Chapter 69 Forum and Oden
◎The world of legends is not something you can enter easily◎
Jiang Lin and Xu Chi quickly caught up and left the competition venue with Tang Yi, who was holding Ji Tiantian.
It was an afternoon in late autumn in Japan, and the air was filled with the cool breath unique to late autumn.
The moment Tang Yi stepped out of the stadium gate, bright sunshine shone down. Ji Tiantian subconsciously squinted her eyes, looked up at the sky, and smiled brightly.
As soon as they walked out of the door, they saw Ni Chuan and Fei Fei waiting at the door, as well as a group of familiar Chinese ice fans.
When everyone saw Tang Yi carrying Ji Tiantian out, they were stunned for a moment, and then more or less, they all showed joy. Some of the excited sisters even pinched each other's hands secretly.
Ji Tiantian quickly realized that they were obviously providing material for CP fans, so she immediately pulled Tang Yi's hand away and jumped down, deliberately standing farther away from Tang Yi.
Ji Tiantian also knew that many fans had watched them along the way and had followed them through many competitions. If possible, she would also like to do her best to bring happiness to the fans. However, she didn't really want people to misunderstand her. She and Tang Yi currently had a very pure partnership.
"Sister Tiantian is injured, and Brother Yi doesn't want her to move too much, so don't think too much about it." Ni Chuan came back to his senses immediately, cleared his throat and spoke to the ice fans next to him.
The ice fans who looked hurt immediately came to their senses and asked about Ji Tiantian's injury.
“It was just a little painful during the free dance, but I feel much better now. Thank you for your concern.” Ji Tiantian smiled gratefully to the ice fans who came from afar.
"Will the next game be affected?" the ice fan asked with concern.
"No." Ji Tiantian smiled excitedly, "After getting the runner-up prize, all the worries and pains disappeared."
There was a burst of cheerful laughter all around.
"Brother Yi, what are you going to do next? Are you going back to China immediately?" Ni Chuan asked while hooking his arm around Tang Yi's neck.
"You have to stay for two more days." Tang Yi said. Considering Ji Tiantian's injury, their competition schedule was not arranged as tightly as in the past.
"Oh, me too. It's a rare opportunity for me to come to Japan, why not go to Disneyland? You've been away all year, and I'm so lonely." Ni Chuan said pitifully, "There's no one to play with me."
"I have something to do, you play by yourself." Tang Yi pushed Ni Chuan away.
"You've already finished the competition, what else can you do?" Ni Chuan glanced at Ji Tiantian who was chatting with the fans nearby and said in a low voice, "You...are you going on a date with Sister Tiantian?"
"No."
"Then what else can you do?" Ni Chuan looked confused. "You don't go on dates, you don't compete, and you don't play. What are you going to do? Do papers in the hotel?" He raised his voice a little, causing Ji Tiantian and the ice fans around him to turn around.
Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi who was being questioned by Ni Chuan, thought for a while, and decided to help: "Tang Yi and I agreed before the game that we would go eat oden together after the game."
"Oden? That's great!" Ni Chuan smiled and hooked his arm around Tang Yi's neck again, "Take me with you!"
"What do I want to do with you!" Tang Yi pushed Ni Chuan away without thinking.
"Tsk tsk, isn't this just a date?" As soon as Ni Chuan finished speaking, the surrounding ice fans looked at Tang Yi and Ji Tiantian excitedly again.
Ji Tiantian wanted to ignore everyone's gaze, but she still felt her face getting hot uncontrollably.
"It's time. The hotel bus is about to arrive. Let's go to the parking lot." Jiang Lin looked at her watch and spoke.
So Ji Tiantian thanked the ice fans again, and went to the bus stop with Tang Yi and the coach to prepare to take the bus back to the hotel.
“Sister Tiantian! Brother Yi! You are the best!” Ni Chuan roared behind them, “Stay together forever!”
Ji Tiantian couldn't help but cast her eyes towards Tang Yi who was walking beside her. Tang Yi was wearing a loose team uniform, so his figure was hard to see, but he was tall and strong.
His current age, between adolescence and adulthood, is the best age in life. And he happens to have a handsome face, so many people passing by will turn their heads to look at him. Of course, they will also look at her.
Noticing Ji Tiantian's gaze, Tang Yi turned around and said, "Ignore him." He was referring to Ni Chuan.
"Oh oh." Ji Tiantian nodded, withdrew her gaze as if nothing had happened, and got on the bus with Tang Yi.
On the way to the hotel, Ji Tiantian habitually logged into the figure skating forum and clicked on the ice dance discussion post of the Japan station.
112L: After watching the game, I feel satisfied! It’s exciting! Tiantang is still very strong! Those who said that Tiantang won the youth championship by luck can shut up now!
113L: Beat the fifth place in the World Championships! This is just the starting point of the adult group competition! Tiantang will become stronger and stronger!
114L: Speaking of which, Tiantang did break the record in her last World Junior Championships. But before the rules were changed, ice dancing had always been a three-event competition, and only in recent years has it started to be a two-event competition, so the total scores of all the contestants have dropped a bit. Their scores are not so outstanding, and few people notice them.
115L: Yes, yes, they have always been very strong!
116L: I just realized it after 114L said that, Tiantang has won all the A-level events in the youth group, right? Grand Prix Youth Group Station Championship, Grand Final Championship, Youth Winter Olympics Championship, World Youth Championship... Am I remembering correctly? This is the Youth Group Grand Slam, right?
117L: Oh, oh, yeah! I didn’t realize it before! Tiantang is really bad at promoting herself. She has been training all the time and has not accepted any interviews. She has never publicized such a big thing!
118L: Woohoo, I want to cry. When I think of how many people questioned how a dancer could skate when Tiantian first stood at the National Championships, I want to cry.
119L: Exactly, why can’t we trust them? Is it difficult to believe that they have the ability?
120L: I just watched the post-race interview video. Tiantian has grown up safely. She is calm in front of the camera, very good and beautiful. I always think that Tiantian is more tired than Yige who has more skating experience, but she never complains of being tired.
121L: Woohoo, I love Tiantian. It’s just a pity that they were fifth in one race and second in another. Their rankings in this race were not high, so we won’t be able to see them in the finals.
122L: I think this is great, Tiantian can take a break. Anyway, I will always support them!
Ji Tiantian looked at the comments of netizens, a little dazed. She put down her phone, leaned back in her chair, looked at the receding scenery outside the window, and her heart was in turmoil.
Only then did she realize that they had indeed won all the championships in the youth group.
The pressure she faces in every game is different. She only thinks about how to get better results and has no energy to look back.
When she looked back, she realized that she and Tang Yi had won all the gold medals in the youth competition. The journey that had ended was glittering with gold.
She suddenly felt her chest filled with infinite courage.
Ji Tiantian logged into a foreign figure skating forum and saw that someone had created a forum specifically for them. The post titled: "Are there any Chinese JT (Ji Tang) fans? Let's guess their results this season!"
1L: I really like them! Their performances are very explosive and their technical difficulty is always on point!
2L: Yes, and compared to other players, JT makes fewer mistakes, performs more stably, and never gets a bad score. JT has won many gold medals in the youth group competitions, and he also performed very well in the Japan race after being promoted to a higher group! Everyone, come and see!
3L: In the past few years, we can see that JT has made rapid progress. His social dancing, which was not solid before, has been improving. I feel that they just don’t have enough competition experience. There are few related competitions in China, so they can only temporarily gain experience in international competitions.
4L: When I watched the China Cup, I thought that this level of competition could win a gold medal, and this youth group is not good enough... But the Japan race completely changed my mind! JT is really a rising star!
5L: In the new season, I guess JT will be ranked around 4th or 5th? I wonder if the people behind him will catch up. There is no shortage of world youth champions in the adult group. Those who are ranked at the top are all outstanding graduates of the youth group, and they also have enough competition experience.
6L: Without considering JT, based on the situation last season, the top five are Canada No. 1, Russia No. 1, and America No. 1. Then Russia No. 2 is fourth and Canada No. 2 is fifth. However, only the top two pairs have full-rated strength. The remaining pairs are said to be in the first echelon, but in fact they are completely different from the top two.
7L: Yes, I understand what the above person meant. In the ice dance technical movement grading, the most difficult one to get level 4 is the step sequence. Other technical movements are not difficult to get. Currently, only the top two can get level 4 in the step sequence. JT's current situation is similar to that of all the first-tier teams except the top two. Whoever skates out the eye-catching footwork first and the step sequence first at level 4 will surpass others.
Ji Tiantian looked at everyone's speeches and fell into deep thought.
Before they knew it, the bus arrived at the hotel entrance and Ji Tiantian got off the bus holding the handrail.
"Do you want to go to that place?" Tang Yi said to Ji Tiantian. Ji Tiantian followed Tang Yi's line of sight.
There is an oden restaurant next to the hotel. The store is traditional and looks like an old store. In the past, Ji Tiantian mostly ate oden in convenience stores. Now that she is in Japan, she can go to a restaurant that specializes in oden to enjoy it.
"Yes!" Ji Tiantian said immediately.
So Tang Yi told Jiang Lin and Xu Chi about his idea of going to eat oden with Ji Tiantian.
"Old Xu, you should also have a good meal with Coach Jiang." Tang Yi said to Xu Chi, "I'll treat you." He knew that Xu Chi had a very traditional taste and only liked rice.
"Okay, just worry about yourselves. The game is over, it's time to celebrate." Xu Chi and Jiang Lin looked at the two young players in front of them with pleased smiles.
"Tiantian, is your leg injury serious?" Jiang Lin asked Ji Tiantian.
Ji Tiantian nodded like a chick pecking at rice, and said that the pain was gone after she got the bonus.
"Little money-grubber." Jiang Lin couldn't help laughing. She told Tang Yi to take good care of Ji Tiantian, and then she and Xu Chi went to find another restaurant to eat.
Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi walked into the oden restaurant and sat at the bar table.
Ji Tiantian pointed at the pictures on the menu, gestured to the Japanese uncle boss, and ordered a lot of things. Rice cake lucky bags, meatballs, tofu, kelp, mushrooms, radish, everything you can order.
Tang Yi looked at Ji Tian's dessert menu silently, thinking that the food in Canada really made his female companion feel wronged.
"Tang Yi." After Ji Tian finished her dessert, she turned to look at Tang Yi and said with some emotion, "It seems like we haven't eaten oden together for a long time in our last life."
Tang Yi didn't respond for a moment. He lowered his eyes and fell into memories.
In his previous life, after getting married, he had tried to cook oden by himself. He originally wanted to bring it to the dance troupe for Ji Tiantian to taste, but that day, Zhang Lilian happened to come to their house and wanted to clean up for her daughter.
"Tang Yi, these snacks... it's better not to bring them to Tiantian." Zhang Lilian said to Tang Yi after learning of his thoughts, "Tiantian is busy with the dance troupe's affairs and doesn't eat well. She just eats snacks. She went to the hospital a few days ago and couldn't stand the stomach pain, so she called me."
He was stunned at that time, not knowing how to react. It was also the first time he knew that Ji Tiantian had actually gone to the hospital by herself.
"Don't let Tiantian know what I told you. Just keep it in your heart. Advise her to eat well more often." Zhang Lilian looked at Tang Yi, with a bitterness in her voice that was hard to conceal. "Don't look at Tiantian as delicate and soft. In fact, she is still very strong in her bones. She doesn't want you to know her weaknesses... Do you understand?"
"clear."
Tang Yi closed his eyes, broke free from his memories, and looked at Ji Tiantian who was eating radish with relish beside him.
In this life, Ji Tiantian has a coach watching over her, and every meal is carefully arranged, so she shouldn't get stomach problems or stomach pains again. It's okay to eat oden occasionally.
"Eat less." Tang Yi thought about it and gave a reminder.
"I got a bonus, but I can't even eat something delicious." Ji Tiantian pouted in dissatisfaction, her round eyes full of grievance, "You control me more than my dad does."
Tang Yi: “…”
"I know you are doing this for my own good, so I will eat this meal." Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi's serious expression and couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah." Tang Yi's expression eased a little.
"But Tang Yi, I think some of the comments online make sense. We should find a way to improve the free dance steps to level four." Ji Tiantian finished eating the carrot and held her chin in thought, "Otherwise it will be difficult for us to make a breakthrough in the adult group."
The short dance contains one set of steps, and the free dance contains two sets. It would be easier to get one set of level 4 in the two sets than to get the only level 4 in the short dance. Moreover, Ji Tiantian thinks they are better at free dance.
After hearing Ji Tiantian's words, Tang Yi was silent for a moment before speaking: "This may be beyond my ability."
After Tang Yi finished speaking, he slowly clenched his hands on the table into fists, his eyes dark and unclear.
His best result in his previous life was the eighth place in the World Championships, which can also be understood as the eighth place in the world in ice dancing.
For other technical moves, he could get the highest grade of 4, except for the step connection, where he always remained at grade 3.
To him, the Level 4 step sequence was like a legend, something that could be viewed from afar but not touched.
The grading of step sequences is also very mysterious. The dancing posture during skating and the ice surface coverage are all factors to be considered in the grading. The referees will occasionally look at the nationality and the divinity of the players to determine the grade.
The step sequence of the top three players is rated higher than that of the players behind them. Many players from weaker countries in ice dancing find it difficult to improve their step sequence rating no matter how hard they try.
The basic score of the step sequence is the highest among all the difficult movements. Its rating directly determines the world status of the contestants. Generally, the referee will not randomly raise the rating of a group of contestants' step sequences to shake the status of the previous contestants.
Apart from the pain, Tang Yi chose to retire at the age of 23 in his previous life because he knew very well that even if he persisted for a few more seasons, he would not be able to break through.
The world of legends is not something that can be easily entered.
In the previous few seasons, he was indeed able to guide Ji Tiantian when she needed him. But going further... that was a world he had never seen before.
"Tang Yi, give it a try. Maybe we can do it." Ji Tiantian reached out and shook Tang Yi's shoulder. "We have won gold medals in all the A-level competitions in the youth group. We can do something like this. Step sequences shouldn't be that difficult, right?"
"Don't say that the adult group and the youth group are different." Seeing that Tang Yi was about to speak, Ji Tiantian immediately added, "Don't you know the theme of our free dance? There can be miracles, when you believe."
Tang Yi calmed himself down, turned his head to look at Ji Tiantian's shining eyes, and couldn't help but smile faintly.
At this moment, he felt that he was wrong. In fact, in this life, he was not leading her, but she was leading him.
She gave him unlimited motivation and passion when he was discouraged. If there was a miracle in his life, it must be her.
"We can add continuous single-leg steps into a set of steps." Tang Yi pondered for a moment and drew a sliding route on the bar table with his fingers.
He focused on the present and tried his best to present all his experience and knowledge without reservation.
Single-leg gait means using the same sliding leg to slide continuously without changing feet, changing gaits of varying difficulty.
"Inserting single-leg steps can enrich the entire set of steps, but there is a problem. The skating speed of single-leg steps is not fast, and the ice surface coverage rate will be reduced, which will also affect the grading." Tang Yi seemed to be thinking about something.
Ji Tiantian held her chin and silently looked at Tang Yi's profile. In her previous life, she had never seen Tang Yi working so hard at such a close distance. She couldn't help but be fascinated by it.
"What's wrong?" Tang Yi turned and looked at Ji Tiantian.
"No...nothing." Ji Tiantian lowered her head hurriedly.
She quickly calmed down, stretched out her fingers, and continued to gesture with Tang Yi's fingers, "Then we can add twists after the single foot. Speed up the twists and increase the ice coverage through twists. While twisting, we can also switch our positions to enrich the turning movements."
Ji Tiantian's eyes lit up because she suddenly had a good idea.
As she expressed her thoughts, she moved her slender fingers and gestured on the table, and Tang Yi's fingers followed her.
The bar table became a huge ice surface, and their fingers represented themselves, sometimes separated and sometimes close.
His fingers moved quickly across the table, leaving clean and clear traces.
"It's easy to bump into each other like this." Tang Yi slid his fingers across the tabletop, frowning slightly as he spoke, "I've never slid like this with anyone else."
Ji Tiantian pursed her lips. The difficulty of the steps increased infinitely, and the risk would continue to rise.
She has been bruised and fallen on the court, and these injuries may just be the beginning.
Now her legs still have light scars. In her previous life, she had a pair of flawless dancer's legs.
Now, her legs are more like an athlete's. She likes it all.
"Tang Yi, we have to take a risk." Ji Tiantian stared into Tang Yi's eyes closely and couldn't help but smile, "You know, we have no choice."
You know, without a nationality to protect us, we have no choice but to seek breakthroughs through adventures again and again.
Tang Yi looked into Ji Tiantian's eyes silently, his breathing a little tight again. It's not that he doesn't want to take risks, he just doesn't want to be with her.
But she was still right, he had no choice. His whole life was like walking on ice skates, moving forward quickly, unable to stop.
If they cannot continue to break through, then in this world where the pace of renewal is accelerating, the glory they have now, the blessings they receive on the field, and his and her short-lived happiness will soon vanish.
Everything ceases to exist.
"Let's give it a try." Ji Tiantian looked at Tang Yi closely, "Let's talk to the coach about our ideas later."
"Okay." Tang Yi agreed in a hoarse voice.
There was joy and anxiety, sweetness and pain, and he felt this tearing more and more frequently.
Tang Yi raised the glass and drank the cold water in one gulp.
The ordered oden was served one by one. Ji Tiantian hummed the free dance music, took photos, and then logged into Weibo, which she hadn't logged into for a long time, and uploaded the oden and the photos of the awards at the sub-stations.
"I got to eat the oden I've been craving for for a long time, so satisfied! Keep going after I'm fully recovered!" Ji Tiantian typed the caption for the picture and posted it on Weibo.
After she finished sending the message, she started to eat the boiled eggs in the bowl, her curved eyes filled with happiness and joy.
Tang Yi didn't eat much. He didn't have much appetite after the intense exercise, and he was definitely not in the mood to eat a lot.
Ji Tiantian was tired of eating, so she went to Weibo to read everyone’s messages.
"Come on, Tiantian! Make sure you get enough rest!"
“We always support you!”
"Wow, don't work too hard!"
"I watched the competition in Japan, and I'm very optimistic about both of your programs. Come on!"
"Sweetie is real! It's real!"
Many ice fans who are familiar with Ji Tang can determine that the person who posted on Weibo is Ji Tiantian by his cheerful tone. After all, Tang Yi's cold personality is there.
Tiantian looked at everyone's comments with a smile, but soon one comment made her smile freeze on her face.
The comment read: "Tiantian, you've been exposed on the forum (covering face emoji)".
Ji Tiantian quickly opened the figure skating forum and saw a striking hot post with the title: "Is this Tiantian's ID?"
Ji Tiantian took a deep breath and opened the post to see that her alias "TT loves to eat oden" had been screenshotted.
Ji Tiantian slapped her head hard, she was caught off guard. She never expected that the oden would have hidden secrets, and she was exposed while eating.
I accidentally leaked some information when chatting with Feifei before, so the ice fans in the forum have long known that Ji Tiantian has a vest in the forum.
TT is the abbreviation of Tiantian, and with the word "oden" added in, this account looks particularly suspicious. Clicking on the homepage of "TT loves to eat oden" you can see the posts Ji Tiantian has posted. The wording and tone are similar to those on Weibo, which basically exposes the identity of Ji Tiantian.
There were basically no major problems with the posts posted by Ji Tiantian's pseudonym, except for the earliest posts. Ji Tiantian initially asked in the forum how to ask the moderator to delete the post.
The astute fans traced the timeline and found that the post was posted by this account shortly after the 2010 National Championships. Among the posts that appeared at the same time, two were more popular: one was the animated picture post of Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi, and the other was the discussion post on the name of the Ji-Tang combination.
After discussion, ice fans unanimously agreed that the two posts that "TT loves to eat oden" wanted to delete were these two posts.
This further proves that I'm exposed. Apart from me, almost no one else wants to delete the post.
Ji Tiantian did post a question and found no one responded, so she sent a private message to the moderator asking if the post could be deleted, and then the matter was left unresolved.
In the post about the horse dropping, everyone started chatting excitedly.
23L: This vest must be Tiantian! Family, why does Tiantian want to delete those two posts so much? It must be because they really have something going on but don’t want to be discovered!
24L: Yes, yes. At that time, they were too young and afraid of being discovered by their coaches and parents...
25L: Ahhh, really! Only if it's true would they care so much about being exposed!
26L: It really hit me!
27L: I feel the atmosphere of the Winter Olympics season! Hahahaha, so lively!
…
Ji Tiantian looked at her phone, but there was no movement.
Really, can't she just want to delete the post because she's embarrassed?
At the time, she really didn't expect that a random post she made would be dug up three years later and used as evidence that "Tiantang CP is real."
I must be more careful next time. Ji Tiantian leaned weakly on the table. She had never expected that a meal of oden would be so full of ups and downs.
Tang Yi noticed something was wrong with Ji Tiantian, then logged into his own account to check Weibo, and by the way, he found the figure skating forum. He had been with Ji Tiantian for a long time, and he knew where she basically checked her phone.
Tang Yi couldn't help laughing when he saw Ji Tiantian's revealing post on the forum.
"What are you laughing at!" Ji Tiantian stretched out her fist and hit Tang Yi weakly.
"Everyone just cares about you." Tang Yi put away his smile and spoke to Ji Tiantian in a low voice.
Ji Tiantian nodded and slowly stood up. Anyway, what others said didn't count.
She poked at the remaining kelp in the bowl, cheered herself up and continued eating.
Tang Yi looked at Ji Tiantian, and after a while, he said, "You care so much, do others think we have that kind of relationship?"
Ji Tiantian couldn't help but glance at Tang Yi. She didn't know if it was an illusion, but she felt that Tang Yi's eyes at this moment were a little pitiful.
"Not really." Ji Tiantian couldn't help but whisper. Then she felt Tang Yi's eyes light up immediately.
Ji Tiantian couldn't help but frown and spoke sternly: "Tang Yi, I advise you to put away unnecessary thoughts. I am still a minor!" After saying that, she deliberately straightened her chest and pretended to have a clear conscience.
Tang Yi was silent for a moment, then said: "Then..."
"Well, you're not allowed to have thoughts that you shouldn't have as an adult!"
Ji Tiantian interrupted him, finished the last bite of kelp, quickly paid the bill, and hurried out. She didn't know why, at this moment her heartbeat and footsteps were a little messy.
Tang Yi was stunned for a moment, then a faint smile broke out on his face.
He quickly followed Ji Tiantian's footsteps.
In a blink of an eye, Ji Tang boarded the plane back to China. Returning with them were the pair skating duo Yu Sha Gaozhe who also participated in the NHK Cup. They won the second place in the station, the same as Ji Tang.
As soon as they landed at the Capital Airport, they were met by a group of ice fans who welcomed them.
"Come on, sweetie!"
"Go seafood team!"
The fans shouted their group's nickname. Perhaps because it was the Winter Olympics season, Ji Tiantian could feel the fans' growing enthusiasm both online and offline.
However, the time to receive cheers and enjoy the glory is always short, and Ji Tiantian and Tang Yi soon plunged into intensive training.
The overseas training has come to an end. In the next period of time, they will all train domestically, specifically improving the difficulty of the step sequence and striving to achieve a breakthrough.
Because the results in the two races were not very good, Ji Tang did not qualify for the Grand Prix Final this time, so they concentrated on training in China.
Now, even the experienced Tang Yi couldn't judge where they could go. They could only abandon all distractions and keep moving forward.
They are like two small boats sailing forward in the storm, but fortunately, they have each other to lean on.
During the high-intensity training, Ji Tiantian's muscle strain recurred. If the injury was relieved, she would train normally, and if not, she would reduce the amount of training. Tang Yi couldn't persuade her to stop training, so he could only accompany her wholeheartedly.
Before we knew it, the national championships were here.
The 2013 National Championships is also the finals for the Winter Olympics qualification. In this competition, the four figure skating events will determine the final places for the Winter Olympics. All the outstanding domestic figure skaters will be present.
Ji Tiantian, with her leg injury not fully healed, came to the competition venue with Tang Yi, and met Chang Yu who was massaging the knees of his female companion Wei Xiao.
Similar to Ji Tiantian, Wei Xiao’s old knee injury has recurred recently due to frequent competitions and training.
Ji Tang and the Smiling Faces duo will compete for the only Winter Olympics spot in ice dancing this time. This is the first time they have met at the National Championships since 2010.
Ji Tiantian looked at Wei Xiao, and Wei Xiao also looked at her, their eyes were firm and shining.
Out of respect for themselves and their opponents, they will all give their all.
The author has something to say:
Wow, it seems to be just right for the New Year and the Winter Olympics_(:з」∠)_The transparent author feels happy
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