Qiao Nan’s performance quality was undeniably higher than the other skaters in her group. 

Her technical score (TES) was 24.63, and her program components score (PCS) was 31.33, giving her a total of 60.28. 

The PCS breaks down into five parts: skating skills (SS), transitions (TR), performance execution (PE), choreography (CC), and interpretation of the music (IN). 

Compared to last time when she used a retro-style pop song, this time the music choice was so niche that even domestic judges weren’t familiar with it. As a result, her Interpretation score wasn’t very high. Fortunately, four strong categories carried the one weak one, pulling the overall PCS up. 

To be precise, it was low relative to Qiao Nan’s own standards. But looking in the entire C-level younger age group, very few even break the 20-point mark in PCS. 

Sometimes even Cheng Cheng wonders just how much luck this little girl was born with—her performances feel so naturally smooth, like it’s just in her blood. 

Qiao Nan: Maybe that “luck” is from her past life. 

Compared to international-level competitions, aside from the skating itself, the rest of the Beijing City Figure Skating Championships felt a bit sloppy. 

For example, Qiao Nan won another certificate. 

There she stood on the podium, posing for photos with everyone. She was smiling so much, she felt her face had almost frozen.

It wasn’t just the audience who wanted pictures with her—coaches and other skaters came up too. 

Even the judges who had just scored her joined the fun, smiling warmly. 

No one was naive. With such a huge lead in scores, unless someone poached Cheng Cheng, this kid becoming the hope of the capital was only a matter of age. 

Qiao Nan, wearing her costume, forced a smile for nearly twenty minutes, until the crowd thinned out. Without a second thought, she turned and ran off. 

As she ran, she kept rubbing her face hard with her hands. 

She even completely abandoned her plan to chat with Zhang Lezhang after the competition. 

It was the weekend, so Xie Luoying and Qiao You’an had already saved a spot in the arena early with their son, easily watching the whole competition. With Cheng Cheng’s help, they quickly got Qiao Nan into the car. 

“Your performance was great today,” Qiao Li said, pinching his little sister’s cheek with a wicked grin. “Who was it that said we didn’t need to bring plush toys because it’d be too embarrassing?” 

He had clearly seen the guy next to him carrying a bag of plush toys before the event and handing them out to the audience one by one. Though his Mandarin was rough, Qiao Li caught every word: 

“After the Little Panda’s performance, could everyone please toss their plush toys all at once?” 

“I don’t know anything about it,” Qiao Nan pouted, trying hard to relax her facial muscles. “I’ve never seen anyone do the Flower Toss at a city-level competition.” 

“Besides, all of you tossing a few plush toys from the same direction looked totally staged!” The little girl insisted her logic was solid and would never admit she had met Carlos two days ago—or that she had even touched those plush toys herself.

Qiao Li sneered, “So tossing three plush toys from one direction is awkward, but hundreds aren’t?” 

He was the one in the family most obsessed with pulling off stunts for Qiao Nan. Seeing someone else beat him to the punch on a plan he had been brewing annoyed him a bit. 

“There weren’t hundreds, just over sixty,” Qiao Nan blurted out without thinking, then suddenly realized she’d said too much and locked eyes with Qiao Li. 

“Over sixty?” Qiao Li laughed coldly and gave the little tuft on her head a hard tug. “Qiao Nan, where’d you get such exact info?” 

✵✵✵ 

Meanwhile, as Qiao Nan and Qiao Li bantered on the way home, a previously quiet online forum buzzed again because of the recent plushie toss incident.

The reason the forum blew up was simple: a rare annual offline fan meetup in Beijing had gone unexpectedly wrong.  

【Li Tao, who goes to the competitions without plushies.】 

【NO.0: Mom taught us never to freeload. If it weren’t for Sister 11, would you guys really just watch the show and leave?】 

【NO.1: Wait, what competition is in Beijing City? Did I, Southern Snowflake, miss something important?】 

【NO.2: This all started because Sister 11 volunteered to buy plushies. First of all, I, Rabbit Bro, do not admit to this.】 

【NO.3: Uh, not Sister 11 fault, it’s Brother Tiger’s. I swear, Sister 11 prepared 100 Little Pandas, but they were too heavy so he gave them to Brother Tiger. Sister 11 almost cried waiting without the plushies—if not for Sister 11 saving the day, we’d only have our voices cheering.】 

【NO.4: But honestly, the Little Panda performance really deserved our cheers. Whether it was the short program ‘Drunken Imperial Concubine’ or the free skate ‘Battle March of Prince Lanling,’ the effect was amazing.】 

【NO.5: Come on, no one can disagree that classical music and ice skating are a perfect match.】 

【NO.6: The little panda always seems to pick traditional Chinese music for her programs. Remember Jasmine Flower in Russia? Choosing this kind of music is risky. It works fine in domestic competitions, but it could be a disadvantage abroad.】 

【NO.7: Why do you think we call her Little Panda? You think we’re just randomly shouting like Sister 11? By the way, where’s Brother Tiger?】 

【NO.8: Brother Tiger lost track of time; apparently, he stayed up late grading homework till early morning. Probably still asleep now.】 

【NO.9: Brother Tiger… whatever. Sister 11, save those Little Pandas for the next competition. Anyone know when Little Panda’s next event is?】 

【NO.10: Probably not for a while. She’s at an age where there aren’t many major competitions she’s eligible for. Maybe we’ll see her again as an Ice Child at some event.】 

【NO.11: I agree. Plus, it doesn’t seem like she’s aiming to join the national team just yet. She’ll probably stay with the provincial team for another two years.】 

【NO.12: How do you know it’s two years? Can’t Little Panda join the national youth team first, then officially move up when old enough?】 

【NO.13: Rabbit Bro, think about what Sister 11 said—Little Panda transferred from Coach Marlon to Coach Cheng. Obviously, that’s to help Cheng Cheng become a national-level coach. If she’s not with Cheng Cheng for at least two years, it doesn’t count as his achievement. How could he rise otherwise?】 

【NO.14: Honestly, staying with Coach Cheng isn’t a bad thing. He’s actually pretty skilled. If he hadn’t been exploited so much before, he’d probably already be coaching at the national level.】 

【NO.15: Speaking of which, where’s Sis 11? Don’t tell me he’s off catching a flight. We were hoping to hang out with him.】 

【 No.16: Are you guys sure you want to call Carlos “Sister 11”? 】 

【 No.17: What else? “Brother 11” sounds weird. “Sister 11” just rolls off the tongue better. 】 

【 No.18: Sister 11’s friend said he went to visit the little panda. So jealous of people with connections—just casually getting to see the panda like that. Guys, is there a shortcut for us? 】 

【 No.19: Easy. Coach Marlon has tons of students. If you become a close disciple of one of them, seeing the little panda would be a piece of cake.】 

【 No.20: The easiest way? Just rewind back to fourth grade elementary and get into the same class as the little panda. But you’d have to hurry—if the panda keeps skipping grades like that, she might already be in high school in a few years. 】 

The forum friends originally planned to meet up during the little girl’s free skate performance and surprise Qiao Nan with a rain of plush toys. But by some unlucky twist, none of the stuffed animals they prepared showed up—and they even ended up running into the legendary Sister 11. 

Even though Carlos is blond with blue eyes, that couldn’t stop everyone’s busy minds from recognizing Sister 11 as the go-to person for insider info on Qiao Nan. 

They met him in person, but no one could stop calling him Sister 11. 

After all, everyone on the forum has been around a while and knows Carlos pretty well. Using his full name felt kind of stiff, so “Sister 11” just sounded cooler. 

It’s just a nickname anyway, and the more you hear it, the less weird it feels. 

So, while Carlos was off looking for Qiao Nan, he totally missed the perfect chance to change his name on the forum—and even after becoming a big fan later on, he never shook off the nickname. 

✵✵✵ 

Carlos didn’t have any personal reasons for finding Qiao Nan. He had honestly just wanted to take advantage of the holiday to see the little girl whose talent had once stunned him. But unexpectedly, James snitched on him, and Wright found out he was in China. 

So poor Carlos ended up as Wright’s errand boy. 

He even went to the provincial team to find Qiao Nan’s coach. 

“You’re saying Coach Wright wants to invite Qiao Nan to train in Russia?” Carlos showed up just as Cheng Cheng got into the provincial team. No sooner had Cheng Cheng arrived than Carlos came chasing after him. 

The name Coach Wright definitely sounded tempting to Cheng Cheng, but he had to consider Qiao Nan’s situation: “But Qiao Nan still has classes. The semester just started, and the earliest she’ll be free is January next year.” 

“I know,” Carlos said. “Coach Wright hopes to see her next winter.” 

The blond guy paused, his tone turning serious: “Qiao Nan’s stamina is really bad. Carlos, you have to find a way to bring her over for training. How can an athlete let illness keep them down like this?” 

“That’s exactly what Coach Wright said,” Carlos shrugged, looking innocent. “I can’t just kidnap the little panda.” 

“That would be human trafficking.” 

Apparently, it wasn’t just him—every coach who had taught Qiao Nan was deeply concerned about her physical condition. 

Wright’s offer to coach her was definitely a good thing. Cheng Cheng was interested but didn’t agree immediately. After talking with everyone in Qiao’s family, they set the special training for early January. 

Right after the little girl finishes her final exams and starts her winter break. 

Until then, during the whole semester, Qiao Nan’s only extra job besides studying and training was exactly what the forum friends guessed—she was a mascot Ice Child for major competitions. 

Her first event as an Ice Child would be in a week: 

The national team selection competition. 

Qiao Nan remembered Yan Yijin—the one who, no matter how early she arrived, Qiao Nan could never get ahead of—would also be participating.