Chapter 240: A Saint Knight

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

When it was time for dinner, both the coaches and athletes arrived at the cafeteria of the hotel one after another.

By now everyone knew that the relay team had come in first place in the qualification round, and had become eligible to attend the National Games. Everyone knew that the members of the relay team were only second-rate athletes on the sprinting team. Their victory had been regarded as a big upset. Therefore, the relay team had been the talk of a lot of people during dinner.

"What a surprise! The relay team actually got first place in the qualification round!"

"Yes, indeed. It also surpassed my expectations. Anyway, that Coach Li who came back from the national team is really skilled! He was able to do so well with a group of mediocre athletes."

"I have also heard that our relay team's lead was huge during the match. They were in the lead the entire time. The 2nd place finisher was left far behind our relay team. The coach from the national team is indeed capable and skilled. If I had known that from the start, I would have signed up for the relay team."

"You regret it now? It's too late! I still remember before the relay team was established, over ten sprinters went to Coach Weidong Chu to tell him that they didn't want to join the relay team. Later, when all athletes could sign up for the relay team voluntarily, only a few athletes did so. As a result, the relay team has qualified for the National Games. I'm afraid they will not accept new applicants now."

"You are right! There is a saying which goes something like this: 'Today you ignore my existence, but tomorrow I will be out of your reach.'"

The talking had made Tingshan Chen very cranky. He was anxious to find a place where there were no people. However, some gossipers continued talking about the topic in the cafeteria, which made it impossible for Tingshan Chen to escape.

"Here comes Yihao Wu!" someone said suddenly. Tingshan Chen looked up and saw Yihao Wu walking into the cafeteria smiling.

"Wu, congratulations on qualifying for the National Games!" someone said immediately.

Hearing "National Games", Yihao Wu grinned from ear to ear.

"Yihao Wu, you are 18 this year, right? It is really impressive for an 18-year-old athlete to be able to qualify for the the National Games. When I was 18, I was still on the youth team," another person said, commending him.

Tingshan Chen's face flushed. He was one year older than Yihao Wu, so they should be peers; now, Yihao Wu had qualified for the National Games, while he had been knocked out in the qualifying round.

I don't accept that! I am not reconciled to my defeat. Why can Yihao Wu participate in the National Games and I can't? I am better than him. Tingshan Chen clenched his chopsticks tightly, his eyes filled with anger.

It's the relay race! Yihao Wu can participate in the National Games just because he joined the relay team! If I join the relay team, I will also participate in the National Games. Tingshan Chen took a deep breath, then thought of Dai Li.

Right! I should contact Coach Li. I am stronger than all the members of the relay team. If I sign up, he will definitely approve my application. Tingshan Chen made up his mind to recommend himself to Dai Li.

...

That evening, Tingshan Chen didn't visit Dai Li. The following day the track and field team returned to the training base, so Tingshan Chen also couldn't find an appropriate opportunity.

Back in Qingcheng, the track and field team had a day off. Dai Li had gone back to Yuzhou by train, so Tingshan Chen had failed to meet with Dai Li again. It was not until Dai Li returned after the holiday and normal training was resumed on the track and field team that Tingshan Chen finally saw his opportunity.

Tingshan Chen learned where Dai Li's dormitory was, then went to visit Dai Li alone.

Room 407, 4th Floor of Dormitory Building A should still be ahead of me. Tingshan Chen checked the room numbers, then finally found the door to Room 407.

Tingshan Chen smoothed out his clothes and went to knock on the door. However, before he could reach the door, the door suddenly opened. Someone walked out from the room with a bag in hand. There should have been two boxes inside the bag according its outline. The logo of some kind of liquor was printed on the packaging.

Tingshan Chen took a closer look and found that the one who had just come out was Kun Shen.

"Kun Shen?" Tingshan Chen was amazed. He had not expected Kun Shen to come out from Room 407 with two bottles of liquor in hand.

The next moment, Tingshan Chen suddenly realized that Kun Shen had also come to visit Dai Li. He had brought liquor with him, assumedly to bribe Dai Li. However, it seemed as if Dai Li had refused his bribery.

Kun Shen came to bribe Dai Li! No matter how stupid Tingshan Chen was, he knew the reason behind Kun Shen's behavior.

Kun Shen also wants to join the relay team! Tingshan Chen looked at the two bottles of liquor, as well as Kun Shen's gloomy expression. Apparently Kun Shen had been rejected.

Kun Shen had not expected to meet Tingshan Chen here either, who had witnessed his dismay. Kun Shen was very embarrassed.

"Kun Shen, did you come here to visit Coach Li?" Tingshan Chen paused a bit, then said, "To see if you can still join the relay team?"

Kun Shen didn't keep the secret from Tingshan Chen. He nodded and said, "Coach Li didn't accept me, just as I expected. After all, he has rejected many athletes before. I just wanted to try my luck. What about you? Are you here for the same thing?"

"Me? I was just passing through." Tingshan Chen didn't have the courage to tell the truth.

"Oh, then I'm going back. You take your time." Kun Shen didn't let him in on what had happened, and simply left with the two bottles of liquor.

Watching Kun Shen's receding figure, Tingshan Chen had mixed feelings

Kun Shen also visited Coach Li, and even took him some gifts, but Coach Li still refused him. I came empty-handed. Will Coach Li accept me? Tingshan Chen sighed wanly, but eventually knocked on Dai Li's door.

...

Several minutes later, Tingshan Chen came out from Dai Li's room with a disappointed face, visibly upset.

Dai Li had refused him, as he had expected.

Tingshan Chen felt as if he had been insulted. Dai Li would rather choose the young Yihao Wu and the old Kenan Shen, and even Dong Qian and Jialiang Zhang, who were no match for him, than choose him.

I hate him! Tingshan Chen said to himself. He couldn't help but be upset with Dai Li.

When Tingshan Chen walked to the gate of the dormitory building, he found Kun Shen standing there with two bottles of liquor in his hand. Kun Shen was looking at him with a half smile.

"Kun Shen…" Tingshan Chen stepped forward towards Kun Shen.

"Dai Li refused you too, right?" Kun Shen seemed to have expected this result. He continued, "If you think about it, we shouldn't be surprised by this. We went to Coach Chu and told him that we didn't want to join the relay team, which ruined Dai Li's plan to choose good athletes from the sprint team. Now that his relay team has qualified for the National Games, he will definitely teach us a lesson. We only have ourselves to blame for going too far."

"We were told to petition against the relay team by our coaches!" Tingshan Chen pouted, as if he had nothing to do with what had happened.

"Tingshan Chen, if you hadn't rejected the chance to join the relay team, you wouldn't have gone to Coach Chu to express yourself, right? After all, it was us who didn't want to give up the individual events," Kun Shen said.

"Dai Li's conditions were too harsh. We had to give up the individual events if we wanted to sign up for the relay team, which was unacceptable to most of the athletes," Tingshan Chen said, attempting to rid himself of responsibility again.

"It was indeed harsh to ask us to give up the individual events. However, in retrospect, if the members of the relay team hadn't put all their effort into the relay training, they wouldn't have qualified for the National Games. As a coach of the national team, Dai Li definitely knew that, so he made it a requirement that athletes had to give up individual events and focus all their energy on training for the relay in the very beginning," Kun Shen said.

"Shen, why are you defending Dai Li?" Tingshan Chen complained. "Are you willing to give up? We have to wait at least four years for the next National Games!"

"Of course not! Kenan Shen is 30, so he can still participate in the National Games; as for Jialiang Zhang, he is very average, and his performance hasn't improved in recent years. I'll be 24 this year, which is the peak of a sprinter's career. Four years from now I might be planning my retirement." As Kun Shen said, he sighed helplessly. "But what can I do? I want to join the relay team, but Dai Li didn't accept me!"

"Shen, I have an idea," Tingshan Chen said.

"What's it? Just tell me," Kun Shen asked immediately.

"Let's go to Coach Chu with Yueyang Zhu and other athletes whose performances are good, just like last time, and start a disagreement." Tingshan Chen continued, "Last time we won, didn't we? We successfully forced Dai Li to compromise by asking the athletes to sign up voluntarily. This time we should band together again to force Coach Li to accept us. We are sure to succeed."

Kun Shen let out a long sigh. "Tingshan Chen, you are too young and naïve. Last time we only won because Dai Li hadn't achieved anything yet, and the track and field team was looking forward to our good performance in the qualification round of the National Games. At that time, Dai Li was begging for our acceptance to the relay team, so we were given the benefit of a doubt; now we have been knocked out, but Dai Li's relay team has qualified for the National Games. We are now begging to join the relay team, while Dai Li has been given preference this time."

"Kun Shen, regardless of who has been given preference, we have to try, right? The track and field team is not ruled by Dai Li! If we dare not to try, we will never have a chance to participate in the National Games! If we try, maybe we will have a slim chance." Tingshan Chen continued trying to persuade Kun Shen.

Kun Shen thought it over as he frowned. He had indeed been convinced by the sentence, "If we try, maybe we will have a slim chance."

"You are right! If I fail to participate in this National Games, I won't have a chance to participate in the next one in four years. Even though this is risky, I have to give it a shot." Kun Shen nodded and said, "Let's go talk about our plan with Yueyang Zhu."

...

Today Weidong Chu was quite busy.

Over twenty athletes on the track and field team had qualified for the official match of the National Games. Therefore, the subsequent training for these athletes had become the most important focus for the track and field team.

Now that the training plans for the athletes had been submitted to Weidong Chu, he planned to review each of the plans one by one to find and point out anything unreasonable about them, as well as content that could be improved.

Weidong Chu had once been a professional coach, so even though he was not proficient in all track and field events, he was still familiar with training skills. In addition, as the head coach of a provincial team, Weidong Chu was more experienced and knowledgeable than ordinary coaches.

He picked up a red pen and made over ten marks on a training plan in several minutes.

This plan is not OK. I need to organize the coaches and discuss this in a meeting. Weidong Chu put the plan aside and picked up the next training plan.

This is the relay team's training plan prepared by Dai Li. When Weidong Chu saw the words "4x100m relay team," he smiled immediately.

The relay team got through the qualifying round by winning first place, with a huge gap between them and second place. This Dai Li is truly a capable guy. He can achieve such good results with a group of mediocre athletes. That's why Coach Li Xue decided to make Dai Li his last apprentice before his retirement. Li Xue has been working as a coach on the national team for a lifetime, so he is really insightful! Maybe Dai Li will be the best coach on the national team within 10 years.

As Weidong Chu thought this to himself, he reviewed Dai Li's training plan in an appreciative and open-minded view.

This was a mindset change. When he reviewed other coach's training plan, Weidong Chu expected to find mistakes, which was different than his attitude when reviewing Dai Li's training plan. Just like an artist who went to a high-end painting exhibition, Weidong Chu wanted to learn something from Dai Li's plan to make up for his own weaknesses.

As Weidong Chu was reading over Dai Li's plan, the phone rang. He picked it up immediately.

"Hello. Yes, it's me, what's up? Again? Last time they didn't want to join the relay team, what is their excuse this time? They want to join the relay team? Dai Li won't accept them? They deserve that! OK, I know; just send them to the meeting room, I will come over later."

Weidong Chu hung up the phone. He was clearly upset.

These guys have too much pride! What do they think I'm running here, a convenience store?

...

In the meeting room, Weidong Chu glared the athletes, who were being led by Tingshan Chen.

"Three months ago, in this same meeting room," Weidong Chu said as he tapped on the table with his finger, "You said you didn't want to join the relay team, and that you didn't want to participate in the relay race; now you're saying you want to join the relay team. What the hell do you want?"

Tingshan Chen was about to explain, but Weidong Chu didn't give him the opportunity. He continued, "Our relay team has entered the National Games after getting the remarkable achievement of winning first place in the qualifying match. I am very satisfied with their performance. I think it is very important to keep the integrity of the lineup for a team that could win first place. So, as for your request, my reply is that the lineup of the relay team will remain unchanged."

"But I'm faster!" Tingshan Chen said in haste.

"I just said the lineup of the relay team will not change." Weidong Chu stared at Tingshan Chen and said, "Regardless of if you are faster or slower, we will not change the lineup of a team that could come in first place!

Weidong Chu checked his watch. "OK, it's about time. I still have a meeting to attend later, so that's all for today's discussion." He stood up and left, leaving the athletes in the meeting room.

Coach Chu is indeed a qualified saint knight! You can't attack him with one movement a second time… Watching Weidong Chu's figure walk into the distance, Tingshan Chen continued having negative thoughts.

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