Lu Zhengze went to work, and Jiang Younin took the day off.
After Lu Ke showered, the tension in his shoulders finally eased a little. He buried himself in the covers, closed his eyes, and tried to get some sleep. The plane ride was bumpy, and the seats were too narrow for him to rest properly. Both his body and nerves were exhausted to the extreme, and his eyelids felt like they couldn't stay open. That's exactly what happened when he was in the driver's seat earlier; he fell asleep in an instant.
But now, even though he was so tired, he couldn't fall asleep. He lay there with his eyes closed for a while, thinking half an hour had passed, but when he turned to look at the clock on the bedside table, he realized only three minutes had gone by. Time was passing slower than ever. The agonizing exhaustion was like a giant knot in his throat, making it hard to breathe.
Lu Ke simply sat up, cross-legged on the bed, and looked around his room. Everything was so familiar and seemed unchanged. The Peyton Manning poster above his bed was still bathed in the thin morning sunlight. The eraser and pencil on his desk looked like they had never been moved. Even the books stacked haphazardly on the bookshelf were exactly as he had left them.
Time seemed to have left this sanctuary untouched. His youthful years and the footsteps of his growth were still preserved, vivid and real. Every corner was a true record of the passage of time. He turned and pulled back the covers to see a crooked sentence written in black pen on the wooden board connecting the mattress and the headboard: "I want to be the best quarterback!" He could still clearly remember the excitement and passion he felt when he wrote those ambitious words.
Since he couldn't sleep, he decided to get up and do something. He left his room and went downstairs, where he found his mother "resting" on the sofa. "Mom, aren't you going to work?"
"Oh, I'm not feeling well today, so I took the day off." Jiang Younin pretended to be flipping through a magazine, answering Lu Ke nonchalantly, but her peripheral vision was secretly sizing up Lu Ke. "Don't worry, it's nothing serious. You go do your thing. There are breakfast ingredients in the fridge. If you need it, make it yourself."
Lu Ke looked at his mother, tried to say something, but found his mind in a jumble and didn't know what to say. He knew his mother was worried about him, but right now, he wasn't in the mood. He felt like a headless fly, spinning in circles and bumping into the walls of a transparent glass box. He stood there and thought for a moment. In the end, he didn't say anything, just gave a low "Okay," and walked straight into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for himself.
Jiang Younin quickly sat up and peeked toward the kitchen, trying to get a look at her son's movements. But she was afraid of being discovered, so she quickly ducked back down and sat back down at the slightest sound. When she realized it was a false alarm, she peeked out again and saw her son coming out with cereal and milk. She quickly sat back down, straightened the blanket on her knees, and pretended that nothing had happened.
Lu Ke walked into the living room. Jiang Younin pretended to have heard the sound and looked up, giving Lu Ke a smile, then immediately lowered her head and went back to flipping through the magazine. But in reality, she didn't even know what magazine it was, whether the pictures were ads or interviews, and the only thing she was sure of was that she was holding it right-side up.
Lu Ke couldn't think right now. His mind was a mess. After too many unorganized thoughts, it just went blank. No thoughts, no feelings, no positive or negative emotions. For a moment, the recent loss seemed to have been forgotten. He just went about his business reflexively. His long-term, routine schedule and training had formed a natural system. He didn't have to think; his body and mind seemed to have been programmed to follow a set of instructions. But after he finished breakfast, he realized that the program seemed to be off.
Yesterday was Thursday, and today was Friday. There was no game on Sunday, and he didn't have to report to the training facility on Friday and Saturday. The next game was a distant Sunday, still nine days away. The entire rhythm and plan were completely different. For a moment, Lu Ke's mind was blank. What was he supposed to do today?
He had never experienced a Thursday night game before, so he had no idea what the plan was after the game. In his confusion, Lu Ke just stood there in a daze for a while before he finally snapped out of it and summoned his system. He ignored the pile of unread messages and went straight to the daily training plan. He found the recovery training items for today, then went to the backyard and started training according to the instructions. He needed to sweat, he needed to be exhausted, he needed to stop thinking for a while, and he needed his mind to calm down again.
He was fully focused and single-minded. Lu Ke started his daily training again, just like he had for countless days and nights in the past, steadily putting in the fundamental training. But today's training was particularly difficult. He couldn't stay highly focused, and he kept catching glimpses of Jiang Younin in his peripheral vision.
Sometimes, Jiang Younin would be cleaning the windows, moving back and forth in front of them. Other times, she would go to the tool shed in the backyard to organize things. Other times, she would lean her head out of the second floor, considering whether the sunlight was suitable for drying the blankets. Other times, she would ask Lu Ke if there was anything special he wanted for lunch today. Sporadically, Jiang Younin's figure was always lingering around the backyard.
Lu Ke knew his mother wasn't doing it on purpose. She was just concerned. But he was so distracted that he couldn't completely calm down. The restless feeling was uncontrollable, and the slightest disturbance was amplified a thousand times. This constant distraction not only made his training ineffective but could also lead to unnecessary injuries.
In the end, Lu Ke gave up on his recovery training. He just said, "I'm going for a run," and then jogged out of the house, following his familiar route. Running, just running. Running is one of the simplest training activities. It's just following your instincts, letting go of all thoughts, and just moving your feet and running with big strides. As he ran, his mind gradually became deprived of oxygen, his lungs started to wheeze like a bellows, and all the random thoughts, worries, and confusion were completely cleared out, leaving him in a complete blank state.
The failures, the sacks, the interceptions, the helplessness—everything was gone, leaving only a strong sense of frustration. In a team sport, if he refused to work hard and fight, losing the game was a likely outcome. But sometimes, even if he gave his all, even if he gave everything he had, even if he went all out, it wasn't a guarantee that he would win the game. The frustration that came with that feeling of powerlessness was like a bottomless pit with no end in sight. An interception, a sack; a sack, an interception. It seemed they hadn't even had a chance to catch their breath and recover before the shadow of a two-game losing streak loomed over them. This was truly... truly infuriating.
Lu Ke's running speed got faster and faster. He gave up on controlling his pace and speed and just went all out, accelerating furiously. His sprints became more and more aggressive, as if his whole body was on fire. But before he could completely burn out, a deep feeling of fatigue and exhaustion rushed in, and his lungs started to burn with a sharp pain. Today, Lu Ke's physical and mental state was not good; it was terrible.
Normally, a 10,000-meter variable-speed run had become a habit, like eating and drinking water. His body had long since adapted to this intensity. But today, after running for less than a third of the distance, the large amount of lactic acid being produced had already made his limbs feel incredibly heavy. It felt like his feet couldn't even lift off the ground. What was worse was that his hot lungs had started to burn. Breathing in and out felt like a hot, burning air, searing his lungs, traveling up his throat, and spreading throughout his mouth. The pain that went deep into his blood felt like he had reached a breaking point while drowning. His feet were straddling the line between life and death. One side was death, and the other was survival.
This feeling was even worse than death. The more it happened, the angrier he got. The anger that had been slowly subsiding started to burn again. An unidentifiable rage swept through his body. He just wanted to vent it out, but he couldn't find an outlet. He felt frustrated and suffocated, and the entire world started to change color.
He hated losing! He hated losing! He hated this kind of shameful, humiliating, and terrible loss! Even if he went through it a million times, he still couldn't get used to this feeling. He couldn't. His staggering steps almost caused him to trip. His knees felt like soft noodles and were barely able to support his body. He could only stumble in one direction. This headless fly still couldn't find its way.
Just then, a long, slender figure appeared in the distance. She was standing at the corner of the street. His eyes followed her long, toned legs up and saw the face of Candice Swanepoel, who was beaming with a brilliant smile. Candice didn't say a word. She just winked at Lu Ke and ran toward him at a fast, steady pace, closing the distance between them. Then... she ran right past him. Her feet didn't stop. She continued to run, and her slender back faded into the distance.
Lu Ke was stunned for a moment. Then he gritted his teeth and picked up his pace again, chasing after her.
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