Chapter 504: The World is Busy, While I Alone Am Free

Chapter 504: The World Is Busy, I Alone Am Free

"Five golds, five awards—makes perfect sense!"

"Taking half the awards all by himself, this is unprecedented in the history of the Top Ten Laureus!"

"I actually looked it up. Before this, the most anyone won in a single year was two awards, usually Best Athlete and Most Popular. This year is absolutely breaking new ground!"

"The Top Ten Laureus, which has always been about making everyone happy, gave five awards to Fatty Meng. You can see how fair it is!"

"It really is fair! Fatty Meng had an absolute advantage in every single nominated category. If they hadn’t given them to him, it would truly be unjustifiable. Only giving the Best Coach award to someone else makes some sense."

"Actually, you guys have no idea how massive an impact Fatty Meng has had on the Huaxia judo team in that coaching position! Just a few days ago, judo teams from over a dozen countries gathered in the capital, all uninvited. The main reason was to learn from Fatty Meng. The Meng Strategy is probably going to the world stage!"

"Ah? That happened? What’s the deal! When the Iron God was nominated for Best Coach, I was curious. Is there some secret behind this?"

"According to reliable sources—"

"Can't help it, the Iron God is just too ferocious!"

"..."

Once the ten awards were all handed out, Meng Fan took the stage with the members of the judo team for the grand finale performance—the fact that Meng Fan managed not to be carried off-key was a talent in its own right. At the very end, an extra Outstanding Contribution Award was presented. Outstanding Contribution Awards and Lifetime Contribution Awards do not happen every year; they are given out randomly. With that, this year's Huaxia Top Ten Laureus Champions Awards Ceremony finally came to a close.

Meng Fan and the judo team were undoubtedly the biggest winners of this Huaxia Laureus. Of course, the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Administrative Center also became the biggest winner among all the major centers and associations under the General Administration of Sport, holding its head high with pride.

In the past, only the weightlifting team could achieve something in this award every few years. Historically, the grand prizes were basically 'monopolized' by units like the Ping-Pong and Badminton Center, the Gymnastics Center, the Swimming Center (including swimming, diving, artistic swimming, etc.), and the Volleyball Center. Especially the Best Athlete and Most Popular awards, they rarely fell to other centers, with exceptions only occurring when grand masters like Flying Man Xiang, Big Yao, or Tennis Na emerged. Starting from today, another name was added: Meng Fan.

The awards ceremony lasted less than two hours from start to finish. Once it ended, the live broadcast cut off, but most of the athletes present did not leave immediately. For one, there was a dinner gathering, and even for those not attending, they would still stay behind for a while to chat with old friends. There was also a group of younger athletes taking all kinds of photos with people; after all, titans of the sports world could be seen everywhere here.

Meng Fan was no exception. He also sought out people for photos. He had already taken quite a few during his time in training camps and the Olympics, and somewhere along the line, he had developed a habit of collecting them like stamps. Seeing titans at the venue with whom he hadn't taken a photo yet made his fingers itch. Of course, he was also the target of many others' stamp-collecting endeavors.

The dinner gathering was quite simple, just eating, drinking, and chatting, lasting about an hour. By eleven-thirty, everything was essentially wrapped up.

Meng Fan left with Wu Tong around eleven o'clock, returning to the apartment Wu Tong had already bought. It wasn't large, less than ninety square meters, but due to its location, the price was truly not cheap. Wu Tong had bought this place with a loan; she had earned some money from selling paintings this year, and with a little help from her family, she managed to scrape together the down payment. Fortunately, she had a steady income and didn't worry about the mortgage, so Meng Fan was not involved in the apartment payment from start to finish, and he only participated in discussions when it came to buying furniture—the apartment came fully furnished.

Returning home, they washed up and rolled into the sheets. Not long after, it was midnight. Pulling the brakes halfway through, Wu Tong magically brought out a microscopic cake and lit a candle.

"Happy birthday!"

"Happy birth..."

And so passed Meng Fan's second birthday since they had been together. Rising the next day, they had no intention of inviting friends to celebrate; the entire day was reserved for just the two of them, shopping, watching a movie, and then coming back to roll into the sheets again, their little love nest filled everywhere with the scent of romance.

Meng Fan and Wu Tong stayed in the capital for another three days, not heading to the airport until the 29th. Wu Tong also arrived at the airport, but she didn't fly to Changsha with Meng Fan. Instead, she flew to Shanghai. Flying between the capital and Hangzhou recently, she hadn't been home in a while. Furthermore, she knew that Meng Fan's trip to Changsha this time would involve either rehearsals, dress rehearsals, or "fooling around" with Shi Shiwu, so there wasn't much point in her going.

Besides, with Meng Fan's personality, a bit of free-ranging was still necessary.

Shi Shiwu arrived in Changsha quite a bit earlier than Meng Fan, having come the day before. There were plenty of music studios here, the kind that included rehearsal spaces. He needed to come early to arrange the new music for the songs to be performed at the New Year's Eve gala, including the parts Meng Fan was to sing.

"I'm somewhat of a first-tier big shot myself. Ending up as your dedicated arranger, what's that all about!" Shi Shiwu looked utterly exhausted when he saw Meng Fan. It was truly hard to say whether he had spent the night gaming or working on arrangements.

"Ending up? Hmm, that word really exposes your inner thoughts! You really were attracted by my beauty! Don't look at me with those eyes!"

"What kind of eyes am I looking at you with!"

"Just like that right now! Ooh, ooh, ooh, and like this now!"

"Flip you!"

When Jin Xiaowen arrived and heard the two of them "flirting," he touched his wedding ring, let out a long sigh, and only then walked into the studio.

Several others arrived with Jin Xiaowen. One of the male singers was named Yang Qian, whose relationship with Jin could be described as both mentor and friend. This time, the two of them would partner up for the New Year's Eve gala, and they came here because they shared this same studio.

Once this group arrived, Meng Fan and Shi Shiwu stopped their "flirting." Meng Fan and Yang Qian had met twice before, and because of Jin Xiaowen, they were considered WeChat friends.

With this group of musicians present, arranging the songs Meng Fan was to sing was naturally a matter of minutes.

The atmosphere in the studio was rather amusing. A whole group of people was busy, while Meng Fan was completely at leisure with nothing to do. Once they finished setting things up, every song during rehearsals basically cleared in a single take.

During this time, Teacher He stopped by, sitting and chatting with Meng Fan in high spirits, while Shi Shiwu and the others continued working in high spirits over there.

After Teacher He left, Meng Fan found a spot to curl up and catch up on sleep. By the time Shi Shiwu and the others were all finished, Teacher He coincidentally appeared again, and the whole group went out for hot pot.

Because Meng Fan's hand had been injured, his subsequent competitions had all been canceled, and there wouldn't be any matches until nearly April next year. Therefore, during this off-season, he could eat outside; at least until the Lunar New Year passed, he could do as he pleased. As for out-of-competition drug tests, those were low-probability events, and there was time flexibility during non-competition periods.

Coming here this time, the performance at the New Year's Eve gala was secondary for Meng Fan; the main focus was eating.

For this hot pot meal, the amount Meng Fan ate by himself nearly caught up to the combined total of everyone else. It truly terrified Teacher He. It wasn't a matter of money, of course, but rather the fear that Meng Fan might eat himself into trouble, which would truly require an apology to the people of the whole country.

"Master Meng, are you really this unrestrained?"

"It's fine. The national team can't wait for me to get fatter!"

"Really?"

"Really. Uh, Teacher He, could we get a few more portions of largemouth bronze gudgeon, shrimp paste, and bean curd skin?"

"...And their bamboo shoots are delicious! Let's get a few more portions of beef tripe. The one you just blanched was a bit tough, I'll help you."

"Hehe, great!"

This hot pot meal went on until past one in the morning. Afterward, Teacher He and the others left tipsy. Meng Fan, however, was dragged to an internet café by Shi Shiwu, who had claimed he couldn't drink anymore and was drunk after just a tiny bit. It looked very familiar; he had likely frequented the place on previous visits.

Meng Fan hadn't drunk any alcohol, and having eaten so much, no one could sleep upon returning, so he agreed to Shi Shiwu's invitation to game together. This session lasted until past six in the morning. Shi Shiwu yawned and went to sleep, while Meng Fan felt not the slightest bit drowsy, returning to the hotel to change into sportswear for a morning run.

After finishing his morning run, he brought back breakfast, forcefully hauling Shi Shiwu out of bed when the man had only slept for an hour.

"You can pull all-nighters, but you must eat breakfast, otherwise it's bad for your stomach."

Shi Shiwu felt an impulse to beat Meng Fan to death, but it was merely an impulse; after all, he couldn't win the fight.

Next time no matter where he went, he had to deadbolt the door!

Wait, that wasn't right. He seemed to have deadbolted it. How did he get in, what the hell!

This year's Mango TV New Year's Eve Gala was not in Shenzhen, but right inside the Golden Eagle Film and Television Culture City at the Xiang Province International Convention and Exhibition Center, also known as the Mango Pavilion. Besides hosting and organizing domestic and international exhibitions and conferences, this place also held large-scale theatrical galas, concerts, and sports competitions. Events like the Golden Eagle Festival opening and closing galas and awards ceremonies were all held here.

On the afternoon of the 30th around three o'clock, Meng Fan and Shi Shiwu came to the gala venue for rehearsal. The rehearsal went very smoothly, so the gaming session was moved up to five o'clock. However, Meng Fan slipped away using a bathroom excuse.

He slipped into a dubbing room at the Mango Center. After waiting for about a few minutes, Teacher He arrived, accompanied by Wang Han, another pillar of Mango TV.

What were these two here for?

Dubbing. Providing voices for two characters in the second season of "Spirit Beneath the Earth." The second season wasn't finished yet, but the plotlines for the two characters they needed to voice were already completed, serving as "cameo" appearances.

Both of them were hosts for the New Year's Eve Gala, and their rehearsal tasks were far heavier than those of the guests. Meng Fan had merely mentioned it in passing during hot pot last night, and to his surprise, Teacher He had readily agreed. Knowing the lines weren't numerous, he arranged with Wang Han today to take advantage of the dinner break to do the dubbing here.

Their warmth was one aspect, but Meng Fan's immense prestige was also an important reason; otherwise, how could they possibly find leisure in the midst of busyness to do this for you?

Because the characters the two were voicing didn't require any acting elements and their natural voices were perfectly fine, the dubbing went very quickly. In less than fifteen minutes, the parts for both of them were completed.

After finishing, the two hurriedly went to eat, and immediately went back to rehearsal right after eating.

Meng Fan strolled around, feeling a sense that the whole world was busy while he alone was free. So... he called Shi Shiwu to ask where he was, and then went over to game. This felt much more comfortable.

(End of Chapter)