Blunt knife (Part 4)

Coach Xu's sudden appearance caught Zhou Zeyu off guard, but she was the only one present who was too excited to speak. The professor knowingly gave Coach Xu a high five, then kindly walked out of the room, considerately leaving the teacher and student ample space to talk.

Zhou Zeyu covered her eyes, turned around, and awkwardly wiped her tears with her sleeve.

Unlike the kind of sobbing that comes from deep sorrow or a gentle, continuous drizzle, the overwhelming joy almost completely shattered her psychological defenses. The pain she had been feeling in a daze these past few days erupted all at once in that instant, and she bit her lip hard to stop crying.

“You didn’t tell me,” her voice trembled, almost breaking into tears, “you, you didn’t tell me you were coming.”

Coach Xu skillfully pulled out a tissue from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to her, smiling as he ruffled her hair vigorously. "If I had told you, wouldn't it have been a surprise? What's wrong? Are you so happy to see me that you're crying?"

Zhou Zeyi instinctively wanted to refute, but felt that although his tone was a bit sarcastic, what he said wasn't wrong, so he forced himself to nod and agree: "I'm happy, I'm so happy."

She looked up and saw Coach Xu making a little face at her, and immediately burst into laughter through her tears: "That looks awful."

“Crying is unsightly,” Coach Xu said. “Alright, even if you’re happy, you can’t shed tears, right? People who don’t know better might think you don’t welcome me.”

Zhou Zeyu shook his head, "I just didn't expect it."

She didn't know that the person who came was him. Just as Coach Xu said, it was a surprise. He had even kept it from her until now.

However, after the initial excitement subsided, Zhou Zeyu inexplicably felt a little guilty. When they were separated before, she could use various means to cover up her fatigue, but now, the two of them were standing face to face. Given Coach Xu's understanding of her, wouldn't he notice her abnormality?

That's simply impossible.

Zhou Zeyu spent an extremely long time with Coach Xu, almost two-thirds of her life, and this kind old man knew her even better than she did herself.

It was too difficult to pretend in front of him, and besides, Zhou Zeyu was unwilling to do so.

She looked up and saw Coach Xu looking at her with his eyes crinkled. The crow's feet at the corners of his eyes looked deeper than they had been six months ago. He didn't look any better than her either; at least they both looked just as exhausted.

"What, aren't you going to ask me why I'm here?"

"Come and get me!"

Coach Xu chuckled twice. "That's right, I'm here to catch you. You really thought you could fool me with such a simple trick?"

He scrutinized her carefully for a while, the joy in his eyes fading, until he even became somewhat silent, and the sorrow between his brows and eyes became more and more obvious.

"You've lost so much weight, aren't you eating properly?"

Zhou Zeyu's nose started to sting again, but she forced herself to hold it back. "No, I ate quite well."

"Good? Where did all that flesh grow? Does this place absorb vital energy? How did it turn my child into this?"

She sniffed, lowered her head, and didn't know what to say.

Of course, it wasn't Belgrade's fault. What good could a piece of land do? It was all her fault. She had no appetite, was lethargic, and even depressed.

How can a person gain weight in such circumstances? If things continue like this, she will probably fall ill before Coach Xu even comes to find her.

Coach Xu knew exactly what she was thinking without even having to think about it, and he sighed softly to himself, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Silly child, what are you thinking about?"

"I wasn't thinking about anything."

"Still being stubborn?"

"I'm just not happy."

Unhappiness isn't really a big deal, because she's hardly ever been happy in recent years. With so many days like this, it's become almost insignificant.

Coach Huang said something similar before: how many athletes are happy? Everyone is unhappy, just to varying degrees. So this strange emotion has been tolerated from beginning to end, as if no one thinks there's anything wrong with it.

In fact, Zhou Zeyu thought so too. Compared to something more painful, what was so bad about this little bit of unhappiness?

But in the end, what tormented her over and over again was precisely this seemingly insignificant emotion.

She's far from the eye of the storm; the backstabbing and power struggles can no longer hurt her. The pressure of the competition and the troubles of injuries are insignificant. She's in the best environment, so why is she still unhappy?

Zhou Zeyu was a little worried that Coach Xu would think she was too sentimental. A sensitive heart is a problem, especially for someone like her.

But she was wrong. Coach Xu still looked at her with the same concerned gaze, his lips pursed in worry, and he never said a harsh word to her.

In fact, many times, Zhou Zeyu wished that Coach Xu would give her a good scolding, or at least criticize her a few times, but he never did. Whether it was when she was young and impetuous and insisted on joining the Beijing team, or when she lost the most important game and fell into a slump, Coach Xu always just stayed by her side calmly.

The time they spend together seems to have unknowingly exceeded the time she spends with her family, but that's not entirely true, because Coach Xu is also her family.

Zhou Zeyu remained silent and wiped away the remaining tears.

Coach Xu looked at her quietly, then sighed imperceptibly, "Who can be happy when something like this happens? I won't blame you, why do you always keep it from me?"

You noticed?

As soon as she said it, Zhou Zeyu regretted it a little, because she didn't think her disguise could really fool Coach Xu. Given how well Coach Xu knew her, he would probably see through the suspicious points at a glance.

This is probably why he came to Belgrade.

The clock in the room ticked away, making the silence between the two seem even more eerily quiet. Zhou Zeyu kept his head down the whole time, focusing his gaze on the muddy tips of his shoes, waiting for the other person to break the atmosphere.

"Xiaoyu, do you want to go back?"

Zhou Zeyu nodded slightly: "I think so."

"Shall we go back?"

"Where can I go back to?" She swallowed hard, trying to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes. "I have nowhere to go."

"I've come to pick you up, haven't I?"

Zhou Zeyu blinked, letting the tears fall, then raised her head, her lips pale from being tightly pressed together for so long.

She felt the scene was familiar, as if the exact same thing had happened many years ago.

That was the time when her parents were getting divorced. They argued endlessly about the division of property, which eventually escalated to the point of going to court. It was so chaotic that there was no family reunion during the Spring Festival that year, and no one even remembered that she was still at the training base.

She was the same way, hiding in a corner and crying by herself, until suddenly everything went dark in front of her. When she looked up, Coach Xu was already squatting in front of her, looking at her with a kind smile and affection.

Why are you hiding here?

Zhou Zeyu responded softly, but did not say why. For a child whose mind is not yet mature, it seems that he is always reluctant to speak out about such a reason.

Fortunately, Coach Xu didn't ask her to explain anything further. He kindly squinted his eyes, revealing the deep crow's feet wrinkle that had remained unchanged for decades, and then spoke softly.

"I've come to pick you up, haven't I?"

These words were nothing short of a relief. She suddenly raised her head, her tear-filled eyes staring straight at the other person, seemingly unable to believe what she had heard. But she didn't want to give up any chance to leave this place, so she almost jumped up from the spot and nodded hurriedly.

As Zhou Zeyu boarded the bus back to her hometown with Coach Xu, she felt like it was an unreal dream. Just a moment ago, she was on the steps where the north wind was howling, aimlessly wondering where to go. But now she was sitting on a heated bus, carrying a bulging backpack, waiting to go to different places.

Actually, Zhou Zeyu wasn't that unfortunate; at least she still had Coach Xu.

A frustrated middle-aged man, on the verge of despair after suffering a major setback, unexpectedly encounters a young woman who is just beginning to show promise, radiant and full of life like the rising sun. The two hit it off immediately.

He led her step by step to greater heights, from an amateur player to a rising star, from a broken table with a missing corner in the community to an international arena under the spotlight. She fulfilled his unfulfilled dream from his youth, single-handedly pulling him out of the quagmire of midlife setbacks.

It's a story of mutual support and mutual dependence.

Coach Xu was unmarried and childless, and devoted all his energy to her. He helped her go from knowing nothing about grains to obtaining a nutritionist license. He worked tirelessly to develop training plans for her, took her home with lots of bags for the New Year, and then proudly pointed to her in the newspaper and told others, "This is my daughter."

After all these years of wandering, nothing seems to have changed. She is still clueless about where to go, and Coach Xu always appears in front of her when she is lost and says he will take her home.

Zhou Zeyu took a deep breath and nodded.

"Okay, let's go back."

Coach Xu seemed to slowly breathe a sigh of relief, revealing a secret smile. He reached out as usual to pat her shoulder, but in the end, he only gently brushed away a loose thread on her shoulder.

The future still seemed endless, and Zhou Zeyu didn't know if she had chosen the right path, but no matter what, she thought it didn't matter anymore. What other path could be worse than the present?

It was already completely dark outside the window, and the sound of Elberlint and his wife chatting could be faintly heard in the quiet courtyard, accompanied by faint laughter, which seemed to give people a happy illusion.

Zhou Zeyu stared silently at the path leading from the doorway. She actually wanted to meet with Solkov and tell him about her impending departure, but she didn't know how to bring it up.

Sorkov had asked her what her choice was before, but she didn't know the answer then, so her response was just a vague and perfunctory one. Now that she had made up her mind, it seemed she should tell him, regardless of right or wrong.

She didn't know how he would react. He might be happy for her, or he might be indifferent, but more likely, based on Zhou Zeyu's understanding of him, he would just nod and say "Have a safe trip," and that would be it.

What are you thinking about?

Zhou Zeyu shook her head, signaling Coach Xu to go ahead. She stood at the end of the path for a while, her phone screen going from dark to bright and then back to dark. She sighed helplessly and caught up with Coach Xu.