Chapter 119: Participant
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Youth Athletics Team meeting room.
Coach Lu pointed to the file in his hand, telling everyone, "As everyone knows, the Provincial Youth Game is about to start. What I just handed out is our participant list. We have a limited number this year, since in addition to our team, the other city teams have joined in. The Provincial Sport Team will selected some young athletes under the age of 19 for the game."
Coach Lu raised the document, then changed the topic, "Therefore, we have to send our best athletes! We are not as competitive as the provincial sport team, but we should not be defeated by city teams! Today I want you to check and discuss the list so we can make a final decision."
The coaches all lowered their heads and read through the list carefully, whispering to each other from time to time.
"That Yuantong Chen from the sprinting team is on the list! He was the champion in the junior athletics game!"
"Xiangnan Liu is the best runner for the long-distance race. He has two events, 1500m and 5000m."
"The shot put team has three people! Jiankang Chen, Bin Wang and Lei Qin will all go. This must be the greatest number!"
Hearing someone speak about the shot put team made Coach Zhuang joyful. Because the number of participants was limited this time around, it was pretty good for a team to get two slots. Most teams only had one. But the shot put team had gotten three slots, indicating that the team was quite competitive.
The shot put team was indeed impressive, but nobody gave the credit to Coach Zhuang. Everyone in the room knew that Coach Zhuang had grabbed Li's achievements. The shot put team had obtained its current power because of Li's hard work. Therefore, when someone referred to the three participants for the game, the other coaches all turned to Li subconsciously. Some people even showed him admiration.
Seeing this, Coach Zhuang was pissed off. He thought unhappily to himself, "Why do they all want to admire Li for when he was the coach of the shot put team?!"
He snorted as he looked down the list. He found Haiquan Fang's name under the section for the long jump team.
"What? How could the long jump team have any participants? Didn't I send all the best performers out?" Coach Zhuang was surprised.
Before he transferred to the shot put team, he had left an awful mess for Li to figure out. He knew what he had left on the long jump team; no one was good. He had even given out several good athletes to other teams when they had come to him for recruitment. At the time he did not think he would stay on the team any longer, so why not act recklessly and get something out of it by selling his team members away.
Because he had sent who he considered the best athletes out to other teams, he had never expected to have any team members competitive enough to attend the youth game. But now a name had showed up on the list.
"Haiquan Fang? Who is he? Sounds familiar." Coach Zhuang never paid attention during his training because he had been eager to transfer to the shot put team. He did not even consider getting to know his trainees, let alone recognize Haiquan's wealth. After a month, he had already forgotten who Haiquan Fang was.
"How could a nobody sneak onto the list?" Coach Zhuang glanced at Li. He suddenly remembered the others' admiration and respect to Li, which made him even more upset.
His anger turned into hostility. He coughed deliberately, then said, "I used to coach the long jump team. This year the team's ability is below average. They lack talented athletes. I do not think it is a good idea to send any of them to the game since none of them are competitive, and none of them can bring back any good results for our youth team. They will be defeated without a doubt. I suggest the long jump team give their spot up to someone else so the opportunity is not wasted. What do you guys think?"
Had it been someone else, they may either have said nothing or expressed the thought in a more polite way, as well as omit the words "What do you guys think?" It was the leader's responsibility to ask for thoughts. Coach Zhuang had obviously crossed the line. But Zhuang had a vice-director uncle to support him, which was the only reason he had dared to say or do anything he wanted.
Coach Lu was offended, but he could do nothing. Zhuang had a strong network. A few years down the road Zhuang could turn out to be his leader. There was no need to argue with him now. But he was definitely upset with Zhuang's rudeness. He swore Zhuang and his uncle secretly, but his face showed nothing unpleasant. "Haiquan Fang from the long jump team is a special case, we need to take care of him."
"Special? Did his family die or were his parents gone?" Coach Zhuang said offensively. He was trying to embarrass Li. He then said, "There are always people who need special care. How can we take care of everybody?"
Coach Lu shrugged his shoulders and explained loudly, "Haiquan Fang's father is Dalu Fang, the chairman of the Continental Corporation! Haiquan is the prince of the Continental Kingdom!"
"What? He is the son of the Continental chairman? How did not know that!" Coach Zhuang's face was red with embarrassment. He had just accused Fang's family of having died, and now he really regretted it! He was swearing a super rich and powerful man. That was asking for trouble! He was terrified, and prayed that Manager Fang would not send someone to cut off his tongue.
Meanwhile, the other coaches were enjoying the show. Zhuang had done many bad things before by abusing his power, so people were done with him. It was a nice to see him in trouble for once.
Zhuang's last words "How did I not know that!" soon became a joke among the coaches. As a previous coach for the long jump team, that fact that he had no idea about his trainee's background was strong evidence showcasing his attitude towards his job. Even if one day he really got his tongue cut off, none of his colleagues would show any sympathy.
Suddenly, Li stood up. He said, "Our Provincial Sports Center was built by the Continental Corporation. In recent years, the newly built competition venues were made by it. Take the stadium for this year's Youth Game for example: it was also created by Continental. They used the BOT architectural style. This means that we are going to be competing in their territory, so we have to do a favor. That is why I submitted Haiquan's name."
BOT? What is BOT? Coach Zhuang was eager to find out the meaning of BOT, but he was worried that if he asked he would become a laughingstock. Because of this, he pretended to know what was going on.
On the inside, however, he was screaming, "Someone ask what BOT is! You are driving me crazy!"