competition

Because the wives of soldiers in the army have to go to work, the table tennis competition was scheduled to be held on Sunday, starting on April 15th, lasting for three weeks and ending at the end of April.

The registration period is relatively flexible, about half a month, and the deadline is 6pm on April 14th.

But because the prizes of the competition were very real, the wives of military personnel were very enthusiastic about signing up, and almost all the wives of military personnel in the compound had signed up before the Qingming Festival.

So after the holiday, the first thing Liang Juan did when she got to work was to check the list, thinking that if all the military wives had signed up, she would be able to relax a little and just wait for the competition to begin.

But Liang Juan didn't expect that there were some military wives in the compound who didn't care about the prizes.

Forget about the wives of the division commander and deputy division commander. After all, given their husbands' status, it is indeed inappropriate for them to compete with ordinary military wives for ten kilograms of rice and five kilograms of noodles.

There were actually more than ten ordinary military wives who did not sign up, but it was not surprising if you thought about it carefully. These ten or so military wives were relatively quiet. Maybe they really didn’t know how to play, and they didn’t want to lose face like those extroverted military wives. Even if they didn’t know how to play, they would practice before the game, hoping to find some loopholes after the game started.

The Women's Federation organizes activities to prevent military wives from sitting around doing nothing and gossiping about other people, and also to add some color to everyone's spare time life.

So after going through the list, Liang Juan didn't plan to talk to these military wives one by one, asking them to sign up to make things more lively. There was no need. Even if they were forced to come to the stage, they still wouldn't know how to fight, and it would be awkward for them to just stand there.

You can talk to them and tell them not to stay at home during the competition days, but to go out and join in the fun as a spectator. Maybe you can take the opportunity to get to know more people.

But I can ignore the others, but I can't let Ye Min go. I must have a good talk with her.

At noon that day, Ye Min had just entered the family compound when she was stopped by Liang Juan, who was waiting for her: "Don't you know how to play table tennis? Why didn't I see you sign up for the competition?"

"I can, but my level is..." Ye Min shrugged and gave Liang Juan a look that said "you know what I mean".

"What's the big deal? It's just the wives of the military having fun," Liang Juan said two names. "They had never played table tennis before. When they heard that the compound was going to hold a competition, they came to me to sign up the next day. They went to the table to practice after dinner every day these days, and now they are quite good at it."

Ye Min said: "They have time to practice, but I don't."

"Why don't you have it? You didn't go to bed right after dinner, did you? Besides, you've been playing table tennis for more than ten years. Even if you're not good enough, you can't be worse than those who practice for a few days, right?" Liang Juan said, "Don't listen to them saying they're going for the prizes. In fact, everyone knows whether they have a chance or not. But life is only a few short decades. If you don't like this and find that it's troublesome, when you're old and look back, what's the point of this life? Don't you think this makes sense?"

After hearing this, Ye Min felt that Liang Juan was really good at talking. She had originally had no intention of participating in the competition, but after hearing what she said, she was really tempted.

Yes, life is only a few decades long. If you don't join in the fun, what's the point? She doesn't even know how many years she has left to live.

Seeing Ye Min's excitement, Liang Juan continued, "You don't have to feel embarrassed to compete on stage. Before the quarterfinals, there are several stages. How can there be so many people staring at you! If you can make it to the quarterfinals, it means you are capable and you are not afraid of being watched. Don't you agree?"

"Well...okay, I'll sign up."

"That's settled, I'll add your name this afternoon." Liang Juan nodded, then asked, "How about Xiao Qian playing table tennis? I see she hasn't signed up either?"

Ye Min said: "She really can't."

Liang Juan looked regretful. "Well, I won't add her name, but you can tell her not to stay at home during the competition and go out more often. It is said that fate brings people together. It is fate that we, who come from all corners of the world, can get together and become neighbors, right?"

"Okay, I'll tell her when I get home."

Because they were discussing the registration, the two had been standing at the cafeteria door for a while. After they finished talking, Liang Juan went back. She had many children at home, and the burden was heavy on both sides. She could not afford to eat in the cafeteria three times a day.

Fortunately, the Women's Federation has flexible working hours and a two-hour break at noon. As long as she doesn't have to work overtime, she will go home to cook at noon. The reason she didn't go home until now was just to wait for Ye Min.

When Ye Min entered the cafeteria, the peak period had passed and the queue at the window was not long, so it was her turn in a few minutes.

The food in the canteen of the family compound was okay, with pickled mustard greens provided for almost every meal. Plus, it was only the beginning of the month, and Ye Min had plenty of meat coupons, so she wasn't stingy and ordered pickled mustard greens with both meals, one being braised chicken with potatoes, and the other being sweet and sour spare ribs, which she and Qian Xiaoyun could share.

After buying food, Ye Min went straight to Qian Xiaoyun's house.

Qian Xiaoyun was doing needlework in the house while An An was sitting in the walker playing with toys. When they heard the noise, they both looked up, one asked, "Are you getting off work?" and the other shouted, "Mom."

Ye Min put the lunch box on the dining table, went over to pick An An out of the walker, kissed her on the cheek and asked, "An An, do you miss your mom?" Then she said to Qian Xiaoyun, "The food in the cafeteria is especially good today, with chicken and spare ribs."

"Really? It seems like the beginning of the month is really different." Qian Xiaoyun put down his work and opened the lunch box. As he opened it, he asked, "Do you want to get something for An An?"

An An's teeth are growing very fast. Now she has four teeth on each upper and lower part, and can chew rice. So Ye Min has started to reduce the amount of milk she drinks and feed her rice three times a day.

Ye Min said, "Give her some."

After dividing the food, the two sat around the table. While feeding An An, Ye Min told Qian Xiaoyun that she had just signed up for a table tennis competition.

Qian Xiaoyun said while eating: "Not bad, you play table tennis well, maybe you can get into the top three."

Ye Min was not so confident: "It's not bad at all. When I was in Jiangcheng, the factory held a table tennis competition, and I never made it into the top ten."

At that time, technology was not advanced enough and people's entertainment life was also scarce, so the larger the state-owned factories, the more often they would organize activities.

There are social gatherings for relationships, and book clubs for studies, but the most common are various competitions, such as basketball, table tennis, and badminton. Football is less common because smaller cities may not even have a football field.

For activities held in the factory, cadres are usually assigned to departments and workers are assigned to groups. When Ye Min was in Jiangcheng, he worked in the factory's bathroom. The number of people there could be counted on one hand, and most of the other people were in their thirties or forties and didn't like to move much.

So apart from basketball games, which were really untenable, Ye Min was basically the one who was caught in other games.

It’s just that she didn’t have enough strength, so she always made it three rounds in badminton. Table tennis was a little better, and when she was luckiest, she finished eleventh in the factory (women’s group).

Having been arrested so many times, Ye Min had originally not planned to join this time. But after listening to Liang Juan's words, she felt that she had always been pushed around in the past, and this time she wanted to listen to her heart.

Does she want to participate?

She thought.

Although he knew that what Ye Min said made sense, Qian Xiaoyun still wanted to comfort her and said, "The machine tool factory is also big. When you participated in the competition, there were more players than now, right?"

"Yes, more." Although the machine tool factory recruits people according to departments, there are many people who can play table tennis, and many people have taken the initiative to sign up.

"So, there are few military wives, and I heard that many of them don't know how to play, they just go there to join in the fun. Maybe you can make it into the top three this time." Qian Xiaoyun said, "Then we will all go to cheer you on."

Ye Min smiled: "Sister Liang mentioned you just now, and asked you not to stay at home during the competition days, but to go and join in the fun."

"Okay, I'll definitely go watch your game."

…

Ye Min had never played table tennis since she joined the army, and Meng Zheng only started to remember things after he joined the army, so he didn't know that she could play table tennis.

When Meng Zheng learned that she was going to participate in the competition, her first reaction was: "Ah? Mom, can you participate in the competition?"

Although Ye Min was not as confident in herself as Qian Xiaoyun was in her, she was still a little unhappy when she heard this. She said unhappily, "Why not? Your mother used to participate in the table tennis competition held in the factory every year, okay?"

Meng Zheng suddenly realized and asked curiously, "Mom, have you ever won an award?"

"Ahem," Ye Min said with a slightly uncomfortable expression, "I've won a few participation awards."

Meng Zheng didn't know that everyone got a participation award, so he thought it was a ranking award. He immediately stood up in awe: "Mom is so awesome!"

"Not that great~" Ye Min narrowed her eyes and smiled. Thinking of not winning the participation award this time, she said in a precautionary manner, "But I haven't played table tennis for a long time. I don't know if my feel is still there. I may not win the award this time."

Meng Zheng suddenly became anxious: "What should I do?" He wanted his mother to show off to others after winning the award!

Meng Cheng, who was trying not to laugh, put on a smile and gave a serious suggestion: "There are still a few days before the competition. We can practice more and get a feel for it."

Ye Min also wanted to get a feel for the game, so he nodded and said, "Okay, let's go to the court after dinner and have a look?"

"Um."

Ideals are full of hope, but reality is cruel. Ever since the notice of the table tennis match was posted, the tennis tables next to the basketball court have been occupied from morning to night.

In the past, those who came to play basketball were mostly teenagers. Today, when they went there, they saw military wives standing in three layers inside and outside. After one finished playing, another would take over. Some even quarreled because the person in front of them was occupying a spot.

The family of four stood outside and watched for a long time, but in the end no one felt comfortable enough to squeeze in.

Meng Zheng looked up and asked, "Mom and Dad, are we still trying to get the feel for it?"

An An also shouted: "Dad! Mom! Return!"

Ye Min felt that he would not be able to find it today, so he said, "Come back next time."

"When is the next time?"

Ye Min didn’t know when the next time would be. Judging from the rhythm, the game had not entered the final round, so it was estimated that there would be a lot of people at the table.

Fortunately, Meng Cheng was quick-witted. He thought that since there was no place for a ping-pong table, he could just build a temporary table himself.

After dinner the next night, he went directly to the Feng family to borrow a dining table, and put it together with their own dining table. He used wooden sticks and ropes to pull a line in the middle. It looked no worse than the table next to the basketball court.

I borrowed the ping-pong rackets from someone, not to save a few dollars, but after the competition notice came down, all the table tennis rackets were sold out, not only in the compound supply and marketing cooperative, but even in the commune supply and marketing cooperative.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that rackets are not daily necessities and there is little stock in the supply and marketing cooperatives.

There were several hundred households living in the compound, and there were at least two hundred people participating in the competition. If one in ten of them spent money to buy tennis rackets, it was already a lot.

The owner of the racket was also going to participate in the competition. Knowing that he had set up a table tennis table at home, he came over after dinner to join in the fun. In addition to Liang Juan's family, Qian Xiaoyun and his wife, and other neighbors who came to watch the fun, there was already a large circle of people in the Meng family yard before the training match started.

The temporary table was built by Meng Cheng, so the first person to play was Ye Min. Her opponent was Zhu Liyun, the owner of the racket.

Zhu Liyun actually likes playing table tennis and is quite good at it, but after joining the army, she had to work and take care of children, so she hasn't played for many years.

If the Women's Federation hadn't suddenly organized a competition, she might never have picked up table tennis in her life. But the Women's Federation organized it, and she became interested in playing it, so she bought some equipment for this purpose.

Among ball sports, the rules of table tennis are relatively simple. Because this competition was organized by the Women's Federation, it was not so formal and the rules were more streamlined. It was a best-of-three system, and the winner was the team that scored eleven points first in each game.

The training match between Ye Min and Zhu Liyun also followed this rule.

In the first game, Ye Min lost three points right away.

It's not that Zhu Liyun is so strong, but she hasn't played for a long time and she really doesn't have the feel. Although Zhu Liyun's situation is similar to hers, she signed up earlier and played with others a lot in the past few days, so she has found her feel a long time ago.

Fortunately, Ye Min adapted quickly and scored a point in the fourth round.

After getting this point, Ye Min didn't do anything, but Meng Zheng, who was watching, started to shout and said to the people around him: "Ahhh, that's my mother!"

Everyone else looked at him in confusion. Living in the same compound, who wouldn't know that Ye Min was his mother?

Meng Zheng quickly turned around after shouting, opened his hands and clasped them to his mouth, and shouted loudly: "Come on, Mom!"

When An An heard his brother's voice, he also shouted: "Mom! Oil!"

Seeing the excited looks of the brother and sister, Ye Min, who had been relatively relaxed, immediately became nervous. What would happen if he lost?

So she was more focused in the next round.

But Zhu Liyun was no pushover either. She was leading her by three points, and her touch had not yet fully returned, so Ye Min still lost this round.

Fortunately, the second round started well. Ye Min scored two points right at the start. After his touch returned, he played better and better, and finally won the game by two points.

Among many sports, table tennis is not very physically demanding, but this is not absolutely true. Whether you feel tired or not depends on who your opponent is.

If it's two rookies playing, they may not even sweat at the end of a game, but if both are equally strong, the physical demands will be higher.

Zhu Liyun and Ye Min are not rookies. In the first game, Ye Min had not fully recovered her touch, so Zhu Liyun played more easily. In the second game, Zhu Liyun did not consume as much energy, so although she lost, the score difference was not big.

But in the third game, Zhu Liyun, whose forehead began to sweat, became noticeably slower in receiving the ball. In sharp contrast to her, Ye Min, who had been training continuously for more than a month, became stronger and stronger as she played.

So in the first half of the third game, the two were still fighting back and forth, but in the second half, Zhu Liyun, who was physically exhausted, began to make mistakes frequently, and ultimately lost the game by a large margin.

After the competition, the crowd applauded. Although Zhu Liyun was disappointed, she still had her composure. She smiled and said to Ye Min, "You are amazing!"

"You're not bad either." Ye Min also said with a smile.

Liang Juan stared at Ye Min from head to toe with eyes wide open: "You are Xiao Ye, right? Am I seeing right?"

Ye Min looked puzzled, but still said, "It's me."

"You said before that you were just average at table tennis. Is that average?" Liang Juan said. "Fortunately I let you sign up, otherwise the excitement of this game would have been at least half as great."

Ye Min didn't expect that after not playing for two years, his skills have improved instead of regressed. He was definitely excited, but he couldn't stand Liang Juan's exaggeration and said, "How can it be so exaggerated?"

"It's not an exaggeration at all! With your skills, you can at least be in the top five!" Although Liang Juan is not very good at playing basketball, she is still good at watching basketball. Moreover, she has been busy with this matter recently. She knows exactly who has good skills and who has average skills in the compound.

But Ye Min didn't watch other military wives play basketball much, and thought Liang Juan was just trying to cheer her up, so she didn't know what to say for a moment.

Meng Zheng, on the other hand, had a lot in common with Liang Juan. He raised his chin and said proudly, "That's right! My mother used to participate in the competition and win awards every year!"

"Wow!" Liang Juan glanced at Ye Min and asked with a look that said, "You are a hidden talent." "What awards has your mother won?"

Meng Zheng looked proud: "Mom always wins the participation award!"

Everyone was stunned: "?!!"

Ye Min, who failed to cover her son's mouth in time, covered her face: "..."

…

Afterwards, Ye Min played three more games. The first two were with Qian Xiaoyun and another military wife who was going to participate in the competition, and the last one was with Meng Cheng.

The military wife’s level was not as good as Zhu Liyun, so Ye Min won relatively easily.

Playing with Qian Xiaoyun was like playing a game. This girl has never been good at any type of ball. It might be okay to play with a rookie, but when playing with Ye Min, she only had two moves throughout the game: serve and pick up the ball.

Although both games were not very strenuous, the wheel battle did consume a lot of Ye Min's energy. By the time she played against Meng Cheng, she was already a little out of breath and her serve was not strong enough.

Mengcheng's table tennis may not be the best among the soldiers in the army, but it's not too bad. And men have physical advantages. Just look at the strength of the ball, it's much heavier than women.

In addition, Ye Min was a little exhausted, so even though Meng Cheng wanted to give in, he still lost in the end.

Fortunately, the score was not bad, just two points. Even Meng Zheng could find a reason for Ye Min's loss: "My mother is too tired!"

Others also agreed with Meng Zheng's performance. Liang Juan gave a thumbs up to Ye Min who was wiping his sweat off the court and said, "I think now that you can at least make it into the top three in this competition!"

Meng Zheng was now also inflated, and replied without shame: "I think my mother can win the championship!"

"Don't flatter me. You should be humble, don't you know?" Ye Min ruffled Meng Zheng's hair and said with a smile, "Friendship comes first, competition comes second. I'm happy as long as I can participate."

Just kidding, I'm too confident now. What if I don't make it into the top three?

Meng Zheng didn't know what Ye Min was thinking, but he understood the word humility. He nodded heavily and said, "Mom is right. We should be humble!"

Although Ye Min left the court, there were still many military wives who wanted to practice playing tennis, and soon someone took her place, and there was still a circle of people surrounding the temporary table.

Qian Xiaoyun had just finished a match with Ye Min, and after watching the excitement for a long time, he was tired. He squeezed out of the crowd and smiled when he heard this, he asked, "What are you being humble about?"

Meng Zheng answered first: "I said my mother could win the competition, and my mother said I should be humble. I said my mother was right."

"That's true," Qian Xiaoyun nodded seriously, "Real masters are always hiding their talents. Those who come out and shout that they want to take first place are usually not that good."

"Uh-huh."

Meng Zheng nodded seriously, then walked over to Ye Min and said, "Mom, just compete well. It doesn't matter whether you win a prize or not." Then he leaned close to her ear and whispered, "But I still want you to win the championship!"

Ye Min smiled and said, "Mom will do her best."

…

Although Ye Min thought that participation was the most important thing when she first signed up, facing Meng Zheng's huge expectations for her to win the championship, she had to change her mind and decided to give it a try.

In the days before the competition, Ye Min practiced with Meng Cheng every night after dinner. For this purpose, he even went to the county supply and marketing cooperative to buy a pair of rackets and a ping-pong ball.

There's nothing we can do about it. Ever since they built a makeshift table at home, everyone else with a tennis racket has done the same.

The dining tables used by the families in the compound were not all newly purchased. For example, the one used by Ye Min's family was left behind by the previous residents. Like the dining table used by Liang Juan's family, they were all made by someone when the last batch of houses were built in the compound a few years ago. The height and width are almost the same.

Because the material used is solid wood, although the table is heavy, it is specially explained that after Ye Min and his team moved in, they painted a new layer of paint on the table and it can be used as a new one.

In fact, Ye Min and his wife are popular, and if they want, it is not difficult to find someone to play with. But Ye Min thinks it is not a good thing to always find someone to play with. Ping-pong rackets are not expensive, so it doesn't matter if you can't buy one. But the county town is not far away, and it is easy to go there, so he spent money to buy a pair himself.

Anyway, Meng Zheng is also very interested in table tennis. He used to be short and couldn't play because he was not as tall as the table. Now... well, he is still not tall enough, but it is not impossible. Besides, the children in Liang Juan's family also like to play table tennis, so the racket will definitely not be wasted.

After buying the rackets, they used the dining table borrowed from Liang Juan's home as the table. As for their opponents, Liang Juan and her husband, Qian Xiaoyun and his wife, and Lun Cheng took turns playing. Sometimes the children would also play for a while, and from time to time other military wives would come to join in.

A week passed quickly during the busy training.

On April 10th, the first women's table tennis competition of the resident family academy officially began.

In order to make the game look more legitimate, the Women's Federation set up a stage at the basketball court and invited all the military wives and the men who were at home on Sunday to watch the game.

The ceremony process was simple. First, Director Li gave a speech, then the chairperson of the county women's federation also gave a speech, and finally the military leader also gave a speech.

Well, although the scale of this competition was small and the opening ceremony was simple, many leaders from the county and the army came. In addition to leaders, Director Li also went to the commune photo studio to invite a photographer to take some photos for record and to facilitate the reporting work later.

The opening ceremony ended, the whistle sounded, and the competition officially began.

Although the scale of the competition with more than 200 participants was not large compared to the factory-organized table tennis competitions that Ye Min had participated in before, the competition venue in the family courtyard was too small, with only four tables next to the basketball court.

Although the competition was said to last for more than 20 days, in reality there were only three days of actual competition, so this competition was destined not to be as well-organized as a regular competition. Even the schedule for the first day could be described as simple and crude.

The schedule for this competition is very simple. More than 200 contestants draw lots to determine their opponents, and then take turns to compete according to the numbers above. Four tables are opened at the same time, and players are replaced immediately after the winner of a table is determined. The competition will not end until the left and right games are over.

If it is a regular competition, a game can be finished within 20 minutes which is considered fast, but this competition is amateurish, so the Women's Federation estimated the game to be ten minutes and expected it to be completed within twelve hours.

In other words, the competition will last from nine in the morning to nine in the evening.

Director Li originally had objections to this competition system and suggested reducing the number of contestants or extending the competition time, but Liang Juan said that the purpose of their event was to enrich the lives of military wives and that full participation was important, so reducing the number of contestants would definitely not work.

As for extending the time, people's novelty will continue to weaken as time goes by. If the time is dragged out too long, by the time of the finals, those military wives who were eliminated early may have lost their enthusiasm for this activity.

So this seemingly very hasty competition system was directly decided.

In fact, the match went on much faster than they had imagined, because there were indeed a lot of military wives who came to join in the fun. After serving, it was considered good if they could play two or three rounds. A game could be finished in five or six minutes if it was fast, and eight or nine minutes if it was slow.

A little after eight o'clock in the evening, all the competitions for the day were over, and the 122 military wives who gave birth continued to compete in the second week.

The strength of the contestants in the second week was still uneven, and the corresponding competition ended very quickly. The top 61 were decided before 2:00 p.m.

After discussing it, several people from the Women's Federation decided to hold an extra match to directly determine the top 30. This way, the workload would be relatively lighter in the final week.

When Ye Min first signed up, she was not very confident. She excused herself by saying that the most important thing was to participate. After a few days of training, she felt good about herself, but she did not feel that she could really win the championship.

But after comparing, she realized that everyone's level was actually just like that. It was normal when she thought about it. Although there was a ping-pong table in the compound, those who played regularly were basically teenagers. The wives of the soldiers were either busy with work or housework, and no one had the leisure to develop a hobby.

Ye Min and Zhu Liyun are not the only military wives who can play basketball but have little contact with their families.

So Ye Min won all three games in the past two weeks with ease. She is a quiet person and didn't seem very excited even after winning the games.

Meng Zheng was different. Every time Ye Min won a game, he would brag beside her: "Did you see that? My mom won again. She's such a great player! She'll definitely win the championship this time!"

After saying this, he remembered what Ye Min and Qian Xiaoyun had taught him about being humble, and belatedly added, "I'm not saying my mom will definitely be the champion. My mom said people should be humble, so I think it's okay for her to win the award!"

It is known that only the top three will receive prizes, so just take the prize.

So: top three = OK?

Everyone: "..." You call this humble?

Don't think we can't see you're showing off! You're a fucking braggart!