Chapter 53

It was only then that Zhang Guan realized that the two men had come to confront him.

Zhang Guan instantly calmed down and said, "You can eat anything, but you can't say anything recklessly. You accuse me of making a mistake and want to punish me just by moving your lips. Please tell me what mistake I made, and make it clear so I can understand. You can't just punish me based on a vague accusation!"

"You just admitted it a moment ago," Zhao Gan said.

"I only admitted to going to the betting station to buy a lottery ticket. I never said I made a mistake," Zhang Guan said.

"Buying a lottery ticket is your mistake," Zhao Gan stared at Zhang Guan. "To put it mildly, you violated the rules of our delegation. To put it strongly, you tarnished the image of our country!"

"Wait a moment, let's get this straight. Every time I left the Olympic Village, I reported to the team, and you all approved it. We have records to check. I never left the Olympic Village at any other time," Zhang Guan said.

"How do you explain buying a lottery ticket then?" Zhao Gan asked.

"After familiarizing myself with the venue, the shuttle bus didn't leave for a while, so I went around and bought some souvenirs. There are so many athletes in our national team, and I'm not the only one who buys souvenirs. You can't just target me!" Zhang Guan said.

"Souvenirs? Have you ever seen anyone buy a lottery ticket as a souvenir?" Zhao Gan clearly didn't accept this answer.

"What's so strange about that? Some people collect coins, stamps, postcards, cigarette packs, and even stickers. There are even people who collect cards from instant noodles. What's wrong with me collecting lottery tickets from different countries? Besides, I said I bought them to win. The tickets have my name on them. Just imagine, having my name on a lottery ticket from the Athens Olympics, how meaningful and valuable that would be!" Zhang Guan started to make up excuses.

"That's true... No, that's not right! If you were collecting, you wouldn't need to buy hundreds of tickets!" Zhao Gan immediately said.

"How do they even know that?" Zhang Guan decided to go all out, given that he already had several million euros. He felt quite confident and said, "I have a lot of relatives and friends at home. I'll give each of them a ticket, so I bought a bit more. I spent money to buy myself some face, is that not allowed?"

"You..." Zhao Gan was speechless at this unreasonable argument, unable to find a way to counter it.

At this moment, the older Director Guo finally spoke, his expression and tone stern, "Zhang Guan, you are being unreasonable! With your current attitude, I can disqualify you from the national team for failing to meet the moral standards!"

Director Guo, of course, didn't have the authority to expel Zhang Guan from the national team, but he thought Zhang Guan was only eighteen and tried to intimidate him. However, Zhang Guan showed no fear, only a cold laugh, his expression full of disdain.

Director Guo felt the disdain in Zhang Guan's expression and became angry. He continued sternly, "Others buy souvenirs, but you go gambling. Gambling is illegal and can land you in jail!"

Director Guo thought the word "jail" would scare Zhang Guan, but Zhang Guan became even more disdainful. He coldly said, "Please don't change the subject. I bought the lottery tickets from a legitimate company through proper channels, which is not illegal. Moreover, our country also has welfare and sports lotteries, with various types like Double Color Ball, Super Lotto, and Scratch Cards. There are betting stations all over the place, selling billions of tickets every year. How many people buy them? Do you have the ability to put them all in jail?"

Zhao Gan helplessly looked at Director Guo. Director Guo was due to retire in a year and his thinking was still stuck in the last century. He believed that fabricating a serious consequence would scare the athletes, but it was now the internet age, and young people could find all sorts of information online. They were not as easily intimidated as they were twenty or thirty years ago.

"Let's not get too excited," Zhao Gan tried to mediate. "Zhang Guan, let's put aside the fact that you bought lottery tickets for a moment. The consequences of your actions have already brought a negative impact to our Olympic delegation! We represent the entire country, so we should hold ourselves to high standards, abide by the law, and present our best image to the world. However, your actions have seriously tarnished the overall image of our delegation..."

"Please wait a moment," Zhang Guan interrupted Director Guo. "I still don't understand how buying a lottery ticket is related to the negative image you mentioned. Is buying a lottery ticket a shameful thing in Greece?"

"It seems you won't admit your mistake until you see the evidence!" Director Guo pulled out a few newspapers from his bag and threw them to Zhang Guan. "Look for yourself!"

"My English isn't good enough to read them. Could you please translate them for me?" Zhang Guan threw the newspapers back.

"You can go to a betting station and not recognize a few English words?" Director Guo said, clearly annoyed.

Zhang Guan chuckled and said, "I can speak but not read. Besides, buying lottery tickets mainly relies on hand gestures. I gestured to the newspaper, but he didn't understand, so you'll have to translate it for me."

Zhao Gan helplessly picked up the newspapers and pointed to one of the articles. "This is a reprint from The Times. Do you know The Times? It's the largest media outlet in the UK. It says..."

Zhao Gan translated the main content of the article for Zhang Guan. As Zhang Guan listened, he began to analyze the situation.

"How did the reporter know? Who leaked the information? The basketball team? Impossible, they're all on my side and wouldn't betray me. They only knew I bet on Iraq 4-2 to win against Portugal, not that I placed a heavy bet on myself winning. OPAP betting company? Also impossible. While they have my information and can check my bets, European betting companies are very protective of customer privacy. Leaking customer information is a major scandal in Europe, and OPAP has no reason to do that, especially since they don't know I'm an athlete. I don't believe the national team has the ability to influence OPAP. The accountant, Flagoskes? It's probably not him. He seems to have a strong sense of professional ethics and doesn't know about my heavy bet on myself winning. So, who could it be?"

Zhang Guan carefully recalled his trip to the betting station and suddenly remembered someone.

"The BBC reporter! What was his name? I forgot! But it must be him! The news only mentioned my heavy bet on myself winning, not my bet on the Iraqi football team. So, it must be this reporter. He probably did a random interview at the betting station and didn't know I was Zhang Guan at the time. He thought I was supporting my compatriots, but later found out I was Zhang Guan and had placed a heavy bet on myself winning. This reporter is so idle. With so many people winning and breaking records every day, he doesn't report on them but focuses on me! What bad luck, I just made some money and now I'm in trouble."

Zhang Guan kept cursing the BBC reporter, Bell, in his mind but was also thinking of a way to deal with the situation.

After Zhao Gan finished translating the contents of the newspapers, Director Guo's expression softened slightly. He said, "Young people are bound to make mistakes, but it's important to admit and take responsibility for them. If you can recognize and correct your mistakes, you're a good comrade! So, Zhang, you need to first recognize your mistake and understand the serious negative impact your actions have had on the country's image. Then, write a self-criticism..."

"Write a self-criticism? If I write it, even if I didn't make a mistake, it will become my mistake. Then you can punish me however you want. Do you think I'm stupid?" Zhang Guan thought to himself and interrupted Director Guo again. "These foreign newspapers are just saying I won't win this Olympics. Do you, Director Guo and Zhao Gan, think I can win the 100-meter sprint gold medal?"

"You, of course, can't..." Director Guo suddenly stopped. Although he believed Zhang Guan couldn't win the 100-meter sprint gold medal, he couldn't say it out loud. As an official in the delegation, he couldn't admit defeat before the competition.

Director Guo cleared his throat and continued in an official tone, "Of course, there is hope. In the competition, we can't give up any hope. We need to show our resilience! However, the 100-meter sprint is a highly competitive event, and winning it would be extremely difficult."

Zhang Guan pointed to the newspapers on the table and said, "But these newspapers are confidently saying I can't win. You just said I still have a chance to win, which means you also believe these newspapers are incorrect."

"This..." Director Guo felt his already not-so-sharp mind getting confused.

Zhang Guan continued, "For example, The Times, using the feudal and backward Qing Dynasty to mock our country, is a complete defamation of our current good life. The Free Press is full of racial discrimination, which is a complete disregard for human rights. Do you two leaders agree with me?"

"But..." Director Guo was about to counter, but Zhang Guan didn't give him the chance.

Zhang Guan continued, "If you two leaders ask our propaganda department, you'll know that these European newspapers, while being major media outlets in Europe, are staunchly anti-China. They often exaggerate false information to defame our country and smear us. These European media outlets are always against our success and our rise."

"Now, these media outlets know my condition is very good and are worried that I might win the 100-meter sprint, which would boost our country's international image. So, they deliberately publish such articles to create confusion and affect my competition state to achieve their goals. I believe our delegation's leaders are wise and won't be misled by these anti-China media's provocations. Besides, just because foreigners say I'm a bad guy, does that make me a bad guy? Would the team really use false reports from foreign newspapers as a basis to punish its athletes?"

Zhang Guan finished with a smile, looking at Director Guo and Zhao Gan. The two clearly wanted to speak but didn't know what to say, as they were caught in Zhang Guan's logic.

Whether it was The Times, Berliner Zeitung, or The Free Press, they were indeed known for their anti-China rhetoric, a Cold War mentality that had persisted for decades and was unlikely to change in the short term. The ideological stance of most European media outlets was anti-China.

Director Guo and Zhao Gan, as government employees, believed that anything said by anti-China media was wrong, a basic stance. As officials, they could make mistakes and cause trouble, but they had to be correct in their overall direction and stand on the right side.

Zhang Guan's insistence that he had the ability to win the 100-meter sprint left Director Guo and Zhao Gan speechless. Media commentators and ordinary people could say "You can't do it," "You're terrible," "You're boasting," "You won't win the gold," but the Olympic delegation's officials couldn't say such things, at least not before the competition.

Zhao Gan thought about it carefully and realized that Zhang Guan had a point. Initially, he had assumed Zhang Guan had made a mistake and was being criticized by foreign media. But now, he realized that these foreign media outlets were not trustworthy. As Zhang Guan said, using foreign media reports as a basis to punish an athlete was inappropriate.

However, Director Guo thought differently.

Director Guo was due to retire in a year, and at this stage, people's thoughts can be very strange. Some gradually learn to let go, while others cling to their power, wanting to make a final push.

Zhang Guan's defiance made Director Guo feel very embarrassed. Although he had a year before retirement, he was still in his position and wouldn't be forgotten just yet. He couldn't tolerate people who pretended to respect him while secretly defying him. Moreover, Zhang Guan not only refused to write a self-criticism but also openly defied him. Director Guo felt his authority was being openly challenged, and this was something he couldn't tolerate. In his eyes, this was no longer a matter of right and wrong but a challenge to his remaining power.

...

Director Guo walked out of the athletes' apartment with a gloomy face. Zhang Guan neither admitted his mistake nor wrote a self-criticism, leaving Director Guo with no immediate solution.

"I don't believe I can't deal with a small athlete like you!" Director Guo had already made up his mind.

Zhao Gan, unaware of Director Guo's thoughts, said inappropriately, "I think Zhang Guan has a point. Using foreign media reports to accuse our own athletes is indeed inappropriate. I suggest we give him a verbal warning and tell him to be more careful in the future, at least to wear a mask or something to avoid being used by foreign media..."

"No!" Director Guo glared at Zhao Gan and continued, "This has caused a huge stir and become a laughingstock for foreigners, creating a terrible international impact. We must punish him. If he had a good attitude, we could say a few good words for him, but look at his attitude now. He hasn't recognized his mistake at all. I think he should be severely punished!"

Zhao Gan was taken aback. He felt something was off, but Director Guo was his superior, so he asked, "What do you suggest, Director Guo?"

"A reprimand, a major reprimand, a public criticism, and a suspension upon return. This is a serious matter, and we must set an example," Director Guo said. "We must make an example of him to warn others."

Yes, since he had made Director Guo unhappy, he would indeed be made an example of...

---

This chapter is nearly 4500 words. Please give me a recommendation! I can only write one chapter today as I worked a full day and night yesterday and have to work a full day today. I'll catch up on sleep tonight and resume two chapters tomorrow. Thank you to the readers who supported me: Fashion Wind, Xin Wei Xue, Loli Green Town, Artoria Pendragon, gigiliu5277, dfhdfg, Reader-YES, HＯ~Sweet SouroΟ, libin130068, Plum Bamboo Hermit, and Witch. Thank you all for your support!

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