When Li Qingqing finished training, he was stopped by head coach Yang Mingwei: "Li Qingqing, change your clothes and come to my office to find me."
He didn't explain why he asked Li Qingqing to find him, and just left after saying that.
Although Li Qingqing was anxious to go home, he did not show an expression of impatience and followed his teammates back to the locker room to take a shower and change clothes.
In the locker room, everyone had some speculations about the head coach's sudden visit to Li Qingqing: "You're not going to criticize Qingqing, are you?"
"What are you thinking about? How could it be criticism? Qingqing's performance is impeccable!"
"Oh, that's really annoying. I even asked Qingqing to go shopping together while I'm not training in the afternoon..."
Li Qingqin smiled and said: "Well... I have to watch football in the afternoon, so I definitely won't be able to go shopping."
"Watching a ball? What ball are you watching?"
"In the finals of the National High School Championships, my alma mater reached the finals." Li Qingqing explained to his teammates.
"Yeah, that's the team that did the fishing celebration back then?"
"Yes, they have already reached the finals."
"That's amazing!"
"But if the coach keeps you here, he won't ask you to practice extra in the afternoon, right? Then how can you watch the live game?"
A teammate raised this question, which shocked the others: "Impossible! Impossible! Does Qingqing need extra practice? Our whole team has to practice extra, and it's impossible for Qingqing to practice extra..."
Li Qingqing interrupted everyone's discussion with a smile: "Okay, stop guessing, won't I know what's going on after I go there?"
While she was talking, she had already finished taking a shower, came out to change clothes, put her bag on her back, said goodbye to her teammates, and walked towards the head coach's office.
The office building of the women's football team is not as grand as that of the men's football team. All facilities, including the players' locker rooms and coaches' offices, are in a three-story building.
Li Qingqing climbed the steps to the second floor, turned right, and found the head coach's office.
She knocked on the door and heard the head coach's voice from inside: "Come in" before opening the door and going in.
Yang Mingwei, who was sitting in the office, saw Li Qingqing coming in, a smile appeared on his face, and then he said to her: "Close the door."
After Li Qingqing obeyed the instructions, he asked: "Uncle Yang, do you have anything to do with me?"
"It's nothing." Hearing Li Qingqing's name, Yang Mingwei laughed happily, "Is there a game for your father's team this afternoon?"
Li Qingqing nodded: "Well, the finals of the national competition."
"When I finish my work, we will leave together later. You go to my house and we will watch the game together. After the game, we will have dinner at my house and ask your aunt to cook you something delicious."
Li Qingqing did not refuse, but simply nodded and agreed: "Okay, thank you, auntie!"
"Oh, I really didn't expect that your father would lead the team to the finals after only two years..." Yang Mingwei said with emotion. "And the Hu Lai you introduced to me was even more of a shooter.
Number one on the list.”
Li Qingqing listened quietly to Uncle Yang praising Hu Lai, keeping the smile on his face that he had after entering the door.
※※※
Chu Yifan and his roommates emerged from the subway station exit and saw the huge building standing in the square in front of them.
That is the venue for the final of this national competition, the Lotus Stadium, the home ground of the South China Tigers football team in Lingnan City, Nanling Province.
A professional football stadium that can accommodate up to 100,000 people and has no track.
All facilities are designed in accordance with the highest international standards and are simply luxurious.
The only thing is this appearance...
"Damn, every time I see the Lotus Stadium, I can't help but think of that comment. This is basically the rosette left by Guanyin!" Chu Yifan's roommate couldn't help but complain after seeing the outer wall of the stadium.
road.
"Actually, it looks okay during the day. The pure white color is elegant and clean, but when I turn on the lights at night, I can't see it..." Another roommate said. "The color scheme reminds me of the lotus candles on the birthday cake. Once lit,
The kind that will turn on automatically, then turn on the lights and play the happy birthday song..."
"Haha! Maybe this is the South China Tigers' wishful thinking? If the game is held at night, when the away team comes to the square outside the stadium by car and sees the lotus candle, they will suffer mental pollution and then be unable to perform normally.
State, lost the game..."
Chu Yifan didn't care much about the appearance of the stadium. His eyes stayed on an arch in front of him. On the arch was written "2021 The Seventh National High School Students Football Championship Finals" in large characters. Starting from this arch, all the way to the stadium
The front entrance button area is covered with artificial turf carpet.
On both sides of the green carpet, a flagpole was planted every five meters, hanging the flags of the two participating teams, one team on each side, clearly distinguishing each other.
His eyes stayed for a long time on the four characters "Dongchuan Middle School" on the team flag on the left.
A year ago, he led the team to the national competition. On the way to the main stadium, he saw a similar scene. Under the blue sky and white clouds, the bus turned a corner and the famous Bird's Nest Stadium appeared.
In front of everyone's sight, promotional flags for the national competition were planted outside the stadium, fluttering in the wind under the sun.
At that time, he was a member of the Dongchuan Middle School football team. Sitting on the bus, the Dongchuan Middle School football team flag was neatly folded and placed on his knees. He was full of longing for the upcoming national competition.
, can't hide his excitement.
Although when he retired from the team, Chu Yifan said that he was content and had no regrets. But when he saw the Dongchuan Middle School football team flag extending all the way to the stadium today, he still couldn't suppress the thought in his heart. What if it was like today?
How great it would be for me to be on that team... even if it means being a substitute.
If it were possible, who wouldn't want to participate in the finals, and who wouldn't want to win the championship trophy? Saying you have no regrets is just self-consolation.
"Let's go, Da Chu!" The teammates had already walked to the front and found that Chu Yifan had not followed, so they turned back to greet him.
"Coming, coming..." Chu Yifan jogged two steps to catch up with his roommates, walked through the arch with them, stepped on the soft artificial turf carpet, and walked to the national competition finals as a spectator.
※※※
All Dongchuan Middle School players will discover one thing when they step into the locker room.
At each player's position, there is a neatly folded jersey, with the number on top, clearly visible.
But what surprised them was that this time there was something on the jersey number...
"Holy shit, it's my name!" Meng Xi was the first to react. He rushed forward and shook off the jersey. Sure enough, his name was printed on the number "1", and it was printed directly in Chinese characters instead of
Chinese pinyin letters printed in accordance with international conventions.
The two square characters "Meng Xi" are very eye-catching.
Other players also discovered the names on their jerseys. They each held the jerseys, touched their names, and couldn't put it down.
"Is this the treatment for the finals? I love it!"
Mao Xiao was also admiring his own name. When he heard a teammate say this, he shook his head and said: "No, there was no such thing in the previous finals. The jersey only had a number and no name."
"Hey, does that mean we get special treatment?"
Mao Xiao said: "I heard that the National Competition Organizing Committee is considering requiring all participating teams to print the players' names on their jerseys from the next national competition, instead of just printing numbers. Maybe this final
It’s just to show everyone in advance what the effect of having the player’s name on the jersey will be.”
Not only the players, but also the substitute players also have jerseys with their names printed on them, but they are not displayed. The team leader, Mr. Liu, is distributing jerseys to them.
Every player who got the jersey was extremely excited, even though this jersey may have been with them for one, two, or even three years. But only when their name was printed on this jersey, they felt that for the first time
This jersey belongs to you. Even if you don't play, just wearing the jersey will give you a sense of pride.
"Teacher Liu, can I keep this jersey for myself?" Someone asked this question.
As soon as these words came out, everyone else in the locker room also looked at the team leader.
The leader of the team, Teacher Liu, said with a smile: "Of course you can keep it. This is actually for everyone to keep. It is a souvenir of your participation in the finals of the national competition."
"Wow, awesome!"
"Okay, hurry up and change your clothes and go out to warm up!" The team's head coach Li Ziqiang appeared at the door.
※※※
The bell rang in various teaching buildings on campus, and cheers could be heard faintly.
But in the classroom of Class 2, Grade 2, the math teacher ignored the bell and lowered his head and said, "Let's hurry up and teach another question..."
At times like this in the past, even if the students were dissatisfied, they would not show it, but today, after she finished saying this, she suddenly heard a huge sigh in the classroom: "Huh?"
This surprised the math teacher. She raised her head and saw the disappointed expressions on the faces of almost every student in the audience.
She thought about it, and it seemed that the school had arranged to watch the live broadcast of the game.
This group of students is obviously eager to watch the game. Maybe even before get out of class ends, many of them are not thinking about class at all...
So she sighed: "Okay, that's it for today's class, get out of class is over..."
"Stand up!" the monitor shouted loudly.
There was a rumbling sound in the classroom, and the students all stood up quickly, with extremely correct attitudes, and said in unison with extremely loud voices: "Thank you for your hard work, teacher!"
The math teacher bowed perfunctorily: "Goodbye, classmates..." Then he put away his teaching aids and lesson plans, walked down the stage, and left the classroom of Class 2, Grade 2.
Behind her, the students had already taken action quickly.
"Put down the projection screen quickly!"
"Turn on the projector!"
…
There was a lot of chaos.
The math teacher sighed and shook his head with a wry smile.
Two minutes after the math teacher left, the live broadcast screen finally flashed on the projector screen in the classroom of Class 2, Grade 2.
Hu Lai appeared in the curtain, standing on the sidelines, seemingly being interviewed by reporters.
"Fuck, there's a pre-match interview! It's formal!"
"Stop making noise, you can't hear Hu Lai anymore!" Song Jiajia roared.
Everyone immediately became quiet.
A reporter's voice came from the loudspeakers in the four corners of the classroom. It was a female voice: "So, Hu Lai, who has reached the finals of the national competition for the first time and faces the two-time champion Shuguang High School, will she be a little nervous?
"
Hu Lai shook his head: "Don't be nervous, don't be nervous. Shuguang High School, which shouted out the three consecutive championships in advance, wears shoes, and we are barefoot. How can barefoot people be afraid of wearing shoes? This is our first time.
Participating in the finals, even if they lose to the defending champion, it is a normal result, but if Shuguang High School fails to win their third consecutive championship, they will be humiliated!"
Everyone in the classroom laughed when they heard their classmates say this.
The reporter in the live broadcast was also laughing, and then asked: "Last question, you and Chen Xingyi have both scored nine goals in this competition, are you confident in competing with him for the honor of top scorer?"
Woolen cloth?"
Hu Lai looked solemn and said very seriously: "Yes, I will go all out to compete for the top scorer."
"Well, I wish you success, classmate Hu Lai, and come on in the competition!"
Hu Lai in the picture also nodded to the reporter and turned to leave.
Then the live broadcast cut to the studio, and the host said to the camera: "Okay, this is a video replay of the reporter's interview with the key players of the two teams earlier before the game... Now the game is about to start, let's
We go to a commercial and then go straight to the Lotus Stadium!"
While the commercial was playing, the discussion in the classroom started again.
"Oh, it feels like a dream when I think about it now. Who would have thought that Hu Lai would be able to appear in the finals of a national competition in this capacity and be interviewed by reporters?"
"Yes, yes, don't tell me that Hu Lai is unexpectedly handsome!"
"My temperament has changed...I feel like a completely different person."
During the discussion, Song Jiajia glanced at the empty seat next to her.
Before he went to participate in the national competition, his deskmate once told him that he must strive to get a professional team contract when he participates in the national competition. Only in this way can he get rid of his father's control and go on his own.
The path you want to take.
But if Hu Lai really succeeds, it means that after returning from participating in this national competition, he will say goodbye to high school life completely, go to a professional team to receive training, and work hard to become a first-team player.
Song Jiajia once very much hoped that Hu Lai would accomplish nothing in football, so that he would not be laughed at and could play games with her.
But today, Song Jiajia hopes that Hu Lai, the fish, can successfully cross the dragon gate, transform into a dragon, soar into the clouds, and travel to a wider world to his heart's content.
※※※
ps, okay, let me publish the answers to the questions in the previous chapter.
The easter egg is the scene where Li Ziqiang and the team leader Mr. Liu went to check the ward. It was the same as before the first game of the "Do You Care If I Play Football" national competition started, when the head coach Liang Ke went to check the ward to see if the players were ready.
No wonder you couldn’t guess it... When I was writing the previous chapter, I read "Do You Mind If I Play Football" and saw it. I thought it was quite interesting, so I moved it directly to this book...