Xue Yi considered many scenarios.
For example, Sheng Yan made a scene all night because he was forced to break up with his family elders, who valued him highly. He was left feeling exhausted and tired.
For example, Sheng Yan, due to his overly arrogant and willful personality, abandoned the competition in a fit of anger for Qin Zigui.
For example, Sheng Yan, due to excessive anger, could not control his passionate and impulsive personality and confronted and argued with himself.
Xue Yi had prepared a response for every situation, but she never expected Sheng Yan to appear so calmly, normally, and indifferently, and even lazily smile and say, "My boyfriend is good at everything, I can just easily win a championship."
It seemed that his own sordid and dirty schemes were nothing more than a speck of dust to Sheng Yan, which he could easily dust off with a flick of his wrist.
Xue Yi couldn't understand why this was happening.
Seeing that he seemed to have been taken advantage of, his teammate, thinking he was being loyal, stepped forward and hooked his arm around his shoulder, giving Sheng Yan a greasy and lewd smile: "Hey, I heard your girlfriend is a guy, isn't that great?"
Sheng Yan, who usually blushes and gets flustered when Qin Zigui teases him, calmly finished the registration, then looked up at them and said, "It's pretty cool. After all, my boyfriend is taller, thinner, more handsome, has longer legs, a slimmer waist, and is smarter than you. Anyone would be pretty happy to have a boyfriend like that."
After saying that, he picked up his equipment and walked into the sports field, leaving the short, fat, and dim-witted greasy man stunned for a moment before realizing, "Holy crap, he insulted me?!"
Hearing Sheng Yan's words of defense of Qin Zigui, Xue Yi simply lowered his eyelids and said, "Let's go, let's prepare for the competition first, don't bother with him."
Despite his words, Sheng Yan was not entirely unaffected. The anxiety and psychological pressure he experienced throughout the night left him in a less than ideal state.
Coach Li looked anxiously at Sheng Yan, who was as thin as a bamboo shoot among a group of tall and strong athletes: "Sheng Yan, I just heard Xue Yi from the city team talking to you about something. Is everything alright? This is a rare opportunity, and it may very well be your last chance to compete. You have to cherish it."
Sheng Yan slowly finished the breakfast provided by the team, rubbed his fingers, and said lazily, "Coach, don't worry, my good mental fortitude is not something that has only been developed in a day or two. A game is a game, and I can't let other things affect me."
This is not only because he trusts Qin Zigui, but more importantly because this is his own dream, his own opportunity. He will not let those unsavory things affect the battlefield that should belong to him. He is not that narrow-minded.
Especially when he puts on his earmuffs, holds his gun, stands on the field, and aims at the target, his eyes are only on his goal.
His coach used to praise him, saying that he had a pure heart and a childlike spirit, so he was single-minded and more focused than others.
Therefore, even though his stomach would still ache from time to time, he still managed to secure second place in the qualifying round with a stable performance. His score was very close to that of Li Juncheng, a regular member of the city's first team, and he even surpassed the reserve members of the city's first team who had trained together with him.
On the contrary, Xue Yi performed far worse than usual, even worse than Wu Shan, barely managing to get eighth place and squeeze into the last spot in the finals.
As soon as the qualifying round ended, Coach Li rushed up and hugged Sheng Yan, praising him non-stop: "Hey, well done, great job, keep it up, all my pleading with the head coach for so long wasn't for nothing. Get some rest and prepare for the finals, victory is just around the corner, we're not afraid of the city team either!"
Upon hearing this, the coach of the city's second team's face darkened even more. He had already lost face enough watching two of his most promising players be outdone by a junior student from the district team, especially since one of them almost didn't make it to the finals.
His face immediately darkened: "Xue Yi, you come here right now!"
Xue Yi knew that he had performed poorly, so he lowered his head and followed the coach to the side.
Seeing him like this, the coach was furious with his lack of ambition: "Xue Yi, what's wrong with you? What were you thinking during the competition? Why were you looking at the competitors next to you instead of the target?! I've told you, shooting isn't a competitive sport. No matter what your opponent is like, it won't affect your own score. So don't worry about your opponent, just focus on getting the best score. Why won't you listen?!"
Xue Yi lowered his head and remained silent.
He understood these principles, but his strength was limited; he simply lacked the talent. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't surpass his opponents. It was unfair of fate to him, and what could he do?
The coach got even angrier when he didn't say anything: "We're all from the same district team, why can't you learn from Sheng Yan! If you can't get into the city's top team, this path is over for you, do you understand?! Can you go back to take the college entrance exam, or is your family rich enough to send you abroad to study, or can you go back to inherit the family fortune? If you can't do any of those, then you better compete for me! Show some spirit, okay!"
The coach's intention was simply to use pressure to motivate Xue Yi, but every word he uttered struck a nerve with Xue Yi.
He simply couldn't compare to Sheng Yan—he couldn't match his talent, his family background, his mentality, or even his kindness.
Sheng Yan was perfect in every way, which is why, during his most desperate moment, he fell for this boy who always smiled and showed him kindness.
But such good fortune is so irresistible that it's hard not to feel jealous.
What exactly gives Sheng Yan the right to have everything?
After listening to the coach's reprimand, Xue Yi clenched her fist slightly and walked towards the rest room.
Sheng Yan felt a stomach ache after leaving the field. After dealing with Coach Li's ecstatic reaction, he sat alone in the lounge, leaning over, holding a hot water cup, trying to catch his breath. Hearing a noise, he looked up and saw Xue Yi had already walked up to him.
"Ayan, is your stomach hurting again?"
Xue Yi asked as if she was very concerned.
Sheng Yan finished the hot water in one gulp: "Speak your mind."
Xue Yi knew he was wary of her, so she asked in a low voice, "Qin Zigui and your aunt didn't come to watch your match."
They were indeed not present in the stands during the qualifying rounds.
Sheng Yan didn't deny it, looking down at his phone and saying, "It's probably because of traffic."
"Ayan, are you still going to deceive yourself?" Xue Yi took out his phone directly. "I just saw the message Fu Yun sent during the competition. He said that Qin Zigui's father went to the school, and the school is also planning to expel him. Qin Zigui will definitely go abroad with his father this time."
“Well, then let’s go abroad. Although my grades might not be good enough to get into the foreign school he’s going to, my mom should be able to afford to donate a building.” Sheng Yan said it so casually that Xue Yi couldn’t tell if he was joking or serious.
Xue Yi could only say, "Ayan, are you so sure that you and Qin Zigui won't break up?"
"Yes, I'm sure, because I believe whatever he says." Sheng Yan looked up at Xue Yi and answered very seriously.
Xue Yi felt a pain in her eyes: "Ayan, why do you trust him so much? People always think of themselves, don't you understand?"
Sheng Yan nodded: "I understand, but the reason I trust him so much is because he would never say what you said."
Xue Yi clenched his fist: "That's because he's never faced a situation where he had to make a choice."
Has Qin Zigui never faced a situation where he had to make a choice?
Upon hearing this, Sheng Yan suddenly lowered his head and laughed, then stood up and walked out: "Whatever you say goes."
It was as if they already felt that Xue Yi was beyond saving, and even arguing with him was a waste of time.
More hurtful than harsh words is direct indifference.
In that instant, Xue Yi didn't know if she was trying to save something, or to persuade Sheng Yan, or even to persuade herself. She shouted, "Sheng Yan! Qin Zigui will definitely go with his father. He can't risk being expelled from school to stay here and live under someone else's roof. He can have a better life abroad. He can even find a new boyfriend and get legally married. You might not be as important to him as you think. He was with you only because you were good to him, and you were his only option before. But things are different now. He will definitely leave."
"Yes, he's with me only because I'm good to him!" Sheng Yan could hear a thousand kinds of people mocking him, but he couldn't stand others belittling Qin Zigui like this. He turned around and looked at Xue Yi, "But at least if I'm good to him, he'll be good to me. But what about when I'm good to you? Xue Yi, what right do you have to stand here and point fingers at him? Ask yourself, are you worthy?"
When Sheng Yan asked that question, Xue Yi knew that the last shred of decorum between them had vanished.
Looking at Sheng Yan's expression, which clearly suppressed his anger, and recalling what the coach had said earlier, he seemed to make a decision in an instant. He raised his head and said, "Yes, I don't deserve it. I deliberately bought alcohol for my dad, deliberately sent someone to find you, and provoked my dad. The position we were standing in, the way I pulled you, it was all intentional. Even the photos I posted yesterday were intentional. I just didn't want you to win. I just couldn't stand your attitude of thinking you can easily have everything that others want just because you're luckier than them."
"But what can you do to me? Just like you can't do anything to Qin Zigui. He'll definitely leave today, and you'll understand sooner or later that people who like you because you're good to them will always choose the path that's more beneficial to them than you or any other option. That's how I am, and that's how Qin Zigui is too. Only a naive and simple young master like you would think that feelings are more important than anything else, because you have no idea what it's like to live in the mud!"
The moment Xue Yi completely tore off his disguise, Sheng Yan felt he had never been so angry.
He couldn't understand how anyone could be so shameless and so self-righteous in justifying their crimes.
He clenched his fists, wishing he could just punch him, but when he saw the painful struggle and the resolute determination in Xue Yi's eyes, he suddenly understood Xue Yi's purpose.
Then at that moment, he felt that the person in front of him was so ridiculous that it was almost pathetic.
Did Xue Yi really think that by provoking him, making him impulsively fight and violate the rules of the competition, he could win?
Sheng Yan loosened his fist: "Xue Yi, do you know why you can never beat me at shooting? It's because you don't know what it means to just do your best. Maybe you're right, Qin Zigui will leave today, Qin Zigui will choose a better path, but what does that have to do with me? I'm standing here today, that's all. I've done my best with a clear conscience. What do other people's choices have to do with me? If you don't believe me, I'll prove it to you today."
Sheng Yan pressed the red button on his phone screen, put it back in his pocket, pushed open the door to the lounge, and walked towards the final registration point.
Four hours had passed since the opening ceremony, and half an hour had passed since the end of the qualifying rounds, yet Qin Zigui and Xu Qingrong were still nowhere to be seen in the stands.
After checking all the equipment, Sheng Yan stood in position number two and watched the other family members cheering for the athletes from afar. He put on his earmuffs and took a deep breath.
He wanted to prove to Xue Yi that being a person, like shooting, is all about doing your best.
Xue Yi also took the number eight position. He had to beat Sheng Yan, otherwise all his choices would be meaningless.
The first group of five bullets was fired in turn.
City team player Li Juncheng hit all five shots, ranking first.
Xue Yi seemed to have finally found his form, hitting four out of five shots, tying for second place with another player from the city's second team.
However, at the moment he fired, Sheng Yan suffered a sudden and violent abdominal spasm, hitting three out of five shots and tying for last place with the other four contestants.
When the results for the first group came out, Coach Li was so anxious that he stomped his feet, and Wu Shan couldn't help but cast a worried glance at him.
Xue Yi breathed a sigh of relief. Sure enough, Sheng Yan was still affected. As long as he maintained this state, he would definitely be able to get second place.
Only Sheng Yan himself seemed completely unaffected, decisively and calmly following up with the second round of shooting.
The top three players all hit four out of five shots, while Sheng Yan still only managed three out of five shots.
After two rounds, the first place had 9 points, the second and third place both had 8 points, and Sheng Yan only had 6 points.
Coach Li was completely anxious. Xue Yi glanced at Sheng Yan from across the team, as if to tell him, "You're wrong, you're going to fail, you've finally been affected."
However, after two rounds of shooting, Sheng Yan had already adapted to the rhythm while in a state of stomach pain. So in the third round, when position one scored 4 points again, he decisively fired a quick shot to follow up with 4 points.
In the fourth round, the player in position one made a mistake and only scored 3 points. Sheng Yan remained expressionless, raised his hand and fired a quick shot, hitting all five shots.
As Sheng Yan scored 4 and 5 points ahead of him, Xue Yi, who was shooting last, was clearly affected and only managed to score 4 points in one round and 3 points in another.
After the first four rounds of rapid-fire shooting, Li Juncheng remained in first place with 16 points, while Sheng Yan, who had been in last place at the beginning, had become second. Another member of the city's second team and Xue Yi were tied with him with 15 points.
Wu Shan, who had only made it to the finals by sheer luck, was eliminated in last place.
Such a result seems reasonable, but for Xue Yi, it's no different from being last.
He must surpass Sheng Yan.
Xue Yi lowered his head and took a deep breath, but when he looked up again, he was stunned.
Qin Zigui appeared, and not only Qin Zigui, but also Sheng Yan's mother, maternal grandparents, Qin Zigui's aunt and uncle, Huang Shuliang from Shiwai, and several chattering students appeared together, instantly filling the opposite stands with a huge crowd.
They even put up two big red banners, one of which read "Sheng Yan, Sheng Yan, the light of Shiwai, handsome and tall, the glory of our alma mater," and the other read "I am a sharpshooter, one shot, one kid. If you ask me who I am, I am the most handsome one at Nanwu Shiwai."
Their faces were beaming with the brightest, most enthusiastic, and happiest smiles, as if they couldn't wait to attract everyone's attention.
However, Sheng Yan remained unmoved, calmly raising his hand, aiming, and firing five shots in four seconds, hitting four of them and scoring another four points.
On the contrary, Xue Yi lost his composure and only scored 3 points, dropping to fourth place.
There are six people left in total.
In the sixth round, the rankings remained unchanged, leaving five people.
In the seventh round, the rankings remained unchanged, leaving four people.
In the eighth round, when the top three were finally decided, Li Juncheng, who was in position one, continued to perform steadily, scoring 4 points and maintaining first place with a total score of 32. The member of the second city team, who was in position three, also scored 4 points and maintained second place with a total score of 31.
However, Sheng Yan, who had been performing steadily, suddenly missed two shots and only scored 3 points, tying with Xue Yi, who had a late surge of potential and scored 4 points, for a total of 30 points.
Huang Shuliang, who knew nothing about shooting, hurriedly slapped his thigh in a panic: "Oh dear, what's going on? When I was watching the live broadcast in the car, Sheng Yan was performing just fine. How come we're going to be eliminated as soon as we arrive? Is it because the banner wasn't made well?"
Gou You quickly spat out, "Director Huang, don't talk nonsense. Sheng Yan hasn't been eliminated yet. Isn't he the same score as someone else?"
Lin Qian didn't know much about shooting either, so she could only ask, "Then what should we do?"
Qin Zigui looked at Sheng Yan, who remained calm and composed despite his mistakes, and Xue Yi, who was taking deep breaths nervously despite his exceptional performance, from afar, and uttered four words: "Tie-point final."
The so-called tie-breaker final is a competition where, in a bottom-ranked elimination format, if the lowest-scoring participants have the same score, a tie-breaker will be held, with the higher-scoring participant winning and the lower-scoring participant being eliminated. It is a true 1v1 duel, or a 1v1 duel at the critical moment of life and death.
If Sheng Yan loses third place, he will have no hope of being selected for special admission, and all his efforts will be in vain.
If Xue Yi loses third place, he will completely lose his chance to enter the city's top team.
As if by fate, they eventually found themselves in this position.
Chen Yubai asked nervously, "Old Qin, do you think Sheng Yan can beat this city team? What if he can't? If he can't beat him, does that mean he can't go to Zhonggong University? Damn, he's already in fourth place. It would be such a pity if he fell here. What should we do? What should we do?"
Not only Chen Yubai, but almost everyone was so nervous that their palms were sweating.
Qin Zigui answered with great certainty: "Sheng Yan will win, because this is the position that should have been his all along."
This should have been my spot. If Sheng Yan hadn't come, I would already be third. I can't lose to him.
As Xue Yi was thinking this, he had already fired five shots.
Four out of five shots hit.
A very good result; at the very least, we can draw, or at least we won't lose.
Because in this level of competition, the initial 8-second bursts were manageable, but now that it's 4 seconds per burst, almost no one can perform perfectly and hit all five shots under this level of pressure.
Everyone was worried for Sheng Yan.
In their minds, the best outcome is another round of competition, and the worst outcome is being eliminated on the spot.
Xue Yi also breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that he could finally beat Sheng Yan.
However, Sheng Yan simply put one hand in his pocket and raised the gun with the other. He didn't look at Xue Yi's tense, anxious, and expectant gaze, nor did he look at the fervent hope in the audience. He only looked at the bullseye in front of him and then pressed the trigger.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
Five shots, five hits.
A perfect crushing defeat.
A brief silence.
Then the entire stadium suddenly erupted.
The entire venue erupted in applause like a thunderclap. Xue Yi stared wide-eyed in disbelief, standing motionless. His opponents couldn't help but cast shocked and inquisitive glances at this unfamiliar young man.
The boy, who was the focus of all the applause and attention, seemed unmoved. He simply kept looking at his target and pulling the trigger again and again.
Five shots, five hits, tying the leader.
Four out of five shots hit, tied for the final score.
Five shots, five hits, won the final.
Almost in an instant, he completed the dramatic transformation from a player everyone thought was about to be eliminated to a genius-level champion.
However, he seemed to have done nothing. He simply stood on the field, calm and composed, neither humble nor arrogant, like a green bamboo, striking and proper, yet making no attempt to conceal the arrogance and flamboyance in his bones.
That was the best young man Qin Zigui had ever met in his life.
Those are people born into the dust and mud, who, no matter how hard they struggle, cannot be pulled down into the mire.
Because he was born in love, grew up under the scorching sun, and will eventually go to a place where flowers bloom.
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