The school bell rang in every corner of the campus, and soon students carrying schoolbags walked out of the classroom, appeared in the corridors, stairwells, and poured out of different teaching buildings.
Some of them ran towards the school playground, while others walked towards the school gate.
But in the senior high school teaching building, not many people got up and left.
They still have evening self-study to attend, and now is not the time to leave school.
Chu Yifan put down the pen in his hand, raised his head from behind the pile of books on the table, and then took out a pair of crutches leaning against the wall.
He stood up hard with crutches and slowly moved towards the classroom door.
"Chu Yifan, you are like this and you still want to train?"
someone in the classroom asked.
"It's not to train." Chu Yifan smiled. "It's to say goodbye."
"Ah, yes, you are retiring from the football team...can I help you?"
"Thank you, but no need." When Chu Yifan said this, he had already seen Yan Yan standing at the door of his classroom.
"How about it, is it inconvenient to go down the stairs? Do you want me to carry you?" Yan Yan saw Chu Yifan coming out and greeted him.
"Go to hell, do I need you to carry me?" Chu Yifan glared at him.
Yan Yan burst out laughing, attracting many people's attention.
Seeing him like this, Chu Yifan complained: "You will be the captain of the team next, can you be more steady..."
Yan Yan shook his head with a smile and said nonchalantly: "I'm not cautious, Captain Chu. Not everyone is like you."
"Alas..." Chu Yifan sighed, "I really don't know if you are suitable to be the captain now."
"Hehe." Yan Yan smiled, slowly matching Chu Yifan's speed and moving towards the stairs.
"Don't help me." Chu Yifan said to Yan Yan when he reached the stairs.
Yan Yan raised his hands: "Okay, I won't help you."
But he still walked on the steps slightly ahead of Chu Yifan, so that if Chu Yifan failed to maintain a good balance and fell, he could help Chu Yifan from below.
Chu Yifan leaned on the staircase railing, supported his crutches with both hands, and carefully walked down the steps step by step.
"Captain Chu, actually I have thought about it." Yan Yan, who was walking in front, shook his head back and forth, first looked at his feet, and then looked back at Chu Yifan.
"What have you been thinking about?"
"When we went to find Luo Kai, I thought, if Luo Kai can really help the team reach the national competition, then when you quit, you can leave me as the captain and give it to Luo Kai and let him be the captain.
Be the captain."
Chu Yifan, who was looking down at the steps at his feet, stopped in surprise when he heard these words and looked up at Yan Yan.
"Really, that's what I really thought at the time, after we came back from looking for Luo Kai." Yan Yan stood below him, looking up at him and said. "As long as the team can go to a national competition, this
It doesn’t matter if I am the captain or not. Captain Chu, you are right, I am actually not a qualified candidate for captain."
"I didn't mean that, Yan Yan..."
"It's okay, Captain Chu. I don't really want to be the captain myself. I feel very tired when I think of having to act majestic in front of my teammates all the time - you know I'm not that kind of person. I just
I like to be a less serious vice-captain, and occasionally use your name to show off and show off, ha!"
Yan Yan laughed when he said this.
But Chu Yifan couldn't laugh. He said to Yan Yan: "But Luo Kai is gone too."
"Yeah, Luo Kai is gone too..." Yan Yan sighed.
※※※
Hu Lai packed his schoolbag, took the sports bag containing the jersey from Song Jiajia, and ran out of the classroom first: "See you on the court later, fat man!"
"Go on, go on..." Song Jiajia waved her hand and then slowly started to pack her schoolbag.
In the classroom, many students saw Hu Lai running out. After Hu Lai ran away, they started talking one after another.
"It turns out that if you play in the national competition, you really have the hope of becoming a professional player?"
"Yes, yes, it's a bit unbelievable even now that I think about it... It's the first time I feel that campus football and professional football are so close..."
"I'm a little envious, I also want to be a professional player..."
"Huh? What a beautiful idea you have, you can't even make it to the school team!"
"Hey, do you look down on me? Even Hu Lai can make the school team..."
"Hey, you are really not as good as Hu Lai! He scored three goals in this national competition, and he is the second top scorer in the team, second only to Luo Kai!"
"When you say that... it's really incredible. Who would have thought that Hu Lai could score three goals in the national competition... Didn't he say that he couldn't even kick the ball?
"
"That's not true. We used to laugh at others, but now it seems... ugh!"
Song Jiajia listened to the discussion in the classroom and kept packing things.
Before they finished talking about this topic, their schoolbags were packed.
Song Jiajia put his schoolbag back on his back and stood up from his seat. He didn't even have to look around. With just a glance, he could see that there were two very special positions in this classroom.
Unlike other people whose desks are piled with books, it may even look a bit messy.
These two seats are clean on the surface, in sharp contrast to the "book-filled" desks around them.
One of these two desks belongs to Li Qingqing and the other belongs to Luo Kai.
Just three days after the school football team returned from the national competition, Luo Kai came to the school for the last time. Under the leadership of his parents, he cleaned up his desk and then made a simple speech with the whole class.
He said goodbye and left the school.
After he left, news spread in the class that Luo Kai had dropped out of school to play professional football.
Everyone also asked Hu Lai. After all, Hu Lai and Luo Kai participated in the national competition together.
Hu Lai confirmed this statement impatiently.
Then everyone knew that Luo Kai actually passed a national competition and was valued by the professional football club. He signed a contract and became a professional player...
Regarding Luo Kai's departure, the boys are generally envious and a little proud at the same time. After all, if Luo Kai becomes a star in the future, then everyone can be regarded as Luo Kai's classmates.
The girls were dejected for several days, feeling that Prince Charming was getting farther and farther away from them, and that they might be people from two completely different worlds in the future, and there would never be any intersection in their lives. The ignorance in their hearts about youth
All my fantasies came to nothing...
※※※
When Hu Lai entered the locker room to change clothes, he found that there were many fewer people in the locker room.
He was in a daze for a moment, and then he remembered that all his teammates from the senior year had quit the team, and only their sophomore and freshman players were left on the football team. Isn't there a lot less people than usual?
"Oops, the locker room suddenly became empty. I'm still not used to it..." Meng Xi sighed with emotion.
Thirty-six people usually share a locker room, which does make this small locker room feel crowded, but everyone is used to this kind of crowding.
Meng Xi started, and everyone started chatting.
"By the way, I had a dream when I went to bed last night, and I actually dreamed that we were participating in the national competition..."
"What you said... I still feel that the national competition is like a dream! A dream that I don't want to wake up from!"
"I really hope to sleep for a long time and not wake up... You don't know how unhappy I was when my mother woke me up today!"
"Progress!" Hu Lai raised his head and said, "Can't we just go to the national competition next year? Do we still have to dream every day?"
Everyone in the locker room stopped talking and turned to look at Hu Lai.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" Hu Lai was confused when everyone looked at him.
"The wish is quite good, Hu Lai. But it may be a bit difficult to realize it..." A teammate said tactfully.
"Why is it so difficult?" Hu Lai asked. "Is it because the Chu team retreated?"
"Uh... Luo Kai is also gone..."
Hearing Luo Kai's name, Hu Lai snorted heavily from his nose: "He can do his thing. Without him, we wouldn't be able to participate in the national competition?"
"That's right! Hu Lai is right. Without Butcher Luo, will we have to eat pigs with hair on them?" Meng Xi jumped out and formed a united front with Hu Lai.
Everyone looked at these two people and hesitated to speak.
That being said, everyone can say nice things. But the actual situation is that once Luo Kai left, the team's strength was greatly reduced. You must know that Luo Kai really contributed a lot to the reason why they were able to participate in the national competition. It can be said that he did not.
Luo Kai, there is nothing wrong with them not being able to go to the capital to play in the national competition.
But everyone also knows that the relationship between Hu Lai and Luo Kai is not good, so Hu Lai must say this... and everyone is embarrassed to refute him directly.
In any case, the second best performer in this national competition was Hu Lai. Luo Kai scored six goals, and Hu Lai also scored three goals, making him the second top scorer in the team...
Just when the atmosphere in the locker room was a little weird, vice-captain Yan Yan appeared at the door: "Hurry up and change your clothes, Captain Chu and the others are here."
※※※
Chu Yifan stood in front of all the players with the support of crutches, and everyone's eyes always wandered around the crutches and his right ankle.
In the game against Chongwen Middle School, the Chu team was injured and could not continue the game and was forced to take off the field. That was the turning point of the team's collapse.
Chu's injury was later diagnosed as a torn ankle ligament.
This is a serious injury even for professional players.
When everyone saw the captain like this, they would inevitably feel a little depressed. On the one hand, it was because they were reminded that their dream of the national competition had woken up and they were eliminated, and on the other hand, it was because of the captain's injury.
Injury is the devil that every football player least wants to encounter, but will encounter it with a high probability...
Chu Yifan ignored the looks his teammates were looking at him and kept his usual smile and said: "I have nothing to regret in my high school football career. Thank you. I participated in a national competition for the first time in my life - from the first
Since the beginning of the national competition, I have always dreamed of playing in the national competition. I was still in elementary school at that time. I finally realized this dream in my senior year of high school, so I am not deceiving myself when I say that I have no regrets at all."
Having said this, his smile even brightened a bit, proving that he was not telling the truth.
"And we reached the quarterfinals in the national competition, which far exceeded my initial expectations. I just thought that if we could play in a national competition, I would be satisfied, but I didn't expect that we would end up in the quarterfinals...
…Although I haven’t been able to go further, I am already very satisfied. So thank you everyone!”
Chu Yifan bowed to his teammates.
"Next, our senior players will withdraw from the team. The future of the team depends on you. I hope to see you all in the national competition next year. I don't want our Dongchuan Middle School football team to be just a flash in the pan."
When Chu Yifan said these words, he glanced at Hu Lai.
He still remembered what Yan Yan once said to him - this is the chosen son who is highly regarded by the head coach.
His performance in this national competition seemed to prove this.
Every time the coach substitutes him on the pitch, he is sure to score.
After the team was eliminated, Chu Yifan even imagined more than once that if he was not injured and the head coach replaced Hu Lai, would we have a chance to overthrow Chongwen Middle School?
But now all that has become a hypothesis.
Luo Kai performed well in the national competition and was picked up by a professional team. Hu Lai continued to stay in the team. If anyone else in this team could give Chu Yifan hope, it would definitely be him.
Thinking of this, he turned his attention to Yan Yan and saw Yan Yan nodding towards him.
He talked with Yan Yan on the way here, and they both agreed on this decision.
Chu Yifan, who withdrew his gaze, cleared his throat and turned to look at head coach Li Ziqiang: "Coach, I have an unkind favor."
Li Ziqiang said: "What request?"
"After I hand over the captain's armband to Yan Yan, can I make Hu Lai the team's vice-captain?"
As soon as this statement came out, the whole team was in an uproar!
Everyone looked at Chu Yifan with incredible eyes, including Hu Lai himself.
He waved his hands repeatedly: "No, Captain Chu, I don't..."
But before he finished saying his refusal, he heard Li Ziqiang say: "Okay."
This time there was no uproar and the court was completely silent.
Everyone turned their heads and looked at the head coach who had just nodded with incredulous eyes.