Chapter 167

It was May, with a clear blue sky and pleasant temperatures. Willow catkins drifted like feathers across the city. At the Beijing Daxing International Airport, the Chinese National Table Tennis Team was loaded with luggage as they set off grandly for Durban, South Africa. Wang Datou wore a cap and a mask, revealing only his eyes, and was wrapped up so tightly that Shasha wanted to laugh just looking at him. Sometimes she felt that Wang Chuqin was like a delicate heroine from classical literature weighing two hundred pounds: he easily strained his waist and legs while playing, was easily startled, had light-colored pupils and feared bright light, and was allergic to many things. He could not eat seafood, he could not eat mangoes, and oh, he was also allergic to Beijing's willow catkins.