Lin Wansheng took a deep breath and gripped the barbell with both hands.
The deadlift was the most direct movement for measuring an athlete’s total-body strength.
His previous personal best had been 275 pounds (about 250 jin).
That result was already enough to surpass most ordinary enthusiasts in a gym.
But Lin Wansheng knew very well that in the world of football, that number was not worth mentioning at all.
If he wanted to obtain even the lowest-level NCAA D2 (Division II) college football scholarship, the deadlift threshold for a running back was at least 340 pounds.
As for those D1 star players, there were plenty who could deadlift over 400 pounds.
A genius teenager like Taylor Parker had already deadlifted 415 pounds at the age of fourteen.
The gap between him and them was like an impassable chasm.
“Hoo—”
He exhaled a breath of stale air, tightened his core, and used every bit of strength in his body to pull the barbell up from the ground.
Huh. The entire process was much easier than he had imagined!
He stood up steadily, the barbell in his hands not even wavering in the slightest.
After putting the barbell down, he felt that he still had strength left.
He walked to the side and added a few more plates to both ends.
Total weight: 310 pounds.
Up!
Although this time he could clearly feel the tearing and pressure in his muscles, he still succeeded in pulling it up.
So, after the system added eight points to his [Physique]...
His deadlift level had actually skyrocketed straight from 275 pounds to 310 pounds!
……
……
After leaving the gym, Lin Wansheng checked his watch. It was only ten in the morning.
Now that he no longer needed to watch the store, he suddenly felt that he had an abundance of free time, so much so that he was a little unused to it.
Thinking of this, Lin Wansheng took out his phone and dialed a number.
“Bro, that thing you told me about last week, the elementary school needing an assistant football coach—are they still hiring?”
A loud, excitable voice came from the other end of the line. “Didn’t you say you couldn’t do it? Your dad doesn’t need you to watch the store anymore?”
“No, no.”
“Then hurry over now! I’ll squeeze your info in. The PTA is doing interviews right now.”
——
By the time Lin Wansheng arrived at the field of Maobili Preparatory Elementary School, he discovered that the interviews had already begun.
Several PTA moms were sitting under a sun umbrella by the sidelines, watching with great interest as several applicants played a simple flag football scrimmage on the field.
Lin Wansheng raised his head and saw the Black young man on the field who was setting up cones, Fletcher Cohen.
Cohen was working a summer odd job at this elementary school. The moment he heard about this money-making opportunity, he had immediately notified Lin Wansheng.
Lin Wansheng surveyed the field and could not help sighing inwardly.
This private elementary school had only opened in Little Italy in recent years.
The football field beneath his feet, though an 80-yard field reduced according to youth standards, was still a dedicated field in Lower Manhattan, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold. The school’s financial strength was evident.
He withdrew his gaze and found an empty seat by the edge of the field.
Not long after he sat down, a faint scent drifted over, a mixture of coffee aroma and some cloyingly sweet perfume.
He turned his head and saw a tall mixed-race woman holding a cup of Starbucks, stopping beside him.
She was wearing a set of bright pink Lululemon yoga clothes, the tight fabric outlining an exaggerated waist-to-hip ratio without the slightest attempt to hide it.
She jerked her chin toward the field and asked in a slightly teasing tone, “Which kid is yours? You Chinese have kids this early too?”
“You look like you’re only in your twenties?”
Lin Wansheng was stunned by the sudden question.
He waved his hands repeatedly. “No, no, no. I’m here to apply for the assistant coach position.”
“Oh?” The woman raised an eyebrow.
She laughed. Under the sunlight, her skin had a glossy sheen, like a plump latte-colored pearl.
The tight yoga pants outlined her astonishing curves in full detail.
“I figured as much.” She lowered the long leg she had been crossing, shifted direction, and crossed her legs again.
The toe of her sneaker pointed in Lin Wansheng’s direction, whether intentionally or not.
She jerked her chin toward the field. “Then take a look at those people out there. Do you think you have much of an advantage?”
As she spoke, her gaze wandered over him, and a playful smile curled at the corner of her mouth.
Lin Wansheng glanced at the field and said, “For an assistant coach, the main thing should be how they interact with the kids.”
“How well they play themselves actually isn’t that important. It’s better to see how they teach, wouldn’t you say, ma’am?”
“You’re right.” The smile on the woman’s face deepened. “Don’t call me Ma’am. Call me Kate.”
She stood up and smiled at Lin Wansheng.
Then she walked straight toward the PTA moms, looking extremely familiar with them.
She leaned close to the ear of one white mother. No one knew what she said, but she even pointed in Lin Wansheng’s direction.
The gazes of those mothers immediately focused on Lin Wansheng at the same time, carrying a bit of curiosity.
A few minutes later, one of the white mothers who looked to be in her thirties
waved at a potbellied white man in his fifties standing by the edge of the field.
Immediately afterward, Kate walked back with catlike steps, a mischievous smile on her face.
“Cohen only just submitted your name. The PTA ladies originally thought you were late and didn’t seem very sincere.” She paused, then changed the subject.
“But I told them the suggestion you just made, and they thought your idea was quite good.”
She lifted her chin toward the white man. “That’s the school’s athletic director, Mr. Hank.
He’s a devout Catholic.
He hates it most when people say the F-word.
You’d better watch yourself in a bit.”
Just then, the system’s voice sounded in his mind.
【Observation: In order to resolve the calamity of the main storyline, the steward has diligently associated with Westerners.】
【The steward has formed a favorable connection with a Black slave.】
【Perhaps he may seek out his master, in order to gain the favor of high society.】
【Special reward granted: eight dollars.】
【The money has been deposited into the steward’s pocket.】
After awakening the system, Lin Wansheng had also found time to cram some knowledge about the historical background of the era the system belonged to.
The massacre of Chinese people in Rock Springs in 1885.
Its cause was precisely that the local white miners were dissatisfied with the mine owners not having raised wages for years and wanted to unite with the Chinese miners to strike together.
At the time, the white miners’ daily wage was around 3.5 dollars.
Adult Chinese laborers, meanwhile, were generally paid between 1.75 and 2 dollars.
As for underage Chinese laborers, they usually only got 0.3 to 0.7 dollars.
So, if Lin Wansheng really were a ten-year-old miner in 1885,
faced with this enormous reward of eight dollars, he would have been delighted.
Unfortunately, for Lin Wansheng,
eight bucks was not even enough to buy one and a half tacos from the food cart on the street corner.
That was assuming the owner would be merciful enough to sell him half of one.
Also, what was this about a Black slave?
And he had to go find his master…
When a person was truly speechless, they really would laugh a little.
Mixed-race, back then, also counted as Black.
The so-called one-drop…