Every time the temperature suddenly dropped, Zhang Jue’s body would routinely react with a bout of pharyngitis. It wasn’t severe; a few throat lozenges could alleviate the discomfort in his throat. However, the unavoidable consequence was nasal congestion during sleep, leading to difficulty breathing.

Initially, Zhang Jue believed this issue was restricted to sleeping, but to his surprise, it persisted even on the airplane. His nose kept running incessantly, and he had to request tissues from the flight attendants multiple times.

With rhinitis, the actions of blowing one’s nose tended to be louder. Zhang Jue felt he was disturbing others with his noise, so he decided to use a warm patch. He covered his nose with a warm patch, wrapped himself in a blanket, and intended to take a nap. However, he didn’t sleep for long before being shaken awake by Huang Ying.

The girl’s tender voice pierced his ears, chirping like a little sparrow: “Zhang Jue, we’ve arrived. Get ready to disembark, wake up, wake up, wake up…”

Zhang Jue, feeling groggy, opened his eyes: “Are we already here? I haven’t slept enough.”

Guan Lin, leaning on the seat back, grinned: “Because the pilot performed exceptionally well today, we arrived 10 minutes ahead of schedule.”

Upon reaching the land, Zhang Jue’s nose cleared again. The group collected their luggage, and Shen Liu stood aside, making a phone call in English.

“…Yes, we have arrived. Is the person coming to pick us up here? If not, we can go to the hotel by ourselves… Oh? The pickup personnel have already arrived?”

Because it was on speaker, Zhang Jue could also hear the voice from the other end of the call.

The staff member said: “Yes, the pickup person is someone you all know. She has already reached the immigration exit. Go over and meet her. Also, the athletes from Kazakhstan will be arriving in Fukuoka during this time, so you can take the bus together.”

Thanks to Ms. Ying Dongmei and Shen Liu’s efforts in teaching Zhang Jue English, his listening skills had improved significantly.

At that moment, a crisp female voice rang out nearby: “Tama-chan! Tama-chan, the figure skater from China, if you hear this, please respond!”

Zhang Jue turned around and saw, amidst the bustling crowd, someone holding a banner with the Chinese characters “Welcome figure skaters from China.”

Zhang Jue hurriedly ran over: “Here, here, stop shouting!”

Hearing his voice, the person turned around, revealing herself to be Shiratsuka Masako.

She was dressed in a light green sweater, off-white woolen trousers, and a checkered scarf around her neck, resembling a Christmas tree. She had a radiant smile on her face. When they were still ten meters apart, Zhang Jue could already see the two dimples on her face.

She ran towards Zhang Jue, and the two met in the middle of the airport. Shiratsuka Masako stuffed the banner she was holding into her pocket and greeted him cheerfully.

“Tama-chan, it’s been a long time.”

Zhang Jue sighed helplessly: “Indeed, it’s been a while. Miss Shiratsuka Masako, I didn’t expect it would be you to pick us up. Why not let the staff handle it?”

And her way of appearing, similar to the famous TV drama “Tokyo Love Story”‘s female lead, made it seem like she was filming a TV series.

She replied with a smile: “Just call me Shiratsuka Masako. I’m a local in Fukuoka, and I wanted to meet you and the others earlier. So, I volunteered to pick you up. How about it? Isn’t it an honor to be personally welcomed by the world’s number-one female single skater? Oh, can you understand what I’m saying now?”

She suddenly realized that this English novice could communicate with her now.

Zhang Jue: “Well, I can understand the general meaning, but speaking is still a challenge.”

He had just barely moved beyond the realm of mute English. Not deaf but still mute, similar to Ilya Safoshenko.

Shiratsuka Masako looked at Zhang Jue with admiration, a hint of amazement in her eyes. She sincerely complimented: “You’re getting more handsome.”

Before Zhang Jue could respond, another girl nearby exclaimed in delight: “Shiratsuka Masako-chan!”

Shiratsuka Masako turned around: “Meijing-chan!”

Yin Meijing excitedly dragged a pink suitcase over and embraced Shiratsuka Masako. Zhang Jue didn’t know when these two girls had become so close.

Liu Mengcheng walked up to him, revealing a shy smile.

Zhang Jue crossed his arms, scrutinized Liu Mengcheng from head to toe, took two steps back, and said seriously: “Why did you grow so tall? I used to be able to see your face by just lifting my head, now I have to step back a bit.”

Before their reunion, Liu Mengcheng had been imagining what they would say when they met again. Would Zhang Jue, like others, congratulate them on winning the case and express anger together at the scumbag who was only sentenced to 11 years? Or would Zhang Jue be relieved like some, seeing him looking much better than before?

But he didn’t expect Zhang Jue’s first words upon their reunion to be a complaint about his height. It was the first unexpected sentence after their reunion, but it was so typical of Zhang Jue that Liu Mengcheng immediately relaxed.

Suppressing a chuckle, Liu Mengcheng leaned slightly forward, earnestly replying: “Yin Meijing and I have grown during this year in Kazakhstan. I’m now 1.85 meters, and she’s 1.68 meters. You’ve changed a lot too, you look even more handsome than before.”

Zhang Jue, hearing this, immediately burst into laughter and gave Liu Mengcheng’s shoulder a punch: “I love hearing that. Do you want some hawthorn cake?”

As he spoke he took out a bunch of hawthorn cakes from his pocket. Liu Mengcheng, who was handed a handful of hawthorn cakes, was sure that Zhang Jue really loved being praised for being handsome. So, he silently thanked himself for using the word ‘handsome’ when complimenting Zhang Jue earlier, not ‘beautiful,’ even though the latter was more appropriate.

Zhang Jue’s hair had grown quickly and it was now below chest level. Coupled with his good taste in casual clothes, he didn’t dress casually today, and he didn’t carry a mop to act like he was about to wreak havoc in the heavenly palace. Instead, he looked quite stylish, and even the beautiful girls like Yin Meijing and Shiratsuka Masako were overshadowed.

Not to mention that Yin Meijing, after praising Shiratsuka Masako with “You’re getting more beautiful” immediately received a happily handed package of chocolate, specially brought for her. It seemed that she also enjoyed hearing compliments.

Their conditions are excellent. Yin Meijing and Liu Mengcheng successfully made it to the finals, making the Kazakhstan sports department extremely satisfied. Shiratsuka Masako is evidently in a state of triumphant joy and super confidence, thinking: “I won against Daria, I’m truly remarkable.”

As for Zhang Jue, he doesn’t need to be mentioned. Breaking the free skate record in the junior division didn’t happen long ago.

In this competition, Kazakhstan had a total of four finalists, including the naturalized pair in the senior ice dance category, a junior women’s singles, and a junior men’s singles named Kharhasha Golovkin. Mrs. Ayala, with them, came over and politely greeted Shen Liu.

As professional athletes, their physique and posture are indeed impressive. When gathered together, they resemble celebrities, especially with figure skating being highly popular in Japan. From the airport to the hotel entrance, they encountered at least six waves of fans asking for autographs. Shiratsuka Masako, who ranked fifth nationally in popularity, was naturally the most popular, followed by Zhang Jue.

Oddly enough, Zhang Junbao also had several female fans and shy male fans asking for autographs.

After boarding the bus, Yin Meijing joyfully opened her backpack, saying: “I brought you some local specialties, Little JUe, don’t you like chocolate? Kazakhstan chocolate is exceptionally pure. I think you’ll like it.”

In addition to this, Zhang Jue also received a set of Kazakhstan coins and Mrs. Ayala assured him that the horse jerky, various dried fruits, and preserved fruits were safe to eat. Due to the abundant sunlight in Central Asia, the fruits were also exceptionally sweet.

Liu Mengcheng secretly told Zhang Jue that they had received many invitations for commercial performances, and there were also advertisers from Kazakhstan interested in them. So, they could now earn money to repay those interest-free loans.

Only now did Zhang Jue remember what he and Liu Mengcheng had discussed earlier. If they didn’t want to accept donations, they could treat it as an interest-free loan to be repaid slowly.

Honestly, seeing Liu Mengcheng and Yin Meijing’s current physique, Zhang Jue knew they perfectly fit the rumored golden physique for ice dancing – the male partner’s height between 183 to 186 cm and the female partner’s height between 165 to 168 cm, creating the most aesthetically pleasing appearance and facilitating lifts.

With their talent and chemistry, anyone who said these two didn’t have the capital to challenge A-level competitions would be blind. Their physical condition was almost the best among young ice dance athletes!

Zhang Jue was very pleased to see them continue to shine on the ice.

Perhaps it was the positive atmosphere of figure skating events, or maybe it was the exceptional camaraderie among the figure skaters of their generation. When they arrived at the hotel, Ilya and Hayato Teraoka were actually waiting for them in the hotel lobby.

Since friends were giving them faces, Zhang Jue naturally had to show a warm attitude in response. So, he happily opened his arms, called their names, and ran over, ready to give them a hug.

Upon seeing Zhang Jue’s appearance, Ilya was puzzled for a moment, then revealed an expression of understanding, as if saying: “I see, I understand now.”

On the side, Hayato Teraoka hadn’t quite figured out what this guy understood, but when Zhang Jue was just one meter away from them, the Russian prince, who was already 176 cm tall, gave a light shout, placed his hands under Zhang Jue’s armpits, and lifted him, turning him around in place.

Just as Zhang Jue, who suddenly flew up, managed to utter a “Huh?” the surrounding camera flashes lit up. Zhang Jue, maintaining his lifted posture, looked over, and the Japanese journalists noticed his gaze. They even put down their cameras and gave him a thumbs up.

 

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