Chapter 21 The Worst Outcome

When Zhou Yi knocked on Sun Pan’s door, the four of them were inside discussing "the worst possible outcome."

"The worst that could happen is that I quit the national Olympic team! What’s so great about the bloody Olympics anyway? The level is so poor; it’s not even an international A-level event! The best players don’t even come. Don't even compare it to the World Cup, it’s far worse than the League Cup! As if I care about participating in some damn Olympics! Look at all the crap going on at this Olympics! If I participated, it would be the biggest stain on my life! Damn it!"

Sun Pan was venting his emotions in the room, while Yang Muge opened the door for Zhou Yi, so Zhou Yi heard Sun Pan’s words as soon as he came in.

"Don't say such angry words, Panpan. If you quit the Olympics, you'll only be able to drool over our Olympic gold medals." He said. "Even Lao Guo will have more honors than you. Wouldn't that make you angry?"

Seeing Zhou Yi enter, He Ying and Guo Nu both stood up.

"How is it?" He Ying asked.

Guo Nu didn't mind being made fun of by Zhou Yi again and looked at him with concern.

Sun Pan was silent and turned to look at Zhou Yi.

"It's not a big deal. Just tell Panpan to keep his mouth shut and not accept any reporter interviews during the Olympics, so he won't be led astray by reporters again." Zhou Yi shrugged and said casually, not mentioning his confrontation with Guo Bing at all.

This punishment decision surprised Sun Pan. He asked, "They're not going to kick me out?"

"What's the big deal?" Zhou Yi laughed. "Kick you out? Panpan, do you really think the Koreans have so much power that they can decide our lineup? Don't be scared by the comments online; it's just the howling of a pack of losers."

"But the National News Agency has already published a commentary…" Yang Muge frowned.

"It's just the official Weibo account, not a real editorial. There's nothing to be afraid of, and it's just the official Weibo of the sports department. Don't scare yourselves. The most important thing now is the semi-final against Brazil. Don't let other things affect you. The whole team will have a meeting this afternoon, not only to announce the gag order on you, Panpan, but also to forbid all other players from accepting reporter interviews." Zhou Yi said.

No one, including Sun Pan, objected to this punishment decision. Compared to the "worst possible outcome" they had discussed in the room earlier, this punishment was less than a mosquito bite and could be completely ignored.

But Zhou Yi made it sound so trivial, as if it wasn't a big deal at all. Why did it take him so long to come back?

Yang Muge asked Zhou Yi with some concern, "Is it really okay? The delegation had trouble punishing two female badminton doubles players a few days ago…"

With Yang Muge's question, everyone turned their attention back to Zhou Yi. They also felt that things wouldn't be resolved so simply. Was Zhou Yi hiding something, something he didn't want everyone to know?

Seeing everyone looking at him, Zhou Yi smiled. "I can't hide it from you guys after all…"

The smile was a little bitter.

Seeing his smile and hearing his tone, the other four felt a thud in their hearts – it really wasn't as simple as they had imagined!

Sun Pan was even more nervous and impatiently said, "Let me tell you, Lao Zhou, if you've done something and don't tell me, I won't appreciate it!"

He was being a bit contradictory, but everyone understood what he meant. He didn't want Zhou Yi to bear something he shouldn't bear, like responsibility or punishment.

Zhou Yi shook his head. "Well, actually, Panpan's matter did make the leaders of the delegation unhappy. After all, he was a bit too arrogant, and his words were impolite and lacked class. But the delegation leaders took into account the performance and results of our team in this Olympics. We're already in the top four, creating history. But there's still hope to compete for a medal, right? So, they're letting us atone for our sins and win another medal for the Chinese Olympic delegation…"

"Huh?" Everyone was stunned. The tone of Zhou Yi's story seemed different from what they had imagined…

"I'm very clear about what our goal is, right? It's the gold medal. So, I told the team leader, if we're going to take something, we'll take the gold medal! Our national Olympic delegation has never won a gold medal in a soccer event before, right, regardless of men's or women's… So, we have to take the gold medal and create history! When I said that, I scared the team leader. He thought I was joking and talking nonsense. I said if he didn't believe me, I could sign a military pledge. If I don't achieve the goal, I'm willing to be punished!"

Zhou Yi puffed out his chest and said with a look of righteousness.

"The team leader advised me that it wasn't necessary, and that a medal would be very good. But our original goal was the gold medal. If we end up with a silver medal, it would be our failure. So, at that time, I recited two lines of poetry, ‘*******, How can I avoid it because of fortune or misfortune?’ Only then did they finally agree to our goal of taking the gold medal… Learn from this, Panpan, this is what reciting poetry is! What the hell were you reciting in front of the reporters yesterday! That Zhang moron from *Legal Evening News* said you have no culture, and that's the only thing that moron got right! You need to know how to hide your clumsiness, Panpan. Oh, I forgot you don't understand this word. Do you know what hiding your clumsiness means? It means don't embarrass yourself!"

Hearing this, everyone finally understood that Zhou Yi had babbled so much before, being serious and solemn, and then passionate and excited, just to mock Sun Pan in the end!

"Damn it! You bastard, Zhou Yi!" Sun Pan roared after realizing it.

The others were laughing so hard that they couldn't stand up straight… Naturally, no one mentioned whether Sun Pan's punishment had really been taken so lightly…

※※※

Meanwhile, on the Chinese internet, the arguments and debates had entered a feverish stage.

Chinese netizens were not only arguing with Korean and Western media but also teaching a lesson to the traitors in their own country, keeping them very busy.

Those media outlets and big Vs initially used their resources and status to guide public opinion, believing that Chinese people should reflect on themselves when things go wrong and that there was a reason why they were annoying to outsiders.

Some people actually believed this and followed suit as "rational, neutral, and objective" commenters, calling on everyone not to argue or make trouble, as that would only make people look down on them. They advocated for tolerance, rationality, generosity, and a relaxed and peaceful mindset.

But as Zhou Yi had said to Guo Bing, it was already 2012, an era of developed networks and massive information explosions, an era where everyone could learn about all aspects of information without leaving their homes, simply through the internet.

In such an era, the good old days when celebrities and authorities could fart and have countless people fawning over them were long gone.

Ordinary people, those who seemed to have no voice and whose personal Weibo accounts didn't have enough followers, could still express their opinions through the internet, thereby forming a torrent that impacted those high-and-mighty, self-righteous celebrities and authorities.

Soon, those "rational, neutral, and objective" comments or remarks that ridiculed China, after gaining some support, were met with more opposition and fierce criticism.

Netizens flocked to the Weibo accounts of those big Vs and official accounts to teach the self-righteous elites how to behave through comments.

Under a Weibo post by a certain Zhang from *Legal Evening News*, someone commented: "Some people can't even be good people, yet they can still be reporters for *Legal Evening News*, so what's so strange about that? What do you say, Reporter Zhang?"

"Tell the soccer illiterate Reporter Zhang – Sun Pan, who you think doesn't play soccer well, just won the UEFA Europa League champion… Oh, I forgot, Reporter Zhang probably doesn't know the value of the Europa League champion…"

And under the Weibo post of a certain rich second generation, who usually had countless people calling him "hubby" whenever he posted anything, there was a unanimous chorus of scolding for the first time, with everyone expressing their disappointment in his performance. "If we're talking about showing off arrogance, the young master of the Wang family and his uncle are experienced in that."

A financial columnist, host, and producer of talk shows was also severely scolded this time. Netizens didn't show her any mercy just because she was a woman. Some even lamented that in the matter of scolding idiots, true and complete gender equality had been achieved.

The official Weibo account of *Caijing* magazine, which was known for spreading rumors and being unprofessional, was also the target of everyone's fire. "Why are we always the ones who get hurt? Because there are traitorous media like *Caijing* stabbing us in the back!"

"Has the mature and responsible *Caijing* spread rumors again today?"

"Let me translate the meaning of *Caijing*'s Weibo post for everyone – 'China, your name is sin. You have been carrying original sin since birth. Others insult you, attack you, and exclude you because of your original sin, so you deserve it.' Seriously, I think the fact that our country can still allow a Weibo account like *Caijing* with more than two million followers to exist is enough to show how free our speech is!"

As for that famous actor who once starred in a military-themed drama, he also received "greetings" from everyone on behalf of the Master: "The Master didn't say anything wrong. That grandson is really crazy now…"

This surging wave of public opinion quickly swept through the internet. Those elites who always talked about "freedom of speech" closed their comments in order to avoid being scolded too harshly.

But this couldn't stop the angry netizens, who continued to scold them by forwarding their posts.

This time, the elites who usually emphasized the importance of respecting public opinion were in a mess and could only label the netizens who scolded them as "internet mobs."

But this "labeling" tactic, which they usually played so smoothly, couldn't stop the reversal of public opinion.

Lin Hai Tingtao, a famous author of online competitive novels, wrote a long Weibo post titled "A Letter to the Traitors," vehemently criticizing the elites on the internet who defended the enemy from various angles, with thousands of words.

Many people and articles similar to his appeared on Weibo like a screen-sweeping phenomenon. Some were passionate, some were polite and restrained, and some were sarcastic, but regardless of the style, everyone was refuting the "original sin of China" rhetoric created by those opinion elites before.

This surging voice from the people is a reflection of China's strength.

At the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, the Korean ambassador may have been able to force a national-level television station to apologize. Ten years later, in 2012, they repeated their old tricks. Perhaps some people who have been kneeling for too long will continue to apologize, but the wider public will not do so, nor will they agree to certain institutions doing so. Because sixty-three years ago, someone solemnly declared on Tiananmen Square:

The Chinese people have stood up!