Chapter 17 Chapter 17

It’s an auditory hallucination! It’s definitely an auditory hallucination!

Hu Yanming took a deep breath, forced a smile, and looked at Chu Xi again in disbelief, "Sister, are you serious?"

Chu Xi was silent for a moment, then nodded, "Seriously."

Hu Yanming's eyes went dark and his body slumped against the back of the car seat.

"Although our development was a little slow in the past few years, everything is getting better now. Look, this afternoon, the director of another variety show contacted me to ask about your schedule." Hu Yanming tried hard to get Chu Xi back on track.

Chu Xi looked at him and asked curiously, "Do you think being an Olympic champion is worse than being an entertainer?"

"Of course not." Hu Yanming rubbed his brow and brought the subject back to the topic. "But sister, it's not easy to be an Olympic champion. And your... temporary career change, it's not, I... haha."

By the end, Hu Yanming had even laughed at himself.

His sister said she wants to compete in the Olympics and become an Olympic champion. Oh my God, who is on top of my sister? You better get off me!

Chu Xi continued to analyze calmly, "Of course, I'm not 100% sure I can win the championship, but I'm still confident I can make it to the Olympic finals."

Hu Yanming: “…”

Crazy, his sister is really crazy.

"But I will probably still be working in the entertainment industry for now," Chu Xi added.

After all, she still has to make money and maintain emotional value.

Hu Yanming held his forehead, "...Sister, give me some time."

…

In the shooting team coach's office, Song Jingbo stood nervously in front of Wang Ruiguo and coughed, "Coach, I..."

"So, in that little competition, Chu Xi defeated you." Wang Ruiguo looked up at him.

Song Jingbo quickly lowered his head and said, "I admit my mistake. I'll apply for extra training on the weekend."

For a professional athlete from the provincial team to lose to an amateur in such a small competition is not just a disgrace, but a great humiliation.

Wang Ruiguo put his hands on the table and sneered, "Only extra practice on the weekend?"

"I'll apply for extra training in the next month!" Song Jingbo quickly changed his words.

Wang Ruiguo didn't say anything else and waved his hand, "Alright, go back and rest early today. We'll start extra training tomorrow."

"Yes." Song Jingbo breathed a sigh of relief and turned to leave.

Wang Ruiguo rested his arm lightly on the armrest, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

He was able to hit more than ten rings nine times in a row. This Chu Xi is really a talented person.

Thinking of this, he took out his phone and sent a voice message to Song Anshan with a smile: "Old Song, the person you recommended to me is indeed very promising. Thank you."

…

Inside the shooting team's training ground, a burly figure was still practicing with a gun.

"Shi Lei, let's go and stop practicing." Song Jingbo walked over and waved to Shi Lei.

Shi Lei then put away his air pistol. After patiently cleaning it, he wiped the sweat from his forehead, turned around and walked out of the training ground. He glanced up at Song Jingbo and asked, "Did you really lose to Chu Xi?"

Just before Song Jingbo went to the coach to admit his mistake, he had already told Shi Lei about it.

Shi Lei naturally found it outrageous and wondered if Song Jingbo was joking on purpose.

Song Jingbo sighed and nodded, "I really lost."

"What's wrong with you? Even if you haven't touched a gun for a week, you shouldn't lose to an amateur." Shi Lei frowned, his tone full of disbelief.

"I did make some mistakes, but Chu Xi's strength is not simple either." Song Jingbo recalled the various scenes in the club, and his face became more serious.

Shi Lei realized that Song Jingbo was not joking.

A hint of suspicion gradually arose in his heart.

Is Chu Xi really that powerful?

…

As night falls, the crescent moon slowly climbs up the treetops.

Chu Xi leaned against the headboard and used his mobile phone to search for registration information for the National Shooting Championship.

I originally wanted to get the attention of the shooting team by participating in the National Shooting Championship.

But now she has a tryout opportunity with the provincial shooting team.

So now in this game, she is only fighting for herself.

A hint of certainty appeared in Chu Xi's eyes, and then he clicked on the registration website of the Chinese Shooting Association, registered an athlete account, and signed up for the competition.

[Name: Chu Xi]

Age: 21

[Registration event: Women's 10m Air Pistol]

…

After the Super Star Games qualifying round ended, the production team gave the artists two days off.

On the second day of the holiday, Chu Xi slept until noon.

Last night, after registering for the competition, Chu Xi entered the training space and practiced for fifteen hours in a row.

In the space, the body does not feel tired.

But people cannot bear to be in a state of tension for a long time.

Chu Xi yawned sleepily, threw back the quilt, opened his arms and stretched his body.

She sat on the bed in a daze for a long time before she gradually came to her senses. She got out of bed and opened the curtains. The warm sunlight from outside poured into the room, shining on her body, making her feel warm.

Her training has been very intense during this period, so she plans to combine work and rest today.

Half an hour later, Chu Xi changed into a loose sportswear, wore a black mask and a baseball cap and left the hotel.

She took a taxi to a nearby shopping mall.

As soon as I entered the mall, I went straight to the video game arcade.

"It'll be one hundred coins." Chu Xi walked to the counter and took out his mobile phone to scan the code to pay.

The waiter glanced at Chu Xi casually, not paying much attention, "Wait a moment."

Not long after, he handed over a small basket containing a hundred game coins, "Here."

Chu Xi took the small basket calmly, turned around and walked towards the whack-a-mole game console.

After inserting two coins, the game machine starts, the lights on the top of the machine flash, and the soundtrack starts playing.

Chu Xi picked up the hammer and stared at the hole intently. When he saw a mouse popping its head out, he quickly hammered it down.

Halfway through the game, the mice came out of the hole more and more frequently, and Chu Xi's hammer dropped faster and faster.

After the game was over, Chu Xi smiled with satisfaction, put down the hammer, turned around and walked towards the racing game area.

Chu Xi put his feet on the table, leaned his body against the back of the racing chair, straightened his back, stared at the screen in front of him, and pressed the start game option.

"Bang--"

The car on the screen crashed into the roadside several times in a row, making a loud crashing sound.

After the game ended, Chu Xi sighed and shook his head.

She still has a long way to go when it comes to racing.

After playing around in the arcade, there were still more than 70 coins left. Chu Xi rubbed his hands and went to the claw machine area.

"Brother, I want Doraemon!" The little girl's clear and melodious voice came from beside him.

Chu Xi lowered his head and glanced to the side.

The little girl was only as tall as her waist. She was pointing at Doraemon in the claw machine, her young face full of anticipation.

The brother smiled and bent down to pinch the girl's cheek, "Okay, I'll give it to you."

Chu Xi withdrew his gaze and looked at the claw machine in front of him. His eyes were fixed on Doraemon, and a look of determination flashed in his eyes.

She also wants Doraemon!

Chu Xi cheered himself up, rolled up his sleeves, and put twenty coins into the claw machine in one breath.

She stared at Doraemon in the claw machine, bent her body slightly, and operated the claws with both hands.

The first time failed, the second time failed...

It was not until the thirteenth chapter that the blue fat man Doraemon was finally caught.

Good! Chu Xi clenched his fists, his eyes determined, and made a victory gesture.

Chu Xi spent the entire morning in the video game arcade.

Until Hu Yanming called her: "Sister, where are you? We have to go shoot a promotional video for the endorsement this afternoon. I'll pick you up."

Chu Xi straightened up slightly and glanced at the pile of spoils dolls beside him with satisfaction. "I'm at the Wanda arcade near the hotel."

Hu Yanming was stunned. "What are you doing in the arcade?"

"Catch the doll." Chu Xi answered with a very unreliable answer in the calmest tone.

Hu Yanming was even more surprised.

Sister Xi looks so calm, but she actually likes to catch dolls?

"Okay, okay, I'll be right there."

After hanging up the phone, Chu Xi asked the arcade owner for an extra-large plastic bag, put the captured dolls into the bag one by one, and walked out of the arcade carrying the bag.

A quarter of an hour later, Hu Yanming drove to the underground parking lot of the shopping mall.

He was startled when he saw Chu Xi walking towards him with a plastic bag of dolls on his shoulder with an expressionless face.

Hu Yanming quickly got out of the car, helped take the bag containing the dolls from Chu Xi, and put it in the trunk. "Sister, why did you suddenly go to catch the dolls?"

Chu Xi sat in the passenger seat, fastened his seat belt, and calmly explained: "It's one of my hobbies."

"Oh, I see." Hu Yanming got in the car, started the engine, and began to chat. "I also liked going to the arcade when I was a kid, but I got a little tired of it after playing there too much. It seems that after I became an adult, I basically haven't been to that kind of place anymore."

Chu Xi looked at the road ahead, and gradually recalled the scenes of his childhood in his mind.

She joined the youth shooting team at the age of twelve. Every day she was either training or competing. Even on vacation, she rarely went out to play, and had never been to a place like an arcade.

Since I didn't have any money, I only started to enjoy the hobbies of going to the arcade and catching dolls after I won the gold medal prize in the competition.

The moment the silver Volkswagen drove out of the parking lot, the originally dark road was illuminated by the sunlight.

Chu Xi closed her eyes and felt the sunlight on her face, which was warm and reassuring.

…

Not long after, Hu Yanming drove Chu Xi to the headquarters of the sports brand Jiyue.

After entering the company, Hu Yanming whispered to Chu Xi some common knowledge about endorsements.

"There are several types of endorsements, including global spokespersons, Asian spokespersons, and domestic spokespersons. These are all different levels of endorsements. This time we are just shooting a promotional video for the endorsement, so we can't be considered true brand spokespersons. However, Jiyue has a good reputation. If we take on this promotional video, there will definitely be opportunities for cooperation in the future."

Chu Xi nodded and took note of it silently.

Hu Yanming continued, "Jiyue is very popular nationwide right now. They chose us to shoot the promotional video because they were impressed by your impressive archery performance at the Super Star Games. Their brand director is Yu Wanya, and she seems to be quite fond of sports."

The two were led into the lounge by the company's front desk.

Not long after, a short-haired woman dressed in a neutral androgynous manner walked in. She had a determined look in her eyes, and her shoulder-length straight hair was shiny black, exuding a capable temperament.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting. I was just meeting a client." Yu Wanya walked up to Hu Yanming with a smile and shook hands with him.

Hu Yanming smiled and replied, "It's okay, we didn't wait long. Let me introduce you, this is our Chu Xi."

Then he introduced Chu Xi: "Sister Xi, this is Director Yu."

Yu Wanya's gaze turned to Chu Xi, and the smile on her face became more obvious. "I know, I saw the live broadcast of your archery competition. It was very handsome. I admired it!"

"Oh yes, my name is Yu Wanya." Yu Wanya bent down slightly, smiled and shook hands with Chu Xi.

Chu Xi also bent down and nodded politely, "Chu Xi."

"Come, let's sit down and talk." Yu Wanya gestured for them to sit down. At this moment, the phone in her pocket suddenly rang.

Yu Wanya took out her cell phone and glanced at the screen. She waved to Chu Xi, indicating that she should go out to answer a call.

Outside the lounge, Yu Wanya answered the phone.

After listening to the person on the other end talking for a while, Yu Wanya's face changed drastically, and her voice rose. "Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on it? How did you let Hong Ke sign it away again?"

Hongke is also a highly popular sports brand among the people and has been a competitor of Jiyue for many years.

In the last Olympics, Hongke had some kind of luck and signed an athlete as its spokesperson, who no one expected to win the championship.

On the day of the competition, the athlete unexpectedly defeated the foreign strongmen of previous competitions and won the Olympic gold medal in one fell swoop, which made the whole nation excited.

At that time, the popularity of Hongke's brand soared overnight, and even the stock price rose by several percentage points, making it a huge profit.

This case attracted great attention from the top management of Jiyue brand.

So this time, Yu Wanya had already started planning to sign athletes early.

But she didn't expect that the badminton player she had just taken a fancy to yesterday was signed by a red guest first.

"Alright, forget about signing this one. Keep an eye on the others. I'm going to urge the legal department to issue endorsement contracts right away."

After saying that, Yu Wanya hung up the phone and returned to the lounge with a look of apology on her face.

"I have something to take care of first. I'll have my assistant come over to talk to you guys later. Sorry, I'll treat you guys to dinner next time I'm free."

After saying hello, Yu Wanya hurriedly turned around and left.

Hu Yanming muttered quietly, "Aren't the Olympics still two years away? Why are they already scrambling for spokespersons so early?"

After a while, Yu Wanya's assistant hurried in with an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry for the long wait, come with me. Let's go directly to the scene to communicate with the promotional video director."

Chu Xi and Hu Yanming stood up and followed their assistant to the shooting site.

The content of the promotional video is very simple. Chu Xi only needs to cooperate and pose in an archery posture. The rest will be added with special effects later.

Chu Xi worked with the director to shoot for an entire afternoon, and only finished when the sun set.

When leaving Jiyue Company's headquarters, Chu Xi suddenly received a call from an unfamiliar number.

She put the phone to her ear and answered the call, "Hello, who is this?"

A sweet voice came from the other side: "Excuse me, Ms. Chu Xi? I'm a staff member of the China Shooting Association. We have received your registration information and would like to confirm with you. You are registering for the competition in your personal capacity, correct?"

Chu Xi agreed, "Yes."

The staff member continued, "To participate in the National Shooting Championship, we require athletes to provide physical fitness test results. If you are registering as an individual, you must first come to our association to take a physical test. Only after passing the physical fitness test can you be qualified to participate."

"Okay, I got it. I'll go there tomorrow." Chu Xi replied.

Staff: “Okay.”

After hanging up the phone, Chu Xi put down the phone, opened the car door, and sat in the passenger seat.

Hu Yanming turned his head and looked over. "Sister, there's a big production crew holding an open audition tomorrow. If you're free, why not go and try?"

Chu Xi shook her head. "I have to take the physical test tomorrow, so forget about the audition."

Hu Yanming was stunned, not understanding. "What physical test?"

"It's a physical fitness test before the preliminaries of the National Shooting Championship." Chu Xi explained in a calm tone.

“???” Hu Yanming’s mind started to go blank again.

He thought the last incident was over, but how come it has been brought up again in the National Shooting Championships?

Hu Yanming held his forehead and rubbed his eyebrows. After a long while, he forced a smile. "Okay, since you have a dream, I have to support you. Tomorrow I will personally take you to take the physical examination."

He figured it out. Everyone has a time when they're incredibly persistent in their dreams.

Then he will accompany Sister Xi to pursue this sports dream.

Once Sister Xi hits the wall herself and realizes that being an Olympic champion isn't that easy, she will definitely return to her normal self.

Chu Xi looked at Hu Yanming hesitantly, who had suddenly changed his attitude, and felt a little strange.

But it's a good thing that he no longer stops me, so I don't have to explain myself often.

Chu Xi nodded, "Okay."

…The next morning, in the Starlight Entertainment conference room.

Wang Yang sat high up at the center of the conference table, his hands crossed on the table, a look of pride on his face.

"Chu Xi has been quite popular in our company lately, which is a very good thing. Of course, her contradicting me in the meeting last time was understandable. Talented people are all proud, and I really admire this quality in her. What do you think?"

The people below immediately agreed: "Boss Wang is right. Chu Xi is really popular now, and her future development is bright."

Of course, there are also people who appear to be accommodating but are actually muttering in their hearts: It’s because they saw that others became popular that they suddenly changed their attitude.

After another half-hour of eloquent speech, Wang Yang announced the adjournment of the meeting.

The people in the conference room left one after another.

Wang Yang leaned back in his swivel chair, happily took out his cell phone, and called Hu Yanming.

After the beep, the call was connected.

Wang Yang asked in a very gentle tone: "Xiao Hu, how is Chu Xi doing recently? When you are free, come back to the company and I will treat her to a meal."

Now that Chu Xi is doing well, Hu Yanming naturally has the confidence to speak.

He cleared his throat and declined, "Boss Wang, Sister Xi is busy preparing for the Olympics lately. Let's do it another day."

"Preparing for the Olympics, fine—" Wang Yang suddenly paused, his expression changing and his brows furrowed. "What? Preparing for what?"

Hu Yanming chuckled and repeated, "Let's not talk about it for now. Sister Xi is here, and I have to take her to take the physical examination. Mr. Wang, let's talk when we have time."

As soon as the words were spoken, the phone was hung up.

Wang Yang's face suddenly turned dark.

You've really grown up, you even dare to play tricks on him! What are you talking about preparing for the Olympics? Why don't you just say you want to fly to the Milky Way!

After a while, Wang Yang's emotions gradually calmed down.

After Chu Xi became popular a few days ago, Wang Yang checked her contract and found out that Chu Xi only had four months left in her contract with the company.

Chu Xi was too obscure before, and no one cared about the term of her contract at all.

But things are different now.

Wang Yang raised his hand to fan himself and slowly exhaled.

He couldn't be angry, he couldn't be angry. He had to coax Chu Xi first and renew the contract.

…

"Sister, Wang Yang just called and said he wanted to invite you to dinner and asked when you would be free." Hu Yanming told Chu Xi about the call.

He thought of something and added, "However, I suspect he wants to discuss contract renewal with you. If you haven't decided whether to renew it or not, let's put it off for now."

Chu Xi certainly had no intention of renewing her contract. Being managed by such an agency restricted her actions too much.

"Let's talk about it later." Chu Xi put one hand in his pocket, opened the car door and got in. "Let's go to the shooting association first."

"Okay." Hu Yanming adjusted the navigation to the Chinese Shooting Association, took the steering wheel, stepped on the accelerator and started off.

…

Inside the Chinese Shooting Association.

The staff member who was reviewing the contestant's registration information saw Chu Xi's blank resume and muttered in confusion:

“I haven’t even had a single competition experience.”

The National Shooting Championship is a relatively large-scale event at the provincial level and above, and those who register to participate are generally professional athletes from various provincial teams.

In recent years, Chu Xi is the only contestant who registered in her own name and has a blank competition record.

The staff glanced at her name and wrote it down silently.