Chapter 2: Training for the High School PE Entrance Exam

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Normally, the exams for public institutions and civil service were set up in primary schools and middle schools. For example, the exam hall that Dai Li had gone to was set up in the Ninth Middle School in Yuzhou City. And where there were primary and middle schools, where there are training and tutoring institutions, which offered classes for writing, math, and foreign-language. When it came to hobbies, painting classes, calligraphy classes, and all kinds of classes for musical instruments were also available. If a kid hadn’t been enrolled in three or five classes at a time, he would feel embarrassed to even say “hi” to his classmates.

The poster that Dai Li had seen was for one of those tutoring institution named “Talent Education”.

“‘Talent Education. Looking for PE teacher urgently. Excellent pay and benefits.’ I wonder if I have a chance. I still have to wait a month to receive my graduation certificate. Well, I have no other choices anyway. Maybe I should just give it a shot. It’s also a good chance to see if the coaching system is real or not,” Dai Li thought as he approached the gate of Talent Education.

…

“Excuse me, are you looking for a PE teacher?” Dai Li asked as he walked through the gate.

The person who came to welcome Dai Li was a middle-aged man in his forties. He was very pale, with a pair of golden wire-framed glasses. It made him look very knowledgeable.

“You came here to apply for the position? You look very young,” said the man.

Dai Li smiled awkwardly and spread his arms. “I just graduated. My major is sports training, and I am here today because I came to take the public institution’s recruitment exam. I happened to see your poster, and want to get some more information. Sorry I didn’t expect this today, so I don’t have my résumé. I do have my student card with me though.”

Dai Li took out his student card and handed it over to the man. The man took a glance at it, then gave the student card back to Dai Li. He said, “My name is Jianguo Chen. This Talent Education was opened by me and my friend.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Chen,” said Dai Li immediately.

“Just call me Professor Chen. I was a middle school math teacher,” Jianguo Chen continued, “we are looking for a part-time PE teacher. It’s mainly about giving sports training to middle school students in preparation for the high school PE entrance exam. You must know about it, right?”

Dai Li nodded. “I had to take the PE exam in my high school examination too. I remember PE made up 30 points of the exams.”

“Now it’s 60 points! Almost 8% of the entire high school entrance exam,” said Jianguo Chen and postured an “eight” with his hand.

PE was always one of the mandatory items in high school entrance exams. The proportion PE took was different depending on the region. It ranged from a minimum of 30 points to a maximum of 80 points. And in the city where Dai Li lived, PE made up 60 points of the exam.

Jianguo Chen continued, “There are only two weeks left before the high school PE entrance exam. Our program opened a special training class for it, mainly targeting junior students in middle school who are going to take the exam. The PE teacher we originally hired is no longer available due to some unexpected emergency. We really need a PE teacher to replace him as soon as possible. Because you were a sports training major, I think it will be no problem for you to train middle school students. Am I right?”

“No problem at all,” Dai Li nodded.

“Because all our trainees are full-time students who have to go to school during the day, the training cannot conflict with their normal class time. Usually we go from 17:30 to 19:30 on weekdays. It will be two hours. On Saturdays and Sundays, it will be an entire day of training. Since the exam is around the corner, we only have about two weeks.”

Jianguo Chen stopped for a second, then continued, “As for the salary, we can offer you 300 yuan a week during the trial period. On top of that, for every student you coach who completes their training program, you will get 500 yuan as commission. If you are okay with it, I can offer you the trial contract right now.”

“Now?” Dai Li had never imagined that the whole thing would have gone so well. The man had only checked his student card and offered him the job.

“Yes. Today is Saturday and tomorrow is Sunday. We are going to begin our class tomorrow. According to the plan, it will be a full day of training. I hope you can be here and start working tomorrow,” Jianguo Chen said eagerly.

“I have no problem coming here to start the work tomorrow. It’s just…” Dai Li said hesitantly.

“Perfect. I’ll go get the trial contract.” Jianguo Chen ran into the office behind him.

…

Dai Li walked out of Talent Education, still baffled by what had just happened. Everything had gone so well that he couldn’t believe it.

“It said on the internet that job hunting was very hard for college graduates. Why was it so easy for me to get the offer today? He only took a look at my student card and hired me. Was it some kind of trap? I’ve checked the contract many times and everything including the salary, bonus, and working time are all listed clearly. They didn’t even ask for a deposit, nor charge me for the uniform.”

Dai Li thought carefully and remembered that he had seen some news on the internet about employment fraud. Most of them would offer a trial period in the beginning and then ask for a deposit for all kinds of reasons, such as the uniform, training fee, and so on.

“Well, I’ll bring 20 yuan with me for lunch and leave all my bank cards at home. They’ll never get a penny from a poor student like me!” he thought.

Dai Li came to Talent Education the next early morning. Jianguo Chen drove him to the City Youth Activity Center personally.

There was a specialized space for activity in the City Youth Activity Center. The center had athletics tracks, an equipment room, basketball court, football pitch, tennis court, badminton court, and ping-pong hall – everything you could imagine. They even had a swimming pool. All these fields were only open to public when they held competitions. Usually they were lent to the after-class tutoring centers. For example, the eight basketball courts were lent to four tutoring institutions that specialized in basketball training.

Talent Education wanted to do high school PE entrance exam training, so they had rented a field in the Youth Activity Center which included a jumping pit, calisthenics bars, and an athletics track. However, they had to share the athletics track with other tutoring institutions. This field would be the place Dai Li would work for the next two weeks.

…

“The Youth Activity Center is an official government-managed activity center. The training schools that rent space here should be registered in the Bureau of Education. They shouldn’t be frauds,” Dai Li thought as he followed Jianguo Chen to the place Talent Education was renting.

Jianguo Chen pointed at a row of horizontal bars and said, “Besides this fixed equipment, we will rent a box of equipment including dumbbells and stands for push-ups from the Youth Activity Center. They will send it here later. There are numbers attached to that equipment. Be careful not to misplace any of them, otherwise we have to pay for it.”

Dai Li nodded to show that he understood. Jianguo Chen looked at his watch and said, “It’s almost time. The students are coming. We’d better welcome the parents who are sending their children here!”

…

Twelve students stood in front of Dai Li. All of them were boys, and they all shared the same characteristic—they were all overweighted!

According to the “Physical Health Standard for Students” established by the nation, if a senior middle school boy’s height was 165 centimeters and he weighed less than 46 kilograms, he suffered from malnutrition; between 46 kilograms and 56 kilograms, he was considered thin; between 56 kilograms and 58.5 kilograms, he was average; if he weighed more than 58.5 kilograms, he was considered overweight; and if more than 66 kilograms, he was obese.

The 12 people in front of him were obviously in the obese category. One was bigger than the other! After examining all of them, Li determined that the “skinniest” one was still obese. One or two of them might have even been more than 90 kilograms.

“A bunch of fat potatoes!” Dai Li thought to himself as he sighed. Though after considering it, Dai Li realized they wouldn’t be here in the high school PE entrance exam training class if they did not have weight issues.

“I should check their sports abilities! Alright! 24, 27, 22, 25…is no one over 30? What the hell is 19? He might be even weaker than the dog of that old lady yesterday!” Dai Li thought, quite upsetly.

“Don’t look down upon the old lady from yesterday who was walking the dog,” said the system. “Nowadays, old ladies practice square dancing one to two hours every day. They are much stronger than these chubbies!”

“You are right. But there is nothing I can do about it. I have to take it easy. According to the contract, I can get 500 yuan commission per student. Which means I can get 6,000 yuan if I can manage to train them until the end! 6,000 yuan in two weeks! How lucky I am!”

The more Dai Li thought about it, the more he found it unbelievable. His morale was high thinking about that 6,000 yuan. He took the list of names and went in front of them. He cleared his throat and said, “Hello students. We will now begin roll call! Xiaoming Huang.”

“Present!”

“Congcong Wu.”

“Present!”