Ms. Tan Is The Real Boss

Professor Yi was quite excited, “You’re really good at running. Why not sign up for a long-distance running event? Long-distance running events offer more bonus points.”

Tan Rou looked at the excited Professor Yi and said, “Professor, if you keep being this excited, I might just change my mind and not participate at all. You go ahead and compete instead.”

Professor Yi didn’t dare to offer further suggestions, “Alright, alright, I’ll stop talking. You decide what events to compete in based on your own situation. Anyway, no matter what events you choose to participate in, I doubt our graduate college could find many suitable athletes.”

Tan Rou thought to herself, if that’s the case, why are you still asking me to participate? If no one else does, maybe the dean won’t pay attention to this matter either.

After getting the registration form, Tan Rou logged onto the sports meet’s official website to take a look. There were many events, all fairly standard, and Tan Rou could handle them. Each person could register for up to three events but had to sign up for at least one. Tan Rou decided to take the middle ground and register for two events with the highest scores.

Typically, long-distance running events in sports meets offer large bonus points because they are extremely physically demanding and test an athlete’s endurance. If the scores weren’t high, few people would participate.

This sports meet was a youth meet, intended for young people aged 18 to 30. These young people are the pillars of the nation; if they don’t have good physical health, how can they contribute to the country?

The Capital’s Youth Cup Sports Meet had been held ten times; this year was the eleventh. University students had always been the main force in past sports meets, and this year was no exception. It was unclear whether it was because the university presidents had met or for some other reason, but all high schools were encouraging graduate students to participate in the sports meet, and some even tied the event to scholarships. If the students performed well, they could be considered for scholarship selection in advance.

Tan Rou didn’t need that bit of scholarship money; her name had always been at the top of the entire grade, and she had long since earned all the academic credits needed. Whether it was the national scholarship or the school’s, she could get it.

But Tan Rou signed up for the sports meet anyway. It was solely because her mentor had mentioned it. Had it been someone else, Tan Rou probably wouldn’t have given them the time of day.

Tan Rou registered for the long-distance running and the 400m freestyle swimming, as these two events awarded more points. As long as she won first place, the pressure on her school would be a bit less. There’s a common belief that students with excellent academic performance are physically weak, and Tan Rou wanted to shatter that prejudice.

Tan Rou’s house in the university town didn’t have a professional swimming pool, which made it inconvenient to train for swimming. Her family home did have a large swimming pool, but since the university town was too far from her home, traveling back and forth would waste a lot of time.

After some thought, Tan Rou called Zhuang Liu, “Zhuang Liu, I’ve signed up for this year’s Youth Cup Sports Meet, and one of the events is the 400m freestyle. I don’t have a suitable swimming pool here. Do you have one over there?”

Upon hearing that Tan Rou had registered for the sports meet, Zhuang Liu was a bit surprised because sports meets are purely exertive and thankless endeavors. Winning at most earns you a trophy, which offered no advantage to Tan Rou. So why would she want to participate?

“Tan Rou, what made you think of signing up for the sports meet?” asked Zhuang Liu curiously.

Tan Rou replied, “It wasn’t my idea to sign up. It was my advisor who suggested I do so. If I didn’t, he would probably sigh every time he saw me.”

Zhuang Liu didn’t want Tan Rou to participate and said, “Is there really no one else at your school?”

“Who knows? I don’t care about these things. Anyway, I’ve already registered, and unless there’s a special circumstance, I’ll definitely be participating in the sports meet,” Tan Rou said calmly, “Let’s get to the point. Do you have a swimming pool? If you do, I’ll come over tonight.”