Return to 2002: Freestyle Superstar

Chapter 64: Front page of newspaper, throbbing female classmate

"Sports Weekly" was founded in Changsha, southern Hunan in 1988. It is the largest circulation sports newspaper in China.

When the Chinese Men's Football Team appeared last year, it set an astonishing record of 262 million copies in a single issue.

With this shareholder style, "Sports Weekly" has become one of the giants in China's media industry as a sports newspaper.

The editors-in-chief of "Sports Weekly" know very well what kind of games the people, especially young people, like to watch.

Therefore, in the non-Olympic period of "Sports Weekly", the front page content is often monopolized by football, and of course some space is reserved for basketball.

As for advantageous sports like table tennis, only by winning the world championship can you occupy a corner position on the front page.

This time, the deputy C position on the front page of "Sports Weekly" was reserved for Chen Ran.

"Miracle! The 16-year-old genius tennis boy defeated powerful opponents and reached the finals of the Magic City Challenge!"

As the most powerful sports newspaper in China, it has demonstrated extremely high efficiency.

Just after the competition yesterday, it appeared in the newspapers the next day, and then appeared on newsstands across the country.

In this way, Chen Ran's name came into the sight of many young people in China.

For example, his high school alma mater, Dongzhou Middle School, especially his Grade 6 ([-]) class.

A boy excitedly waved the "Sports Weekly" in his hand in the classroom and shouted: "Look, our classmate is on the newspaper, and it's the front page!"

"Where, where, show me!" The remaining people became curious and gathered around.

Some people quickly chattered together to discuss.

The degree of freedom of high school students is much higher than that of junior high school students.

Even in key high schools, people will not "read only books by sages and ignore what is happening outside the window", and appropriate entertainment and hobbies will not affect learning.

Young people are always full of curiosity about the outside world.

Chen Ran brought them a huge sense of contrast.

We are obviously classmates, but we seem to be in a different world.

They are still going to school early and coming back late, but they have already entered the stage of international competitions.

Especially Wang Hanlin, who was both a special student like Chen Ran, stared at the picture in the newspaper and fell into deep thought, unable to speak for a long time.

Not long ago, he was secretly competing with Chen Ran, but now he only has one thought: What's the point of me leaving so early and coming back late to participate in the basketball team's training?It's amazing, I will be admitted to university and participate in CUBA.

How can this compare?There is no comparison at all!
In Class 10 of Senior High School, such a scene also appeared among some boys, especially those who love sports, gathering together in twos and threes.

These sixteen or seventeen-year-old boys were amazed that their classmates from the next class could advance to the finals and appear on the front page of the newspaper.

Tennis is a bit unfamiliar to many Chinese teenagers. In the past, I only occasionally heard the name of Chinese player Zhang Depei in the news.

But this time, it seems that this sport will truly come into their sight and attract the attention of the public.

At this moment, Zhou Jing, who was sitting by the window, put down the pen in her hand and turned around after finishing writing a test question.

"Excuse me...can you lend me the newspaper you are holding?"

The boy was a little surprised. After all, not many girls like to read sports newspapers. Shouldn't they be most interested in gossip newspapers about entertainment stars?

However, the boy still handed the "Sports Weekly" to Zhou Jing. "Thanks."

Zhou Jing took the "Sports Weekly", turned around, lowered her head slightly, and showed a bright smile on her beautiful face.

She laid the newspaper flat on the table and quietly and attentively read all the reports about Chen Ran sentence by sentence.

It's hard to believe that the handsome boy in the newspaper was really my deskmate four months ago?

At that time, Chen Ran always asked himself to copy his homework, and as a class cadre, she always taught him earnestly and sincerely that he should study hard.

The past was like smoke, but like a movie replaying, scenes appeared in her mind.

Zhou Jing recalled the scene when Chen Ran rode her orange bicycle and drove her all the way to the school to report on the first day of high school.

Thinking of this, she seemed to feel a touch of sweetness flowing slowly from her heart.

Suddenly, Zhou Jing suddenly felt that there seemed to be an extra person beside her.

"Ah, when did you come here? You were so sneaky that you scared me to death!" She raised her head and found her friend Chen Lu leaning against her, with a somewhat "playful" smile on her face.

A few days ago, Chen Ran met Zhou Jing when passing by a KFC. This girl was with her at the time.

"Ouch... I seem to have discovered some secret." Chen Lu blinked and joked meaningfully.

Zhou Jing's face turned red, and she pulled her friend's sleeve: "Keep your voice down!"

"Okay, okay, I will definitely keep it a secret." Chen Lu said softly with a smile, "especially not letting Wang Luting know."

Zhou Jing carefully folded the newspaper and handed it back to the boy behind her, saying "thank you".

"Class is about to start, why haven't you returned to your seat?" Zhou Jing saw that her best friend hadn't left yet, with an intriguing smile on her face.

"Okay, I'll leave now..." Chen Lu paused and muttered softly, "High school is really different from junior high school. Spring is here."

"You..." Zhou Jing, who was a little shy, pretended to hit her.

When Chen Lu saw this, she ran away happily.

Zhou Jing calmed down and turned her head to look out the window at the playground and the rows of sycamore trees on both sides of the path.

Her first year of high school reminded her of her first year of junior high school, when she was so carefree, relaxed and cheerful. But after her senior year of high school, she should be as busy and dark as the third year of junior high school, or even more exaggerated.

But what about him?

Chen Ran's figure appeared in Zhou Jing's mind, with a sunny smile, holding a tennis racket, and seemed to be waving hello to herself.

What will happen to him when I reach my senior year of high school?

……

Chen Ran, who was far away in a hotel in Shanghai, did not realize that he had caused a small commotion in his alma mater.

Originally, Channel C5 would broadcast a football A-League game during prime time, but now it will broadcast another football match in the afternoon, leaving precious time in the evening to Chen Ran.

So far, no Chinese player has won the ATP100K Challenge championship, especially since this competition is held locally, and Chen Ran will challenge for this honor today.

……

(End of this chapter)