Figure Skating: Waltz on Ice

Du Liangchen replenished his energy while watching the live TV broadcast backstage.

I've been on edge these past few days. Although I've tried to adjust my mindset, I still can't completely relax.

Now that Du Liangchen has finished all the competitions, his tense nerves have relaxed, and drowsiness has followed. The melodious piano music has become a lullaby, and his eyelids have slowly drooped.

Grandpa Du, who was watching Du Liangchen closely, saw him getting sleepy and about to fall asleep. He looked at him with heartache and leaned over to let him rest his head on his shoulder.

Du Liangchen adjusted his posture, hugged Grandpa Du's arm with both hands, buried his face in Grandpa Du's shoulder, and slowly fell into a deep sleep.

"Wake up, Xiao Chen, wake up."

Du Liangchen was half asleep when he vaguely felt his grandfather calling him, and it was very noisy around him.

Du Liangchen reluctantly opened his eyes with a frown, his gaze unfocused and wandering.

"Xiao Chen~ Wake up! Your final rankings are out, and you're number one."

Grandpa Du looked at Du Liangchen, who was still half asleep, and his voice cracked with excitement.

"Yes, Du Liangchen, well done, you are the first place winner of this tournament."

Du Liangchen turned around when he heard the sound. Coach Liu had appeared in front of him at some point and was looking at him with the same emotional expression.

Du Liangchen felt like he was still dreaming, as if he hadn't fully woken up. However, the dream was both real and absurd, and for a moment he couldn't tell whether it was reality or a dream.

In a daze, Coach Liu and Grandpa Du led me to the competition venue. Along the way, everyone congratulated Du Liangchen on winning the championship, as well as the staff and participants who broke the domestic junior free skate record.

Although Du Liangchen felt it was all very unreal, he thought that experiencing the honor of becoming a champion in a dream was not bad, so he humbly expressed his gratitude.

"Siri, you're amazing! You made a stunning comeback to become the champion! Wow!"

Hao Shuxue saw Du Liangchen being greeted like a star as he was led to the awards ceremony, and he chuckled and joked.

Even Mei Jing praised, "Xiao Chen is amazing! With such a big score difference, he withstood the pressure and turned the tide to become number one."

Du Liangchen was a little embarrassed by everyone's praise, and said with a smile, "If we're talking about skill, you and Shuxue's techniques are more impressive. I'm just a little luckier than everyone else."

I glanced at the overall rankings.

Du Liangchen came in first with 110.57 points.

Hao Shuxue came in second with 110.19 points.

Mei Jing ranked third with 110.09 points.

Liu Xing ranked fourth with 105.48 points.

……

Du Liangchen felt it was a close call; he was only 0.38 points behind Hao Shuxue, who came in second place.

The top three winners, Du Liangchen and his team, congratulated each other and waited for the staff to call their names to receive their prizes.

"Please welcome the bronze medalist, Mei Jing, to the field."

The staff gestured for Mei Jing to go up to the third-place podium. Mei Jing waved happily.

"Please welcome the runner-up athlete—Hao Shuxue—to the stage."

……

"Please welcome the champion athlete, Du Liangchen, to the stage."

……

Du Liangchen stood on the champion's podium, a medal around his neck and a certificate in his hand that the other two didn't have, but he didn't look happy at all.

The certificate was issued because he broke the record, and the award took so long to be presented because the certificate in Du Liangchen's possession needed to be notarized before it could be issued.

Du Liangchen felt that this dream was really long, and he wished he would never wake up.