Chapter 20: One Day Is a Teacher, and a Lifetime Is a Father

Yan Min was sitting in a large and bright office. The leather sofa was so soft that he almost sunk into it. This posture made him a little uncomfortable. He tried to sit up straighter on the sofa, so that he would appear to have a more upright attitude, but the result was that it made him even more uncomfortable because his back was helpless and his buttocks were as unstable as quicksand...

His muscles were tense, and he felt that this was more tiring than an afternoon of practicing on the machine.

At the same time, it was not just the difficult sitting posture that made him so nervous, but also the person in front of him.

Opposite him sat an elderly man, wearing a pair of wide metal-framed glasses, who was drinking tea with his head down. His hair that should have been gray was dyed black, sticking to his scalp meticulously. Just looking at the color of his hair might not reveal his actual age. Only the criss-crossing ravines on his face can make people realize that he is already a man. Old man.

This elder is Xu Genbao, the chairman of Shanghai Chongming Club and a famous legend in Chinese football. He also discovered Yan Min from a second-tier city in the southwest, brought him to Chongming Island in Shanghai, trained him, and sent him to The mentor who participated in a reality show and promoted him to the first team.

Yan Min, who is in the second grade, is not convinced by many people and still wants to defeat Zhou Yi. But in front of his teacher, he behaved like a good student in elementary school, obeying "Xu Zhi" inside and outside.

Xu Genbao, who put down his tea cup, looked at Yan Min's hard work to maintain his upright posture, smiled and waved his hand: "Relax, relax, I didn't call you here to lecture you." He spoke Mandarin with a Shanghai accent, which he also used back then. Speaking in Mandarin, he asked the still young Yan Min: "Kid, would you like to follow me to Shanghai to learn football?"

Yan Min didn't listen to the teacher's words and still sat upright.

Seeing his stubbornness, Xu Genbao stopped insisting. He was very familiar with his student's stubbornness.

"Do you know what happened in Dortmund?" he asked.

Yan Min nodded: "I understand, Xu Zhi."

At first, he listened to what his teammates said, and then he went to the Internet to check the authenticity, and found that there was already a lot of discussion on the Internet.

"Well, what do you think?" Xu Genbao asked calmly.

"I will listen to the club's arrangements." Yan Min answered formally.

Xu Genbao frowned: "There are no outsiders here, so don't do this with me. Tell me what's on your mind. Do you want to go or not?"

Yan Min was given a small lesson by the teacher,

He smiled and scratched his head, but did not immediately answer Xu Genbao's question.

Do you want to go to Europe?

This is almost a question that requires no hesitation.

Of course he wanted to go. At that time, he went to participate in a reality show, and soon he had the idea that "maybe he would be spotted by a European team"?

As a result, the reality was cruel. He went to Europe and saw the high-level European football, only to realize how fanciful his original idea was. There was still a big gap between himself and European players of the same age. It was also true that no European team contacted him.

After finishing the filming of the reality show, he returned to Shanghai Chongming Island and continued to train at Xu Genbao's football training base and compete in Shanghai Chongming's youth team.

But this does not mean that he has lost the idea of ​​continuing to study abroad.

But in the business match against Dortmund, his hard work was really not to attract Dortmund's attention...

I didn't expect it to be so unintentional.

going or not?

Of course he wants to go, but he has just become the main player in Shanghai Chongming. What he saw when he went to Europe to participate in the filming of the reality show is still vivid in his mind. He has not yet entered the ranks of first-class players in China. When he went to Europe, and in a wealthy team like Dortmund, which had just won the Champions League, he could win What opportunity to appear?

His original plan for studying abroad was to join a mid-range team in the five major European leagues and have more opportunities to play. Only by being able to play games can you train and improve yourself. If you go to a wealthy family, your name sounds beautiful, but you can't even get into the big list, what's the point? Such examples abound among China's senior overseas players. Wasn't Hao Junmin very prosperous when he went to Schalke 04? What happened in the end?

Although Yan Min is in the second grade, he is not stupid. Starting from the youth team, he has been able to reach this point all the way, not only by relying on the second grade and motivation, he still has a very clear plan for his future.

As a result, Dortmund's interest in him suddenly disrupted the plan.

This made him hesitate.

If he goes to Dortmund, would it be a good choice? Will he waste a few years in Dortmund, achieve nothing, and finally return to China in despair?

…

Seeing that Yan Min suddenly stopped talking, how could Xu Genbao, the teacher who had brought him up since childhood, not be able to tell what he was thinking?

So he said: "Min Min..."

Yan Min raised his head. Xu Zhi always used this name when he was very young. It was a nickname given to him by his parents. Later, as he got older and his performance in the team got better and better, Xu Zhi rarely called himself that, especially since he had to maintain the dignity of his head coach and club chairman in front of the entire team... …

"Do you still remember how you answered me when I asked you if you wanted to come to Chongming to learn football?"

Yan Min looked at Xu Genbao blankly.

"You were not alone at the time, there were two children. If I remember correctly... they both said yes to me without hesitation. As for you, you lowered your eyebrows and asked me: 'Can I do it?' Hahaha!" At this point, Xu Genbao burst into laughter.

Yan Min felt a little embarrassed. He also remembered that his performance at that time was extremely poor. Later, two fellow countrymen who were traveling with him made fun of him for a long time. But where did those two little fellow villagers go? I can't remember, I'm not in Chongming anyway, I haven't contacted you for a long time...

"Those two children also came to Chongming for training, but they are no longer with me now. It's just you." Xu Genbao continued, "Do you know why you can stay until the end?"

Yan Min shook his head. In fact, he wanted to say: Am I talented?

Of course, he can say this to other people, but he cannot say this to the mentor in front of him. Otherwise, he will definitely be scolded and severely punished...

"Your talent is not particularly good, but you have a characteristic that I like very much. When I selected three children from your city, your performance was the worst and you had no confidence at all. I know your current teammates What they said about you is that you are arrogant. You know this, right?"

Yan Min scratched his head again, it was true. He knows that his personality is sometimes unpleasant, but he has no intention of changing it. He lives his own life, and it doesn't matter whether others like it or not, who he loves.

"But in my opinion, you are not arrogant at all, you are even a little... inferior."

Yan Min was a little surprised by Xu Genbao's words. The reasons for this surprise were complicated. On the one hand, Xu Zhi's conclusion was different from Yan Min's own feelings. On the other hand, Yan Min actually wanted to agree a little bit deep in his heart. Xu Zhi’s conclusion…

"At that time, your physical fitness was not very good. You were almost useless except for running fast. You were very thin and not tall. When I first met you, I even thought that you had been malnourished. Of course, the conditions of your family at that time were indeed poor. not too good……"

Yan Min nodded in his mind. If Xu Zhi had not agreed to pay him the tuition fee, his parents would never have agreed to let him study football in Shanghai, which is thousands of miles away from his hometown.

"After arriving at Chongming Island, you were the one who trained the hardest and performed craziest among that group of kids. From that moment on, your teammates said you were arrogant and annoying. I'm right, right? ?" Xu Genbao looked at Yan Min and said.

Of course Xu Zhi is right. From the moment he entered Chongming Island, Yan Min had very few friends. At first, there were only two fellow villagers. Later, after the fellow villagers became familiar with other children, their relationship with Yan Min also faded away. , it’s just the friendship between fellow villagers. Yan Min also knew that he was not lovable, but at that time he couldn't care less about trying to please others. He was focused on trying to improve himself so that he could succeed in his studies here and not waste his parents working multiple jobs every month. On the one hand, the living expenses remitted to himself are naturally to make a difference in football. He likes football and hopes to make a career out of it. For this reason, he, who thinks that his congenital conditions are not good enough, will certainly have to work harder and crazier than others.

What Yan Min didn't quite understand was that his momentum was like a blazing flame. While pushing him to keep running forward, it also turned him into a hot and dazzling fireball, making it difficult for ordinary people to near.

"At that time, I thought of a way to solve the living expenses problem for those children from poor families who were studying football in Shanghai, that is, to recognize their godfather. I asked Wu Lei to recognize Cheng Dafa as his godfather, which solved his living expenses problem. . But I didn’t find a godmother for you. I can only ask your parents to support your living expenses while playing football here. Do you know why?” This time, Xu Genbao did not let Yan Min think or speak on his own, but immediately continued. , "Because you have such a bad temper, you offend people too easily. When the time comes, you will admit your marriage and offend people, and you still want me to wipe your ass? I won't do it! I just thought, your character How did it come about? Later I figured it out, it was because of your lack of confidence."

Yan Min was very surprised. How did this lead to his lack of confidence? He doesn't have a high degree of education and doesn't read much, but he also knows that arrogance and lack of confidence are completely opposites, right?

"Some people are not confident, so they will make mistakes. Some people are not confident, and they feel that others are targeting them. But your lack of confidence makes you work harder, and it also makes you work hard to be confident, but You accidentally used too much force and it turned into arrogance. But no matter how you pretend, deep down, you are still an unconfident little kid. So when I asked you if you are willing to go to Dortmund, you Just now, I must have been thinking about whether you would be able to adapt to Dortmund if you went there, and whether it would work... just like when I asked you if you wanted to come to Chongming to play football, right?"

As soon as Xu Genbao asked this question, Yan Min felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He sat blankly on the sofa, opened his mouth wide, and stared blankly at his mentor in front of him, as if he was looking at an eminent monk.

"Once a teacher is always a father" and "There is no better son than a father", so this is what they mean!