22 National Trials (1)

Tang Yan looked over at Pan Yu and felt the urge to laugh. In just a few minutes, their positions had switched.

Life was truly cruel.

"Forget it, I shouldn't hold a grudge against some kid. Plus I don't have time to waste"

Tang Yan thought, then said: "Since Coach has advocated for you, naturally, I will forgive you for the sake of the team."

"Thank you." Pan Yu said, feeling relieved.

Song Feng heard Tang Yan's words and was full of joy. "Good, so young but still humble, and thinking of the team first. Hahaha... this time, we shall surely succeed at the national trials."

...

The provincial team selection trial ended, and the team lineup was officially released.

Originally, according to the rules of the national trial, the number of archers in each team was limited to three. However, because the Youth Olympics would be held in August, the number was eventually expanded to four. Although there was an additional place, the provinces knew that this quota was reserved for the young archers.

This time, the lineup was Pan Yu, Dong Jie, Tang Yan, and a newcomer named Ding Ran who had scored 620 points in the trial. He was the best among the other newcomers.

When such a lineup came out, the discerning people could see that Song Feng greatly valued Tang Yan, and they began to change their attitudes towards him.

...

At the beginning of July, Tang Yan and his entourage took the plane to Kaiyuan with Song Feng.

They were joined by the women's team, their newcomer was called Ling Biao. The two newcomers, Ding Ran and Ling Biao, were extremely excited to be on a plane as this was their first times flying.

Tang Yan had been on planes quite a few times in his previous life, so he quickly adjusted and began watching a movie.

About two hours later, they landed at the airport.

When they got off the plane, they didn't go to the residence arranged by the organizers; instead, they went and rented a hotel first.

Archery wasn't a popular sport in China; therefore, the provinces usually didn't invest much in that area. You could say that the Zhejiang Province was a special case. As one of the most developed provinces on the coast, it was one of the few provinces which paid archery some attention.

This was Tang Yan's first time experiencing such special treatment.

It reminded him of the American men's basketball team during the Olympics. They didn't stay in the Olympic Village during the Olympics, but on luxury yachts or in luxury hotels instead.

Of course, he didn't care too much about these external things. After dropping off his luggage at the hotel, he and the others went to the nearby archery hall to get a feel for the arena.

Although they were staying in a hotel, they were still quite close to the competition venue. The archery hall they found was already full of archers from the other provinces.

They found a position in the corner and prepared to begin training.

"Oi! look over there. Those are the archers from Zhejiang I was telling you about."

"Wow! Seriously? Do they actually stay in five-star hotels?"

"Damn, what a waste of money."

"Yeah, I know, right? If we had that kind of treatment, we would have already won the World Championships. They can't even get into the national team, but they still act so arrogantly just cause their province is rich."

...

It wasn't long after they arrived that these voices of dissent and discussion appeared.

Obviously, the special treatment they received had made the other archers green with envy.

Although most of what they had said was true, and they had the right to feel disgruntled, it was still uncomfortable to hear people insulting them in their presence.

"Shut the fuck up, will you! If you have something to say, then say it out loud instead of fucking whispering like a bunch of gutless bastards…Humph! That's what I thought," shouted Pan Yu, losing his temper.

The crowd quickly closed their mouths, turned away and continued to practice.

"Hehe... losing your temper, are we? Just because they're telling the truth."

"The truth hurts sometimes."

At this moment, two guys walked in with expressions full of ridicule. One was a rather tall male, and the other was slightly smaller in height but seemingly built of pure muscle.

"You need to hear the truth more often, then maybe you'll stop wasting your provinces' money," said the muscular one.

"Han Tianfu, Cao Yan... don't try me right now. I'm not in the mood." Pan Yu said sternly, but his voice seemed to lack the same confidence and arrogance of before when dealing with the crowd.

"So? What if you're not in the mood? How is that my business?" Cao Yan, the muscular man, asked with a smile.

"Brother Cao, watch out don't provoke him, or this trash might just bite you. We really can't afford it if he contaminates you." Han Tianfu said, his mocking smile not diminishing the slightest in the face of Pan Yu's threat.

"Dammit! I didn't consider this. Wait, do you think I will catch 'trash' from breathing the same air as him?" Cao Yan asked with a big smile; his mocking becoming more and more intense.

"You!" Pan Yu said while striding forward.

But just in time, Tang Yan pulled him aside.

Li Guangs' abilities hadn't just improved his archery, but also strengthened his body; therefore, Pan Yu was dragged away by Tang Yan.

"What are you doing?" Pan Yu resisted while shouting at Tang Yan with hatred.

"Haha, oh you want to fight?" Cao Yan looked over at the two and burst into laughter.

Tang Yan ignored Pan Yu, and he glanced at Cao Yan and Han Tianfu. He said faintly, "I hope your skills are as strong as your mouths."

Hearing this sentence, Pan Yu immediately closed his mouth, and Cao Yan and Han Tianfu had shocked expressions on their faces.

They slowly turned to each other.

And burst into laughter.

"Haha~ Hahaha~~"

A few moments later.

"Hahaha... dammit! I can't stop laughing. Kid, you should become a comedian hahaha..."

"It seems we need to educate some rookies."

"Do you know where I ranked last year? —Fifth place.— As in fifth in the whole of China, and Cao Yan finished in fourth place. Now, do you think we are talking big?" Han Tianfu questioned with a look of disdain and arrogance all at the same time.

The athletes from the other provinces all looked at Tang Yan. This 18-year-old kid probably just wanted to help out his teammate. But instead he had just headbutted an iron board.

At this time, Pan Yu felt like giving Tang Yan a slap. What the hell did he think he was doing, embarrassing him like this? Damn it... now, he had just lost all his face. Unable to stand this any longer, he moved to shout at Tang Yan to shut up.

But Tang Yan suddenly burst into laughter, shocking everyone.

"Haha... Hahahaha—"

His laughter was hysterical, causing everyone to look at him with incomprehensibility as if he was insane.

Cao Yan and Han Tianfu began to frown, and they started to feel insulted. Who the hell was this kid laughing at?

At this time, Tang Yan said with a smirk, "Don't view this year's tournament as the same as last year's, or you might just find yourselves falling down a rank or two."