Li Cheng leaped from the pool to the shore, exhilarated and overcome with unimaginable ecstasy—he was the champion! World Champion! Furthermore, he was the champion who broke the event’s world record!!
Coach Yu greeted him with a towel and jacket in her hand, wrapping them around him in the moments following the race.
Li Cheng was shaking slightly as he walked since the match had depleted his strength. Coach Yu supported him without a trace, gripping his arm securely.
“Did I truly break the record, Coach?” Li Cheng had a sour expression on his face.
Coach Yu’s face lit up with a rare smile: “Without a doubt! You swam better than ever before. I just got a call from the Sports Bureau’s officials. They saw the live broadcast in China and were really pleased with your performance.”
Li Cheng felt like a hydrogen-filled balloon. He would have flown if it hadn’t been for the coach that was holding him!
However, for the time being, the accolades could be placed aside. What piqued Li Cheng’s curiosity was— “Coach, how much did you say the prize for winning the championship would be? Breaking the world record is much more difficult than taking the title. The prize must be at least twice as large, right?”
Coach Yu: “…”
Coach Yu had never seen such a money grubber world champion in her life.
“Little champion, are you satisfied now?” she questioned, whispering a number to Li Cheng.
Despite being an international event, the World Youth Games’ gold medal fell short of medals won in the Olympic Games and World Championships. As a result, the Sports Bureau did not award much to the World Youth Games champion—a gold medal was worth 250,000.
In addition to winning the championship, Li Cheng beat the record, therefore the prize was doubled to 500,000.
Half a million dollars in actual money, tax-free!
It should be noted that when Li Cheng and Youyou were in the orphanage, they were not even given five dollars as pocket money each month. Later, he competed in municipal and provincial events, winning a championship with prize money ranging from $10,000 to $50,000… But it was now 500,000. A total of 500,000!
Li Cheng’s eyes were nearly the size of a medal, and he said “fuck” numerous times, eagerly wishing to swim two more laps in the pool.
When Xiao Yiheng got first place in the city’s unified examination, a private aristocratic school offered him money to dig him up. They offered a “sky high price” of 500,000 dollars at the time, but Xiao Yiheng refused.
At that point, Li Cheng was still worried about Xiao Yiheng. How could Li Cheng have known he might suddenly earn half a million? He’d heard that painting was an extremely expensive career. It didn’t matter that the paints were pricey and wasteful. He would be responsible for earning money to support his family in the future. If Xiao Yiheng wished to buy a specific paint, he could do so. If he wanted to utilize a certain drawing paper, he could do so… Aiya! “Man plows, man weaves” is truly a beautiful way of life.
Coach Yu couldn’t help but pat Li Cheng when she spotted his smirk: “Don’t crack a smile. Your saliva is dripping.”
Li Cheng said indifferently as he instinctively wiped the corner of his mouth: “Can a champion’s saliva be referred to as saliva? It should be known as dragon saliva!”
Coach Yu: “…”
When they arrived at the interview location, they were surrounded by bursts of light. Across the fence, reporters desperately stretched their arms and held the microphones in front of the newly crowned champion, who had broken the record. A few members of the Chinese media were at the forefront. They felt familiar with black hair, dark eyes, and yellow skin, and they appeared exceptionally friendly.
“You smashed the record, Li Cheng. How do you feel right now?”
“Look here, Li Cheng! This is your first international championship, and the Chinese swimming team’s first medal in these Games. What do you want to tell our audience about these two “zero breakthroughs”?”
“As the captain of the swimming team, Li Cheng, I understand you will also lead your squad in the 4×100 mixed medley swimming event. Do you think you’ll win another championship?”
“Li Cheng, omega have always been a rarity in speed swimming contests. You are the first omega captain in Chinese swimming team history, as well as the first to win the championship and shatter the speed racing record. Can you speak to the camera about your mental journey?”
Li Cheng took the initiative to respond to these queries if he could. Coach Yu would assist him if he couldn’t answer them.
Despite the fact that it was Li Cheng’s first time being interviewed by international news media, he was unfazed. He was generous and quite self-assured in front of the camera.
At this point, a foreign reporter broke through the siege and held the microphone up to Li Cheng. He blurted out a bunch of English, which the team interpreter next to him rapidly translated.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Ol Jtfcu, atlr gfqbgafg rajafv atja yfobgf atf rajga bo atf mbwqfalalbc, sbeg bqqbcfca Cifzjcvfg rjlv lc jc lcafgnlfk klat jc Ceragjiljc gfqbgafg atja tf lr mbcnlcmfv tf kbeiv yfja sbe jcv atja atf 200w ogffrasif mtjwqlbcrtlq yfibcur ab atf Ceragjiljcr. Qtja jgf sbeg atbeutar bc tlr gfwjgxr?”
Ol Jtfcu kjr jrabecvfv. Lf kjr regqglrfv atja Cifzjcvfg mbeiv yf rb qbwqber. Lf ybjrafv yfobgf atf ujwf atja tf kbeiv yfja Ol Jtfcu.
When confronted with the opponent’s provocation, Li Cheng shrugged and remarked calmly: “Reporter, you’re asking me what I think? Shouldn’t you ask him what he thinks about the match after losing it?”
There was a bustle behind Li Cheng before he could conclude his comments.
When he turned back, he saw that if he spoke of the devil, he would appear—Alexander’s expression was really bad, he hadn’t wiped the water off his body, and he hurried quickly out of the swimming pool. Li Cheng wondered where the national flag he was holding in his palm before the game had gone. He had discreetly expressed “do not disturb” by covering his head with a towel. His coach followed him, his face ashen as well. There was no communication between them, and the environment was bitterly cold.
The reporters were immediately enthused by Alexander’s appearance. They swung the camera towards him, yelled his name, and asked him if he had anything to say about his defeat in the contest.
Those questions were like a sharp knife piercing Alexander’s flesh.
And Alexander’s dreadful look contrasted sharply with Li Cheng’s as pleased as punch expression.
Alexander turned a deaf ear to the reporters’ questions. He sped through the reporters’ cannon-like cameras, but when he passed in front of Li Cheng, he lingered deliberately, his gaze focusing on Li Cheng’s body.
“I’ll remember your name, Li Cheng.” Alexander’s voice sounded forced from his throat, “Don’t be too pleased with yourself. We still have a game going on.”
He was speaking in English, which Li Cheng did not comprehend.
But Li Cheng could guess what he was talking about with his toes—they had to be unpleasant remarks. The villain in the film would exclaim “I will be back!” after being defeated by the protagonist, but Li Cheng was sick of watching this kind of scene.
It didn’t matter, though. Li Cheng enjoyed watching the defeated general struggle on his deathbed the most.
The Australian coach grimaced and pushed Alexander’s shoulder, urging him to leave the interview area as soon as possible.
The reporters had a keen sense of smell and had already recorded the entire scenario. It would not be long until news of this gunpowder-filled spectacle appeared in the press.
… …
Alexander tossed the towel over his head to the ground angrily when he returned to the dormitory.
“Fuck!” He cursed and screamed, “Fuck!! How is it possible for an Asian omega to win the championship?”
The coach slammed the door shut to keep his voice contained in the bedroom and harshly admonished him: “Alexander, how come you can’t manage your emotions?! The most important aspect of becoming an athlete is remaining calm under pressure. Don’t allow anything to affect your performance! Do you think I can’t tell? I’m your coach! Because your pace in the first half of the match exceeded your average speed, you had no strength in the second half of the sprint and were unable to accelerate! Why did you alter your strategy? Because of that Li Cheng?”
The coach became increasingly enraged as he talked, cursing Alexander: “Will the second place be remembered? Never, ever! You came in second place. Do you have any idea what will be written in the newspapers? An Australian athlete finished second in a competition hosted in Australia! The most absurd aspect is that he informed reporters prior to the competition that he would win the championship! You are a loser, and no one will remember a loser’s name!”
Alexander wanted to yell, dispute, and rage, but he couldn’t utter anything at the time. Sports tournaments were always judged on performance, and his pride had taken a major hit as a result of his blunders in this competition. He was used to soaring above others and had always been a high-profile rising star in Australian swimming. Before the World Youth Games began, his coach promised him that if he won a gold medal, he would be recommended to the national squad to compete in the higher-level Olympics and World Championships.
How could he come to a halt here?
His gaze was ferocious, and he choked out a statement from the back of his throat: “There’s another team game. At that point, I’ll show the Chinese how good I am!”
… …
A large gathering of teachers and students from Huacheng No. 1 High School stopped to watch the match on television. When the principal learned that Li Cheng had won the world championship, he immediately ordered that a banner be made at the fastest speed and displayed on the school gate.
On the gate of Huacheng No. 1 High School, there were now two banners.
“Congratulations to our school’s Li Cheng for winning the world championship,” one said, while the other said, “Congratulations to our school’s Xiao Yiheng for winning first place in the city’s unified exam.”
The two banners were hung side by side, one on top of the other. It was the first time the names Li Cheng and Xiao Yiheng appeared together, but it would certainly not be the last.
… …
Li Cheng’s phone rang nonstop for the rest of the day after he won the championship. Everyone who knew him wished him well and encouraged him to party when he returned home.
Especially the bunch of his little brothers. Everyone was filled with pride, as if they had won the world championship. When Li Cheng opened his circle of friends, he found that everyone had expressed their congratulations—”Congratulations to Li Cheng ge on winning the world championship!”—People who didn’t know would think they’d walked into a WeChat merchant’s nest.
Li Cheng was totally dazed as stepped down from the podium. He couldn’t even recall if he had thanked the award-presenter.
He took a number of fancy selfies with the gold medal, but he was too embarrassed to put them in his circle of friends, thinking that it would appear that he was too concerned with a measly medal. (Li Cheng’s inner os: Laozi cares about it to death!)
Finally, he packaged all of the selfies and sent them to Xiao Yiheng.
Small Round Orange: [Fancy Selfie].jpgx10
Small Round Orange: The provincial gold medals are all fake. They’re simply gold-plated. The international gold medal, on the other hand, has high gold content. You can see there are traces when I bite it gently.
Pursue Unremittingly: Good-looking.
Li Cheng discovered the little secret on the medal, and immediately wanted to tell his boyfriend about it. As a result, his boyfriend’s response was brief, consisting of two words and a punctuation point. It was really perfunctory.
Small Round Orange: Just ‘good-looking’, these two words??? You’re too perfunctory!!
Small Round Orange: [Man, you’ve ceased to be faithful].jpg
Pursue Unremittingly: Wait a minute, I’m in the middle of something.
Small Round Orange: ?
Small Round Orange: What are you doing?
Small Round Orange: Why can’t I understand what you’re saying?
This time, Xiao Yiheng did not respond for a long period.
Twenty minutes had elapsed.
Pursue Unremittingly: It’s done.
Pursue Unremittingly: ChengCheng’s photos are stunning, especially the one of biting the gold medal.
Pursue Unremittingly: [smile]
Li Cheng: “…”
Fuck.
Li Cheng finally realized what Yiheng was up to!!
Li Cheng hit the record button and yelled angrily at him: “Why do you think about such things all day, Xiao Yiheng? I sent you the photos for…for…well, it was not for you to do that kind of thing!”
Xiao Heng responded with an audio recording as well. “But you’re not dressed in the photographs you sent me ah!,” he said, sounding a little wronged.
Li Cheng: ” …… ”
Li Cheng: “I’m wearing swimming trunks, okay?! I simply did not photograph my lower body!”
Xiao Yiheng: “Oh, really? ChengCheng, would you mind sending me a picture of your lower body?”
Damn. This alpha is really not a good thing.
… …
While the pair of young lovers were murmuring tart remarks across radio waves, they had no idea that an earthquake that could change their fate had just arrived in a corner of the Chinese capital.
The Academic Affairs Office of a major Chinese institution.
“What are you on about? It’s impossible, it’s absolutely impossible!” Mother Xiao stood up from the sofa, stunned, and turned to face the personnel behind the desk. “My son got the admission notice of your school’s winter camp. He was supposed to report two weeks ago, and now you say there is no student with my son’s name at the school. What did you do to my son?”
Father Xiao was less agitated than his wife. He was dressed sharply, his hair was neatly combed with oil, and he tried to maintain a serene expression on his face.
“Ma’am, you must be mistaken.” Father Xiao said, “My son’s name is Xiao Yiheng. Xiao with a cǎo prefix and Yiheng from chí zhī yǐ héng. He is the topper of the Huacheng unified examination…”
The staff responsible for greeting the pair rolled her eyes in her heart. Their university was the most prestigious in the country. Was there any yearly shortage of college entrance exam toppers enrolling in their college? However, this couple felt it was important to note their son’s success in a mock exam more than a dozen times.
Regardless of how much she grumbled in her heart, the staff replied for the N+1th time: “I understand what you’re saying. I discovered your son’s name on the winter camp shortlist, but according to our records, he did not come to our school to enroll. His name was not on the list of pupils who checked in on the first day of camp.”
Father Xiao: “Could it be that he forgot to sign in when he enrolled?”
The secretary shook her head: “I called the teacher and the dorm management right away. They claimed to have never seen Xiao Yiheng.”
“Where’s my son?” screamed Mother Xiao. Her posture was really aggressive.
“According to what you indicated, your son is eighteen years old and already possesses full civil capacity. He has the freedom to go wherever he wants. We have no right or qualifications to question him as teachers. Since you two are his parents, why didn’t you call and ask him?” the employee asked, smiling.
The staff reasoned that, given these two alphas’ nasty tempers, it was natural for their son to run away from home and play truant.
When the staff mentioned calling, the couple’s faces turned sluggish.
Because they had been preoccupied with the cold war in recent weeks, they and Xiao Yiheng had only made one phone call in the previous two weeks, and it had lasted less than one minute.
They did not ask him whether he could adapt to the northern climate or keep up with the speed of learning in the winter camp after confirming his safe arrival in the city. In retrospect, the phone call contained no warmhearted parent-child connection. They were as uninterested in one other as landlord and tenant.
They didn’t give their son any notice before heading north to the capital. Father Xiao claimed that “our family of three will spend the Spring Festival together,” but the reality was that he had an old friend who worked for the National Education Bureau. He intended to contact him and request that he be promoted to full professor as soon as feasible.
Mother Xiao, like him, came to the capital for selfish reasons. Some of her former classmates were employed in the capital. She wanted to meet them since they might be helpful in the future.
Visiting Xiao Yiheng was simply a matter of convenience.
They had finally finished their work for the day and “made time” to visit their son at the winter camp.
To their amazement, reality dealt them a crushing blow—Xiao Yiheng did not attend the elite college’s winter camp!
Where was Xiao Yiheng during this time period?
The author has something to say:
Damn. Who said I could finish the story in a hundred chapters?
The author is truly a big pig trotter.
Ehehe stupid trash A parents.
Also congrats to our little orange for winning! And thank u for the chapter
+1 stupid trash A parents
+2 stupid trash A parents
🤩🤩
ughhh his parents are so beyond awful.
Yiheng has his own challenge to go through now. Good luck kiddo.
Thanks for the chapter!
This chapter has satisfied my wish of seeing the xiao parent dumbfounded when they realize thei child was not in the camp.
Also I knew they were not generous enough to care for my baby Yiheng, they had a motives for visiting their son.
Xiao Heng not forgetting to flirt hahahaha
oh man i am looking forward to xiao yiheng bringing out the fuck u money and slapping their faces!
They are absolutely trash. I hope that after winter camp Xiao Yiheng can become independent
Thanks for the chapter!
Trash parents
I can’t wait for the face slaps!!!! AAAAAH
Thank you for the chapter!!!! 💞✨❤️🌙🍓💞❤️🌙✨💜💕🌙✨🍓💜💕✨💜✨🌙🍓❤️💞🍓💖🌈☀️💜☀️🍓❤️🌙💕💖🍓💖☀️☀️✨❤️🌙🍓🌙
Finally!!! Yiheng show them the “fck u” money!!!!!!
Thanks for the chapter € ^ *^)/// ~~ ♡♡♡♡♡
Will the second place be remembered? Never, ever!
☝️ this is a load of bull, even getting 3rd place is still honorable in your country because its still a medal. how many athletes do you think joins the Olympics? this coach is bull just like Xiao Yiheng’s parents
I agree with you. Getting a bronze medal is honorable. Sadly, even a silver medal is no longer enough in some countries. If you think it’s a load of bull, read about the Chinese silver medalists in the Tokyo Olympics. The author is not off mark. Unfortunately.
Man do I love this novel a lot 😩😩😩 THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TRANSLATINGG THISSS AAAAAAH
what….what was he doin with the pic🧐🧐🤔🤔
Read the preceding and succeeding lines carefully. Ahem…je**ing off.🙂
The big storm is just around the corner. Xiao parents will surely cause a ruckus on the art winter camp too if they finds out. On the other note, Im very positive Li Cheng will lead his team mates in winning the relay. But Im pretty sure Alexander won’t sit byt and watch without making trouble.
Really hate the parents. It best not to have any.. Looking forward to the next chapter.
Ohoho >:3c
i really don’t like xyh’s parents, can they like get out of the picture 😑
Aherm.. so can anyone tell me in full details what kind of picture did XY sent to LC?? 😳😳😳
eh, at least they wont find him anytime soon
thank you for the chapter 💖
Ojala Yiheng pueda separarse de sus padres por completo 😒😒 ahí no hay relación que salvar, solo toxicidad que eliminar.
Chengcheng ♥️😍😍
thanks for the chapter <3
Xiao Yiheng, you dog!! XD
Ooh, what a blow! Make them sufferrrrrrrrrr
Thank you for this chapter!
hmm i wonder where yiheng could be and why he “away”… btw
Li Cheng felt like a hydrogen-filled balloon.
is that an error or is it a pun… either way, i laughed from imagining a little orange floating away 😅
Please give them my face slapping author😤😤
FINALLY! IT’S GONNA HAPPEN SOON!! And, CONRATS ORANGEEEEE!~
He can finally get rid of them
Thanks for the chapter <3
These parents are very easy to hate. In real life, parents like this would be more likely to produce a sociopath than a son as level headed and loving as Xiao Yiheng. But this is the magical world of fiction and it’s working for me!