Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
“This…” the host was stunned. He never thought that Zhenping Yiming would give up and leave the court like that. In his years as a professional, he had never seen this happen before.
“Host, do we continue with this program?” Lin Fan said as he looked on helplessly.
The competition wasn’t over yet, and Lin Fan had just made the decision to throw the game. However, looking at his current circumstances, he couldn’t do it.
The host took up his microphone, awkwardly saying a few words into it, “My fellow spectators, we have a little holdup over here, please give us a moment.”
Both the spectators in the arena and the netizens watching the live broadcast online all started laughing.
From their point of view, this was hilarious news and was something refreshing for the eyes.
Continue showing off and be arrogant.
This is what you get.
Lin Fan shrugged his shoulders as he heaved a sigh of helplessness, “Host, I had nothing to do with this. I didn’t think that this friend over here wouldn’t have been able to take this. If I knew it would be like this, I would have agreed to do this in the first place.”
The host looked at Master Lin and felt that it was Zhenping Yiming’s misfortune to have faced off against Master Lin. This was especially so after seeing Master Lin’s innocent expression- no one could pin any blame on him. However, the main thing now was to bring the program to a whole completion.
Backstage.
President Liu was wanted to laugh so badly, but as the President, he had to present a professional image.
“Mr. Zhenping, are you alright? What happened? The program isn’t over yet,” President Liu consoled him, his face looking on helplessly.
From the start, this player had been acting arrogantly as if he was a huge deal, and as the President of the TV network, he almost fainted from his anger, since he behavior was just more trouble for the Shanghai Satellite TV Network. However, everything was good now.
He couldn’t act arrogant anymore in the face of Master Lin and couldn’t react to any of his shots.
“No, no, I’m not going out there again. I want to go back to Japan,” Zhenping Yiming shook his head, wanting to leave this terrifying place.
His spirit had been totally crushed since he got thrashed in the area that he was the best in.
President Liu felt helpless after hearing what Zhenping Yiming said. He couldn’t just cut the program like this halfway while airing it.
“Mr. Zhenping, please don’t worry. We won’t play table tennis anymore. We are just going to communicate.”
President Liu’s priority right now was to get Zhenping Yiming back into the arena. If he didn’t, it would be a very awkward situation.
It was even more so since the Shanghai Satellite TV Network placed a lot of emphasis on harmony and friendship in this program. How could they just bully their international friend like this?
If word of this got out, apart from getting laughed at, people would say that the Shanghai Satellite TV Network was just out to bully people.
In the arena.
Lin Fan stood there, as the people in the audience started cheering. The scene that happened just now was just too exciting and entertaining.
So much so that they all started cheering.
Lin Fan tried to hush them as he looked on in helplessness, “Everyone, please keep quiet. This is all a misunderstanding. If I knew that he was no match for me, I would never have played like this. To tell the truth, I have played with Xu Song before and the match was rather close. Since our international friend here beat Xu Song, I thought that he might be a good fight for me, but… sigh.”
The people in the audience all sighed, thinking that Master Lin was just boasting at this point.
The national team.
Xu Song looked on awkwardly, “Don’t look at me, I’ve never met Master Lin in my life, so how could I have played with him before?”
The coach smiled at him, “Alright, alright. Master Lin is helping you build your public image. A lot of people online were disappointed with your loss to Zhenping Yiming, and Master Lin is helping you get out of public opinion.”
“But I really never imagined that Master Lin would be this strong. I think that no one can match against him at all.”
“Yeah. Although I wasn’t there to see him play, I could see from the TV that his service was extraordinary and unparalleled. More importantly, Master Lin’s reaction time was monstrous. He didn’t even move his legs and just stood there returning Zhenping Yiming’s shots. Zhenping Yiming didn’t even stand a chance against him.”
“If Master Lin joined our national team, we would win every single competition. The male single’s championship title would be outs.”
“I think he shouldn’t join our team. If he really joined us, our national table tennis team would definitely be banned from participating in the Olympics.”
…
At the arena.
Zhenping Yiming still hadn’t gone on stage yet.
The host couldn’t just keep the program on hold like this, and so he started interviewing Lin Fan. “Teacher Lin, when did you start playing table tennis? Your skills are just so amazing!”
“Really? Are my skills that good?” Lin Fan looked at him in shock.
The host looked back, dumbfounded. Was he kidding?
“Master Lin, if I may say, I’ve never seen anyone of your caliber before. If you went professional. I think that the gold medal would easily be yours.”
The crowd went wild and cheered on in agreement after hearing the host say that.
With Master Lin’s skills, he could easily defeat anyone.
“Oh? I guess I better not go pro then. If it is as you say, that the gold medal would easily be mine, who would want to watch the competition? There won’t be any suspense.”
“In any competition, there are winners and losers. That is what makes the competition fun to watch. If there isn’t any suspense, there won’t be any meaning to that anymore.”
The host laughed at him, “What you said does make sense. Right, just now you said that you played with Xu Song a few times before. Are you two close?”
“I wouldn’t say that we are that close. I play table tennis with him sometime in my dreams.”
In the broadcast room.
“666…, this is really lonely. He can only find a match in his dreams.”
“Damn, if I didn’t watch this program today, I would never have known that Master Lin’s table tennis skills were that good. It’s just so scary.”
“Haha, Master Lin’s is really funny, playing table tennis with Xu Song in his dreams. If he really played with Xu Song in real life, I don’t even think that Xu Song could match him.”
…
Not long after, Zhenping Yiming came back into the arena.
No one knew how President Liu managed to convince him, but he did it anyway.
President Liu heaved a sigh of relief. He couldn’t cut the program halfway no matter what.
Although there was a little hiccup in the middle, it wasn’t much of a problem. The live broadcast room was packed with people and Shanghai Satellite TV’s Weibo was swamped with comments.
Zhenping Yiming stepped back into the arena, his face looking fearfully at Lin Fan. He didn’t even dare to look at the ping-pong ball anymore.
He was traumatized.
Lin Fan smiled as he extended out his hands, “International friend, this is a friendly competition, so don’t worry too much about it. I look forward to seeing you in the international arena.”
The host translated what Lin Fan said for Zhenping Yiming.
After hearing what the host had translated, his whole body trembled as the color drained from his face, “No…no…”
Zhenping Yiming had probably misunderstood Lin Fan’s statement. What Lin Fan actually meant was that he looked forward to watching him play in the international arena. However, Zhenping Yiming had interpreted it differently, thinking that Lin Fan wanted to play with him in the international arena.
He thought back to how he couldn’t even return a single shot from Lin Fan before.
If I played with him in the international arena, it would just mean more humiliation.
At this moment, fear gripped him in his heart.
He even thought of giving up playing table tennis and changing his profession.