“Ah, it’s finally over, time to go home.”
Chris Black dragged his suitcase toward the airport exit, yawning lazily as he remarked, “Even for someone like me who isn’t picky about food, the meals at this stop were way too terrible.”
After three consecutive days of competition, Chris was thrilled that he could finally head back. “When I get home, I’m going to eat Mom’s burgers two of them.”
His coach Selena glanced at him but kindly refrained from reminding him that, due to weight gain during the off-season, Chris still had an unfinished weight-loss plan waiting for him back home.
“But heading back this time, I probably won’t see Lancik or Xi Ming again until the finals, right?” Chris’s usually sunny face actually carried a rare hint of reluctance. “I got along pretty well with those two, what a shame.”
“Are you so sure Xi Ming will make it to the finals?” Selena had no doubt that Lancik would reach the final six of the Grand Prix, but she still had a question mark over Xi Ming. “He only placed third in the end, and it’s his first time competing in a major event. If he messes up at the second stop, it could easily be over for him.”
“Maybe just like you two years ago.”
Selena was referring to when Chris was fourteen, having earned his first JGP spot. He was so nervous on the ice that he only placed sixth at his first stop, and although he won the second stop, he still missed out on the JGP final. Back then, Chris had cried his eyes out in front of her, his coach.
So Selena wasn’t looking down on Xi Ming at all she was just stating what she thought was a very likely possibility.
“Hey, hey, no need to bring up the past, Selena.” Chris pouted in dissatisfaction. “I really don’t want to admit it, but I feel like Xi Ming won’t end up like I did back then.”
“Besides, even if we don’t meet at the finals, we can still see each other at the World Junior Championships.” The optimistic Chris shrugged it off, saying it wasn’t a big deal. He even waved his phone at his coach. “Anyway, I got Xi Ming’s contact info.”
Just as he was talking about Xi Ming with his coach, Chris caught sight of a familiar figure and waved excitedly with great energy. “Xi Ming!”
At the Slovenia stop’s men’s singles competition, the eventual champion was Adam Lancik.
Just like Chris, who had gone all out with two quads in his free skate, Lancik had pulled out his first quad of the season and his first quad in competition a quadruple toe loop to match the level of competition.
That jump had cost him the title at the World Junior Championships, but on the ice in Slovenia, he declared to his rival Chris and to everyone watching that Adam Lancik’s figure skating had also entered the era of the quad.
In the end, Lancik not only jumped to first in the free skate with a score of 151.96, but also claimed the Slovenia stop title with a total score of 225.55.
Second place went to Chris with a total of 219.08. Although his two quads had amazed people, this boy, whose skating was highly dependent on his form, could only trail behind Lancik due to less-than-stellar execution scores.
As for Xi Ming, whose program content was clearly below the other two, he finished third at this stop with a total of 213.98. For a newcomer making his JGP debut, it was not a disappointing result.
Xi Ming himself had no complaints about the outcome. As for Chris, who had gone all out but failed to succeed, Xi Ming glanced at the boy who was currently chattering nonstop beside him.
“That Lancik guy he really just quietly learned the quad, and it looks like his success rate is pretty good.” Chris waved his fist, not out of frustration, but because he was getting animated while talking. “Next time we compete, I’m definitely going to beat him.”
Clearly, Chris had taken his second-place finish at the stop well. Even as he complained about Lancik, his eyes were full of admiration for his rival.
Xi Ming thought back to Lancik’s free skate, Romeo and Juliet, which he had watched the day before.
Compared to Chris’s Winter Journey, which always left a hint of regret due to imperfect jumps, and Xi Ming’s own The Spirit of the Rose, which was beautiful but unable to mount a comeback because his content wasn’t yet at a higher level, Lancik’s free skate balanced both technique and artistry. His Romeo was passionate and resolute a performance worthy of praise.
To be able to compete against such rivals again next time, he would have to keep working hard.
As his coach reminded him that boarding time was approaching, Xi Ming pulled his suitcase along and waved goodbye to Chris, who still had to wait a while longer. “Bye, Chris. Hope we’ll meet again.”
Chris raised both hands and waved them energetically. The gesture, which might have looked a bit silly on someone else, carried a boyish cheerfulness when he did it. “I’ll see you in the finals!”
Xi Ming was taken aback for a moment, then his eyes curved into a smile. “I will.”
After bidding farewell to Chris and the others, Xi Ming, Zhao Zhengchang, and their group boarded the plane back home. In this stop, only Xi Ming had placed, while the pairs skating duo who came along only managed fifth place.
However, like Xi Ming, they were also newcomers to major competitions this year, and they had only registered for one stop, so even without a medal, they were all smiles.
“Get some sleep; there’s still a long way to go.” Zhao Zhengchang handed Xi Ming an eye mask.
Watching Xi Ming fall asleep shortly after putting on the mask, Zhao Zhengchang smiled, then draped a light jacket over him to prevent him from catching a cold from the air conditioning while sleeping.
“Asleep?” The pairs coach in the front row turned back to glance at Xi Ming and asked in a low voice.
Zhao Zhengchang didn’t speak, just nodded.
“Makes sense. After these few days of competition, he must be pretty exhausted.” The pairs coach cast a fond look at Xi Ming, then turned back to look at the “monkey” sitting beside him, feeling quite envious of Zhao Zhengchang.
Zhao Zhengchang naturally had no idea that his well-behaved student had earned him the envy of the coach in front; otherwise, he would have shared stories about how Xi Ming gave his coach a hard time when he was awake.
Maybe he wasn’t a bouncing little monkey, but as a child spoiled by family and friends, his personality wasn’t exactly docile either.
Fortunately, Zhao Zhengchang didn’t know this, so at that moment, his primary feeling was still affection for Xi Ming.
While others might have simply thought Xi Ming performed well in this competition, Zhao Zhengchang could see that to avoid falling too far behind those two, Xi Ming had poured in 120% of his energy.
Xi Ming wasn’t someone with strong stamina, especially since he had just barely clawed his way out of the depths of his growth spurt. So, pushing his combination jumps and 3A to the second half to secure the 1.1x bonus wasn’t an easy feat. Moreover, the excitement of competing against rivals who pressured him, once it faded, also brought exhaustion.
When he saw Xi Ming that morning, Zhao Zhengchang knew he hadn’t rested well.
At this moment, even though Xi Ming already had the eye mask on, Zhao Zhengchang quickly glanced at his phone before turning off the glowing screen.
While Xi Ming and his group were still on their way back home, his performance at the Slovenia stop had already spread among domestic figure skating fans.
Sun Ming was a fan who watched figure skating competitions live whenever he had time.
The Slovenia stop ended quite late, so after watching the live broadcast, Sun Ming crashed into bed. The next morning, the first thing he did upon waking was open his computer, log into the figure skating fan forum, and simultaneously open a fan chat group.
Clearly, many night owls or fans in different time zones abroad had been active, as the chat group was flooded with messages, and the forum had hot posts Sun Ming hadn’t seen.
As Sun Ming expected, without even looking closely, he spotted Xi Ming’s name everywhere.
Sun Ming first sent a message in the chat group: “Does anyone have a recording of Xi Ming’s free skate from yesterday? Can someone send it to me?”
A reply came quickly: “I can tell you went straight to sleep after watching yesterday. Someone already posted the recording right after, it’s in the group.”
Sun Ming found the file in the group and, while waiting for it to download, clicked on the red hot post at the top of the forum, which was discussing the just-concluded Slovenia stop.
Unlike usual discussions that focused heavily on junior women’s singles, this time everyone couldn’t stop talking about Xi Ming.
The post was debating whether Xi Ming had a chance to make it to the Grand Prix Final, with opinions both for and against.
‘Xi Ming got third place at this stop. If he gets another third at his second stop, he’s out of the finals. And looking at his erratic performance last season, it’s really hard to say. I’m not optimistic.’ That was the naysayer.
‘Come on, that’s old news. I won’t even mention his scores nearly matching Yu Jinghui at the selection trials. Just look at the April Championship even though Xi Ming placed fourth, can you say he performed badly?’
‘From April to now, several months have passed, and he’s performed well twice. I think he can win a medal at the Japan stop.’
That was clearly the optimist. Sun Ming nodded in agreement; he was also on the optimistic side, and he had watched Xi Ming’s program live at the Championship, believing Xi Ming could make a name for himself.
‘Hey, in a corner no one cares about, has anyone noticed that Xi Ming’s PCS in yesterday’s free skate was actually the highest of the entire event?’
Sun Ming was stunned by this reply, then pulled up the post with the scores to look carefully. Yesterday, he had only focused on the total score without checking the details.
After reading it, Sun Ming fell silent for a moment.
That’s right yesterday he just thought Xi Ming’s free skate this time was especially beautiful, and his PCS must be high, after all, he had already earned decent PCS in his first competition’s short program.
“Seriously, when I saw it, I double-checked several times, thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me.”
“To be honest, during the selection trials, I thought Xi Ming’s score catching up to Yu Jinghui without a quad jump was because the judges gave him high PCS as encouragement. Who knew the Slovenia station results would tell me that the selection trial judges weren’t encouraging him they were being conservative.”
These two comments almost voiced Sun Ming’s own thoughts.
Even though international judges’ scoring nowadays does guarantee ninety percent fairness, with the remaining ten percent left to subjective judgment, he still found Xi Ming’s high score unbelievable.
But Sun Ming actually understood the judges’ scoring, because yesterday Xi Ming’s free skate was on par with final title contenders like Chris and Lanzik, and seemed even more brilliant in terms of expression.
But who could have imagined it? Xi Ming, previously not favored, had only made people take a wait-and-see attitude with his standout performance at the trials, thinking his high score was due to judges’ encouragement. Yet at the first JGP station, Xi Ming delivered results beyond expectations, still holding up under the pressure of a devilishly difficult assignment.
“Although Yu Jinghui won the station championship, I somehow feel Xi Ming performed better.”
Sun Ming unconsciously scrolled to the bottom of the thread and saw a reply that had just been refreshed. His hand paused, then he typed out his own response.
“At Yu Jinghui’s station, he was the strongest himself, and even as champion, his total score was just over two hundred. Look at Xi Ming’s station see how much those three pushed up the difficulty. Placed at any other station, Xi Ming’s score would be enough to win the championship.”
At that moment, the video Sun Ming had downloaded finished, and he clicked on the file. The rose spirit that had amazed him yesterday appeared on the screen.
As he pressed play, Sun Ming glanced at Xi Ming’s name, which kept being brought up as more and more people joined the discussion, and thought: no matter what, in their eyes now, Xi Ming was already a junior skater worth anticipating.
Then he thought of Yu Jinghui, who, though not discussed as much as Xi Ming, had steadily taken the championship at the first station. Sun Ming didn’t dare to think about it, yet he couldn’t help hoping.
No way could it be that this time, both of them would make a push for the Grand Prix Final?