Ever since she arrived in Beijing, Zhang Qingyan had known that she was once again living in the same city as Lan Jin. But given her personality, a man who belonged to the past had no right to stir her emotions anymore. Now, the only person who could occupy her heart and mind was Xu Yan.

So, like many others, she treated her ex as if he were dead and happily lived her own life.

Who would have thought that one day, that bastard would actually show up at her door?

The doorbell rang “ding-dong” repeatedly. Zhang Qingyan went to open it and was immediately faced with a familiar, sharp, model-like face. Unlike others who couldn’t tell Lan Kun and Lan Jin apart, Zhang Qingyan recognized him instantly—this was the bastard who had once hit her!

At 158 cm tall, Ms. Zhang instinctively kicked him in the knee. Lan Jin grabbed his knee and crouched down, then she elbowed him in the face.

In less than three seconds, Lan Jin hit the ground.

Hearing the noise, Xu Yan came over and asked: “Who is it?”

Upon instantly recognizing his love rival, Xu Yan fell silent. His brain started spinning—should he team up with Qingyan and beat the guy up, or act like the dignified current partner, politely engage in small talk, and humiliate the guy with green tea grace?

Zhang Qingyan folded her arms and coldly stared at the ex-husband playing dead on the floor: “If you don’t get up, I’ll smash the coffee table over your head.”

Lan Jin, grimacing, climbed back to his feet.

“Well… I didn’t come here for anything else, just to ask if my son’s health is okay…”

His family had a genetic condition—idiopathic ventricular tachycardia—manifesting as dizziness, chest tightness, palpitations, and an abnormally fast heartbeat.

While it wasn’t a big deal for ordinary people, for athletes undergoing high-intensity training, it could be life-threatening. Complications included enlarged heart, heart failure, and cardiogenic shock—any one of which could ruin an athlete’s life.

At first, Lan Kun thought that since Zhang Jue had inherited his mother’s outstanding athleticism—being able to delay all jumps until the second half of a free skate—perhaps Zhang Qingyan’s genes had canceled out the family’s defect.

But during a casual chat with Xu Dela, Lan Run learned that Zhang Jue’s stamina had recently declined a bit—likely due to a change in his aerobic training method. He was still adjusting, and the training had become much tougher.

To most, it just sounded like Zhang Jue was working hard. But Lan Run already knew about the heart issue and about Zhang Jue’s blood relation to the family.

His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately called Lan Kun. After thinking for a long time, Lan Kun decided the matter should be brought up with Zhang Jue’s parents. But he didn’t have the guts to talk to Zhang Qingyan himself, so he dumped the job on Zhang Jue’s biological father.

“Your son, your responsibility.”

Despite his usual recklessness, Lan Jin still felt guilty toward Zhang Jue. He braced himself for a beating and came anyway.

After the conversation, Zhang Qingyan, expression dark, went out to the balcony to call Zhang Junbao. Xu Yan sat silently on the couch. After a while, he seemed to snap out of it and poured Lan Jin a cup of tea.

He said slowly: “Little Jue loved skating more than anything. During his developmental stage, everyone thought he wouldn’t make it through. But he insisted on competing, even on painkillers. When he thought he had to retire, he cried right after finishing the competition.”

“That kid is at the Olympic venue now. A place even you didn’t get to when you were still active. No matter if he wins the gold or not, when he hears the news you brought, who knows how devastated he’ll be.”

Lan Jin muttered: “Then you go comfort him.”

Xu Yan snorted: “Who else, if not me—you?”

With Zhang Qingyan still on the balcony, Xu Yan finally dropped his mask and revealed his “I can’t stand the sight of you” face. By the time she came back inside, the two men were already grappling. One was a washed-up drunk with years of retirement and no strength left. The other was a trained martial arts actress who still kept up daily training. Despite the size difference, they were surprisingly evenly matched.

The Zhang household was destined for chaos that day.

Zhang Jue obediently underwent a medical check. He assumed, as usual, that some idiot had taken banned substances, dragging him into a random inspection too. Zhang Junbao didn’t explain—he let him continue misunderstanding and kicked him out after the test was done.

The doctor, who had come with the Chinese delegation, looked at the ECG with a grim expression.

“There’s an abnormal wave on the ECG…”

But to confirm the diagnosis, more tests were needed. However, Zhang Jue had his free skate tomorrow. If they told him now: “You have a heart condition,” it would severely affect his mental state as an athlete.

Zhang Jue was a gold medal contender. They couldn’t risk anything going wrong at this stage.

Zhang Junbao was silent for a moment, then said to the team doctor: “I’ll go talk it over with his mom.”

The decision was: tell him the truth.

Zhang Jue sat upright in his chair as his uncle explained everything in detail. He nodded, seemingly unsurprised.

Zhang Junbao carefully observed his face but couldn’t detect any fear, disbelief, or sadness. He couldn’t help but ask: “Aren’t you surprised?”

Zhang Jue blinked: “I am surprised. I mean, my dad’s been invisible for over twenty years, and nothing good ever comes when he appears. So the moment you mentioned him, I was kind of mentally prepared.”

He had already died suddenly once. That experience was what drove him to pursue athletics in this second life—to strengthen his body and extend his life. Only now, after hearing his uncle’s explanation, did he realize the root cause lay in his paternal bloodline.

His sudden death hadn’t been an accident—it had been genetic.

Zhang Jue wasn’t panicked. In fact, he felt relieved, like a mystery that had haunted him across two lifetimes had finally been solved. Now that he knew the truth, the weight on his heart lifted.

Great. He had feared his death was some unforeseeable accident. But as the saying goes: “The monster you can’t see is the scariest.” Now that he could see it, he could fight it. Since it was an illness, he could treat it. It wasn’t a terminal disease, after all.

Zhang Jue said: “Please have the team doctor keep an extra eye on me during the competition. Once it’s over, we’ll go back to do more tests.”

That was his decision. Zhang Jue was meticulous at times, but incredibly bold at others. In his past life, he had awful eating and sleeping habits—once even stayed awake for 50 hours straight. He smoked, he drank. So when he died suddenly at the end of 2022, it hadn’t exactly been a shock. But now, in 2018, he ate well, slept well, trained regularly—he was in much better shape.

He didn’t believe this illness could drag him back to death’s door so easily. Rather than fear the unknown, he’d chase the Olympic gold medal he had longed for with everything he had.

Zhang Jue raised his brow: “Coach, since I’m already with the team doctor, I might as well request a painkiller injection.”

“Here, and here. I need shots.”

He pointed at his left calf and hip.

Zhang Junbao looked at him and let out a long sigh.

“You used to sneak off and play soccer during your youth competitions. I had a constant headache because you didn’t care about skating. Now you finally care… and I still have a headache.”

Zhang Jue patted his uncle’s shoulder and said lazily: “Raising a child brings 99 years of worry. Comrade Zhang Junbao, take it easy—you’re only 38. You’ve got 61 more years of worrying ahead.”

He pressed his fingers against his uncle’s forehead, trying to smooth out the worry lines. Suddenly, he was hit by a realization—this life, he finally got to see his uncle at 38. If all went well, next year he’d see him at 39, the year after that at 40…

Everything Zhang Jue had once cherished but ultimately lost was now in his hands again. It made him believe more than ever that fate was also in his hands.

He had walked through darkness, crossed the River of Forgetfulness, died and was reborn. Now, fate was on his side. No challenge could stop him, and he would never back down.

Zhang Jue, 20 years old, captain of the Chinese national figure skating team, number one in men’s singles, a GOAT in the making, stood at the venue of the 23rd Winter Olympics, burning with resolve.

The men’s singles gold medal at this Olympics would be the 1,000th in Winter Olympic history.

He had been dreaming of winning it for four years.

And for that, he would be invincible.

Watching the look on the boy’s face, Zhang Junbao was stunned.

How strange—though they stood firmly on concrete, it was as if he could already hear the roar of the crowd, the slice of skates on ice, the rush of wind as someone flew past…

And the announcer’s voice.

“Representing China…”

Yes, that was the very voice he had heard countless times before, from the days of his active service to his retirement. He had also dreamed countless times of bringing a gold medal in men’s singles figure skating back to his beloved country.

Now, this dream was within reach, so clearly presented in front of him in the form of the young man before him.

Maybe he had gone crazy; at this moment, he hadn’t even bothered to repeatedly tell Zhang Jue to “take care of your health” or something like that, because he knew Zhang Jue wouldn’t listen anyway. It would be more practical to just stand by with a first aid kit at the rink during tomorrow’s competition.

He had really taken care of the most troublesome genius in the world. This young man was headstrong, immensely talented, and if he wanted something, he was determined to get it. In some ways, you could say he was full of ambition and always exuded confidence.

Fortunately, the two of them had been through so much time together. Zhang Junbao had already witnessed Zhang Jue creating countless miracles. He was used to worrying about Zhang Jue, handling all his messes, and being his support when Zhang Jue decided to risk it all for the competition.

After all, he was Zhang Jue’s old uncle—who else would support Zhang Jue if not him?

“Zhang Jue, captain, promise me you’ll take good care of your health and bring the gold medal back from the competition.”

Zhang Jue grasped Zhang Junbao’s hand firmly and confidently replied: “I promise you, coach.”

February 17, 2018, 10:00 AM.

Zhao Ning sat at the commentary booth of the Jiangling Ice Sports Center and skillfully spoke into the microphone: “Hello, viewers. This is the live broadcast of the men’s singles free skate at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. I’m commentator Zhao Ning.”

Next to her, Chen Zhu remained calm and said: “I’m commentator Chen Zhu.”

Together, they would commentate on this peak showdown in men’s singles figure skating.

“As for yesterday’s short program results, our athlete Zhang Jue is ranked second, Cha Hanbuhua is ranked tenth, and Jin Zixuan is ranked eleventh. Today’s final will determine their final ranking in the Olympics.”

 

 

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