Zhang Jue performed brilliantly in his first competition at the Olympics, achieving a score of 95.15, which simultaneously broke the world record, the Olympic record, and his personal best.

Along with his striking appearance, his popularity soared instantly.

Vasily crossed his hands behind his back and said to Boris beside him: “He will be my greatest rival.”

Boris nodded: “This kid’s success is absolutely due to the hard work of the entire coaching team.”

Especially the technique adjustments. For an athlete, changing techniques is a huge challenge. Many athletes, even with flaws in their technique, may never be able to correct them, even until they retire. Zhang Jue managed to adjust his technique to this extent before the Olympic season, which was a result of the hardships he endured and the immense effort put in by the coaching staff, something unimaginable for most people.

Boris thought to himself that Zhang Jue’s team must include some extraordinary figures, otherwise, this young man wouldn’t have gotten through the development phase so quickly.

After all, in the last season, Zhang Jue’s technique was on the verge of collapse, and yet they managed to save it—it was practically miraculous.

When reporters asked Zhang Jue about this, he decisively pointed to Coach Lu, who was being supported by him: “The expert is this elderly man right here. He was my first coach. To correct my technical flaws, we specifically invited him back. He’s a master at helping people fix their techniques. One of my junior sisters had issues with her outside edge on the toe loop, and he managed to fix that too.”

The toe loop’s edge problem is something many female single skaters face, but it’s also widely recognized that it’s difficult to correct. The reporter, being knowledgeable, immediately showed great respect upon hearing this.

Coach Lu had spent decades working in obscurity in H City, and at the age of 72, his career unexpectedly made a comeback.

The next day, on February 7, at 20:14 Moscow time, the official opening of the Sochi Winter Olympics began. Zhang Jue, who had already competed once, changed into his team uniform and marched into the venue with his teammates.

This year, the Chinese delegation had a total of 67 athletes. These 67 spots were the result of the hard work and determination of athletes from different ice and snow sports.

The goal set for the delegation was to bring back at least 10 medals, with at least 2 of them being gold.

Zhang Jue, as a medal hopeful in the men’s singles, had the main task of reaching the podium. There wasn’t much pressure on the medal’s color since he was only 16, and the pressure for this Winter Olympics wasn’t high. On the other hand, Huang Ying/Guang Lin were medal contenders in pairs skating, but it was likely that by the next Winter Olympics, they would have grown into strong contenders for gold.

For now, the main pressure for gold medals fell on the short track and speed skating teams. Especially after the top short track skater retired due to injury, the number of expected gold medals had significantly decreased, which was why the target had been lowered.

Zhang Jue walked in the middle of the delegation, holding a Russian flag in one hand and a Chinese flag in the other. Besides China, the Japanese delegation was also holding two flags, symbolizing friendship.

This year, 87 countries participated in the Sochi Winter Olympics, including small countries with only 1 to 3 athletes. However, when these athletes carried their flags into the venue, their bright smiles were always heartwarming.

No matter how the world changes, at that moment, Zhang Jue truly felt the Olympic spirit.

Standing among the athletes, Zhang Jue was captured by the camera. He turned back and gave a bright smile to the lens.

The handsome young man from the East made a heart shape with his hands in front of his chest and said in heavily accented Russian: “Good evening, Russia.”

The cameraman behind the lens immediately responded: “Good evening, welcome to Russia. I hope you enjoy it here.”

Zhang Jue switched to English and said: “I already like it here.”

As he spoke, he pulled out a bear from his pocket and shook it. The mascots of the Sochi Winter Olympics were a bear, a snow leopard, and a rabbit, and this mascot toy had been a gift from Ilya after the team event concluded. Everyone in the Chinese delegation had one.

The opening ceremony performance at the Sochi Winter Olympics was actually quite impressive. The Russians, known for their toughness, also had a keen sense of art and beauty, and their achievements in this area were equally remarkable.

It was worth mentioning that Zhang Jue also recognized Marina Alexandrovna, the actress who later starred in the Russian drama “Catherine the Great,” in one of the historical films about Russia.

Zhang Jue wasn’t very good with foreign languages and never had much time to follow foreign dramas. This was one of the few exceptions, and seeing a familiar face gave him a small thrill of delight.

On February 7, the pairs short program took place in the evening. Huang Ying and Guang Lin secured second place.

With consecutive high scores over two days, China temporarily led in points.

Huang Ying took a breath and said to her teammates: “The Russian pair is too strong. Lin and I gave it our all, and we could only just hold off the Canadian pair. Tomorrow is ice dancing, and the day after is women’s singles, so you guys have to do your best too.”

The ice dancers, Mei Chunguo and Hua Taishi, exchanged a glance and gave her a thumbs-up: “Don’t worry, we didn’t just play around during our overseas training. We won’t drag the team down.”

Their coach sternly reminded them: “Don’t get overconfident. The North American pairs in ice dance are very strong this year.”

Especially the American ice dance pair, which was considered the ace of the U.S. figure skating team. Although they were older and had lost to the Canadian pair, Zhu Lin/Stephanie, in the last Winter Olympics, they were giving their all in this last opportunity to compete at the Olympics. Their free dance program had been their career’s masterpiece, breaking world records repeatedly this season, with no one able to match their excellence.

Yi Jie, the top Chinese female skater, shivered at the thought.

On February 8, Coach Lu, having no tasks of his own, was helped by Zhang Junbao and Shen Liu to go watch the ski jumping competition. The old man was in a good mood, reminiscing about the past with his two students as he pointed at the arena during the event.

“If I hadn’t broken my leg back then, I could have represented the country at the Winter Olympics.”

Unfortunately, after that fall, he could only switch to playing ice hockey. During that time, he almost got recruited by the U.S. national team because of his fighting skills, but since he didn’t want to become an American citizen, it didn’t go anywhere.

As for Zhang Jue, being the team captain, he had to stay at the Iceberg Skating Palace to cheer for his teammates, no matter where the coaches went to have fun.

After watching the ice dance event, the teammates packed their things and returned to the Olympic Village. Zhang Jue waved to them.

“I’m going to buy some aftershave. Do you need me to bring anything back?”

Mei Chunguo gave him a look of surprise: “You shave?”

Zhang Jue was puzzled: “Of course, I do. Is something wrong?”

Everyone shook their heads: “No, no.”

Zhang Jue just looked so angelic that no one could associate him with things like shaving or going to the bathroom.

So, Zhang Jue separated from the group and went off on his own. The coach who accompanied him only reminded him to stay safe and return after buying his things. Deep down, they trusted this kid.

Zhang Jue was the kind of child who wouldn’t forget to bring his homework, even when going to the Olympics. The adults were confident he wouldn’t get into any trouble.

But Zhang Jue did run into a problem.

Outside of places like airports or metro stations, there were very few locations in Russia with English signs, including supermarkets. So, when buying aftershave, he had to guess by looking at the labels.

After standing in place for a while, someone came up behind him and asked: “What are you trying to buy?”

Zhang Jue turned around and found that the person behind him was Vasily. He was wearing a mask, with only his gray-blue eyes visible, and his hair was completely covered by a hat. He was holding a shopping basket filled with items like rye bread, beets, and carrots.

The young man blinked: “Aftershave.”

Vasily gestured for him to follow, leading him to another aisle, where he picked up a bottle of aftershave and put it into his own basket. Then, he took Zhang Jue to the checkout.

Although Vasily didn’t pay for Zhang Jue, he made sure to ask if the boy had rubles when Zhang was paying, displaying a gentlemanly care for him. He wasn’t particularly close with Zhang Jue but made sure to escort him to the bus stop, telling him which bus to take back.

Zhang Jue asked: “Don’t you live in the Olympic Village?”

Vasily replied: “It’s too noisy there. Some people like to cause trouble, but I don’t want to get involved in that. I stay in my own apartment—I own property in Sochi.”

Figure skating is a very popular sport in Russia, and after retiring, many athletes appear on TV shows or host programs. As long as they skate well, they don’t have to worry about money, and most invest in things once they have it.

Vasily had a smile in his eyes: “You’re a good kid. It’s nice to see you back on the ice.”

He patted Zhang Jue’s shoulder encouragingly.

It was quite strange. Even though they were athletes from different countries, and Zhang Jue was confident that his performance would make Vasily feel threatened, Vasily had always been kind to him, even holding high expectations for him.

This kind of goodwill from an experienced senior was one of the reasons Zhang Jue had grown to love figure skating more and more. After all, from Zhang Jue’s perspective, if he met a younger skater who was very talented, his own attitude might be more like: “Kid, if you’ve got the guts, come challenge me, and we’ll see who’s stronger.” He definitely wouldn’t be as friendly as Vasily or Maquen.

But under their influence, Zhang thought that when he became a senior himself, he might be much more gentle toward the next generation.

“Legacy…”

He muttered the word to himself as he got on the bus. Someone recognized Zhang Jue—a young figure skating fan hesitantly approached him just before he got off and, in broken English, asked for an autograph.

Zhang Jue didn’t have a pen, so the girl’s mother dug out an eyebrow pencil from her makeup bag: “Please use this. This is my notepad. My daughter’s name is Raisa. We’re from Saint Petersburg, and Raisa also skates. She loves your jumps.”

Zhang Jue thought: What a coincidence! The jumping technique I used when I was young is the same one your daughter will use when she performs quads in the future.

Raisa Lebedeva—9 years old now, but in five years, she would become the first woman to land a quadruple jump and be crowned the quad princess in women’s singles.

She would win the women’s singles gold medal at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Her coach would be none other than Vasily, who would retire after Sochi and take up coaching.

If the bus hadn’t already driven off, Zhang Jue would’ve wanted to call Vasily back right then.

He carefully wrote his name: “Thank you for liking me.”

Little Raisa stared at him with her blue eyes: “Why did you cut your hair? I liked your long hair.”

Zhang Jue smiled and replied: “Because I grew up and wanted a new style. But if you grow out your hair, you’ll definitely look better than I did.”

Raisa touched her own blonde hair: “I’ll compete too, and by the time we meet again on the ice, my hair will be as long as yours used to be.”

She gestured to her waist.

Zhang Jue had thought he would spend the evening in a warm and pleasant mood, but maybe his luck had run out. When he entered the Olympic Village, someone from the second floor threw an unopened condom at his head. Zhang looked up to see Vadim, shirtless, waving at him, with loud music playing in the background.

“Hey, want to join the party?”

Zhang Jue’s first thought was how the guy wasn’t cold, and his second was to take off his shoe, swing his arm, and throw it at Vadim’s face.

There was a sharp smack. Despite the music still blaring, the world seemed to fall silent. The shoe slowly slid off Vadim’s face and dropped to the lawn on the first floor. Zhang Jue went down, picked up his shoe, put it back on, flipped Vadim off, and walked away.

Vadim wiped his face. He really did still hate that kid.

The next day, Vasily arrived at the team competition venue, and the appearance of the top Russian skater lifted the spirits of his teammates.

As Boris walked with his protégé, he reminded him: “Be prepared. If Daria can’t get first place, we won’t have enough points to secure the team gold with just Ilya. The higher-ups want you to skate the team free skate to bring the gold home.”

Vasily nodded seriously.

Meanwhile, Daria, the top Russian female skater, was facing her biggest rival, Keiko Shiratsuka, who calmly pulled out a lip gloss to touch up her makeup. Dressed in a short purple furisode kimono, Keiko exuded a cat-like charm and a serene confidence.

She looked back at the audience and locked eyes with someone who shared a similar gaze.

The young girl blew a kiss in that direction.

“Sister, I’ll perform the ‘Tale of Genji’ routine we choreographed together perfectly on the Olympic stage.”

Sun Qian sternly instructed Mi Yuan Yuan: “Aim for the top seven. If we can make it to the finals, we might even have a shot at the podium. Yuan Yuan, if you want to bring home a medal, now’s the time to fight for it.”

Mi Yuan Yuan stood tall: “Understood! Don’t worry, I got a painkiller shot. Today, you’ll see what I’m capable of when I give it my all.”

The girl marched onto the ice with determination. Guan Lin elbowed Zhang Jue: “Captain, did you hear that? Your teammate’s ready to fight.”

Perhaps because today would decide which five countries made it to the finals, the atmosphere was tense. Daria wasn’t in her best form, and even with the home advantage, she couldn’t stop Keiko, who was at the peak of her career, from dominating.

When the women’s singles short program ended, Sun Qian called out: “Zhang Jue.”

Zhang Jue shook the list of team free skaters, which the team captain had to submit to the competition organizers.

“If Yuan Yuan can place sixth, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for me to skate the free program. Zixuan, you don’t mind if I take your spot, right?”

Jin Zixuan, who had been drinking water, started coughing as soon as Zhang Jue mentioned his name.

He waved his hand quickly: “I don’t mind. It’s better if you skate.”

The figure skating schedule in Sochi was tight. After the women’s short program ended, the pair skating team free program would begin that evening.

Huang Ying and Guan Lin had already gone to the warm-up room with the coach on Sun Qian’s instruction. The men’s and women’s singles free skates and the ice dance free skate for the team event would take place the next day, on February 10.

Initially, the team didn’t expect to win the team competition, but now that the possibility was within reach, every athlete wanted to seize the opportunity. The top pair skaters knew that defeating Russia’s and Canada’s best in Sochi wasn’t realistic. They weren’t as strong, and nationality didn’t work in their favor either.

So instead of just securing a spot on the podium in the individual events, they decided to give it their all in the team event as well.

Canada’s and Russia’s top pairs hadn’t entered the free skate, so this was their chance!

Zhang Jue picked up a pen, crossed out Jin Zixuan’s name, and wrote down his own. He took the list to the officials, and Vasily was standing there.

“Looks like we’ll face each other sooner than expected.”

“Yes, it does.”

Maquen, who had lost to Zhang Jue three times, was once the world record holder for the short program with 94.5 points.

Vasily, on the other hand, held the current world records for the free skate (189.67) and the total score (281.02). Zhang Jue had faced him twice before—once at the Grand Prix Final and once at the World Championships—but had never won.

Zhang Jue believed that before Vasily retired, he had to win at least once.

The old king wasn’t done, but the new king was ready to rise.

 

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