mijobooks Chapter 88: The Night Market Under the National Flag
Chapter 88: The Night Market Under the National Flag
On the television screen, a little girl in a red dress stood in the center of the stadium and sang "Ode to the Motherland" in her clear, childlike voice.
Her voice pierced through the Bird's Nest stadium, cleanly reaching the ears of every viewer in front of their television set amidst the clamor of 90,000 people.
The hustle and bustle of the night market suddenly subsided at that moment.
Even the shirtless man who was swinging his shirt around quieted down, his hand holding the T-shirt hanging in mid-air, forgetting to put it down.
"This little girl's name is Lin Miaoke," Lin Bei said, holding his beer glass. "She's only nine years old."
Song Qingning put the skewer of mutton she had just picked up back onto the plate, stared at the screen for a while, and said with bright eyes:
"Why isn't she nervous at all?"
"Singing in front of 90,000 people, my legs would go weak if I went up there."
Su Qianqian held her teacup, her gaze falling on the square formation of hundreds of children behind the little girl.
The children held glow sticks in their hands and swayed them gently to the rhythm of the song.
Like a sea of stars undulating in the night breeze.
"How long have these kids been rehearsing?" Song Qingning asked.
"I heard they started rehearsing last year." Lin Bei picked up a skewer of grilled meat, took a bite, and said, "The entire opening ceremony has 15,000 performers, and the longest rehearsal period lasted two years."
"Two years?" Song Qingning slammed her beer glass on the table. "Just for these four hours tonight?"
"That's going way too far."
"So, this is a once-in-a-century event," Su Qianqian said, her tone as calm as ever.
But his gaze remained fixed on the screen, never looking away.
"When my dad called last time, he said that some of his friends in northern Beijing lined up at the Bird's Nest two days in advance to try and get tickets for the opening ceremony."
"Some people brought tents and sleeping bags and camped right outside the security checkpoint."
The singing on the TV gradually stopped, and the scene switched to the athletes' entrance ceremony.
The Greek delegation was the first to enter the stadium, with the flag bearer carrying the blue and white national flag at the front.
Next came Guinea, the Guinean peso, Türkiye...
The narrator's voice announced the names of one country after another on the television.
Some countries only have two or three athletes who walk a few steps while holding their national flag and then cross the border.
But as each delegation passed by, polite and enthusiastic applause would ring out in the Bird's Nest.
"I heard that our school's PE teacher, Lao Zhou, managed to snag a ticket to the track and field preliminaries and took the train to Beijing specifically for that purpose," Song Qingning said, resting her chin on her hand.
Lin Bei paused slightly in the hand holding the beer glass.
Track and field competition?
When this arena was mentioned, one name immediately came to Lin Bei's mind.
The legendary aerial acrobat.
He's also the person who generates the most discussion!
Liu Xiang withdrew from the competition.
That was the 08 Olympics, the biggest regret.
In his previous life, Lin Bei watched the live broadcast of that match.
When Liu Xiang stepped onto the track, the whole stadium cheered, thinking he was about to break the world record again.
As a result, after taking two steps, he frowned and bent down to touch his Achilles tendon.
The starting gun fired, some people jumped the gun, and everyone returned to the starting line to prepare again.
Liu Xiang tore off the number sticker on his leg, turned around, and walked into the athletes' tunnel.
In an instant, the entire Bird's Nest went from boiling to freezing.
The commentator remained silent for several seconds.
Then he said something, his voice choked with sobs.
Those scenes remain as clear in my memory as if they happened yesterday, even after more than a decade.
"We have weightlifting and shooting tomorrow," Lin Bei said, putting his beer mug on the table and changing the subject.
"This is one of the strengths of our Chinese team. If nothing unexpected happens, the first gold medal will be in shooting."
Song Qingning's eyes lit up, and she asked, "Which athlete is the shooter?"
Lin Bei: "Chen Xiexia, from Guangdong, is a women's 48kg champion and the reigning world champion. She is in exceptionally good form."
Su Qianqian glanced at Lin Bei, "You seem to know quite a bit about shooting."
Lin Bei picked up his glass, took a sip of beer, and offered no explanation.
He couldn't explain this knowledge; it was all accumulated from watching competitions in his previous life.
The opening ceremony is still ongoing.
The moment Yao Ming, the flag bearer of the Chinese delegation, walked into the stadium carrying the five-star red flag.
The entire night market street erupted in the loudest cheers of the night.
The noise was so loud that it completely drowned out the television's speakers.
A guy with dyed yellow hair stood directly on a plastic stool and clapped his hands above his head.
He almost tipped the stool over, but someone next to him helped him up.
The white-haired old man at the next table stood up, his back ramrod straight, his lips trembling slightly.
Tears streamed down his face, etched with wrinkles.
Song Qingning also stood up and waved the skewers in her hand above her head like glow sticks.
Su Qianqian did not stand up, but her fingers on the table curled slightly, and her fingertips pressed lightly on the tablecloth.
"When the national anthem was played, 90,000 people in the Bird's Nest sang together."
Lin Bei leaned back in his chair, his tone carrying a hint of emotion that he himself didn't even notice.
"It's worth seeing that kind of scene even once in your life."
"You'll have the chance to see it live sometime in the future," Su Qianqian said calmly.
"In the future?" Lin Bei looked at the screen. The flag-raising ceremony began, and the flag-raising team marched in neat steps toward the flagpole.
He smiled slightly. "Yes, there will definitely be opportunities in the future."
"There will be plenty of opportunities, such as the next London Games and the Rio Games after that."
He was thinking that in his previous life, he had missed most of the live broadcasts on television.
Having been reborn this time, even if I don't go to the games in person, I will at least not miss any Olympic Games.
"By the way, what about that little girl who was spinning around?" Song Qingning suddenly interjected.
"I heard that during the opening ceremony, there was a little girl who spun around the whole time. Did you see her?"
Just then, the television screen switched to a small circular stage at the edge of the stadium.
The lights shone down, and a little girl in a pink dress was tiptoeing and spinning around and around.
The hem of her skirt spread out beside her, resembling a pale pink flower.
Her movements were unhurried and deliberate, each spin flowing smoothly and seamlessly.
Her expression was focused and calm, as if the noise and cheers of the 90,000 people around her had nothing to do with her.
"Her name is Xiao Caiqi," Lin Bei said. "She's only nine years old this year, and she'll be spinning from the beginning to the end, covering the entire show."
"From the beginning to the end?" Song Qingning put her beer glass on the table in disbelief and glanced at her watch.
"It's been over an hour now, and she's just been spinning around like this. Doesn't she get dizzy?"
Su Qianqian's gaze also fell on the pale pink flower. After a few seconds of silence, she said:
"She practiced for a long time, but there was no sign of fatigue on her face."
Lin Bei hummed in agreement, "Professional. They've been training since they were little. They probably started spinning as soon as they could walk."
Song Qingning shook her head: "That's amazing. When I was a kid, I could only spin around three times on the playground before collapsing."
"This little girl walked around for more than an hour, and her face didn't even turn red."