Chapter 123: The First Friend

After spending several years coaching youth teams, Cai Sheng, a former national team player, began to feel restless. He wanted to try his hand at managing a professional club. As luck would have it, Qingdao Haifeng of the China League One had fallen to second-to-last place in the standings following a string of winless matches in the first half of the season. In the China League One, where the bottom two teams are relegated and the third-from-bottom must play a playoff against the third, fourth, and fifth-place teams from the League Two for a spot in the division, this was a precarious position. Because Cai Sheng had played half a season for Qingdao Haifeng before retiring, the struggling club remembered their former national player.

Cai Sheng’s start as manager was not ideal; he managed only a draw and a loss in his first two games, showing little sign of improvement. However, Cai Sheng identified the team's core issue: while the midfield and defense were passable, the front line lacked a quality center-forward. With less than a week remaining until the transfer deadline, where could he find a suitable striker? Cai Sheng’s thoughts turned to Long Bisheng, whom he had seen three years prior.

Three years ago, Cai Sheng had wanted to poach Long Bisheng for the Wuhan youth team to refine his skills. After all, such tall center-forwards had become a rarity in recent years. In Long Bisheng, Cai Sheng saw a reflection of his younger self, though with a stronger physique and better physical presence. Cai Sheng believed that if Long Bisheng could fully absorb his experience, the boy’s future achievements would surely surpass his own, leading him to become the new spearhead of China’s next generation of center-forwards.

Consequently, Cai Sheng had kept a close eye on Long Bisheng’s progress. Ding Yu, aware of the former national player’s intentions, would often intentionally or unintentionally leak updates about Long Bisheng to him. Thus, Cai Sheng was well-acquainted with Long Bisheng’s current situation. After more than a year of training with the Yunjia Tianyu youth academy and another year in Newcastle, England, how much had the boy who once caught his eye grown?

Just thinking about it was exciting.

Driven by his team’s desperate need for a powerful target man and his own desire to see Long Bisheng’s level firsthand, Cai Sheng did not hesitate to send a loan request to Yunjia Tianyu. One day later, he received the club’s reply: they agreed to loan Long Bisheng to Qingdao Haifeng until the end of the season.

The talent-starved Qingdao Haifeng moved quickly. Soon, a personal contract was placed in front of Long Bisheng: a monthly salary of 7,800 yuan, a daily training allowance of 40 yuan until December, a match appearance fee of 1,000 yuan, and a 2,000-yuan goal bonus. Relegation bonuses were calculated separately—every club would pay out a large sum in bonuses and corresponding luxury taxes as the season neared its end, especially for matches involving championship or relegation stakes; this money was never insignificant.

After reading the contract, Long Bisheng had no objections, and Ning Xi could not find any issues either. They signed the document promptly. From that moment on, Long Bisheng would be a part of Qingdao Haifeng for the remainder of the year, fighting for their survival. Qingdao, a seaside city, was known for its fresh air and clean streets. Long Bisheng had once heard a joke that the most hopeless profession in Qingdao was shoe-shining, because the streets were so dust-free that no one ever needed their shoes polished, leaving the shoe-shiners without customers to avoid starvation.

When Long Bisheng arrived in Qingdao, he realized the joke held some truth; the streets were indeed spotlessly clean.

Head coach Cai Sheng came to the airport to meet him, proving how much Qingdao Haifeng—or perhaps Cai Sheng himself—valued Long Bisheng. As the current manager, his will largely represented that of the club.

From Cai Sheng, Long Bisheng learned that the situation at Qingdao Haifeng was indeed grim. Despite holding steady at second-to-last place after his first two matches, the gap between them and Dalian Botao, the team in fourth-to-last place that would take them out of the relegation zone, had widened to six points. With only eleven rounds left in the season, and more importantly, a seven-match winless streak looming over them, the team was in danger. Although Cai Sheng had managed to stop a six-game losing streak in the previous round, if the team couldn't secure a win soon, the morale might collapse entirely, leading to inevitable relegation to League Two.

"Qingdao Haifeng is a team with a distinct style. Our defense is solid, but we lack a striker with impact. I believe your arrival will help us find the back of the net," Cai Sheng said, his expression weary yet excited. "We need victories now; we need them so badly... However, I won’t arrange for you to play in the next round. I need you to get to know your teammates first. I won't force you into a match prematurely."

"My physical condition is great; I'm ready to play!" Long Bisheng said, feeling a bit anxious. In his mind, taking the club's money meant he should be playing—7,000-plus yuan a month was nearly ten times his apprentice salary, not to mention the other income!

"Don't be in such a rush," Cai Sheng laughed. "Haste makes waste. A player must first adapt to the new environment... Besides, the next round of the league starts in two days. That's not enough time for you to get to know all your teammates."

Long Bisheng considered this and realized it made sense, so he stayed quiet.

"I'll take you to your living quarters now. I think it’s better for you to stay in the player dormitory. While most of our players live off-site, there are still quite a few staying there, so it’ll be livelier. Our accommodations are no worse than Yunjia Tianyu’s, haha," Cai Sheng laughed again. He wasn't exaggerating; the conditions were quite good. Each person had a private room with a TV and air conditioning. Though not large, it had everything one needed and was quite comfortable.

Long Bisheng wasn't picky, though the bed seemed a bit small for him. Cai Sheng noticed this too. "Don't worry about that, I’ll arrange for someone to buy an extended bed immediately. I dealt with this same frustration when I was on the national team."

Long Bisheng smiled. Cai Sheng understood him, and he understood Cai Sheng; after all, tall people rarely slept well on standard beds, with nowhere to put their legs.

"The club is off this afternoon, and I have to go pick up another new player. You get some rest. Training starts at eight tomorrow morning, and I'll introduce you to everyone then," Cai Sheng said after showing him to the dorm. As a newly appointed manager, he was busy. After a few more words, he told Long Bisheng to rest well and departed.

Long Bisheng looked around his bedroom. He would be living here for the next few months. This was the first time since leaving home that he had a room to himself—at the football school, they shared rooms, and at the Yunjia Tianyu U-17 team, he shared with one other person. Having a room to himself was a sign that playing professional football was truly different. After unpacking his luggage, he stepped outside, wanting to explore his surroundings.

The dormitory was a four-story building with five rooms on each floor. It seemed there were quite a few players living at the club (Long Bisheng was mistaken; in reality, many rooms were vacant, kept for players to stay in during closed-door training camps). His room was on the first floor. He walked down the corridor and saw that all the other doors were shut. He tried pushing one, but it was locked tight.

"Is there nobody here?" he muttered. He didn't want to waste the afternoon sleeping, but he couldn't train since he was so new he didn't even know where the training pitch was.

"How boring," Long Bisheng thought, wandering out of the dormitory building to check the area.

Just then, heavy footsteps echoed from outside the building. Long Bisheng perked up—finally, someone!

The person approaching was holding a bag of steamed buns, eating with great enthusiasm. He stopped as he rounded the corner, staring blankly at Long Bisheng.

Long Bisheng sized him up in return. The man was tall and sturdy—Long Bisheng was 2.02 meters tall and hadn't grown much in the past year, but this man didn't look more than a few centimeters shorter. Long Bisheng recovered first and extended his hand. "Hello, my name is Long Bisheng, a player on loan from Yunjia Tianyu."

The man looked to be in his early twenties with an honest, simple face. His actions were just as sincere; seeing Long Bisheng’s hand, he quickly wiped his own on his clothes before shaking it. "I... I'm Lu Dashan, a player here. I live in this building."

"Nice to meet you, Brother Lu," Lu Dashan said, pointing to the room next to Long Bisheng's. "I live in that room. Come on in and sit for a while."

Seeing how friendly Lu Dashan was, Long Bisheng nodded. "Sorry to bother you."

"You're very polite. You must be well-educated," Lu Dashan said while digging for his keys. "I have the most respect for learned people."

Long Bisheng was rendered speechless. If his mediocre grades at the football school counted as being "well-educated," then half the country must be scientists.

And just like that, Long Bisheng met his first friend at Qingdao Haifeng.