Chapter 5 (2/2)

Ren Yu De was doing exactly as Yang Pan said. He kicked the ball from a side angle that was really narrow, aiming for the far corner of the goal. An Ke tried his hardest to save it, but he could not even touch the ball. It entered the goal exactly at the corner of the post.

“That really was a tight angle!” Zhang Jun said. “Hey! What kind of crazy stunt is this? You won’t score if the angle isn’t small enough?”

The whole team became loud with excitement once again, but the happiest person present was perhaps Coach Liang Ke. This training session had proven that he was not wrong: These few players had what it took to become the top 10 players in the whole of Luoyang! Liang Ke’s ideal team was finally taking form.

Chen Huafeng left the school grounds with a huge scoop. The four players, whom he just saw left a very deep impression on him. His journalistic gut told him that these four were about to become very well known throughout the whole country soon.

After the training, Liang Ke made an announcement about a friendly practice match. This news was a shocker for the team, especially the seniors. The team never made it past the first round of the qualifiers, thus no other schools were willing to have practice matches with them. They were considered too weak even for training. However, the coach managed to get the match through some connections: The team’s No. 10, Wang Bo had gone to Xin’an Yi High before he transferred to Shu Guang, and he had a good relationship with members of the soccer team there. So, Liang Ke had asked Wang Bo to “sue” his contacts to make the match happen.

“This Saturday afternoon, we’ll be going to Xin’an Yi High for a warm-up, practice match before the qualifiers. Getting this match was not easy, so I hope that all of you can really get something out of it. Make sure you guys are at the school gates by one this Saturday!”

The seniors on the team were very excited when they heard that they were getting a match. The freshmen did not understand why their seniors were so excited over a warm-up match. Mainly because, they had never been through the depressing years of not having any team willing to hold a match against them. The seniors only had training and more training after even more training instead of playing against other teams.

…

It was night time as Su Fei opened the main door of Zhang Jun’s home.

“Hi aunty, is Zhang Jun in?”

“He’s watching TV. There’s a match on and he’s been watching it since he got home, instead of doing his homework.” Zhang Jun’s mother was busy in the kitchen. Even though she was busy with her business in the day, she still cooked for the family at night. She was really the best mom anyone could find! Zhang Jun had always held the belief that his dad’s marriage to such a wonderful woman was due to good karma from his previous life.

The noise from the TV filled the living room as Su Fei popped in. She found Zhang Jun lying comfortably on the sofa and watching TV.

“Ahem!” Su Fei faked a cough.

Zhang Jun turned and was surprised to see her.

“Su Fei? What are you doing here?”

“Why? Am I not welcomed here?” She frowned.

Zhang Jun quickly waved his hands and said, “No, no, no!” He then quickly got up and offered her a seat. “Have a seat!”

Su Fei laughed at Zhang Jun’s silliness.

“Hey! What’s so funny?” Zhang Jun asked “angrily”.

Su Fei stopped laughing and pointed at the TV. “Who’s playing?”

“It’s Argentina versus Brazil.”

The match was heating up. Both teams were powerhouses of South American soccer, and when the two rivals clashed, it was always an exciting match to watch.

At one point of the game, the Brazilians scored themselves a corner kick and Zhang Jun finally got the chance to get himself a drink. The match had been too intense and he could not even blink, much less get some water. He would have missed a lot if he did so.

“Wait, didn’t the ball go out? Why aren’t they throwing it in instead? Isn’t that against the rules?” Su Fei suddenly exclaimed as she pointed at the screen.

*Splurt!*

Zhang Jun sprayed the water he just drank all over the coffee table.

“What’s the matter? Are you alright?”

“Huh? Nothing, I’m fine,” Zhang Jun said as he left the living room.

“Hey? You’re not gonna watch it anymore?”

A few moments later, Zhang Jun returned to the living room carrying a stack of books . He dropped them on the coffee table in front of a confused Su Fei.

“What’s—”

“I have decided!” Zhang Jun looked at her with a very serious expression.

“Decided what?”

Zhang Jun pointed at her and said, “I’m going to teach you about the basic rules of soccer. People are so going to laugh at us if they find out that our team manager doesn’t even know the basics of the game!”

…(studying)…

“Alright! That covers the basics. Here, take these with you.” Zhang Jun pointed at the stack of books on the coffee table. Su Fei picked one up and read through it as Zhang Jun continued, “I have a question.”

“Sure, shoot.”

“You don’t even have basic knowledge of the game, why did you choose to become the manager in the first place? It’s just something I can’t understand.”

“I told you, I love soccer!” Su Fei answered him without raising her head from the book. “I don’t think that you need to fully understand soccer in order to love it, right? And, I also just fell in love with it this summer.”

“Is it because of the World Cup?”

“Yes! The World Cup! Beckham, Batistuta, Ronaldo and Zidane.”

“Looks like you know a few famous soccer players!”

“Fangirling is a girl’s natural talent!” Su Fei said as she brought her head up. “Who’s your favorite?”

“Mine? Well, basically those who play forward positions are my favorites, like Van Basten, Pele, Ronaldo… But, my favorite forward of all time is Romario.”

“That’s a lot of names I’ve never heard of.”

“…Well, let’s talk about something else. You won’t know what I’m talking about anyways.”

“Hmph! Don’t you dare look down on me! I’ll learn all these rules in a week!” Su Fei said angrily as she picked up all the books and left.

Zhang Jun watched as she left.

What a competitive girl!