Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
A whole month!
It was so far away.
But there was no choice. He could only wait patiently.
Lin Fan’s remarks during the interview had caused waves on the Internet. Fortunately, he was someone with diehard fans. Although he was arrogant… No, it wasn’t arrogance, it was just speaking the truth. After all, sometimes, even the truth would offend people.
However, for him to change this natural instinct of always speaking the truth was absolutely impossible.
When Lin Fan was bored, he opened his class’ WeChat group.
It had been a long time since anyone had spoken in the group. The last recorded message in the group was from a month ago when some people had started some chatter.
In order to liven up the atmosphere, Lin Fan sent a smiley face to the group.
Of course, in the end, it was ignored by everyone.
Lin Fan couldn’t help but be annoyed. This bunch of corpses!
However, what Lin Fan didn’t know was that in this WeChat Group, each of the account owners’ expressions became grave when they saw that ‘smiley face’. Then, their fingers which were hovering above the reply button were lifted up. After that, they pretended not to have seen the message.
At that moment, an uninvited guest entered the shop.
“May I ask who is Master Lin?” A middle-aged man in a well-ironed suit entered with a calm expression on his face.
Lin Fan studied him for a moment. Then, Fraud Tian raised his hand and said, “That’s Master Lin.”
The middle-aged man looked at Lin Fan and nodded. “I’m Song Bing Wen from the Shanghai Sports Association. We’ve noticed your performance at the World Championships and we’d like to have a chat with you.”
Song Bing Wen had been in the Sports Association for a period of time. He had seen numerous talented athletes but this was the first time he had seen someone like Lin Fan. His running speed while carrying the video camera had been simply too fast. In the World Championships, he had gained many people’s notice.
There was a petition online to appeal to the Sports Association to bring this man in. Of course, whether the Sports Association would bring him in or not was not decided by public opinion.
Lin Fan looked at Song Bing Wen with a surprised look. Then, he smiled and said, “Please take a seat.”
“Mmm.” Song Bing Wen nodded and sat down. Wu You Lan went to prepare some tea. By asking him to sit down, Lin Fan was clearly agreeing to chat with him, hence, he was a guest.
“What is Leader Song here to find me for?” asked Lin Fan. Initially, if the task hadn’t been completed, he would’ve really gone to join a few races to raise his reputation and complete the task. But now that the task had been completed, he wasn’t very interested. This joining of races was just a waste of time.
Song Bing Wen took a look around him and then said with a resonant voice, “After our discussions, we think that you possess great talent in the track event.”
Lin Fan smiled. “So you want me to become a national athlete?”
However, despite what was said above, even though the task had been completed, going to compete with people from all over the world and bringing glory to the country was not a bad thing either.
Hence, this choice was a little difficult for Lin Fan to make.
Song Bing Wen was taken aback. Then, he laughed and said, “You must be joking. Although your performance at the World Championships was eye-catching, you still can’t become a national athlete all of a sudden. You need to climb up step by step. What I’m here for today is to let you know that our head office has high hopes for you and we want to properly nurture you. But you will need to join the local track and field division and participate in our country’s inter-province competitions. In the end, whether you become a national athlete or not depends on your results in the national competitions.”
Lin Fan said in shock, “Even though I’m so good at running, I have to start from the bottom?”
Song Bing Wen laughed in his heart. He said, “Of course. It doesn’t matter how fast you run. Everything has to be done according to the rules. Our country isn’t short of people who can run fast. For example, that Hu Fei Yun isn’t the fastest but he still became a national athlete. That’s because he rose up among the others in the inter-province competitions and became a national athlete based on stellar results. And those athletes who run very fast are still in their provincial teams because they haven’t achieved enough results. Therefore, what I’m trying to tell you is that if you want to become a national athlete, you have to start from the lowest level. I can refer you to a coach and you’ll follow him from now on.”
“Wait a moment…” Lin Fan waved his hand. “Leader Song, if you put it that way, then it’s meaningless. I’m not coming with you. And I’m not joining any competitions either.”
After all that, he still wanted Lin Fan to start from small competitions. Wasn’t that just a waste of time?
Song Bing Wen was stunned. It was as if he had never expected that he would be rejected.
He had seen many people, some of them young, from age thirteen to eighteen. They had pretty good results and were very talented. They wanted very badly to become national athletes but it wasn’t something so easily achieved. They had to start from the bottom.
There was another problem as well. Some people were indeed talented but the coaches and leaders from all places needed accomplishments as well. If they could raise a national athlete from the bottom to become a champion on the international stage or something, then it would be a huge achievement for them.
Therefore, no matter how f*cking awesome Lin Fan was, he had to start from the basics.
Song Bing Wen looked at Lin Fan and said, “You’re not young anymore. With your talent, you should bring glory to our country. You mustn’t bite off more than you can chew. This kind of opportunity is something that other people might not get even if they broke open their heads to get it.”
Lin Fan waved his hand. “Alright, alright, that’s enough. If you let me become a national athlete right now and compete with foreign athletes, I would win a few championships, bring glory to our country and then retire at the end of it all. But now you’re asking me to start from the bottom. Don’t you think that’s just a waste of time?”
“Hehe…” Song Bing Wen couldn’t help but start laughing. Then, he looked at Lin Fan and said, “Kid, you shouldn’t aim too high in life. Your way of thinking makes me want to laugh. Even though we all saw what happened at the world championships, it doesn’t represent anything. Becoming a professional national athlete doesn’t just require ability, it also requires obeying orders…”
Wu You Lan brought the tea over. “Please, have some tea.”
Song Bing Wen was about to take over the teacup when Lin Fan immediately took it. He drank a sip of tea, then said, “Alright, there’s no need to talk about this anymore. I have no interest in this anymore. You can go back.”
What he meant was to chase out that man. His tone was not tactful at all.
Song Bing Wen’s expression became a little ugly. He felt that this kid didn’t know what was good for himself. Then, he stood up and left.
But after he left…
Lin Fan took a glance and said, “What kind of game is that? Obeying orders? Doesn’t that mean to listen to others? Competitors are meant to talk using their achievements. What’s there to listen to? No wonder things are getting worse and worse.”
Fraud Tian was helpless. “Look, you’ve offended yet another person.”
Lin Fan’s mouth twitched. Then, he said, “I sell scallion pancakes. He manages sports. These are two completely different things. He can’t do anything to me.”
Fraud Tian nodded. “That’s true.”
Meanwhile, outside, there was a group of people talking to the people around.