It was the first time they needed to train together as a team. It felt like 50 kg of rocks had been tied to his feet when he stepped into the sports hall to train. His steps were so heavy realizing that he had to be on the same team as his nemesis; Ye Quan.
When he arrived at the sports hall, several athletes had already occupied several courts, leaving only one court in the corner of the great hall.
Lin Zhu only slightly bowed his head as he walked past several other athletes and coaches. He used to be an arrogant brat who didn't even know how to lower his head, but since he was at his lowest point right now, he couldn't help but change himself even if just a little.
He still remembered how the men's singles head coach reprimanded him yesterday. Perhaps he should fix his attitude before he could fix his skills.
He arrived at the empty court, and it turned out that the court wasn't completely empty. Two men were standing on the court and turned their heads to him.
"Our prodigy finally arrived!"
Lin Zhu gritted his teeth when the eyesore mocked him loudly. All people with eyes and ears could see and hear that he was just a failed athlete, and the prodigy title was just a taunt for him.
Lin Zhu glared at Ye Quan, who just ridiculed him with a playful tone, then bowed his head to the head coach of the men's doubles team.
Lin Zhu was not familiar with the man, but he bumped into the man quite often when they were training or participating in some competitions.
"Welcome to the men's doubles team, Ah Zhu. Should I introduce myself again to you, or do you still remember me and my name?"
The man was polite and soft, the total opposite of the men's singles' head coach that was harsh and rude sometimes. Lin Zhu heaved a sigh of relief before smiling at the older man.
"Of course, I still remember you, Coach Cheng. You are our country's legend who was able to snatch two gold medals in two Olympic Games. You are one of my role models."
He seemed to be flattering the coach, but he wasn't completely lying to the coach.
Cheng Xiaojian was one of the best badminton athletes in China. He was the former brightest diamond in China after he successfully won two gold medals in two Olympic Games many years ago.
Lin Zhu was not lying when he said that Cheng Xiaojian was his role model. The only positive thing that happened to him after he decided to transfer to the men's doubles team was Cheng Xiaojian, and he was happy to have him as his new coach.
"I didn't expect that Lin Zhu would have a sweet mouth like that," the coach commented with an amused expression plastered on his face.
"You should have expected it, Coach Cheng. His fans always call him flower boy, and like flowers, he certainly has sweet nectar too."
Ye Quan decided to butt in, and Lin Zhu gawked at him as if he wanted to eat the taller man alive.
Unaware of the tension between the two athletes, the coach burst out laughing. "I'm glad you two got along well. I'm sure you two will make a great team in the future."
'Where's the part in our interaction that indicates we can get along so well?' Lin Zhu cried in his head.
The coach might be the positive type who always saw the situation positively. Even so, Lin Zhu didn't want to argue and just smiled sheepishly.
"Don't you want to punish Ah Zhu for coming late, Coach?"
Lin Zhu bulged his eyes after hearing the unexpected question. He turned his head to Ye Quan and found the toad peering at him with his playful gaze.
'You better punish yourself and fuck yourself too, you ugly toad!' He wanted to scream, but he could only shout inwardly.
Fortunately, Coach Cheng took Ye Quan's words as a mere joke and just giggled while shaking his head. "You two better start warming up before we can start our training today."
Lin Zhu's heart skipped a beat in anticipation upon hearing the coach's statement. It would be the first time for him to play doubles, so he was quite excited. He didn't want to disappoint his role model and had promised himself to work like a horse.
After he finished instructing the two men, Coach Cheng excused himself to go to another court.
Lin Zhu exhaled heavily before walking over to a bench and putting down his racket bag on the bench. He was about to start stretching, but he halted his movement as he noticed Ye Quan sitting down on the bench next to his racket bag.
"What are you doing there? Shouldn't you start warming up too?"
Lin Zhu was lazy to question the older man, but he had no choice as they would become partners later.
Ye Quan didn't immediately answer as he fished out his phone from his bag.
"I'll let my fans know my activity today. Just mind your business."
Lin Zhu openly rolled his eyes when he saw Ye Quan start taking some selfies with his phone.
It was not a secret that Ye Quan was a narcissistic person and cared so much about his reputation. He was the real definition of a wolf in a sheep's mantle. Unfortunately, the fans didn't know the real Ye Quan.
Lin Zhu chose to ignore the man and started stretching his arms, but he was a little disturbed by the camera sound coming from Ye Quan's cell phone. That bastard didn't even set his phone silent!
The short athlete couldn't help but glance at the man again. He was about to scold the senior athlete, but he froze when he noticed the athlete also looked up at him with an unreadable gaze.
"Why are you stealing glances at me? Do you like to see this handsome toad so much?"
Oh! It turned out Ye Quan managed to catch his shout yesterday!