Writing about tennis?

Sports competition?

Yang Feng could swear that he is definitely not someone who pretends to be something he’s not, but seeing a novel about tennis competition in front of him, he instinctively frowned—

There’s no doubt it’s novel.

But isn’t it too novel?

In sports-themed novels, even if you write about soccer, basketball, or table tennis, it’s fine. At least these sports are somewhat familiar to everyone, and many people like them. But why choose tennis, which has a relatively high entry barrier?

Novelty is one thing.

But it’s truly niche.

However, as a professional editor, Yang Feng, despite having many thoughts, wouldn’t outright reject this submission. If the author has potential, he would be happy to get to know them.

This is quite normal in the novel industry.

When encountering authors with potential, even if their work doesn’t get published, editors often try to nurture them. Many novelists have succeeded under the guidance of editors, though they might face numerous rejections in the process.

He opened the first page on his computer.

Yang Feng began to officially review the manuscript.

If we don’t talk about the story itself, he already had a good impression of this author who dared to write about tennis. Yang Feng greatly admired this spirit of not succumbing to market trends. If most authors had this spirit, the novel market wouldn’t be so homogenized.

The story begins.

On a train heading to Youth Academy, a young member of the school tennis team was arrogantly lecturing his new teammate, demonstrating how to hold a racket while continuously swinging it, accidentally hitting a girl’s face.

“Sorry.”

The young man glanced at the girl and continued teaching his new teammate. However, as he was enthusiastically waving his racket, a cold voice interrupted, “You’re quite noisy.”

The speaker was a young boy.

The young man was about to get angry, but the boy had already slung his tennis bag over his shoulder and, before getting off the train, casually corrected him, “Grabbing the racket from the top and laying it flat is the correct Western grip; holding it upright with a handshake-like grip is the traditional Eastern grip.”

“You…”

Being corrected by a boy, the young man felt embarrassed, glaring at the boy. But before he could say more, the boy had already left the train.

“The protagonist?”

Yang Feng nodded.

The story’s opening seems decent. Even though he doesn’t understand tennis, he can grasp the basic knowledge about it. Moreover, the protagonist seems to be correcting the young man while also standing up for the injured girl.

The scene shifts.

A few boys are gathered around a list, discussing. One of them says, “This year, a new student joined the school tennis team, and he’s not a substitute but a starting player.”

“No way?”

“How is that possible?”

“Must be a registration error.”

A companion doubts, “A freshman who just finished high school, how is he qualified to directly join the school’s tennis team as a starting member? Our school’s tennis team is a reserve for professional players!”

On the list.

The freshman qualified to join the starting lineup is named Long Ma. He’s sixteen, younger than the average age of the academy’s tennis team, where the youngest starting player is at least a sophomore.

While they were discussing.

Long Ma appeared with his tennis racket.

The boys from the train also appeared, immediately attracting the students’ attention. It turns out they came to the school for a challenge match. But the young man leading them, upon seeing Long Ma, was infuriated and pointed his racket at Long Ma, sneering, “Do you know you were teaching a main player from Landon Academy’s official tennis team how to play tennis?”

Long Ma looked at him quietly.

This gaze made the young man uncomfortable, and he swung his racket towards Long Ma’s head. Of course, he was just trying to scare Long Ma, not really intending to hit him. But to the crowd’s surprise, Long Ma didn’t dodge, seemingly confident that the racket wouldn’t actually hit him.

“Let’s go, we have more important things to do.”

The young man’s teammate chuckled, advising him.

The young man snorted, ready to leave, but Long Ma picked up the young man’s empty drink bottle, accurately tossed it into the trash, and then asked, “Have you learned how to hold the racket properly? Or should I teach you how to play tennis?”

The crowd was shocked.

The young man’s group had the qualifications to challenge Youth Academy, indicating their strength. But for such a young-looking boy to say something like that left many people dumbfounded.

“Is he crazy?”

All eyes were on Long Ma.

Meanwhile, Yang Feng, in front of his computer, was flipping through the pages with interest. He initially thought tennis was niche, but now he didn’t find it boring or the story obscure. Instead, he felt a sense of anticipation.

The young man accepted the challenge.

And then, to the shock of countless students watching at Youth Academy, this seemingly innocent boy utterly crushed the young man, who claimed to be a main player from another school’s team, with a huge score!

The young man was furious.

He hadn’t taken Long Ma seriously before, but losing points consecutively was a huge blow to his pride, so he used his ultimate move, which was meant for the main players of Youth Academy’s tennis team, but was forced out by a boy—

He managed to regain a point.

At this moment, the coach of Youth Academy appeared and immediately noticed Long Ma on the tennis court, smiling, “He arrived earlier than I expected.”

“Grandma knows him?”

The girl who was accidentally hit by the young man on the train was also present, and she was the coach’s granddaughter. However, the coach didn’t explain, just watched the match with interest.

Tap, tap, tap.

Long Ma was being caught up.

The two started to have a back-and-forth match.

Yang Feng frowned. The story’s beginning emphasized Long Ma’s genius, but based on his current performance, it didn’t reach the height the story was building up to. Indeed, tennis is a difficult subject to write about.

He shook his head and continued reading.

But then, an adrenaline-pumping, super exciting plot began. Under the stunned gaze of everyone, Long Ma switched his racket from his right hand to his left!

“He’s left-handed.”

The tennis coach smiled like a fox.

Seeing this part, Yang Feng was instantly parched. He never expected Long Ma to be left-handed. It’s like someone who has always eaten with their right hand suddenly using their left hand to hold chopsticks. The concepts are entirely different. But if Long Ma could suppress a strong opponent with just his right hand, what level could he reach with his dominant left hand?

He was very much looking forward to it!

The plot did not disappoint. If Long Ma previously could only suppress his opponent, then playing with his left hand was completely toying with him. At this point, there was no back-and-forth; the opponent could barely return Long Ma’s serves.

The score was once again a massacre!

Amidst the gasps of the crowd, the tennis coach of Youth Academy squinted and said, “A genius who swept all the youth tournaments in Qinzhou within a year, winning all the singles championships, with eighteen consecutive big wins. A special tennis recruit personally invited by the principal, Long Ma, sixteen years old!”

“Long Ma!”

The crowd came to their senses.

Then there was an uproar. This boy was the one who joined the tennis team as a starting main player right after enrolling. His record was so glorious!

“So cool.”

Yang Feng’s eyes were shining.

At this moment, he almost forgot his identity as an editor, completely immersed in the perspective of a reader, ignoring the company’s off-duty notice, eagerly reading on.

The match wasn’t over.

Long Ma’s biggest disadvantage was that he was only sixteen, much shorter than the young man. The young man adjusted his strategy, standing at the net to use his height advantage, but it was ineffective. Long Ma still showed terrifying dominance.

“Haha.”

There was laughter around.

The young man, embarrassed and angry, used all his strength to throw his racket at Long Ma. No one expected this, and Long Ma’s face was directly hit, bleeding from his forehead.

Yang Feng was furious.

The crowd also criticized.

The young man laughed, claiming he accidentally lost grip of his racket. But just when everyone thought Long Ma couldn’t continue, he simply wiped the blood and said, “It seems you still haven’t learned the correct way to hold a racket.”

“You!”

The battle continued.

This was Long Ma’s counterattack. Every shot was fast and tricky, with high skill, hitting the opponent’s face multiple times, making him yelp in pain, while Yang Feng slapped his thigh in delight, feeling utterly satisfied.

So satisfying, incredibly satisfying!

Serves you right for lacking sportsmanship!

With each of Long Ma’s counterattacks, he mercilessly announced the score: “Fifteen to zero—thirty to zero—forty to zero—”

“What kind of serve is this?”

The young man’s teammates were all dumbfounded.

The Youth Academy coach calmly said, “Twist serve, where the rubber surface creates spin on the ball, causing it to deviate from its normal trajectory when it hits the racket at high speed. This is one of Long Ma’s signature moves that swept the youth tournaments in Qinzhou. At his level, it’s unreturnable.”

The young man was completely intimidated.

For the last ball, he actually gave up resisting, but in reality, Long Ma’s final shot was just a gentle tap, so the tennis ball merely bounced lightly before landing beside the young man, creating a humorous scene.

The crowd was stunned.

Yang Feng was also stunned.

He never imagined that, despite not understanding tennis at all, he would one day be so excited and thrilled by a tennis competition novel, as if he were reading a novel for the first time, completely engrossed—

My goodness!

This is explosive!

At this moment, Yang Feng suddenly remembered a song he recently loved, titled “Flammable and Explosive.” Yes, this is the ultimate pursuit of youth fantasy novels, to be flammable and explosive!