Chapter 169: Insultingly Low Scores

Li You let out a cold snort, crossing his legs and folding his arms as he kept his gaze fixed entirely on Mu Ran. "Feng Chun, I've tolerated you for a long time. Is the national team completely devoid of talent now? It's just a bunch of good-for-nothings who eat without working!"

"Li You! Have you lost your mind? Do you even know what you're saying right now!"

Hearing Li You's taunts, Feng Chun felt a jolt in her chest. This was a live broadcast! What on earth was Li You blabbering about?

Still treating Feng Chun with utter disdain, Li You picked up a signature pen and wrote down a score on Mu Ran's column in the scoring booklet: 10 points.

"What? People aren't even allowed to speak the truth anymore? That's right, you were the one who recommended me as a national team coach back then, but all these years, who have you actually let me train? How long has it been since our national team produced any real talent?"

Li You tossed the pen aside carelessly, his voice loud enough to make Feng Chun's heart flutter with unease.

Feng Chun twitched the corner of her mouth, forced to look squarely at this junior colleague who had always been mild-mannered in the past, wondering what kind of wrong medicine he had taken today.

Glancing at the scoring sheet in front of the man, she took a deep breath, her face darkening. Her triangular eyes flashed with a malicious gleam as she pointed at the scoring sheet, articulating every single word with venom.

"Is Shao Ping not from the national team? Is Shao Ping not excellent enough? And what about Ren Nanxi and the others—aren't they all outstanding athletes from the national team?!"

Li You narrowed his eyes, a surge of irritation welling up inside him. "Not a single one of those people was trained by you! You tell me!"

"Thud—!"

A heavy palm struck the surface, leaving the high platform in absolute silence.

Zhao Yang, another national team coach, hurriedly tried to smooth things over. He grabbed the gloomy and enraged Li You, pulling him aside, and sighed with a look of utter disapproval. "What on earth are you doing? Coach Feng is our senior; we should show her some respect."

"Respect my foot!"

Li You cherished genuine talent and had grown thoroughly sick of Feng Chun.

For all these years, Feng Chun had been resting on her laurels, contributing nothing to the country, and relying on her status as a veteran coach to secretly line her pockets.

Aside from Shao Ping and a few others, the current national team was practically barren of talent.

They were all good-for-nothings who just ate and did no work!

"Let's all take a step back and say less! We're colleagues, what is the meaning of this!" Zhao Yang was also a highly influential veteran coach within the national team and had a very good relationship with Li You.

Neither of them could stand Feng Chun.

Yet neither wished to lower themselves to her level.

"Hmph, Li You, you'd better hope you never need any favors from me in the future."

Feng Chun's eyes overflowed with arrogance and chilling malice. Exerting hidden force on the hand holding her pen, a wave of resentment and paranoia rushed to her brain.

She crossed out the 6 points she had originally given Mu Ran and changed it to 5.

A failing grade. For a world champion like Mu Ran, this was the ultimate insult.

"You! How can you give Mu Mu such a low score? Isn't this deliberately making things difficult for her! You may not like her, but you cannot deny her strength!"

Li You snatched the booklet from beneath the woman's hand, thoroughly provoked by her despicable behavior.

"Hey, hey, hey, Li You! Let go! This is a live broadcast, and this is the home ground of business tycoon Gu Becheng, don't cause trouble!"

Zhao Yang pried Li You's fingers apart and returned the scoring booklet to Feng Chun, casting a look of disdain and helplessness at her. "Coach Feng, leave yourself a way out. You don't have to walk straight down a dead end."

Feng Chun subconsciously swallowed, her palms beginning to sweat around the pen. She forced herself to remain calm and not be intimidated by Zhao Yang's words.

"Mind your own business."

The veins at her temples throbbed; anyone could see that the woman was quite nervous.

Feng Chun couldn't help recalling what Mu Ran had said to her when she left all those years ago, and a chill washed over her heart.

A moment later, Feng Chun's face returned to normal, reoccupied by paranoia and arrogance. She simply refused to believe Mu Ran could amount to anything!

Wasn't she just a performing artist who climbed to the top by relying on men?!

Feng Chun narrowed her eyes, calculation dripping from her triangular eyes as a bizarre glint flashed within them. She looked toward Mu Ran at the very bottom of the ski slope.

As it happened, Mu Ran glanced back toward her as well.

Their eyes met, and Feng Chun averted her gaze with a trace of apprehension.

The host walked onto the stage and smiled brightly at the three judges.

She had just witnessed the entire catfight between Li You and Feng Chun.

The host couldn't help marveling inwardly that backbiting existed everywhere.

SY's corporate culture was truly much better.

Host: "Next, let's invite the three judges to score our two athletes!"

She handed three whiteboards to the three coaches.

Host: "Now, please have the three judges score Shao Ping!"

Feng Chun and the others finished writing and flipped their whiteboards toward the live broadcasting cameras.

Shao Ping's scores were:
[Li You: 8 points]
[Feng Chun: 9.5 points]
[Zhao Yang: 7.5 points]

Host: "Next, please score our Mu Mu!"

Mu Ran's (Mu Mu's) scores were:
[Li You: 10 points]
[Feng Chun: 5 points]
[Zhao Yang: 9.5 points]

So far, Shao Ping's average score was slightly higher than Mu Ran's.

Live comments stream—
[Is Feng Chun losing her eyesight in her old age?]
[Can Feng Chun just drop dead, please!]
[What right does Feng Chun have to give Mu Ran a 5??]
[Anyone with eyes can see Mu Ran's freestyle big air jump was much better than Shao Ping's!]
[Agreed!]
[Isn't Feng Chun deliberately sabotaging her?]
[How can someone like Feng Chun be a coach?]
[Seriously, she can't even maintain basic fairness.]
[Feng Chun is super evil! Wicked intentions, rotten character! I used to be on the national team!]
[Did the live stream just show a moment where... Coach Feng and Coach Li You got into an argument?]
[Feng Chun will get her karma sooner or later!]

Seeing countless netizens cursing her on the big screen behind her, Feng Chun gritted her teeth in fury, her face turning crimson.

How was she being unfair?!

Mu Ran deserved a 5, and nothing more!

Seething with rage and utterly unable to tolerate the barrage of comment-attacks from netizens, Feng Chun stood up and snatched the microphone right out of the host's hand. "If you people don't understand, don't talk nonsense! How am I being unfair? Giving Mu Ran a 5 is already being very generous. Do you even know the scoring standards for world-class ski big air competitions?"

The host hadn't expected this national coach to be so aggressive. She stepped forward to retrieve the microphone, only to be shoved aside by Feng Chun.

"What are you meddling for? Why are you pacing back and forth while I'm talking!"

Feng Chun's anger was instantly ignited by the host who tried to stop her speech. She shot a sharp, vicious glare at the host and warned her word for word: "When I'm speaking, stay away from me!"

At this moment, Feng Chun's behavior could no longer be described as merely aggressive.

It was pure arrogance, completely devoid of basic manners!

Stunned by the short-haired older woman before her, the host stood frozen to the spot, too intimidated to stop her or speak, tears welling up in her eyes.

Helplessly, she looked toward the cameraman behind the live broadcast lens and shook her head with grievance.

"Do you people know anything about skiing? If you don't know the scoring rules, stop running your mouths! A bunch of ignorant keyboard warriors!"

With that, a spittle-spewing Feng Chun wiped the corner of her mouth and casually hurled the microphone aside, where it happened to strike the host's wrist.

The host sniffled, fighting back her tears while forcing the corners of her mouth upward into a professional smile. "Everyone, please don't be hasty. The judges' scores are certainly based on their professional standards. We also have public judges from various countries; now, let's have the public judges at the bottom of the ski slope score the two athletes."

The viewer count in the live streaming room surged to one million.

At this, the comment section went wild—
[I'm a retired ski athlete! How am I ignorant?! There wasn't a single flaw in the technique of Mu Ran's jump just now!]
[This Feng Chun is truly terrifying!]
[Right! The other two judges gave Mu Ran very high scores, yet this old hag insists on claiming she has her own standards.]
[It's obviously malicious sabotage.]
[Simply unfair, and she won't even let people speak up about it.]
[Pitying the host for three seconds.]
[The host's wrist is already red.]
[How is someone like Feng Chun qualified to be a national coach?!]
[Sigh, the standard of China's national team is declining by the day, especially the ski athletes. Aside from Shao Ping, there's no real talent standing out.]

Every public judge held a scoring device in their hand.

After they scored Shao Ping and Mu Ran, the scores automatically appeared on the big screen behind them.

The results were out.

Mu Ran's final average score: 9.0 points
Shao Ping's final average score: 8.9 points

In the first round of the competition, Mu Ran won.

"Master! It seems I will never be able to surpass you."

Shao Ping felt a mixture of joy and sorrow—joy that his master Mu Ran remained as brilliant as ever, and sorrow that his own skill level seemed to have no room for further growth.

"You will definitely surpass me, Xiao Ping. Keep working hard, and don't let any external factors influence you. Look, you scored only 0.1 points lower than me."

Mu Ran removed her goggles, leaning against the railing as she reached out to pat the shoulder of the boy, who wore a look of lingering grievance and disappointment.

Although the woman's voice was cold, it carried a hint of gentleness, especially when she called Shao Ping "Xiao Ping."

Feeling the encouragement in her words and hearing that form of address after all these years, a warm current swept through Shao Ping's heart.

"Mm-hmm, thank you, Master. I will do my best."

Shao Ping broke into a wide smile.

In truth, he knew very well in his heart that there was still a massive gap between himself and Mu Ran. Whether in terms of movement technique, stability, or mental composure, he fell short of her by more than just a little bit.

Had it not been for Feng Chun intentionally giving that insulting low score of 5, Mu Ran's final average score would have been much higher than his.