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I Give Half of My Life to You

Chapters List

Chapter 42: The Honest Champion

Lin Miao was astonished that she had survived until the finals. She kept hitting birdies back and forth and then found herself in the finals.

Her coach reminded her not to leap backwards when hitting birdies throughout the competition. Not only was it dangerous, but it also made it extremely difficult for her to recover for the next shot.

However, when she saw her opponent, she knew that it was impossible to follow her coach’s advice. Her opponent was a five-foot-seven white girl.

Thoughts ran through Lin Miao’s mind for a split second, and she couldn’t resist looking at her opponent a couple more times. She’s so pretty, her skin’s so light, and she has golden hair too, gorgeous.

Before her match, Lin Miao had been watching live broadcasts of other peoples’ matches. She had come across her opponent’s matches, and her eyes were fixed on her the whole time. Her golden hair, azure eyes, and white face were all so beautiful.

She looked even better face to face.

But Lin Miao still remembered to take notes on her playstyle.

She wasn’t nervous as she was already quite impressed with her progress.

The moment the match began, they heard a girl yell from the audience benches. Her voice was sharp, likely due to her excitement, “Go Lin Miao!”

It sent shivers through Lin Miao. No wonder, no wonder my opponent in the preliminary round wasn’t able to make it.

But she also felt an indescribable feeling in her heart.

Especially when she got the first point. Many people in the audience seats began to chant in unison, “Go Lin Miao! Go Lin Miao!”

They were probably all strangers.

Lin Miao was quite stimulated by this and played more fiercely. She wasn’t afraid of leaping backwards anymore and threw her coach’s advice to the back of her head.

She was moving much faster than usual, which allowed her to recover from her backwards leaps for her opponent’s follow-up.

Her level of energy remained high until the end of the match.

The results came out. She had won the tournament. Seeing her opponent looking all defeated, Lin Miao felt that she still looked pretty even when she was in despair.

This was an international competition, so Lin Miao hid all her thoughts and snuck some more glances at her opponent. Then, she lifted her bag, wiped her sweat, and walked outside, exhausted.

The spectators on the frontmost row of the seats called her name, “Lin Miao! Lin Miao!”

Lin Miao was a bit embarrassed. She walked towards them and a spectator handed her papers and pens, “Lin Miao, can I get a signature?”

Lin Miao was relieved that the Young Master had taught her how to print nicely.

She wouldn’t dare write anything had she still written in her old scribbly style.

She generously accepted all the signature requests. Someone even handed a page with an American flag to her. Huh??? Lin Miao lifted her head up and found some foreigners among the crowd.

She signed theirs, too. Lin Miao could understand that they were complimenting her play, making her even happier.

Then, she continued her way down the exit.

Even though she was tired, her heart felt sugary sweet. It was the same feeling when she had been notified that her first competition had prize money.

There were so many people cheering for her, so many people complimenting her! How incredible was that!

She was still unable to describe the feeling she had when an audience member yelled out her name during the finals.

A big smile still hung on her face.

She was met with reporters after the ceremony.

The girl’s and boy’s singles in the world championship had both been won by Chinese participants; it could be described as a great harvest itself. Despite this, Lin Miao was still in the spotlight of the world tournaments. She was only fourteen years old and had won the international tournament on her first try.

Lin Miao didn’t understand interviews. She recalled the reminders from her coach to avoid topics relating to money, so she followed and freely answered everything else.

“Have you ever thought that you could win the tournament beforehand?” The reporter asked.

Lin Miao paused to think and responded with certainty in her answer, “No.”

“Why not?”

“Because my coach told us to not think about this. He said it would make us feel too satisfied and less motivated for practice. He also said that everyone here is professionals on the international levels, so I just tried to last through each game and not get beaten early on. I kept thinking about that for all my games, and then I realized I got into the finals… ”

Seeing her smile grow as she spoke, the reporter couldn’t help but smile herself. She continued, “Are you going to participate in the world championships next year?”

“I don’t know.” Lin Miao replied honestly.

“What about the Olympics?”

“No idea.” She responded truthfully again.

What an honest kid, not a single extra line.

“Any thoughts on your first tournament abroad?” The reporter asked.

“Yes, I’m way too short. I have to jump back to receive shots from taller opponents. If I don’t respond fast enough, I won’t have enough time to touch their next shot. I’ll have to drink more milk when I return and work hard to grow taller.” Lin Miao nodded after, “My older brother is right, I need to drink more milk.”

She was too excited on the field and ignored her coach’s advice, so she decided to say it now to show that she understood him.

“What do you think your biggest takeaway from this tournament is? You look really happy.”

“I won!” Lin Miao spoke the truth again.

Shortly after the interview, she saw… Gege!!

Lin Miao ran straight to him.

And the Young Master received her. His voice was especially euphonious overseas, “I saw, Shuishui is the champion!”

These international competitions were broadcasted live on sports channels, but he only heard the news the next day.

So he arrived late.

The Young Master patted her head, “Why didn’t you tell me beforehand?”

“Gege is preparing for college entrance exams, and I’m returning right after this.” Lin Maio responded.

Then, one of Lin Miao’s teammates interrupted, “Brother Shui, we’re going for a meal.”

Following that, they saw the Young Master. Everyone on the team knew Lin Miao’s brother, Yu Jingxuan.

Even though Lin Miao was the youngest in the participating team, everyone followed Tan Jing and called Lin Miao Brother Shui.

Little did they know she shared birthdays with someone so much taller than her.

Most of the people in the international team had trained since a very young age. They were quite disconnected from the outside world, at least enough to be unaware that the Young Master was also the son of a retired film queen.

Thus, Lin Miao’s teammates assumed that the Young Master was older than Lin Miao, and about the same age as themselves.

So, her teammate’s face reddened, “Brother Shui, your older brother is here?”

Lin Miao had gathered a small wave of attention back in China. She appeared so little, sweet, cute, and absolutely obedient to her coach during the interview. It built a great contrast with her fierce style on the field, but most importantly, was her victory. What an honest girl.

Especially when someone commented that she had lept backwards for nearly every shot despite her coach reminding her to not do so through the entire duration of the match, and how she explained how she needs to follow her coach. The difference was also adorable.

She had been so happy and excited during the ceremony, too.

Of course, the discussion was exclusively in the badminton social circles.

Even though it was an international competition, no one outside the circle knew anything about it.

Lin Miao had been unaware of all the discussion since she didn’t have a phone. She also didn’t know how people sympathized with how no one cheered for her during the first round.

Lin Miao’s parents knew about her event abroad. They had watched the broadcast several times.

They had greeted Lin Miao at her badminton school. Lin Miao was like before, and split the food her parents brought with her teammates.

Her parents had purchased Lin Miao a phone, however, she still didn’t want it. Phones didn’t sell for cheap, she would have to check for it once every few moments to make sure she didn’t drop it while running around. Smartphones were so small, so she wasn’t able to guarantee that it won’t fall out of her grip.

So she refused again.

There was a telephone for phone calls in the school. She could also borrow her coach’s phone during emergencies abroad.

Her coach was very generous.

Lin Miao’s success in the international tournament made her team notice an oddity. Lin Miao seemed to never have lost a single competition since she joined the school.

They reviewed her results, and she indeed had won every tournament.

Her consistent performance led her team to send her to more international competitions.

Lin Miao was neutral to the topic. It was a competition at heart, and it didn’t matter to her where and who she competed with.

During her years at the school, she had never been absent, however, she called in in June to excuse herself for an absence.

It was the day of her older brother’s entrance exams.

Lin Miao always thought that the college entrance exams were paramount.

So, she visited the Yu family in advance. It has been a long while since she had visited.

She was warmly greeted by Dahuang, Feifei, and Jiajia. Surprisingly, they all remembered her.

The Young Master descended the stairs and was surprised. Lin Miao quickly made her way to the Young Master and warmly hugged him, “Good luck on your exams!”

The fourteen-year-old teen blushed, patted her head, and felt the moment was too precious for him to break out of it, “Yes, I’ll try my best!”

In the car, the Young Master’s mother looked at Lin Miao and exclaimed, “Shuishui has grown so much taller, and so much prettier!”

Lin Miao was surprised, “Really?”

“Of course.” The mother said, “Next time, how about you tell auntie about your competition? Auntie will go cheer you on.”

“Don’t, Mom. Just go watch the broadcast on TV. Shuishui’s shy, she wouldn’t do as well if there were people she knew around.” The Young Master said.

The Young Master’s mother couldn’t resist rolling her eyes, “Aren’t you one of those people she knows.”

“I’m different.” The Young Master said naturally. There wasn’t such a thing between them.

The mother felt as if she took a stab at her chest. Whatever, whatever, exams, exams first.

Lin Miao massaged the Young Master’s shoulders, “Gege is the best!”

The Young Master’s mother: “...”

Lin Miao and the Young Master’s mother waited in the back for him to come back out.

The Young Master’s mother always loved Shuishui; she originally even had thoughts on adopting her.

She was naturally proud of Lin Miao’s success.

Though, she didn’t expect their friendship to endure so long.

While the Young Master was doing his exams, Lin Miao left to run laps at the school to exercise.

She returned to badminton practice during the evening, and she played with Tan Jing at the school.

Tan Jing had grown much taller, but still shorter than Lin Miao.

“Brother Shui, how’s your older brother taking the college entrance exam already? Didn’t he just take the high school entrance exams last year?” She asked.

“My brother’s smart, he skipped grades!” Lin Miao exclaimed.

Tan Jing: “...” Get used to it, get used to it. It’s Brother Shui’s habit to praise her brother daily.

The exams lasted for two days so Lin Miao soon returned to train full-time in her team.

The Young Master had a three-month break.

Therefore, he went to spectate Lin Miao’s competition with some bodyguards.

Lin Miao’s competitions were all on the international stage.

She began to gather some fame abroad.

The Young Master knew he would score high on the exams, but he did not anticipate to be on the top scoreboards in the sciences category.

He was fourteen, had one of the highest exam scores, and was the son of the film queen. The combination of these three made his name more popular than some celebrity’s private marriage on the internet.

The Young Master’s mother often posted pictures of the Young Master before she retired, so most of her older fans remembered the cute little prince. They witnessed and sympathized with him all the way from his sickness during his youth.

Many of the fans had followed to search the two mountains during the kidnapping.

The mother had retired after the kidnapping and stopped sharing pictures of him. The occasional posts were about his report cards, so most of the fans only knew that the Young Master excelled in school.

Only a few knew his past and how healthy he had become since.

Like the Young Master himself, they hadn’t imagined him to score so high at such a young age. He could even be called a prodigy.

Lin Miao was also notified of the Young Master’s scores. She was so excited that she couldn’t sleep. Gege really is the smartest older brother in the world!

Nothing can stump him.

Her teammates had only learned then that Lin Miao’s brother was only fourteen. It had broken many of her teammates’ hearts.

Only fourteen!

Lin Miao was unaware of this, as she was still celebrating for her older brother.

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