Almighty Coach
How could a poor graduate student without any background or connections become successful? With a coaching system? An upgrade? This is not a computer game, but real life we're talking about!
This will be a fantasy based on reality. Dai Li will fight back against all those who would mock and humiliate him with his astonishing and awe-inspiring training skills. From a nobody he'll try to become the most illustrious coach in the sports world, so join him in proving to everyone who's the real master here!
Read Almighty Coach - Chapter 1: Dai Li online free - Light Novel Full
Chapter 1: Dai Li
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Dai Li left the exam hall, walked through the crowd, and looked at the people around him. Everybody was flushed with happiness over their success and conversing happily. This made Dai Li even more upset.
"Gosh, I screwed up on the exam! There is no way that I can get into the interview round," he thought. Dai Li rubbed his temple and felt his head getting even heavier.
"Why do I feel so dizzy? Have I got a cold? I shouldn't have gone to see the meteor shower last night - now I did it!" Dai Li thought to himself.
Dai Li was an ordinary undergraduate senior student. As a graduate this year, he had chosen not to take the postgraduate entrance exam. Because his parents were normal blue collar people without any power or influence, his family's financial condition was very average. It had already been difficult enough for them to raise and support a college student. Dai Li was a filial son and he didn't want to burden his parents any more. This was why he had decided to join the job hunting "army" along with this year's many graduates.
The problem was that his major, sports training, was kind of lame. People could easily draw a conclusion on what the students of this major could do after they graduated. The employment prospects for this major was not great. Graduates from the literature or philosophy majors, for example, might also have a difficult time finding jobs, but at least they could aim for something more general such as a secretary or copywriter position to start with. But even those general positions did not welcome students from sports majors.
This year was hard enough for normal graduates, and it was even worse for Dai Li, who came from an ordinary family without any money or network. Moreover, he was not from a 985 or 211 university. These factors, coupled with the fact that he was in such a specific major, made it hell for people like him when it came to job hunting.
That was why he targeted for the Recruitment Exam for Public Institutions. For example, primary and middle schools hired P.E teachers every year. Non-profit sports schools and teams looked for coaches too. Being a teacher or coach was at least a secured job in those public institutions. To prepare for the exam, Dai Li had begun reviewing since the first semester of his senior year. He had also gone to the education and psychology training class that was organized by the Bureau of Education. He had even managed to pass the tests and get the Teaching Certificate.
Today was the day of the recruitment exam, but he had been feeling dizzy since the morning. He had pushed through it and went into the exam hall, but he was too sick to even find the right directions. Because of this, the exam had been like the "hell-mode" of a videogame with an extra "bonus", except the only result for this game was "game over".
He continued rubbing his temple and thought to himself, "I thought I could enjoy not only two days off every week and the public holidays if I became a P.E teacher, but also the summer and winter vacations. Well, that's not gonna to happen now. I guess I'll just go write some online novels. Maybe a novel about an athlete. I even have the title for it, 'All-around Athlete'!"
"I bet nobody is going to read a book with such a lame title. What kind of a nerdy writer would write such a boring novel like that?" said a voice that suddenly popped up in his head.
"What? Who is talking?" Dai Li looked around and found that no one was talking to him.
"Don't bother searching - I am in your head." The same voice talked to Dai Li's again.
Dai Li suddenly had goosebumps all over. He was terrified by that voice. This was quite understandably a normal reaction for any normal people who found out that someone, or something, was speaking in their mind.
"Don't be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you," the voice claimed.
"Who the hell is that guy? What is happening?" Dai Li thought to himself.
"Don't call me 'that guy.'" The voice now made an echo in Dai Li's head.
"He knows what I am thinking about!" Dai Li thought to himself, surprised.
"Of course I do. So you can communicate with me just by thinking," said the voice.
"So who on earth are you?" Dai Li thought silently. He was not used to this form of communication.
"I am your guide, and also part of the Coaching System. My mission is to help you get used to this Coaching System and make the best of it," the voice answered.
Dai Li immediately thought of the so-called "Systems" in the online novels. It was almost like cheating; if you had this kind of "Systems", the world would be your oyster. You could go from being a loser one second to on top of the world the next. Everyone would throw themselves at you. Dai Li had never imagined that lucky things like this could ever happen to him.
"Coaching System? It sounds like a system related to a personal coach, like having someone outside of the game help you without notifying other players. Is it like cheating?" Dai Li asked.
"Exactly. It can be a cheating system for your life!" The voice read Dai Li's mind again and said, "this Coaching System not only can help you become a coach, an excellent coach, the best in the world, but also it can lead your life all the way to the top! This system is almighty. The fact that you have this Coaching System makes you the luckiest person in the world."
"An almighty Coaching System? Deposit one million yuan into my bank account and I'll buy your word," Dai Li said, challenging the system.
"I cannot do that," the voice answered, "but you could easily make one million, ten millions, and even 100 millions with the help of this Coaching System."
"I don't think I want you in my head," Dai Li rejected the system subconsciously. He felt uneasy about this thing that had suddenly entered his head.
"No way," the voice said determinedly. "I followed the meteor for a very long time and finally found a place to settle. It took me all morning to match with you. It's too late for you to say no."
"The whole morning? So it was this guy's fault that I suffered from the dizziness the entire morning!" Dai Li complained to himself.
"I have to match your brain waves to communicate with you. It might be the reason you feel a little bit dizzy!" the voice admitted quite honestly.
"A little bit dizzy? You ruined my exam! You are the reason why I won't get a job now! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find a job? Do you have any idea how long I've been preparing for this exam?" Dai Li felt so angry now that he knew who was responsible for what had happened.
The voice said carelessly, "All you could have been is merely a P.E teacher in a middle school even if you pass the exam. But with me, it's possible for you to be the best coach in the world and lead you to a unparalleled, successful life. A P.E teacher in middle school means nothing compared to a world-class coach!"
"A world-class coach," Dai Li repeated. "No, I don't need that. All I need to do is earn more than ten thousand yuan per month. I just want to have enough to buy a house and to get married. That would make me really content."
"Only ten thousand yuan monthly salary? Come on. With my help, you can become the best coach in the world, even if you are an idiot," the voice followed immediately.
"So are you like an instructor for a newbie?" Dai Li asked.
"Something like that. If there is anything you don't understand about this Coaching System, feel free to ask me. I'll give you some reasonable proposals," the system said.
"Alright. Then you have to tell me what to do now." Dai Li finally gave in.
"First, you need to get into the Coaching System," said the System.
"How?" Dai Li asked.
"Use your mind," the system answered.
"Use my mind how?"
"Use your mind, stupid!" After the System answered, Dai Li used his thoughts to direct what was happening. He suddenly found himself in an infinite starry sky, with all the stars surrounding him.
"Am I in the system? Why do I feel like I'm in the endless universe?"
A golden projection suddenly appeared in Dai Li's vision. He looked carefully and identified that it was someone's head. But it was very blurred—he could only see its facial features. It was hard to distinguish its specific appearance.
"Newbie instructor?" Dai Li asked carefully.
"Guide. Newbie guide!" The golden head corrected him.
Dai Li took a deep breathe and asked, "What should I do next?"
"You are still a newbie. But the good thing about being a newbie is that you can get some type of starting bonus. This is a welcome gift for you," said the golden head.
A golden box showed up in front of Dai Li the next second. The golden head began speaking. "This is the welcome gift for newbies. You can open it up and have a look."
Dai Li opened the gift without any hesitation. He saw that there were two things in the box. There was a golden card on the left and something resembling a radar on the right.
Dai Li picked up the card first. "Top-level coach trial card (14 days)? What is this?"
"If you stick this card to your body, you can experience the training results of a top-level coach for the 14 days that follow," said the golden head.
Dai Li nodded and tried to stick the card on his body. The golden head stopped him and said, "Don't use it now. It's a one-time-only card. If you use it now, you can't use it anymore."
"Then when should I use it?" Dai Li asked.
"When you have someone to train, at least. You don't even have a training target right now. Wouldn't it be a waste to use the top card?" said the golden head.
"You are right," Dai Li nodded. He picked up the radar-like object. "What is this radar?"
"The primary detector. You can use it to detect individual ability. The range for detecting is 10 meters. You can try it on some random person in real life," the golden head explained to him.
Dai Li went back to real life and saw an old woman walking up to him with her dog.
"Detect!" he used his mind, then saw a list of statistics in the system the next second.
Detecting Target: Ordinary person; Sports Ability: 46.
"46? Is that high or low? I should try it on another person and compare them." He looked around and found a young man of average height walking by.
"Detect!" he used his mind again and saw another list of statistics.
Detecting Target: Ordinary person; Sports Ability: 68.
"68 is much higher than the dog-walking lady. I wonder what am I?" Dai Li then used the detector on himself and saw that the result was 80.
"Wow, I didn't expect my sports ability to be as high as 80!" He was very satisfied with the number.
The system's voice appeared in his mind again. "The upper limit for an ordinary person is 99. Your ability is an 80, which means you always workout."
"Yes, I majored in sports training. Besides the normal lessons, we also have many classes for practicing what's required on the training ground," said Dai Li.
The golden head continued pointing out, "What you should do next is learn more about your character attributes."
A big screen showed up in front of Dai Li. Underneath a picture of Dai Li there were details.
Name: Dai Li
Coach Level: Newbie (0/100)
Others: None
Training list: None
"The column for 0/100 looks like something similar to empirical value. I could upgrade to the next level by reaching 100/100," Dai Li talked to himself.
"Exactly. That is your Experience. You will get it when you train others. This means the first thing you need to do is to find a target to train," said the golden head.
"Are there any special requirements for training targets? Or could anyone be my trainee?" asked Dai Li immediately.
The golden head answered right away, "There are no special requirements. The target could be an athlete, an ordinary person, disabled person, or even someone in a coma. As long as you have the 14-day top-level coach trial card, it will be very easy to upgrade. Just find some random person and train them for a few days. That would do it."
…
"Someone in a coma can't even move. What could I do with them?" Dai Li left the Coaching System. He began to feel the Coaching System was even more unreliable.
"Find some random people? It's easy for him to say. If I pass this exam and become a P.E teacher, I can easily find hundreds of students to train. But where should I look for targets now? I guess I should just start writing online novels…" As Dai Li was pondering over his tasks, a poster attracted his attention. There were a few big words on it: "Talent Education. Looking for P.E teacher urgently. Excellent pay and benefits."
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Chapter 2: Training for the High School PE Entrance Exam
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Normally, the exams for public institutions and civil service were set up in primary schools and middle schools. For example, the exam hall that Dai Li had gone to was set up in the Ninth Middle School in Yuzhou City. And where there were primary and middle schools, where there are training and tutoring institutions, which offered classes for writing, math, and foreign-language. When it came to hobbies, painting classes, calligraphy classes, and all kinds of classes for musical instruments were also available. If a kid hadn't been enrolled in three or five classes at a time, he would feel embarrassed to even say "hi" to his classmates.
The poster that Dai Li had seen was for one of those tutoring institution named "Talent Education".
"'Talent Education. Looking for PE teacher urgently. Excellent pay and benefits.' I wonder if I have a chance. I still have to wait a month to receive my graduation certificate. Well, I have no other choices anyway. Maybe I should just give it a shot. It's also a good chance to see if the coaching system is real or not," Dai Li thought as he approached the gate of Talent Education.
…
"Excuse me, are you looking for a PE teacher?" Dai Li asked as he walked through the gate.
The person who came to welcome Dai Li was a middle-aged man in his forties. He was very pale, with a pair of golden wire-framed glasses. It made him look very knowledgeable.
"You came here to apply for the position? You look very young," said the man.
Dai Li smiled awkwardly and spread his arms. "I just graduated. My major is sports training, and I am here today because I came to take the public institution's recruitment exam. I happened to see your poster, and want to get some more information. Sorry I didn't expect this today, so I don't have my résumé. I do have my student card with me though."
Dai Li took out his student card and handed it over to the man. The man took a glance at it, then gave the student card back to Dai Li. He said, "My name is Jianguo Chen. This Talent Education was opened by me and my friend."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Chen," said Dai Li immediately.
"Just call me Professor Chen. I was a middle school math teacher," Jianguo Chen continued, "we are looking for a part-time PE teacher. It's mainly about giving sports training to middle school students in preparation for the high school PE entrance exam. You must know about it, right?"
Dai Li nodded. "I had to take the PE exam in my high school examination too. I remember PE made up 30 points of the exams."
"Now it's 60 points! Almost 8% of the entire high school entrance exam," said Jianguo Chen and postured an "eight" with his hand.
PE was always one of the mandatory items in high school entrance exams. The proportion PE took was different depending on the region. It ranged from a minimum of 30 points to a maximum of 80 points. And in the city where Dai Li lived, PE made up 60 points of the exam.
Jianguo Chen continued, "There are only two weeks left before the high school PE entrance exam. Our program opened a special training class for it, mainly targeting junior students in middle school who are going to take the exam. The PE teacher we originally hired is no longer available due to some unexpected emergency. We really need a PE teacher to replace him as soon as possible. Because you were a sports training major, I think it will be no problem for you to train middle school students. Am I right?"
"No problem at all," Dai Li nodded.
"Because all our trainees are full-time students who have to go to school during the day, the training cannot conflict with their normal class time. Usually we go from 17:30 to 19:30 on weekdays. It will be two hours. On Saturdays and Sundays, it will be an entire day of training. Since the exam is around the corner, we only have about two weeks."
Jianguo Chen stopped for a second, then continued, "As for the salary, we can offer you 300 yuan a week during the trial period. On top of that, for every student you coach who completes their training program, you will get 500 yuan as commission. If you are okay with it, I can offer you the trial contract right now."
"Now?" Dai Li had never imagined that the whole thing would have gone so well. The man had only checked his student card and offered him the job.
"Yes. Today is Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday. We are going to begin our class tomorrow. According to the plan, it will be a full day of training. I hope you can be here and start working tomorrow," Jianguo Chen said eagerly.
"I have no problem coming here to start the work tomorrow. It's just…" Dai Li said hesitantly.
"Perfect. I'll go get the trial contract." Jianguo Chen ran into the office behind him.
…
Dai Li walked out of Talent Education, still baffled by what had just happened. Everything had gone so well that he couldn't believe it.
"It said on the internet that job hunting was very hard for college graduates. Why was it so easy for me to get the offer today? He only took a look at my student card and hired me. Was it some kind of trap? I've checked the contract many times and everything including the salary, bonus, and working time are all listed clearly. They didn't even ask for a deposit, nor charge me for the uniform."
Dai Li thought carefully and remembered that he had seen some news on the internet about employment fraud. Most of them would offer a trial period in the beginning and then ask for a deposit for all kinds of reasons, such as the uniform, training fee, and so on.
"Well, I'll bring 20 yuan with me for lunch and leave all my bank cards at home. They'll never get a penny from a poor student like me!" he thought.
Dai Li came to Talent Education the next early morning. Jianguo Chen drove him to the City Youth Activity Center personally.
There was a specialized space for activity in the City Youth Activity Center. The center had athletics tracks, an equipment room, basketball court, football pitch, tennis court, badminton court, and ping-pong hall - everything you could imagine. They even had a swimming pool. All these fields were only open to public when they held competitions. Usually they were lent to the after-class tutoring centers. For example, the eight basketball courts were lent to four tutoring institutions that specialized in basketball training.
Talent Education wanted to do high school PE entrance exam training, so they had rented a field in the Youth Activity Center which included a jumping pit, calisthenics bars, and an athletics track. However, they had to share the athletics track with other tutoring institutions. This field would be the place Dai Li would work for the next two weeks.
…
"The Youth Activity Center is an official government-managed activity center. The training schools that rent space here should be registered in the Bureau of Education. They shouldn't be frauds," Dai Li thought as he followed Jianguo Chen to the place Talent Education was renting.
Jianguo Chen pointed at a row of horizontal bars and said, "Besides this fixed equipment, we will rent a box of equipment including dumbbells and stands for push-ups from the Youth Activity Center. They will send it here later. There are numbers attached to that equipment. Be careful not to misplace any of them, otherwise we have to pay for it."
Dai Li nodded to show that he understood. Jianguo Chen looked at his watch and said, "It's almost time. The students are coming. We'd better welcome the parents who are sending their children here!"
…
Twelve students stood in front of Dai Li. All of them were boys, and they all shared the same characteristic—they were all overweighted!
According to the "Physical Health Standard for Students" established by the nation, if a senior middle school boy's height was 165 centimeters and he weighed less than 46 kilograms, he suffered from malnutrition; between 46 kilograms and 56 kilograms, he was considered thin; between 56 kilograms and 58.5 kilograms, he was average; if he weighed more than 58.5 kilograms, he was considered overweight; and if more than 66 kilograms, he was obese.
The 12 people in front of him were obviously in the obese category. One was bigger than the other! After examining all of them, Li determined that the "skinniest" one was still obese. One or two of them might have even been more than 90 kilograms.
"A bunch of fat potatoes!" Dai Li thought to himself as he sighed. Though after considering it, Dai Li realized they wouldn't be here in the high school PE entrance exam training class if they did not have weight issues.
"I should check their sports abilities! Alright! 24, 27, 22, 25…is no one over 30? What the hell is 19? He might be even weaker than the dog of that old lady yesterday!" Dai Li thought, quite upsetly.
"Don't look down upon the old lady from yesterday who was walking the dog," said the system. "Nowadays, old ladies practice square dancing one to two hours every day. They are much stronger than these chubbies!"
"You are right. But there is nothing I can do about it. I have to take it easy. According to the contract, I can get 500 yuan commission per student. Which means I can get 6,000 yuan if I can manage to train them until the end! 6,000 yuan in two weeks! How lucky I am!"
The more Dai Li thought about it, the more he found it unbelievable. His morale was high thinking about that 6,000 yuan. He took the list of names and went in front of them. He cleared his throat and said, "Hello students. We will now begin roll call! Xiaoming Huang."
"Present!"
"Congcong Wu."
"Present!"
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Chapter 3: Training starts
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The subjects of the high school PE entrance exam differed depending on region. Yuzhou City, where Dai Li lived, had three tests on the high school PE entrance class. For boys, there was the 1000-meter race, standing long jump, and pull-ups. Girls were required to do the 800-meter race, standing long jump, and sit-ups. Because the full score for the entire exam was 60 points, each activity counted for 20 points.
Compared to the girls, the activities for boys were much more difficult. And they were obviously even more difficult for this group of little chubbies.
Standing long jump might have been the easiest one - as long as you got the hang of it you could pass the exam, even if you were a little big. For those students who were overweight, running the 1000-meter race was not that difficult. It would be more of a question of whether they could finish the race in time or not. If they were too slow, they would get no points at all.
As for the pull-ups, it could be like hell for those fatties. For teenagers whose bodies were not developed enough, their arms were weak points. Those who weighed less had an advantage when it came to pull-ups. Some middle school students who seemingly suffered from malnutrition could easily finish couple dozens of pull-ups, while those who were well-built had much more difficulty performing this exercise. Some of the overweight students, on the other hand, couldn't even complete one pull-up.
Today, the group who had come to the training belonged to the last category. If they had been good at sports, they wouldn't have even spent the money to join this special training class.
…
"My name is Dai Li. I will be your coach. From now on, you will call me Coach Li instead of Teacher Li!" Dai Li put emphasis on the word "coach."
"Alright, let's begin. Everybody follow me to do some warm-up exercises!" said Dai Li.
Even if Dai Li could not be considered a coach, he was at least a sports training student. When he was at school, his grades were not bad, nor had he ever failed any classes. In order to be a teacher after graduation, he had even studied education. It wouldn't be difficult for of his ability to train a bunch of middle school students.
"I think you should use that top-level coach trial card!" a voice said in Dai Li's mind. It was the golden head from the Coaching System.
"The top-level coach trial card. I would have forgotten about it if you hadn't reminded me!" Dai Li's consciousness went into the Coaching System and pasted the card on his body. The number 14 appeared on the card.
"14 days. This number will decrease one by one as the days go by. The card will disappear when the number turns to zero." Dai Li checked his own status while the system spoke.
Name: Dai Li
Coach Level: Newbie(0/100)
Others: Top-level coach trial card (14 days left)
Training List: None
"You have to add those students to your training list, this way your training will be effective for them," the system continued.
"Okay, add these names to the list. Xiaoming Huang, Xun Li, Congcong Wu…by the way, does this training list accept everyone?" Dai Li asked suddenly.
"Of course not. Those added to your training list must be those you train yourself. If they are no longer being trained by you, then they will be removed from the list. You can also delete them from the list yourself. You can add a random person to test that," said the System.
Dai Li followed the System's words and started to think about some of the world's best athletes. However, the system indicated that it couldn't add them to the list. Then Dai Li tried to add some of his roommates to the list, but still failed.
"So it's true that I can only add those who are trained by me!" Dai Li considered this, then returned to reality and began the real training.
…
Pull-ups were one of the subjects of the high school PE entrance exam, mainly testing upper body development, as well as hanging strength. Many people thought that pull-ups were all about having muscle in their arms. In reality, it was not only about having strong arms, but also having strong shoulders and a strong back. Just like those bodybuilders in the gyms, they were actually doing pull-ups to train the muscles in their back as opposed to the muscles in their arms.
To practice pull-ups, it was very important to learn how to use your strength. For those who couldn't even finish one pull-up, it was not that they didn't have enough strength, but that they didn't know proper technique. Normally, those who couldn't even finish one pull-up could do at least one or two after learning the correct form. The first mission for Dai Li was to teach his students how to make the right movements, and how to use their strength along with technique.
Pull-ups were actually the most basic movement for sports training. It was also the most familiar one for a college student who had majored in sports training. For him, it was a piece of cake to teach them the right movements and techniques to best use their strength.
"Xiaoming Huang, pay attention to using the strength of your shoulders. Use your shoulders to lead your body. Very good. Use more strength. Do not just use your forearms. Use the strength from all of your upper body muscles. Don't raise your hips, that won't work! Raise your shoulders, yes, like that! Well done! Try it again!"
Dai Li had started out supporting his legs, but now he had let them go completely and instructed Xiaoming Huang to complete a pull-up again by himself.
"I succeeded! I finished a pull-up on my own!" Xiaoming Huang came down from the horizontal bar and hailed rapturously. The other students looked at him enviously.
Dai Li wiped the sweat from his forehead. He mumbled to himself, "This Xiaoming Huang looks heavy and slow. However, he is pretty smart, and his comprehension is not bad. I only taught him once and he's already mastered the techniques. Could it be that he actually has talent on sports?"
"It has nothing to do with his talents. It is the 'top-level coach' card that rocks!" said the System again.
"What does that mean?" Dai Li asked in his mind.
"Xiaoming Huang is just a normal person. Because he's overweight, his flexibility and compatibility are worse than the others. Because you are now in 'top-level coach' condition, it gives Xiaoming Huang a top-level training result. It only takes him one time to learn the techniques of a pull-up." The system stopped, then continued, "If you don't believe it, you can try it on the others."
After a while, the rest of the 11 students all mastered the technique for pull-ups. Most of them learned it after only one practice session. Very few of them needed to practice more than once to master it. This made Dai Li realize that the System was no joke.
The technique for pull-ups was not that difficult, but it was, however, impossible for normal people to learn it after trying it only once. Athletes or dancers who had been trained professionally spent less time than the average person when learning a new movement. This was because their bodies had better flexibility and compatibility. It took a longer time for obese people to learn a new movement than the normal people because they possessed poor flexibility and coordination.
Of course, there was always exception. Jinbao Hong, for example, was a well-know agile chubby. Considering his shape, he deserved words of praise like "genius" because of his flexibility and agility! But geniuses were not everywhere. If it had just been Xiaoming Huang, Dai Li could take it as coincidence. But all 12 students were like this. It took them no time for them to master the technique for a pull-up. It couldn't be that all 12 people were geniuses. The only explanation was that the Coaching System really ruled!
"The Coaching System really works. I can't believe that God has given me such an incredible cheating system! If everything goes well, these chubbies can all get full scores on the high school PE entrance exam in two weeks!" Dai Li thought to himself.
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Chapter 4: Refund
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The session lasted three hours, from 8:30AM to 11:30AM. After three hours of training, the 12 students could finish several repetitions of pull-ups. Xiaoming Huang, who was the best among them, could even do three pull-ups consecutively.
This was the result of just a three-hour training session. Given the fact that these fat potatoes couldn't even finish one pull-up originally, Dai Li's training deserved a compliment of "incredible." Even Dai Li himself was shocked by the outcome that morning. Having majored in sports-training himself, he knew how unbelievable his training result was. Even if you had gathered all the best coaches, you would not be able to achieve what Dai Li had accomplished.
"Well, I can see that you are shocked by the training effects!" said the system. "This is the training result of a top-level coach. Even national athletes could make a big leap forward following a top-level coach, let alone ordinary people!"
"So according to you, the results differ between national athletes and ordinary people?" Dai Li asked, catching the point.
"There is a difference. A very big one actually. Even if you don't have the top-level coach trial card, you can still expect a good result training ordinary people as a newbie coach. However, the same result can't be ensured if you train athletes," explained the golden head.
"I understand that the training result gets better as the level of the coach gets better. But I didn't expect that there is a restriction on trainees according to the level of the coach," said Dai Li.
The golden head nodded. "This restriction appears on the limitation of the training result. The better an athlete is, the higher the level of the coach must be. If the level of the coach is too low, the training result will be very inconspicuous, which could even be close to none. For example, a newbie coach like you would make no impacts on national athletes. On the opposite, if a high-level coach trains a low-level athlete, the result would be much better."
"So if I'm understanding correctly, I could make those fatties do 10 pull-ups if I could upgrade my coach level? There are 10,000 students who take the high school PE entrance exam in Yuzhou City. I can open a training class for the high school PE entrance exam and make a big fortune from it!" Dai Li said excitedly.
"No way. Even if you upgrade yourself to the highest level, you still couldn't make them do 10 pull-ups in one day. Sports training is limited by individual physical ability. For example, that Xiaoming Huang can only finish five pull-ups today according to his physical limitations. Even a top-level coach couldn't help him do more than five. Your training result so far is the best-case scenario," the golden head explained.
Dai Li felt a little upset now that his dream of making a fortune had been broken. The System said, "The better the training result is, the more experience you will gain. I suggest you make the most of these 14 days and make yourself to level-3, which will be a sophomore coach. After 14 days, once the card is expired, it will take you more time to level up."
"Right! The Experience!" With the system reminding him, he remembered the empirical value. He entered the system immediately and saw that the column for empirical value had raised from 0/100 to 6/100.
"I have already gained six points of empirical value, which means I can get 12 points per day. Then I just need eight or nine days to upgrade. 14-day top-level trial card is definitely enough," Dai Li calculated in his mind.
"I don't think so. Don't forget that it's Sunday today. That's why you have an entire day. That's also why you were able to get a high empirical value. Normally on weekdays, you'll only have two hours after school. At that point, you would not be able to get 12 points per day," the System reminded him. This news made Dai Li quite depressed.
…
During the training in the afternoon, the fatties were still making rapid progress. For example, Xiaoming Huang could already finish five pull-ups if he pushed himself. Even the biggest of the bunch, Congcong Wu, could manage to do three.
According to the scoring criteria of Yuzhou City's high school PE entrance exam, six consecutive pull-ups would reach the standard to pass the exam. And according to Dai Li's calculation, all 12 students would manage to pass the exam after two or three days of training.
The training ended at 5PM. The exhausted students dragged their bodies and waved good-bye to Dai Li. However, Dai Li didn't leave right away. He counted the box of equipment that they borrowed so he could return it to the Youth Activity Center.
"Nothing lost. Time to get ready to go home!" As Dai Li got ready to move the box to the trolley, he saw a few familiar people walking up to him.
He looked carefully and found that all of them were the students he had taught today. There were seven or eight of them, and a few adults followed. One or two of them looked very familiar to Dai Li.
"That lady should be Zhenye Zhu's mother. I met her this morning when I was welcoming the students with Jianguo Chen. And the man right next to her should be Xiaoming Huang's father. The person following him is someone's parent too. Why have all the parents gathered here all of a sudden? Is it because the training result was so incredible today that they want to say 'thank you' to me?" Dai Li was filled with happiness.
What should I say in return for their grateful words? 'You are welcome. I'm just doing my job.''Your child worked really hard today. I'm sure he will make great progress after all.' Something like that!"
As he mulled it over, the parents were already standing in front of him, looking at him from head to toe.
"You are Teacher Li?" Xiaoming Huang's father asked.
Dai Li suddenly felt nervous. He could tell from Xiaoming Huang's father's tone that there was no good news. It actually sounded like he wanted to pick a fight. Normally people wouldn't use this tone if they wanted to show their gratefulness. And the fact that Xiaoming Huang's father's face was obviously showing his anger.
"What's wrong? What did I do? Is it because he is not satisfied with the training result? The fact that someone who has grown as big as Xiaoming Huang managed to do five pull-ups is already a miracle. He is still not satisfied? I didn't abuse his son! Why is he so angry?"
Dai Li nodded with a baffled look. "Yes, I'm Dai Li."
"Where is Coach Shouliang Zhao?" asked Xiaoming Huang's dad.
"Shouliang Zhao? Who is that? I've never heard of him," Dai Li said. "Today is my first day of work and I'm afraid there are a lot of colleagues that I don't know."
"First day of work! Look at you - I bet you are a student who just graduated," said Zhenye Zhu's mom, who was standing right next to him.
"Well, I'll graduate in a month," Dai Li answered honestly. His response caused a disturbance among the parents.
"Liar! You're lying, training a class without knowing anything!"
"You promised us that there would be a professional coach. Now we only have a student who hasn't graduated from college!"
"And this is his first day on the job! You must be kidding me!"
"I told you that Coach Zhao is not with Talent Education. This program is a fraud!"
"How could you mislead our children like this! You promised us that there would be a professional coach when we registered. Give us the money back! Our 3000 RMB training fee!"
"Right! We demand that Talent Education refund our money!"
"Refund!"
"This is fraud! A refund is not enough! You should pay us back three times over!"
Dai Li had no idea what he should do now…
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Chapter 5: Retain Customers
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"What the hell is this? This is the first day of my first job and these parents have come together to ask for a refund!" Dai Li stood there unsure of what to do. For a senior student who was going to graduate this year, he had no social experience that could have taught him how to deal with this. He came back from his thoughts to face the music.
"Everybody please calm down! This is my first day and I have no idea what happened. Please give me a moment. I will make a phone call to verify what exactly is going on."
He took out his phone and entered Jianguo Chen's number.
"Professor Chen, this is Dai Li. There's a situation here and I have a lot of parents asking for a refund," Dai Li told him straightforwardly.
Jianguo Chen was silent for a few seconds on the other end of the phone, then sighed. "I knew that would happen. They are asking for a refund again!"
"It sounds like Jianguo Chen already knew that the parents would ask for a refund. And he said 'again,' which means this has happened before," thought Dai Li. He felt like he was involved in something terrible. He hesitated, then asked, "The parents said that they were looking for Shouliang Zhao. Do you know him?"
"Shouliang Zhao!" Jianguo Chen repeated the name with a tone of detestation. He sighed after a while and continued, "Tell those parents to bring the receipt they received when they paid the bill, and to come and get their refund."
There must be some secrets! thought Dai Li. Then he asked, "Professor Chen, could you please just tell me the truth about what is happening?"
"Alright! There will be more and more parents who want refunds. Eventually there might be no students at all. There is no need for me hide anything from you." Jianguo Chen went on to tell him what was going on.
This training class for the high school PE entrance exam organized by Talent Education had originally hired a professional coach from the municipal sports team. That was the "Coach Shouliang Zhao" the parents were referring to.
Reputation was the most important thing if you wanted to start a training class. Most of the parents had brought their children here just because of the well-known teacher. It was very easy to attract a lot of students simply by having someone famous. There was no doubt that a professional coach from a municipal sports team deserved to have that reputation according to the parents. Talent Education had used him as an eye-catching promotion. They printed Shouliang Zhao's resume on the promotional page. Many of the parents sent their children here just because of the words "professional coach from a municipal sports team."
What Talent Education had never considered was that Shouliang Zhao would quit the job the day before the training class was supposed to begin. He had just made a phone call yesterday morning saying he was out. Jianguo Chen had asked for information hastily, and learned that Coach Shouliang Zhao had hopped to another training school.
The school he had left for was SA Student Education. It was said that people who were involved in the same business were enemies. SA Student Education and Talent Education had competed for years. To scramble for students, they played every trick. This time SA Student Education had made a relentless blow and caught Talent Education off guard.
This kind of job-hopping behavior was very immoral. The training class was supposed to start the next day, and Shouliang Zhao had quit the day before. It was obviously a plot to bring down Talent Education - they could never find someone to replace Shouliang Zhao in such a short time. In fact, Shouliang Zhao had colluded with SA Student Education from the beginning. He didn't leave Talent Education until the last minute so he could purposely put Talent Education into a predicament. He had quit the job knowing that the class was going to start the next day.
Through switching jobs, Shouliang Zhao had also brought many of the students with him. Most of the parents had come for the professional coach, and they asked for the refund as soon as they had found that there would be no professional coach since he had quit. There supposed to be 30 students in the Talent Education program, yet more than half of them had left with Shouliang Zhao . The 12 students left were those whose parents were uninformed. That was why they hadn't quit the class yet.
Reputation was the key for the tutoring institutions like Talent Education. There would be no doubt that an institution would lose its credibility it had taken the parents' money and then told them that the class was cancelled. No one would trust the institution any more if it would to start a new program in the future. The training class had to be continued, even if there was only one student left, just for the sake of reputation. However, Jianguo Chen had no time to find a PE teacher, so he had put up a poster just to try his luck. Dai Li happened to see that poster, and came to apply for the job the same day.
Jianguo Chen would normally never hire a student who hadn't graduated yet had there been time to find a proper teacher. However, the class was scheduled to begin the next day, so there was no time to find someone else. He had to hire Dai Li. That was how Dai Li had gotten the job easily.
But the parents didn't approve of Dai Li. They had come for the professional coach. After the first day of training, they asked their children how it was and found out that there was no professional coach. They had come here to figure out what was going on, only to find out that Dai Li was a student who hadn't even graduated yet. Of course they felt like they had been fooled, which lead to the situation now—they were asking for the refund, and even compensation for their trouble.
"Okay, I see. So I was just a replacement for this emergency! No wonder Jianguo Chen only checked my student card and then offered me this job. It was all because there was no one else! Well, that coach Shouliang Zhao must have been really discredited." Dai Li finally understood what had happened and why he had gotten the job so smoothly.
However, the next moment, Dai Li suddenly realized that one student meant 500 yuan in commission. There were six parents here — if they all asked for the refund, he would lose 3,000 yuan in income!
After he thought about it further, he realized he would even lose the salary of 1,200 yuan as an trial. Talent Education had no reason to keep him if all the students dropped off from this program.
"No, I can't let him give them refunds! I will be unemployed if they all leave." Dai Li mulled it over for a few seconds and figured out what he was going to say.
Dai Li walked in front of the parents and began. "Everybody please take it easy. I just found out what happened. Coach Shouliang Zhao is no longer in our Talent Education program. But you still have me!"
"What do we need you for? Go get your diploma first!" someone amongst the parents said.
"My major is sports training. This is what I've been studying. Speaking of the result of training, I have confidence that he is no better than me," Dai Li said.
"You gotta be kidding me!" the parents said with contempt. From their point of view, they couldn't understand how an undergraduate student had the nerve to compare himself with a professional coach from a municipal sports team!
"You are teacher Li, right? It's good that young people have faith in themselves. But don't reach for what's beyond your capability. Coach Shouliang Zhao is a professional coach from a municipal sports team. An undergraduate student like you should be modest and learn from him," a parent with a beard said.
"But I really can improve your children's scores," Dai Li said immediately.
With the help of the top-level coach card, Dai Li was superior to anyone else in the world when it came to training results. This gave Dai Li the confidence to speak like this. However, this kind of confidence was seen as conceited and arrogant by the parents.
"Let's stop wasting our time here with him. He is just an undergraduate student, and this is his first day. He knows nothing! Let's get our refunds and sign up for another training class. Our children can't be held up," said Zhenye Zhu's mother, dragging her son.
Xiaoming Huang's father also added, "I saved Coach Shouliang Zhao's number when I signed up. After we get our refunds, I'll call him to see where he is and if he is still coaching any classes. The day I signed up here, he promised me that after the two-week training, he could have my son doing at least five to six pull-ups. Maybe my son will be able to pass the exam with his help!"
Dai Li saw a glimmer of hope after he heard what Xiaoming Huang's dad said.
"Wait a moment!" he said. "You said Coach Shouliang Zhao promised you that he could make Xiaoming Huang do five pull-ups after the two-week program?"
Xiaoming Huang's dad turned around and said, "What? You don't believe it? He is a real professional coach. It's normal that he is better than you at training."
"Look how you scared Teacher Li," said Zhenye Zhu's mother, who was standing right next to him. "The real professional coach sounds so incredible compared to the others. It seems like he really has talent in coaching if he can make promises like that. Could you please check for my son as well and see if there are any vacancies in his class once you contact him? I want to send my son there too."
"It's destiny that we all gathered together here, man. Don't forget us if you manage to contact him! Coach Zhao also promised me that he would make my son pass the exam as well," another parent said anxiously.
Xiaoming Huang's father had become the most welcomed person here now.
Dai Li took one step forward and continued asking, "Are you sure? Coach Shouliang Zhao said he could make Xiaoming Huang do five pull-ups in two weeks?"
"What do you mean? Are you looking down upon my son?" Xiaoming Huang's dad got very angry. He continued, "My son is a little big. But he is not that bad! You don't believe he could do five pull-ups after a two-week training? Just because you couldn't do it doesn't mean the others can't!"
The other parents echoed his words. "He is a professional coach, different from you. It might be hard for you to believe. Maybe you should just go back to school and study harder from the beginning. Maybe after 10 or 20 years you can reach Coach Zhao's level. Who knows."
Their sarcastic words didn't make Dai Li feel angry. On the contrary, he sighed with relief and smiled. "If what you said is true then I'm not worrying anymore!"
The next second, Dai Li pointed at Xiaoming Huang and said, "Xiaoming Huang. Get on the horizontal bar and show your dad the result of our first day of training!"
Dai Li made it extra clear and loud when he said the words "first day".
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Chapter 6: I Only Need One Day
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
All children wanted to perform the best they could in front of their parents. This was also true for Xiaoming Huang. He walked to the horizontal bar without any hesitation when Dai Li called his name. He really wanted to show his dad how well he could do.
"He looks like he's 75 kilograms, almost the same as my son."
"Is he going to do a pull-up? Do you think he can even finish one?"
"I doubt it. I feel my son is a little slimmer than him, my son couldn't even manage to do one pull-up."
"That Teacher Li just told him to show his training results from the first day. Maybe he can do one pull-up!"
"One pull-up means nothing! You need six to pass the exam!"
Their discussion hit Xiaoming Huang's father hard. A complicated feeling of depression, shame, and expectation rose up from his heart.
"If he can't even manage to do one pull-up in front of all these parents, it could be really embarrassing. I hope Xiaoming can finish at least one," thought Xiaoming Huang's dad, sighing silently.
Xiaoming Huang had already walked to the horizontal bar while they were talking. Dai Li shouted, "Recall all the points of the movement. Don't get nervous, just think of it as normal training."
Xiaoming Huang nodded silently. He reached out his arms and jumped slightly to grab the horizontal bar. Everyone's attention was on Xiaoming Huang. He hung on the horizontal bar with his arms. Then he squeezed with his power and finished a perfect pull-up.
"Wow, he really did one pull-up!"
"His movement seems good enough to reach the standard. And he doesn't look very exhausted."
"That move looks very skillful. I bet this kid practiced hard the whole day. He received the result he deserved!"
Xiaoming Huang's father heard the discussion and felt very proud.
"That's my boy! Good job! I'll let you play on the computer for one hour tonight since you didn't shame your old man!" Xiaoming Huang's father thought proudly.
However, Xiaoming Huang didn't get off the horizontal bar. Instead, he gave it another shot.
"A second one! He did two pull-ups in total!"
"I didn't expect that fat potato to be able to do two pull-ups!"
Many of the parents spoke with envy. Some of the parents even patted their children's shoulders and said, "Look at him. He is as heavy as you. Even he can do two pull-ups."
Xiaoming Huang's father didn't look worried anymore. Instead, he was flushed with success. His own son was enjoying his moment of fame, so of course he felt happy. As his dad was about to praise him, Xiaoming Huang finished another pull-up.
"Three times! He did three pull-ups!"
"No way. How could such a fat kid do three pull-ups?" Many of the parents sounded very surprised, and also a bit jealous.
However, Xiaoming Huang had no intention of stopping. He kept trying, and finished a fourth pull-up.
"He did another one! It's already the fourth one!" Zhenye Zhu's mother said surprisedly. But this time, she got no response. All the other parents were staring at Xiaoming Huang with their eyes wide open. It seemed like they couldn't believe what was happening in front of them.
The fourth pull-up took more energy from Xiaoming Huang. You could tell from his movement that it was not as easy as the first one. But the fourth pull-up was not the end. Xiaoming Huang rested for three to four seconds, then began to move again.
For the fifth pull-up, Xiaoming Huang's arms trembled because he was trying very hard to use his strength. The muscles in his arms were all contracted, and the movement this time was obviously very hard for him. He could fall off at any time. However, he gritted his teeth and did not show any intention of giving up.
"Go, my boy!" Xiaoming Huang's father clenched his fists tightly as he cheered silently for his son. The next moment, Xiaoming Huang's jaw finally went over the horizontal bar. His fifth pull-up was completed!
All the parents looked at Xiaoming Huang and felt so shocked that their faces looked dull. How could a person as fat as Xiaoming Huang do five pull-ups?
"Xiaoming Huang. Get off!" Dai Li said. He loosened his hands and fell to the ground immediately with his mouth opened wide, trying to catch his breath. He had reached his limit of five pull-ups.
Dai Li took one step forward and stood right in front of Xiaoming Huang's father. "Are you satisfied with the result of the first day of training?" he asked straightforwardly.
"What?" Obviously Xiaoming Huang's father was so out of sorts that he couldn't give a response right away.
Dai Li continued, "You just said that it would take Coach Shouliang Zhao two weeks to make Xiaoming Huang do five pull-ups, didn't you?" Dai Li repeated his words. However, the same sentence sounded so different now to the others.
"Five pull-ups. Compared to that Coach Zhao, who said he needed two weeks to train the students. I only ask for one day!"
Dai Li's voice echoed and fell into the ears of the parents. It was like a hammer had hit their chest. They couldn't help but stand in shock. To make Xiaoming Huang do five pull-ups would take even a professional coach two weeks. However, the young undergraduate had only taken one day to achieve it. The difference in time left an impression like a dragon was waving at them in a river. Their hearts couldn't calm down for a while. Could it be that Coach Shouliang Zhao was not skilled enough?
Of course not! Shouliang Zhao had taught in municipal sports, which meant he was qualified enough. At least in Yuzhou City, you could even call him a top-level coach. Otherwise he wouldn't have even been hired by the municipal sports team.
It was not because Coach Shouliang Zhao was not good enough—it was that this young man right in front of them was so good that he was more qualified than Coach Shouliang Zhao.
"How could that be possible? An undergraduate student is way better than the professional coach from the municipal sports team?" Some of the parents still couldn't believe it, even though they had seen it with their eyes.
"Maybe he is a swindler that they hired to fool us. Maybe they are just acting!" a voice said. Although it was said very quietly, everyone still heard it.
"Watch your mouth!" Xiaoming Huang's father argued, feeling very insulted.
"No one knows if you are a swindler or not except yourself," the voice echoed again. Everybody then realized that it was Zhenye Zhu's mother. The one who had argued the most for the refund before had been her as well. She spoke with sarcasm, and looked like she would need some more convincing.
Dai Li didn't pay much attention to it. He smiled and said, "Zhenye Zhu. Get on the horizontal bar and show your mom whether I hired a swindler or not."
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Chapter 7: Convinced
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Chapter 7 - Convinced
"One, two, three, four…even that fat potato was able to do four pull-ups!"
"And he was halfway to the fifth one. If he had tried harder maybe he could have made it!"
Zhenye Zhu got on the horizontal bar and finished four pull-ups in one go. He ran out of strength when trying to do the fifth one, so he only made it halfway, but it was still very impressive. The parents were not that shocked because they had already seen Xiaoming Huang's performance.
The person who felt most embarrassed was Zhenye Zhu's mom. A minute ago she had said Dai Li had hired a swindler. Now her own son had done four and a half pull-ups. It couldn't be that she herself was hired as a coverup!
Being parents, they clearly knew what their children were capable of. Zhenye Zhu's mother knew that he couldn't even do one pull-up normally with his own ability. It was unbelievable that he could do four and a half pull-ups after one day's training. It was strong evidence that Dai Li was really good at training.
"Son, how many can you do?" one of the parent asked his child in a low voice.
"I can do four, too," the teenager said. He sounded very proud.
The other parents also started to ask their children and they all got a very satisfying answer.
All the parents looked at Dai Li differently now. Their disdain had turned into trust and admiration. A few minutes ago, Dai Li had just been some undergraduate student who knew nothing in their eyes. Now he was a training master to them.
All the changes on those parents' faces didn't escape Dai Li's eyes. He started, "You all think that I'm too young and have no experience—that I must be worse than others at training. But sports training is not all about age or experience. The training results are more related to science. The more scientific the training is, the better the result is. If the training is not scientific, then the result might fall behind, and the sports ability might be worse than before. What's worse, athletes could get injured.
"My major is sports training, which includes courses in scientific training. In fact, the scientific training that I learned in college is also a kind of experience. It summarized all the successful experiences, and helped me absorb the essence of them and leave out the drugs. After the selection and arrangement of experiences, they put them in the textbook for us to study."
Dai Li exhaled deeply after finishing his speech. All the parents nodded, agreeing with Dai Li's point of view.
Zhenye Zhu's mother was the first to respond. "Coach Li makes a very good point. There are many coaches on sports teams who have been teaching for 20 or 30 years who may not even have high school diplomas. When it comes to scientific training, we should look for these young people who have been to college."
Maybe she was trying to make up for what she had said about Dai Li being a "swindler." Zhenye Zhu's mother had changed her attitude to show her sincerity, and was the first one to support Dai Li.
Dai Li felt it was almost time to go, so he said, "Alright, everybody, it's pretty late now. If you still want to quit the class, just go to the Talent Education office. There will be someone who can give you the refund. If you still want to stay in my class, come here on time tomorrow."
Quit the class? Refund? A few minutes ago, that was what those parents were expecting. But only fools would quit the class now!
"No! No way we are going to quit the class! My mind can only be put at ease if my son can follow Coach Li and learn!" Xiaoming Huang's father patted his chest and said.
"How could we quit the class when there is such an incredible coach like Coach Li! Coach, please pay more attention to my son."
"Coach Li. Please feel free to hit my son if he does something wrong."
…
Jianguo Chen looked at the clock on the wall. It was already eight o'clock at night, but nobody was coming for a refund.
"What's wrong? There should be plenty of parents who want refunds. Where are they? Is there a traffic jam? No way. It's close enough that they can just get here by foot," Jianguo Chen mumbled.
Dai Li was partly to blame for the confusion Jianguo Chen was experiencing. If he had some working experience, he would've known that he should have called Jianguo Chen. First to relay what had just happened and to explain why the parents wouldn't ask for refunds anymore, and then to ask for the credit. However, Dai Li's working experience was close to none, so he went back home after solving the problem without letting Jianguo Chen know, not knowing better. This made Jianguo Chen wait a few hours.
"Could it be that Li didn't explain it clearly to the parents?" Jianguo Chen couldn't wait anymore, so he called Dai Li.
"Hello, Li, this is Jianguo Chen. Have you managed to tell the parents who want refunds to bring their receipts? You did? Then why there is nobody here. What? They quit asking for the refunds? All of them? For what? Because they are satisfied with your training? You say they would love to stay and continue learning?"
Jianguo Chen hung up the phone, but after a few minutes he still couldn't understand the situation here. His mind was a mess and he still had a confused look.
"What was that? They are satisfied with his training results? This sounds so unbelievable. Did Li cast a spell on them or something?"
…
The next day was Monday. Because the students had to go to school during the day, the training would start at 17:30 and last until 19:30, lasting two hours total.
All the students arrived on time. Dai Li changed the training focus. The day before, only pull-ups had been on the training list. However, that was not the only requirement of the PE exam. Students also had to complete the standing long jump and 1000m race. Dai Li decided to alternate between the training of these three activities.
Pull-ups were mainly about the strength of the upper limbs, while standing long jump was about the power and strength of the legs. The two subjects did not influence each other. The 1000m race in track and field was put in the category of middle-distance race, which tested endurance. A long-distance race was an actual test of one's endurance, but considering the physical abilities of middle school students, the 1000m race was already long enough.
Dai Li wouldn't let his training get the better of him. He was a sports training major, after all. He had gained essential knowledge and skills in teaching effectively, the effect of sports on the body, and professional training methods. That was more than enough for him to train these middle school students.
In the enrollment office of SA Education, in front of the manager of enrollment, there sat a middle-aged man in his forties. He was of average height with tanned skin. He had small eyes, a flat nose, and sharp jawline; he was not good looking.
This was Coach Shouliang Zhao.
The manager of enrollment was full of smiles. He poured Shouliang Zhao a cup of tea and said, "Coach Zhao, you said that you would attract students from Talent Education the other day. Our training class has already been going for three or four days, but the students haven't come yet."
"They haven't? There are no students today again?" Shouliang Zhao stopped and asked himself. "That's impossible! All those parents must already know that I left Talent Education and came here."
"I asked about it and found out that Talent Education found someone to replace you right after you left. It seems like that new coach managed to convince all the students to stay."
Shouliang Zhao frowned after hearing his words. He thought about it, then said, "I have the numbers of a few parents that I saved during the enrollment period. I'll ask them what happened."
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Chapter 8: Looking for trouble
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Some of the parents had exchanged numbers with Coach Shouliang Zhao when they had enrolled at Talent Education. Although Shouliang Zhao had hopped to another job, he had kept the numbers. He picked up his phone and dialed one of them.
"Hello, are you Xiaoming Huang's parent? Yes, this is Shouliang Zhao, the coach of the municipal sports team. Your child is a little big, but he still has a chance to pass the high school PE entrance exam if we train him harder… There are only two weeks left before the exam. If we don't start the professional training as soon as possible, it might be too late to—
"I'm sorry? In the training class at Talent Education? Okay, I didn't make myself very clear. I'm no longer with Talent Education. I'm teaching at SA Student Education—
"What? Your son can do seven pull-ups?"
Shouliang Zhao hung up the phone and snorted. "He must be bluffing. Why didn't he just tell me that he didn't want to come instead of making up such a naïve excuse! Look at his fat son! Seven pull-ups? Come on!" Shouliang Zhao dialed another number.
"So you want to stay at Talent Education? No offense, but there is only one chance at the high school PE entrance exam in one's life, and sports make up 60 points. If you come to my class and join the training, I can at least promise your son gets 36 points. Maybe even 40 points if he is lucky.
"Full score? That's never going to happen. Look at your son's weight. He needs at least a year of training before that can happen.
"...No, I'm not looking down upon your son. That comes from my experience after all these years of being a coach."
"…Forget experience and talk about scientific training? I know nothing about scientific training? How dare you say that!"
Zhenye Zhu's mother was harsh and mean when she spoke. Shouliang Zhao almost fought with her over the phone. He was so pissed off after the call. He dialed the third number. You shouldn't expect an angry person to speak with a soft tone. He spoke as if he was going to explode any second. Regardless of his tone or attitude, he sounded very aggressive.
"Hello, is this Xun Li's parent? This is Shouliang Zhao… What is that 'don't take on the work if you don't have the ability' comment supposed to mean? You'd better make it clear! What? I'm not as good as others?"
Shouliang Zhao got the same answer from everyone else after dialing a few other numbers. All the parents wanted their children to stay with Talent Education. Some of them were polite enough to say thank you before hanging up. Others came close to arguing and calling him names through the phone. There was even someone who had said Shouliang Zhao was not qualified enough.
After all the calls, he felt very resentful. Once he had calmed down, he realized it was strange that all the parents had rejected him and chosen to stay in Talent Education. It had to be because Talent Education had somehow made those parents satisfied. It also meant that the new coach they hired was not just someone off the street.
"Maybe the coach they hired is another famous coach? But I'm sure he is not from our municipal sports team, otherwise I would have known him. Maybe he is from a sports school? Or someone who works for the college? Who the hell is he that he was able to make all those parents willing to stay? I have to find someone to ask about it."
Shouliang Zhao thought about it and began to contact his connections right away. After a while, he found out that the coach Talent Education had hired was not a famous coach who worked for a sports school or college, but an undergraduate student who had majored in sports!
"How could an undergraduate student win over students in competition with me?! Just wait, I'll show you who I am and leave you with no students!" said Shouliang Zhao.
To Shouliang Zhao, it seemed like they wanted to steal his money and compete for students. He made a living off getting commissions from students. One student meant one commission; one less student meant less income. As a professional coach, his commission per student was 1,000 yuan. Twelve students meant 12,000 yuan, which tripled his salary for one month. He didn't mind looking for trouble for 12,000 yuan.
…
"Congcong Wu, lean forward. Push the ball of your foot against the ground when you jump!" Dai Li shouted.
The students were divided into two groups on the training ground. One group was practicing the standing long jump, while the other was practicing the 1000 meter race.
Congcong Wu was definitely the biggest student among them. His height was only about 160 centimeters, yet he weighed more than 90 kilograms. If you looked at him from afar, you would think he was a giant meatball. He was also one of the most difficult students for Dai Li to train. Dai Li usually spent more time on Congcong Wu just to help him make more progress.
There was a small group of people walking towards him. Shouliang Zhao was leading them. He pointed out different things as he walked. Behind him were a few people who seemed to be parents.
He spoke as he walked, saying, "There are countless training classes in Yuzhou City. Training classes for the high school entrance PE exam makes up a big part of them. As far as I am concerned, there are dozens of sports training education schools that are renting places in this Youth Activity Center, and both seedlings and weeds grow together among them. Some of them are here just to take up space. Many of the so-called sports coaches don't even have the most basic qualifications. It's so clear that all they care about is swindling money!
"Money is not that important; the most important thing is that someone else's quest for money wastes the time of our children. The high school entrance exam is a once in a lifetime chance. If you fail the exam just because you went to an unqualified sports training education school and met a worthless coach, imagine how sad that would be! You might even lose the chance to enter a key high school. Don't you think so?"
All the parents following Shouliang Zhao nodded to show their support after listening to his words.
"You really need to learn how to choose a training class. The first thing you should do is check the coach's qualifications. For example, the training coach right in front us looks like he's in his early 20s. He is even younger than some of the athletes that I have trained, and obviously it's a bad choice to give your children to people like him. He is just here to fool everyone. I bet you don't want to waste your children's time on him." Shouliang Zhao pointed at Dai Li, who was not far from him, raising his voice on purpose.
The group caught Dai Li's attention right before they entered the room. Dai Li had not missed a word of what Shouliang Zhao said.
"I don't even know this guy. We've never met before. Why is he saying that I'm wasting these children's time when we barely know each other? There are even a few parents following after him. They are coming for trouble!"
Dai Li's look turned very serious and angry. How could he tolerate this when they had come all this way, right in front of him, to look for trouble? He took one step forward without holding back his anger and said, "Who are you talking about?"
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Chapter 9: Misleading the Students
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Shouliang Zhao had indeed come here looking for trouble. The reason he had brought a big group of parents was to insult Dai Li in front of other people. And since SA Student Education had also rented a training ground in the Youth Activity Center, which was located on the other side of the sports field, it didn't take Zhouliang Zhao much time to find Dai Li.
In fact, Shouliang Zhao was just an ordinary coach for the municipal sports team. He was not outstanding at all, otherwise he wouldn't be doing a part-time job for some training education class. The real incredible coaches were all busy taking athletes to competitions. They had no time to train a bunch of middle school students for the high school PE entrance exam.
There was an old saying that you should never push somebody too hard, otherwise it would be awkward when you had to meet them again later. Shouliang Zhao might have given Dai Li more respect and would have tried to avoid direct conflict if Dai Li was from the sports school or college. Shouliang Zhao wouldn't offend someone even if that person was a sports teacher in middle school. However, Dai Li was just some undergraduate student whom Shouliang Zhao didn't care about at all. Each student meant a commission, and he didn't mind offending Dai Li for that. If he could win over the students in this bid, then he could get more commissions. Twelve students meant 12,000 yuan. Shouliang Zhao was not just here looking for trouble - he was also looking for money.
Shouliang Zhao's speech about "misleading the students" and such was all said to Dai Li on purpose. He wanted to attract Dai Li's attention and then insult him. He knew his plot had succeeded when he saw Dai Li question him. He smiled viciously and looked at Dai Li from head to toe. He said with disdain, "Young man, I can tell that you are in your early 20s. I suppose that you are just a few years older than those students, right? Isn't that misleading the students if people like you work as coaches?"
"Ability has nothing to do with age. What matters is the result of training. Age doesn't represent skill. Look at you—people like you who are older than me but still know nothing can be found everywhere!" Dai Li retorted back, trading insults.
"My son, you should not talk to me like that. Do you have any idea who I am?" Shouliang Zhao answered his own question immediately and said, "I'm Shouliang Zhao."
"Shouliang Zhao? That's him. No wonder he came looking for trouble!" Dai Li was not a big fan of him. Nevermind that there was a competition between them simply because they worked in the same industry—Dai Li questioned Shouliang Zhao's morals after all he had done to Talent Education. Dai Li felt that he didn't have to be polite to people like him who had no integrity. He smiled and said, "I know you. You are the one who escaped, Shouliang Zhao!"
"Escaped? What do you mean?" Shouliang Zhao asked, trying to look dignified.
"You want me to say everything? Okay, I showed you my respect, but it seems like you don't need it." He sighed purposely and spoke to the parents who were behind Shouliang Zhao. "Coach Shouliang Zhao used to be in our Talent Education program. But then he felt he was not qualified enough to teach our students, so he ran away to SA Student Education!"
"Nonsense!" Shouliang Zhao shouted angrily.
"Nonsense? That was not nonsense! You were here in Talent Education during the enrollment period. But then after you saw that our students were very difficult to train, you realized you wouldn't be able to help them get high scores, so you escaped. Yes, I admit that our students were a little big, and the training might be more difficult. However, you shouldn't have given up before even trying!" Dai Li continued, making up stories as he went along.
"That is bullshxt! You are just making up stories!" Shouliang Zhao seemed to be a little embarrassed.
"Come on. Even if I could make up a story, I wouldn't need to. You can ask the others if Shouliang Zhao was in Talent Education before or not, that way you'll know if I'm telling the truth. And I've got witnesses too!" Dai Li said as he waved at Xiaoming Huang to ask him to come around. He patted Xiaoming Huang's shoulder and looked up at Shouliang Zhao. "Coach Zhao, this is our student in Talent Education. You must have met him before, haven't you? You were still in our Talent Education when he signed up."
Shouliang Zhao felt that all the parents were looking at him with doubt. He didn't expect Dai Li to be such a smooth talker. He was put into a defensive position just by Dai Li's few sentences full of nonsense.
"I did. So what? I was in Talent Education when he signed up!" Shouliang Zhao shouted and continued, "I was an athlete for more than 10 years, and I have been coaching since then for seven or eight years. I've trained professional athletes. Even the professional athletes from municipal sports teams could not daunt me, let alone some middle school students. There is no need for me to escape. I just hopped to another job with a higher salary offer. That's it."
The parents behind Shouliang Zhao discussed his words quietly.
"Coach Zhao is making sense. He is a coach from the municipal sports team. How could a few middle school students daunt him?"
"Even professional athletes are a piece of cake for Coach Zhao, let alone some slightly overweight students."
"I was almost buying that young fellow's words! Considering Coach Zhao's ability, there is no possibility that he would be afraid. It must be that he hopped to another job for higher pay."
Dai Li was not in a hurry to explain himself. He patted Xiaoming Huang's shoulder and said, "Coach Zhao, I remember that you did not only meet this student, but also promised him when he enrolled that you would help him achieve five or six pull-ups after two weeks of training. Is that true?"
Shouliang Zhao remembered, but didn't admit it immediately. He worried that it might be a trap Dai Li had set for him. He thought about it again and found no problem with his promise. He nodded and said, "Yes, even though he was a little big. But I believe he would be able to do six pull-ups before the high school PE entrance exam if he came to me for training."
Shouliang Zhao said "six" instead of "five or six" to show his ability. The discussion among those behind him flared up again.
"Six pull-ups! That means 12 points, which is the passing line."
"He deserves to be a professional coach from the municipal sports team if he can make such a big child do six pull-ups! I bet the other coaches would never be able to achieve it!"
"We made the right choice choosing Coach Zhao. I'd be so satisfied if my son could do six pull-ups in the high school entrance examination."
Shouliang Zhao listened intently and felt very proud.
"You misled the students!" Dai Li suddenly said.
"What did you say?" Shouliang Zhao asked in reply.
"I said you were the one who misled the students." Dai Li stopped for a second and then continued, "I repeat back to you the words you said to me minutes ago, without any changes. You can only help students do six pull-ups in two weeks. Isn't that a waste of time for the students?"
Shouliang Zhao laughed after hearing Dai Li's words. "Son, are you a fool or are you just playing one? Six pull-ups in only two weeks is not normal. Only I, Shouliang Zhao, dare to give that promise. Other coaches would never be able to guarantee like this!"
"That's why I say you are misleading the students." Dai Li patted Xiaoming Huang's shoulders and instructed, "Get on the horizontal bar and show them how many pull-ups you can do!"
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Chapter 10: Who is Misleading the Students?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
People started to gather. Most of those were parents who had come to pick up their children. There were also some older people who were talking a walk after dinner. Either way, those who gathered had some time to spare. They saw the crowd and came to found out what had happened. It didn't take long for them to begin the discussion amongst themselves.
"Why are there so many people here? What happened?"
"This is the Youth Activity Center. What else can it be? Those training education schools are competing with each other again to win over students."
"In that case we have something interesting to watch. I remember there were two taekwondo coaches that fought with each other just to win over the students last summer."
"I've seen those people before. Oh, right—I think he is a coach from the municipal sports team! But who is that young man in front of him? He looks like a college student."
"Maybe he is. Those training schools always hire college students to do part-time jobs. The salary is low, and there's no need to pay them the insurance and everything."
At the moment, Xiaoming Huang had walked up to the horizontal bar and did the first pull-up without pausing.
"Well that was not bad. But the first pull-up is always the easiest because you can use the power generated from the lift-off when your hands grab hold of the horizontal bar. After that, however, it will be very difficult," Shouliang Zhao said with disdain. He was speaking as a veteran, as if he was superior to everyone else spectating.
Xiaoming Huang finished three consecutive pull-ups right after Shouliang Zhao finished speaking.
The smile Shouliang Zhao had originally worn had now disappeared from his face. As a professional sports coach, he could tell that Xiaoming Huang still had plenty of strength left for more, even after three pull-ups. Maybe he really could do two more.
"Even I wouldn't be able to make this fatty do more than three pull-ups in such a short period of time. But it seems like he could easily do two more. Don't tell me that I'm going to lose this game," Shouliang Zhao thought to himself, having a feeling that it was not going to turn out well for him today.
Xiaoming Huang didn't slow down. He was able to do five pull-ups three days ago, and after this afternoon's training, he had gotten even better than before. Although the standing long jump and 1000m race had used up some of his energy, six pull-ups wouldn't be a problem for him.
Xiaoming Huang began and completed the sixth pull-up successfully. This time his movement was much faster than before. He had done it quickly because he was running out of power.
"Six! That's enough to pass!" one of the parents said excitedly.
In the scoring criteria of Yuzhou City's high school entrance PE exam, six pull-ups meant passing. Even though it was only 12 points for those who could pass the test, it could still make a drastic difference. For example, there was an enrollment restriction in the high school entrance exam. Many of the key universities wouldn't take students who failed one of the exams, even if the total score achieved a passing grade.
Parents didn't only care about their children's scores, but also about the competition with others. For many, it was a matter of honor and reputation. When they talked about their children's scores, getting zero points and failing were two results that could damage their reputation. If a child failed his cultural classes, it was normal for him to get a few punches.
"That's impossible!" Shouliang Zhao had lost his confidence as a "veteran" and looked very pale. He would have never believed this if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.
The parents would've been so happy if a child as fat as Xiaoming Huang could do six pull-ups and pass the exam. However, he himself was not satisfied with the result. He rested for a few seconds, recalled the points of the movement that Dai Li had taught him, and began attempting his seventh pull-up.
It was a struggle, but finally, he did the seventh pull-up successfully. This time, many people around couldn't help but marvel at him. Some people even said "nice." Xiaoming Huang quit trying after he finished the seventh pull-up.
Dai Li took one step forward and cleared his throat. "This student has been training with me for four days, including today. Four days ago, he couldn't even do one pull-up. But now he can do seven. I'm pretty sure that he will make even more progress in the following days, and that a full score in pull-ups during the exam will be a realistic goal for him."
"Full score?" Everyone standing around looked at Xiaoming Huang's bloated figure and found it very difficult to imagine.
"He was trained by me for only four days and now he can do seven pull-ups. But this Coach Zhao…" He pointed at Shouliang Zhao, who was right next to him, and continued, "He said he needed two weeks to train this student to do six pull-ups. Now who do you think is misleading the students and wasting their time?"
Shouliang Zhao's face turned a purplish shade of red. He had just promised in front of everyone that he could get Xiaoming Huang to six pull-ups in two weeks, in a conceited tone no less. But now, right in his face, Dai Li proved that he had only needed four days to help the students do seven pull-ups— one more than Zhao's promise of two weeks' training.
"And he said he was a coach for the municipal sports team! I guess that not all coaches get in because of their abilities. Even a young man is better than him. No wonder it took the athletes from our city so many years to get trained, and they were still rejected by the national team. I guess it's the fault of those coaches!"
"You are right! I just asked the others and heard that this young man is an undergraduate student. Even a student is better than that professional coach. Do you think he bought the title of so-called 'professional coach?'"
These voices swarmed through Shouliang Zhao's ears and made him embarrassed. He knew that if this spread around, his reputation would be damaged, which might cause many students to quit his training class.
"Had I known this, I would never have come for trouble!" Shouliang Zhao thought sadly. He didn't expect the undergraduate student to be so difficult to deal with. He thought that Dai Li would surrender right after being made aware of his title "coach from the municipal sports team", but unfortunately, he ended up coming across a hard nut.
"How could he train that fatty to do seven pull-ups in four days? Even the coaches I know from the provincial sports team wouldn't be able to achieve that. It seems that kid must have some specialties in pull-up training!"
At this thought, Shouliang Zhao quit focusing on the pull-ups and sneered, "The high school PE entrance exam is not all about pull-ups. There is also the standing long jump and 1000m race. Even if you get a full score in pull-ups, it means nothing. Without a good score in the other two subjects, you won't be able to raise your score anyway."
"Coach Zhao, it's always easy to say. But what matters is the result. If you are not convinced, we can compete in other events." With the help of the top-level coach card, Dai Li was not afraid of anyone. He was ready to beat Shouliang Zhao, even as an underdog.
"Sure. Let's compete in standing long jump!" Shouliang Zhao stopped for a second and then said confidently, "You've held your training classes for four days, just like me. Let's pick one student from each class and see who can jump further. What do you say?"
"Why not? The standing long jump it is," Dai Li agreed.
…
"Look, those training classes are competing with each other again. Now we can kill time by watching that! Who do you think will win in standing long jump?"
"I think that young man has a bigger chance of winning. He is not a nobody. I mean, just look at that fatty who did seven pull-ups after four days of training."
"You don't really know the situation. Coach Zhao is a professional coach for the municipal sports team specializing in standing long jump. He might not be as good as others in pull-up training, but when it comes to the standing long jump, that's what he's known for! How could he lose to that young fellow!"
"No wonder that Coach Zhao asked to compete in standing long jump. That's his specialty! This young guy lacks the experience to compete with a professional coach. He's doomed to fail!"
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Chapter 11: I Won Again
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Shouliang Zhao specialized in the standing long jump as a coach on the municipal sports team. This was the training he was really good at it. It was also why he had challenged Dai Li in the activity.
Dai Li already knew how incredible the training results were with the help of "top-level coach." According to the notification in the system, "top-level coach" could help ordinary people reach the limits of their physical ability and get the best results from it. This meant that no one could compete with Dai Li when it came to training ordinary people. That was why Dai Li was not afraid of Shouliang Zhao's challenge at all.
Talent Education and SA Student Education's training fields were not far from each other. They were both in the Youth Activity Center, but not in the same area. Shouliang Zhao had left in a hurry and came back soon with a student. The student was also very big, similar to Xiaoming Huang. He seemed to be 75 kilograms
Shouliang Zhao patted the student's back and said, "This is my student, Dan Liu. Who are you going to pick?"
"Detect!" Dai Li started to detect Dan Liu's information immediately and got the result from the system.
Detecting Target: Ordinary person; Sports Ability: 35.
"35. That's even worse than the old lady who walked her dog the other day. I bet this Dan Liu is the best one on his team." Dai Li relaxed a little bit after seeing that.
After four days of training, most of Dai Li's students had a sports ability above 40. Even the biggest one, Congcong Wu, had a 38.
Dai Li turned around and mulled over his students. Then he picked Congcong Wu and said, "He is the biggest student in my class. I choose him!"
Congcong Wu weighed more than 90 kilograms. However, he was only 160 centimeters tall. If you didn't pay close attention, you might have thought he was a big walking ball; he seemed to need some air every time he took a few steps. His sports ability was only a 19 when he entered the class, which may have been even worse than the dog that old lady was walking. But after only four days of training, he had managed to double that number to 38.
In the training session this past afternoon, Dai Li had paid a lot of attention to Congcong Wu and taught him about the standing long jump step by step. There was an old saying that if one sharpened their blade just before going into the battle, even if the blade was not sharp enough, it would at least glisten. Dai Li believed in Congcong Wu's ability in the standing long jump.
The appearance of Congcong Wu attracted all surrounding attention. A student in his third year of middle school with a height of 160 centimeters and weight of 90 kilograms had a tendency to attract people's attention wherever he went.
"That kid is too fat! He must weigh more than 90 kilograms!"
"Maybe even more than that. Is he even able to jump?"
"I thought this young coach might have some possibility of winning. But now I've changed my mind. He is doomed to fail."
"Tell me about it. There must be a 15 kilograms to 20 kilograms difference between those two students. The slimmer one will definitely win this game."
A conceited look was visible on Shouliang Zhao's face. He might have been a little nervous if Dai Li had picked a skinnier student. But now he felt like he had already won the game since Dai Li had chosen the biggest one.
"Kid, you are embarrassing yourself. Don't blame me if I beat you!" Shouliang Zhao's eyes shined coldly. He bent down and said to Dan Liu, "Do your best, and don't embarrass me!"
Dan Liu looked at Congcong Wu and nodded confidently. "That fatty is Congcong Wu. He's from my school. He is the biggest. I'll win the game."
Congcong Wu's face turned red. Obviously the discussion going on around him made him feel like his face was on fire. He knew he was overweight, and the last thing he wanted to hear was people calling him fat, let alone people around him were talking about and pointing at him, which hurt his feelings.
Dai Li noticed this and encouraged him immediately. "Think about Xiaoming Huang. He's already made people see him in a new light. Now it's your turn. Cheer up! As long as you can perform as usual, you can do it too."
Congcong Wu nodded silently. He still looked very nervous.
Dan Liu was already standing next to the bunker. He jumped over the two meter line easily.
"2.17 meters!"
A smile emerged from Shouliang Zhao's face. He said, "The standing long jump takes 20 points out of the total score. According to the criteria of the high school PE entrance exam, if you can jump over 2.15 meters, you got 15 points. If we changed it to the 100-point system, it would be equal to 75 points, which translates to a letter grade of B.
Shouliang Zhao finished and looked at Dai Li provocatively. Dai Li, however, looked relieved.
"Congcong Wu, there is no need to be nervous now, right?" Dai Li smiled.
Congcong Wu nodded. "I thought he would be better than me. I didn't expect that he would only jump 2.17 meters. That's even worse than me."
"It's your time to shine, boy! Don't forget the points of the movement that I taught you." Dai Li then asked Congcong Wu to go to the competition area.
Congcong Wu looked very confident as he walked to the bunker. He took a deep breath, then went over the points of the standing long jump without leaving out any details. He made a small space between his legs and bent over his knees a bit. He leaned forward and swung his arms back and forth twice while his knees moved in unison with his arms.
"The movement is not bad. But it won't help, because your problem is your weight!" Shouliang Zhao thought to himself, deliberately acting like he didn't care.
Next to the bunker, Congcong Wu pressed his feet against the ground with the balls of his feet while his arms swung back and forth. He straightened his knees with all his strength, pushing himself off the ground, his body drawing a straight line in the air. As he landed, he bent over his knees, drew in his stomach, and straightened his calves. After performing the movements Dai Li had taught him, he swung his arms backwards to balance himself out and landed on the ground with his heels. He finished the movement for the standing long jump with agility and confidence.
Shouliang Zhao frowned a bit. He could tell that although Congcong Wu's movement was far from the professional level, he had gotten points as well. Honestly, Congcong Wu mastered the techniques better than Dan Liu.
"That move was good. Don't tell me that Dai Li is really better than me!" He looked in the direction of the bunker and couldn't control his facial expressions any longer.
"That is not possible! No way! How could he jump further even though he is much heavier? How is that possible! Am I seeing things?" He rubbed his eyes subconsciously.
Dai Li's voice echoed at the same time, "2.25 meters. According to the criteria for the exam, that means 16 points. 80 points out of 100. Coach Zhao, I've won again!"
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Chapter 12: Famous Coach Li
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Both had been trained for only four days, yet one had jumped 2.17 meters while the other had jumped 2.25 meters. It was obvious who was better. And given the fact that Congcong Wu was much fatter than Dan Liu and had still jumped further, the training results Dai Li had produced were graded more highly than Shouliang Zhao's.
"Shoot! I can't believe the coach from the municipal sports team lost! He was steamrolled!"
"But they said he was an expert when it comes to the standing long jump. How could he lose so easily?"
"This young man is even better than the professional coach. I would have signed my kid up here if I had known this before!"
Most of the people here were just killing time, but there were many parents among them as well. They couldn't remain calm after seeing this, especially those who had come with Shouliang Zhao.
There were two kinds of people whose money was easy to be earned: women and parents. They didn't care about the price if it meant having a "famous teacher" hold training classes for their children, especially for important exams like the high school entrance exam, which was a once in a lifetime opportunity. They didn't care about cost; they cared about the result. If the children could get a higher score after the training, they didn't care about spending thousands of yuan.
Before this incident, Shouliang Zhao was known as the "famous coach" among the parents. His title of "coach of the municipal sports team" earned him a lot of respect, much more than those normal coaches from some everyday middle schools. However, Shouliang Zhao had lost to Dai Li completely in today's competition, making Dai Li the "famous coach" now.
Shouliang Zhao had lost his soul and had no idea what to do. A parent came from behind him and walked up quickly to Dai Li. The parent asked him directly, "Coach Li, are there any vacancies in your class?"
"Yes, for sure!" Dai Li nodded without any hesitation. "I'll leave you a number. Just call and speak to Professor Chen, or you can also add him through WeChat. You need to hurry if you want to sign up, though. There are less than two weeks left before the exam. Your child needs to begin training as soon as possible if you expect a higher score."
"No problem, I'll go sign up right now and bring my son tomorrow!" the parent promised immediately.
"And me, Coach Li! I'll sign up too!"
"And me!"
Dai Li was surrounded by parents in the blink of an eye.
Not far from him, Shouliang Zhao looked very lost. This was the cruel reality of the situation and he had experienced it in front of everyone. All the parents that now surrounded Dai Li had been brought by him. But now it was obvious that they were going to change classes. Soon after, they would quit the SA Student Education program and turn to Talent Education, which meant a big loss of money for Shouliang Zhao.
And this was only the first batch of people. Today's competition had already served as a testimony that Shouliang Zhao was not as good as Dai Li. And if that information spread, parents who cared about nothing except for their children's grades would all come to Dai Li. Shouliang Zhao, on the other hand, would lose more students.
Shouliang Zhao had never felt regret like this. He had come here looking for trouble, simply wanting to show his abilities to attract more students. Dai Li had been nothing but a stepping stone to him. But now, Shouliang Zhao realized that this stepping stone was actually a sharp steel trap. He had fallen for it, too, stepping in and losing any leg he had to stand on.
"Where did this guy come from? If I'd known this before, I would never have come and gotten myself into this mess!" Shouliang Zhao thought to himself.
…
After dinner, Jianguo Chen made himself a pot of tea and sat in front of the TV. His phone rang just as he was ready to watch a TV series. He took out his mobile phone, which was only for business, and saw an unfamiliar number.
"Hello, this is Chen from Talent Education," Jianguo Chen said, answering the phone.
"Oh, you're Professor Chen. I want to sign my child up for your training class," the person on the other end of the phone said.
It was not the first time he had gotten phone calls after his working hours. He said with experience and ease, "We mainly target education for middle school students. As for the cultural classes, we have writing, math, and English classes. We also have a centralized tutoring class only for middle school students who are in their third year. As for extracurricular classes, we have singing and dancing classes. Which grade is your child in this year?"
"The third grade." He stopped for a second and continued, "There are less than two weeks left for the high school PE entrance exam. I want to sign my son up in a PE training class."
"Training class for the high school entrance PE exam…" Jianguo Chen hesitated.
"He must have seen the enrollment advertisement from a few days ago saying we had a professional coach from the municipal sports team. This parent must have no idea that Shouliang Zhao is no longer with Talent Education. That's why he still wants to sign his child up for the class." Jianguo Chen couldn't help but think of Dai Li.
"An undergraduate student, what could he do? I would be so happy if could lead the students in the right direction. What else can I expect from him? I'd better stop enrolling any new students for this PE training class. If the students in this class couldn't get a good score on the exam, that could do a lot of damage to our reputation. I'd better tell him the truth!"
Jianguo Chen thought about it and cleared his throat. "Talent Education did open a training class for the high school PE entrance exam. But due to some unavoidable circumstances, Coach Zhao couldn't teach our class…"
"Coach Zhao? Who is that? I don't care about Coach Zhao, Coach Wang, or Coach Liu, I just want Coach Li," he said.
Jianguo Chen was confused. He couldn't figure out who Coach Li was. His silence made the parent on the other end of the phone panic. He thought Jianguo Chen didn't want to enroll any other students. His tone turned serious and strict. "Your young Coach Li promised me that there would be a vacancy for us to sign up."
"Young Coach Li? Oh you mean our intern Li!" Jianguo Chen finally realized that "Coach Li" meant Dai Li. Normally Jianguo Chen called him little Li or intern Li. He was not used to someone calling him "Coach Li."
The parent on the other side continued, "I want to sign my child up just for Coach Li. He already promised me! You can't take it back!"
"Just because of Dai Li? He is just some undergraduate college student. This parent is making him sound like some famous coach." Jianguo Chen didn't have the slightest idea what was going on. But if the parent insisted, there was no reason for Jianguo Chen to refuse a customer. He said "yes" immediately.
After he hung up the phone, another strange number appeared on his phone.
"Hello, this is Chen from Talent Education," Jianguo Chen said automatically.
"Is this Talent Education? You have a very talented coach named Li, right? I want to sign my son up for the high school PE entrance training class!"
"Coach Li again?" Jianguo Chen was completely confused now.
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Chapter 13: Third-Rate Coach
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Jianguo Chen walked a student's mother out of the office. This was the fifth parent who had come here today to sign up for the PE exam training class.
Where did Dai Li come from out of the blue? Why are all the parents coming here for him? Jianguo Chen thought to himself, scratching his head. He had been running training education for a long time and it was the first time he had experienced something like this.
How could an undergraduate student could attract so many students? Jianguo Chen doubted that Dai Li asked his relatives to make up the numbers.
The five students who had enrolled that night were just the beginning, however. The next day there were three more new students and seven or eight phone calls from interested parents. Then came the weekend. Parents now had more free time, and the enrollment number skyrocketed. There were sixteen new students in two days.
Twenty new students in four days. They couldn't all be Dai Li's relatives. Normal people didn't even have that many family members. Jianguo Chen couldn't figure it out, so he asked everyone he knew to collect information. Finally, he found out what had happened.
Four days ago, Dai Li won in a competition with Shouliang Zhao! Jianguo Chen was so surprised at the information. One was the professional coach from the municipal sports team, which almost represented the highest training level of Yuzhou City. The other was just some undergraduate college student. There was no way to compare the two people. How could a student compete with a professional coach who had more than ten years of experience?
However, Dai Li had had the best results. Professional coach Shouliang Zhao only had one word prefacing his name now—"loser." Jianguo Chen would never have believed it if he hadn't gotten the same information from everyone else. He doubted that Shouliang Zhao was Dai Li's swindler who had lost on purpose in front of the others just to help him. However, the damage to Shouliang Zhao's reputation was too great. There was no chance he would've done it for Dai Li.
A professional couldn't even compete with a young college student. This made people think that Shouliang Zhao didn't deserve his title since he had no actual skills. And because of that, the students had left one by one, like a domino effect.
If it was like the other kinds of normal training classes, like Chinese, math, or English, they wouldn't have turned to another teacher immediately just because the teacher was not as good as others. But training classes for high school entrance exams were different. Middle school had primary education that didn't allow students to repeat the courses. Even if some places did, the key high schools didn't accept repeat students.
For students who were going to take the exam, the PE exam was their only opportunity in their entire life. Of course parents would choose the best of the best class with the best teacher. For students whose targets were key high schools, even one point meant weeding out a lot of competitors.
Dai Li now had 36 students in total. Jianguo Chen didn't continue enrolling new students because he thought it would be hard enough for Dai Li to train 36 students by himself at the same time. It was also because there was no more room on the training field. In addition, there was only one week left until the PE exam, so it would be too late to start now for any students just joining the program.
…
On the training field, Dai Li frowned with a look full of worry.
The progress is coming slower than before! Dai Li thought to himself.
The high school PE entrance exam was around the corner, but the students were improving slower than they had been. You could easily tell from the numbers in the detecting system. The same students who had been gaining a lot of points each day in the beginning could now only gain one point after a whole day's training. This worried Dai Li very much.
Has the training effect decreased? No way. There are still a few days left before the top-level coach card expires. There should be no difference between the training effects from before to today. Why are they improving so slowly now?
The voice of the System spoke while Dai Li was mulling over it. "It's normal that progress comes slower. Think about normal sports training. The progress is very obvious in the beginning, but then it slows down, and even stops. When you reach the top level, even very slight progress will take you forever to develop. This has nothing to do with the system, it's just the physical limitations of humans.
"Let's take the 100m sprint as an example. It only takes a few weeks to improve from 13 seconds to 12 seconds. But it will take you a few months to improve from 12 seconds to 11 seconds. And from 11 seconds to 10 seconds, it might take you a few years. 99% of athletes have spent their entire life trying to break the wall of 10 seconds, but couldn't. After breaking the 10 second barrier, an improvement of even 0.01 seconds is pushing it. The better you are, the slower you progress. Some of the top athletes might even get worse if they don't continue a certain number of exercises. This is the rule of all sports."
Dai Li nodded. "Now I get it. My students have already reached their limitations, so the progress will come slower than before. But although the results are not as good as before, they will still be able to get full scores on the PE exam according to their abilities now."
"You can say that again." The System stopped for a second and continued, "I have good news for you. Your experience has met the requirement to level up one minute ago. You are no longer a newbie. You're a real coach!"
"I levelled? I didn't expect it to be this fast." This had come much faster than Li thought it would have, which made him draw a blank for a second.
But then he realized that it was because the number of the students had increased, meaning that the speed of upgrading had gotten faster. It had taken Dai Li a long time to reach 100 points of experience when he had only had 12 students to train. But now that he had 36 students, the speed had tripled as well. That was why he was able to get to the next level ahead of the schedule.
Name: Dai Li
Coach Level: Third-rate coach, preliminary phase(0/1000)
Others: Top-level coach trial card (4 days)
Training list: Xiaoming Huang, Xun Li, Congcong Wu, Zhenye Zhu…
"Third-rate coach at preliminary phase? How many phases are there?" Dai Li asked.
The System answered immediately, "Three. Preliminary, intermediate, and senior phases. After you reach the senior phase of the third-rate coach, you can get ready to move up to become the second-rate coach."
"So is this 0/1000 experience for the intermediate phase or the senior phase?" Dai Li continued asking.
"For the intermediate phase, of course," the System answered without any hesitation.
"But this means that I need even more experience to upgrade to the second-rate coach!" Dai Li complained.
"Stop complaining and check your rewards. You get a reward every time you level. You just got one since you upgraded from a newbie to a third-rate coach. Don't you want to check what's in the gift package?" the System asked.
Dai Li thought about the gift for a moment, and suddenly the gift package showed up in the System.
"Last time I got a 14-day top-level trial card. I wonder what I will get this time." Dai Li opened the gift, wondering what was inside.
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Chapter 14: Full Score
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Dai Li opened the gift package and saw something golden twinkling. He took it out carefully and saw that it was a halo.
"Congratulations. You got a piece of equipment," the System said.
"What is that? A golden aperture? Should I put it on my head and pretend I'm an angel?" Dai Li asked, joking around.
"You should, actually. The point of this halo is to put it on your head. But you should call it a halo instead of an aperture. There is a tag on it," the System said.
Dai Li noticed the small tag stuck to the halo. It said "explosive force halo."
"Explosive force halo. Does it increase explosive force?" Dai Li asked.
"Yes. You can increase explosive power by 10% when wearing it. Everyone on your list will benefit from the effect of explosive force halo, too," the System said. "Equipment like this halo can't help the trainees develop much, but given the fact that everybody can benefit from it, we can say that it belongs in the 'A' rank among those gifts for upgrade."
"10% more explosive power does have some benefits, though, thinking about the state everyone is in now. Among the three activities in the high school entrance PE exam, the 1000m race mainly focuses on testing students' endurance; pull-ups are more about the strength of the upper body since a full-score requires more than 10 repetitions; and as for the standing long jump, it requires explosive power. With the help of this explosive force halo, students will save more time and energy training for it," Dai Li thought to himself.
Since the explosive force halo could improve the students' performances in the standing long jump, Dai Li reduced the training time allotted to it and increased the practice of the other two activities.
…
As the saying goes, time waits for no man. The high school PE entrance exam had come quickly, seemingly sneaking up on everyone.
Yuzhou City, where Dai Li lived, was a place with a large population, even compared to other cities nationally. Including all the middle schools from counties and towns, Yuzhou City had more than one hundred thousand examinees who would take the high school entrance exam this year. This number was almost the same as all the other first-tier cities.
However, Yuzhou City had much less educational resources compared to the other first-tier cities. With more than one hundred thousand examinees, the enrollment quota was only five thousand for high schools, and three thousand for technical secondary schools. This meant that there would be two thousand middle school graduate students who were not going to be enrolled.
This made for a much more grave competition where there were many wolves but not enough meat. The competition of the high school entrance exam in Yuzhou City was very intense, and attracted much attention to it. Not only did the municipal education system put a premium on it, but the provincial education department did as well. Let's take the PE exam for example. To prevent students from cheating, all the exam proctors were from other cities, not local schools. It was more strict than college entrance exams.
The Ninth Middle School had the highest passing rate compared to others. All the examinees had a higher possibility of entering the key high schools. The results of the examinees in the Ninth Middle School were regarded as the standard for the other schools.
Right next to the horizontal bar outside the Ninth Middle School, there were two proctors talking and laughing in the shade.
"Professor Zhang, I heard that this Ninth Middle School is the best in Yuzhou City and has the largest number of examinees at more than 1,000!" one of them said.
Professor Zhang nodded. "Tell me about it, Professor Wang. One thousand students in one day. That's too many for us. I heard that it could be finished before lunch or at least before three o'clock in the afternoon in schools with less students. But here we have to stay until it gets dark! We should have a lot to eat for lunch, because I have no idea when we are going to have dinner."
"There is no one to blame besides our bad luck that we were sent to the examination room with the most students. And the activity is pull-ups, the most time-consuming subject," Professor Wang complained.
Professor Zhang nodded in agreement and said, "The examination time was limited to one minute a few years ago. Do as many as you can in one minute and that was it. But it was too difficult for most students, and 2/3 failed. The exam is going to take longer now that they've gotten rid of the time limit."
Many people thought that the 1000m race was the most time-consuming subject, but in actuality, it was pull-ups. It took middle school students four or five minutes normally. Because the examinees could do the 1000m race together, they could ask 12 students to run together if 10 students per group was too slow. They could even ask 14 or 15 students to run in the same group.
Both the standing long jump and pull-ups required students to take the exam one by one. Standing long jump only took a few seconds, however, while pull-ups took much longer. Even if some of the examinees couldn't do any more pull-ups, they would still hang on the horizontal bar, which wasted even more time.
Professor Zhang continued complaining. "The quality of life is getting better and better, but the physical abilities of the children is getting worse. We used to run 5000 meters to go to school back in our day. Look at the students now—the 1000m race could kill them! And the passing grade for pull-ups is only six. Yet there are still many students who can't even make it. Look at this fatty. I bet he can't do more than three or four."
Professor Zhang pointed at the next examinee. It was Xiaoming Huang.
He passed his examination admission card to the proctor and walked up to the horizontal bar.
"Another fatty. I bet he can't do much. The other examinee who was as fat as him only did two, right? That's good for us since we can save more time. The more students like them there are, the earlier we can finish and go to dinner," Professor Wang thought, laughing to himself.
Xiaoming Huang jumped onto the horizontal bar as they were speaking to each other. The proctor began counting.
"One, two, three, four, five, six…" Professor Zhang counted with low voice.
"He passed? Did I count wrong? How could an examinee as fat as him pass the exam?" Professor Wang was very surprised.
"Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten! Is there something wrong with my eyes? Most of the examinees slimmer than him couldn't do more than ten!"
Xiaoming Huang slowed down his tempo after doing ten pull-ups. But he didn't stop.
"Eleven! Twelve! Is he going to get a full score?" Every proctor's attention was now on him. They didn't expect a fat examinee like him to do more than 12 pull-ups consecutively.
Xiaoming Huang's technique started to break down for the 13th pull-up. He didn't take a breath, instead clenching his teeth and doing the 14th one. However, this time it was obvious that he had done it in a rush. The movement was far from skillful, and he had even used his legs to help him up. Still, Xiaoming Huang had done 14 pull-ups.
"Fourteen! Oh my gosh! He really got a full-score!" Professor Wang couldn't help but shout.
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Chapter 15: Fatties Make a Move
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The grading for the high school PE entrance exam differed depending on region. Dai Li had figured that his students could get 2 points for each repetition in for their first 6 pull-ups. That would mean 12 points in total, which was the passing grade. From the seventh pull-up on, it was only one point per repetition. This meant that if an examinee wanted a full-score of 20 points, then he or she had to do 14 pull-ups consecutively. This grading system made it very difficult for examinees to get a full score in the activity of pull-ups.
Speaking of its difficulty, doing 14 pull-ups consecutively was a lot more difficult than doing 6 pull-ups. Examinees needed to improve drastically to make the jump from 6 repetitions to 14. However, no matter how much you improved, the reward was only an additional 8 points. Even great students wouldn't chase the limit of 14 repetitions. They were satisfied with 16 or 17 points, which only required 10 or more pull-ups. Most students just wanted to pass the exam.
Professor Zhang and Professor Wang had been here for more than a few hours as proctors and had only seen very few students complete all 14 pull-ups. 10 pull-ups were already impressive, though, since many of the students couldn't even pass the exam. Examinees who were as fat as Xiaoming Huang were obviously expected to fail the exam in the eyes of the proctors. 4 pull-ups would have been considered good for someone like him. However, he had done ten more than that. Of course, it shocked the two proctors that he had gotten a full score.
It was true that Shouliang Zhao, a professional coach, was better than the other middle school PE teachers. He definitely deserved the title of "professional coach" considering the fact that he had dared to promise to help Xiaoming Huang do 6 pull-ups while the other two proctors had assumed Xiaoming could only do 4. Blame it on bad luck that he had met someone like Dai Li, who had a system to help him. If he had competed with other normal middle school teachers, he could definitely have won the game.
…
During the examination held in the affiliated middle school of a normal university, the standing long jump test was underway. "Big Mac" Congcong Wu was already in front of the bunker.
"Children nowadays are eating too much! Look at him. How could he grow as big as that? How much meat did he eat to build his body? His parents should definitely be held responsible for his obesity. It's bad for his health!"
While the proctors were still criticizing his parents to themselves, Congcong Wu had already swung his arms to get ready for his jump.
"I'm afraid it will be too difficult for him to get a passing grade since he would have to jump more than 1.85 meters! Considering how fat he is, I can only wish him good luck! I'm guessing he will jump 1.80 or 1.70 meters. Could it be 1.60 meters? That's the minimum standard. If he scores any lower than that, he will get a 0."
The proctor looked at Congcong Wu with worry. He was full of sympathy for him, worrying that Congcong Wu couldn't even reach the minimum standard of 1.60 meters, getting zero points.
Congcong Wu dug into the ground with the balls of his feet and pushed off, jumping into the air.
"Well his movement was pretty standard," the proctor thought. Congcong Wu's flexibility surprised the proctor, considering his size.
Congcong Wu bent his knees, drew in his stomach, and stretched out his calves to balance and land in the bunker.
There was a visible measuring line adjacent to the bunker with a scale from the lowest score, 1.60 meters, to the highest score, which was 2.50 meters. The measuring line stopped at 2.50 meters because that was the highest.
Congcong Wu's heels were past the line of 2.50 meters.
"He jumped over 2.50 meters—he got a full score!" The proctor's face was full of shock and his eyes were wide open. He'd never expected that a "Big Mac" who weighed more than 90 kilograms could jump over 2.50 meters.
In the scoring criteria of Yuzhou City's high school PE entrance exam, the full score for the boys standing long jump was exactly 2.50 meters. In fact, it was very difficult for a middle school student who was in his third year to jump over 2.50 meters. The average score of students his age was 2.20 meters. It was unbelievably difficult to improve after 2.35 meters. Most students could never jump over 2.40 meters without professional training.
2.35 meters was worth 17 points, 2.40 meters was worth 18 points, and 2.45 meters was worth 19 points. Most students could get 16 points to 18 points in the standing long jump. Those who could get 20 points were students with excellent physical gifts and sports abilities. It was an impossible task for people like Congcong Wu to get a full score, yet he had done it!
After 10 minutes, Congcong Wu showed up to the examination field of the 1000m race.
…
At the destination, a few proctors were sitting in the shade. A middle-aged man in his 40s with a thermos was pouring tea for them.
"Professor Huang, have some tea. And Professor Sun, look, your tea leaves are out of color. Let me pour you another one! Professor Cai, let me fill your cup..."
The middle-aged man who was pouring tea was PE teacher Chuanfu Liao from the affiliated middle school of the normal university.
Since all the proctors had to be sent from other cities, the teachers from the city weren't able to oversee the exam. However, they were not doing nothing. They were responsible for logistics, like taking care of the proctors' meals, drinks, rest, and so on. It needed to be done by the teachers from each school. That was why Chuanfu Liao had showed up to the examination field with an attentive hospitality, pouring tea for the other proctors.
He had his own motivation for being so hospitable, too. He hoped these proctors would give a free pass to the students. The higher the students' scores were, the better it would his teaching ability look. He could also get a promotion out of it and a more impressive title.
Calculating the time of the 1000m race depended on the stopwatch in the proctors' hands. When you calculated manually, there were always slight differences. If the proctors stopped the stopwatch 1 or 2 seconds earlier, the results of the students would be better. These kind of differences were permitted. For example, if the proctor showed some sympathy and pressed the button 1 second earlier, a student's time could change from 3 mins, 42 secs to 3 mins, 40 secs, 50. Because proctors always left out the number after seconds, the final result would be 3 mins, 40 secs, meaning the student would get 1 more point.
There was no chance of anything like this happening when it came to pull-ups and the standing long jump. So, Chuanfu Liao had decided to stay in the area where the 1000m race was taking place and act as a waiter. He made sure to pour tea and fill their cups, and even brought some snacks and fruits during their break time, just in hopes that the proctors would show some sympathy to the students.
Of course, it was clear to everyone what Chuanfu Liao's behavior meant. The leader of the proctors said politely, "Professor Liao, stop serving us and have a rest! You haven't had a drink of water the entire afternoon."
"I'm not tired at all, Head Hu. My job today is to provide the best service to all of the teachers!" Chuanfu Liao smiled and said.
"Professor Liao is really hard-working. I can tell from the results of the examinees that he must have some teaching skills." Head Hu continued, "Look at this group. 3 students got full scores out of 12 people! That's a big deal!"
"3 full scores?" A smile emerged from Chuanfu Liao's face.
To get a full score in the 1000m race, you had to reach the finish line before 3 mins, 40 secs, which was much greater than the abilities of most of the students. Even for adults, the passing grade was 4 mins. Given the fact that middle school students were not fully grown, finishing the 1000m race in 3 mins, 40 secs was a very big accomplishment. Normally there was only one student who could get a full score on a team. However, there were three on this team. It was incredible for sure.
Chuanfu Liao couldn't help but look for the students' results on the laptop. Head Hu didn't even try to cover it, letting him see the results. There was no need to hide the scores of the students from their own teacher.
"The 3 students who got full scores are Man Song, Dahai Chen, and Congcong Wu! Congcong Wu? Could it be the student from the 3rd class who was the fattest in the whole school? No way he was able to get a full score! There must be something wrong!"
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Chapter 16: 100% Full Score Rate
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Congcong Wu was the fattest in the affiliated middle school of the normal university. That was why he had left Professor Chuanfu Liao with a lasting impression. He had had no capacity for improvement in Chuanfu Liao's eyes. He would have suggested that the boy give up on the PE exam and put all his effort towards other exams. He was too fat to get any good scores on the PE exam. However, after Chuanfu Liao saw Congcong Wu's score was 20 on the proctor's computer, he had no idea what had happened.
"To even pass the test would be a dream for Congcong Wu, let alone get a full score. Could it be that the proctor miswrote the score? Should I remind them?" He cleared his mind of this thought the next second. Why would he stop his own student from getting a high score? That didn't make sense.
Head Hu's voice echoed again. "Look, this Congcong Wu got full scores in the other two activities, too. He got a full score across the board! There aren't many students that can get 60 points because the scoring criteria is so high this year. Professor Liao, is this Congcong Wu one of the best students in sports here?"
"The best student in sports? Congcong Wu? Quit it. I would say he is the best student in Japanese sumo!" Chuanfu Liao thought to himself. He could never link Head Hu's comment with his student Congcong Wu, never. He smiled awkwardly, not knowing if he should nod or shake his head. The next second, he suddenly realized that Head Hu had said full score across the board.
"Congcong Wu? Full score across the board? How is that possible? The proctors must all be blind if Congcong Wu can get a full score!"
Chuanfu Liao looked at the screen again and again, just to make sure he hadn't misread it. Congcong Wu's score was really 60 points!
"Oh my gosh, how is that? How could Congcong Wu get a full score? And across the board? How had he survived the pull-ups?" Chuanfu Liao's mind was running on fumes.
The same thing was happening in the other examination fields as well. Some "Big Mac" student had done 14 pull-ups without a break, jumped over 2.50 meters, and finished the 1000m race in 3 mins, 40 secs. One after another full scores were showing up!
It surprised many of the proctors, but it didn't create any sensational news because it was normal that 3 or 4 fat examinees got full scores out of hundreds or thousands of students in some examination fields. It could only be regarded as a coincidence.
…
The high school PE entrance exam came to an end, yet Jianguo Chen was busy again. There was only one month to go before the cultural class exam, and it was the key period for training classes to enroll because all the examinees of the high school entrance exam had entered the home stretch. And after the high school entrance exam came the summer holiday. The two-month summer holiday was a golden period for training classes to make money.
Jianguo Chen didn't forget to call the parents to hear their reviews, however. The competition between training classes was very intense, which made public praise very important. Compared to other forms of advertising, reviews from parents were the best. People tended to believe their relatives, friends, neighbors, and colleagues if they said something was good. That was why Talent Education called the parents for reviews every time the training class was over.
"Professor Chen, I finished the phone calls for the training class of the high school PE entrance exam." A young teacher brought the report of the reviews to Jianguo Chen.
"How was it?" Jianguo Chen asked without even raising his head.
"The satisfaction rate is 100%," the female teacher said.
Jianguo Chen nodded silently. The 100% outcome didn't surprise him at all because it was pretty normal in training classes.
Many parents signed their children up not for the sake of raising their children's scores, but to prevent them from playing games. They wanted to fill their children's schedule. Some of the parents just signed their children up because they saw the advertisements and felt like they should follow the trend, following the herd mentality. Some even signed their children up just because they didn't want to lose, since all the other children went to training classes. But there was one thing for sure—no parent would place hope in training classes after school. What mattered was their children's studies at school. If the training classes were good enough to improve their children's studies, what was the point of having school?
Since they didn't place much hope in the class in the first place, they didn't feel dissatisfied either. The training class was like an extra nutritious snack after meal—as long the student could get something out of it it was enough, even if it was small. And as long as the teacher gave some type of effort to teach the children, the student would improve to some extent. Unless there were some earnest parents, a 100% satisfaction rate was not big news.
"I remember that we had 36 students in the PE training class, right? Did you ask for their grades? How many of them passed?" Jianguo Chen asked.
"I did. All 36 students passed the exam. The passing rate is 100%!" The female teacher continued, "We are really lucky. Every one of them had 60 points exactly. If one of them had gotten even 1 point less, they wouldn't have been able to pass the exam."
The female teacher taught singing, so she had no idea that the full score for PE was 60 points. She thought that it was a hundred-mark system and that 60 points was the passing line.
"What did you say? Each one of them got 60 points?" Jianguo Chen raised his head surprisingly.
"I felt strange too. All of them got 60 points, exactly the passing line. Why was there no one who performed above average and got a few more points?" the female teacher asked.
"That's because the full score for PE is 60! It's not the passing line, it's the full score! The 100% is not the passing grade, it's a perfect score!" Jianguo Chen couldn't sit in his chair calmly. He grabbed the report of the reviews and read it again and again.
Although Jianguo Chen was not involved in the training process, he was there during the enrollment. He knew what each student looked like. Each one was fatter than the next. Jianguo Chen would have been grateful if they could have just passed the exam. He had never expected them to get full scores.
Thirty-six students. Even one perfect score would have surprised Jianguo Chen, let alone all of them. Jianguo Chen felt like he was witnessing one of God's miracles.
"Dai Li! It's because of him! I'd have never thought that this young man could have given me such a big surprise! It's a miracle!" Jianguo Chen repeated Dai Li's name, feeling like he should worship him.
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Chapter 17: Making a Big Fortune
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After two weeks, Dai Li returned to Jianguo Chen's office.
"Li, all the credit belongs to you this time! Without you, Talent Education wouldn't be able to continue the training class for the high school PE entrance exam." Jianguo Chen smiled, opening the safe behind him. He took out a bulging envelope and gave it to Dai Li. "You've had a long fight these last few days."
"Thank you, Professor Chen." Dai Li knew that his salary was inside of the envelope. He took it out immediately and began calculating. "One student means 500 yuan. Thirty-six students means 18,000. I can't believe I made 18,000 yuan in two weeks. This is awesome!" However, the envelope felt strange in his hand.
"Why is it so thick? It should be no more than two stacks of money. Is 18,000 yuan this thick? I feel like there are three or four stacks of money. Could it be that they are all in 50 yuan bills instead of 100s?"
Dai Li felt embarrassed opening the envelope and counting the money. It was Jianguo Chen who said, "Open and count it. It should be 36,000 yuan."
"36,000? Double? Did you count wrong?" Dai Li had no idea what happened.
"No, I didn't," Jianguo Chen said with certainty. He smiled and continued, "I told you 500 yuan for one student. But this time, because all of the students in our training class got full scores, I gave you 1,000 yuan per student, which made it 36,000."
Dai Li was still at a loss for words. Jianguo Chen continued explaining. "According to my information, the highest commission that a coach can get from a training class of the high school PE entrance exam in Yuzhou City is 1,000 yuan per student. Normal PE teachers from middle schools can't reach that price, but I'm paying you to the highest standard. The salary for interns we talked about is gone because those professional professors only take commissions."
It was 18,000 yuan more than what he had expected. Dai Li did not care about that intern salary, which was 300 yuan per week. However, Dai Li was still surprised that Jianguo Chen would raise the salary by himself, since most capitalists tried every trick they could to deduct wages. This confused Dai Li.
Jianguo Chen continued, "Li, our training class for the PE exam ended this year. However, we are going to have it next year too. And we plan to do two to three grades, as well as increase the enrollment in each class. I hope we can continue working together. As for the commission, I promise to give you the highest in this industry."
Dai Li finally got the idea of why Jianguo Chen raised the commission. He obviously wanted to keep Dai Li working at the PE training class next year for Talent Education.
There was no doubt that Jianguo Chen was a successful businessman. Normally people who only placed hope in making a fortune would try every method to take advantage of Dai Li's salary, let alone raise it. But what Jianguo Chen cared about was the future. He hoped to build a long-term relationship with Dai Li to prepare for next year.
Although Dai Li was not famous at all, and he was not a professional coach, the result he had achieved was amazing. Thirty-six students had passed the exam with perfect scores with only two weeks of training. It spoke to Dai Li's ability. And for sure, the record would attract a lot of parents. Jianguo Chen believed that he wouldn't have to worry about the students who would sign up as long as Dai Li worked for him.
Dai Li continued counting to himself. "Two to three grades of training class with more students in each class. Let's say 40 students per grade across three grades, that would make 120 students. The commission would be 120,000 yuan if 1,000 yuan is offered as a commission per person!"
Dai Li was shocked by the number after he made the calculation. If he could make 120,000 yuan every year there was a high school entrance PE exam, he could make 10,000 yuan per month without working the entire year if he split the number evenly across all twelve months.
Dai Li didn't have to worry about if there would be enough students or not. Yuzhou City was a city with a large population, and there were more than hundreds of thousands of examinees. One or two hundred students for the training class would be a piece of cake.
He nodded thinking about the cash. "Professor Chen, I will definitely be here if you still have training classes next year!"
Although it was just a verbal promise, Jianguo Chen had already achieved his initial purpose. But he didn't expect to keep Dai Li, who was a genius, simply through a verbal promise. He had some other tactics. He changed his tone and said calmly, as if they were just chatting, "The result of the public constitution was already published. How was it?"
"I screwed it up!" Dai Li didn't try to cover. "I'll work harder next year."
"Do you have any plans then? For job hunting?" Jianguo Chen asked.
"I plan to go to the job market for college students to see if I can get a job." Dai Li continued, "To be honest, it's hard for me to find a job because of my major."
"I have some information that you might be interested in. Our municipal sports school is going to hire some assistant coaches. It's temporary, though, not a permanent position," Jianguo Chen said.
The so-called temporary hiring in the public institution was actually contract work. You could even call it a part-time job if you boiled it down. Although the people who were hired temporarily were not the same as permanent workers, they still had to do the same work, sometimes even more. But the salary and benefits were completely different. Sometimes temporary workers even had to bear the blame for something even if it was not their fault. For example, if news came out on the internet that the members of the City Urban Administrative and Law Enforcement Bureau used violence during work, it was always the temporary workers who had "done it" after the investigation. The permanent workers would always be seen as nice and friendly, never using violence.
Temporary workers were one rank below the others in the public institutions. However, there were still many people who made every effort just to get a temporary position there. Although the salary was not high, and the work was very hard, it was at least stable. The salary was paid on time and they wouldn't suddenly be unemployed. Especially for those parents who were old, the positions in public constitutions were "real" jobs. A temporary worker who earned 3,000 yuan was considered much better than online writers who earned 30,000 yuan a month. And to graduates like Dai Li who had little social experience, the choices were limited. A temporary position in a public institution was very attractive to him, especially a public institution that was a sports school.
All Dai Li wanted was a job related to training. The more trainees he got, the more empirical value he would gain, and the quicker he could upgrade his coach level. Sports school was obviously the best choice. There were full of trainees that Dai Li could use his Coaching System on to make it easy on himself.
"Thank you so much, Professor Chen. I will go there and check it out tomorrow," Dai Li said.
Jianguo Chen wanted to help him to the end since he had been with him since the beginning. He took out a piece of memo paper from the drawer and gave it to Dai Li. "This is the number of Professor Qinghua Sun, who works in the sports school. He used to be my classmate. I'll talk you through it. Just go there tomorrow and tell him directly that you are there because of me."
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Chapter 18: New Job
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Dai Li went to the municipal sports school and found Professor Qinghua Sun.
Qinghua Sun was a math teacher. Because sports training was seen as more important than cultural classes in sports school, the latter was like decorative furniture with no practical function. That was the same reason Qinghua Sun had no chance of being promoted and was still an ordinary teacher.
In the HR office, Dai Li was filling out the application seriously. Qinghua Sun stood right next to him and began his incessant speech. "Back a few years ago, our sports school would never hire contract teachers. But this year is different. Our new principal, Lu, met with corporate and all the other key high schools in our city and agreed to train the sports talent students for them. We provide the teachers, and the high schools will take care of the training fields and students. That's why we are out of hands and need to recruit some coach assistants from the society."
"So this recruitment is for the quick training of sports talent students." Dai Li nodded. He was very familiar with sports talent students because he had just been one of them.
There were three ways for sports talent students to enter colleges. The first was to become a high-level athlete. The admission rate for high-level athletes was very low. The benefit, though, was that they got a chance to enter a college without taking any tests, which provided them with more choices of colleges. To become a high-level athlete, one had to be a national first-class athlete in an individual sport or a key player on a sports team who had ranked in the top eight of national games. These two requirements might not be difficult at all for excellent students from sports schools, but it was an unreachable goal for high school students.
The second way to enter college was the special exam for sports. It was a special enrollment system that could lower the admission score. For example, if the admission score for a college was 500 points normally, then the special exam for sports only required 100 points to enter the same college. Compared to the high-level athletes, the threshold for the special exam for sports was much lower. However, one still needs to have the certificate of national second-class athlete to be qualified to take the special exam for sports in each college.
The third way was to become a sports talent student. It was mostly the same as normal enrollment, but the admission score was a little bit lower. However, it was not as low as the special exams for sports. It was very easy to become a sports talent student. You didn't need to be a national athlete. All one needed to do was to take the independent enrollment exam held by each college. After New Year's Day, the examinees who went from one college to another were all sports talent students. This was regarded as a shortcut for many examinees. Dai Li had entered college this way.
There were also some majors that were related to sports, like physical education, for example. Even though the examines had no professional sports skills at any level, they could still take the exam. However, the admission score wouldn't change from the normal passing line.
It took a long time to train and become a high-level athlete or pass the special exam for sports. One had to be the best of the best across the whole city to get the label of first-class athlete and become a high-level athlete as a high school student. This was because a national first-class athlete had to get a record that reached a certain standard in provincial or national games to get the title.
Sports talent students could be trained in a short period of time. The threshold of the exam for sports talent students was very low; one could start during the last year of high school and be well on track. If for six months one worked hard for half of every afternoon, they would have no problem passing a few exams in several colleges.
The school could raise their admission rate for colleges if they could turn students with normal grades into sports talent students. However, since the quota of sports teachers in high school was very low, and the training results were not as good as the sports school, this corporation was brought to the table. The sports school provided schools with coaches in order to help each high school train sports talent students.
The number of coaches in the sports school was not enough to meet the demand since there were dozens of high schools in Yuzhou City. The sports school also had to make sure that the training inside their own school could be run normally. Because the quota of permanent coaches had been reached, the school had to hire some coach assistants to meet the demand.
…
After one week, Dai Li took the written exam. The recruitment of contract coach's assistants in the sports school was very attractive. There were more than 100 applicants. The levels of the applicants were all very different. Most of them had graduated from a sports school or sports college and only had a diploma of technical secondary school or junior college. People like Dai Li who were from an undergraduate college could rank extremely high here.
There was no doubt that Dai Li had advantages in the written exam since his major was sports training. He had more knowledge of sports than the others. If someone asked Dai Li to race them on the playground, he might lose—but he was definitely better than most when it came to theories.
The results of the written test were very satisfying. He ranked first on the list. As long as he could make it somewhere in the middle of the following fitness test, he should be able to stay.
There were four subjects in the fitness test for the recruitment—the 100m sprint, the 800m race, the standing long jump, and the 5 kilogram shot put. These were the most basic subjects of the fitness test. Since the sports coaches were not athletes, they were only required to have normal physical ability. That was why fitness only took up 1/3 of the entire score.
Dai Li had 80 points in sports ability, which was higher than many average people. His major, sports training, had required that he finish 40% of the course in the training field, so his physical makeup had improved a lot.
He was not a professional athlete, though. There were some retired athletes among the applicants whose sports ability were excellent, even though they hadn't achieved any records during their time. They were better than Dai Li fitness-wise for sure.
Luckily, the people who showed up on the top of the list in the fitness test had gotten very average grades on the written exam. Some of them were even on the bottom of the list. These ex-athletes who knew nothing outside of sports only had diplomas from technical secondary school. There was no way that they could compete with college students like Dai Li who had majored in sports training.
Dai Li only got a normal score on the fitness test, but he still ranked very high overall since he had done perfectly on the written exam.
…
"I'm employed! There is no need to worry about the job now." Dai Li's face was full of hope. He felt he was one step closer to the coaching career he envisioned.
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Chapter 19: The Summer Training Class in Sports School
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The sports school hired 30 coaching assistants, including Dai Li. In the meeting room, the HR manager was holding an employment contract in his hand as he said, "After you sign this trial contract, you are in the three-month trial period. I won't say anything else about discipline, I've said enough. During the trial period, your salary will be 800 yuan per month. The formal contract of employment will be signed after the trial period. Everybody should try their best. I can fire you whenever I want if I feel your performance isn't good enough during the trial period!"
Somebody immediately whispered, "It's already June. The summer holiday is around the corner. I bet we don't have a lot of work to do during the holiday, which would mean that we only really only have a one-month trial period."
"You are right. The best thing about being a teacher is that we can rest for three months during the summer and winter holidays every year and get paid," another person said in agreement.
The HR manager stood on the platform and said, "You might think that there won't be too much work to do since the next two months are the summer holiday, and that nobody will be fired. I must tell you that you are completely wrong. The following two months are what will really matter to you!" His words got everybody's attention. All the new employees stopped their writing and looked at the manager.
He stopped for a second, almost as if to add dramatic effect to arouse people's interest, and then continued, "There isn't much time left before the summer holiday. Our school will organize a few training classes in the next two months, and all the new coaching assistants have to be a part of it. We'll decide if you can stay or not directly based on your performance."
According to the rules, public schools were not allowed to organize training classes. However, the sports school was different from other public schools since it was a place for cultivating athletes. A lot of students in the sports school came from selection exams. The school could use these exams to organize and open training classes during the holidays to make some extra cash.
Many people became very nervous after hearing "open training classes." The main job for the new coaching assistants was to train athletes. It made them nervous knowing that they were going to enter the front line of training when they still didn't have enough experience. On top of that, they would be evaluated to see if they could stay or not based off of it.
Unlike the others, Dai Li was excited to begin. The last thing he was worried about was training since he had the Coaching System to help him. He was actually hoping that the training would start as soon as possible so he could get enough empirical value to upgrade to the next level.
…
"Li, look over this material and print it out!"
"Li, this is the summary of last year's work. Follow this form and make a summary for this year."
"Li, make an excel sheet of this name list and give it to me."
"Li, this is what I'm going to apply for. Fill out an application. We need to ask for something from the general department."
"Li, this is the list of names with contacts on it that the admissions office just sent to us. Make it into an excel sheet and email it to the training department."
Dai Li was very busy, not because of his extraordinary ability, but because he was a college student.
In the normal job market, college students were similar to stray dogs, and masters were everywhere. Even PhD students were not difficult to find. A person with an undergraduate degree did not rank high on the job market. However, here in the sports school, an undergraduate degree was the highest rank achievable. Many of the coaches here were retired athletes who focused mainly on training instead of studying. All they were able to do was sit in front of the computer and click their mouse to surf the internet, watch movies, and play games. Most of them didn't even know how to use Microsoft Office. If one of them had been asked to write a summary, they wouldn't be able to write more than 200 or 300 words.
This was Dai Li's area of expertise. All work that involved a computer was given to him. The assistants with less of an education could only apply themselves to physical labor.
After a few days of working, Dai Li had a general idea of the summer training class that was about to start. There were several sports projects in this class. The most popular ones were table tennis class and basketball class. Most of the students who had signed up for table tennis were primary school students. As for basketball, most of them were middle school students. There weren't many high school students since studying occupied most of their time. The only one class that had them was the 100m sprint training class. It targeted high school students who were about to start their third year and whose goal was to take the track and field competition for national second-class athletes in September to receive their certificates.
The certificate of national second-class athlete was very important for the graduating students who wanted to take the college entrance exam. As long as they could get the certificate, they would be qualified to take the special exam for sports held by key colleges. If they were lucky enough, they might even be able to be admitted to the college with a score of 100 points. And even if they didn't pass the special exam, they could still become sports talent students. With the ability a national second-class athlete possessed, it wouldn't be very difficult for them to be a sports talent student and enter the college.
Besides, there was a policy in place where if a graduating student had the certificate of national second-class athlete, then he or she could enjoy the benefit of 20 additional points. Even one point on the exam could help you eliminate hundreds of thousands of competing applicants. Twenty points was a big enough deal to attract most of the examinees.
This wasn't the only benefit, either. The training fee was pretty high—15,000 yuan for two months, which meant 250 yuan per day. In first-tier cities, the price might have been less of a worry. However, in Yuzhou City, a fourth-tier city, the price was too high for most parents with normal incomes.
It was not easy to become a national second-class athlete, even if the training period was two months complete with full days of training. The students had to have some basic sports ability to achieve the goal. It would take forever for those with muscle imbalances to achieve such a feat. The 100m race was chosen because it was the easiest one both for students and coaches. At least for the level of national second-class athlete, there weren't many difficult movements to master.
Time flew by, and by July all the students were ready for the holiday. The sports training class was also ready to welcome the new students.
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Chapter 20: Fired
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The HR manager knocked on the door and went inside the room. He found himself smiling as soon as he saw the person that was sitting at the head of the table. "Director Zhao, I heard that you came back from the business trip. How was it?"
"Not bad. I finished all the errands," Director Zhao said, giving him a look that asked him to have a seat.
The manager was pretty cautious in front of Zhao, trying to give him nothing but respect. Although his position was as just as important as Director Zhao's, his words meant less than his. The training department was the most powerful one in the sports school.
On top of that, the vice principal, who was also in charge of HR, had just retired. Some said that Director Zhao would get promoted to replace the retired vice president. The HR manager had to give his respect to the future vice president and affiliated leader of the HR office, if for no other reason that to leave the future leader with a good impression of him.
The HR manager cleared his throat and changed his tone to report the work. "The summer training classes will begin soon. We already hired 30 coaching assistants to help us, but we need your help allocating them into different classes. I brought you their information." The HR manager took out the file from his briefcase and gave it to Director Zhao.
"It's no big deal. Just do it according to the number of students in each class." Although Director Zhao had said it casually, his expression showed that he was very satisfied with how the HR manager was speaking. Director Zhao had already started to enjoy this feeling of being treated like a vice president, even if it had not happened yet.
He took the file and flipped through a few pages of the new assistants' information. A name stood out to him.
"Dai Li?" Director Zhao frowned a little bit as his eyes glanced at the sheet.
"Dai Li is a college student who just graduated this year. He majored in sports training and he even has a teaching qualification certificate. He ranked first on the written test, and his results for the fitness test were above average too. I think he is an outstanding young person, and I heard that he had some working experience coaching a class of 30 students for the high school PE entrance exam," the HR manager said, introducing him immediately.
"That's him! How dare he come here. There are hundreds of ways leading to heaven, but unfortunately you chose the one to hell!" Director Zhao thought to himself. He raised his head the next second and said, "No, we can't hire this Da Li!"
"No?" The HR manager was confused by what Director Zhao had said.
Zhao began giving his explanation. "A sports training major student with excellent grades and a teaching qualification certificate. People like him will definitely take the exam to become a permanent employee instead of simply being a contract employee for our sports school. We won't be able to keep him anyway. It's better to let him go now to find a better position!"
"So, you mean...?" the HR manager asked with uncertainty.
"Since we wouldn't be able to keep him anyway, we are better off not wasting our time and energy recruiting him. Think about it—we try our best to help him develop into an excellent coach, then lose him. Isn't that kind of a waste? We can use those same resources to develop someone who will stay. The best action for the future of our school is to develop talents and keep them," Director Zhao said.
"Bullshxt!" the HR manager thought to himself. He could already tell that Dai Li must have offended the director, so he had come up with this excuse to keep Dai Li away. However, the director's excuse was not smooth enough that everybody would be fooled.
Although the HR manager knew Director Zhao was just abusing his authority to take personal revenge, he had no reason to defend a temporary contract employee who was still in his trial period without any background, and go against the future vice principal. He nodded and said, "I got it. I'll fire him right away!"
…
"I didn't pass the trial period? I'm fired? Why? What did I do wrong?" Dai Li asked, confused.
These past few days he had worked really hard. He hadn't done everything perfectly, but he was definitely not the worst among the new assistants. There were a bunch of people who were clearly worse than him. And considering his advantages in degree and major, Dai Li never thought that he would be the first one to be kicked out.
The HR manager sighed slightly and looked at Dai Li pitifully. "This was a decision made by our leader. I'm just following his instructions. I told you before that I would be able to fire any of you during the trial period. I'll give you a memo. Go to the finance section to get your salary for the days you've worked."
"Decision from the leader?" Dai Li felt even more lost. He had only been here for a few days. He didn't even know who the leader was. How could he have offended the leader of the sports school?
Dai Li was a stubborn person—he needed to get to the bottom of this. He didn't want to leave without even knowing why. He called Professor Qinghua Sun, hoping he could help him to figure out the reason he had been fired.
Qinghua Sun was also surprised that the person he had recommended was fired for no reason. He asked around about it, and later Dai Li received a call from him the same afternoon.
"Did you offend Director Zhao?" Qinghua Sun asked directly.
"Director Zhao? Zhao who?" Dai Li asked.
"Director Zhao of the training department. He was the one who decided you needed to be fired," Qinghua Sun said.
Dai Li tried to remember, but still couldn't think of anything related to this Director Zhao. He said, "I really don't know this Director Zhao. I've only been here a few days. I haven't even been to the training department. How could I have offended him?"
"Think more carefully. This Shouren Zhao was not just some unrelated person in our school. I heard that he is going to be promoted during the second half of the year and become one of the leaders of the school!" Qinghua Sun said.
"I really have no idea what I did that offended him…wait, what's his name again?" A thought suddenly popped into Dai Li's head.
"Shouren Zhao," Qinghua Sun repeated.
"Does he have a relative called Shouliang Zhao? The one who works as a coach for the municipal sports team?" Dai Li asked immediately.
"Well now that you mention it, I think so. He does have a younger brother on the municipal sports team who teaches standing long jump. But I don't know his name exactly," Qinghua Sun said.
"Then that's him! I guess I can never get rid of this Shouliang Zhao." Dai Li had finally realized what happened. The director had fired him to get revenge for his younger brother.
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Chapter 21: Open a Training Class by Himself
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Shouren Zhao was Shouliang Zhao's older brother for sure. It was said that if you bullied one brother, you had to deal with both. As an older brother, Director Zhao surely wouldn't just let it go without getting revenge on someone who had offended his brother. Even though it was Director Zhao who had looked for trouble himself, he definitely didn't think that his own brother had done anything wrong.
Shouren Zhao had used his authority to fire Dai Li. Because there was a very big chance that he was going to be promoted to vice principal, nobody would go against him just because he had abused his power. Nobody would really care about where a contract worker would go.
The most upset out of anyone was Dai Li. It had cost him so much effort to get the job, yet he had lost it for no valid reason in the blink of an eye. Shouren Zhao made him feel sick, but there was nothing he could do. It was said that civilians should never mess with bureaucrats. Dai Li had no authority nor background, and that meant there was nothing he could do to Shouren Zhao.
It took him an entire night to escape his gloomy mood. Once he did, he returned to the job hunting "army" once again. Dai Li didn't rush back into it because there weren't any recruitment fairs these days. He went to an internet café and decided to send out a few copies of his resumé just to try his luck. He later checked his email and found dozens of emails from when he had been training his old students. These were his achievements from the sports school.
I totally wasted my time. He sighed deeply, looking at the emails. There was a student recruitment brochure, students list, and all their contacts. He blinked and suddenly a courageous idea popped up in his head.
If I have the contacts of all these parents, why don't I just start a training class myself? I still have the 36,000 yuan I earned from before. I didn't spend a penny. It should be enough for me to start a summer training class, Dai Li thought to himself, pondering the idea.
There were three major expenses in opening a training class: student recruitment, training field rent, and sports equipment. Since Dai Li already had the contacts of the parents in his email, the cost of student recruitment could be ignored. Those same students had signed up for the training class in the sports school, but Dai Li wouldn't mind stealing them. He was actually kind of looking forward to it.
The biggest expense was renting the field. He looked it up on a rental site and found that in fourth-tier cities like Yuzhou, the rent was actually not that high. And if one rented an unoccupied factory building made of steel on the outskirts of the city, it only cost one 1 yuan per square meter per month. A building in the same place, but made of reinforced concrete cost more, and if it was located in the city, a lot more.
As for the training facilities and gear, aside from buying it off the internet, he could also rent it from different schools. Besides, they were not going to use it during summer vacation since the students would be home anyway. If he paid the guardsman of the warehouse, he might be able to get a facility to himself.
It seems like I could really open a training class with the money I have! he thought to himself. He shifted his eyes to the list of the students.
The students who signed up for the 100m sprint training class are mainly high school students, who won't be done with school until next week, if I remember correctly. The training class for that won't start until the summer holiday comes. I still have time to fight for them. If I charge them the same price as the sports school, which is 15,000 yuan, then I only need two students to cover the cost. I can start making money off the third student right away.
Dai Li sent the list of students to his cell phone, then started researching some other places to rent. He made a memo of a few suitable places and their contact information.
He spent the next few days looking at some of the fields. He finally settled on a logistics warehouse that was 3,000 square meters with windows on all sides. After realizing that the training would be during the summer, when the students could suffer from heatstroke or get sunburned outside, he thought that indoor training would be better than outdoor. Also, July and August were rainy seasons, which made outdoor training impossible.
Inside the warehouse, the longest stretch of ground was under 100m. There was a straight and smooth road longer than 200m, however, that could be used as a running track for the 100m sprint.
The warehouse costed 10,000 yuan per month. Dai Li didn't sign the contract immediately since he was not sure how many students he could recruit. He gave the 1,000 yuan deposit to the owner and signed a pre-contract. He decided to risk the 1,000 yuan. If he could recruit enough students, he would rent it for two months. If he couldn't, he would lose the 1,000 yuan, which was a loss he could afford.
After he was done with the training field, he got started on his next endeavor—stealing students from the sports school.
…
He had three parents in a row tell him "No." No parent wanted to send their children to him once they heard that Dai Li was just a training teacher who wanted to open a training class by himself. This made him upset, but not surprised. A no-name coach who wanted to work alone like Dai Li could never compete with a public sports school. The parents would always choose the latter one if they were smart enough.
It seems like I need to change my strategy, Dai Li thought to himself, frowning.
Should I lower the price? Dai Li shook his head. No. If I lower the price, it will only make people think that my training class is not as good as the sports school, which will keep more students away. You get what you pay for.
After a while, Dai Li finally came up with a good plan. He called a new number.
…
"The admission score to become a national second-class athlete was manually measured to be 11.50 seconds. If he can't achieve this result on the exam in September, I will refund your money!" Dai Li said into the phone.
Dai Li's last resort was to issue a refund if the students couldn't achieve the goal he promised. Normally, training classes wouldn't dare give promises like this because the students were variables. You never knew if somebody was talented enough, hard-working enough, or both. If they weren't, they would fail. But even so, the coach needed to spend time and energy training these students whether they would fail or not. Money was money. Moreover, turning an ordinary person into a national second-class athlete was not that easy.
Nobody dared to promise a refund. It was like the hospital saying they would give someone's money back if they couldn't cure them. There were too many factors involved. It was not like buying food in a supermarket, where you could see if the food was fresh enough or big enough.
15,000 was not a small number. It took a wage-dependent family a long time to save that type of money. The parent on the other end of the phone was obviously interested in the word "refund."
Dai Li felt the parent's hesitation through the phone and knew that he was almost there. Now he just needed to convince them. He continued, "I will organize a free trial day this weekend. You can bring your child and give it a shot to see if it works or not. If you are not satisfied with the training results, you can return to the training class in the sports school. I won't charge you a penny for this free trial day!"
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Chapter 22: Free Trial Training
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
A free day of training was Dai Li's second move. The word "free" itself got everyone interested. No matter what it was, valued or not, people would rush to it. Some millionaires, even multimillionaires, would still be extremely happy to get a free head of cabbage in front of the supermarket. Did they really need it? Of course not, but they would be happy that they got something for free. Conmen always made their money easily just because they knew how to use people's greed against them, capitalizing on their willingness to pay less to get more. Salespeople who sold health supplements always held free lectures. Dai Li was neither a fraud nor a supplement salesperson, but he was using the same tactic.
A free trial day meant a whole day of training for free. It didn't matter whether they were going to stay or not, all they cared about was that it was free. In actuality, those parents had no intention of letting their children be trained by Dai Li going forward. But they would still bring their children, just for the free training day.
However, Dai Li had was confident that he would be able to keep the students coming back as long as their parents brought them here for the trial day.
…
He could see a black Land Rover SUV. Dai Li could tell that it was a rich family and he walked forward right away.
A father and son came out of the car. The father was very strong, even though he was only about 175cm tall. The son was taller than him, but thinner.
"I'm Dai Li, nice to meet you," Dai Li introduced himself.
"You are Coach Li!" The father pushed his son forward and said, "This is my son, Haiyang Chen."
"Haiyang Chen. Alright." Dai Li took out the list of names and wrote a check next to his name.
"Coach Li, my son is yours. Haiyang, listen to your coach and work hard! I'll pick you up this afternoon." The father looked at Dai Li and saw that he was very young. He couldn't help but look down on him. If it was not free, Haiyang Chen's father would never have brought his son here.
Dai Li stopped Haiyang's father as he was about to leave. "Wait a minute."
Dai Li took out a timer and gave it to him. "Let's test your son time for the 100m sprint. I'll give the signal to start. Could you please measure the time?"
"Even though he just got here?" the father asked, obviously surprised.
"This way you can check my training results later. We can compare the performance before and after," Dai Li said.
It's just one day. Can we even tell the difference before and after? The parent felt that Dai Li was even more unbelievable. Still, he took the timer and said okay.
Haiyang Chen did some warm-ups and then walked to the starting line. It had actually been drawn by Dai Li yesterday, as was the running track.
Dai Li raised the starting pistol and shouted, "Ready," and then pulled the trigger. Haiyang Chen started immediately and rushed to the finish line. The father stopped the timer right as his son reached the line.
"How was it?" Dai Li asked.
"13.03 seconds. Let's say 13 seconds!" the father answered.
"That's pretty good," Dai Li nodded with satisfaction, recording the time.
As a normal high school student, one could definitely be called a prodigy if they could finish the 100m sprint in 11 seconds. If it was 12 seconds, he or she would still be excellent, and have the talent to be a professional athlete. If it was 13 seconds, then one must be very strong, and might be able to improve with professional training. Fourteen seconds was quite normal, and didn't indicate anything special. If longer than 14 seconds, then one should definitely start doing exercises right away.
This criteria was made for people who hadn't been trained professionally for a long time. A high school student who had had professional training for a long time should finish the 100m sprint in 12 seconds as a standard.
According to his time, Haiyang Chen must have been pretty strong among the high school students if his time was 13.03 seconds. And given the fact that he was only wearing normal sneakers instead of running shoes, and knew nothing about the skills of running, 13 seconds was already excellent enough. Dai Li was very confident that he could turn him into a national second-class athlete.
Dai Li tested every student that came afterwards, and he felt pretty satisfied with the results. All of their records were in the 13 second range.
It was very difficult to turn an ordinary person into a national second-class athlete. And if one was not talented enough physically, it could take years to improve. The sports school had also thought about this, which is why they had only selected the talented ones. Only these students had the potential to be trained into athletes in two months.
The parents were not fools. They wouldn't sign their children up if they were not good at sports, since the training class costed 15,000 yuan, and they wouldn't expect the children to become athletes in two months. Instead of wasting their 15,000 yuan on sports training, they would have been better off signing their children up in some other classes for cultural subjects. People who dared to bring their children here knew that they had some type of talents in sports.
…
Dai Li counted the students who stood in a line in front of him.
Only 13 students. Less than I expected. I'm still not famous enough to attract many students, even if it's free. Hopefully most of these students will choose to stay after today. Go get it, Dai Li!
He said a prayer to himself and then added these students to his training list. He then raised his head up and said after he calmed himself down, "Let's get started, boys!"
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Chapter 23: The usage of explosive force halo
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Even though the 100m sprint was the easiest activity of the track and field competition, there were still many skills needed for it that weren't apparent to the average person. However, most of the tricks were meant for professional athletes— the basic movements could be taught to beginners. The most important thing for the latter was strengthening the explosive force of the legs and increasing speed.
There were many training methods whose core idea was built around bearing loads and adding resistance to strengthen the power of the legs. For example, jumping and squatting with weights, running while pulling another person, and running while dragging a tire were all popular exercises. As for speed, the only way to get faster was to run over and over again. To avoid any "speed limitation," racing was often used to bring out athletes' top speed, this way they could compare with each other.
Dai Li had already bought training equipment like sandbags, which were sold for 30 or 40 yuan each on the internet. However, Dai Li had gone to the shopping mall for sports gear, just so he could buy ten of them for wholesale price, which was cheaper than buying them online. He had also bought some discarded tires. After tying some ropes to them, they could be used as weights for resistance training, which would have costed a few bucks.
Training had never been a problem for Dai Li, since that was what he had majored in. Maybe he was not experienced enough compared to the professional coaches, but when it came to training ability, he was just as good as anyone.
…
During the lunch break, Dai Li dealt with a pair of sandbags for legs.
These sandbags are much easier to use compared to what I had when I was young. I remember these sandbags were literally 'sand' bags, full of sand that would easily leak out through the gaps and fall into my shoes. I still remember that grinding feeling. Sandbags nowadays are made with tiny steel balls and thin lead, which are much more comfortable. Dai Li lined up the sandbags on the floor, then checked what empirical value he had gained.
He had gotten 18 points of value this morning, even though there were only 13 students. It was the same number he had gotten during the high school entrance PE exam training class, when he trained 36 students.
It's exceeded my expectations. I got the same empirical value training 13 students as I did training 36 students in the same amount of time. I tripled my experience gaining speed, Dai Li thought to himself, shocked with joy.
The System explained immediately, "I told you before that the empirical value differed from trainee to trainee. The fatties you trained before were worse than sports amateurs, which for sure made you gain value slower. These high school students you are training are strong and healthy, even compared to others from the same age group. You will gain value quicker just because of that. This is normal."
"So if what you're saying is true, my empirical value will soar if there is a world top-class athlete for me to train!" Dai Li made up his mind in that moment that he would coach a professional athlete someday, as a real coach.
Dai Li took out the list and checked all the students' sports abilities. Most of them were above 65. One of them was even at a 71. This was an excellent number for a sophomore high school student who was 16 or 17. Even Dai Li only had an 80, even though he was in his physical prime. What made it even more impressive was the fact that Dai Li had been trained a lot because of his major—these high school students focused more on their studies than they did sports.
Dai Li detected the same students in the afternoon, but none of their sports ability numbers had improved. Dai Li wasn't upset, however, because he knew that the higher one's sports ability was, the harder it was for them to improve. This is what he had expected.
The teenagers I trained before improved very fast because of their low sports abilities. But now I'm dealing with kids whose sports abilities are above 60. it's going to grow slowly, Dai Li thought to himself.
"Not only that," the golden head's voice said, "you benefited from the top-level coach trial card when you were getting those results. Right now you are only a sophomore coach. There is a big gap between the two."
I need to upgrade as soon as possible, Dai Li thought, drawing himself back to the training field.
…
It was already five o'clock, but the sun was still high in the sky with its dazzling light, which made the air hot. School had almost come to an end. All the students were exhausted after a full day of training. Dai Li bought each student a popsicle using his own money, then gathered everyone together to take a rest.
They sat on the ground as the wind blew. Everyone was holding a bottle of mineral water in their hand and a popsicle in their mouth. Everything was at ease. Dai Li had told them to rest and recover their physical strength. He sat right next to the door and stared at the end of the road, waiting. After a while, a black Land Rover SUV showed up.
Here he comes. That's Haiyang Chen's father. Dai Li turned back and asked, "Haiyang, feel better?"
"Kind of. My legs still ache though," Haiyang Chen answered.
"Let's warm up for the 100m sprint to show your father the today's training result," Dai Li said.
Haiyang Chen's father parked his car and walked out. Dai Li walked up to him and gave the electronic timer to the father. "I was just about to test Haiyang Chen. Would you mind timing your son to see how much progress he's made today?"
Haiyang Chen's father had thought he would just pick his son up, but he still took the timer after hearing Dai Li's words. As a father, he was definitely curious about his son's improvement after a full day of training.
Haiyang Chen had not been on Dai Li's training list this morning, but now he was. That meant he would benefit from the explosive force halo from now on.
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Chapter 24: Massive Improvement
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Explosive force was very important for the 100m sprint. Although the explosive force halo Dai Li had could only increase the force 10%, it was still a significant advantage for an exercise that could be finished in 10 seconds.
The explosive force halo was Dai Li's unique edge that he hoped would make the students stay. It was because of this halo that Dai Li had tested the students in the morning before the training had even begun. He wanted to run the test again in the evening and compare the two records to show his training results after one day. Dai Li had no idea if the 10% improvement in explosive force would show any visible improvement of speed, but he was sure that there would be some type of improvement on the timer.
Haiyang Chen's father wasn't really expect anything because he knew that sports training was about time accumulation. There was no shortcut—it was impossible to achieve anything in a day or two. Maybe after a month there might be some improvement, but one morning? Forget about it.
He is just playing tricks. It was just one day. How could there be any improvement? What could it be, 0.5 seconds? He is so eager to show his ability and keep the students that he doesn't mind using dumb tricks like this. Shouldn't he be worried that the record might be worse than before, since the training probably used too much of the students' energy? the father thought to himself.
Dai Li had considered this as well, which was why he had let the students rest for half an hour. For professional athletes at a high level, half an hour may be insufficient. But for beginners, it was enough time for them to get back their energy for another round of the 100m sprint.
Haiyang Chen stood in front of the starting line again. His father was right next to the finish line, holding the timer. Haiyang Chen took off as soon as Dai Li pulled the trigger of the starting gun, and began to speed up.
I feel like I've gotten quicker! Haiyang Chen could feel that his speed was a little faster than it had been this morning.
1,2,3,4… Dai Li counted to himself silently since he didn't have a timer. He was very nervous that Haiyang Chen might be unable to perform as he had expected. If so, he would lose this student for sure.
Whoosh!
The father saw a blur rush by in front of him and he stopped the timer immediately.
I wonder what the result is this time. He was actually expecting his son to get a worse result. His face turned serious once he saw the number on the screen of the timer: 12.39 seconds.
How's that possible? 12.39 seconds? Am I seeing things? He blinked and looked at it again, but still, it was 12.39 seconds.
My son has never reached 12.80 seconds before on any test, and now his record is 12.39 seconds. He was more than 0.5 seconds quicker than this morning! Did I stop the timer too early? He searched his memory, but he was sure he hadn't.
Is this timer broken or something? No way. If it's broken, then it should be slower instead of quicker. He raised his head suddenly and looked at his son. Could it be that he actually improved during today's training?
Dai Li walked up to him quickly and asked him, "How was it?"
"12.39 seconds," the father answered honestly, with a slight lack of confidence.
"I remember that his record was 13.03 seconds this morning. The training result is pretty good, then, since his improvement is 0.64 seconds." He made it seem like it was all because of his training without any hesitation. He continued, "The standard for a national third-class athlete is 12.40 seconds. He is already above the record. He could get the certificate of national third-class athlete if he took the test right now."
A certificate of national third-class athlete was nothing but a confirmation of one's ability, but it was a very encouraging record for an ordinary beginner. Haiyang Chen's father hesitated for a few seconds and said, "Coach Li, I want to test him again. What do you think?"
Dai Li smiled because he knew that Haiyang's father couldn't believe it, and thought that it had been a coincidence. Dai Li wasn't going to reject him. "No problem. But before that, let's give him 10 minutes to rest. Otherwise, it might harm his muscles. I'll use the time he's taking to rest to test the other students."
Dai Li looked at the list of names and shouted to the training ground, "Qingliang Xu, warm yourself up and get ready for the test!"
Qingliang Xu had come here this morning by himself and no one had come to pick him up. Dai Li could only test him by himself and tell his parents later.
Dai Li stopped the timer as Qingliang Xu crossed the finish line and looked at the timer. "12.42 seconds. It's great. Your record this morning was 13.10 seconds, and after today's training you are 0.68 seconds quicker! Don't forget to tell your your parents how much you improved!"
Dai Li turned around and said another student's name. "Congyan Lu, it's your turn."
…
After Haiyang Chen rested for more than ten minutes, he stood on the starting line again.
"Get ready…" Dai Li raised his starting gun and then pulled the trigger. Haiyang Chen took off at the sound of the gun. He was more relaxed after the first test, and he was in better condition, but because he had only rested ten minutes between the two tests he had not recovered completely. This time he ran the 100m sprint in 12.51 seconds, 0.12 seconds slower than the first time. Even though it was slower than the first time, however, it still shocked his father since his record for both tests were amazing. Haiyang Chen's father was forced to believe that his son really did make a lot of progress.
"This Coach Li must be a magician to have improved my son's record in one day! I would never believe it if it was not me who had timed my son!" Haiyang Chen's father looked at Dai Li with a different emotion in his eyes. Ten minutes ago he thought Dai Li was just bluffing, but now, he knew that this Coach Li really had some talent in training.
"I think he is even better than those coaches in the sports school. This is unbelievable. No wonder he dared to promise that he would give a refund if the student couldn't reach the desired results. He really has something. Maybe I should leave my student here." Haiyang Chen's father had already made the decision in his head.
…
Dai Li waited until the last student left, then he locked the door after packing things up.
"I wonder how many of the 13 students from today will stay with me." Dai Li looked down the road and felt very lost.
"I should call those parents to ask after I get home!" Dai Li said to himself.
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Chapter 25: Class Begins
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Dai Li called five parents consecutively and got three people to say "yes" out of five. The other two had said they needed to think about it, which was code for "no." It was easy for Dai Li to tell from their tones that they were just rejecting him in a more gentle fashion.
Three out of five, that's more than half! I figured out before that I could make back the cost of the school as long as I could get two students to enroll. I already have three, which means I can make a profit off every other student I get to sign up. It's not a failing business! Dai Li suddenly felt relaxed and dialed the next number on the list.
Youcai Wu, he ran 12.11 seconds this afternoon, which was the best record among all of the students. And it was his father who timed him. I would think he must be very satisfied with the training result. I bet this Youcai Wu will stay.
Dai Li called confidently.
…
In Youcai Wu's house.
"Honey, this Coach Li is really talented. Our son's record has improved a lot after just one day's training. Guess what our son's record was in the 100m sprint. 12.11 seconds! Almost 12 seconds flat! I suggest we leave our son with this Coach Li. I bet our son can reach the standard of a national second-class athlete after two months of training!" the father said with great joy.
"12.11 seconds? How's that possible? His record was 12.81 seconds on the school test. How did he become 0.7 seconds quicker in just one day? I'm not buying it. Don't fall for that Coach Li's trap," the mother said.
"I didn't. I timed him myself. I tested him in the morning when he had just gotten there. The time was 12.88 seconds. In the evening I tested him again, and it was 12.11 seconds. I was surprised too!" the father continued.
"12.11 seconds? That means there is only 0.61 seconds left before he reaches the standard of national second-class athlete!" The mother didn't look very happy though. Instead, she frowned and began to think.
"Honey, I think this Coach Li is really skilled. And there are no more than ten students, which would be a very nice environment for our son. He can learn in a small group. The training result might be even better than the sports school. Why don't we just send our son there since the prices are the same anyway!" the father began.
"Are you dumb?" the mother asked, glaring at her husband. "It's because our son is talented that he makes progress very fast. If he can make a big improvement under a nobody coach, then he would make even more progress if we send him to a professional coach! We are sending our son to the sports school. We are not wasting our son's time on that Coach Li! I will go to the sports school when the training class starts and tell the coach how talented our son is to attract more attention. They will put more effort towards training our son that way. We might have a world champion in our home in the future!"
Youcai Wu's father was about to argue when the phone rang. He picked it up and saw "Coach Li" on the screen.
"Coach Li is calling us. How should I respond to him?" the father asked.
The mother grabbed the phone and said, "Give it to me! I'll say no to him!"
…
Dai Li didn't expect for Youcai Wu's parents to say no.
His record was 12.88 seconds in the morning and 12.11 seconds in the afternoon. The fact that he was 0.77 seconds quicker is a big improvement. His parents are still not satisfied? They say that they are afraid I might waste their child's time. If they ask another person to train their son, I bet he won't even be able to run 0.1 seconds faster! What's more, he would never run 12.11 seconds without my explosive force halo, Dai Li thought to himself angrily and deleted Youcai Wu's name from the list.
Well, I don't want to be stuck in a bad mood anymore. I'll continue calling the others. Dai Li calmed himself down and dialed the next number. In the end, seven students out of the original thirteen were going to be sent to Dai Li by their parents. Two were still considering it and four were sure that they wouldn't come.
Seven—more than half the students that came to the trial class. That's pretty nice, actually. 15,000 yuan per student. Seven students makes 105,000. Even after subtracting what I paid, I'll still have almost 80,000 yuan profit. 80,000 for two months. Running a training class is a good business to make big profits with little capital! Dai Li's gloominess went away as he thought about the money. He was full of enthusiasm again. 80,000 yuan in two months was unbelievable for someone who had just graduated from college.
…
Dai Li was very lucky that one of the two parents who were hesitating ended up choosing him. This meant he had eight students in total.
The 100m sprint training class in the sports school was scheduled to begin at almost the same time as Dai Li's. As the most profitable class, the 100m sprint training class attracted a lot of attention. As the director of the training department, Shouren Zhao came to the opening ceremony. He looked at the list of students' names and frowned a little bit. A sense of dissatisfaction flashed across his eyes. "The number is less than we expected."
"Yes, seven to eight less," the training coach in charge said.
Shouren Zhao nodded and didn't give it any more thought. He couldn't take a penny from this training class anyway, because it belonged to the sports school.
He pointed at the list and asked, "Are there any potential students here?"
"There are a few. For example, this Youcai Wu has the best record of 12.11 seconds without any professional training. It is said that the record was made last weekend. His mother came here personally this morning just to ask us to pay more attention to him," the coach right next to him said.
"12.11 seconds without any professional training? That's very impressive! He is already 17, which is not very young, but it shouldn't be too late. He still has a chance to become a professional track and field athlete." Shouren Zhao nodded and continued, "However, we can't just believe all that she said. We have to test him to see if it's real or not. Let's do a test before the training to see how these students perform."
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Chapter 26: Reveal the True Color
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Youcai Wu stood beside the team, feeling as if he was the best out of all of them. The test prior to training had begun on the running track. Youcai Wu had put on an aura of disdain after he saw the grades the first team had gotten.
"The fastest was 12.55 seconds for this team, 0.5 seconds faster than me!"
"He must have been trained before."
"For sure. How could be so fast otherwise?"
"Who said you can't be fast if you haven't been trained before?" Youcai Wu said. Everyone looked at him. He looked very calm and continued, "I haven't been trained before either, but my best record was 12.11 seconds!"
"12.11 seconds! That's awesome!" The people around him were very surprised, and many of them looked at him with respect. For a bunch of high school students who only focused on studying, 12.11 seconds was a good enough record to make the others admire him.
A coach walked in with a list of names and said loudly, "Students who are called, go do some warm ups and get ready for the test. Yong Li, Wei Wang, Youcai Wu…"
Youcai Wu ran to the coach immediately when his name was called. He walked to the running track confidently. A coach on the stage that was not far away pointed at the running track and said, "Director Zhao, that's the same Youcai Wu who said his record was 12.11 seconds."
"Alright, let's see if he's worth our effort to work with him or not," Director Zhao ordered. All the coaches around were focused on the sports field.
Youcai Wu was still very confident that the others were not as fast as him. He got ready to run as the proctor gave the order.
Youcai Wu took off at the sound of the starting gun. However, he found that he was not the fastest one there in the very next second.
What the…? There is someone quicker than me, and not just one! OK, I see. It must be because I haven't sped up yet. I'll ditch them after I speed up! Youcai Wu clenched his teeth and used all his strength to speed up, but it didn't help at all. He was still behind others, and the gap between them was becoming bigger. Even the people who had been behind him were now right next to him.
Could it be that all the students on my team are of the highest level? How could I have such bad luck that I'm on the same team as them! A slight unwillingness crossed Youcai Wu's eyes. He didn't realize that his actual ability would be revealed without the help of Dai Li's explosive force halo.
12 seconds passed by in the blink of an eye. Youcai Wu ran past the finish line. He noticed that the other students were looking at him with a weird expression on their faces as he was about to chat with them.
Why are they looking me like that? Do I have something on my face? He felt very strange. The coach who was in charge of the finish line read their records out loud.
"Yong Li, 12.97 seconds."
"Wei Wang, 12.75 seconds."
"Youcai Wu…" The coach spoke in a drawn-out voice on purpose and looked at Yongcai Wu contemptuously. "12.83 seconds!" he shouted.
What? 12.83 seconds? How's that possible? How could I be so slow? I just ran 12.11 seconds last weekend! Youcai Wu was shocked. He didn't know what to do.
A creepy laughter spread all over. Everybody was laughing at him!
"He said 12.11 seconds? What a bad liar."
"Somebody's record was 12.55 seconds on the last team. Look at his bragging face. I thought he was a big deal. I didn't expect him to be a liar. Shame on him!"
Their discussion overwhelmed Youcai Wu and made his face look very pale. Shame, embarrassment…all these negative emotions overcame him in that moment.
12.11 seconds and 12.83 seconds. Even though the difference was only 0.72 seconds, it meant a big difference in the 100m sprint. If we took the ability of a 17-year-old high school student, for example, even if we couldn't say he was a sprinting prodigy whose record was 12.11 seconds without any formal training, he was still above average for sure. And there was a very big chance that he could become a professional athlete after being trained. However, 12.83 seconds could only prove that he was a young man in good physical condition. The possibility of him becoming an athlete was very small.
Shouren Zhao stood on the stage and smiled sneeringly. "I thought he had talent. Didn't expect him to be a liar. I shouldn't have been so happy before. These kinds of students have nothing but vanity. I doubt he would get trained with his ability. Let's not waste too much time on him and spend more effort on the other talented students." Shouren Zhao had decided Youcai Wu's fate in this 100m sprint training class.
Youcai Wu was not the only one who revealed his true ability. The other four students did, too. They had all been trained in Dai Li's class during the free trial period. With the help of the explosive force halo, they had all made a lot of progress in one day. However, Dai Li had removed them from his training list when they decided to choose the sports school, which meant that they couldn't benefit from the halo anymore. That was why everyone's speed times had gotten worse.
Dai Li didn't really care about the five students who had left. From his point of view, he had been kind enough to train them for free for one day. The progress had been so obvious that if the parents decided to leave anyway, it would only show that they didn't want to send their children here from the very beginning. There was no need for Dai Li to take responsibility for them anyway, since they were no longer his students.
He put all his effort into the eight students who had chosen to stay for a couple reasons. First of all, he had already received their training fee, which meant it was his responsibility to teach them. Second, he had promised that he would give the money back if they couldn't reach the standard. 15,000 yuan per person. He definitely didn't want to take the money he had already put in his pocket and give it back.
Sports training was a tedious thing to do. Training itself was about repetition after repetition. This process made athletes depressed and unwilling to be trained. To increase their motivation and emotions, professional experts created a "competition training method,""game training method," and so on. They had even put these methods in the textbooks. But sports training had nothing in common with playing house as children. The coach was not a kindergarten teacher. There was nothing they could do to rid themselves of the boredom. But Dai Li was already used to this kind of repetition. When he saw his students improve very fast, he felt it was worth it.
The training result of the sophomore coach was obviously better than that of the coaches from the sports school. Dai Li also gained a lot of empirical value during the process, until finally he got 1,000 points after one month. He upgraded again and went from the first level to the middle level as a sophomore coach.
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Chapter 27: Talents of Athlete
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"It costs 2,000 points of empirical value to upgrade from the middle level to the high level for a sophomore coach? That's too much!" Dai Li complained to the System.
"Be grateful. When you come to the phase where you need to upgrade from a sophomore high level to a junior coach, it costs even more." The golden head stopped for a second and continued, "Let's see what gift you got for the upgrade first!"
"I wonder what is in the gift box. Will it be another halo?" Dai Li opened the box and only found something that looked like a chip, with the word "detector upgrade gear" on it.
"Detector upgrade gear? Is it to upgrade the detector?" Dai Li asked immediately.
"Yes. This gear can upgrade your primary detector to an intermediate detector. In addition, it will increase the range of detection by 10 meters," the System said.
Dai Li followed the instructions on the screen and finished upgrading to his detector. He went back to reality and used it on Haiyang Chen to test it. A line showed appeared in his mind immediately.
Detecting target: Amateur athlete
Professional projection: 100m sprint; Professional ability: 7; Professional talent: C.
"It's different from the primary detector. It can even detect the professional subject and talent. What do they even mean? Could you clear things up for me?" Dai Li asked directly.
"The detecting targets are divided into three groups: ordinary, amateur athlete, and professional athlete. The detector will decide which group the target belongs to according to reality. Retired professional athletes will be put in the professional athletes group. Your student has already reached the level of amateur athlete after one month of training, so the detector determined that he was an amateurish athlete," the System said.
"Haiyang Chen improves very fast these days, and his grades are always at the top of the lists. I think he is an amateur athlete. But isn't seven too low for professional ability? It's a long way to go to reach 100," Dai Li said.
"Even if he has 100 for professional ability, he is still below the professional athletes. Professional ability is counted using a 1,000-point evaluation scale. Let's take the 100m sprint, for example. Athletes who broke the world records are all above 800 points for professional ability," the System continued.
"1000-point evaluation scale? Then don't these poor 7 points mean nothing for him?" Dai Li asked.
"Of course, he is nothing. National second-class athletes are very fast compared to ordinary people. However, if you compare them with real professional athletes, they are nothing," the System said.
"What does professional talent mean?" Dai Li continued asking.
"It means his talent is in the 100m sprint, not in all of the sports. People have different talents in different sports. Some people are good at playing basketball while others are geniuses in football. The talents are evaluated separately."
"How many grades are there for the talents? A, B, C, D?" Dai Li continued.
"There are five, from the highest-level, S, to the lowest level, D. Each level has three sub-levels. For example, level C is divided into C, C, and C-," the System explained.
"Five levels multiplied by three sub-levels is 15 levels. That means C ranks No. 10 out of all the grades. That's not high at all," Dai Li said with disappointment.
"C is actually quite good. Talent is like a pyramid—the higher it goes, the less people there are. Most people are around level D. People who are level C in one specific sports activity have the possibility of becoming a professional athlete in that sport; those in level B could be world champions with very intensive training; for level A athletes, it is very possible that they can become a world champion; and if one is in level S, then one might even break the world record; as for the highest-level, S, the world is their oyster!" the System explained.
"People with a level of S could rule the sports world!" All the famous athletes' names popped up in Dai Li's mind. There must be someone among them who had level S. Then he thought about Haiyang Chen's C and asked, "So according to what you said, if all the people with a level C could become a professional athlete, then C would mean one could be one of the best among the national athletes. Is that right?"
"Yes, you could say that. C doesn't mean world champion. But with hard work, one could obtain some records, I suppose," the System answered.
That means Haiyang Chen is talented. I can't waste his abilities. I think I should put more effort and attention into his training! Dai Li looked at Haiyang Chen, who was not far from him. Then he detected the abilities of the other students. Just like the System had said, most of the ordinary people were level D. Besides Haiyang Chen, there was only one student named Qingliang Xu who was a level C. His talent in the 100m sprint was a C. Although he was not as good as Haiyang Chen, he was much better than the other students.
I didn't expect to have two students who have the possibility of becoming professional athletes! Dai Li suddenly felt that he couldn't be satisfied with national second-class athletes. He wanted his students to set their goals higher.
…
Time passed by quickly. It was the end of August, and school was about to start. The training class would soon come to an end. The notice for the national athlete tests was put on the official website of the local sports bureau.
The national athlete test was held by provincial administrations, and they would be taking place in the provincial capital cities. Last year, it was admissible to hold tests locally in order to relieve the burden of travelling from the students. However, the staff who would be in charge of the tests were all sent from the provincial administrative, while the local cities provided facilities and testing locations.
The sports field was built three years ago in Yuzhou City. The facilities were quite new, and modern enough to hold the national athlete test. It was decided that the test would be held in the local city, which was obviously good news for students. They could take a taxi to the examination field. The students from the outskirts of the city could also go back home the same day without having to look for hotels to stay in, which saved them a lot of money.
After the schedule of the test was confirmed, all the examines went into the dashing phase. Time was becoming tighter. Dai Li also began his final dash training with his eight students.
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Chapter 28: Independent Enrollment Quota
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In his office, Principal Lü's face was very serious. This was his second year at the sports school. As a new principal who had come out of the blue, his days in the beginning weren't that agreeable. These last two years he had been trying to get used to the environment and cultivate his own teams. He finally had some kind of control over the whole situation.
Many people thought that there was no pressure on the sports school when it came to proportion of students who were able to get into the advanced school. They thought working at the sports school was very relaxing. However, Principal Lü had realized after just one year that it was not as easy as those on the outside looking in thought.
The sports school used to be one of the best. Although it was just a technical secondary school, it used to ensure job assignment for graduates up until the 90s. During that time, technical secondary school used to be people's first choice, even when compared to high schools. Like technical secondary school, places like medical schools were for the best students with excellent grades, since they allocated jobs for students without fail. The sports school had been the best among them. People didn't get enough protein during that time. Instead of nutrition, people worried more about how they could avoid suffering from starvation. In that era, people who were admitted to sports school were those with truly extraordinary physiques.
As time went on, the job assignment system was canceled. But the sports school was still the most popular choice because of the food allowance. For the people who came from poor areas, it was very attractive that the school covered their food expenses. Twenty years ago, when the number of students who were able to get admission to advanced schools was still limited, college students were especially rare and precious. Normal people could still get a decent job with a secondary technical school degree.
With the expansion of high school enrollment, it got easier for people to be admitted to colleges. This made it harder for the sports school to survive. Many bachelor and even masters students couldn't find a job. A student from a secondary technical sports school could not get anything but labor work. Parents expected their children to have decent jobs and not just be just labor workers, especially when they had tried everything to help their children get a higher education. Coupled with the improvement of people's lives, nobody would go to the sports school and ruin their future just for the food.
As this was happening, the disadvantages of the sports school as a secondary technical school began to become apparent. As opposed to normal high schools, students from secondary technical schools couldn't take the college entrance exam. The only way to get their degrees was to take higher education self-study examinations. This kind of degree was given by the country, but that was it. It didn't really help when job hunting.
This was why the quality of students who signed up for the sports school had dropped and were not achieving as much. There were many sports-oriented talented students, but they weren't sent to the sports school because their parents didn't want to send them. Cultural education was the best of the best. From the parents' perspective, it was better if their children didn't learn anything in college than going to a sports school.
Because of this situation, sports schools nationwide were all pushed into a corner. Famous schools who cultivated top-level athletes were better off because they got more financial help from the government. People who worked in schools like the sports school in Yuzhou City, which no one knew, were just muddling through life by collecting their salary and satisfying their appetite.
However, Principal Lü wouldn't just muddle through his life with his new promotion—he was eager to show his abilities. That was why he brought the case up to corporate with high schools to cultivate sports talent students. On the one hand, they could make money from it. On the other hand, and more importantly, they could make their school famous.
In his office, Principal Lü held a document in his hand that was the notice of the national athletes' exam. Director Shouren Zhao behaved himself in front of Principal Lü, and acted like he was listening to the leader's speech.
Lü cleared his throat and said, "The exam for national athletes is about to start. It's a normal activity. But this year, your tasks are greater. It's not only about taking students from our school to the exam, but also the students from our summer training class. How's the 100m sprint training class going? How many people do you think could get the national second-class athletes qualifications?"
"The training is coming to the end. According to our internal evaluation, at least 1/3 of the students are able to reach the standard. Some of the students are around the passing line. If they perform well, they might be able to pass too," Shouren Zhao said.
"1/3 is not enough. At least half of the students should pass. Then we are talking. That could make our training class more convincing, and make all the high schools believe that we have the ability to improve sports talent students. It would make them willing to hand the students to us." Principal Lü stopped for a second and continued, "Besides that, I received very important information. For this exam, the chief examiner, Coach Yuejin Chen, has been sent by the provincial administration from the provincial sports university. He is a very strict and impartial person."
"Coach Yuejin Chen? The one who trained many national athletes? He is the top track and field coach inside our province." Obviously Shouren Zhao had heard of him before.
"Yes, that's him. What's more important, he has one slot open for two provincial sports universities, which means he could choose two students taking the exam." Principal Lü changed his tone and continued, "We should get at least one of these two admissions to sports universities!"
"So you are saying we should ask the students from summer training class to go for one of the admissions?" Shouren Zhao asked.
"Yes. It's a very important move for our sports school. If we could get one of the admissions to the sports university, it could prove to the society that we have the ability to cultivate college students even though we are just a secondary technical school! And if the high schools in our city know that one of our students got the admission, they would be more willing to work with us," Principal Lü said.
Shouren Zhao hesitated because he couldn't promise it and didn't answer immediately, which made Principal Lü feel very anxious. He rolled his eyes and changed the topic.
"Last semester, one of our old vice presidents retired, so we have a vacancy now. The people from administrations asked for my opinions about the candidate for vice president. Although I think experience matters a lot, the ability and achievements are also very important. Director Zhao, I have very high expectations for you. But you have to work harder and make some achievements too. Then you can convince the other people. And I would have a better reason to recommend you."
Although the principal didn't say it explicitly, Shouren Zhao understood what he meant. Whether or not he could meet the quota of the independent enrollment or not mattered for his promotion to vice principal.
Considering that, Shouren Zhao said immediately, "Don't worry, I'll take the responsibility of the summer training class. We are meeting the quota of the independent enrollment!"
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Chapter 29: Exam for National Second-Class Athlete
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Only undergraduate students who were in their third year were qualified to take the exam for independent recruitment. Students who were not in their third year could not take the exam. The sports school was a technical secondary school, so their students had no opportunity to take the independent exams for universities. However, the top students of sports in each high school had already taken the qualification exam to be national second-class athletes, which was why they were considered top students by high schools. For this reason, they didn't need to take the exam.
Overall, the students who were taking the exam this time would be those who focused on their studies. Nine out of ten had been trained by these kinds of summer classes, so their abilities weren't that high. The student resources of the sports school's summer class were better than other training classes. And because their training ability was higher as well, the students there had a bigger chance of passing the exam.
The sports school had their own student resources for recruitment for summer classes, but Dai Li didn't. He didn't know that there was an independent recruitment quota of students. But he had heard of Yuejin Chen. He was among the top coaches in the province. Many of his students had been chosen by the national sports team. Even Yuejin Chen himself was recruited as an intensive coach by the national sports team.
…
The day of the exam finally arrived. Dai Li now had an opportunity to measure his training results. Early that morning, Dai Li went to the gate of the municipal sports field and gathered his eight students together, where they entered the examination field.
"Haiyang Chen, you are on the 13th team, kind of late. Qingliang Xu, you are on the 7th. And Congyan Lu, you are on the 1st. Go warm yourself up, it will be your turn soon. Don't be nervous. Just treat it like an ordinary training session. There should be no problem, your daily training record already reached the standard of a second-class athlete…"
Dai Li tried to help his students relax to relieve their nervousness. Congyan Lu was the first among the eight students. His ability was somewhere in between them, but after Dai Li's training he should have been able to pass the exam. What Dai Li was worried about was that he might be too nervous, which might have a negative effect on his performance. If he failed, it would be like a domino effect, and the rest of the students might fail too.
"Dai Li!" a voice echoed. He turned around and saw a familiar face. It was Dabing Sun, a colleague of his when he had worked in the sports school. They had both been assistants. Dabing Sun had stayed while Dai Li was fired because he had offended Shouren Zhao.
"Sun, my bro, you are here too!" Dai Li walked to him.
"Your skin has gotten brighter in the two months since I last saw you. Which big company are you working at now?" Dabing Sun asked.
"There is no big company. I started a training class by myself and enrolled a few students. I brought them here to take the exam," Dai Li said.
"Super cool!" Dabing Sun gave a thumbs-up. "So you work for yourself now! That's way better than me and everyone else who wasted our time in the sports school."
"You came with the sports school today?" Dai Li asked.
"I came here to bring the training class of the 100m sprint to take the exam. They paid a lot of attention to the exam this time. Director Zhao lead the team by himself!" Dabing Sun said.
"Shouren Zhao is here too?" Dai Li heard the name of his enemy. However, he didn't even know what he looked like. He asked in low voice, "Which one is Shouren Zhao?"
Dabing Sun looked around and answered in low voice, "The one in the light blue shirt with the suit pants."
Most of the coaches here wore sportswear, but Shouren Zhao's outfit stood out, so much so that Dai Li noticed him right away.
Shouren Zhao! He fired me for no reason. Let's compete today and see whose students are better! Dai Li's eyes were burning with passion. He was ready for the fight. He looked at his students and couldn't wait for Haiyang Chen and Qingliang Xu to take their exam.
These two students were Dai Li's trump card. Because he knew that their talents levels were a C in the 100m sprint, he had trained them even harder. And they didn't let him down. The improvements they made were much better than the other six students.
…
The proctor called the test numbers. The eight students who were in the first group walked to the desk and registered.
Congyan Lu really has bad luck. How could he be divided into the first group? That's the most difficult race because the students are not ready for the exam yet, but they have to be on the running track. And they carry a ton of pressure because everybody's attention is on them. I can only wish him good luck. Go for it, Congyan Lu! Dai Li silently cheered for him. Suddenly, he saw a familiar face.
Isn't that Youcai Wu? He was in the free trial for one day. Then his mother said that I would waste his time, and she put him in the training class at the sports school. I wonder how his training was there. I didn't expect him to be in the first group. I remember that he was much faster than Congyan Lu two months ago. I could use this chance to compare the training results between the sports school and myself to see who is better!
Dai Li looked at the running track anxiously. The eight students were ready to begin in front of the starting line.
…
Shouren Zhao sat among the audience. A coach named Zhou began to introduce the people in the race to him, saying, "There are two students in the first group are from our school."
"I know him. Youcai Wu, right? It was said that he was the top student at the beginning of the class. But it turned out that he was not when he actually ran. Even I feel ashamed for him. How is his ability now after two months of training?" Shouren Zhao asked.
"He is average. His record is always around the passing line. If he performs well, he might pass the exam. The other examinee is just like him. They need some luck to pass the exam," Coach Zhou explained.
"Luck? I doubt they will have it since they have been put in the first group, which means they don't really have good luck. There is no way that the students in the first group can perform well. They should thank God if they are able to perform like they usually do. I'm afraid these two students might be unable to pass. Such bad luck to be put in the first group…" Shouren Zhao said.
The proctor shouted, "Everyone, ready…"
All the students got ready. With the sound of the gun, the eight students took off at the same time. Meanwhile, Dai Li pressed the button on his timer.
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Chapter 30: A High-Flyer
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The eight candidates were dashing down the 100m track, and in the blink of an eye they were already past the midway point.
"Congyan Lu takes the lead!" Seeing Lu held a safe lead, Coach Dai Li relaxed a little bit.
"Come on, Lu!" Behind Coach Li, the other seven students were cheering on their teammate. Lu was much faster than the other runners, and was far ahead of the competition.
Lu should be able to reach the qualifying standard of second-level athletes. Coach Li was gratified by Lu's performance. His first 15,000 yuan training fee was surely safe now.
A timekeeper stopped the time device that showed Lu's record: 11.32 seconds. The qualifying standard for a second-level athlete was 11.50 seconds. Lu had hit the standard level successfully. Coach Li was not satisfied with this result, however. Lu had been doing about 11.20 seconds in his daily training. It seemed that the first to run had affected Lu's performance.
Among all the candidates in the first group, Congyan Lu was the only one who had attained the standard. The others' performances were all outside 11.70 seconds. Some people were even outside the 12 second mark. As for Youcai Wu, he had only gotten 11.89 seconds.
Youcai Wu got 11.89 seconds today, which is quite outside the 11.50 second standard. He may have reached the standard with the help of the explosive force halo. It's a pity that two months of hard work and a 15,000 yuan training fee didn't bring him good luck, Coach Li sympathized with Wu.
Meanwhile, Coach Li also felt a sense of relief that his training had worked. Comparing Wu and Lu's performances today to two months ago, their current performances had traded places. Dai Li's training was proven to be better than what was provided by the sports school coaches.
...
Crowds of parents were sitting in bleacher seats watching their children from afar. They were not permitted to enter the competition site. Youcai Wu's parents were there, too. The other parents were looking at Wu's parents sympathetically. Everyone had heard the news that Wu hadn't done as well as everyone had hoped. To make it worse, Wu's performance fell unexpectedly behind the qualifying standard.
Seeing that her son's failure had attracted so much attention, Wu's mother got angry from the shame. She argued, "This is all about bad luck. If my son was placed in later heats instead of the first one he would have passed without a doubt. There is only one person who passed in the first heat, the others all failed." During her speech, she eyed Congyan Lu jealousy.
"Gosh!" Wu's father sighed.
"What?" Wu's mother asked.
"My dear, the boy who passed is Coach Li's student! He was just walking towards his coach. Can you see the young man who is in a T-shirt? That is Coach Li!" said Wu's father.
"Who is Coach Li?" Wu's mother was confused.
"The one who offered free training to our son, and who later called us saying that he wanted to coach our son, but you refused," Wu's father recalled.
Wu's mom finally remembered Coach Dai Li, as well as that 0.77 second improvement.
She had looked down upon Li, and was conceited in thinking that if a novice coach could help her son improve, her gifted son would make higher achievements after training in a professional sports school. Unfortunately, today's failure had showed the truth of the matter, which was that Wu was not as gifted as they had thought. It was especially apparent in today's test, when Coach Li's student and Wu were in the same heat, yet Li's student had passed but Wu had failed. This proved that Coach Li's training was better than what Wu had received in the sports school.
How could this happen! Wu's mother regretted what she had done. The whole training process had been a complete waste of money and time. She felt that her wrong decision had ruined everything.
…
"Oh, I never thought that someone from the first heat could pass with a nice result. Which high school is he from?" Director Zhao asked.
"I think I've seen him somewhere before. Ah, he is from No. 2 Middle School. He enrolled in our 100m sprint training course, but didn't show up during orientation," Coach Zhou answered.
"Enrolled but didn't show up? Was it because he was lured away by some coach from No. 2 Middle School or other training programs?" Director Zhao asked.
"I don't think so. In our training course, more than one third of the students are from No. 2 Middle School. I never heard of any training course in that school," Coach Zhou answered, looking at Congyan Lu.
Lu was walking towards another side of the bleachers to join Coach Dai Li and his teammates. Coach Zhou immediately recognized Li.
"Oh boy, is that Li? The winner must be his student," said Coach Zhou.
Although Director Zhao had seen Dai Li's identification photo, because it had been so long and they were so far away from one another, Zhao was not able to recognize Li in the very beginning. He asked, "Do you know that coach over there? He looks pretty young."
"His name is Dai Li. He was first place in our assistant coach selection test. But for some reason, he was fired," said Coach Zhou.
That's him! Zhao's eyes widened as he realized who the young man was. He hadn't expected to hear his name again. Dai Li, the person who he had fired, had not only showed up right here in front of hm, but had also become a coach. Moreover, Li's student was the first one to win the second-level athlete qualification. It was incredible!
Seeing that Dai Li was now "somebody," Director Zhao was upset. He felt hatred toward Li. Somehow, he also felt disturbed by the news.
The fourth heat began. Another one of Dai Li's students was in this heat. He had a better performance than Conyan Lu, and hit the qualifying standard easily. Li's third student in the sixth heat also reached the requirement. Li had three qualified students now.
Qingliang Xu was in the seventh heat. He was known for having a C-Level talent for the 100m sprint, which meant that with only normal trainings he could become a professional sprinter.
…
Director Zhao looked surly, mainly due to the fact that Dai Li had achieved a 100% attainment rate, while the sports school participants only had about one third reaching the standard.
You lucky bastard! Your first three students all passed! Zhao swore to himself quietly. Then he saw Qingliang Xu was getting ready to begin.
This one must fail! Zhao thought to himself.
Apparently Coach Zhou couldn't read Director Zhao's mind, as he was busy introducing a student to Zhao. "That boy in the seventh heat is Chuang Liu, he is our seed sprinter. During our own evaluations, he had run inside 11 seconds six times!"
Excellent! If Liu could run within 11 seconds this time, he would probably be selected by Coach Yuejin Chen. Then he would be admitted to the Provincial Sport University's independent recruitment! And I shall be rewarded for my outstanding achievement! Director Zhao got excited thinking about his forecast. He even began to dream about his beautiful life as future vice-president of his school.
Once one became a second-level 100m sprinter, it would be quite hard to improve performance. Even a 0.1 second improvement required great effort, and more importantly, talent. For most ordinary sprinters, no matter how hard they tried, they could not run inside 11 seconds. The 11 second standard was an insuperable barrier to them. So to 100m sprinters, if one could run inside 11 seconds, it indicated that this athlete was gifted, and thus was worth professional training.
…
A bald man in his fifties was sitting in the middle of the grandstand. He was the Chief Examiner of this standard test—Coach Yuejin Chen, from the Provincial Sport University.
At this moment, Coach Chen was a little down. As the Chief Examiner, the only thing he needed to do was sit here watching and controlling the overall situation. But everything was under control. His body had become stiff. It was too boring. To make it worse, he hadn't found anybody worthy of his professional training. Just as Michelangelo was forced to observe groups of plain pottery bowls, it was a total waste of his time. He had almost worn out his interest.
I will never examine again, Coach Chen told himself. He looked at the tracks, poker-faced, his eyelids drooped.
At the sound of the pistol, the sprinters started. Coach Chen jerked his head up.
Ho? Coach Chen seemed to have found gold in the sand pile. He lurched up to his feet.
Well, well. This boy is a high-flyer. He finally smiled.
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Chapter 31: Within 11 Seconds
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The seventh heat began, but Director Zhao was still concentrating on the independent recruitment.
Chuang Liu is one of our best students and has great potential. He should be able to knock Chen's socks off, Director Zhao thought, turning his head to the grandstand. Coach Chen had a noticeably bald head. Director Zhao found him easily.
Aha, there you are. Darn! Why do you look so sleepy? Don't you dare sleep! You should not miss Chuang Liu's performance! He's my hope! Director Zhao was so angry about Chen's indifference that he was almost not able to resist punching Chen's face to wake him up. But the next second, "Sleepy Chen" jerked his head up and jumped down from his chair. He was staring at the track.
Hooray! He must be amazed by our Chuang Liu! Look at him, he seems to have found gold! Whew! My good boy! Thanks to you I'm going to be the vice-president! Oh, my bright future! Director Zhao was beaming with happiness. He turned around to face the arena and was about to give Liu a hand.
Come on, Chu… Director Zhao wasn't able to finish cheering, because he suddenly realized that the leading person was not Chuang Liu, but someone else.
That's not Chuang Liu! That's Dai Li's student! How come he runs so fast?! Director Zhao recognized the competitor by his vest color. That was Qingliang Xu, the boy who he had just wished ill upon.
"How fast! Where is he from?"
"Unbelievable! Why didn't I hear about him before?"
"He is definitely qualified for official competitions!"
The audience was completely shocked. Together they gazed as Qingliang Xu crossed the finish line.
"10.75 seconds!" the timekeeper shouted loudly. The result caused a great stir.
"He must be the first one who ran under 11 seconds today!"
"He is good enough for higher level competitions, why is he here?"
"10.75 seconds timed by hand, which is 0.24 seconds clear of fully automatic timing. Even with the extra 0.24 seconds, he would still have 10.99 seconds, which is still less than 11 seconds!"
"This participant is gifted. After receiving professional training he should be able to race professionally. Even according to automatic timing, he was just 0.06 seconds behind the national first-class athlete qualifying standard!"
Qingliang Xu had now become the center of attention. While on the grandstand, Coach Chen couldn't wait anymore. He told his assistant, "Go get this participant's data."
The assistant nodded, starting to search for Xu's personal information.
Just as I expected, he is a senior high school student. If he is not a sports talent student, he is worth training, Coach Chen thought, heading for Qingliang Xu with his assistant.
...
Coach Chen is moving towards Dai Li! He must want to talk to the 10.75 second boy. Director Zhao looked ill as he watched Chen walk downstairs.
"Hurry, go inquire about Chen. What does he want?" Director Zhao instructed Coach Zhou. He trotted all the way there.
After a while, Coach Zhou trotted back. While still gasping for breath, he reported to Director Zhao, "Director Zhao, I asked about what Coach Chen and the boy were doing. The boy's name is Qingliang Xu. Coach Chen asked him for some basic information, such as age, school, training time, best performance, etc."
"That's it?" Director Zhao was relaxed a bit.
But Coach Zhou wasn't finished. He continued, "Coach Chen invited Qingliang Xu to attend the independent recruitment interview for the Provincial Sport University. Xu said yes."
"Invitation for the interview!" Director Zhao immediately went blank. This meant that there was only one place left for his students.
Unlike the Civil Servants Examination, the university independent enrollment system didn't have severe eliminations. For Physical Education Majors, an invitation for the final interview was equivalent to an admission to college.
Director Zhao glared at Dai Li with burning eyes. If someone else had been recruited he might have been OK with it. But it was Li's student! He really needed an outlet for his pent-up anger.
Now there is only one place left for the admission. I must get it! Otherwise the president won't recommend me, and I will never be the vice-president! Thinking about this, Director Zhao turned to Coach Zhou. "Who is the best student in our school?"
"It must be Lei Wang," Coach Zhou answered without hesitation. "He almost ran within 11 seconds every time in our assessments. If he performs normally, his result should be less than 11 seconds, as usual. If he could outdo himself, he could reach Qingliang Xu's record."
"Which heat is Wang in?" Director Zhao asked.
"The twelfth. Soon," answered Coach Zhou.
"He is going to run after three more heats." Director Zhao took a deep breath and said to himself, "Zhou, you do this yourself. Take Lei Wang to do some warm-up exercises, then emphasize some considerations. Remember, let him have full control."
...
"Hey Qingliang, you are so lucky. You have just been admitted to the Provincial Sport University. Congratulations on your excellent performance!" Dai Li smiled at Qingliang Xu.
The other students gazed with admiration at Xu. Their main purpose for training so hard was to obtain some benefits for being sports talent students, such as having a lower grade standard for college admission. However, if one could enroll in the university independent recruitment, which was equal to test-free admission, that was way better than being a sports talent students. Moreover, the Provincial Sport University was a pretty cool school that was quite difficult to be recruited to.
Dai Li continued, "All right boys! To those who haven't run yet, try your best. I wish you all good luck! Especially you, Haiyang Li. You are the best among us. If I recall correctly you are in the thirteenth heat. It's about time to compete. Be ready to go all out."
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Chapter 32: Treasure
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Soon after Coach Chen went back to the grandstand, a man who was similar in age to Chen moved close to him, asking, "Hey Chen, did you decide on that 10.75 second boy and want him to go to your school?"
Coach Chen didn't want to hide anything, so he nodded and got straight to the point. "I just gave him an admission to our independent recruitment."
"An admission? That boy was definitely kissed by fortune. Who else can easily get an admission from an 11 second performance? Lao Chen, don't you worry that he might have just outdone himself today? Perhaps he cannot be that fast in daily training. In that case you would have a fluke!" The man was a close friend of Chen, which was why his words were quite straightforward.
"That is where you are wrong, Lao Wang. In the 100m sprint, normal people can rarely run inside 11 seconds, because that is beyond our physical limitations. Nobody could cross that barrier simply by 'outdoing oneself.' That is like jumping in a room with a ceiling above your head: you will not be able to jump higher than the roof because it blocks your path. The higher the roof is, the higher you can jump. You can take his performance, 10.75 seconds, as a pretty high roof. That is proof that he is gifted as an athlete. He has a lot of potential," said Coach Chen. Lao Wang nodded, not fully understanding.
Coach Chen continued, "His coach looks like he is just over twenty, like a college student. He is so young! I heard that he runs a training class. He is lucky to meet such a talented student. He will gain some valuable experience through teaching."
"Yeah, you are right. One of his students is chosen by you, and gets an admission to the Provincial Sport University. This coach is famous for his student now. For that, his training class is going to be super popular next year!"
The two talked back and forth, not giving any credit to Dai Li. Li was too young to be a successful coach. In every field, young people were always neglected.
…
Time passed quickly. It was now time for the twelfth heat. Six out of eight students of Li's had finished their competitions, and they had all reached the national second-class qualifying standard.
Because none of his students were about to run, Li didn't pay attention to the heat. He took Haiyang Chen aside and whispered encouragement in his ear.
On the other side of the bleachers, Director Zhao's eyes were glued to the track. The best student in his training class was ready for the competition.
Lei Wang, you are our trump card! Do your best—you must impress Coach Chen! Director Zhao said to himself.
As the gun sounded, the race began. Eight competitors darted off. As a top student, Lei Wang was holding a safe lead. He left the other runners far, far behind.
Good job, Wang! Director Zhao clenched his fists, his face flushed.
First place! Director Zhao took a deep breath. He was sure that Lei Wang had run inside 11 seconds, but he was not sure whether Wang could attract the attention of Coach Chen or not.
Here comes Wang's result. Hooray! 10.84 seconds! Coach Zhou cheered up. That was a satisfying result.
"Look, another performance that's less than 11 seconds!"
"That participant must from the sport school training class. People from that school are clapping now."
"Sport school coaches must be good if they can train a student like that."
"I heard that the one who ran 10.75 seconds was admitted to the independent recruitment of the Provincial Sport University, Coach Chen gave him the permission. I wonder whether this one is as lucky as the previous guy or not."
The audience was discussing the heat while looking at Coach Chen.
On the grandstand, Coach Chen also noticed the impressive result.
"10.84 seconds? Another one under 11 seconds. Give me his personal data," Coach Chen instructed his assistant.
The assistant immediately found out Lei Wang's information and presented it to Chen. Coach Chen looked through the document, nodding with satisfaction.
"A high school graduate student with a 10.84 second performance. He is good," Coach Chen thought for a few seconds, then stood up again.
"Hey Chen, do you prefer this competitor? This one is slower than the previous one. Why do you like him?" Lao Wang suddenly asked.
"You know what, I don't have much choice. Recently these good ones have been attracted by universities in big cities. I should not miss any chance now," Chen said, walking downstairs as he spoke.
...
10.84 seconds? This is a nice grade. Although Wang is slower than Qingliang Xu, he might be more talented than Xu. I guess he also has C talent like Haiyang Chen. However, he is too far away for me to detect his capacity. If this student also uses explosive force halo, he should be able to defeat Qingliang Xu, Dai Li sighed silently.
Dai Li already discovered that with the improvement of an athlete's own capacity, the effectiveness of the explosive force halo was reduced gradually. For example, if one's 100m sprint performance was around 13 seconds, the halo could give a 0.6 second improvement; if one's performance was around 11 seconds, the speed increase would be less than 0.2 seconds. However, as Li estimated, once an athlete ran inside 10 seconds, the halo might be useless, for the improvement might be no more than 0.1 seconds. To be a good sprinter, explosive force was one of the essentials. Sprinters with higher capacities would have similar explosive forces, meaning the halo would be less effective when trying to speed up.
As for performances that were within 10 seconds, time would be important to 0.01 second. A 0.1 second increase would be amazing.
...
Coach Chen is moving towards us! That's great! Zhao's heart rate was skyrocketing. He knew that Coach Chen's presence meaning that Lei Wang was most likely going to be chosen for the independent recruitment. He could already hear people calling him "vice-president."
Director Zhao jumped off his chair, straightened his clothes, and got ready to welcome Coach Chen. Meanwhile, the thirteenth heat began. Haiyang Chen was in this group.
Coach Chen was walking along the track, heading in Zhao's direction, just as Haiyang Chen was running wildly down the track. After 11 seconds, Coach Chen was less than five meters away from Director Zhao, so close that Zhao could see Chen's face. At the same time, Haiyang Chen was the first hit the finish line, to no one's surprise.
Zhao's face was beaming with a smile. He moved closer to Coach Chen, stretching his hand out. He said, "Hello Coach Chen, I'm Shouren Zhao from…"
He was not able to finish. Coach Chen suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed on Haiyang Chen, who had just hit the line. Chen looked surprised, as if he had found great treasure.
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