By the time they finally mustered enough energy to force dinner down, it was not even eight in the evening, yet everyone had already returned to their rooms and fallen fast asleep.
Early the next morning, apart from the two coaches, whose nerves had been stretched taut throughout the journey, the boys on both teams were fully revived.
Young people were young people, after all. Their powers of recovery were beyond anything middle-aged people could match.
There was still one day before the qualifiers, a buffer day set aside for all the teams to check in, rest, and familiarize themselves with the venue.
After everyone had breakfast together, Liu Xian led his players to the competition hall.
He first told Zhou Cheng and the others to stay put while he submitted their paperwork. Then, guided by an event staff member, he took the whole team around the venue, familiarizing them with the locations of the warm-up area, the check-in desk, and the main and secondary tables one by one.
Wang Jianping's team went through exactly the same process.
At ten that morning, the two teams, having finished looking around, ran into each other beside the courts.
"We've come all the way to Shenyang, practically halfway across China. Why is the sun still so fierce? Doesn't everyone say the north is cooler than the south?" Liu Xian undid his collar button and fanned himself with his collar.
Wang Jianping sighed. "Who knows? But I've certainly experienced how much drier the north is. After just one night, my throat hurts, and two of my eight players had nosebleeds first thing this morning."
Liu Xian could not help chuckling, secretly thankful that all four of his boys were fine.
Wang Jianping glanced around the increasingly crowded hall and suggested, "We've seen the venue