Before Coach Lu was rehired, Zhang Jue was already the most privileged athlete in the entire H Province team. When he traveled for competitions, he was accompanied by two coaches and a team doctor, so he didn’t have to worry about anything—he just needed to focus on competing. Sometimes, Song Cheng and Sun Qian would also join them.

After all, if the kid made it to the Grand Prix Final or the final group of the World Championships, as leaders, it was only natural for them to show their support.

Being the sole standout in a less popular sport made him especially valuable.

When Liu Yeming went to the national team for short-term training, Zhang Jue became the main focus of all the top coaches on the team.

Head Coach Zhang Junbao was responsible for his strength training, while Coach Shen and Coach Lu worked together on his jump technique. Besides working on his jumps, Coach Lu also helped improve his spins and skating skills.

Although having all the coaches’ attention might sound ideal, in reality, it was incredibly tough.

At least from the perspective of Zhang Jue’s junior teammates, whenever he made a mistake, the coaches would first discuss who should scold him.

It was a tough situation—being scolded by so many coaches put a lot of pressure on him.

With a thud, Zhang Jue fell again. Coach Lu, dressed in a thick military coat, stomped the ground with his cane.

“Zhang Jue, tighten your body the moment you jump! Do another set!”

Zhang Jue immediately got up to continue training, while Coach Lu turned to talk to Coach Shen: “This kid’s delayed rotation technique is among the best in the world, but he’s heavier now, so using this technique is more challenging for him.”

Coach Shen agreed: “Yes, he should stop relying on delayed rotation for now. But his rotational speed is still faster than other male skaters because his frame is relatively slender for his height, making his axis tighter and his spins faster. However, his problem now is that his axis shifts when he jumps.”

Coach Lu instructed: “Junbao, increase his core strength training.”

Coach Zhang wrote a note in his book and sighed: “Little Jue runs 10 kilometers every morning to complete his cardio training, so when he comes to the provincial team in the evening, he can go straight to the equipment. Sometimes I wonder if our training plan is too intense.”

After all, this kid had been injured before and was in a wheelchair for a long time. The coaching team was also worried about pushing him too hard with such intense training.

Yang Zhiyuan, sitting nearby, remarked: “Mia said that Qin will come here every day to give Zhang Jue a herbal moxibustion treatment.”

It wasn’t just Coach Lu who came out of retirement for Zhang Jue. Even the elderly Dr. Qin, who had treated many top national athletes, was back.

For an athlete, changing techniques is always a painful process. They have to abandon movements that have become second nature and develop new habits, which inevitably leads to a tough adjustment period. Zhang Jue was struggling with this now, frequently falling on the ice and bruising his right shoulder so badly that he couldn’t even sleep on his side at night.

If it were Coach Zhang Junbao handling his technique changes, Zhang Jue might have been able to slack off or act a bit spoiled, potentially dragging the process out for a year. But with Coach Lu in charge, Zhang Jue had no choice but to follow orders obediently.

If his uncle got mad, he’d at most roll up a newspaper and lightly swat Zhang Jue on the butt—it didn’t hurt at all. But when Coach Lu got mad, even though he had gained some weight and couldn’t chase after Zhang Jue like he did ten years ago, he would still use his cane to swat Zhang Jue’s butt, making him yelp in pain.

Normally, when his uncle swatted him, Zhang Jue would laugh it off, but the contrast with his miserable cries when Coach Lu did it made his junior teammates even more nervous.

The scariest part was that Coach Lu would also discipline them, pointing out the flaws in their techniques and making them practice those parts over and over again.

Min Shan and Cha Hanbuhua had just moved up to the junior group this year, so they were often taken abroad by Coach Shen to compete in Junior Grand Prix events. They performed well, and foreign skaters frequently asked them about Zhang Jue’s condition.

For instance, during the Japan event, the Shiratsuka sisters came over to ask how Zhang Jue was doing with his recovery. Zhang Jue had posted a picture of his new skates on Twitter, saying he would focus on training and felt guilty about not having time to spend with Saori. But they didn’t know the specifics of his situation.

The two kids would then show sympathetic expressions.

Cha Hanbuhua said: “Senior brother is working really hard.”

Sometimes they couldn’t tell if his glutes were getting more toned from lifting weights or from being swatted too much with the cane.

Then, Miss Masako would also show sympathy and take out a box of handmade chocolates.

“Please give this to Tama-chan. He likes sweets, and the harder his training is, the more he should treat himself.”

Min Shan replied: “Uh, he’s been eating pretty well.”

After all, the cafeteria ladies at the H Province team were famous for being experts at fattening people up, and one of them had even recently earned a PhD in nutrition at the age of fifty. As Zhang Men’s top eater, Zhang Jue was consuming a ton of protein to build muscle for his powerful jumps.

Next, Miss Keiko handed over a small box: “These are sunflower seeds I peeled myself. Please give them to Saori.”

Holding the gifts from the two beautiful sisters, Min Shan and Cha Hanbuhua exchanged a glance.

Min Shan shook her head: “I wonder if they’ve seen how Senior Brother looks now.”

Just seeing Francis Miller’s reaction was enough to tell. Compared to last season’s World Championships, Senior Brother’s looks had improved by at least ten percent. Min Shan, who saw that face every day, sometimes got a bit dazed, let alone others who hadn’t seen how much more handsome Senior Brother had become.

Cha Hanbuhua said enviously: “If it’s Senior Brother, he’ll have no trouble finding a partner in the future.”

Min Shan replied: “But didn’t he say he wouldn’t date foreigners?”

Cha Hanbuhua remembered: “Oh right, he did say he gets a headache just looking at English.”

When they went to St. Petersburg, Russia, for another event, Ilya, Sergei, and Vasily gave them Matryoshka dolls and patted their heads, encouraging them to skate well and expressing their hope to see them in the senior group one day.

This was probably a special favor given because of Senior Brother.

Thanks to Zhang Jue, the two kids were treated well wherever they competed, and they even brought back local specialties as gifts.

After competing in two Junior Grand Prix events, the kids made it to the final. Under the coaches’ guidance, they continued to refine their techniques, aiming for a podium finish in their first year in the junior group.

Song Cheng watched them train with a satisfied expression.

Just a few years ago, the provincial team didn’t have any athletes capable of competing internationally, but now they had three kids who could contend for major titles.

Zhang Jue, Cha Hanbuhua, Min Shan.

He glanced at Zhang Junbao: “Junbao not only raised his nephew well but also has a way with the other kids. Once Zhang Jue finishes his college entrance exams, he’ll definitely join the national team, right?”

These kids were destined to move on to greater heights. Song Cheng, who was almost sixty, knew that once he sent them off, he could finally step down as head coach and enjoy his retirement.

He said to skating coach Ming Jia: “Young Ming, when I retire, this position should go to you.”

Ming Jia was taken aback: “Huh? Coach Song, sorry, I was just looking at my phone. Did you say… you’re going to hand over the position to me?”

Song Cheng nodded, then asked in confusion: “What did you see? You look a bit odd.”

Ming Jia hesitated for a moment, then handed over his phone: “The national team is planning to send Xu Chuo back to the provincial team. Her mother wants her to retire, but she doesn’t want to give up, so she made a deal with her father. As long as she gets into a good high school, she’ll be allowed to stay active.”

Song Cheng was also stunned: “Is she really planning to break away from her mom… oh, I mean, is she really going to keep going?”

Ming Jia nodded: “Yes, and bone density can be restored through scientific treatment and care. She said that when she returns, she’ll move in with her dad. Now she buys groceries and cooks for herself every day, planning to nurse herself back to health.”

 

…

 

Under Coach Lu’s supervision, Zhang Jue’s progress in adjusting his technique and recovering his jumps sped up as well.

By November, Zhang Jue had successfully regained all five of his triple jumps, along with his combination jump technique. However, due to his axis still being unstable, he couldn’t yet manage a triple loop in his combinations, but training for the triple Axel was also underway.

As Zhang Jue put it: “I’ve successfully reunited with most of my triple jumps, now I’m just missing the triple Axel.”

It was around this time that Zhang Jue’s midterm exam results for the first semester of his senior year came out.

His ranking dropped from the top 30 in his grade to 54th place.

This was actually quite normal. No matter how smart Zhang Jue was, he had started skipping morning and evening self-study sessions to train, leaving him less time to do practice problems. The other top students at Third High weren’t slacking off either. It was natural that he fell behind.

Surprisingly, Zhang Qingyan, his mother, wasn’t angry. She simply reminded Zhang Jue: “You told me earlier that starting in December, you’d be taking a month off to focus solely on training. I agreed, so take it easy. Even if you’re not attending classes, you still need to study when necessary. You promised me that aiming for the Olympics wouldn’t interfere with getting into a top university.”

In fact, Zhang Jue’s mother was quite relaxed. She insisted on her child getting into a good university because she wanted Zhang Jue to have skills to rely on in society, even if he couldn’t skate anymore.

Zhang Jue had a solid foundation, and by the third year of high school, the teachers had already covered all the necessary material. The students were mainly focused on review for the college entrance exams, so Zhang Jue would have time to catch up after the Olympics in February, with four months left to prepare.

Zhang Jue’s mother was also confident that her son would make it to the Olympics.

So when Zhang Jue’s report card came out, and everyone else was nervous, fearing he might get scolded, his mother calmly wrote his leave request.

She had originally expected his rank to drop to 80th place, similar to Dela, who fell to 100th when he was caught up in rock music. To her surprise, Zhang Jue only dropped to 50th place, so letting him take a break early seemed like a good idea.

Starting full-time training early would make his path to the Olympics smoother.

The next day, Zhang Jue, holding his leave request with a pleasantly surprised look on his face, went to his teacher with his mother to ask for an extended leave. Then, he took his skates and headed to the provincial team.

When he entered the rink, Franz was stretching at the edge of the ice. His eyes lit up when he saw Zhang Jue.

“Jue, you’re here! Warm up, then skate through the new program. I want to see what needs to be adjusted.”

Zhang Jue replied: “Got it.”

He took off his jacket, tossed it onto a chair, and stretched, his long, lean waistline peeking out from under his shirt.

Before he knew it, a new journey was about to begin.

 

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