Chapter 413: An Important Mission

Chapter 413: An Important Mission

"Finally, summer vacation is here!"

Having finished all her courses for the sophomore year of high school, Meng Canlan carried her suitcase out of the dormitory building. After waiting for a short while, her mother’s car arrived. Aside from her mother coming to pick her up, Meng Canhui, who had finished her high school entrance exams early, was also in the car.

"Why did you come? Didn't you go to Shanghai first?"

"I was waiting for you, wasn't I? My mom said we'd head there a bit later, so I could only wait and go with you."

"I see, so you just didn't want to travel alone!"

"Who said I'm afraid to go out alone! Fourth Aunt also said she wants to leave with my mom and the others. If I had left early, wouldn't you be all by yourself?"

Meng Canlan’s mother watched them as she placed the suitcase into the trunk, smiling at the two of them. "Alright, you’ll have plenty of time to bicker along the way."

Once the two girls got into the car, they drove straight toward the bullet train station.

These two girls were going to Shanghai to meet up with Meng Canwei, and then they would head to Kyoto together. The adults would go later, almost arriving just the day before the opening ceremony. Right now, there was still some time left before the Kyoto Olympics.

In the car, Meng Canlan’s mother gave them a few reminders and didn't say much else. Both of these young girls had traveled quite a bit before. They were being dropped off at the train station to board, and someone would be waiting to pick them up when they got off, so there was naturally no need to worry about safety. They didn't have much to carry either, as they would mostly buy what they needed over there. She only reminded them to keep their tickets and ID cards safe.

For the Kyoto Olympics, almost the entire Meng family was mobilizing. Meng Canwei was taking Meng Canlan and Meng Canhui in the first batch, mainly because these two girls were on vacation and wanted to go early to have some fun. Later on, Meng Canju would bring little Nanshan to join them, while Meng Canhe and Meng Canlian could fly over at any time. As for accommodations, Meng Canwei, Meng Canlian, and Wu Tong had already booked everything when they went there to paint the town red during the May Day holiday. Needless to say, tickets had been taken care of long ago; Meng Canlian bought them early on, securing tickets for the venues of the three major events even before Meng Fan had clinched his first Olympic entry ticket.

The adults would head over one after another before the opening ceremony. The only one currently uncertain about being able to make it was Meng Cantang, who was still in America participating in some scientific research project. Everyone else would be going.

This Olympic Games was a grand event for the Meng family. In past years, they would at most watch it on television, but this time, a member of the Meng family was competing, so they naturally had to watch it live at the venue. Money was not an issue, and time could always be squeezed out. This year, nothing was more important than watching the Olympics.

Quite a few members of the Wu family were also going to watch the Olympics this time. More than half of the second branch, where Wu Tong belonged, was going, making a group of over a dozen people in total.

As July began, the Academy of Fine Arts also started its summer vacation. After the holidays began, Zhang Zhouwei went home once but returned very quickly. Though the academy was on break, the Damei Studio was not. Zhang Zhouwei definitely wanted to stay behind to accompany Wang Yanan, and of course, it also made it easier for her to supervise him so he would review well and prepare for his postgraduate entrance exams. Well, having grown accustomed to being managed, he felt uneasy all over after spending just a few days at home.

Chen Daqiang had not gone home at all since the vacation started. He still had a lot of work on his hands. Chen Daqiang was a very driven person. Aside from the comic post-production work that Meng Fan assigned to him, he also took on other overflow work from the studio. His family certainly did not lack food or drink; in fact, their conditions were quite good. He wanted to make a living in the anime and manga industry, and since his innate talent was not exceptionally high, he forced himself to put all his effort into hard work.

Xing Tuge’s home was near Hangzhou, but he basically did not return this summer vacation. The main reason was certainly not that he was running to the studio, but rather that "problems" had arisen in his love life. Ever since he got together with the boxing girl, Xing Tuge had not changed girlfriends for half a year now. To Zhang Zhouwei and the others, this was an incredibly unbelievable thing, to the point where they once thought Xing Tuge had reformed his ways or had been completely tamed.

"I plan to go to Japan!"

At noon, while scrounging a meal at Damei Studio, Xing Tuge voiced his intention. First, it was to watch Meng Fan’s matches, and second, he wanted to give himself some time to sort out his feelings for the boxing girl. This period had been both enjoyable and agonizing for him. For the first time, he found himself a bit muddled, and he needed to think calmly about what was wrong with him.

Zhang Zhouwei was also there. He looked up at Xing Tuge and asked, "Can you even buy tickets?"

Xing Tuge said, "I checked. Tickets for the opening ceremony and judo are impossible to get. For wrestling and weightlifting, there are channels where I can buy scalped tickets."

"There are scalpers in Japan too?"

"Supposedly, after it was confirmed that Fatty Meng secured his qualification, all the remaining tickets for wrestling and weightlifting were completely cleaned out."

"Holy crap, Chinese scalpers have plowed their way all the way to Japan! Impressive!"

"Are you guys going?"

Zhang Zhouwei wanted to say something more, but Chen Daqiang glanced at him askance and said to Xing Tuge, "Zhouwei and I are going too. We have tickets, sent by Fatty Meng, including the opening ceremony. The three of us get two sets each. However, we have to go a bit later. We’ll probably miss the opening ceremony and arrive the day before Fatty Meng's match. Do you want to go early, or come with us?"

"We?"

"Aren't you bringing your girlfriend along?"

"...She probably doesn't have time."

Xing Tuge shook his head, planning to take only one set of tickets. As for whether to watch the opening ceremony, he thought about it and decided he might as well go see it. He would go early and clear his head early. Anyway, he didn't have much to do, unlike Zhang Zhouwei and Chen Daqiang who both had things to keep them busy.

Right as they were speaking, the boxing girl called him. Her voice was full of excitement: "Darling, a friend of mine has two sets of Olympic tickets. Something came up and she can't go, so I’m planning to buy them. Let’s go together! I’ll accompany you to watch your family's Fatty Meng compete!"

"..."

Xing Tuge let out a long breath, smiling bitterly, and then took the remaining set of tickets as well. He spoke into the phone, "No need to buy them. I have two sets of tickets here."

Seeing this, Zhang Zhouwei and Chen Daqiang looked at each other, rapidly exchanging glances. They were intimately familiar with Xing Tuge. His words just now had been evasive, and now he looked like this. It seemed this boxing girl truly had a way with him!

As for Qin Jiu, though she had also received two sets of tickets, she did not plan to go. After all, the studio needed to be operated, so she gave the tickets to Yan Xixi and the crew-cut guy, who had swiftly registered their marriage after the proposal. This young couple would go early, treating it as a honeymoon trip after getting their marriage certificate.

Of course, things going against one's wishes happened often. This young couple was going early to enjoy their honeymoon, but they just happened to dangle a tail behind them—Master Kun, who was proactive in everything except updates, which he dragged out as long as possible.

Fortunately, this tail of Master Kun slipped away on his own not long after arriving in Japan, setting off full of vitality to gather material for his writing.

On July 10th, with less than half a month left before the opening ceremony of the Kyoto Olympics, the entirety of Kyoto was already steeped in the Olympic atmosphere. Master Kun wandered from the Olympic atmosphere into the night of Shinjuku Kabukicho. Amidst the neon lights and wine, Master Kun felt the air in this district was just like the outside, filled with an "athletic color." After browsing a few manga shops that could never exist back home, he went to experience Japan's adult entertainment culture, emerging with a face full of "as expected of Japan."

Starting from this day, the Olympic charter flights of the Chinese Olympic delegation began to arrive in Japan one after another. Meng Fan arrived on the 11th, moving into the Kyoto Olympic Village along with his teammates. He learned from some veteran athletes that the specifications of the Kyoto Olympic Village this time were quite good, much better than Rio last time.

After checking in, the team leader distributed various cards and badges to ensure no trouble would arise regarding entry, exit, and training. On-site reporters were definitely present. After undergoing a wave of interviews and filming, the reporters left, and the team leader brought over the schedule for subsequent training and venue familiarization.

Management was naturally strict. After all, those present were competing for the country and represented the nation's image. The possibility of going out on one's own was very small, requiring applications through various tedious procedures. Group travel was slightly more convenient. This was also related to the management of each national team; some national teams were extremely free to come and go.

By the 13th, the wrestling team was finally scheduled for their first round of venue adaptation training. The venue was Hall A of the Kyoto International Exhibition Center in Ariake, Koto Ward. Hall B next door was the venue for fencing and taekwondo. The Olympic Village was in Chuo Ward, and the two wards were connected.

In addition, the judo competition Meng Fan was participating in was held at the Nippon Budokan in Chiyoda Ward, which was also the sacred land of Japanese judo. Weightlifting was at the Kyoto International Forum Building, also in Chiyoda Ward. These two venues were not very far apart, and they were not very far from the Olympic Village either.

In terms of distance, Meng Fan did not need to run too far, and he could manage even when the matches became dense.

The Chinese wrestling team did not have much time for their first round of venue familiarization, a mere half hour. Pre-competition training in a few days might be slightly longer, but it probably wouldn't be by much. Athletes from other countries were also scheduled to familiarize themselves with the venue at the same time. Meng Fan even met some acquaintances, such as last year's World Championship winner, the famous Turkish athlete Rıza Kayaalp, the famous Uzbek athlete Dusmatov, and the famous Iranian athlete Ghasem Rezaei, among others.

Quite a few of them greeted Meng Fan warmly. After all, they had no temper about it. They only hoped to encounter him a bit later; if they truly crossed paths, barring any accidents, the probability of winning was zero. The only thing they could strive for was to "survive" a bit longer.

"Meng! Want to go out and have fun tonight?"

An athlete from a small country leaned close to Meng Fan with great warmth, his faint eyebrows hopping about, leaping with many implicit meanings.

Meng Fan simply pretended he couldn't understand anything, shaking his head and spreading his hands.

"OK!"

He recalled the management of the Chinese team and cast an empathetic look at Meng Fan.

As the Olympics drew nearer, more and more Olympic delegations arrived in Kyoto, and occasional tidbits of gossip spread. Of course, since people were spending money legally, you couldn't really say anything about them. By comparison, Kyoto was actually considered decent; the amount of contraceptives distributed in the 16 Rio Olympic Village was what could truly be called terrifying.

During the remaining time before the Olympic competitions, Meng Fan was quite busy, much busier compared to other athletes. He had to leave the Olympic Village almost every day to head to the competition venues, either to familiarize himself with the grounds or for pre-competition training. After all, he had matches to fight across three major events and five disciplines, and the three major events were separate.

Round after round, he spun like a top between the three venues and the Olympic Village.

During this period, Meng Fan even met an acquaintance at the judo venue. She wasn't an athlete, but rather Sakura Minako, the flight attendant he had met in Singapore.

She was a volunteer at the judo competition venue, the Nippon Budokan. Starting from three months ago, she had temporarily set aside her work as a flight attendant and successfully applied to become an Olympic volunteer. With her looks and work experience, becoming a volunteer was not a difficult task. Of course, relative to other venues, becoming a volunteer at the Nippon Budokan was very hard, as this was Japan's "national quintessence."

In addition, she was also a volunteer for the opening ceremony.

From Sakura Minako, Meng Fan also heard a piece of sigh-inducing news. Shibuya Shino had committed suicide. She was the fiancée of one of the robbers, Takasho Shota—the woman who had cuckolded Takasho Shota. One of the men involved was the co-pilot of the same flight, Ono Hideo. After Takasho Shota was arrested, she had once told Sakura Minako that she actually loved Takasho Shota very much.

Sakura Minako said that after the Singapore incident, Ono Hideo began to avoid Shibuya Shino, but after a period of time, the two tangled together again. About two months ago, Shibuya Shino killed Ono Hideo and then committed suicide.

As for whether this was because Ono Hideo avoided Shibuya Shino again, or because Shibuya Shino had planned to kill Ono Hideo from the very beginning to enact "revenge," the police had no way of knowing the answer, nor was there any conclusive evidence. However, Sakura Minako felt the latter possibility was highly likely, because she still remembered Shibuya Shino's expression when she said she loved Takasho Shota very much back then.

Meng Fan could never have imagined such a sequel to the hijacking incident. After listening, his whole person was somewhat dazed, both startled and dumbfounded.

Could it be that from the very beginning, Shibuya Shino thought Takasho Shota hijacked the plane because of her infidelity? So after Takasho Shota was sentenced to death, she killed the lover she cheated with and then committed suicide to "atone for her sins"?

The relationship within this was clearly beyond the scope of what Meng Fan's imagination could fathom.

Whew!

Meng Fan exhaled a long breath, expelling his depressed, terrible, and complex mood.

Sakura Minako also let out a long breath after finishing, then immediately reacted, speaking to Meng Fan with a face full of apology: "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told you about this matter, at least not before you finished your matches. It's just..."

Meng Fan patted her shoulder. He could see that this matter had certainly had a great impact on Sakura Minako as well, and he could feel that she had held it in for a long time. Returning a smile, he comforted her, "I'm fine. I just hope you won't be affected by this matter either."

He wanted to offer a few more words of comfort, but Meng Fan truly was not someone who knew how to comfort people.

Sakura Minako nodded, pumping her fist at Meng Fan: "Meng Fan-kun, good luck with the matches!"

Before he knew it, the 22nd had arrived, with less than forty-eight hours until the Olympic Games' opening. On the evening of the 22nd, Meng Fan received a call from Wu Tong and the others, who said they had all arrived; he could even hear his mother's voice through the phone.

No sooner had he hung up than he heard a knock at the door. Opening it, he saw Directors Zhou and Xiong from the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center. Their faces brimming with excitement and joy, they stared at Meng Fan and chuckled for a good while before telling him, "The delegation has assigned you an important task: you will be the flag bearer for the Chinese Olympic delegation at the opening ceremony!"

(End of this chapter)