Chapter 71

"Move aside, everyone, move aside!" Director Guo shouted, but none of the reporters blocking the front moved from their positions. The reporters who interviewed celebrities had honed their skills in pushing and positioning, and Director Guo's body clearly couldn't squeeze through the crowd.

"Everyone, please move aside and make room for the leader," Officer Zhao said.

At the mention of "leader," the reporters turned to look and saw a man with a chest badge. The badge hanging around his neck was the official work pass of the delegation. Reluctantly, the reporters made a path, allowing Director Guo to enter.

Director Guo stood in the middle of the crowd, the constant flashing of cameras giving him a great sense of satisfaction. For someone who would retire in a little over a year, he cherished these moments in the spotlight. He cleared his throat and walked up to Zhang Guan.

"It's Director Guo!" Instructor Yu greeted with a forced smile. Although they knew each other, they had little business interaction, and Instructor Yu and Director Guo had only met a few times.

Director Guo merely nodded at Instructor Yu, then pulled out a piece of paper from his file. Although the text was hard to see in the dark, the red seal on it was still visible.

"Is this a commendation? How could it be so fast? When did these officials become so efficient?" Instructor Yu looked at Director Ma, who shook his head in confusion, indicating he knew nothing about it.

The reporters on the scene also thought it was a written commendation from the delegation, so they raised their equipment and aimed at Instructor Yu, preparing to report it as an exclusive story.

Director Ma was very satisfied with the puzzled expressions of the others and even more gratified by the media's focus. He cleared his throat and said, "Now, I will read the document, 'The Decision on the Punishment of Comrade Zhang Guan for Violating Discipline!'"

"Wow..."

The crowd was in an uproar!

A satisfied smile appeared on Director Guo's face again. He thought to himself that the few hours of waiting had not been in vain; he wanted this shocking effect.

"What does the delegation mean? They are going to punish Zhang Guan?"

"Wasn't it supposed to be a commendation? Why punishment?"

"Is this a case of kicking someone when they're down?"

"When the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the rabbits are dead, the hunting dogs are cooked!"

"Given Zhang Guan's achievements, even if he slightly violated the rules, they wouldn't read the punishment in public! The leaders must be out of their minds!"

"A thousand pieces of gold can't buy a fool! Today was not a waste; this is a huge news story!"

The reporters' heated discussions instantly made Director Guo's smile more genuine, but when he listened carefully to their conversation, he realized something was off. Phrases like "kicking someone when they're down" and "when the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the rabbits are dead, the hunting dogs are cooked" didn't seem to be on his side.

"Quiet, everyone, quiet down!" Officer Zhao said, and the reporters immediately fell silent.

"Director Guo, is there a misunderstanding here?" Director Ma immediately stepped forward and asked.

"Misunderstanding?" Director Guo sneered, showing the front of the document and said, "This is stamped. How can there be a misunderstanding?"

Director Ma and the others looked closely and indeed saw the red seal.

"What's going on here?" Director Ma looked at Director Guo, then turned to look at Zhang Guan, completely puzzled.

Zhang Guan was also thinking about the origin of this punishment decision.

"I have already won the Olympic gold medal and broken the world record in the 100 meters. They should be praising me to the skies. How could they issue a punishment? Even if they were to punish me, they wouldn't read it in front of so many people! Unless they don't know I won the Olympic gold medal."

With this thought, Zhang Guan decided to take the initiative. He stood up and said, "I need to explain this matter."

All eyes focused on Zhang Guan again. He calmly said, "A few days ago, I took the opportunity to familiarize myself with the competition venue and went to a betting station in Athens to buy a lottery ticket, a sports lottery that involves guessing the results of competitions. We have this in our country too, I'm sure you are all familiar with it."

"Later, Director Guo and Officer Zhao suddenly came to my room and said that buying lottery tickets was gambling and violated the rules. I, of course, argued my case. At the time, Director Guo insisted that my behavior violated the delegation's rules and that I should wait for punishment. I think the punishment has arrived now!"

Zhang Guan finished speaking and smiled at Director Guo, as if telling him it was his turn to explain.

"Buying lottery tickets is a violation of the rules? That's ridiculous!"

"If buying sports lotteries is considered gambling, I would have been arrested several times by now."

"Everyone can see that even the officials from the General Administration of Sport consider sports lotteries as gambling. Maybe you should stop buying them!"

Director Guo, a seasoned official, realized the situation was not in his favor and quickly countered, "What Zhang Guan said is not entirely true. We decided to punish him not because he bought lottery tickets, but because his behavior caused extremely negative effects on the national team!"

The reporters immediately focused on Director Guo, who continued, "We have a basis for punishing athletes. Although Zhang Guan's act of buying lottery tickets did not violate the rules, he bet on himself winning the Olympic gold medal, and this was reported by European media as a joke. This arrogant and irresponsible behavior greatly damaged the country's image!"

"Considering that young athletes are prone to making mistakes, I personally talked to Zhang Guan, hoping he would recognize his error, conduct a profound self-examination, and strictly discipline himself in the future. He should not say or do things that could cause trouble for the national team. However, Zhang Guan not only failed to recognize his mistake but also claimed he could win the Olympic gold medal. This clearly shows that he has not recognized his arrogance and the negative impact it has had on the country! Therefore, our punishment is not for buying lottery tickets but for his failure to repent after making a mistake!"

Director Guo spoke with a righteous tone but noticed that everyone was looking at him with strange expressions.

"What's wrong? Why are you all looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?" Director Guo carefully recalled his words but found no flaws.

"Why can't I win the Olympic gold medal?" Zhang Guan asked loudly. "It's one thing for foreigners to look down on us, but do we have to look down on ourselves too?"

Zhang Guan's words instantly resonated with everyone. A few hours ago, few might have agreed with him, but now, as an Olympic champion who broke the men's 100-meter world record, he was seen as a miracle creator, and his words stirred even more emotions.

"I'm not looking down on you; I'm just being factual! If you don't have the ability, it's fine to brag privately, but when your boasts end up in foreign newspapers, you must take responsibility for the negative impact," Director Guo quickly responded.

"Being factual? Fine, let's be factual!" Zhang Guan stepped forward and said, "The reason you are punishing me is that foreign media widely reported that I couldn't win and that I was arrogant and presumptuous?"

"That's the fact," Director Guo replied succinctly.

"But what if the foreign media is wrong? They know I've been in good form recently and might be trying to disrupt my performance. Would you still punish me, the victim?" Zhang Guan asked.

"Whether the foreign media is using tactics or not, I won't comment. I only look at the results, and this incident has indeed caused negative effects on the national team," Director Guo said coldly.

"Fine, let's talk about the results! Let's talk about today's race results," Zhang Guan paused and then asked, "Director Guo, my event has already ended today. Can you guess what place I came in?"

Director Guo was slightly taken aback. He knew there were the men's 100-meter semifinals and finals today. Zhang Guan asking him to guess the result, and coming back so late, suggested he had likely made it to the final.

"I didn't expect this kid to have some talent and make it to the Olympic final. This is a historic breakthrough! No wonder he's so confident. He's only eighteen, and in four years, he might achieve something great." Director Guo suddenly felt a bit regretful, thinking he shouldn't have strained his relationship with such a rising star.

But then he thought, "I'm retiring in a little over a year, and I won't have much interaction with Zhang Guan after that. It's better to offend him now. I'm a ministry official; I don't need to fear an athlete."

"He's asking me to guess his place, so he must have done well. There are eight athletes in total. If he came in eighth, he wouldn't ask me to guess. Seventh place isn't worth boasting about. Could he have come in fifth or sixth?" Director Guo frowned. He knew that if a Chinese athlete could place fifth or sixth in the Olympic final, it would be a significant highlight and hard to implement the punishment.

"No, this punishment must be carried out today. Once it's implemented, it can't be revoked, even if he came in fifth." Director Guo was cautious and didn't answer directly, saying, "Your place in the race has nothing to do with your punishment. I won't guess your place."

"That's not necessarily true. If I came in the top three and won a medal, would you still read the punishment? Can you bear the responsibility?" Zhang Guan pointed at the document in Director Guo's hand.

Director Guo's heart tightened. "Did he win a medal?"

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Here is the first chapter of the day. Please give me a recommendation if you can. If you have time, please vote for me in the Three Rivers section.

The character of Director Guo is based on a high school teacher I had. I remember the year of the Southeast Asian tsunami, the school organized a donation drive. It seemed that the more a class donated, the more face the teacher had. I didn't donate because I didn't like a certain Southeast Asian country. The teacher then called me out sternly, saying my moral character was lacking and that I could be expelled. Of course, I didn't donate in the end. I've always disliked people who escalate things unnecessarily. So, this negative character is a bit of a personal indulgence.

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