“Lao Si, you will be participating in this year’s Spring Sports Meet.” Tian Lei passed an application form to Feng Yu.
“Spring Sports Meet? I am not interested, but I can sponsor some clothing or equipment. How about Li Ning’s sports attire?”
This Sports meet was an athletic event. If there were sports like basketball or soccer, Feng Yu would be interested in taking part. He was not interested in track and field sports.
“But we do not have enough people. There is an event which needs lots of people.” Tian Lei said.
Could it be soccer? If it’s soccer, then I will take part.
Feng Yu looked at the different categories of events in the application form. The only ball related event listed in the form was shotput!
Right at the bottom of the form, Feng Yu saw the even Tian Lei was talking about. Damn, it was a tug-of-war. This sport really needs lots of people! Who was the one who thought of including this sport into the sports meet?!
“Are you talking about a tug-of-war?”
“Yes. 20 men tug-of-war. It will be faculty vs. faculty. There can be 5 substitutes, and 10 participants must be from the 2nd and 3rd years. 5 will be from the first years. With your fitness and you do not take part, who else will take part? Furthermore, this will be a fast event and does not need much training.” Most of the university students were skinny.
“Fine. I will participate. Hmmm…… u will also sponsor everyone a short sleeve top, a pair of sports shoes and a cap. It will all be Li Ning brand.”
Feng Yu called the Tai Hua Trading’s Beijing distributor and asked him to help to purchase a batch of sports attire. It was for every student in his faculty, no matter if they were taking part in the sports meet.
Feng Yu also instructed the distributor on something else. This was Beijing University’s sports meet and was considered a major event for the school. This was an opportunity to promote some of his products.
“Lao Si, do we really have to pin this on our tops?” Tian Lei frowned.
“That’s right. What’s wrong? All the attires were sponsored by the company and what’s wrong with putting some advertisement on it? Those that are not willing can don’t take the attire.” Feng Yu was thinking in his heart. I did not print my logos on the clothes and only ask you to pin it on the attire. After the sports meet, all of you can remove the logos and wear it. The whole set of attire was not cheap. Feng Yu does not believe that any student would give up this attire!
“What about all these banners?” Tian Lei pointed to a mountain of banners on the floor.
“Those that are not participating in the events also received the sponsored attires. When they are watching the competitions, they can help to raise the banners. Some of these can be hung outside. Those are all some encouragement phases.”
Tian Lei suddenly felt that it was not a good idea to let Feng Yu participate in this Spring Sports Meet. Their Management faculty will be the center of attraction.
This center of attraction might not be a good thing for the faculty.
Tian Lei and some other fellow students went to distribute the sports attire, while Feng Yu brought some students to hang the banners.
“Here, facing the stadium. Higher, make it more noticeable. Not this banner. This banner should be hung over there.”
Some students from other faculty walked past and saw the banners. Those banners were interesting, and they wondered who was the one who came up with those phrases on the banners.
Spring Sports Meet, Management will be number one; Sun rises from the East, Management will not be beaten; If Management participates, who else will be the top; Beijing University’s Sports Meet, Management will win it all.
None of these phases had a hint of humbleness. All of the banners were shameless praising the Management Faculty. Those people from the Management Faculty wants to be the number one in the sports meet? Don’t talk about the overall winner, they might not even win a single event!
The students also noticed that at the bottom of every banner, there will be a logo of Wind and Rain, Aiwa Electronics, etc. These banners were not from the Management Faculty.
All the students knew about the companies on the banners. They watch their commercials on TV every day. But what do these companies got to do with the Management Faculty?
But who cares about all these details. All the other faculties were determined to make the Management Faculty look bad. This Management Faculty was too arrogant with their banners. They will be a joke at the sports meet!
When the athletes from other faculties entered the stadium, they were shocked. What’s with the attire of those from the Management faculty? Everyone else was wearing their either their school uniforms or a white top. But everyone from the Management Faculty was wearing the same short sleeves sports attire.
It was normal for the students to wear uniform attires, but why was there a white cloth pinned onto their backs and logos of Wind and Rain and Aiwa Electronics were printed on it!
All the other students were wearing clean attires. At most, they will pin the Party or school badge on it. This was the first time they saw people wearing the logos of companies on their attires. Was this a form of advertising?
The Principal and the other leaders of the University at the stands were not looking well. They knew about these two brands. The Management Faculty Feng Yu’s family owns these two companies! Why were these two brands appearing on the Sports Meet?
There were also lots of banners hang around the stadium. Those were all advertisements in disguise. It was like the Coca Cola advertisements appearing I the Olympics games. This was a school meet and why does it feel like a commercial event?
After the opening ceremony, all the leaders left with a black face. As they were going, they saw the Management Faculty raising another banner!
The whole afternoon, the Management Faculty did not even win once. They do not even qualify for the finals of some events! Although this was only Beijing University’s Sports Meet, the students were all very competitive. All the students from the other faculties did not stop mocking the Management students!
You had hung so many banners with arrogant phases and shouted so many slogans, but you did not even win one event. There was not a single one of you in your faculty that was better than the rest of the school in any games.
The Great One had said that the body is the capital of the revolution. All of you do not even have the capital and what else can you do? Do you know what we drank before this sports meet? Softshell Turtle essences!
Tian Lei was embarrassed. In this sports meet, the main players were the year 2 and year 3. Those in the final year will not participate. Those freshmen were still new, and not many of them signed up for this sports meet.
“Lao Si, will we be the laughing stock of the school?” Tian Lei asked. The representative from the 3rd year had reprimanded him for what Feng Yu did.
“I am not sure about the rest of the events, but we will definitely win the tug-of-war!” Feng Yu replied calmly.
“Tug-of-war? We will surely win? Many of the students from the science faculties are from the soccer and basketball teams. We can win them?” Tian Lei could not believe what Feng Yu said.
“Other than the top 4, the rest of the matches are all knock out rounds? I guarantee that we will reach the semi-finals easily and win the competition! Come over here. I will tell you my tactics. Later at noon, look for a deserted place and inform the rest.” Feng Yu asked Tian Lei to move closer to him and tell him about his secret weapon!
Later in the afternoon, someone from the Management Faculty finally won third place in an event. They still did not get first in any other games. They were still the laughing stock of the other faculties. Soon, the tug-of-war event started.
“Ready……. Go!”
“Change the rice…… Change the rice…….” The youngest from the dormitory shouted into the loudhailer, imitating Guo Da voice.
The Mathematics Faculty students on the other side almost laughed out, and the Management Faculty students took the opportunity to tuck vigorously on the rope.
“We won!” Everyone from the Management Faculty cheered.
“This is unfair. They are distracting us.”
“All of you are also shouting ‘Pull, pull, pull’ too. You are also distracting us. Is there a rule that forbid us from shouting as spectators?” The youngest asked.
The referee hesitated for a while and announced: “The red marking had crossed the line. The Management Faculty wins!”
“Yay…….”
This was their tactic. Shouting all sorts of funny cheers in different dialects. The Management Faculty won all the preliminaries and entered the semi-finals.
But from the semi-finals onwards, there were 3 rounds for every match. The Management Faculty won the first round by shouting “Change the Rice” in Northern Shaanxi accent. The opponents were not happy and swore that they will not fall for the same trick again.
But for the second round, the Management Faculty did not shout ‘Change the rice’. Instead, they shouted ‘collect chicken feathers’.
They won the second round!
During the finals, the other teams all knew about the Management Faculty team’s tactics. The whole school was aware of their tactics. The Management Faculty had used underhand methods to enter the finals.
But the finals started immediately after the semi-finals. There was no time for the teams to rest. Although the Management Faculty team was weak, it had only played two rounds in the semi-finals, while the other side had played three rounds in the semi-finals. Their arms were still aching.
This time, the Management faculty team did not use any tactics. They used their own strength and won the following two rounds and became the champion!
The opposing team was not happy. If the Management Team did not use their underhand methods, they would be tired too, and the final results will not be the same.
“Now all of you should know why we hung those banners? We focus on team spirit! We emphasize teamwork. Our teamwork is number one!” Some Management students shouted.
“What’s the use of drinking turtle essence? This is our real strength!”
Of course, there were a lot more students that were like Tian Lei and the rest. They lowered their head and left the stadium quietly. They had won the tug-of-war through underhand methods! Although Feng Yu claims that this was strategy and had told them in advance, they still felt ashamed of themselves.
Tian Lei was regretting the most. In the future, he will not ask Feng Yu to participate in such events. Feng Yu should be banned from taking part in these events!
Translator’s notes: I googled “Change the rice” and saw this on YouTube. It seems that this was a funny song from the early 90s in China. “Change the rice” and “Collect chicken feathers” should be Chinese jokes. I also do not understand what they mean. I think I should be from their sitcoms or some famous crosstalks.
