Chapter 30 Chapter 30
It was a sunny day with sunshine shining on the open-air stadium.
Chu Xi was wearing a sports T-shirt, revealing his fair and strong forearms, and jogging slowly around the sidelines.
Fine beads of sweat hung on her smooth forehead, her face was slightly flushed, and her breathing was a little rapid. It seemed that she had been running for a long time.
Wang Ruiguo's head slowly emerged from the window of the coach's office.
He frowned and looked at Chu Xi who was still running in the stadium. He sighed heavily, then retracted his body and sat back in his office chair.
"Coach, what's wrong with Chu Xi? She's already doubled her physical training these past few days. Can she keep doing this?"
Jiang Wannan looked at Chu Xi running outside the window with a puzzled look on her face.
Wang Ruiguo shook his head. "I guess she's been affected by what happened with her uncle. Isn't the production team going to hold a small game competition this afternoon? Ask Chu Xi to go with you. I'm worried that if she continues like this, her training will be affected. You guys have something to talk about your peers, so you can also give her some advice."
Jiang Wannan thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay."
After watching Jiang Wannan walk out of the office, Wang Ruiguo's eyes swept over the calendar hanging on the wall.
There are still two and a half months left before the national team selection.
Ever since Chu Xi's uncle left the team last time, Chu Xi asked him for a long vacation, saying that he wanted to focus on training and did not have the extra energy to lead the team's artist guests in training for the time being.
Wang Ruiguo didn't want to delay her, so he asked for leave for Chu Xi and asked Jiang Wannan to lead the team for her.
But throughout this week, Chu Xi buried himself in training every day, like an emotionless machine, and was almost isolated from the world.
Wang Ruiguo then found Jiang Wannan, and the two of them discussed how to enlighten Chu Xi.
…
Jiang Wannan returned to the training ground and saw Xu Qianqian, Wu Yuliang and the other three practicing shooting.
Thanks to Chu Xi for laying a good foundation for them at the beginning.
After she took over, she no longer had to spend too much energy explaining the four people from the most basic level.
"Captain Jiang, why hasn't Captain Chu taken us to practice recently?" Su Mingzhi was about to take a break, and when she saw Jiang Wannan coming back, she asked curiously.
Jiang Wannan put her hands behind her back, a smile on her face, "She'll be back today."
Xu Qianqian immediately pricked up her ears alertly, turned her head, looked at Jiang Wannan and asked, "Captain Chu will be back today to continue leading us?"
She had finally had a few days of relaxation, why was Chu Xi coming back again!
Wouldn't that mean her good days are over?
Wu Yuliang quickly put down his gun and came over curiously, "Sister Xi is coming back? What has she been busy with? I haven't seen her in the past few days."
Jiang Wannan held her hand. "Ask Captain Chu your questions directly when she returns. This is the end of the morning's training. We'll gather in the afternoon and I'll tell you about the new arrangements."
After saying that, Jiang Wannan turned and walked out of the training ground.
Su Mingzhi and the others looked at each other, with some confusion in their expressions.
…
After Chu Xi finished the last lap, he finally stopped and sat down in the open space next to him to rest.
At this time, a bottle of mineral water was handed to him.
Chu Xi slowly raised his head and saw Jiang Wannan standing opposite him, holding the bottle of mineral water in his hand.
She reached out to take the water, unscrewed the cap, tilted her head back and took a few sips.
Jiang Wannan squatted down beside her and looked up at her. "With your ability, as long as you perform normally, you will definitely make the national team. There's no need to work so hard."
Chu Xi put down the water bottle, put his arms on his knees, and said calmly: "I want to perform better."
"Because of your uncle?"
Chu Xi replied, "Yes."
Jiang Wannan suddenly turned around and laughed: "It seems that I know you very well."
She stood up, took Chu Xi's arm, and asked her to stand up together. "Don't practice this afternoon. The program team is going to organize a special training and competition for each team, and they need you to take charge of the overall situation."
"And your four teammates have been nagging you these days. I'm tired of hearing them. You should at least go back and visit them."
Chu Xi stood up, pursed her lips, and realized that she had been a little too self-isolating during this period.
She raised her head and replied, "Okay."
…
After lunch break, Wu Yuliang and the other three naturally came to the training ground and prepared to start afternoon training.
During this period, the four of them have gradually become familiar with the life of the shooting team.
It's basically training, eating, sleeping, and training again.
Although life is very boring, they can feel that they are making progress every day.
"Captain Jiang said there are new arrangements for the afternoon. Are you talking about Sister Xi coming back?" Wu Yuliang asked others while flexing his wrist.
Su Mingzhi thought for a moment, "Maybe. It would be great if Captain Chu could come back. I still want to continue learning air pistol from her."
After Jiang Wannan took over the team, her main responsibility was to teach them how to learn and experience the air rifle.
There's a big difference between the two types of shooting.
In comparison, Su Mingzhi prefers air pistols.
Wu Yuliang also nodded quickly, "Yes, I want to learn air pistol too."
Xu Qianqian didn't say anything. She had no interest in either shooting method. She came to this show purely to prove that she was no worse than Chu Xi.
I suddenly couldn't see Chu Xi these days. Although she felt relieved, she always felt like something was missing and she had no interest in doing anything.
At first glance, she heard that Chu Xi might be coming back today, and she actually became a little interested.
Xu Qianqian glanced silently at the entrance to the training ground.
Coincidentally, Chu Xi and Jiang Wannan walked in one after another at this time.
After catching a glimpse of the familiar figure, Xu Qianqian quickly called out, "Chu Xi..." Realizing that the address was incorrect, she quickly changed her words, "Captain Chu is back."
Su Mingzhi and the other two who were talking stopped immediately and looked up at the entrance of the training ground.
Chu Xi had his hands behind his back and a serious expression on his face, just like when he first met them.
Su Mingzhi and the others reacted and quickly stood up. They quickly lined up and stood in a row, saying in unison, "Captain."
Jiang Wannan said calmly, "During this time, you've all been exposed to and learned about both the air pistol and the air rifle. After that, we'll officially start grouping for specialized training. Those who like the air pistol and want to continue learning this, please stand behind Captain Chu Xi. Those who want to choose the air rifle, please stand on my side."
"You have two minutes to make your choice."
Wu Yuliang was the first to stand behind Chu Xi. He straightened his back and cleared his throat, "I choose the air pistol."
He has always liked air pistols, so this choice was not that difficult for him.
Jiang Lu in the team hesitated for a moment.
He actually wanted to learn both, but he also knew that it would be impossible for him to have enough time to learn two shooting styles in such a short time.
After thinking about it, Jiang Lu raised his leg, walked behind Jiang Wannan, and chose the Qibu｜Gun.
"I feel the same as Brother Liang." Su Mingzhi quickly stood behind Chu Xi and made a choice.
In the end, only Xu Qianqian remained motionless.
Chu Xi raised his eyes and glanced at her, "What do you choose?"
Xu Qianqian shuddered, came to her senses, and quickly walked over to Jiang Wannan, "I choose Qibu｜Lance!"
She absolutely must not continue training under Chu Xi!
"That's perfect. The four of us will be divided into two groups." Jiang Wannan said to Chu Xi, "Then we'll train separately from now on."
Chu Xi nodded, "Okay."
After greeting Chu Xi, Jiang Wannan waved goodbye and left with Xu Qianqian.
Only Chu Xi and the other two were left in the training ground.
Wu Yuliang's face lit up with anticipation. "Sister Xi, what have you been up to these past few days? Are you preparing for a new competition?"
"Yes, the national team selection." Chu Xi replied and turned to walk towards the program staff.
Before coming, she heard that the production team was going to organize some kind of intra-team competition, so she had to find out the details first.
Wu Yuliang and Su Mingzhi looked at each other.
"It turns out that Captain Chu is really going to participate in the national team selection." Su Mingzhi's voice was full of surprise.
During this period, she heard a lot about Chu Xi from Wu Yuliang, and learned that Chu Xi was just an artist at the beginning.
It was after participating in a sports variety show that he started on the path to becoming a professional athlete.
"Awesome, right? I've already told you, Sister Xi is not an ordinary person. I noticed that the first time I met her. Let me tell you, the aura she exudes when she's shooting is so similar to that of my idol." Wu Yuliang spoke eloquently.
Su Mingzhi asked curiously, "Who is your idol?"
"The last Olympic champion in men's air pistol shooting is Shen Yizhe. He is so handsome!" When Wu Yuliang mentioned his idol, the fanboy expression on his face became even more uncontrollable.
Su Mingzhi suddenly realized, "I know him. He was incredibly popular during the Olympics. His victory video was everywhere on the internet, and I watched it several times."
While the two were discussing, the program director followed Chu Xi over.
The director walked to the camera with a smile and looked at Wu Yuliang and Su Mingzhi.
When the program was first aired, it was quite popular, and the number of online viewers and data were also stable.
But since Chu Xi left a few days ago, the popularity of the live broadcast room has been declining.
It is true that daily shooting training is too dull and boring.
The audience found it interesting at first, but after the novelty wore off, they began to lose interest and naturally had no desire to continue watching the live broadcast.
In order to increase the popularity of the show, the director called the screenwriter and racked his brains to come up with an idea: mixed group competition.
Competition is the most exciting, thrilling and audience-favorite content.
However, the talents of the entertainers and guests are average. If they are just allowed to compete with each other, there will definitely not be many exciting scenes.
Therefore, the combination of entertainers + professional athletes + mixed team competition is the most interesting.
"We've witnessed everyone's hard work during this period. I'm sure you're all curious about your current shooting skills. To help the celebrity guests better understand the gap between themselves and professional athletes, the program team has specially arranged a small shooting team competition."
"The celebrity guests, led by Captains Chu Xi and Jiang Wannan, will compete head-to-head against other professional athletes from the shooting team! I'm sure everyone is looking forward to this competition!"
By the time the director finished speaking, his entire body was filled with excitement.
Wu Yuliang and Su Mingzhi: "?"
Su Mingzhi came back to her senses and laughed awkwardly twice, "Director, you want us amateurs who have just learned for a few days to compete with professional athletes, isn't the gap too big?"
The director looked at Chu Xi with a smile, and said confidently, "Captain Chu is here."
The director would not make things difficult for himself by having the artists compete with top athletes. The opponents he arranged for them to compete with were actually the new athletes who were also participating in this round of tryouts.
Most of these athletes are from municipal teams and sports schools. They are certainly capable, but there is still some gap in strength compared to the provincial team athletes who have participated in numerous competitions.
If Chu Xi and Jiang Wannan were leading the team, the artist team might not be powerless.
After listening to this, Chu Xi silently memorized the rules and looked up at Wu Yuliang and the others.
"Do you have faith?"
Wu Yuliang hesitated for a moment, forcing a smile on his face. "Should we have confidence?"
Su Mingzhi was also a little unsure, her voice quieter than a mosquito's buzz, "I have... I have confidence."
"If you don't even believe you can win, how can you possibly win in the competition? Speak louder, do you have confidence?" Chu Xi looked at the two of them and asked again.
This time, Wu Yuliang and Su Mingzhi straightened their backs and answered in unison, "Confident!"
The sounds were uniform and the volume was much louder than before.
Morale finally improved temporarily.
The director looked at the two guests with satisfaction, then smiled and asked Chu Xi, "Captain Chu, I'll leave the rest of the matter to you."
At the same time, Jiang Wannan also received the same competition notification.
Jiang Wannan smiled brightly and asked the same question as Chu Xi: "Come on, answer me, do you have confidence in yourselves?"
Xu Qianqian coughed lightly and glanced at Jiang Lu beside her.
Jiang Lu didn't say anything, lowered his head, covered his mouth and coughed to hide his embarrassment.
Obviously, they had no confidence, just like Su Mingzhi and the others.
The smile on Jiang Wannan's face gradually disappeared. She was always kind to her teammates, but now her voice became serious.
"If you don't even have this little bit of confidence, what's the point of training here? In sports, if you don't have the determination to win, you'll never win!"
This familiar tone of training immediately frightened Xu Qianqian into a stress reaction. She quickly looked up and replied, "I have confidence!"
Jiang Lu also raised his head and straightened his back, "I have confidence."
Jiang Wannan finally smiled again. "That's right. Keep calm. With Captain Chu Xi and I here, our team still has a good chance of winning. If there's any pressure, it should be on the athletes."
If a professional athlete loses a competition with a group of amateurs, it is no less than being slapped in the face.
So the most nervous people right now must be the athletes.
…
"What are the production team thinking? Inviting us to compete with those artists? This is pure bullying. How can we compare?"
"Yeah, we won, and it wasn't a fair victory, but if we let them win, it would be too obvious, and that wouldn't be good."
"The production team must be joking. I really can't imagine how this can be compared."
The athletes of the shooting team also received the competition notification from the program team at this moment.
A group of people gathered together, their faces full of confusion.
Wang Ruiguo, who was in charge of the notification, smiled meaningfully, "Don't underestimate the star team. Their captains are your two senior sisters who just returned from the National Shooting Championships."
"They will compete together as the star team, and their results will be counted towards the star team."
Yang Ruoxue, who was in the team, immediately looked up in surprise, "Coach, are the senior sisters leading the team Chu Xi and Jiang Wannan?"
"Yes, that's them," Wang Ruiguo replied with a smile. "Also, Coach Song from the national team might come to observe this competition. Don't blame me for not mentioning it, the national team tryouts are only two months away. If you can perform well before then and be noticed by Coach Song, maybe you can join the national team tryouts directly after the tryouts."
"I look forward to your performance."
After giving the instructions, Wang Ruiguo left the training ground with a smile, looking like he was ready to start watching a good show.
"So, if we get picked by Coach Song from the national team, then we don't even need a tryout, right?"
"There are so many talented players on the national team. It's probably not easy to be noticed by Coach Song."
"Xiaoxue, do you know what's going on with the two senior sisters leading the team?" The teammate pulled Yang Ruoxue and asked.
Yang Ruoxue came back to her senses, nodded, and her expression became solemn.
"They're both no ordinary people. Senior Sister Jiang Wannan just won the silver medal in the 10-meter air rifle at the National Shooting Championships. Senior Sister Chu Xi is even more impressive. She competed as an individual athlete and directly won the gold medal in the air pistol. She's currently trying out for the shooting team, just like us."
The expressions of the teammates around him changed immediately.
"In other words, Senior Sister Chu Xi has won the championship even before joining the shooting team?"
Yang Ruoxue nodded. "Yes, she's definitely got a chance to make the national team. Senior Sister Jiang Wannan is almost there. So these should be the two strongest members of our Kyoto Provincial Shooting Team. This mixed team competition arranged by the program team... we're not sure we can win."
A handsome young man with black hair nearby calmly analyzed, "No matter how powerful they are, there are only two of them, which is basically a two-on-four lineup. But we are all professional athletes. If we calculate the winning rate, we definitely have a better chance of winning."
Yang Ruoxue glanced at him.
Jiang Zhiming is one of the more outstanding athletes in this trial training team.
He has a very calm personality. No matter what happens, he always remains calm and composed, just like Sister Xi.
But she could sense that Jiang Zhiming could only maintain his composure when things were within his control.
Once things start to deviate from his predictions, Jiang Zhiming's calmness will be instantly shattered.
After all, the heart is not strong enough.
"We don't know the specific arrangements for the competition system yet. Don't worry. We will study it after the specific competition rules are released." Yang Ruoxue spoke to reassure everyone.
At the same time, the official Weibo account of "Centripte Shot" also began to promote it online.
Next Saturday, starting at 8:30 AM, a mixed team shooting competition featuring celebrities and professional athletes will begin. Song Anshan, coach of the national shooting team, will be on hand to officiate. All matches will be livestreamed, so please tune in to the livestream! The program team will bring you more exciting content.
As soon as this news came out, many netizens who had been lurking around were shocked.
A mixed team shooting competition between celebrities and professional athletes? How can this be a competition? The professional athletes would have to let loose like an ocean for the celebrities to win.
[Huh? I haven't watched this show in a few days. How come a competition suddenly popped up? It looks quite fun.]
[Ah ...
[Damn, the Star Team also has Jiang Wannan, who seems to be a seasoned athlete with a lot of medals. So, the Star Team still has a pretty good chance of winning.]
…
As soon as this competition was released, the popularity of the show immediately soared again.
That afternoon, many netizens came into the live broadcast room to watch the fun.
At this time, Chu Xi and Jiang Wannan were hiding in the dormitory secretly discussing the arrangements for the competition personnel.
The program director just announced the rules of the competition.
After Chu Xi and the others analyzed the situation, they discovered that the star team had a big weakness: lack of people.
"Look, the director's competition arrangement includes mixed team, women's air pistol shooting, women's double air pistol shooting, men's double air pistol, and our air rifle competition. With so many events, we have a total of four celebrity guests, plus the two of us, there are only six of us. But there are dozens of athletes who can be sent to participate in the competition, so we are far behind in terms of numbers." Jiang Wannan said with a frown.
Chu Xi lowered his head and thought for a moment, "If we are short of people, we can ask for external help."
"That makes sense! I think this is okay. We are already at a disadvantage with two people carrying four, and they can't refuse us when they ask for foreign aid." Jiang Wannan patted his thigh and made a decision immediately.
Chu Xi raised her eyes, "Who are you planning to invite?"
Jiang Wannan smiled and said, "I definitely want to find the member of our team who just won the silver medal. This way, we can share the pressure."
"Okay, as for the air pistol... I'll think about who I can find." Chu Xi had just joined the shooting team and didn't know many people.
Soon, she thought of two candidates, "Do you know Song Jingbo and Shi Lei?"
Jiang Wannan thought about it and nodded quickly. "I know them. They're both pretty good in the men's air pistol. If we can hire them as our foreign aid, we might be able to secure the championship in the men's double air pistol shooting."
"The prerequisite is that the director must first agree to our request for external assistance." Chu Xi stood up and stretched his arms. "Let's go find the director."
Jiang Wannan stood up with a smile, rolled up her sleeves, and raised some fighting spirit, "Let's go!"
…
At this time, Wu Yuliang and the other three gathered together, looking very depressed.
"It's over. The four of us are going to be embarrassed in front of the camera." Wu Yuliang had a worried look on his face. He paced back and forth in the dormitory, sighing repeatedly.
Xu Qianqian was given a headache by what he said, "No, can you guys be a little more confident? What if we win?"
Su Mingzhi's expression also became more serious. "Actually... I just saw Captain Chu and Captain Jiang, both with worried faces, entering the dormitory to discuss the rules of the competition. I guess our chances of winning are definitely not high. Otherwise, why wouldn't they discuss countermeasures with us? They definitely don't want to put pressure on us."
Jiang Lu nodded. "It's definitely not easy to win. The main reason is that our shooting results are too unstable. If we get nervous and shoot five or six rings, the captain and the others will have to shoot ten rings or above to bring the score back up."
Everyone knows about this, so it seems even more impossible for their team to win.
The good thing about Xu Qianqian is that she is really confident.
At this time, her mentality is actually much stronger than others.
Seeing everyone in the room looking dejected, Xu Qianqian angrily slammed the table and said, "Then let's practice hard these next few days and try not to be nervous during the competition. Isn't it okay to just shoot five or six rings?"
Wu Yuliang finally stopped circling and looked up. "You're right! Now that things have come to this, we can only seize the time to practice and try not to hold Sister Xi and the others back."
So that afternoon, the star team automatically split into two groups.
Wu Yuliang and the other three seized the opportunity to continue practicing.
Chu Xi and Jiang Wannan found the director and proposed the idea of asking for external help.
After listening to Chu Xi and the others' ideas, the director was silent for a while. "I understand the idea of hiring foreign players, but if all the foreign players you want to hire have won medals in major competitions, this..."
Chu Xi and Jiang Wannan are already the top players in the team.
The two of them hired some external help, and they were all award-winning people.
This powerful combination made the director a little worried about whether the athletes on the other side who were still trying out could withstand it.
"Director, we will only invite three foreign players in total. This number is not too many compared to the competition events you arranged." Jiang Wannan continued to explain patiently.
Chu Xi also explained: "If we don't invite external help, we will each compete in three events and still not be able to gather enough participants."
Hearing this, the director had no choice but to agree, "Okay, then we have a deal. We'll hire these three foreign players, no more."
Chu Xi: "Okay, we'll invite these three foreign players."
After leaving the director's lounge, Chu Xi and Jiang Wannan split up and went looking for someone.
…
In the shooting training ground, Wu Yuliang looked at the [5.8 rings] on the electronic score screen and his eyes went dark.
"It's all over. The more I practice, the more nervous I get. I can't concentrate on aiming at all." Wu Yuliang cried heartbrokenly.
He also realized how difficult it was for a shooting athlete.
It was just a small game, but it made him so nervous. How scary would it be if it was a large-scale game with the whole stadium full of spectators?
Su Mingzhi and Jiang Lu next to them were fine. Their scores were not that outrageous, but when they were nervous occasionally, they would shoot scores of six or seven rings.
"Oh, it's too difficult." Su Mingzhi put down the air pistol somewhat disappointedly and sat down to rest.
Although Xu Qianqian spoke confidently just now, after actually practicing, she kept making mistakes because of nervousness.
She kept her mouth shut and leaned against the side without saying a word.
"Why are you all sighing?" Chu Xi's voice suddenly came from the entrance of the training ground.
Everyone looked up.
Chu Xi walked over, the zipper of her tracksuit slightly open, swaying from time to time as she walked. The outdoor light shone on her shoulders, casting a colorful halo.
"Sister Xi, what did you do this afternoon?" Wu Yuliang quickly stood up and walked towards Chu Xi.
Chu Xi put her hands in her sportswear pockets and glanced at him, "I'm going to get some help for you."
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