141 Invited by North Korea
◎Even if you drink ice for ten years, it is hard to cool your hot blood.◎
Xi Ling'en went to Chaojing Hospital for repair surgery because a ligament in his wrist was broken.
When Zhu Qi and the others arrived, Xi Ling'en's surgery had already been completed and he was already in the recovery period.
Xi Ling'en hadn't expected the Chinese team to come visit her. Looking at the bouquets of flowers in Maomao and the others' hands, she was deeply moved. "I watched Lyon's game. You guys were all great!"
Especially Zhu Qi.
Xi Lingen's coach was very emotional when she watched the game with her.
There's really no way to reason with someone about talent.
Across the Yalu River, in the territory of the Kim family, there is also a talented Korean girl.
At the age of 15, she was given the position of captain of the North Korean women's team and was defined by the whole of North Korea as the person who could stand at the top of the table tennis pyramid.
Xi Ling'en has shown outstanding athletic talent and tenacity since she was young, and she knows what responsibilities she will shoulder.
At that time, North Korea, a nation in ruins and impoverished, mobilized its entire nation to send her to China for a year of study. Later, Xi Ling'en was given the greatest education and support, enabling her to more quickly shoulder the responsibility of carrying the future of North Korea.
Xi Ling'en also always thought that his talent was unmatched, until another girl appeared, Xi Ling'en realized that for an athlete, the most important thing is not only talent but also physical fitness.
Although Zhu Qi had undergone surgery before, he recovered very quickly.
Judging from the current games, the situation is even better than before.
Xi Ling'en's wrist ligaments were also a past injury. After all, his primary focus was on defensive arc play, one that outlasted his opponents and exhausted himself. This took a greater toll on his wrist. During his hospital visit, the doctor remarked that Xi Ling'en's wrist strain was comparable to that of a forty-year-old farmer who worked the fields year-round.
Maomao felt a little empathy when he heard this, as he had been evaluated in the same way by a doctor before.
During this period, the Chinese team players frequently visited Xi Lingen, which touched the North Korean coaches very much.
On the day Xi Ling'en was discharged from the hospital and was preparing to return home, the North Korean coach approached Maomao and said, "I'd like to invite you to visit the North Korean training base."
Maomao is 27 years old and has been the captain of the women's team for 6 years.
In the team, many players felt that what Maomao said was equivalent to what the coach said, and many external associations also regarded Maomao as half a coach of the women's team, so they did not directly invite Maomao.
Maomao thinks this is a very meaningful thing, as it promotes the federation of the two countries.
She was also very curious about the North Korean team's training methods. She heard that they completely copied the national team's model, but she didn't know if it was true.
But he still told Ren Xinhua first. Ren Xinhua did not directly express his agreement on the phone. Instead, he hung up the phone first and called Maomao back ten minutes later, telling Maomao that it was okay.
Many national teams have this kind of activities of visiting foreign association stadiums.
Moreover, this time it was the North Korean coach who took the initiative to invite him face to face. It is estimated that the North Korean side has also filed a record with its own General Administration of Sports.
However, only the three current main players of the women's team are invited.
When Foye heard this, he was very surprised: "Even the coach won't let me go?"
Maomao stood in the coach's office and reported his "diplomacy" to the coaches: "Yes."
The Buddha suddenly didn't know what to say.
Under normal circumstances, if you want to invite other national teams to visit your home or conduct academic exchanges, the coaching staff and players must go together.
After all, many trivial matters in life, as well as what not to eat and what not to say, require a coach to supervise.
But Ren Xinhua found it understandable: "North Korea has always behaved this way. They don't like to have too much interaction with the outside world. And I've never heard of North Korea inviting any national team to visit their home. After all, it's a mysterious team, and nothing is open to the public."
"So, are we just letting Maomao and the other two go?" "I heard the rules in North Korea are really strict. There are a lot of places you can't enter, and a lot of things you can't say. I heard there's no heating, and the food... will it be okay?"
"Why are you acting like a capitalist, being so picky about food and clothes?" Shi Ge sat at his desk, sipping tea. The men's team had performed well in the World Cup, and he'd been in a good mood for a few days, even joking about Fo Ye. "I think these three girls are more resourceful than you. Look how comfortable you've been these past two years, with Maomao and Baobao managing the women's team for you, and your belly has gotten bigger."
"Are you envious? It's because there are no capable people in your team." The Buddha was not angry and said sarcastically.
"Alright." Ren Xinhua glanced at the two of them, then at the cat in front of them. "Then the three of you go. Didn't you say you'll only be there for a week? Think of it as an academic exchange. Learn as much as you can, and come back and tell us about their training methods."
After a pause, Ren Xinhua reminded him of something else.
"You three are representing the entire Chinese team this time, so first of all, you need to focus on maintaining relations between the two sides. Also, there are a lot of rules in North Korea, the first of which is language. You can't speak English or Korean in North Korea, but Xi Ling'en will be there to translate for you. Listen if you can understand, and watch if you don't. You and Bao Bao are both opinionated people, so let Ah Shui follow you and just don't say the wrong thing."
Maomao nodded and said, "Yeah, I understand."
Ren Xinhua agreed.
The three main players of the women's team are about to leave for North Korea.
This is a big deal for the national team.
Although coaches feel that North Korea is somewhat isolated, even this kind of national-level joint diplomacy has limited quotas.
But in fact, Ren Xinhua felt that this was a manifestation of North Korea's trust in the Chinese team.
Because North Korea has kept its borders closed for a long time since World War II.
There may be some North Korean defectors who run from North Korea to the border of the three northeastern provinces and then fly to South Korea, but I have never heard of any outsiders being able to enter North Korea.
After hearing Maomao convey Ren Xinhua's meaning, Ah Shui excitedly said while packing his things in the dormitory, "No one has ever told us what North Korea is like. If we go there this time, we will definitely envy others to death."
Seeing that Ah Shui really was going on a trip, Zhu Qi followed and reminded him, "You can't bring your cell phones or cameras. North Korea doesn't allow photography. And those imported snacks of yours, anything with English on it is not allowed."
"Ah? Even the cell phone doesn't work? Then how can we contact the national team? How are they going to pick us up later?" A Shui sat on his suitcase, puffing out his cheeks.
"The North Korean team will help us contact them, so you don't have to bring anything with you. Since we are already on their territory, just follow their arrangements." Maomao came back from the rooftop after collecting clothes and began to pack his things.
"Hey, North Korea is so mysterious, isn't it? Are human traffickers going to kidnap us all?" Ah Shui joked, reaching out and pinching the flesh on his arm. "I just weighed myself today, and I've gained another five pounds. I can sell a lot of meat!"
"Human flesh is worthless, unless you are made of gold," laughed Maomao.
The three girls chatted and laughed for a while and lived on the seventh floor for eight years.
For them, the time they spend here is almost longer than at home.
In the past days and nights, they packed their luggage face to face countless times, discussed the competitions and accommodation in other places,
Ah Shui has become accustomed to following behind her two sisters, and feels that the scenery is beautiful wherever they go.
Watching Maomao and Zhu Qi discussing whether to bring rackets, how many boxes of balls, and how many rubbers to bring, Ah Shui suddenly sighed, "I really hope it can always be like this..."
Although the national team has heavy tasks and great pressure.
But no matter how long it has passed, I will feel that it is difficult to have such pure and passionate years in life again.
Zhu Qi thought that the older generation, such as Xu Dong and He Qianlu, might have had such thoughts at some point in time.
A Shui is a player from Shanghai. Before she retired, the Shanghai Province had already arranged a position for her.
They probably feared that another province would come and snatch players from them, just like when the Bayi team asked Zhu Qi to leave Jianghuai Province, so they arranged a job for Ah Shui in Shanghai in advance. As long as Ah Shui retired, he could return and join the team seamlessly.
As for Zhu Qi and Maomao, it's even harder to say whether they'll stay in the capital or return to their local team. Even if they're in the same province, they probably won't be able to live under the same roof forever and see each other every day. They'll also have their own new social circles and meet more people, but eventually they'll have to separate...
When he thought of this, A Shui no longer had the mood to go out and play.
When I was young, I always felt that we still had a long time to spend together.
But as Maomao celebrated his 27th birthday, A Shui felt... that there was a feeling that each day passed was one less day.
/
The trip to North Korea was scheduled for three days later. I guess North Korea also needs to prepare to welcome the guests, so the women's team still has to carry out normal training.
Since working with the Hong Kong team, Qin Xiaoba's overall condition has improved several degrees compared to before. After training, he also developed the habit of writing a diary to record his daily training experience.
Ah Shui guessed that it might be that Mori Yunan continued to develop in the Hong Kong team, and Qin Xiaoba didn't want to meet him on the court in the future and find that the other person's skills had improved several degrees, while his own level remained the same.
Zhu Qi and Qin Xiaoba are both pressure-type players.
The greater the external pressure, the more potential you can unleash.
It’s just that Zhu Qi can put pressure on himself, while Qin Xiaoba is the one who has to be pressured by others.
All in all, Gao Xiaofeng and Shi Ge are very satisfied with Qin Xiaoba's current self-awareness.
From the morning run to the end of training, afternoon training, and then extra training in the evening.
The men's and women's teams were each in their own areas, trying to compete with each other. No one spoke during training, and no matter who entered the gym, they could only hear the frequent and repetitive sounds of hitting the ball.
Because Zhu Qi and the others will be gone for a week this time, the team's training will have to return to the previous time when the coaches were in charge.
Zhu Qi was afraid that these children had become accustomed to the atmosphere of him and Maomao watching their training, so he and Maomao assigned them the daily training plan and the inspection after he returned from North Korea.
"Each person will practice four round-trip drills a day, twenty sets of pull shots, fixed-point shots, and loop shots... After we return, we'll have a women's team practice match to participate in the points system for team selection. The bottom three will be placed in a round-robin tournament for the first and second teams. If you rank low in the first and second team round-robin tournament, you'll automatically be dropped to the second team. Do you understand?"
The row of girls in front of Maomao all said in unison, "Yes!"
The men's team next to them was watching this scene and felt very emotional.
Now the players on the women's team listen more to Maomao and Zhu Qi, and may not even follow the coach's arrangements.
It's really the opposite of Tiangang.
But supervising the training of the women's team players will definitely distract some of my attention.
Zhu Qi felt that his physical strength had been depleted a lot during this period, and he was indeed no longer as energetic as he was when he was eighteen or nineteen years old.
In the evening, the female team players completed their training, and A Shui took a few girls to the public bathhouse to take a shower.
Maomao had to go to a meeting with the coaches, and only three or two players were left in the entire training hall, taking a brief rest in the corner.
Song Linzhou had just packed up his things and was about to turn off the lights in the men's team's training hall when he found Zhu Qi resting in the corner on three horizontal chairs connected together.
When Song Linzhou tiptoed over, he saw that Zhu Qi had fallen asleep from exhaustion.
During this period, in addition to competing himself, he also had to watch Qin Xiaoba and Sen Yunan's men's doubles training. Even after the World Cup, he still had to arrange the daily schedule of the women's team players.
She...looks a little haggard.
It seemed that it was because she happened to sleep next to the window, and the wind from outside blew in just enough to make her hair sway slightly.
Song Linzhou took the sports jacket hanging on the back of the chair next to him, covered her with it, and then tiptoed to close the window.
There were ping-pong balls scattered on the ground, as well as a pile of empty mineral water bottles, snack bags for replenishing energy, and bottles of expansion oil with the caps not screwed on properly.
Song Linzhou didn't wake Zhu Qi up, knowing that sleep was the only way for athletes to recover their strength.
He was silently cleaning up the mess on the floor, and when he accidentally stepped on a ball, the little girl on the bench frowned and said.
"A Shui, you go back first, I'll clean up here."
Song Linzhou gathered the balls into a plastic basin and whispered, "They've already gone home. You should go back and rest too."
When Zhu Qi heard the voice, he opened his eyes without any sleepiness.
She saw that the training ground, which was a mess before she fell asleep, was now as clean as before. All the balls were placed in the basin, the garbage bags were swept aside, and the plastic bottles were put into cardboard boxes.
She scratched her sore eyes, a little surprised: "You cleaned it?"
"I saw you were tired, so I just took advantage of it..." Song Linzhou tied the plastic bag open with his hand and prepared to drag it away. "I'll go take out the trash, you can just turn off the lights later."
Just as he reached the door, Song Linzhou suddenly turned back, took something out of his pocket and handed it to Zhu Qi.
"Oh, by the way, this is for you."
"What?"
"Page machines can be used in North Korea." Song Linzhou handed over a palm-sized plastic box with only a few simple buttons on it. Even the screen, which was as wide as a fingernail, was only flashing very old-fashioned square mosaic bytes.
Zhu Qi wondered how this guy had everything. This kind of pager was almost eliminated by Nokia and mobile phones. She almost forgot the tears of this era.
This pager is not a telephone, but an early text message machine.
You need to send a short message or number to the paging station first, and then the paging station will relay the message to the person you want to contact.
Back then, there were some small notebooks specifically for recording numbers. Numerical puns, such as "520" equals "I love you" and "461" equals "I miss you," were the earliest origins of these cheesy love phrases, which were expanded due to the existence of pagers.
If you want to tell the coaching team what time to arrive in Chaojing and what time to pick you up, just send the number directly.
For North Korea, which does not want anything in its country to leak out, this way of communicating with the outside world is acceptable.
Seeing Zhu Qi was a little curious, Song Linzhou thought she didn't know how to use it, so he went over and pressed a few buttons: "The main pager number in Chaojing is..."
By the time Maomao and the coaches finished their meeting and came to find Zhu Qi, Song Linzhou had already packed up everything and left with a garbage bag.
The two turned off the lights in the training hall, locked the door, and then returned to the dormitory together.
Walking on the gravel road, Maomao saw Zhu Qi holding an antique in his hand. He immediately knew who gave it to him: "Da Ling gave it to you, right?"
"Um."
"I was wondering why he's been looking for this these past few days..." Maomao laughed. "He's 26 this year, so I guess we'll retire together..."
Maomao is the oldest player in the national team, followed by Song Linzhou and Daxiong, who are one year younger than her.
As soon as an athlete turns 25, both the coach and the player themselves will consider retirement.
But Zhu Qi had never heard Maomao himself propose to retire.
Both Maomao and the coaching staff feel that Maomao will definitely be able to participate in the next Riyadh tournament. If he is in good shape after the game, he may be able to give it a try in the next Los Angeles tournament.
But after hearing what Maomao said, Zhu Qi inexplicably felt a familiar sense of regret.
This feeling is very similar to the state Chang Hongxia was in when she was about to retire.
"Even drinking ice for ten years cannot cool your hot blood. How far have you come?" Zhu Qi said lightly.
Zhu Qi also always felt that Maomao was not such a sentimental person, and her heart had always been gentle and firm.
But athletes know their bodies better than anyone else.
"A doctor once told me that I could only fight until I was 18. Now nine years have passed, and I've already made enough money," Maomao said with a smile.
Despite the surgery, her back injury worsened. This time, Maomao competed in two events: singles and doubles with Lulu. For the next few matches, she had to get three injections every night.
Even now, Mao Mao has a large bandage wrapped around his waist to stabilize it and prevent further strain on his already injured waist.
When people lose a game, they will have some self-doubt.
Cats are also people, and they also feel frustrated.
Zhu Qi has a deep understanding of this.
Although Zhu Qi's physical fitness is envied by many coaches and players, who think that her body is not easily injured and recovers quickly, her ankles are the only area she has suffered some strain after training for so many years.
But the cat's body is the most seriously damaged one among all the wounds.
From shoulder injuries to back injuries to knee injuries, my parts are almost at the age of retirement.
Especially after playing in the Florida Table Tennis Championships with Zhu Qi, Maomao's condition did not improve. He relied entirely on years of competition experience and solid basic skills to crush the foreign players.
Thinking about the current successors of the women's team, the conditions of Sasa and Youyou are somewhat erratic, and Xiao Lingdang is only 17 years old this year.
Think about it, when Zhu Qi was 17 years old, he had already won his first World Games gold medal.
In fact, it’s not that the next generation of players are mediocre, but that Zhu Qi’s appearance is too dazzling.
Zhu Qi said to Maomao, "Sports competitions are changing so quickly, and it's only a matter of time before we retire. But we can't give up our position as the absolute main force. We need them to use their own strength to defeat us."
Just like back then... Zhu Qi picked Chang Hongxia out.
Maomao took a deep breath and said slowly: "Yes..."
Zhu Qi could hear Maomao's sadness and confusion. She said to Maomao, "What's more, you have four more gold medals than me from the Chinese Games, Asian Games, and World Games. I won't let you go until I surpass you."
Maomao felt warm in his heart, and the two smiled at each other.
The shadows of people walking under the street lights gradually lengthen.
/
When leaving for North Korea.
As soon as Zhu Qi and the others landed, no one expected the grand welcome they would receive...
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