Chapter 8 (6)

  Suddenly, there were footsteps behind Yu Xiang. He quickly stopped smiling. A hand landed on his shoulder, and when he turned to look at it, he saw that the veins on the back of the hand were bulging and could be counted. He guessed it was his roommate's hand and turned around to shake it off, saying: "Where are you guys going?"

  "Let's start the meeting."

  Yu Xiang Meng suddenly remembered that there was a meeting at three o'clock and thanked the three people for reminding him before asking: "What are your names?"

  "Hu Jun."

  "Song Shi Ping."

  Yu Xiong

  Yu Xiang was so intimidated by the three masculine names that he didn't dare to report his own name. The conference room entrance was already packed with athletic students, and roughly counting, there were at least forty of them. Yu Xiang sighed, thinking that Nan San Middle School really had a wide range of talents. Half of these athletes were fake - those as thin as lead wires were shot putters, those as short as stools were high jumpers, and those as fat as pumpkins were long-distance runners; there were also those with faces whiter than tofu who claimed to have practiced outdoor sports for three years, those as small as a grain of medicine who claimed to be the center of the basketball team, and those with glasses as thick as the Antarctic ice sheet who claimed to be long jumpers - they were afraid that even if he arrived on time, he wouldn't be able to find his way out of the sand pit. Yu Xiang, squeezed in among them, actually looked more like an athlete.

  At this time, a man rushed into the conference room. He was about to speak but hesitated and thought it wasn't suitable for him to introduce himself: "I am your vice principal." So he went to drag a teacher on duty to clarify his identity.

  This man is the vice principal and head of the political education department. He had previously instructed that the sports mobilization meeting be held in the first conference room, but when he arrived, he forgot which conference room it was and didn't dare ask anyone. He ran through all eight conference rooms in the Hu Shi building, using a reverse order, and by the time he found it, he was drenched in sweat, with beads of perspiration rolling down his forehead.

  In the nearly 40-degree weather, he wore a long-sleeved shirt and tie, and after this ordeal, his clothes were soaked and clinging to his body like a second skin. He kept tugging at his clothes, trying to cool down. The first conference room had two cabinet-style air conditioners, but the cold air they emitted was no match for the hot air emanating from the bodies of the 40 or 50 people present.

  Cold air is heavier than hot air, so it was impossible for the vice principal to feel cool from head to toe; he could only feel cool from his feet up.

  He wiped away his sweat and said:

  "Hello everyone! You've all worked hard! My surname is Qian. Everyone knows that our school, Nanshan No. 3 Middle School, is a renowned old school in the city. In recent years, to promote Shanghai's sports industry and provide reserve talent for Shanghai's sports industry, we urgently need a batch of athletes with culture and quality. Of course, not everyone present may be an athlete with a level, but we can train, we can work hard and make sacrifices, and achieve results through hard training. Moreover, the physical education teachers at Nanshan No. 3 Middle School all have rich experience in training and can help students improve. Students are also working very hard, giving up their summer vacation rest time to improve their sports performance..."

  Principal Qian paused for a moment, due to the heat and speaking too quickly, the next sentence didn't come out in time. This pause caused the audience to start whispering among themselves. Hu Jun sat beside Yu Xiang, covering his mouth with his hand, and cursed Principal Qian in a voice that was barely audible: "Bullshit, what proactive abandonment, it's clearly passive abandonment!" Yu Xiang only saw him move his lips without hearing any sound, he wanted to ask but seeing Hu Jun's fierce expression, the words got stuck in his throat.

  Principal Qian loosened his tie and continued:

  "Classmates gave up their rest time, I represent the school to thank everyone!"

  "But fellow students, our main task in entering the Third High School of Shenyang is still to study. The students here are all selected from a large number of students, with good physical education and academic performance. In this way, we can balance both study and sports, laying a solid foundation for getting into a good university in the future."

  However, many of you athletes often relax and think that getting into Municipal Third Middle School means getting into university. Municipal Third Middle School has only created opportunities for you, but the success or failure is entirely in your own hands. We have already disciplined many athletes, classmates, be self-respecting! Don't let one mistake lead to eternal regret, cherish this hard-won opportunity to study with the best students from all over the city!

  The following was a moment of silence, not because they were listening carefully, but because everyone's soul had escaped and was wandering the earth, until the first soul to return led the applause, shocking everyone back to reality, at which point they all symbolically applauded, giving Principal Qian an opportunity to step down.

  The second speaker was Liu Zhizhang, the head of the sports group's teaching and research section. He is not good at talking, and after taking the stage, he rushed down to the platform with a silly smile:

  "I'm telling you something practical, results depend on training. At 5 o'clock later there will be training, and every morning at 6 o'clock there will also be training. There will be two trainings a day, one in the morning and one in the evening. The rest of the time is for your own arrangement. You must return to the dormitory before 9 o'clock in the evening, and there will be roll call when you return to the dormitory. Go to bed early, don't make noise, take care of your body, and don't run around randomly. That's all I have to say, assemble at 5 o'clock."

  Everyone listened carefully to these words, and if they missed a sentence, the context would not be connected. Principal Qian stood aside with a slight displeasure in his heart, standing slightly still, with all ten fingers inserted together and hanging down below his abdomen. The displeasure came from Liu Zhi Zhang's opening remarks, according to his reasoning, weren't his own words impractical? Principal Qian firmly believed that his words were practical, just a bit lengthy. It was as if the Basque people on both sides of the Pyrenees Mountains didn't like to tell lies but liked to talk nonsense, and nonsense wasn't impractical. Principal Qian reasoned for half a day, and with great difficulty, he found a foreign nation's theory that justified his own words, and he was convinced by his own erudition. He thought students couldn't think so deeply, and his facial expression was difficult to manage for the time being, not knowing whether to smile or not, and if things went wrong, it would make students think there were internal conflicts in the school, so he took big strides towards Liu Zhi Zhang and chatted with him, using physical movements to simplify his expressions.

  After the meeting, Yuxiang followed Hu Jun and others back to the dormitory to change clothes for training. As soon as he thought of training, Yuxiang couldn't help but worry about his future, but he comforted himself: "Yuxiang, don't be afraid, five out of ten are fake, you can definitely outrun them!" This self-suggestion had a great effect, and Yuxiang suddenly felt invincible.

  Hu Jun is a long jumper, and he took the lead. Yu Xiong and Song Shi Ping walked together with Yu Xiang, who asked if they were indeed from the long jump team. Yu Xiong burst out laughing, patted Yu Xiang's shoulder, causing him to flinch, while Song Shi Ping saw Yu Xiong laughing and didn't have time to speak, so he spoke on behalf of Yu Xiong: "The two of us are from the long distance running team."

  Yu Xiang was shocked to find that the two people's legs and body proportions had long surpassed those of a frog. Not going for high jump would be a waste, with such legs they could go for long distance running, probably Yu Xiong would only need one step to match three steps by Yu Xiang. This way, Yu Xiang would have to retreat two places, truly people can't compare legs.

  A crowd had already gathered on the playground. Liu Zhichang and others were on the playground, pointing out coaches to athletes. The long-distance running coach of Yu Xiang was Liu Zhichang. Liu Zhichang's first lesson on the first day was to jump in place 500 times.

  Lin Yuxiang was not good at math, and after jumping 500 times, his physical strength could still hold up, but his brain power was not enough. After counting to 40, everything became a mess. Sixty was actually fifty. After skipping one hundred, his calf was a bit stiff, and after jumping for a while longer, his calf adapted, but his neck was a bit sore. Yuxiang wondered why it was sore in the wrong place as he jumped. After finishing the 500 jumps, all five members of the long-distance running team were paralyzed on the ground. It wasn't until then that Yuxiang realized there were only three freshmen recruits for the long-distance running team: himself, Yu Xiong, and Song Shiping. The other two were sophomores who chatted about Premier League matches as they jumped to show their disdain for the new students.

  The second event was a 100-meter dash, after which they dispersed. Yu Xiong ran the 100 meters in 11 seconds and 9 tenths, with Liu Zhi-zhang offering constant praise. Song Shi-ping ran it in 12 seconds and 8 tenths, with Liu Zhi-zhang nodding several times in approval. Yu Xiang watched as others carried their loads with ease, but when he looked at Yu Xiong's speed, he didn't think much of it. When he himself ran, his heart was full of energy, but he couldn't translate that into his legs - no matter how hard he tried, his two legs just couldn't move any faster, and in the end, he ran it in 13 seconds and 2 tenths, losing all face. Liu Zhi-zhang helped Yu Xiang correct his running posture once, saying: "I'm a straight shooter, so let's get down to business - you're not bad at this! Your build is pretty well-suited for long-distance running; if you practice more, you might just achieve something. Go on!"