Chapter 5 The Podium - National Championship Podium
After chatting with the fans in the aisle, Xia Yuezi took Yang Yiyan backstage for a massage to relax her tense muscles. As soon as they entered the room, they saw Yu Qian rummaging through her bag, with a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy lying next to her.
She recognized him as Lin Ye, the current number one player in China, who came from the Heilongjiang provincial team.
"Xiaxia, come over here with us."
Upon seeing Xia Yuezi here, Yu Qian was not surprised at all and even extended an invitation.
Xia Yuezi couldn't refuse, so she reluctantly led Yang Yiyan over and spread out the yoga mat next to Lin Ye.
On the other side, Yu Qian had already hooked up with Yang Yiyan: "Girl, call me 'Auntie' and let me hear it."
"Auntie—" Yang Yiyan's eyebrows furrowed, and she couldn't help but glance at Xia Yuezi, her questions growing more and more as her voice trailed off.
This was the first time she had met Yu Qian. Her parents had always told her to be wary of overly enthusiastic strangers, especially when she was alone during a competition. But the coach seemed to know these two very well. She had just heard the boy lying on the ground call Coach Xia.
Xia Yuezi squatted on the ground, going over the words in her mind again and again. When she saw Yang Yiyan's questioning and wary eyes, she suddenly blurted out, "That's my mom."
Upon hearing this, Yang Yiyan immediately put on a sweet smile and naturally called her "Auntie" again, making Yu Qian very happy. The two of them were completely unaware of Xia Yuezi's unnatural expression on the side.
Lin Ye lay on the ground and called her a few times: "Sister Xia? Sister Xia."
"Huh?" Xia Yuezi snapped out of her daze and asked, "What's wrong?"
"What are you thinking about? I've called you several times." Lin Ye looked at her with concern.
"It's nothing, I'm just happy to see them hit it off so well."
Xia Yuezi gave a few casual replies, but seeing the disbelief written all over Lin Ye's face, she was afraid he would ask again, so she quickly called Yang Yiyan over.
She knelt beside the little girl and massaged her muscles. Xia Yuezi only had experience massaging herself, while Yang Yiyan's bones were not fully developed, so her strength and technique were not good enough.
Yu Qian frowned as she watched, scrutinizing her several times before finally speaking up to stop her: "Alright, you're kneading dough. You've forgotten everything I taught you."
Xia Yuezi stiffened upon hearing this, reluctantly stopped, and didn't dare to look up.
Yu Qian walked over to Lin Ye and started massaging him, but when she looked back and saw that the person next to her was still stunned, she felt a strange feeling in her heart: "What are you standing there for? Follow along and learn."
"Huh?" Xia Yuezi didn't react in time. When she looked up, Yu Qian was staring at her with a slight frown, her eyes filled with a complicated expression and a hint of urging.
She immediately became focused and began to imitate him meticulously.
Neither side spoke, and there were hardly any people in the venue; the atmosphere was almost frozen.
Xia Yuezi was extremely uneasy and gradually increased her strength, causing Yang Yiyan to cry out in pain.
"I'm sorry, Xiaoyan, I'll be gentler."
“Going a little lighter won’t help much; athletes have very thick muscles, especially in their legs and buttocks,” Yu Qian cautioned.
Then, as if remembering something, she chuckled softly: "You were like this when you were little, crying at the slightest pressure. I told you I would teach you massage, but you absolutely refused to learn. It wasn't until you were promoted to a higher level that you became more sensible and came to learn on your own."
Yu Qian's expression softened. She got up and walked to Xia Yuezi's side to give her guidance. No matter how you looked at it, she seemed to be living a peaceful and serene life.
But Xia Yuezi became increasingly flustered, especially when she looked into Yu Qian's eyes, feeling as if she had been seen through.
Having finally gotten through this ordeal, Xia Yuezi quickly packed her things into her bag, and Yu Qian's voice reached her ears again.
"It seems Beijing is quite nourishing. You've changed a lot in just six months. When are you coming home? I'll treat you to something nice."
What was said unintentionally may have been taken to heart by the listener.
Xia Yuezi gave a few perfunctory replies and practically fled with Yang Yiyan.
Even though Yu Qian didn't say it explicitly, Xia Yuezi's intuition told her that she had already given herself away.
Xia Yuezi lay on the hotel bed, rolling around restlessly while clutching her doll. She knew she couldn't hide it from the original owner's family, but the exposure had come far too quickly.
Although stealing someone's body wasn't her intention, she was in the wrong from any angle, and she couldn't figure out what Yu Qian was thinking.
We can only take it one step at a time.
When Xia Yuezi, with dark circles under her eyes and a pale face, appeared at the free skate venue with Yang Yiyan, Song Qiao couldn't help but ask, "Xia, didn't you get enough rest last night?"
She glanced at Yu Qian standing behind Song Qiao, who subtly avoided her gaze, and then comforted her, saying, "It's probably because Xiao Yan made it into the last group, and she's happy about it."
The order of appearance in the free skate is determined by the ranking in the short program; the higher the ranking in the short program, the later the skater will appear.
During the short program, it's unclear whether Yang Yiyan's performance put considerable pressure on the later contestants or whether the contestants were not used to the ice in Heilongjiang, but the athletes who performed later made mistakes to varying degrees, and in the end, Yang Yiyan actually ranked third.
Xia Yuezi stroked Yang Yiyan's hairstyle, which had already been styled with hairspray, and did not deny it.
Song Qiao breathed a sigh of relief: "It's normal to be happy when students get good grades, but don't let it affect your rest too much."
Xia Yuezi responded, and the group exchanged a few more pleasantries until the last group of six began their practice.
Before going on stage, Xia Yuezi reminded Yang Yiyan to conserve her energy. The atmosphere during the sixth training session at the domestic competition venue was quite harmonious; at least there weren't any people who would try to crash into the athletes' skating trajectories.
Currently ranked first is Jiang Shuyu, with a short program score of 62.45. She is also the only athlete to break the 60 mark in the short program. Her technical score alone reached 36.13, which is comparable to that of top international women's singles players.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe that program as one where "every gesture and expression revealed dislike," which explains why Jiang Shuyu's program content score was even lower than that of the youth group contestants every time she went out to compete in international events.
Jiang Shuyu successfully completed 3LZ+3T and 3S+3T on the ice, drawing cheers from the stands. She herself didn't seem to care, but it put a lot of pressure on the other five skaters who didn't have such difficult routines.
Xia Yuezi looked in Yang Yiyan's direction. She had already skated to the other end of the ice rink and landed 3lo+2lo+2lo, but she didn't seem to be affected.
She glanced at the crowd on the ice rink, thinking that she should hurry up and get Yang Yiyan learning triple jumps during the winter break.
Yang Yiyan's nose was red from the cold. As soon as they finished, Xia Yuezi put her coat on her and asked, "Do you think Jiang Shuyu is amazing?"
“Amazing,” the little girl said, her childlike face brimming with fearlessness. “But I’ll become just as amazing as her someday.”
Xia Yuezi's eyes also lit up with a smile: "Okay, let's become powerful together."
Yang Yiyan was the third to last to skate; before her, there was only one other female singles skater who had broken 100 points in the free skate.
The girl wore a light blue dress that gradually turned white at the hem, adorned with scattered rhinestones at the waist. Standing in the snow, she appeared aloof and proud.
Yang Yiyan stood on the ice with her hands hanging down. Accompanied by the music, she tilted her head slightly, placed the right foot on the ice, and stepped back with her left foot, drawing a semicircle on the ice.
Her first jump was 3T+2Lo, which was also the highest-scoring jump in the free skate. Yang Yiyan originally wanted to do 3Lo+2Lo, but she couldn't keep up with the stamina in the second half of the program.
Yang Yiyan touched the ice with her left foot, and the moment she landed, she quickly exerted force from her waist and tightened her legs while sitting cross-legged.
Xia Yuezi applauded and cheered from the sidelines, celebrating her jump that scored a base score of 5.8 points.
The piano music was melodious and graceful, while the razor blades touched the ice surface, completing 2A.
Wang Can sat in the stands, staring at the girl on the big screen on the ice. At that moment, her body was spinning at high speed while upright. After spinning eight times, she raised her right foot outward, bent down and grabbed the blade with her right hand, presenting a difficult change of position with an A turn. Then she quickly switched feet, placing her left leg on her right knee, with her hands hanging down, curling her whole body into an inverted pancake position, before returning to an upright position and spinning in the opposite direction.
He looked down at the referee's table, where a group of referees had laptops in front of them, zooming in on Yang Yiyan's movements.
She completed a triple jump 2lz+2T+2lo just as the show was entering its second half.
The referee sitting on the far right had a serious expression and hesitated for a long time before giving a minus sign (GOE).
Yang Yiyan's blade was a bit flat when she did the toe ice jump, but the camera position wasn't good, so it couldn't clearly capture the blade at the moment of takeoff. In addition, the reflection between the ice surface and the blade made it difficult for the judges to make an accurate judgment.
As the piano piece gradually reached its climax and the tempo quickened, Yang Yiyan's high skating speed advantage was also showcased, and her footwork was dazzling to behold.
Xia Yuezi gripped her clothes tightly, watching the people on the field complete all their jumps.
During the last set of rotations, Yang Yiyan clearly felt a lack of oxygen, as if a hand was gripping her lungs.
She no longer had the energy to control her facial expressions, so she could only tighten her muscles, grit her teeth, maintain the rotation speed, and use her willpower to persevere until the show was completely over.
Xia Yuezi's applause was drowned out by the cheers of the audience. She looked at Yang Yiyan, who was lying on the ice breathing heavily, her eyes filled with pride and emotion.
She seemed to gradually understand why Li Tan always stood by the railing whenever she received cheers from fans on the ice rink, just waiting to give her a hug.
It was a unique sense of exhilaration and pride that belonged only to the coach.
Looking at the big screen, Song Qiao couldn't help but worry: "What kind of luck did Li Tan have? First there was Zhang Mengyi, and now Yang Yiyan has appeared. There will be a lot of competition for the youth group spots next year."
For a long time, no one spoke.
He turned around and saw that Yu Qian was staring at Xia Yuezi in a daze. Song Qiao shook his head and didn't disturb her.
When Yang Yiyan came off the stage, her head was covered in sweat. Her makeup was originally quite good, but while waiting in the waiting area, she grabbed a tissue and wiped it all off.
Xia Yuezi couldn't help but chuckle. How come this girl performed so well on the field, but started showing all sorts of tricks while waiting for the division?
She took another tissue and gently wiped away the smudged eye makeup. Yang Yiyan saw the color on the tissue and stuck out her tongue in embarrassment.
Seeing this, many reporters immediately pointed their cameras at the waiting area and captured the scene. Although they didn't know much about figure skating, they weren't stupid.
Following Yang Yiyan were all adult women's singles players. In women's singles, it's not surprising that the youth group is stronger than the adult group. As long as she doesn't get injured, even if she can't play this year, she might be a favorite to win the championship next year.
The teacher and student didn't care what the reporters were thinking; their attention was already drawn to the scores on the big screen.
With a technical score of 53.11, a program component score of 50.39, and a free skate score of 103.5, his final score, including the short program, is 153.76, currently placing him in first place.
In other words, Yang Yiyan was able to go on stage in her first National Championships.
Xia Yuezi smiled very subtly, but that didn't mean she was unhappy.
Given the usual practices of figure skating leaders, even disregarding the World Junior Championships, this result is enough for Yang Yiyan to secure at least one spot in next year's Junior Grand Prix events.
While some were excited, others were worried, and Wang Can's mood was at its lowest point.
The contestant he once considered useless has grown stronger, and with Zhang Mengyi injured, almost no one in the youth group can suppress her.
How could he accept this!
Fortunately, Jiang Shuyu was not affected in any way and still won the gold medal.
Yang Yiyan appeared very excited during the awards ceremony and interviews, but Jiang Shuyu simply maintained a polite smile and gave very official answers.
Wang Can took a phone call in the backstage dressing room and stood to the side of the interview area with a calm expression.
Jiang Shuyu's highest career score is 176. She doesn't have the potential to reach the top tier of C-level players, nor does she have the captivating performance of Lu Ying. However, her strength lies in her consistency, which allows her to maintain her status as a top-tier female singles player in China.
It's a kind of indifference; nothing can affect her stability.
That's why, when there were better options, Wang Can didn't value her as much, because he thought Jiang Shuyu lacked the ambition to become a top athlete.
But now, Jiang Shuyu seems to have become his only option.
He had just received news that the Sports Bureau had approved Lu Ying's retirement application.
This also means that, at least until Zhang Mengyi has fully matured, Jiang Shuyu will take over the responsibility of being the top female star, no matter how unwilling she is.
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