"Move aside, let me try another shot!" The old man in red waved his opponent to the side, raised his paddle, and gently hit the ping pong ball toward Bald Qiang. He wanted to see if what just happened was a coincidence or if the beaver really had the skills.
The moment he saw the old man toss the ball, Bald Qiang became fully focused, staring at it without so much as a blink. With a light PING, PONG, the ball bounced twice on the table before dropping toward Bald Qiang’s position. Bald Qiang immediately spun around and once again hit the ball back onto the table.
"Well, what do you know! That’s way better than you can play!" the old man in red teased his opponent, then swung his paddle again, hitting the ball toward Bald Qiang. Bald Qiang effortlessly hit the ball back with his wide tail.
"Heh, now this is interesting." The old man in red was genuinely intrigued now and immediately hit it back. After three rallies, he decided to up the difficulty. He changed direction on his return, hitting a sharp cross-court shot to the side opposite Bald Qiang. But don’t let his chubby appearance fool you—Bald Qiang was incredibly agile. With a nimble leap, he was already on the other side, perfectly returning the ball once again, completely unfazed.
"Damn, what kind of pets does this Bin raise? Every single one is so incredible!" The onlookers gasped. If anyone had told them just a few minutes ago that this Beaver could play ping pong, they would’ve sooner died than believe it. But the scene unfolding before their very eyes was undeniable, shattering all their expectations.
"Old Liu, smash it! Show it what you’re made of!" The crowd immediately split into two factions. One group cheered for the old man in red, while the other began rooting for Bald Qiang. "Hey, fatso, that old geezer’s not so quick on his feet. Hit it to the other side, he’ll never get it." Of course, they didn’t know Bald Qiang’s name yet, so they just called him "the fatty." They cheered him on anyway, not caring whether he could understand them or not.
"Come on, Old Liu! You’ve been playing for years and you can’t even beat a giant rat? Put down the paddle and let me have a turn!" There were plenty in the crowd itching for a chance to play. They took the opportunity to launch a verbal assault, hoping the old man in red would lose quickly so they could take over.
"Better than you, at least! Weren’t you the one I thrashed yesterday?" The old man in red refused to back down, be it in trash talk or ping pong. He fired back a retort while continuing the rally with Bald Qiang, and he even remembered to have his wife come take a video. "Jun, quick, get your phone! Take a video to send our grandson. And send me a copy, I’m posting this to my Moments feed later." An opportunity like this was rare; he had to show it off. As for Moments, Old Liu was quite hip and a savvy user.
But the old man in red was getting on in years, after all. After a few more rallies, he was already panting and couldn’t keep up with Bald Qiang’s rhythm. He stumbled, failed to reach the ball, and it dropped to the ground. He lost the point.
"My turn! My turn!" A crowd of seniors immediately surged forward to claim the spot, just like when Shen Yibin used to scramble for the ping pong table during recess as a kid. The old man in red was, for one, tired, and for another, in a hurry to post to his Moments, so he didn’t put up a fight. He left his paddle on the table, but not without a final instruction. "Line up and go one by one! One point per person. Winner stays on, loser’s out." After all, he wanted to play Bald Qiang again after he was done posting.
"You’ll be waiting a while, then. I probably won’t be off this table by lunchtime," said the old man who had been trash-talking earlier, taking the paddle with a grin. He stretched his arms and legs, tossed the ball into the air, and served it toward Bald Qiang.
"Old Li, your serve is even worse than Old Liu’s! I bet you won’t last more than five rallies." Now it was someone else’s turn to trash-talk him.
The old man in red watched from the sidelines with a grin, deftly pulling his phone from his pocket. He uploaded the photos and videos his wife had sent to his Moments, adding a couplet from a classic poem: "An old steed in the stable still longs to gallop a thousand leagues; A hero in his twilight years still harbors grand ambitions." He then added his own caption: "Heh, had a great time playing ball with a foreign friend at the park today."
And why not? Bald Qiang was from Sokovia, after all. Shen Yibin had mentioned it earlier, so calling him a foreign friend seemed perfectly reasonable, didn’t it? It wasn’t long before his Moments post was flooded with replies. People were all asking what kind of animal it was, the one hopping around and hitting a ball with its tail. "Where are you guys playing? Tell us now, we want to come watch!"
"’I tell you guys to read more, but you never listen. Now you’re clueless, aren’t you? Allow me to enlighten you. This animal is called a Beaver, and it’s from Sokovia... I’m at the park where I always work out. If you want to see it, you’d better come quick. It won’t be here forever!’" The old man in red typed out his replies swiftly, all while anxiously keeping an eye on the game, ready to charge in and reclaim the paddle at a moment’s notice.
Having had a moment to adapt, Bald Qiang’s tail-work became increasingly nimble. The chubby little figure could be seen leaping left and right, high and low, around the table, crisply returning the ball time after time. The old man opposite him was starting to struggle to keep up.
Gao Lujie was no longer frightened. She crouched nearby, watching her husband’s star performance with unblinking eyes. She’d even let out a few excited squeaks now and then, as if cheering him on. Meanwhile, Xiaoliu sat perched on a tree branch, clutching a twig, deep in thought. It seemed he was contemplating whether he, too, could return the ball with a stick.
While they were having a blast, Shen Yibin finished his run. When he returned, he saw a large crowd packed around the ping pong table. He couldn’t see Bald Qiang or his wife anywhere, which sent a jolt of panic through him. He hastily pushed his way through the crowd. When he finally saw what was happening, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
’Holy crap, you can do that? I never saw that coming! If I had known you were this good, I wouldn’t have named you Bald Qiang. Fatty Liu would have been a much better fit—you two have about the same build, after all.’
Seeing how much fun everyone was having, Shen Yibin didn’t have the heart to drag Bald Qiang away. So, he and Hah’Er squatted down beside Gao Lujie to admire Bald Qiang’s magnificent performance at the ping pong table.
His delay here didn’t seem like a big deal, but back at the shop, Wen Yuan, who had arrived early, was starting to panic. He had been sitting by the water tank for a long time, but there was still no sign of Bald Qiang and the others. ’What on earth is taking them so long?’