Chapter 174: Misunderstanding
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Professor Fang was a well-known professor, but compared to Lin Yang he was a nobody. As a Nobel Prize winner, Lin Yang was considered a god by all of Tsinghua University. Professor Fang was afraid of upsetting Lin Yang, otherwise the whole sports department could get in trouble. Therefore, when Lin Yang had come to him, his first reaction had been to blame Dai Li.
Dai Li was not from Tsinghua, but from national team. If he took responsibility for what had happened, Professor Fang and the Tsinghua University sports team would not be blamed. That was why Professor Fang was giving Dai Li a hard time.
Although Dai Li understood why this was happening, he was not happy about it.
If that's how you want to do this, then there is no need for me to try and maintain your reputation.
Thinking of this, Dai Li said, "According to what I've seen, Sijie Yang is not qualified to be a professional athlete so far; he still has many flaws. For example, his explosive force hasn't fully developed, he isn't fast enough, and his stride and push-off power are not good enough either…"
Dai Li talked about Sijie Yang's weaknesses nonstop. It seemed like he was saying that Sijie Yang was not even qualified to attend Tsinghua University to receive training.
Professor Fang understood what Dai Li meant and felt embarrassed. Lin Yang also looked embarrassed, as he had not expected his son to have so many shortcomings.
But Dai Li didn't care about their feelings. He continued, "I scheduled Sijie Yang to do hop-step and split-leap sessions to help him develop his explosive force…" Dai Li told them his training plan, explaining the intention and effect of every step.
Lin Yang specialized in biology, but knew nothing about sports training, so he stared at Professor Fang to see his reaction. Although Professor Fang was not a professional coach, he was still an expert in exercise science. He quickly realized that Dai Li's training plan was perfect.
Sensing Lin Yang was waiting for confirmation, Professor Fang nodded to indicate that Dai Li's training plan was spot-on. Lin Yang looked serious. He grabbed his cup of tea and sipped from it. It looked like he was thinking deeply about something.
Lin Yang put down his tea cup slowly and said, "Coach Li, you said before that Sijie Yang doesn't like sports. I still doubt that. I am sure that he enjoys sports. He started liking them when he was in junior high school."
Lin Yang recalled, "I still remember that when he was in junior high school, he signed up for the track and field team. He was happy every afternoon when he went to his training sessions."
Dai Li remembered that Sijie Yang had told him that he had joined the track and field team so that he could skip school.
The reason Sijie Yang was happy was not because he got to play sports, but because he was able to skip his classes.
Thinking of this, Dai Li interrupted Lin Yang and asked, "Academician Yang, are you sure he was happy because of the training? Have you ever thought that maybe he was happy because he could skip things he hated, like classes?"
Lin Yang looked at Dai Li, confused.
"Academician Yang, do you know that Sijie Yang wants to be a photographer?" Dai Li asked.
"A photographer?" Lin Yang seemed shocked. Suddenly, he remembered that the day before yesterday he had gotten a text saying his credit card had been charged around 20,000 yuan. Later, his wife had told him that Sijie Yang wanted a camera, so she used his card and bought it.
Now that Lin Yang thought of the camera, everything made sense. He began to believe the photographer idea. Dai Li could tell from Lin Yang's facial expression that he knew nothing about Sijie Yang's dream.
Dai Li sighed. "Academician Yang, I understand you are busy at work; but I think you should spend some time with Sijie Yang. Talk to him, and try to understand him. You are father and son, after all; you should communicate more."
Both Dai Li and Professor Fang had mistaken Lin Yang. He had not come here to blame anyone, but to figure out why Sijie Yang would suddenly give up his sprinting career. Lin Yang was such a big figure, however, that his presence easily made people nervous.
Professor Fang was afraid of taking responsibility, and tended to look at things in a negative way, which explained why he wanted Dai Li to shoulder all the blame. His reaction had made Dai Li worried as well.
Lin Yang had always thought that Sijie Yang loved sprinting. Lin Yang had asked some experienced coaches for their opinions and they had all agreed that Sijie Yang was gifted in sprinting. Because of this, Li Yang had planned to raise Sijie Yang as an athlete. Lin Yang thought it was a privilege to have your hobby and your job be the same thing. However, after today's conversation with Dai Li, Lin Yang realized he did not know his son as well as he thought he had.
Lin Yang had always considered himself a great father, as he had raised a great son in Sijie Yang, who was not only good academically, but good at sports as well. You could say he was skilled with both the pen and the sword.
Lin Yang had always been capable of providing the best for his son as he acquired money and resources. When Sijie Yang had first arrived at Tsinghua University, in order to make him continue sprinting, Lin Yang had had to pull some strings to get him into the sports department.
However, Lin Yang had not known that Sijie Yang did not actually want to be an athlete. He had simply accepted his father's arrangement, burying his true wish inside himself.
It has been a long time since we sat down and talked to each other. Lin Yang sighed, looking sad.