732 A Lame Joke

Tang Jing sat upright in front of her father, who was sitting behind a large office desk. He wore reading glasses to carefully read through the new draft that his daughter just handed in. He had been reading the 3,000-word manuscript for a full 15 minutes and showed no signs of putting it down. It was very quiet in the editor-in-chief's office.

It was a long time before Tang Yuanan took off his reading glasses and massaged the inner corners of his eyes. He said, "Xiao Jing, I'm going to retire in a few years."

"I know, Papa," Tang Jing said. "You can put the blame on me if there's any problem."

Tang Yuanan put down his hands and glared at his daughter. "Nonsense! How could your own father be such a person?"

Tang Jing did not speak. She continued to look at her father, the president and editor-in-chief of the sports newspaper with the widest circulation in China.

"I almost built the newspaper up with my bare hands," he said. "It has been 22 years. I'm just worried that once you publish the article, there's going to be a lot of pressure on the paper."

Tang Jing bit her lips and said, "I will resign now and transfer to another sports newspaper. Let them take the blame."

"Hey, you..." Tang Yuanan really could not do anything about his own daughter. He stared at Tang Jing for a moment. He slightly softened his tone and said, "Actually, Tony Twain's words are not new. The General Administration of Sport of China intends to put the national system into effect and return football to the professional sports school era. Many people have privately discussed this issue, but no one dares to speak out publicly. Even if they said it in front of the media, the press would not print such comments. Do you know why, Xiao Jing?"

"Pressure from the Chinese Football Association," Tang Jing replied.

"No." Tang Yuanan shook his head and said, "The Football Association has long been a target of scorn. After the Olympics, Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily continuously published articles criticizing the Chinese Football Association. Someone had to take the blame for the failures in the Olympics and World Cup qualifiers, and the Chinese Football Association was a good candidate. The real pressure comes from the General Administration of Sport of China. The FA is a subordinate body of it. The one calling the shots is in fact the General Administration of Sport of China. The FA only follows in accordance with the path given by the General Administration of Sport. So, which exactly was Twain rebuking? It's not the Football Association. It's the General Administration of Sport."

Tang Jing's face slightly changed color. She was well aware of the difference between the Chinese Football Association and the General Administration of Sport of China. She knew which organization had more power.

After thinking for a moment, she got up and walked toward her father's desk. She reached for the manuscript and said, "No, Papa. I won't make things difficult for you."

Her father lifted his hand, but put it back again. He allowed his daughter to pick up the manuscript, which was filled with Twain's furious words, and walk out of the office.

Back in the press room, Tang Jing began to pack up her desk. She carefully packed her favorite Garfield hanging pendant, her own water glasses, folders, books, and so on. Her colleagues looked strangely at her as she packed her belongings in silence.

Finally, a colleague who had a better relationship with her rushed over and asked in surprise, "Tang Jing, what are you doing?"

"I quit my job." Tang Jing took a folded piece of paper out of her pocket, opened it, and pressed it on the table. She picked up the box and smiled at her concerned colleague.

"Quit..." Her colleagues were too stunned to respond. They stared dumbfounded at her as she left the office.

The paper pressed on the table was a resignation letter.

※※※

While driving back to her house, Tang Jing received a call from her father.

"Tang Jing!!" Tang Yuanan roared angrily on the phone. "What do you think you're doing!"

"I quit, Papa." Tang Jing remained calm and said, "You don't have to care about what I want to do now."

"I don't agree to your resignation!" her father shouted.

"Then, we'll go to the court for labor arbitration, Papa," she replied.

Tang Jing could hear the creaking sound of her father's teeth gnashing together.

"Fine!" he spat out in frustration. "Even if you quit, you're still my daughter. I won't allow it!"

"Your daughter is already an adult," Tang Jing said. "I moved out a long time ago to live on my own. Even if you are my Papa, you have no right to interfere in your daughter's life."

"You..." There was nothing else Tang Yuanan could say. Tang Jing had heartlessly refused to talk with him.

"OK, Papa, your daughter now has the steering wheel in her left hand and the cell phone in her right hand," Tang Jing said. "I'm driving on the beltway now. If you don't want to get a bereavement call from the traffic police later, I'm going to hang up now."

"Hey, Tang Jing you... Hello? Hello!" He could only hear the busy signal.

※※※

That evening, Tang Jing updated her Sina blog and announced that she had officially resigned from Titan Sports. She blogged that she was now independent and unemployed, as well as recalled some of her life working at the newspaper and thanking some people.

Tang Jing's blog had always been popular because she was a well-known "beautiful reporter" who followed and covered Nottingham Forest in Nottingham and was rumored to be linked with Dunn. Consequently, her article was quickly reprinted. All the people who knew her were surprised by her resignation because there was no indication that she was unhappy with the newspaper. She had received orders to fly to Chengdu two days before she resigned to interview Twain. Many journalists in China had hoped to do an exclusive interview with Twain, but only Tang Jing had the opportunity. They also did not hear of any contradiction between her and the management, which everyone knew was her father. No matter how big the contradiction was, resignation seemed an unlikely result.

The advantages and disadvantages of the Internet age were that information spread quickly. Within one night, the piece of news about a well-known sport newspaper's beautiful reporter mysteriously resigning appeared on several portals' landing pages. Many netizens expressed their views on the matter and made all kinds of statements.

The most sensational theory was that because the woman and Coach Dunn were caught together and exposed, she was forced to resign due to the pressure from all sides. She had said that she was in Chengdu to interview Twain. In actual fact, she was on a date with Dunn. Twain unexpectedly caught the couple in the act, so there was no way to dispute it. Nottingham Forest Football Club made a strong protest to the newspaper. She had to resign to quell the error of her judgment, even though she was the daughter of the newspaper's president. Otherwise, it would be bad for everyone if the matter was leaked.

Although this version was sensational, not many people bought it. How could a foreign football club be angry because one of its assistant coaches had sex with a woman in his native country while on vacation? It was too trifling. Therefore, the real reason for Tang Jing's resignation was still widely debated.

There were also reporters who called Tang Jing, wanting to hear what she had to say. As a result, she turned off her cell phone and could not be contacted at all. The only window of contact with the outside world left was her Sina blog.

The next night, just as everyone was still speculating about why the beautiful reporter who had a smooth career and rising fame suddenly resigned, she updated an article in her blog.

"This was the last question I asked when I went to Chengdu to interview Manager Tony Twain two days ago. I had asked a routine question, but I did not expect to receive a surprising response. It is well known that Manager Twain is fluent in Mandarin. We communicated directly in Mandarin from start to finish with regards to the question. Therefore, you do not have to suspect that I used a translator machine to tamper with his answer. This is the original text. Tomorrow I will consider releasing a recording of the conversation."

That was the introduction she Tang Jing wrote, which was naturally followed by the article she had showed her father, "Chinese Football in the Eyes of a Successful English Football Manager."

In the 3,000-word article, Twain's style of statements could be found everywhere. The unruly English manager berated Chinese football and hit the nail on the head, which made most people who read it nod their heads in approval. At the end of the article, Tang Jing wrote, "Everyone is welcome to reprint the work, but please do not change a single word."

Tang Jing succeeded. She made use of the resignation incident to rouse everyone's interest before throwing out the long-planned article after the attention was focused on her blog. She caused an earthquake on the Internet in the shortest possible time.

Sina, Sohu, NetEase, Tencent, Tianya Club, and all the large and small, well-known and little known, professional and amateur, football-related and unrelated websites, and forums all immediately reprinted the article. As the original source, the number of clicks on her blog surged overnight. Comments were refreshing every minute.

Some people agreed while some people scolded. Some people contemplated while some people questioned it. The people who agreed naturally said that the article was spot on. Those people who scolded were more interesting.

They certainly did not criticize Twain and Tang Jing because they supported such lousy Chinese football. The reason they were upset was that no matter how bad Chinese football was or how terrible the Chinese Football Association was, it was their own affairs as Chinese people. Since when did they allow their own affairs to be dictated by an English barbarian? His words were harsh, making many critics wonder who Twain thought he was. He may have had some success, but he had actually been down and out the past two years. What gave him the right to be so cocky in China?

Those people who questioned it queried if Tang Jing used a fake article to create sensationalism, which was basically self-hyped. This was the era of hype and speculation. To create self-hype, one just had to take a look at star bloggers and online celebrities.

Regardless, the critics reasons were well founded. An Englishman, no matter how much he claimed to know and love China, could not say such a thing that drew blood on the first prick about the current state of Chinese football. Those words could only be written by people who had been immersed in Chinese football for years or really understood and cared about Chinese football. What was the benefit for an Englishman to join in on the action? Did he know who the current full-time vice president of the Chinese Football Association was before he bawled the system out? Moreover, looking at the pervasive "resentment and impatience toward the system for failing to meet expectations" and "pity your misfortune and condemn your submission" emotional state, how could a British citizen, who had nothing to do with their country, have such a sentiment? Therefore, they could only draw the conclusion that Tang Jing's level of fraud was too low or she was simply hawking a big gap in the story to complete the self-promotion.

The questioning theory was very popular in the mainstream media because it represented the voice of calm thinking. Although these people were indeed very calm, serious thinkers, and did not blindly follow the words of other people, it was a shame that their proper analysis was really wrong this time.

Some people had called on Tang Jing to upload the recording online as the proof. The next day, her blog was quiet. There was no emergence of Tony Twain's original recording.

The tide of those who questioned that she made up the news for her own self-promotion suddenly became more intense. It also gave rise to another faction who agreed with the article and affirmed Tang Jing's original intention to do so. But, they still thought that the article was made up by Tang Jing.

There were also rumors that the Chinese Football Association was paying a lot of attention to the article. Even if it was made up by Tang Jing, they did not rule out that she would be brought to court.

Tang Jing later wrote in a blog post, "I have given it some thought. Nowadays, technology is so developed. Even if I release the recording, I'm sure the disbelieving people will think that it is a fake using some kind of sound-change software. It's like the fans of the stars whose nude photographs were exposed. They all thought that the photos were created from Photoshop. Just like photographs can be PS, videos can also be faked. In that case, how difficult could it be to doctor a mere audio file? The people who don't believe will not believe with whatever evidence you come up with. Sometimes I feel that it's quite sad to be suspicious of everything, to doubt everything and refute everything. So, I decided not to release it for the time being. If you have any questions, you can ask Tony Twain yourselves. He is in Sichuan, China, isn't he?"

※※※

Twain suddenly found his and Shania's vacation plans in this small town south of Sichuan with his parents and Dunn completely destroyed. Many reporters with different Mandarin accents from all over the country suddenly came to the surrounding home area of Dunn's parents.

Every day, someone would come knocking on the door and asked politely and humbly, "Can I please ask if Mr. Tony Twain stays here?"

Since Tang Jing's blog called for the people who were in doubt to ask Tony Twain themselves, those reporters really all rushed over. They knew Dunn's home address from previous interviews. One by one came looking in hope to hear Twain confirm that those words really came out of his mouth.

In order not to disturb the two elders, Twain and Shania moved to a hotel in the city, finally luring the swarm of reporters away from Dunn's home.

"What's going on?" Twain was surprised. He could not figure out why he would suddenly turn into a cream cake that attracted flies.

"The words you said to Tang Jing were put on her blog," Dunn said. He and Tang Jing still had a connection, so he was aware of the whole story. "I didn't expect them to come to you so soon. It looks like..." He did not finish the rest. It looked like Tang Jing could not hold up any longer.

"F*ck, are you serious?" Twain asked. "I only scolded the current state of Chinese football, yet these people have come looking for me like mad men. Conservatively, it is estimated that 10,000 people are criticizing Chinese football every day in China, right? Why don't they go find them?"

"The head is not concerned with ordinary people's admonishments," Dunn replied. "You're different. You're a public figure and a famous coach. Even if you fart, there are people watching."

Twain covered his nose and said, "You should find a better metaphor in the future. I have a mouth in my head, not an assh*le. Why should I bear the sin for your secret lover? I can't even have a good time... I'll just lay my cards on the table and let them know the answer before telling them to go f*ck off!"

"Aren't you worried?" Dun asked.

"What am I supposed to worry about?" Twain looked strangely at Dunn and said, "Since I have already said those words, why would I not admit it? It is not a disgrace. Then again, I'm an Englishman. What can I not say? Even if I scold them, what can the FA boss do to me? Shut me out? Not let me attend the CCTV New Year's Gala? Cancel the ads for my endorsement products? Completely cut off my chances of coaching the China national team? Oh, thank heavens... If I were to gain knowledge of the correct path in the morning, I would be able to die at sunset.."

※※※

The next day, through the hotel where he stayed, Twain informed the reporters who had followed him to the small town in the south of Sichuan that he would hold a last-minute press conference the next. They could ask their questions at the press conference. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

The hotel was the best in the city but rarely ushered in such a lively scene. They made an all-out effort to hold the grandest event. They handled the publicity well. All the reporters who heard the news were aware of Twain's press conference, so more people flocked there.

On the day of the press conference, the conference room, which the hotel specially allocated, simply did not have enough room for people to stand. The head of the hotel was so anxious that he sweated profusely. Finally, it was Twain who stepped forward and had everyone move to the lobby, which solved the problem.

Since it was a last-minute press conference, there was no time to prepare any advertising sponsorship boards in the background. The curtain behind Twain had the hotel's huge logo and name printed on it, which gave them a one-time free advertisement.

As soon as Twain sat down, he did not wait for the reporters to raise their hands and ask questions. He immediately spoke in Mandarin and said, "I know what you want to ask. I went online yesterday to have a look at it. The matter is funny. I'm not saying that the article was funny. I'm saying that everything that came out of it was funny. I'm not going to deny what I've done. I've carefully read Miss Tang Jing's blog post. I am now here to officially announce that the article had sections of what I said and not a word was changed. It was indeed what I personally said to Miss Tang Jing."

Twain looked at the stunned reporters with a straight face. "Well, that's all I have to say, good day." He got up and left.

That was when the reporters roused themselves and did not care about the order to raise their hands to ask questions. One by one, they crowded forward, blocked Twain, and threw their questions at him.

"Mr. Twain! I don't understand! Why did you say all those things?"

"Tang Jing asked, so of course I had to answer," Twain replied. "What's not easy to understand?"

"No, no, I mean... Your answer is somewhat out of proportion to your identity..."

"What's so disproportionate? Because I am the manager of Nottingham Forest, so I can't comment on Chinese football?" Twain asked. "Don't you reporters particularly like to ask foreigners when you interview them questions like, 'What do you think of the Chinese players or Chinese football teams' and so on?"

"Mr. Twain, your knowledge of Chinese football can't be that in-depth. Could it be that Miss Tang Jing made some suggestions and then you said it? Did she write the answer in advance for you to read it?"

"Sir, you have to be joking," Twain said. "Not only are you insulting my IQ, you have also insulted my character. Those words came out of my own comprehension. No one gave me any suggestions, and I was not fed any lines in advance."

"But, you're British..."

"So what? I remember saying I know China very well and, of course, football," Twain replied. "Does it not make sense that I understand your football? Everyone in the world knows how bad your football is. Is it wrong for an Englishman who loves China like myself to understand it well? Your football made you a disgrace in the world during the Beijing Olympics. What's so inconceivable about this matter? You think you can't see the fact just because you put your head in the ass? Furthermore, how many of the full-time vice presidents of the Chinese Football Association are engaged in football and understand it? For them to occupy the top positions, how is it that no one loudly asks them if it is reasonable or not, eh? You are not qualified to question whether it is reasonable for me to say such a thing!"

As Twain squeezed his way outside, he hit back at the reporters' questions with his razor-sharp wit. The hotel security wanted to come up to help, but they lost the decisive opportunity to do so and had been squeezed to the outermost edge. They could only look on and worry helplessly at the thick layers of heavy siege.

"But, Mr. Twain, don't you think that as a foreigner, it's excessive of you to judge Chinese football in this way?"

"What's too much?" Twain asked. "It's rotten to the core. That's what it is. It's rotten, and you still aren't allowed to speak about it. No wonder your football has not improved for decades. What's this about don't wash your dirty linen in public? I think you should take the initiative to air it in public. The more people know, the better. You don't want to clean up the pus in the wound, yet you want to cover it up. Are you trying to get rich by breeding maggots?"

"What do you as a foreigner get out of criticizing Chinese football like this?"

"I don't get anything. You ask, I answer, that's the point. If you have other stories to cover, then don't come here from thousands of miles away and ask me questions." Speaking of that, Twain became furious. "Damn it! My vacation was spoilt by this swarm of flies, yet you still dare to ask this idiotic question to my face!"

The scene was becoming explosive and more intense. After the press conference, the media said that Tony Twain had a fierce dispute with a group of reporters at the press conference, but he did not speak off the cuff.

"Mr. Twain, is it appropriate that you criticized a country's official body that governs football?"

"What's inappropriate about it? The British prime minister would be criticized if he did wrong. What cannot be said if a football association has a problem? Perhaps you all think that the Chinese Football Association has no problem at all. That they are hardworking, serious, have the correct attitude, and are responsible." Twain could not hold back his laughter. "I have nothing to say if you really think so. I have already berated and criticized it. Is the Chinese Football Association not happy? Angry? What does it have to do with me?! I'll tell you this, if they were standing in front of me today, I would say the same thing! For a dog that is kept by the General Administration, do they really think of themselves as influential? That's the funniest thing in the world... Ridiculous! Sad! Pathetic! Shameful!"

With that, Twain pulled the crowd apart with force and squeezed out. Halfway through, he turned around to face the group of reporters and said, "I suddenly thought of a joke. Ah, I say it's a joke, but it's actually a true story that happened around me. The atmosphere was too tense just now. Do you want me to tell it to ease everyone's mood a little?"

With that, he went right ahead and recounted without waiting for the reporters to agree. "My team's right back, Rafinha, is a member of the Brazilian Olympic team. As one of the few players on my team who had the honor to participate in the Beijing Olympic Games, he came bragging to me that he had learned Mandarin while he was in China when he returned to Nottingham. One day, during training, he smugly said to me, 'Boss! I know how to shout the Chinese word to cheer on the Brazilian team!' So, I let him shout it to see what it was all about. I heard him shout, 'Fire Xie X Long!'"

All the reporters present looked at each other. They were rendered speechless.

Twain looked at them and laughed. "Is it lame? I think it's very funny! I laughed until I almost died. Ha, ha, ha..."

He left the last-minute press conference hall laughing, leaving behind a group of stunned people.