Restart button (Part 4)

When Zhou Zeyu saw Coach Xu at the training ground, he was sprinting intently, his eyes wide open, trying hard to make sure he hadn't mistaken the figure for someone else.

However, she realized it the next second, smiled broadly, waved to the person, but did not stop.

Coach Xu stood aside, smiling and gesturing for her to ignore him and finish the current training session first.

Zhou Zeyi did as he was told, focusing intently on finishing the remaining five laps. He casually wiped the sweat from his palms on his pants, jogged over, and asked with a smile, "Why did you suddenly come? Aren't you busy at work today?"

"Just came to see you," Coach Xu said, reaching into his pocket to pull out a pack of tissues and handing it to her, then deliberately adding, "How's the training going?"

Upon hearing this, she pursed her lips and waved her hand with great pride, "Then you saw it, they trained very hard."

The two walked to the rest area and sat down. Zhou Zeyu was still sweating profusely, panting heavily as he wiped his neck with a tissue. His face was flushed, and his wet hair was tied up haphazardly. He looked like he had just been pulled out of hot water, with a slight steam rising from his body.

Coach Xu handed over a new pack of tissues, and couldn't help but say with concern, "Are you this tired? Have you been working too hard lately? Take a break."

"Hey, you can't say that. Only high intensity will produce results." Zhou Zeyu squinted his eyes and shook his head mysteriously at him.

"What kind of effect will this have? Can your body handle it?" Coach Xu got angry when he heard her ridiculous logic. He snorted a few times and gave her a look that clearly disapproved. "What if you collapse from exhaustion later?"

"How could I possibly collapse from exhaustion? Don't worry about it," Zhou Zeyi said nonchalantly. "I'm not a three-year-old anymore. Do you think I don't know my own body?"

Zhou Zeyu yelped in pain after getting a solid flick on the head, clutching his head. He immediately nodded sheepishly, quickly admitting defeat: "Okay, okay, I'll be careful. I won't wear myself out."

Although he received her promise, Coach Xu knew her too well and was fully aware of her character, so he didn't take her words to heart at all and just snorted coldly.

"When will you stop making me worry so much? I always have to come and check on you, otherwise who knows what might happen?"

Zhou Zeyi chuckled twice: "What could possibly happen? I won't make you worry. I'm perfectly fine, aren't I?"

Seeing that the other person didn't speak, Zhou Zeyu sighed in a somewhat melancholic manner and gently nudged him: "How's the matter we discussed before? Think about it."

Coach Xu seemed to be lost in thought about something, but she was pushed and brought back to her senses. Her expression was still absent-minded. She listened to it again before she realized what was going on and frowned with some difficulty.

"Let's wait a while... I've been quite busy lately, let's talk about it after I've finished what I'm doing."

Zhou Zeyi said with dissatisfaction, "Busy, busy, busy, so busy, what exactly are you busy with in Nanjing?"

"Where would I be? I'm heading back to Beijing right away."

Another attempt to change the subject. Zhou Zeyu scoffed, giving up on continuing the game with this seasoned veteran. He fanned his flushed face vigorously and stood up somewhat defiantly. "Then I don't care about you anymore, I'm going to train."

She took a few steps, and sure enough, a calm voice came from behind her: "Oh dear, what's with the tantrum? Come back and sit down."

Zhou Zeyu revealed a secret smile. She had only intended to bluff him and had no intention of actually going to training. Seeing that there was a way out, she sat down on the steps without hesitation.

"Are you hiding something from me?" She narrowed her eyes, leaned back slightly, and pretended to subtly observe the other person, trying to analyze their thoughts through their micro-expressions.

Coach Xu gave a nonchalant snort, "Don't you also have things you've kept from me?"

"Where is it?" Zhou Zeyu blurted out without thinking.

However, she regretted it as soon as she said it, because Coach Xu was absolutely right. It was just that Zhou Zeyu had kept so many things from him that when they were exposed, he didn't know which one to feel guilty about.

Arguing about this would never lead to anything good, so Zhou Zeyu decisively laughed it off and ignored his words, scratching his head as he stood up obediently: "What are you talking about? I'm going to train, and I really am going to train now!"

In fact, Zhou Zeyu's intensive physical training was nearing its end. With the competition just around the corner, it was really not suitable for her to continue such high-intensity training. She used to do this before every competition when she was a child. Coach Xu always said that she should enter an "adjustment period" two weeks before the competition, which means reducing the amount of training and increasing the refinement of technical details, so that her physical reserves are in a state of "full but not overflowing".

Although Zhou Zeyu didn't know exactly what the abstract concept of "full but not overflowing" meant, he knew that listening to Coach Xu was always the right thing to do.

However, despite this, she still dared not relax, which is understandable. Given that she is not at an advantage in terms of competitive condition and age, it seems that only in this way can she bring more comfort to her mind.

Zhou Zeyu looked down at his watch, then said to Coach Xu without looking up, "You're not in a hurry to go back today, are you? We'll do a weighted run later, then go eat."

Coach Xu didn't have any objections. He had only come to check on her training and didn't have any other plans for the day.

Zhou Zeyu has always hated any weight-bearing activities. She didn't understand why at first, but later she belatedly realized that it was probably because her knees had been uncomfortable for a long time. Whenever she carried weights, the slight discomfort in her knees would involuntarily worsen. But she didn't pay attention to it at the time because she had too many uncomfortable parts of her body, and this was just the most inconspicuous one.

Fifteen kilograms is nothing to her; it would have been an easy task in the past. But not now. She takes each step with utmost care, fearing that her knees might suddenly break down and ruin everything.

During this period, every minute and every second that his feet were on the ground, this sense of urgency and fear was almost always with him. Zhou Zeyu was unwilling to face it, but he was even less able to ignore it. Coexisting with it was something that was really hard to resist.

But it seems to be alright, everything is going smoothly.

Zhou Zeyu put down the dumbbells on her shoulders, leaned against the wall, and reflexively bent her knees to test if they would hurt. A slight friction was unavoidable; after all, artificial bones could never completely integrate with flesh and blood, which was normal, and she ignored it.

Apart from that, nothing seemed amiss. She pursed her lips and suddenly felt a great weight lifted off her shoulders, as if some enormous burden had been lifted. She happily waved to Coach Xu and said, "Peace be with you forever! Let's go eat!"

During this period, they were both busy with their own things, and the two of them hadn't been able to sit down and have a proper meal in a long time. When they finally got this opportunity, Zhou Zeyu's words came out like a flood, and he would mention anything he could think of, even talking about how many puppies the female dog at the training base had. This amused Coach Xu so much that he didn't eat a bite of food and just laughed.

"Eat quickly, or the food will get cold."

Zhou Zeyu absentmindedly shoveled a couple of mouthfuls of cold rice into his mouth. "When are you going back to Beijing? Is it just in the next few days?"

However, Coach Xu's words were somewhat ambiguous, "Well... let me finish dealing with things here first."

Not again? Zhou Zeyu curled his lip: "What is it? Are you plotting to take over the Earth?"

"You can think that way too."

The expected denial did not occur. The usually rigid Coach Xu would actually make such a joke. Zhou Zeyu looked at him strangely for several times, as if trying to confirm whether the person in front of him was the familiar old man.

"What are you looking at me for? Hurry up and eat."

Zhou Zeyu remained noncommittal, then suddenly brought up Fang Xiaocan again.

Coach Xu pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "She's doing this year's World Table Tennis Championships, right? Odd-numbered years are for individual events, and she really wants the championship. Otherwise, Coach Huang wouldn't have been able to persuade her."

Before Zhou Zeyu could speak, he continued, "That's good too, retiring without any regrets."

However, Zhou Zeyi still had concerns: "Why is Coach Huang being so attentive for no reason? He can't possibly be trying to harm Xiao Can, can he?"

Coach Xu smiled, without explaining much, and simply said, "He's not stupid."

Zhou Zeyu picked up his water glass, took a sip of tea, and his gaze suddenly lingered on Coach Xu's face for a moment before he abruptly asked, "Is your staying in Nanjing related to Coach Huang?"

A moment of silence followed, even the chewing stopped. Coach Xu looked up and glanced at her with what seemed like helplessness, but said nothing, neither denying nor agreeing. He blinked with an ambiguous look that left one pondering.

“Oh dear,” he shook his head and said with a sigh, “the child has grown up and has started to try to figure out what adults are like.”

Don't give me that!

Coach Xu put down his chopsticks, still with an inscrutable expression, but the words he spoke the next second were crystal clear: "Yes, I'm busy with his business."

The text didn't specify what his business was or what he was busy with; it just vaguely stated these few words, leaving the rest for Zhou Zeyu to figure out on his own—a typical thing Coach Xu would do.

That's just his personality, Zhou Zeyu knew it all along. He likes to only say half of what he means, claiming it's to train her thinking. He did the same when we were little, giving poor little Zhou Zeyu a hard time, like she was doing an advanced math problem.

However, over the years, she has come to understand a principle: if you can't figure something out, just don't think about it.

So Zhou Zeyi decisively abandoned the option of pondering it over and asked without hesitation, "So what is it?"

"Give up so quickly? You should at least think about it for a while longer."

"What's the point? I'm already this old, I don't need to develop my intelligence anymore." Zhou Zeyu, having given up all hope, adopted a posture of not wanting to die even half a brain cell, crossed his legs on the chair like an old man, and had an attitude of "I won't touch my chopsticks unless you tell me to."

Coach Xu ignored her, thinking that the child was growing up and becoming rebellious, and he must not encourage such an arrogant trend. He ate by himself, but after a couple of bites, he still felt that the child needed to eat more as he was growing. He had no choice but to sigh and put a piece of fish into Zhou Zeyu's bowl.

"Okay, okay, I'm telling you, stop being a scoundrel and hurry up and eat."

Zhou Zeyu said "Oh" and picked up his chopsticks without any awkwardness and started eating. His thick skin left even a seasoned veteran like Coach Xu speechless.

"Alright, so it turns out you were plotting against me all along." Coach Xu said with a touch of sadness, "You used to be so cunning? Did you learn bad habits abroad? From whom? That buzz-cut guy?"

What does it have to do with him? Zhou Zeyu raised an eyebrow. Although he felt that the causal relationship that Coach Xu had forcibly deduced was really unreliable, it wouldn't hurt to let Sorkov take the blame for now, so he readily agreed, "Yes, it's him."

"Hey, stop, stop, let's not talk about that, let's get down to business."

When Xu's attempt to change the subject was exposed, he touched his nose somewhat sullenly and reluctantly began to speak.

"Sigh, I don't know what else to say. Just remember, everything I've done is for your own good, for everyone's good. This is really too much trouble, and I don't want you involved, understand?"

Zhou Zeyu was stunned for a moment: "For my own good? For everyone's good?"

In fact, Coach Xu rarely says things like "I'm doing this for your own good." She knows his temperament; he does more than he says. If it weren't for something he really couldn't talk about, he wouldn't have kept it a secret from Zhou Zeyu until now.

She pondered for a moment, then suddenly seemed to understand something, and winked at him: "Okay, I understand what you mean. If it's for this reason, then I have no objection."

"Have you figured it out?"

"It's very simple, I've figured it out."

"Then you're not allowed to act impulsively. Don't think about helping me. Just focus on the game and don't let these external factors distract you, understand?"

"knew."

They both nodded, remained silent for a while, and focused on eating their food with their heads down.

After a long silence, Coach Xu finally spoke softly, "You really know?"

Zhou Zeyu was busy deboning fish, grimacing as he worked. Hearing this, he looked up at him and mumbled, "Do you really think I'm a three-year-old? Old Xu, others may not know what you're doing, but do you think I don't?"

Okay, actually she had no idea that the Thirty-Six Stratagems were so profound and complex, and that it was always a good idea to try and outsmart someone; acting skills were paramount, after all.

Coach Xu shook his head slightly, took a sip of tea with a sigh, and said, "Don't try to trick me, I won't say anything more."

He'd actually been seen through? Zhou Zeyi gave a slightly frustrated, awkward laugh. "Old Xu, why do you have so many more gray hairs lately?"

She had only intended to change the subject, but upon closer inspection, she found it to be true. Whether it was due to the lighting or because Coach Xu had genuinely aged considerably, Zhou Zeyu had never realized before how deep his nasolabial folds were. The white hairs that had been hidden in the corners of his head had suddenly spread to half of his head, making it appear as if they were completely white.

Noticing her worried gaze, the old man smiled slightly. "Don't worry, it's alright. Everything will be fine after we finish these things."

"No setting any flags."

"What?"

Zhou Zeyu scratched his head. "It's nothing. Just take care of yourself. Be careful when you get back to Beijing too."

Wait a minute.

Zhou Zeyu suddenly froze. A casual remark made a lot of thoughts flash through his mind. For example, why Coach Xu stayed in Nanjing and didn't go back, even making the most of the New Year holiday. What was he so busy with? Zhou Zeyu had always thought that Coach Huang had dumped all the work on him, but now that he thought about it, that didn't seem right.

One is in Beijing, and the other is in Nanjing. These two people are from opposite ends of the country, so there's no question of them passing on a mission over a distance. Besides, there haven't been any matches recently, so there's nothing important to deal with except for the year-end financial report, which needs to be rushed out. But Coach Huang has always been wary of Coach Xu, so he wouldn't entrust such an important task to him.

Connecting the dots, everything suddenly became clear in a flash.

Coach Xu stayed in Nanjing to do something behind Coach Huang's back while Coach Huang was busy with financial reports at the end of the year. That's why he had to use official business as an excuse to get things done quickly. But what exactly was it that he needed to keep from Coach Huang, the king of the land?

As Zhou Zeyu thought about this, his gaze toward Coach Xu became slightly complicated.

"Who else is doing this with you?"

Coach Xu paused for a moment, then suddenly said meaningfully, "Many people, Xiaoyu, we have many people."

His unspoken meaning was so obvious that it was immediately apparent to Zhou Zeyu. She knew he was talking to her, telling her not to worry or be afraid, and that he could always handle things.

But how difficult would that be? Zhou Zeyu thought. Someone who had been rooted in the team for so many years, who had infiltrated almost every corner of the team, such a big, towering tree, could really be brought down by the insignificant power of the old man and others?

"Can you really do it?"

Coach Xu's voice was casual: "Does it matter whether we can do it or not? We'll do as much as we can, as long as we can't make things easy for him."

That was quite an assertive attitude. Zhou Zeyu gave him a thumbs up and said, "Great job! I declare you the leader of the anti-Huang dictatorship organization."

Coach Xu laughed heartily, but after the laughter stopped, he suddenly shook his head: "No, Xiaoyu, I'm not a leader."

"Do you think we're the only ones who want him to step down?" His voice was somewhat meaningful. "Of course not. Over the years, he's been all-powerful, offending far more people than he's pleased. In this chaotic situation, do you think those people can sit still? There are plenty of people who don't like him."

"You mean..." Zhou Zeyu looked around, winked, and spoke in a very soft voice, almost like someone who had done something wrong, "that?"

It's estimated that apart from her and Coach Xu, no one else present could understand what "that" meant. Fortunately, after a brief moment of surprise, Coach Xu finally realized what was going on, glanced at her helplessly, and was quite speechless at her incredibly high level of vigilance.

"Don't overthink things at such a young age. Just focus on preparing for the competition, and leave the rest to us."

Zhou Zeyu sighed deeply, feeling once again that Coach Xu was being too protective of her. She wasn't some porcelain doll that would break if she fell or bumped. She had come this far all these years, how could she possibly break here?

"It's always good to have more strength."

"No," Coach Xu said firmly, "This matter concerns the power struggle among those people, it has nothing to do with you, you absolutely must not get involved."

"And what about you? Aren't you afraid of getting involved?"

Coach Xu took a sip of hot tea and exclaimed in admiration, but did not directly answer her question. In fact, he did not answer anything at all and continued to eat his food.

However, Zhou Zeyu was absolutely not going to let him off so easily. He grabbed his arm and started nagging, saying things like he was too old to retire, that he was too stubborn, and that he shouldn't be so headstrong. He said that he would lose his pension if he did that. Coach Xu's eyebrows twitched as he listened, and he quickly interrupted him.

“Okay, okay, stop cursing me,” he shook his head. “Like you said, we’re all getting old, so it’s okay if we get caught up in this, but you can’t, Xiaoyu.”

"You have a long road ahead of you, you can't narrow your path, do you understand?"

After listening, Zhou Zeyu's expression suddenly became somewhat complicated: "Old Xu, what you mean is..."

His meaning was clear: in this internal struggle, Coach Xu had secretly sided with the other side, and would suffer considerable consequences regardless of whether he won or lost. But Zhou Zeyi could not; she had to continue on her path.

But given their relationship, how could she possibly remain unscathed?

Zhou Zeyu shook his head and expressed his confusion, "So, your worries are completely unnecessary. We've known each other for so many years, we're bound together. You might as well let me join you too, since we can't escape it anyway."

However, Coach Xu still didn't budge. He shook his head and didn't say another word. He stuffed the big chicken leg into Zhou Zeyu's mouth, signaling her to eat more and talk less, as her constant chatter was annoying.