Love is as simple as badminton.

Chapter 44: Surely we can't lose too badly?

The next day at 8 a.m., the Xiangda Badminton Hall was packed with people, and the students responsible for maintaining order were extremely busy.

It sounds a bit outrageous that a club's freshman cup could fill the stands; but at Xiangzhou University, it's normal.

On the one hand, it's because the badminton atmosphere at Xiangda University is among the best in the country; on the other hand, the operation is quite good. Not only do you get a souvenir keychain when you watch the game, but you also have the chance to meet a mystery guest invited by the Badminton Association.

They are usually at least world champion level players. When Xiangda was at its peak, it even invited a Grand Slam player.

Even if you're not interested in the game itself, it's worth coming to see a popular star! Getting an autograph would be an even bigger bonus.

—It's not just the audience who think this way; the instructors, who are also guests, think this way too.

"Holy crap! It's Chen Zaiyou!"

Zhao Jie was still a little sleepy until his comrade next to him punched him.

"You'd better be busy!"

He gritted his teeth and said, then belatedly realized and paused, "Chen Zaiyou? That world champion who went all the way through underdogs?"

"Yes, yes! That's him!"

Following his comrade's gaze, Zhao Jie saw a handsome, celebrity-like face not far away and couldn't help but open his mouth in surprise. He had only ever seen this face on a screen before.

Chen Zaiyou is a Singaporean player of Chinese descent, and he is 26 years old this year.

When he first participated in the World Championships at the age of 24, he fought his way through the competition, defeating all the strongest players at the time, and finally won the championship. Before this World Championships, his best result was only a championship in a lower-level tournament.

With his unreasonable stats, exhilarating aggressive playstyle, model-like good looks, and sunny, cheerful personality, Chen Zaiyou quickly gained a large following, mainly female fans.

However, he has a high ceiling but a low floor. He often scores four or five points in a row in a very stylish manner, and then inexplicably makes two or three mistakes. He hasn't achieved any significant results since the World Championships.

Despite this, it did not affect his popularity at all, after all, a World Championship gold medal is a lifetime achievement for many players.

The Hong Kong University Badminton Association has impressive resources; they were able to invite such a heavyweight star!

For a moment, the instructors were all eager to get autographs, and Zhao Jie even took out his prepared jersey. It wasn't until the badminton association volunteers reminded them that a special autograph session would be arranged later that they were able to suppress their excitement.

Afterwards, Chen Zaiyou took his seat, accompanied by school leaders.

After the opening ceremony, the host, Xu Yue, took the stage to give a speech.

With his Northeastern-accented Mandarin and the distinctive demeanor and body language of an ENTP, he quickly enlivened the atmosphere of the entire room.

Several members of the badminton association, who were initially a little nervous, gave Xu Yue a thumbs up upon seeing this.

You can laugh at Lao Xu as a clown, but you can't doubt Lao Xu's ability to talk!

"Let's watch the game first."

The head instructor smiled and glanced at the other instructors. "When it comes to getting autographs, you'll only have to make sure your own company's kids do well, otherwise you'll look good, right?"

Everyone burst into laughter and looked at Zhao Jie in unison.

In the decades-long history of the Freshman Cup, almost every college has produced a champion, except for the small and dilapidated College of Social Studies.

"Hey Jay, did you hear that? They're calling on you."

"Ha! Just you wait and see!"

Zhao Jie, however, was no longer as humble as he had been last year. He proudly raised his head and declared, "Our company will definitely rise to prominence this year!"

"So confident? Is there a master in the team?"

"I looked at the draw, and there's only one participant from the School of Social Sciences, and their first-round opponent is from the School of Physics."

"The Department of Physics is traditionally a strong department! They probably have the most championship wins, right?"

"Absolutely! Our company has always been awesome!"

Upon hearing this, the instructor from the Physics Department puffed out his chest like a proud rooster and even glanced at Zhao Jie.

It's as if it's saying: Let's have a little demonstration?

Zhao Jie pursed his lips and glanced back as well.

Let's have a go!

Despite this, Zhao Jie was still somewhat uncertain—although this boy named Lin Xiang was very talented, his opponent was from the School of Physics! Most of the badminton specialists at Xiangtan University were affiliated with the School of Physics.

Even if we can't win, at least we won't lose too badly, right?

After a brief speech, the match officially began. Guided by Xu Yue, Zhao Jie quickly located Lin Xiang's court among the many courts.

Then he scratched his head, his expression turning curious.

Isn't the School of Physics traditionally a strong school?

Why does this kid from the Physics Department look a bit weak?

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"Should we choose possession of the ball or the ground?"

"Venue. Headwind."

"Alright, Wang Yang, serve. 0-0, the match begins."

The student referee sat professionally in the high-ranking referee's seat, surrounded by the serving referee and the linesman.

"..."

Wang Yang, holding the badminton shuttlecock, was already sweating profusely.

The oppressive aura emanating from Lin Xiang was much stronger than last time... His intuition told him that he might not perform as well as last time!

However, he was quite diligent during this period, so it wouldn't be accurate to say that he lacked confidence at all.

Although winning is impossible, losing in a more respectable way than last time shouldn't be too difficult, right?

"bite"

Wang Yang started with a backhand serve, then stepped forward with his right foot; at the same time, he subtly shifted his weight backward, ready to retreat and launch an attack at any moment.

As expected, Lin Xiang chose to push the top of his head.

Seeing this, Wang Yang immediately took a step back and jumped, putting all his strength into a powerful straight shot!

"Smack!!!"

The placement and power of this smash were excellent; in a match between national second-level players, it would be considered a finishing move.

However, Lin Xiang simply extended his racket to block, easily returning the ball. Although he didn't launch a counter-attack, he also didn't give Wang Yang any chance to extend his lead.

Wang Yang could only immediately regain his balance and rush to set up the net.

This is Lin Xiang. Even when I concentrated all my strength on a smash, he just couldn't find a weakness in me. He couldn't even put me on the defensive!

Fortunately, the quality of this net shot was decent, and with Wang Yang keeping a close eye on him, Lin Xiang didn't choose to get bogged down and tossed the ball high as he wished.

Upon seeing this, Wang Yang immediately retreated and continued to jump and smash the ball.

"Smack!!!"

Looking back at the history of the Xiangda Freshman Cup, there have been very few matches that started with such a strong sense of tension.

Unaware of the situation, the audience from the Physics Department watched with great excitement, cheering for Wang Yang; those who knew about penalty kicks, however, frowned and looked at Lin Xiang with increasingly shocked expressions.

Faced with this storm of attacks, he remained as steadfast and silent as a reef.

The player who smashes the ball is certainly impressive, but wouldn't it be even more impressive to defend against all those impressive smashes?

"not good--"

Wang Yang attempted a fourth attack and net shot, but due to a decline in consistency, the ball ended up going too high.

Lin Xiang was already waiting at the net, and swept the ball down with his racket, thus securing the first point.

"1:0".

"nice shot……"

Wang Yang was panting heavily, never expecting that he would not be able to win this point even after paying such a high price.

But this was the only way he could fight!

In the following games, he continued to use this strategy.

With a bit of luck from a few close-range shots and net balls, Wang Yang finally got 3 points – although it was a tie with the last time they met, Lin Xiang didn't give away points at match point this time, so he actually got an extra point.

"...Match ended. 21:3, Lin Xiang wins."

After a moment of stunned silence, the referee announced the result—to save time before the quarterfinals, all events would be decided in a single round.

Even though it was a single game to decide the winner, he didn't expect it to be over so quickly!

"I did my best."

When shaking hands with Lin Xiang, Wang Yang shook his head with a wry smile.

"You played very well."

Lin Xiang nodded seriously.

He felt that Wang Yang's progress was quite obvious, because this time he neither threw the game nor gave away points; all three points were earned through hard work and effort.

Of course, following Grandpa Wang's advice, Lin Xiang didn't go all out.

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