THE HUG

Huang Mo and Yuan Tianyu had more strength and speed than the old pair Wu Yishui and Zhao Xizhen. Even though they had less experience and hadn't even been able to win a title in the past year, these two young men certainly had the spirit to win matches.

Ever since Coach Cheng started the match, both partners were throwing psywar at each other. Huang Mo and Yuan Tianyu were not as friendly as Wu Yishui and Zhao Xizhen. Perhaps because of their young age, they saw Lin Zhu and Ye Quan as opponents. Even if it was just a friendly match, they seemed to be taking it seriously.

Huang Mo was the first to serve, and he pointed the shuttlecock at Ye Quan. The ball was easy, and Ye Quan was able to return the ball without difficulty.

Yuan Tianyu was a left-handed athlete, and Ye Quan seemed to have forgotten that important fact. He returned the shuttlecock to the left, and the left-handed athlete easily destroyed the shuttlecock.

The shuttlecock flew at high speed toward Lin Zhu, and the athlete tried to save the ball while dropping his body to the floor. Unfortunately, he still failed to save the shuttlecock as the white object bounced happily on the ground.

Lin Zhu groaned quite loudly. He didn't feel any pain from falling so hard to the ground, but he was more disappointed in himself for not being able to save the ball.

The short athlete glanced at Ye Quan for a moment, but the latter just stared at him with no intention of helping him. Lin Zhu became angrier, but he remembered that they were not on good terms. Thus, it was normal that Ye Quan didn't care about him.

"What are you doing, Ah-Quan?! You have to help Lin Zhu to get up!"

The coach's voice echoed through the large sports hall. Lin Zhu flinched slightly and was about to get up, but suddenly he saw a hand stretched out right in front of him.

He directed his eyes to look up and found Ye Quan was the one who offered to help him.

Lin Zhu glared at the older man, but the latter didn't even want to look at him. He finally groaned again before he grabbed Ye Quan's hand to get up. He did it because his coach was watching him.

The two epidermises made contact again, and Lin Zhu felt his body shiver slightly because of the contact. He then quickly withdrew his hand from the grip as he cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Where's the high five?" Coach Cheng's voice sounded again as he slightly scowled at the two youths.

Lin Zhu took a peek at Ye Quan and hesitated for a moment before he stretched out his hand. Fortunately, Ye Quan was willing to cooperate with him and he immediately high-fived him.

The match continued, and both Lin Zhu and Ye Quan played harder to beat the two opponents.

Ye Quan was good with his jumping smash, and the world knew him as one of the badminton athletes with the strongest smash. Several times, his smash managed to give some points to his team because their opponent's defense was not very good.

It seemed that Huang Mo and Yuan Tianyu were not good at defending their territory. They were good at attacking but a little bad at defending.

Lin Zhu was good with his accurate netting. He had the magical ability to gently push the ball through the net as if it were sliding down the net beautifully.

Both Huang Mo and Yuan Tianyu were equally frustrated as they tried to defend their territory.

The match lasted for more than an hour, and miraculously, Lin Zhu and Ye Quan won the match in the rubber game.

Lin Zhu couldn't hide his happiness as he ran toward Ye Quan. Realizing it or not, he suddenly hugged the taller man tightly. Ye Quan could only freeze and couldn't do anything. He didn't even return Lin Zhu's hug.

A minute passed, and Lin Zhu finally realized what he was doing with the toad. His eyes widened before he brought his hand to shove Ye Quan's shoulder. "Sorry," he muttered without looking at the older man.

It was a very embarrassing moment for him. Their relationship was not good, but he suddenly hugged the man. Why couldn't he control his body earlier?

It looked like Ye Quan was about to say something, but he was slower than Coach Cheng who suddenly appeared between him and hugged the necks of the two tightly.

"That's my boys!" The coach exclaimed happily with a grin plastered on his face. "I know that you have the potential, and you proved to me today that you two are indeed good!"

The coach couldn't stop praising them as if they just won the gold medal in the Olympic Games.

"It's just a friendly match, Coach. We still need to win the real match tomorrow," Lin Zhu tried to be as humble as possible even if he couldn't suppress his smile.

The coach laughed before letting go of the two men. "If you can win the game tomorrow, then you can embarrass those people who don't believe in you," he said.

The image of Coach Su flashed in Lin Zhu's mind as soon as Coach Cheng finished speaking. There were many people out there who doubted him, but Coach Su was the one who left a mark on his heart. He wanted to prove that he deserved to be on the national team in front of the bald coach.

"You two have to work harder if you want to win tomorrow," the coach spoke again. "You already know who will be your opponent tomorrow, right?"

Lin Zhu's smile disappeared after hearing the coach's question. The organizers had announced the draw results for tomorrow's match, and their opponent was the world's number 1 men's doubles player. Could they beat the best player in the world tomorrow?