Almighty Coach

Donglai Huo’s guess was like a gunshot in the middle of the night that attracted everyone’s attention.

"You think Zhongyi Xu did something to the scale?" Hongjun Zhuge nodded silently. "I think it’s a good idea. That way, even if she didn’t lose any weight, the number would look good anyway. I didn’t know that such an honest person like Xu would be able to come up with such a tricky idea. What a crafty scheme!"

"But that scale looks like an electronic scale. I heard that it’s very difficult to use underhand methods with the electronic scale," someone next to them said.

The scales that were put in front of the pharmacy were always pointer scales. This kind of scale was a mechanical scale, whose science inside was Hooke’s law and leverage balance. Its lifespan was 8-10 years, so people could use it to weigh for a long time.

However, it was very easy to change the gears of a mechanical scale in order to change its accuracy. For example, it was not difficult to do something to the traditional scale that people used in the market. Those scales with saucers on the top were also easy to change. That was why if you bought vegetables in the market, the real weight might be lighter than the scale said.

This was different from an electronic scale, which used a force sensor. The surface changes happened when you put weight on it. It caused changes in the built-in resistance, which would result in the changes of the resistance number. The electric current changed because of it, and would create an electrical signal that would turn into the numbers that we see. If you wanted to change the number, you had to change the force sensor or the built-in resistance, which required very advanced technological knowledge that normal people were not familiar with.

The meeting room was completely silent. Everybody knew that it was not easy to do something to the electronic scale, and that only professionals who worked in the industry could do it. The sports coach would never have been able to do that.

"Maybe he found some professionals who could change it," somebody said.

The secretaries tried many times, and finally managed to connect the phone to the projector in order to project what was happening on the screen. Everyone finally stopped squeezing together in front of the small screen.

Zhongyi Xu spoke into the screen again. "I think some of the people here might think that we did something to the scale. Why don’t we invite a few reporters to come up to the stage and weigh themselves first? Then we could tell if this scale is accurate or not. Who would like to volunteer?"

Reporters never got tired of causing trouble. Many people raised their hands right after he said it. Everyone in the meeting room panicked.

"What is he doing?"

"It will let the cat out of the bag if he invites the reporters to check the scale!"

"Could it be that he didn’t change the scale?"

"He is cornering himself."

The meeting room was full of complaining voices. Huo’s expression looked the worst among them. He had just said Xu had done something to the scale, yet the next second Xu had invited the reporters to check.

...

At the press conference, four reporters came up the stage and checked the scale. Finally, they came to the conclusion that nothing was wrong with the scale. Suddenly, Feifei Yu walked out from a separate room next to the stage and waved at the reporters.

"Feifei Yu is here! She doesn’t look fat at all!"

"Right, she hasn’t changed too much from before. It seems that the rumor on the internet saying she gained a few pounds was wrong."

"A few pounds usually looks very obvious on a girl. I guess it really was nothing but a rumor."

"What do you know about it? The body fat percentage of athletes is very low, so much so that they look slimmer than normal people."

The reporters continued discussing Feifei Yu in low voices.

...

In the meeting room of the swimming center.

"Coach Huo, you are the main coach of the national team and you are the most familiar person with Feifei Yu. Do you think she looks slimmer?" Zhuge asked with high expectations. He really wanted a "yes" from Huo.

"It’s so hard to tell from this unclear screen. And she is wearing winter clothes, so it’s really hard to say." Huo began to sweat a little bit. He really didn’t want to bear any responsibility in front of all these people, including the administrative leaders like Zhuge. So he had only said that he couldn’t tell.

Zhuge signed deeply. Although he could see what was happening in the conference, there was nothing he could do since Huajing was so far away from Qing City. All he could do was at God’s mercy.

Feifei Yu walked over to the scale.Everyone at the conference held their breath and looked at her. All the reporters who had been conversing in low voices had all stopped talking. Nobody was speaking right now.

In the meeting room of the swimming center, everyone was still. They all had anxious expressions. Even the sound of their breathing could be heard because of how quiet it was. The sweat on Huo’s forehead was even clearer. There was a complicated look in his eyes, full of anxiousness, anger, helplessness, and expectation.

On the other side of the spectrum, you could read nothing from Zhuge’s face. It seemed like he had fallen deep into thought, where he was looking for methods to solve this issue later.

...

Feifei Yu stood on the scale. The number fluctuated as she settled onto it, then finally became stable as she stopped moving.

"62.49kg!" a reporter shouted out the number unconsciously.

Click, click... the sound of cameras echoed here and there.

The dazzling flashing lights moved in front of Xu, but they didn’t bother him at all. A smile of victory appeared on his face.

"Here is the truth. Now I’m pretty sure you all shouldn’t have any other questions," Xu said.

All the reporters flushed with embarrassment after hearing what Xu said. They thought they had caught a big news story. However, it had turned out to be fake. The information that said she had gained weight because of her boredom in training was a total lie. Feifei Yu had come back to Qing City just to celebrate New Year’s Day.

"We should never believe those rumors on the internet!"

"Which idiot posted the news? It has made us all look foolish!"

"We can’t just let it go. We should find the one who started it."

The reporters felt that they had been fooled, and now they felt very angry.

...

In the meeting room of the swimming center.

62.49kg? That’s already in the normal weight range, isn’t it? Huo said 70kg, didn’t he? She lost 7.5kg in 15 days? How’s that possible? It looks like Huo is hiding something. Thinking of this, Zhuge turned to Huo and looked at him. What surprised Zhuge was that Huo also looked very shocked. It looked like he couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Huo was the main coach of the swimming team. He had tried every method to help Feifei Yu lose weight for more than a year, including going to the medical university and looking for a nutritionist for her. However, it hadn’t worked at all. But now, Feifei Yu had lost 7.5kg in 20 days. This enormous gap made Huo very shocked, and also made him feel like he was a loser.

Feifei Yu followed me and trained for one year, yet she gained 7kg. She went back to Zhongyi Xu and trained for 20 days, and now she has lost 7.5kg. Why? That doesn’t make sense!