Chapter 455: Golden Strides and Campus Buzz

Last May, Xie Bingran traveled to Shanghai to compete in the National Youth Track and Field Championships—that was Bing Ge’s first official national event.

Winning that race led to Xie Bingran officially joining the National Team, becoming the junior teammate to stars like Feng Youping and Chen Lan.

At the same time, the National Youth Championships served as a qualifier for the World Youth Championships.

After her victory last May, Xie Bingran secured a spot in the preliminary rounds for the World Youth Track and Field Championships in Italy in January 2007.

Along with her, the Shanghai Twins, Bai Miao and Dong Jiajia, also earned preliminary qualifications.

Earlier, Xu Chen had heard Bing Ge mention that she hadn’t planned to compete in this World Youth Championships.

But perhaps to keep her skills sharp, she squeezed in a trip to Italy and effortlessly claimed a gold medal.

Bing Ge barely had time to adjust to the time difference—right after the final and awards, she arranged to fly back to Shanghai.

It was all so casual, like picking up something off the shelf, leaving Xu Chen a bit speechless.

Maybe Bing Ge was starting to get numb to gold medals…

This National Youth Championships is for U20 athletes under 20, a global event not limited to Asia.

So, the finals were mostly Black and White competitors.

The only two East Asian faces in the finals were from China—Xie Bingran—and Japan—Akabane Kaoru.

Bing Ge took home the gold, while Akabane Kaoru finished a distant sixth, missing the medals.

As for Bai Miao and Dong Jiajia, they both got knocked out in the earlier heats and didn’t make it to the finals.

This once again showed that Bing Ge is in a league of her own among her peers in China—Bai Miao and Dong Jiajia have a long way to go to catch up.

The finals were dominated by athletes from the Americas and Africa. Though these ‘youth’ competitors might not yet be at the global elite level, they represent the rising stars of the next generation.

The event itself didn’t draw huge attention, but Bing Ge winning among all those Black and White athletes was truly remarkable.

The way she advanced from the group stage on her first day in Italy, won gold the next day, and flew right back home felt almost surreal.

Xu Chen felt happy for Bing Ge.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the safe in his 8th-floor office would soon be stuffed with gold medals.

At noon, Su Rong invited Xu Chen to lunch, clearly to share the excitement.

They kept it simple, digging up news articles, photos, and comments online and passing them back and forth.

Su Rong held her phone, her fingers flying across the keyboard.

Xu Chen teased,

“Chatting with Bing Ge? You’re typing up a storm…”

Su Rong: “Yeah, congratulating Bing Ge and cheering up Bai Miao too!”

Xu Chen paused. “Since when are you so close with Bai Miao?”

Su Rong: “Last time I visited Bing Ge’s dorm, that’s when I properly met Bai Miao!”

Xu Chen: “I thought you were shy and reserved, but now you seem outgoing and great at making friends.”

Su Rong: “It depends on who I’m with!”

Bing Ge’s latest win boosted the popularity of Ran Bing 001 even more.

The official store’s pre-order page hit new record numbers.

On sneaker forums, Ran Bing 001 prices held steady at over a thousand yuan.

Even with Ran Bing Sports announcing a second release in February, the resale prices stayed high.

Jiang Yuze and Sun Lingfeng were thrilled—the February drop looked solid now.

So, Bing Ge casually grabbing that gold medal really helped Ran Bing Sports’ business.

It was way more effective than spending millions on ads.

Jiang Yuze had worried about market buzz for the February release, which is why Xu Chen lined up endorsements from Vanke’s Wang Shi and Yu Liang.

But with Bing Ge’s gold medal hype, those endorsements felt almost unnecessary.

That evening, after class, Xu Chen headed alone to the company.

He wasn’t going to work on projects but to his private studio on the 8th floor to prepare for his remaining final exams.

They’d set up a long desk up there and added a high-performance desktop worth twenty thousand yuan—perfect for holing up.

“Xu Chen…”

Someone called out, and when Xu Chen turned, it was the top student, Jiao Tianbo.

He looked troubled, his expression panicked.

“What’s up?” Xu Chen asked.

Jiao Tianbo said urgently,

“The Yichun publicity project just got shut down by higher-ups!”

“Oh?”

“Director Lou just called me—some leader thinks the ‘Calling Spring’ campaign is too negative and ordered it all stopped.”

Jiao Tianbo seemed frantic, but Xu Chen stayed calm, like it was no big deal.

Over the past few weeks, the ‘Calling Spring’ topic had exploded online.

“A city that calls spring” was bound to spark talk and had spread from local media to major discussion platforms.

The fact that it took three weeks for the shutdown order showed a lot of tolerance.

It gave the topic more time to spread and boosted Yichun’s profile…

Xu Chen thought for a moment and asked,

“This project is led by Yichun’s Deputy Mayor Cheng Yumin, right?

So, who could order it stopped must be someone higher up?”

Jiao Tianbo: “Absolutely!”

Xu Chen remained unfazed:

“Don’t worry too much—let things play out a bit longer.”

Jiao Tianbo: “How can I not worry?

From what Director Lou said, their department might face penalties, and even Deputy Mayor Cheng could get dragged in.

Plus, East Morning Star Advertising is still waiting on the final 150,000 yuan…

He thinks it might not get approved now.”

Xu Chen stayed calm:

“It’s fine—150,000 isn’t a huge amount, and if we don’t get it, so be it.

As for Director Lou and the team, this project started under Deputy Mayor Cheng, and we covered all the risks from the beginning.

Cheng was ready to take those risks when he greenlit it, after his own assessments.

If it’s stopped now, he probably expected that.”

Seeing Jiao Tianbo still looked anxious, Xu Chen added,

“Anyone who makes it to deputy mayor in China isn’t your average person.

Trust me, leaders know how to balance things—they’ve got the measure.

If Director Lou isn’t panicking, and as long as Cheng isn’t, we’re good.”

Jiao Tianbo frowned, like he wanted to say more.

Xu Chen patted his shoulder:

“Relax.

Even if the project gets canceled and there are penalties, it won’t affect us.”

Jiao Tianbo: “But…”

Xu Chen: “No buts.

From our project’s perspective, we’ve already pocketed 150,000—losing the rest is still a win.

For Yichun, this promotion has skyrocketed their visibility and met Deputy Mayor Cheng’s goals. It’s a win-win.”

He smiled: “Don’t panic—just wait and see. Time will handle it.”

Xu Chen didn’t want to dwell, laughed it off, and headed to the company.

In a flash, it was the 29th, the last day of the semester with no classes.

The dorm was a hive of activity as students packed up and headed home for the winter break.

Xu Chen had a few projects to wrap up, mainly overseeing the ad shoots for Bing Ge’s Head & Shoulders and Chenfeng Ice Power, so he’d stick around Shanghai for a few more days.

All his final assessments came through, and he passed everything without needing retakes or resits.

He didn’t aim for straight A+ like the top student—passing smoothly was good enough.

Xu Chen slept in until nearly noon; his roommates Hong Xiaoqiang and Chen Wenyi were packing.

“When are you heading back, Boss Xu?” Hong Xiaoqiang asked.

“I’ll be a few days late—got some company stuff to finish.”

“Lucky you, Boss Xu—already making big money on projects!”

Xu Chen chatted a bit, then wandered to the next dorm.

Qian Xin, Pei Qian, and Huo Dashan were packing for home too.

Huang Hao, a local from Shanghai, had already gone home yesterday for the break.

After chatting, Xu Chen learned Qian Xin, Pei Qian, and Huo Dashan were all leaving that day.

Qian Xin was from Zhejiang Province and driving back to Hangcheng.

Huo Dashan was from Hebei Province, and Pei Qian from Henan Province—they were on the same hard-sleeper train, sleeping overnight to arrive home in the morning.

Hearing Qian Xin was driving to Hangcheng reminded Xu Chen of Feng Qingqing studying there.

He realized he’d been in Shanghai for half a year and hadn’t visited Feng yet—that was overdue.

After all, Feng Wenjiang was his father Xu Zhiquan’s good friend, and now as District Chief Feng, he was a key contact tied to several Chenxin Nurseries projects.

Though his father had stopped by Hangcheng on his last trip to Shanghai to check on Feng Qingqing.

Feng Qingqing was probably on break now, so Xu Chen figured he’d handle the connections back in Tiancheng.

A solo trip to Hangcheng for her seemed unnecessary, but with Ran Bing Sports focusing on online channels through Alibaba, next year he could visit with Fei Jie.

With nothing much in the dorm, Xu Chen grabbed some food at the cafeteria and headed to the company.

He skipped the 6th floor and went straight to his personal space on the 8th.

He brewed some fine Pu’er tea and washed some fresh strawberries, enjoying the moment.

Turning on his computer, company group messages kept popping up.

Xu Chen opened them to see a bunch of photos from Jiang Yuze.

They were live shots from the Sanya Marathon.

Today, the 29th, was the Sanya Marathon day.

Nie Fei, Zhou Junjun, and Jiang Yuze had gone for the event, but Xu Chen stayed back due to yesterday’s graduation classes.

“Young Xu Chen” flipped through the frontline reports and nodded in satisfaction.

Vanke’s bosses, Wang Shi and Yu Liang, were wearing the latest Ran Bing 001 and posed for photos with Nie Fei.

Fei Jie was great at handling these situations—even with big names like Wang Shi and Yu Liang, her charisma quickly built rapport.

As the organizer, Vanke had set aside a special display area for Ran Bing Sports.

There was a huge poster of Xie Bingran and several pairs of Ran Bing 001 shoes on show.

From Jiang Yuze’s photos, a crowd of runners had gathered around.

Tied to the Sanya Marathon, Jiang Yuze had arranged media coverage—Wang Shi and Yu Liang in Ran Bing 001 would drive sales big time.

Seeing the bosses as users at a pro event boosted Ran Bing Sports’ brand image.

The key was, this collaboration came from “Young Xu Chen” without spending a cent—pure value.

There were plenty of attractive young women at the marathon; from the photos, Vice President Zhou seemed to be in his element, chatting up a group and promoting Ran Bing 001 with enthusiasm.

At noon, Xu Chen cooked up something in his office and ate there, not bothering to go downstairs.

The 8th-floor office was cozy, with a small bedroom—staying here full-time wouldn’t be a problem.

The dorm lacked air conditioning, so come summer, this would be a better spot.

In the afternoon, Young Xu Chen wandered down to the 6th floor.

The receptionist Nana saw him and smiled warmly, pulling the door open for him.

Xu Chen stepped in and froze.

“Why so many people?”

The office area had about ten people.

Xu Chen glanced around—besides Sun Aimi, Gu Xinxi, Tang Xiaowei, and Sun Lingfeng, the rest were new faces.

He quickly realized they were the new interns.

All from the same college, third- and fourth-year seniors.

After that report at the institute with Dean Lin Ruyang, a bunch of seniors had reached out about interning here.

“Boss…”

“Young Xu Chen…”

Sun Aimi, Gu Xinxi, and the others stood up to greet him.

The five or six interns behind them did the same.

They seemed awkward about what to call him, so someone went with “Young Xu Chen.”

Xu Chen felt a bit odd about it himself.

He was just a first-year, yet here he was as the “boss” to these third- and fourth-year seniors…

As he thought about easing the awkwardness, he spotted a familiar face.

It was Zhang Yuchen, the photography class monitor from third year.