Performing two consecutive quadruple jumps, even for top athletes like Zhang Jue, who had impressively developed glute and leg muscles, was inevitably exhausting for the muscles.

Moreover, a triple and a quadruple jump were completely different things. In a triple jump, the 3Lo was not the most difficult jump, it was the 3F that often affected Zhang Jue’s mindset. But when it came to quadruple jumps, the 4Lo, which required the legs to cross during takeoff, placed extremely high demands on core strength. Once the axis was off during takeoff, it could easily lead to a fall, which was even more difficult than a simple ice tap jump.

But by the time Zhang Jue realized this, he had almost perfected the 4Lo. So, what else could he do? He just went with it and welcomed the new challenge.

He used his abs with such force during the spin that it felt like they might tear, but he finally landed a full, stable 4Lo, making history.

However, during his third jump, the 3F+3T combination, Zhang Jue inevitably ran out of energy, leading to a poor landing on the 3F. Given this, it was impossible to follow up with a clean 3T, so he opted for a 2T instead.

Zhang Junbao saw this and couldn’t help but shake his fist: “What a pity!”

According to their calculations before the season, if Zhang Jue could land a clean free skate with four quadruple jumps, and if the judges were not too harsh, his technical score should have been over 120. But since the base value of a 3T was 4.3 and the base value of a 2T was only 1.4, combined with the poor quality of this jump combination, the GOE would not be high, so Zhang Jue had lost at least 4 points.

What he didn’t know was that the judges were also confused.

Judges who were invited to score at the dehydration station were generally more impartial compared to other biased officials, but Zhang Jue’s performance was somewhat… magical.

After the jump combination, Zhang Jue’s performance seemed like he was possessed by a god, with every technical move so perfectly executed that the audience wanted to award him +2 for the GOE or even full marks with +3.

After the 3F+2T combination, Zhang Jue executed a beautiful 3A, a strategic choice based on his physical condition, moving a jump to the first half of the program, but the jump quality was excellent.

Then, he jumped lightly into a series of spins with perfect axis and blade technique, which startled many. They were amazed that the “spinning turtle” had fixed his weak points!

Coach Lu adjusted his reading glasses and nodded with satisfaction.

In order to correct the little technical flaws in this kid, the old coach had lost 11.8 pounds, and he often had to chase the mischievous boy around with a cane, which had made his arm muscles grow bigger. Zhang Jue’s spins had to improve to level 4, or it would be hard to explain.

But the most impressive part was that Zhang Jue perfectly balanced high-difficulty quadruple jumps and performance. Every jump was synchronized with the music, and wearing his blue costume, he looked like an elf, wandering through the ocean.

By this point, the soft and romantic piano music was nearing its end. The rhythm shifted, turning into Yann Tiersen’s piano piece Mother’s Journey.

Zhao Ning announced: “Transition step.”

Accompanied by the music, the young man’s ice blades shifted constantly under his feet. His blade work was clear, and his skating was light and swift, filled with warm emotions in his performance.

He had long thought of creating a dance for his parents, engraving the most important people in his life into his figure skating program. But it was only in April of this year that he truly began to bring this idea to life.

At that time, Zhang Jue had just completed the Sochi Olympic season, emerging from the bottom and becoming a world-class male skater again. He was also entering the final semester of high school.

He then told his parents that he hoped to attend a university in Beijing because he was planning to join the national team.

He would be studying far away in Beijing, and even during holidays, he couldn’t return home, as the summer was a critical time for figure skating athletes to prepare for the new season, and the winter break fell right in the middle of the competition season.

To chase his dream, he had to leave and fly to a distant place.

Zhang Jue knew clearly that his parents would be reluctant to let him go because they loved him, but they would support him going to Beijing because they loved him.

When he was 4 years old, his mother returned to work just three months after giving birth to his younger brother, while his brother was entrusted to his maternal grandparents. Only when his brother turned one and the family’s financial situation stabilized did they bring him home.

Zhang Jue was mischievous, and although he didn’t cause much trouble as a child, he stopped learning figure skating after four years, saying he didn’t want to continue. His parents still had no complaints and respected every decision he made, even when he was still a child.

Through their words and actions, his parents taught him many things. His father taught him about responsibility, duty, and respect for women, the elderly, children, and life. His mother taught him the importance of knowledge and how to face life’s setbacks with a stubborn and brave attitude.

Without them, Zhang Jue, who was mischievous and had a quick temper, would never have become who he was today.

That was why he created The Tree of Life, a program inspired by the movie of the same name. The film was artsy, long, and slow-paced. Although it starred Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, and Jessica Chastain, many people couldn’t finish the 2-hour 44-minute film, even though it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

Zhang Jue watched it, and while doing so, he reflected on many aspects of his own childhood, growth, parents, and family.

In the end, he felt lucky to have grown up in an environment filled with love. Even though his mother had divorced his biological father when he was an infant, Zhang Jue never felt that he lacked love compared to other children.

Perhaps they would be separated for a while, but love would always keep them connected. As humans, they might be insignificant in history, but Zhang Jue would record his love for his parents in his program.

In the future, when people talk about the first 4Lo in history, they will say: “Yes, I know that program. Zhang Jue created and performed it for the parents he deeply loved.”

This love would be engraved in the history of figure skating alongside Zhang Jue.

As the program entered the latter half, the music shifted to Roberto Capacciaria’s Wild Side, and Zhang Jue began his jumps again, with sports broadcasters from various countries announcing each of his completed moves.

“4S, beautiful hand gesture.”

“4T+1Lo+3S, Jue is the first athlete in the world to complete a 4-1-3 combination jump, his movements are textbook perfect.”

“3Lz+3T, I’ve never seen such a perfect combination before!”

The world echoed with praise for Zhang Jue, and his stunning performance, combined with his superb technical skills, left his competitors, watching from their TVs, in awe.

Clearly, after Sochi, Zhang Jue had completely adjusted his condition. He had fully adapted to his new body balance, new jumping technique, and his skills were growing stronger while his performances were more moving than ever.

His performances especially made the usually reserved and rational Hayato Teraoka envious.

Tama-chan was emotionally rich, brave, and straightforward, expressing his love without hesitation.

Yes, it was clear to everyone that Zhang Jue was expressing a very warm love through this performance. The emotions, coming from within, were conveyed through his body and expressions, pure and beautiful.

When Zhang Jue finished his final jump, many spectators could not wait to stand and applaud, with some fans even crying out of joy.

Amid the long applause and music, Zhang Jue performed a Bellman move as his last action, raising his right hand high, with his index finger pointing upwards, making a “1” gesture.

The score had not yet been announced, but Zhang Jue already knew he had won.

Xu Yan stood in the front row of the audience, watching his son shine on the rink, like a young king. Every time he bowed in a certain direction, the ice fans would excitedly scream.

Finally, the boy skated closer to his side of the rink, waved his hand at him over the barrier.

“Dad! Dad! Come over here!”

Xu Yan, confused, approached. What was this kid up to?

Then, Zhang Jue gave him a warm hug over the barrier.

After hugging his dad, Zhang Jue placed a crocodile stuffed toy in his arms before happily skating off the ice to wait for his score. Xu Yan held the toy, grinning, even looking a bit goofy.

Seeing the surprised looks of other ice fans, Xu Yan proudly pointed at Zhang Jue’s back.

“That’s my son. He skated really well, didn’t he?”

A little girl in traditional Chinese clothing, trembling slightly, looked at the handsome uncle and nervously gave a thumbs-up, saying: “Uncle… uncle, your son skates like this.”

Seeing Zhang Jue perform so well, the coaching staff couldn’t stop smiling. When Zhang Jue came off the ice, Shen Liu draped a jacket over him and kept praising him.

“That was really good. To see this performance at the China event, Director Sun must be really happy.”

The ice fans who had petitioned on the China Ice Union website for Zhang Jue to compete in more Chinese domestic events this year must have been thrilled.

Zhang Jue was sweating all over, panting as he put on his clothes and boot covers. His heavy breaths and the heat radiating from him made everyone around him feel flushed and excited.

Once he sat in the Kiss & Cry area, he drank some water, his Adam’s apple moving up and down. Then the young man exhaled, shook his hair, and flashed a confident, brilliant smile to the camera, looking just like a neighbor boy.

Coach Lu spoke to him: “The quality of your four-turn jumps was good, but that combination jump wasn’t great. Why did you suddenly move the 3A to the first half?”

Zhang Jue stuck out his tongue: “I used too much force in my waist and abdomen when I did the 4lo, and it was sore when I did the 3F. I moved the 3A to the first half to make the second half easier. I think if a program has four four-turn jumps, the first three and last five are just too exhausting.”

Coach Lu made a sound of acknowledgment: “You were stable with the front four and back four. Let’s stick with this for the season. Go home and have Junbao work on your physical conditioning.”

At that moment, the athlete scores appeared on the big screen, and many people gasped in amazement upon seeing the numbers.

Technical Score: 117.14

Program Components Score: 95.15

Free Skate Score: 212.29 (WR)

A new world record for the free skate was born!

Not only did Zhang Jue set a new free skate record at the China event, but his short program score of 105.96 was also a new world record. Adding both, his total score of 318.25 was another new world record!

With three WRs displayed on the screen, Zhang Jue’s competitors were left speechless.

The season had only just begun, and Zhang Jue was already showing this kind of form. At just 17 years old, he had already broken more than 10 world records from youth competitions until now!

Was he a monster?

At a bar in Beijing’s Houhai, Xu Dela and his teammates sat at a round table. Sha Zhi, with a mouse and cage on the table, occasionally snacked on sunflower seeds or worked out on a running wheel, looking very happy.

The TV was tuned to CCTV-5, showing Zhang Jue receiving his medal. The reporter excitedly said: “Just now, our national athlete Zhang Jue won the gold at the ISU Grand Prix China event. He landed the world’s first 4-turn Lutz in the free skate and set three new world records.”

“Zhang Jue’s score was 58 points higher than second place, Belgium’s David Casulay. Now we see the athlete thanking the crowd as he circles the rink. Oh, Zhang Jue just threw his gold medal into the audience, and it was caught by his father.”

The reporter was clearly a fan of Zhang Jue. Watching the scene, she couldn’t help but show a loving smile.

Although Zhang Jue’s pose when throwing the medal looked like a cowboy tossing a lasso, and he was scolded by his coach for it right after, who could dislike a boy who shows filial piety to his parents and openly expresses his love?

“It’s said that Zhang Jue’s free skate program this season was choreographed by him for his parents. We can see that this big boy really loves his family, and his relationship with his father is wonderful. The first thing he did after finishing his program was hug his dad.”

“Having such a wonderful son, his parents must be very happy.”

Although Xu Yan was a little shorter than Zhang Jue and didn’t look like him at all, no one could doubt they weren’t father and son when they stood together.

Lan Run patted his uncle’s shoulder: “Little Jue is very good. He’s excellent, has a great personality, and his talent is extraordinary. The works he’s received from Fengming are top-notch.”

Lan Jin fell silent for a while, then tilted his head back to drink a glass of wine.

“I know. Old Xu has a lot of heart, but he’s sincere with his wife and children.”

After making a mistake, even knowing that Zhang Qingyan had decided to leave and would never return, he thought of trying to win her back. But when he finally found Zhang Qingyan’s place, he saw Xu Yan with his arm in a cast.

At that time, their family’s financial situation was not good. Zhang Qingyan had been taken advantage of by her boss, and Xu Yan went to confront him, resulting in a fight. Even though he was injured, he wouldn’t let his wife do any housework. He cooked with one hand and took care of his pregnant wife and young child.

When Lan Jin was with Zhang Qingyan, he never thought of cooking for her or doing any housework.

So he knew he had lost. As a husband and father, he had completely lost to Xu Yan.

 

 

Support translation: