Zhang Junbao, 33 years old, got hit on the back of his head when he asked his sister, Zhang Qingyan, about her ex-husband’s height.

Holding his head in pain, he squatted on the ground, his face full of agony: “I just couldn’t believe those two brothers are really that tall and wanted to confirm with you. Why hit me?”

Ms. Zhang sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, took the teacup Xu Yan handed her, skimmed off the foam with the lid, blew on the tea, and took a sip.

“You know I get angry just thinking about that person, and you still mentioned his name. You deserved the hit.”

Xu Yan chuckled: “Isn’t their height easy to remember? I remember it.”

Zhang Junbao thought, Of course, you remember. Who could forget the height of their rival they hated for years?

Xu Yan was Zhang Qingyan’s college classmate. They were the same age, but Zhang Jue’s biological father had won her over first. When they broke up, Xu Yan immediately seized the opportunity to return to their hometown in the northeast with Ms. Zhang. They even took the household registration book, and when Zhang Jue was just learning to walk, they got married.

Uncle Junbao plopped onto the sofa with a sigh: “The main reason is you treat Little Jue so well that I forgot he even had a biological father.”

Back when Zhang Qingyan returned to her hometown, her injuries hadn’t fully healed. Her parents were old, and 19-year-old Zhang Junbao was still in the military, with no energy left after training to care for a baby. So, Xu Yan took on the responsibility of caring for baby Zhang Jue.

He changed Zhang Little Jue’s diapers, made formula, and woke up without complaint to soothe the crying baby at night. When Zhang Jue fell ill, Xu Yan carried him to the hospital.

When Zhang Jue could run and talk, Xu Yan was the one apologizing to others or standing up for him when he got into trouble. Before Zhang Jue started elementary school, Xu Yan took him to and from kindergarten. Later, Xu Yan earned money to find the best teachers for Zhang Jue’s skating, vocal, and ballet lessons.
Xu Yan spared no effort or expense for Zhang Jue’s training, even though their financial situation wasn’t great. With a stepfather like that, Zhang Jue didn’t even feel like he had another father, let alone Uncle Junbao.

Even Zhang Junbao felt he had more right to call himself Zhang Jue’s dad than Lan Jin. After all, he had put a lot of effort into Zhang Little Jue over the years, almost revolving his life around the kid.

He slapped his thigh: “Well, we’re flying to Russia tomorrow. I’ll go pack. Sis, wake Little Jue up early tomorrow.”

Ms. Zhang waved him off impatiently. Xu Yan stood up, saying: “I steamed some Jade Dumplings. Take a few with you. If not for a late-night snack, you can have them for breakfast tomorrow.”

After seeing off his brother-in-law, Zhang Qingyan raised a book and waved it: “Come on, I’ve finished my postgraduate exams. You haven’t even completed your associate degree yet. If you fail again, the kids will mock you. When have you seen Little Jue or Little Dela fail an exam?”
Luckily, the kids inherited her brains. If Zhang Jue had Lan Jin’s mind and Xu Dela had Xu Yan’s, Zhang Qingyan couldn’t imagine managing three struggling students.

Xu Yan fell silent, then sidled up to his wife, shaking her arm with a sweet voice: “Qingyan, it’s already late.”
His clear, affectionate eyes glistened with emotion, but Zhang Qingyan remained unmoved. She swiftly took off her coat and revealed formulae written all over her arm, neck, and collarbone.

“Finish your lessons before bed.”

Xu Yan: With you like this, how can I not give my all?

…

For Zhang Jue’s skin, Zhang Junbao wandered the supermarket for a while before, on the clerk’s recommendation, buying the most expensive, supposedly gentle and harmless body lotion.

It had a faint milky scent. Uncle sniffed it and shook his head.

“Sigh, 800 yuan for this tiny bottle.”

At 180ml, it wasn’t a lot for a body lotion. But thinking that if Zhang Jue inherited his paternal height genes, he might grow from a dwarf crocodile to a giant one, Uncle felt it was better to be prepared.

After all, they said it was gentle and harmless, so it wouldn’t harm the kid.

However, Uncle didn’t expect that Zhang Jue himself might not like using a milk-scented lotion.

As soon as the child smelled it, he refused: “I’ll just use the Vaseline mom gave me.”

Uncle held the body lotion: “If you don’t use it, then who will? It cost 800 yuan, we can’t just throw it away!”

Zhang Jue said: “Use it yourself! You’re in your thirties, you should start taking care of yourself!”

Although Zhang Jue knew that his uncle had a youthful face that could pass for a college student unless he was ravaged by cancer, and his skin had always been good, he didn’t want to use skincare products that smelled like milk!

Uncle didn’t force him: “I’ll use it, but if the Vaseline doesn’t work well enough, you’ll have to use this better one.”

When they set off for Sochi, Zhang Junbao inexplicably became the most noticeable person in the group. On the way, he was asked for his phone number by men more than ten times, and the situation only improved when they landed in Russia.

Russia was a country of straight men, with eighty percent of the population adhering to Orthodox Christianity, which considered homosexuality as one of the apocalyptic signs.

However, there were quite a few ladies who asked Uncle for his phone number.

From the airport to the hotel, Zhang Junbao received about twenty notes, some even from the flight attendants.

Zhang Jue grew up to be quite handsome, but perhaps because he looked too ethereal, many people thought he was unapproachable, so he had never received so many notes.

The kid looked at his uncle with envy, and his embarrassed uncle swatted his butt.

“What are you looking at? Go, go, go, adjust your jet lag!”

Zhang Jue pouted: “Hmph, what’s so great about it? You’ve got all those notes, but you haven’t found a partner.”

Zhang Junbao raised his foot to kick, and Zhang Jue immediately ran away.

Seeing his energetic state, it seemed he had already gotten over his airsickness.

Besides Zhang Jue, Guan Lin and Huang Ying also made it to the finals this year, proving that Huang Ying’s development wouldn’t affect their performance in major competitions. Xu Chuo also made it to the youth group finals again this year.

The kids went to rest, but the coaches found a place to chat.

Coach Ma, seeing Zhang Jue, seemed to have a lot to say. As soon as Zhang Jue ran off, he immediately asked: “How much has Zhang Jue grown? How tall is he now?”

When it came to Zhang Jue’s height, Zhang Junbao and Shen Liu both had glum faces: “We measured his height this morning. He’s 163.2 cm.”

Yesterday, he was 163 cm, and today he had grown another 0.2 cm. He grew faster than on pig feed.

Thinking about the bet they made, both coaches felt a chill in their hearts. At this rate, they would both have to wear sailor uniforms, call Song Cheng “bro,” and hand over 300 yuan.

Wearing women’s clothing was minor; losing face was major. Losing money and face simultaneously was a huge loss.

Zhang Junbao’s hatred for the Lan brothers increased by several percentage points.

Coach Ma couldn’t believe it: “…But he was just 160 cm last month. How is he growing so fast? Can he still maintain his jumping stability?”

Shen Liu weakly replied: “So far, he can still manage, but he already can’t raise his arms during the 4S jump. We’ve told him to focus on maintaining his jumps and avoid doing the Rippon pose during competitions.”

Even without their advice, Zhang Jue didn’t dare to be reckless. This month, not only did he work hard to adapt to his new skates, but he also practiced two sets of lower-difficulty jump routines to ensure his competition performance.

Coach Zhao reminded them: “You need to control this kid’s diet well. During the growth phase, besides rapid height increase, you have to guard against horizontal development.”

Regarding weight gain, Zhang Junbao and Shen Liu weren’t too worried now. Zhang Jue’s growth spurt was too strong. No matter how hard the cafeteria aunties tried to add nutrients, the kid’s frame kept getting thinner, as if there weren’t enough nutrients left to grow flesh.

So far, Zhang Jue’s figure looked as thin as a noodle, with a body fat percentage even lower than before his growth spurt.

This year’s Grand Prix finals for men’s singles included six skaters: Vasily, who ranked first in points, along with Zhang Jue, Sergey, Martin, Maquen, and David Bisoli.

Ilya Safoshenko originally ranked sixth in the points list, but he announced his withdrawal from the Grand Prix due to injury. David, who ranked seventh, replaced him, marking his first entry into the senior group finals.

In ice dance, Yoon Mijung and Liu Mengcheng entered the finals for the first time, ranking first in points, followed closely by Zhu Lin and Stephanie. The finals would likely see these two pairs and the American ace pair on the podium.

Additionally, the top-ranked skaters in the youth group for men’s and women’s singles were Arthur Cohen and Shiratsuka Keiko, respectively.

However, no matter who they were, when they saw Zhang Jue, their eyes first landed on his legs, and they exclaimed in surprise: “How much have you grown?”
Why did his legs look so much longer than before?

Originally, Zhang Jue was famous for his good proportions in the sport. Wearing skates made his already long legs look even longer. Now even without skates, he looked almost the same as when he used to wear them.

Although many doctors firmly said that teenagers grow both in body and limbs simultaneously, there was a folk theory that kids first grow their lower body and then the upper body. This folk theory seemed true for Zhang Jue.

According to his uncle’s daily measurements, two-thirds of Zhang Jue’s 3 cm growth this month went to his legs.

Currently, Zhang Jue’s signature spins were two: the Biellmann spin and the Y-spin, where he raised one leg while spinning upright, making him look like the letter Y.

These two moves showcased his legs well. When Zhang Jue performed these spins, regardless of his slight axis shift, the aesthetic of the spinning posture reached an unprecedented level in figure skating, stunning everyone.

 

Support translation: