.