The Good Dad System (Arc 9) Chapter 70.3: Run, Boy! (End)
In the past few years, athletes have also tended to be idolized. Pei Xiangdong is handsome and has good grades, which has attracted a large number of fans. Even his father’s Weibo, which was used to share medical knowledge and was previously only followed by people in the industry, has gained many fans. The bold ones are particularly proactive and directly call Pei Naochun “father-in-law” in the comments. Internet addict doctor Pei Naochun immediately replied: “No! No way! My son can only find a wife he likes!” People even took screenshots of it as a souvenir. Hahaha, there are tens of thousands of comments.
Even before the documentary was aired, an astonishing building had already been built on the forum.
Title: Live broadcast of “The Sound of the Wind – Pei Xiangdong’s Years”, fans are welcome to join the special discussion.
Main Post: First of all, I have to complain about the name. What does “The Sound of the Wind” mean? I think it should be “Chasing the Wind Boy”! That fits our A-Dong’s temperament, okay? It is said that this documentary has been filming for a long time. The sisters who don’t have the materials are already eager to start and are preparing to screenshot frame by frame. Everyone, please be careful not to drag down other athletes; focus on Pei Xiangdong; focus on the documentary, and watch harmoniously.
1L: Front row sofas, go! It’s about to start. If you don’t watch it and I don’t watch it, then A-Dong’s ratings will suffer. How can it be that no one watches a documentary about an Olympic champion? Fans, turn on the TV and watch it!
2L: A hilarious joke, is that really necessary? If you leave a message on Adong’s Weibo saying you want to collect data for him, he’ll probably be skeptical. Athletes should just focus on their performance; there’s no need to manipulate comments with data. But we won’t discuss that today. Let’s watch it carefully. It starts when this commercial ends.
…
25L: The host has come to the live broadcast, and the documentary has just played a theme song – well, after all, this is a documentary series, I understand, but I want to tell everyone in the director team that many athletes are really tone-deaf, including our Adong, and we fans can’t stand the theme songs they sing.
26L: The director opened with a tearjerker, playing a clip of the 2012 London Olympics. Our relay team didn’t perform very well at the time, and his individual results weren’t good enough either (relative to his World Championship results). For example, in the 100 meters, he didn’t even get a medal, and the 400 meters, which he was so proud of, only won a bronze medal… Oh, the director was really a sharp-edged sword, and even played a clip of Adong crying. At that time, Adong had just reached adulthood a few years ago, and his face wasn’t particularly sharp. He cried wetly, like a little black dog. I remember that he hugged Coach Wang directly and cried until his nose turned red. Reporters followed the interview and filmed him crying in Father Pei’s arms. He was so pitiful. When asked what was wrong, he said that he felt he had let everyone down and performed too poorly. God knows, he was already good enough.
In the spacious room, a documentary was also playing. An older man, gentle and refined, sat upright, watching TV attentively. Next to him was a young man, probably in his early twenties, who stared blankly at the TV, as if he was thinking about something.
“You did really great later on.” Pei Naochun smiled and patted his son. He still remembered that he and Coach Wang were very happy at that time. After all, winning a medal in the Olympics was already a difficult task for the track and field team. In the end, it was Pei Xiangdong who cried heartbreakingly. He and Coach Wang had no choice but to stay with him, taking turns praising him, reading newspapers and online interviews, and using flattery tactics, like smearing honey on their mouths, with paragraphs of good words, so that the child was not crushed – this was not because he was mentally immature, but because of the special status of an athlete. He shouldered not only his personal efforts over the years, but also the collective and national honor. Failure to achieve results was itself a huge blow.
Seeing himself crying, Pei Xiangdong was filled with emotion and even felt a little embarrassed. However, because of that stage, he had matured a lot and he would definitely not admit it. In fact, he felt relieved after crying for a while and there was no shadow. But his father and Coach Wang praised him too seriously, and he wanted to listen more, so he lay on the bed pretending to be uncomfortable, but in fact he was shaking and laughing.
“For Pei Xiangdong, the London Olympics defeat wasn’t a huge blow. What was more painful was the injury he sustained during team training afterwards.” The narrator’s voice dropped. “According to the diagnosis, he will need to rest for at least six months. For an athlete, this is the most terrifying and depressing thing.”
Pei Naochun’s figure appeared on the screen, which was also the video material left behind from that year.
“Pei Xiangdong’s father is an internist. Ever since his son fell ill, he’s been studying sports medicine and other related subjects. When his son faced this setback, he didn’t hesitate. He contacted his workplace and took a long leave to be with his son. From then on, Pei Xiangdong’s treatment and rehabilitation were all accompanied by his father.”
“Dad, look, you were so handsome before.” Pei Xiangdong spoke jokingly, but his eyes were clearly wet. Through long periods of communication, the father and son were no longer as far apart as before, and they could still chat and joke from time to time.
“I’m not handsome now?” Pei Naochun knew his son was upset and joked.
“Dad, thank you.” He had said thank you many times and didn’t mind saying it again. Pei Xiangdong just looked at his father. During that six months, he had lost his temper many times and even cried secretly. He felt that he could no longer run. It was his father who kept telling him over and over again, “Run, you can run!”
“Xiangdong, step on the ground.” Pei Naochun in the video was very serious. Together with Coach Wang, he stared at his son standing on the track. “Don’t be afraid. Trust me, just like I believe in you. You can do it! Didn’t you say that as long as I believe in you, you will believe in yourself!”
“…Okay, I believe you.” Pei Xiangdong stood at a distance from his father, looked at him and nodded, “I’ll run!”
He squatted, leaned forward, and stood up, just like every time he ran before. After Coach Wang blew the whistle, he rushed out.
After reaching the finish line, he looked back nervously. Coach Wang raised his stopwatch and smiled, “Welcome back.”
Pei Xiangdong rushed directly into his father’s arms, his voice hoarse: “Dad, I did it! I did it!”
“Yes, you did it. You really can do it. You are always so outstanding and you are not afraid of any difficulties.”
Just like the rising ratings, the forum building is getting taller and taller.
251L: I burst into tears. In fact, as outsiders, we can only see his glorious moments and have no idea of the efforts that athletes put in. My mother and I cried when we saw Pei Xiangdong and his father hugging each other.
253L: Pei Xiangdong once said in an interview in the early days that his father was the source of all his strength. At that time, he said: “If there is only one person in the world who believes in me, I hope it is not myself, but my father. Because as long as he believes in me, I will believe that I can do anything.” At that time, I thought he was a middle school boy. What did he mean by “there is only one person in the world who believes in me?” But when I really saw this scene, I cried shamelessly.
258L: I recommend that fans or casual viewers catch up on the interview program Pei Xiangdong participated in on Fruit Channel after the London Olympics. The two-part, three-hour program recounts his life from childhood to adulthood. Regarding the segment about him and his father, the program team used a phrase to describe them: “genius and waste,” which anyone who has seen it will find very apt. Pei Xiangdong once received only criticism and criticism from his father. Despite his talent, he constantly felt inferior, feeling like a loser. Later, after getting drunk and opening up to his father, and his father trying to change, he gained confidence and became a genius. Genius and waste may seem like two worlds apart, but there’s a fine line between them.
259L: Yes. As a Dong fan, I sometimes worried that Pei Xiangdong wasn’t confident enough, or too reliant on his father. But things have improved a lot in recent years. Father Pei has put in a lot of effort, and coupled with his impressive performance, victory itself brings confidence. Before the Rio Olympics, his confidence came more from his father. Afterward, when he reached the pinnacle of his field and received countless accolades, he finally began to believe in himself.
In this gray memory, the director also inserted some colorful clips with a slightly “funny” element.
When Pei Xiangdong returned home, there were people who specialized in collecting materials following him to film. This was also a routine practice. They often collected materials in case of emergency. The crew who followed him to his home filmed a room full of Pei Xiangdong’s awards. Although Pei Naochun also made considerable achievements in the field of medicine, his awards were simply stacked under the cabinet, while Pei Xiangdong’s were neatly placed one by one, spotless, and it was obvious that they were particularly well cared for.
At that time, Pei Naochun was not at home, so the crew asked Pei Xiangdong to introduce these awards. Halfway through, Pei Xiangdong unexpectedly discovered that there was a secret in the large drawer under the display cabinet. It was full of photo albums. He opened the album in front of the camera with anticipation.
365L: Oh my god, I am almost dying of laughter. Fans please go and post the topic #Pei Xiangdong’s No. 1 Black Fan#. Since I entered the circle, I have never seen so many ugly photos of Pei Xiangdong. The point is, every game is ugly, there is no good-looking one!
368L: We fans worked hard, [Pei Xiangdong training, competition photos x10], please forget those, they were all taken by haters! Pei Xiangdong really doesn’t look like this.
399L: I almost fainted from laughing. Pei Xiangdong called his father in a accusing manner and asked why he didn’t throw away the unwanted photos but kept them in the album. His father actually said that these were the “selected” ones. Could you please ask Father Pei, what are the ones that were not selected like?
402L: The OP who is tired of laughing is silently reposting. Among the several photos that just appeared in the camera, there are pictures of Pei Xiangdong sprinting with a ferocious face, running with bulging veins, only half of his face is left, and he is running into an afterimage with only the color of his shoes visible… The funniest thing is, there are also pictures of the runners around him that are clear and good, but Pei Xiangdong is the only one who is ugly… Well, there are all kinds of pictures, everyone is welcome to take screenshots, I have already selected a bunch of them to make emoticons.
Somewhere in Province C, a reporter named Liu slammed his hands on the table and laughed wildly.
“Dad, this is me in your heart.” Pei Xiangdong made a righteous accusation.
“No, you have always been my pride, handsome and outstanding.”
Pei Xiangdong snorted coldly, but he was not really angry in his heart: “So you call that pride.” He pointed at his own hideous appearance on the screen, and the father and son looked at each other and burst into laughter.
1580L: I have a lot of feelings after watching the whole documentary. Let me end it with the narrator’s words: “Do you hear the sound of the wind? Run faster, run faster! Run, boy.” Although the boy has become a young man, he is still running on the track and on the road of life, never giving up.
…
[The ninth world assessment passed.]
Later on, Pei Xiangdong became the little king of the sprinting world. He could basically win the gold medal in any competition he participated in. Of course, as he grew older, his physical strength declined somewhat. In competitive sports, this meant being eliminated, but he was no longer the unconfident boy. He faced it calmly and stepped down from the altar gracefully. Until the last Olympic competition before his retirement, he still left a legend with two gold and two bronze medals.
After that, the legendary athlete Pei Guangrong retired, and Coach Wang of the national sports team had an assistant coach named Pei. Together they led the new generation of athletes forward and passed on the tradition from generation to generation.
Pei Naochun lived a long life. As he got older, he rarely did dangerous sports, so he did not encounter the risk of falling like in his previous life. He lived to be 90 and witnessed his son’s legendary life. At that time, Pei Xiangdong was like Coach Wang, bringing the championship games back to the Olympics and regaining medals.
Of course, Pei Xiangdong also fulfilled his promise. He treated his children as his treasures and resolutely implemented encouraging education. The children grew up healthily in love, and lived a happy and simple life.
When Pei Naochun passed away, his son, who was already quite old, was still crying. He knelt at the head of the bed, grabbed Pei Xiangdong’s hand, and smiled, “You are my pride.” Then he slowly closed his eyes in heart-wrenching tears.
Son, you are the pride of your father’s life. Even at the last moment of my life, I will still be proud of you.
EmpressYue Corner
The end of Arc 9, moving to Arc 10,. Wow, we’ve entered into double digits 😁😎. See you in the next Arc.
Lucien On ABRWF Chapter 34.1