A few days passed, and all the things on this side of H province had been pretty much dealt with.
The airfare to J City had also been booked early, and now only the last ten hours or so remained before takeoff.
A year ago, when he broke off relations with his family, Lin Lang didn’t take many things out.
Now packing up was also very easy, surprisingly even a suitcase wasn’t full.
Seeing this, Ji Cangshu couldn’t help feeling a burst of heartache, inwardly he couldn’t help but want to drag him out and buy him a variety of enviable good things. He wished he could just put the person in the mountains of gold and silver, and pile things in front of him.
Unfortunately, Shen Lianqiu didn’t allow it.
The reason was that there were still a few days left before moving to J City, and there were too many things that were troublesome to move.
“Apart from some necessary things, the rest of the necessities will all wait until we get to J City and then it can be purchased uniformly.”
Through the phone, Ji Cangshu could imagine his face and nagging appearance when he said this.
He really didn’t know if he was 24 years old this year, or if he was already 42.
“It’s as if you’re a male mom, how on earth could Lin Lang think of nothing else but to agree to hang out with you at this flower-like age?”
“So what’s he going to do? Follow Teacher Ji and hang out, starve for nine meals in three days?”
Ji Cangshu originally wanted to refute Shen Lianqiu, but on second thought he realized that what he said was the truth, and he didn’t seem to be able to refute it.
So he could only silently hang up the phone and swallow his anger, he’d think of another way to retaliate.
If he didn’t want to buy anything that wasn’t easy to take, then he could always buy clothes.
Shen Lianqiu was only on a business trip for a few days, so Ji Cangshu forcefully added a whole suitcase to Lin Lang’s collection.
His style had completely changed, black denim wide-legged pants, torn sweater, plus he now had this rebellious wolf tail haircut.
He looked more like a rock star playing in a band than an athlete.
He was more flamboyant and imposing, and when walking on the street with Ji Cangshu, he had also changed from a little brother, to one that came out of the den.
They looked like two wolves from the north.
“In these few hours before you leave, is there anywhere else you want to go?”
Ji Cangshu took Lin Lang and all his luggage and got into the car ahead of time, preparing to use this last bit of time to take him around the city again.
After all, it was the place where he had been living since he was a child, and when he left, there would always be some reluctance in his heart.
“I’ve already contacted Shen Lianqiu, saying that there are more things than expected, and that we might not be able to make it back until shortly before takeoff. You don’t have to worry too much about him.”
Lin Lang had already left B City in his last life and lived alone for a long time, and this time he came back with the idea that he wouldn’t stay here for too long, and was ready to leave for somewhere else early on.
So there wasn’t much of the sadness that Ji Cangshu imagined, but if possible, he did have a place he wants to go.
Lin Lang thought for a while, got out of the car and found a random place, bought a bunch of lilies, and gave Ji Cangshu an address.
It was a cemetery. However, it completely made people feel no fear.
With the blue sky and blue water, all one could feel was peace and tranquility.
Ji Cangshu and Lin Lang stood side by side in front of his mother’s tombstone, the tissue paper in his hand was pulled out and stuffed back in his pocket, he didn’t know what he should do at this time, he could only stand silently at the side, paying attention to the mood of the teenager in front of him.
However, he realized that Lin Lang’s emotions, from the beginning to the end, were even calmer than his.
Even what he had been thinking in his heart was that when the ten years he had borrowed had been used up and everything he wanted to do had been done, staying here every day was actually quite good.
Only, those were later things, now there were too many important things that hadn’t done.
Since the heavens had favored him with a fresh start, then in this life, he would never regret it again.
Lin Lang placed the bouquet of lilies properly in front of his mother’s grave, and when he looked up again, he happened to see the back of Shen Lianqiu, who was located not far away.
Then he resolutely put on the hood of his sweater and walked towards him with his head down.
“The wind is picking up, let’s go.”
“Go to the national team, to J City.”
—
“The formalities have all been completed, and from today, you’ll officially be a member of the national team.”
“Salary is paid at a fixed time every month, and you can eat three meals a day in the cafeteria. Considering that you still have to go to school and the distance between the national team and your school is relatively far, we will temporarily arrange for you to stay in Shen Lianqiu’s place.”
“After all, now in J City, he is your guardian. He’s also the skate designer who was specially recruited by our national team to do research and development. It’s more convenient to be picked up and dropped off, whether it’s for school or training.”
As soon as he entered the national team and changed into the uniform, Ji Cangshu, who had been hanging around in front of Lin Lang for the past few days and had seemed silly, seemed to have changed into a different person, and immediately turned into a dutiful and responsible coach Ji.
From life to training, all of Lin Lang’s arrangements seemed to be under his plan and control.
“Tomorrow, Shen Lianqiu will take you to report to the school first, and our training will start from the day after tomorrow.”
“Considering that you have a gap of one year, there are many things that can’t be rushed and must be done bit by bit, the first step must start from improving your malnutrition nowadays.”
Although figure skaters may appear generally thin and frail, they actually had to jump, spin, and perform those difficult movements on the ice.
It was necessary to require the player to have absolutely excellent physical strength and explosive power.
Even though Lin Lang hadn’t been able to skate this year, he had been training on land without stopping, which was why his physical strength was still sufficient for him to maintain a quality skate throughout the entire game against Wang Yuan.
Even so, after a year of stretching and not keeping up with the weight loss caused by nutrition, Lin Lang’s muscle burst was still significantly affected.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have jumped like that in the 3A match against Wang Yuan.
Ji Cangshu had seen the video footage that Shen Lianqiu had sent to him later, that height and crooked axis were not at all at his former level, and it was completely saved by force with the experience of jumping.
But when his muscle explosive power could stand at the same level as last year, it would be far more than just a thrilling appearance.
“The recipes for strengthening nutrition, I’ve already drawn up all of them just now on the airplane, and you and Shen Lianqiu will have one copy each. In this period of time before the weight gain comes back, the diet can also be appropriately relaxed.”
“But subsequently, once we enter the race period, my requirements will become stricter with it.”
Although Ji Cangshu looked a bit careless and out of shape on weekdays, his persistence was firmer than anyone else’s once he arrived at the skating arena.
The decision to find him as a coach was indeed correct.
After Lin Lang stood in place and confirmed all of Ji Cangshi’s arrangements, the two of them were relieved.
Only then did the two of them let out a sigh of relief.
“There’s still some time left before the afternoon training starts, because the recent personnel changes in the team are a little bit big, so the leaders at the top said that when the training starts in a little while, the whole team will arrive and introduce each other to get to know each other.”
“Now that we see that there is still some time left, do you want me to take you to familiarize yourself at these training grounds?”
Ji Cangshu had already been inducted into the national team long before he went to H Province to meet Lin Lang, plus he had trained here for several years before.
He was relatively familiar with the personnel and structure here.
What he didn’t expect was that Lin Lang wasn’t unfamiliar with this place either.
In his previous life, he had also worked here for many years, and although it looked slightly older than when he first came here, and had not yet been refurbished.
But the general function and location were still the same, it hadn’t changed much.
“No need, the terrain here isn’t too complicated, I’ll just slowly feel my way around on my own.”
Lin Lang had only just declined Ji Cangshu’s invitation, and not much later, he saw Shen Lianqiu and the leader walking down from the second floor office one by one, and the other athletes around them, one after the other, gathered around.
Ji Cangshu’s arrival, everyone in the team already knew about it a long time ago, and now he came back to be introduced with Lin Lang, but it was just a formality, something that would end in a few minutes.
The real protagonists today were still Lin Lang and Shen Lianqiu.
One of them was a legendary player who had been fished directly into the national team in the provincial team selection contest.
The other was a skate designer who was able to get the national team to open up a position specifically for him to engage in research and development.
It could be said that it was highly anticipated, and everyone was very curious about their origins. A brief self introduction clearly couldn’t satisfy their thirst for knowledge.
In order to understand each other better, they raised their hands to ask questions.
And some questions may have been asked in the form of gossip to regulate the atmosphere, but in the end, they were exchanged for even more anxious tit for tat, with a turbulent undercurrent.
“Two days ago, we heard about your existence from Coach Ji. There are few people in China who learn figure skating, and the circle is naturally not that large. Generally, we have an impression of who is in any city. However, none of us have ever heard of you.”
“Originally I thought that when I met you, I could always remember a little bit and have a little impression, but now that I see you I still feel a little strange. I want to ask you what awards you’ve won in the country before, so that we can easily recall the impression we had of you during the competition.”
The person who said that was a girl in the pairs team, and she looked like she was a slightly older senior in the team.
That was why she consciously wanted to drive Lin Lang and the rest of the team to communicate more, and threw out such a question in order to be able to break the ice initially.
However, she didn’t expect that the ice hadn’t been broken, but the words that Lin Lang had spoken under everyone’s gaze had caused the atmosphere at the scene to drop to the freezing point in an instant.
Even the swords were drawn.
“It’s not a matter of not having an impression, it’s normal that you guys don’t recognize me because I’ve never participated in any competitions or won any awards.”
Lin Lang’s sentence just simply fell to the ground in front of everyone, clearing the air.
At the same time, it also smashed into certain people’s hearts.
It made him red-eyed in an instant, and thanks to the teammates beside him pulling him along, only then did he finally not explode out on the spot, slamming the door and leaving in front of everyone.
“Ah …… then Lin Lang’s matter, we’ll stop here first, next it’s Mr. Shen’s turn. Haven’t you all been saying that you have so many questions that you want to ask Mr. Shen?”
“Ask quickly.”
The atmosphere beside them, led by that girl, almost immediately warmed up from the awkwardness.
But those words that Lin Lang had just said, that scene that had happened, were still imprinted in everyone’s heart.
“Since you’re the skate designer for the entire team, does that mean that in the future, each of us can have our skates designed by you?”
“Can you be called upon to sharpen the blades as well?”
The surrounding team members, as usual, raised a few more focused questions, while Lin Lang sat on the side for these, he originally didn’t care.
Until Shen Lianqiu bluntly said no.
“My job is mainly responsible for research and development although I can also sharpen blades, but customized ice skates need to be combined with the data of each of you, the workload is too great, and having to take care of each and every one of you is obviously impossible.”
“My energy can only be focused on the top players on the team.”
“Other than that, the only one who would get that would be Lin Lang. After all, I came to the national team because of him.”
In order not to delay the training in the afternoon, this session of getting to know each other only lasted for about half an hour before ending in a hurry.
Both Shen Lianqiu and Ji Cangshu went to separate small meetings, he was halfway home alone when he happened to overhear a secret conversation within the men’s singles team.
“F*ck, I really don’t get it, since the team could spend so much effort recruiting such trash in, why did they refuse to put more effort into retaining Yao Qing last year!”
“Separate sharpeners, separate coaches, this newcomer hasn’t even won any domestic awards, yet his treatment can be even better than Guan Hao, the ace of the men’s singles nowadays.”
“It’s true that connections don’t take strength into account, it really makes me speechless.”