Chapter 959

At this time, Elder Jian was also sitting in the living room, his eyes fixed on the television.

He knew that there was an old man who, in such a late night, must also be sitting in front of the television waiting.

Elder Jian's thoughts drifted further and further away. After talking with Zhou Andong that day, he had gone to see his old leader and expressed his concerns.

Although the old leader seemed in good spirits, he knew that the old leader's health had already developed problems.

Originally, he hadn't wanted to disturb the old leader, but the old leader attached great importance to the Olympic bid and had been paying close attention to it.

Thinking of how the old leader had unhesitatingly told him to cancel all preparations for celebration activities and wait until the results were announced before deciding.

He understood that, in fact, the old leader had also been worried all along, but those below had great confidence in the Olympic bid, so they had prepared celebration activities in advance.

Especially now that the arrow was on the string, all sectors across the country were ready, and it was a time of high enthusiasm; if the celebration activities were canceled at this time, those below would certainly have emotional reactions.

But after hearing him voice his concerns, the old leader still wisely made the decision to cancel all preparations for the celebration activities.

Of course, canceling the celebration activities couldn't be said by the old leader; it was Elder Jian who personally issued the order, taking all the pressure upon himself.

Slowly, Elder Jian withdrew his thoughts, and as the time grew closer, the expression on his face became increasingly solemn.

When the Asian Games were originally bid for, it sparked quite a debate, with many people feeling that hosting the Asian Games was a waste of money and manpower, and that with the national strength at the time, it was simply not worth the loss.

After the successful hosting of the Asian Games, the national fervor for sports reached an unprecedented height, and driven by this good atmosphere, people walked out of their homes one after another and began exercising.

However, this did not bring surprises to the Olympic bid team. Although the Asian Games were held very successfully, the pressure from back then could still be clearly felt as an unbearable weight on the body even at this moment.

The team members thought they would encounter many obstacles, but the result was unexpectedly smooth. Regarding all matters of the Olympic bid, all departments showed unprecedented unity. In particular, the Ministry of Finance stated that they would reduce expenditures and invest all the saved money into matters related to the Olympic Games.

And the public expressed even more expectation for hosting the Olympics; for a time, the people of the whole country were of one mind, fully supporting the Olympic bid. More than ten thousand university students even wrote a letter together and handed it to the main leaders of the Olympic bid, filled with their earnest hopes for Beijing to host the Olympic Games.

Such a situation made the Olympic bid team feel as if they had taken a reassurance pill, confidently saying that with the support of the people of the whole country, our Olympic bid would definitely succeed.

It can be said that for this Olympic bid, whether it was the leaders in charge, the Olympic bid team, or the students and the people of the whole country, all had invested extremely high enthusiasm and emotion; if they lost...

Elder Jian took a deep breath and silently took out a cigarette and lit it.

He believed in Zhou Andong, because last year, some Western countries led by the United States, in order to prevent China from successfully bidding for the Olympics, had shamelessly thrown mud at China.

But he still held a glimmer of hope in his heart, because just this afternoon, the Olympic bid delegation made a presentation report at the 101st Session of the International Olympic Committee.

In the short 45-minute meeting, the delegation, with full emotion, slowly recounted China's five-thousand-year history, showing the world China's profound cultural heritage and humanistic spirit.

As the speech ended, thunderous applause erupted at the scene, which gave everyone great confidence. Especially the voting after the presentations of each country concluded; in the first two rounds of voting, Beijing was far ahead, so no one thought they would lose.

Time was approaching bit by bit, and an old Spanish man with a full head of white hair appeared on the screen, and then he was seen walking onto the stage.

Even when facing enemies several times his own number, Elder Jian had never changed his expression, but today he was nervous; it was the first time in his life.

Although he had been mentally prepared, after the reform and opening up, China's economy had now achieved unprecedented development.

Even if the time had been short, it was not without the strength to compete with those old developed countries in the West.

What's more, the spirit of the Chinese nation is to never admit defeat; even if there is no advantage in the economy, one can move the world with one's sincere heart, so there was still hope.

At this moment, the eyes of the whole world were fixed on the podium, on that old Spanish man with a full head of white hair.

When the word "Sydney" was spoken by this old man, the strength in Elder Jian's body seemed to be drained away all at once, and he leaned softly against the back of the chair, slowly closing his eyes.

Half an hour later, Elder Jian opened his eyes, grabbed the phone beside him, and dialed an international long-distance call.

Soon the other party answered, and one could vaguely hear crying on the other end.

"The Chinese nation is a country that never admits defeat. We failed this time, it doesn't matter, we'll come back and fight again next time."

"Leader!"

The person answering the phone was the head of the delegation, a grown man, but at this moment he was crying like a child.

Elder Jian said in a deep voice: "Failure was within expectations. Getting this result is still because we ourselves are not strong enough. Now our top priority is to accelerate the process of development. Only when we are strong enough will the world see us and not ignore us."

The other party choked up and said: "I... I just feel that I have failed the leader's trust and failed the expectations of the people of the whole country."

"It's enough that you tried your best; the result is not something we can control. It's okay, come back, we will regroup and fight again in 2008."

Elder Jian silently put down the phone, his heart still relatively calm.

Kid, thank you for the reminder, otherwise this time, I would have really lost face.

………………

Fengjing!

Jian Zhengxue sat on the sofa, his eyes fixed on the television for a long time without a word.

Gu Minglan came out of the kitchen with a prepared baby bottle: "I said it, it was impossible to succeed this time."

"Sigh!"

Jian Zhengxue finally moved, picked up the remote control to turn off the television, and said very unwillingly: "We were far ahead in the first two rounds of voting, how could we lose in this final round?"

Gu Minglan snorted: "Because some countries don't want us to host the Olympics."

Jian Zhengxue asked very strangely: "You have never cared about these things, how do you know?"

"Who says I don't care?" Gu Minglan retorted: "Do I have to talk about it every day?"

After speaking, Gu Minglan took the bottle of milk into the bedroom. The little girl had been whimpering and couldn't sleep soundly, clearly hungry.

Jian Zhengxue blinked, suddenly smiled, and also got up and went into the bedroom.

He saw the little girl with her eyes closed, drinking milk in big gulps, and Jian Zhengxue loved her more the more he looked at her.

And on the first, Gu Minglan suddenly came back holding the child, which gave him quite a fright.