Chapter 38 A man is determined to die
"Don't put too much psychological pressure on everyone. Just do your best, just like you usually do with your classmates in school."
On the bus heading to the competition venue, Zhou Zhiqiang said to his classmates with a smile: "After the competition, let's go climb the Great Wall and visit the Forbidden City together. We finally came to Beijing, so we must have a good time, right?"
"Long live the principal!" On the bus, the students of Donghai No. 1 Primary School cheered in unison.
After knowing the results of the draw, almost everyone no longer had much hope of advancing.
In the first round, they met last year's quarterfinals, and they were a top team that had to play the runner-up to a tie-break. Even someone as optimistic as Zhou Zhiqiang could not see any hope of winning.
It is important for people to have self-knowledge. It is a good thing to be competitive, but if you force your children to do useless work for the sake of illusory hopes, it goes against the essence of education.
What is the original intention of education?
There is no distinction in teaching, and students are taught in accordance with their aptitude.
Some students are not cut out for this, but you force them to fight against those masters, and in the end they get beaten to a bloody pulp and lose all their faith. This is the sign of a mediocre teacher.
So Zhou Zhiqiang, who has always been strict, became extra tolerant this time and did not put any pressure on the students.
He hopes that students can face this battle with a normal heart and remember the feeling of failure.
Because failure always runs through a person's life, and there may be many such failures in the future.
Experience it, adapt to it, and finally overcome it. If you can really do this, then this first failure experience will become extraordinary.
This is Zhou Zhiqiang’s idea.
If Chu Yi could read minds, he would definitely refute loudly.
He originally thought that the principal would give a passionate speech before the expedition to motivate the students.
This will also allow them to share some of the pressure on themselves as much as possible.
Who would have thought that before the game even started, the principal had already started talking about visiting the Great Wall.
He had already surrendered mentally before the fight even started. Chu Yi had an "MMP" stuck in his throat, and he really didn't know whether to say it or not.
But seeing that everyone in the carriage was laughing and talking happily, he was the only one who was full of hatred and resentment. It would be better for him not to speak and become the one who ruined the atmosphere.
Fortunately, he had already made plans to give up all the team members, and the current situation did not exceed his expectations.
Fortunately, the national competition does not allow surrender without a fight, otherwise, everyone would probably be on the way to Badaling by now...
The venue specifications for the national competition are more than one level higher than those for the provincial competition.
Not only is it more spacious and grand, but the decoration and facilities also reveal advanced technology and luxurious materials from the inside out.
However, it is the audience in the seats that give life to a venue.
As soon as Chu Yi entered the venue, he found himself in a boiling world.
The noisy voices swept through his ears like a typhoon, and the sound effects on the radio struck his heart like the dull sound of a war drum.
He raised his head and looked around at the world of flashing lights, and spotted countless TV reporters and cameras.
This scene barely qualifies as the next stop in the highlight of his life.
But unfortunately, neither the flash nor the camera belonged to him.
The contestants from Tianwen Private School entered the venue in a vigorous and high-spirited manner.
They are like the sun at eight or nine o'clock in the morning, welcoming the cheers of countless audiences and reflecting a morning glow of their own with the youthful vigor and vitality that are unique to young people.
From a distance, it seemed as if everyone was glowing.
After entering the venue, the first person they communicated with was not their opponent, Donghai No. 1 Primary School, but they walked towards the audience seats.
Sitting there are the contestants from Wolong Academy.
As one of the strong rivals of Wolong Academy in this year's title defense, it is understandable that the contestants came to the scene to watch the game.
Tianwen Private School also regarded the other party as its biggest rival. Rather than going there to exchange ideas, it was more like going there for a demonstration. The verbal battles between the students on both sides bloomed amid the friendly smiles, and the tit-for-tat momentum between them could be felt from a distance.
The photographers kept clicking their shutters, and the reporters watching had already thought of four or five news headlines that could generate a lot of traffic.
As one of the protagonists of this game, the small group from Donghai was left aside by everyone.
No one had any expectations for them, just like you wouldn't expect beautiful flowers to grow among hard rocks.
Anyone who has such an expectation can only be a deranged lunatic or an extremely devout saint, and there is usually not much difference between the two.
The people sitting in the venue were obviously normal people, so in their eyes, the contestants from Donghai No. 1 Primary School were actually no different from the general audience.
They were just spectators who witnessed the decisive battle between Tianwen Private School and Wolong Academy on the top of the Forbidden City.
It’s just that the contestants from Donghai No. 1 Primary School got the inner field tickets, so they were lucky enough to have close contact with those star contestants.
In this situation, Chu Yi suddenly remembered an old song.
"I was eight years old that year, and I stood like a minion in the national competition. At that time, I swore that you must see me..."
Chu Yi hummed the melody of "Fukua" softly, but the noise around him was too loud and his singing was soon drowned out by the noisy crowd.
"The competition is about to begin, both contestants please prepare to go on stage!"
The host's reminder came on the radio.
The contestants quickly sat in their seats.
Chu Yi was arranged to be the last to appear this time, as the last guarantee to avoid being outnumbered seven by Tianwen Private School.
The first to appear was Qin Zihao, the second strongest player in the team.
Tianwen Private School sent Ji Chen, who is also one of the team's ace players.
Judging from the screams of many girls in the audience, this Ji Chen should be a very popular idol.
However, before Chu Yi had the chance to watch the game, he was sent to the sidelines by the principal to be interviewed.
I guess the host thought it wasn’t easy for Dong Hai to come all the way here, so they had to give him some shots.
Moreover, if we don’t interview now, we probably won’t be able to do so after Donghai suffers a disastrous defeat.
However, when faced with a weak school like Donghai No. 1 Primary School, the reporters were obviously not interested and the questions they asked were somewhat stupid.
For example, which tourist attraction you plan to visit after the game, which player in Tianwen Private School you like the most, which team you most hope to win, etc.
These questions once made Chu Yi think that he had met a female host who loved to say "Really? I don't believe it".
And in just five minutes of the interview, the radio broadcast the announcement of the fourth player of Donghai No. 1 Primary School.
Wow, almost one in two minutes.
Finding that the game progressed faster than expected, the reporters had to quickly end the interview.
Before the end, the reporter asked Chu Yi if he had anything to say to the audience.
"That's all I have left to say?"
Chu Yi took a deep breath, calmed down and said, "Then I'll give these two lines to those viewers who look down on us.
The first sentence is, a man should be as firm as iron until his death. "
The reporters widened their eyes, as if they had smelled the scent of the news headlines. For the first time, their interest in the interview became stronger. They rushed to pass the microphones to Chu Yi's mouth: "What about the second sentence? What about the second sentence!"
"Let's see how you can mend the crack in the sky!"
Chu Yi's eyes were firm and his voice was as strong as steel.
(End of this chapter)