As soon as Zhang Jun woke up, he looked at his clock, which was on the table. It was already 6.15 am. He snorted and turned. He wanted to get back to sleep, but it was strange how he could not fall asleep.
He had a difficult game the day before, yet how was he able to wake up at such an early time the next day? He turned again, still failing to fall back to sleep. There was already sounds of people exercising downstairs. Zhang Jun stared at the ceiling for about five seconds before he finally sat up and changed his clothes.
His parents were not awake yet since it was a Sunday. Zhang Jun put on his shoes at the door and went downstairs after he gently closed it.
As he stood in the courtyard on the winter morning, Zhang Jun took a deep breath of cold air to jolt his fuzzy brain awake. After doing some slight warm-ups, he began his second day of jogging.
The previous afternoon was a beautiful dream for the members of Shu Guang. They defeated the strong Dingding team and successfully entered the final round. Such an achievement was simply unimaginable to many Shu Guang players two years ago. In the span of just two years, they completely changed from dark horses to a strong team.
When Fan Cunjie's shot was saved by Chen Bo and the referee blew the final whistle, Shu Guang's cheerleaders threw their prepared confetti around the court as the sounds of drums and cheering rang audibly. It was as if they had already won the championship.
As soon as the game ended, Yang Pan left. He still had to rush back to his hometown since he already had an agreement with his father. The reporters felt regretful that they could not catch up with him. But truth to be told, the reporters only realized this after they swarmed and surrounded a Shu Guang player wearing the No. 7 jersey. As they took shots of him with their cameras, they soon found out that the person who was almost struck by their flashes was a substitute who never got on the field.
However, it did not have a big effect on the reporters. The protagonist was Zhang Jun and he had the most number of reporters surrounding him.
Countless microphones and flashes made Zhang Jun's legs weak. Fortunately, Liang Ke came up to help him solve the problem. "Zhang Jun, lead the team to thank everyone! Hurry up!"
After thanking their fans, he looked at Fan Cunjie who had just finished doing the same as well. He was in a dazed state as he stood alone in the middle of the field.
He quickly took this chance to approach him before he got surrounded by reporters again. He took his jersey off and gave it to him.
Fan Cunjie stared at him blankly, then took his jersey off and gave it to Zhang Jun too.
"Take care!"
"Thank you!"
Both of them shook hands.
Zhang Jun reminded the reporters that Fan Cunjie was also another protagonist. With three consecutive years of failure, he really was a "tragic hero". So, the reporters surrounded Fan Cunjie. As such, Zhang Jun had no one else to deal with for the time being.
He looked up and saw Su Fei leaning against the awning of the coach's seat, smiling at him. Zhang Jun smiled back and walked over to her.
"This is for you." Zhang Jun untied his braid and gave the rubber band to Su Fei.
However, Su Fei did not extend her hand to receive it. "I don't want it."
"Why?"
"This was given to you, so you're not allowed to give it back!"
Zhang Jun stopped and looked down at the rubber band around his right wrist. Whenever he did not tie his hair in a braid, he would wear it around his wrist instead.
The sky gradually turned brighter. Zhang Jun looked at the color of the sky, thinking that he was supposed to be going home.
At the entrance of the building, he bumped into Su Fei who was getting some milk.
"What's up?" He noticed that Su Fei was looking at him as though he was some kind of rare animal. He raised his eyebrows.
Su Fei did not reply and continued to look at him. Then, she suddenly burst into laughter. "Zhang Jun, aren't you exhausted?"
"Exhausted?"
"Today is Sunday. Shouldn't you still be lying on your bed at this time?"
He finally understood. It was about his morning run. "I couldn't sleep, so why would I still be lazing around on my bed?" Zhang Jun pouted.
Su Fei reached her hand out.
"What is it?"
"Put your head closer."
Zhang Jun put his head closer. After that, Su Fei swiped her hair away from her forehead and brought her head closer to his. Their foreheads were now joined together.
"Hey! I don't have a fever…"
"Make sure you get to the National Championship, alright?" Su Fei said gently as she softly nuzzled against Zhang Jun's forehead.
Her breath dripped on Zhang Jun's face and it left a tingling sensation.
"You absolutely can't lose in the final match. This is still the world's biggest competition. Please allow me to continue watching you guys play soccer, okay?"
"Okay."
A ray of sunlight unknowingly shot into the corridor. The sun had risen and a new day had begun.
During the second semi-final match that afternoon, Tong Xing, who did not have Lin Ling lost 0: 4 to Zhongyua n High School. Li Yongle, who was wearing a No.10 jersey performed a hat-trick. While the media lamented the decline of another veteran team, they were also looking forward to the final match next Sunday. The cover of the latest issue of High School Soccer was the celebration of Li Yongle and Zhang Jun scoring their goals. The two of them were set from left to right on the cover. That in itself was enough to indicate that they were going to face off in the next match. Many people even termed the final match as "Mars crashing into Earth".
The campus on Monday was very lively. Zhang Jun stopped at the school gate and looked up at the party banner that was hung across it. "We warmly celebrate the Shu Guang soccer team's entrance to the final round of the National Championship Qualifiers!"
"Wow! That was fast!" An Ke stopped and watched the banner as it blew in the wind.
"Moron, we'll be late if we don't go in," Ren Yu De dropped his words as he passed by An Ke.
"You…" An Ke chased after Ren Yu De.
"It looks like it's Yu De's first time being early," Kaka's voice echoed from the back and Zhang Jun turned his head to face him. "Hi!" Kaka waved to him.
"Hi!"
"Everyone's full of spirit, hehe!" Kaka smiled.
"Of course, we got into the final," Zhang Jun replied as he smiled at the students who were walking past him.
"Where's Yang Pan?"
"He's still in his hometown. Today's apparently the day his grandmother's going to be cremated," Zhang Jun lowered his voice.
Kaka noticed Zhang Jun feeling down and he knew that he had roused his sadness. So, he quickly shifted topics. "Where's Su Fei? Why don't I see her with you?"
"Su Fei? She's on duty this week, so she has to come to school early to clean up." The moment he spoke of Su Fei, Zhang Jun's face lit up like the sun.
"Cleaning? Hehe! Aren't you two a thing already?" Kaka had a mischievous smile on his face as he nudged Zhang Jun.
"Get your mind out of the gutter."
"Hehe! You asked me to get my mind out of the gutter… Wow! Okay! Stop! I was only joking!" Kaka pulled Zhang Jun's leg with a smile. "Seriously, can't a guy joke around?"
Zhang Jun put his foot down and immediately waved his hands. "Don't! I won't repeat myself!"
As Zhang Jun stepped back, Kaka shifted his gaze to the banner. "It's very stylish, isn't it?"
"Yes it is." Zhang Jun nodded.
"Celebrating the Shu Guang soccer team's entrance to the final round… It feels pretty good!"
Zhang Jun thought of Su Fei's words when their faces were stuck together that Sunday morning.
"Make sure you get to the National Championship, alright?"
Zhang Jun looked at the banner again as it blew in the wind. "After a week, the words on it will change."
"Change? Change to what?"
Zhang Jun smiled. "We warmly celebrate the Shu Guang soccer team's entrance to the National Championship."
...
Zhang Jun shot the ball into the goalpost and the crowd went wild.
"Good goal!"
"That was too beautiful!"
"How accurate! Kicking the ball where he pointed to!"
"Aren't they exaggerating a little? It's only a goalpost, why are they making so much noise?" An Ke said as he kicked the ball back to Zhang Jun. "These people are too inexperienced! You shouldn't be fooled by their cheers!" He patted Zhang Jun on the shoulder.
An Ke then caught Lin Xiaofang's shot in his arms.
"Excellent!"
"An Ke, you're so good!"
"What a nice save!"
An Ke gave the ball to Chen Bo and everyone started to cheer at the entrance, "Awesome! Again! Again!"
After the sound of the whistle, he slammed Chen Bo's shot out of the bottom line.
Zhang Jun rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't be fooled by their cheers too…"
Kaka laughed. "Hehe! Don't blame him. Look at the side of the field; it's stacked with lots of people. Everyone's enthusiasm is unprecedentedly high. After all, we've reached the finals."
"Kaka!" Liang Ke called out.
As though it was part of some special training, the girls instantly shrieked for Kaka while the boys cheered for An Ke. "Tackle it, An Ke! Give us another block!"
Kaka took the lead as he peered over at An Ke's position. The little guy seemed out of shape, plus he was standing too near to the front. Kaka had no intentions of inflating An Ke's ego for the third time. He kicked the soccer ball gently and it drew an arc as it approached the crossbar. It avoided An Ke's extended hand and fell into the goal.
"Beautiful!"
"What a graceful kick!"
What frustrated An Ke even more was the boys who were previously supporting him unanimously became Kaka's loyal supporters. Kaka then elegantly raised his hands to the audience and the cheers from the crowd grew louder.
An Ke jumped. "That doesn't count! That doesn't count! I was careless with that ball just now! If you do it again, I'll make sure that ball of yours doesn't go in!
"Don't you dare laugh! If you don't believe me, come on and try it!
"Kaka, you were just lucky, so now you're thinking about running away! Come on, let's do it again!"
An Ke eventually stomped away. Students, who were working hard in the main building could hear An Ke's growls from the stadium.
Chen Huafeng leaned against the railings of the stands. Some of the spectators just could not help but watch Shu Guang's day-to-day training, which one could describe as "chaotic".
"Why are they so relaxed? The next game is already the final round!"
...
Li Yongle noticed that He Wen did not seem to be in good mood ever since Monday morning. The cute manager, who was always smiling had been in a state of worry for the past two days.
"He Wen, is something the matter?" Grabbing the chance to drink some water, Li Yongle also took the initiative to approah her.
"Ah, no, it's nothing…"
"He Wen! Get some clean towels here!" Sun Laihong called out and solved He Wen's problem. She quickly obliged and turned to fetch the required things. For a moment, Li Yongle saw her walking with a pile of socks.
Sun Laihong was puzzled as he held the socks. "This is… I was thinking of giving them towels to wipe their sweat…"
He Wen finally snapped out of it and immediately lowered her head to apologize. "Sorry, I'll change them immediately!"
Li Yongle watched as He Wen ran past him, carrying the socks. A moment later, she ran back with a pile of towels.
After sending the towels, He Wen returned to continue washing her clothes.
"Are you really alright?"
He Wen blushed.
"Are you having a dilemma on whether you should cheer for us or your brother, An Ke on Sunday?"
He Wen's soap slipped and she looked up at Li Yongle. "Huh? How do you know that An Ke's my brother?"
"Hehe, that's a secret!" Looking at He Wen's raised eyebrows, Li Yongle instantly changed his words. "Actually, it's because of the author didn't think things through enough, so that's how I know An Ke's your brother."
(Author: sweat…)
He Wen shook her head. "No, I'm worried about our soccer team. Shu Guang's very strong, I'm worried that you guys may not win—"
Li Yongle cut her off. "Shu Guang's very strong, but we're stronger! The final victory will surely belong to Zhongyuan High School!"
As soon as Zhang Jun woke up, he looked at his clock, which was on the table. It was already 6.15 am. He snorted and turned. He wanted to get back to sleep, but it was strange how he could not fall asleep.
He had a difficult game the day before, yet how was he able to wake up at such an early time the next day? He turned again, still failing to fall back to sleep. There was already sounds of people exercising downstairs. Zhang Jun stared at the ceiling for about five seconds before he finally sat up and changed his clothes.
His parents were not awake yet since it was a Sunday. Zhang Jun put on his shoes at the door and went downstairs after he gently closed it.
As he stood in the courtyard on the winter morning, Zhang Jun took a deep breath of cold air to jolt his fuzzy brain awake. After doing some slight warm-ups, he began his second day of jogging.
The previous afternoon was a beautiful dream for the members of Shu Guang. They defeated the strong Dingding team and successfully entered the final round. Such an achievement was simply unimaginable to many Shu Guang players two years ago. In the span of just two years, they completely changed from dark horses to a strong team.
When Fan Cunjie's shot was saved by Chen Bo and the referee blew the final whistle, Shu Guang's cheerleaders threw their prepared confetti around the court as the sounds of drums and cheering rang audibly. It was as if they had already won the championship.
As soon as the game ended, Yang Pan left. He still had to rush back to his hometown since he already had an agreement with his father. The reporters felt regretful that they could not catch up with him. But truth to be told, the reporters only realized this after they swarmed and surrounded a Shu Guang player wearing the No. 7 jersey. As they took shots of him with their cameras, they soon found out that the person who was almost struck by their flashes was a substitute who never got on the field.
However, it did not have a big effect on the reporters. The protagonist was Zhang Jun and he had the most number of reporters surrounding him.
Countless microphones and flashes made Zhang Jun's legs weak. Fortunately, Liang Ke came up to help him solve the problem. "Zhang Jun, lead the team to thank everyone! Hurry up!"
After thanking their fans, he looked at Fan Cunjie who had just finished doing the same as well. He was in a dazed state as he stood alone in the middle of the field.
He quickly took this chance to approach him before he got surrounded by reporters again. He took his jersey off and gave it to him.
Fan Cunjie stared at him blankly, then took his jersey off and gave it to Zhang Jun too.
"Take care!"
"Thank you!"
Both of them shook hands.
Zhang Jun reminded the reporters that Fan Cunjie was also another protagonist. With three consecutive years of failure, he really was a "tragic hero". So, the reporters surrounded Fan Cunjie. As such, Zhang Jun had no one else to deal with for the time being.
He looked up and saw Su Fei leaning against the awning of the coach's seat, smiling at him. Zhang Jun smiled back and walked over to her.
"This is for you." Zhang Jun untied his braid and gave the rubber band to Su Fei.
However, Su Fei did not extend her hand to receive it. "I don't want it."
"Why?"
"This was given to you, so you're not allowed to give it back!"
Zhang Jun stopped and looked down at the rubber band around his right wrist. Whenever he did not tie his hair in a braid, he would wear it around his wrist instead.
The sky gradually turned brighter. Zhang Jun looked at the color of the sky, thinking that he was supposed to be going home.
At the entrance of the building, he bumped into Su Fei who was getting some milk.
"What's up?" He noticed that Su Fei was looking at him as though he was some kind of rare animal. He raised his eyebrows.
Su Fei did not reply and continued to look at him. Then, she suddenly burst into laughter. "Zhang Jun, aren't you exhausted?"
"Exhausted?"
"Today is Sunday. Shouldn't you still be lying on your bed at this time?"
He finally understood. It was about his morning run. "I couldn't sleep, so why would I still be lazing around on my bed?" Zhang Jun pouted.
Su Fei reached her hand out.
"What is it?"
"Put your head closer."
Zhang Jun put his head closer. After that, Su Fei swiped her hair away from her forehead and brought her head closer to his. Their foreheads were now joined together.
"Hey! I don't have a fever…"
"Make sure you get to the National Championship, alright?" Su Fei said gently as she softly nuzzled against Zhang Jun's forehead.
Her breath dripped on Zhang Jun's face and it left a tingling sensation.
"You absolutely can't lose in the final match. This is still the world's biggest competition. Please allow me to continue watching you guys play soccer, okay?"
"Okay."
A ray of sunlight unknowingly shot into the corridor. The sun had risen and a new day had begun.
During the second semi-final match that afternoon, Tong Xing, who did not have Lin Ling lost 0: 4 to Zhongyua n High School. Li Yongle, who was wearing a No.10 jersey performed a hat-trick. While the media lamented the decline of another veteran team, they were also looking forward to the final match next Sunday. The cover of the latest issue of High School Soccer was the celebration of Li Yongle and Zhang Jun scoring their goals. The two of them were set from left to right on the cover. That in itself was enough to indicate that they were going to face off in the next match. Many people even termed the final match as "Mars crashing into Earth".
The campus on Monday was very lively. Zhang Jun stopped at the school gate and looked up at the party banner that was hung across it. "We warmly celebrate the Shu Guang soccer team's entrance to the final round of the National Championship Qualifiers!"
"Wow! That was fast!" An Ke stopped and watched the banner as it blew in the wind.
"Moron, we'll be late if we don't go in," Ren Yu De dropped his words as he passed by An Ke.
"You…" An Ke chased after Ren Yu De.
"It looks like it's Yu De's first time being early," Kaka's voice echoed from the back and Zhang Jun turned his head to face him. "Hi!" Kaka waved to him.
"Hi!"
"Everyone's full of spirit, hehe!" Kaka smiled.
"Of course, we got into the final," Zhang Jun replied as he smiled at the students who were walking past him.
"Where's Yang Pan?"
"He's still in his hometown. Today's apparently the day his grandmother's going to be cremated," Zhang Jun lowered his voice.
Kaka noticed Zhang Jun feeling down and he knew that he had roused his sadness. So, he quickly shifted topics. "Where's Su Fei? Why don't I see her with you?"
"Su Fei? She's on duty this week, so she has to come to school early to clean up." The moment he spoke of Su Fei, Zhang Jun's face lit up like the sun.
"Cleaning? Hehe! Aren't you two a thing already?" Kaka had a mischievous smile on his face as he nudged Zhang Jun.
"Get your mind out of the gutter."
"Hehe! You asked me to get my mind out of the gutter… Wow! Okay! Stop! I was only joking!" Kaka pulled Zhang Jun's leg with a smile. "Seriously, can't a guy joke around?"
Zhang Jun put his foot down and immediately waved his hands. "Don't! I won't repeat myself!"
As Zhang Jun stepped back, Kaka shifted his gaze to the banner. "It's very stylish, isn't it?"
"Yes it is." Zhang Jun nodded.
"Celebrating the Shu Guang soccer team's entrance to the final round… It feels pretty good!"
Zhang Jun thought of Su Fei's words when their faces were stuck together that Sunday morning.
"Make sure you get to the National Championship, alright?"
Zhang Jun looked at the banner again as it blew in the wind. "After a week, the words on it will change."
"Change? Change to what?"
Zhang Jun smiled. "We warmly celebrate the Shu Guang soccer team's entrance to the National Championship."
...
Zhang Jun shot the ball into the goalpost and the crowd went wild.
"Good goal!"
"That was too beautiful!"
"How accurate! Kicking the ball where he pointed to!"
"Aren't they exaggerating a little? It's only a goalpost, why are they making so much noise?" An Ke said as he kicked the ball back to Zhang Jun. "These people are too inexperienced! You shouldn't be fooled by their cheers!" He patted Zhang Jun on the shoulder.
An Ke then caught Lin Xiaofang's shot in his arms.
"Excellent!"
"An Ke, you're so good!"
"What a nice save!"
An Ke gave the ball to Chen Bo and everyone started to cheer at the entrance, "Awesome! Again! Again!"
After the sound of the whistle, he slammed Chen Bo's shot out of the bottom line.
Zhang Jun rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't be fooled by their cheers too…"
Kaka laughed. "Hehe! Don't blame him. Look at the side of the field; it's stacked with lots of people. Everyone's enthusiasm is unprecedentedly high. After all, we've reached the finals."
"Kaka!" Liang Ke called out.
As though it was part of some special training, the girls instantly shrieked for Kaka while the boys cheered for An Ke. "Tackle it, An Ke! Give us another block!"
Kaka took the lead as he peered over at An Ke's position. The little guy seemed out of shape, plus he was standing too near to the front. Kaka had no intentions of inflating An Ke's ego for the third time. He kicked the soccer ball gently and it drew an arc as it approached the crossbar. It avoided An Ke's extended hand and fell into the goal.
"Beautiful!"
"What a graceful kick!"
What frustrated An Ke even more was the boys who were previously supporting him unanimously became Kaka's loyal supporters. Kaka then elegantly raised his hands to the audience and the cheers from the crowd grew louder.
An Ke jumped. "That doesn't count! That doesn't count! I was careless with that ball just now! If you do it again, I'll make sure that ball of yours doesn't go in!
"Don't you dare laugh! If you don't believe me, come on and try it!
"Kaka, you were just lucky, so now you're thinking about running away! Come on, let's do it again!"
An Ke eventually stomped away. Students, who were working hard in the main building could hear An Ke's growls from the stadium.
Chen Huafeng leaned against the railings of the stands. Some of the spectators just could not help but watch Shu Guang's day-to-day training, which one could describe as "chaotic".
"Why are they so relaxed? The next game is already the final round!"
...
Li Yongle noticed that He Wen did not seem to be in good mood ever since Monday morning. The cute manager, who was always smiling had been in a state of worry for the past two days.
"He Wen, is something the matter?" Grabbing the chance to drink some water, Li Yongle also took the initiative to approah her.
"Ah, no, it's nothing…"
"He Wen! Get some clean towels here!" Sun Laihong called out and solved He Wen's problem. She quickly obliged and turned to fetch the required things. For a moment, Li Yongle saw her walking with a pile of socks.
Sun Laihong was puzzled as he held the socks. "This is… I was thinking of giving them towels to wipe their sweat…"
He Wen finally snapped out of it and immediately lowered her head to apologize. "Sorry, I'll change them immediately!"
Li Yongle watched as He Wen ran past him, carrying the socks. A moment later, she ran back with a pile of towels.
After sending the towels, He Wen returned to continue washing her clothes.
"Are you really alright?"
He Wen blushed.
"Are you having a dilemma on whether you should cheer for us or your brother, An Ke on Sunday?"
He Wen's soap slipped and she looked up at Li Yongle. "Huh? How do you know that An Ke's my brother?"
"Hehe, that's a secret!" Looking at He Wen's raised eyebrows, Li Yongle instantly changed his words. "Actually, it's because of the author didn't think things through enough, so that's how I know An Ke's your brother."
(Author: sweat…)
He Wen shook her head. "No, I'm worried about our soccer team. Shu Guang's very strong, I'm worried that you guys may not win—"
Li Yongle cut her off. "Shu Guang's very strong, but we're stronger! The final victory will surely belong to Zhongyuan High School!"
