When Bai Yu returned to Hai Province, they were warmly welcomed by the Hai Province Sports Bureau as soon as they got off the plane, especially Bai Yu, who had won three gold medals.
He was highly sought after by these system staff members, and the track and field leaders of the sports bureau immediately approached Bai Yu and Coach Li.
For any province, sports are always an important aspect of development that cannot be ignored. While developing the economy, any province should also discover its own talented athletes.
Although Bai Yu was strong in the past, he only participated in some high school leagues within the province, which did not have a great influence, and his strength was not as strong as it is now.
Especially after Bai Yu was admitted to Ocean University, he didn't take the competition to heart. As a result, after Tongzi came along, he became even less interested in pursuing a sports career.
Because of this, the sports bureau had not paid attention to Bai Yu and Wang Hai in the past, which led to the rather awkward situation at this Universiade. In the long-distance running finals, Bai Yu was the only one who was not from the provincial or national team, but simply from the Ocean University of China team.
However, it's not too late to find out now. Bai Yu is only a sophomore this year, and twenty years old in the traditional Chinese age system. Recruiting him to the provincial team, or having the provincial team recommend him to the national team, would be a good thing for the Haihe Provincial Sports Bureau.
Unfortunately, even if they wanted to recruit Bai Yu, they would first have to see if Bai Yu was interested in doing so.
To reiterate, ever since Bai Yu got together with Tongzi, he has truly lost interest in engaging in sports activities.
One is that it's really tiring, and you're also prone to injury. You're either competing or training all year round, which is too monotonous.
There was nothing he could do before. Bai Yu's academic performance was really bad, and it was impossible for him to change his fate through knowledge. As for other skills, he didn't know any, and he didn't have the business acumen either.
Although his family was relatively well-off—his father was a restaurant chef and his mother was a teacher—it was only relatively good; they didn't have any extra money for him to start his own business.
Fortunately, Bai Yu has good physical talent in this life, which allows him to pursue a career in sports. In addition, to give himself more options, he also started making short videos.
While pursuing a career in sports might not make Bai Yu extremely wealthy, with a bit of luck, he could secure a teaching certificate and become a tenured physical education teacher, ensuring a comfortable life for the rest of his life.
Teachers' salaries may not be very high, but the benefits after retirement are substantial.
If he were even luckier and managed to get a job at the Sports Bureau, even as a county-level staff member, he would be even more satisfied, and his future would be even more worry-free.
Who knew that he would later acquire a system called "Tongzi Ge" (meaning "system brother"), which was even more related to the ocean. Now, Bai Yu had even less interest in sports.
The reason he's still persisting is because he promised Coach Li that he would achieve good results at this Universiade to give him an explanation.
In addition, only by getting good grades can he and Wang Hai graduate smoothly. This is their main goal in entering Ocean University. Otherwise, given their true abilities, let alone writing a graduation thesis, they would not be able to pass even a quiz.
The Universiade has now ended. Bai Yu won three gold medals, and Wang Hai won one gold medal and finished fourth. These are all excellent results. They have fulfilled their promise to Coach Li and brought glory to Haida University.
So when faced with the staff of the Provincial Sports Bureau, Bai Yu hesitated. He didn't know whether he should agree to continue his long-distance running or refuse and focus on his short video career.
In September of this year, the predecessor of Douyin was launched. Bai Yu has registered an account and has a small number of followers.
Regarding the development of Douyin in the next few years, and the earning power of short video platforms,
Bai Yu knew clearly that as long as he started making short videos properly from now on, when short videos exploded in 2018 and 2019, it would bring him unimaginable benefits.
After a fierce internal struggle, Bai Yu finally gave the other party an answer that he needed to consider. He was a little confused and couldn't make a decision right now.
The other party expressed their understanding, after all, in the eyes of these leaders, 19-year-old Bai Yu is still a child. Although joining the provincial team is a good thing, it is best to talk to his family about it first.
As for Wang Hai, it was even more so. He always regarded Bai Yu as his backbone, and he would follow Bai Yu's choices.
After leaving the airport, Bai Yu and the others returned to Ocean University, where an even grander welcome party awaited them.
This time, the Ocean University team brought great glory to Ocean University, winning as many as seven gold medals, which is more than half of the gold medals won by Hainan Province.
This is also the most championships ever won by Ocean University of China at the Universiade.
As for the university's council, it directly rewards athletes who achieve good results in this Universiade, including not only academic credits but also substantial cash prizes.
Bai Yu alone won three gold medals and broke two records, earning him a cash reward of 150,000 yuan from Ocean University, which was euphemistically called a 'scholarship'.
That's right, two records were broken. After discussion by the race organizing committee, the final 10,000-meter result was deemed valid, and a new record was set for the 10,000-meter race.
In just three days, Bai Yu received numerous awards, totaling 300,000 yuan in cash rewards, as well as several certificates of honor.
He even has several endorsement contracts, all of which are related to sports.
Endorsements for items such as sportswear, sports shoes, and sports water bottles.
Bai Yu was completely bewildered by this. You could say he wasn't a celebrity; at most, he was a relatively well-known short video blogger.
However, back in 2016, I had never heard of anyone hiring a short video blogger to endorse their product.
As for his fame in sports?
Bai Yu believed that he had only participated in the Universiade once, and had only participated in this national competition once. Where did he get his fame?
Fame isn't something you can just acquire! It's built up through winning championships time and time again. Nobody becomes famous overnight.
After all, take Xiang, the number one athlete in China and Bai Yu's idol, as an example. His fame comes from winning championships time and time again, first in China, then internationally, and finally at the Olympics.
He's only at this level, and he's already getting endorsement offers after just one competition? Could there be something wrong with that?
Bai Yu did not hesitate at all and rejected all the endorsement offers, refusing to accept a single one.
What Bai Yu didn't know was that although he had only participated in one national competition, he had already made a name for himself in the country.
As for the reason, it is of course his unparalleled strength. Two of his three championships broke domestic records, one of which had stood for more than 20 years, and he broke it.
Bai Yu's strength and reputation in domestic track and field long-distance running are now beyond doubt.
As for his future, these brand manufacturers see it as having unlimited potential, which is why they approached him to finalize an endorsement contract with Bai Yu.
Unfortunately, Bai Yu rejected them all.
In addition, during this period, Bai Yu also realized that he could not give up on sports, at least not during his years of university.
He also wanted to see how far he could go in this area and how far he was from becoming a master in this field.
Therefore, Bai Yu and Wang Hai joined the Hainan Provincial Track and Field Team, and Coach Li was transferred from Hainan University to the Sports Bureau. He is currently Bai Yu and Wang Hai's head coach, which was also requested by Bai Yu and Wang Hai.
There was no other way; the two brothers didn't know anyone at the provincial sports bureau. In order to make their training more comfortable, they might as well bring a familiar coach with them. Coach Li just happened to be a very good one.
Although Bai Yu and his companion have joined the provincial team, they still train at Ocean University. They still have to attend classes, go beachcombing, and even go fishing at sea on weekends.
All they need to do is maintain their physical condition and prepare for the various leagues they may participate in later.
For example, the Asian U20 Athletics Championships, the World U20 Athletics Championships, the domestic Youth Athletics Championships, and the International Athletics World Championships.
In the blink of an eye, two years have passed, and we have arrived at 2018, the year that Bai Yu has been looking forward to the most, an era in which short videos on the Internet are taking off!
One day in late September 2018, Bai Yu and his partner, who had just returned from a championship abroad, got off the plane, with Coach Li following behind them as always.
"Xiaoyu, Xiaohai, you did very well in this competition. You can relax a bit when you get back to school these next few days, but don't go too wild. Don't forget to train when it's time to train."
"I know, Coach. Don't you know what kind of personalities we have? Besides being interested in food, all we have left is a hobby of beachcombing and fishing."
"By the way, Coach, we're having a celebration dinner tonight, a big meal. Do you want to come along?"
"I'm not going. You kids can play by yourselves."
As the three chatted, they walked out of the airport exit and then went their separate ways.
Bai Yu and Wang Hai boarded the airport bus to Hainan University, while Coach Li boarded a different airport bus route; he was going home.
Every time they go abroad to participate in a competition, not only Bai Yu and Wang Hai can rest for a few days, but Coach Li also gets a break.
This time, Bai Yu and his team participated in an Asian competition. Both Bai Yu and Wang Hai achieved relatively good results. Bai Yu's performance remained stable, finishing with two gold and one silver medals.
Wang Hai finished the competition with one silver and one bronze medal.
Bai Yu won a silver medal because the event was poorly scheduled. The 10,000-meter and 5,000-meter finals were only two hours apart, and the 10,000-meter final started first, followed by the 5,000-meter final.
This is absolutely outrageous; I've never seen a competition arranged like this before.
It's unclear whether the event organizers were deliberately targeting Bai Yu, since he won three gold medals at the Universiade in 2016 and has been representing China in various major competitions ever since.
In the past two years, as long as Bai Yu was qualified to participate in a competition, he won all the Asian regional championships in the three long-distance running events of 3,000 meters, 5,000 meters, and 10,000 meters. He monopolized the title.
Even in international competitions, he has been a strong contender for the championship in the past two years, a true powerhouse in long-distance running.
"Ah Hai, what are you planning to do on this vacation?"
"Brother Yu, I don't have any particular ideas. I'll do whatever you do, as long as there's good food."
"That's easy. Let's go back to school and ask Shuangzi and the others if they have any plans. If not, then the rest of us can go fishing together and try to make a fortune this time. That way, we'll have saved enough money!"
"Have we saved enough? Does that mean we can...?"
As Bai Yu and Wang Hai chatted, the bus slowly drove towards Ocean University.
.............
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