The Road Back (Part 1)
In the days of trying to adjust to life back in China, Zhou Zeyu originally thought it would be difficult, but it turned out that it was not like that at all. Everything went smoothly, and the most difficult thing was adjusting to the time difference.
During the day, I'm so sleepy I'm disoriented and oblivious to everything, but as soon as it gets dark, I become wide awake, open my eyes wide, and start scrolling through my phone with great enthusiasm. Then, I fall into a deep sleep right on time when it gets light.
After several days of this chaotic routine, even Coach Xu, who had always tried to pamper her, couldn't take it anymore. Despite being in faraway Nanjing, she would still call to check on him at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. every day. It sounded like Zhou Zeyi was even abusing an elderly person. So, she had no choice but to start adjusting her biological clock.
However, it seems that the effect has been minimal so far.
It was 6:30 in the morning again. Zhou Zeyu finally turned off her phone with reluctance, intending to let sleepiness continue to spread. However, she hadn't even rested for two minutes when the alarm clock next to her suddenly rang. She sat up with a jolt and suddenly remembered that today was the day to visit Fang Xiaotcan in prison.
She didn't say those words; after all, Zhou Zeyi didn't have the courage to call the famous Peking Union Medical College Hospital a prison. It was just that Fang Xiaocan had been locked up for too long because of surgery, and she cried so hard on the phone that she was half-coercing and half-forcing Zhou Zeyi to come visit her as soon as possible.
Zhou Zeyi needed to adjust to the time difference, but Fang Xiaocan didn't. This guy was caught staying up late before, so his phone was confiscated every night at 10 pm. He's been going to bed early and waking up early lately and has been very relaxed. Of course, he can't understand her life of only feeling sleepy at 6 am.
"You've gone too far, Zhou Zeyi! Come find me at the inpatient department right now! I've been waiting for this moment of perfect harmony for far too long!"
Zhou Zeyu quickly washed up, and the thought of the nickname "Double Swords United" gave her a headache. It was a derogatory nickname that Coach Huang gave them back then, intended to mock the two of them for being in cahoots and colluding with each other. Only Fang Xiaocan, that idiot, thought the nickname was powerful and has insisted on using it ever since.
It was a cloudy day outside, and the wind felt a bit cold on her face. She pulled her trench coat collar up to her face, breathed on it, and hailed a taxi.
Fang Xiaocan's ward was on the eighth floor. Zhou Zeyu was quite familiar with this place; he had his right knee surgery here years ago, and he might even be lying in the same bed as Fang Xiaocan.
The corridor was filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant, which always reminded her of the dark years she spent in the hospital. She felt even more sorry for Fang Xiaocan. She even lost her last bit of morning grumpiness and hurried to find the hospital bed, pushed open the door and went in.
Fang Xiaocan was sitting cross-legged on the hospital bed, eating a steamed bun with a frustrated expression. When she saw her walk in, her face showed obvious joy. However, for some reason, she hesitated for the next second, and her eyes involuntarily glanced to the right.
Zhou Zeyu followed her gaze and finally spotted the familiar figure sitting inside the hospital bed, who had just been hidden by the curtain.
Seemingly not expecting to see her here, Cen Zheng looked somewhat surprised, but the next second he put on a polite smile, stood up and nodded to her.
"You're back? Why didn't you say anything? When did you arrive in Beijing?"
Zhou Zeyi and Fang Xiaocan exchanged a glance. The other girl looked helpless and gave her a sympathetic look while munching on her bun. She shrugged slightly, indicating that it wasn't her fault.
"Oh, I just arrived the morning before yesterday, and I haven't had a chance to tell you yet."
This was obviously just polite talk. He said he hadn't had time to tell her, but in reality, he had already informed Fang Xiaocan, otherwise he wouldn't be here now.
Zhou Zeyi was certain that Cen Zheng had understood her meaning. She was such a smart person, with an unparalleled ability to read people's expressions and demeanor, so it was naturally easy for her to discern such a simple lie.
She was just sure that she would care about appearances, so she didn't expose her.
Unfortunately, Zhou Zeyu wasn't the only one who knew about the other party. She overlooked the fact that Cen Zheng also knew everything about her, including that clumsy excuse.
Cen Zheng still wore a gentle smile, dressed very appropriately in a neat and crisp business suit, his hair was meticulously tied into a small bun, and he wore makeup. His beautiful eyes were staring straight at her.
How have you been lately?
The small talk was rather boring. Zhou Zeyu resisted the urge to meet Fang Xiaocan's gaze, because she could sense that the other woman's desire to complain was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress, and she was frantically giving her meaningful glances.
"That's great. How about you? I heard you stayed on as a member of the team. Have you been busy lately?"
As soon as she finished speaking, Zhou Zeyu heard Fang Xiaocan cough loudly on purpose. Her intentions were too obvious, so Zhou Zeyu simply ignored her.
Cen Zheng seemed somewhat surprised that she would suddenly bring this up, but perhaps she was also surprised that she knew about these things. "It's pretty good. It's easier than when I was an athlete, and it's not particularly busy."
Fang Xiaocan gave an awkward laugh and said in a sarcastic tone, "Yeah, right now the busiest person is probably Feng Yifan."
As a seasoned veteran, Cen Zheng didn't lose his temper. He turned to look at Fang Xiaocan, still with his usual calm and collected expression.
"She's young and has a lot of responsibilities. It's inevitable that she'll be a little tired during this period, as everyone has experienced that, right, Xiaoyu?"
She abruptly changed the subject and threw the question back at Zhou Zeyu. Zhou Zeyu was somewhat taken aback, but not entirely helpless. She shrugged and said calmly.
"It's abnormal to be tired. You can't always push things onto one person. What's the point of having so many people?"
Her words originally meant nothing, but in the ears of Fang Xiaocan and Cen Zheng, they inevitably took on different meanings. The former excitedly echoed her words, while the latter slightly suppressed his smile and looked at her with a thoughtful expression.
"Yes, yes, that's true." She seemed to sigh, a hint of helplessness in her voice. "But there's nothing we can do about it. Haven't we all gone through this?"
Fang Xiaocan muttered to herself, but her voice was surprisingly loud in the quiet ward: "And what about me? Just another random passerby who got injured in an accident?"
Zhou Zeyu couldn't help but feel like she was about to burst out laughing, so she quickly forced herself to look away and just nodded casually as a response.
"But what brings you here today? Don't you have work to do?"
Cen Zheng still had a smile on his face. "I just happened to have some business to take care of at the hospital, so I thought I'd drop by to see Fang Xiaocan."
Fang Xiaocan immediately replied, "It's alright, Sister Cen. I've almost fully recovered, so you don't need to worry about me."
"How blatantly kicking someone out!" Zhou Zeyi raised an eyebrow, looking at Fang Xiaocan with some trepidation. Although she knew this guy was known for his strong likes and dislikes, who knew he had evolved to this extent, completely unafraid of making things difficult for her?
Even so, Zhou Zeyi still had to be somewhat wary of Cen Zheng. She had little hope for him, but Fang Xiaocan was different. She couldn't afford to offend this powerful figure just because of his temper; it would be a huge loss.
"Fang Xiaocan has indeed been hospitalized for quite a while. The doctor said he has recovered almost completely and seems to be fine. I'm really sorry to have troubled you to make this trip."
Cen Zheng shook his head, "No matter what, we were all teammates back then, it's what we should do."
Zhou Zeyu was speechless for a moment. Her teammates back then, yes, the three of them had indeed been teammates for so many years, she had almost forgotten about it.
Seeing that she was getting lost in her old thoughts again, Fang Xiaocan stepped in and asked, "Hey, Sister Cen, is your phone ringing? Is someone looking for you?"
Cen Zheng glanced down and said, "Indeed, then I won't bother you any longer. You two should catch up; it's been more than half a year since we last saw each other."
After she left, Zhou Zeyu was certain that he heard Fang Xiaocan say very loudly, "Yes, let's catch up. We have so much to reminisce about."
Fang Xiaocan craned her neck and, upon seeing Cen Zheng just step out, eagerly grabbed Zhou Zeyu's hand, ready to launch into a tirade. Zhou Zeyu hurriedly walked to the door, and only after confirming that the person was far away did she close the door and plop down next to her.
"Sister, you have no sense of propriety when it comes to what you say. What good will it do you to offend her?"
"Benefits?" Fang Xiaocan finally swallowed the remaining bun in his mouth and said vaguely, "Even if I don't offend her, I won't get any of these."
Zhou Zeyu frowned, about to retort, but after thinking about it, he felt that she made some sense. "That's true, never mind."
Fang Xiaocan looked indifferent, with a "what's the use" attitude. "With all the good qualities she has, she'd be keeping them to herself. Why would she be giving them away like the Virgin Mary? You're just too biased and think too highly of her. You really need to change that."
Zhou Zeyi remained noncommittal about the first part, but still wanted to refute the second part: "No way, I'm just worried about you. You're still in the team and haven't retired yet. To put it bluntly, you'll still have to rely on them in the future. I'm just afraid that it will be difficult for you to face people in the future."
Hearing her say that, Fang Xiaocan's already dark face became even more gloomy. She rolled her eyes without any mercy, as if shooing away some unseen flying insect, and waved them heavily in front of her eyes a few times with a frown.
"It's so hard to be a human being? I don't even want to be a human being anymore!" she said through gritted teeth. "I've had enough. This whole team is full of sycophants and cowardly, incompetent bastards. Honestly, how can we play ping-pong well with a bunch of bastards like this?!"
Zhou Zeyi quickly patted her back and gently comforted her for a while, "What's wrong? Did something upset you?"
Fang Xiaocan was about to speak indignantly, but she opened her mouth and then closed it again, showing an embarrassed expression. "Never mind, I won't tell you. You'll just be upset if I do."
“Not listening doesn’t necessarily make things better,” Zhou Zeyu honestly admitted. “I already have a ton of worries, so what difference would a few more truckloads make?”
"Hey, you seem to be in a better mood lately. It seems this Belgrade is indeed a good place. You look more energetic now."
Zhou Zeyu looked at her incredulously, pointing to her sallow face from her irregular sleep schedule, "Are you serious? I'm finding it harder and harder to understand your sarcasm."
Fang Xiaocan clicked her tongue: "Who's being sarcastic? You look a bit better than before you left."
Perhaps there's nothing wrong with what she said, Zhou Zeyu suddenly thought. Maybe it's because there's no comparison with before. During the period when she was most haggard and thin, even the mannequins in the funeral clothing store looked better than her, let alone now.
She subconsciously touched her face, then quickly put it down, shaking her head without saying a word. "Don't talk about me, I have nothing to say. Let's talk about your situation."
Fang Xiaocan changed her position, leaning casually against a pile of pillows with a clearly speechless expression, and shrugged.
"You can probably guess what it is, it's nothing more than that pile of trivial matters."
She stretched out her left hand and counted them one by one.
"The training intensity is getting higher and higher. They're treating a bunch of people like cattle. There were only a few who could fight to begin with, and now they're all injured because of this. There are a few people lying in the ward next to mine. They've all just had surgery and can't move. I'm considered to be doing relatively well."
"It's the same old problem, a lack of successors. All the old hands have retired to enjoy their retirement, and what can these young kids do? They're all ambitious, shouting that they want to win the championship, but when it comes to actual competition, they're all no good."
"That unlucky girl Feng Yifan is being put on the hot seat again. She's busy all day long, with competitions on two fronts and a bunch of messes to clean up in the team. To put it bluntly, I'm afraid she'll just die of exhaustion."
As Zhou Zeyu listened to each account, his brow twitched violently. He suppressed his headache, closed his eyes, and said silently, "And then?"
Fang Xiaocan casually grabbed two peaches from the bedside table, tossed one to her, took a bite himself, and then casually moistened his throat before continuing.
"Tight on funds?" Zhou Zeyu was a little surprised. "How could it be tight? Didn't you say you had already secured investment? You still have funds."
"You mean that? Of course it's all used up long ago. Have you forgotten how extravagant our head coach is?"
She finished the last bite, made a standard basketball shooting motion, and the peach pit went into the net and fell into the trash can.
This is truly astonishing. The national team, a prestigious organization, was once at the point where it couldn't even pay salaries. The team employs a large number of nutritionists, physiotherapists, rehabilitation specialists, and training experts. If they really couldn't pay their salaries and let them go, wouldn't they be doomed?
Zhou Zeyi found it hard to imagine this scene. How could such a historically significant and glorious team have become such a mess after only a few decades?
"What about your salaries? Have they been affected?"
Fang Xiaocan knew she was going to ask this, so she gave a forced smile and said, "If they can't even pay outsiders, do you think they'll continue to pay us? They'll just drag it out. Anyway, we don't dare to resist. If we get fired, we won't get a single penny."
“How could this happen?” Zhou Zeyu shook his head. “It’s a complete mess, a total disaster.”
"So you'd better stay out of this mess and stop worrying about it," she sighed, her voice tinged with sympathy. "Feng Yifan is pitiful too. She was so eagerly waiting for the day she could replace you, but who knew she'd end up in such a mess. Now she can't leave or escape. I'm starting to feel sorry for her."
Those who can shoulder responsibilities are certainly not ordinary people, especially in these turbulent times. Whether they are willing or not, once they sit in this position, they cannot escape it. They are pushed to bear responsibilities that were not originally theirs, until they can no longer bear it.
When the day comes that you can no longer bear it, it's pretty much over.
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