Chapter 500: Race Day Anticipation

Thursday, the 26th, marks the day Xie Bingran competes in the preliminary group race.

Xu Chen spent last night in the Southwest Building Dormitory and woke up early today.

Honestly, he felt a subtle pressure and tension building inside for Bing Ge.

After all, today she would face black and white athletes with innate genetic advantages for the first time.

Xu Chen wasn’t sure if some kind of ‘telepathy’ existed or if his current nerves and stress linked to Xie Bingran, far away in Europe.

Since Bing Ge said ‘just watch the finals,’ she must feel confident about today’s preliminary round.

Xu Chen trusted Xie Bingran completely, yet he couldn’t help feeling a mix of anxiety and excitement about the upcoming race.

……

The morning class was a general philosophy lecture that left everyone lost in a fog, making it easy to zone out.

Xu Chen slouched in the back row, yawned, and couldn’t resist pulling out his phone.

In the ‘Chenfeng Technology’ project group chat, messages kept popping up.

Lately, ‘Chenfeng Electric Vehicles’ had been rolling out across the northern market, with daily reports of successes, battle updates, and sales highs shared enthusiastically.

Guo Liang, with his sales background, knew how to boost morale; his entire distribution and sales team was fired up, often posting reports even at 3 or 4 a.m.

Most of Guo Liang’s team were fresh hires, young and energetic, and with his solid performance incentives, they were all raring to go.

Plus, a few guys from Zhao Feng and Li Rui’s side had switched to Guo Liang’s sales team—they were all old buddies of Bing Ge.

Guo Liang needed more hands, and though these guys were young, he found them sharp and reliable, so he brought them on board.

Sales work means dealing with all sorts of people, so you need a mix in the team.

Apparently, Zhao Feng got bored in the Security Department and tried a stint with Guo Liang, but after hitting the market twice, he slunk back.

It wasn’t that Zhao Feng lacked skill or was lazy; ‘Peak Brother’ just had a temper that flared up with customers, leaving everyone chuckling in disbelief.

In the group chat, the supervisor handling Hebei and Henan Province channels shared the latest store photos.

The stores were from their main partner, ‘Datuo Car Dealership.’

Xu Chen opened the photos and saw that ‘Chenfeng Electric Vehicles’ materials had basically taken over the entire ‘Datuo Car Dealership.’

Huge posters of Xie Bingran and ‘Chenfeng Electric Vehicles’ covered nearly every inch inside.

Rows of ‘Chenfeng Ice Power’ bikes were crowding out other brands.

Xu Chen couldn’t help but comment in the group:

[People might think this is our own direct store…]

Guo Liang spotted ‘Young Xu Chen’s message and explained in the group:

[With Bing Ge’s matches happening these days, ‘Datuo’ caught the buzz and added more materials and promotions.

Our ‘Chenfeng Ice Power’ is just launching at ‘Datuo Car Dealership,’ and they’re running a series of sales events…]

[Plus, ‘Aibang Electric Vehicles’ and ‘Shenbiao Electric Vehicles’ pulled some shady moves by limiting stock to ‘Datuo,’ which freed up spots that we filled!]

Xu Chen joked back:

[Feels like General Manager Guo is really taking off!]

Guo Liang: [Things are looking up, mostly thanks to Bing Ge!]

Xu Zhiquan saw the chat and chimed in:

[President Jiang just messaged me, waiting for Ranran’s race today!]

‘President Jiang’ is Jiang Huaqin, the boss of ‘Datuo Car Dealership.’

After this distribution partnership and past events like ‘Red Star,’ ‘Datuo’ and ‘Chenfeng’ are deeply tied.

Xu Zhiquan and Jiang Huaqin have become good friends outside of work.

……

……

While Xu Chen scrolled on his phone, his buddies Huang Hao and Qian Xin were also glued to theirs, clearly not paying attention to class.

Bai Miao was competing in today’s preliminaries, and the school had organized various remote cheer events, building a great atmosphere of excitement.

This ‘International Athletics Grand Prix’ is a true top-tier global track event.

Bai Miao earning a spot is a big win for Tonghai University, so the school ramped up the promotion early.

Right now, on Tonghai University’s official website, the headline features reports on Bai Miao’s participation.

Xu Chen thought that at Huahai Normal University, where Xie Bingran studies, the hype must be even stronger.

Beyond campus and public buzz, official media are already hyping and discussing the ‘International Athletics Grand Prix.’

CCTV Sports Channel and Five Star Sports in Shanghai are set to broadcast today’s preliminaries with Xie Bingran and Bai Miao.

Originally, CCTV wasn’t planning to live-broadcast this ‘International Athletics Grand Prix,’ and even yesterday’s preliminaries with Chen Lan weren’t shown, just covered in sports news.

But they’re airing today’s race, showing just how much official interest there is…

In yesterday’s preliminaries on the 25th, Chen Lan didn’t advance from her group, missing the finals.

Maybe it was the pressure of the big event, but Chen Lan didn’t hit her personal best in the heat.

In the news video, as Chen Lan left the track, she spoke to CCTV reporters, hiding her regret while cheering on her juniors Xie Bingran and Bai Miao.

There’s a bit of awkwardness with Chen Lan, though.

Chen Lan is with the Beijing team, training in Beijing under a top coach in athletics.

Meanwhile, Xie Bingran and Bai Miao are in Shanghai, both under Coach Sun Mouping.

In any field, there’s always that sense of affiliation, factions, and rivalries that are hard to avoid.

In domestic hurdles, the ‘Beijing system’ has long dominated.

From the previous Asian Games champion Feng Youping to Chen Lan as the intended successor, it’s all ‘Beijing system.’

But Xie Bingran burst onto the scene, seizing the spotlight and elevating the Shanghai system and Coach Sun Mouping to the top.

For this ‘International Athletics Grand Prix,’ Sun Mouping’s students Xie Bingran and Bai Miao both got spots, and Xie Bingran might even claim a groundbreaking finals berth, which stings the ‘Beijing system.’

Most crucially, Xie Bingran has Chen Lan locked down, and Bai Miao is right on Chen Lan’s heels, and she’s younger too.

Looking ahead, as Chen Lan ages and her performance dips, the ‘Shanghai system’ will fully control women’s hurdles.

Athletes, track records, medals… these are just the front lines.

Behind the scenes, there are deeper struggles over promotions, balances, resource allocation, and power grabs…

Xu Chen had heard Xie Bingran mention some scattered details about this.

Xie Bingran is straightforward and might not see all the undercurrents.

But as someone who’s lived through it all before, Xu Chen spots the hidden undercurrents.

He figures Xie Bingran’s huge contributions to domestic athletics mean she’s protected by the system overall.

So, she’s unlikely to get dragged into those ‘north-south’ hidden battles.

Even if she does, higher powers will back her.

After all, she’s poised to make history, and the ‘National Team’ will safeguard her.

……

Besides Chen Lan, last year’s Asian Games bronze medalist Rohana from India and fourth-place finisher Akabane Kaoru from Japan also failed to advance.

Now, Asia’s last shot at qualifying rests on Xie Bingran and Bai Miao in today’s race.

But nearly everyone, including Bai Miao herself, knows that if there’s a chance, it’s all on Xie Bingran.

Bai Miao’s personal best is stuck at 13.01 seconds, never dipping below 12, so her odds of reaching the finals in a major international event are slim.

In track events like this, which aren’t heavily skill-based, sudden breakthroughs are rare.

What you achieve comes down to your core physical level.

“In the women’s 100-meter hurdles at this top international event, will we see the first East Asian in the finals? Stay tuned!”

“State Athletics Team head coach Sun Mouping: Xie Bingran and Bai Miao are in great shape.

But it’s their first time facing black and white athletes in an international competition, so the pressure, challenges, and excitement are at their peak…”

“Xie Bingran has been consistently stable.

From the Asian Games to last month’s National Athletics Championships, her times have held steady around 12.40 seconds, an unprecedented level in domestic women’s hurdles.”

“Zurich time 10 a.m., Beijing time 5 p.m., tune into Five Star Sports…”

……

……

At lunchtime, conversation naturally turned to the evening race.

Huang Hao and Qian Xin were buzzing with nervous excitement.

Qian Xin suddenly remembered something and shouted, “Wait, I’ll head back to the dorm first to change into my battle gear.”

“What battle gear?” his roommate Pei Qian asked.

Qian Xin: “The ‘Ran Bing’ sneakers and the Louis Vuitton jacket that matches Bing Ge!”

He grinned smugly, throwing an arm around Huang Hao’s shoulder as he said:

“Hey, when will Bai Miao get some endorsements?

That way, I could justify splurging a bit more.”

Huang Hao just rolled his eyes and focused on his meal, ignoring the comment.

As someone in advertising and marketing, Xu Chen knew that with Bai Miao’s current status, landing big commercial deals was tough.

Though she’s third in line domestically, in business, only the top spot counts—third is basically nothing.

It’s all about ‘winner takes all.’ All commercial resources flock to the leader.

Unless Bai Miao generates her own buzz or ‘traffic,’ as they’d say later…

Xu Chen’s phone buzzed—it was the company group chat discussing watching the race together.

Nie Fei had arranged for Nana to order pizza and fried chicken, and was asking when ‘Young Xu Chen’ could get there.

Before Xu Chen could reply, Wu Feifei chimed in excitedly:

“I’ll rush over after class! Save me a slice of Margherita pizza…”

Su Rong followed with a cute emoji: “Feifei, I miss you so much!”

She really knew how to play up the cuteness.

Xu Chen’s roommates were talking about heading to the Little Yellow Building lecture hall together that evening.

“Let’s all go! It’ll be more fun with a crowd!”

They turned to Xu Chen and he grinned, saying:

“I have to go to the company!”

……

……

After the last afternoon class ended, classmates chattered excitedly as they left the teaching building and headed to the Little Yellow Building lecture hall.

The event’s energy drew a lot of people in.

Besides cheering for Bai Miao, many were there just to see Bing Ge.

Like Chen Qiong and He Sisi, who had watched Bing Ge compete in Doha before…

Xu Chen lingered a bit before stepping out of the classroom and ran into Su Rong waiting in the hallway.

He paused, eyeing Su Rong with a puzzled look:

“Why are you carrying a suitcase?”

She was holding a pink one.

“Tomorrow we’re flying to Zurich to watch Bing Ge’s race, so I’m dragging my luggage now.”

Xu Chen still didn’t get it:

“You’re not staying in the dorm tonight, so why lug it around now?”

Su Rong looked a bit embarrassed.

She gathered her thoughts and explained seriously:

“We’re going to Zurich for Bing Ge’s finals, but that depends on her making it through today’s preliminaries…

I packed my luggage early and am carrying it around to psych her up!”

Xu Chen stared, baffled by the logic.

Su Rong waved it off:

“Ah, forget it, I can’t explain it well!

Anyway, having my bag packed and in tow lets the universe know Bing Ge has to reach the finals!

It’s like giving her a boost for today!”

Xu Chen thought to himself:

Carrying a suitcase is supposed to help Bing Ge’s race? What a quirky way to cheer…

Su Rong’s odd ideas just kept growing.

……