Selaginella leaves (I)
It was just a simple warm-up match, so it didn't attract much attention from the outside world. There were only a few spectators in the stands, and there were almost no staff members on site. The referees were even borrowed from the neighboring youth palace.
Compared to all the matches, big and small, Zhou Zeyu has played in her career, this is nothing. There were no cameras and microphones surrounding her, no overwhelming noise from the stands, and the world was so quiet that it seemed as if she was the only one left.
But this is good too.
She sat in the waiting area, lost in thought, staring blankly at the "No Smoking" sign on the door, completely absorbed in her own world.
When Zhou Zeyu was very young, Coach Xu told her that the worst thing to do before a competition is to let your mind wander. The best state is to completely empty your mind, not to think about anything, and to focus all your energy on the competition. Only in this way can you achieve a state of harmony between man and nature.
Although he didn't know what this so-called unity of man and nature actually meant, Zhou Zeyu knew he had to listen to Coach Xu, so he accepted this viewpoint with some confusion. He had been doing this all these years, and today was no exception.
How did you sleep last night?
Zhou Zeyi nodded. "It's fine. How about you?"
Feng Yifan smiled, "The best one in recent months."
Her smile was genuine and without much pretense, but Zhou Zeyu still keenly sensed the sorrow within it. The reason was simple: not everyone can easily choose to leave. Her application to leave the team must have encountered some obstacles, but she still chose to persevere.
Because of today's match, her coach was not with her; only Feng Yifan came.
"How's it going?"
She seemed taken aback for a moment, then said, "It's alright."
"Did I stop you?"
Feng Yifan lowered his head and gave a bitter smile. "Yes. Maybe I still have value. They can only let me go after I get through this period of transition."
That is certainly true.
Although she was labeled as a member of Coach Huang's faction, they couldn't find a leader with similar leadership qualities in the short term. Until a suitable replacement was found, they still needed Feng Yifan to stay.
"That's so hypocritical."
Zhou Zeyi's voice was very soft, but Feng Yifan heard it. She seemed surprised that Zhou Zeyi was so bold as to say such things here. She paused for a moment, then smiled and shook her head. "Yes, but what can we do? You also have to choose to stay, don't you?"
There's no way.
Although everyone is aware of all this, they also know that if they want to continue down this path, they will have to face hypocrisy once again.
The two fell silent, neither of them directly addressing the issue.
Fortunately, this atmosphere didn't last long. A few minutes later, a staff member hurriedly told them to go on stage and start preparing. So the rest of the conversation had to be put on hold again. Zhou Zeyu shook hands with her and walked into the venue through the passage.
Because the competition was not large in scale, the pre-competition warm-up was compressed to less than ten minutes. Zhou Zeyu's condition has always been slow to improve, so he hardly felt anything and only did a simple joint movement.
As for the part where they changed into their competition outfits after warming up, much of it was omitted. Feng Yifan simply wore a training outfit before going on the court, and Zhou Zeyu originally thought she could just pick any outfit to wear, but Coach Xu said no and gave her a very special outfit.
Zhou Zeyu took the clothes, unfolded them, and glanced at them, almost unable to believe his eyes. "Where did you find this antique?"
It was the outfit she wore when she won her first World Junior Championship.
Throughout her career, she has worn so many outfits, and they all seem to look pretty much the same. Zhou Zeyu might not remember the other outfits she wore when she won championships, but she definitely remembers this one.
Back then, she was just a greenhorn, participating in such an international competition for the first time. Because she was not a favorite to win as predicted before the competition, she was not taken seriously and didn't even have her name on the back of her clothes. Coach Xu bought letter embroidery patches and sewed them on for her stitch by stitch.
Then, wearing this somewhat haphazard outfit, she overcame numerous obstacles and won that precious championship.
Since then, she has never participated in international competitions without her name on her clothes, because she is no longer the unknown nobody who needed Coach Xu's embroidery name.
It was unexpected that Coach Xu would still have this garment after so many years, and in such good condition that Zhou Zeyu could hardly tell it was a garment that had been worn for over a decade.
Clean, tidy, and ironed neatly, even the embroidered patch on the back had been re-sewn and reinforced. Surprisingly, she didn't feel that the size was too small when she wore it.
"You were such a small person back then, and after so many years, you're still just as small." Coach Xu's voice sounded somewhat sad. "To be honest, I'm ashamed to say that I haven't raised you well at all."
Zhou Zeyu looked up, held back her tears, turned her back, and casually wiped away her tears as if nothing was wrong. "Stop talking, or I won't be able to reach the state of oneness with nature."
Coach Xu smiled and patted her shoulder firmly. "Do your job well and don't overthink it. Whether you're in harmony with nature or not isn't that important anymore. In the end, you can only rely on yourself."
Yes, it was just her alone.
Zhou Zeyu nodded, quickly calmed himself down, took a deep breath, and walked back from the locker room to the court.
She nodded to the referee and randomly chose one side of the coin. The coin was tossed high into the air and, following Zhou Zeyu's gaze, landed back on the referee's hand. Zhou Zeyu chose to be the first to serve.
Then the game officially began.
As the referee's voice fell silent, the already quiet stadium became almost completely silent. Zhou Zeyu could hear his own heartbeat, one beat after another, clearly pounding in his left chest, deafeningly loud.
The small ping-pong ball rested in her palm, almost weightless. She closed her eyes briefly, then quickly opened them again, tossed it vertically upwards, and her right hand followed in time, the paddle and ball making a faint colliding sound.
Snap.
...
Snap.
The ping-pong ball landed, another point.
The two sets passed quickly without Zhou Zeyu noticing. He briefly breathed a sigh of relief, walked to the sidelines, wiped the sweat off his face with a towel, tilted his head back to drink water, and nodded silently as Coach Xu's rambling instructions echoed in his ears.
Her gaze swept aimlessly across the venue, intending to simply relax, but she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure out of the corner of her eye. She paused, then squinted to examine the figure closely.
Fang Xiaocan sat in an inconspicuous spot in the audience, holding up a huge banner that read "Zhou Zeyu is invincible." He was so excited that he almost jumped onto the field to wave the flag and shout. Zhou Zeyu couldn't help but laugh.
However, just as she was busy laughing at Fang Xiaocan, two more heads suddenly popped up under the huge banner. The two messy heads were huddled together, laughing and waving at her frantically.
If seeing Fang Xiaocan was expected, then the sudden appearance of Anna and Eric was an unexpected delight. Zhou Zeyu stared wide-eyed at the two in disbelief, forgetting to put his water glass down from his lips.
After realizing what was happening, she couldn't help but smile broadly and wave to the two of them.
There's only one possible reason why Anna and Erikev would know about this insignificant warm-up match, realize its significance, and travel all the way from Belgrade.
Sorkov.
Zhou Zeyu subconsciously craned her neck to look at the other side of the banner, trying to see another familiar figure emerging from below, but she didn't see it.
She was stunned for a moment. The joy of the reunion was suddenly mixed with a sense of loss that she could not control. If the loss had not been so obvious at this moment, Zhou Zeyu would not have even known that she missed Solkov.
Lately, she's been busy with intense training and adjusting her condition, and has almost neglected to contact him. But that's how it always is between them; when they're both busy, they both choose not to disturb each other, which is something they both know.
Zhou Zeyu had privately checked the schedule of the Sorkov match. If the schedule was accurate, he should still be in Budapest competing right now.
Of course, she couldn't see him either.
Zhou Zeyu shook her head, forcing herself not to think about those things. Fortunately, the break ended quickly, and she no longer had a chance to overthink. She handed the water cup to Coach Xu, took a few more deep breaths, and walked back to the pool table.
After two games, she took the lead in one game, but was tied in the next game. The score remained close, and the third game was about to begin.
Feng Yifan's skills have improved a lot compared to a few years ago, which is to be expected. While Zhou Zeyu has stopped, she has been persisting in training. Her previously scarce experience in major competitions has been made up for in one game after another, and her weak footwork has also been greatly improved. In comparison, Zhou Zeyu seems to be caught off guard.
Amidst the subtle sounds of the rubber balls rubbing together, Zhou Zeyu crouched down slightly, watching as the white ball was tossed three times in Feng Yifan's hand, then rose vertically. With a flick of her wrist, the white ball, accompanied by a strong side spin, grazed the net, bounced off the edge of Zhou Zeyu's table area, and then spun rapidly towards the outside of the table.
Zhou Zeyu pursed her lips and reflexively lunged in that direction. Her center of gravity was a little unstable, and her supporting foot kept slipping. Before she could come to her senses, she had already quickly hit the ball back. She staggered a few steps, but quickly regained her balance.
However, Feng Yifan's counterattack came quickly. She chose to use a backhand fast attack to force Zhou Zeyu's backhand corner. The white ball hit the ball in the blink of an eye. Zhou Zeyu's body was half a beat too slow, and he watched helplessly as the ball bounced on the table and fell to the ground.
Zhou Zeyu took a deep breath, moved her neck which was sore from nervousness, and stared intently at the ball in her opponent's hand. But this point was similar to the previous one, and Feng Yifan won another point with this move.
Many times she would stretch out her hand, trying her best to extend herself, and briefly think she could catch the ball, but the next second she could only watch the ball brush past her racket. She was always a beat too slow, but she didn't know which beat she was too slow on.
She reached out and asked for a pause.
Coach Xu stood on the sidelines, looking at her with some concern, "Are you alright?"
Zhou Zeyu knew he was asking about his injury, so he casually moved his right foot, shook his head, and told the truth, "I dare not use too much force, Lao Xu."
Considering her old right leg injury, Zhou Zeyu played very cautiously in the first game. However, Feng Yifan seized on this hesitation in the second game. In the third game, having tasted success, Feng Yifan almost always chose such an aggressive style of play.
It was obvious that she couldn't handle it.
When she was young, Zhou Zeyu was not afraid of this style of fighting. Her style at that time was even similar to this one, relying on high-intensity physical bursts to withstand the opponent's attacks. However, that required peak physical abilities to barely maintain, which she could no longer do.
Coach Xu's words rang in her ears, "Don't rush. Her fighting style consumes stamina. You can't let her lead you. Find her weak point and then attack."
As expected, Feng Yifan won the third set. After another minute of rest, she tried to comfort herself, put her hands on her hips, and fanned herself with Coach Xu's tactics booklet, almost covered in sweat.
Throughout her long career, Zhou Zeyu has encountered setbacks, which is quite common because she is slow to get into form and is easily overtaken by others. However, she has almost always managed to suppress her anxiety and continue playing.
This is not easy to do, but she must have this ability because she is a professional athlete and later becomes the backbone of the team. When others need her, she must be the one who stands the most steadfast.
She had been doing this for many years. She stood there expressionless, seemingly calmly dealing with the situation of falling behind, making up point by point until the final victory. But in reality, it was not like that at all; it was not that simple.
Sometimes she feels lost and panicked. When she looks at the scoreboard, her heart skips a beat and her palms are sweaty. But when she comes to her senses, she finds that she has to face it, because there is really no one who can help her.
She lowered her head, staring at the ground beneath her feet, letting the sweat trickle down her cheeks and into her collar, drop by drop.
Then he raised his head again, casually wiped his face, handed the booklet back to Coach Xu, and went back onto the field.
The fourth round has begun.
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