Although Wang Chao was surprised, he was far steadier than Jiang Shan. Smiling, he said, "First tell me, is he a national team coach like you? If not, don't bother bringing it up."
Cook leaned closer with a grave expression and lowered his voice, as though he were sharing an earth-shattering secret. "Qin Huachang. You've heard that name, right?"
Wang Chao blinked.
He felt a little embarrassed. Judging from Cook's manner, this Mr. Qin had to be extremely famous—at the very least, more famous than that Mr. Qin from some number forum in his previous life.
Yet although he had looked up table tennis information in this world online, he genuinely had no impression of the name.
Jiang Shan had clearly heard it before. He had just struggled to climb up from the floor and shift half his butt onto the chair when he suddenly heard the words "Qin Huachang." His throat let out a croak, as if he were about to cramp up, and he slid straight back down.
Cook was equally puzzled. He stared at Wang Chao for a long while before asking, "You haven't heard of him?"
Wang Chao nodded honestly.
"Sigh, I was presumptuous. You only recently turned professional from being an amateur player, so it's normal that you know players but not coaches."
Cook sighed and explained, "Then you know Sun Tianlong and Lin Li, right?"
Wang Chao quickly said, "I've heard of them."
Sun Tianlong was widely recognized as the number one player in table tennis today. Even though he had unexpectedly lost the gold medal at last year's World Table Tennis Championships, his overwhelmingly superior past record still kept him firmly at the top of the rankings. Anyone who played table tennis had to have heard his name.
As for Lin Li, while he was not as fierce as Dragon Team, he was still one of the five main pillars of the current national men's team—a terrifying figure who had won a World Table Tennis Championships silver medal and a Table Tennis World Cup gold medal.
Cook lowered his voice even further. "Both of them were personally trained by Qin Huachang. Their entire tactical and technical systems were built under Qin Huachang's guidance, and whenever they won championships, Qin Huachang was the one giving on-site instructions... Do you understand now?"
Jiang Shan climbed up from the floor again. Sitting nearby, he blinked desperately, his little face flushed bright red. He clearly had a bellyful of things to say, yet felt the matter was too important to interrupt lightly, so he could only keep pointing at his own nose.
He probably meant, "I can do it too! As long as I can become Qin Huachang's disciple, I can do anything! Introduce me too, please! I'm begging you!"
Wang Chao was deeply shaken.
A retired national team big shot like Cook held a position in the table tennis world akin to a sect leader in martial arts novels. People like that were generally proud and had incredibly high standards.
So over the past few years, even though every player had tried every possible way to approach him and catch his attention, he had not taken a liking to a single one.
Wang Chao did not have any improper ambitions toward Cook, but he knew his own limits. He was a high school student who had switched careers on a whim. Even if his performance was decent, a Grandmaster-level figure like Cook should have no interest in him.
So he had guessed that Cook had taken pity on him after seeing Jiang Long make things difficult for him and intended to introduce him to a provincial team coach, helping him broaden his connections and pave a path forward.
But he had never expected Cook to bring out such an enormous big shot directly.
If Cook was a sect leader, then Coach Qin Huachang was probably the Martial Arts Alliance Leader.
Just how highly did Cook think of him?
"Would someone like that think highly of me?" Wang Chao could not help asking.
"He would." Cook said, "I sent him your match from the evening sports news, as well as your match against Wu Li a few days ago. He's very interested and is willing to meet with you in person."
Wang Chao did not speak for a long time.
This had come far too suddenly. He needed to think it through carefully.
It turned out Cook was a tsundere too. On the surface, he acted as if he disliked Wang Chao immensely, but behind the scenes, he had quietly been paving the way for him?
And it seemed he had already paved half of it?
"But my stamina is poor, and my fundamentals aren't good either," Wang Chao said.
"I already told Old Qin about that. He said it wasn't a problem. As long as your talent is high enough and your ceiling is high enough, the rest can be trained gradually. Don't forget, Sun Tianlong was also a late bloomer. He didn't win the first World Champion title of his life until he was twenty-four."
Cook thought Wang Chao was worrying over gains and losses. Rarely, he smiled and reassured him. "Don't be afraid, and don't belittle yourself. My coaching ability has its shortcomings, but I have a good eye for people. If I say you can do it, then you can do it."
Wang Chao still shook his head. "I've never even met him. Who knows whether we'd get along? Besides, if I were to become his disciple, I'd have to go to Imperial Capital for a trial first, right? It's a long journey, and the travel expenses won't be cheap..."
"Old Qin has a great personality. He isn't fierce at all, so don't worry. As for travel expenses, aren't you usually quite smart? Why are you acting foolish now? For something this good, Director Luo will definitely reimburse you..."
Cook suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Keenly sensing something was wrong, he stared at Wang Chao for a long while and asked suspiciously, "You don't want to?"
Wang Chao nodded.
Cook frowned. "Why?"
Instead of answering, Wang Chao asked, "You're also a national team coach, and you've personally trained national team main players. If you really think highly of me, why not take me in yourself? Why insist on introducing me to someone else?"
Cook froze, then gave a bitter laugh. "I can't."
Wang Chao stared straight at him without speaking.
Clearly, a single "I can't" did not count as an explanation.
"I really can't..." Cook looked deeply frustrated. "The thing I regret most is forcibly snatching Luo Jiu away during that mutual selection seven years ago and making him my disciple."
Luo Jiu was one of the five main pillars of the current national men's team. A shakehand player, his vicious, powerful two-winged looping game covered the entire table without a single blind spot. The International Table Tennis Federation had once praised him as "the most advanced master of two-winged looping technique." In theory, having such a disciple should have been a head coach's glory.
Wang Chao and Jiang Shan leaned forward at the same time, waiting to hear some secret gossip from the upper ranks.
Cook did not disappoint them. "Do you know that when the mutual selection took place, the coach Luo Jiu wrote down in the 'most desired head coach' field wasn't me? It was Qin Huachang."
By this point, Wang Chao vaguely understood what Cook meant.
"I liked Luo Jiu too much. I had never seen such a good prospect. I thought he would definitely achieve a Grand Slam in the future, so I pleaded and pestered until Old Qin was forced to turn Luo Jiu down himself and give him to me."
After saying this, Cook lowered his head slightly. At that moment, his figure in the white chef's uniform actually seemed somewhat hunched. "I made him change his stance, change his style, change his racket, change his rubber. I made him play according to my ideas, and I even forced him through two major, bone-rattling technical overhauls. But no matter how I changed him, I could never truly transform him and make him the best in the world."
"At first, he only couldn't beat Sun Tianlong, but he could still firmly hold the position of the national team's number two. Later, he couldn't even beat Lin Li anymore. But when we were choosing disciples seven years ago, I clearly thought Lin Li's talent was far inferior to Luo Jiu's."
"Later still, Bai Feng joined the team and created the Penhold Backhand Loop, becoming the center of attention for a time. I had Luo Jiu play a match against Bai Feng, and he lost again."
Jiang Shan quietly interjected, "Could it be that he didn't train hard enough?"
Cook shook his head. "I guarantee that he worked harder than anyone."
Wang Chao added, "Then could it be that his mentality was poor? Maybe he had the strongest ability, but couldn't bring it out during matches."
Cook still shook his head. "His mentality was very good. No matter how badly he lost, he never broke down."
Neither of them spoke.
They truly did not know how to comfort him.
Because objectively speaking, Cook really was no match for Qin Huachang.
"I'm not as good as Old Qin. That isn't shameful. After all, he's the foremost of the Qin school, while I, He Jingping, am only second in the Zhu school. If anyone were to compare with him, it should be my senior brother."
Only then did Wang Chao finally learn Cook's name.
Former national team coach, and the mentor who had taught national team main player Luo Jiu—He Jingping.
He just did not know what sort of figure the senior brother He Jingping mentioned—the foremost of the Zhu school—was.
Presumably... perhaps... probably... he should be someone surnamed Zhu?
He Jingping took in both of their expressions and continued, "I'm not concerned with saving face, nor am I afraid of being cursed at. I just feel that I failed Luo Jiu and ruined a Grand Slam prospect. That is absolutely unforgivable. I have let the nation down."
Thanks to "HJYq" for the monthly ticket.
Before you continue