"How come even the vegetables are sweet?"
Zhang Bai silently put down his chopsticks and picked up his water glass.
As a true southerner, the overwhelming sweetness was almost unbearable.
Mo Xiaoyu had already lost her appetite from stressing about tomorrow’s exam.
After one bite of the sweet and sour short ribs, she set her chopsticks down on her side plate, suddenly feeling full.
Chen Zhuo sat beside them.
He glanced at the table laden with rich, heavily sauced dishes, then at his troubled-looking teammates.
He personally didn’t mind.
He picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a piece of shredded eel.
He swished it in his cup of barley tea, washing away the cloyingly sweet sauce on the surface.
Then he ate it with some white rice.
He shoveled down two mouthfuls of rice.
He raised his head and glanced at Coach Xu across the table.
"Coach."
Chen Zhuo put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth with a napkin.
His voice was natural, with a hint of a joking tone.
"If they keep eating like this, a few of them are going to pass out from low blood sugar during the exam tomorrow morning."
Chen Zhuo pointed at the bowl of rice in front of Li Nanbai, which had barely been touched.
"Could you have the owner make us a couple bowls of tomato and egg noodles? Extra salt, no sugar."
Coach Xu looked at his students, who didn’t even want to lift their chopsticks.
He sighed and chided them with a laugh.
"Here for a competition, and you can’t even fill your bellies."
Coach Xu stood up, walked over to the cashier, and spoke with the owner for a moment.
Before long, a waiter came over carrying several large bowls.
They were steaming hot bowls of tomato and egg noodles in a rich broth, with a few specks of chopped green onion floating on top.
There was no sugar.
Li Nanbai’s and Zhang Bai’s eyes lit up.
They each took a large bowl.
Ignoring the heat, they lifted the noodles and shoveled them into their mouths.
The sound of slurping soon filled the air around the table.
After a few mouthfuls of hot broth, the tension on their faces finally started to ease.
Once they had eaten their fill, they paid the bill and left.
The sky outside had grown darker.
Shanghai’s plum rain had begun to fall without warning.
The rain wasn’t heavy, but it was a dense, fine drizzle.
The air grew a little cooler, but it was still humid.
Coach Xu went to a nearby convenience store, bought a few umbrellas, and handed them out.
"Let’s go. Straight back to the hotel."
Coach Xu opened his umbrella.
Chen Zhuo opened his umbrella, the raindrops drumming against the canopy with a dull patter.
Back at the hotel.
The cool air of the lobby enveloped their bodies once more.
Chen Zhuo folded his dripping, transparent umbrella.
He placed it in the drainage rack by the entrance.
The elevator arrived at their floor.
The doors opened.
The carpet in the hallway absorbed the sound of their footsteps.
Everyone walked to their respective rooms.
They took out their keycards.
"No need to study this afternoon."
Coach Xu announced, standing in the middle of the hallway.
"Get a good nap in, reset your bodies. It’s still raining, so stay in your rooms. Don’t go anywhere, and don’t get sick before tomorrow."
The students nodded.
They swiped their cards and went inside.
Chen Zhuo took off his shoes.
He went straight to the bed further inside, flopped down, and stared at the ceiling.
The rain outside hadn’t stopped, pattering softly against the windowpane.
「By evening.」
A knock came from the hallway.
Chen Zhuo went to open the door.
Coach Xu was standing in the doorway.
He was holding a large white porcelain platter of the sort used in the hotel restaurant.
On the platter was half a watermelon, cut into neat little chunks.
"Go get the others."
Coach Xu placed the platter on the desk.
Chen Zhuo went and knocked on the door next to his.
A moment later, Zhou Kai, Zhang Bai, Li Nanbai, Mo Xiaoyu, and Lin Yi all came over.
The group squeezed into Chen Zhuo’s room.
They sat on the edge of the bed and on the chairs.
"Have some watermelon."
Coach Xu gestured at the platter.
"When you’re done, get out your exam admission tickets and your IDs."
Everyone took a piece of watermelon and had a bite.
The cool sweetness slid down their throats, washing away much of the muggy heat of the plum rain season.
Coach Xu was holding a brown paper bag.
He went around and collected everyone’s admission tickets and IDs, putting them inside.
He carefully checked them against the number of students.
"I’ll keep these safe. I’ll hand them back to you tomorrow morning in the restaurant on the first floor."
Coach Xu wound the string on the envelope shut.
"This is so you don’t wake up all groggy and scatterbrained tomorrow and lose them."
After collecting everything, Coach Xu walked to the doorway and pulled the door open.
"Get to bed early tonight. No staying up late."
With that, the door closed.
Only the six of them were left in the room.
Without the coach’s watchful eye on them, the atmosphere became visibly more relaxed.
Zhang Bai sat on the edge of the bed, holding a half-eaten watermelon rind.
He glanced left and right.
Then, he suddenly lowered his voice, his eyes glinting with excitement.
"Hey."
Zhang Bai spat a mouthful of watermelon seeds into his palm.
"Did you guys watch the World Cup final last night?"
The moment he said it, the air in the room seemed to freeze for a second.
Li Nanbai, who was in the middle of stuffing a piece of watermelon into his mouth, froze.
He snapped his head up, his cheeks still bulging.
"You watched it?!"
Li Nanbai threw his watermelon rind into the trash can and hastily wiped his hands on a tissue.
"Germany played Brazil! The final! You guys watched it last night, too?!"
Zhou Kai was sitting on a chair.
He also put down his watermelon.
"I watched the first half."
Zhou Kai pushed up his glasses.
"We’d just gotten to the hotel yesterday. After the coach’s room check, the TV in the next room was on full blast, so I just turned mine on and watched for a bit too."
Zhang Bai grinned.
"I stuffed clothes under the door, turned the volume down to a single bar, and watched in secret."
Lin Yi, who had been silent the whole time, sat at the foot of the bed.
Munching on his watermelon, he rolled his eyes.
"It was the middle of the night, and all I could hear was you guys making a ruckus. I thought you’d seen a ghost."

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