Chapter Sixty-Three: The Thrill of the Team Showdown

Ever since that unintended remark on the training field, Long Bisheng, already somewhat famous in the school, became even more of a sensation. Previously, people knew of Long Bisheng from the first-year class simply because he trained relentlessly, often the only figure visible practicing extra drills on the field. Even so, it took more than a year for others to gradually notice him. But this time, the very next day, the whole school knew about his now-famous saying: “First love has nothing to do with real love.”

At first, Long Bisheng felt awkward about it, but after a few days, he took it in stride. It was just a slip of the tongue—who hasn’t said something wrong before? He remembered how he’d forgotten his own name at his first roll call, and soon enough, no one talked about it anymore.

What really delighted his group of friends, however, was that the tall, long-legged beauty they’d seen by the training field that day was assigned to their class. This meant, in the days to come, they’d have the chance to interact with this girl—who was their peer—in the classroom.

She had a lovely name—Ning Xi. On the first day of the cultural classes, when the teacher introduced the new student, the boys’ eyes widened, and they all cast envious glances at Long Bisheng—the only empty seat in the classroom was right next to him.

As expected, the homeroom teacher placed Ning Xi beside Long Bisheng. The teacher had her reasons; she knew what effect placing a girl in an all-boys class would have, and Long Bisheng was the most well-behaved of them all. It was for this very reason that, before Ning Xi arrived, she had made sure Long Bisheng sat alone.

Of course, the others didn’t understand these considerations. They simply looked at Long Bisheng with envy—this guy had struck it lucky!

After introducing herself, Ning Xi walked toward her seat. She knew the tall boy she’d be sitting with was the one who had made that astonishing remark on the training field. Unconsciously, she felt a bit of anticipation—perhaps her new desk mate would be interesting.

So, after sitting down, Ning Xi proactively extended her hand to Long Bisheng. “Hello, I’m Ning Xi, your desk mate… I’m new here, so please take care of me.”

Long Bisheng quickly wiped his sweaty palm on his clothes and, as if touching a burning coal, briefly shook Ning Xi’s hand. “I… my name is Long Bisheng.”

Watching his stammering response, Ning Xi couldn’t help but smile again, feeling a sense of relief in her heart—her desk mate really did seem like a good kid. Surely sharing a desk with someone like him would be much easier.

She wanted to chat a bit more with Long Bisheng, but saw he had already turned his head away. She pouted slightly—was he really so unwilling to talk to her? Ning Xi had never encountered such a thing before.

She had no idea that Long Bisheng had turned away because, after seeing her smile, his heart had inexplicably started pounding, and he wanted to avoid embarrassment.

That lesson, Long Bisheng was distracted, his nose constantly picking up a faint fragrance from beside him. In the past, the only scents during class were sweat from himself and his classmates. It was only after quite some time that Long Bisheng realized he was sitting beside a girl today. With that thought, he couldn’t help but steal glances at Ning Xi several times.

It wasn’t that Long Bisheng had any improper thoughts about Ning Xi; in fact, he hadn’t even considered such things. On one hand, his concept of the opposite sex was still vague; on the other, he felt a bit inferior, not believing he could win the affection of such an outstanding girl. After all, his roommates were so excellent—if anyone caught her eye, it would be them, not him.

So, after those few glances, Long Bisheng stopped looking. First, he feared Ning Xi might notice him staring; second, he forced his thoughts back onto the lesson, even though the elegant profile of Ning Xi had left a deep impression on him.

What he didn’t know was that Ning Xi had already noticed his furtive glances. For a girl, intuition about whether someone is secretly watching her is always the keenest. Knowing Long Bisheng was sneaking peeks, Ning Xi felt a little triumphant—he’d just put on such an act, but now he couldn’t help looking? Hmph, such duplicity!

“Wow, Long, you really are a lucky guy!” Before training started, Zhou Wei leapt onto Long Bisheng’s shoulder, wrapping his arm around his neck and shaking him energetically, like a sloth hanging from a tree. “So, how does it feel sitting beside Ning Xi?”

“What feeling?” Long Bisheng finally managed to pry Zhou Wei off and asked.

“Come on, you blockhead.” Zhang Yi shook his head, while Zhou Wei glared at Long Bisheng. “Are you deliberately provoking me? How does it feel to sit next to a girl? I haven’t had that privilege in years!”

“Not much feeling,” Long Bisheng thought for a moment and shook his head. “It’s not like usual.”

“Did she mention me? I saw you two chatting after class—what did you talk about? Did she ask what my name was?” Zhou Wei asked excitedly.

Li Jie and Wu Bufan both scoffed, while Hu Gantang chuckled and went off to start his warm-up exercises.

“We just talked about the school; she’s new, after all,” Long Bisheng continued shaking his head. “She didn’t ask your name.”

Zhou Wei wanted to ask more, but Dai Guangming had already dragged him away. “Don’t embarrass yourself… Don’t forget, the National Youth League starts in just a month. Only twenty-three from our class can go. If you want to get eliminated, keep chasing after girls!”

“Hey, I was just looking for a bit of fun,” Zhou Wei muttered and stopped talking, starting his warm-up for the coming training.

In fact, even if Ning Xi became Zhou Wei’s desk mate, he wouldn’t be thinking about anything else at this time. The national squad league would soon be held in Beijing in a month, and only twenty-three players could make the trip, while their class had thirty-eight members. That meant fifteen would be left behind, and nobody wanted to miss out while their teammates went to Beijing.

Over the next month, everyone trained hard, especially the students from all three grades in the junior department. This competition was a test for Yun Jia Tianyu Football School’s results and a personal challenge for each player’s abilities.

If they could go to Beijing and perform well, their chances of getting into the U-15 squad would increase greatly. Rumor had it that the club would also send coaches to observe their performance, making everyone train even harder.

In the end, Ding Yu had to curb the reckless training; not everyone could achieve good results on a regimen that nearly exhausted their physical strength every day. Now, the hardest-working students were almost matching Long Bisheng’s training hours.

While restraining them, Ding Yu was also delighted—children need goals to drive them forward. These students were promising, but not everyone was as diligent as Long Bisheng. If someone failed to make it due to lack of effort, it would be a huge loss, both for them and for Yun Jia Tianyu Football Club.

The Football Association’s arrangement for this tournament was excellent! Though costly, it gave young players a target, a chance to showcase themselves, and also a great opportunity for formal football schools to build their reputations. At least, it showed aspiring professional players where to go to learn the game.

During the tough training, the month passed quickly. In that time, Ding Yu focused more on instilling tactical awareness in the students, making sure every player understood their responsibilities on their position. If the elementary department was about fundamentals, then once they entered the senior division, their learning was much more about actual matches. Team competitions increased, small-scale games became more frequent. Previously, coaches had struggled to find suitable opponents for warm-ups and experience, but now, the Football Association’s inter-school squad competitions were like a pillow delivered when they wanted to sleep. Coaches even felt that, even if the Association didn’t cover expenses, they would still go—petitioning the club if needed.

The only pity was that only twenty-three players could compete; for each squad, that meant a third or more wouldn’t get to go to Beijing. For these young players, even just watching from the stands would be a rare experience.

As the coaches sighed about “ten out of nine things in life don’t go as planned,” the club delivered a piece of news that thrilled everyone—the club decided that, aside from the twenty-three players reported to the organizing committee, all other students could also accompany the team to Beijing, with extra expenses covered by the club!

After hearing this, nearly all the coaches cheered, and they decided not to tell the students before departure, to keep their sense of urgency high.

PS: Damn, Oriental Satellite TV butchered a perfectly good drama… Forget it, I’ll stop watching TV. I’ll wait until “Regiment Commander” finishes and see if it’s available for download.

Can’t believe there was no pork stewed with vermicelli…