Riding the wind of rebirth

After breakfast, it was time for the baby and mother to have some private time. Everyone else could stay inside, but Zhou Zhi had to avoid them and was thus forced to go to the hallway.

In the hallway, Zhou Zhi saw Brother Zhang walking over with a kettle of hot water, so he greeted him, "Brother Zhang, congratulations! I heard your wife gave birth to a baby girl weighing over eight pounds? Your baby was the fattest yesterday!"

"She was just too fat, and the mother suffered twice! Her daughter's head was flat when she was born, like an old man, I heard it was because she couldn't be born naturally!" Brother Zhang sighed as he spoke: "You know, technology isn't that bad these days, is it? How come they couldn't even estimate the size of the two babies?"

"As long as mother and daughter are safe, that's better than anything else," Zhou Zhi said with a smile.

“That makes sense, being a little chubby has its advantages,” Brother Zhang said. “Little Liu’s kid is still lying in the incubator. I’m not going to talk to you anymore. You don’t know how much it takes to walk around this floor all night; your back and legs ache and you can even get cramps! There’s so much to do, dealing with mom and dad all the time!”

"You're busy, you're busy," Zhou Zhi quickly said. "Congratulations again!"

"Elbow!" Just as Brother Zhang left, Zhou Zhi heard someone calling him from behind. He turned around and saw Liang Hong, Yang Honghui, Zhang Lu, Yan Xiao, Zhao Zhonggang, and Liu Lu, carrying milk powder, fruit, and diapers. "What are you doing in the hallway?"

"Why are you all here? And all of you so neatly arranged?" Zhou Zhi asked.

"This is the first couple among our classmates to become parents, so of course we had to come and see them," Liang Hong said. "Which room?"

"Girls can go in, but the men will have to wait a bit longer." Zhou Zhi bumped fists with Yan Xiao, Zhao Zhonggang, Zhang Lu, and Yang Honghui: "Still breastfeeding, Honghui, guys, long time no see!"

"Give me everything," Liang Hong said impatiently. "Sister Liu and I will go in first."

"Has the salt rat gotten used to it yet?" Zhou Zhi asked.

"The books at our sports academy are easy to read, so I'm not having any trouble getting used to them," Yan Xiao said. "I have to say, I think I'm pretty good at studying now."

"Is that so?" Zhou Zhi laughed. "We all know each other inside and out. Aren't you afraid of being exposed when you brag in front of us?"

Yan Xiao was lucky to be selected from a small county town to join the provincial handball team when all the provinces were building their own teams.

The Jiangsu handball team has achieved a pretty good result, even winning third place in an Asian tournament in the UAE. With this achievement, it can be said that their future is basically guaranteed.

Two years later, the state began to rectify the "chaotic situation in provincial sports teams," cutting funding and focusing only on developing sports events and teams that the people enjoy. As a result, the provinces could no longer afford to support too many sports teams.

What if a team can't afford to support itself? They can transfer to university, especially for players like Yan Xiao who have "made contributions." For them, the exams are basically just a formality. It's like working hard for three years to get a free place to study sports and obtain a bachelor's degree.

So Yan Xiao is now a proud sports college student, and he even gets a salary. He will continue to serve as a member of the provincial team for four years until the team disbands.

This is a great path, and it even guarantees job placement. After graduation, one will basically become a physical education teacher in various middle schools, or work in places like the sports bureau. At least Yan Xiao's parents never expected their son to become an "engineer of the human soul" one day, and they were overjoyed.

Why would I lie to you? Do you even know what courses we take?

"What course?"

"School physical education, especially elementary school physical education, the key is in the later stages: track and field, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and martial arts." "Hahaha..." Zhou Zhi laughed, "It's like a mouse falling into a rice jar; these are all subjects that get full marks, right?"

Yan Xiao humbly said, "I dare not compare myself to Lao Yang in martial arts. He is a genuine national champion, and he is just passable in other areas."

Zhou Zhi and Yan Xiao, who were used to joking around, said: "So you dare to brag about things that no one in the know understands, but when there are experts here, you don't dare to brag at all!"

"You're slandering me again!"

"What Salt Mouse just mentioned were the core professional courses. Actually, the foundational courses include things like basic psychology, basic education, classroom management, professional ethics, teacher's oral communication, sports anatomy, and sports physiology," Yang Honghui added.

“I know where your confidence comes from,” Zhou Zhi teased again. “So you don’t study math, physics, and chemistry. If you don’t know those subjects, you just don’t know them. As for what Lao Yang just said, it’s easy to make up. As long as you make up enough words, the teacher will be too embarrassed to fail you.”

Everyone laughed.

"Get lost!" Yan Xiao realized that he was increasingly unable to argue with Zhou Zhi in recent years, so he could only end the meeting concisely.

Zhou Zhi ignored him and turned to Zhao Zhonggang, saying, "I'm too lazy to criticize them for skipping class, but how come you have time? Aren't you going to lead the team?"

"I just came down from the plateau," Zhao Zhonggang said. "The army only gave me three days of leave. This year has been too busy, but also very crucial. I'll give it my all."

"What's going on?"

"You don't know?" Zhao Zhonggang said, "In order to cooperate with the fourteen mobile divisions that are about to be established, the Armed Police Headquarters has been upgraded. The current requirements are that the command system must be restructured to meet the standards of a major military region, with clear responsibilities and efficient and smooth command chain; functional departments must be expanded and upgraded to adapt to broader responsibilities and higher requirements. Resource support must be improved: we need to strive for greater support and conduct scientific planning in terms of funding, equipment, and infrastructure."

"So you guys are going to benefit from this too." Zhou Zhi finally understood: "We've caught a good wave."

"It's not that simple," Zhao Zhonggang said. "This year's competition among the four southwestern provinces and one municipality is being held on the plateau, which is clearly designed to give others an advantage."

The four provinces and one municipality in Southwest China are Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Chongqing and Tibet. Among them, Yunnan, Guizhou and Tibet are all on plateaus, and Tibet is at least mountainous. Only Chengdu is in a basin. This situation naturally puts them at a great disadvantage.

"That's a bit much," Zhou Zhi said. "Isn't this showing bias?"

“But we can’t complain,” Zhao Zhonggang said calmly. “After all, we enjoy different resources. Our material conditions are much better than others. If we’re not comparing on the plateau, the gap would be too obvious.”

"Are you just showing off?" Zhou Zhi finally realized: "So you still won in the end?"

“We almost made a mistake,” Zhao Zhonggang said. “One of the team members almost went into shock. If there had been a real accident, it wouldn’t have been enough to get away with just a disciplinary action.”

"Fortunately, in the end, we escaped with only minor injuries. Although we almost lost our lives, we still managed to keep first place."

"You've got guts!" Zhou Zhi punched Zhao Zhonggang's broad chest. "You haven't disgraced the people of Sichuan!" (End of Chapter)