The short program competition for the youth men’s singles lasts only 2 minutes and 30 seconds (±10 seconds). Therefore, after 10 minutes, the short program event for the youth men’s singles concludes.

This also mean that Zhang Jue didn’t have much time to rest.

Xu Chuo and Cha Hanbuhua ware both Zhang Jue’s junior siblings who have been following Coach Song Cheng. Now, with Zhang Jue feeling discomfort from a waist injury, they run over with Coach Song Cheng. Sun Qian also comes over to take a look.

The eldest senior brother, who just won the short program, lies on a yoga mat with two large ice packs on his lower back, and ice packs under his ankles and knees. His petite figure looked even smaller when lying down, and the ice packs on his body appear particularly heavy.

Xu Chuo knelt beside him, gently touching the senior brother’s hair, not minding the hair gel on his hands. She casually wipes it off and shows a concerned expression.

“Senior brother, does it hurt?”

The eldest senior brother comforts his second junior sister: “It’s okay, just a minor injury, similar to the sprains during training. It’s not that serious yet, at least it doesn’t affect walking, just a bit cold.”

The venue for figure skating competitions lacks heating, and in the cold December of Beijing, not providing hot water bottles was one thing, but having to apply ice packs was another. Zhang Jue shivers from the cold.

The uncle squats on the side to massage Zhang Jue’s calves, relieving the tension in the young boy’s muscles. He quips: “Why are you suddenly sensitive to the cold again? Weren’t you able to play in the snow with just a single layer before?”

Zhang Jue smiles wryly: “Back then, my body fat percentage wasn’t this low.”

People with low body fat percentages are generally more sensitive to the cold because they lack the insulation of fat.

Fortunately, his junior brother Cha Hanbuhua was a considerate kid. Knowing that his senior brother is working hard, he brought a cup of hot chocolate when he came over, holding it to warm his hands and drinking it to warm his heart and stomach.

Zhang Jue was actually quite envious of Cha Hanbuhua. After all, this kid is famous for having an indestructible body in the known future, with almost no rumors of injuries or illnesses. A robust physique not only results in Cha Hanbuhua’s lower rotational speed in the air and higher difficulty in quadruple jumps, but for athletes, as long as they are healthy, they have endless possibilities to challenge.

At this moment, Shen Liu also places chocolate milk next to Zhang Jue and helps massage Zhang Jue’s other calf.

Sun Qian says regretfully: “Unfortunately, Zhang Jue’s performance score was suppressed too hard. Otherwise, with his abilities, he should have broken a record this time.”

Zhang Jue’s short program jump configuration includes 3lz+3lo, 3F, 3A, which should dominate the youth category in terms of difficulty.

Zhang Junbao shakes his head: “After all, Little Jue is a newcomer who just emerged. When judges score, they tend to favor experience. Hayato Teraoka also got quite a low score in his first year in the youth category.”

Sun Qian crouches down to pat Zhang Jue’s head: “True, he will still skate in the youth category for at least two more seasons. There’s no rush for now. Ah, is this hair gel given by Yao Lan? Don’t use this one, it’s not good for the hairline. Yao Lan’s hairline is quite precarious now. Use HDFQ; Beckham also uses that one, and you can see that his hairline is still good.”

Everyone glances at Sun Qian sparse hairline simultaneously and discreetly looks away.

Zhang Jue secretly resolves not to use either the hair gel Yao Lan uses or the one Beckham uses. When his hair grows longer, he’ll just tie it up.

When the staff comes over, Zhang Jue pats the mat and stands up. The ice packs roll off him, and the child sits down, wanting to put on shoes and pulling his waist again.

Seeing the child in pain, Shen Liu presses him down.

“Don’t move randomly, lean on me to stand up.”

The child agrees, supporting himself on Shen Liu’s shoulder. Zhang Junbao also lifts Zhang Jue’s collar upwards, and Zhang Jue uses the force to stand up, pushing his feet into the shoes. Shen Liu quickly ties the shoelaces, reminding him.

“Don’t do any movements that make your waist uncomfortable. If you can’t, call me or your uncle, we’ll help you.”

Zhang Jue obediently agrees, puts on his coat and scarf, and wears a Thunder Peak hat on his head, covering his ears with the brim.

Zhang Jue obediently complied, putting on a coat and scarf, and wearing a Thunder Peak hat on his head with the brim down, covering his ears.

The warmth returned, and Zhang Jue finally felt comfortable.

Sun Qian, observing his appearance, remained silent for a while. “Are you going to attend the medal ceremony like this? There are reporters there taking pictures, you know.”

Children shouldn’t just rely on their god-like appearance and disregard their image.

Before Zhang Jue could speak, Zhang Junbao scratched his head with a puzzled expression. “But he wore a crocodile costume and skated ‘Schnappi’ on the ice. Just wearing a hat isn’t a big deal, right?”

Looking at Zhang Junbao’s baby face, Sun Qian suddenly remembered the time when one guy, during his active career, dressed up as a cat and skated to the famous musical “Cats” at the All-Japan Championship. Honestly, Sun Qian had never seen a cat with such a big chest.

But for some reason, that performance received particularly enthusiastic applause.

Having someone like him as Zhang Jue’s head coach, even a good fairy would be turned into a silly deer… Well, as long as the results are good, he would recognize him even if he were a monkey!

Sun Qian spend some time convincing herself, closed his eyes, and finally waved his hand: “Go ahead, keeping warm is the most important.”

The second place in the short program this time was Hayato Teraoka, and the third was Ilya. Interestingly, this was the second time Hayato Teraoka had outperformed Ilya in the short program.

According to Shen Liu’s analysis, Hayato Teraoka’s expressiveness was stronger than Ilya’s, and he had an advantage in skating. So, in the short program, he could gain a lead of almost 1 point with his performance score. However, Ilya had higher stability, so he would win back in the free skate.

In fact, Zhang Jue also had an issue with instability. It is a fact that he stumbled into the Grand Prix Final. The coaching staff understands this, and for Zhang Jue, winning the short program is only temporary, the free skate was the bigger challenge.

However, the atmosphere at the small medal ceremony was still very friendly. When Zhang Jue appeared, many people were initially stunned, then showed a facial expression that seemed like they wanted to laugh, yet also appeared charmed, especially Hayato Teraoka, whose eyes kept drifting towards Zhang Jue.

When the host asked Hayato Teraoka about his impression of China, he spoke in awkward Mandarin: “China is a great country, especially the athletes…” He hesitated, unsure of how to pronounce “kawaii” in Chinese, so he combined it with English: “The athletes are especially cute.”

The very cute Zhang Jue understood and smiled very cutely at Hayato Teraoka, who then noticed the child had two small tiger teeth.

Wow, double incisors.

For the Japanese people with a special fondness for double incisors, they sighed in their hearts. Tama-san is truly super kawaii.

The fact that Zhang Jue’s nickname is little Jue was not a secret. People who ware familiar, and even some more casual figure skating fans, know about it. After some detail-oriented Japanese journalists shared this information in China, many Japanese figure skating fans referred to him as “Tama-chan” or “Tama-san.”

The pronunciation of “tama” in Japanese was similar to the pronunciation of “egg.” So when Japanese figure skating fans call Zhang Jue “Tama-chan” or “Tama-san,” it can be understood as them calling him “little Jue” or “Mr. Egg.” Luckily, Zhang Jue, with his language aptitude of only 5, doesn’t know that someone is calling him “Xiao Dan” (Little Egg), or he would not be giving Hayato Teraoka a bir of face right now.

It’s worth mentioning that Ilya and Hayato Teraoka are both fully developed male singles skaters, with Ilya being 175 cm tall and Hayato Teraoka being 174 cm tall. Both are over 20 cm taller than Zhang Jue, but as the first in the short program, Zhang Jue has to stand in the middle during the award presentation.

So, the visual effect when they stood together was like a concave character, and Zhang Jue is increasingly framed as a little schoolboy between the two.

Uncle Zhang feels this scene is somewhat pitiful and unbearable. He turns to Shen Liu and mutters: “I remember that during domestic competitions, the scores for the senior and junior divisions were combined. With Zhang Jue scores, no one in the senior division could probably compete with him. He might end up being the shortest one on the award podium.”

Thinking about Zhang Jue proudly standing on the award podium in the future, Zhang Junbao suddenly feels awkward.

He and Shen Liu look at the petite and adorable Zhang Jue holding the medal, and simultaneously sigh.

Grow taller, little Jue, if you don’t want to be a little fairy forever… When they go back they will make this mischievous child drink more milk!

As it is a domestic award ceremony, there are no language issues. The host was extremely friendly to Zhang Jue, asking routine questions that are easy to handle.

After dealing with miscellaneous matters, Zhang Jue returns to the hotel room and finally meets Qin Xuejun.

This handsome mixed-race guy was wearing a wool coat, also with a warm Thunder Peak hat. He walks with a limp, leaning on a crutch. When he enters the room and takes off his hat, Zhang Jue notices that his head is still wrapped in bandages.

Sitting down while supporting his waist, Zhang Jue exclaims: “Brother, what happened to you?”

Qin Xuejun casually explains: “Last week, the professor said my dissection technique was good and asked me to assist him at the hospital, doing some suturing work.”

Medical students, in their third year, can start assisting with surgeries to accumulate practical experience. Even though Qin Xuejun is only halfway through his third year, his excellent grades and recent collaboration on a paper with a senior helped him gain the favor of a professor. Consequently, he was asked to help on weekends, and he gets paid for it.

Although it involves various tasks like catheterization, prepping the skin, disinfecting, suturing, assisting with endoscopy, and other miscellaneous activities, Qin Xuejun finds it enjoyable, feeling that he gains a lot from it.

Zhang Jue understands but is still puzzled: “Can assisting with sutures result in injuries like this?”

Typically, assisting with sutures wouldn’t, but Qin Xuejun encountered a special situation this time.

As soon as this matter was mentioned, Qin Xuejun sighed: “The professor who brought me is the head of the emergency department. It’s said that he used to be a military doctor, very experienced in emergency care. This time, he saved a severely injured patient, a family member who got into a fight with a cattle dealer.”

“The cattle dealer got aggressive, pulled out a knife during the fight, and stabbed the patient in several critical areas. When they arrived at the emergency room, the patient was barely breathing. Fortunately, the injuries were close to the hospital, and the professor decisively provided immediate first aid.”

“He also had tension pneumothorax. The professor first gave him a needle to relieve the pressure, and you could hear the hiss as the needle went in.”

Qin Xuejun gestures, and Zhang Jue inhales sharply: “Is that guy okay?”

“He’s fine. It happened at the entrance of our hospital, how could we let him die?”

Qin Xuejun continues: “The professor also used manual hemostasis, reaching into the abdominal cavity and directly pinching the hepatic vessels of the patient. After a two-hour surgery, the professor managed to save the person’s life. When we just left the operating room, the patient’s son rushed over, almost knocking the professor down. I helped block him, but I was bumped down the stairs by the patient’s son.”

Zhang Jue sizes up Qin Xuejun’s 1.9-meter tall stature and quirks an eyebrow: “How tall and heavy is that patient’s son?”

“Judging by the eye, around 1.85 meters tall, probably weighing over 240 kilograms. When I fell, he even pressed on me. I thought I might break a couple of bones, but it turned out to be soft tissue bruising plus six stitches on the scalp. I consider myself lucky,” Qin Xuejun shows a subtle expression. “The patient himself weighs around 200 kilograms, with a thick layer of fat. I estimate there might be liquefaction of fat later on. Healing that wound… it won’t be easy.”

Zhang Jue sighs: “It sounds like you got injured quite unfairly.”

Qin Xuejun smiled slightly: “Being a doctor requires this mindset. This minor injury will heal in two weeks, it’s just a small matter.”

Innocently injured, Qin Xuejun was highly appreciated by the hospital for protecting the backbone of the emergency department. Not only did he avoid all medical expenses, but he also received a red envelope of 2,000 yuan.

Once he received the money, the first thing this young man did was buy cherries and strawberries, which he now took out to share with Zhang Jue.

Zhang Jue took a large box of fruit to wash. He and Qin Xuejun sit side by side with their injuries and open the TV to watch Leonardo DiCaprio’s new movie “Forbidden Island.”

“Martin Scorsese’s skills are still strong. Why do Hollywood directors always stick so closely to the original works, while domestic directors love to make a mess?” Zhang Jue asks.

“Because international directors have pressure, they don’t.” Qin Xuejun replies.

Finally, Qin Xuejun asks: “Do you think he can win an Oscar with this movie?”

Zhang Jue confidently replies: “Definitely not.”

Qin Xuejun rubs his chin: “He’s been quite dedicated to his craft these years, and his acting is excellent. Could it be that the Oscars still think he hasn’t ruined his looks enough?”

Zhang Jue thought to himself: “It’s not about ruining looks or not. The main issue is that the time hasn’t come. Even if he went to play with water guns, it wouldn’t help.”

 

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