Abandoning One of Them—Both Sides Win

Shi Xing sat in the car. After a long while, she glanced at Ji Yu from the corner of her eye and said calmly, “I was fired yesterday.”

Ji Yu lightly turned the steering wheel and replied casually, “I know.”

“You only found out now?” Shi Xing couldn’t help feeling speechless.

“No,” Ji Yu turned to look at her, his tone unhurried. “I found out last night.”

“But today they suddenly asked me to come back to work again. Did they have a change of heart?” Shi Xing frowned, muttering to herself, completely missing the deeper meaning behind his words.

Ji Yu didn’t respond. He narrowed his eyes slightly, a faintly amused smile appearing on his face.

In an instant, his thoughts were pulled back to the previous night.

In the office, Instructor Su leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk. When he saw who had entered, his tone softened.
“Ji Yu, what brings you here?”

Ji Yu’s eyes were dark and deep. He pressed his lips together before speaking gently.
“I want to talk about Huo Sikai.”

At the mention of that name, Instructor Su frowned slightly. “You want Shi Xing back, don’t you? That’s not negotiable.”

Ji Yu shook his head and said firmly, “Not Shi Xing. Me.”

“You?” Instructor Su was clearly caught off guard.

“I want to bet myself against Huo Sikai—see who’s more valuable to the higher-ups,” Ji Yu said. Standing in the shadows, he lifted his brow slightly at the key point, though his expression remained unchanged.

Instructor Su blinked. “For a woman?”

“Not entirely.” Ji Yu lowered his gaze slightly, meeting the other man’s eyes. His voice was steady.
“The World Championship finals start next month. If I win, I’ll become the fastest player in badminton history to achieve a Grand Slam. And with Huo Sikai—who has a similar public image—falling from grace, my commercial value will rise again. At that point, I can offer an additional 20% profit share to the organization.”

“Give up one of him, and both sides benefit.”

Instructor Su listened thoughtfully. After a moment, he said, “You’re very confident.”

After a brief silence, he continued, “Huo Sikai’s case will be handed over entirely to the police. As for everything else, we’ll proceed according to the original plan.”

He knew it himself—Huo Sikai’s situation had grown too big to salvage. Besides, the association had already identified many promising new talents. Granting Ji Yu this favor would still secure their interests.

After Ji Yu left, Instructor Su stared at his retreating figure, lost in thought.
When had Ji Yu become someone even he could no longer fully understand?

Back then, Ji Yu was someone he had personally discovered among many candidates. His uniqueness had stood out at first glance—and sure enough, Ji Yu never disappointed. Since his debut, his performance had remained consistently strong. Combined with his striking appearance, he quickly gained public favor, and his high endorsement fees once brought enormous profits to the organization.

Shi Xing’s voice snapped Ji Yu back to the present.

“I’m talking to you—didn’t you hear me?” She waved her hand in front of him and complained, “You’re zoning out while driving?”

“I was thinking about next month’s World Championship,” Ji Yu replied, his gaze darkening.

Shi Xing thought he was worried and comforted him gently.
“It’ll be fine. With rehab training, your waist injury should improve by then.”

Ji Yu paused slightly, then cast her a lazy glance. A slow smile spread across his lips as he replied, unhurried,
“I was thinking about which outfit I should wear to accept the award next month.”

Confident—and irritatingly so.

Shi Xing rolled her eyes, realizing her concern had been completely unnecessary. She tugged at the corner of her mouth and decided not to bother with him anymore.

At the entrance, the two separated naturally. When Shi Xing arrived at the table tennis department, she truly felt how demanding the work was. She barely sat down all day. With so many athletes, it was one after another nonstop.

Near the end of the day, she finally rushed off to drink some water, feeling deep admiration for the seniors who had worked in table tennis for so many years. Still, there was a benefit—she was learning a great deal. In the past, she had felt somewhat inexperienced when guiding rehabilitation training and acupoint massage.

With the team leader patiently guiding her, she gradually found her rhythm.

This routine continued until Ji Yu left for competition. This time, there was no temporary reassignment of a team doctor, so after work each day, Shi Xing hurried home to watch his matches via livestream.

At first, she was inevitably nervous. At crucial moments, she even covered her eyes, afraid to hear bad news.

But as Ji Yu won round after round with ease, her heart finally settled. During a break, she took a photo and sent it to him.

[Watching live right now hahaha]

What she didn’t expect was that Ji Yu, having just stepped off the court, immediately picked up his phone to reply.

[I’ll video call you tonight—live version]

Even after leaving the court, cameras were still surrounding him, capturing the moment perfectly.

Suddenly, a comment floated across the screen:
“Is he reporting to his girlfriend?”

More and more viewers picked up on it. Comments flooded in, and related topics began trending on Weibo.

Seeing this, Shi Xing quickly sent him a message.

[Stop replying! Everyone’s watching—focus on the match!]

Ji Yu lifted his eyes slightly, smiled faintly, and tapped on the screen with long fingers before sending four words:

[Got it, wife]

As expected, even though the chat screen only flashed briefly on camera, netizens quickly captured it, reconstructed the conversation, and pushed a new trending topic:

#EvenWorldChampionsReplyToTheirGirlfriendsBetweenMatchesAndYou’reStillMakingExcusesForYourColdBoyfriend

Just then, Shi Xing’s phone rang. Seeing the caller ID, she took a breath and answered.

“Hello, Dad.”

“So your badminton coach is a world champion?” Shi Bohua snorted, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

Before Shi Xing could respond, the voice on the other end changed. Wei Shufen snatched the phone and laughed loudly.
“Why didn’t you tell us earlier that Xiao Ji is an athlete?”

Shi Xing pressed her forehead, already imagining the chaos at home. “Mom, don’t spread this around.”

Her words had barely fallen when her aunt’s voice rang out loudly,
“This isn’t a bad thing!”

Shi Bohua retorted, “I think that kid’s the one getting the better deal. Our Shi Xing is outstanding.”

Listening to the noisy arguing on the other end, Shi Xing felt utterly exhausted. After a few perfunctory replies, she hurriedly hung up.

It was destined to be a sleepless night.

Lying in bed, she tossed and turned, feeling that the sudden surge of trending topics seemed driven by some unseen force, guiding everything behind the scenes.

Before she could think further, another bombshell dropped—Huo Sikai had been dismissed.

It caught Shi Xing off guard. Though she felt he deserved it, she hadn’t expected the higher-ups to abandon him so easily.

Brands associated with Huo Sikai also quickly announced the termination of their contracts.

Online reactions were overwhelmingly positive, though some diehard fans still clung to conspiracy theories.

As the World Championship finals drew to a close, Ji Yu lived up to expectations and won gold, becoming the fastest badminton player in history to achieve a full Grand Slam.

Coincidentally, many brands that had terminated contracts with Huo Sikai—except competing ones—approached Ji Yu instead.

The evening wind was sharp, ink-like clouds spreading across the sky. With Christmas approaching, festive decorations filled the streets. Shi Xing thought of previous years when Ying Xiaoxiao would be by her side. This year, she was alone.

She wandered aimlessly through the streets as snowflakes drifted silently down. Looking up, she saw a familiar face on the massive LED screen at Raffles City.

Ji Yu’s side profile filled the screen—loose strands of hair falling across his forehead, sharp and steady features, a pronounced Adam’s apple.

Many people stopped to watch, exclaiming in admiration.

Shi Xing’s gaze was drawn in as well. Though the ad was only a few seconds long, she stood there for quite a while.

Then she sensed movement in front of her.

Turning her head, she unexpectedly met a familiar gaze.

Ji Yu had appeared beside her without her noticing. He brushed the snow from her hair and smiled softly, his voice low and pleasant.

“I’m right here—watch as much as you want.”

Embarrassed, Shi Xing retorted, “I wasn’t looking at you.”

Ji Yu hummed lazily, raised an eyebrow, and teased,
“There was only me and a badminton racket up there. Did you spend an hour staring at the racket?”

She glared at him. “Narcissist.”

Fine snow and cold wind brushed their faces. Ji Yu wrapped an arm around her, his warmth seeping through layers of fabric. His voice was lazy yet sincere.

“I really missed you.”

Shi Xing froze. Heat rushed to her cheeks, even to the tips of her ears.

She looked up at him and replied honestly,
“Me too.”

She really, truly missed him.

These days without Ji Yu had felt strangely incomplete.

And only now did she realize—at some point, without her noticing, Ji Yu had quietly woven himself into most corners of her life.

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