Peninsula: Aiming for a Grand Slam

Chen Jixian typed:

Are you in your hometown?

Bae Joo-hyun replied:

"Yes. The Daegu city government contacted me before, saying there was a youth competition and they wanted me to show my face."

"I declined, but I still glanced at the list of participants."

She sent another photo.

The screen was filled with Latin letters: Kim, Lee, Park, Sung. He swiped down and drew a red circle in the bottom right corner.

Bae Joo-hyun typed: "Is this you?"

J. Chen

He stared at those two letters—J. Chen. She recognized him from a sea of ​​unfamiliar names.

"It's me," he typed.

A moment later, the phone vibrated again.

Where do you live?

"Homestay".

Is it clean?

He thought of the few strands of hair on his pillow, then glanced at the unlit red light on the ceiling.

"good."

A few seconds later, she sent another message.

"Have you checked the security cameras?"

Chen Jixian was stunned for a moment.

Camera?

He didn't take off any clothes. Not to mention being secretly filmed, even on a legitimate domestic platform, one could safely broadcast his naked body live.

"Smoke detectors, air conditioner vents, routers, electrical outlets—all those places facing the bed," she sent one by one. "Scan them with your phone, turn off the lights."

Chen Jixian looked at the line of text.

She didn't guess; she had researched it or been taught by someone.

He typed a question:

How do you know all this?

"When I was a trainee, the company warned me about it. There have been rumors in the industry about female celebrities being secretly photographed."

He didn't speak.

She posted another message.

"Keep the doors and windows closed, and lock the door with the chain on. If someone knocks, remember not to open the door directly."

He typed: "It's already like this."

"besides."

She paused for a moment.

Is there a convenience store downstairs?

"There is one."

"Buy a bottle of water and put it by your bedside; don't use the kettle provided in the guesthouse."

He stared at the words. A kettle? He had planned to make a cup of goji berry tea tomorrow morning.

Chen Jixian typed:

Is there something wrong with the kettle?

"Not necessarily. Some people might use it to cook ramen, while others might use it to boil underwear for disinfection."

Chen Jixian: "???"

Is this something a human being would do?

Humanoids of the 21st century.

"You have to believe me!"

"Don't worry, even if I don't believe it, I wouldn't dare to gamble. I can't possibly play a match while having diarrhea."

"Yes, and also, don't open the windows too wide, just leave a crack, it gets cool in Daegu at night."

The night wind from Daegu seeped in through the cracks in the window. Bae Joo-hyun pointed out the potential pitfalls and how to avoid them.

Chen Jixian's heart settled down.

Today, from Shen Xiaoting's "Get out of here!" to FILA's "Let's be friends!", to a stranger's hair on my pillow...

In this unfamiliar city, Chen Jixian finally found a sense of security again.

He cursed himself inwardly: Chen Jixian, you mama's boy!

The phone was silent for a while.

She sent another message: "Are you confident about the competition?"

Chen Jixian: "There is a formidable enemy."

She didn't reply.

A few seconds passed.

"You're not even afraid of a former ATP 847 professional player, but you're afraid of a junior player?"

Chen Jixian gave a wry smile.

She didn't know that the hunter was extremely good at seizing the rising point, and could cut deep and low with her backhand slice, and could also withstand professional-level serves.

I don't know how many years the Hunters played in the Hope Series, but they only came to play in J60 because they couldn't go out due to the pandemic.

What's even more unknown is that even at the peak of 847, when facing a Hunter, the win rate was only 4%.

He typed: "This might be better than 847."

send.

The prompt indicating that she was typing flashed briefly and then stopped.

It flashed again.

"Then you must win even more."

Why?

"If you can take him down, you can take down the coach I hired!"

She continued typing:

"or,"

"I'll give you 500 million right away."

Chen Jixian looked at that line of text.

Bae Joo-hyun may have forgotten that 847 was a wall she found, a wall that made him want to crash into and then go back to studying.

Now, Bae Joo-hyun hopes he can win.

He remembered last night.

Liu Zhimin told him, "Don't lose. Only I can walk the golden retriever; no one else can."

Nowadays.

Bae Joo-hyun then told him, "If you don't take him down, how are you going to take down the coach I hired!"

We can't lose, Chen Jixian.

He typed:

"I will not lose. Our agreement remains unchanged."

……

……

Sunday morning, Daegu Citizens' Stadium.

Chen Jixian walked into the arena carrying a racket bag, a suitcase, and a thermos.

He wasn't sure if he would stay in Daegu tonight, and the cheap guesthouse didn't offer luggage storage, so he had to bring his luggage into the stadium.

A group of people had already lined up at the entrance, carrying camera bags and chatting in twos and threes.

Chen Jixian found a corner.

Ye Haoran walked over from another direction. He was wearing FILA clothes, white tennis shoes, and a Wilson limited edition racket bag.

When he saw Chen Jixian, he moved his neck slightly—they had added each other on WeChat yesterday, and although they hadn't become friends, a nod and a greeting were still acceptable.

Then, what did he see?

His gaze swept over Chen Jixian's backpack—a personal backpack filled with luggage, with his competition certificate still hanging on the zipper.

A glance around him—nobody. No coach, no teammates, no parents.

He had only himself and all his belongings.

Play a game,

With luggage?

A tall boy with dyed red hair next to him glanced over in the same direction.

The boy leaned closer, his voice not loud.

"know?"

Ye Haoran's expression stiffened for a moment.

He hesitated for a moment:

"I don't know him."

The two people walked over.

Chen Jixian leaned against the wall. The goji berry water in his thermos had a slightly reddish tinge.

……

……

It was nearly 9 a.m.

The first round of qualifying is about to begin.

Chen Jixian glanced at the sign-in sheet. There were 15 people in total, with one name marked with a horizontal line.

Bye.

Nearby, two South Korean players were chatting, their voices low.

"We got a bye again."

"What's so surprising? He also got a bye in the Gao Yang tournament last month."

The two of them didn't say anything more.

Chen Jixian looked away.

The person who gets a bye doesn't have to play in the morning; they go straight to the second round in the afternoon. He's not so lucky; he has to fight round after round.

and,

Two matches a day is actually quite common.

To save time, the organizing committee crammed all the qualifying rounds, which were only a few rounds in total, into one day.

If it's the main competition, then there will be one match per day, with not only one referee but also several linesmen.

Correct.

You read that right.

In the qualifying rounds, don't even mention electronic Hawk-Eye; they don't even have a line judge. It's all up to the referee to guess.

Chen Jixian was about to enter the court when he saw an unused court next to him. The net had been newly replaced and was dazzlingly white.

Behind the baseline is a standard buffer zone; you can take five or six steps back and not hit the wall.

He turned to look at himself—

The netting had a hole in it, and no one had patched it. The baseline was only two steps from the barbed wire; you had to be careful not to rub your racket head when you swung it.

That's the venue for the main competition.

Chen Jixian turned his head. A Korean boy with pilling cuffs was standing next to him, following his gaze.

Chen Jixian: "Are you Park Jun-ho?"

The Korean boy nodded, confirming, "J.Chen?"

He nodded.

The two were opponents in the first round.

However, the sign-in sheet only had names in Latin letters, not full names in Chinese characters.

Park Jun-ho.

The Chinese character writing style is likely that of Park Joon-ho.

Chen Jixian then asked, "Isn't there no main competition today? Why is the field empty?"

"Even if it's empty, I won't let you play." Park Joon-ho looked away, not looking at him. "They're just scraps from the qualifiers."

After saying that, he picked up his racket and walked into the court.

Chen Jixian stood at the door and glanced at the empty court one last time; the net was blindingly white.

He looked away and went back to his own area. There was a hole in the netting, and the wind was blowing in through it.