A Starry Night (Part 3)

"You seem to be in a good mood lately, judging from your beaming smile."

Zhou Zeyu kept his head down, focused on chopping vegetables. The knife made a clattering sound on the cutting board. Without looking up, he replied, "Yeah, it's so relaxing, it's great."

Fang Xiaocan wailed, "God, you must stop talking! Life without you is too painful, it feels like an eternity."

She chuckled coldly twice. "Come on, it's because no one's going to be punished with you. But I think only you few are really upset. The others probably wish I'd get as far away as possible."

He sighed on the phone, "You didn't see those reports, did you?"

Zhou Zeyu put the chopped vegetables aside and continued chopping meat at lightning speed. "How could I possibly see that? You deleted all my Weibo, Douyin, and Toutiao accounts before you boarded the plane. I'm practically living in isolation now."

The two remained silent for a while, then Fang Xiaocan yawned. "It's okay, it's better not to know. You know those media outlets and marketing accounts, they're always acting crazy, just ignore them."

Zhou Zeyu smiled and shook her head indifferently. It was impossible for her not to care, but now that the emperor was far away, even the most serious matters were nothing if she was away from the vortex of public opinion. She thought for a moment and then loudly announced, "What's that saying again? Escaping is shameless, but it's useful!"

“It works!” Fang Xiaocan agreed readily.

"How have you been lately?" she asked casually as she turned on the induction cooker, poured oil into a pan, and said, "You must be exhausted. You sound so weak."

"What's there to be tired about? There's nothing to do, isn't there?"

Zhou Zeyu immediately sensed something was wrong and asked in confusion, "How could this be? Shouldn't you be preparing for the championship at the end of the year?"

Fang Xiaocan sighed heavily again, "What can we do if there are no spots? Don't you know Coach Huang's temper? We'll just have to accept it."

She knew perfectly well what was going on and responded with a knowing sigh, then sighed sympathetically for a while before finally remembering to ask, "By the way, who is it this time?"

Fang Xiaocan didn't answer her. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she slapped her forehead and exclaimed, "Oh dear! How could I forget about this? Cen Zheng asked me to tell you to call her back. He said he called you before, but couldn't reach you."

"I'm hanging up now. You can call her back." Fang Xiaocan knew exactly what she was thinking and hung up quickly before she could object.

As the phone went dead, Zhou Zeyu silently grumbled at Fang Xiaocan's slow hand-hanging up, untied his apron, and slowly walked to the balcony.

The call was answered quickly. Before she could even think of what to say first, a familiar voice came through the phone. There was no way she wouldn't recognize the voice. It was precisely because she recognized it so quickly that Zhou Zeyu was even more speechless.

"How are you?" she finally asked dryly.

Cen Zheng's voice was as calm as ever, but there was a hint of resentment mixed in with it. "I should be the one asking you that. You went all the way by yourself. If Coach Xu hadn't told you, were you really planning to keep it from everyone?"

Zhou Zeyu remained silent, not uttering a single word.

"Never mind..." Cen Zheng finally convinced himself and reluctantly spoke again, "There aren't that many foreign media outlets, and no one else can control you. Just do what makes you comfortable."

Zhou Zeyu hummed in agreement. "How's everyone doing lately?"

"All is well."

She nodded again, waiting awkwardly for him to speak. The two remained silent for a while, understanding each other perfectly, before Cen Zheng finally said, "By the way, there's something I want to tell you."

"I'm retiring."

Zhou Zeyu opened his mouth and reflexively hummed in response, but his mind didn't react so quickly. Suddenly, it went completely blank, as if he couldn't accept such information and completely froze on the spot.

She wanted to ask why, but she swallowed the words back, because Cen Zheng would never tell her the truth. That was just her personality. To put it nicely, she was thoughtful; to put it bluntly, she was too cautious and only said what she should say, never uttering a word more than necessary.

Zhou Zeyu shook her head silently. It wasn't that she hadn't expected this day to come, but it had come much earlier than she had imagined, so much earlier that it caught her off guard and left her puzzled.

“Alright then,” she gave a stiff smile, “when exactly?”

“The retirement ceremony is on the 28th of next month,” Cen Zheng said, pausing noticeably as if hesitant. “I can’t say much else, I just guessed you probably don’t know this news yet, so I came to let you know.”

Zhou Zeyu hung up the phone, stared at the black screen on his phone, sighed almost imperceptibly, then dialed Fang Xiaocan's number and asked directly, "You knew all along that Cen Zheng was going to retire?"

Fang Xiaocan stammered for a long time, "I originally wanted to say it, but then I got too busy and forgot... Actually, it would be better if she told you herself."

The two were silent for a while. Fang Xiaocan seemed to be racking her brains to say something, and finally said stiffly, "Actually, people change."

Yes, everything changes.

Sorkov waited for her on his bicycle. When he saw her walk out looking lost, he slowly put away his headphones and casually asked, "Didn't you sleep well?"

"Then what."

"She's retiring."

"Are you very sad?" is asked in a questioning tone.

"No... I don't know if it counts as sadness. I just feel regretful, and I have mixed feelings. I'm also a bit emotional and at a loss."

"You're very sad." This wasn't a question anymore; it was a statement.

Zhou Zeyu sighed deeply, "Okay, I'm very sad."

Sorkov remained silent for a while, and just when Zhou Zeyi thought he was about to say something, he strangely remained silent the whole way. So Zhou Zeyi patiently waited for his reply, until the two of them reached the entrance of the gymnasium. Seeing that he still looked completely unmoved, she finally couldn't help but ask.

"You didn't react at all?"

Solkov looked completely bewildered. "How am I supposed to react?"

Zhou Zeyu pouted and said with some disappointment, "I was waiting for you to comfort me."

Probably not expecting her to say that, Sorkov, who had seemed completely at ease, was taken aback. He blinked, as if he was quickly thinking of how to reply. His usual cold and shrewd demeanor was gone, replaced by an expression that was still somewhat bewildered and a little silly.

Zhou Zeyu observed his expression with great interest, patted him on the shoulder with a mocking smile, and then burst into laughter when she saw his stunned expression. Before he could react, she grabbed her bag and quickly slipped into the nearby table tennis hall.

Realizing he had been tricked, Sorkov chuckled sinisterly, uttered a few indifferent words to her, and strode away. Zhou Zeyu hadn't heard what he said and was about to ask him what was going on when she turned her head and only saw his dashing back.

She let out a soft groan from her nose, and as she turned around, she bumped right into Anna, who was looking up at the commotion. The two of them collided head-on. "Ouch!"

Anna gave an apologetic and slightly guilty chuckle, trying to ease the awkwardness, and said, "I always see you two coming to the gym together. Are you and Sorkov friends?"

Zhou Zeyu recalled Solkov's expression from earlier and couldn't help but laugh again. After meeting Anna's confused gaze, she nodded, "I guess so."

Is he going to training?

“Yeah,” Zhou Zeyu said sheepishly, “He said he has an important competition coming up and needs to intensify his training. Luckily he’s been quite busy lately, otherwise he would have dragged me to swimming lessons again.”

"Oh dear, who doesn't know him!"

Zhou Zeyi and Anna were both startled. They covered their chests in unison and looked at Eric, who had suddenly appeared from some corner. Eric was patting his stomach and smiling smugly at the two of them.

"What?" Zhou Zeyu asked suspiciously.

Erikev asked in confusion, "What, you don't know him? That shouldn't be the case."

Could it be that Sorkov is actually a household name in Serbia? Zhou Zeyu pondered silently. No wonder he always seemed so arrogant; he's a national star after all.

"What!" Zhou Zeyu couldn't help but scream.

Sensing several probing gazes around her, she quickly covered her mouth and hurriedly gave them an apologetic look. It was all because she had been an athlete for so many years that she instinctively felt afraid whenever she heard words like "being sent back from the national team." It was a conditioned reflex ingrained in her bones.

Eric was also taken aback by her huge reaction. After regaining his senses, he blinked and hesitated before speaking, "The first time... the first time was probably because of a fight with a teammate."

Fighting… Zhou Zeyu felt a throbbing pain in his temples. “A second time?”

"He kicked the team coach into the water three times in a row."

"Oh my god!" Zhou Zeyu covered her face and said with difficulty, "Continue..."

Eric nodded, shrugged, and said nonchalantly, "But to be honest, the third time can't really be considered a rejection, because he brought it up himself."

Zhou Zeyu raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

“I don’t know.” Eric shook his head knowingly and made a funny face. “Honestly, how did you become friends with him? He has such a bad temper, we always thought no one could stand him.”

Zhou Zeyu awkwardly scratched his head. "Really? I also think I'm broad-minded."

"When we participated in the World Championships before, he inexplicably made a fuss about withdrawing from the competition, and no one knew why. Later, he also complained that he didn't want to swim the relay with Hill Radetz. To put it bluntly, he has been causing chaos in our national swimming team."

Okay, it seems my previous assumptions were completely wrong. It turns out that Sorkov became famous through controversy. He's more like a national male star than a master of scandals.

Zhou Zeyu opened his mouth, wanting to defend Solkov, but stopped himself as soon as he spoke. Between a newcomer and a local native who had lived there for decades, Erikev's words were more convincing.

But no way, even though he often acts cold and expressionless, and looks like a sour fish, he shouldn't be this kind of person...

Overwhelmed by a flood of information, Zhou Zeyu shook her head, feeling as if her brain had crashed. She tried to connect the grumpy but occasionally warm-hearted man she knew with the arrogant and domineering villain Eric described. But before she could sort things out, Anna beside her suddenly nudged her.

She snapped out of her daze, belatedly looked towards the door, and then gasped sharply, "Why are you here?"

Sure enough, the law of being caught talking badly came true again, and the bag caught was her own.

Sorkov tossed her coat from a distance, and she barely caught it. When she looked up at him again, Sorkov had already turned and walked away.

This is bad. Although he still looked expressionless, Zhou Zeyu could tell the difference between a tense atmosphere and simply not reacting; Sorkov was definitely angry.

She cried out in alarm, threw her coat aside, and ran out. Sorkov walked very fast, and she had to jog to keep up with him, but no matter what, they were still some distance apart. However, as if he had calculated the time when she would get tired, he stopped after a while.

"Sorkov!" she ran up to him. "Don't walk so fast!"

Solkov chuckled, but it didn't sound happy at all. "You see, I told you a lot of people hate me."

Zhou Zeyu was stunned. She had genuinely thought that Sorkov was trying to comfort her by saying that she wasn't likable either. After all, who would be willing to openly admit that? At least she wasn't.

She paused for a moment, but in that brief moment of distraction, Sorkov smiled indifferently and turned to leave again.

With lightning speed, Zhou Zeyu grabbed his sleeve without thinking and blurted out, "Then just like you said, you hate them even more, right!"

As soon as she finished speaking, both of them froze, probably not expecting her to use his own words to refute them. Sorkov suddenly had nothing to say.

Taking advantage of his silence, Zhou Zeyi quickly said, "No matter what you think, I consider us friends, so I won't believe what others say. You have to tell me yourself!"

Solkov stared at her, a half-smile on his face, and said softly, "Then you have to comfort me."

"Comfort?" Zhou Zeyu blinked, then quickly realized the teasing tone in his voice, and glared angrily at the other man. "Sorkov!"

The clouds parted and the sun came out, and Sorkov finally chuckled. "Alright, so how do you want to hear it?"

"You can listen to it however you like," Zhou Zeyu said, feigning understanding.

He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then looked at her lightly and said, "Come watch me train this afternoon."