Coach Zhou is not the first to ask for money from Zhang Guan, and he will definitely not be the last.
As the saying goes, when Zhang Guan returned to China not long ago, he enjoyed the warmest welcome. Of course, there were also hands reaching out to ask for money. The Athletics Association, Basketball Association, Tennis Association, and even the Sports Federation all I hope I can get some money out of Zhang Guan's pocket.
The $500 million bet has long been known to the whole world. Everyone knows that Zhang Guan just made $500 million from the Maliya family. With such a big number, naturally there are too many people who want a piece of it. Soup, even if it is swill filtered out from the leftovers, it would be good to catch some of it. Besides, this is 500 million U.S. dollars. Just like the meals at the emperor's house in the Forbidden City, even the leftover swill is much better than the feast at the common people's house.
Now Zhang Guan is like a poor boy who suddenly won the first prize in the lottery. Relatives are flocking to him, whether they are frequent visitors or those whom they haven't seen for a long time. They all put on their smiling faces, hoping to "borrow" something. Of course, This so-called "borrowing" naturally means borrowing but never repaying.
Moreover, this situation is very troublesome. If you don't borrow it, you will offend others. People will say that you have won such a big prize and have so much money that you can't spend it all yourself anyway. So what if I help you spend it? There would be trouble if we borrowed it. The seventh aunt felt that she should borrow more than the eighth aunt. The eighth aunt felt that she should borrow more than the third aunt. The third aunt also said, why did you give the seventh aunt and the eighth aunt 30,000? It’s 20,000 here instead? A bowl of water is not fair, and lending money to others will offend others. Those who have benefited will not be grateful, and they may resent you behind the scenes for not giving enough.
Of course things are better now because money is worthless. After winning the first prize in the lottery, I might not even be able to buy a decent house in a first-tier city, so I have an excuse to send away my relatives.
Of course, the Athletic Association, Tennis Association, etc. will not really "borrow money". They even omit the word "borrow" and just use the words "development fund" to make money. Take it out and give Zhang Guan a receipt. It can be regarded as Zhang Guan's contribution to the development of sports.
This is the so-called "repayment money".
Under the domestic system, the country has trained you. When you make a lot of money, you should spend part of the "repayment money." You cannot save this money even if you want to. If you save it, you are fighting against the entire system. .
Besides, Zhang Guan doesn't intend to save this money. Some money should indeed be spent. The difference is just that he spends more and less.
Zhang Guan is not short of money. Five hundred million US dollars is more than he can spend in a few lifetimes. There is an idiom called Nine Cows and One Hair. To compare with this idiom, Zhang Guan is the kind of yak that is covered with hair. Even if he pulls off a handful of hair, it will only be bald and ugly, and there is nothing substantial about it. The damage went back up in a few days. Besides, Zhang Guan has been an athlete for such a long time, enjoying the convenience provided by the national team and being trained by the national team. It would be false to say that he has no feelings for the national team. The leaders of the national team are also good to me. If Zhang Guan gets nothing, he will really be sorry for the country's training.
On the other hand, the development of domestic sports really needs money. As Coach Zhou said, after the Capital Olympics, funding for various sports has been reduced. Some commercialized sports, such as basketball and football, can still be very profitable without national funding, but the vast majority of Olympic sports have left Without state funding, development will stagnate and may even fall behind. As for non-Olympic sports, it's even worse.
For example, Zhang Guan's provincial team, because it has trained athletes like Zhang Guan, can receive more funding from superiors every year than other teams. The Provincial Sports Bureau, as Zhang Guan's registered unit, also receives more funding every year. They can get a lot of advertising shares, so their life is relatively easier. They can build their own vegetable planting base and livestock breeding base, and the welfare benefits of the coaches are also pretty good. But other provincial teams did not have so much "extra money", and after funding cuts, they had to live a hard life.
Facing Coach Zhou, a "relative" of Qiu Feng, Zhang Guan put down his chopsticks and said, "How much shortfall is there in the team's funding?"
"About seven to eight million!" Coach Zhou said, looking at Zhang Guan eagerly.
Everyone else at the dinner table also stopped using their chopsticks and looked at Zhang Guan. Zhang Guan nodded silently, as if he was deep in thought.
The people next to them exchanged glances, with different expressions and different ideas.
"Zhang Guan earns so much money in a year, so there should be no problem if he gives us seven to eight million."
"I think it's more! Five million would be pretty good."
"Zhang Guan shouldn't be denied a single point. After all, he is from the team. If he is denied a single point, it would be a bit outrageous."
Zhang Guan looked around, as if the invigilator was examining the candidates. Looking at the serious and nervous faces, Zhang Guan suddenly smiled and asked: "Is seven or eight million enough?" ?”
"Huh?" This time, Coach Zhou was stunned.
"I personally donated a development fund of 10 million to the team." Zhang Guan continued: "Make up a round number."
"Ten million!" Everyone looked at Zhang Guan in a different way. The next moment, Coach Zhou waved his chopsticks more eagerly, filling Zhang Guan's plate in the blink of an eye.
For a person, 10 million is a lot, enough for a person to be slightly wealthy for a lifetime; but for a provincial track and field team, 10 million is not much.
Track and field has enough small events, including 100 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters, 800 meters, 1500 meters, 5000 meters, 10000 meters, marathon, 110 meters hurdles, 400 meters hurdles, 3000 meters obstacles, race walking, high jump, pole vault , long jump, triple jump, shot put, discus, hammer throw, javelin throw, decathlon, each event has at least eight to ten athletes, and more than a dozen athletes, more than 20 events There are two to three hundred athletes alone.
This is only the men's event. Although the women's event is different, the hurdles is the 100-meter hurdles and the all-around is the heptathlon, but the number of athletes is only a lot more. The men's and women's teams add up to so many people, if 10 million According to the head-to-head split, each athlete will receive less than 20,000 yuan in funding.
What can I do with the extra 20,000 yuan? If all the meat was bought as beef, it would not be enough to feed an athlete for a year. A kilogram of cooked beef costs sixty yuan. A strong young man can easily eat two kilograms in one meal, and athletes eat more. Suppose they eat beef that costs one hundred yuan a day, one thousand yuan in ten days, and ten thousand a hundred days. It will be gone in two hundred days. In fact, the vast majority of domestic athletes cannot eat beef every day. The nutritionally balanced meals provided by the cafeteria are still based on starch and vitamins. To put it bluntly, it is steamed buns, white rice and vegetables. Meat is limited in supply. .
…
The so-called talking about money hurts feelings, it means that talking about numbers is not enough. Spreading out Zhang Guan's 10 million, he instantly gained strong affection from the provincial track and field team, and the ensuing meal became extremely enjoyable.
A few days later, Zhang Guan, who turned into a money-spreading boy and scattered tens of millions of banknotes, finally defeated all his "relatives". At this time, some unknown people came to the door again.
Standing in front of Zhang Guan was a middle-aged man in his forties, with a thin build and silver-rimmed eyes, who looked quite capable.
"Hello, I am Chen Dong, deputy secretary-general of the Ski Association." The middle-aged man smiled and extended his hand.
"Secretary-General Chen, hello." Although Zhang Guan was vaguely confused, he was able to guess the other party's intention. He has never had anything to do with the Ski Association, and the other party came to him rashly, most likely to ask for money.
"Secretary-general Chen, what do you want from me?" Zhang Guanming asked knowingly.
"To be honest, I came to you this time because I hope you can donate a development fund to our Snowy Association as training funds for our Snowy Association." Chen Dong got straight to the point. He spoke with a slight northeastern accent. He stated his intention directly.
Zhang Guan nodded. He had given away tens of millions in the past few days, and he could be considered as a "wealth-spreading boy". Especially after donating 10 million to the provincial track and field team, other provinces also sent people here. , seeking donations from Zhang Guan. Of course, some of them regard Zhang Guan as someone who has been taken advantage of, but most of them really need funds.
In fact, people involved in domestic sports know each other very well. Everyone knows which provincial team is having an easy time and which provincial team is having a hard time. It is very transparent how much funding the country gives each year, and the provincial teams also keep an eye on each other. Everyone knows whether to give more or give less.
For those who are really short of money, Zhang Guan will give some appropriate donations, and for those who are looking for "take advantage of", Zhang Guan will always give one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand to the person. Some people come to see you, and you have to pay for travel and accommodation. It’s not always good to let people go back empty-handed. Moreover, the people who come to Zhang Guan are not the kind of unknown people, they have more or less positions, so even if they come to be "taken advantage of", Zhang Guan will give them a little bit, which can be regarded as letting the other party live in terms of face.
Anyone who manages to get a job is not a fool. The two parties didn't know each other originally, so Zhang Guan's offer of one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand was considered as a favor, and they would not continue to force themselves to find trouble.
It's just that most of the people who came before were some sports associations related to Zhang Guan. People like the Ski Association who had nothing to do with Zhang Guan were the first ones.
"Secretary-general Chen, if you need funds, you should go to the Winter Sports Management Center, right? Or the sports association, why did you find me?" Zhang Guan looked at Chen Dong with interest.
Chen Dong grinned dryly, but this smile looked quite embarrassing. Then he said: "I don't know how much you know about winter sports. Let me introduce it to you first! Simply put, winter sports are all about snow except ice. , and in terms of winter sports management, we have a winter sports center with four associations under it, the Skating Association, the Ice Hockey Association, the Curling Association and our Ski Association, so in terms of funding, the center also allocates funds to our four associations. . Among them, the skating association and our funds are more than those of the curling association and ice hockey association, mainly because the competition events of ice hockey and curling are relatively single, so the training costs will be less."
Chen Dong paused for a moment, then continued: "We have many projects with the Skating Association. The skating is mainly speed skating, short track speed skating, figure skating and skeleton skating, and these are also carried out in the venue. Our skiing projects include alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, freestyle skiing, bobsleigh, luge, biathlon, Nordic combined... ”
"I understand. What you mean is that you have many projects, so you lack funds?" Zhang Guan interrupted Chen Dong. Chen Dong introduced a circle of projects, but Zhang Guan did not remember a few.
"One more aspect of the project is that all our projects are carried out outdoors, and the venue is really expensive. For ice projects, as long as there is a skating rink, even if the air conditioning is turned on all year round, it will be too much at most. They can still train in the summer by paying some electricity bills, but we can't! We have to find a place with snow, a formal ski resort, and a relatively large venue." Chen Dong said.
Zhang Guan nodded. Skiing does require a much larger venue than skating, and it is also more difficult to maintain. A skating rink can create a qualified ice surface by turning on the refrigerator and driving a special machine around. However, skiing venues not only have requirements for the terrain, but also for the thickness and quality of the snow. In terms of cost, skiing venues are definitely more expensive than skating.
Chen Dong smiled sheepishly and continued: "I feel ashamed to say that we have not achieved much in skiing in recent years. In terms of skating, figure skating and short track speed skating are both at the international level." We have achieved great results in the competition, so in terms of funding, the Winter Sports Center is more inclined to allocate funds to the Ice Hockey Association. There are only so many funds in total. If you give more to the Ice Hockey Association, less will be given to us. We will lose the part that is less. We can only raise money by ourselves. To be honest, our life is very tight now. Our original training base in Northeast China now only retains two hillsides. The others are open to tourists, and we charge tickets to supplement our training. Funding.”
Seeing that Zhang Guan was listening very seriously, Chen Dong introduced it in detail, or he was telling how difficult skiing is.
"I heard that after you returned to China, you donated a special development fund to the Athletics Association. Later, I heard that some provincial sports bureaus also received donations from you, so I came to give it a try and come to you for alms. See if you can also donate a little to our association, so that our athletes will not have to interrupt their normal training... I really have no other choice, so I came to you." Chen Dong said very honestly.
Looking at Chen Dong's slightly embarrassed but expectant eyes, Zhang Guan couldn't help but ask: "How big is your funding gap?"
Chen Dong stretched out two fingers and said at the same time: "Two million, we need two million."
Zhang Guan nodded silently. Two million was not too much for him who was wealthy. Considering that the other party is a national organization, the funding of two million is even less. The provincial team all took 10 million from Zhang Guan, and the National Ski Association only wanted 2 million. Zhang Guan even felt that he couldn't afford it.
"It seems that the Ski Association is really having a hard time. But thinking about it, I have the impression that the women's short track speed skating of the national team is quite good, but in comparison, skiing has never achieved results, maybe* ******* It’s been too long. If two million can help them tide over the difficulties, it’s not a loss at all.”
Zhang Guan thought of this and said, "Secretary-General Chen, it sounds like skiing in our country is indeed very difficult. If what you said is true, I would be willing to sponsor two million as a special fund for skiing."
"Thank you, thank you so much!" Chen Dong seemed very excited, but then he seemed to suddenly remember something very important, and immediately became embarrassed again, as if he was hesitant to speak.
"Secretary-General Chen, what's wrong with you?" Zhang Guan asked.
"I forgot to mention just now, the two million I mentioned are US dollars!" Chen Dong then added: "We need US dollars!"
(End of chapter)