Almighty Coach

Shouliang Zhao had indeed come here looking for trouble. The reason he had brought a big group of parents was to insult Dai Li in front of other people. And since SA Student Education had also rented a training ground in the Youth Activity Center, which was located on the other side of the sports field, it didn’t take Zhouliang Zhao much time to find Dai Li.

In fact, Shouliang Zhao was just an ordinary coach for the municipal sports team. He was not outstanding at all, otherwise he wouldn’t be doing a part-time job for some training education class. The real incredible coaches were all busy taking athletes to competitions. They had no time to train a bunch of middle school students for the high school PE entrance exam.

There was an old saying that you should never push somebody too hard, otherwise it would be awkward when you had to meet them again later. Shouliang Zhao might have given Dai Li more respect and would have tried to avoid direct conflict if Dai Li was from the sports school or college. Shouliang Zhao wouldn’t offend someone even if that person was a sports teacher in middle school. However, Dai Li was just some undergraduate student whom Shouliang Zhao didn’t care about at all. Each student meant a commission, and he didn’t mind offending Dai Li for that. If he could win over the students in this bid, then he could get more commissions. Twelve students meant 12,000 yuan. Shouliang Zhao was not just here looking for trouble - he was also looking for money.

Shouliang Zhao’s speech about "misleading the students" and such was all said to Dai Li on purpose. He wanted to attract Dai Li’s attention and then insult him. He knew his plot had succeeded when he saw Dai Li question him. He smiled viciously and looked at Dai Li from head to toe. He said with disdain, "Young man, I can tell that you are in your early 20s. I suppose that you are just a few years older than those students, right? Isn’t that misleading the students if people like you work as coaches?"

"Ability has nothing to do with age. What matters is the result of training. Age doesn’t represent skill. Look at you—people like you who are older than me but still know nothing can be found everywhere!" Dai Li retorted back, trading insults.

"My son, you should not talk to me like that. Do you have any idea who I am?" Shouliang Zhao answered his own question immediately and said, "I’m Shouliang Zhao."

"Shouliang Zhao? That’s him. No wonder he came looking for trouble!" Dai Li was not a big fan of him. Nevermind that there was a competition between them simply because they worked in the same industry—Dai Li questioned Shouliang Zhao’s morals after all he had done to Talent Education. Dai Li felt that he didn’t have to be polite to people like him who had no integrity. He smiled and said, "I know you. You are the one who escaped, Shouliang Zhao!"

"Escaped? What do you mean?" Shouliang Zhao asked, trying to look dignified.

"You want me to say everything? Okay, I showed you my respect, but it seems like you don’t need it." He sighed purposely and spoke to the parents who were behind Shouliang Zhao. "Coach Shouliang Zhao used to be in our Talent Education program. But then he felt he was not qualified enough to teach our students, so he ran away to SA Student Education!"

"Nonsense!" Shouliang Zhao shouted angrily.

"Nonsense? That was not nonsense! You were here in Talent Education during the enrollment period. But then after you saw that our students were very difficult to train, you realized you wouldn’t be able to help them get high scores, so you escaped. Yes, I admit that our students were a little big, and the training might be more difficult. However, you shouldn’t have given up before even trying!" Dai Li continued, making up stories as he went along.

"That is bullshxt! You are just making up stories!" Shouliang Zhao seemed to be a little embarrassed.

"Come on. Even if I could make up a story, I wouldn’t need to. You can ask the others if Shouliang Zhao was in Talent Education before or not, that way you’ll know if I’m telling the truth. And I’ve got witnesses too!" Dai Li said as he waved at Xiaoming Huang to ask him to come around. He patted Xiaoming Huang’s shoulder and looked up at Shouliang Zhao. "Coach Zhao, this is our student in Talent Education. You must have met him before, haven’t you? You were still in our Talent Education when he signed up."

Shouliang Zhao felt that all the parents were looking at him with doubt. He didn’t expect Dai Li to be such a smooth talker. He was put into a defensive position just by Dai Li’s few sentences full of nonsense.

"I did. So what? I was in Talent Education when he signed up!" Shouliang Zhao shouted and continued, "I was an athlete for more than 10 years, and I have been coaching since then for seven or eight years. I’ve trained professional athletes. Even the professional athletes from municipal sports teams could not daunt me, let alone some middle school students. There is no need for me to escape. I just hopped to another job with a higher salary offer. That’s it."

The parents behind Shouliang Zhao discussed his words quietly.

"Coach Zhao is making sense. He is a coach from the municipal sports team. How could a few middle school students daunt him?"

"Even professional athletes are a piece of cake for Coach Zhao, let alone some slightly overweight students."

"I was almost buying that young fellow’s words! Considering Coach Zhao’s ability, there is no possibility that he would be afraid. It must be that he hopped to another job for higher pay."

Dai Li was not in a hurry to explain himself. He patted Xiaoming Huang’s shoulder and said, "Coach Zhao, I remember that you did not only meet this student, but also promised him when he enrolled that you would help him achieve five or six pull-ups after two weeks of training. Is that true?"

Shouliang Zhao remembered, but didn’t admit it immediately. He worried that it might be a trap Dai Li had set for him. He thought about it again and found no problem with his promise. He nodded and said, "Yes, even though he was a little big. But I believe he would be able to do six pull-ups before the high school PE entrance exam if he came to me for training."

Shouliang Zhao said "six" instead of "five or six" to show his ability. The discussion among those behind him flared up again.

"Six pull-ups! That means 12 points, which is the passing line."

"He deserves to be a professional coach from the municipal sports team if he can make such a big child do six pull-ups! I bet the other coaches would never be able to achieve it!"

"We made the right choice choosing Coach Zhao. I’d be so satisfied if my son could do six pull-ups in the high school entrance examination."

Shouliang Zhao listened intently and felt very proud.

"You misled the students!" Dai Li suddenly said.

"What did you say?" Shouliang Zhao asked in reply.

"I said you were the one who misled the students." Dai Li stopped for a second and then continued, "I repeat back to you the words you said to me minutes ago, without any changes. You can only help students do six pull-ups in two weeks. Isn’t that a waste of time for the students?"

Shouliang Zhao laughed after hearing Dai Li’s words. "Son, are you a fool or are you just playing one? Six pull-ups in only two weeks is not normal. Only I, Shouliang Zhao, dare to give that promise. Other coaches would never be able to guarantee like this!"

"That’s why I say you are misleading the students." Dai Li patted Xiaoming Huang’s shoulders and instructed, "Get on the horizontal bar and show them how many pull-ups you can do!"