seeyou (Part 2)
Strangely, she hadn't seen Sorkov for a full week since that day ended.
She couldn't help feeling a little disappointed, but then she remembered how tired Sorkov looked that day. Perhaps he was busy with his thesis and couldn't find the time. It didn't matter; it was just a matter of going from being together to being alone.
It's worth mentioning that she went to the gymnasium a few more times in her spare time, intending to practice swimming, but she was always pulled away halfway by the little girl from the table tennis hall. The little girl sincerely wanted to learn from her, and she was too embarrassed to refuse, so she reluctantly agreed.
She rarely had experience teaching others; usually, Coach Xu would stand beside her and nag her. She never imagined that one day she would become a teacher herself. This feeling was indeed different from playing ball herself. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it seemed more free and more comfortable.
Without competition, without opponents, without winning or losing, there would be no pressure at all. No one would be sarcastic or disagree, deliberately whistle or boo. No one would scrutinize her micro-expressions with a magnifying glass, and there would be no misinterpretation, slander, or rumors.
She was facing only one girl eager to learn, who trusted her completely and looked at her with respectful, watery eyes. That feeling was different, and she hadn't felt it in a long time.
She then discovered that she actually enjoyed the environment. In the noisy, chaotic venue, everyone was carefree, and the harmony seemed almost unreal.
She said she didn't want to participate in the competition, so they invited her to be a judge. The two sides in the battle were usually two people with different levels of skill. It could be a grandfather who was just starting out and his grandson who had been experienced for a long time fighting, or a professional player fighting against an amateur physics teacher. In short, everyone took turns fighting together. You don't look down on me, and I won't laugh at you.
Occasionally, they would hit a few bad shots, and the onlookers would shake their heads and urge her to give a demonstration. At first, she modestly declined a few times, but later she was almost dizzy from their praise, and without thinking, she rolled up her sleeves and went up to hit a shot, and the cheers of the crowd filled the entire venue.
Since becoming a professional player, she has rarely had the opportunity to play table tennis so purely. The last time was when she was eight years old, when she faced a retired provincial team player in the park near her home. To everyone's surprise, the old man was defeated by her. The uncles and aunts watching laughed and gave her snacks and cookies, saying that our neighborhood is going to produce a world champion.
It was so wonderful, it was wonderful before, and it doesn't seem so bad now.
Zhou Zeyu looked at the racket in her hand with a smile. Now they were playing a tag team game again, and she was the first to be chosen. A chubby young man shouted loudly that today's theme was "The neighborhood hooligans versus the world champions," and everyone burst into enthusiastic laughter.
"It's not that amazing, everyone's exaggerating," she added calmly.
"Sis, you're being too modest!" The chubby young man patted her shoulder, his expression exaggeratedly surprised. "We wouldn't dare to consider ourselves world champions. On the other hand, you can't really consider yourself a street thug either."
Everyone laughed, and Zhou Zeyu laughed too. She waved the racket in her hand and said, "Well then, who wants to go first?"
"Will you release the water?" The young man stepped forward, patted his broad chest without hesitation, and looked at her resolutely.
"No throwing the game!" someone in the crowd laughed loudly. "Our rule here is that no matter if you're the world's number one or a complete newbie, you're not allowed to throw the game!"
"Alright, being defeated by a world champion isn't anything shameful." Someone in the crowd chimed in, "Erik, you're hesitating too much, hurry up and start!"
And so it officially began. The crowd packed the pool table, chattering about the two players' strategies. Occasionally, a brilliant shot would appear, and people would cheer and jump for joy. Some even brought megaphones to provide live commentary, standing on chairs and dramatically reenacting the game.
Zhou Zeyu hadn't had such a fun match in a very long time. Everyone was enjoying themselves, and no one cared about winning or losing. Every time one of the opposing team members was eliminated, the crowd would shout "You out!" in unison, and then another smiling person would come back onto the field, rubbing their hands together. This cycle repeated itself, round after round, with cheers coming one after another.
"It's pretty obvious, seeyou is the winner today!" the commentator standing on the chair said quickly in closing remarks. "But well, I didn't really think anyone could beat her anyway. Everyone lost badly, but it wasn't a complete loss. By the way, Erikf, did you sneak in for two rounds?"
A cheer erupted, followed by a chorus of boos. The chubby Ericf, his face flushed, retorted, "Don't just talk about me, everyone! Anna went up for two rounds too!"
The little girl snorted without changing her expression, "But I held on for a long time, unlike you who gave up in three minutes."
Zhou Zeyu covered her mouth and laughed. Anna looked at her, lowered her head a little embarrassed, and pulled her to a corner. She looked at Zhou Zeyu's flushed face with some concern and said, "I'm sorry, are you too tired? Maybe you shouldn't participate next time."
"It's okay, everyone's happy, and I'm happy too." Zhou Zeyu sat down, panting, and told Anna not to rush off. She turned around and rummaged through her bag for a while, then pulled out a panda plush toy holding a ping-pong ball. "This is a souvenir from when I won my first National Games championship. I wanted to give it to you, and I hope you'll like it."
Anna took it shakily, her face flushed even redder than hers with excitement, and she stammered for a long time, unable to utter a word.
Zhou Zeyu smiled at her and said, "You played exceptionally well today. The only slight drawback is your fast break technique. I can teach you another method another day; it's very effective."
She bent down, took a towel, and began wiping her sweat. Then she started packing her things to go back. Anna hurriedly offered to see her to the door, but Anna pressed her down onto a chair to rest, intending to slip out quietly by herself.
The others began to loudly mock the man, and even Anna angrily defended him. Zhou Zeyu smiled and waved his hand, "No problem."
Zhou Zeyu repeated the strange name for a long time before suddenly realizing, "You mean Fang Xiaocan?"
"Yes!" The boy's face flushed with excitement, and he lowered his head shyly. "I wonder if you could tell her that I really like her slice shot, and I will definitely go to watch her match someday."
Zhou Zeyi chuckled. It seemed that Fang Xiaocan was still as skilled as ever, and her superb chopping technique had followers even in foreign lands. "No problem, she'll be overjoyed. She used to tell me that no one could appreciate her chopping skills."
She slung her bag over her shoulder and turned to leave the venue, but her gaze met someone's. The person standing at the door was watching her quietly, their eyes filled with an indescribable mix of emotions, like a mixture of empathy and deep感慨 (gǎnkǎi, mixed feelings).
Sorkov.
She suddenly froze on the spot, not knowing what to say, and didn't go forward, not even forgot to say hello. Although it had only been a few days since they last met, it seemed like there was a great distance between them, and his eyes seemed different.
However, Sorkov did nothing, said nothing, and did not react. He just stared at her quietly, and then suddenly stepped forward without warning and hugged her tightly.
There was no tenderness or affection in the embrace; it was a powerful and resolute one, filled with a complex mix of emotions.
The melancholy of not seeing each other for several days dissipated and transformed into感慨 (a complex feeling of mixed emotions, including regret and reflection). Zhou Zeyu had thought of many things to say, whether it was criticism or joke, but at this moment he was stunned and stood there for a long time before he spoke incredulously, "What's wrong?"
Sorkov's voice was a little muffled. "It's nothing."
Zhou Zeyu said "Oh," and then Solkov seemed to suddenly realize something, abruptly letting go of her, expressionlessly stuffing a piece of paper from his pocket into her hand, and saying in a completely flat tone, "Oh right, this is a bar my friend owns, and he asked me to invite you to the celebration."
The abrupt change of topic left Zhou Zeyu speechless. She sighed silently, chuckled inwardly, and then resignedly opened the paper to read it.
Zhou Zeyu flipped through the piece of paper with his name scrawled on it, pointed to the location on it, and asked, "What is this Mount Akaladi? Is it in the suburbs?"
“Probably,” he said. “He used to have a shop in the city center, but it was set on fire by a drunkard one time, and it took him more than half a year to find a new location.”
"As for this celebration, it's actually meaningless. It's just a way for him to get a group of people together to drink. If you really want to say something, it's probably to celebrate the seven-year-and-three-month birthday of his fifth dog, Lafayette."
Zhou Zeyu's gloom vanished, and she readily agreed, "Okay, so how do we get there?"
Solkov thought for a moment, then patted her on the shoulder. "Just follow me."
Given Belgrade's flat terrain, she didn't really have any idea about this Al-Acaladi mountain. She thought it was just an exaggeration by the locals, calling a hill a few dozen meters high a mountain. After all, she couldn't imagine any bar being located on a mountaintop thousands of meters high.
And unsurprisingly, she soon witnessed it.
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