Almighty Coach

Congcong Wu was the fattest in the affiliated middle school of the normal university. That was why he had left Professor Chuanfu Liao with a lasting impression. He had had no capacity for improvement in Chuanfu Liao’s eyes. He would have suggested that the boy give up on the PE exam and put all his effort towards other exams. He was too fat to get any good scores on the PE exam. However, after Chuanfu Liao saw Congcong Wu’s score was 20 on the proctor’s computer, he had no idea what had happened.

"To even pass the test would be a dream for Congcong Wu, let alone get a full score. Could it be that the proctor miswrote the score? Should I remind them?" He cleared his mind of this thought the next second. Why would he stop his own student from getting a high score? That didn’t make sense.

Head Hu’s voice echoed again. "Look, this Congcong Wu got full scores in the other two activities, too. He got a full score across the board! There aren’t many students that can get 60 points because the scoring criteria is so high this year. Professor Liao, is this Congcong Wu one of the best students in sports here?"

"The best student in sports? Congcong Wu? Quit it. I would say he is the best student in Japanese sumo!" Chuanfu Liao thought to himself. He could never link Head Hu’s comment with his student Congcong Wu, never. He smiled awkwardly, not knowing if he should nod or shake his head. The next second, he suddenly realized that Head Hu had said full score across the board.

"Congcong Wu? Full score across the board? How is that possible? The proctors must all be blind if Congcong Wu can get a full score!"

Chuanfu Liao looked at the screen again and again, just to make sure he hadn’t misread it. Congcong Wu’s score was really 60 points!

"Oh my gosh, how is that? How could Congcong Wu get a full score? And across the board? How had he survived the pull-ups?" Chuanfu Liao’s mind was running on fumes.

The same thing was happening in the other examination fields as well. Some "Big Mac" student had done 14 pull-ups without a break, jumped over 2.50 meters, and finished the 1000m race in 3 mins, 40 secs. One after another full scores were showing up!

It surprised many of the proctors, but it didn’t create any sensational news because it was normal that 3 or 4 fat examinees got full scores out of hundreds or thousands of students in some examination fields. It could only be regarded as a coincidence.

...

The high school PE entrance exam came to an end, yet Jianguo Chen was busy again. There was only one month to go before the cultural class exam, and it was the key period for training classes to enroll because all the examinees of the high school entrance exam had entered the home stretch. And after the high school entrance exam came the summer holiday. The two-month summer holiday was a golden period for training classes to make money.

Jianguo Chen didn’t forget to call the parents to hear their reviews, however. The competition between training classes was very intense, which made public praise very important. Compared to other forms of advertising, reviews from parents were the best. People tended to believe their relatives, friends, neighbors, and colleagues if they said something was good. That was why Talent Education called the parents for reviews every time the training class was over.

"Professor Chen, I finished the phone calls for the training class of the high school PE entrance exam." A young teacher brought the report of the reviews to Jianguo Chen.

"How was it?" Jianguo Chen asked without even raising his head.

"The satisfaction rate is 100%," the female teacher said.

Jianguo Chen nodded silently. The 100% outcome didn’t surprise him at all because it was pretty normal in training classes.

Many parents signed their children up not for the sake of raising their children’s scores, but to prevent them from playing games. They wanted to fill their children’s schedule. Some of the parents just signed their children up because they saw the advertisements and felt like they should follow the trend, following the herd mentality. Some even signed their children up just because they didn’t want to lose, since all the other children went to training classes. But there was one thing for sure—no parent would place hope in training classes after school. What mattered was their children’s studies at school. If the training classes were good enough to improve their children’s studies, what was the point of having school?

Since they didn’t place much hope in the class in the first place, they didn’t feel dissatisfied either. The training class was like an extra nutritious snack after meal—as long the student could get something out of it it was enough, even if it was small. And as long as the teacher gave some type of effort to teach the children, the student would improve to some extent. Unless there were some earnest parents, a 100% satisfaction rate was not big news.

"I remember that we had 36 students in the PE training class, right? Did you ask for their grades? How many of them passed?" Jianguo Chen asked.

"I did. All 36 students passed the exam. The passing rate is 100%!" The female teacher continued, "We are really lucky. Every one of them had 60 points exactly. If one of them had gotten even 1 point less, they wouldn’t have been able to pass the exam."

The female teacher taught singing, so she had no idea that the full score for PE was 60 points. She thought that it was a hundred-mark system and that 60 points was the passing line.

"What did you say? Each one of them got 60 points?" Jianguo Chen raised his head surprisingly.

"I felt strange too. All of them got 60 points, exactly the passing line. Why was there no one who performed above average and got a few more points?" the female teacher asked.

"That’s because the full score for PE is 60! It’s not the passing line, it’s the full score! The 100% is not the passing grade, it’s a perfect score!" Jianguo Chen couldn’t sit in his chair calmly. He grabbed the report of the reviews and read it again and again.

Although Jianguo Chen was not involved in the training process, he was there during the enrollment. He knew what each student looked like. Each one was fatter than the next. Jianguo Chen would have been grateful if they could have just passed the exam. He had never expected them to get full scores.

Thirty-six students. Even one perfect score would have surprised Jianguo Chen, let alone all of them. Jianguo Chen felt like he was witnessing one of God’s miracles.

"Dai Li! It’s because of him! I’d have never thought that this young man could have given me such a big surprise! It’s a miracle!" Jianguo Chen repeated Dai Li’s name, feeling like he should worship him.