CH 2

“Xiao Qiu, why didn’t you notify me when you returned to China so I could pick you up?”

“Uncle Li, long time no see.”

Shen Lianqiu, wearing a dark suit, stood straight in front of the gate of the only indoor skating rink in his childhood home, City B of H Province.

The person standing in front of him was the head coach of the H Province skating team, Li Bing.

Province H, because of its northern location and cold weather, had always had a unique advantage in ice and snow projects, so, from a long time ago, it had been the domestic skating project talent delivery province.

The Shen family in this land was the earliest pioneer of the skate manufacturing industry in China.

It was a pity that China’s performance in this project hadn’t been too good, and the Shen family’s ice skate factory struggled for ten years in B city, but finally they were forced to switch to other businesses.

Most of the family moved to bigger cities to develop, leaving only a small group of people to stay in their hometown and take care of the elderly.

He had been studying with his grandfather at the ice rink since he was a child, and at the age of 16, he went abroad alone to further his studies, and was considered one of the best skate designers of the younger generation in China.

It was a pity that a few years ago, the Shen family underwent a huge change, so he had to give up his dream for the sake of his family and changed his profession to take up the reins of the Shen family.

Nowadays, he was already known and feared by everyone as Chief Shen.

“I remember you wanted to be an ice skate designer when you were a child, but at that time, conditions didn’t allow it, now there is an opportunity, whether it is the provincial team or the national team, there is a shortage of R & D talent.”

“It just so happens that you also rushed back at this time, do you want to stay in the country and think about it?”

Li Bing looked at the mature and calm Shen Lianqiu in front of him, lowered his head and lit a cigarette.

When Shen Lianqiu heard this sentence, although he still hesitated for a while, he finally smiled with relief.

“Forget it.”

A few years ago, his father fell into a coma due to a sudden illness, which led to instability in the group. Second Uncle seized the opportunity to seize power. In order to defend his parents’ self-made industry, he worked hard for many years.

Shen Lianqiu had to inherit his family business, gave up his major and took a master’s degree in business instead.

There was no stubborn resistance. He gave up his ever persistent dream quickly and simply at that point. He even had too much to do. There was no time for him to feel unwilling or sad.

Just being in the midst of all kinds of complicated problems, Shen Lianqiu had reached this point without paying attention. Until today, because of the project he needed to investigate, he returned to his hometown again, Shen Lianqiu finally realized that in recent years , he had already undergone tremendous changes.

Li Bing had watched him grow up, so he could show this kind of expression in front of him.

Li Bing, who was devoted to the field, didn’t understand the twists and turns of the shopping mall, but the reckless and spontaneous Shen Lianqiu had become restrained.

He could understand that over the years, what happened to him wasn’t minor.

“Forget about that. Today is the provincial team’s tryout. All the children in B city who are learning to skate will come to see it together.”

Li Bing walked forward with these words, and took Shen Lianqiu’s shoulder and patted him twice.

“Maybe, you can also bump into a few old acquaintances you used to know and when the time comes, you’ll want to stay.”

Li Bing grabbed Shen Lianqiu’s shoulder and walked into the rink.

Shen Lianqiu quietly followed not expecting to meet anyone, but he did.

——

Lin Lang, wearing a black hoodie, sat alone in the corner of the rink, with a provincial team’s application form in his hand.

It was only after he arrived here that he happened to know that there was a provincial team’s tryout today, and it was precisely because of this that the kids he met just now came here.

Although he hadn’t prepared in advance, but in line with the principle of not giving up any opportunity, after teaching those few people a lesson, he also followed to get a registration form.

The few youngsters who had spoken out against him, one of whom even tried to make a move on him, were simply cleaned up by Lin Lang, one was still crying on the sidelines.

However, Lin Lang calmly put on his earphones and went on ice without looking back.

After moving around for a while and figuring out the condition of his body, he came back to sit alone in silence, thinking about what he would perform later.

Lin Lang was small and thin, he wore a sweatshirt and his hat was wide enough to hide almost his entire person, he looked quite inconspicuous, so Shen Lianqiu looked over there several times, only to find that there was also a him.

The worst crybaby in the whole ice rink in his memory.

Lin Lang was 6 years old when he came into contact with ice skating, and only at the age of 10 did he begin to learn formally, and during this time he was always a fat little boy who was at the mercy of others, and the children in the ice rink bullied him, and he wouldn’t think of how to fight back.

He only knew how to hide in the back corner of the room, crying endlessly.

From the time he entered the ice rink at the age of 14 and learned how to make ice skates with his grandfather, until he went abroad to study alone at the age of 16, he was harassed by his crying for two years.

At that time, he always complained that he had never seen any athlete who cried as much as he did, as timid as he was.

And now a full decade has passed since they first met, and the once chubby child who was afraid to lift his head when talking to him had grown into a slender teenager.

But his aura still hadn’t changed, same as before, he wore a wide hat and completely shrunk into a corner.

It was as if nothing has changed except for his figure.

He was still the same as before, timid as ever.

“This time to participate in the selection, there are a few good seedlings, such as the one over there wearing a large v-neck white shirt, called Wang Yuan, he’s not in the provincial team, yet he already has a very personal style, his jumps are quite good, he’s the number one seeded player in this selection.”

“There are also those few over there, although their jumps are a little worse, but their skating and rotation are not bad, they can also be considered to be cultivated.”

China’s achievements in the skating program hadn’t been bright and outstanding, so even in the best development of ice and snow programs in the northeast, the popularity of skating wasn’t too high.

The high cost and uncertainty of the rewards were like a roadblock, stopping too many parents from sending their children to the ice rink to learn to skate exclusively.

This had also led to a general shortage of talent in China’s skating program, with two pairs of good scores on the pairs side, and two pairs that could be considered successors.

However, when it came to the relatively weak single player, there was no chance to take over. Whether men’s singles or women’s singles, there were basically only one or two single players.

When the only seedling reached the age and retired again, it would be impossible to find anyone to carry on.

“This Wang Yuan is really good. If he exercises for another year or two, he may really make some achievements.”

“When I get to him later, you can have a good look. Let me harvest two at once today.”

Shen Lianqiu sat in the audience and listened to Li Bing chattering in his ear about Wang Yuan.

But, his eyes never left the corner where Lin Lang was.

—

“Brother Yuan! Don’t be afraid, this punk doesn’t even dare to go on ice, are you still afraid that he’ll steal the spot over you?!”

Those brats who had been cleaned up by Lin Lang before had been sitting around, but on the contrary, Wang Yuan, who was the ‘leader’, seemed to be much more restrained and cautious about Lin Lang.

After all, he had really felt how strong Lin Lang could be on the field.

Ever since he was born, Yao Qing had been the most talented leader in his eyes, a ceiling-like existence.

And just a year ago, this ceiling was suddenly collapsed by Lin Lang with one foot.

Yao Qing lost badly at that time. He would rather do anything to pull him off the court. Wang Yuan still remembered how crazy he was.

That even Lin Lang disappeared from the rink for a whole year under the shadow of Yao Qing and their tricks.

Now, seeing him in such a crucial and important competition, Wang Yuan still felt guilty and scared.

——

Lin Lang has been rejected and bullied by several of them because of his size and personality since he was six years old and he even hated the sport because of it.

It was only because he couldn’t talk to his mother and tell her why he wanted to quit that he kept going for four years.

Originally, he thought that when he turned ten, he would be able to use this as an excuse to give up skating as the junior high school year was approaching and his school workload was getting heavier.

However, the day before his tenth birthday, Yao Qi and Wang Yuan and other people played their usual tricks and threw paint in his skates, and Lin Lang once again hid in a corner and cried.

But he accidentally found a brand new pair of skates suddenly placed right next to him, at the door of the sharpening room.

On the golden blade, his name, Lin Lang, was engraved in an extremely elegant script.

This was a custom ice knife pattern and it was expensive, not to mention that in that relatively closed era of information, money couldn’t necessarily buy it.

Generally speaking, only professional players with particularly good results could possibly have them.

At that time, the entire ice rink, only Lin Lang was so unique, not to mention that the blade was also golden all over.

This enviable specialness made Lin Lang feel the first warmth and kindness after he came into contact with skating, and at the same time gave him the idea of becoming a professional athlete for the first time.

Lin Lang learned to be strong and defiant as a result.

From that day on, Yao Qing was jealous of Lin Lang’s popularity and became more aggressive in his actions, while Lin Lang was no longer just a passive sufferer.

Even though the coach of the ice rink repeatedly suppressed him because of the power of Yao’s family, he still proved himself again and again with better jumps and higher scores.

In the end, he even surpassed Yao Qinf, who had always been regarded as the pride of the sky, making him lose his mind.

Such an origin, such strength, since Wang Yuan knew it by heart, then in such an important competition, seeing Lin Lang return, how could he not be nervous and scared?

The only thing that could comfort him was that he hadn’t set foot on the ice for a year because of his psychological shadow.

The only thing left was the pair of shoes he was wearing today.

Ever since Lin Lang’s golden-bladed skates appeared, his performance had skyrocketed.

And at that time, Yao Qing had told him that some people’s performance would be greatly affected by the skates, and the reason why Lin Lang was able to progress so fast was mostly because of the pair of custom-made ice skates that suddenly appeared.

Yao Qing’s grades were good, his family was rich, and he had seen a lot of the world, so over time, everyone followed his words.

Only Shen Lianqiu knew how limited the first pair of ice skates he designed could be in terms of how much help they could give.