127 Happy Birthday
◎ In each small ravine, the bones of many ancestors are buried.◎
Xu Dong was indeed very troubled by his family during this period, especially after returning from Moscow.
I had just gotten off the train station and was in a taxi heading to Tiantan East Road when my family called again.
Xu Dong didn't want to answer the call. After hanging up one call, another one came in. He could only press the answer button and listen to all the complaints on the other end of the phone.
"Didn't you say you'd be back in Beijing tomorrow? Why did you leave today? I'm already home, and you just ran off without a word? Do you have any basic manners?"
"I told Dad yesterday that I'm leaving today. He didn't tell you. What does it have to do with me?"
"Tell me the truth, what are you thinking? Do you have a lover?"
Xu Dong also got angry and hung up the phone.
Less than a second later, the phone rang again. Xu Dong said bluntly, "If you bring up blind dates again, I won't be going back for the New Year this year."
"How dare you? If you don't come back, your dad and I will go to the national team to find you! When you were an athlete, the national team didn't allow dating. Now that you're a coach, I don't believe that the national team still doesn't allow dating? Let me tell you, you're not young anymore. You said before that you would coach your players until the Moscow World Games. Now the World Games are over, and you've coached them to a Grand Slam. What's going on? Do you really want to..."
Xu Dong interrupted the voice on the phone, his tone extremely calm: "I have the final say in my own affairs. I will leave early this time, and I will leave early next time as well. If you don't feel embarrassed in front of your relatives and friends, I don't mind."
After saying that, Xu Dong hung up the phone again and turned it off.
As soon as I turned off my phone, the whole world became quiet.
Without these disturbing sounds in his ears, Xu Dong closed his eyes and cleared out all the messy thoughts in his mind.
Her family kept urging her to resign.
Anyway, I have already obtained the Grand Slam and my resume looks good. I might as well go to school to study for a master's degree and stay on to become a teacher.
After following the national team for these years, many of my old injuries have recurred.
The most serious problem is stomach disease.
Since the beginning of the year, Xu Dong has to go to the hospital almost every week to get appetite medicine.
The physical fatigue and the quarrel with his family drained a lot of his energy until Xu Dong changed into sportswear in the coaching room and took his racket to the training hall.
As a coach, you also have to help your players practice, but the rackets don't need to be too good. Xu Dong's old rackets have been used for four or five years and it's time to replace them. Zhu Qi brought her two when he came this time.
This racket is really comfortable to use, and the sound when hitting the ball is very clear. And most importantly, the handle is gourd-shaped, which is very suitable for people with small hands to hold without slipping.
As soon as Xu Dong appeared, he saw Ah Shui running towards him, and then yelled: "Coach Xu, did you bring me any delicious food——"
"Do you want to eat some 'melon seeds'?" Xu Dong stretched out his finger, wanting to knock on Ah Shui's head.
Zuo Zuo and You You also came over. The three of them surrounded Xu Dong and began to vividly describe their training experiences with several external experts during this period.
"Coach Xu, you don't know, that black guy, Caribou, is incredibly strong! I played a few ping-pong matches with him last time, and afterward, I felt like my racket was practically unusable."
"Yeah, yeah. Sister Baobao said this might be a racial advantage. Although Caribou was enlightened later, he was born with supernatural strength. He can pull the ball up with just strength..."
Xu Dong looked at the girls with a smile: "Really? So amazing."
Looking at these young smiling faces, Xu Dong suddenly felt that as long as he listened to the children's laughter and the sound of the racket hitting the white ball, he could forget all the troubles at home.
Sometimes, she felt that Chang Hongxia's idea of not getting married was very advanced, but sometimes she envied Chang Hongxia for being able to give up conventional thinking so easily and completely ignore the opinions of her family.
After taking three days off and taking the weekend break, Xu Dong has not appeared in the training hall for four days.
But I feel very relieved when I see the children in my group training in an orderly manner.
After asking, I found out that Zhu Qi has been in charge of the ball pulling training these days.
"Sister Baobao is amazing. Not only does she not fall behind in training, she also knows how much we have trained and whether we are qualified or not." Youyou sighed.
Ever since Zhu Qi won the Grand Slam, the kids on the team have been full of admiration for her.
Sometimes it feels like Zhu Qi has more presence than the coach, but she's not the coach after all, so the players feel closer to her. Often, Zhu Qi is more aware of the players' training problems, and many players feel that Zhu Qi's words are more effective than the coach's.
This led to a situation where when many coaches from other groups felt that there were some problems with the players' training, the players would instead say, "Sister Baobao said--" which would make the coaches very angry and they would then want to run over to complain to Mr. Buddha.
Before listening to the end, Foye also felt helpless: "Zhu Qi only made a suggestion, and she didn't use her Grand Slam status to force the players to practice according to her advice. How to practice is up to the players themselves."
"But what if the players only listen to her and not us? How can we manage the team?"
"Then think about your own problems. Why won't your players even listen to you?" Foye had been enjoying a surge of success lately. The women's team had won numerous awards and received numerous commendations from officials. He himself had also received numerous honors and titles. He knew who was responsible for all this, so he wouldn't risk his life at this moment.
Xu Dong knew that Zhu Qi was no ordinary person. In He Qianlu's words, he would soar to the sky sooner or later.
At the age of twenty-one, he has already reached the top of the pyramid.
The future is limitless.
Xu Dong thought that maybe one day he would leave the coaching staff, and there would definitely be many coaches in the team who would be willing to take Zhu Qi away.
But... she still didn't want to give up this job for her own selfish reasons.
After all, this is where she struggled for the first half of her life.
"No matter what, respect your own heart." Zhu Qi stood next to the table, swinging the racket again and again, and suddenly said this.
Xu Dong was stunned for a moment, and looked back at Zhu Qi who was still pulling the ball. For a moment, he couldn't tell whether Zhu Qi was talking to him or to Xiao Lingling on the opposite side.
But Zhu Qi followed up with another sentence: "...If you decide to smash, do it. Don't hesitate. Otherwise, your chance will be wasted and your opponent won't give you another chance to score."
After saying that, Zhu Qi followed up with a series of moves including a forehand side cut and a forehand block, knocking Xiao Lingdang to the ground without any strength left.
Xiao Lingling wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, revealing a tired expression.
Zhu Qi made a "pause" gesture: "Take a break."
"Okay——" Little Bell nodded hurriedly.
Xu Dong looked at Zhu Qi and felt very relieved.
Forget it, let’s talk about the future later.
Xu Dong took a deep breath, stood in front of the players in his group and said, "Practice for another half an hour, and then we will have group physical training after half an hour!"
"Yes——" the players shouted.
/
The national table tennis team hired a Chinese teacher for the new foreigners at home, and also hired an English teacher for the other players, who would take classes for one hour every day.
Ren Xinhua's point was that players would be traveling frequently for matches, and the coach wouldn't be able to provide one-on-one support. If he could improve his English, it would be more convenient for future travel.
Zhu Qi felt that she didn't need it. She had always been recognized in the team as the one with fluent English communication skills. She often acted as an interpreter for the national table tennis team players.
Moreover, she hadn't sat in front of a square "desk" for a long time, and she was really not used to it. She thought it would be great to use this hour to practice serving. Forcing her to sit on the stool was like forcing Zhang Fei to embroider.
Ren Xinhua, however, felt that while athletes joining the provincial team might not take academic courses, they should still have a solid cultural background. Zhu Qi, because of his English proficiency, should practice with the group. This would also help those struggling with spoken English and act as a "joy group" for the teachers.
Because he could not be the only "special one", Zhu Qi could only follow the main group and sit on the bench in the small auditorium to "attend class".
In the entire national table tennis team, only Zhu Qi and Song Linzhou's English is better. Jia Jia and Mori Yunan of the Hong Kong team have also studied with cultural students since childhood, so although their English is not fluent, it is much better than others.
So, among a bunch of sports students who fell asleep in class, these four players whose English was decent became the targets of frequent questioning and calling on names by the teacher.
Time flies.
Until New Year's Eve, there were three consecutive snowfalls in Beijing.
On the day when the snow melted, all members of the national table tennis team had one of the few three-day holidays and were able to go home and spend the New Year reunion with their families.
Because Zhu Qi was promoted in military rank, he became the highest-ranking member of the Bayi Team.
Although there is only one rank from lieutenant to second lieutenant, there is an old saying that goes, a higher rank can crush a lower rank.
Although Zhu Qi wasn't the captain of the women's team, he was one level below Daxiong in terms of national team rank. However, whenever they went to the Bayi team for a meeting, Daxiong and the badminton team's Sunshine Team would jokingly greet Zhu Qi with a "Hello, Commander."
Before Zhu Qi even arrived in Jianghuai, the mayor invited her and Qin Xiaoba to preside over the opening ceremony of Jianghuai Park. The park was a free national-level attraction that had been three years in the making. It also featured numerous ping-pong tables, a gesture of public interest in physical activity. The mayor hoped to attract Zhu Qi and Qin Xiaoba to the park to boost traffic and promote the park.
Zhu Qi thought this was a very public welfare-oriented matter and agreed.
The industrial opening ceremony happened to be on the day before New Year’s Eve. There were many small vendors selling New Year’s goods on the street. The crowds of people were surging, and countless heads were piled up from outside the park to inside the park.
Zhu Qi and Qin Xiaoba were even asked to wear military uniforms, with a large red flower on their chests, a 1960s-style ornament. Standing out in the crowd, they looked like a streak of light. Many people even brought their own cameras and took photos of Zhu Qi and Qin Xiaoba.
Later, for some reason, some media outlets that were not invited also came to join in the fun. In less than half a day, the headline "Moscow's new Grand Slam appeared in Jianghuai Park and "competed" in table tennis with the public" was all over the major newspapers.
Qin Xiaoba is usually nonchalant, but once he puts on his military uniform and salutes everyone who greets him, it feels like the little brat he raised at home has become an adult.
"Little brother." A little girl with a coquettish voice pulled Qin Xiaoba's fingers and shouted with her eyes open like a little milk ball.
Qin Xiaoba couldn't stop laughing. He squatted down and pinched her cheeks.
The little girl hooked her arms around his neck, and when Qin Xiaoba picked her up, her face turned red and she was trembling with fear because she had never held a child before. The parents of the girl next to her laughed so hard that they fell over.
The whole event lasted a whole day.
Although there were a lot of people, Zhu Qi didn't feel tired at all.
The media that came this time were all very formal, and their manners and professionalism were very good in all aspects.
In fact, after Zhu Qi's last visit to Beijing and the incident with the production crew ended up at the police station, the family approached some media outlets hoping to capitalize on their family's troubles, hoping to gain some publicity or even some sympathy by crying poor in front of the cameras. However, word spread so quickly within the community, and since everyone had heard that Zhu Qi was a tough guy, no one was willing to take the bait.
Because the son of that family couldn't go back to school and couldn't get a high school diploma, he could only learn a craft from a master, hoping to graduate early and go out to work.
The lawyer that A Shui introduced to Zhu Qi also began to collect information from all aspects. During this period, he ran around, from Shanghai to Jianghuai and then to Beijing, helping Zhu Qi with his work.
Zhu Qi was also very generous. In addition to the legal fees, he directly reimbursed all accommodation expenses and round-trip travel expenses.
Many people think that Zhu Qi is really idle and there is no need to go through so many troubles for 60,000 yuan. Even if he wins the lawsuit, the money he spends will be no less than 30,000 or 40,000 yuan, not to mention that he may not even get the 60,000 yuan.
But Zhu Qi felt that this statement was correct.
You can’t just endure it just because the rights protection period is long.
This will only make these people more arrogant.
Anyway, there are lawyers taking care of the whole process, and she is not short of money now, so she might as well have fun.
Zhu Qi and Qin Xiaoba did not ask for appearance fees for this charity event, and due to military restrictions they were not allowed to attend commercial events, but fortunately it gave Zhu Qi's rackets some publicity.
The store basically sells five to seven swords every day, and about twenty swords a day on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
In the three months from the time Zhu Qiguang had the surgery to the time he returned home for the Chinese New Year of the following year, the thousand-yuan rackets in the store were almost sold out.
Especially since Zhu Qi won the "Miriam" cup again in this National Table Tennis Championship, the store sold more than 70 pairs of them on the same day.
Now it is equivalent to Zhu Qi winning a championship or playing a game, and the tennis rackets in the store will sell like hotcakes.
My aunt was too busy in the store by herself, so she called my aunt over to join her. The two of them were surprisingly good at scheduling their shifts. They both worked five days a week and took turns staying at home for two days a week.
My aunt and my younger sister have always been recognized as model sisters-in-law by people in the neighborhood.
During the three days I stayed at home, my aunt and my younger sister-in-law cooked together every day for the two children at home.
The four adults in the family were very happy. They toasted each other and talked about their prospects for the future of their two children.
When she was moved, my aunt shed tears: "If my second sister were still alive, she would see the two children have such promising futures..."
As Zhu Qi listened, his mood also became heavy.
Although Qin Xiaoba had never met his second aunt, he often heard his mother talk about some of her past. In his perception, his second aunt was a very gentle and kind person, but also a little too naive and easily deceived.
Seeing that Zhu Qi was also feeling a little down, his uncle suggested, "Tomorrow is the first day of the new year, so let's go visit the second child's grave. We don't have that many taboos in our family, and since it's so rare for the child to come home, we should go see the second child."
The family agreed on this.
The next day, Zhu Qi and Qin Xiaoba changed into military uniforms again and took a three-hour van ride to the hilltop of their hometown. People nowadays still have the habit of burying graves in their hometown.
The bones of many ancestors are buried in each small ravine.
After Zhu Qi was reborn, she came here every year until she was ten years old, but after joining the provincial team, the training became too tedious and she stopped coming. This was her first time to see her mother in twelve years.
After lighting a stick of incense, pouring a glass of wine and burning a basin of paper money in front of the grave.
Zhu Qi and Qin Xiaoba bowed towards the stone tablet.
"I remember you told me before you passed away that you didn't need me to achieve anything in the future, and you hoped that I would be happy every day. Now... I am doing what I love most, and I have achieved success in this career. I am very happy every day." Zhu Qi murmured, watching the paper money in front of him burning with scarlet flames.
A breeze blew by, causing the flames to dance happily in the air, as if it was a response from someone underground.
Zhu Qi watched the yellow paper gradually turn into ashes, and watched the ethereal green smoke rising up in wisps, which brought Zhu Qi's thoughts to many past memories.
From my first encounter with table tennis in a previous life, to playing a few street games with my old coach, I used the small bonuses to buy my first brand-new racket. Later, I earned my coaching license by playing in tournaments while taking online courses.
At that time, I was alone, with a scumbag father who held me back, a vampire stepmother, and a burdensome younger brother.
But now... everything is different.
Zhu Qi took a deep breath, waited for the paper money to burn out, bowed for the last time, and then the group prepared to leave.
On the way back, Qin Xiaoba suddenly said without thinking: "Sister, am I your only brother?"
Zhu Qi looked at the boy's serious expression and almost burst out laughing: "Of course, why?"
Qin Xiaobayi hooked her arm around Zhu Qi's shoulders and leaned against his head, coquettishly saying, "I'm just afraid that if you soften your heart one day, you'll get cheated by that family again..."
"Are you kidding me? How is that possible?"
"You have always been a person with a sharp tongue but a soft heart. I know it." Qin Xiaoba said with a playful smile, but also with some emotion. Although it seemed that his elder sister wanted to "kill all of them", she actually left them a chance every time.
It's a pity that the family didn't seize any opportunity and insisted on jumping on Zhu Qi's minefield.
Sitting in the car, watching the changing scenery outside the window, Zhu Qi suddenly remembered that when Qin Xiaoba was a child and had just joined the provincial team, he would stick to him every day to compete and train everywhere.
But the little head next to the shoulders has now grown into a big head.
The parents in the front turned around and looked at the brother and sister at the back, sleeping with their heads touching each other.
All four of them were smiling and having a great time.
/
After spending the New Year at home, Zhu Qi and Qin Xiaoba had to return to the team two days later because it snowed in Jianghuai and a train track to Chaojing was under repair.
After reporting to Ren Xinhua, Ren Xinhua also agreed.
Unexpectedly, when Zhu Qi and Qin Xiaoba finally arrived in Chaojing, panting and braving the snowstorm, the entire Tiantan East Road was pitch black.
"Fuck, this is so scary, just like in a zombie movie. Where are they?" Qin Xiaoba poked his head out and looked at the dark dormitory building and the dark training hall. Only a row of street lights were on, illuminating the figures of two people dragging their luggage on the street, flickering like candlelight.
"Stop talking nonsense. Are you trying to play a prank on us?"
Zhu Qi dragged the suitcase downstairs to the dormitory and found that the dormitory upstairs was locked.
I called Maomao and Ashui, but no one answered.
Until three seconds later, Song Linzhou sent her a message.
【Come to the training hall.】
An idea occurred to Zhu Qi, and he seemed to know what was going on.
The brother and sister walked to the training hall and pushed open the door.
Squeak——
Along with the sound of the door opening, there was a sound of gas breaking through the rubber from inside the house.
"Bang--"
Turn on the lights!
Ren Xinhua, Xu Dong, Gao Xiaofeng, Chang Hongxia, several coaches and all the players were standing inside the goal. The cat in the middle was holding a three-layer cake with 22 candles on it.
And the most important thing is that He Qianlu also came.
Everyone said in unison.
"Happy birthday!"
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