Gold Medal Coach

The news that the Chinese Gun King national team was participating in the Asian Championship soon spread throughout the e-sports circle.

Some netizens expressed that they ‘weren’t very optimistic’ but there were also many fans of Pei Feng and Jiang Shaoyu who left messages encouraging them and hoping they could break the curse of ‘always going abroad for a round trip.’

In previous years, eight countries participated in the Asian Championship. The final champion, the runner-up and the third place would receive trophies and bonuses. The champion was rewarded 10 million, second place was 5 million and third place was 3 million.

The Asian Championship was usually used to gild the players of the South Korean team.

There were nine participating countries this year and China was assigned to Group B. Some enthusiastic netizens went to the Gun King E-sports League to check the official announcement and carefully analyzed it on Weibo, “Group B consists of Malaysia, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. I checked their past records. The Japanese team once reached the top eight of the World Series and often won the runner-up of the Asian Championship. Malaysia and Vietnam have both won third place. Indonesia is the weakest but they had been participating in the Asian Championship for three years. Combine all of this… we seem to be cannon fodder QAQ.”

“The host’s analysis is reasonable. Coach Jiang obviously plans to let inexperienced players like Pei Feng and Hua Ran accumulate experience by participating in the Asian Championship this time. The most important thing is to participate and give the newcomers experience.”

“Ah, I don’t dare to watch the live broadcast. It tests my heart too much. Once the results come out, please kick me brothers and sisters.”

“I also don’t want to see it. Fred and Hua Hua are handsome but I will be sad to see handsome guys being abused.”

For the previous Asian Championship, the Chinese team didn’t participate and the league wouldn’t air it live. Almost no one paid attention to it. This time, Jiang Shaoyu led the team to participate and it set a precedent. After all, they were representing the country in a competition. The league gave the head coach a lot of face and specially sent a reporter to interview the team.

At the same time, the official live stream channel opened an ‘Asian Championship Live Stream Zone’. They invited two well-known A-grade League commentators, Fei Fei and Xiao Xi to follow the matches of the Chinese national team throughout the process. However, there were only a few million netizens who followed the ‘Asian Championship Live Stream Zone’. This was incomparable to the millions of followers of the ‘A-grade League Live Room.’

The time difference between Japan and China was only one hour and they just needed to fly from the capital to Tokyo. Yu Mingxiang arranged the fastest flight. The players got on the plane after lunch and arrived at Tokyo’s international airport around 7 o’clock in the evening.

Anna was fluent in multiple languages and she could communicate with the airport staff without any barriers in Japanese. The assistant didn’t usually appear much in the national team but her role was very great when they went abroad for competitions. With her as the interpreter, the players went through all the procedures very smoothly.

The people of the competition committee learned that the Chinese team was coming two days in advance and arranged for someone to come pick them up at the airport.

Anna communicated with the staff members who came to the airport to pick them up for a while in Japanese. Finally, she came to everyone and said helplessly, “They thought we only had five or six players and coaches. They sent a seven-seater business car and not all of us will fit.”

Everyone was a bit speechless.

Qi Heng complained in a low voice. “Do they really think we are here to be cannon fodder? What type of joke are they saying to only bring five players to participate?”

Jiang Shaoyu frowned and said, “Let’s go over by ourselves.”

The team going abroad this time included Vice-chairman Qi, Team Leader Yu, Coach Jiang, Old Chang, Assistant Anna, Team Doctor Xue and a reporter and photographer accompanying the team. There were eight people in the work group alone and six players. The team of 14 people was very large. The staff from the Japanese side in charge of picking them up at the airport almost had his jaw drop open. He thought China came here this time with a few random people to act as soy sauce. He hadn’t expected so many people to come here?

They even brought a reporter… the group stage was only being played for two days. Was it necessary to mobilize so many people?

The reporter accompanying the team was called Yan Luo and he was a very active male beta reporter in the e-sports circle. Once he heard this, he ran over to interview Jiang Shaoyu but he was frightened off by Jiang Shaoyu’s cold eyes.

Qi Heng waved his hand. “This type of news doesn’t need to be reported. Once the domestic netizens know about it, they will only think we are good at showing off. Report more content related to the competition.”

Reporter Yan had to silently put away the microphone.

Everyone’s emotions weren’t very good. Anna hurriedly smoothed things over and said with a smile, “Let’s take the subway. I know Japanese street signs. Wait for me to search the map and I’ll take everyone.”

Yu Mingxiang was somewhat worried. “I have already submitted the list of people to the organizers this time. How could they get our number wrong?”

Jiang Shaoyu said indifferently, “They didn’t pay attention. The organizers don’t take us seriously and think we are just here to make up the numbers.”

Yu Mingxiang frowned. “The rooms booked for us probably won’t be enough. If not, how many rooms do we need to pay for out of our own pockets?”

Qi Heng said, “It’s okay. This money comes from the funds of the national team. We have to let everyone sleep well when we go out to compete.”

After everyone discussed it, Anna followed the street signs and led everyone to the subway station. They were in Japan this time. If they could reach the finals and participate in the award ceremony, they would need to stay for up to five days. They came two days early so they might be staying for a week.

They wore team uniforms during the competition, so everyone didn’t bring much luggage. Everyone was carrying one uniform backpack.

The group of people walked to the subway station. Anna was very good at Japanese. She held up a small flag and was responsible for buying tickets for everyone and leading the way.

The people around them saw them walking forward in two neat lines with the same backpacks. They thought this group of people was a ‘tour group.’

The national team, which was regarded as a ‘tour group’, changed subway trains twice and walked a few hundred meters. Finally, they reached the door of the hotel arranged by the organizing committee.

It was as Yu Mingxiang expected. The work group and players she submitted obviously consisted of 14 people but the organizers only booked seven single rooms for them. Yu Mingxiang had to pay out of her own pocket to open a few more rooms.

Anna communicated with the front desk in Japanese. “Are there any double bed rooms?”

The girl at the front desk said, “Sorry, only the standard rooms are left.”

Yu Mingxiang thought for a moment. “Then book four more standard rooms for seven days. Our staff members can live in the double rooms.”

Everyone checked in while arranging the rooms.

They usually lived alone but it was normal to live in double rooms during competitions. Yu Mingxiang said, “I can live with Anna. Xueyao, can you live with Dr Xue? Dr Xue is also a female beta.”

Qin Xueyao nodded. “Of course.”

Pei Feng took the initiative to speak. “I will stay in a double room with Xiao Gui. This is convenient to tell him about the competition.” Gui Siyang was an alpha and Pei Feng had officially accepted him as an apprentice. It was convenient for communication if the two of them lived in a double room.

Of course, Xiao Gui had no opinion and said happily, “No problem! I will live with Master.”

The reporter and photographer also lived in a double room. Out of the remaining eight people, seven could be arranged in the single rooms booked by the organizing committee. The remaining person could live alone in a double room. Jiang Shaoyu said, “I will live in a double room. My room can be used as a temporary meeting room. Come to my room if we need to do tactical discussions.”

Everyone quickly arranged the accommodation, completed the formalities and went upstairs.

After they turned to leave, there were people muttering behind them. They wore work badges around their necks and they were staff members of the organizing committee.

“This year, the Chinese team is actually the first to arrive?”

“So active? Is it because they have never been to Japan so they came to see the world in advance?”

“So many people came and they booked a seven day stay? The group stage only takes two days. Why book for so long?”

“They definitely want to travel in Japan at public expense and play for a few more days.”

Anna was fluent in Japanese and fully understood their words. After returning to the room, she gritted her teeth and said, “Those staff members really look down on us! They say we are here for a tour and wonder why we booked a seven day stay… they are so sure we can’t stay until the day of the awards ceremony!”

Yu Mingxiang smiled and patted her shoulder. “Don’t be angry about this type of thing. If you go abroad a few more times, you will know that this type of situation isn’t surprising. We’ve never had a right to speak when it comes to the World Series. We have always been looked down on by players of other countries.”

She paused before saying helplessly, “If we want to win the respect of others, we must have strength.”

Anna looked at the gentle sister with mixed feelings. In fact, Sister Yu had led the team to play in the World Series for the past few years and she must’ve suffered a lot of grievances, right? She was the leader of the national team and had to solve all the communication with the competition committee. She must’ve faced all types of embarrassment and contempt…

However, this sister had always been very determined to protect the rights and interests of the national team players so that they had no worries. Unfortunately, the results of the previous competitions were too bad. No matter how hard the staff members worked, the final results still depended on the players’ efforts on the field.

Anna forcibly swallowed her anger from the airport to the present. She believed that one day, these people who looked down on them would be shocked.

Who said that the Chinese team was here to act as soy sauce and to travel? They were here to win the championship!

It was already 8 p.m. when the players finished unpacking. Pei Feng went to take a look at the buffet of the hotel. There were some leftovers. There weren’t many types of sushi and the shrimp shells were almost all crushed. Could this be eaten?

His master’s stomach wasn’t good and eating these cold things would definitely hurt his stomach.

Pei Feng frowned and knocked on the door of Sister Yu and Anna. He said, “Sister Yu, I just went to see the hotel’s restaurant and there is nothing to eat. Moreover, some people aren’t used to eating Japanese food. Why don’t we go out to eat?”

Yu Mingxiang knew that he was actually referring to Jiang Shaoyu when he said that some people weren’t used to eating it.

There was a lot of raw and cold food in Japanese cuisine. Jiang Shaoyu had a bad stomach and he would probably be sent to the hospital tomorrow if he ate these things.

She thought for a moment and looked at Anna. “Can you search if there are any Chinese restaurants nearby? During this competition, we can order takeout from Chinese restaurants and let them deliver food on time every day.”

Anna took out her mobile phone’s food app and searched on it. “The nearest one is one kilometer away.”

Pei Feng said, “In this way, Sister Anna and I will go to the restaurant first to take a look. If there is no problem with the environment and hygiene there, we will order from them.”

Yu Mingxiang said, “Okay. Then go. Be careful on the road.”

Anna turned on her phone to navigate and took Pei Feng out the door together. On the way, Anna couldn’t help being curious, “Xiao Pei, do you usually eat Japanese food?”

Pei Feng explained, “I eat it occasionally but Master never eats things like sushi and sashimi.”

Anna suddenly realized. “Oh! It turns out that you are thinking about Coach Jiang. You are quite caring.”

“OF course. He is the backbone of our national team and we can’t afford for anything to happen to him.”

The two of them chatted casually and soon arrived at the well-known Chinese restaurant shown on the map.

Pei Feng personally went to the restaurant to investigate. The environment of this store wasn’t bad. It looked quite clean and the dishes were mainly light southern cuisine. It was safer to eat light when going abroad. If they ate too many spicy or heavy things, it would be unacceptable if they got diarrhea.

To prevent their identity from being leaked, Pei Feng made up an excuse. “Hello, Boss. We are coming to Japan on business and we plan to stay here for a week. We aren’t used to Japanese food and want to order food from you. It is lunch and dinner for 14 people, so it is 28 set menus per day. Is it convenient for you to deliver the food?”

The boss immediately smiled when he heard such an order. “Of course, it is no problem! I can send someone to deliver it to you every day.”

Pei Feng said, “Please show me the menu. We will order the dishes in advance.”

The boss handed him the menu. Pei Feng picked it up and soon ordered a week’s worth of meals. There were matching meat and vegetarian dishes every day. There were three dishes and one soup, so it was nutritious and hearty.

Anna watched him skillfully handle these details and couldn’t help thinking that the captain of the national team was really careful. He even had to personally handle the meals in person.

Pei Feng was so worried about the menu because he hoped that his master could eat and sleep well during a competition abroad. This way, he would have the energy to deal with the foreign players, right?

Most of the dishes he picked were Jiang Shaoyu’s favorite dishes.

Of course, he couldn’t show his ‘biased’ nature too obviously. The 14 set meals a day would have two combinations. Those who liked to eat meat could choose two meat and one vegetarian dish while his master could choose two vegetarian and one meat dish. Everyone would be taken care of.

After returning to the hotel, Pei Feng met his master coming out of the room. Jiang Shaoyu glanced at him. “Where have you been?”

Pei Feng smiled and replied, “I went to order food with Sister Anna. Master, are you hungry? The food will be delivered immediately. We also booked it for the next seven days.”

Jiang Shaoyu looked at his apprentice in surprise. He hadn’t expected Pei Feng to be so quick and resolute in his work. He actually worried about the logistics of ordering food? The captain of the national team was quite conscientious.

Jiang Shaoyu nodded and said, “Yes. After eating, call all the players to my room for a meeting. The schedule has come out.”