Chapter Twenty-Four Idol

  Send away the football manager who digs the wall foot, I asked that big guy: "Does your school have a Zhao Dan you know?"

  "Our school has several thousand people, how can I know each and every one of them, what major are they from?"

  Badminton team's.

  Dai Guo Dao said: "You may not be able to find him normally, but you will definitely be able to find him today."

  "Why?"

  "Today, the national team came to our school for training, and all the badminton players are in the badminton hall."

  I just remembered that TV mentioned this thing two days ago, and it's already here today.

  Thank you, we asked people along the way and arrived at the badminton hall. On the gate, a banner was already hung: "Warmly welcome the national team to our school for training". Although there were two security guards at the entrance, they did not restrict others from entering to watch. As provincial teams, it's common to see national teams come for training, and other majors have their own idols, so when we entered, there were only a few people in the audience seats, probably fans who came after hearing the news. In the front row of seats, more than ten members of the provincial team were already seated neatly, and a stout middle-aged man wearing sports clothes was lecturing the team members one by one:

  "When the national team players arrive later, your main task is to observe, learn from their playing methods, reflect on your own shortcomings, and take note of any questions you have. After the training session, I'll collect them and ask for guidance on your behalf. Also, be sure to applaud enthusiastically - it's an honor for our school to host the national team's training session, so let's give them a good impression..."

  I took a glance at their team and immediately spotted Zhao Dan, the coach was speaking in front while he sat alone at the back playing with his phone, looking completely carefree.

  I took Su Jing to the front row of the audience and called out in a low voice, "Zhao Dan, Zhao Dan!" not far from Zhao Dan.

  Zhao Dan suddenly lifted his head, saw me, and was taken aback for a moment before saying: "Little Dragon Brother." The last time we parted ways, I told him my surname was now Long, it seems he had a deep impression of me too, and remembered right away.

  Zhao Dan stole a glance at their coach and then ran to the back to sit with me, hunching his back. Their coach glared at him for a moment before continuing to speak.

  Zhao Dan said warmly: "How did you come here? Are you a badminton enthusiast?"

  I shook my head and smiled: "Look who's here."

  Zhao Dan said: "Then you won't come in vain, soon you'll see the national team's stars."

  I said: "Can you go on stage and fight?"

  Zhao Dan joked: "Who can compare to me? Haven't you seen that the coach doesn't even bother with me anymore? In his words, I'm lucky to have made it to the provincial team." Zhao Dan pointed at a player in the front row and said to me, "See him? He's our seedling, very promising to enter the national team. If anyone is going to make it big, it'll be him putting on a show."

  Zhao Dan saw that I was still with a girl and asked me in a low voice: "Is this Little Dragon's wife? She's really pretty."

  "Don't talk nonsense, just an ordinary friend."

  "I don't believe it, can ordinary friends come watch badminton with you?" He saw that the coach wasn't paying attention to him, so he simply sat down with us.

  At this time, there were footsteps behind the venue, a group of people wearing bright red national team uniforms entered the scene calmly. Although there were not many spectators, it caused quite a stir, and several people simply crossed the venue's railing to ask for autographs from some of them. The security guards immediately came out to stop them.

  Zhao Dan's eyes lit up, and he poked me excitedly: "Look, that's Sun Ning, the Thomas Cup and Olympic champion. If he wins another Sudirman Cup, he'll have a Grand Slam! The one next to him is Li Rui, the men's singles champion of the previous World Championships, also very powerful!" These two were also the most surrounded by spectators, Li Rui didn't even lift his eyelids, slowly signing his name for the audience in front, while Sun Ning hid behind a security guard, impatiently waiting for them to clear the area.

  "What's so great about these people?"

  Zhao Dan immediately said: "They are my idols - the world men's singles champions, this title is so cool!" Zhao Dan said with an unusual glow in his eyes.

  I said: "Aren't there still doubles and mixed doubles?"

  "What kind of badminton is that?"

  I didn't expect that as a semi-professional athlete, Zhao Dan would also have biases towards his own profession. However, from the perspective of watching, men's singles in badminton is indeed on a higher level than other events. The value and attention received by the men's singles champion are also the highest. It's not unusual for different genders, rules, and venues to receive different levels of attention in the same sport. Take football for example, men's football and women's football are two completely different things. Another example is billiards, snooker is like a grand banquet, while nine-ball may look good but it's always a supporting role.

  I asked Zhao Dan: "Do you want to be the men's singles champion?"

  "Who doesn't want to? But it's just a thought, like someone who dreams of winning 5 million every day."

  "You'd better try harder, it's useless just thinking about it."

  Zhao Dan said, "My training volume is greater than others, but I'm not talented, there's nothing I can do." He said this with a bit of despair, but soon his interest was rekindled by the arrival of Sun Ning and Li Rui.

  After the venue was cleaned up, the deputy coach and leader of the national team symbolically shook hands with Zhao Dan's coach, and the team members started their training after warming up.

  The national team members were divided into mixed doubles, women's doubles, men's doubles and men's singles in four venues to start training. Sun Ning and Li Rui did not take the field. The four venues adopted a 21-point system to determine the winner or loser. Li Rui started pulling his luggage, looking like he was about to take the field. The audience immediately responded with warm applause and cheers. It seems that the singles of seeded players are still the most attractive after all.

  He and Li Rui are unfamiliar names for the team, but Zhao Dan, who is well-known to the national team, tells us that he is also very powerful and a strong sparring partner in the national team.

  Li Rui and his teammates warmed up with a few long shots in the backcourt before the game officially started.

  Li Rui serves, sparring partner sends a short ball, Li Rui suddenly uses force to spike the ball, scores directly, audience applauds, Li Rui continues to serve, two people start fighting at the midline, occasionally accompanied by powerful spikes, every time this happens the audience will excitedly shout: "Kill!"

  That small badminton looks light and soft, but once it's hit, the whizzing sound makes me nervous. I've played badminton before, but I think if I were to play with others, I wouldn't be able to return a single ball.

  Su Jing looked at me with a puzzled expression and said: "If it's to make the opponent unable to catch up, why not hit the ball far away?"

  I told her: "It must be within the scope of that frame to count, you hit it like that and it's out of bounds."

  "So many boxes, which one should I count?"

  Zhao Dan was watching the ball with great enthusiasm, and at the same time, he gave us a collective lesson: "In doubles, the outer line is counted, in singles, the horizontal direction is counted as the inner line, and the vertical direction is counted as the outer line. If you can't remember it well, I'll teach you a mnemonic - in doubles, the court is fat and long, in singles, the court is thin and long."

  Su Jing nodded and said: "What's going on with that web?"

  Zhao Dan said: "Every time you hit the ball, it must go over the net - don't you understand at all?"

  I whispered to him jokingly: "Your little dragon wife is from another world."

  Su Jingtao: "I understand what you're saying, but how do we count it if the ball rubs against the net?"

  Zhao Dan said: "It doesn't matter if you wipe the net or not, as long as it's over the line. However, when serving, the ball must cross the opponent's front court line."

  Su Jing furrowed her brow and said, "From my observation, every time the ball grazes the net, its direction and force change greatly, making it difficult for the opponent to receive under unexpected circumstances. Why don't you use that net to create trouble for them?"

  Zhao Dan lost his smile and said, "What kind of joke are you telling? The ball can sometimes reach over 300 kilometers per hour. It's already good if I can catch it. Where is the time to aim? Moreover, to do what you said, the ball must be hit at the top of the net, and even with time, it's not necessarily accurate."

  Su Jing said faintly: "If it were me, I could have done it."

  Zhao Dan snorted and laughed, too lazy to talk to this amateur.

  Li Rui won the first set 21-16 and entered the break. Zhao Dan and their coach went to the national team leader, nodded and bowed, said a few words, the leader reluctantly nodded, came to Li Rui's side and said: "Our provincial team coach wants us to have a match with their seeded players, you go."

  Li Rui dissatisfied: "Didn't you say it was a performance match on the last day?"

  The fat coach hurriedly ran to Li Rui and said with a smile: "Seeking knowledge is like thirst, please give me some guidance."

  Li Ruidao said: "How many of you are going up?"

  "Two." The fat coach looked at his team members, seemingly reluctant to give up anyone, and hastily added, "Three."

  Li Rui waved his hand impatiently and said, "Let them come over."

  The fat coach beamed with joy and hastily pushed forward the seed player Zhao Dan had mentioned, instructing him earnestly: "Fight well and study hard!"

  The seed player came over and shook hands with Li Rui, who patted his hand and said, "Let's get started quickly, you serve."

  The seeded player served, Li Rui returned the serve, and the seeded player hit a direct winner into the net. Li Rui led 1-0 and changed serves.

  It seems that the seed player is a bit nervous, and probably has some psychological pressure from playing against the national team. After all, they are legendary figures and his idols. When playing, he can't help but hold back a bit, and was directly beaten 10-0 by Li Rui. He wanted to continue playing, but Li Rui put down his racket and said: "Next one, don't waste time, as agreed, each person gets 10 balls, hurry up."

  "He's really like this."

  The next one was slightly better than the seed player, winning two points after hitting 10 balls. Li Rui didn't play with him again and loudly said, "Next!" Rolling his eyes, he said, "Is this the level of your provincial team?"

  The audience was in an uproar, after all, on their own field, the provincial team represented them, and Li Rui's few words caused a burst of boos from the crowd.

  As a result, contestant number three felt too much psychological pressure and directly said to the coach with a worried expression: "Forget it, I'm not going to do it?"

  The coach sighed.

  "I'm going up!" Zhao Dan suddenly shouted loudly, startling me.

  Zhao Dan angrily left the table, holding his own racket and shouting at player number three: "Losing a game doesn't mean losing one's dignity, what are you afraid of?" The audience immediately started cheering and applauding.

  Fat coach pulled Zhao Dan: "Your two moves are even more useless, you're not afraid of losing face, I'm afraid."

  Zhao Dan angrily said: "Directly slapping him would be humiliating!" The audience started cheering...

  The national team leader was very calm and said to Coach Pang: "Let the young man try."

  Li Rui glared at Zhao Dan: "You also have 10 balls, lose and get out of the way!"

  Zhao Dan was so angry that he trembled slightly and said loudly, "Good!" Being angry is one aspect, but the main reason is seeing his idol being so mercenary - that's why it's said that you shouldn't meet your idols unless you want to risk discovering that Aoi Sora is dark-skinned and thin, or Lin Chi-ling has sagging breasts, how heartbreaking would that be!

  As I watched Zhao Dan walk onto the stage, I pulled on Su Jing's sleeve and asked: "Can you feel my power in him?"

  Su Jing shook her head: "No."

  Division line

  Although we are realistic, there must be some fictional parts. Today's is too profound to explore. The national team generally doesn't have this kind of moral character. I also like the men's singles Lin Dan and Chen Jin. Xiaohua's badminton is played with skill and precision. Sometimes in the summer after eating dinner, we would play a game or two. My practice partner was only one person - but my mom was absolutely not my opponent.