Chapter 89: Another One Comes Bearing Money
The middle-aged man had just answered a phone call—it was from Manman Yu.
“President Chen, should we arrange a meeting with President Li?” The CEO’s assistant beside him adjusted his glasses.
“No need... It won’t help,” Chen sighed. “I can only blame myself for forgetting about the title sponsorship.”
This stern-faced middle-aged man was none other than Chen Zhi, CEO of Feizhi Group, a Fortune 500 company. The Chen Zhi Gymnasium at Tiancheng Polytechnic University was his donation, and those AI athletic robots were developed and produced by Feizhi Group.
Because Tiancheng Polytechnic was his alma mater, and Chen had spent more than ten years as a basketball player, it was only natural for a Fortune 500 CEO to donate a gymnasium to his university. Nearly thirty years after graduating, Chen heard that his university’s basketball team had finished last in the national collegiate league three times in a row. This inspired him to hire an internationally top-tier basketball coach for his alma mater, leading to the wager with the beautiful and formidable coach, Manman Yu.
Why a wager instead of a direct hire? When Chen first approached Manman Yu about coaching Tiancheng Polytechnic’s team, she refused outright.
PS: Manman Yu’s refusal had been mentioned before; it was mainly due to an accident during her time coaching at another university, which led her to vow never to coach a college basketball team again.
Faced with Yu’s rejection, Chen made a snap decision to propose a wager. This wager was inspired by all the information his assistant had gathered about Yu, and Chen came up with it on the spot.
Sure enough, Yu accepted the wager and came to Tiancheng Polytechnic that very day.
After Yu began coaching, Chen did his best to meet her requests, which led to the X-numbered rooms and Boss room in the Chen Zhi Gymnasium, as well as the latest basketball battle robots from Feizhi Group.
By all rights, that should have counted as sponsorship.
Unfortunately, Chen never explicitly declared sponsorship for Tiancheng Polytechnic’s basketball team, so it was merely considered a donation from an alumnus, not related to commercial brand promotion.
Now, because he never made a clear statement, he could only watch helplessly as the team he had painstakingly built was snatched up for sponsorship by someone else. Thinking of this, Chen slumped into his chair, full of regret.
“President Chen, maybe you should talk with President Li and see if we can sponsor together?” the assistant suggested again.
Chen thought for a moment, slapped his thigh, and said, “That’s all we can do.”
...
On March 9th, a luxury bus emblazoned with the “Feizhi Group” logo pulled up in front of the Chen Zhi Gymnasium at Tiancheng Polytechnic University.
Along with the bus came several large boxes of custom basketball shoes.
“As expected from Feizhi Group, specialists in basketball gear—these shoes, this material, this bounce, this...” Zhu Di held his custom shoes, each pair marked with his jersey number, and couldn’t bear to set them down.
All the custom shoes bore the “Feizhi Group” logo.
Since the basketball uniforms were monopolized by Li Group, Chen could only make a statement with the shoes.
To boost visibility, Chen also provided the luxury bus, supposedly to shuttle players to games during the Eastern Division qualifiers of the national collegiate league, but in reality, it was also to make sure spectators and passersby saw the “Feizhi Group” logo, thus promoting the brand.
“This is Feizhi Group’s sponsorship fund for you, issued monthly,” Manman Yu said, distributing a stack of bulging platinum-colored envelopes to the players.
Another benefactor! The players eagerly tore open their envelopes.
“Another 5,000 yuan?!” Geng Haoshi was the first to count his cash, his speed so practiced it seemed he’d attended some kind of money-counting workshop.
With Li Group’s monthly 5,000 yuan, that meant each player would receive 10,000 yuan a month! Geng Haoshi calculated eagerly, grinning foolishly to himself.
The other players weren’t much better, each dazed by the money.
“What’s with them?” Li Shishi asked curiously.
“They’ve been poor for too long,” Lin Ling replied offhandedly.
“Poor for too long?” Li Shishi didn’t seem to understand.
“You wouldn’t really get it,” Manman Yu said, gently patting Li Shishi’s head, thinking: Children who’ve never been poor can’t understand the feeling of suddenly ‘striking it rich.’
Manman Yu knew that feeling well. As a child, she’d lived in hardship. Later, a twist of fate led her to basketball, and she eventually became a world-class coach, earning fame and fortune.
Thus, one of Yu’s goals as a coach was: to ensure every player she taught mastered top-tier skills and could earn enough wealth to live the life they desired.
Manman Yu gave the players about fifteen minutes to revel in their excitement, then said, “If you don’t start training now, I’ll confiscate your sponsorship money!”
“Confiscate?!” The players immediately clutched their cash tightly and dashed off to their dorms in the gymnasium.
They put their money in their bedside drawers, locked them up, then returned to the court to continue training.
Having money made a difference—the players trained with more vigor than ever.
They could all foresee that if they achieved good results in this year’s national collegiate basketball league, these two Fortune 500 sponsors would surely reward them with a hefty bonus!
Thinking of this promising ‘fortune,’ the Tiancheng Polytechnic team members were full of energy, as if wound up and ready to go!
...
March 10th was the date for Geng Haoshi’s final intermediate-level assessment.
The last intermediate task: achieve a vertical leap of at least 80 centimeters within one month. That meant, with a running start and jump, the vertical distance from toe to floor had to exceed 80 centimeters. Given Geng Haoshi’s height, touching the rim was required to pass.
From February 10th to March 10th, Geng Haoshi had only managed to touch the rim three times, and barely at that.
9527: “Master, are you ready?”