Hot Cocoa (Part 2)

After finishing another routine training session, Zhou Zeyu put down his racket, picked up a towel, and casually wiped his sweaty face. Just as he was about to sit down and rest for a while, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.

She squinted, thinking she was seeing things, and stared at the person for a long time without daring to recognize him. It was the person who noticed her gaze, raised his voice and called out Zhou Zeyu's name, and then walked towards her with a smile.

"Oh my, what a coincidence to run into you here!"

Zhou Zeyi was also taken aback. After a brief handshake, he asked, "When did you arrive in Beijing?"

Lee Sun-hee shrugged. "It's only been a few days. It's been so long; I haven't even asked how your injury is."

It had been several months since they last met, and she had become much more polite than before. Zhou Zeyu laughed with a hint of surprise and gestured for her to sit down next to her. "Not bad. What have you been doing all this time?"

The two had joined the club together, hoping to fight hard together, but unfortunately reality was harsh. Zhou Zeyu was forced to retire after playing only a few games, leaving Li Shanxi to struggle in the team. Of course, she was soon eliminated, and she knew nothing about what happened after that.

“Me? I went home after the season ended, and recently I brought my son to Beijing for a trip…” Her voice trailed off as she tilted her head back, seemingly searching for something. Then she sighed and vaguely pointed to a tiny figure in the distance, “That one.”

Zhou Zeyi also craned her neck to look, and said with a hint of loss, "I forgot your child is so big now."

They had known each other since their youth. Although they weren't particularly close, they had competed against each other for many years. Zhou Zeyu's memory was still from when they were seventeen or eighteen years old, when Li Shanxi, with her face full of acne, cried and said that one day she would defeat her.

As time passed, Zhou Zeyu even saw a replica of Lee Sun-hee, and was immediately taken aback by the vicissitudes of life.

How time flies!

Come to think of it, she was young when she retired, and soon after, she got married and had children. Now that she's making a comeback, her children are all grown up.

Zhou Zeyu stared at the small figure for a while, and finally asked the question that had been on his mind for a long time, "How did you decide to make a comeback?"

This problem has been bothering her for a long time. Zhou Zeyu has experienced the feeling of being away from the competition for a long time, and of course she knows even more clearly that Li Shanxi's situation is no easier than her own.

One suffers from impaired fertility, the other from knee injury; it's hard to say who is worse off, but there's no doubt that Zhou Zeyu and Li Shanxi face similar difficulties.

They all experienced such a long period of inactivity and resolutely chose to start over.

Perhaps thinking of this, Lee Sun-hee's expression also carried a hint of emotion. She patted her shoulder with a sense of shared suffering and asked in return, "And what about you? You suffered such a serious injury, why did you decide to start playing again?"

"Of course I'm not willing to accept this."

"But I'm not willing to accept that either."

Zhou Zeyu glanced at her with a smile, "When I saw your son just now, it reminded me of how you were so determined to defeat me back then. You haven't given up yet?"

The warmth on Lee Sun-hee's face quickly vanished, and she gave her a light glare. "I stopped making this my goal a long time ago. What's so special about defeating someone? Even if that person is you, so what?"

Zhou Zeyu sighed with feigned sadness and said with a malicious intent, "Oh dear, after all these years you've finally figured it out. It would have been better if you had come to this realization sooner."

Although her expression was a bit exaggerated, there was nothing wrong with what she said. Lee Sun-hee pouted and gave a soft hum, but didn't rush to refute her.

She couldn't get over it back then, and it makes sense. The genius who was invincible in South Korea encountered his first setback, which was at the hands of Zhou Zeyu. Since then, it has become a heartache for Lee Sun-hee, and she has become more and more stubborn over the years, even willing to change her playing style.

As a result, her technique change was unsuccessful, and she suffered repeated defeats in the competition that year. Her morale was severely damaged, so much so that she chose to retire directly after losing to Zhou Zeyu in the final.

There's really no need to do that. Everyone has a different playing style. For example, Cen Zheng's playing style counters Zhou Zeyu's, and Zhou Zeyu's playing style counters Li Shanxi's. She's just too concerned about the competition with Zhou Zeyu.

“Actually…” Lee Sun-hee shook her head, and said with some helplessness, “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“I loved playing ball when I was a kid, but after losing to you again and again, I gradually stopped liking it. When I was doing my son’s introductory training, I suddenly realized that I seemed to have missed a lot. In those years, I was too focused on beating you, which made me very unhappy and I didn’t enjoy any happiness at all.”

Zhou Zeyu listened silently, and finally, slowly nodded.

She is actually very similar to her. Or perhaps, to put it another way, people like them seem to be similar. They loved table tennis so sincerely when they were young, but as they grew up and their skills improved, that love disappeared, and in the end, they even hated it.

For example, Fang Xiaocan is like this. When she was very young, she even slept in her sports uniform. But now she's reached the point where she gets annoyed just by looking at a racket, let alone enjoying any fun anymore.

Zhou Zeyu's emotions seemed to be a little weaker, but they weren't entirely absent. During her time in Belgrade, she would shudder at the sound of a ping-pong ball hitting the ground. Anna then took her to a local ping-pong hall for activities, and she gradually improved, but she wasn't completely cured.

The same thing happened when she played in club matches later on. She only saw playing matches as a task that she had to do, and never felt that it was a good thing. She would even feel anxious and restless because of it.

Enjoying it seems like a luxury, and of course, it's also very distant, so distant that when Zhou Zeyu recalls it, he doesn't even know what that feeling is like.

"Actually, it's pretty good. Anyway, it's a fresh start, and there's no pressure on me anymore." She subconsciously comforted Lee Sun-hee.

Lee Sun-hee, however, laughed and pointed out incisively, "That's precisely why I chose to make a comeback in China. And you? It's hard to say you're without pressure right now."

Zhou Zeyu shook his head with a wry smile, "It's difficult."

Of course it's a difficult thing. Lee Sun-hee chose to come to the club in China because everything was unfamiliar. Zhou Zeyu once saw a quote that said, "Only when you have no relatives or friends can you truly live your own life." This is actually true.

The experience in Belgrade is, of course, completely different from that in Beijing. The people here are so familiar with her that they know almost everything about her past. How can such a transformation be considered to be starting from scratch?

Of course not. People will still see her the same way they did before, and the media will still refer to her by her old titles, as if time and injuries are not important factors.

In such a materialistic society, no one cares about the process; all they want is the result.

But so what? She doesn't really care that much anymore.

“This is actually not fair to you at all,” Lee Sun-hee suddenly said. “You should have shown your face in front of the media more often, and maybe even played the victim. They didn’t even know your injury was so serious.”

"There's no need."

"You really think so?"

Zhou Zeyu shrugged. "Anyway, they won't care."

Over the years, she has given so much to the team without complaint, almost sacrificing herself for the benefit of the vast majority. She thought that such selfless spirit was worthy of praise, but it wasn't. All they knew was that she lost the match against Angelica.

Who cares about the hardships she endured, the grievances she suffered, or even the injuries she sustained?

So, as long as you're willing, that's all that matters.

After hearing her words, a hint of surprise slowly appeared on Lee Sun-hee's face. She blinked, as if to hide her earlier astonishment, "You... have become much more open-minded."

"Please," Zhou Zeyu couldn't help but laugh when he saw her incredulous look, "So many years have passed, if you can let it go, why can't I?"

Just as Lee Sun-hee was constantly troubled by the competition for genius, Zhou Zeyu also had her own troubles. She cared a lot about other people's opinions back then, and would grieve alone for a long time because of a certain criticism. She tried hard to gain everyone's recognition, but she never succeeded in doing so.

If you can't do something, just give up on it.

"Who are you playing against next week?" Lee Sun-hee suddenly asked.

"Feng Yifan." Zhou Zeyu blurted out, then belatedly realized that she might not even know her. Just as she was about to give a brief introduction, Li Shanxi shook her head and refused.

"Ah, I know her. She's your successor, isn't she?" she said casually, seemingly puzzled as to why Zhou Zeyu was so worried. "Are you afraid you can't beat her?"

"How can you be so confident in me?"

“There’s no ‘but.’ You’re overthinking it. Feng Yifan is indeed good, but aren’t you good enough?” She interrupted Zhou Zeyu nonchalantly. “Don’t worry too much. No matter how things change, you’re still Zhou Zeyu.”

She was taken aback by Lee Sun-hee's sudden remark, lowered her head, and gave a hasty laugh. She wanted to say something more, but suddenly didn't know how to face her.

To accept it calmly or to deny it outright? The former is what Zhou Zeyu would do at sixteen, and the latter is what Zhou Zeyu would do at twenty-six. However, the current Zhou Zeyu belongs neither to the spirited former nor the timid latter.

She was already twenty-eight years old, past those two extreme stages. She was no longer so arrogant, nor was she overly self-conscious; she was just caught in the middle, wavering and uncertain.

"Okay." In the end, that was all she could say to Lee Sun-hee. "At least I'm still Zhou Zeyu."

Upon hearing this, Lee Sun-hee finally revealed a satisfied smile, "That's more like it, genius."

Zhou Zeyu shook his head helplessly, "Don't call me that anymore."

"What's so hard about admitting that? You earned this title by defeating me, don't you think it's shameful?"

Yes, she did say that back then, and of course, there was a follow-up: she didn't consider herself a qualified genius either.

The path of the gifted girl was so arduous that when she looks back now, she doesn't see a genius who has had a smooth life, but rather an ordinary person who has been struggling to climb forward.

"Even now, do you still feel you haven't done enough?"

Li Shanxi turned her head and stared intently at her, her expression so serious it was almost unlike her usual self. Zhou Zeyu knew she had to take this seriously, so she lowered her head and pondered for a while.

"Anyway, I've done everything I could."

"Isn't that better?"

Li Shanxi laughed, then suddenly punched her on the shoulder with great enthusiasm, raising his voice, "Cheer up! Zhou Zeyu, show everyone what you're made of!"

Zhou Zeyu winced and clutched his shoulder, then quickly begged for mercy with a mournful face, "Okay, okay, I will, but please stop hitting me! Your strength is getting stronger and stronger!"

The sound of a child laughing loudly came from not far away. Zhou Zeyu looked over and saw Coach Xu playing ball happily with Li Shanxi. The small ping-pong ball seemed huge in the child's hand.

"Don't you think everything is unimaginable now? At least back then, we probably couldn't have imagined that things would turn out like this today."

Of course, it was unimaginable. The two protagonists in the battle of geniuses were equally outstanding and equally ambitious. With the arrogance unique to geniuses, they faced off against each other. At that time, the two, who were evenly matched, probably did not know that such a scene would appear in the future.

They thought that ten years later, the two men, who were once full of vigor, would achieve worldly success, but absurdly, no one could actually achieve that.

Zhou Zeyi and Li Shanxi, two seemingly unsuccessful people, for the first time in their lives, did not quarrel fiercely, but instead sat side by side, looking at the bewildered children under the setting sun, and both felt an unspeakable sadness.

Li Shanxi wanted to defeat her, and Zhou Zeyu wanted to win the match, but neither of them succeeded, and both paid a heavy price for their defeat.

Whose wishes did fate ultimately grant?

Zhou Zeyi truly didn't know the answer to this question, as she herself didn't belong to the group of people who got what they wanted. But she understood one thing: often, fate wouldn't pity you because of your misfortune; ultimately, everything had to be earned through one's own efforts.

Fortunately, she can always choose to believe in herself.

Because she is Zhou Zeyu.