Ever since Xi Ming and the others landed in Slovenia or perhaps even earlier, from the moment the list of competitors for this stop was announced Zhao Zhengchang had looked worried.
Or rather, after seeing the roster for the Slovenia stop, everyone felt a bit uneasy.
While Zhao Zhengchang was checking Xi Ming’s belongings, he seemed much more tense than usual. Xi Ming thought for a moment, then offered a word of comfort.
“If I make it to the finals, I’ll have to face them anyway. It’s only a matter of time, so there’s no need for you to worry so much.”
“Yeah, I know. Don’t you be nervous either.”
Although Zhao Zhengchang turned around and comforted Xi Ming in return, Xi Ming could still see the pressure weighing on his coach. He didn’t say anything more since they were already here, everything would be left to the final results. Besides, Zhao Zhengchang’s visible stress also showed that he had some expectations for Xi Ming, which Xi Ming felt was just right.
“We’ll head to the rink in a bit to practice and get familiar with the venue.”
After saying this, Xi Ming returned his gaze to the book in his hands, while Zhao Zhengchang continued tidying up nearby. Actually, Xi Ming had originally planned to pack things himself, but seeing how more nervous Zhao Zhengchang was than him, he let his coach find something to keep busy with.
However, though his eyes were on the book, Xi Ming wasn’t actually taking in the words on the page. Instead, he was thinking about this stop.
Xi Ming understood why Zhao Zhengchang and the others were tense, because among the names announced for this stop were two highly anticipated skaters.
One was Czech skater Adam Lancik yes, last year’s Grand Prix champion. The other was American skater Chris Black. Though he had placed third in last season’s Grand Prix, he was also the World Junior Champion.
When Xi Ming had chatted with Gu Fu earlier, he’d mentioned that two of the three strongest skaters in the junior division were both at this stop.
This was also why many people back home didn’t expect Xi Ming to achieve much for his first international competition, he’d drawn a group-of-death stop. It wouldn’t be surprising if his mentality collapsed.
“Hey, I really liked your free skate last season. Your 4T is amazing.”
The brown-haired, green-eyed young man slung an arm around Xi Ming with the ease of an old friend, grinning as he showered him with praise. He looked cheerful and friendly.
Xi Ming blinked at the young man talking to him, then blinked again.
Of course he knew who this person was or rather, just about everyone currently practicing on the rink probably knew him.
Chris Black.
Because Xi Ming had been silent for a bit too long, the green-eyed American seemed puzzled. He scratched his head, then as if a thought struck him, gave a bright laugh and pointed at himself. “I’m Chris Black. We met at the World Junior Championships earlier this year, though we never talked.”
“Your hair got curlier. I like your curls.” The overly familiar Chris continued chatting with Xi Ming. “They make you look really pretty.”
Xi Ming hadn’t expected Black to be so outgoing and cheerful. His sunny smile made it hard for anyone to dislike him even when he was mistaking someone for another person.
So Xi Ming just gave a slight smile, and just as Chris was about to ask if he didn’t understand English, spoke up. “I’m not Yu Jinghui. You’ve got the wrong person.”
Silence hung between Xi Ming and Chris Black. Then, with amusement in his eyes, Xi Ming watched Chris’s face slowly flush red. Because he was so fair-skinned, the embarrassed blush was impossible to hide.
Before he could jump up and apologize, Chris’s coach, Selina, had already noticed her wayward student and rushed over.
“I’m so sorry this kid has a bit of face blindness, yet he’s so confident about recognizing people. My apologies.” Selina apologized while dragging away the frozen Chris. Before they got too far, Xi Ming overheard their hushed conversation.
“There’s no Yu at this stop. Didn’t I tell you to look at the roster?” Selina’s tone was full of exasperated helplessness. “Besides, the two of them look completely different that kid even has curly hair! At the very least, you should’ve been able to tell from the hair.”
“What if Yu got a perm? I just saw someone from their country on the roster and didn’t check the name.”
Chris had already recovered from his embarrassment, his voice sounding a bit dazed as he spoke to his coach. “Don’t you really think they look alike? Though now that I think about it, maybe they’re a bit different.”
Xi Ming watched as Chris was dragged away by the collar by Selina, then smiled at Zhao Zhengchang, who had sat down beside him. “I didn’t expect Chris Black to be like this. He’s kind of cute.”
Zhao Zhengchang had only stepped away to grab something for Xi Ming, and when he came back, he saw the two of them had ended up together.
So Zhao Zhengchang had witnessed the whole thing too, and was now feeling both speechless and amused by Chris Black’s ridiculous mix-up. “No matter how you look at it, there’s no way anyone should mistake you for Yu Jinghui.”
“That’s not really a big deal. Maybe Americans just can’t tell us apart.”
Xi Ming figured it was understandable, especially since Chris Blake seemed like someone with a mild case of face blindness. While Zhao Zhengchang was still agonizing over it, Xi Ming tilted his chin toward the ice rink, signaling his coach to look at the skater gliding across the ice.
“That’s Lanzik.”
Unlike Chris, who looked sunny and cheerful, like the quintessential all-American boy from a movie, Lanzik on the ice appeared far more serious.
But Xi Ming had watched Lanzik’s post-competition interviews and knew that in daily life, Lanzik had a fairly gentle personality.
“I didn’t expect to run into the two most talked-about skaters in one go during the pre-competition practice session.”
Xi Ming remarked, feeling his curiosity satisfied at the same time.
There was no helping it the figure skaters after his rebirth were completely different, and his former rivals remained only in his own memories. However, exceptional people existed in every world, so Xi Ming was full of curiosity about Lanzik and the others.
Seeing them before the competition now counted as satisfying a tiny bit of that curiosity.
“Oh, is that Blake? He’s back?”
Just as Xi Ming took another couple of sips of water, his gaze caught a brown-haired figure appearing in the arena. Because it looked a lot like Chris, who had just left, he blurted out instinctively, then turned his head to receive a look of utter exasperation from his coach.
“That’s another American skater, Brown,” Zhao Zhengchang told Xi Ming.
“Cough, I’ve rested enough. I’ll go practice a bit more.” Xi Ming stood up as if nothing had happened and returned to the ice.
When he came face-to-face with the skater Brown at close range on the ice, Xi Ming couldn’t help but steal an extra glance, earning a bewildered look from the other. Xi Ming averted his gaze and silently skated away.
Up close, Brown and Chris really didn’t look all that similar, but failing to tell two American skaters apart from a distance Xi Ming felt that was completely not his fault.
After all, Americans all looked alike, and they both had brown hair.
What happened during the pre-competition practice was just a minor episode at this Grand Prix stop, quickly forgotten by Xi Ming.
By the next day, the second stop of the season’s Junior Grand Prix officially kicked off.
After the opening ceremony, the first event of the first day was the men’s short program.
As a skater competing in the JGP for the first time, Xi Ming was naturally placed in the first group of the short program. Fortunately, his draw luck wasn’t bad he pulled the fifth spot to skate.
But even though he was second-to-last among the six in his group, he was still the fifth out of all twenty-four skaters in the arena.
“Go, enjoy the competition.”
The four skaters before him finished quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was Xi Ming’s turn. Zhao Zhengchang gave him the usual brief encouragement. He knew his student had a rational temperament during competitions and didn’t need much extra advice.
Xi Ming exchanged a glance with Zhao Zhengchang, nodded, and skated to the center of the rink, coming to a stop.
“It’s him.” Recognizing the little curls of the skater in the center, Chris realized it was Xi Ming, the one he’d mistaken yesterday.
Adam Lanzik, who actually had a very good relationship with Chris nothing like the bitter rivalry outsiders imagined happened to be chatting with him right then, and he too looked toward Xi Ming in the center of the rink.
The familiar melody of the Waltz of the Flowers began, and the skater in the center started to move.
When Xi Ming, following a bracket step, raised one hand slightly and broke into a joyful smile, as if the very atmosphere of the rink had shifted, Chris and Lanzik’s casual gazes began to turn serious.
When the music started, whether it was Chris and Lanzik or the slight pre-competition nerves, everything vanished from Xi Ming’s mind, leaving only one thought.
He wanted to bring everyone a joyful feast.
Though Xi Ming in the center of the rink wore only a simple white top and black trousers, when he lifted his head slightly with a gentle smile, spun softly, and made an inviting gesture, followed by a backward rock step, it was as if he had drawn everyone into the beginning of a grand ball.
This was the happy Candy Kingdom are you ready to join the fairies for a dance?
The first jump, a 3A, landed, followed by a light, airy turn.
Come, come, let us dance joyfully together, a cheerful waltz.
The second jump, a 3F+3T, though there was a slight wobble in the transition between jumps, Xi Ming quickly connected into the second jump, and the audience’s instinctively raised hearts were pulled back into the dreamlike kingdom’s ball by the ensuing combination spin.
The final jump, a 3Lz, a beautiful takeoff and landing.
With the three jumps completed, Xi Ming’s expression grew even more delighted and exhilarated, as if the ball’s atmosphere had reached its peak. An elegant spread eagle, fairies crowding around the prince and the girl who had wandered into the kingdom, dancing together this joyful feast seemed as if it would never end.
The quick transitions between turns, skating freely across the ice Xi Ming’s joy, excitement, thrill, and the dreamy intoxication of being lost in the moment all seemed to pour out across the rink through his raised hands and flying strands of hair.
Dance freely like this, in this fantastical kingdom. We once went on an adventure together; now let us dance a piece for our past selves.
As the program drew to its close, Xi Ming shifted his footwork into a spread-eagle pose.
His hands crossed, a beautiful smile on his face no one could remain unmoved by this utterly joyful young man.
Even if this was a feast destined to end, at this very moment, everything was so beautiful, intoxicating, and satisfying.
As Xi Ming’s upright spin grew faster and faster, the moment he stopped, with the music concluding, the grand feast of the Candy Kingdom that had been brought before everyone came to an abrupt end.
Only in the smile Xi Ming raised his head with could people seem to chase after the beautiful dream just past, as if it had been sealed back into the Nutcracker along with the music, lingering only in memory.
Technical score: 37.92. Program component score: 31.13. With a total short program score of 69.05, Xi Ming instantly took first place, far ahead of the current second place.
Moreover, Xi Ming’s short program was the only one so far where both the technical score and program component score exceeded thirty points.
In the subsequent competition, Xi Ming’s first-place short program score remained unbroken until only the final group was left to perform.
By now, everyone in the arena knew Xi Ming.