Ice-Tipped Jade Beauty Chapter 11

There was no doubt that Ji He Yu could.

A strand of depressing notes flowed out of the melancholic G-string of the violin.

The slender teenager stood in the centre of the ice rink with his arms crossed against his chest, this was precisely the posture of a new sprout that had not yet fully grown. The young boy’s figure gradually squatted down within the deep and rhythmic music.

On Ji He Yu’s body, the aqua green and snow white of his costume seemed to merge into one, with the sequins on it also glimmering with a soft light that flickered in and out of view.¹

Although there was the troublesome matter of Ji Yuansong as an interlude, and although his emotions were in turmoil before stepping onto this piece of pure white ice surface. But as soon as Ji He Yu set foot on the pure white ice surface, his heart immediately found peace. It was like a child returning home after a long journey.

Compared with the state during the first practice of the entire programme, Ji He Yu had undergone another half month of rigorous training, and his condition had improved further. For instance, his sit spin was now more perfect.

From the side view, the young boy’s figure appeared almost folded in half, with his waist and abdomen pressed against his straight left leg, making his wrists and arms holding his ankle appear particularly slim. The young boy’s right leg bent into a beautiful right angle, spinning perpendicular to the ground!

The aqua green and snow white on the costume completely fused with Ji He Yu’s spin, creating a misty water screen that resembled both frost and jade. It instantly evoked the image of winter snow, which, although cold, could potentially harbour vibrant life beneath!

This was a newly sprouted tender shoot, struggling to move on the harsh winter day. He spins and spins frantically, trying to find a way out of the narrow cracks.

But it was so difficult.

—The audience thought in unison.²

For a sprout, the thick winter snow was an almost impenetrable barrier. Such a pliable body, can it really carry this kind of weight?

In the next moment, the boy gave them the answer.

The speed of the bow suddenly accelerated, and although the melody remained sorrowful, it also grew intense, even carrying a sense of desolation, like a moth drawn to a flame.  

What a seedling born in the depths of winter is doing is just like a moth to a flame, burning itself away.³

In the dense, sorrowful drum beats, the sprout’s mood becomes more and more impatience. It had waited all winter long. Why, why must it continue to wait? Where, where does one need to walk to be able to find a path through the snow?

The boy’s spin became faster and faster, and his figure gradually rose, cutting from a sit spin to an upright spin.⁴ The new sprout was currently holding up the heavy snow and strenuously pushing upward

It couldn’t wait to see the world it longed for. Its steps were so urgent, so fast, yet it remained weak and unsupported, dizzy and disoriented in the face of this chaotic world—

On the ice, the boy’s feet separated in a straight line, with his toes pointing outward and heels facing each other. His legs straightened as he leaned slightly backwards, beginning to glide around the rink. This was a beautiful large one-character pattern on the rink!

The sprout couldn’t find the right direction and could only find a way through this world in a daze. It was young but eager, and its steps were exceptionally fast, wishing it could find the place it longed for!

The sound of the violin paused for a moment. Was the sprout about to find its direction?

The audience subconsciously held their breath. In the arrangement of the programme, a sudden change in music is often the anchor point for emotions, causing the audience’s emotions to rise along with the abrupt stop in the music.

The figure on the ice moved again. Ji He Yu stopped gliding forward and instead leapt forward.

Chen Changxing on the judge’s seat suddenly sat up straight.

A forward leap?

In figure skating, there’s only one type of forward leap—an A jump! And this was a large one character into an Axel jump!⁵

Could this contestant succeed? And to what extent?

In a relatively amateur league like this, would they only see a barely adequate 1A?

On the ice, the boy took off from his left foot, with his right leg quickly following, tracing a graceful arc in the air.

Half a rotation, one rotation, two rotations, two and a half rotations!

Chen Changxing stared intently at the boy’s figure, repeatedly confirming whether the other person had completed the necessary rotations.

The answer was yes.

For an A jump, a mistake in the edge usage could easily result in under-rotation.⁶ Even the top-tier athletes of the current Chinese national team, more or less have issues with the instability of their edges.

This was something that can’t be helped. Using edges is something that requires perseverance and consistency⁷ on the ice rink to be honed into perfection. But as of now, from what could be seen, the boy’s edge work doesn’t seem to have the slightest problem.⁸

It’s time to land on the ice, can he land smoothly?

Without realising it, Chen Changxing had begun to worry about the boy dancing on the ice.

It’s only natural that Ji He Yu could.

 The practice during this period had allowed him to completely regain the 2A. When his right back outside edge touched the ice, it didn’t even bring up much ice crystal, even his knees didn’t bend. The remaining impulse (force) was gracefully dissipated as the boy transitioned into a spin on his left leg.

Chen Changxing hadn’t expected to see such a high-quality jump at the Southern Division of the Figure Skating Club League. And he never anticipated that the surprises the boy on the ice could showcase were not limited to this!

The sound of the violin once again echoed, this time it was the A-strings, shedding its sorrowful tone and becoming heavy and profound. The cold winds of mid-winter had finally relented and allowed itself to stop.

The moment the boy landed on the ice, his limbs naturally stretched out. The seed had finally drilled through the heavy snow, only to face a new round of trials. The temperature of the winter air was still very low, it was a sweet yet painful torment for the newborn sprout.

The boy crouched down again and leaned back.

 No, not leaning back, but bending, bending backwards!

The waist and abdomen were nearly at level to the ice, thighs bent at a right angle, and it did not reduce the gliding speed much—this was a beautiful and clean crab step!

Chen Changxing didn’t dare to blink, staring straight at the boy’s straightened back, trying to find even a hint of a wobbly mistake. But Ji He Yu didn’t give him a single chance to find fault.

Men singles rarely perform this move, not because they lack core strength, but rather because it demands an extremely high level of flexibility.

If you can’t even lower your waist, how can you maintain this position while gliding?

But the boy on the ice did it.

The new sprout finally broke through the snow with great difficulty, but it didn’t see the sunlight as it had hoped.

Disappointed, it lowered its head and began to reflect on the meaning of its persistence through the winter.

Is perseverance meaningful?

If it’s destined never to see the sunlight, why struggle so hard?

The fragile sprout hesitated.

The audience in the arena also hesitated.

This is a question everyone will encounter.

Is perseverance meaningful?

Is an event doomed to fail meaningful?

Even a sprout that endured the cold winter questions the value of its effort!

The music changes again.

The gentle E string and the heavy A string intertwined, blending into a musical note that fluctuated between slow and sometimes fast, high and sometimes low.

The sprout was stunned for a moment.

Sunlight peeked from behind the thick clouds, sprinkling on the sprout’s leaves.

Was the sunlight comforting it?

Yes, don’t be impatient, you mustn’t be impatient!

The new sprout straightened its back, rekindling its desire for the sunlight and its firm belief.

A swallow-style patrol across the rink and a series of small jumps temporarily relieved the depression feeling left by the previous scenes.

In the unseen world of spirits,⁹ it seemed as if a voice was telling the sprout—

“Spring” is coming.

The A string gradually faded out, leaving the gentle and beautiful resonant E string to support the entire melody.

The spring thunder rang out, and the spring rain began to fall. This was the prelude to spring!

The new sprout longed to grow, longed for the sunlight after the rain, greedily absorbing it all.

The boy’s bent right leg arched back, and straight left leg formed a perfect “T”¹⁰ shape.

The new sprout faced upward, earnestly and devoutly to receive the baptism of the spring rain.

The upturn swallow spin¹¹ is a move that tests both the flexibility of the athlete’s waist and the strength of the waist and abdomen.

The boy on the ice performed it very w. Not only was his posture graceful, but his spin speed was also very even.

“He’s really amazing,” Meng Xun couldn’t help but praise.

Meng Xun was the very same contestant Ji He Yu saw before the start of his performance, who might be his competitor.

The coach who accompanied Meng Xun to the competition was a coach from a not-so-professional club. After hearing his words, the coach scolded, “How can you boost others’ ambitions and destroy your own prestige? Sure, his moves and programme are good-looking, but what’s the use? In the end, the difficulty of his things isn’t that high! Can’t you jump a 2A? Can’t you do a layback spin? You’re not any worse than him!”

Meng Xun shrugged his shoulder and didn’t argue with the coach, instead continued to seriously admire the boy’s posture on the ice.

Meng Xun was fourteen this year, a year younger than Ji He Yu but he already had eight years of figure skating experience. His fundamentals were very solid. He did not participate in last year’s selection due to an accident. This year, his goal was to join the provincial team and become a professional athlete.

Meng Xun wasn’t like many people nowadays who ‘only considered difficulty’, so he was already thinking about how to get to know this skater after the competition.

He skates really well, but I won’t lose to him either!

On the ice, the boy’s short program was finally reaching its climax.

It was time for the 3Lz+3Lo jump sequence, which had only a 50% success rate so far.

The sound of the violin suddenly burned fiercely, as the spring sunshine finally descended upon the earth, bestowing grace upon the immortal beings that had endured the depths of winter without perishing!

The sprout was inspired and tried even harder to show itself.

The boy on the ice continued to glide backwards as if a storm was brewing!

A backward glide?

Is it going to be a 3Lz?

Chen Changxing at the judges’ seat and Meng Xun in the waiting area had the same question.

Lz is the second most difficult jump after the A jump. If Ji He Yu could jump a 3Lz, it would already be pretty good.

Sure enough, at the moment when the music intensified, the boy on the ice made a slight movement similar to spraining his ankle, the tooth¹² of the right blade, and jumped!

One rotation, two rotations, three rotations!

It is a 3Lz!

Chen Changxing didn’t expect that in this kind of competition, there would be someone who could do such an agile and beautiful 3Lz.

Meng Xun also didn’t expect that there would be any other contestants that jump a 3Lz in this kind of competition, apart from himself.

The boy on the ice rink landed on his right foot touching the ice.

Hey, that’s wrong. Why isn’t he rotating to relieve the pressure on his left leg? Won’t he lose balance and fall?

Both Chen Changxing and Meng Xun had the same question.

In the next moment, their doubts were answered!

The moment his right foot touched the ice, the boy’s legs slightly intertwined and quickly jumped up high again!

Three rotations!

This wasn’t an ordinary 3Lz; it was a 3Lz+3Lo combination jump!8

And it was in the second half of the programme, that the base score for combination jincreasedrease by 10%!

Although the thin lookskinny-looking ice is beautiful and slender, how can he have such good stamina to be able to persist with a perfect combination jump in the latter half of the programme?

Chen Changxing felt his breathing stagnant for a moment.

Because Ji He Yu was about to land.

Could he land as steadily as before?

The author has something to say:

Because I want to build a figure skating community with flesh and blood, not just a one-man show for the main character, other little cuties (like Meng Xun QAQ) will appear one after another. This way, they can form a team and compete in team competitions later on (bushi).

I hope everyone enjoys Ji Baobei’s programme. Sending Ji Baobei’s love to everyone with a mua~

—

 Can he or can he not successfully land on the ice? This is the question.

===

(sxhbyc ᥫ᭡ footnotes:)

1. Faintly discernible (若隐若现) – partly hidden and partly visible. ↩︎
2. To agree by chance (不约而同) – Taking the same action without prior consultation. ↩︎
3. I really struggled with this sentence (一株诞生于隆冬的新芽所做的，也正是如飞蛾扑火一般燃烧自己的事) if anyone knows a better way to phrase this please do tell me. ↩︎
4. Upright spin (0:35 – 1:10). ↩︎
5. Remember an axel jump is the only jump that has a forward take off ↩︎
6. Under rotation is when you don’t complete the full amount of rotations. ↩︎
7. A few decades in a day (数十年如一日) – with perseverance and consistency ↩︎
8. One thread, one hair (一丝一毫) – A little; a tiny bit; an iota. ↩︎
9. In the unseen world of spirits (冥a 冥之中) – It means there is a higher power, fate, or destiny that influences events in subtle, imperceptible ways. ↩︎
10. Am i the only one who’s still trying to find the legs and the body. ↩︎
11. Upturn swallow in China is known as (仰燕) Y spiral by Mao Asada (1:54 – 2:00) – I’m too lazy to describe it. #not really sure i got the name right. ↩︎
12. In China a toe-pick is called blade tooth (刀齿) it looks like little shark teeth on the blade which is used for (here). ↩︎

===

(sxhbyc ᥫ᭡ notes: I’m not an expert at some of these figure skating terms – so if there’s any mistake please tell me. This is obviously a novel and the things that happen in it are just for plot building ᯓᡣ𐭩)

===

If you like this please consider buying me a ko-fi✧₊⁺ or getting the raws to support the author. Thank You (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶).