Chapter 80: Taste of Victory
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
To Li, Haitao Xie's words conveyed much information.
According to Haitao Xie, Feixiang Lin is like this because of his injury. To professional athletes, recurring injuries are the last thing they want to have. Many athletes cannot bear the pressure, and have negative feelings, which can lead to a lack of confidence. In terms of physiology, recurring injuries can be complicated. Because it is hard to recover, athletes are not able to return to what they once were, and their performance declines rapidly, sometimes to the point that they decide to retire.
Dai Li was not sure which category Feixiang Lin belonged to—psychological, physiological, or worse, both. But when Dai Li thought the problem over in his mind, he realized what the issue was. Feixiang Lin was the best athlete in this country, and the Beikou Training Center had the best therapists and consultants a facility could offer. They would never leave Feixiang Lin alone if there was any problem.
"Did the national team think of ways to help Feixiang Lin?" asked Li.
"They did. Rehabilitative training, psychological consultants; they did everything they could think of. But none of those methods worked. Coach Ding was the one who worried most. He even had a fierce argument with Feixiang Lin...I should not be talking about this." Haitao Xie did not want to spread gossip.
"But the recent news is all about Feixiang Lin's recovery. They say that Feixiang Lin is working hard to get back to his previous status. Even Coach Ding said so during an exclusive interview," said Li. He was confused.
"They did that for money," Haitao Xie smiled, then said, "If I trained poorly, I would have already been kicked out. But Feixiang Lin is different. He has the highest commercial value among all national athletes. At his best, he earned two or three hundred million yuan per year. Even though he does not participate in any contests now, he still gets forty or fifty million yuan per year from advertising endorsements. How could the national team kick out a goose that lays golden eggs? They just leave Feixiang Lin alone. To the outside world, the team says the same thing over and over. They say that Feixiang Lin is recovering so that the public still has hope, and in turn the sponsors are willing to put more money into him."
"I see. I never would have thought that a world champion—a national idol— would one day lose so much of their ability." Dai Li had finally gotten the full story, and understood what had happened to cause what was going on today.
...
Over the next few days, Feixiang Lin was still enjoying himself. He pretended to train hard, arriving late and leaving early, and sometimes was even absent deliberately.
Dai Li's work was simple. The other coaches on loan had all turned into handymen except for him. He always brought an extra charger to work, otherwise his phone would run out of battery.
Just as Feixiang Lin had promised, Dai Li did not have a hard time following him. Even though he was playing on his phone during work, nobody blamed him. This life was indeed relaxing.
Dai Li had helped Feifei Yu lose weight successfully. Feifei had lost 2 kilograms, and returned to her original weight.
Feifei Yu was planning to lose one more kilogram, but time was limited. She had to fly to Tokyo for the Asian Championships.
...
During a break in the training center, Li took out his phone and searched for a live broadcast.
Feifei Yu arrived in Tokyo three days ago, yet she is still on my training list. Does that mean that if she wins the championship, I will receive extra rewards? Li thought secretly.
The deletion process for Dai Li's training list had a delay, which meant that even if the trainee was no longer under his guidance, his or her name would still exist on the list for a period of time. But Dai Li had not figured out all the rules yet.
The signal was quite strong, so Dai Li soon received the live broadcast. The swimmers were ready at their positions. Dai Li stared at the screen anxiously, waiting for the competition to begin.
"What are you doing?" asked Feixiang Lin from a distance.
"Watching the Asian Swimming Championships live broadcast, women's 200-meter individual medley. Feifei Yu is about to compete," said Dai Li.
"Wait for me." Feixiang Lin immediately walked over and sat down near Dai Li.
The competition was not that exciting. It was not difficult for Feifei Yu to win, and in the end she won gold with a 2'10''66 performance.
The last time Feifei Yu had won gold in the Olympics, her performance had been within 2'08, which was two seconds quicker than this time. But considering it was an Asian Championship, Feifei did not struggle too much. A 2'10''66 performance was acceptable.
Great! That is awesome! Dai Li clenched his fist with excitement. Meanwhile he noticed that he had just gained 1,000 experience points as an extra experiential reward, the same as what he had gotten when Aiguo Jiang had won his competition.
Asian Championships was several levels higher than a substation contest, so Dai Li's reward should have been higher than this. However, Dai Li had been completely Aiguo Jiang's training, while he had only helped Feifei Yu lose weight. This was less of a contribution that what he had done for Aiguo Jiang, hence the rewards were decreased.
But Dai Li was quite satisfied with 1,000 points as a reward.
Beside him, Feixiang Lin stood up. Envy and unwillingness shined in his eyes. Dai Li noticed Feixiang Lin's change in emotion.
Dai Li had not expected to see Feixiang Lin express such emotions. He used to see similar things in Aiguo Jiang's eyes, but he had not found envy; only firmness and unwillingness.
Aiguo Jiang did not want to leave the field; he wanted to fight for his daughter's future. Will Feixiang Lin have the same feelings? Dai Li looked at Feixiang Lin's back. He was walking back to his original seat.
Maybe I can try to save him! Thinking this to himself, Dai Li asked straightforwardly, "Would you like to taste victory?"
Feixiang Lin suddenly paused.
"It's been a long time since you have won the championship. Do you still remember how it felt?" Dai Li's voice rang again.
Feixiang Lin turned around, staring at Dai Li surprisingly.