Chapter 138: Celebrating the New Year (Revised)

The National Games were not over yet.

But Rousseau’s National Games were already finished.

Over the five days from the sixteenth to the twenty-first, Rousseau had whipped up a storm—and in that storm, he had been crowned king.

As the country’s premier sporting event, the National Games carried enormous influence. Ordinary consumers might pay attention to Asian Games champions or Olympic champions, but anyone familiar with Chinese sports knew that such champions did not appear out of nowhere. Before that, they had invariably already distinguished themselves at the National Games.

Romance

So, after Rousseau achieved the unprecedented feat of winning four gold medals in the sprint events, Lu Jinrong’s phone was inundated with calls. Brands showed tremendous enthusiasm for Rousseau. After all, he was still “cheap” at the moment.

Dafu Supermarket must have been ecstatic. Its annual investment of 380,000 yuan would yield returns several times, perhaps even dozens of times, greater.

And Lu Wang, which had gone practically all-in on Rousseau, stood to gain even more. Barely half the National Games had passed, and the brand was already known throughout Nan Yue Province.

On the twenty-second, Ruan Mei brought a new contract to the Institute of Physical Education. The contract was worth 2.18 million yuan a year.

That was ten times more than the first contract, yet Lu Wang still had no reason to find it expensive. Pan Kai’s endorsement contract with A.F was worth 2.2 million dollars.

This time, Ruan Mei came to the institute with his parents. The entire Lu Wang family expressed their sincere gratitude and congratulations to Rousseau, making him feel rather embarrassed. They even called Coach Lu Jinrong out to join them in receiving the family.

Rousseau and Lu Jinrong escorted Ruan Mei and his parents to the entrance of the institute. As they waved goodbye, Lu Jinrong said, “People from A.F. contacted me. They want to sign you, and they’ve promised to pay all your breach-of-contract fees.”

“How much… Never mind.” Rousseau shook his head. “Coach, don’t tell me the amount. I’m afraid I might be tempted.”

“I knew you wouldn’t do that, kid.” Lu Jinrong patted Rousseau on the shoulder.

There was nothing wrong with making money.

But if everything revolved around money, it would lose all its meaning.

Lu Jinrong said, “Come on. Let’s figure out where you should begin your assault on the Golden Grand Prix. How about Japan? We can arrange your first race in March…”

…

In 2005, the International Association of Athletics Federations integrated track-and-field competitions from countries around the world and organized this year’s global circuit. The tour covered all six continents and would last seven months. Every event offered substantial prize money and ranking points.

The Continental Tour was divided into three levels: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. The difference lay in the standard of competition and the prize money. The champion of a Gold event would receive 200,000 dollars from the IAAF, while the Silver and Bronze events were funded by the regional federations, offering 75,000 and 25,000 dollars respectively.

…

Lu Jinrong suggested that Rousseau start with the Bronze level of the IAAF circuit, while Rousseau was more interested in the Silver level. After some discussion, they decided he would participate in all of them. The next event would be a Bronze-level meet held in Hiroshima, Japan.

The competition was scheduled for mid-March.

Rousseau had a month and a half to prepare.

That was just enough time for him to digest what he had gained from the National Games.

Among those gains was the fact that Rousseau could now observe Tian Shiwei’s “condition.”

…

Everything described by the “Mutual Reflection” technique had now become visible to Rousseau.

He could see Tian Shiwei’s statistics.

Tian Shiwei’s current physical attributes were 39 for strength and 41 for agility. Based on his performances in the 100 and 200 meters, Rousseau could also infer the range of bonuses granted to him by the various techniques and the Glass Crown.

In short, even without counting his title and techniques, Rousseau was already among the country’s top tier of sprinters. His condition panel, however, had elevated him to the world-class level.

Tian Shiwei’s statistics were already excellent. It would be a shame for him to retire.

…

The twenty-ninth day of the first lunar month.

It was the happiest New Year Lu Xiaoyu had ever experienced.

She got up early and busied herself putting up New Year couplets.

Then she received a huge red envelope from Rousseau.

Before the Spring Festival, Lu Wang’s endorsement fee had arrived. Rousseau’s bank account now held more than two million yuan in cash. That evening, Rousseau and Lu Xiaoyu stared at the bankbook, pinching each other to see whether they were dreaming.

Lu Wang was not the only one. Lu Jinrong had also selected several other endorsement contracts for Rousseau. Although the fees were not as high as those offered by sports brands, none was worth less than a million yuan. Nothing had been signed yet; they were still choosing among the offers and negotiating terms.

That New Year, the brother and sister felt incredibly rich.

What should they do with all that money? Spend it? Of course not. They would leave it obediently in the account, earning interest.

And so Rousseau and Lu Xiaoyu enjoyed a festive, joyous New Year, while Lu Xiaoyu’s red envelopes were especially large and thick.

Rousseau prepared crabs, fish, and other ingredients for New Year’s Eve dinner. In the afternoon, he went to the supermarket for another round of shopping to replenish their supplies. Even on the eve of the New Year, the supermarket was still packed with people.

As Rousseau was paying, his phone rang. The screen displayed a name that surprised him somewhat: Dong Zijian.

…

In a teahouse near the hospital.

When Dong Zijian saw Rousseau arrive carrying groceries, he could not help asking with a smile, “Getting ready for the New Year?”

“Yes. Coach Dong, you still haven’t left Pengcheng?” Rousseau asked in return. Half a month had passed since the National Games, yet Dong Zijian was still in Pengcheng.

“Yes. Coach Li was injured rather badly and received some treatment, but he’s almost recovered. I’m leaving on tonight’s flight,” Dong Zijian said.

“Injured… that badly?” Rousseau exclaimed in surprise.

It must have been Lu Jinrong who beat him up. He had certainly shown no mercy—Li had been hospitalized for half a month.

“Yes. Your coach is quite protective of you…” Dong Zijian shook his head. “All right, let’s not talk about that. I asked you here mainly to tell you not to send me any more training or competition videos in the future.”

Rousseau looked at Dong Zijian.

“Those things are too private. It isn’t convenient for me to watch them now.” Dong Zijian gave a wry smile.

“…I understand.” Rousseau seemed to grasp the reason, though he was also somewhat surprised. He said nothing more.

“My final piece of advice is this: I think your posture in recent training sessions and competitions has been too textbook-perfect, too uniform. It seems you’ve imposed a great many requirements on yourself—for example, what posture you must maintain at the start, how to transition into an upright position, and how many strides to take during acceleration. That’s good in a way. It will make your results very consistent. But I can’t help feeling that you’re lacking a certain creativity…”

“Creativity?”

“I can’t really explain it either. It’s just a feeling. After all, I’ve never seen an athlete as unusual as you. The human body isn’t a machine. This state may help you reach your limits quickly, but how will you break through those limits? Machines have limits, but people don’t…”

…

Near midnight.

The siblings wrapped dumplings while watching the Spring Festival Gala. At the same time, their phones kept chiming with notifications—the sound of blessings flying in from all over the country.

Rousseau had just replied to Xiao Qiang’s message from Liao Province when he received one from Juno.

It read: Look at the dumplings I made.

Attached was a photograph of a heap of crooked, misshapen dumplings.

Rousseau sent back a picture of the dumplings he had made.

Juno replied: I want to eat them so badly~