The commentators also expressed a sense of disappointment and frustration.
"Oh dear! What a pity! Such a good opportunity, and Yin Jiayi just had to save it!"
Narrator B: "Which side are you on?"
"Can't I stand on both sides?"
"That's a bit too greedy."
"Ask the audience, aren't they happy no matter who wins?"
The two commentators on stage put on a back-and-forth act, which slightly eased the tension of watching the game.
However, the pressure on the field suddenly shifted to Kim Nam-ji.
She must give it her all in the second half to have any chance of reaching that seemingly unattainable dream.
Both coaches were racing against time to give their players final tactical instructions.
The referee's whistle blew.
The audience in the stands roared and cheered.
"Yin Jiayi—"
"come on!!!"
"Kim Nam-ji—"
"Victory is certain!!!"
The two of them stood up at the same time, looked at each other, and saw their past selves reflected in each other's pupils.
"Yin Jiayi, why don't you go and give her some pointers?"
"coach……"
"Go ahead, we're just idling around anyway. Teaching her will help solidify our own foundation, and we can't let her hold everyone back."
With red eyes, the girl shouted in her childish voice, "Yin Jiayi, I will not lose to you!"
"Ha, you can talk big again when you can win a single point from me."
The training room is next to a cherry blossom grove. Every spring, when the wind blows, petals always fall through the glass window onto the wooden floor.
"Waaaaah, Yin Jiayi, I never want to talk to you again!"
"Okay, stop crying, it's giving me a headache. So what if you lost to me 0-2? You're not the only one who lost to me."
"Waaaaah!!! I'm going to tell the coach! I want to go home!"
"Alright, alright, I'll take you to eat ramen, okay?"
In summer, the leaves outside the window turned green, the sun blazed, cicadas chirped incessantly, and the old ceiling fan above the training room creaked and groaned.
"Is this how you hit a ball?"
"No, no, I've told you so many times, use your wrist, don't bend your elbow, try again."
"Ouch...that hurts!" The girl fell to the ground.
Yin Jiayi ran over and helped her up.
Are you alright?
"It's okay, let's continue."
"Don't move, your knee is scraped, but luckily I brought a band-aid."
The autumn sunset painted the exterior walls of the training room a golden yellow.
"I won! I actually won a game!!! Yin Jiayi, you said you had to grant me a request if you lost."
"Okay, but don't go too far."
"Then... I want a Coke, with ice!"
The training room door closed.
"Nan Zhi has improved a lot recently. Yesterday, she played a friendly match against the national team's main players and actually beat them 2-0. You didn't see how green their faces turned," her teammates praised her.
"Oh, it's all thanks to Yin Jiayi's excellent teaching!"
"Yeah, she's a world champion, a member of the national team, and a strong contender for the next captaincy. She actually condescended to come to our local team to teach a foreign player how to play, and she does whatever we say, willingly becoming our go-between. I don't know what kind of magic potion Nan Zhi gave her."
"Tell me, how much do you pay her?" a teammate teased.
"Is Yin Jiayi the kind of person who only cares about money?! Couldn't she have been moved by my charm and my indomitable spirit?!" Jin Nanzhi laughed and joked with her.
"Alright, alright, if it's not money, then it's beauty. Nam Ji, well, apart from her flat chest, her face is quite pretty."
Yin Jiayi, standing outside the door, hesitated to enter. Tiny water droplets appeared on the iced Coke bottle she was holding. She gently placed the Coke and fried chicken she had bought at the door, turned around and left the Beijing team's training base, and did not return for a long time.
In winter, the cherry blossom trees look like frostbitten eggplants, with a thick layer of leaves piled up at the base of the wall, rotting into the soil.
She waited outside the national team training center for several days and pestered her for a long time before Yin Jiayi finally agreed to play a game with her. At that time, Jin Nanzhi did not know that this was the last training match between the two of them.
"Great! You won one game last time, and this time you've won a whole match! Yin Jiayi, this time you..."
Before the girl could finish speaking, she was stung by the cold indifference on the girl's face that kept people at arm's length, and her smile slowly froze on her face.
"I have nothing more to teach you. Don't come here anymore. I need to train too."
"I won't take up much of your time. I can be your sparring partner. Didn't you say you're improving very quickly?"
"The national competition is about to start, and I have to go back to the Zhejiang team. I don't have time to play any sparring games with you."
"Then I'll participate too! National tournaments, World Championships, All England Open, Olympics—I'll participate in any tournament where you're involved. I want to play with you, even if it's just as your opponent, Yin Jiayi!"
No one expected that her bold words from a year ago would actually lead her all the way here.
15:16
16:17
18:19
20:20
22:23
Even the commentators exclaimed in surprise.
"They're still fighting! They're still fighting! It's not over yet!!!"
"My God! This is the most difficult, the most closely contested, and the most tense match I've ever seen Yin Jiayi play in my entire commentary career!"
They, along with countless audience members, silently recited:
24:25
26:26
28:28
29:29
"The two sides exchanged more than a few rallies. Don't rush, don't rush, take it slow. Everyone wants to get this last point and advance to the finals."
"My God! Kim Nam-ji's smash was brilliantly countered by Yoon Jia-yi's last-second flick from the backcourt!"
"The ball landed in front of the net, could Kim Nam-ji catch it? Could she catch it?! She actually caught it!!!"
"Kim Nam-ji fell, but bravely got back up. At this critical moment, she did not request a medical pause!"
"Yin Jiayi didn't want to give up either, and she kept persevering! Such a long number of shots put a lot of strain on the athlete's body."
"My God! We just received news from the tournament organizing committee that Yin Jiayi and Kim Nam-ji have already played a total of 98 shots! That's a new world record for the longest consecutive shot in women's singles!!!"
His breathing was heavy, like he was working a bellows.
A sharp, stabbing pain in my lungs.
Kim Nam-ji was exhausted and her mind was a complete mess. She was relying entirely on instinct to receive the serve, falling down and getting back up.
What kind of person do you like?
"You... can beat me, right?"
Yin Jiayi felt a bit short of breath, perhaps due to exhaustion or a rapid heartbeat. Her temples throbbed violently, and her vision gradually blurred.
"My name is Kim Nam-ji, Kim Nam-ji from the Seoul regional team."
"Yin Jiayi, listen to me! One day I will defeat you!!!"
"You left me at the airport, which damages the friendship between China and South Korea and undermines bilateral relations. You are a sinner for all time!"
"From now on, come watch my matches whenever you have time, okay? Just imagine, a world champion sitting in the audience watching me play, how amazing would I be? With the champion's buff, I'd be invincible!"
"Yin Jiayi, what kind of person do you like?"
"Yin Jiayi, if I beat you, would you... like me a little bit?"
“Yin Jiayi…”
“Yin Jiayi…”
Frame by frame flashed through my mind like lightning, the girl's smile as bright as a flower.
A familiar voice called out in my ear.
"Yin Jiayi!"
She arrived like a white shooting star, illuminating her world.
In Yin Jiayi's pupils, that small dot grew larger and larger.
The entire audience stood up simultaneously.
Bang--
Bang bang—
Bang bang bang—
The sound of heartbeats and running footsteps mingled together.
One step, two steps, three steps...