Rebirth begins with studying hard

Chapter 29 Little Uncle

Nine o'clock in the morning.

Lu Jie arrived at Feicheng Sports Center as agreed.

Although today is only the Anhui Province preliminary round of the National Middle School Track and Field Championships, the security at the sports center is very strict.

Security personnel check the identification of everyone entering and exiting at the entrance.

He had originally planned to sneak in, but seeing the situation, he had no choice but to have Zhong Muqing come and get him.

Just as he was about to make a phone call, he heard Zhong Muqing's voice greeting him.

He looked in the direction of the sound and saw Zhong Muqing standing not far from the entrance with a middle-aged man.

This coach looks unfamiliar...

Subconsciously, he assumed the middle-aged man was Zhong Muqing's coach, wondering why Zhong Muqing's coach for the competition wasn't her school's physical education teacher.

Upon closer inspection, one could tell that the man bore a striking resemblance to Zhong Muqing.

Her dad?

When Zhong Muqing saw him, she ignored the man beside her who was talking to her and ran over to greet him.

"When does today's competition officially begin?" Lu Jie asked after entering the arena.

"10:30," Zhong Muqing said as she led him inside.

Walking up to the middle-aged man, she first said to him, "Uncle, this is my classmate Lu Jie."

Lu Jie suddenly realized.

It turns out he's her uncle; no wonder he looks like her.

It seems that the people in Zhong Muqing's mother's family are all quite good-looking, and her uncle is also quite handsome.

He greeted him politely, "Hello, Uncle."

Her uncle smiled and nodded in greeting, "Hello, young man."

He paused for a moment, then looked at Zhong Muqing: "Since your classmate is here, you and your classmate can go first."

"Think carefully about what I just told you."

"Okay, okay." Zhong Muqing waved dismissively and turned to leave.

Her uncle shook his head helplessly behind her and went off in another direction.

Lu Jie has only participated in school sports meets and Feicheng middle school football leagues in sports events, and has never participated in provincial-level competitions.

He accompanied Zhong Muqing through the process, only to find it was much more complicated than he had imagined.

During the security confirmation signing before the upcoming competition, he saw Zhong Muqing's uncle again.

They signed their names in the "family member" section at the signature area.

Shen Jin.

After he greeted Zhong Muqing's uncle again, he saw her uncle come and go in a hurry.

"Is your uncle... also a coach?" he asked curiously.

When he first saw Zhong Muqing's uncle, he thought he was there to cheer her on as well.

But after she separated from her uncle, she disappeared.

He thought her uncle had already left, but when it was time to sign the papers, her uncle had already arrived at the location.

And he seemed to know the staff at the signature counter quite well.

"No, my uncle is... kind of a staff member," Zhong Muqing said, then added after a moment's thought:

"My uncle is a sports brand agent and a supplier of some sports equipment. Some of the equipment and clothing used in this competition were provided by my uncle."

"This competition is quite important, so he needs to provide on-site support, which keeps him very busy."

"Oh, I see..." Lu Jie suddenly realized. No wonder he was so busy at the scene, unlike other coaches leading students or even members of the competition team.

Sports events are a kind of short-term project, so it's not surprising that there are suppliers. It's impossible for the sports commission to be responsible for everything.

"I'm ready to go on stage." After completing all the formalities, Zhong Muqing headed to the players' area.

"I'll go cheer you on with Coach Liu." Lu Jie pointed to the area not far away that was designated for coaches to rest.

Mr. Liu is a physical education teacher at No. 12 Middle School and also Zhong Muqing's full-time coach at the school.

He can use the coach's rest area, which is closer to the track.

"Okay." Zhong Muqing nodded, and when she heard the announcement to the 5km race runners to gather at the designated location, she said, "I'll go first."

"Go for it!" After watching Zhong Muqing enter the contestant passage, Lu Jie also headed towards Teacher Liu's direction.

Holding the sign Zhong Muqing gave him, he could move around freely in all areas of the venue except for the players' area and the competition area.

After sitting down, his gaze fell on Zhong Muqing, who had just changed her clothes and was warming up at the other end of the track.

Among all the female contestants, Zhong Muqing's height, figure, and appearance are outstanding, making her very eye-catching and easy to spot.

In just over a month, my hair went from short to shoulder length.

With her hair tied in a ponytail and wearing a racing uniform, she looked dashing and spirited.

Once preparations were complete, a gunshot rang out, and all the competitors in the group set off.

Zhong Muqing was the first to step forward.

This was Lu Jie's first time watching Zhong Muqing compete, even though Zhong Muqing had also participated in the sports meet last October.

But he didn't really care at the time.

I only heard that a girl broke the school's one-kilometer record.

But seeing Zhong Muqing's performance on the field, he realized for the first time just how amazing she was.

At first, he was worried that Zhong Muqing might run out of energy after firing the gun so fast.

I've heard that leading runners in long-distance running expend more energy than trail runners, as trail runners often overtake them on the last lap.

He later discovered that no one could keep up with her.

Halfway through the race, she had already left the second-place runner half a lap behind.

Judging from Zhong Muqing's condition, he felt that if she hadn't been holding back, she could have exceeded expectations even more.

The second-place runner must be feeling a bit dejected, having hoped to stay close to the first-place runner and reduce wind resistance, only to find that the second-place runner has also become the leader.

"Go for it!" Lu Jie shouted loudly as Zhong Muqing was about to reach the finish line and passed by him.

Zhong Muqing smiled at him as she ran.

As expected, they didn't use their full strength.

Lu Jie confirmed it.

Unsurprisingly, Zhong Muqing won first place in her group.

Although Zhong Muqing's performance is definitely good enough to qualify for the finals, the final list of finalists will not be released until all groups have finished their matches.

During this period, athletes are not allowed to leave the stadium.

The waiting time was longer than expected; it was close to four o'clock before the organizing committee announced the list of finalists for the men's and women's 5km races.

"Thank you for staying with me until now. There's a really good barbecue place nearby. Shall we go there together tonight?" After completing all the formalities and being able to leave, Zhong Muqing suggested.

"Um, I can manage," Lu Jie reminded him, "but you have a match tomorrow, can you afford barbecue?"

"It's okay to eat a little, just don't tell the coach." Zhong Muqing made a shushing gesture. "I'll be fine in tomorrow's finals. If I can't even get past the preliminary rounds, how am I supposed to win a prize in the national competition?"

"That makes sense." Lu Jie thought it made sense.

"Wait for me, I'll say hello to my uncle." Zhong Muqing looked around for a while, found her uncle, and hurried over.

"I'll go with you." After all, he was an elder, so Lu Jie felt he should be polite in greeting him.

But when Shen Jin heard Zhong Muqing say she wanted to leave first, he stopped her.

"Don't leave, let's have dinner together tonight."

As he spoke, he looked at Lu Jie:

"Young man, you've worked hard today too. I've booked a private room, how about we have dinner together tonight?"

He paused, then added, "Just the three of us, no one else."

Lu Jie, who had assumed it was a family dinner or a social gathering for her uncle, was about to make an excuse to slip away when he heard there were only three of them, so he nodded.

"Then I'm sorry to bother you."

If it's a family dinner or her uncle's social event, it would definitely be inappropriate for him, an outsider, to attend.

But since it was just the three of them, and it seemed like they had booked the private room because of him, it wouldn't be appropriate for them to leave.

After all, it's just the uncle and niece having a meal; there's no need to book a private room.

It would be impolite to leave after making all the preparations in advance.