Chapter 19: A Proposal from the Royal City

After finishing his meal, Li Hua felt a bit dizzy and went to the tennis hall’s lounge to take a nap.

Jiang Hongze returned alone to the court, ready to practice his serves.

Suddenly, at that moment, his phone rang.

Glancing at the screen, he saw it was Su Cheng calling.

They had agreed yesterday that she would come watch the match, but it seemed she hadn’t appeared in the morning.

Answering the call, he teased, “Hey, Miss Su, you stood me up and still dare to call me?”

“Sorry, Jiang Hong,” Su Cheng replied apologetically. “My roommate suddenly had kidney stones this morning, so we rushed her to the hospital. Uh… has your match ended yet?” She didn’t retort this time, which was rare for her.

If Jiang Hong’s match was still ongoing, she intended to come watch.

“Don’t you have any confidence in me? With my skill, I’ve easily made it to the quarterfinals. The next match starts at two in the afternoon.”

“Alright, I’ll come cheer for you soon!”

Hearing that Jiang Hong hadn’t been eliminated, Su Cheng breathed a long sigh of relief.

After hanging up, Jiang Hong chuckled softly and slipped his phone into his pocket.

He walked over to the ball basket, picked a few balls, and began his training.

Wang Cheng, having finished his match and on his way out, realized he had left some belongings on the court.

He returned to retrieve them.

Before stepping onto the court, he heard the sound of tennis balls being struck.

But the match should have been over!

Entering, he saw Jiang Hong practicing serves alone.

Wang Cheng observed for a moment; the quality of Jiang Hong’s serves was decent, but his training seemed unstructured.

“Is this how you usually train?” Wang Cheng frowned, unable to resist asking.

Jiang Hong turned around and was surprised to see Wang Cheng.

“Exactly. A thousand successful serves into the service box,” Jiang Hong paused his serve, revealing his training method openly.

“A thousand? Don’t you do any other training?” Wang Cheng’s mouth dropped in astonishment.

Provincial team players typically have two hours of technical training in the morning and physical training in the afternoon.

Jiang Hong’s serving practice alone almost exceeded two hours daily.

“No, I also hit a thousand forehands and backhands each day, do five hundred baseline cross-court swings, and jog five kilometers,” Jiang Hong thought for a moment, then shared his daily training routine.

“Your coach is incredibly unprofessional. This training intensity is too high and puts a heavy strain on your body. The results probably won’t be good. I suggest you find a different coach!” Wang Cheng said, a bit irritated.

The tennis market in the country was small, and coaches even less professional. Too many promising players were ruined this way.

Originally, Wang Shijie had given Jiang Hong this exaggerated training plan mainly to teach him a lesson, to make him realize how tough things really were.

After two or three days of such training, Jiang Hong himself should have given up.

But no one knew that Jiang Hong possessed the “training recovery potion,” which was like a cheat.

Eventually, Wang Shijie watched the videos Jiang Hong uploaded.

He realized Jiang Hong had been sticking to this training method and that it was working quite well.

Even Wang Shijie couldn’t figure out how.

“If you want to practice serving, you can divide the opponent’s service box into sixteen squares and aim your serves into each one sequentially. As for intensity, you can adjust it yourself!” Wang Cheng took out his phone and suggested to Jiang Hong.

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Jiang Hong ignored the system’s prompt.

Wang Cheng hesitated, then kindly reminded, “Anyway, it’s just a hobby. Take care of your body first!”

“Because… I want to go pro!” Jiang Hong suddenly said.

Wang Cheng thought he was joking, but seeing his serious expression, he gradually stopped smiling.

The professional path was usually decided by the age of twelve or thirteen at the latest.

Even he had participated in several hope tournaments but never earned points.

Recently, the team was even considering abandoning singles to focus on doubles.

Looking at Jiang Hong, Wang Cheng recalled how he had once told his parents he would win a Grand Slam someday.

Though rationally, he wanted to dispel such unrealistic hopes.

He opened his mouth, then chose to encourage instead.

“Keep it up!”

“Thanks!”

Suddenly, Wang Cheng extended his hand and introduced himself, “Wang Cheng, from the Sports Institute.”

“Jiang Hong, from the Information Institute.”

They shook hands.

Wang Cheng left the court.

Leaning against the wall, Lin Yu yawned lazily and asked, “Did you find your stuff? Why so slow?”

“Found it. Met an interesting guy and chatted a bit,” Wang Cheng replied, holding up his bag.

Lin Yu was surprised. “Interesting guy? Who?”

“Nothing,” Wang Cheng shook his head. If he told Lin Yu he had met a college student who wanted to play professional tennis, Lin Yu would probably mock him without hesitation.

So it was better not to mention it.

To avoid further questions, Wang Cheng changed the subject. “By the way, who’s your opponent this afternoon?”

“Something like Jiang Hong or something…” Lin Yu scratched his head, not remembering clearly, then shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, none of them are a match for me!”

“Such a coincidence.” Hearing the name, Wang Cheng was somewhat surprised.

“What?” Lin Yu turned his head.

“Nothing. Hurry up and go eat!”

…

Back at the tennis hall, Jiang Hong opened the system panel.

[Suggestion: Divide opponent’s service box into sixteen squares. Serve sequentially into each square (training repetitions customizable). Reward: Serving skill points (calculated by training intensity), Training Recovery Potion (can be claimed repeatedly with daily training). Accept?]

Since Wang Cheng hadn’t recommended a training intensity, the system panel didn’t impose any limits.

Instead, Jiang Hong could set the intensity himself.

After some thought, Jiang Hong decided, “Let’s set the intensity at fifty.”

Fifty was still challenging; he needed to land 800 serves into the correct squares.

Any more than that, and he would be overwhelmed.

The panel changed: “Task completed. Beginner serving skill points +5.”

Jiang Hong was delighted; now he only needed two days of training to raise his serving attribute by one point.

Although he was tempted to try more, he dismissed the idea, knowing that drawing squares on the club’s court would probably cost him money later.

So for now, he’d obediently practice a thousand serves.

The sound of tennis balls hitting the court echoed again.

Fortunately, there were plenty of balls on the court; after every hundred serves, he could gather them up.

[Serving: 567/1000]

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Jiang Hong prepared to continue.

“Jiang Hong!”

Suddenly, a voice called from behind.

He turned to see a girl standing not far away, carrying a bag wider than his back, her expression lively and bright.