Mornings in Lingyue City felt more alive than mornings in Chuanhai. Before the dark veil of night had even lifted, vendors were already roaming the streets with breakfast carts.
Lu Li got up early. His stomach hurt from hunger, and only then did he realize he'd survived yesterday on nothing but a single piece of bread. He patted his aching head, sore from his own snoring, then rinsed his mouth and washed his face in a daze. After that, he carefully counted his cash, three times over. It was exactly 872 yuan.
The landlady had gotten up even earlier. Before Lu Li went out, he saw her outside washing clothes with a rough, sturdy air. Dirty water ran along the stone slabs into the narrow alley, adding a little more grounded, everyday warmth to the world. When she saw Lu Li, she still looked a bit displeased. She muttered, "Young people should find a proper job sooner. Don't waste your whole life hanging around a place like this..."
After leaving the alley, he found a tiny hole-in-the-wall diner by the stadium and ordered a bowl of dry tossed noodles. If poverty did the worst kind of damage to a person, it was the way it crushed their confidence. Lu Li was used to going in and out of shabby little places like this. Whenever he faced those fancy, high-end restaurants, a timid feeling would rise in him without fail. Some people spend childhood healing a lifetime. Others spend a lifetime healing their childhood.
The noodles were delicious. The husband-and-wife owners were busy to the point of smoking, and business was booming.
Maybe because there weren't enough seats, a young woman came in from outside and sat directly across from Lu Li. She started unwrapping a pair of disposable chopsticks. Lu Li slurped his noodles and looked up at her. His expression froze.
It was He Ping.
No mistake. The very same He Ping who had spoken so brazenly in that interview.
She looked extremely ordinary. Her hair was cut very short, almost messy. If he had to pick out one defining trait, it would probably be that eternally unchanged poker face of hers.
"Need something?" He Ping's expression didn't change at all. When she spoke, her lips barely seemed to move. The voice came straight from her throat.
"You're He Ping?"
"Mm."
She admitted it with perfect calm. Then she took the soup noodles the owner handed over and started eating as if no one else existed. It wasn't that strange when you thought about it. This place was near the stadium. Athletes showing up here was perfectly normal.
A sudden curiosity rose in Lu Li. He wanted to know how this woman, the one who had beaten his sister so completely, had trained herself into this.
"You're so good at table tennis. You must've started practicing when you were really young, right?"
He Ping paused for a moment.
"I'm not that famous, am I?"
She wasn't wrong. Whether it was her or Zou Yameng, they were still only reserve high school players. Maybe they had some name recognition in school sports circles, but in the wider sports world, they were only a faint glimmer. If Lu Li hadn't specifically looked up the Six-Province League, he wouldn't even have known she existed.
"My older sister plays too. She said you're amazing."
"Twelve years."
"What?" Only then did Lu Li realize she was answering his earlier question. This woman's train of thought really jumped around.
Twelve years of playing?
That meant she'd basically been raised as an athlete from birth. No wonder Sister Yameng wasn't her match. Compared to someone professionally trained, Sister Yameng was just an "amateur" who'd started halfway through.
Twelve years.
How many twelve years did a person even have in one life?
"You must really love table tennis," he said with a sigh. Compared to He Ping, his sister's resolve and talent both seemed dimmer. He even remembered that the reason Sister Yameng first picked up a paddle was just to teach some arrogant older kids in the low-rent district a lesson. Before that, she hadn't even understood the rules of table tennis.
"I don't."
He Ping poured in a little vinegar, then added a bit of chili to the noodle soup.
"I don't like table tennis," she repeated.
That answer completely stunned Lu Li. He looked at the expressionless He Ping in surprise. A dominant player in the Six-Province League. The hottest favorite for the championship. An athlete who had trained for twelve years. And she was saying she didn't like table tennis?
He didn't press for a reason. He only nodded blankly.
"But I have a reason I absolutely have to keep winning."
He Ping ate very quickly. After paying, her gaze crossed the noisy crowd and landed on Lu Li.
"If your sister runs into me, I won't go easy on her."
"That's what she wants too."
"Mm."
She nodded coolly and turned away with crisp, easy confidence. She was obviously just an ordinary person eating in a cheap noodle shop. Obviously just an ordinary woman with plain looks. And yet He Ping's retreating figure made Lu Li feel a chill of awe, a sharpness like a sword tempered in frost for ten years, never yet drawn. A golden-scaled fish was never meant to stay in a pond. That saying was probably meant for people like her.
Lu Li let out a self-mocking laugh. When he saw He Ping, a vicious thought had actually risen in his heart, one he could barely suppress.
He had thought this:
If He Ping couldn't make it onto the court tomorrow, then his sister would win without fighting, right?
At last, he could understand a little of how An Baili had felt. It was trampling on his own dignity, yet for his sister's sake, he had actually been seriously considering whether it was possible.
After breakfast, Lu Li went into the stadium, found the table tennis section, and took a seat in an empty spot. Today was the first official day of the Six-Province League, though it was only the preliminary round. At ten in the morning, he saw Sister Yameng take the court. Someone in the stands raised a sign that read "Go Zou Yameng," so it seemed his sister had quite a few fans.
Her opponent was a skinny little girl with average skill. Under Zou Yameng's tiger-like offense, she quickly went down. Lu Li could tell his sister's style had changed a little. It had become fiercer, more aggressive. In the matches that followed, she rode that momentum and beat three more players in a row, drawing waves of cheers from the stands.
But there wasn't the slightest smile on Zou Yameng's face. She kept a straight face and walked out of the competition area.
He Ping had matches in the afternoon. Her style was extremely steady, solid and methodical, without a single opening. Out of all the matches on the first day, only He Ping shut her opponents out completely. The girls facing her covered their faces and burst into tears right there on the spot.
She was terrifyingly strong.
Even an outsider like Lu Li could tell He Ping's level was frighteningly high. For her, playing in the Six-Province League felt like smurfing against weaklings. People online were saying that He Ping from the Jindong Women's Team could even trade blows with the main players of the provincial men's team. Give her another year of concentrated training, and she could make the national team and aim for the world stage.
At He Ping's age, she might not be the youngest genius in the Divine Realm, but she was definitely the genius with the greatest hope of reaching world number one. Her mentality, technique, reactions, stamina—everything was flawless. There wasn't the slightest weakness in her, as if she had been born for table tennis.
At five in the afternoon, the first day's schedule ended. Back in the rental room, Lu Li sent Sister Yameng a few messages, mostly small words of concern, asking how she was doing. He didn't mention that he'd also come to Lingyue City. She didn't reply for a long time. Only after night had fallen did Zou Yameng send a single message:
"Pear, I'll definitely win!"
Looking at those small words on the screen, Lu Li's eyes suddenly grew a little wet. He Ping said she had a reason she absolutely had to keep winning. Wasn't it the same for Sister Yameng?
Just as Lu Li was about to put his phone away, a call came in from an unfamiliar number. He answered with some confusion.
"Hello?"
"H-Hello..." It was a timid little girl's voice. "Lu Li, where did you go? Why didn't you come to class?"
It was Silly Goose.
Her tone sounded like a little girl who'd gotten lost and couldn't find her parents. Lu Li froze for a moment, then couldn't help smiling. It was the first genuine smile he'd shown in days. The exhaustion in both body and mind seemed to be swept away by this girl's voice. Some people just had that kind of magic. They carried their own emotional spell, able to affect the moods of everyone around them.
"Wrong number, maybe?" Lu Li said on purpose, making his voice sound muffled and strange.
Panicked noises came from the other end. "Sorry, wrong number." She hurriedly hung up. A while later, she called again.
"Lu Li, are you seriously too much or what!" This time, it was the class monitor's voice coming to demand an explanation. Just from that adorably indignant tone, he could already picture Silly Goose standing there with her hands on her hips, trying to look stern. That was exactly what she looked like when she lectured people during class meetings.
