My Soulmate is A Libero
Most high school graduates who had just finished their college entrance exams would take several days to rest and relieve the accumulated fatigue from three years of studying. However, Qin Chunxiao was in a unique situation. As a defensive core of the Chinese men’s volleyball national team, his absence from the Jiangmen leg of the VNL had already been facilitated by Newton. Now, he had to quickly head to Argentina to join his teammates for the second leg of the competition.
In the first station of the VNL, the Chinese team had won two matches and lost one. They won against the German and Iranian teams but lost to Italy. Among these three matches, it was Du Xiaofeng and Xiong Wu who played as libero.
Before the matches, Xiong Master had even done a divination: “Winning against Italy will be quite challenging.”
Others: “Don’t state the obvious! We can figure that out without a divination! Tell us something we don’t know!”
Xiong Wu, feeling wronged: “I’m just trying to help!”
He then focused on the divination and pointed at Mattia who was entering the hotel, saying, “That lad’s Red Luan star is in motion!”
Newton leaned closer, asking, “What? Weren’t you looking at the match results? Why suddenly bring up Mattias’s love life?”
Xiong Wu proudly puffed out his chest, “I could tell by the expression on his face when he entered. His peach blossom luck is here.”
It turns out this wasn’t divination; he was reading people’s faces.
The others pulled this half-hearted fortune-teller aside, and Xiong Wu wasn’t happy about it. He pushed up his glasses and shouted, “Stop bothering me, you squids, about-freaking-it! Let go, or I’ll use my latest curses on you!”
You Zi Yu: “You’re cursing? Labor won’t fall for your superstitions!”
Xiong Wu crossed his hands, “I’m cursing you with a future full of romantic misfortunes. You won’t be able to get married even after five hundred years of struggling!”
You Ziyu burst into laughter, “Five hundred years? Old Xiong, in five hundred years, there won’t be a single bone fragment of me left!”
Chang Xiaole pulled these two feudal superstition enthusiasts aside and discussed tactics with the rest of the team. Xiong Wu’s Henan dialect and You Ziyu’s Hubei dialect were still intertwined.
Xiong Wu: “You wait, Yang Yang’s second aunt is retiring from the army. I’ll have her deal with you!”
You Ziyu puffed out his chest, “Huh? Isn’t she from that school that won in Africa but got assimilated by the opponent at the end? She’s a legitimate soldier. She wouldn’t bully a good citizen like me!”
Min Yaoyang raised his hand, “I can ask my second aunt to teach me a few moves, then I’ll help my bro Xiong deal with this squid.”
Min Yaoyang’s fighting strength ranked second to last in the national team, even lower than Li Ling by 0.5. As soon as he said that, Xiong Wu and You Ziyu fell into silence, and the dispute ended just like that.
Only Gao Depi, who had been teammates with Mattia, looked up information online and found out that Luma and her little puppy’s boyfriend had broken up. She had recently returned to single status and participated in a diving competition near Zhanjiang, which was in the vicinity of Guangdong. With Mattia’s persistence, he wouldn’t be interested in someone else. It seemed that Xiong Master’s golden mouth was still effective. Gao Depi sent his blessings silently.
While they were competing in the VNL, the youth team that had come to Guangdong for training also came to watch the games. Many of them were from the same province as the national team members. After the matches were over, the seniors played a practice match with the juniors.
After this practice match, the faint arrogance of the youth team had completely vanished. Everyone had entered a humble state of admiration for each other’s strengths, making Coach Hou worry about how to boost their confidence.
The senior members of the national team were quite relaxed, and some even pestered the junior team’s main attacker, Min Shanqi, to teach them Korean.
You Ziyu, Min Yaoyang, and Xiong Wu, who had already practiced speaking Japanese quite well in the Japanese league, were the most active participants in this language learning event. Unfortunately, time was limited, and they only managed to learn to count from one to ten in Korean, as well as phrases like “Oppa” and “Front wheels don’t turn, back wheels do, simida.”
Finally free from the burden of carrying a pile of study materials abroad, Qin Chunxiao listened to his teammates’ lively discussions about their daily experiences and felt a sense of regret.
“You guys can also practice Korean with Coach Newton. He often drinks with the South Korean team’s Coach Jin just to improve his language skills.”
Newton coughed loudly a few times, and Jiang Xiaohai whispered, “Everyone knows he’s doing it for the language.”
It was all because Coach Jin accidentally befriended Newton, giving everyone a rather favorable impression of him. After all, he was a decent coach, not resorting to underhanded tricks, and he often treated Coach Newton to meals, making him seem quite pitiable.
The Chinese team’s opponents in the VNL included South Korea. They would be playing against France on the first day, South Korea on the second day, and Argentina on the third day.
That night, in celebration of Qin Chunxiao finishing his college entrance exams, they brought plenty of delicious food to his room for a party. Chang Xiaole even took out around ten packs of instant noodles they had brought from China, cooked them in a pot, added tomatoes and beef, and made scrambled egg with shrimp to go along with the perfectly cooked noodles.
Newton raised a glass of freshly squeezed corn juice and said, “Normally, I wouldn’t let you guys have so many carbs for late-night snacks, but today is a special day. Our Chinese men’s volleyball national team is finally gathering again. Here’s to a toast! May we have a victorious start tomorrow!”
The young men laughed joyfully and raised their glasses, saying, “Cheers!”
Li Ling once again tilted his head back and let out a howl.
As the South Korean team passed by the corridor on this floor, Coach Jin stopped in his tracks and turned around in astonishment, “Is there a Husky in the hotel?”
The South Korean players shook their heads, saying, “No, this hotel doesn’t allow pets.”
Coach Jin couldn’t understand, but he didn’t dwell on the issue. He thought someone was just playing Animal Planet loudly. He then went on to give instructions, “Tomorrow, we’re facing the Argentine team, and they’re very strong. Especially this year, they’ve added a strong libero.”
Argentina’s second setter, Nicolò, was old yet resilient, while their main attacker, Jenna, was steady and aggressive. Now they even had a libero named Dlamini, who was only 1.65 meters tall. What baffled everyone was that this libero used to play dodgeball…
Dlamini’s previous team had won second place in Argentina’s largest dodgeball event. After switching to volleyball and achieving good results in the Argentine league, the coach who discovered him has become a renowned talent spotter in men’s volleyball.
Many coaches seemed to have discovered a new direction – that a good libero could not only come from sprinting events but also from dodgeball! They were totally misguided!
Rubbish! A libero receives balls, while dodgeball was about dodging them. To this day, no one knew what was going through the mind of the guy who told Dlamini, “Hey, boy, want to play volleyball?” on that fateful day.
Due to the upcoming matches and the need to adjust to the time difference, Newton allowed the young men to make noise until ten o’clock in the evening, then sent them off to sleep.
Chang Xiaole received a message, exchanged greetings with Newton, and then left with light steps, clearly showing signs of being in love.
Newton muttered, “Wasn’t there the Beach Volleyball World Championships in July this year? That guy still found time to come to Argentina and pursue Xiao Le.”
Jiang Xiao Hai coughed, “Cough, cough! Look on the bright side, at least Xiao Le’s confidence has improved a lot, and he’s more spirited at work.”
Newton nodded, “Yeah, his mental state has improved quite a bit.”
As for physical condition, that was hard to say.
During the Olympics when Kristian won the gold medal, he faced his arch-nemesis. With his formidable stamina, perseverance, and willpower, he managed to compete for nearly four hours before finally securing the gold medal. It was evident just how amazing his physical fitness was.
Let me put it this way: Qin Chunxiao’s stamina gauge was already on the longer side within volleyball, but Kristian’s stamina gauge was at least twice as long as Qin’s. And that’s with Kristian already being in his thirties and his physical condition slightly declining from its peak. It was hard to imagine just how terrifying his peak condition must had been.
He was nothing short of a monster.
However, both Chang Xiaole and Kristian were grown men. One was approaching thirty and the other was already over thirty, and they both had past relationships. They had all the necessary experience. International couples didn’t get to spend much time together, so it was understandable that they want to be affectionate when they finally have the chance.
It was the group of young men in the team who seemed to be less sensitive to such matters, except for Xiong Wu, who saw through fate with his bare eyes.
The next morning, everyone saw Kristian and Chang Xiaole entering the restaurant together, and Kristian was even carrying breakfast for Xiao Le.
You Ziyu grinned, “Master, long time no see, and you’ve become more handsome. Huh, why did you shave your beard?” As he continued speaking, his tone turned surprised, and he looked Kristian up and down, noticing that his curly hair had been neatly styled. He seemed much more energetic than before.
Kristian cleared his throat, “I felt like I looked too old with the beard, so I had someone tidy it up a bit.” He glanced at Chang Xiaole.
Li Ling chimed in, “You do look much more handsome, Kristian. Who’s your stylist? Can you recommend them to me?”
The young man’s beloved Victoria’s Secret fashion show had held its final edition last year, and it seemed it wouldn’t be held this year. After grieving for a while, Er Leng became engrossed in the internet and watched several men’s fashion videos. He began paying attention to his personal appearance.
So, the conversation turned to Kristian’s appearance, and no one asked about him and Chang Xiaole.
Newton had initially been worried that the gossip about the relationship status of the coaching staff might affect the team’s performance, but it seemed that none of them paid any attention to that matter.
Qin Chunxiao finished his last bite of breakfast, elegantly wiped his mouth, stood up, and seemed like he was about to say something, causing Newton to tense up.
Little Xiaozai was the most perceptive in the team, and he had a bit of a “everyone must listen to me” protagonist spirit. Did he notice something?
Qin Chunxiao looked at Newton and said, “Coach, your fly is open.”
[The phrase “your fly is open” is a colloquial way of informing someone that their pants are unzipped or open. It’s a common phrase used to discreetly let someone know about a wardrobe malfunction without explicitly stating it.]
Qiao Mingming exclaimed, covering his face and turning away. Newton quickly zipped up his pants and also covered his face, “Damn it! Why didn’t you remind me earlier!”
Jiang Xiaohai comforted him, “At least you’re wearing red underwear inside, so nothing that shouldn’t be seen is exposed.”
Gao Depi suddenly spoke some profound words, “In life, there will always be embarrassing moments like this. We just have to accept them.”
It was hard to say whether Gao Depi’s insight came from witnessing too many embarrassing moments from Mattia, but in any case, Newton wasn’t comforted by his words.
The group of people playfully bounced around and approached the French team. Sidney, who had grown taller, was still enjoying his croissant.
Upon seeing Qin Chunxiao, his eyes lit up, and he bounced over, “Misha! Are your exams over?”
Qin Chunxiao paused, “Yes, they’re over.”
Sidney raised his hands joyfully, “That’s great! I was worried you’d continue to be absent before I came. Now I’m relieved!”
As he spoke, he gave Qin Chunxiao a big hug, and his hands, covered in croissant crumbs and butter, rubbed against Qin Chunxiao’s clothes several times.
This action prompted a teammate to mutter, “Didn’t we tell him not to raise his hands randomly outside? Now someone on YouTube will definitely say that the French are good at raising their hands again.”
Due to their good neighbor, the UK, persistently mentioning the “milk law” issue, the joke about the French and their white handkerchiefs and raising their hands had become increasingly popular on social media.
Qin Chunxiao:…
Seeing that his expression wasn’t right, Chang Xiaole quickly shouted, “Pull him away!”
Fu Biyang and Ding Rong rushed over, one on each side, and pulled the team dad away. Sidney, puzzled, reached out, “Hey, what are you going to do to Misha?”
Now Qin Chunxiao really wanted to hit someone, “I just wanted to take off my coat. Why did you guys drag me away? What kind of image do you have of me?”
Fu Biyang and Ding Rong let go, looking embarrassed.
Qin Chunxiao snorted lightly, rolled up his sleeves, and handed a drink to Sidney, “Don’t mind them, they’re just being weird.”
The murderous intent in Misha’s eyes had not yet dissipated. Looking at the smiling but still terrifying Misha, Sidney swallowed his saliva and instinctively replied, “I-it’s okay.”
This French youngster, known for his observation skills and exceptional physical abilities, couldn’t help but think: Could Misha be the most untouchable presence in their team?
But that couldn’t be right. After all, Biyang Fu was the man who can carry people and run through a hail of bullets. He should be at the peak of China’s team strength. Misha couldn’t be stronger than Biyang Fu, right?
As Sidney was full of confusion, the match between the Chinese team and the French team officially began.
My Soulmate is A Libero
Most high school graduates who had just finished their college entrance exams would take several days to rest and relieve the accumulated fatigue from three years of studying. However, Qin Chunxiao was in a unique situation. As a defensive core of the Chinese men’s volleyball national team, his absence from the Jiangmen leg of the VNL had already been facilitated by Newton. Now, he had to quickly head to Argentina to join his teammates for the second leg of the competition.
In the first station of the VNL, the Chinese team had won two matches and lost one. They won against the German and Iranian teams but lost to Italy. Among these three matches, it was Du Xiaofeng and Xiong Wu who played as libero.
Before the matches, Xiong Master had even done a divination: “Winning against Italy will be quite challenging.”
Others: “Don’t state the obvious! We can figure that out without a divination! Tell us something we don’t know!”
Xiong Wu, feeling wronged: “I’m just trying to help!”
He then focused on the divination and pointed at Mattia who was entering the hotel, saying, “That lad’s Red Luan star is in motion!”
Newton leaned closer, asking, “What? Weren’t you looking at the match results? Why suddenly bring up Mattias’s love life?”
Xiong Wu proudly puffed out his chest, “I could tell by the expression on his face when he entered. His peach blossom luck is here.”
It turns out this wasn’t divination; he was reading people’s faces.
The others pulled this half-hearted fortune-teller aside, and Xiong Wu wasn’t happy about it. He pushed up his glasses and shouted, “Stop bothering me, you squids, about-freaking-it! Let go, or I’ll use my latest curses on you!”
You Zi Yu: “You’re cursing? Labor won’t fall for your superstitions!”
Xiong Wu crossed his hands, “I’m cursing you with a future full of romantic misfortunes. You won’t be able to get married even after five hundred years of struggling!”
You Ziyu burst into laughter, “Five hundred years? Old Xiong, in five hundred years, there won’t be a single bone fragment of me left!”
Chang Xiaole pulled these two feudal superstition enthusiasts aside and discussed tactics with the rest of the team. Xiong Wu’s Henan dialect and You Ziyu’s Hubei dialect were still intertwined.
Xiong Wu: “You wait, Yang Yang’s second aunt is retiring from the army. I’ll have her deal with you!”
You Ziyu puffed out his chest, “Huh? Isn’t she from that school that won in Africa but got assimilated by the opponent at the end? She’s a legitimate soldier. She wouldn’t bully a good citizen like me!”
Min Yaoyang raised his hand, “I can ask my second aunt to teach me a few moves, then I’ll help my bro Xiong deal with this squid.”
Min Yaoyang’s fighting strength ranked second to last in the national team, even lower than Li Ling by 0.5. As soon as he said that, Xiong Wu and You Ziyu fell into silence, and the dispute ended just like that.
Only Gao Depi, who had been teammates with Mattia, looked up information online and found out that Luma and her little puppy’s boyfriend had broken up. She had recently returned to single status and participated in a diving competition near Zhanjiang, which was in the vicinity of Guangdong. With Mattia’s persistence, he wouldn’t be interested in someone else. It seemed that Xiong Master’s golden mouth was still effective. Gao Depi sent his blessings silently.
While they were competing in the VNL, the youth team that had come to Guangdong for training also came to watch the games. Many of them were from the same province as the national team members. After the matches were over, the seniors played a practice match with the juniors.
After this practice match, the faint arrogance of the youth team had completely vanished. Everyone had entered a humble state of admiration for each other’s strengths, making Coach Hou worry about how to boost their confidence.
The senior members of the national team were quite relaxed, and some even pestered the junior team’s main attacker, Min Shanqi, to teach them Korean.
You Ziyu, Min Yaoyang, and Xiong Wu, who had already practiced speaking Japanese quite well in the Japanese league, were the most active participants in this language learning event. Unfortunately, time was limited, and they only managed to learn to count from one to ten in Korean, as well as phrases like “Oppa” and “Front wheels don’t turn, back wheels do, simida.”
Finally free from the burden of carrying a pile of study materials abroad, Qin Chunxiao listened to his teammates’ lively discussions about their daily experiences and felt a sense of regret.
“You guys can also practice Korean with Coach Newton. He often drinks with the South Korean team’s Coach Jin just to improve his language skills.”
Newton coughed loudly a few times, and Jiang Xiaohai whispered, “Everyone knows he’s doing it for the language.”
It was all because Coach Jin accidentally befriended Newton, giving everyone a rather favorable impression of him. After all, he was a decent coach, not resorting to underhanded tricks, and he often treated Coach Newton to meals, making him seem quite pitiable.
The Chinese team’s opponents in the VNL included South Korea. They would be playing against France on the first day, South Korea on the second day, and Argentina on the third day.
That night, in celebration of Qin Chunxiao finishing his college entrance exams, they brought plenty of delicious food to his room for a party. Chang Xiaole even took out around ten packs of instant noodles they had brought from China, cooked them in a pot, added tomatoes and beef, and made scrambled egg with shrimp to go along with the perfectly cooked noodles.
Newton raised a glass of freshly squeezed corn juice and said, “Normally, I wouldn’t let you guys have so many carbs for late-night snacks, but today is a special day. Our Chinese men’s volleyball national team is finally gathering again. Here’s to a toast! May we have a victorious start tomorrow!”
The young men laughed joyfully and raised their glasses, saying, “Cheers!”
Li Ling once again tilted his head back and let out a howl.
As the South Korean team passed by the corridor on this floor, Coach Jin stopped in his tracks and turned around in astonishment, “Is there a Husky in the hotel?”
The South Korean players shook their heads, saying, “No, this hotel doesn’t allow pets.”
Coach Jin couldn’t understand, but he didn’t dwell on the issue. He thought someone was just playing Animal Planet loudly. He then went on to give instructions, “Tomorrow, we’re facing the Argentine team, and they’re very strong. Especially this year, they’ve added a strong libero.”
Argentina’s second setter, Nicolò, was old yet resilient, while their main attacker, Jenna, was steady and aggressive. Now they even had a libero named Dlamini, who was only 1.65 meters tall. What baffled everyone was that this libero used to play dodgeball…
Dlamini’s previous team had won second place in Argentina’s largest dodgeball event. After switching to volleyball and achieving good results in the Argentine league, the coach who discovered him has become a renowned talent spotter in men’s volleyball.
Many coaches seemed to have discovered a new direction – that a good libero could not only come from sprinting events but also from dodgeball! They were totally misguided!
Rubbish! A libero receives balls, while dodgeball was about dodging them. To this day, no one knew what was going through the mind of the guy who told Dlamini, “Hey, boy, want to play volleyball?” on that fateful day.
Due to the upcoming matches and the need to adjust to the time difference, Newton allowed the young men to make noise until ten o’clock in the evening, then sent them off to sleep.
Chang Xiaole received a message, exchanged greetings with Newton, and then left with light steps, clearly showing signs of being in love.
Newton muttered, “Wasn’t there the Beach Volleyball World Championships in July this year? That guy still found time to come to Argentina and pursue Xiao Le.”
Jiang Xiao Hai coughed, “Cough, cough! Look on the bright side, at least Xiao Le’s confidence has improved a lot, and he’s more spirited at work.”
Newton nodded, “Yeah, his mental state has improved quite a bit.”
As for physical condition, that was hard to say.
During the Olympics when Kristian won the gold medal, he faced his arch-nemesis. With his formidable stamina, perseverance, and willpower, he managed to compete for nearly four hours before finally securing the gold medal. It was evident just how amazing his physical fitness was.
Let me put it this way: Qin Chunxiao’s stamina gauge was already on the longer side within volleyball, but Kristian’s stamina gauge was at least twice as long as Qin’s. And that’s with Kristian already being in his thirties and his physical condition slightly declining from its peak. It was hard to imagine just how terrifying his peak condition must had been.
He was nothing short of a monster.
However, both Chang Xiaole and Kristian were grown men. One was approaching thirty and the other was already over thirty, and they both had past relationships. They had all the necessary experience. International couples didn’t get to spend much time together, so it was understandable that they want to be affectionate when they finally have the chance.
It was the group of young men in the team who seemed to be less sensitive to such matters, except for Xiong Wu, who saw through fate with his bare eyes.
The next morning, everyone saw Kristian and Chang Xiaole entering the restaurant together, and Kristian was even carrying breakfast for Xiao Le.
You Ziyu grinned, “Master, long time no see, and you’ve become more handsome. Huh, why did you shave your beard?” As he continued speaking, his tone turned surprised, and he looked Kristian up and down, noticing that his curly hair had been neatly styled. He seemed much more energetic than before.
Kristian cleared his throat, “I felt like I looked too old with the beard, so I had someone tidy it up a bit.” He glanced at Chang Xiaole.
Li Ling chimed in, “You do look much more handsome, Kristian. Who’s your stylist? Can you recommend them to me?”
The young man’s beloved Victoria’s Secret fashion show had held its final edition last year, and it seemed it wouldn’t be held this year. After grieving for a while, Er Leng became engrossed in the internet and watched several men’s fashion videos. He began paying attention to his personal appearance.
So, the conversation turned to Kristian’s appearance, and no one asked about him and Chang Xiaole.
Newton had initially been worried that the gossip about the relationship status of the coaching staff might affect the team’s performance, but it seemed that none of them paid any attention to that matter.
Qin Chunxiao finished his last bite of breakfast, elegantly wiped his mouth, stood up, and seemed like he was about to say something, causing Newton to tense up.
Little Xiaozai was the most perceptive in the team, and he had a bit of a “everyone must listen to me” protagonist spirit. Did he notice something?
Qin Chunxiao looked at Newton and said, “Coach, your fly is open.”
[The phrase “your fly is open” is a colloquial way of informing someone that their pants are unzipped or open. It’s a common phrase used to discreetly let someone know about a wardrobe malfunction without explicitly stating it.]
Qiao Mingming exclaimed, covering his face and turning away. Newton quickly zipped up his pants and also covered his face, “Damn it! Why didn’t you remind me earlier!”
Jiang Xiaohai comforted him, “At least you’re wearing red underwear inside, so nothing that shouldn’t be seen is exposed.”
Gao Depi suddenly spoke some profound words, “In life, there will always be embarrassing moments like this. We just have to accept them.”
It was hard to say whether Gao Depi’s insight came from witnessing too many embarrassing moments from Mattia, but in any case, Newton wasn’t comforted by his words.
The group of people playfully bounced around and approached the French team. Sidney, who had grown taller, was still enjoying his croissant.
Upon seeing Qin Chunxiao, his eyes lit up, and he bounced over, “Misha! Are your exams over?”
Qin Chunxiao paused, “Yes, they’re over.”
Sidney raised his hands joyfully, “That’s great! I was worried you’d continue to be absent before I came. Now I’m relieved!”
As he spoke, he gave Qin Chunxiao a big hug, and his hands, covered in croissant crumbs and butter, rubbed against Qin Chunxiao’s clothes several times.
This action prompted a teammate to mutter, “Didn’t we tell him not to raise his hands randomly outside? Now someone on YouTube will definitely say that the French are good at raising their hands again.”
Due to their good neighbor, the UK, persistently mentioning the “milk law” issue, the joke about the French and their white handkerchiefs and raising their hands had become increasingly popular on social media.
Qin Chunxiao:…
Seeing that his expression wasn’t right, Chang Xiaole quickly shouted, “Pull him away!”
Fu Biyang and Ding Rong rushed over, one on each side, and pulled the team dad away. Sidney, puzzled, reached out, “Hey, what are you going to do to Misha?”
Now Qin Chunxiao really wanted to hit someone, “I just wanted to take off my coat. Why did you guys drag me away? What kind of image do you have of me?”
Fu Biyang and Ding Rong let go, looking embarrassed.
Qin Chunxiao snorted lightly, rolled up his sleeves, and handed a drink to Sidney, “Don’t mind them, they’re just being weird.”
The murderous intent in Misha’s eyes had not yet dissipated. Looking at the smiling but still terrifying Misha, Sidney swallowed his saliva and instinctively replied, “I-it’s okay.”
This French youngster, known for his observation skills and exceptional physical abilities, couldn’t help but think: Could Misha be the most untouchable presence in their team?
But that couldn’t be right. After all, Biyang Fu was the man who can carry people and run through a hail of bullets. He should be at the peak of China’s team strength. Misha couldn’t be stronger than Biyang Fu, right?
As Sidney was full of confusion, the match between the Chinese team and the French team officially began.
