Cheng Che stayed at the Mushroom House for one night.
The next morning, he woke up to the aroma of scallion pancakes made by Teacher Huang. After washing up and going downstairs, Teacher He already sitting in the courtyard drinking tea and scrolling through his phone.
Yan Ruanning was also there. Today she was wearing a light yellow knitted sweater, and her hair was loosely tied up, as if it had just been washed and wasn't completely dry.
"So early?" Cheng Che was somewhat surprised.
"It's for you," Yan Ruanning said matter-of-factly.
Teacher He looked up, glanced at the two of them with a smile, said nothing, and then went back to reading the newspaper.
Cheng Che ate a hearty breakfast.
Teacher Huang specially fried two extra eggs for him, saying, "People who are going to compete need to eat more."
Teacher He poured him a cup of hot tea and told him, "Don't be nervous in the main competition; you've already proven yourself."
Yan Ruanning sat beside him, quietly drinking her porridge, occasionally glancing up at him before looking down again.
After finishing breakfast, Cheng Che slung his bag over his shoulder and prepared to leave.
Yan Ruanning followed him to the courtyard gate. Teacher Huang and Teacher He waved goodbye from behind.
The two stood under the old locust tree at the entrance of the village.
The morning sunlight was still thin, filtering through the leaves and falling on Yan Ruanning's face, making her eyelashes look as if they were edged with gold.
"I'm leaving." Cheng Che turned and glanced at her.
"Um."
I'll come find you after the main tournament is over.
Yan Ruanning lowered her head and chuckled. When she looked up, her eyes curved like crescent moons. "Who asked you to come looking for me? I didn't say I wanted to see you."
"Then I won't come."
"You..." Yan Ruanning glared at him, then couldn't help but laugh, "You can leave now."
Cheng Che turned around and walked towards the end of the village road.
He took a few steps, glanced back, and saw Yan Ruanning still standing under the locust tree, waving at him.
He waved it back and strode away.
Yan Ruanning stood there, watching, until the figure disappeared around the corner at the village entrance.
"Stop looking, it's vanished."
Su Jianqiu appeared behind her without her noticing, arms crossed, a maternal smile on her face.
Yan Ruanning turned around abruptly, her ears turning bright red.
"Who's watching? I'm just standing here casually."
"Yeah, just standing around." Su Jianqiu nodded. "I stood there for five minutes, my eyes were practically popping out of their sockets. It really was just standing around."
Yan Ruanning bit her lip and turned to walk towards the Mushroom House.
Su Jianqiu, standing beside her, slowly added:
"These days it's so convenient. If I miss him, I can just video call him. I don't have to write letters like before and wait for the postman. If all else fails, I can just take time off to watch the game. The director would love for me to ride his coattails."
" Su Jianqiu!"
"Alright, alright, I won't say anymore." Su Jianqiu raised her hands in surrender, but she couldn't suppress the urge to smile.
When Cheng Che returned to Qin Lie's house, Qin Lie was sitting at the table eating instant noodles.
Seeing Cheng Che push the door open and come in, Qin Lie put down his chopsticks, looked him up and down, and then a smirk appeared on his face:
"Oh, you're back? I thought you had someone in Hang City."
Cheng Che changed his shoes, put down his bag, and said with a smile, "You didn't go online yesterday?"
Qin Lie was taken aback. "What internet?"
"Take a look."
Qin Lie suspiciously took out his phone and swiped twice.
His expression changed from confusion to shock, and then from shock to disbelief.
He abruptly looked up, his voice rising eight octaves. "You went to participate in ' Life Slowed Down '?!"
I went to visit the set and the director kept me on for a cameo role in one episode.
Qin Lie stared at him for a long time, his gaze growing increasingly intense, as if he were looking at a piece of gold just dug out of the ground.
Cheng Che felt uncomfortable under their gaze, hugging his arms and shrinking back. "What are you doing?"
"Tsk tsk."
Qin Lie withdrew his gaze, leaned back in his chair, and said with a sigh:
"You're a natural at riding the wave of online popularity. Do you know how many people on Weibo are trying to ride your coattails? I scrolled through this morning, and all sorts of weirdos and freaks came up. This variety show has gained a lot of viewership because of you, and many people are looking forward to the episode where you appear. If you were in the entertainment industry, you'd already be Bearing of a Top Star."
Cheng Che sat down, took a sip of water, and said calmly, "I'm sure there were plenty of people who criticized me too."
He casually opened the system panel and glanced at it.
[ Tolerance Makes Greatness (Passive): Current Malice Count: 70000+. Current Popularity Bonus: 7%]
Seventy thousand.
One live stream gained 40,000 haters.
They've had their fill of paid traffic, and they've also had their fill of illegal traffic!
Qin Lie waved his hand:
"What do you care about those haters? Even if you're just an ordinary netizen, you'll get criticized after being online for a while, let alone now that you're a celebrity. If people are criticizing you, it means you're famous; if no one is criticizing you, you should be crying."
Cheng Che thought what he said made sense and stopped worrying about it.
Indeed, black and red are still red.
"By the way, are you going to the Mushroom House again today?"
"I'm not going." Cheng Che shook his head. "I'll focus on practicing for the remaining four days; the main competition is more important."
Qin Lie nodded, without saying anything more.
But in his heart, he greatly admired Cheng Che; he was neither arrogant nor impatient, no wonder he was able to get into Peking University.
For the next four days, the two appeared at the tennis center of Hang City Sports Center without fail.
Qin Lie was initially worried that Cheng Che's intense training might injure his body, since he fought from morning till night every day, only taking two or three hours of rest in between, and even his lunch was just a quick bite.
But after each training session, he would take Cheng Che for physical therapy and massage. The therapists would always say that there was no damage and that his muscles recovered very quickly.
"Your physical condition is truly remarkable; it doesn't seem like someone who's only been training for a few months," the physiotherapist exclaimed in amazement.
Qin Lie was initially skeptical, but eventually let him do as he pleased.
After all, he didn't know that Cheng Che could activate the [ Training Recovery Card ] and, combined with his endurance talent [ Enduring Progress Without Fail ], he was practically a perpetual motion machine!
Before we knew it, the day of the main competition arrived.
The Hang City Sports Center Tennis Center, the main tournament venue.
With all thirty-two contestants gathered together, the atmosphere was far more tense than during the preliminary rounds.
While Cheng Che was changing his clothes, Qin Lie was flipping through documents and giving him a final introduction.
"There are 32 players in the main tournament, and only eight of them came through the qualifiers. The remaining 24 either have a record or a ranking, so they don't need to play in the qualifiers. If you want to win the championship, you'll play three matches in the group stage, then the knockout stage: round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. It will take seven days in total."
Cheng Che put on the jersey and nodded.
Qin Lie turned to a page of information:
"Your first opponent, Zhu Junchi, is 26 years old and a professional player. He's never qualified for a Grand Slam main draw, but he's played in many Challenger tournaments internationally, so he's quite strong. And... you've had some good luck."
"Why?"
Qin Lie closed the document, a slight smile on his face:
"The group stage matches are usually played on the outer courts. But you're so popular that the organizers put you on court number two. Court number one is occupied by Lu Yunxiao, currently a leading figure in youth tennis in China. You, who just made it up, were directly assigned to court number two; that's quite a privilege."
Cheng Che tightened his shoelaces, stood up, and stretched his wrists:
"It doesn't matter where I play. My goal is the Champion, and the final venue will definitely be Centre Court."
He has to complete the [ Stamina Trial ].
No one can stop him from becoming Intermediate Incubus, not even the King of Heaven!
Qin Lie looked at him, but didn't smile; he simply nodded slightly.
The opening ceremony was brief but formal. When the athletes lined up to enter, many spectators were already seated in the stands.
When Cheng Che came out, a more enthusiastic commotion arose in the stands than elsewhere.
He walked straight to his position without looking to the side.
After the opening ceremony, the athletes dispersed to prepare for the competition.
Outer field, No. 2 court.
Zhu Junchi stood behind the baseline, holding a racket, warming up.
He was twenty-six years old, of average height and build, and not particularly noticeable in a crowd.
But his arms were as strong as iron, and you could see the sharp edges of his muscles and bones when he turned his wrists.
His coach squatted down beside him and said in a low voice:
"This match is being streamed online. Your opponent, Cheng Che, is incredibly popular right now; the whole internet is watching him. If you beat him, your market value will definitely go up. These days, everything revolves around online traffic, you know what I mean."
Zhu Junchi plucked the strings of his guitar but didn't immediately respond.
"I watched his match two days ago after the draw." He lowered his head, his gaze fixed on the hard ground beneath his feet. " Zhou Kaiyue is no weakling; he was completely overwhelmed by him. Cheng Che didn't even break a sweat throughout the entire match, and by the end, there wasn't a single drop of sweat on his forehead."
The coach paused for a moment, then said, "So you mean...?"
"We can't afford to drag this out with him."
Zhu Junchi raised his head and looked towards the opposite field.
Cheng Che walked out of the players' tunnel, a suppressed gasp rose from the stands.
Zhu Junchi gripped his racket tightly.
"I want to kill him with one blow."