Before the competition, Zhang Jue heard Shen Liu comforting him.

“Although you’re not in good shape, there are also injured athletes among the other competitors at the World Championships who are putting on a brave front. You’re not in the worst situation. Relax, just relax.”

As he listened to this, Zhang Jue became annoyed: “Okay, I got it. I’ll relax, and coach, you should relax too. Go drink some water or something.”

Zhang Junbao pushed Shen Liu aside: “Don’t worry about him. It’s the first time he’s encountered an athlete in such poor condition. He’s just recalling his own experiences with similar situations.”

Shen Liu, who had developed tough skills in yoga due to early career issues and later struggled with injuries, couldn’t refute Zhang Junbao’s remarks and just found a yoga ball to sit on and watch Zhang Jue warm up.

Zhang Jue had to change his costume again. The kid had grown to 1.73 meters, and his weight had increased significantly. He couldn’t wear his old performance outfit, it would have ripped.

He did a dance move on land, then performed a series of sea exploration spins on the spinning board, and finally plopped down on the ground.

The young man sighed: “Ah, I really regret not practicing diligently when I was younger.”

“I shouldn’t have been mischievous, dragging classmates from the same beginner ice skating class to play soccer, ending up breaking the teacher’s office. I shouldn’t have been distracted or slacked off during dance and skating basics, just challenging high-difficulty moves.”

He had a regretful expression: “Otherwise, at least my spinning and footwork wouldn’t be too bad now, and I’d have a better chance of winning…”

The regrets Zhang Jue expressed revealed the blood, sweat, and tears of his past coaches.

His current head coach, Zhang Junbao, sympathized with his predecessors internally for a few seconds but said: “Alright, get up and continue warming up. It will be your turn soon.”

Despite the quality of Zhang Jue spins not being high, to others, it seemed impressive that he transitioned into the spins without changing the axis. This was also a manifestation of physical coordination.

Even with developmental changes shifting his center of gravity, Zhang Jue’s strong innate talent wasn’t entirely diminished. After regaining his fitness, he focused intensely on his ice skills. While his performance might not be as peak as before, with some luck, he could still achieve results close to his previous scores.

Moreover, he was fortunate with the draw this time, and his mental state was better than initially expected.

In this World Championship, the final group of six in men’s singles had the order of appearance as Maquen, Zhang Jue, Vasily, Martin, Ilya, and David. This meant Zhang Jue was not the unlucky one, but Maquen was.

Hayato Teraoka was in the second-to-last group, alongside Alex from France, Juventus from the Czech Republic, Vadim from Russia, Branislav from the USA, and young Rojas from Spain.

With three Russian men’s singles competitors, Vasily, Ilya, and Vadim, they were indeed a strong skating nation, always qualifying for the four disciplines in figure skating events. This was partly due to their top skaters’ exceptional performances.

In the previous season before Zhang Jue moved up a division, Dong Xiaolong had only ranked in the twenties at the World Championships. Thus, this time their quota was just one. The leaders were very conflicted, and they had to select the most reliable and capable competitor. The one chosen would also have greater psychological pressure.

According to the gossip Zhang Jue had managed to extract from Ilya, he was very dissatisfied with Vadim receiving the last World Championship quota.

“His 4T not only had an early axis change but also had edge issues. Vadim maintained a higher stability with such flawed technique, but this stability wasn’t admirable, and his jumps were also low. I’m not mocking you, but apart from the low height, there are no other issues. According to strict scoring rules, Vadim’s score shouldn’t be higher than Popov’s.”

In summary, based on Ilya’s statements, he believed the Russian Championship judges were unfair, and it was unwise to have Vadim, who had impure technique, embarrass himself on the international stage.

The final allocation of this third quota had stirred controversy within Russia. Many believed that even if Sergi, the third Russian skater, was injured and couldn’t participate in the World Championships, the quota shouldn’t have gone to Vadim.

Zhang Jue could only shrug in response, as it was a Chinese trait not to interfere in others’ family matters.

Fortunately, the domestic competition where he was involved had always been strict with scoring. The judges scored as they should, and in such a fair environment, one could perform comfortably as long as they had the skill.

The backstage TV broadcasted the performance of the men’s singles in the second-to-last group.

Shen Liu paid close attention to it.

He noticed that this year’s group of young skaters led by Ilya and Hayato Teraoka had grown up, achieving good results internationally. Although Zhang Jue was the youngest in the senior group, he was the strongest among these new talents.

“New generations are replacing the old. Since the ISU revised the rules, young skaters working hard on quad jumps have started to emerge, while older skaters burdened by injuries are gradually being eliminated.”

It was a common scenario for the old to be surpassed by the new.

“Hayato Teraoka’s injuries seem to have healed. His short program’s quad jump was performed beautifully, and his footwork is currently the best internationally. Only the youth skater Kelsen can match him in footwork.”

Zhang Junbao implied: “His foundation is solid, and as time goes on, Zhang Jue’s competitiveness against them will become weaker.”

In other words, it still came down to improving technique.

Song Cheng lowered his voice to advise: “The kid is warming up. Don’t talk to him about this now.”

Zhang Junbao glanced back and waved his hand.

“It’s fine.”

Zhang Jue wasn’t affected.

Song Cheng also glanced over and saw the kid properly stretching his legs, standing on one foot while holding onto the wall, with the other leg bent over his head, looking very composed.

There was nothing to be done. After all, he had really experienced performing a solo on stage while listening to a bunch of girls in the audience shouting: “My brother Jue and brother Junbao are so loving, while you’re just a demon.”

Although it had caused him a lot of trouble, that group of naive fans had left him with some quite useful skills.

Aside from other abilities, Zhang Jue could genuinely say that he was fearless of distractions. Even if the entire audience booed him, he could perform his routine without changing his expression. Not to mention the sincere advice his uncle gave him was genuinely well-intentioned.

Accepting his uncle’s advice was Zhang Jue’s own business, but feeling this goodwill and thus increasing his determination was perfectly fine.

Now, not only Song Cheng but even Sun Qian was impressed with Zhang Jue’s big heart.

When Maquen won a round of applause with his performance of “Sun and Moon,” the highest score in the venue was 88.65 from Hayato Teraoka, with Maquen coming in second with 88.15.

No one had expected Maquen to fall behind an Asian newcomer.

He looked at the scores and smiled wryly: “I’m really getting old.”

After him, Branislav from the USA and Rojas from Spain placed third and fourth with scores of 82.3 and 81.66, respectively, while Russia’s third man Vadim ended up in tenth place due to technical issues, with a three-jump downgraded to a two-jump, making his performance a mess on the international stage.

At this moment, Zhang Jue had already taken to the ice.

He slapped his arms and moved his shoulders and back. The speed of his rotations and upper body strength were related, and since Zhang Jue had gained too much weight, he could only rely on strength to maintain his rotations as much as possible.

Zhang Jue had changed into a new costume, a pure red one wrapping around his slender and tall frame. As he tilted his head back and raised his hands, a female fan held up a fan and shouted: “Go for it!”

The blonde girl Zhang Jue had carried yesterday gaped: “He—he’s Little Crocodile?”

Her companion, puzzled, replied: “Yes, he’s grown a lot this season. There were even photos of him on Twitter yesterday. Didn’t you know?”

The blonde girl covered her face: “He—he looks so handsome now, and his legs are so long.”

The blonde girl was a well-known fan of Little Crocodile in their circle. Her companion had thought she was just surprised by her son’s growth but was taken aback when she saw the motherly affection turn into something else, leaving her speechless.

However, her companion had also become a fan of Little Crocodile the day before.

After all, not only did Little Crocodile have a good-looking face, but he also had an impressive figure. He was slim but not bony, and despite being lean, he moved with a certain sharpness. His athletic vitality and the grace from years of ballet training made him a walking girl killer.

Typically, a figure skater would change their program each season. Some, aiming for stability, would hire expensive choreographers to perfect a program before the Olympic season, then refine it over a season and use it for the next season, as a program performed for a long time would naturally improve in proficiency. An Olympic season couldn’t afford mistakes, so using a familiar program was best.

Zhang Jue liked to constantly try new things, so he insisted on changing his program every season, but he didn’t go to the extent of changing it twice a season. Therefore, his short program remained “Adios Nonino .”

Jin Zixuan, holding a tablet, shouted anxiously: “Coach, the internet crashed again! The live stream is buffering terribly!”

A neighboring patient kindly offered: “My laptop has a signal. Why don’t you turn on Bluetooth?”

Fan Zhaoying snatched the tablet from Jin Zixuan: “I’m faster. Let me handle this. Zhang Jue is about to start. Fortunately, he drew the second spot this time. If he had been the first to go like before, we would have missed his performance!”

At the moment Zhang Jue began, many people noticed that this program had become different.

When Zhang Jue performed this program before, it mainly expressed a kind of mournful nostalgia, a sense of relief, which was very moving. The details of the program were meticulously done, making it worthy of appreciation. Even before the season ended, it was rated as one of the top ten programs of the year by figure skating fans.

But this time, he not only expressed emotion but also showcased the unique dance style of the tango. His movements conveyed a gentlemanly allure, far more captivating, yet completely refined and perfectly combined with the sense of nostalgia.

The tango should be bold and passionate. Even if expressing sorrow, the movements should be lingering and intense. After a season of refinement, Zhang Jue had finally figured out how to perform a tango on ice. His body language was unprecedentedly lingering, yet with a distinctive sharpness unique to him.

Fans who came to watch the performance in person were astonished: “He actually interpreted the program to this extent.”

It was no longer the performance of a boy, but of a man!

Shen Liu worried: “His interpretation of the program is more mature than before, but can he adapt to the new program’s jumps?”

Zhang Jue’s original short program jump configuration was 3lz+3lo, 3A, and 4S, but after his growth, his 3lo technique, along with 4S, had deteriorated.

To ensure Zhang Jue wouldn’t fall apart at the World Championships, the coaching team had to change his jump configuration to 3lz+3T, 3A, and 3F.

Unexpectedly, Zhang Junbao calmly responded to Shen Liu’s concern: “Just be prepared for him to fall.”

Shen Liu was surprised: “Huh?”

Zhang Junbao tightened his grip on the crocodile paper box.

Given Zhang Jue’s personality, it was impossible for him to resign himself to abandoning the 4T in the short program. If he did, he could rely on his performance points and putting all his jumps in the second half of the program to aim for a top ten finish at the World Championships.

But if it were Zhang Jue, he would surely… Zhang Junbao worried about Zhang Jue’s self-created landing techniques.

As expected, during the second half of the program, as the music approached the point for Zhang Jue’s 3F, he began his preparatory glide early.

With a loud thud, Zhang Jue’s left toe tapped the ice heavily, and he jumped to an astonishing height.

Hayato Teraoka widened his eyes: “When did he learn to jump so high?”

Ilya gaped: “He’s grown so much, hasn’t his quad jump completely collapsed?”

His coach Boris shook his head regretfully: “It’s a pity. His jump axis was off from the start.”

But as he saw Zhang Jue’s landing posture, the old coach also showed an expression of surprise similar to his student’s.

“How is that possible!”

Athletes tighten their bodies during jumps to make the axis narrower, increasing rotation speed. This is why lean athletes are more suited for jumps.

Under the astonished gazes of many, Zhang Jue stabilized the quad jump with his distinctive knee-bending technique. As he landed, his legs and arms opened naturally and gracefully.

It was a clearly beautiful and light posture, yet at that moment, Zhang Jue resembled a stubborn warrior.

With a score of 91.33, Zhang Jue, as the top competitor, delivered his answer at the World Championships.

 

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