The Gold is Yours, You Are Mine: Chapter 40 National Competition 4
The last battle, the battle of fate.
She won, scored a crucial point, and sent the Coastal Province team to the group finals. She lost, and although there were still one single, one double, and two games, there were more uncontrollable factors in the end.
What's worse for the Jiangsu team is that they have to win this game. If they lose, the next doubles match against the combination of Xie Shi'an and Qiao Yuchu has basically no chance of winning. Their journey in the national competition will stop here up.
Therefore, for honor, for victory, and for a higher podium, both sides must do their best to compete for this crucial point.
At the beginning of the third game, they fell into a long tug-of-war, even more stalemate than the last one, and the intermission was only at 10:11.
At this time, the fight is actually about the physical fitness and willpower of both sides. At this stage of the national competition, except for some national players, the level is almost the same. There is no absolute strength or weakness. It mainly depends on the state of the court. And play, and the tactics arranged by the coach can't help them too much at this time.
So during the intermission, Yan Xinyuan didn't tell her too much, so as not to put too much pressure on her.
Soon, the second half of the game began in full swing.
Zhou Mu in the auditorium squeezed the cheering props tightly, and his expression looked more nervous than Jian Changnian.
"What should I do? It feels like Chang Nian has been pressed and beaten all the time. I feel like she's a bit exhausted."
Cao Rui, who was sitting next to him, had played badminton for many years, had rich experience, and had a vicious eye for people.
"Actually, both sides are a bit physically exhausted. You can see that the score has been biting very tightly. Basically, you have one point and I have one point. The gap has not been widened. Now it is to see who can hold on to the end."
17:18
18:18
18:19
19:20
Jian Changnian temporarily fell behind by one point, and when it was the opponent's turn to receive the serve, Zhou Mu covered his eyes with a toy slap in despair.
"Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Before the voice fell, the audience cheered.
Jian Changnian equalized the score with a beautiful backhand slice.
20:20
Cheng Zhen jumped up from his seat excitedly.
"It's amazing! Zhou Mu, look at it, the score is tied!!"
Zhou Mu came back to his senses, and slapped wildly, shouting for her at the top of his voice.
According to the rules of the game, when the scores of the two sides are the same, one side needs to surpass the opponent by two points to be considered the winner.
The next few **** touched the nerves of all the audience in the stadium.
20:21
21:21
21:22
22 flat.
Every time the scoreboard lights up, Zhou Mu is also doing sit-ups crazily on his seat, feeling that the next second he will either die from a cerebral hemorrhage or die from a myocardial infarction.
A group of people stood in the corridor on the second floor. The Zhejiang team, which had no game today, also came to watch the game.
Yin Jiayi leaned on the railing with her bag on her back, watching the game off the court with a little surprise in her eyes.
"I always thought that Xie Shi'an was the strongest in the Binhai provincial team. I didn't expect her to improve so quickly in just a few days."...
You must know that the opponent is a seed player of the National Youth Team, and Jian Changnian is just a rookie.
The head coach stood beside her.
"It seems that we have to go back and prepare for the decisive battle with them."
Yin Jiayi stared intently at the situation off the field.
"23:24"
"24:24"
"24:25"
…
Some teammates exclaimed: "Is this going to hit 30 points?!"
For the last few balls, Zhou Mu held his breath nervously and sweated deeply for Jian Changnian. Yan Xinyuan also stood up, frowning and observing the situation on the field.
At this stage, it can be said that both of them are persisting with their extraordinary willpower.
Every time they make an extreme save, there will always be bursts of cheers from the scene. The competitive spirit of never giving up without the ball landing also deeply affects every audience on the scene.
Everyone is eagerly waiting for the final result.
"25:26"
"26 is tied!"
"27 levels!"
"This rookie from the Binhai provincial team is amazing!!"
"Jiangsu team is not bad either. Look, she fell and flew out of the field, and she is still saving the ball!"
"Is the Coastal Province team going to win?!"
"No, no, still playing! That ball went over the net!"
"Catch it! Catch it, that rookie actually caught that extreme front-net ball and killed it back!"
"28 levels!"
The moment Jian Changnian caught the tricky angled net ball and successfully smashed the ball, Zhou Mu jumped up and screamed at the top of his voice: "Chang Nian, awesome!!"
Cheng Zhen took out the loudspeaker that she had prepared earlier and took the lead in shouting.
"The Coastal Team—"
From the few people in the auditorium near them on the first day of the game, now there are more than half of the audience sitting.
Everyone shouted hoarsely together: "Come on!!"
There was also a voice not to be outdone from the stands next to him.
"Jiangsu team—"
"come on!!"
All of a sudden, the entire stadium roared like a tsunami and completely boiled.
Those who waved the flag for her were her familiar friends, teammates who got along day and night, teachers who taught her carefully, grandma sitting on the hospital bed, and more audiences who were infected by her and never met.
Jian Changnian's eyes were slightly wet. At this moment, she only had one thought, she must win, she must reach the finals, and she must not disappoint the people who were looking forward to her.
29:29.
It's the last ball, and it's her turn to serve.
Jian Changnian raised the racket, stretched her long arms, jumped sideways, and was about to end this long tug-of-war with a lore, when the racket hit the shuttlecock, she heard a slight sound of the string breaking. sound.
"Zheng—"
Jian Changnian's expression changed drastically, and it was too late to retract his raised hand, and he watched the ball fly crookedly towards the net due to the loss of strength.
No-
The boy screamed inwardly, and was about to pounce on him.
The scoreboard lights up.
29:30
Jiangsu team won.
The whole audience was silent for a second,...there was a roar of mountains and tsunami from the stands of the Jiangsu team.
Yin Jiayi was speechless: "It's a pity."
Head coach: "It's a pity, but luck is also part of strength, let's go."
Yin Jiayi nodded: "Okay."
The group left the gymnasium again.
"How could this happen..." Zhou Mu's eyes widened in disbelief, watching Jian Changnian standing on the ground, refusing to leave the court, pointing to the referee with the racket, anxiously defending something .
The referee shook his head and signaled her to go down first without changing his face.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Yan Xinyuan also walked over. Seeing him coming, Jian Changnian began to cry a little.
"Coach Yan, I...not me...my racket string is broken...that ball..."
Because she was anxious, she was a little incoherent.
Yan Xinyuan put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her: "It's okay, go down first, there are still two games to come."
The referee also said: "If you disagree with the refereeing result, please appeal to the organizing committee after the game."
Jian Changnian looked at Yan Xinyuan, Yan Xinyuan nodded to her, and she reluctantly left the scene with tears in her eyes.
Qiao Yuchu originally wanted to go over to comfort her, but the doubles was about to start, so she could only walk past her, patted her on the shoulder and said, "It's okay, we still have us."
Jian Changnian lowered her head and nodded slightly as a response.
Sitting here, she listened to the voices of the audience and the soft comfort of her teammates. The more she thought about it, the more uncomfortable she felt. She wiped the corners of her eyes with a towel when a bottle of mineral water suddenly appeared in front of her. The white wrist looks like Xie Shi'an.
Seeing that she didn't respond for a long time, it was time for the game again.
Xie Shi'an threw the mineral water into her arms with a cold face, and ran to the competition after saying "trouble".
In the only two games left that day, Xie Shi'an and Qiao Yuchu lived up to expectations and won. At present, the two sides are tied at 2:2, and the final singles game is particularly important.
Yan Xinyuan glanced at his team members. Xie Shi'an and Qiao Yuchu had just played and couldn't play again. Although Zhang Chun was good, he still struggled against the players of the Zhan Guoqing Team. As for Jian Changnian, her current physical fitness and The state is not suitable for playing again, so there is only one Yang Li left.
All eyes were on her, and Yang Li suddenly felt a lot of pressure. She is also a rookie who just joined the team this year.
Yan Xinyuan walked over and patted her on the shoulder.
"Relax the game, drag the game into a tiebreaker, and there will be more to play."
Yang Li took deep breaths repeatedly, cheered herself up, nodded, and when she was ready, she took the racket to the field.
Although Yang Li also tried her best, it was a pity that she did not equalize the score after losing a game first, and lost to the opponent 0:2 with a slight difference of 18:21.
The moment the scoreboard lights up, it means that they have stopped in this national competition with the third place in the Eastern Division.
Competitive games only win or lose, no one cares how the runner-up steps down, let alone just a little-known small team.
The audience was cheering for the Jiangsu team's victory.
The Binhai provincial team quietly left the field.
Jian Changnian got into the car in a daze, everyone was laughing and laughing when they arrived, but no one spoke on the way back.
There was a dead silence in the whole carriage, and the atmosphere was oppressive and heavy.
...
This emotion broke out completely when eating in the cafeteria.
The reason was that Yang Li asked Zhang Chun to beat a drumstick for her.
It might be that everyone is not in a good mood, so Zhang Chun answered: "I have lost the game, but I am still in the mood to eat and drink."
Yang Li dropped the dinner plate, which happened to fall at Jian Changnian's feet.
"What do you mean?! I didn't lose on purpose. My knees were worn out trying to save the ball. Can't you see it?!"
"Then what do you mean?! Aren't you the last one to play?! If you win, will we stop here?! If you lose the game, you still have the face to lose your temper here, you are sick! "
"I'm so surprised. I'm not the only one who lost today. Why are you all pointing the finger at me? Didn't I work hard? Didn't Jian Changnian also lose?! You lost so ridiculously! Why don't you Blame her! If you all won, what would happen now?! We would have made it to the finals long ago!"
Hearing what she said, another group of teammates who were playing doubles today became unhappy and came up to push her.
"What do you mean by that? Are you the only one who worked hard and we didn't work hard? I don't know who played so badly. He lost 0:2 to the Jiangsu team. Jian Changnian somehow managed to reach the third game. "
A few people didn't speak speculatively for more than half a sentence, and they didn't know who made the move first, they scuffled together, some people wanted to go up to persuade the fight, but they were splashed with rice soup all over their heads, and the floor was in a mess.
Jian Changnian stood where he was, his eyes slowly turned red, he suddenly threw the dinner plate away, turned around and pushed the crowd away, and ran out the door.
Xie Shi'an just came in from the door and was bumped into her arms suddenly. The moment she lowered her head, she seemed to see Jian Changnian crying, her eyes were as red as a rabbit.
Before he recovered, someone shouted, "Coach Yan is here!"
As soon as Yan Xinyuan came in, he saw them torn together, the tables and chairs fell to the floor, and the dinner plates were thrown everywhere. The unknown fire in his heart rushed to the top of his head, and he dropped the thermos in his hand to the ground.
There was a bang, and the ground was thunderous.
Everyone stopped their movements and remained silent.
"It's outrageous!! Look at how you still look like a group of athletes. What else are you eating? Don't eat! Everyone is there. Gather on the playground and prepare for 200 push-ups!!"
There were whispers.
"Coach Yan, I didn't fight."
Yan Xinyuan pointed at his nose and scolded.
"Aren't you from the Coastal Province team?! Aren't they your teammates?! Is it reasonable to see your teammates fighting on the sidelines? As long as you get out immediately, you don't have to be punished! You are still here all day, it is this group If one member makes a mistake, all will be punished!"
"Now, I will give you ten minutes to clean up the cafeteria and restore the tables and chairs to their original state. After ten minutes, I will wait for you on the playground. I will count the time with a stopwatch. If I am one minute late, I will do a hundred push-ups."
Under his sharp gaze, everyone started to move, and the instigators Yang Li and Zhang Chun didn't dare to say anything anymore. Yang Li picked up the dinner plates that fell on the floor one by one while wiping away her tears.
Yan Xinyuan turned and left, and the moment he lifted the curtain to go out, maybe he was angry, maybe he was shocked by the cold wind, and coughed continuously.
Coach Liang came to help him: "Look at you, let you smoke less."
Yan Xinyuan waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.
"It's not...cough cough...they are angry..."
"It's fine, I'll go to Chang Nian." Coach Liang said.
Yan Xinyuan coughed a few more times, and the itching in his throat finally stopped.
"Let me go,...the complaint about today's competition has not been finished yet, and it has to be handed over to the competition organizing committee before noon tomorrow."
Coach Liang nodded repeatedly.
"Okay, then I will write now."
＊＊＊
There is no one in the training room, so it can only be in the small playground.
Before Yan Xinyuan approached, he heard soft sobbing.
Jian Changnian leaned on the parallel bars, wiped her tears, and cried so hard.
After thinking about it, he still made a little noise and walked over on the fallen leaves.
When Jian Changnian heard someone coming, he immediately wiped away his tears with his sleeve, raised his head and forced a smile at the person.
"Coach Yan, why are you here?"
Yan Xinyuan jumped onto the parallel bars, patted the place next to him, and motioned for her to come up too.
He didn't beat around the bush, he just told her directly.
"Although you lost the game, this is only the first national competition in your career, and there will be more in the future..."
Before he finished speaking, Jian Changnian's crying voice interrupted him.
"But for Miss Yuchu and Coach Yan, it's not the first time. This year... this year is our most promising one, and Shi'an...she wants to win so much, but I..."
Jian Changnian broke down in tears when he said this.
"After the game, I didn't even dare to look her in the eye."
"Coach Yan, I am not inferior in skills, I am... I lost to myself."
Listening to her talking about this, Yan Xinyuan's expression was also a little complicated. He knew that he was over half a hundred years old, and his physical strength and energy were not getting better every year. stage, if you can't achieve results, you may have to retire directly.
Although Jian Changnian didn't say anything, she was like a mirror in her heart. That's why she worked so **** the field today. What she wanted to protect was not only the honor, but also the coach and friends.
Even though he has read countless people and brought out many outstanding students, he rarely meets someone as pure and kind as her.
The old man hesitated for a while, seeing how hard she was crying, he put his hand on her back lightly, patted her slowly and forcefully like coaxing a child.
"As the head coach, I am also responsible for the loss of the game, but as an elder, Chang Nian, I know you have tried your best, so I don't blame you, I think they are the same."
The more he said this, the more Xie Shi'an said nothing, but it made her feel sad and blamed herself, and the surging guilt and frustration completely overwhelmed her.
Jian Chang wanted to cry and twitched, all the snot bubbles came out.
Yan Xinyuan looked at her with a smile, and suddenly asked: "Little Jane, are you happy when you play ball?"
Jian Changnian was taken aback, tears still hanging on her face.
"Only when I play, I don't have to think about anything, but I can't seem to win anyone..."
"Although during training, I have been emphasizing to you that you must achieve a certain goal within this week, but occasionally, it is enough to let go of your utilitarianism and enjoy the happiness brought by the game."
"It's just a national competition, and one day, you're going to shine on the world stage."
Jian Changnian's tears fell down again.
"But I have let you down."
"How come, you are my proudest student."