Dai Li felt that the envelope containing the money in his hand suddenly became as heavy as a thousand pounds.
"What's the situation? Why would someone give me money? What did Zhu Feng's father just say? He seemed to have mentioned something about the national team?" Dai Li's mind suddenly paused.
"Uncle Zhu, you just said you wanted Zhu Feng to join the national team? What happened?" Li Dai continued to ask.
"Coach Li, I know you have someone above you who can speak well in the national team and has the ability to get my son Zhu Feng to join the national team. Please help us..." Zhu Feng's father continued.
"Is there someone above me?" Li Dai suddenly laughed: "Uncle Zhu, I think there must be some misunderstanding here? I am an ordinary coach from a small place like Yuzhou, who can be above me!"
"Coach Li, you must refuse!" Zhu Feng's father pointed to the envelope and continued: "I know these will definitely not be enough. You will definitely need money to operate in the capital. Just tell me how much you need and I will give it to you tomorrow. You send it over."
"No, Uncle Zhu, you must have misunderstood. I don't have that much ability to get athletes to join the national team." Li Dai immediately waved his hand and then asked, "By the way, where did you hear that?" Say, is there someone above me?"
"It's said in the table tennis team." Zhu Feng's father continued: "They say you know a lot of people in the capital, many of them are officials, and you can talk to the General Administration of Sports."
"This is all a matter of course!" Li Dai laughed at himself: "If I really had that ability, I wouldn't have to stay here. I would have joined the national team long ago."
"Weren't you in the national team before?" Zhu Feng's father continued: "They said that you are returning to the provincial team now just to gain qualifications for grassroots work. When you return to Huajing, you will definitely be promoted."
"There are still such rumors? I feel like I have no place to reason!" Li Dai was a little helpless. He felt that he was being praised for no reason.
"Uncle Zhu, you really misunderstood. I really don't have that ability." Li Dai thought for a while and continued to explain: "And I was in the national track and field team, not the national table tennis team. If I were a track and field athlete, I can still recommend them to them, but for table tennis players, I really can’t do anything.”
Dai Li said as he handed the envelope containing 10,000 yuan back to Zhu Feng's father.
However, Zhu Feng's father felt that Dai Li was unwilling to help because he didn't have enough money. He did not accept the envelope, but said: "Coach Li, this is what I want. I know it will not be enough. I have more here." , you wait for me, I’ll come back tomorrow!”
"No, I didn't mean that. I really don't have that much ability." Li Dai took the envelope and forced it into Zhu Feng's father's hand.
"I understand, I understand!" Zhu Feng's father looked like he suddenly understood, then turned around and left.
…
Li Dai originally thought that this was a simple misunderstanding. It was just that someone made a mistake and the matter was over. But what he didn't expect was that the next night, when he returned to the dormitory, he just opened the room. When he opened the door, he saw another envelope on the ground. At a glance, he knew that it had been stuffed through the crack in the door.
Dai Li opened the envelope. This time it was not money, but a bank card with a note inside. On the note were the words "Coach Li Dai, please accept it", followed by six numbers, which were obviously the password of the bank card, and the signature was Zhu Feng's father.
"Why are you here again!" Li Dai felt really helpless and a little angry. He looked at the corridor outside, but did not see Zhu Feng's father.
"As an athlete, if you don't train well and work hard to improve your level, you will just think about some evil things. Come on, I'll go find Zhu Feng and return the money to him directly, and scold him on the way!" Dai Li Thinking of this, I took the envelope and walked towards the athletes' dormitory.
As a coach, Dai Li lives in a single dormitory, while as an athlete, Zhu Feng lives in a double dormitory.
Dai Li came to the athlete's dormitory building, and after asking which room Zhu Feng lived in, he walked directly over. He knocked on the door, and someone immediately opened the door.
"Coach Li! Why are you here!" The person who opened the door was also a player on the table tennis team, so he recognized Dai Li.
"Does Zhu Feng live here?" Dai Li asked aggressively.
"Look for Zhu Feng, he hasn't come back yet." The other party replied.
"It's already half past eight, why aren't you back yet? Did you go to the Internet cafe? Or went out to play?" Dai Li frowned slightly.
Self-discipline is an essential quality for professional athletes. Strict work and rest time is also part of "self-discipline". Under normal circumstances, athletes' rest time cannot exceed 10 pm at the latest. If you go to bed too late, you will not have enough rest time. It will affect normal training the next day. Many athletes have already gone to bed at nine o'clock in the evening.
Including the washing time before going to bed, the athlete should return to the dormitory at 8:00 pm. If there are no special circumstances and the athlete has not returned to the dormitory after 8:30 pm, then the athlete is obviously a little too busy. No more self-discipline.
Hearing Dai Li's question, Zhu Feng's roommate immediately explained; "Coach Li, don't get me wrong, Zhu Feng definitely didn't go out to play. He should be practicing in the training room now! Every night, Zhu Feng will give himself Those who practice extra will have to practice until almost nine o'clock before coming back. Why don't you come in first and sit down and wait, I'll call him and ask him to come back early."
"No need." Li Dai waved his hand: "It's not far anyway, I'd better go find him in the training room."
…
"I practice extra every night. It seems that this Zhu Feng is also a very hard-working athlete! In order to enter the national team, such a hard-working athlete uses some crooked methods and gives money to the coach. This really surprises me." Dai Li thought about it while walking towards the training room.
As expected, the lights in the training room were still on, and people could be seen shaking inside from a distance. Dai Li walked into the door of the training room and immediately saw Zhu Feng practicing sweating on a piece of equipment.
"You're really training here." Dai Li looked at Zhu Feng sweating profusely, and couldn't help but feel a little better about him.
As a coach, you will definitely like athletes who work hard. Before, Dai Li felt that Zhu Feng didn't train seriously and wanted to take a shortcut to the national team, but now it seems that Zhu Feng is not such a person.
"Maybe there is some hidden secret in it!" Li Dai thought for a while, and he felt that it was better not to draw arbitrary conclusions yet.
At this time, Zhu Feng saw Dai Li who had just walked in the door, and he immediately stopped the training at hand.
"Coach Li!" Zhu Feng got off the fitness equipment.
Dai Li took out the envelope from his pocket and handed it to Zhu Feng with a cold face.
Zhu Feng took the envelope with an awkward expression, glanced at Dai Li cautiously, and asked tentatively: "Coach Li, isn't it enough?"
Dai Li was so angry that he didn't even laugh.
"What do you think?" Li Dai's tone was extremely cold, and he continued: "Your father is confused, are you confused too? Do you think the selection of the national team is child's play? Can you join the national team with money?"
"I..." Zhu Feng looked a little struggling: "I just want to give it a try. They all said that there is someone above you."
"Haha, even if there is someone above me, they won't help you, at least not for money." Dai Li took a deep breath and continued: "Don't forget your identity, you are an athlete, if you want If you want to join the national team, you should use your strength instead of going through some crooked ways!"
"I'm sorry." Zhu Feng lowered his head: "I don't want to be like this, but I'm afraid I won't have a chance. I'm 20 years old this year. If I can't be selected for the national team again, I will never have a chance in this life."
For the selection of the national table tennis team, 20 years old is indeed an advanced athlete. In the national table tennis team, many well-known players that ordinary people can name were selected for the second team of the national team when they were fourteen or fifteen years old. Those who were only selected for the national team when they were eighteen or nineteen years old are already older. If they are older, if they are over 20 years old, they may lose the value of training for the national table tennis team. Many first-line players will probably choose to retire if they cannot continue to maintain good form when they are 26 or 7 years old.
Therefore, the 20-year-old Zhu Feng could be considered a rising star in other sports due to his youth. However, in table tennis, which is full of talents, he is about to lose the qualification to be selected for the national team because he is too old.
However, Dai Li did not sympathize with Zhu Feng. He said: "This is not the reason for you to use evil methods. By doing this, you are not only insulting me, but also insulting yourself and your identity as an athlete."
"I'm sorry." Zhu Feng apologized again. He obviously knew that he had done something wrong.
"Actually, your strength is already one of the best in our provincial team. Even if you don't make it to the national team, you can still prove your strength in the game. You are still an excellent table tennis player. Although you can't make it The national team cannot participate in international competitions, but they can still participate in domestic competitions. Domestic table tennis competitions are more cruel and bigger than international competitions. You can also participate in club competitions and win with your provincial team’s first place. Given my status, there should be no problem in going to the club to play in the Table Tennis Super League!" Li Dai continued.
"Coach Li, you don't understand. It is my dream to enter the national team, and it is also the dream of three generations of our family." Zhu Feng sounded a little excited, and he continued: "Actually, our family is also a table tennis family. My grandfather When he was young, he was also a table tennis player. At that time, he was a soldier, and he also represented the army and participated in the first National Games."
"The first National Games? That qualification is old enough!" Li Dai said.
Li Dai had studied in school, and he knew that the first National Games was of extraordinary significance. It could be said that it was this first National Games that laid the foundation for domestic sports and the system of various domestic sports. It was also established after that. If there had not been the first National Games, the domestic sports industry might have been like India, which only played cricket for fun but made no achievements in international competitions.
Zhu Feng continued: "In that era, there were almost no professional athletes, and there were no professional coaches. My grandfather was also sent by the army to participate in the National Games because he was good at table tennis. After the National Games, , although my grandfather did not get a ranking, he was invited by the national table tennis team."
"But my grandfather was an active soldier at the time, so he gave up joining the national table tennis team. This incident also made my grandfather regretful for life, because two years after the National Games, at the 26th World Table Tennis Championships, Our national team won the gold medal for the first time, the men’s team gold medal.”
Dai Li nodded. Although it was more than half a century ago, the honor of the first team gold medal in the World Table Tennis Championships is enough to make people miss it for a lifetime. At that time, the national team won the Swaythlin Cup for the first time. , that is something that every member of the national team will remember and be proud of for a lifetime!
However, Zhu Feng's grandfather missed...
Li Dai felt that if it were him, he would definitely regret it for the rest of his life.
Just listen to Zhu Feng continue to say: "It has been my grandfather's lifelong ambition to enter the national team. Later, he began to train my dad. My dad entered the amateur sports school when he was seven years old and began to learn table tennis. When he was nine years old, he was selected for the city team. In the youth team, he entered the city sports team at the age of twelve, and became an athlete of our provincial sports team at the age of fourteen. At that time, our whole family believed that my dad would definitely be selected for the national team."
"But just before the national team came to select players, my dad got tuberculosis. Although he was cured in the end, he left sequelae. He often had breathing problems. If he exercised too much, he would develop pneumothorax. So his career as an athlete was , and it has been discontinued since then.”
Tuberculosis, also known as tuberculosis in ancient times, has been a serious infectious disease causing death for thousands of years. Many famous people in history died of tuberculosis.
Since the 1950s, drugs that can fight tuberculosis have been continuously discovered, and the epidemic of tuberculosis has been controlled. In China, it was not until the 1980s that a relatively reliable cure for this disease was available.
At that time, the domestic incidence rate of tuberculosis was about 710 per 100,000. At that time, more than 300,000 people died of tuberculosis every year. It was not unusual for Zhu Feng's father to be infected with tuberculosis.
Tuberculosis is a contagious chronic disease. Even with current medical technology, tuberculosis will cause calcification in the lungs after complete cure, which will definitely affect the respiratory system. In the past, when medical technology was not yet developed, there were even more sequelae.
For example, Zhu Feng's father suffered from the sequelae of tuberculosis and would develop pneumothorax due to excessive exercise. This meant that he could never hope to be an athlete in his life. When other athletes are tired from training, they go to the cafeteria to have a big meal to restore their strength. When he is tired from training, he takes him to the hospital for oxygen. In this situation, no training team dares to accept him, let alone go to the national team.