Chapter 53 Transforming a Project If There's Only One Person Leading It...

Before each performance, Xia Yuezi would have two students do their makeup to make them look more perfect and leave a good impression on the judges.

Feng Simai wore a light green Costum, his hair was slicked back and held in place with hair gel, he had green eyeshadow on the corners of his eyes, and his lipstick was close to his natural lip color, making him look more vibrant.

The calm and resolute look in his eyes became serene and profound the moment the music started, like a deep pool that could not be disturbed by any waves, yet it concealed endless thoughts.

The initial piano music was slow, sounding melodious and lingering. He slowly raised his arms, spun around, and glided out, the drawstrings on his lantern sleeves swaying gently with him.

The first jump is 4T+2T.

As he began to gather his strength, all eyes were on him. Many coaches were wondering whether this athlete would still attempt a quadruple jump, given that the Chinese athlete had just made a mistake on the quadruple jump.

The answer is definitely yes.

Feng Simai seized the opportunity, touched the ice without hesitation, and then quickly tightened his body and took off, leaving a clear arc on the ice.

The two coaches stood silently to the side, but their clenched hands, soaked with sweat, remained firmly in place.

After landing both quadruple jumps, the music paused for two seconds, and Feng Simai's state immediately became mysterious.

He stretched out his hand, his fingertips hovering in mid-air, as if he were a third party standing under the tree, about to catch the petals that Master Turtle had conjured.

Perhaps it was because he touched the petals and received Master Turtle's true teachings, or perhaps he became one with him, but Feng Simai's eyes and temperament changed once again.

The camera panned across and met Feng Simai's gaze.

His eyes were so clear and pure, as if he had seen through everything, and all things in the world were like fleeting clouds in his eyes.

Even though it was only for a second, it still deeply moved many ice skating fans in the stands.

Fujiwara Yoshino, who was next to go on ice, stood at the entrance of the rink, looked up at the big screen, and murmured, "Feng's performance has improved again."

Anthony sat on the platform, holding the bread his coach had just given him. He stopped chewing and quietly watched the performance to come.

Albert and Davre remained standing together. The American number one, unfazed by the two young Russians beside him, said, "Dava, this player's performance is comparable to yours when you were young."

Davell carried the torch for the Russian men's singles event for over a decade, not only because of the difficulty of his routines, but more importantly because of his superb skating skills. This allowed him to quickly win the support of all Russian referees when the Russian men's singles event was in decline.

"The podium may change, but Davir remains," is a widely circulated saying in the skating world, used to describe the annual Russian Championships.

This means that the rankings and people standing on the podium may change, but as long as Davil participates in the competition, he will always be on the podium.

Davil glanced at him: "His expressiveness is good enough, but his skating still needs work, though he's still young..."

Before he could finish speaking, Feng Simai completed a 3A, and enthusiastic applause erupted from all around. Even the usually unreliable Albert turned his gaze toward the ice rink.

Davil glanced backstage as if sensing something. Another Chinese men's singles player was standing at the backstage entrance, his eyes red-rimmed, clutching a crumpled piece of paper in his hand.

But he only glanced at him before looking away. Compared to the high-difficulty skater standing outside the ice, the one on the ice seemed to pose a greater threat.

As the program entered its second half, and Feng Simai's choreography was nearing its end, the two coaches silently held their breath, with Meng Xin even grabbing Xia Yuezi's hand.

Feng Simai inserted a series of jumps in the second half of the jump, turned before taking off, and then raised his right foot.

This is one of the ways to distinguish between F and lz, and it's also a method that many ice hockey fans like to use.

After completing the 3F, Feng Simai held his breath and followed up with a 3T. When landing on the ice, he wobbled slightly and drew a very short arc.

Mr. Thomas, on the technical panel, carefully reviewed the replay but ultimately did not give any mark on the score sheet. He and another technical expert laughed and said, "It's a pity I wasn't sitting on the nine-person judging panel. Although the jump wasn't of high quality, I would have given a good goe for the preceding moves."

Another technical expert smiled ingratiatingly, his gaze silently drifting toward the nearby nine-person referee's table.

The European judges, who occupied nearly half of the seats, had stern faces and pressed hard on the GOE for this jump. If you moved the camera to the screens of these judges, you would find that the GOEs given for the previous moves were basically all one point.

The female referee sitting at the other end had a typical Asian face. The GOE displayed on the screen in front of her was relatively high. She looked at the French referee next to her, secretly raising her eyebrows in surprise, thinking that this European referee had not lowered the score.

"Just one more jump." Meng Xin's voice was very soft, and if you listened carefully, you could hear a slight tremor in it, as if she was even more nervous than the athletes on the field.

Xia Yuezi calmed herself down, gripped Meng Xin tightly, and whispered, "Don't worry, the last jump is 3S. He can even jump down in a quadruple, he won't capsize in a triple jump."

Before jumping, Feng Simai slightly adjusted his gliding direction, moved away from the barrier, and chose a safer jumping position—taking off at about one-third of the way down the ice rink.

Even with the last two spins of the performance, the Chinese delegation in the stands couldn't help but stand up, waving their national flag and cheering.

Lin Ye took the tissue in his hand and wiped away his tears before they fell. Yu Qian had been standing beside him, comforting him. At this moment, she simply patted his back and led him to sit down backstage.

"Auntie, I'm fine. I'm overjoyed to have secured two slots." Lin Ye's voice was thick with nasal tone, but he forced a smile, trying his best to appear energetic.

If Yu Qian, who has accompanied athletes in competitions for so many years, still can't see through their bravado, then all those years of hard work have been for nothing.

Since joining the Heilongjiang Provincial Team, she has treated the team members who trained with her daughter as her own children. After her daughter joined the Beijing Team, she channeled her longing into these young team members and treated them even better.

Yu Qian has been with Lin Ye since he joined the team. She understands Lin Ye's pressure and ambition better than anyone else, and it is this ambition that drives him to keep improving.

But at the most crucial moment, he couldn't withstand the pressure and had to rely on others to turn the tide, which was a huge blow to the seventeen-year-old.

Yu Qian sighed, pulled Lin Ye into her arms, and gently patted him as she would a child comforting her daughter: "Then can you calmly congratulate him?"

Lin Ye lowered his head and remained silent, his previous polite words now exposed by his actions.

Yu Qian wasn't annoyed. She gently comforted him, saying, "In this life, you don't have to accomplish just one thing to be true to yourself. Everyone has their own path to walk. Xiao Ye, your journey has just begun. Don't narrow your path."

“You say that Davir is your idol and that you know his experiences very well, then you should know that his early career was not smooth sailing. In fact, he was the only Russian player to achieve this and suffered a lot.”

Lin Ye silently raised his head, his eyes red and swollen, and looked at Yu Qian, seemingly understanding what she wanted to say.

Before Feng Simai rose to prominence, Lin Ye and Cheng Yuanjie each carried a group. In the later part of the season, Cheng Yuanjie's injury worsened and he rarely played, which resulted in Lin Ye being almost the only Chinese men's singles player. This also created a mentality that no one could do without him, pushing him to practice higher difficulty levels.

However, if a project only has one person who can lead it, then the project will inevitably fail to develop in the long term.

In order to earn a spot for Russia, Davil participated in the competition despite his battered and bruised body. After returning home, he immediately underwent surgery to remove the partially shattered meniscus from his right knee.

It is precisely because of such a leader that Russian men's singles has gone through the most difficult period and gradually ushered in a golden age, with someone who can share this pressure with him.

Even excluding Davil, there's another bloody example: Anthony. He just saw the cupping marks on the back of Anthony's neck while waiting in the division.

A new English prompt sounded, and Lin Ye saw Anthony walk down from the platform and talk to his coach, while Feng Simai, who was currently in first place, was surrounded by his coach and walking towards the sofa on the platform.

Lin Ye smiled, a hint of relief in his expression: "Auntie, could you give me a muscle massage?"

Yu Qian patted his head and smiled kindly: "Let's go, the yoga mats are all prepared for you two."

Xia Yuezi, completely unaware of what was happening backstage, stood on the other side of the aisle, silently calculating the rankings with Meng Xin.

"Even if everyone is in front, they are still ninth. If we include Xiao Ye, it's nine plus seventeen, making a total of twenty-six, which is exactly two."

Meng Xin was bad at math when she was in school. She would think and talk at the same time, her eyes would look up at the sky and roll around every now and then, almost as if she was counting on her fingers.

Xia Yuezi stretched, looking much more relaxed: "After the competition, we can have some fun. Otherwise, it'll be endless training again when we get back."

“Of course, there are also the deadly barrage of calls from the boss,” Meng Xin nodded in agreement, then asked, “But what’s fun in Ottawa?”

Xia Yuezi blinked, but couldn't recall a single fun place from her memory.

She had previously trained in Montreal, Canada for a period of time, and during her break, she took the train to explore the surrounding cities, including Ottawa.

She asked several Canadian contestants, and they all recommended different locations, but none of them mentioned the capital city.

Xia Yuezi asked out of curiosity, and an ice dance athlete replied very cryptically, "Ottawa? Just take a look when you pass by."

She didn't understand what it meant at the time, but after spending one night in Ottawa, she understood.

Go check out Capitol Hill, it's under renovation.

Go check out the art museums, but they're not as good as the ones in Montreal.

Let's go get something good to eat; she doesn't like white food.

Meng Xin stood aside, watching Xia Yuezi's expression change repeatedly, and finally heard her say something.

"If you have enough time, why not consider Quebec or Toronto?"