After winning two consecutive World Championship gold medals, the skating fans still believed in Captain Zhang’s competitive strength—he was still the athlete with the most world record-breaking performances globally—but his condition had become a source of concern for many.

Zhang Jue had excellent mental resilience. No matter how poor his physical condition was, he could always deliver a solid performance. He also had strong adaptability on the spot. Before the season even began, he simulated various unexpected scenarios and practiced several sets of jump layouts in advance, ready to switch them out at crucial moments.

But that was exactly the issue—no matter how strong his mentality was, if his body couldn’t keep up, it was all for nothing.

He had already lost two World Championship golds due to injuries. Even if those losses were only to top-level athletes like Hayato Teraoka and Ilya, no one wanted a repeat of that tragedy at the Olympics.

“Remember how dominant Guan was back in the day? The pioneer of Chinese-American figure skating, the embodiment of the American dream, even had a Barbie modeled after her. She won six World Championship golds, but at the ‘94 Winter Olympics, she was still developing. In ‘98, she was injured and faced a rising prodigy. In ‘02, she collapsed under pressure during her free skate and missed the Grand Slam by just that one Olympic gold.”

After a training session, Yang Zhiyuan performed therapy on Zhang Jue while mumbling: “Just thinking about that kind of career is depressing.”

Zhang Jue shrugged: “Not everyone gets to have a flawless career. By that logic, Maquen also missed the Grand Slam by one Olympic gold. He messed up in Vancouver and missed the podium. Then in Sochi, he ran into me and Vasily, and ended up with just a bronze.”

“That’s why you can’t be like them. There are a lot of people counting on you to bring home the gold!”

Yang Zhiyuan looked around, then whispered to Zhang Jue: “You know the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympics are coming up. The higher-ups are taking winter sports more seriously than before, and figure skating has grown a lot this cycle. The national team might be given a quota of at least four medals. That includes men’s singles, women’s singles, and pairs—aiming for two golds. And you’re our biggest hope.”

Zhang Jue counted on his fingers. Four medals? Ice dance couldn’t be relied upon, so..: “The fourth one’s the team event?”

Yang Zhiyuan nodded grimly.

Zhang Jue sighed: “That’s bad news. The team event depends on overall strength. Min Shan, Guan Lin, Huang Ying, and I all have injuries. It’s impossible to give our best in both the team short and free skate and still perform perfectly in the individual events. We’ll probably only do one segment of the team event. And we can’t count on ice dance at all.”

That team medal might be the hardest of the four to achieve.

Lying nearby receiving therapy as well, Hua Taisi and Sai Peng both had gloomy expressions after hearing that.

“Captain, you have to believe we won’t drag you down!”

“Yeah! We made real progress training at the Koten Club last year. Didn’t you praise our skating skills?”

Zhang Jue replied: “…Sorry, but in my eyes, if you can’t consistently break into the world’s top six, you’re not ‘strong.’ It’s not that you’re useless, it’s just that my standards are too high.”

Everyone: Truly worthy of being Captain Zhang—always confident and glowing.

Zhang Jue’s second competition was the Japan Grand Prix, the fourth stop of the six-event series. Before his event began, both Ilya and Hayato Teraoka had won gold in their respective Grand Prix debuts, performing very consistently. Only Hayato made a slight error when facing Carlson—the victory was his, but the point difference was just four.

When the event started, Zhang Jue lay on the sofa with Qin Xuejun, who for once wasn’t working overtime, and watched the match.

He frowned: “The scoring in this one was clearly off. Carlson’s jump quality didn’t deserve the same GOE level as Hayato’s.”

Their skating skills were on par, but Carlson’s step sequence GOEs were clearly higher than Teraoka’s. That was the issue.

Also competing in that event was Arthur Cohen, a young skater whose program unusually included six quadruple jumps this year.

He almost pulled it off.

But to insiders, the program was considered completely hollow. Apart from the mandatory step sequence, the rest of it was just transitions into jumps. It lacked content, but thanks to his nationality, he still received decent performance scores. It was a textbook case of a program designed purely for scoring—highly utilitarian.

Figure skating was a sport with an artistic component, but this program clearly had only technique, no artistry.

In contrast, the top three ladies—Keiko, Min Shan, and Kateryna—stood out with impressive performances. They hadn’t faced each other yet in the Grand Prix. Keiko remained undefeated since the B-level events. Min Shan had similar results. Only Kateryna had stumbled at the Russian Grand Prix—she fell on a 4S and lost to her senior, Selina, but still qualified for the Grand Prix Final.

“The ladies’ singles field is halfway into the quad jump era now. Vasily’s 13-year-old girl Raisa just moved up to juniors this year and already landed a 4T at her first Grand Prix. Most of the quad training is happening in juniors now. Once those girls move up, Min Shan will face a lot more competition.”

Guan Lin chimed in casually: “In women’s singles, two years is practically a whole generation. Meng Xiaolei, Qin Meng, and Raisa are all the same age—that’s their generation.”

Zhang Jue smiled wryly: “Don’t get me started. Brother Shen and I are both training them for quads now. Qin Meng just landed one fully rotated, then fractured her ankle. She’s still recovering and might not return. Meng Xiaolei can jump them too, but her performance is terrible.”

Meng’s performance was stiffer than a radio calisthenics routine. The coaching team and Zhang Jue had no idea how to deal with her, so in the end, they gritted their teeth and gave her a men’s program for this season.

Yang Zhiyuan patted Zhang Jue: “Turn over—lie on your back.”

Zhang Jue did as he was told, still scrolling through his phone, watching a newly released Twitter compilation of junior girls landing quad jumps. Aside from Raisa, the others had issues with their quads.

For example, some girls were supposedly doing 4Ts, but had serious problems with the toe pick—it wasn’t a toe-assisted takeoff but more like a stomp on the ice, which made it a blade takeoff.

Some skaters scraped more than half a circle on the ice before takeoff, meaning they pre-rotated—commonly called under-rotation cheating.

The worst were those who combined both blade takeoff and under-rotation. Those jumps were truly atrocious and painful to watch.

Zhang Jue sighed: “But to be honest, there were quite a few guys with the same problems too.”

Just like quad jumps were first developed in men’s singles, under-rotation tricks also started there. As long as Zhang Jue had competed in figure skating, his eyes had been hurt that long. For instance, Vadim, who once reached the No. 3 position in Russia and retired last year, was a prime example.

Yang Zhiyuan chuckled: “That’s why high-quality quads still depended on top-tier men’s singles, and also the girls who trained with you and Vasily. There were others who had good quads too, but way too many were trying to take shortcuts.”

But before worrying about all that, it was more important to perform well in the Grand Prix.

At the Japan event, Zhang Jue still took the gold with overwhelming momentum, and the Grand Prix Final would be held in Nagoya. After the six events concluded, the other Chinese skaters who qualified for Nagoya along with Zhang Jue were Min Shan and Huang Ying.

Meng Xiaolei also made it to the junior ladies’ final by ranking sixth in points and boarded the plane to Japan with Zhang Jue. To look after her, her sister came along as well.

She was a college graduate of less than six months, youthful and charming, warm and easygoing, and considered one of the more approachable members among the parents of younger teammates.

Zhang Junbao had a good impression of the young woman. Zhang Jue, on the other hand, merely greeted her briefly before dozing off against the seat.

Shen Liu covered him with a blanket: “You always fall asleep the moment the plane takes off, unbelievable.”

Zhang Jue mumbled a bit, and soon his breathing became steady.

Keiko Shiratsuka typed rapidly on her phone, fingers flying over the screen.

[Brother Sang: Aaaaah! Thank you, little sis! Her hard work finally gave me a chance to see Captain Zhang’s glorious face up close!]

[So jealous of the group owner. Is Captain Zhang not wearing makeup now?]

[Brother Sang: Except for competitions and exhibition skates, he never wears makeup! Even when being interviewed on national TV, he’s barefaced. He looks amazing in person! And he’s super tall—figure skating is full of shorties, and he stands out like a crane among chickens! He’s also super friendly! He even took the initiative to shake hands with me! His fingers are so long! His hands are so white and soft~]

[Group owner! More handsome Zhang photos, please!]

[Group owner, I want Zhang’s autograph. Think of our five years of being loyal fans… you know what I mean.]

[Group owner, more fancam footage of Zhang’s programs, pretty please~]

 

…

 

Nagoya was a major hub for Japanese figure skating and the birthplace of the Nagoya faction. During the drama over snatching Teraoka Hayato, the Nagoya faction had made a strong presence, and Hayato’s decision to go with Coach Mori had earned him a lot of resentment.

Though arriving in Nagoya didn’t mean Hayato would be hounded like Meimeng Chengzhen in South Korea, he still wasn’t greeted with friendly stares.

When Zhang Jue got off the plane, he saw Hayato and Keiko in the arrival hall and happily waved: “Hey, are you guys here to pick me up? Didn’t you say there was no need?”

Hayato rolled his eyes: “Don’t flatter yourself. We’re not here for you.”

Zhang Jue tilted his head: “Not for me? Then who else… oh, has Takeshi arrived too?”

Keiko nodded: “Yes, Takeshi flight lands in three minutes.”

As mentioned before, Coach Mori rink wasn’t big, and she mainly coached ladies’ singles. She had other little girls in her group too. After Hayato joined her, he mostly trained independently, and the coach just provided assistance.

But while mature Hayato could handle that, his junior Chiba Takeshi couldn’t. So after careful consideration, Goshi went to Canada during the off-season and joined the Koten Club, becoming a student of Sarena and Choi Jeong-su.

As coaches, Sarena and Choi weren’t among the most famous names. Although Sarena had been hugely popular during his competitive years, that was nearly 20 years ago. Many people doubted Takeshi move.

But once the new season started, the kid blazed a trail and ended up outperforming David to become the sixth and final qualifier for the men’s singles Grand Prix Final.

Zhang Jue sat on his suitcase munching on an apple. After a while, Chiba Takeshi and his coaches came into view.

Training alone in a foreign land had been a silent trial by fire, and the young man’s gaze had become noticeably sharper.

Chiba Takeshi, a 16-year-old rising star, was beginning to shine in his second senior season, baring his fangs at the top-tier skaters.

Zhang Junbao clicked his tongue: “Tsk, although everyone’s saying Arthur Cohen might be the next men’s skating king, Takeshi overall ability is clearly stronger.”

These two youngsters had both already mastered three kinds of quads and were working on their fourth, with successful landing videos online. They were the most promising of the new generation.

Zhang Jue rested his chin in his hand, fearless: “If they want to rise, they’ll have to wait until I retire.”

“So when are you retiring?”

“At least not until after the 2022 Winter Olympics.”

 

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