met free Chapter 150 I'm a womanizer? I didn't do anything!
Chapter 150 I'm a womanizer? I didn't do anything!
Wang Yueling and the other person turned into another corridor. This exhibition hall was much quieter than the previous one. The paintings on the walls were also smaller, mostly sketches and prints. The lighting was warm, and there was a faint sandalwood scent in the air.
Wang Yueling stopped, raised her hand to rub her temples, and muttered softly, "Mon dieu. How come I can run into them while just browsing an art exhibition?"
He glanced at Yukimura and found that the other man was looking at him, his purplish-blue eyes carrying an indescribable meaning.
"Seiichi, why are you looking at me like that?"
"Look at your talent for flirting with women." Yukimura's voice was calm, but the corner of his mouth curled up with a hint of mischief. "You can cause trouble wherever you go."
Wang Yueling was stunned for a moment.
"I'm a womanizer? I didn't do anything."
"You didn't do anything, and they're already chasing after you." Yukimura hung the camera around his neck and adjusted the strap. "If you had actually done something, what would have happened?"
Mochizuki Ryo opened her mouth, wanting to say, "What does that have to do with me?", but seeing Yukimura's expression, she swallowed her words.
He always felt that there was something else behind Seiichi's words, but he dared not think about it too much.
Yukimura smiled slightly as he looked at him.
She simply stood there with her hands behind her back, tilting her head to look at him, a hint of amusement in her violet-blue eyes. "Weren't you a little too aggressive towards that first-year student from Seigaku just now?"
"Is it fierce?" Wang Yueling replied without hesitation, "I think it's alright."
"You said they weren't qualified for tennis. And you even said you have selection criteria for matches, only playing against players who can break into the world's top 100... What about Akaya and the others...?"
"I didn't make this up."
Ryo Mochizuki adjusted the green hairband on her forehead and said confidently, "I really do have those selection criteria. The match between Hyotei and Rikkai doesn't count as a competition. Apart from that, I've only played against Keigo and Akaya."
"Keigo and Akaya have the potential to break into the world's top 100 in the future, so I followed the standards exactly!"
He paused for a moment, then muttered in a low voice, "Hyotei is my team, Rikkai is your team, can't I even have a little bit of personal bias?"
"Ryoma Echizen certainly has the potential to break into the world's top 100, but when he challenges me, I should be prepared to refuse."
"Furthermore... his tennis skills are really not up to par. He has good technique, but his tactics are simplistic, relying entirely on his extraordinary talent. Against stronger opponents, he can be easily figured out."
Yukimura's smile faltered slightly as he looked at his matter-of-fact expression. "You seem to know him very well."
"I don't know much about it either."
Mochizuki Ryo put his hands in his pockets and adopted a more relaxed stance. "I've only watched a few of his match videos. This kid from Seigaku became a regular player right after being promoted this year, and he's definitely talented. But the problem is also obvious: he relies too much on what his dad taught him, and his playing style is too... unoriginal."
"But to be objective..."
"Just like his father said, Ryoma Echizen is indeed a natural tennis player, and he will go very far in his professional career."
"Then you say they were rude, prying into your privacy." Yukimura changed the subject, his voice soft but tinged with sarcasm, "Aren't you the same?"
Wang Yueling choked for a moment.
"When you first met me, didn't you also examine all my ailments?"
"That's different," Mochizuki Ling retorted, but her confidence was clearly lacking.
"What's different?"
"I am..." He thought for a moment and realized that he really couldn't find a plausible reason, so he simply gave up struggling. "Okay, I admit it, I don't really have any right to say anything about him."
Seeing his expression, Yukimura's smile widened.
The two remained silent for a while.
Someone walked past at the end of the corridor; the footsteps were very light and were quickly absorbed by the carpet.
"Seiichi," Mochizuki Ryou said softly.
"Um?"
Do you know Echizen's father?
Yukimura glanced at him sideways. "Echizen Nanjiro?"
"You know?"
"I guessed from your conversation just now."
Yukimura leaned against the wall on the other side, his purplish-blue eyes appearing soft under the warm light. "His surname is Echizen, he played professionally, and retired ten years ago. You can't find another one like him in the Japanese tennis world."
Ryo Mochizuki's Yukimura-esque mind automatically kicked in, giving him a thumbs-up and shaking it. "Seiichi, you're so smart!"
"Stop fooling around!"
Yukimura shook his head helplessly and patted his arm. "I've read about him in a magazine."
"Hmm." Mochizuki Ryo nodded, her gaze falling on a painting in front of her. Her tone became somewhat calmer. "The legend of Japan, huh? Everyone who plays tennis knows that name."
"So what do you think of him?"
Yukimura thought for a moment, but did not answer immediately.
He recalled the middle-aged man in the monk's robe from earlier, whose hair was messy, whose beard was unkempt, and who spoke in a nonchalant manner, as if he had just crawled out of bed.
But those eyes were different.
When those eyes look at someone, it's like an X-ray, able to see right through them from head to toe.
"Very strong."
Yukimura pondered for a moment, "Although he kept smiling and joking, I think he's very strong. Whether it's the current him or the past him."
"Yes." Wang Yueling nodded. "He was indeed strong before."
"Only in the past?!"
"I'm just giving an objective evaluation."
Mochizuki Ryo put his hands in his pockets and shifted to a more comfortable stance. "At his peak, his strength would have ranked between fifth and eighth in the world. He was technically proficient and had top-notch talent. In the Japanese tennis world of that era, he was truly unique."
Yukimura listened, waiting for him to say "but".
As expected, Mochizuki Ryou paused for a moment, and then said "but".
"But that's all there is to it."
"Like that?!"
Yukimura glanced at him sideways. "You don't seem to like him very much."
Wang Yueling was silent for two seconds, then chuckled softly. The chuckle was devoid of warmth; it was more like a sigh.
"It's not that I don't like it, it's that I feel it's a pity."
"pity?"
"Hmm." He put his hands in his pockets and slowed his pace a little. "He withdrew from the competition at his peak and announced his retirement before the professional finals. The reason was that he had found something more important than tennis."
Yukimura listened quietly without interrupting.
"What do you think?" Wang Yueling tilted her head to look at him. "Do you think this reason is reasonable?"
Yukimura thought for a moment, "It's hard to say. I'm not a professional player, so I don't understand their pressure and situation."
"I understand."
When Mochizuki Ryou said this, her tone was calm, but there was something heavy in her azure eyes. "I understand. That's why I'm telling you, that's not a reason, that's an excuse."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "True professional players don't back down before the most important matches. They stand on the highest stage and play every single game they're supposed to play."
"Your withdrawal from the competition is disrespectful to your opponent, to the audience, and to yourself for all the hard work you've put in."
Even if you know you might lose if you go on stage.
He paused for a moment.
"Of course, he has the right to choose his own life. But I think it's not that he 'found something more important,' it's that he 'got scared.'"
"I'm afraid of losing, afraid of not being able to bear the weight of the championship, afraid of facing more challenges after winning. I'm afraid of being brought down from my pedestal, afraid of the 'Japanese myth' shattering."
"So we're just not going to fight anymore."
"Keep the suspense going until the very end. That way, everyone will always say, 'If he keeps playing, he'll definitely win a Grand Slam.'"
Wang Yueling chuckled softly as she finished speaking. The laughter was light and devoid of emotion; it was simply a sound of amusement.
"Using sentimentality to mask cowardice, using family to cover up escapism. I've seen this kind of thing far too many times."
Yukimura looked at him, his violet-blue eyes reflecting the lamplight.
He didn't say, "You've never played professionally, how would you understand the psychology of professional players?" Nor did he say, "Aren't you being too harsh on him?" He also didn't say, "You're not him, how do you know what he was thinking at the time?"
I just listened quietly.
Because he understood that Mochizuki Ryo was not judging Echizen Nanjiro when he said those words.
He was talking about his own values.
His values are: a true champion is one who will stand on the highest stage, even if it means dying.
His values are: talent is a responsibility, not a license to be willful.
His value system is: you can lose, but you can't run away.
"Do you think he could have won the championship if he hadn't withdrawn from the competition?"
Wang Yueling thought for a moment, then turned her head to look at him, her tone becoming more serious.
"Not necessarily. At his peak, he wasn't invincible, but he definitely had a chance. The problem lies in his mentality."
"I remember he advocated playing tennis with joy, but unfortunately I didn't see joy in his tennis. That's his weakest point mentally."
He paused.
"When top athletes fight to the very last moment, it's not about technique, it's about mentality. It's about who's more composed, who's more willing to win, and who can withstand the pressure. Echizen Nanjiro's technique is world-class, but his mentality..."
He didn't finish speaking, but Yukimura understood what he meant.
"So you think he's been mythologized."
"Hmm." Mochizuki Ryo nodded. "The Japanese tennis world has overhyped him, with all these 'crushing Grand Slam' and 'invincible myth' claims. That's all just fan bias. In the real world, no one is invincible forever."
He himself was the same.
"So you just said that you wouldn't lose to him even in your prime?"
"Um."
"At my peak, I could win. Now he has even less of a chance."
When Mochizuki Ryou said this, her expression was calm, without boasting or being deliberately modest, as if she were stating a fact.
"It's not because I think I'm so great, it's because I understand his weaknesses well enough. He's not good at handling pressure in big games, so I'll dominate him."
"Once his so-called 'happy' mindset collapses, even the best technique is useless."
Yukimura looked at him, his violet-blue eyes reflecting the dim yellow light of the exhibition hall.
This man spoke with a relaxed demeanor and casual tone, but every word was carefully considered. He wasn't boasting; he had genuinely analyzed Echizen Nanjiro's technical strengths and psychological weaknesses, and concluded that "I can win."
This certainty did not come from nowhere.
Wang Yueling straightened up and patted off non-existent dust from her coat.
"But none of this concerns me. Whether he withdraws from the competition or not is his own business."
"I just feel it's a pity."
"What's a pity?"
"What a pity about his talent."
"Japan is known internationally as a tennis wasteland, and Echizen Nanjiro was a once-in-a-century genius in Japanese tennis, but he retired at the peak of his career."
"I will not coach, I will not train new players, and I will not promote tennis."
He sighed, his tone tinged with helplessness.
"He has something that most people could only dream of in their entire lives, yet he uses it to escape; it's quite pointless."
Yukimura looked at him but didn't reply.
He noticed that when Mochizuki Ryo said these words, her expression was calm, but there was a deep, well-hidden emotion in her azure eyes.
It wasn't anger, it was genuine regret.
The regret of someone who truly loves tennis watching another talented person give up tennis.
After listening, Yukimura remained silent for a few seconds, then chuckled softly, "Your assessment of him is quite comprehensive."
"It's not comprehensive either."
Wang Yueling paused for a moment, then laughed more genuinely than before, with a hint of self-deprecation, "I just have a loose tongue, I say whatever comes to mind."
"It might be because I've seen too many people who work themselves to the bone but never get to that position. They have all the talent and opportunities they dream of, and they've wasted them all."
Yukimura followed him, but didn't let up with his words, "You just said it was impolite for someone's son to pry into their privacy, but you yourself were talking about someone's father behind their back."
"How can they be the same?"
Mochizuki Ryou tilted her head, her tone slightly coquettish, "I was whispering in your ear, but he couldn't hear me. That brat told you in front of Seiichi that you can't play ball, how can that be the same thing?"
"Alright, let's not talk about them anymore. They're irrelevant people who are wasting my time accompanying you to the art exhibition."
He spoke with a hint of grievance, as if complaining that the father and son had disturbed their time alone.
Yukimura looked at him, the reproach in his eyes not completely gone, but the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up. This guy, he was the one who brought this on himself, and now he's acting all wronged.
"You still know you've been delayed?" Yukimura turned his head away, not looking at him, his voice indifferent, but the last syllable of his voice rose slightly.
Knowing she was in the wrong, Mochizuki Ryou quickly moved closer, her voice softening, "How was I supposed to run into them? Seiichi, are you angry?"
"No."
"You clearly have it."
"No."
Mochizuki Ryou stared at Yukimura's profile for two seconds and noticed that his cheeks were still red, so she understood what was going on.
It's just a little awkward.
He smiled and gently tugged at Yukimura's sleeve. "Seiichi, I was wrong. Come on, I'll show you something good. There's a set of paintings in this exhibition hall that you'll definitely like."
Yukimura blushed a little more at being called "Seichi" by him. He didn't reply, but simply pulled his sleeve out of his hand and quickened his pace to walk ahead.
Wang Yueling watched his retreating figure, a slight smile playing on her lips, and followed him.