Never Give Up

The shot put training field.

"Pause for a moment," Dai Li said, clapping. "Come over here. Let’s have a meeting first."

The five young athletes immediately paused and gathered around Dai Li. Dai Li swept his eyes amongst them with a serious look on his face, then asked, "You know how lousy your training has been these days, don’t you? I am confused. Why are you fooling around all day and not taking the training seriously? Did I do something that offended you, and now you are holding a grudge against me?"

Dai Li said this on purpose. What he really wanted was to make the athletes talk. Before any of the five men responded, Dai Li pointed at a young athlete. "Zhanshan Zhao, you go first."

"No, sir, absolutely not." Zhao shook his head right away.

"Now you go, Jiankang Chen," Dai Li said, pointing at another athlete.

"We just met each other a few days ago. How could I possibly hold a grudge against you?" Chen answered with a grin.