Almighty Coach

Dai Li went to the Exit-Entry Administration Center of the Public Security Bureau the next day to apply for a passport, as instructed by Weidong Chu.

In some cities in China, people could apply for a passport out of his/her native city so they didn’t have to go all the way back to their hometown. According to the policy of Hanbei Province, the applicant could apply for a passport anywhere within the province, and it was not necessary to go back to his or her registered place of residence. What it required was to bring an ID card for inspection, to take a photo, and to fill out a form. Then the applicant may go home and wait for the notice.

Dai Li had never gone abroad. As it was America that he was going to, he exchanged for some dollar bills and bought some books on English to practice in his spare time.

Meanwhile, Dai Li’s application form was also submitted to the Provincial Sports Bureau.

...

"Section Chief, we have finished the name list of those applicants who are going to America for the learning exchange. With Director Zhang as the team leader, everything is ready now." Tong Wang handed a pile of files to Shousheng Liu.

Taking the files, Shousheng Liu casually put them aside and said, "Put them here first. By the way, is there anyone special in the files?"

"There are actually quite a few special ones. For the badminton team, the main coach did not sign up. They have submitted the files of Coach Hong Han for their quota," Tong Wang said.

"The position for the deputy main coach of the badminton team has been vacant for some time and the bureau has decided to promote Hong Han to the position. It has been decided and is about to be publicly released. They sent Hong Han to America, as he is actually second in charge," Shousheng Liu explained.

"For the Taekwondo team, the applicant was Coach Xiaolong Ye, the leader of the training group," Tong Wang said.

"Xiaolong Ye? I know him." Then Shousheng Liu said, "Xiaolong Ye is a leading coach of the Taekwondo team. He has trained three national team contestants in the recent five years, and one of them even participated in the last Olympic games. He is expected to be promoted in a year or two. Besides, the key point is that he is the nephew of Director Sun of the Secretariat of the provincial party committee. Hehe..."

Shousheng Liu stopped explaining and smiled to himself. As for if Tong Wang could understand what he was saying, it would depend on his comprehension.

"There is another one. The representative of the track and field team was not Weidong Chu, but a coach named Dai Li," Tong Wang continued.

"Dai Li? Who is he? I’ve never heard of him!" Shousheng Liu took the pile and started to browse through the files.

"Here he is." Tong Wang went forward immediately and helped Shousheng Liu find the file of Dai Li.

"He is quite young!" Shousheng Liu looked at the picture on the form and said.

"I’ve checked about him. Though he is young, Dai Li is really competent. You remember the gold medal we got in the National Games? He was the coach for the team," Tong Wang explained.

"I see. The gold medal for the relay race in the National Games has really helped Weidong Chu gain a lot of favor from the bureau leaders. The bureau director praised him for this gold medal as a model in quite a few conferences. It was this Dai Li guy who helped him get it. No wonder Weidong Chu is willing to give the opportunity to him." After some thought, Shousheng Liu asked, "Have you checked if he has any powerful strings? Could it be that he is a relative of some leader?"

"Nothing that I’ve heard of. But he was temporarily relocated to the national team some time ago," Tong Wang said.

"No backing!" Shousheng Liu looked at Dai Li’s resume and said, as if talking to himself. "He was born in Yuzhou City, and his college was also in Yuzhou. No leader in our bureau is from Yuzhou, so he should not be related to any of our leaders. It seems that Dai Li really has no powerful backing."

Saying this, Shousheng Liu’s eyes shone brightly and thought to himself, It is such a rare opportunity to go to America!

...

On the training ground, Dai Li was busy working when he saw Weidong Chu walking toward him at a fast pace.

Weidong Chu’s expression was serious, and there was also some anger in his eyes. Dai Li had an ominous feeling.

"Li, come over here," Weidong Chu said loudly to Dai Li. Dai Li ran across to him immediately.

"What’s wrong, Coach?" Dai Li asked.

"Let’s talk about it while walking." Weidong Chu walked several steps and then said, "Li, I told you several days ago that you may go to America for learning. But it is not going to happen now."

"What happened?" Dai Li asked in surprise.

"Someone else has taken your quota!" Weidong Chu shook his head helplessly. "Director Xiao from the Retired Officer Division has taken your place."

Dai Li was so disappointed. But he did not ask why. Going abroad on public expense was such a good opportunity, and it was America that they were going to! Surely everyone would try to seize the quota. Now that some official had taken his place, it would just be in vein to ask why.

Weidong heaved a long sigh, "It was my fault. I didn’t think it through. I thought that since the track and field team had the quota, we could decide who should go as we wished. I hadn’t expected that they would have someone else to take your place after we submitted your application."

"I can understand that. It is a rare opportunity to go abroad. Surely everyone wants it." Although he said so, Dai Li was full of discontent.

Weidong Chu patted on Dai Li’s shoulder and said, "I did the wrong thing though with kind intention. If I had submitted my name as the applicant, they would not have dared to displace me as I am the main coach of the track and field team. My position is at least an official. You, however..."

Weidong Chu sighed again. Dai Li understood what he meant.

As the saying goes, Pick the softest persimmon to pinch. If it was Weidong Chu who was going, the quota would not have been stolen. Dai Li, however, was the softest persimmon in the eyes of others, as he had no ranking, nor any strings to pull.

Although Dai Li didn’t know that his quota for going abroad had been given by Shousheng Liu to another person as a favor, he could guess that it was a hot cake in the Sports Bureau, and there were a hell lot of people who wanted to get it, openly and secretly."

Dai Li was in very bad mood at that moment but he could do nothing at all. For the Young Talent Training Program of the National Team when his quota was taken by Xuexi Zhuang, he was able to go to Coach Jihai Ding to ask for his help. Yet for this America-going opportunity, there was nothing he could do.

Weidong Chu who was by his side said, trying to comfort him, "It’s all right, Li. Don’t take it to heart. You are so young and will surely have other opportunities to go abroad. From tomorrow on, you may have a vacation of two days. With the weekend, you may have a four-day holiday. Go out to refresh yourself, or you may go back home to have some rest.

He said some other comforting words to Dai Li and then left. Dai Li went back to the training ground with a gloomy heart.

Suddenly, something rang in Dai Li’s pocket. It was his phone.

Dai Li took out his phone, and a strange landline number was shown on it.

"Hello." Dai Li answered the phone, thinking it might be a sales call.

"Hello. Is it Dai Li? This is the Entry-Exit Administration Center. Your passport has been issued. Please come and get it when you have time," a girl’s voice was heard on the phone.

"It was the passport." Dai Li smiled with some self-mockery. Now that his opportunity to go abroad was taken by someone else, it was useless to have a passport.