Selaginella leaves (II)
Coach Xu was right. At least after the second and third sets, Zhou Zeyi could see that Feng Yifan's stamina was gradually decreasing.
At the very beginning of the fourth game, it was clear that she was no longer as aggressive as she had been in the previous game, where she pressed forward with fierce attacks for almost every point. Instead, she cleverly adopted a more moderate pace, hoping to score points by taking advantage of Zhou Zeyu's mistakes.
When Zhou Zeyu was very young, Coach Xu told her that when physical strength is not an advantage, it is only a matter of who makes more mistakes. Zhou Zeyu's physical functions began to deteriorate a long time ago, so she began a painful and long transformation. Fortunately, she succeeded in the transformation.
In other words, she became more meticulous, relied more on basic skills, and her overall approach leaned more towards technique, resulting in very few mistakes.
This is the moment she has been waiting for.
As she served, a few stray hairs fell in front of Zhou Zeyu's eyes. In the brief moment she raised her hand to wipe her sweat, she suddenly and unexpectedly raised the ball, abruptly changing the rhythm of her previous serve and greatly lowering the height of the serve, delivering a signature short ball close to the net.
Feng Yifan reacted quickly, trying to return the ball by grazing the net, but she made a mistake and the ball failed to clear the net, falling into her half of the court.
Zhou Zeyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that Feng Yifan's network connection skills were average and she often made mistakes. Unfortunately, this was one of her best skills.
For several points in a row, she cleverly used the net-grabbing technique to score. This was a risky move, and of course, it was not a long-term solution. At least Feng Yifan began to intentionally or unintentionally force her to make changes and start to use longer shots.
This was another challenging aspect for Zhou Zeyu. She was constantly worried about her injury and was too cautious when sliding left and right to create distance. She almost relied on inertia to hit the ball, and there was always the possibility of missing the ball.
She gritted her teeth, lowered her center of gravity, and as she stepped to the side with her right foot, she suddenly raised her racket to her chest and quickly flicked the ball back to the middle with a backhand. Feng Yifan hit the ball back, but Zhou Zeyu did not retreat but advanced, forcing the ball into the corner and launching a quick attack.
Feng Yifan was caught off guard and failed to reach the ball, allowing Zhou Zeyu to score another point.
She breathed a brief sigh of relief, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the scoreboard: 9:3.
It seems that not participating in competitions for a long time has its advantages, namely that opponents are completely unaware of Zhou Zeyu's moves and their understanding of her is still based on the video recordings of her matches before her injury. However, her fighting style has indeed changed significantly over the years, and almost no one except herself understands it.
After a few more rounds, the match point was reached. Feng Yifan made a service error, and Zhou Zeyu almost easily won the point.
The score was tied at 2-2, and the decisive game was about to begin.
When the game ended and she returned to the rest area, Zhou Zeyu could even feel her hands shaking. This was especially noticeable when she took the towel, and her trembling even affected her ability to wipe away sweat.
Coach Xu noticed this, of course. Although he had won the round, the worry on his face only increased. He glanced at her trembling hands and sighed, "Are you very nervous?"
Zhou Zeyu shook her head, then nodded. She couldn't quite describe the feeling, but she was very familiar with it.
In the final match against Angelica back then, before the last game, she was in exactly the same state as she is now.
This seemed like an ominous sign, so she decided not to think about it anymore. The past is the past, and the present is the present. She didn't want to dwell too much on the past at this point. Her task was clear: to win this final round.
But how can she do that?
Feng Yifan recovered from her initial confusion and, after a few minutes, figured out Zhou Zeyu's moves. She began to counterattack in a targeted manner, using prolonged long balls to wear down Zhou Zeyu's stamina. If this continued, Zhou Zeyu would eventually be unable to withstand the onslaught.
She subconsciously looked at Coach Xu, but couldn't say a word. Time was ticking away, and the already short rest time was almost over. Coach Xu gently patted her shoulder.
Have you thought it through? What is your decision?
A hint of confusion flashed across Zhou Zeyu's face, but it quickly disappeared, revealing an indescribable bewilderment.
“I don’t know, Lao Xu…” she whispered, not as if answering his question, but as if she were talking to herself, “Should we go all out? What will happen if we do? I’m so scared, so scared.”
Although he was wearing the clothes from back then, Zhou Zeyu was no longer the teenager he once was. He used to be able to be a little arrogant because of his ignorance, but not now. People tend to be more hesitant the more they experience, because they know too many consequences and are cautious about all choices, so they can only keep hesitating.
But no, she didn't have time to think about it anymore.
Zhou Zeyu glanced at the timer, the mechanical numbers counting down the remaining ten seconds, and then she closed her eyes.
The mechanical clock didn't make the sound of a second hand turning, but she seemed to hear someone turning the hands, faster and faster, until time transformed into a clear ticking sound, rushing her back to the past, back to her most important day.
The stadium was packed with people during the final match. Amidst the clamor, she stood there and could still clearly hear a familiar voice ringing in her ears.
She said, "Zhou Zeyu, this is the Olympic final. Your opponent is unstoppable, while you are retreating step by step. You have no room for failure. So, do you want to risk everything to fight the last game?"
"Of course I want to," she answered almost without thinking.
"But who knows what you'll get in return? It might be success, but more likely it will be failure, or almost certain failure. Even if you know that victory is so slim it's practically impossible, are you still willing to give everything for it?"
"How foolish! Whether you give it your all or not, the result is the same. With your current physical condition, there's no way you can beat Angelica. Why are you being so stubborn? You could have left the arena standing up straight and with dignity, so why choose the most humiliating option?"
Zhou Zeyu fell silent; she knew she would never be able to answer that question.
As someone who's been through it all, she certainly knows what the "most embarrassing kind" is: stumbling and falling throughout the entire game, giving it your all but unable to increase the score, being forced into a corner by the opponent's perfect shots, losing all face, and then collapsing to the ground.
“But I don’t want to surrender,” she replied dryly. “You know my temper; I would never do that.”
The voice fell silent, seemingly lost in thought because of her words.
While she was deep in thought, Zhou Zeyu suddenly opened her eyes and saw the numbers on the timer in front of her jump to three, then two, and one without her noticing.
In an instant, as if a meteorite had fallen to earth, her thoughts fell heavily to the present. She looked at the zeroed-out panel with a sense of loss. It was a world apart from the scene back then. It was very quiet here, with almost nothing in sight. It was as if only Zhou Zeyu and she remained in the whole world.
"And now? Three whole years have passed, what is your choice?"
Zhou Zeyu frowned, her heart aching. She shook her head and honestly said that she hadn't thought it through yet.
Zhou Zeyu listened to her matter-of-fact, somewhat boyish boastful words and suddenly laughed. In her heart, she silently answered her words.
"Yes, you deserve it."
Why do you say 'I' am worthy? What about you?
“I’ve seen the biggest and best stage,” she replied, “and I’ve given everything for it.”
“But you haven’t.” Zhou Zeyu smiled slightly, looking at the young woman in front of him, as if he wanted to reach out and touch her, but in the end he put his hand down. “You still have to fight for that goal, and you will give everything for it.”
She paused for a moment, then continued, "The paths people take are always different. You're going up, I'm going down. I simply can't start over."
She was hesitant in the previous few games because she still wanted to start over and return to the arena she longed for.
That's why she kept restraining her movements, not daring to completely let loose and fight, afraid that if she did, her injury would relapse, just like it did with Angelica back then, and she no longer had the courage to go through it again.
She has to restrain herself and do her best to protect herself in order to keep going.
She had been working hard towards this idea, but now, she suddenly realized that it was actually unnecessary.
Not everyone has the courage to start over, that's for sure. But is the road to starting over always smooth? Instead of worrying about what will happen later, it's better to put all your effort into the present moment.
She should treat every match as her farewell game.
Just before the start of the final game, Zhou Zeyu finally understood this.
She took one last look at sixteen-year-old Zhou Zeyu, whose figure slowly faded from her sight, just like countless times before, about to disappear before her eyes.
"I've made my choice. What do you want to say?"
At sixteen, her face still held that innocent naiveté. She glanced at her, seemingly considering what to say, but the confusion on her face quickly turned into arrogance. She raised her eyebrows slightly and looked at her.
“Actually, I think,” she paused, her voice very soft, “I’ve always been pretty good.”
Zhou Zeyu almost laughed out loud. She watched as she slowly became transparent and slowly said, "Of course... I've always been amazing."
With a soft thud, accompanied by the sound of the ping-pong ball landing on the table again, all illusions vanished in that instant. Zhou Zeyu blinked, and once again, she was all alone.
She stood there, waiting for the moment when this grand drama would come to an end. Although she herself did not know what she would get after giving everything, she thought that she should try again, no matter what.
Anyway, it's all coming to an end.
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