Xie Lan was at work when she received a call from her son Hu Lai.
"Mom, we're here and we're waiting to pick up our luggage. The school has a car to pick us up. Go back to school first, so you don't have to worry about me. Besides, I should be home at the normal time after school..."
Xie Lan interrupted Hu Lai's report, but lowered his voice and asked: "Son, have you really signed a contract with that Poseidon Club?"
"...I'm sorry, Mom, I didn't listen to you. I will stop playing football after this season. I still want to play football. I don't want to wait another year..." Hu Lai heard his mother mention this and thought that her mother was
If you want to call for punishment, you should strike first and apologize proactively.
When Hu Lai said this, Xie Lan had already stood up from his desk, walked out of the office quickly, and walked all the way to the end of the corridor.
When she leaned against the window, she sighed and said: "Hu Lai... Mom doesn't blame you, it's just... your dad is really right. After you taste the sweetness of playing football, you will definitely not
You might listen to me and give up playing football for one year in your senior year of high school."
"dad?"
"I never told you. Before your final, your dad knew that you were playing football without telling him, and he was very angry... I was afraid that it would affect your performance in the game, so I never told you.
Your father will not allow you to go to that Neptune Club..."
Hu Lai on the other end of the phone interrupted his mother anxiously: "I won the national championship, top scorer and best player, can't I make him change his mind?"
Xie Lan heard her son say this, with a hint of expectation in her tone. She was silent for a while before sighing: "It has nothing to do with this... In fact, if you really just finish this competition and stop playing football, you can rest assured."
Prepare for the college entrance examination. Your father might have been able to pretend that you were playing football in school and not pursue it... But now that you want to play professional football, he will definitely not agree."
"Why? Mom? Why does my dad dislike me playing football so much? I have never seen him so paranoid..."
Xie Lan was about to speak when she saw the director sticking his head out of the office. After finding her, he waved to her.
She quickly said: "Mom has something going on here, so I won't talk to you. Anyway, listen to me. Don't mention professional football when you see your dad at night. I'll help you persuade your dad first... That's it.
, hang up first."
After saying that, Xie Lan ended the call, held the phone in his hand, and walked towards the office.
At the same time, in the bustling baggage hall, Hu Lai squatted against the wall, holding his mobile phone in his hand, staring blankly at his teammates playing around the baggage conveyor belt.
There was a feeling of unwillingness in his heart.
Why is it that even though he has won an honor like the national championship, everyone else is elated and looking forward to going back to tell his parents the good news, but he has to go back and face a storm?
For a moment, when he thought of his father's rage, he didn't even want to go home.
※※※
Hu Lai, who was carrying a schoolbag and had changed back into his Dongchuan Middle School uniform, finally stood downstairs in his home, but he was not in a hurry to walk into the dark door of the unit building.
He had already seen his father's battery car parked in the doorway and being charged.
This means his father has returned.
This was also the reason why he didn't go in.
In fact, he has been wandering downstairs like this for a while.
Every time he wanted to go in, he couldn't help but turn around and exit.
The black doorway was like a beast's den in the dark, as if once he walked in, he could never get out.
After wandering like this for a while, Hu Lai gritted his teeth: It's a blessing, not a curse, but it's a curse that can't be avoided!
Then he stepped inside.
When he was almost climbing to the fourth floor, he stepped lightly, hoping to hear what was going on at home, such as whether his mother and father were having a fierce argument... At least it would give him an idea of the current situation.
But he didn't hear any movement, and the room was quiet. If it weren't for the light leaking from the crack in the door, it would be so quiet that it would be as if no one was home.
Hu Lai put his ear against the door and listened for a few minutes. During this period, except for the occasional noise coming from the kitchen, he didn't hear a word from his parents.
In desperation, he had no choice but to raise his hand and knock on the door. At the same time, he suppressed the wild beating in his heart. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
When this breath was exhaled, he saw the door open and his mother standing at the door.
After seeing him, her mother glanced at him and signaled him not to say unnecessary words, then she let him in, and at the same time she pretended to be calm and said, "You're back? Hurry up and put your schoolbag away, wash your hands, and get ready to eat."
When he walked into the house, Hu Lai saw his father. He was sitting on the small sofa in the living room, looking down at the screen of his mobile phone. When he heard his mother's words, he didn't even raise his head.
So Hu Lai didn't say hello to him, quickly changed his shoes, went back to his room to put down his schoolbag, and came out to wash his hands.
Mom, on the other hand, glanced at the two of them worriedly and went to the kitchen to serve the food: "It's time to eat."
She wanted to use the delicious food she had worked so hard to make to ease the tense atmosphere between the two of them.
In fact, from the time my husband came back from get off work until now, he hasn't said a word, he just sits on the sofa and looks at his mobile phone.
This gave Xie Lan a premonition - I'm afraid it won't be nice tonight...
※※※
Xie Lan's hunch was correct. When Hu Lai washed his hands and sat at the dining table, Hu Lixin put down the mobile phone in his hand, looked up at him and said: "Forget about the football that has been played. But professional teams,
Don’t go.”
Hu Lai glanced at his mother in surprise - Mom, I heard you didn't mention this, it was my dad who took the initiative...
Then he looked at his father, took a deep breath, and asked, "Why?"
"There is no reason." Hu Lixin said expressionlessly. "I told you not to go, so you are not allowed to go."
"Dad, you are always like this!" Hu Lai couldn't help it and protested loudly, "It was the same before. When I was not allowed to play football, I asked you why, and you said there was no reason. If I didn't want to play, I wouldn't play... I
I am no longer a three-year-old! In a few months I will be eighteen and an adult!"
"No matter how old I am, I will still be your father!" Seeing that Hu Lai dared to shout at him, Hu Lixin also slammed the table emotionally.
Xie Lan, who was serving dishes in the kitchen, heard the quarrel erupting in the living room, put down the dishes he had picked up, put his hands on the stove, and pursed his lips tightly.
"So what if you are my dad? You are my dad and you can't restrict my personal freedom! You are my dad and you can't let me do anything I have to do! There is no such reason in the world! Why don't you let me
I play football?! If you think it’s because I don’t have talent, let me tell you, Dad, I am very talented now! Even the scouts and managers of professional teams say that I have talent! If you don’t believe it...
"
Having said this, Hu Lai turned around and rushed into his bedroom. When he came out again, he was holding the schoolbag he had carried back. He opened the schoolbag, took out the contents and placed them one by one on the empty dining table.
A Golden Boot trophy, a Golden Ball trophy, and a gold medal.
"I led the team to the championship in the national competition. I scored twelve goals and was the top scorer. I was also the best player in the national competition! There were so many high schools in the country, but in the end there were only thirty-two.
In the national competition that the school team can participate in, I am the strongest among them! Even Chen Xingyi was defeated by me! And it only took me less than two years to do all this! I have talent!
Why can't I try professional football..."
Hu Lai asked questions loudly and repeatedly, as if he wanted to vent all the unwillingness and injustice in his heart.
But before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by his father's violent shout: "Because there is no way!"
"It won't work? How can you know if it doesn't work if you don't try?" Hu Lai snorted.
"I've walked through it, but I know it won't work!"
Hu Lai was stunned: "You... walked by?"
"Your dad... used to be a professional player." Mom's voice sounded.
Hu Lai turned around and looked over, and found that his mother was standing at the door of the kitchen at some point, leaning weakly against the door frame.
He then turned his surprised eyes to his father.
Hu Lixin, who was sitting on the sofa, snorted coldly: "What kind of professional player? How can there be a 'professional player' who has never played in a professional game?"
Then he looked at Hu Lai, pinched his knees and said, "Do you know why my knees hurt after a rainy day?"
"Don't you mean... rheumatism?" Hu Lai gave the standard answer that his parents had told him before.
"Actually, it's not rheumatism, it's an injury sustained while playing football..." Xie Lan gave the correct answer.
"Injury from playing football?" Hu Lai was stunned for a moment, then grinned, "Dad, you didn't go this way because you were injured playing football, so you don't let me go this way?"
Although he didn't like his father, he never thought that his father would be a coward who retired because he was injured and said that football was a dead end...
"You know what the heck!" Hu Lixin suddenly yelled, startling Hu Lai. "Do you think my knee was injured when I collided with someone during the game? Or did I sprain it myself? I told you
You kid, my knee was kicked to pieces by my teammates during training!"
Hu Lai looked at his father's right knee in shock.
"Do you know why he kicked me in the knee? Because I competed with him for a place in the first team! Just for this place on the bench of the first team, he kicked me in training! Why don't I want you?
Go play professional football? That's why! If you really have no talent, it's okay, but if you say you have great talent, then you will become a thorn in the side of that kind of person! Do you think professional football is what you see on TV?
What it looks like? There are fans, money, driving luxury cars, living in mansions... What you see is just an illusion! What is real professional football? It is thousands of ignorant boys like you competing for a position! A success
Under the feet of the winner are countless losers!
"Those losers don't have luxury cars or mansions, no fans, and no money! They put in the same efforts as the successful people, but in the end they became losers for one reason or another! Don't think they didn't work hard enough, they work harder than you do now
Ten times! But what?! China has only 16 Chinese Super League teams, 18 Chinese League One teams, and 32 Chinese League Two teams. In such a big country with a population of 1.4 billion, there are only 66 professional teams in total.
Team, every kid who plays football says he wants to be a professional player... Where are there so many fucking positions for you!"
Hu Lixin roared angrily and stood up from the sofa. He was half a head taller than his son and glared down at Hu Lai.
Seeing this, Xie Lan wanted to come up and persuade her husband, but Hu Lixin seemed to want to spit out the breath he had been holding for decades. He had a lot to say in his heart, so he suddenly threw away his wife's arm and said with
Staring at Hu Lai with cannibalistic eyes.
"Do you think you are walking on a bright road?! No! This is a fucking single-plank bridge! I know ideals, ideals, ideals all day long... Is the ideal to be eaten or spent? Having ideals is great? You can't even afford a bigger house.
!Do you think I want to be a security guard? Do you think I want to stand outside the gate and salute people every day? Do you think I want to be scolded by those owners who drive luxury cars so that I can’t even lift my head! As long as I have an education and read more
How many years of education can I be a security guard?! Damn it!"
In Hu Lai's eyes, Hu Lixin was always serious and often criticized him. But it was the first time he had seen Hu Lixin, who was so full of swear words and almost lost his temper today. He was so frightened that he didn't know what to say. He could only
Looking straight at his father.
Or, he is no longer a father, but just an angry middle-aged man.
Hu Lixin gasped and sat down slowly. His voice was no longer high-pitched and sounded much older: "I don't allow you to go to the Poseidon or Poseidon team. You just go to school and take the college entrance examination. Even if you take the exam
No matter how bad the university is, it will still be better than playing professional football!"
