Chapter 126

Song Haowen chuckled and tried to justify himself, saying, “The income from the competition might not even be attractive to me.

I’m thinking about other athletes. After all, this kind of competition is much more dangerous than other events.

Bleeding and injuries are normal. If things go wrong, lives could be at stake. It’s only right to give them high incomes.”

Miao Chong waved his hand. “Let’s not talk about this. Have you decided whether to go with me or not?”

Song Haowen shrugged, somewhat helplessly saying, “If I say I won’t go, will you agree?”

“No!” Miao Chong said firmly. “Finding someone with your level of skill at this point would be difficult. We’re running out of time.”

“Well, that settles it then. No matter what I say, I’ll have to go in the end. What’s the point of discussing it with me?” Song Haowen said somewhat reluctantly.

Miao Chong stood up and patted Song Haowen’s shoulder. “Brother, don’t be arrogant. You’re essential this time. You’re the protagonist, feeling proud?”

Song Haowen scratched his head embarrassedly and said, “If you want people to work hard, you have to let them complain a bit, right?”

“Enough of that!” Miao Chong didn’t give any face. “I’ll go talk to Director Wang for leave. Starting tomorrow, you, He Huo, and Zhao Meng will temporarily leave the production team and return to the training base for three days of closed training, then depart directly from the base.

Today, go back and arrange your urgent matters. Tomorrow morning, take a taxi to the base to report. Remember to bring your personal documents. As for going abroad, we’ll say it’s for study and learning. You can briefly mention it to your family to avoid worrying them.”

Song Haowen nodded in agreement. He then found Wang Bolong and told him about going abroad for study and learning.

If there were any issues in the crew that needed his attention, they could discuss them when he returned.

Wang Bolong said that the filming was progressing smoothly and there wouldn’t be any issues here. He went to inform Zhong Lizhi and asked her if she wanted any gifts. She smiled and said she didn’t want anything, just for him to return safely, then boldly kissed him.

After that, Song Haowen rushed to Guihua Hutong and mentioned to his parents about going abroad for study and learning. They were very happy to hear it and proud that their son had the opportunity to go abroad.

In this era, going abroad for private reasons was not easy. Although it couldn’t be compared to the Journey to the West, for ordinary people, it was something they wouldn’t even dare to dream of.

After having lunch with his parents at home, Song Haowen went to the music room and told Su Yan about going abroad for study and learning. Su Yan was envious and reminded him to be safe.

Leaving the music room, it was almost dusk. Song Haowen estimated that Tian Yuxi’s parents had already finished work and returned home, so he took a taxi to her house.

When he arrived at her doorstep and knocked, her parents were indeed home. Seeing him, Lin Min and Tian Pengfei were pleasantly surprised and hurriedly came to greet him, making him feel a little embarrassed.

After explaining his intentions, Lin Min immediately said, “This is good news, worth celebrating. Pengfei, go to my desk drawer and get the letter from the baby. There’s an address on the envelope. Have Haowen write it down.” She said to Song Haowen, “You must make time to visit Yuxi on our behalf, ask her if she has any difficulties, and if she needs our help.”

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Song Haowen agreed, “This time it’s a group activity arranged by the government, so I’m not sure if I’ll have the freedom to move around. I came today just to get Tian Jie’s address. I’ll find a way to meet her.”

Tian Pengfei hesitated, “Since there’s no guarantee you’ll see Yuxi, why don’t you leave that behind? It would be troublesome if you couldn’t meet her and had to bring it back.”

Lin Min sighed, “Then let’s not bring anything. It’s really inconvenient to contact overseas now. Fortunately, direct flights to the United States have been available since last year, so there’s no need to transfer in Europe or France, and it only takes about a dozen hours to reach New York. Are you going to New York for this event? It’s not far from Yuxi’s school.”

“I don’t know the specific itinerary yet, so we’ll have to see later. But one thing you can be assured of is that my foreign language skills are excellent, so communicating with foreigners won’t be a problem, which will be very convenient,” Song Haowen reassured them.

Lin Min sighed again. “If Yuxi had your foundation in foreign languages, she would have suffered much less. She said that her main focus this summer vacation is to study foreign languages. She still finds her classes very challenging and difficult to understand.”

After having dinner at Tian Pengfei’s house, Song Haowen returned to the office department and casually mentioned his upcoming trip abroad to Zhu Hongyu and Ren Hua.

Both women listened with endless envy, seeming more excited than if they were going themselves, and chatted with him until late into the night. If he hadn’t repeatedly reminded them that they had classes the next day, they might have chatted all night.

Considering that the temperature in the United States was similar to Beijing’s, he didn’t bring many clothes, just a few pieces of underwear and socks. In addition, the Wushu team had prepared competition uniforms and suits for them, so there was no need to bring extra clothes.

Therefore, a small backpack was enough for what he brought for the trip abroad.

When the day broke, Song Haowen waited until Qian Youlai and Wang Li came to work, and told them about his trip abroad, explaining the recent work matters. Then, under the watchful eyes of Qian Youlai and Wang Li, he took a taxi straight to the training base.

Upon arriving at the base, Song Haowen learned that the participants in this overseas competition were just the same as the last time, except for the addition of a martial arts expert from the civilian sector named Ouyang Gu, a lay disciple from the Shaolin Temple.

His bronze sand palm was already at a high level, more powerful than the previous contestant’s “iron sand palm,” capable of knocking down a cow with one strike. With these five participants, including Song Haowen, He Huo, Zhao Meng, Ouyang Gu, and a national team member Shangguan Shi, the strength of the contestants had improved since last time, thanks to Ouyang Gu’s joining.

During the team training, Song Haowen sparred with Shangguan Shi and Ouyang Gu several times. Shangguan Shi excelled in leg techniques, and Song Haowen almost got kicked by him several times.

However, Song Haowen’s overall abilities were a level above Shangguan Shi’s, so he always had the upper hand in their matches.

When Song Haowen sparred with Ouyang Gu, he initially underestimated the power of Ouyang Gu’s bronze sand palm and didn’t use his internal strength defense, so he nearly got his arm broken by a blow.

But after that, he became more cautious, and with his strong internal strength, after a dozen or so moves, Ouyang Gu began to fall behind and soon was defeated.

Ouyang Gu, who used to be arrogant and looked down on others, finally admitted defeat. Although he was older than Song Haowen, he was very respectful when he met him, showing no signs of disdain.

The three-day training session quickly ended, and the delegation of fifteen people flew from Beijing airport to New York via Shanghai. In addition to the five contestants like Song Haowen, there were also Chief Coach Miao Chong, the leader of the delegation from the Sports Association, translators, doctors, and other staff.

Each member of the delegation was given two hundred dollars, a suit, and a work bag (including notebooks, pens, toiletries). The five athletes were also given two sets of competition uniforms. All documents were managed by a dedicated person.

In his past life, Song Haowen had traveled abroad countless times, spending over two years in Great Britain alone.

During this time, he traveled all over Europe and the Americas. Later, after returning to China, he traveled abroad several times during work, visiting the United States four or five times.

Therefore, he was very familiar with the United States.

When the plane landed at New York International Airport, it was just getting light outside. Due to the time difference, many people felt uncomfortable and looked listless.

Song Haowen, with his experience from his past life, had taken a nap on the plane in advance, so he was hardly affected by the jet lag. He was energetic, which surprised his companions.

Except for the translators and Song Haowen, the other members of the delegation could only speak a few greeting phrases in foreign languages, so they were completely unable to communicate in foreign languages, which also restricted their freedom of movement.

Song Haowen stayed in the hotel booked by the embassy with the delegation. After having breakfast together, everyone went back to their rooms to rest. Song Haowen and He Huo stayed in a double room.

After washing up, Song Haowen lay on the bed, trying to sleep for a while, but he couldn’t fall asleep no matter what. He Huo, on the other hand, fell asleep easily. Within a minute of lying down, he started snoring loudly, sounding like thunder.

Seeing that he couldn’t fall asleep, Song Haowen looked at the newspaper on the bedside table, but found it uninteresting, so he got up and went outside the dormitory.

He noticed that Miao Chong’s room door was half-open across from him, with voices coming from inside. He knocked on the door and then walked in.

Because Miao Chong was the chief coach, he enjoyed the privilege of having a room to himself. Besides Miao Chong, there were also Shangguan Shi and Ouyang Gu in the room.

When they saw Song Haowen come in, they were all pleased. Shangguan Shi said, “The three of us were just about to play cards. Your timing is perfect. We can play a game of Forty Points together.”

Song Haowen found it amusing. In his past life, there were many people like the three men in the room who, when traveling abroad, instead of taking advantage of the rare opportunity to experience the local culture and scenery, would instead hole up in the hotel, either playing cards, sleeping, or drinking, wasting a great opportunity as if these things were rare in their hometowns.

At this moment, he had no intention of staying in the dormitory with them. He asked Miao Chong for permission, saying he wanted to stroll around the nearby streets.

The delegation had travel regulations that did not allow individuals to go out alone, let alone change the itinerary at will. Therefore, when Miao Chong saw that Song Haowen wanted to go out for a walk, he hesitated and said, “We’ve just landed, and everyone needs rest.

It’s not appropriate for you to ask a translator to accompany you for a walk at this time, right? Besides, the competition is the day after tomorrow. We can’t afford any accidents. I advise you to stay in the dormitory and rest.”

Seeing Miao Chong’s response, Song Haowen didn’t want to force it. He smiled and said, “If it’s not good to go out, then I’ll go back to the dormitory.”