MTL - The Gold is Yours, You Are Mine-Chapter 41 National Competition (5)

In the winter nights in the south, the temperature is low and the humidity is high. Even if you wear thick clothes, you can’t resist the chill. What’s more, you have to do push-ups with your hands on the cold plastic track.

Because of the heat accumulated after exercising, the exhaled white air hung on everyone's eyelashes, and then was blown away by the cold wind, the chill soaked the whole body, and they all started shaking after a while.

Someone cried and shouted: "Coach Yan, I can't do it!"

"It's okay if you can't do it. You can tell me who beat someone first today, so I don't have to do it."

When Zhang Chun closed her eyes and was about to blurt out, Yan Xinyuan's next sentence locked her in place, unable to move.

"According to the regulations of the provincial team, all those who fight will be expelled from the team, but the law does not blame everyone. As long as you confess who did it first, everyone can do nothing, but that person will leave the Binhai provincial team."

She gritted her teeth and glanced at Yang Li. The other party also gritted her teeth and persisted. In addition to sweat and tears, she slid down the runway drop by drop.

There was silence and no one spoke.

Yan Xinyuan stood with his hands behind his back.

"Okay, if you don't say yes, then each person will add another hundred."

Yang Li couldn't stand the torture anymore, her palms were sore from the hard track, and she didn't want others to be punished with her.

She closed her eyes and shouted with tears, "Report to the coach, it's me—"

Before the words finished, Zhang Chun picked it up.

"Report to the coach, I did it first!"

Yang Li was startled, raised her head, and looked at her in disbelief.

"No, coach, it's me. I found fault first. If you want to fire me, fire me."

More voices were added.

"Coach, I made a mistake too, so I did it too."

"Coach, punish me, don't fire them."

Jian Changnian couldn't hold on any longer, she closed her eyes and shouted: "Coach, I should be punished the most if I lose the game, you can punish me."

…

Yan Xinyuan looked at these immature faces in front of him, covering each other, not wanting to let his friends leave, and for some reason, his eye sockets were slightly wet.

He took off his coat and put it aside.

"I know that I lost the game today, and everyone is in a bad mood. As the head coach, it is my responsibility for not arranging good tactics. It is also my responsibility for not teaching you unity and friendship."

"Teaching is not strict, it is the fault of the teacher, so I will be punished together with everyone."

After he finished speaking, he bent down and did push-ups with them.

After all, Yan Xinyuan was old, and couldn't lift his arms after he couldn't do a few, and coughed again with a gust of wind in his throat.

Everyone got anxious, got up and surrounded him to help him up: "Coach Yan, Coach Yan, don't do this, we know we were wrong, just accept the punishment..."

Yan Xinyuan raised his head and drove everyone back with a stern shout.

"This is an order, who told you to get up, we are a group, if you make a mistake, everyone will be punished together, Xie Shi'an—"

Xie Shi'an stood up: "Here."

"You come to count, when will you finish 200, and when will you rest."

"yes!"

Since that night, an unwritten rule has been added to the training regulations of the Coastal Province team:

That is, regardless of whether the game is won or lost, it is forbidden to blame teammates.

Share the joy of victory together, and bear failure together.

After doing 200 push-ups, everyone supported each other to get up. Everyone's face was flushed by the wind...red, panting heavily, with snot and tears.

Yan Xinyuan was the last to stand up and put on his coat.

Coach Liang finished writing the complaint and came over to the playground to have a look, and asked them to have dinner by the way.

"Everyone has worked hard today. The cafeteria has prepared mutton soup. Let's go to drive away the cold."

Only then did the crowd burst into small cheers, and they walked towards the cafeteria in small groups.

Coach Liang and Yan Xinyuan fell behind.

"Is the appeal finished?"

"It's been faxed."

"Okay, I'll go and call the chief referee."

"Let's eat first."

Yan Xinyuan smiled and patted the dust off his clothes.

"Go back to the office and eat while you work."

＊＊＊

During the meal, Jian Changnian kept sneaking glances at Xie Shi'an's back, and wanted to strike up a conversation with her several times, but swallowed the words again.

Although she didn't say anything, she must be very sad in her heart. Otherwise, she wouldn't have worked so hard when she did push-ups just now, and she did fifty more push-ups than them. It was purely to vent.

After eating, Jian Changnian returned to the dormitory. After thinking about it, she took out the lotus lantern that was locked in the cabinet.

The roommate saw that she meant to go out: "It's so late, why don't you rest?"

Jian Changnian smiled: "Well, I have something to do, I'll be right back."

Although they are not in the same dormitory, they are all on the same floor. Jian Changnian probably knows a lot about her living habits.

Xie Shi'an will practice for about an hour after the daily training, and will take a shower immediately when he returns to the dormitory. If there is no accident, at this time, he should be able to wait for her on the only way back to the dormitory in the bath.

The bathing pool is next to the water room on the first floor. Jian Changnian found out when she went downstairs. It was snowing outside, and the north wind was blowing. Snow particles drifted in and landed on her body.

Jian Changnian stood in the corridor, hugged her arms tightly, and paced back and forth to keep warm.

After waiting for a while, footsteps came from behind. Jian Changnian turned her head and saw that Xie Shi'an came out with long hair loose, bag in hand, and slippers. The mist from the bath bathed her face. Smeared indistinctly.

Jian Changnian quickly walked up to him: "Shi'an."

Xie Shian stopped and looked calm.

"Is there a problem?"

"No... I just wanted to apologize to you. I didn't play well today..."

Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted coldly.

"If you want to say this, then you don't have to. I didn't have much hope at first. I will play my own game well."

Although the young man said so, the look in his eyes couldn't deceive anyone. When she lost the game, she was obviously a little sad.

Jian Changnian looked gloomy, forced a smile, and handed out the lotus lantern hidden behind her back.

"I know it's useless to say anything now, but I think you can be happier."

Xie Shi'an was taken aback when he saw what was in her hand.

"you…"

Seeing that she didn't answer for a long time, and she still looked a little unbelievable, Jian Changnian grabbed her right hand that was not holding anything, and stuffed it into her palm.

"I originally wanted to give you a surprise when we won the championship, but now it seems..."

Jian Changnian smiled, sniffed, and let go of her hand.

"...just wish you a good result in your personal project."

After she finished speaking, she turned and left.

Xie Shi'an stared blankly at the lotus lantern in her hand. She didn't need to look at the seal on the back. She only needed to take a look at the things made by her grandfather to know that it was real and not a fake.

The young man's expression moved slightly, and his voice trembled slightly.

"You... where did you get it?"

Jian Changnian turned around and smiled.

"I exchanged it with the jade pendant on my body."

Since she had a valuable jade pendant on her body, why didn't she exchange it for money when grandma was hospitalized?

Jian Changnian saw her doubts and said: "When I was very young, about three or four years old, I was playing with a few friends in the reservoir near my house. I accidentally fell into the water. This jade pendant saved me. It was left behind by the uncle. The uncle rescued me and left without leaving a name. Grandma said that we should take good care of this piece of jade. Maybe one day he will come back to get it, but no one has come to look for it for so many years. Pass."

It turned out to be like this.

The things left by the savior are also very meaningful to her. She can't bear to exchange jade for money, but she is willing to exchange her lotus lantern.

Xie Shi'an's eyes overflowed with a trace of sincere gratitude.

"thanks."

Jian Changnian scratched her head, and smiled a little embarrassedly when she saw her like this.

"You're welcome, because you've helped me a lot, and grandpa's relics are also very important to you."

She glanced at the sky outside, and the snow was getting bigger and bigger.

Xie Shi'an was wearing very thin clothes, and his hair was half dry.

"You...do you want to go back to the dormitory with me? It's cold outside."

Xie Shi'an nodded, quickly followed her, and blurted out without thinking.

"When you win the championship, I will give you the prize money, and you can redeem the jade..."

It stopped abruptly in the middle of the conversation.

Even if they won the championship of the individual event, they would not have the championship of the team competition. Let alone the bonus, it would definitely not be enough to redeem a piece of jade.

The young man closed his eyes, knowing that he had slipped his words.

"I'm sorry...you wait for me to save enough money."

Jian Changnian quickly waved his hands: "No, no, I have to pay you back the money..."

As the night darkened, the two of them chatted while walking, the short walk from the bath to the dormitory seemed as long as a lifetime.

"Shi'an, do you really want to win?"

"Well, my grandfather also likes to play badminton. My first teacher is him. I want to call him to let him know that I have been doing what I like and am good at all these years, and I have never given up."

"Then Shi'an, wait for me, give me a little more time, next year, next year I will definitely give you a champion."

"Tsk, you're not ashamed to say anything."

Seeing that she didn't believe it, Jian Changnian yelled.

"Really, I'm serious, next year we will definitely win the championship, not only the national championship, the Uber Cup champion, the Asian Championship champion, won't there be an Olympic Games next year?!"

"Returning to the Olympics, it really fell into the weighing pan, don't you know how much you weigh?"

"You you you...you shut up!"

Jian Changnian pounced on her and strangled her neck, the two of them were fighting, and they arrived at the dormitory, after saying good night to each other, they went into the room.

Everyone else in the room fell asleep, Xie Shi'an gently placed the lotus lamp on the desk, just where he could see it when he lay down.

With her hands on her head, she slowly fell asleep, as if losing the game was not so sad.

＊＊＊

The office lights were on after everyone else was asleep.

Yan Xinyuan sat around the fire, smoking a pipe, waiting for a call back from the competition organizing committee.

In the silence, the phone rang suddenly, and Coach Liang, who was already asleep, jumped up from the recliner, and was about to rush to answer the phone, Yan Xinyuan picked it up.

"Hey, it's me, what?!"

Before he could say a few words, a huge smile overflowed his face.

"Okay, okay, thank you chief referee, we must prepare well for the extra match tomorrow afternoon!"

When Coach Liang heard what he said, he also ran to the desk with a happy face.

"Is there a rematch?"

Yan Xinyuan hung up the phone and gathered up his coat that was about to fall off.

"Yes, the tournament organizing committee watched the video overnight and confirmed that Jian Changnian's last ball missed the net because the racket was off-line, and it was not due to human factors. After researching, they found that even if we lost a big game, the current game The points are still the same as the Jiangsu team, and we have also won the Zhejiang team. In terms of victory and defeat, we have an advantage. In theory, we also advanced to the finals, but this is a bit unfair to the Jiangsu team, so we decided to play an extra game tomorrow afternoon. field to determine the final promotion quota."

"Great, then what are we waiting for, let's study the tactics quickly, come on." Coach Liang pulled the chair over and sat down, spreading papers on the table.

After Yan Xinyuan finished smoking his pipe in two puffs, he was also completely sleepy at this moment, and he was full of energy.

"Tomorrow's game, we must win."

＊＊＊

When they learned that they still need to win an extra match to get the promotion spot, everyone did not complain, but cheered, and rushed over to surround Yan Xinyuan in the middle.

"Coach Yan, when shall we fight?"

Yan Xinyuan smiled: "We'll play in the afternoon, and it's still at the Jiangcheng Gymnasium."

Some teammates couldn't hold back: "Then what are you waiting for, let's go there now!"

Provoked a burst of laughter.

"Look at your watch, it's only nine o'clock in the morning."

The teammate scratched his head and laughed a little embarrassedly.

"I wanted to play again so badly, I didn't play well yesterday."

Yan Xinyuan looked at them with a smile in his eyes all the time.

"Everyone is tired from yesterday's game, let's rest this morning, and we will gather here on time at two o'clock in the afternoon."

After hearing this, Jian Changnian shook his head first: "No, no, coach Yan, let's continue training, we won't be tired."

There are also teammates.

"Yes, Coach Yan, we can persist."

"We already lost once yesterday, and we don't want to lose again."

His eyes swept over their faces one by one, Xie Shi, An Qiaoyu nodded at the beginning, everyone had the same look in their eyes, eager to win.

Yan Xinyuan laughed and blew the whistle hanging around his neck.

"Okay, then there are all of them, one hundred squats, warm up and prepare!"

In the afternoon, when he was about to leave for the competition venue, Xie Shi'an seemed to have suddenly remembered something, asked the driver to wait for her for a few minutes, and then turned back to the dormitory to pick up his things.

When we arrived at the competition venue, the Jiangsu team also came to prepare for the game early. The coaches of the two sides met in the rest area and shook hands with each other.

Yan Xinyuan had a smile on his face: "Eat the celebration banquet early,...it's actually the same score, so we have to fight again."

The head coach of the Jiangsu team was itchy with anger, but there was nothing he could do.

"It's just a rematch. I won today no matter how I beat you yesterday. Anyway, it's a celebration banquet. It doesn't matter if you eat early or late."

"I'll see you on the field then."

Yan Xinyuan let go of his hand and returned to his team.

Jian Changnian was scheduled to be the first to play today. Before going on the court, she looked down at her racket, carefully touched the corners, and picked the string to see if it was strong.

This suspicious appearance is a bit funny.

Xie Shi'an picked up the racket in his bag and walked over.

"Here, use mine."

Although the event organizing committee will provide a special racket for the game, but in terms of quality and feel, it is definitely not as good as for personal use.

This racket of hers was also bought from abroad by Cheng Zhen at a high price, and it has been under maintenance all the time.

Jian Changnian was startled: "You..."

Xie Shi'an thought she was worried about the pounds and that she was useless.

"I still have a racket that weighs about the same as the racket you used yesterday. You can use it."

She has seen the LOGO on Xie Shi'an's racket in high-end sporting goods stores. A racket is worth a lot of money.

Jian Changnian swallowed, and took it carefully.

"Then...then I'll give it back to you after the game."

Xie Shi'an nodded, turned and left.

Qiao Yuchu sat aside, handed her a bottle of water, and teased.

"You just went back to get this? All right, you have lent all your wealth."

Back then, Xie Shi'an wanted to buy this racket, but she barely managed to make it up after half a year's wages plus tournament prize money. She cherished it all the time, and would never use it except for official competitions.

Xie Shi'an choked for a moment, thinking of the lotus lantern, his heart was soft, but he still had to speak hard.

"I... I'm for the Coastal Province team. I don't want to see the situation like yesterday happen again, causing us to lose the game."