I have it, please accept it

In the late autumn of 1977, the vast twilight enveloped Osaka, Japan's commercial city.

The large car driven by the Chinese women's volleyball team drove slowly along the colorful streets.

The colorful night scene is consistent with the joyful mood of Chinese girls. Tonight, the 1977 Volleyball World Cup enters its final climax - the awarding of prizes. It should be said that the Chinese women's volleyball team's record is worthy of celebration. In 1974, the Chinese women's volleyball team finished fourteenth in the World Championships. The team formed by Yuan Weimin in June 1976, after just over a year of training, participated in the world competition for the first time and ranked fourth. This is the best record achieved by the Chinese women's volleyball team since its establishment in 1953. And in the World Cup qualifiers, they also defeated the "Witches of the East" Japanese team. The inspiration and encouragement this gave them may be much more profound than the fourth-place record itself. It seems that as long as you work hard, there is no unbeatable opponent in the world!

The tall girl sitting by the window is called Cao Huiying, the captain of the Chinese women's volleyball team. From the outside, she is quiet and elegant, with a slight smile on her melon-shaped face. On the court, she is a girl who "takes the ball rather than her life". Her teammates call her the "Iron Girl".

Look, a fierce battle between the Chinese team and the South Korean team is going on. A dangerous ball flew away from Cao Huiying. She flew forward. The ball was saved, and she fell to the floor with a strained muscle in her left leg that hurt like a tear. She pressed hard on the injured part with her hand, and the pain made her sweat break out on her head. The referee, who was always biased, saw the Chinese team's captain lying on the ground unable to get up, and eagerly signaled Cao Huiying to leave the field. Cao Huiying caught a glimpse of the referee's gloating expression, and was furious. She suddenly stood up, eyes widened, endured the excruciating pain, and continued to participate in the game. Although the Chinese team lost this game by two points, the brave and tenacious spirit of the captain of the Chinese women's volleyball team won the hearts of the audience. "No. 3!" "Cao - Hui - Ying!" The audience cheered, applauded, and expressed their respect for her in their own favorite way.

When she came off the court, her leg hurt like a knife when she lifted it up, and purple-red blood appeared on the injured area. The next day, the Chinese team still had a tough battle against the world's strongest team, Cuba. Foreign journalists were talking a lot. Some predict that if China's No. 3 does not play, the balance of strength between the two sides will change, and the fate of the Chinese team will be grim. However, the next day, when the silver flute sounded, Cao Huiying actually led the sisters on the stage again heroically. This not only surprised many reporters and audiences, but also caused psychological pressure on the Cuban women's volleyball team. Her smashes are still so fierce and powerful, and her saves are still so desperate. You could hardly tell she was a casualty. In fact, her injury was not serious. She received a blocking injection before playing and had several thick layers of straps tied around her injured leg. She is a brave warrior who keeps charging despite losing her glory! The Chinese team finally defeated the Cuban team three to two.

At this moment, this rural girl from Hebei, who has loved singing since she was a child, is singing a happy song in her heart. Today is a glorious page in the history of her sports life. The conference will award her three awards: Blocking Award, Fighting Award and Best Athlete Award.

"Pfft", she laughed out loud. However, she was not laughing because one person won three awards. She remembered a past event, a very funny past event.

When she was less than sixteen years old, she had already grown to one meter seventy-seven meters. In the countryside, every time I visit relatives or go to the market, I attract curious looks from the folks. Her loyal and honest father was worried. He thought, if a daughter's family has long hands and big feet, what will happen if it keeps growing like this! After much deliberation, I finally came up with an old method that is not new: foot binding!

"Foot binding?" When Cao Huiying heard this, she was so happy that her waist bent with laughter.

A tall girl with a pair of "three-inch golden lotus" would look strange! She said to her father angrily: "You don't even think about it, what kind of era are we in now, and you still want to do this!"

Later, her mother visited her sister's house in Beijing. My sister asked: "How tall has my sister grown?" My mother said: "Don't mention her, she is so tall that she would love to step into a hole." Then she sighed again: "Such a big girl, how can she walk?" She doesn't look like she's walking, she does the splits while walking..." When my brother-in-law heard this, he was very happy: "Why don't you ask her to practice sports?" He knew a coach from the physical education college and wrote a recommendation. letter.

So Cao Huiying joined the youth training team of the Sports Institute to play volleyball. The volleyball class of the youth training team has been training for eight months, but Xiao Cao has never even touched a volleyball in the past. But her active, simple and brave character made her fall in love with volleyball at first sight. Less than two months after joining the team, she started playing the main role. Later, she went to the Bayi Women's Volleyball Team to play the main role. When the national team was reestablished in 1976, she was spotted by Yuan Weimin and transferred to play the main role. Her growth has been smooth sailing.

Dad, Dad, thank you for not listening to you. Otherwise, how would the "Three Inch Golden Lotus" play and win glory for the country! She looked at her big feet with unspeakable fondness in her heart.

Yang Xi, sitting in front of Cao Huiying, is Cao’s classmate and friend in the youth training team of Beijing Institute of Physical Education. She was born in a cadre family and received a good education since she was a child. She had a tall figure, and coaches from the provincial sports team and the sports institute took a fancy to her and asked her to play ball. Her mother was a little reluctant because although Yang Xi was tall, she was thin and worried that she wouldn't be able to endure the hardship. Dad was very open-minded and said: "Everyone says she is good at sports, so let her go!"

As soon as she arrived at the volleyball class, she innocently asked others: "What is the hardest thing to practice? ? "Others told her that long-distance running is the hardest. She thought: "Okay, then I'll practice this."

At first, after running one lap of the 400-meter track, her face turned pale, she couldn't breathe, and she felt dizzy. But she kept running and added one lap every week. On Sunday, while others slept in, she got up early and went for a run on the sports field. In the end, she was able to run seventeen laps in one breath. Like Cao Huiying, she went from the youth training team to the Bayi team, and then transferred to the national team. The ball got better and better, and the crowds grew. Who says no one watches volleyball? In Japan, there is a "Yang Xiki craze", with tens of thousands of viewers admiring her. During the game, as soon as she stood up to serve, there would be rhythmic shouts on the court: "Hey, oh, oh! oh, oh!" As long as she smashed a good ball, there would be a thunderous sound on the court. Cheers and applause. As soon as she appeared on the street or in a hotel, there would be bursts of shouts of "Yo want - hope!" and "Yo want - hope" from all around. People crowded around and shook her hand. Those who couldn't hold her hand felt relieved even if they touched her hand. Signed cardboards were delivered to her in stacks. She herself lost count of the hundreds or thousands of names she signed. Some Japanese young people crowded around her, handed her a thick ink pen, and then pointed to their chests, asking her to sign their brand-new clothes as souvenirs, which made her at a loss. And those Japanese young people took her hand and wrote on her body. She couldn't remember how many infatuated Japanese young people wore clothes with Yang Xi's name on them and ran away laughing. What is even more touching is that two little Japanese girls, accompanied by their mothers, came to Osaka from hundreds of miles away just to ask this Chinese sister to sign her name. There are also many fans who have not had the opportunity to meet this Chinese female star, so they ask people to send tapes of praise and blessings to Yang Xi, as well as tapes of infatuated courtship... I heard that Japan has even established a 50-member "Yang Xi" team. Reception Committee”. There was a big bag full of letters written to her from all over Japan.

Why does "Yang Xire" appear in Japan? Yuan Weimin once asked a reporter from a Japanese newspaper.

There are four reasons: first, Yang Xi is the main attacker, with strong spikes and beautiful shots; second, Yang Xi has a good playing style and a cool demeanor. No matter he wins or loses, he always has a smile on his face; third, Yang Xi's name means "popular" in Japanese, and it sounds loud and clear; fourth, Yang Xi looks exactly like the Japanese movie star and the heroine of "Swan Song" Momoe Yamaguchi.

Admirers followed her almost everywhere. When the Chinese women's volleyball team goes to Tokyo to play, they flock to Tokyo to watch; when the Chinese women's volleyball team goes to Osaka to play, they flock to Osaka to watch.

At this moment, next to the car she was riding in, there were her admirers closely following her. Whenever the car stopped at a red light at an intersection, these fans would stick their heads out of various cars, shout to her, and wave to her.

As an athlete, why don’t you want to have your own audience and admirers? It should be said that Yang Xi is happy.

When the Chinese girls entered the stadium hall, thousands of cars had blocked the square. A Japanese girl in a gorgeous kimono is already standing at the entrance. The award ceremony is about to begin.

Giving out awards was originally an exciting and happy moment, but for the girls of the Chinese women's volleyball team, it turned into a huge stimulus. The first, second and third place stood on a special high podium, but the Chinese girl could only stand on the floor on one side of the podium. In the sound of Japan's national anthem, the sun flag and the national flags of the second and third place countries were slowly raised on the flagpole. The Japanese players and the second and third place foreign players held their trophies high and greeted the audience. And what do Chinese girls have in their hands? A yellow handkerchief was given to each person. According to the regulations, they had to wave the yellow handkerchief constantly to celebrate the winner.

The Chinese girls suddenly fell from the peak of joy on the way here. If there was a crack in the floor, they would really want to get in right away. The square yellow handkerchief, as soft as a cloud, was so heavy that the girls' arms couldn't be lifted. The two big characters "China" and the glittering national emblem on the sportswear on the chest turned into two balls of fire, burning their whole bodies and their faces. In the past, they often heard this sentence: "You are going out on behalf of the people of the motherland." But they didn't feel it deeply. Only then did they truly realize that they were indeed not just a few ordinary women's volleyball players, but a group of Chinese girls, representatives of the Chinese people. They deeply feel that their current achievements are not commensurate with the status of their motherland. Chinese people should not stand on the floor, but should stand on a high podium. What should be rising slowly is our bright five-star red flag, and what is echoing in the hall should be our majestic national anthem.

It’s time for Cao Huiying to accept the award. But she still stood there dreaming. Her companions poked her before she took a step forward. Her joyful energy had long since evaporated. She was really reluctant to accept this award. She thought to herself: "Even if I personally win a hundred awards, it would be better for the whole team to win one trophy!"

As for Yang Xi, she really wants to leave here right away, no, leave Japan and return to her motherland. go. No matter how hard she practices, she is willing to do it!

The award ceremony actually only lasted a short ten or twenty minutes. But the Chinese girls feel that they have been standing here for a long century. They didn't know how they got back to the lounge. They gathered together in silence, no one shed a tear, no one spoke, and the air in the lounge seemed to have solidified. Suddenly, a low, tragic song broke out in the silence:

"No tears, no sadness..."

This song of "Honghu Red Guards" was repeated over and over again. , although no one was directing, they sang so neatly; although no one was a real singer, they sang so infectiously. This kind of tear-jerking singing is hard to hear at a concert.

Amid the singing, a gray-haired elder slowly took off his glasses, turned around, and hurried out of the lounge. He is Comrade Huang Zhong, head of the Chinese Volleyball Delegation and deputy director of the National Sports Commission. He said afterwards that if he had stayed there for a little longer, tears would have flowed out.

The girls sang this tragic song as they walked out of the stadium and boarded the car; singing this tragic song, they walked through the busy streets until they stepped onto the steps of the hotel...

When the girls took the passenger plane and flew over the vast Pacific Ocean and under the vast blue sky of the motherland, they were still singing this tragic song in their hearts. This song embodies their noble spirit of dedicating themselves to the honor of the motherland, and their courage and strength to continue climbing to the top of the world of volleyball.