Translator: dapotaturs
Release Date: 10/10/2023
Chapter 237 (Part 1) - Shocking! Someone Can't Get Promoted Due to Outstanding Coaching Results?! (?)
【Shocking! A 24-Year-Old National-Level Coach?】
【Wow, Coach Su is now going to have a national-level title? But he's only 24 years old now? If he becomes a national-level coach at this age, can his coaching rank still go up in the future?】
【Isn't it a matter of whether it can go up or not? Look at the athletics world... not just athletics but the entire sports community. Have we ever had a national-level coach under 30? National-level coaches in their 40s are considered young and promising, right?】
【Haha... the friend who just commented, that statement could be directly applied to fields like academia as well.】
【Although that's true, this promotion in coaching rank is, in a way, rewarding merit, right? Special talents deserve special treatment. Considering Su Bai's capabilities and the athletes he has directly or indirectly coached and developed, who have achieved great results, including Zhang Ziyi, Qiu Wen, Cui Luoheng, Li Junhao, Fang Yu, Wang Shen, and Chen Yadan, as well as other athletes whose progress might not be as prominent, like Zhang Wei, Hu Li, Guo Dun, Lin Huan, and Lin Yao... In just two years, Su Bai has achieved things that many coaches wouldn't in twenty years. I think this national-level coaching title is well-deserved.】
Because the official Weibo account of the Athletics National Team released the post-World Championships awards content in the form of news updates, after the news of Su Bai's non-standard promotion to a national-level coach spread, whether they were track and field enthusiasts, sports fans, or ordinary people, they all joined the discussion under this Weibo post.
Several highly discussed and liked comments were pinned at the top of the news post, and one major category of comments expressed astonishment at Su Bai becoming a national-level coach at the age of 24. Another group of people was quite confused and asked, 【Huh? What? Wasn't he one before?】
【...Now that you mention it, I always thought that those coaching in the national team were already national-level coaches, right?】
【I thought so too. So, what was Su Bai's rank before he got promoted to a national-level coach?】
This question piqued the curiosity of many, and some immediately remembered that the official website of the Athletics Team had personal profiles of the coaches for various events. So they checked the team's official website, and then... came back looking bewildered.
【...I firmly believe that Su Bai should be promoted. It's only right!】
One person, after looking at Su Bai's profile, returned with a dizzying declaration of support for Su Bai. The reason was simple: nobody had paid much attention to this before, and everyone just found out today that, according to the coaching staff's records on the national team's official website, Su Bai's coaching rank, before the update today, was just a junior-level coach. And before the coaching title reform, he was only a third-level coach.
......
............
?
"Junior-level coach?"
The people who were still digesting the information about Su Bai being a "24-year-old national-level coach" were nearly left dumbfounded when they saw those five words.
【=口= What? What rank is that? Junior-level coach? Third-level coach?】
Someone immediately offered some explanation. Before the title reform two years ago, coaching qualifications were divided into three levels: third-level, second-level, first-level, senior, and national-level. After the reform, the third and second levels were both classified as junior-level coaches. Su Bai probably obtained his third-level coaching qualification during his university years, which was later converted to junior-level coaching after the reform.
【Emmmmm, so you mean whether it's a third-level coach or a junior-level coach, they're both the lowest ranks, right? So, Su Bai has been working with the lowest coaching title all these years, whether it's in the S Province Athletics Team or the national team?】
After this piece of information surfaced, everyone's attention quickly shifted. Whether they were athletics enthusiasts or casual observers, no one had expected that Su Bai had held the most basic coaching title all along while coaching the highest-level athletes. This asymmetric reality surprised everyone.
【Well, when you think about it, it's normal. Su Bai obtained his coaching qualification during his university days, and later qualifications usually require practical coaching experience. So, initially being a junior-level coach while coaching in the S Province Athletics Team makes sense. Moreover, he didn't spend much time there before he was transferred to the national team...】
【? While that's true, isn't Su Bai a former athlete? I remember there are preferential qualifications for athletes who become coaches, right?】
【Yes, you're right. There are preferential qualifications, but those are for exceptional athletes... But Su Bai, Su Da Lao, although he's been amazing as a coach, his performance as an athlete back then was just... cough, quite average!】
dapotaturs note: "大佬" (dà lǎo) in English translates to "big shot" or "bigwig."
Online discussions about Su Bai's coaching rank were gaining traction. While it didn't trend, it was a topic of ongoing interest among sports enthusiasts. The social media team behind the National Athletics Team noticed this discussion and reported it to their superiors. The national team took this discussion seriously and issued an official response on their official microblog.
National Athletics Team Official Microblog: 【Following today's awards ceremony, there has been considerable discussion regarding Coach Su Bai's coaching rank. In fact, since Coach Su Bai joined the national team, the national team has paid close attention to Coach Su Bai's professional rank certification. During this period, there have been multiple applications for Su Bai's new professional rank certification, but due to Coach Su Bai's outstanding coaching results and the breakthrough achievements made by his direct athletes, the national team has repeatedly withdrawn the original applications and submitted new rank certification applications for Coach Su Bai. As a result, the certification of Coach Su Bai's professional rank has been delayed until now. This is a gap in our internal management, and the national team will continue to improve the relevant work in the future. We ask the public to supervise us.】
_(:3」∠)_
?
The spectators and athletics enthusiasts were initially discussing this matter casually and didn't expect a response from the national team. Not only did the national team respond, but their response was delivered with such a solemn tone...
【... Pfft, what did I just read? So because Su Bai achieved such great results, the national team couldn't keep up with his new coaching rank applications due to his new achievements?】
【Hahaha, my goodness! I was wondering if the national team hadn't noticed Su Bai's coaching rank issue, attributing the jump from junior coach to senior coach to negligence. But this reason, what's going on? I can't, my stomach hurts from laughing too much...】
【I never imagined it would be such a hilarious reason _(:3」∠)_! What's it called? As long as my results are good enough, promotions can't catch up with my pace?】
Originally, everyone was either discussing Su Bai's age or the incredible span of his promotion. However, after the response from the National Track and Field Team came out, the previous discussions accumulated in popularity and attention. It eventually pushed this somewhat impressive yet amusing topic to the top of the trending list.
———#Su Bai Unable to Get Promotion Due to Leading the Team Too Well#
At first glance, this trending topic appeared to be a scoop about the national team. Once people clicked on it, they were greeted with a series of "hahaha." Some passersby, who were initially unaware of the situation and only knew about Su Bai's recent coaching achievements, clicked on the trend to see what happened. However, after entering the topic, they were greeted with a string of "hahaha" comments.
Once these bystanders understood what was happening, they joined in on the laughter and even added the hashtag #NationalTrackAndFieldTeamUnjust to the trending topic.
The national team didn't expect that a simple awards ceremony would generate so much discussion. However, Liao Jie, who was aware of the current online sentiment, had no objections to this amusing "negative trend." He just instructed the personnel responsible for monitoring public sentiment to keep an eye on the tone of discussions online and to ensure that no actual negative news emerged.
Within the national team, after the awards ceremony, the athletes were given a seven-day vacation. If there were special needs, they could apply for an extension of their vacation, with the latest return date being three days before the start of winter training. This kind of extended vacation was typically for well-known athletes with high popularity. During this period, athletes could participate in various activities such as advertisements, variety shows, and interviews, whether arranged individually or by the Marketing Department of the Athletics Center, as long as it was reported and approved.
Of course, athletes could rest during their vacation, but coaches like Su Bai didn't have such privileges. After all, the winter training cycle was about to begin. Although the current outdoor season had ended, the new winter training cycle, the training plan for next year's athletes, the selection of trial athletes, and Su Bai's highly acclaimed series of courses were all on the horizon. After Su Bai led the team to a brilliant performance at the World Championships, the coaches who had attended Su Bai's courses were once again eager to put what they had learned into practice.
Leaders from various provincial teams were delighted to see their coaches getting promotions. Consequently, many provincial teams reached out to the national team, requesting that Su Bai conduct another series of training courses during his free time after the outdoor season.
Almost immediately after Su Bai returned to China, various tasks were piled on his plate. In comparison, the ten-plus days he spent traveling with the team could be considered his "vacation."
However, compared to the busyness he experienced when he first joined the national team last year, Su Bai had now adapted to this work schedule's rhythm. Moreover, within the national team, the coaches of the 400-meter project under his guidance provided him with considerable support and assistance. In reality, his current level of busyness could be considered orderly amidst the chaos.
After the awards ceremony, Su Bai was busy for two or three days. During this time, he managed to resolve the issue with Cui Luoheng, who had imitated his every move when walking out of the room. As for the team's athletes, they had all scattered to enjoy their vacations after being granted a long break. Su Bai had spent these two days focusing on the trial team, assessing and arranging intra-squad matches for the various team members. Consequently, he had not noticed anything unusual during this time. However, after two days, he received a message from Wang Shen.
Wang Shen: 【^^If you have some free time, can you spare a moment to check on your darling Ah Heng?】
Su Bai: 【......?】
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Chapter 238: Confession
During these past few days of training, Su Bai hadn't seen Cui Luoheng. He initially thought that during this break, Cui Luoheng should have gone back to S City. However, he was surprised to find out that Cui Luoheng was still staying in the national team's dormitory.
According to Wang Shen:【Your darling Ah Heng probably realized that his behavior was off after helping you with your luggage that day. Now, he likely thinks he's exposed his foolish actions and is too embarrassed to face anyone. ^^】
?
Su Bai thought back to Cui Luoheng's behavior on the day he returned to China, and he couldn't help but agree. Except for unfortunate cases like Qiu Wen, few people would consider their actions as not problematic, right?
Then, he reviewed his own behavior over the past two or three days when he was completely immersed in work and had forgotten about Ah Luo.
If...
If it were him, and he had revealed his feelings in front of someone he liked, only to receive an indifferent response?
He probably would have shut himself in as well.
Su Bai rubbed his head with some headaches, but the reality was that he was also avoiding this matter related to feelings. He originally thought that as a coach, he should only occasionally help his athletes with their emotional troubles. However, he never expected that he would end up dealing with his own feelings.
That day, after he discovered Ah Luo's feelings for him, Su Bai had actually analyzed his own thoughts. However, when it came to the matter of "liking," he wasn't any better than Ah Luo.
His emotional experiences were like a blank and dull sheet of paper, much like those of most young athletes in the team. The only person who had clearly shown affection for him was Ah Luo.
Su Bai had even thought at one point that with his introverted nature and wholehearted dedication to work, he might remain single for the rest of his life.
Perhaps it was because he found it difficult to make decisions and handle emotions, not knowing how to face Ah Luo. Coupled with his busy work, he subconsciously avoided the issue. However, the message from Wang Shen today made him realize very clearly that at this stage, he couldn't continue avoiding this emotional issue.
As the person in the track and field team who had first noticed Cui Luoheng's different attitude towards Su Bai, Wang Shen felt like a diligent old father, putting in a lot of effort into Ah Heng's difficult one-sided love journey.
However...
Wang Shen glanced at Su Bai's recent response with ellipsis and silently chuckled. In fact, Ah Heng might not be that unlucky after all. After all, Su Bai didn't seem to have any aversion to Ah Heng. If he really had aversion, he would definitely subconsciously object to terms like "your darling Ah Heng" that he had just used.
Not specifically refuting such terms indicated at least that Su Bai's subconscious didn't dislike Cui Luoheng.
Of course, there was a mysterious distance between "not disliking" and "liking." This gap might be an impenetrable wall, or it might just be a piece of paper that could be torn with a single poke.
"Knock, knock, knock."
Just as Su Bai was hesitating for a while, considering whether to go to Cui Luoheng's dormitory to talk to him, he suddenly heard a knock on the door outside his own dorm.
?
For some reason, Su Bai instinctively felt that this somewhat restrained knocking sound was from Cui Luoheng, who had knocked on his door "disturbing" him countless times over the past year.
Su Bai paused for a moment, then directly accessed Cui Luoheng's real-time data from the system—
【Warning, associated user Cui Luoheng, current psychological state extremely nervous, imbalance index 97, heart rate 121 beats per minute!!!】
......
............
..................
Su Bai silently looked at the data in the system, then glanced at the person outside the door who seemed to be trying to conceal his nervousness and was knocking on the door in a particularly restrained manner.
—What bad luck, your current nervous state has been completely exposed, hasn't it?
However, upon knowing that the person outside the door was Cui Luoheng, Su Bai himself had a moment of hesitation. After a brief moment of deliberation, he walked to the door, turned the handle, and opened it.
Outside the door, Cui Luoheng seemed to be hesitating whether to knock on the door again. He held up his right hand near the door, appearing completely unguarded when the door suddenly opened. After seeing Su Bai, his pupils noticeably contracted, and he moved his hand behind his back, nervously swallowing saliva.
"Xiao...," Cui Luoheng blinked, as if he felt that his original tone was a bit timid and vulnerable. So he pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and then looked at Su Bai. "Xiao Bai, it's me."
Cui Luoheng was over 190 centimeters tall, and he had a somewhat "stern" appearance. His eyes weren't deep with double eyelids; instead, they were slanted. When he stared intently at someone or something, there was a sense of determination, like a wild beast locking onto its prey.
After Su Bai opened the door, he was met with Cui Luoheng's gaze, which was fixed on him. Of course, if Su Bai hadn't known about his nervous state from the system beforehand, Cui Luoheng's appearance might have seemed even more intimidating?
Su Bai blinked, realizing that he hadn't gone to find A'Luo yet, but A'Luo had come to him first.
Seeing A'Luo in this nervous state, Su Bai understood that A'Luo had come to resolve the issue that had been bothering him for the past few days, even in such a tense state.
Thinking about this, Su Bai stepped back and allowed Cui Luoheng to enter the dormitory.
For Cui Luoheng, these three days had been a period of self-imposed isolation ever since he remembered what he had done on the return journey and recalled his awkward posture when he had accompanied Su Bai back to the coach's dormitory.
Clearly... He had planned to wait until he had won a significant gold medal before revealing his feelings for Su Bai. However, he couldn't resist the overwhelming sense of liking he felt for Su Bai. He thought that he had been so obvious that Su Bai must have noticed. He thought that he might face rejection, reprimands, or... perhaps a one-in-a-million chance that Su Bai would accept him.
As Su Bai had been busy with various coaching tasks and assessing the 400-meter trial athletes over the past three days, he had been focused on everything except Cui Luoheng, almost as if...
There was no "almost" about it.
Cui Luoheng knew in his heart that Su Bai had completely forgotten about the matter concerning him.
There was nothing more frustrating for Cui Luoheng than Su Bai's reaction. He had been silent and withdrawn for three days, but today he had finally mustered the courage to confront Su Bai directly at his door.
Since resolving his performance anxiety on the field under Su Bai's guidance, Cui Luoheng felt that what he was facing now was a thousand times more difficult than any challenges on the track.
He had feelings for someone.
The person he had feelings for was his coach.
He had exposed his feelings to the person he liked without proper preparation.
What was worse, before he even realized he liked Su Bai, he had used various excuses like "poor mental resilience" to disturb him...
And now, he had come to his liked one's door, intending to forcefully confess his feelings.
Cui Luoheng could feel his heart pounding wildly, and he followed the path Su Bai had cleared, entering Su Bai's dormitory. He watched as Su Bai casually closed the door behind him.
When Su Bai looked at him, the guy who had originally planned to confess, regardless of the outcome, at least expose his feelings to Su Bai, froze in place, his mind suddenly going blank.
Su Bai stood before Cui Luoheng, looking at him with pursed lips and a tense expression. Cui Luoheng's current demeanor didn't look like a confession; it seemed more like he was seeking retribution.
Although Su Bai knew what Cui Luoheng's current demeanor implied, he appeared calm on the surface, but deep down, he was unsure of how to respond.
However, in this moment, for some unknown reason, Cui Luoheng's mind suddenly became clear and calm. He looked at Su Bai and calmly uttered each word, "Xiao Bai, I like you."
Su Bai, who had just been contemplating how to handle the situation, froze in place, blinking at Cui Luoheng.
In Su Bai's coach's dormitory, with just the two of them present, one person was confessing to someone they liked for the first time in their life, while the other was receiving a confession from someone else for the first time.
However, if Su Bai were to check his system right now, he would discover that Cui Luoheng, who had been in a state of extreme nervousness all along, had now suddenly regained his composure. Perhaps it was because his nervousness had reached a critical point, or maybe there was another reason, but at this moment, he was calm.
Cui Luoheng had been well aware before coming here that Su Bai might find it very difficult to respond to his confession. The most likely outcome was rejection. However, from Cui Luoheng's perspective, although his feelings for Su Bai had been quite evident from his actions and attitude during their return from Doha, as long as he didn't explicitly state it, there was still a glimmer of hope in Su Bai's eyes.
Cui Luoheng's throat made a gulping sound as he continued to gaze at Su Bai with a determined look in his eyes.
He said, "Xiao Bai, I like you. You don't need to give me an answer right now... I just wanted to say this to you in person."
Su Bai was taken aback; he hadn't expected Cui Luoheng's reaction to be like this.
The young man before him stood straight, looking like he had figured something out. There was firmness in his voice as he continued, "I've thought about it. I decided that on the day I win a World Championship or Olympic gold medal, I will come to you with my medal and tell you... that I like you."
Su Bai: ...?
"You once said that as long as I become strong enough, no one would reject me."
"Although it might be a bit early to say it now, I will train hard and become stronger day by day." Cui Luoheng looked at Su Bai with seriousness, as if he were gazing at the finish line he would forever strive to reach on the track.
Listening to Cui Luoheng's earnest confession, Su Bai was about to respond, but the words encouraging him to focus on his training and the upcoming Tokyo Olympics suddenly got stuck in his throat.
After watching for a while, and seeing Cui Luoheng's face gradually turning red again, Su Bai suddenly smiled and said, "What if you become strong enough, but I don't like you?"
Upon hearing this, Cui Luoheng, who had previously been full of spirit and determination, suddenly seemed to slump a bit. He opened his mouth a few times but couldn't utter a word.
Su Bai, seeing him in this state, couldn't help but chuckle. He couldn't quite understand why he was teasing Cui Luoheng so impulsively at this moment.
After a moment of contemplation, Su Bai smiled at Cui Luoheng and said, "Then I'll wait for the day when you win the Olympic or World Championship gold medal."
As for how he would respond when that day truly arrived, Su Bai contemplated it. He believed that with such a long time ahead, he should have sorted out his own feelings.
Cui Luoheng gazed at the Su Bai before him, and a vague sense of awareness suddenly emerged in his heart—At least, Su Bai doesn't dislike me for confessing my feelings.
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