Chapter 473: The Competition Is Unimaginably Difficult (2)

But as the words reached his lips, he couldn’t help but remember a joke his mother used to tell him when he was little. He smiled at Chen Junyi and said:

“Of course. I’d love nothing more. If my parents saw you visiting them, they’d be grinning from ear to ear. But my mom warned me a long time ago that if I ever bring a girl home, she has to be her daughter-in-law. No ‘just a friend’ or ‘female classmate’ or anything like that!”

Hearing this, Chen Junyi’s tone suddenly turned mischievous as she asked:

“So, have you ever brought any female friends or classmates home before?”

Hearing this question sent a chill down Huang Chong’s spine. He shook his head frantically, his tone firm:

“No, absolutely not. Not just female classmates, not even male ones. I don’t really like bringing people over—”

Seeing how decisively he denied it, Chen Junyi naturally believed him. She broke into a smile, stood slightly on her tiptoes, gave Huang Chong a quick kiss, and then replied with a laugh:

“Alright, then I’ll be the first person you bring home!”

Hearing Chen Junyi say something so intimate to his face, Huang Chong couldn’t stop a huge wave of happiness from welling up inside him. He carried that joy with him all the way back to Germany.

…

After the plane landed, Huang Chong immediately messaged Chen Junyi to let her know he’d arrived safely. Then he returned to the small apartment they had shared for almost a year and found the personalized meal plan she had made for him.

He casually flipped through a couple of pages and instantly knew how much time and effort she had poured into it for him.

For a simple, nutritious meal like pan-seared steak, for example, she had even written down the exact portion size, how to marinate it beforehand to remove any unwanted odors, and instructions for the cooking process, including the heat level and how many minutes before flipping it over.

In truth, Chen Junyi’s daily life was incredibly busy. She had to manage her own research projects, create big data training models, and also worked as the team’s bilingual Chinese-English translator.

On top of all that, she also had to find significant time to cook for Huang Chong, create his meal plans, handle his life’s logistical support, and was also responsible for managing his many business partnerships—

Honestly, with so many tedious tasks combined, if she didn’t possess an extraordinary mind and crystal-clear thinking, it would have been nearly impossible to handle everything in such an orderly fashion.

Now that she had to return to Birmingham to continue her studies, Huang Chong knew without a doubt that his life was bound to feel somewhat out of sorts for a while.

However, what he didn’t know was that while Chen Junyi’s official majors were nutrition and data analysis, after her classes officially started, she had also gone to the library and bookstores to find numerous professional books on sports agency and had begun an in-depth study.

This included a vast number of topics, such as sports industry and market knowledge, foundational theories of agency, knowledge of specific sports and sports administration, sports marketing and sponsorship, development of sports-related intangible assets, IT applications, and legal regulations, among others.

In short, to obtain a professional sports agent certification, the amount of new knowledge Chen Junyi had to learn outside of her own major was undoubtedly immense.

When Chen Junyi’s classmates saw this, they were blown away and couldn’t help but give her a thumbs-up in admiration.

At a top-tier university, simply completing one’s own major was already an incredibly difficult task.

Yet for Huang Chong’s sake, Chen Junyi had plunged headfirst into a new field of professional study without a second thought.

It had to be said that her choice not only demonstrated her powerful learning ability but also fully proved that, so her partner could wholeheartedly pursue his career, she too was constantly improving herself behind the scenes. Even facing a boundless sea of knowledge, she would not shrink back.

…

After returning to the team, Huang Chong joined his teammates for a team training session.

Many riders on his team would also be participating in this year’s Road World Championships.

In fact, even the marginal riders on the team’s third squad were top-tier Professional Cyclists from countries all over the world.

Roglič, of course, was a given. He would certainly represent Slovenia at the World Championships alongside Pogačar.

Besides them, other riders from the team who were performing better and better, like Lipowitz, Schachmann, Vlasov, Martínez, Jungels, Marchyuk, and so on, would also be representing their respective countries.

The importance of the Road World Championships is second only to the Tour de France, and it ranks even higher than the five major Classics.

The allure of the Rainbow Jersey is something no top rider can resist.

It was no secret that the number one man in road cycling, Pogačar, had been coveting that Rainbow Jersey for a long time.

This year’s World Championships road race was a classic short-climb circuit race. It was long and difficult, with each lap containing an extremely challenging short, steep climb, making it perfectly suited for Classics specialists and Climbers to compete for the championship.

As long as it wasn’t a purely flat course, it was a prime opportunity for Pogačar to vie for the Rainbow Jersey.

Huang Chong, who was competing in two events, naturally hoped to win the title as well.

But having lost to Pogačar twice this year, and considering that the top-tier cycling nations all had eight-man teams while he was essentially riding solo, he wasn’t very confident about his chances of winning.

His only chance was to stick with Pogačar for the entire race and challenge him in the final sprint to the finish line.