"I just can't do anything with you."
The coach shook his head, ended his morning training, and walked with her towards the training base.
"By the way, I didn't have a chance to ask you yesterday which friend's birthday party you went to. You suddenly ran out of the party, and we were worried something had happened to you. We called you but you didn't answer."
Kim Nam-ji laughed it off, and in an effort to make it believable to him, he also casually mentioned the earrings.
"Oh, it's that classmate from Peking University. He's not in the industry, so you wouldn't know him even if I told you. He had a really bad night. Not only did his phone run out of battery and he forgot to bring his charger, but he also drank too much and lost his earring."
"Is it the one your father gave you, the limited edition one?"
Kim Nam-ji playfully stuck out her tongue.
"Yes, please don't tell my dad when we go back to China."
"Honestly, how can you be so forgetful?"
The coach complained a few times, and then the matter was over.
Kim Nam-ji secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
***
Before the team competition even started, Jian Changnian ran into a problem. No one wanted to team up with her for practice matches. She had been practicing her flat shots against the wall for half a day, while the competition area next to her was bustling with activity.
Coach Wan had actually arranged a sparring partner for her, but he was busy with other things before the competition and couldn't supervise their training all the time. As soon as the other person left, the sparring partner went to play with other people.
"nice shot!"
"Watch this! Another point!"
She drifted here like an outsider.
Jian Changnian glanced at it, picked up his racket, turned around, and continued to hit the ball against the wall. But unexpectedly, someone pushed him from behind.
She turned around, and her teammate complained, "Are you blind? You stepped on my ball. Can't you move to the other side?"
The ball they hit clearly went out of bounds.
Jian Changnian looked down and took a few steps back.
"Sorry, I didn't notice..."
"Hey, why are you wasting your breath talking to a substitute? If Xie Shi'an hadn't been sick and it wasn't her turn to play, she might have been cut after just two games. Who are you trying to impress with all that effort?"
"Let's play ball, let's play ball, we should go eat after we play for a while."
Whether the others said it to her on purpose or not, Jian Changnian didn't argue. Instead, she bent down to pick up the ball, but a hand took it for her.
Yin Jiayi handed the ball to her.
"I'll play with you."
Jian Changnian paused, her expression unreadable, seemingly somewhat surprised.
"Captain Yin, I..."
"Don't care what others say; in competitive sports, you can only prove yourself through your own strength."
Jian Changnian pursed her lips and took the ball from her hand.
"Then please give me your guidance, Captain Yin."
Training matches are not as serious as official matches.
The two talked while playing ball.
Yin Jiayi also learned about Xie Shi'an's surgery and hospitalization.
"Is Shi'an feeling better?"
“When I visited her yesterday, she was already able to speak freely.”
Jian Changnian gritted her teeth and flicked the ball back to the opponent.
Yin Jiayi went online.
"That's good. I'm short on time lately, so I can only go see her after the competition is over."
The ball landed.
The score is now 11-21.
She was far behind, and Yin Jiayi won the first game.
Jian Changnian was panting heavily, her hands on her knees, sweat dripping from her hair. She looked up at her.
"No, I... can't beat you..."
Her encounter with Yin Jiayi at the national competition left a deep impression on her, and this training match was no exception. She once again felt Yin Jiayi's terrifying strength. Just standing opposite her, the pressure was enough to make one feel breathless and heavy-hearted.
"You and Xie Shi'an can fight each other to a standstill, so why can't you fight me?"
Yin Jiayi glanced at the scoreboard and also felt that her strength should be more than that.
Jian Changnian was taken aback, as if she understood a little. It was because she was familiar with Xie Shi'an. For her, when playing ball with Xie Shi'an, she was just Xie Shi'an, not any world champion.
She had no psychological burden whatsoever.
Seeing her expression, Yin Jiayi nodded again.
"Don't underestimate your opponent, but don't imagine your opponent to be too strong either. Let's try again."
Yin Jiayi, as expected of a seasoned professional player, immediately identified the problem.
Jian Changnian straightened up and said loudly, "Okay."
In the second game, she began to exert her strength, but her attacks were blocked one by one. Yin Jiayi pressed her advantage and took another match point.
Jian Changnian was panting heavily, her eyes red, seemingly confused as to why she was being beaten so badly without any chance to fight back.
Yin Jiayi raises her hand to serve.
"Don't you feel like you're imitating Xie Shi'an?"
Jian Changnian ran forward to catch the shuttlecock, but upon hearing this, his movements faltered, and the shuttlecock fell to the ground again.
"Xie Shi'an has been thoroughly studied. If you try to imitate her playing style to face world-class players, you'll likely be in serious trouble."
"Be yourself, not someone else's shadow."
Her words were like a wake-up call.
Although Xie Shi'an was being studied, she was also constantly pushing her own limits. Xie Shi'an had the talent and experience that she did not; she had only imitated the shape but not the essence.
Don't take on a job you're not qualified for.
She really should find her own path.
The boy seemed to awaken from a dream, and a smile immediately appeared on his lips.
"Thank you, Captain Yin."
Yin Jiayi put away her racket, a hint of a smile in her eyes.
"You're welcome. I just hope our Chinese team's performance will get better and better. I'm going to eat now, you..."
Jian Changnian shook her head and declined her invitation.
"I'll practice a little longer."
"Okay, then I'll be going now."
"Goodbye, Captain Yin."
***
"A life for a life, a debt for a debt, that's only right and proper. Qiao Yuchu, your heartless parents ran over my mother with their car and were supposed to go to jail, but who knew they had connections..."
The man, holding a megaphone, sat at the hospital entrance, weeping bitterly, pounding his chest and stamping his feet; he was almost about to bang his head on the ground.
His wife, dressed in mourning clothes and holding their child, stood beside the hired actors who held wreaths and banners and began to wail.
The onlookers pointed and whispered among themselves.
"There are actually people like this."
"You can get released after killing someone in a hit-and-run?"
"I've never heard anyone say that he's rich and has connections."
"This family looks so kind and benevolent in the photos, how could they be such scoundrels?"
Hospital security guards came to pull people away.
"The person didn't die in our hospital, so what are you doing here causing trouble!"
The man threw a tantrum and acted shamelessly.
"I don't care! I have a heart condition! Don't touch me! They're in your hospital now, and if I can't see them, who else can I turn to but you!"
Outside the ward, hospital leaders also found Qiao Yuchu.
"Look, it's not good to keep letting them make a fuss like this. Our hospital still needs to see patients as usual. How about I give you a referral letter so you can go to another hospital for a checkup?"
Qiao Yuchu is also facing a lot of trouble.
“We have proper procedures for medical parole. My mother is still hospitalized. We are just ordinary patients who came here for treatment! You can’t just kick us out because they’re making a fuss!”
Qiao's mother's attending physician smiled awkwardly.
"Actually, your mother doesn't have any organic lesions and has already met the discharge criteria. At worst, I can prescribe some more medicine for you."
Qiao Yuchu immediately raised her voice.
“My mom is extremely emotionally unstable right now. She even attempted suicide yesterday. What do you mean she’s met the discharge criteria?”
"No, what you're doing... is really affecting our hospital's reputation. Besides, if someone dies in our hospital, we'll have to take responsibility. We've really done our best for your mother's treatment. We still suggest you go somewhere else for a checkup."
The hospital leaders phrased it tactfully, but their attitude remained firm: they wanted to discharge the patients.
Qiao Yuchu's lips trembled, her heart filled with despair.
Jin Shunqi pulled the person into his arms and whispered.
"It's alright, it's alright. Let's take Auntie home to live. You see, she can't eat or sleep well here, and it's so noisy outside. Maybe she'll feel better in a familiar environment."
***