Chapter 135: Support from Official Media

After a resounding victory, Wang Lei and his team truly rose to fame, just as Yue Minghua had said when leaving: “Xiao Leizi, this time your big brother admits defeat. Alright, keep up the good work. You’re going to face even more trouble ahead.”

Yue Minghua genuinely admired Wang Lei. At the same time, he couldn’t help but marvel at Wang’s “streak of luck” in stumbling upon such a promising talent like Turgun. Yet, he had to admit that most people wouldn’t have the courage to manage players the way Wang Lei did.

During the preliminary rounds, group matches, and even the quarterfinals, the youth team had not attracted much attention. When there was any, it was mostly local supporters from the competing teams. But once the semifinals arrived, even youth matches garnered widespread attention. At least nationwide, many media outlets began closely following the youth semifinals.

Meanwhile, the incident where Wang Lei berated reporters at the airport began to receive growing scrutiny. Initially, only a few media outlets that had been harshly criticized by Wang were making a fuss. However, as the border region youth team advanced into the semifinals, more and more media joined the fray, and opinions about Wang Lei started to diverge.

Some media outlets resorted to disparaging Wang Lei, and several renowned basketball veterans increasingly criticized him for leading young players astray. They argued that playing well wasn’t enough; character cultivation was equally important and that good results shouldn’t come at the expense of the players’ spirit.

Among these outlets, many hailed from provinces where Wang’s team would soon face opponents, with a rather straightforward goal: to disrupt Wang’s preparations. Yet others had less innocent motives—some sought fame, others profit, and a few were merely driven by their own steadfast beliefs about basketball. Frankly, Wang Lei’s team did seem somewhat unconventional in the current basketball world.

Beyond these critics, there were quite a few media voices praising Wang and the border region youth team for their significant breakthroughs.

Regardless, Wang Lei’s team played with passion and originality, unbound by clichés. Their style was elegant and fluid, and even their hard-working center, Hawler, never played sluggishly or messily. Because of their recent performances, the border youth team had indeed attracted considerable fan support and affection, especially Turgun, who had become a super-genius in the eyes of many fans.

With such fan attention and admiration, no matter Wang Lei’s past, the media couldn’t help but focus on and report their progress.

Amidst the media’s noisy turmoil, the Central Republic Daily—rarely commenting on sports affairs—published a commentator’s article on its Xunbo public account titled “Media Must Uphold Professional Ethics and Public Justice.”

Although the article didn’t explicitly mention Ma Dongmei or related events, it sharply criticized certain media outlets for ignoring factual truth, deviating from core facts, and manipulating public opinion in their reporting. This not only violated professional ethics but also severely undermined public justice.

As a comprehensive media outlet recognized by the Republic’s top leadership, the Central Republic Daily served as the barometer for current affairs. Its sudden publication of such an article signaled that the Ma Dongmei incident had received official definition and endorsement.

Less than two hours after the article’s release, the East Asian Volleyball Federation, led by the Republic Volleyball Association, issued a statement protesting the unfair treatment the Republic’s women’s volleyball team had suffered at the World Women’s Volleyball Championship Cup. The statement called for stern negotiations with the event organizers and warned that if justice was not served, member countries of the East Asian Volleyball Federation would collectively withdraw from the World Volleyball Federation.

Additionally, at a routine press conference, a spokesperson from the Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a protest and stern negotiations with the Italian government over distorted media reports stemming from Italy, the host country of the championship. The spokesperson expressed hope that the World Volleyball Federation would handle the matter justly.

With these two developments, media outlets swiftly changed their tune. Anyone still unclear about what had happened would be truly oblivious.

In no time, all the distorted reports targeting Ma Dongmei disappeared, and even some reports involving Wang Lei began to shift in tone.

No one had anticipated such a sudden reversal, nor that the Republic’s government would respond so forcefully over what seemed like an inconspicuous female athlete.

Seeing these developments, Wang Lei felt a surge of emotion. Compared to Earth’s timeline, the Republic’s external environment in this reality was remarkably favorable, and its growing strength allowed it to issue such resolute statements on incidents like this.

“Heh, saw the news? Our old man praised you, said you’re more of a man than my dad,” Ma Dongmei said cheerfully over the phone, having already returned to the club while Wang Lei was still preparing. It was clear she had vented her frustrations, and Wang Lei roughly understood why things had turned out the way they did.

“Did you see the old man? Didn’t start crying in front of him, did you?”

“Mm, the day after you left, he called me over, first scolded me for having no temper, saying I’m not like the Ma family stock, then asked about you.”

Wang Lei had never met Ma Dongmei’s grandfather, Ma Zhanshan, in person, but from what Ma Dongmei described, he knew what kind of man the old gentleman was. This whole affair was probably because Ma Zhanshan had once again slammed his fist on the table.

As the only surviving founding hero of the Republic, Ma Zhanshan wielded tremendous influence. Back in the day, he dared to bang the table in front of the highest leaders, and even now, though aged, he remained fiery and intolerant of any nonsense.

“So it was the old man this time?”

“Yeah, he called me right in front of me and gave me a good dressing down. Then he started talking about you—said you’re way stronger than my dad, heh heh. Also, he said next time I should bring you along to meet him.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Hearing Ma Dongmei’s words, Wang Lei felt excited. He knew that although he and Ma Dongmei were practically on good terms now, if he didn’t eventually win the old man’s approval, they still had some hurdles to overcome. But judging by this, it seemed Ma Zhanshan was quite fond of him.

“That’s good. Heh heh, just over a week left. Once I’m done here, I’ll head back to Jinling. Be good and wait for me.”