In an old building not far from the arena.
The exterior of the thirty-year-old house is covered with moss and rattan, the stairs are dark, the damp walls are covered with various advertisements, and the simple yellow light bulbs flicker and hiss.
Ji Huai took out the key and opened the rusty iron door. The corroded wooden door inside had faded.
It had just rained in the morning, and even on the second floor, the cement floor was so damp that there was a layer of steaming water droplets. The room consists of one bedroom, one living room, one kitchen and one bathroom. The lighting is dark and the lights have to be turned on even during the day.
There is no air conditioning in the room, and it is so hot that your clothes will get soaked when you sleep. It is also very cold in winter, and the wind is biting, making you shiver.
The old house is worthless, but the price is cheap. It only costs 220 yuan to rent. There is a small balcony at the back, but it will not be exposed to the sun.
Chen Xiuman in the kitchen heard the noise, turned down the fire and came out, "You're back? The food will be ready soon, just wait."
"Yeah." Ji Huai nodded and looked around the narrow living room. The only new thing was a desk, which Chen Xiuman bought for 110 yuan three years ago.
The stairs were narrow and difficult to carry up. The man who moved them asked for an extra fifteen yuan. For the fifteen yuan, the mother and son moved together. They accidentally hit Chen Xiuman's toe, which caused a piece of flesh to fall off and was flattened. A little corner of the table.
She didn't feel bad about being injured and bleeding, but felt bad about the new desk. This scene has been remembered in his mind for many, many years.
Just like later, when the other party got cancer, he didn't ask the doctor about the treatment plan and wanted to kill himself.
Poverty makes life worthless.
Chen Xiuman came out with the dishes, and Ji Huai also stood up to get a bowl of rice.
"I also cooked seaweed soup today, drink more later." She said to her son.
Ji Huai: "Yeah."
Chen Xiuman took the meal from her son and looked at the big boy, feeling suddenly relieved and said, "Eat more bitter melon and pork liver."
He nodded, put a piece of pork liver into her bowl, and then ate from the bowl himself.
The two mother and son were eating, Ji Huai said little, and Chen Xiuman was talking about it, "I bought a lot of vegetables today, which are cheaper than usual. I also bought bananas. You can eat a few more after the meal, and it only costs 50 cents a pound." A few dollars can buy a bag.”
"Why is it so cheap?" Ji Huai raised his head to answer.
"There are urban management officials these days." She explained while eating. "The nearby villagers picked them out to sell. I originally only wanted to buy two kilograms, but I thought it was too little, so I bought more."
Ji Huai: "Buying too much and not being able to finish it is a waste of money."
Who has no sympathy? But they are all poor.
Chen Xiuman's current salary is only two thousand yuan. A college student only earns 2,000 yuan and lives in a damp and dark old building. It is difficult and embarrassing to take care of her poor son.
She married Ji Bo years ago and gave birth to him. She got pregnant unexpectedly and got married right after graduation. The burden of life suddenly hit the two young couples who had no ability to withstand the pressure. Their relationship collapsed and their marriage ended.
I didn't have the shame to go back and drag my parents' family down, so I dragged my son alone. This job originally only had a salary of 1,500 yuan, but the advantage was that it could take him with me all the time.
After several years of marriage and wasted time after divorce, Chen Xiuman lost her ability to adapt to society and did not dare to take that step. It has been dragging on for several years. Now she is even more timid and fearful, just hoping to raise him.
Because he worried too much, although the other party was only thirty-five years old, he was much older than his age. There were several fine lines at the corners of his eyes. His hair began to appear gray when he was forty-five. His hair turned gray when he was fifty. He did not live to retire. age.
As for Ji Bo, he was not much better off than Chen Xiuman. He went back to living in a state of ignorance and wasting his life. Later, he was divorced twice and ended up alone.
Ji Huai thought about it, holding his chopsticks tighter and tighter, his fingertips turning white.
"Mom is talking to you, what are you thinking about?" Chen Xiuman's words brought him back to his thoughts.
Ji Huai didn't have much expression on his face, "I didn't think about anything."
She didn't think much about it and said her plan, "The weather is too hot. It will be even hotter to sleep in the living room. Mom will buy you a small air conditioner tomorrow. When it is turned on, there will be cold wind. I heard it only costs two or three hundred yuan each. Just blow it."
In the past, the mother and son slept in a room with two small beds. Now the son is unwilling to share a room with her and sleeps on the sofa in the living room with his quilt.
She knows that children avoid their mothers.
Fortunately, their home still has a living room. Lao Li's house not far from the community rents a small single room of 20 square meters, a small toilet, and the kitchen is next to the toilet.
Half of the room is equipped with bunk beds. The couple sleeps on the lower bunk and the son sleeps on the upper bunk. The remaining half of the space is used for walking around. I bought a retractable table and put it away after eating. The family of three gathered around it. It was so crowded to eat.
This situation lasted until his son graduated from college and started working. He turned 28 last year and got married. Mr. and Mrs. Li used the money they had saved for most of their lives to buy a second-hand small house for the young couple. The situation was resolved.
"It consumes a lot of electricity and is not practical. It breaks down after just a few uses and I don't feel warm." Ji Huai said and continued to cook rice.
When children from poor families buy things, the first thing they consider is the price. When they go to a slightly better place, they are afraid that they cannot afford it. In order to save money, they do whatever they can to save money, and they even feel that they are not worthy.
This thought followed him for many, many years, causing another tragedy in his life, especially emotionally. He failed the person who loved him, dragging him down and dragging her down. Neither of them could end well.
"Is it so easy to break?" Chen Xiuman muttered a few times, but said nothing more, thinking that there were other cheap electrical appliances that could relieve the heat.
After finishing the meal, Ji Huai drank a bowl of soup, picked up the bowl and chopsticks and walked to the kitchen.
The tiles in the kitchen are old, and no matter how clean Chen Xiuman is, they still look messy and dilapidated.
"Mom helped you wash the clothes. They all smell of sweat." Chen Xiuman picked up the clothes he had changed. As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Huai came over and took the clothes over. "I washed them myself. I washed them by the way." bath."
It was mid-July, the bathroom was as hot as a stove, and the water from the faucet was lukewarm. If I wash clothes after taking a shower, I will be exhausted and sweating again.
Ji Huai washed his clothes first and then took a shower. He has been independent since he was a child, and he has been in the national team for so many years. He pays attention to efficiency in his work and his movements are crisp and agile.
afternoon.
Chen Xiuman will take a nap, usually until two o'clock in the afternoon, but after one o'clock, there are calls one after another, and many people start to book venues, otherwise they are afraid that there will be no venues at night.
From afternoon to evening, Chen Xiuman will stay in the badminton hall. I have a lot of free time at work, watching people play ball in the gym, selling water and badminton and the like.
I won't be back for dinner, so I will take part of the meal I made in the morning and take it over with me, and leave part for him. Sometimes I would give him a few dollars to eat a bowl of noodles or a bowl of fried noodles, and the mother and son had just made do together over the years.
Not long after Chen Xiuman left, Ji Huai started self-training at home.
There was no training equipment at home, so he took the clothes drying pole and put it on his shoulders to do a set of stretches. After warming up, he started to train.
For training methods, you can choose sit-ups, planks, standing back and forth on tiptoes...
Self-training requires perseverance, endurance, and perseverance. This body is far from the physical conditions of athletes. Professional athletes start training at the age of four or five, but he only started systematic training after a few years. This is a major factor in not going far.
The physical fitness is too weak, the muscles are tight, and the pain is doubled. Ji Huai gritted his teeth tightly, veins popped out in his hands that were resting on the ground, his face was red, and he was sweating profusely.
There was firmness on his young face, but his eyes were penetrating, looking at a fixed point in front of him without evading it.
It was already past ten o'clock when Chen Xiuman came back in the evening. Ji Huai came out of the kitchen with a bowl of noodles and placed it on the dining table, "I cooked the noodles, and you can eat some too."
"Have you mopped the floor?" Chen Xiuman put the bag aside and asked looking at the floor.
Ji Huai: "The floor is too dirty. Just mop it up after sweeping it."
He sweated a lot from training in the afternoon and it was full of sweat stains.
Chen Xiuman's mouth moved a few times, but she finally changed her words, sighed and said, "You don't need to do these tasks."
At an age when other children were carefree, he followed her around to earn a living. Although she had no regrets, she ultimately suffered for the child.
When Ji Huai heard these words, he was not as silent as before. Instead, he said in a relaxed tone, "It's just a casual job, and it's cleaned up in a few times."
After he finished speaking, he took the quilt and walked to the sofa, lying on it to sleep.
He must go to bed before eleven o'clock. Poor rest will affect his training and body.
Chen Xiuman moved lightly, and Ji Huai told her before going to bed, "I will get up early and go to the badminton hall tomorrow, so you don't have to go in the morning."
"Does anyone want to come to play ball?" Chen Xiuman asked.
Ji Huai: "No, I will play by myself. There will be a youth municipal badminton competition next month. I want to participate."
He has been sensible since he was a child, so Chen Xiuman didn't ask any questions. He put the keys to the arena on the table and encouraged him, "It's okay to go and have fun and exercise more."
She said and gave him twenty yuan, reminding him to remember to have breakfast.
The next day.
Just after six o'clock, Ji Huai opened his eyes and stood up, folded the quilt and started to wash up.
After yesterday's exercise, even though I relaxed, my muscles were still sore and swollen. It was difficult to bend down and squat. If I lifted my head backwards, my lower abdomen would be sore.
Leaning back against him would be fatal.
Ji Huai brushed his teeth, as if his body had been dismantled. He grimaced in discomfort, and his inertia continued to emerge, and his brain's protective mechanism rose.
He took a few breaths, shook his head to get rid of his thoughts, brushed his teeth and washed his face as quickly as possible and went out.
After the warm-up, the training phase begins. Badminton hall equipment can also be used. You can use skipping rope to do full-body exercises. Not only can you practice your jumping ability, but you can also practice the strength of your ankles, legs, arms and wrists, and also improve your endurance and reaction ability. will help.
There is also long-distance running. I will do ten laps around the edge of the badminton hall. After adjusting, I will practice my steps with the racket.
He was the only one moving back and forth in the huge badminton hall, and his breathing seemed to still be echoing.
Do your best in every training and push your body's limits in every training. He wanted to try how far he could go this time.
"Swing your arms and press down."
"The action is similar to a lob shot."
"Swing your arms quickly. If this ball doesn't work, try another one."
…
Hu Yarong was teaching a fat student again. The opponent's body trembled as he ran. If he had hit the ball farther, he would have dropped the ball before he could catch up.
The fat students were scattered here and there, but the instructor was very energetic, but it was difficult to mobilize the enthusiasm of the students.
"My arms are sore. I can't do it anymore." The fat student wiped the sweat from his face and began to shake his head and give up.
"Two more groups." Hu Yarong advised.
"No more." Fatty threw away the racket again, "That's almost enough. I'm not a professional."
"get out of class ends in eight minutes, let's play another group." Hu Yarong held the ball and prepared to hit him, but the opponent refused to hit him again.
Helpless, he raised his hand to check the time and walked over to get water for the other party. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ji Huai doing plank support in the distance. His movements were standard. He probably held it for more than two minutes. This was already the second group.
The fat student was drinking water and followed his gaze, with an envious look on his face, "He was exercising when I came here, and he is still exercising now. His physical fitness is really good."
When he was in class two days ago, he also encountered this boy running. He was exercising for half of the class.
"It's not that you have good physical fitness, but that you have high perseverance. Your body is already shaking." Hu Yarong kept staring at Ji Huai. He was shaking so much that he was still holding on. His chest was raised and his abdomen was not slumped. His posture was still standard, and he was sweating. drop.
As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Huai couldn't hold it anymore and slowly lay down on the ground, closing his eyes to adjust his breathing and gasping for air.
"It's great to be young." The fat student said with emotion.
Hu Yarong smiled and said nothing. Being young and having perseverance and endurance are not the same thing. How old is the little kid? He does high-intensity exercise on his own without anyone to control him.
People who can control themselves are great.
After the fat student left, Hu Yarong drank water from the thermos cup and walked towards Ji Huai.
The other person sat up, his collar and hands covered with sweat. He pulled his clothes, wiped the sweat from his face, and shook his sweat-stained hair.
"You didn't sleep so early in the morning. What time did you come here?" Hu Yarong asked him.
Ji Huai: "Six-thirty."
Hu Yarong squinted his eyes, remembering what he said about becoming a professional athlete, and walked to the front field, "It's right to practice physical fitness, but you have to train scientifically, otherwise your career path will not be long. Come, play a game, let's Let me see your level."
After hearing this, Ji Huai didn't give in. He got up and went to get the racket.
This beating made Hu Yarong surprised.
Compared with before, the increase in training difficulty has brought Ji Huai's physical fitness to a higher level. His steps are natural and smooth, he has found the feeling, and his jumping ability has been improved.
When he picked up the racket, he seemed like a different person.
how to say
It was the energy in his body, the upward momentum, his focused eyes, and it seemed that there was only one thing in his eyes.
High balls, lobs, smashes from the backcourt, catches in the midfield, and hooks and pushes from the backcourt. Even though he didn't have enough stride flexibility to catch his heavy kills, he could barely catch them.
"Okay, let's play again." Hu Yarong was still energetic and interested.
He seemed to have found a good idea. If a coach meets a malleable talent, he will also sympathize with each other. Molding the other person to a height that he cannot reach is an achievement in itself.
Not long after Ji Huai's physical training, he became increasingly exhausted in the second half of the second game. Hu Yarong also hit many corner kicks, and he tried his best to catch them.
He did not perform at a competitive level, but just caught the ball in a normal way. The result was naturally a loss, but Hu Yarong was already very satisfied. "The amateur level is already very strong. If you practice skills, your physical fitness must keep up, and your pace must be practiced repeatedly."
Ji Huai nodded.
After this game, Hu Yarong became half of Ji Huai's coach for free.
He had private lessons in the morning, and Ji Huai was training on the other side of the badminton hall. Hu Yarong took the opportunity to arrange training content for him, and sometimes gave him a few words of advice.
Ji Huai followed the training instructions he arranged and could use the equipment in the small room for free.
Stretch bands, dumbbells, tennis rackets, foam rollers…
Hu Yarong became more and more attracted to this boy. He had tenacity and endurance. No matter how much training he did, he would complete it silently and would increase the amount.
Sometimes he would have a small class in the afternoon, and when there was no one available, Hu Yarong would call Ji Huai, "Come and make up the numbers!"
Ji Huai didn't refuse, picked up the racket and headed to the opposite side.
You can practice your skills by playing against others. Between professional players and amateur players, he could hit the ball wherever he wanted, and he could also cooperate with Hu Yarong's commentary, so everyone was happy to cooperate with him.
In Hu Yarong's view, Ji Huai's progress has been rapid. With a little mention, he can immediately miss it. The only thing he lacks is his physical fitness.
But this kid got up at six o'clock to train on his own, which made him admire him with admiration.
When he learned that he had signed up for the municipal badminton competition, Hu Yarong patted him on the shoulder and said, "I will work hard during this period and try to come back with a trophy."
After that, his training for Ji Huai became more professional and the physical training became more difficult.
But no matter how high the intensity, he can always persevere. His physical fitness is getting stronger day by day. Coupled with the adjustment of technical pace, Hu Yarong is surprised again and again. Training Ji Huai has become a kind of pleasure and joy for him. expect.
This process is like carving, every step is very satisfying and surprising.
In early August, the municipal youth badminton championship officially kicked off at the municipal gymnasium.
Ji Huai is in Group C, which is the age group of twelve to thirteen years old.
Hu Yarong is here today. He recently took a job as a part-time job at a youth badminton club in the city and brought a dozen students to compete.
Chen Xiuman didn't take it seriously and didn't expect Ji Huai to win the award. He gave Ji Huai fifty yuan and asked Hu Yarong to keep an eye on it and just have fun.
The competition is a total score of 40% physical fitness test plus 60% performance.
The side-body test includes one-minute double-rocking rope skipping, standing long jump, sit-ups, and four-point running with a low center of gravity...
Hu Yarong also observed Ji Huai when he was leading the students. He was not out of breath when he completed the body side. When it came to the group stage, the best-of-three games were adopted, and this kid swept all the way.
It looked like he was easily crushed. To outsiders, he was a dark horse. All scores were 2:0, he was far ahead in points, and he unexpectedly won the first place in Group C singles.
After a few 21:3 calls, the other party cried and looked for his mother.
Ji Huai: "..."
I feel like if I bully a child again, could it be that they realize that the three points are also given up
It was during this game that he caught the attention of the physical education teacher at No. 1 Middle School in the city.
Hu Yarong praised him fiercely when he saw that he came first, but Ji Huai only showed some expression when he received the 1,000 yuan bonus and smiled in front of the camera.
"First place?" Chen Xiuman was so excited that he took the trophy and looked at it again and again, not to mention not objecting to his training. I was afraid that he would not be strong enough, so I bought boxes of milk at home and a lot of meat when I went to the vegetable market, trying to get him to eat more.
Before the quiz, teachers from City No. 1 Middle School came to select students with special talents.
Those who were selected did not need to take a quiz and entered the city's No. 1 Middle School directly. Ji Huai was selected unexpectedly. His class teacher was stunned and explained that he had no dance background.
Ji Huai is tall, so he probably chooses to dance.
The teacher from No. 1 Middle School smiled and said: "I didn't choose a dancer. He ranked first in singles in Group C of the city's badminton championship last year. I remember it very clearly."
The head teacher was stunned, "I really don't know this."
Chen Xiuman was hesitating whether to spend money to let Ji Huai go to a better private school and study more. When she heard that she could go to No. 1 Middle School, she was stunned at first, and then ecstatic.
In contrast, Ji Huai was extremely calm and went to training step by step.
He goes to school to study at seven o'clock. He can get up at six o'clock and run 5,000 meters. He has a regular schedule and has grown taller, reaching 1.7 meters.
He still used to go to the badminton hall to train on weekends, and Hu Yarong was still coaching him.
Hu Yarong took him to the badminton competition the following year. In addition to signing up for singles, he also asked him to sign up for doubles with students from the youth club.
Moreover, it is a small game against a large team, and they sign up from Group C to Group B.
The result was undoubtedly a win, with gold medals in both singles and doubles. The boy who partnered with Ji Huai said excitedly: "I was in a state of confusion the whole time. He is so good at attacking. I feel like I got the gold medal in vain."
After watching half of it, Hu Yarong even felt that there was no suspense about winning. Even in the fight with the previous champion, he was superior in skills, easily crushed, and guided with great enthusiasm.
The physical education teacher at City No. 1 Middle School was his old classmate. When he came to greet Ji Huai, he saw Ji Huai as if he had found a treasure. He looked at Hu Yarong and said, "Your student?"
"Yes." Hu Yarong raised his voice, quite proudly, "This kid is very malleable. Let me tell you, it's not easy to meet him. He has been with me for a year."
"You have to follow me, and you were admitted to our school." The other person said with raised eyebrows, not to mention how proud he was.
Hu Yarong's expression suddenly changed and he stared at Ji Huai.
Ji Huai: "Excellent students."
On the way back, Hu Yarong talked about it for a long time and was still a little dissatisfied. Finally, he said that the coach was not bad. He was the third runner-up in the domestic championship before and asked him to study hard.
In the following days, during the weekends off, Hu Yarong caught Ji Huai and asked him to train. When he saw the competition, he asked him to participate. Unexpectedly, he came first.
In any competition that represents the school, singles and doubles teams also rank first.
He is the most hard-working and patient member of the training team. The gathering wasn't until half past six. He was already on the playground at six o'clock and could withstand high-intensity training.
The training for the school's badminton team had to be separated in the end, and some events were only for him.
As technology rises, he seems to have found a way to monetize it.
Train with Hu Yarong for free, borrow free badminton hall resources, and make a fortune by the way.
He has good playing skills and can accompany others to practice. He can practice whatever he wants. After Hu Yarong's first half of coaching, he can accompany the players to review on the spot. Of course, such hard work must be paid.
The sparring fee was twenty-five yuan for half an hour, and later it was raised to thirty yuan.
The skills of amateur athletes are not up to standard, and sometimes they can run with me for a long time without even breaking a sweat.
In the past, he didn't go to the badminton hall in the afternoon and evening. Later, he would go there whenever he had free time in the afternoon and evening, and worked all day on weekends and Sundays.
Sparring can be very profitable. People who come to play badminton are all older people with a little money. When there is no one to play with, it is normal to find a sparring partner. Students who have just started learning badminton are embarrassed to play with experienced players, so they also like to find a sparring partner, as long as they Controlling the intensity can also give the opponent a sense of accomplishment and lead to two more games.
Chen Xiuman's salary is only two thousand a month. He can earn one or two hundred a day as a sparring partner, and his income is sometimes the same as hers. During winter and summer vacations, his income can even exceed hers.
They could also make some money by participating in competitions with bonuses. With more sources of income, they moved out of the dark and damp old building and rented a nearby two-bedroom apartment with air conditioning. The rent was raised to 800 Yuan, plus the water and electricity bills cost about 1,000 yuan a month, I bought a small refrigerator, which improved my life a lot.
In the third year of junior high school, Ji Huai's height increased to 1.77 meters. This year, he participated in the Provincial Badminton Elite Finals, the Quyan City "Lottery Cup" Youth Badminton Tournament and the Quyan City "Shangcai Cup" Youth Badminton Tournament and won the Group A singles. , No. 1 in doubles.
Every high school in the city posted red lists. Moreover, he got a spot by ranking first in the province and is about to go to the national youth team's intensive training in Wenhu, Taizhou.
A total of more than 150 people came to train. The top three from each province and local rankings were recommended. In the end, 20 people will enter the national youth team for another training camp.
In Hu Yarong's words, Ji Huai seemed to be on the right track, but it was doomed.
After nearly two months of training, Ji Huai entered the national youth team as the first in his age group and continued training for 45 years.
In early February, Chen Xiuman had been looking forward to it for several months, looking forward and looking forward to it. Instead of looking forward to Ji Huai's return, Hu Yarong suddenly came over and told her excitedly, "Ji Huai has entered the second national team, he has entered the second team!!" !”
Chen Xiuman didn't know what the second national team was, but when the word "national" was mentioned, it must be very powerful.
"It's the national team. If you work hard, if you can make it to the first team, you will be the main player of the country. That is a badminton player's dream. Maybe you can stand on the highest podium." When Hu Yarong said, his voice was still trembling. Clenching his fists, he said several times in a row, "Awesome", "I knew this kid could do it.", "Maybe he can even participate in the next Olympics."…
City No. 1 Middle School got the news faster. Firecrackers went off several times, large banners were hung, and red notices were posted.
Ji Huai was transferred to the second team of the national team as the first player in the men's singles in the 16-year-old age group. His record was that he swept all the way, beating his opponents 2:0 in most cases.