The golden autumn of October is the best time for this small town located in central and southern China.
The sunshine in the evening is warm but not hot. It shines on the somewhat dilapidated teaching building of "Inspirational Primary School" and the bumpy playground in front of the building, giving everything in the world a beautiful golden edge.
Elementary school students are not allowed to make up lessons on weekends, so the campus is relatively quiet, except for the eight cement table tennis tables that have been built along the playground and are crowded with people.
Even though the sky is getting dark and the aroma of food is wafting in the distance, the children are still reluctant to leave. Basically, they hold a racket in their hands, just waiting for someone on the table to lose quickly so that they can take turns to play.
"Crack!"
As the opponent's arm swung, the silver ball hit the table in front of him heavily.
Gao Fei reacted quickly and quickly stretched out his arm to catch the ball, but his index finger and thumb held the handle of the racket too tightly. Although he successfully caught the fast-flying ball, the direction of the racket was obviously skewed and was not aimed at the opposite table.
And if he wants to adjust the direction of the racket in place, his arm needs to be twisted at least another thirty degrees, into a twisting posture.
He was almost twisted into a knot now, and his posture when catching the ball was already very awkward. In the end, he couldn't twist it at 30 degrees. With a "pop", the ball fell on the racket, and naturally flew out of the side of the table.
The kid opposite cheered, and made a small upward motion with the racket in his hand. He loosened and then tightened his grip on the racket, and the racket spun beautifully between his fingers. Then he waved his other hand outward, as if to shoo away flies, and said, "Substitute."
The tone is very light and the words are very brief, because this will make you look handsome and stylish. In the minds of little kids, being handsome is more important than anything else.
Gao Fei stood in front of the stage and refused to go down. His fingers were still clasped on the racket, his face was slightly red, and he was glaring at the opponent.
But the kid opposite was not afraid of him and sneered, "Gao Fei, you have already lost all three balls, why are you still standing here? Get off quickly."
As soon as he opened his mouth, the other kids around the table burst into laughter, saying things like, "He's a good cook," "He can't catch a ball," "He comes here to bully him every day even though he doesn't know how to play," and "He's still playing straight bars in what age." The air around the table was filled with joy.
Gao Fei went on complaining, and another brat came up to take his place.
In small places like Zhangjia Town, children generally do not play table tennis in the regular 11-point system, but use the local customary method, which is a weird 3-point system. Each player has three balls. Whoever loses gets to go. The winner can continue, and the points can be re-scored when facing new opponents who come up in rotation.
This is equivalent to when playing KOF. As long as one round is completed, the blood volume can be restored to full. There is no fear of attrition war. It is very shameless.
Therefore, if someone is better than everyone else, he or she can dominate one end of the table and not have to leave the table until the end.
Jiji Primary School has five grades, each grade has eight classes, and each class has thirty or forty students, which adds up to a total of more than a thousand people. Because the school facilities are dilapidated, there are really no entertainment activities. Only eight cement tables are extensive sports facilities that are least picky about the environment, so more than half of the people in the school can play table tennis.
Every weekend, someone would come early in the morning to occupy the table. As long as they occupied it, they would not move it all day long. Even if they wanted to move out midway, they would transfer the "ownership" of the table to the friends with whom they had the best relationship.
So even though the tables are very broken, even the net in the middle is made of bricks, these eight tables are real scarce resources in the minds of the students.
Precisely because resources are scarce, the students of Jiji Primary School have long developed a common hatred for each other. Although they usually fight internally to grab territory, once outsiders want to come and play, they immediately become united to the outside world.
Don't think it's an exaggeration. In fact, there are many township-level units around Zhangjia Town. There are also schools in the township, but the facilities are even worse. The children are very greedy for the cement ball table of Inspirational Primary School, and they come here every holiday to play.
Gao Fei is a child from the nearby Taoshu Township. Precisely because he is not one of the "own members" of Inspirational Elementary School, he works extra hard, and his skills are not good, so he has become a habitual object of fun for everyone.
But Gao Fei is addicted to food and has a thick skin. He comes to play every weekend. Occasionally he gets angry and gets over it immediately.
He stood at the table and waited for ten minutes before it was finally his turn to play again.
Gao Fei looked at the sky and knew that he probably wouldn't be able to wait for the next round, so he was particularly hoping to beat at least one opponent, so that he could hit at least three more balls. He carefully served a backspin ball, which looked decent.
In amateur circles, basically the only way to deal with backspin is to twist it back, and the opposite side is no exception.
But the opponent knew that there was a tried-and-true trick against Gao Fei, so he rubbed the ball directly to Gao Fei's backhand.
Gao Fei As soon as he saw that the ball was on his left side, he immediately panicked. He went up to it with his racket and pushed carefully. The strength was appropriate, but the direction was wrong. He pushed the ball directly from the side.
As soon as he lost points, the students from the inspiring elementary school who were watching burst into laughter.
Gao Fei was more cautious. In order to avoid being targeted by the opponent again, he chose to serve directly to the opponent's backhand position.
But this trick that worked well for him didn't seem to have much meaning for others. The opponent pushed the ball back with a casual push.
Children have no concept of ball control. Gao Fei's opponent just instinctively felt that the ball was already in the backhand position. If he pushed it to the left of Gao Fei, it would probably go out of bounds, so he pushed the ball as far as possible to the middle of the table.
Gao Fei breathed a sigh of relief and quickly rubbed the ball back, still trying hard to rub the opponent's backhand.
But this time I didn't rub it properly. Although it was a backhand position, I accidentally rubbed it high. It seemed that there was no friction when the racket hit the ball just now. This is not because there is something wrong with Gao Fei's action, but because the racket is too old and the rubber has aged. At least half of it has been worn away and has become bare.
When the ball passed by, the opponent immediately moved and then pulled the ball hard.
With a "pop" sound, this scene was similar to the opening scene. The silver ball hit the table in front of Gao Fei hard, and the landing point was on the forehand position. However, Gao Fei panicked and quickly backed away, only to find that it was too late. He had already retracted his arm into his arms and still failed to catch the ball. The ball bounced off the cement table and hit his chest directly.
The onlookers burst into laughter again.
Gao Fei picks up the ball, throws it over, and lets the opponent serve.
The opponent also served a backspin ball, targeting the backhand position of Gao Fei.
Gao Fei was heartbroken and refused to sit still. He ran two steps to the left and tried to pull the ball to the forehand position. He made a beautiful move to lead the racket and raise his arm, but failed to find the space of the ball correctly. He pulled the ball into the air. The ball and the racket passed by each other and fell into the dust with a "pop".
The onlookers burst into laughter, and the person opposite waved their hands coolly. "Go down."
Gao Fei refused to give in. He waved to someone under the tree not far away. "It's your turn."
It was also a child of the same age as him, but he was fairer, more well-proportioned, and taller than Gao Fei. He was leaning against a tree with his head down and reading a textbook. When he heard Gao Fei's greeting, he put the textbook back into his schoolbag helplessly, walked to the table, and took the broken racket Gao Fei handed him.
Others were a little unhappy, but no one raised any doubts.
This is also the rule of playing here in Zhangjiazhen. As long as there is a racket in hand, anyone can take turns, whether they know each other or not.
You can't let someone play unless you can prove he's lined up at other tables.
As soon as the child took the racket, Gao Fei said in his ear, "Zhang Xing, I want you to dominate the stage and play until the sun goes down. Let's see if they still dare to be arrogant."
Zhang Xing glared at him, as if dissatisfied, and then said, "Okay."
He tightened his grip on the racket, got into position, and then his opponent let out a quiet sigh of relief.
The opponent didn't know Zhang Xing, but instinctively felt that Zhang Xing's style was different from others, so he subconsciously thought that he might be a master. But now that he saw Zhang Xing's grip, he was no longer afraid.
Because Zhang Xing, like Gao Fei, uses a candy bar that has been eliminated for who knows how many years.
So may I ask, what is the use of a straight board?
Table tennis has developed for more than a hundred years, and the straight table has disappeared from the professional circle forty years ago. Amateur players all followed the trend of the professional circle. Even if there were still straight table players at that time, they all changed from straight to horizontal.
Thirty years ago, Chinese Table Tennis Association was officially announced, claiming that the Chinese penhold style style of play was officially eliminated by modern table tennis technology and has completely disappeared around the world.
So the answer is, there is no use for a straight bird.
When Gao Fei first came to grab the table, he used a straight grip, which shocked the group of people because they had never seen it before.
But after playing it, they discovered that Gao Fei's straight board was a complete sieve on the backhand position, and it was not much better on the forehand position.
Therefore, some people specifically went to inquire about the candy bar. One of the students' relatives was said to be a professional player in a provincial capital 200 kilometers away. The relative swore that the candy bar was just a coffee table filled with tragedies. As long as he pressed his backhand, he could be pressed to death.
So everyone knew the shortcut to Gao Fei, and they all applauded after trying it.
At this time, Zhang Xing serves, still a regular backspin ball.
But the opponent wanted to push the ball over, but it got backspin.
Zhang Xing served again. The opponent became more vigilant and leveled his racket and pushed it forward. However, Zhang Xing's serve turned even further than he expected. Even though he leveled his racket, he didn't use enough force. He only pushed the ball onto the brick in the middle that served as the net, and ultimately failed to cross it.
Next serve.
The opponent also served a backspin ball, probably wanting to retaliate in kind, and deliberately pulled the racket down a lot when the ball collided with the racket. In order to exert more force, he also stamped his feet hard and nodded his head vigorously.
The movements were very exaggerated, and the murderous intent was very strong. I didn't know whether the ball was going to turn or not. Anyway, Zhang Xing passed it easily with one push.
On the contrary, the opponent did not expect that Zhang Xing could recover so easily. He was a little confused for a moment, and he pushed the ball directly out of bounds. He lost three goals in a row and was eliminated.
Gao Fei burst out laughing. Zhang Xing was proud to win. He applauded alone and didn't care about the looks that others were looking at him.
Someone changed on the opposite side, dawdling with the ball until Zhang Xing seemed to be a little distracted, and then he unexpectedly served a long sneak attack. The ball was not served very well, it was a bit high, and the landing point was not long enough. The speed was relatively fast, and I wanted to catch Zhang Xing off guard.
But as soon as he released the ball, Zhang Xing seemed to have been prepared for it. He took a step back and directly attacked with a board on his side.
With a "pop", this board directly killed the opponent.
The opponent is a little confused.
In fact, the students watching were also a little confused.
A simple serve to attack is easy to say, but not easy to do. At least in the three-acre land of Jiji Primary School, and in the circle of primary school students' fans, it is really rare to see anyone who can serve to attack.
When dealing with Sneak Long Serve, everyone usually simply blocks it, or at most reacts, takes a step back, rubs the ball back, and lets the ball have some backspin, which is the best solution.
Although the children formed cliques, they generally followed their feelings. When they saw Zhang Xing actually serving and attacking, and hitting such a good ball, they immediately felt that Zhang Xing was on a different level.
Zhang Xing's opponent was very panicked. He was obviously a very good player at Sneak Long Serve, but now he didn't dare to serve a long ball. After thinking for a long time, he served a backspin ball.
Zhang Xing pushed the ball casually again, pushing the ball to the opponent's backhand baseline. The landing point was not too accurate. After all, the angle was very small. The only thing worthy of praise was that the ball was indeed very long, and it had almost touched the white line at the bottom edge of the table.
Zhang Xing's opponent was standing squarely in front of the table, but suddenly found that he had to step back from the table to catch the ball. His reaction was half a beat slow. Although he successfully took a step back, his body was a little shaky. In his haste, he could only throw the ball over, high and far.
Zhang Xing seized the opportunity and slammed the board down, killing the opponent again.
By this time, everyone was starting to get suspicious. They looked at Zhang Xing, and then at Gao Fei, who was standing nearby with a gloating look on his face. They always felt that the man in front of them must be the reinforcements invited by the monkey, just to avenge themselves.
After judging this, the normal reaction of children is of course not the desire to fight "the enemy is stronger and I am stronger", but rather you look at me, I look at you, and they all shrink back.
If you can't beat it, what else can you beat? Looking for abuse?
Zhang Xing's opponent obviously only lost two goals, but he didn't even want to play the last ball. He shouted directly to the side, "Zhang Hailong, come on, you are the best among us."
Zhang Hailong, the one who instantly killed Gao Fei in the opening, stepped on the court, thought carefully and then served a backspin ball.
They are from Class 5 of the fourth grade of Inspirational Primary School, and Zhang Hailong is known as the top player in Class 5. He has been competing with the top players from the next few classes for the title of the top player in the fourth grade, but they have never been able to tell the winner. This shows that he is still very strong. Basically, except for the top players in the fifth grade, he is one of the strongest people in the first to fourth grades.
Therefore, his backspin shot is better than others, it is very low, very spiny, and not long.
Zhang Xing still pushed the ball casually.
The ball that was pushed over did not turn, but because it was very low, Zhang Hailong could not do anything else but rub it over again.
He rubbed it very hard and tried hard to rotate it more.
But Zhang Xing still pushes it casually and does not take the initiative to make additional spins, but it also never suffers from backspin.
Zhang Hailong rubs the ball again, and rubs the ball to Zhang Xing's backhand position. His control of the ball is much more precise than others. The ball vaguely touches the baseline at a large angle. Although the accuracy is not enough, the intention is very clear: to suppress your backhand.
Everyone is waiting to see Zhang Xing's backhand colander, especially since Zhang Hailong's ball placement is so good. They feel that Zhang Xing must be the same as Gao Fei, and the racket cannot be twisted no matter what.
But Zhang Xing didn't make any special movements. He stretched out his arms casually, and the racket surface was adjusted in place, and the ball was easily rubbed back.
The ball was too short before and he was too lazy to rub it. This time the ball was long and after it came off the table, he felt it was convenient to exert force, so he added a little more backspin.
Then Zhang Hailong got backspin. As soon as the ball touched the racket, it hit the red brick.
The students in Class 4 and Class 5 were very quiet and shared the same hatred in their hearts, but they also realized that Zhang Hailong was probably not good enough.
Zhang Hailong chose Sneak Long Serve for the second ball.
His Sneak Long Serve is also better than others. The ball speed is very fast and the top spin is very strong. It seems to be in front of Zhang Xing in just a flash. In terms of quality, it is much better than the previous Sneak Long Serve. It seems that it is difficult to react in time.
But Zhang Xing still simply stepped back and turned sideways, and naturally passed the ball and scored directly.
Zhang Hailong was beaten for a long time without saying a word. It was obviously Zhang Xing's turn to serve, but after he picked up the ball, he did not throw it to Zhang Xing. Instead, he stared at Zhang Xing for a long time, threw the ball hard, and cursed, "I won't play, it's getting dark anyway."
He turned around and left, and the students in Class 4 and 5 also followed him, and they were all gone in the blink of an eye.
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