Before the World Championship in Magic City started, the top skaters in the four disciplines of figure skating received their assignments.

For men’s singles and pairs, the goal was to maintain their positions within the top two at this year’s World Championship, while ice dance and women’s singles aimed to crack the top ten.

Since it was a home competition, they absolutely couldn’t underperform; otherwise, they would be bringing shame to their own country.

Zhang Jue nodded with no pressure. Regardless of whether the leaders gave him an assignment, he was determined to fight for the gold medal. Coaches were still giving him motivational talks before departure, advising him to take it steady, not to rush jumps he hadn’t perfected yet, and not to feel like failing to break a world record was a failure, especially since this year’s judging panel was highly esteemed.

Before the competition even began, the list of judges for the Magic City World Championship was released, causing a huge stir in the figure skating world.

Why? Because the lineup was just that impressive.

Jiang Chaosheng was responsible for scoring ice dance, so we won’t discuss that for now. As for men’s singles, the familiar name of Lu Jin needs no mention. His strict scoring style made even Russian athletes, who were from the same country, afraid to face him. Whenever they had minor flaws in their techniques, they wished they could avoid him.

Apart from him, there was also the famous Japanese judge, Mrs. Amano Yume. She had been judging since the 1990s and even during the Nagano Winter Olympics, she scored Japan’s top skater according to strict standards, which led to Japan’s female skater finishing 5th by a narrow margin.

Yes, back then, figure skating still used the 6.0 scoring system, which relied more on subjective judgments from judges compared to the current system, offering more room for bias. If that little old lady had been a bit more lenient when scoring her compatriot, Japan would have won a bronze in women’s singles at Nagano.

After experienced figure skating fans saw the judging list, they all gave the organizers a thumbs up.

“Well done! While other countries find judges who favor their own skaters, you managed to bring in these picky, old-school judges.”

One fan commented: “China has created a legendary team of judges this year. Any monsters or oddities will have to tremble before them.”

For example, a junior team member who trained with Hayato Teraoka, upon hearing that Mrs. Amano would be judging, had a grim expression.

“Is China serious? They actually invited Amano over. Are they dissatisfied with the men’s singles results?”

This young skater also trained 4-turns, mainly focusing on the 4S, but his rotation wasn’t quite enough. During the national competition, he was relentlessly criticized by Mrs. Amano, leaving him in tears. His 4S was downgraded to a 3S, dropping his base score by more than 6 points.

Look at the North American judges. When the top female skater, Oliver, attempted a 3A in a domestic competition but fell after only completing two and a half rotations, the Canadian judges still decided she had done the 3A, deducting 3 points for the fall but still leaving her with 4.5 points.

The base score for a 2A is only 3.3 points, and if the rules were strictly followed, their top skater wouldn’t have scored anything.

Hayato Teraoka calmly said: “As long as the technical standards are met, there’s no fear of those strict, fair judges. If China dares to invite these people, they must be confident in their own athletes.”

Or rather, who else besides China could have the boldness to maintain the attitude of “if our athlete doesn’t perform well and gets deducted points, it’s deserved—no favoritism here” while hosting the World Championship?

This kind of confidence actually comes from the athletes themselves, grounded in a deep sense of fairness. Hayato Teraoka admired this. When he was competing fiercely with Ilya, he had also suffered from unfair judgments by Russian judges. Seeing the judging panel for the Magic City World Championship, he felt relieved.

It seemed that the China market was indeed very large, to the extent that the International Skating Union had to reluctantly acknowledge this powerful group of judges. This market, which combines talent and beauty, was made possible by Tama-chan’s presence. In some ways, his handsome face had a far greater impact on figure skating than anyone had ever expected.

Anyway, he, Tama-chan, and Iliya were all skilled athletes who weren’t afraid of sharp-eyed judges. Their juniors needed to go through such a “dehydration” test. If judges always favored them, it would ruin the atmosphere.

Hayato Teraoka then asked: “Keiko, will you be attempting the 3A in this competition?”

Shiratsuka Keiko shrugged. “Of course not. That jump was never very consistent. I only decided to attempt it because Oliver did a 3A, but if she could land it, even with a 200-degree shortfall in rotations, the judges would still count it. Now, with the judges being so supportive, I don’t want to strain my legs and waist.”

The young lady massaged her waist, looking in good spirits. Well, she wasn’t afraid of strict judges either.

On the China bus, Zhang Jue turned to ask Xu Chuo: “How is your jump recovery?”

Xu Chuo clenched her fist. “I’ve recovered the 3F+3T!”

In women’s singles, recovering such a high-level 33 combination and achieving more stability would make it easier to break into the top ten.

Zhang Junbao patted his current coach, Ming Jia, on the shoulder. Ming Jia gave a thumbs-up. They both knew how difficult it was for a female athlete with low bone density to recover a 33 combination. Not only did the athlete need to put in a lot of effort, but the coach also had to spend tremendous energy.

They chatted for a bit.

Ming Jia said: “Sigh, I’ve lost so much hair. What do you usually do to take care of your hair? I noticed you have the most hair among Zhang Jue’s coaching staff, but you’re much older than Shen Liu. You’re almost forty!”

Zhang Junbao replied: “Huh? I’ve never taken care of my hair! And since when am I almost forty? Is 35 already ‘almost forty’?”

The two of them ended the conversation on an awkward note, one returning to his seat and the other moving next to Shen Liu.

Shen Liu summarized their conversation: “A Ming shouldn’t have talked about hair with his senior.”

That was pretty embarrassing.

They continued discussing footwork. Zhang Jue had noticed how much Xu Chuo had improved in skating this season. At the China Cup, she was the only female skater to score 4 in footwork. After asking, he learned that when she couldn’t practice jumps, she worked on her skating with the ice dance pair.

So, her training schedule was different from others. Zhang Jue, being a typical men’s singles skater, focused on jumps, while Xu Chuo, since too many jumps would put more strain on her body, had fewer jump practices but more skating drills.

Zhang Jue said: “My 4-level footwork isn’t stable. Sometimes my legs get tangled when I try it. Still, it needs practice. But there are only 24 hours in a day, and it’s really not enough.”

Xu Chuo enviously said: “I’d rather focus on jumps like you. A four-turn jump looks so impressive.”

Back when she hadn’t fully developed, she had also attempted four turns, and although she was still 200 degrees short of a full rotation, it gave her a sense of “I can do this.” Now, though, she didn’t even expect to land a 3.5-turn.

After getting off the bus, Zhang Jue was just walking into the hotel when he saw Hayato Teraoka waving at him.

“Hey, Tama-chan! Hey!”

Zhang Jue jogged over and high-fived him. “Hey!”

The two of them high-fived like children still in kindergarten. Keiko, watching them, said: “Come on, stop it. The press is taking pictures.”

Zhang Jue and Hayato Teraoka answered in unison: “Let them take pictures.”

Xu Chuo came over and extended her hand: “Keiko-chan, hey!”

Keiko immediately took her hand: “Hey!”

And then they went off to hang out. It was quite normal for athletes who had good relationships to gather for a meal and enjoy themselves before the competition began. Zhang Jue didn’t usually go because his first task when arriving abroad was always to adjust his jet lag. Sometimes, if his condition wasn’t good, it would take him two or three days to adapt, and he didn’t have much time for entertainment.

But in the competition in Magic City, there was no time difference issue, so everyone decided that the Japanese team was the most generous this time, directly booking a large suite and gathering there.

The members of the gathering were all singles skaters. On the men’s side, there were Zhang Jue, Hayato Teraoka, Ilya, and David, all of whom were the new generation leaders. On the women’s side, there were Keiko, Xu Chuo, Selena, and Katerina.

Actually, Cui Zhengshu was supposed to come too, but he was dragged out to hang out with Yin Meijing, while Alex (the top male skater from France) was invited by Juventus (the top male skater from the Czech Republic), as it was said that Juventus was getting married and wanted Alex to be his best man.

They all brought fruits, Greek yogurt, low-fat soy milk, and other snacks, but there were no alcohol or processed foods. Athletes with any self-control wouldn’t touch those things, even Ilya, a battle-hardened guy, would restrain himself.

Later, David suggested they play a drinking game, but as a game to enjoy the yogurt. Zhang Jue thought they were going to play the Chinese-style drinking game and nodded, agreeing to it. However, the foreign athletes’ idea of a drinking game was completely different from his.

Their game was called “Never Have I Ever.” The idea was that one person would say: “I’ve never drunk alcohol,” and if anyone else had done that, they had to drink a cup of yogurt.

A bunch of young people either slouched on the couch or sat cross-legged on the floor. After drawing lots, Zhang Jue was the first. He cleared his throat and said: “Alright, I’ll go first.”

He held the yogurt bottle and thought for a moment, then said: “I’ve never been in a relationship.”

He had been single his whole life.

Then, to his surprise, only David and Selena drank yogurt, and no one else moved. This meant that everyone else had also been single their entire lives, just like him.

Everyone exchanged shocked glances.

Ilya glared at Hayato Teraoka: “Aha, last time you said that someone like me, who is so cold and distant, would never find a girl who likes me, but you’re single too!”

Hayato Teraoka stared back: “So what if I’m single!?”

With a defiant look, they both declared: “It’s not that we can’t have relationships, we just don’t want to!”

Then the game continued with more revelations, like “I’ve never smoked,” “I’ve never watched adult videos,” “I’ve never failed an exam…”

The most shocking was David, who boldly said: “I’ve never dressed in women’s clothes.” All the male singles except him had to drink a cup of yogurt.

Then Keiko gave Zhang Jue and Hayato Teraoka a fiery look and extended her hand, demanding they hand over some photos.

Hayato Teraoka, embarrassed and irritated, exclaimed: “I only dressed as Snow White once when I was in elementary school during the school festival! I accidentally drew the princess role, how could I keep a photo of such an embarrassing thing?!”

Zhang Jue was delighted and said: “What a coincidence! I dressed in women’s clothes because I played the evil queen in Snow White!”

Zhang Jue as the queen?

Everyone went silent. Everyone knew how cute he had been as a child, so imagining such a cute little thing saying: “Mirror, mirror, who is the fairest of them all,” would definitely have made the audience smile.

And this guy probably sold his cuteness so much when he was young that he was very open about showing them his childhood photos on his phone.

He proudly declared: “I was so pretty as a kid! As soon as I dressed as a girl, people thought I was a pretty girl, and some even gave me candy!”

Keiko burst into laughter: “Not just the boys, even the girls liked you. The last time I was with the coach and we greeted Ms. Amano, her keychain was your little crocodile merchandise. I’m sure it was the genuine one!”

Zhang Jue’s face was full of shock: “Really? The last time I went to the convenience store to buy water, I ran into Ms. Amano. She looked so thin, and her Japanese English was hard to understand, so I went over to help translate. But when she saw me, she snorted and turned around and left.”

He thought his relationship with the judges was bad. Apart from Ms. Salana, who was known for her high taste and appreciated his looks, only Judge Lu Jin was willing to talk to him. Last time at the Grand Prix finals, that old man even came to take a photo with him and said a lot, summarizing that his technique was a shining example, and he should keep it up.

Keiko thought to herself, that wasn’t because the competition was about to start, and the old lady was avoiding any suspicion. She was much harsher with other Japanese athletes, but it didn’t mean she disliked them.

Zhang Jue probably didn’t know that, in the eyes of those fair and strict judges, his technically sound performances made him an exemplary athlete.

The Magic City had specifically invited such a group of people, which already guaranteed fairness and provided Zhang Jue with the best scoring environment.

China’s figure skating had no significant influence or connections in the International Skating Union, but achieving this step must have taken a lot of effort from the China Skating Federation’s leaders. Tama-chan truly was a beloved treasure in the whole village’s palm.

As the number one skater in the foot basin, Keiko had once been forced into frequent commercial performances during the off-season, with her skating federation and management company taking large cuts. She sighed inwardly.

 

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