Power Couple | Competitive Sports | Childhood Friends
Genius Prodigy x Grassroots Player
*
Ling Xiao first met Zhang Yingming after morning exercises.
Coach Ling brought in a boy. They looked at each other, and neither said a word.
What a country bumpkin, Ling Xiao thought.
What a show-off, Zhang Yingming thought.
There was one kind of person Ling Xiao hated most: the kind who worked themselves to the bone.
Because it made him look like a jerk.
There was one kind of person Zhang Yingming looked down on most: the kind with talent who didn't work hard.
Because that was the biggest insult to someone like him.
The boys' first reaction to disliking each other was to compete.
They competed in training and shoved each other whenever they disagreed. They got into arguments in the cafeteria line and fights over the shower faucets. Every so often, they were punished together: running laps, doing squats, and writing self-criticisms.
As they sat across from each other writing, Zhang Yingming wrote, "I shouldn't have hit him," while Ling Xiao wrote, "I shouldn't have hit him first."
When they finished, they glanced at each other, then tore up their papers at the same time.
*
Later, their coach paired them up for doubles.
They went through their first practice without saying a single word. Whenever they lost a point, they looked at each other, their eyes saying, "It's all your fault."
Before they could finish a game, they nearly came to blows again.
Then their opponents hit an incredibly sharp shot down the line. Ling Xiao couldn't reach it, so Zhang Yingming flung himself after the ball and managed to scoop it back, crashing to the floor.
Ling Xiao froze for a moment, then instinctively smashed the ball for a point.
Then he walked over and held out a hand.
Zhang Yingming looked up at him from the floor but didn't take it. "I thought you didn't care."
Ling Xiao crouched down. "Are you getting up or not?"
They won the national junior doubles championship the first time they played together.
On the podium, Ling Xiao slung an arm around Zhang Yingming's shoulders, unable to suppress his grin.
Later, they went from the provincial team to the national team.
They went from domestic competitions to the Asian circuit, competed together at the World Junior Championships, and played together at the World Table Tennis Championships.
Ling Xiao was no longer "that genius," the spoiled young master who coasted on talent, slacked off in training, and didn't care if he lost. Zhang Yingming was no longer "the kid from out of town," the boy with a shabby bag who stood alone outside the training hall.
They were teammates, partners, and each other's right-hand men.
*
A speck of dust from an era, when it lands on one person, is a mountain.
Reforms, new equipment, changes in playing styles, injuries and obsessions... Some retired, some changed careers, and some were swept away by the tide, without even leaving a goodbye. The training hall grew quieter and quieter. On the walls, the faces in the championship photos had started to blur.
But Ling Xiao and Zhang Yingming still stood at the table, just as they always had.
Ling Xiao asked, "You still got it?"
Zhang Yingming smiled. "If you do, then so do I."
From opposite sides of the table to the same side, from boys to young men, from having nothing to weathering a mountain, from one era to the next. It seemed everything had changed, and yet nothing had.
Many years later, someone asked Ling Xiao who his greatest opponent in life had been.
Ling Xiao lowered his eyes to the old paddle on the table. It was as if he could see the training hall from more than a decade ago, and the boy who had run laps alongside him. "Zhang Yingming."
The reporter then asked who his best partner was.
"Still Zhang Yingming."
*
If I love you, I will never be like the trumpet creeper, clinging to a tree for support.
We are two trees, each rooted in our own place, our branches and leaves entwined in the storm.
Reader's Guide:
1. One-on-one romance, both leads are each other's only partner, happy ending.
2. Romance-focused, with sports as a secondary element, and a slice-of-life feel.
3. The table tennis details aren't professional, but I'll do my best to research them. Please read for entertainment and don't take them too seriously.
4. Some plot elements are included only for historical setting and storytelling purposes and do not represent the author's views. The characters are not based on real people, and all competitions are fictionalized. Please don't use them as a reference for real life.
5. One of my dreams is to write a sports novel. I'll give it my all, not only for Yingming and Ling Xiao, but for myself too. May Chinese table tennis keep shining brightly.
Theme: A thousand words can't express it. Thank you to the active players.
