Chapter 14 International Debut
For a student who is going from grade one to grade two, filling a schoolbag with summer homework is always the biggest challenge. Even He Hui, who had a chance to start over, felt dizzy when he found a mountain of blank homework after completing summer training.
Four days before school started, He Hui quietly sent a text message to Lin Xiaoman: "Sister Lin, can I take a leave for training tomorrow?"
Lin Xiaoman: "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
He Hui: "I haven't finished my summer homework yet..."
Lin Xiaoman: “Hahahahahahahaha!”
Humph, my coach is laughing too loudly! He Hui immediately turned off his phone, and then honestly began to walk the path of junior high school again. After all, I haven't studied for too long in my previous life, and I have almost forgotten many knowledge points that I don't need. Now I have to regain my memory.
He Hui worked out the answers one by one in her study room. She spent the whole afternoon in her study room to catch up on math and biology. She lay on the desk, resting her head on her arms, and took a long breath.
Lin Xiaoman seemed to have clairvoyance and sent another text message.
"Can we go ahead with training tomorrow?"
He Hui turned on his cell phone, slowly straightened up, and started typing.
"Although I still have Chinese, English, history, geography, etc. to finish. But more debts are better than nothing! After all, the race is coming soon, so I still want to practice for an hour or two to keep in shape."
Lin Xiaoman: "Okay, see you at the rink this afternoon."
The driver drove particularly smoothly today, even stepping on the brakes and accelerators carefully. The reason was that Miss He Hui was doing her homework in the back seat, looking very serious.
This way of splitting the day into two parts lasted for two days, and He Hui finally succeeded in meeting the deadline before school started.
But what made He Hui feel the most deprived was that she had finally finished all her summer homework, and after just two days of classes, before she had even warmed up her seat in the classroom, she had to take a week off because she had to fly to Australia to participate in her first figure skating junior Grand Prix competition in her life.
*
Australia, located in the southern hemisphere, is in early spring, with sunny weather and less rainfall. If He Hui didn't need to compete, she really wanted to just lie on the beach and enjoy a wonderful meal instead of swallowing the almost inedible survival nutrients in the stadium.
There are 22 contestants in the women's singles event in Brisbane, Australia, but there are few popular contestants. The biggest favorite to win is Eriko Sanada from Japan.
Lin Xiaoman said to the appearance order table: "Sanada Eriko is 15 years old this year. She has all six types of triple jumps, but the biggest problem lies in the use of the blade by the lead."
He Hui: "She can't control herself either?"
"How should I put it?" Lin Xiaoman looked at He Hui with a hint of pride, "After all, there aren't many players like you who have such clear inner and outer edges."
He Hui was praised by Lin Xiaoman without any context, but he was no longer surprised.
Lin Xiaoman finished reading the appearance list, but the topic was not over yet. "But the jump requirement for this season is Lz, so Sanada Eriko might run into some trouble."
He Hui nodded, "This rule really tests one's basic skills."
"But I heard that she is trying 3A to make up for her shortcomings."
"3A?!" He Hui's heart skipped a beat, but the unyielding factor in his head immediately started to act up, "Should we also find a chance to arrange 3A?"
Lin Xiaoman crossed her arms, raised her eyebrows and replied, "Just skate two clean programs first."
To others it may sound like a polite refusal, but to He Hui, isn’t this a new challenge?
"Okay, then we have a deal." He Hui said firmly.
The first day of competition was the short program. He Hui was participating for the first time and was at the front of the pack, with only three competitors ahead of her.
The time difference between Brisbane and Beijing is only two hours. The short program started in the afternoon, and some people in China were following He Hui's international debut in real time. As usual, the live broadcast post was very lively.
He Hui's short program this season is selected from Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", which is still a program full of classical temperament.
Moonlight is also a popular song among the contestants. In today's women's singles short program competition, He Hui and another contestant sang the same song.
She only found out about this shortly before the competition began. However, He Hui was not nervous, as she had polished her program over and over again, and she was very confident about it.
Standing facing the judges, He Hui raised her arms and performed a standard and beautiful ballet move.
Simple and repetitive triplets with dotted notes open the first movement of Moonlight, and the moonlight flows slowly like a river and falls on the earth.
He Hui, wearing a white coat, was like a goddess bathing in the moonlight. She gradually woke up from the frozen state, raised her feet and slid, drawing one beautiful circular trajectory after another, as if leaving a string of silver stars on the ice.
Unlike most choreography that starts with jumping, Mary Connie arranged a series of bows and turns in the opening part that was like flowing moonlight.
This is a great trust in He Hui's physical fitness and artistic performance. During the process of bending and turning, He Hui's hand movements, which were exerted to the fingertips, were elegant and beautiful. The rotation speed was maintained very well, and the number of circles was not missed. Until the last one-handed Biermann with a sword, He Hui always danced to the flowing music.
Amid the gentle classical music, Lin Xiaoman could not relax at all. She placed one hand tightly on the fence, and held He Hui's coat with the other hand, with an expressionless face, her eyes following He Hui's movements.
After completing the first series of spins, He Hui felt that the rhythm of his body was completely integrated with the song "Moonlight".
This state is wonderful.
The first series of jumps was 3F+3T. He Hui landed right on the accent, and the rhythm and chorus were perfectly controlled.
The music quickly turned to the third movement of the Moonlight Sonata, with notes falling quickly and fiercely. He Hui completed 3Lz after a powerful and imposing step. Without giving anyone any breathing space, the final 2A followed the notes, playing out the surging inner waves of emotions.
The main theme of the third movement was repeated again, and He Hui's steps were smooth and fast. Under the double pressure of Mary and Lin Xiaoman, He Hui's steps were now more precise, his speed was significantly improved, and the utilization rate of the ice surface was greatly improved.
In the stormy melody, He Hui completed the last two sets of rotations. He Hui's arms were full of tension when they were opened at the beginning, and then they were tightened quickly and neatly.
He Hui was spinning on the ice rink to the music of the moonlight, her pure white skirt fluttering.
When the last note ended, He Hui opened her arms, looked up at the sky, and completed the ending pose of her debut.
it's over......
He Hui finally dared to breathe deeply.
This was a short program without any mistakes, and it was He Hui's stunning international debut.
He Hui and Lin Xiaoman hugged each other tightly on the sidelines, their eyes red with tears for the success of their first international youth competition.
"Congratulations." Lin Xiaoman said.
Lin Xiaoman helped He Hui put on her coat, and they went to the kiss & cry area together to wait for the scores.
He Hui had a secret expectation in her heart. She hoped to start her professional figure skating career with a high score, and then tell her parents how suitable she was for this path.
Lin Xiaoman and He Hui held each other's hands tightly.
There was almost no waiting before the announcement came on, "The short program score of He Hui from China is 57.86 points."
He Hui's heart sank instantly.
Why, why did I perform so perfectly, but the score of the short program still didn’t reach 60 points?
He Hui had doubts about herself in her heart, and the excitement she had just felt disappeared like a puff of smoke when the scores were announced. She could feel Lin Xiaoman's fingers on her right hand tighten subconsciously, but soon relaxed again.
Lin Xiaoman patted her on the back and consoled her: "It's the first time, so the referees are more cautious in giving scores. This is already pretty good!"
After all, Lin Xiaoman had also skated out of the youth group time and time again, struggling to reach the top of the world, and she knew how difficult it was to improve her score in front of the judges. Moreover, He Hui was a Chinese, and it was always difficult to increase her artistic score.
He Hui closed her eyes and forced herself to keep calm. She took a deep breath quietly, then forced a fake smile to the camera and left the waiting area.
Netizens in the live broadcast post also expressed their incomprehension of this score.
“Why is it so low?? Is it because you are too early in the order of appearance? In the previous domestic competitions, it was easy to get to 60th place!!”
"Just look at goe and you'll know how tight his hand was in this game! With such a high and far 3F+3T combo, goe only got +1 in the end, so it's reasonable that he didn't get to level 60..."
"It's her first international appearance and she's done it cleanly. If He Hui keeps up the pace, her score will definitely get higher and higher. Don't worry. Besides, everyone's score for this stop shouldn't be high."
In everyone's opinion, this score was not particularly satisfactory. But after He Hui finished her short program, she has been firmly in the first place, and no one on the scene can surpass this score, which also shows that the judges' caution is not only directed at her.
But there are still people who haven't played yet.
"Eriko Sanada..." He Hui murmured the name, her pupils shrinking slightly, staring at her strongest opponent in this tournament on the screen.
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