Just as Blizzard was about to speak again, Sasha, not wanting to "spoil" her, placed the doll between the two of them.

"Come and listen to her rebirth."

Sasha pressed the switch on the doll's belly, and the newly made heart beat strongly, each beat echoing in their ears, as if it truly had vital signs.

"The new one is so convenient; you can hear it even without getting close."

Behind the cloth doll was the vibrant Sasha, who proudly explained the recording function to Blizzard: "This recording function can record for thirty seconds... Turn it on, try speaking."

"What are you talking about?"

Sasha first switched off the switch in the doll's head, "You can say whatever you want, I'll give you an example first."

She cleared her throat and pressed the record button: "I want to become a Grand Slam champion!"

That's definitely something a sys would say.

"Okay, it's your turn."

"What should I say?"

Sasha: "Hmm... You can imagine your dreams, or where you will be at this time ten years from now. Then we can bring this up and listen to it again. Wouldn't that be fun?"

Blizzard remained silent.

She doesn't seem to have any dreams.

She was introduced to table tennis as a child and loved it, but there are just too many geniuses, one after another. All she gets is age, and every year a younger new force emerges behind her.

My parents thought it through. Rather than always being a nobody, they thought it would be better for me to go to school, start a job, and get married and build a career as soon as possible.

There's nothing wrong with what they think.

At that time, I was stuck in a bottleneck, repeatedly failed, and my mentality collapsed. I chose to drop out, finish my studies, and live a life where I could see the end from the beginning.

It's not that it's bad, it's just... too boring.

Blizzard sat up straight. Seeing that she was ready, Sasha pressed the record button on the doll's head again.

Blizzard said, "After I graduate from college, I will probably become a physical education teacher."

Her words ended in less than five seconds. Seeing that she wasn't going to say anything more, Sasha turned off the switch and asked curiously, "You'll only be in your early twenties when you graduate from university. Are you already planning to retire and stop playing?"

Blizzard chuckled, "Someone like me is unlikely to become a Grand Slam champion. It's good for me to start working early after graduation."

Sasha didn't want to see her belittle herself, but everyone has their own ambitions, and you can't say that her thinking is wrong.

“But I heard that the PE teacher has always been in poor health,” Sasha said with a laugh.

"That's perfect, students don't like going to class, and teachers don't like going to class either."

The topic naturally veered off course.

“Okay!” Sasha sat down next to Blizzard. “Being a teacher is good too, there are lots of holidays. When I retire, we’ll go to Hainan during summer vacation and soak in hot springs during winter vacation. Just thinking about it makes me happy.”

Looking out at the sky through the balcony covered with clothes, the two seemed to already feel the Hainan breeze and the sweet coconuts waving to them.

Blizzard's gaze shifted, landing on Sasha's profile.

Sasha's eyebrows and eyes were only thirty centimeters apart from hers. Blizzard looked again and again before convincing herself that this really wasn't a dream.

Every day when I open my eyes, I'm afraid of waking up from a dream.

Sasha, I won't let Qiu Shiyue hurt you.

The large size of the racket won't be the reason why your joy at winning the mixed doubles title came to an abrupt end.

I must go to Paris.

-

At the end of November, Qiu Shiyue begged her coach to take her to the World Junior Table Tennis Championships.

Given her recent good performance and lack of trouble, the coach agreed.

Blizzard didn't want her to go with them and found a coach who hoped she wouldn't be taken.

"Coach, she can't play, why do we have to bring her along?"

Liu Guoliang said, "I went to great lengths to bring her here. Even though she was suspended, we can't just leave her unused. In three years, she'll be eighteen. If she can maintain her current serious attitude, she can still be used to compete against foreign teams."

Blizzard understood.

Liu Guoliang didn't want to waste any manpower. As long as she hadn't been kicked out of the team, she still had to find a way to get her familiar with the game, the arena, and the atmosphere. She couldn't just keep her around for nothing.

With things said to this extent, Blizzard had nothing more to say.

Just as I left Liu Guoliang's office and went downstairs, Qiu Shiyue appeared from around the corner, looking aggressive: "Did you go to the coach and tell him not to take me to the World Youth Championship?! How could you be so mean? Do you think you can fool me?"

“I didn’t intend to hide it from you,” Blizzard said. “It’s common knowledge that I don’t like you, and I did nothing wrong in preventing you from getting close to the main players and affecting their performance.”

"Who influenced them?" Qiu Shiyue retorted, "Don't make baseless accusations! I didn't even go to the Austrian Open, and Sys didn't beat Wang Manyu, so how can you say I influenced her?"

Blizzard sneered: "So you know you didn't go? Competitions have winners and losers. What right do you have to point fingers when you don't even have the qualifications to go?"

"Didn't you not go either?"

"I didn't go, but I'm not resentful. If you're so capable, go play in the game. Who was it that was banned for three years recently? Oh, it's you. You're shameless, and you still have the nerve to talk nonsense with me. Wait until you can play and make it to the semifinals before you start yelling at me."

Talking to her is a waste of life, Blizzard turned and left.

Less than an hour later, Qiu Shiyue sent her a WeChat message, knowing that the coach would still take her to Italy: "You still haven't achieved your goal, have you? The coach is still making me go!"

Blizzard chuckled and sent her a voice message: "I just didn't want you to be a freeloader on the national team, and you're still trying to take advantage of me? You have no shame."

Blizzard thought she was unaware of Liu Guoliang's thoughts, but Qiu Shiyue unexpectedly said, "So what? I can go anyway!"

So she knew all along. Haha, her standards are really low.

Blizzard: "Yeah, if you don't go, no one will be there to show us the stuff."

Then no matter how many 60-second voice messages Qiu Shiyue sent her, she stopped listening.

Last time I blocked them, I had to call or text them if I needed anything, which was a waste of money, so I unblocked them.

This time, Blizzard isn't blocking people; they're just putting them on Do Not Disturb.

It was already quite cold by the end of November.

Blizzard prepared a few hand warmers and handed them out to teammates while waiting for the bus at the sports headquarters. They would peel off the sticky side, squeeze it a couple of times to heat it up, and then use it to warm their hands.

When she sent it to Qiu Shiyue, she hesitated for a moment. After thinking about it, she decided to give her one. Qiu Shiyue snorted and turned her head away.

No, that's perfect.

They watched the men's team final from the stands on the 30th.

Qiu Shiyue kept taking pictures with her phone, focusing the lens only on Da Tou.

When it came to the mixed doubles match, she completely saw it as a one-against-two situation.

However, it's her prerogative to choose whoever she wants; as long as she doesn't cause trouble, anything goes.

During a break from watching the game, Blizzard glanced at her phone and saw that Qiu Shiyue had sent her a lot of pictures, all of them of Sasha picking up balls.

Qiu Shiyue sent another message: "It's all Sys picking up the balls."

"?"

"What I mean is, in mixed doubles, it's usually the men who pick up the balls."

Blizzard replied: "What, you're so weak you can't pick up the ball, and you can't stand Sasha who can?"

Qiu Shiyue: "What I mean is, if I play mixed doubles with Tou Ge, he definitely won't let me pick up the balls."

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