48 Marlon

Beijing Sports General Administration.

Ma Long was practicing with intense focus, his technique rapidly improving to the point where he was gradually evolving into a true hexagonal warrior.

However, even though they had broken up for over half a year, Ma Long still felt traces of Duan Nanzhou everywhere in his life. For instance, during practice, he would always use the methods Duan Nanzhou had once taught him to analyze his opponents' shots and his own. He had to admit that Duan Nanzhou used to understand him and his game thoroughly, and the guidance she provided was always what he could understand and improve upon the most.

This caused Ma Long to recall her past teachings and the days they spent studying together every time he practiced, leaving him frequently lost in thought.

Furthermore, there were still several of Duan Nanzhou's close friends on the national table tennis team. Ever since they found out that he had been the one giving Duan Nanzhou the silent treatment, which ultimately prompted her to initiate the breakup, they had continuously looked at him with hostility.

Yet, since they were all teammates, they acted professionally during practice. But as soon as they stepped off the training grounds, they would give him dirty looks and frequently huddle together to whisper, followed by another glare in his direction.

Ma Long: ...

Even now, however, no one still knew the true reason behind their breakup, not even Duan Nanzhou—only Ma Long kept it bottled up inside.

At present, the only thing on Ma Long's mind was how to get in touch with Duan Nanzhou again. Otherwise, if he couldn't even speak to her, what else could he do?

Previously, all of Ma Long's contact methods had been blocked by Duan Nanzhou. When he tried to use his good friend's phone to reach out, the other end would hang up the moment they heard his voice, and subsequent calls would go unanswered.

Later on, Duan Nanzhou even instructed Xu Xin and the others through her close friends that if any calls made from their numbers turned out to be from Ma Long, they would all go onto the blacklist together!

At this, the implicated Xu Xin and the others stared at Ma Long in silence, their eyes clearly conveying: *My good brother, I've helped you this much, surely you don't want us to share your fate on the blacklist, right? Spare me!*

Ma Long was unnerved by their unblinking stares and ultimately put down his good friends' phones, sparing them from the shared fate of being forcibly exiled from Duan Nanzhou's circle of friends.

Xu Xin, Fang Bo, and the others let out a collective sigh of relief.

Afterward, Ma Long tried various methods, none of which allowed him to have a proper conversation with Duan Nanzhou. Instead, any remaining channels through which he could still reach her were discovered and similarly blocked and deleted.

In the very end, Ma Long could only occasionally learn about Duan Nanzhou's recent life through inquiries within the team. Liu Shiwen and the others deliberately shared these updates with him, intending to show him how wonderful Duan Nanzhou's life was now, letting him know—as a scumbag ex-boyfriend—that he should be regretting it now!

Until this very day,

"What?!"

The one who gasped in astonishment was not the involved party, Ma Long, but rather his deeply worried good friends.

"Nanzhou is seeing someone new?!"

"Mmhmm~" Ding Ning and Liu Shiwen crossed their arms, raised their eyebrows, and spoke deliberately for a certain someone to hear.

"It's over, it's completely over..." These were the inner thoughts of Xu Xin, Zhang Jike, and the others. Glancing at the silent Ma Long beside them, they felt like his chances were truly dead.

"Wait, are you sure? You're not tricking us, right?" Xu Xin remained unwilling to give up.

"Why would we trick you? Our Nanzhou is so exceptional, with so many people chasing her. What's wrong with her dating someone now?" Ding Ning retorted boastfully.

"Then... what about Ma Long..." Xu Xin's voice trailed off, making it obvious that no one cared what happened to the ex-boyfriend anymore.

"Well, it might happen soon." Liu Shiwen finally told the truth, seeing how pitiful Ma Long looked.

"That means they aren't together yet, then!" Zhang Jike turned around, patted Ma Long on the shoulder, and said, "Long, you still have a chance!"

However, Ma Long remained completely silent throughout. After hearing the news, he simply walked away with a dejected expression, leaving the group standing there in mutual dismay, completely clueless about the situation.

In reality, as Ma Long walked away, he felt as though his heart was being wrung out. The mere thought of Duan Nanzhou being with someone else, acting spoiled with another person, and sharing all the intimate gestures of a couple made him feel like he was suffocating.

Yet what could he do? Duan Nanzhou was currently unwilling to have any communication with him; he didn't even know how to take the first step.

However, an opportunity soon arose.

During a domestic tournament, Ma Long caught sight of a familiar face. Because he had to focus on his matches, he didn't look too closely and wasn't entirely sure.

Once the tournament concluded, Ma Long took a few more glances and confirmed that it was indeed Duan Nanzhou's good friend, whom he had met and dined with in the past. She had also come to watch the table tennis competition this time.

After the matches ended, the spectator Xu Rui didn't leave immediately. After all, she still wanted to see if she could get a photo with Zhang Jike and Xu Xin. As a seasoned table tennis fan, Xu Rui was quite knowledgeable about the sport. Although she had once been a reporter, she hadn't chosen sports journalism, choosing instead to become a financial reporter.

Xu Rui used to be a fan of the National Table Tennis Trio, but ever since her good friend broke up with Ma Long, she couldn't look at Ma Long without irritation. Therefore, this time she only wanted autographs and photos with Xu Xin and Zhang Jike—and of course, photos with the female team's main players as well.

On another note, Xu Rui was the very person who had previously begged her friends to let her cosplay novel dialogue lines. Due to the serious nature of her profession, she loved lighthearted and entertaining things in her daily life, such as various melodramatic romance novels.

At that moment, Xu Rui was still holding a grudge against Ma Long, completely unaware that she was the "culprit" who had caused her friend's breakup.

"Xu Rui? Are you here to take pictures with them?" Ma Long hesitated for a moment before stepping forward to ask, primarily determined not to miss any potential chance to reconnect with Duan Nanzhou.

Xu Rui, who had consistently ignored Ma Long, never expected that even under these circumstances, he would still walk over and speak to her. Still, it would be impolite not to reply, especially with so many fans around. Seeing that the two of them seemed to be acquainted, the surrounding fans were staring intently at their interaction.

"Yeah," Xu Rui answered awkwardly.

"Would you like to come inside to find them?" Ma Long's words drew gasps from the surrounding fans. Seeing that Xu Rui was both a fan and a friend of Ma Long, they were consumed with envy, wishing they could also get such close access.

"Sure." Not wanting to remain the center of attention here, Xu Rui agreed, adding a polite, "Thank you."

Once Ma Long led Xu Rui over to the main group of athletes, he watched as she instantly abandoned him to direct starstruck eyes at the other players, leaving him standing awkwardly in place, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Having finally secured photos and autographs from all the main players, Xu Rui smiled with satisfaction.

"Xu Rui, can I ask how Nanzhou is doing lately?" Ma Long stepped forward sheepishly to ask.

"She's doing great!" Xu Rui glanced sideways at Ma Long and replied coldly, "Why are you still asking about your ex after being broken up for so long?"

In Xu Rui's view, a qualified ex-partner should be like a dead person—they should never reappear, and that rule applied even to Ma Long. To have broken her best friend's heart like that meant he must have done something terrible!

"I just wanted to ask..." Ma Long found himself at a loss for words.

"Then why did you use the silent treatment back then?" Xu Rui felt a surge of anger at the mention. Although Duan Nanzhou had never explicitly complained about these details to them, she and their other close friends had pieced some things together. Especially during that period when Duan Nanzhou was being backstabbed at work while simultaneously subjected to emotional abuse and the silent treatment in her relationship, her mental state had been thoroughly ruined.

"I..." Even if Ma Long had ten thousand reasons, none of them could pass his lips. Especially from his current perspective, those reasons meant nothing now. His attitude back then was indeed the most hurtful thing possible, as he had continually avoided resolving the issues.

"You've already broken up, wouldn't it be better for both sides to forget each other in the wider world?" Xu Rui retorted bluntly.

"No!" Ma Long could not accept a world where the person by Duan Nanzhou's side was not him.

"Can you give me a chance to talk to Nanzhou? There really was a misunderstanding back then..." Ma Long began to plead cautiously. He spoke for a long time, but Xu Rui refused to relent.

"Just give me one more chance to speak! I want to apologize for my attitude back then!" This was Ma Long's final plea, and it managed to move Xu Rui somewhat, largely because she truly felt that Ma Long owed her best friend an apology.

Still, she didn't agree outright, merely saying, "I'll have to ask Nanzhou first," which was already enough to make Ma Long immensely happy.

A few minutes later,

Ma Long watched as Xu Rui returned with her phone in hand, wearing an inscrutable expression. He asked nervously,

"Is it okay?"

"Yes. Nanzhou said you can explain what the misunderstanding was."

With that, Xu Rui instructed Ma Long to take out his phone and call Duan Nanzhou. This time, the call did not show as blocked; it was answered immediately. Ma Long hurriedly hurried over to an empty space nearby to take the call.

"Weren't you going to say something?" After a prolonged silence from both sides, Duan Nanzhou's voice finally came through. "If you have nothing to say, I'm hanging up."

"Don't hang up!" Ma Long quickly intervened and began recounting the reasons behind his silent treatment back then.

"So, because you thought I was just toying with you, you kept refusing to communicate. Even when I tried to find you to resolve the issue, you never brought this up to me, never giving me any chance for an explanation..." Duan Nanzhou's voice remained detached. "Then why are you bringing it up now?"

Duan Nanzhou had once worked hard to resolve the emotional issues between them, only to be constantly pushed away. Now, nearly a year after their breakup, coming forward to explain this—what use was it?

"I..." Ma Long was struck dumb.

"However, since you still want to talk to me about this after all this time, it shows you've been dwelling on it, so I'll explain things to you as well..." Duan Nanzhou's brief sentences laid out all the misunderstandings from the past. "Lastly, I apologize to you on behalf of my friends and myself for making you think I was unfaithful in the relationship. Let's consider this matter completely concluded here!"

Duan Nanzhou's final words completely shattered Ma Long's illusions. Just as he wanted to say more, the call on the other end was disconnected.

This was completely different from what Ma Long had imagined. He had thought that at least he still had a chance, that at least once they cleared up the misunderstandings, he would have the opportunity to apologize for the mistakes he had made.

When Ma Long returned looking utterly dejected, he saw Xu Rui hanging up a phone call and glancing at him. She then walked over to apologize as well:

"I'm sorry, Ma Long. I had no idea that the script lines I asked Nanzhou to record for me back then were actually the reason for your breakup. I am truly sorry about that." Xu Rui had been startled when Duan Nanzhou just told her the reason, but—

"Still, you could have completely clarified things with Nanzhou back then instead of constantly adopting an attitude of avoidance."

That was Xu Rui's piece of advice, though she couldn't help thinking it was an incredible coincidence that Ma Long had happened to overhear Duan Nanzhou reciting those lines. Even so, that incident was merely a catalyst; Ma Long's subsequent attitude in handling emotional issues was what truly determined their breakup.

At this point, Duan Nanzhou no longer cared about these things. Knowing the real reason simply helped bring clarity to her decision to break up, but it wouldn't change her choice.

Besides, the two of them had been broken up for so long—was she supposed to remain trapped in the past forever? That had never been Duan Nanzhou's philosophy on life.

Meanwhile, Ma Long remained hopelessly immersed in the relationship and the breakup, unable to move on: ...