Chapter 37 Chapter 37

After Chu Xi came out of the cafeteria, he went to the training ground to continue practicing.

What is different between this competition and the previous ones is that after joining the provincial team, Chu Xi already has a competition gun tailor-made for herself. The familiar "weapon" makes her more confident and determined each time during practice.

…

The next morning, Fang Xiangyun and his family hurried to the national team training base. After filling out the visitor information, the staff led the three of them to the audience seats of the competition venue.

"The three of you can just sit anywhere. The players should still be warming up before the game. The game officially starts at nine o'clock."

After giving the instructions, the staff member politely said hello and turned to leave.

Fang Xiangyun surveyed the surrounding area, a hint of surprise in his eyes. "This training base is quite large. I wonder how Xiaoxi is getting by here."

Fang Ruinian casually added, "Athletes have dietary regulations. Every meal they eat is prepared by professional chefs based on their nutritional needs. How can they not eat well?"

Fang Xiangyun and the other two quickly found a seat and sat down.

After a while, the staff member who had been there before brought in several more family members of the athletes.

A woman in a business suit walked in. She had short black hair and a capable demeanor, exuding the aura of a strong woman.

"Uncle and aunt, why haven't I seen you before?" Li Lingshan took the initiative to walk over and talk to Fang Xiangyun's family after seeing their unfamiliar faces.

Fang Xiangyun was stunned for a moment, then cleared his throat and greeted with a smile, "This is our child's first time trying out for the national team. Her coach invited us to come and see her."

Li Lingshan understood immediately.

She nodded and began to introduce herself. "This is the second time for both of us to participate. I came during the national team selection last year, but she just missed the cut."

Although Li Lingshan has the temperament of a strong woman, her words and smile exude affinity.

After they got to know each other, they sat down together in the front row.

Zhu Lifang asked curiously, "Did your child start training last year?"

"My daughter started practicing since she was in elementary school. It must have been more than ten years now," Li Lingshan replied with a smile.

Fang Xiangyun and Zhu Lifang were stunned immediately, and then they started arguing.

"Look, they have been practicing since they were young, but they were not selected last time. Our Xiaoxi has only been practicing for a short time. Can he compare with those who have been practicing since they were young?" Zhu Lifang said with some worry in her tone.

Fang Xiangyun remained calm, his back straight. "It's okay. We have to trust the coach and Xiaoxi. Last time I went to their shooting team and asked, the coach was very confident in our Xiaoxi. He definitely has the ability."

Li Lingshan looked over with curiosity.

"Auntie, your child has only been practicing for a short time?"

Zhu Lifang nodded quickly, "Yes, she joined the provincial shooting team just last month, and then this month, I don't know what happened, she came to participate in the national team selection. Her uncle and I were wondering how she could be selected so quickly."

Li Lingshan immediately smiled. "I think it's the provincial team coach who wants to take this opportunity to show the newcomers the world. Our Lu Meng had this experience when he first joined the provincial team. Generally speaking, it's definitely difficult for people who just join the provincial team to be selected for the national team. They usually need to train for a while, and after their performance stabilizes, they can wait for the second or third round to be guaranteed to be selected."

"I see." Fang Xiangyun finally understood and began to mutter, "Then Xiaoxi is mainly here to gain experience, and she may not be selected."

The expression on Zhu Lifang's face became even more worried.

Can Xiaoxi, who changed his career halfway, compare with other athletes who have been training since childhood?

Not long after, several waves of athletes' families came in to watch the game.

"Mom, Xiaoxi is coming in." Fang Ruinian noticed several contestants walking into the entrance of the competition venue one after another, and quickly raised his hand to pat Zhu Lifang.

The three members of the family immediately looked over there.

As the players and referees took their seats, the family members watching the game in the stands quieted down.

"The women's 10-meter air pistol qualifying round will officially begin in ten minutes. Spectators, please observe proper rules."

Referee Wang Ruiguo sat on the referee's stand, and his steady voice spread through the microphone in the field.

Chu Xi flexed his wrists and stood in front of the shooting position for the competition.

The on-site staff began to check the guns used by each contestant one by one.

Chu Xi turned slightly sideways and looked at the contestants on both sides.

There were a total of 37 athletes participating in the women's 10-meter air pistol trials. Taking the number of athletes into consideration, the qualifying rounds were divided into Groups One and Two.

Lu Meng and last year's Olympic champion Xue Yaning were both assigned to Group 2 and would compete in the afternoon.

Wang Shaorui, who had previously participated in the National Shooting Championship with her, was assigned to the same group.

However, when counting the places for the finals, the scores of the two groups of players will still be ranked together.

Chu Xi turned and looked at the audience.

She looked around and saw Fang Ruinian standing in the stands, waving at her excitedly.

Sitting next to him were his uncle and aunt.

My uncle and the others are here.

Chu Xi breathed a sigh of relief, retracted his gaze, and refocused his attention on the game.

"All competitors, please note, are not allowed to touch the gun before the referee gives the order to start the competition. Any violation will result in disqualification."

After checking all the guns, the staff stepped aside and waited for the referee's next instructions.

Time passed minute by minute. After Wang Ruiguo checked all the players' information, he picked up the microphone and announced, "The competition has begun. All players may prepare to shoot."

The sound slowly spread throughout the stadium.

Fang Xiangyun's family of three in the audience held their breath nervously.

"Mom, it's about to start." Fang Ruinian excitedly pulled Zhu Lifang's sleeve.

Zhu Lifang pushed him away angrily, "Stop pulling my clothes."

Fang Ruinian cleared his throat to hide his embarrassment and turned to look at the game field.

Chu Xi came to the shooting position, picked up the air pistol, and began to load the gun with skillful movements.

After a few seconds, all the contestants took their positions and prepared to shoot.

The qualifying rules are the same as those of the National Shooting Championship. Decimal points in the rings are not counted, and only the bare ring scores of the sixty shots are calculated.

The first round of ten shots began.

Chu Xi adjusted the angle of his shooting glasses, kept his body steady, slowly raised his gun, and began to aim.

Gunshots rang out from both sides, and the surrounding contestants started shooting first.

Chu Xi was not in a hurry, and adjusted his breathing frequency with a calm expression.

The "boom boom" heartbeat causes the body to shake slightly.

Chu Xi continued to slow down his breathing until he felt his body completely still.

The finger on the trigger was pulled decisively to shoot.

Shooting result of the first shot: ten rings.

"You hit the ten rings already?" Fang Ruinian was a little surprised.

Before going to bed last night, he and his father discussed how far the shooting distance of ten meters was.

The target paper itself is not very big, and the bull's eye and the ten rings are only 0.5 mm in size. If you put it ten meters away, you can't see anything at all.

He simply couldn't imagine how Chu Xi could hit the ten rings even with a blind shot.

Chu Xi's emotions have been completely stripped away, and her calmness, rationality and composure are fully reflected in her.

Three more shots were fired.

Every shot is a ten-ring.

In the first round of shooting, the contestants were in very good condition. At the end, including Chu Xi, a total of five contestants achieved full rings in all ten shots.

After a short break, the referee announced the start of the second round of shooting.

After Chu Xi loaded the bullets, he raised his wrist and held the gun again.

Block out all distracting thoughts and keep your mind as calm as a mirror.

Another shot: ten rings.

Every shot Chu Xi fired made Fang Xiangyun and Zhu Lifang in the stands extremely nervous.

"Xiao Xi scored all ten rings. Does that mean her performance is pretty good?" Zhu Lifang quickly pushed Fang Xiangyun.

Fang Xiangyun nodded, "Yes, the highest score is ten rings. But according to the rules of the qualifying round, we have to shoot a total of sixty shots, and it depends on whether Xiaoxi can hold on."

Li Lingshan on the other side was also a little surprised.

"Auntie, is this contestant named Chu Xi your child?"

Zhu Lifang nodded quickly, "Yes."

There was a hint of surprise in Li Lingshan's eyes.

She had just heard what Fang Xiangyun and his wife said, and thought that Chu Xi was just a new athlete brought here by the coach to see the world.

But looking at Chu Xi's performance in these two rounds, she doesn't look like a pure newcomer at all.

"Auntie, is it true that your child has only been in the provincial team for a month?"

Zhu Lifang: "Yes, she just went in. She had never been involved in shooting before. When her uncle and I heard the news, we thought she was joking."

Li Lingshan felt even more puzzled after hearing this.

He had never been exposed to shooting before, and he was able to show such stable performance just one month after joining the provincial team. This... the only explanation is that Chu Xi is an unparalleled shooting genius.

Although she had seen geniuses before, this was too much of an exaggeration.

While several people were talking, the contestants on the field had completed the third round of shooting.

At the end of this round, the gap between the contestants' scores gradually widened.

Currently, Chu Xi is still ranked first with 297 rings.

The second-ranked player, Wang Shaorui, scored 296 rings.

A hint of satisfaction flashed across Wang Ruiguo's usually serious face at the referee's table.

He was a little worried before that Chu Xi might lose his mindset and perform poorly in such an important competition.

Now it seems that his worries were completely unnecessary.

The game continues.

Chu Xi raised his wrist and gun again, preparing for the fourth round of shooting.

It was not until this round that the fierce competition between the contestants finally broke out.

Only the top eight players can advance to the finals.

This is the final round of national team selection, so everyone must give it their all.

The fourth round of shooting was when the players' condition could have declined the most, but the reality was completely different. Not only did the players reduce their mistakes, but they also became more focused and achieved better results than in the previous rounds.

"Dad, it's over. The second-place contestant tied with Xiaoxi." Fang Ruinian's voice was a little nervous.

Current field ranking:

First place, Chu Xi, 396 rings.

The same place as Wang Shaorui, 396 rings.

"Stop making noise. Your sister is not as nervous as you are during the competition." Fang Xiangyun looked at him with disdain, then retracted his gaze and continued to look at the competition field.

Chu Xi glanced at the grade rankings.

In the last round of shooting, one of her shots scored a nine-ring, which was within her expected range.

Unexpectedly, Wang Shaorui suddenly performed exceptionally well, hitting ten rings in all ten shots in the fourth round.

It is true that athletes may suddenly burst out with performances beyond their capabilities during competitions.

This was something she couldn't predict.

She calmed herself down and continued to prepare for the fifth round of shooting.

Coaches often say: During competitions, athletes will inevitably burst out with performances beyond their capabilities, which is uncontrollable. The only thing you can control is to maintain a stable mentality and performance, and ensure you don't perform poorly.

Chu Xi held his breath and concentrated, loading the pistol with skillful movements.

Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if a cold light swept across them. She held the gun in one hand and raised her wrist, looking straight ahead, firm and calm.

In the fifth round of shooting, Chu Xi also performed exceptionally well, scoring full marks in ten consecutive shots.

In the ranking score, Chu Xi is once again leading.

First place, Chu Xi, 496 rings.

Second place, Wang Shaorui, 494 rings.

The moment he put down the air pistol, Chu Xi lowered his head, slowly closed his eyes, and continued to block out everything around him.

"Oh my god! He caught up with me again!" Fang Ruinian in the stands shouted excitedly.

Fang Xiangyun and Zhu Lifang also looked at each other excitedly. Although they did not shout like Fang Ruinian, their emotions were obviously very high.

Li Lingshan's expression beside her became extremely solemn.

Lu Meng competed in the afternoon.

She came to watch the morning's game mainly to help her daughter see how the other players performed.

And now, Chu Xi and Wang Shaorui's extraordinary performances were a little unexpected to her.

Wang Shaorui was fine, Li Lingshan had heard of her when she competed before.

But Chu Xi, who has only been in the provincial team for a month, is really a bit scary.

The sixth round of shooting is also the most critical round.

Since Wang Shaorui lost to Chu Xi and Lu Meng last time and returned to the team, she has been practicing hard.

She accepted losing to Lu Meng. After all, over the years, whenever Lu Meng participated in a competition, she would usually only come in second place.

But in the last National Shooting Championship, Chu Xi, a competitor who participated in the competition as an individual, ended up crushing her and Lu Meng.

Later, she even checked Chu Xi's information and found out that he was an artist who temporarily changed careers to become an athlete.

It's not that she doesn't want to admit defeat, she just can't accept that after training for so many years, she lost to a player who changed his career temporarily.

So when she found out yesterday that she and Chu Xi were in the same group, she was actually a little excited.

She wanted to compete with Chu Xi again in the qualifying round, and this time, she wanted to win!

Wang Shaorui raised her eyes and glanced at the scores of the players on the field.

There is only a difference of two rings between her and Chu Xi.

In the last round of ten shots, she had every chance to overtake.

Wang Shaorui withdrew her gaze, gripped the gun tightly in her hand, and began to prepare.

"The sixth round of shooting begins, all contestants can shoot." Wang Ruiguo announced slowly.

This last round is often the most critical one.

Whether or not you can successfully advance to the finals depends on these last ten shots.

Wang Ruiguo's gaze slowly swept across Chu Xi and Wang Shaorui, with a hint of emotion in his eyes.

In previous years, women's 10-meter air pistol has always been the event with the least talent.

But this year, before the World Cup even started, three top players, Chu Xi, Lu Meng and Wang Shaorui, emerged one after another.

Having a lot of talented people is certainly a good thing.

But although there are more people, the qualifications for participating are fixed, so their competition has become more intense.

In the sixth round of shooting, Wang Shaorui fired the first shot.

The result is still ten rings.

At the same time, Chu Xi also fired two shots, both of which were ten rings.

"Dad, I'm starting to admire my cousin now. How did she manage to shoot so many ten-ring shots?" Fang Ruinian couldn't help but sigh again.

"Quiet! Focus on the game and don't chatter." Fang Xiangyun's entire attention was on Chu Xi. Without even turning his head, he reached out and pushed Fang Ruinian.

Fang Ruinian didn't get a response, so he had to turn to look at his mother. As a result, Zhu Lifang was also staring at the game field with a nervous look on her face, and it seemed that she didn't hear what he said at all.

“…”

Fang Ruinian withdrew his gaze speechlessly and could only mutter to himself in his heart.

Logically speaking, he and his cousin are one-quarter related.

If Chu Xi has this kind of shooting talent, could it be that... he has it too?

It seems that he has to take some time to experience this shooting. What if he really has talent but it is wasted?

The competition is still going on. Chu Xi has taken the lead in completing six shots, five of which hit ten rings and one hit nine rings.

Wang Shaorui shot one more than Chu Xi, six shots hit ten rings, and one shot hit nine rings.

Chu Xi placed the air pistol on the table and adjusted its position.

There are only four shots left.

If she wants to advance as the first in the group qualifying round, every shot she makes must be a ten-ring shot.

Chu Xi took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly.

After adjusting his mood, Chu Xi picked up the bullets at hand and put them into the gun one by one.

Another burst of gunfire rang out in my ears.

Wang Shaorui shot two more ten-ring shots, only missing the last one.

At the same time, Chu Xi raised his gun and shot.

The arm holding the gun has begun to tremble slightly, which is a side effect of the arm muscles holding the gun for a long time.

Chu Xi closed his eyes and opened them quickly. The moment he adjusted his state, he pulled the trigger.

Nine rings.

After seeing the results, Chu Xi immediately put down his gun, closed his eyes and readjusted himself.

She shouldn't have shot nine rings with this shot.

Chu Xi tightened his grip on the gun slightly, pursed his lips, and his heartbeat suddenly quickened.

Even if she didn't rank first in the qualifying round, her results should still be enough to qualify for the finals.

But she wanted to win.

She wanted her uncle and aunt to see her advance to the finals with the best performance.

She wanted them to know her commitment to shooting.

When he opened his eyes again, Chu Xi's eyes became firm.

She will definitely not make any mistakes in the last three shots.

Fang Xiangyun and the other two in the audience clearly felt that Chu Xi's aura had become a little different at this moment.

Fang Ruinian, who was always talkative, also shut up and stared at Chu Xi's back nervously.

When Chu Xi was firing the last three shots, Wang Shaorui was the first to finish the last shot.

Her final score was: 593 rings.

Out of the sixty shots, only seven were nine-ring, and the rest were all full rings.

Chu Xi's gunshot rang out in the silent arena.

Ten rings, and still ten rings!

Chu Xi hit ten rings with two consecutive shots without any mistakes, only the last shot was left.

When Fang Xiangyun and Zhu Lifang saw this, their hearts almost jumped into their throats, and they didn't even dare to breathe loudly.

Fang Ruinian was so nervous that he started swallowing.

Chu Xi held the air pistol in one hand, looked forward with a determined gaze, and pulled the trigger for the last time with his fingertips.

The result of the last shot: ten rings!

At the same time, Chu Xi's ranking was updated: five hundred and ninety-four rings.

With a difference of one ring, she is ahead of Wang Shaorui and currently ranks first in the group qualifying round!

"Mom! First! Xiaoxi is first!" Fang Ruinian jumped up from his seat excitedly.

Fang Xiangyun and Zhu Lifang also looked at each other excitedly. They no longer cared about their son and hugged each other and started laughing.

"Xiaoxi won."

"It's not easy, it's really not easy. Those last few shots made my palms sweat. Can you imagine how nervous Xiaoxi must have been?" Zhu Lifang was moved and pounded Fang Xiangyun's back hard.

Fang Xiangyun was beaten so hard that he finally let go of Zhu Lifang. "You can be excited if you want, but why do you always hit me?"

"I was just happy for Xiaoxi." Zhu Lifang glanced at him and sat back in her seat.

She remembered something and quickly asked Li Lingshan next to her, "Sister, what are the rules of this competition? I still don't quite understand. If I win first place in this competition, will there be another one tomorrow?"

Li Lingshan had just come to her senses and nodded quickly. "Yes, today is the qualifying round. The top eight players will advance to tomorrow's finals. Only those who perform well in the finals will have the opportunity to be selected for the national team."

Zhu Lifang nodded. "Okay, thank you."

After she finished speaking, she turned around and quickly pushed Fang Xiangyun, "Don't be so happy, the two of you. They said there will be finals tomorrow. Today is just a promotion."

"Mom, why are you still worried? Xiaoxi can get first place today. Tomorrow's finals, that's no problem at all."

Fang Ruinian was completely carried away. After thinking of something, he immediately added, "Oh, Mom, Xiaoxi's outstanding performance proves that our family has good genes. I have to get my athletic talent tested someday. What if our family produces two national team athletes? How glorious it would be."

Fang Xiangyun rolled his eyes at them and said, "Come on, Xiaoxi is so good, why are you trying to take advantage of her?"

"No, you two can't favor one over the other. You keep saying that Xiaoxi is great. Am I not your child? If my genes are not good, then it proves that there is something wrong with you two." Fang Ruinian tried hard to argue for himself.

At this time, after the game, the players in the stadium were preparing to leave the venue one after another.

Seeing this, Zhu Lifang quickly stood up and pulled Fang Ruinian over, "Stop wasting time. Your sister is about to leave. Where should we go to find her?"

At this time, Li Lingshan, who was standing nearby, stood up and pointed to the exit. "Uncle and aunt, just go out this way."

"Okay, okay, thank you." Zhu Lifang and the other two quickly stood up and walked towards the exit.

…

At the same time, the national team players who were in training received notifications of the results of the morning's competitions.

"Brother Lu, your little fan group won first place in the qualifying round. Isn't that an exaggeration?" After receiving the results of the competition, An Hongfei ran to tease Lu Wenxuan.

Lu Wenxuan was stunned. "First place in the qualifying round? Are the stronger players all assigned to Group 2?"

"That's not true. There's also someone in that group who's pretty good. You should be familiar with Wang Shaorui. She's second, and Chu Xi is first."

Two huge question marks appeared on Lu Wenxuan’s forehead.

Are his fans so powerful?

After being stunned for a long time, Lu Wenxuan snorted softly and patted his chest proudly. "This is called fans follow the master. My fans are definitely as strong as me. I'm just first in the group qualifying round. Keep a low profile."

An Hongfei's expression also became much more cautious. "I think Coach Song is really not joking. This Chu Xi's strength is definitely extraordinary."

During the last meeting, when Coach Song mentioned Chu Xi alone, many national team players didn't take it too seriously, thinking that the coach was deliberately exaggerating in order to stimulate them.

But now it seems that they really misunderstood.

…

Not long after Chu Xi came out of the competition venue, he saw his uncle, aunt and family walking towards him quickly.

She stopped and looked at Zhu Lifang, "Aunt, you're here too."

Chu Xi was actually a little nervous.

Her uncle is actually quite easy to talk to, but her aunt's fighting ability is more than twice that of her uncle.

Zhu Lifang stopped in front of Chu Xi, held Chu Xi's arm, and her face looked a little solemn.

"Your uncle told me about your shooting training. Before I came here, I was originally against it, but seeing how dedicated you were to the competition, I can tell you really love this sport. Isn't there a final tomorrow? If you can really make the national team, I support you to continue training!"