Blade of Glory [Figure Skating]

Hearing what Freire said, Qing couldn't help but widen his eyes.

Because of Freire, Qingyue recalled what he had always missed... the summer he spent in Plandon five years ago.

Yes, Qing Yue does not deny that he misses those times.Because every memory related to that summer is happy and wanton.They made a big fuss about seeing that giant NX skate promotional poster on the bus.I also shed sweat related to persistence and hope in Master Renault's dance training room.

In the summer of that year, they never thought about... too many things related to the future.They never thought about how amazingly successful they would be in the future, or that they would fail one day.

They just skated as hard as they could and then saw where they could rank in the world.

But I don't know since when, he seems to have become hesitant.

Qingyue knows his talent, his efforts, and his achievements and status in the world ice circle.It seems that he has no further space, but there is an endless distance to fall.

"Honestly, I miss that time."

At the moment when the memory came to an abrupt end, Qing Yue did not know what kind of emotion he had when he said this sentence.

The fine wind is blowing towards them, and the sunset is so beautiful.The more you like Plandon.Even though this country has nothing to do with ice and snow.But she always exudes enthusiasm and vigor, and it seems that even the air is full of art-related flavors.

Qing Yue raised his head, took a deep breath of the air here, took another look at the city shrouded in the beautiful twilight from the ancient stone bridge, and smiled again on his face.

"Let's go, find a place to have dinner, and then we'll put on our skates and go to that rink to skate all night when it gets dark!"

Qing Yue, who said these words, grabbed Freire's arm, and rushed down the stone bridge at full speed, risking the two of them falling off the stone bridge together...

Two months later, Qingyue resumed intense training.Qing Yue, who was still in the observation period, complied with the request made by the Ice Association, and never participated in the commercial performances of that year, nor did he attend any commercial activities. Active preparations for the World Championships.

Even though... almost all the people who can compete with Qingyue for the World Championship medals have announced their retirement one after another after the Olympics, Qingyue's mood cannot be relaxed due to the huge impact of the previous year's Olympics stand up.

In the current world ice world, although the remaining men's singles players have grown to varying degrees in recent years, neither the rookies from the Jia country nor some men's singles stars from other countries can't compete with Qingyue, Alek, and Foley. Rael and even Chu Xuan compared with Neolido and Koness when they rose.They can't even compare with Qing Yue who is at his peak.

Although this fact will make people feel melancholy, the era that belonged to Qingyue and the others seems to be gradually declining.When Koness retired, ice fans didn't feel it.When Nyolido retired, people didn't think it, even when many figure skaters who could almost spin, slide, or jump, these three most important elements of figure skating, had amazing strengths and retired. Everyone didn't think so either.

Because the three most important figure skaters who created that era are still active in various world-class competitions.

But when Alek and Freire gained glory and Qing Yue left the stage sadly, ice fans will feel that the huge ice and snow world seems to be empty, and people will no longer know why when they go to the scene to watch the game. Which men's singles player slapped his palms red when he appeared on the stage, and even hoarse his voice for calling an athlete's name.

Yes, Qing Yue has not retired yet.But an era seems to be really over.No one knows whether an athlete who once stood at the pinnacle of the world's ice circle can continue to skate after suffering such a heavy injury, and whether... can stand up again.

And the fact is just as the outside world guessed.

At the World Championships in March next year, Qing Yue failed to stand up again.

In other words, he failed to get through the first hurdle he needed to overcome, the Xishu National Championships.

He used to be the king who won the championship for many years in the Xishu National Championships.In fact, since he defeated Chu Xuan, no one in Xishu could shake his absolute dominance in the ice arena.But this year, everything is different.

Since the Olympics in February last year, Qingyue has hardly participated in any competitions and has almost never appeared in the public eye.It's been a year since I saw each other, and now Qing Yue urgently needs to restore his position in the Xishu ice arena with a game result with a certain weight, an absolutely beautiful game program, and use this to tell the world that Qing Yue is still back. On the stage of the world ice altar.

Therefore, this is a game of special significance to Qingyue.This significance...is not even inferior to the World Youth Championship that made Qingyue stand on the world stage for the first time, or...more important than that competition.

It should be said that when Qing Yue heard his name called out on the radio, his heart was already occupied by nervousness.

When a person is more eager to do something well, he will often receive more interference from himself.Any subtle reaction from the outside world will cause him stronger psychological pressure and hints.

Yes, when Qing Yue appeared on the stage, he was no longer just indulging in his own world as before.He found that he couldn't control himself anymore, and couldn't help wanting to know the reaction of the audience in the arena.Thus, he looked out of the corner of his eye at the people in the audience as he slid into the arena.Look at those men, women, old people, children.It seems that the expression on each of their faces affects themselves.

It was at this time that when introducing him, the on-field commentator mentioned the honors he had received and even praised him.But who would have expected... These words actually gave the audience a rebellious psychological hint.

Disdain appeared on the faces of many people, and even those who came in groups showed a kind of ambiguous smile at their companions.

Although Qingyue half-jokingly said to Freire when he left Plandon that he could not retire, if he retired, would there really be any competitive players in today's ice world that people can watch?If he retires, will the active guys continue to practice quadruples?

However, having said that, Qingyue, who had almost locked himself in the ice rink for more than half a year, really summoned up a lot of courage to step onto the stage of the Xishu National Championships again.Under such circumstances, every nerve in him was more tense than ever.Because he understands that the current self can no longer make even the slightest mistake.If you fall down again, you will really reach the bottom of the valley from which you will never get up.

Therefore, when Qing Yue felt the sighs from the audience, his fragile and sensitive nerves seemed to be snapped.When the music started, he seemed to be stunned.He found that he couldn't even get into the story told by the music like any time before, but the voice of the audience around him overwhelmed the sound of the music in his mind...

He heard booing and booing from the audience...

All of this reminded him of his mistakes in the Winter Olympics and his bad state at that time.What's more serious... the memories from a year ago seemed to overlap before his eyes, making him unable to distinguish the present from the past.

The enormous pressure almost crushed him.Even the trajectory of his sliding can't follow one's inclinations, sliding out of the perfect arc once.

Someone once said that the short program is the most test of a person's psychological endurance.Because it only has a short time of two minutes and 50 seconds.Any mistake may cause irreversible results.However, Qingyue's opening jump failed to perform well, and then he made frequent mistakes. This game, which returned after a year of silence, was doomed to be less than perfect.And with his turnovers, the boos, and even some of the voices calling him out became louder.It even... filled his world, causing him ringing in the ears, and he could no longer hear his short program of music.

I don't know what kind of decadent emotion it was, which made Qingyue stop after another jumping error.

The atmosphere at the scene seemed to freeze at this moment.Many ice fans who still hope that Qingyue can return to the ice are watching a national championship in another country in front of the TV.Because the film crew at the scene deliberately toned down the voices of the audience, many people couldn't hear the boos and boos Qing Yue heard at this time, shouting for him to go down.

But they were able to guess something through the gestures, expressions and mouth shapes of the audience.So they stood in front of the TV and covered their mouths, waiting for Qing Yue's final decision.

Qing Yue, who was thinking about something at the moment, had no expression on his face, but he no longer had the passion of being immersed in music and artistic expression, the passion that could deeply infect others.

There was no longer the warm and strong look in his eyes.At this moment, he seemed to have turned into ice and snow in the dark night, expressing his coldness and despair.

That is not despair imprinted with endless pain.Instead... a self-deprecating sigh.I don't know if Bingxue abandoned him mercilessly, or he abandoned Bingxue disheartened.

Many people at the scene didn't know what would happen if they didn't consider the consequences, even because of the booing and booing of the people around them.There are even more people who don't know what the smile that appeared on the corner of Qing Yue's mouth at that time means.

Qing Yue, who stopped abruptly, slowly slid out of the ice rink under everyone's astonished eyes, without saying a word.

He barely had time to take off his skates and ran out of the arena quickly. He pushed all the people who stood in front of him away as if venting, and rushed all the way into the aisle leading to the locker room.He tore his new season performance clothes, threw it into the trash can, picked up his backpack more quickly, and opened the door forcefully.

At this moment, Na Xiu, who was standing at the door waiting, surprised Qing, who was about to rush out of the competition venue with the skates in his hand that had not yet been stuffed into his bag.

"Why didn't you finish skating it? I've seen other players' point coefficient table! The difficulty factor of your short program is more than ten points higher than any of them! Why don't you finish skating it!"

Facing Na Xiu who had anger on his face when he looked at him for the first time, Qing Yue's aura weakened at that moment.But that was just for a moment.When Qing Yue heard Na Xiu say these words in a reproachful and angry tone, the aggressive decadence in him at this moment became stronger again.

"Maybe you should ask me why I finished skating it! How ridiculous, I have been skating six days a week since I was 13 years old, and practiced for six hours a day just to show them, the skater is sitting in the court now What about this group of people? Let those boring guys burn down my house? That's really... too ridiculous!"

This may be the first time that Qing Yue has had such a gunpowder-flavored confrontation with Naxiu in the 11 years since he met him.I don't know what kind of emotion made Qingyue spew out all the negative emotions since last year's Olympic Games.Countless nights and nightmares that he didn't want to face were crashing into his mind at this time, making him unable to calm down.It made him feel even more...the self who always wanted to show such a wonderful performance to everyone...is really the stupidest person in the world.

Perhaps... His courage and strength are no longer enough to sustain him to continue like this.Or maybe... the timidity to retreat has already sprouted in his heart.

"So you're saying, you don't want to skate anymore? Just because of these mocking voices? Just because of the voices of these irrelevant people, you want to give up your dream from the age of 13 until now?"

"These aren't all the reasons. They're just... the last reason I want to figure out."

"Then throw away your skates and never show up in front of me again, I've had enough of you worthless coward!"

It was the first time that Naxiu, who had given him silent strength, said such serious words to Qing Yue, who had always smiled gently at him behind Qing Yue, and taught him more severely.Maybe it's because the two are so similar.Only then will the same stubbornness erupt at this time.Qing Yue stubbornly wanted to leave because of what he had endured in the past year.And Naxiu couldn't accept the fact that he was going to leave the ice altar like this because of the hope he placed on Qingyue.

The two stabbed each other as they vented their anger.When Naxiu said these words, even he himself was stunned, unable to imagine how he would say such words to the child he had spent almost all his energy teaching.

Hearing these words, Qing Yue froze in a daze.He lowered his head, his body trembling slightly.He slowly lifted the skates in his hand, but he couldn't make up his mind in the end.As if... all he abandoned at this moment were those people who said they loved him when he was in glory, and then made trouble after he failed in the Olympics, and even almost killed him...

He abandoned those people and was tired of following the cameras from race to race with strict rules, but his heart still loved skating.

Therefore, Qing Yue slowly raised the hand holding the skates, but finally put it down, and rushed out from Na Xiu's side with his head lowered.

From that day on, Qing Yue completely...disappeared in Xishu territory.

Until the opening of the World Championships in March, Qing Yue's figure never appeared in front of everyone again.No one can find him anyway.It's as if... evaporated from the world.