This season of Glory of Chinese Table Tennis was scripted based on the athletes' real experiences and live matches, featuring a cast of active young athletes, film and television stars, and in some segments, even the protagonists making cameo appearances.
The series adopted a simultaneous shooting and broadcasting format. Alongside fully recreating the athletes' fierce battles on the court through live-action settings, it also showcased details of their everyday lives as ordinary people—how they interacted with family, bantered with friends and teammates, and even the intimate details of their married lives, romances, and raising children. It was a remarkably novel approach.
Director Yu talked on endlessly, his peripheral vision catching Wang Chuqin, who was clearly listening with a distracted air.
He had no choice but to rein in his words slightly and say to Ma Long, "Coach Long, Captain Wang, that's pretty much the gist of it. We plan to split this program into two seasons, with twelve episodes per season. These are the currently proposed themes for each episode and the list of invited guests. Take a look."
Ma Long took the ultra-thick proposal handed to him and signaled for Datou to look as well. Wang Chuqin had no choice but to pull out a booklet and take it in his hands.
The one he drew happened to be from the second volume of the proposal, bearing a title in oversized bold font: *The Sha-Tou Legend: The Glory of Chinese Table Tennis's Most Dazzling Youth Storm*.
Printed clearly on the cover was a photograph of the two of them: the girl with her bright eyes and smiling, flower-like face, standing right beside him. They leaned so close that they formed a little world of their own—a secret garden accessible only to the two of them.
Yet, cruel fate had played with them; he had lost his little girl.
Only two years had passed since that photo was taken, yet the world seemed to have turned completely upside down. Wang Datou stared in silence, a vacuum pulling the breath right out of his chest.
It felt as though just by closing his eyes, they would still be standing side by side by the table, exchanging knowing glances, hearts beating in sync as they fought off foreign rivals. Yet the moment he opened them, everything had changed beyond recognition, feeling like a lifetime ago.
Noticing Datou's absent-minded state, Ma Long offered a flurry of explanations. Then, following the polite verbal pleasantries of scheduling a future chat, they finally saw their guests out.
Even after Director Yu left, Wang Datou remained frozen in his posture, clutching the proposal and staring fixedly at the cover.
As Director Yu walked out the gates of the General Administration of Sport, he shook his head. He had thought this would be a golden opportunity to produce a fine show. But such a brilliant subject matter was completely doomed without the cooperation of the protagonists; if the protagonists lacked a happy ending in reality, bringing it to the screen would only make it impossible to round out the narrative.
Looking at Wang Chuqin's reaction, could that rumor really be true—had Sha-Tou broken up?
After closing the door, Ma Long walked over and patted that big head on the shoulder, finally shocking the man back to his senses.
Datou slumped onto the sofa, his face crumpled into a frown, his hair disheveled, making his head look even bigger.
"Datou..." Ma Long opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say. In the end, he said nothing, sat down beside the sofa, and began tidying up the pile of proposals brought by the CCTV directors. It was estimated that this stack of paper was practically useless now.
"Brother Long, does Shasha know about this? Their people from CCTV must have gone to look for her too, right?" Wang Chuqin raised his head, the bloodshot veins in his eyes heartbreaking to look at.
"She probably doesn't know yet. When Chairman Liu called me about this earlier, he said to discuss it with Shasha, and that the team would make unified arrangements overall. He didn't know you and Sun Yingsha had fallen out so badly this time..." Ma Long trailed off; Datou's expression made it look as though he were about to cry.
"Brother Long, I haven't been able to reach Shasha in thirty-two days. She blocked me on WeChat. When I call, it's either turned off or goes unanswered. She doesn't reply to my emails, and she won't even look at my Weibo private messages."
"When I went to look for her, she said we should break up. I told her I only loved her, and she told me to think about it carefully. I said I was wrong, to forgive me and that I would never lose my temper with her again, and she said the one who was wrong was actually her. I said I was just jealous and really did believe in her, and she said she knew. I said I wanted to stay by her side, and she said everyone has their own path to walk alone, and she was going to walk it by herself."
"Brother Long, I'm losing my mind. I really don't understand why—why is she doing this?? Does she really not love me anymore? Has she fallen in love with someone else?"
As he rambled on incessantly, his hands grabbed at his hair, and Ma Long genuinely feared he would pull it all out.
This younger brother he had raised himself was good at everything: talented at table tennis, smart, hardworking, upright, and kind-hearted. It was just that he was born with an incurable case of romance-brain. No matter how much wind, sun, and brutal hardship he faced outside, he had never once admitted defeat—yet he was a late-stage terminal patient of love.
Whenever it came to matters concerning Sun Yingsha, the entire man transformed into a nagging, aggrieved housewife.
Though much older than Datou, Ma Long didn't understand matters of the heart himself. He and his wife had never encountered so many problems.
At home, his wife made the final call on everything; outside, he made the call. Everyone lived much the same way. As for romance, Captain Long had never considered it to be the backbone of life, which left him utterly helpless and unable to comprehend Datou's life-or-death agony.
After pondering for a moment, he made another phone call. Perhaps those other childhood-sweetheart love gurus could offer some advice and help.