Chapter 140: Life Begins in Italy

“Sorry, sorry, Brother Long Bisheng, I was half-asleep just now...”

Long Bisheng hurriedly ushered Chu Ran through the door, suddenly recalling what Ning Xi had said yesterday: the Naples club would arrange someone to help him integrate more quickly into local life. He had assumed it would be a local fan or a translator, but to his surprise, it was the Chinese goalkeeper Chu Ran, on loan from Inter Milan!

“No problem, jet lag can be tricky at first,” Chu Ran smiled. Then he looked at Long Bisheng admiringly. “You’re really tall... If I had your height, I’d probably have become a starter at Inter Milan by now.”

Although Chu Ran was a goalkeeper, he was only 1.78 meters tall. His idol was the legendary former Mexican goalkeeper “Butterfly” Campos. If FIFA hadn’t banned players from wearing self-designed jerseys in official matches, Chu Ran might have followed Campos’s flamboyant style and appeared on the field in colorful attire.

Though he couldn’t make a flashy entrance on the pitch, Chu Ran loved wearing bright, eye-catching clothes off the field. That was why Long Bisheng hadn’t recognized him at first.

“How’s your Italian now?” Chu Ran asked after they sat down.

“I only know a few words—hello, yes... that’s about it. But my English is pretty good,” Long Bisheng replied.

“That’s good. Italian and English both evolved from Latin. Italian pronunciation is simpler, but its grammar is much more complex than English. But the coach told me you’re a quick learner. I think it won’t be long before you can chat smoothly with your teammates.”

“Coach? Which coach?” Long Bisheng asked quickly.

“Of course, Coach Ding Yu!” Chu Ran laughed. “I was also coached by Ding Yu back when I was at Yun Jia Tian Yu Football School and in the youth team... He thinks highly of you and specifically called to ask me to look after you here in Naples. I know a great Italian teacher; I’ll introduce him to you in the next couple of days. For foreign players, mastering the language is the first hurdle.”

“I’m well aware of that,” Long Bisheng smiled. During training at Newcastle, he adapted faster than his teammates mainly because his English was the best. The Newcastle under-19 players and coaches quickly warmed to him, and he received a lot of help.

“That’s great, A Long. To be honest, it can get lonely in Italy sometimes. Now that you’re here at the club with me, I think I’ll be much happier,” Chu Ran said, laughing heartily as he patted Long Bisheng’s shoulder. “Let me show you around the Naples club. The team’s training camp starts in two days. For now, let’s stroll through the club and soak up the glory left by Maradona! See those two stools over there?”

In the first-team locker room of Naples, Chu Ran pointed to two stools in the corner. “Nobody dares to sit on these in Naples... These stools date back to the 1980s—one belonged to Maradona, and the other to his teammates. Whenever a new player signs on, the veterans tell him which stool he can sit on and which he must avoid. And this locker over here—no one is allowed to use it. It’s a piece of history. A history that Naples people cannot forget.”

Long Bisheng looked at the two worn stools. This was history—not just preserved in oral legends but embedded in objects themselves. Though they were ordinary stools, hearing the stories connected to them gave the stools a mysterious aura.

He couldn’t help but reach out to touch one, but quickly remembered Chu Ran’s warning that nobody dared sit on them. Seeing his hesitation, Chu Ran burst out laughing. “It’s okay, just touch it if you want. When I first came to Naples, I did the same—I even touched both stools, hoping to catch some of Maradona’s magic... Though he wasn’t a goalkeeper, the ‘Hand of God’ was his own creation!”

Long Bisheng really ran his hand over the stool, his heart pounding fiercely—soon he would be playing here, in this locker room, on the pitch where Maradona had fought!

Seeing Long Bisheng’s awe, Chu Ran didn’t mock him. For every player, Maradona was a figure to look up to, and for young players, just spending a moment in places where Maradona had been was a source of happiness. Chu Ran hadn’t been much different when he first arrived in Naples.

“All right, A Long, the team will gather in two days. How’s your condition? Italian football isn’t easy to adapt to. I made it to the starting lineup only through hard training,” Chu Ran said after Long Bisheng had spent some time touching the stools.

Reluctantly, Long Bisheng stood up and flexed his muscles. “No problem. I’ve kept myself in good shape. Even at home, I train personally for at least eight hours a day... I hope the training methods at Yun Jia Tian Yu aren’t too bad.”

“Then there’s no issue. Yun Jia Tian Yu’s training methods are fully European. Wait, you train eight hours a day even at home? How long do you train with the team, then?” Chu Ran widened his eyes in disbelief.

“About ten hours or so. I have good stamina but a weak foundation, so more practice is necessary,” Long Bisheng chuckled confidently.

“Wow, you’re a monster... Coach Ding also said you seem not to know what fatigue is. No wonder you come from a military compound—ordinary folks just can’t compare,” Chu Ran marveled. He considered himself hardworking, but training more than ten hours every day would be unbearable for him.

Two days later, Chu Ran was fully convinced of Coach Ding’s words. This guy really was a training fanatic. But if he hadn’t been so diligent since he started formal training at ten, he wouldn’t have reached professional standards in just seven years. Though not a prodigy, he worked harder than anyone else.

Two days later, the first training camp of Naples’s second half of the season began. Having adjusted to the time difference, Long Bisheng got up early and dragged a smiling but reluctant Chu Ran to the training ground at six-thirty in the morning. While training alongside Long Bisheng, Chu Ran silently vowed to move out of the club dormitory soon and find an apartment of his own—he just couldn’t keep up with Long Bisheng’s clockwork-like biological rhythm.

Slowly, dawn broke, and teammates began arriving at the training ground one by one. After changing in the locker room, they started warming up, casting curious glances at the new teammate from China.

“Chu! Is this your countryman? How come he’s so tall and you’re so short?” a player shouted at Chu Ran, while several others laughed heartily.

“Damn! Guevara, are you tall again?” Chu Ran called back to him, then turned to Long Bisheng. “This is Guevara, our main right-back. His crosses are excellent. If you get to know him first, it’ll help your performance on the pitch.”

Long Bisheng nodded. For a tall striker, the most important thing was to receive beautiful crosses from teammates. Without wingers supplying ammunition, a tall striker was useless.

Just then, head coach Rea arrived at the training ground. The warmed-up players immediately gathered around him. Rea’s eyes scanned the sweat-drenched Long Bisheng and Chu Ran, frowning slightly.

“Chu, haven’t I told you? Overtraining isn’t necessarily beneficial. You’re already a professional player. You need to maintain your form and stamina, not waste energy on unnecessary training,” Rea said sternly.

“It’s fine, coach. I’m just here to keep Long Bisheng company during training. Don’t worry about him; this guy is a stamina monster. My first coach, who’s also his coach, told me he trains twelve hours a day but never gets exhausted,” Chu Ran replied with a knowing smile.

Hearing this, Rea nodded. He wasn’t against extra training but feared players might run out of energy during matches. Since this tall young man had such stamina, Rea naturally didn’t oppose his extra sessions.

“All right, guys, starting today, we have a new teammate from China: striker Long Bisheng. Chu, introduce your countryman to everyone.”

Chu Ran smiled and began introducing Long Bisheng to the team: Captain Montevino, a local Italian defensive midfielder and one of the few remaining players; Fontana, a 35-year-old veteran midfielder; Guevara, the Croatian fullback; Maldonado, Chilean defender; Pia, Brazilian left winger; Robert Sosa, Argentine striker; Carajo, Italian forward; and the Uruguayan twins Boliacino and Amodio...

After greeting the teammates one by one in the Italian he had crammed in over the past few days, Long Bisheng took a deep breath—his life in Italy was about to begin!