Chapter One Hundred: The Medal Is Practically in the Bag

In fact, the outcome of the meet had been clear before it even began. Just by looking at his build and the way he carried himself, one could tell Hong Tao was no weakling, and the results bore that out. From the starting gun to the finish, no other child was ever seen alongside him; he crossed the line in a flat eight seconds.

Because he had signed up for five events, Hong Tao became the busiest person at the stadium. After finishing one event, he had to hurry off to assemble for the next. Wanting to conserve his strength, he chose to do the high jump and long jump first. There was no need for trial attempts; each allowed only one jump. He cleared 1.15 meters in the high jump and reached 3.90 meters in the long jump, and those marks were accepted as his final results. That left only three running events.

He had already advanced from the fifty-meter race as the winner of his heat. The second preliminary was the two-hundred-meter dash, which meant half a lap around the track. This time Hong Tao did not strike first. At the start, all the children ran faster than he did, but after fifty meters some of them had already begun to fall behind. Before a hundred meters had passed, he had retaken first place. By the time he finished the two hundred meters, the fastest child behind him was more than twenty meters back.

Hong Tao won first place in both running preliminaries in succession, so even if the classmates at school did not like him, they still had no choice but to cheer. In his former life, Hong Tao had only been average at sports from childhood and had never once felt what it was like to hear a whole stadium calling his name. So he copied the athletic stars and waved to the school section in the stands. It actually felt pretty good. He also saw that Principal Bai and the PE teacher had both stood up, hopping on tiptoe and waving their arms at him. So there really were teachers who liked him after all.

The four-hundred-meter preliminary held afterward was even easier for Hong Tao. He had been running regularly for years. What had once been a single lap around the playground had now become a route that took him from home all the way to North New Bridge and back, a distance of more than two kilometers. If it were a sprint, he could not have guaranteed a placing, but in a longer race he was quite confident. Aside from professional athletes trained from childhood, he could not imagine what child would have begun exercising at age four and then been able to keep eating meat for years on end without interruption. After all, catfish counts as meat too.

This time Hong Tao did not even feel embarrassed about pushing himself. He left the runner in second place half a lap behind, and he was hardly out of breath. After finishing, he even ran another hundred meters and then headed to his school’s section of the stands to accept the cheers. But this time he realized that Principal Bai and the PE teacher did not seem to be cheering for him at all. They seemed to be calling him over.

“Principal Bai, are you calling me?” Hong Tao ran to the foot of the stands and shouted up at the principal, who was leaning over the railing. He had always called her Principal Bai and was used to it, so he could not be bothered to change.

“Don’t wait until the very end for everything! I had you sign up for so many events because I wanted you to pick one or two priorities. You can’t compete in all of them or you’ll lose out physically!” The PE teacher was almost about to jump down from the stands, leaning over the edge and shouting at him too.

“Then you should have said so earlier! It’s fine, I’ll figure it out myself. I’ve already finished the long jump and high jump, and there are only three running events left. I think that should be fine. All right, the fifty-meter race is about to start, I’m off!” Hong Tao did not feel tired. Since he was already here and had already made it into the finals, he might as well take home a few more awards. That would also be a way of repaying the PE teacher for the care he had received over the past year and more.

As expected, the finals were different from the preliminaries. They were all the fastest children from each group, and Hong Tao did not fully secure the situation until the last ten meters. His build was not especially suited to sprinting: his stride was long, but his cadence was slow. The reason he won the championship was entirely because of his physical condition. He never once slowed down, and in the second half he only got faster. The other children, though quicker off the blocks, slowed down near the end.

The remaining two hundred and four hundred meters were much easier for Hong Tao than the sprint. The championship still belonged to him, with the same clear advantage, and after finishing the two hundred meters he did not even rest for two minutes before going straight into the four hundred. Even so, he still finished a full third of a lap ahead of the runner in second place.

After finishing those three running events, Hong Tao went straight back to the stands. Principal Bai and the PE teacher were grinning so hard they could hardly close their mouths. To win a placing at the district sports meet was already impressive enough, but now he had taken three championships outright. As the school leadership and the PE teacher, they were certain to be praised. Teachers in those days did not have much else to worry about; receiving praise from their superiors was like being handed a one-hundred-thousand-yuan year-end bonus.

The final result surprised Hong Tao. He had already given up on the long jump and high jump, yet the final champions in those two events were also him. If the loudspeaker had not announced it, he would have forgotten those events entirely. He had originally planned only to muddle through them, but he had not expected himself to have any talent in the high jump and long jump as well.

In any case, Hong Tao had finally held his head high at this half-day sports meet. Whether the school cheer squad cheered sincerely or because the teachers made them, the fact remained that he went up to receive awards five times, and they had to stand and cheer five times.

The district was quite generous. In addition to the certificate, Hong Tao was also given a set of Plum Blossom brand athletic wear made in Tianjin and a pair of Warrior sneakers. He was very pleased with both. The red tracksuit was hard to buy; it came from the country’s only professional sportswear manufacturer, and even professional athletes wore this same kind of training suit. The Warrior shoes were also a sought-after item. They were easier to buy than the tracksuit, but not every department store had them in stock.

Even so, Hong Tao did not ultimately get all of his rewards. The tracksuit and sneakers were given to him, but Principal Bai took back the five certificates. She only let him take them home for his parents to see for one day. The next day he had to bring them back to school, and they were not to be dirtied or wrinkled. The following day during the recess exercises, Principal Bai even held a small commendation ceremony for Hong Tao, praising him for bringing honor to the school. She also said that his five certificates would be hung permanently in the principal’s office, which also served as a reception room.

Hong Tao actually understood her purpose in doing this. Over the past year and more, she had taken quite a bit of pressure because of him. After all, most of the teachers in the school doubted Hong Tao, especially those in the primary division. So Principal Bai intended to use this award to prove she had been right all along, and to make the voices of opposition inside the school quiet down a little.

Her method was indeed very effective. No matter how abnormal Hong Tao’s previous performance had seemed, and no matter how much teachers disliked him, the fact that he had won honor for the school erased all his earlier shortcomings. At the very least, it was no longer so easy for anyone to criticize him with snide remarks. A second-grade elementary student who placed first in every subject and could still win honor for the school at the district level—what more excellence could you possibly demand from him? As for being a little unruly or not showing enough respect to teachers, those things became minor matters. No one is perfect.

When Hong Tao brought the prizes and certificates home, the happiest were his grandfather and his mother. As a child, Hong Tao had already been somewhat undernourished, and before starting school he had fallen seriously ill and been hospitalized. His mother had always worried that he was unhealthy. This time, she was completely relieved. If he could take first place in the district competitions, that meant there was nothing wrong with his body—and that he was healthier than other children his age.

His grandfather had always believed that a good body mattered more than good grades. This time his grandson brought home several certificates at once, and they were from all of East District no less. The old man was overjoyed. He immediately took twenty yuan out of his pocket and told Hong Tao’s uncle to ride his bicycle to the grocery store on Tenth Street and buy three large pork knuckles and some sausages as an extra dish for dinner. The most indifferent reaction came from Hong Tao’s father. He could not care less whether his son became an athletic star. If those certificates had been about schoolwork instead, he would definitely have ridden his bicycle himself to the Budget Roast Duck House near Chongwen Gate and bought roast duck for his son.

But the matter was not over yet. A few days later, in the middle of a class, Hong Tao was called by Principal Bai to the principal’s office. Inside, besides Principal Bai and two unfamiliar middle-aged men, there was also the PE teacher.

“Hong Tao, these are Teacher Zhang and Teacher Bai from our East District Youth Sports School. They’ve come to recruit students at our school this time. Your athletic results are excellent, so they wanted to ask whether you’d be willing to go to the sports school and continue receiving formal training,” Principal Bai said without beating around the bush, introducing the two men directly.

“Is it full-time or part-time?” Hong Tao had already been prepared as soon as he saw the PE teacher standing there.

“Of course it’s part-time. It won’t affect your studies. You would train at the sports school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, and attend classes at school as usual the rest of the time,” Teacher Zhang answered.

“Oh. Could you tell me what events are available?” Hong Tao thought that if there were something he liked, he could go and try it. At the very least, he would not have to be cooped up at school.

“Right now, they’re recruiting for long-distance running, sprinting, table tennis, gymnastics, Chinese wrestling, and judo,” Teacher Zhang said, taking out a small notebook and reading off all the events.

“Hong Tao, your long-distance results are especially outstanding. I recommend you choose long-distance running!” The PE teacher could not help interrupting.

“No soccer?” Hong Tao was still harboring his dream of football.

“No...”

“What about basketball?” Hong Tao lowered his sights a little.

“That’s not available either...”

“I see... Let me think about it...” Hong Tao was rather disappointed.

He still knew a fair bit about sports. In his former life, he had a good friend who lived in the compound of the sports commission training center. On Thursday afternoons, that friend often took him to play soccer with the professional teams training there, so he had talked with many professional athletes.

Track and field training was extremely tedious. Hong Tao did not intend to spend his whole life in sports, so he certainly would not choose long-distance running or sprinting.

Table tennis training was even more hellish. Their daily physical conditioning was more intense than that of a professional track team. Back then, when his friend took him to play soccer with the professional teams, they could match the long-distance runners and sprinters more or less evenly. If they ran into the badminton team, his side would definitely lose. But if they ran into the table tennis team, it was a complete rout. Those players ran at the same pace in both halves of the match, while his makeshift group of amateur hobbyists would be dead on their feet after just two laps around the field. It was not that they lacked technique; they were simply run into the ground by that pack of table tennis beasts. Hong Tao also did not think he had the talent for table tennis, at least not enough to reach the level of world competition, so there was no need to put himself through that kind of suffering.