Chapter 13 The Legend Ends
Gu Biao was uneasy and always felt that something big was about to happen.

So he dawdled while changing in the locker room, often stopping what he was doing to turn his attention and gaze towards the locker room door.

Especially when the door is open.

But every time he looked away in disappointment, because the person who came in was not Brother Wang Lie.

As a member of the Sofia U18 youth team, this period is his happiest time – although it doesn’t seem right to say this, after all, this period is not a good time for Brother Wang, but this is the fact, Gu Biao is indeed happy.

Because he can train with his idol Wang Lie almost every day.

The two of them were in the same club and had met each other before, but they had never experienced being together day and night like they had in the past few days.

He still remembered how he felt when he saw the news that “Wang Lie was sent to the youth team for training by Helden”:
Of course I was shocked and upset at first, upset for my idol.

But soon, when he realized that he was in the youth team, he became excited – didn’t this mean that he could train with Brother Wang? !

Gu Biao had never enjoyed such treatment before.

For him, Wang Lie has always been a “monument” that he can only look up to. Being able to take a photo with Brother Wang, shake hands with each other, and hug each other can make him excited for a long time.

And now he actually has the opportunity to train with Brother Wang!
He has been at Sofia United for three seasons and this is the first time!
Gu Biao still remembers the first day he met Brother Wang in the youth team’s locker room:
In the locker room, Brother Wang was quite kind. He greeted and talked to every youth team player he saw and fulfilled their requests for autographs and photos.

He had a smile on his face, and you couldn’t tell at all that he had been demoted to the youth team.

Of course, everyone tacitly agreed not to ask him about the grudge between him and the head coach of the first team – what if Brother Wang got angry when asked, how would they get along with each other in the future?

After the training started, Wang Lie, who was quite kind before, seemed like a different person. He became serious and focused, even a little… scary.

If others performed poorly in training, he would loudly remind or criticize them mercilessly, just like a youth team coach.

Gu Biao was caught distracted during training by Wang Lie and was severely criticized.

However, Gu Biao did not feel embarrassed, but excited instead – being criticized by Brother Wang meant that he was in Brother Wang’s eyes!

Brother Wang, you are right!

Brother Wang, I will definitely change!

Brother Wang, what do you think of my changes?
……

In addition to criticism, Brother Wang also gives a lot of suggestions based on his own experience. He doesn’t just scold people, but gives solutions after scolding them. These suggestions are very valuable to the players of the youth team.

Gu Biao, who plays as a winger on the field, was encouraged by Wang Lie to cut inside more often, instead of habitually just staying at the sidelines and not hiding from opponents when playing the ball, but to actively seek opportunities to break through.

Gu Biao tactfully expressed that he was afraid of losing the ball in the crowded middle area. Wang Lie suggested that he strengthen his upper limb strength training to increase his confrontation ability, and taught him how to train his upper limb strength specifically.

Brother Wang also told him that if he always plays on the sidelines, his future achievements will be very limited. If he wants to achieve greater success, he must go to the middle.

So even though training with Wang Lie was hard, Gu Biao enjoyed it and cherished it very much.

It’s a pity that such opportunities are not the norm…

Gu Biao did not ask Wang Ge where he would go next privately – this is a very sensitive and private question. If you are not particularly close to him, it is best not to ask. Asking would embarrass the other party, and it would be difficult to deal with it whether to say it or not.

He just seized every opportunity to train with Brother Wang and tried his best to learn more from his idol.

No matter how long he procrastinated, Gu Biao still changed into the equipment needed for training. The door of the locker room had not been opened for some time because all the youth team players who were coming to participate in the training were in the locker room.

Brother Wang still hasn’t come.

In fact, Gu Biao shouldn’t have expected anything when he didn’t see Wang Lie when he entered the locker room, because Wang Lie was never the last person to arrive in the locker room. In the past few days of training, the youth team would open the locker room door and see Wang Lie. They had never dressed up and waited for Wang Lie…

“God!”

“My God!”

“Oh my God!”

“What The Fuck?!”

Suddenly, several people in the locker room exclaimed, and then they announced the news at the same time:
“The club has terminated the contract with Wang!”

Logically speaking, this result is not difficult to imagine. It can even be said that ever since Wang Lie was demoted to their place, things have been developing towards this outcome.

They had also discussed privately before when the club would terminate the contract with Wang Lie.

But when this incident really happened, everyone was still greatly shocked and found it difficult to accept for a while.

There was a commotion in the youth team’s locker room, and everyone took out their cell phones.

Gu Biao immediately went to the official social media account of the Sofa League Club, and as soon as he clicked on it, he saw the latest news.

He didn’t bother to read the text, but looked at the accompanying photo first. It was the image of Wang Lie wearing a Sofa United jersey and waving his fist in celebration.

The picture is also accompanied by eye-catching words: “THANK YOU, CHINA WANG, GOODBYE”

After so many days, the second shoe finally dropped.

Gu Biao suddenly didn’t want to go to training anymore…

※※※

Under the sign with the Arabic numeral “11” in the parking lot, a dark green low-lying coupe slowly parked in the parking space, and the charging cover at the rear of the car opened automatically.

Then a young man with a handsome face and short stature got out of the car, took down the charging gun behind the parking space, and plugged it into his own car.

After doing all this, he went around to the co-pilot seat to get his backpack and prepared to go for training.

At this moment, the phone in his hand vibrated and a message alert sounded.

At the same time, the AI’s message was read aloud in his headphones:

“Breaking news: Sofia United Club has confirmed the termination of its contract with Wang Lie! Ten minutes ago, the official account of Sofia United Club released an announcement on various online social media platforms, officially announcing that the club had terminated its contract with Wang Lie. Sofia United Club thanked Wang Lie for his contributions during his service…”

By the time he reacted and took out his phone to check, the AI ​​broadcast was almost over.

These news contents are not long, in fact, they should be considered breaking news.

But Chi Zhen still stood outside the car and looked at his phone for a long time.

He was not surprised at the termination of the contract between Sofolian and Wang Lie. After all, this was an outcome that even a fool could guess.

It can even be said that Chi Zhen could not imagine that Brother Wang would bow his head to the Sofia United Club, then tuck his tail between his legs and return to the first team in disgrace.

That’s Wang Lie! The Wang Lie who never admits defeat…

However, when Wang Ge’s ten years at Sofolian came to an abrupt end, Chi Zhen couldn’t help but sigh.

Wang Lie is the target figure that almost all Chinese overseas players aspire to. His achievements at Sofia United are envied by every Chinese player. No one does not want to become a football legend and club celebrity like Wang.

Two years ago, Wang Ge and Sofo United renewed their contract, which expired on June 2037, 2038. At the same time, both parties agreed to renew the contract for another year, which is June , .

Everyone thought that this beautiful “marriage” would last forever.

Many people, including Chi Zhen, thought that Wang Ge would retire at Sofolian and end his brilliant career.

But who would have thought that Brother Wang’s ending in Sofulian would be like this…

It’s like there’s a couple around you who love each other very much. You think they are a model couple and envy their love life. You and your lover also take them as your goal and role model. But when you get old, you suddenly hear that the couple is getting divorced… It’s so outrageous.

How did a beautiful fairy tale end up like this?
Is it Brother Wang’s fault?

Or is it that Sofia United did something wrong?

Chi Zhen felt like they were all wrong, Brother Wang was too impulsive and the club was too mean.

But…it doesn’t have to be so ugly, right?

An indescribable emotion lingered in Chi Zhen’s heart, making him stand outside the car for seven or eight minutes without realizing it.

Until he suddenly remembered that Brother Wang had terminated his contract with SofaSoccer. Although he didn’t know where he would go next, he was now the only one playing for a Premier League giant.

As a representative of Chinese players in the Premier League, he must train harder, perform well, take over the banner left by Brother Wang, and not let the flag fall.

So he calmed himself down, closed the door, locked the car, turned and walked towards the locker room, ready to start a day of training.

When Chi Zhen walked to the door of the training base’s locker room, he heard a burst of laughter coming from inside:
“The king has finally been driven away! Ha!”

“This is the most correct decision made by Sofolian!”

“This is really the best news I have heard in the past few days!”

“Oh goodbye, Wang, we won’t miss you at all! Haha!”

……

Chi Zhen, who was about to push the door open, stopped in his tracks, a little unsure if it would be a bad idea to go in at this time – it would be awkward for both him and his teammates…

Just as he was hesitating, a hand gently rested on his shoulder.

Chi Zhen was startled and turned around to see that it was his captain Mason Harper.

“Hi, Chi.” Harper grinned, revealing his big white teeth. “Wait outside for a while before you come in.”

After saying that, he took his hand off Chi Zhen’s shoulder, pushed open the door and walked in.

The door slowly closed, and soon Harper’s loud voice rang out from inside: “What are you doing?! When I heard your laughter outside the door, I had an illusion that we were the winners the day before yesterday… I took out my phone to check, and guess what? Damn it, we lost, 0:3!”

Chi Zhen knew why the captain asked him to wait outside. If he followed him in, everyone would feel awkward when the captain scolded them. This would save some face for his teammates. At least they wouldn’t know that he had heard everything they said just now…

“We have so many problems of our own now, and you are still in the mood to be happy about other people’s affairs – let me say something unpleasant. In the first half of the season, when we played against Sofosport, did Wang play? No. What was the result? We tied 1:1 and didn’t win. So do you really think that without Wang at Sofosport, we can definitely beat them? If you still have this mentality, then I can make a prediction. I think we will definitely lose to them in the th round!”

Captain Harper was still delivering his message, and Chi Zhen, who was standing outside the door, heard it clearly. In fact, he could understand why his teammates were so excited when they heard the news that Wang Lie had left Sofu United.

Although the Scouses and Sofia are sworn enemies, the teammates’ excitement is not limited to this.

Because Wang Lie was the “victim” of the Scots people.

Wang Lie and the Scouse had fought against each other 34 times, the most times among all the opponents he had fought against. The first time Wang Lie and the Scouse fought was not even in Sofia – he was still playing for Atletico Barcelona at that time.

In these 34 encounters, Wang Lie had the upper hand with 15 wins, 9 draws and 10 losses. He scored a total of 23 goals and performed hat tricks three times.

The Scouse man was also “honored” to be the opponent with the most hat-trick goals against Wang Lie in his career, and ranked fourth on the list of teams scored against by Wang Lie.

The last of the three hat tricks was not far away – in the 35th round of last season, the Scots away challenged Sofia United.

Last season, Sofia finished sixth in the league and failed to qualify for the Champions League, so they could only play in the Europa League.

The Scouse team finished second, just one point behind the champion Clayton Athletic.

The important turning point that led to them losing the league title occurred in the 35th round.

Last season, Sofia’s overall performance was not good. They even lost 0:5 to Scolari away from home in the first half of the league, which directly led to the then head coach, the famous Dutch coach Drano Kolding, being fired by Sofia club.

In the second half of the league season, Sofia United returned to their home ground and performed very tenaciously. They were taken ahead by the fiercely competitive Scouse team twice, and Wang Lie helped the team equalize the score twice.

In the 84th minute of the game, Wang Lie scored a header from a corner kick, giving Sofia the first lead of the game and maintaining the lead until the end of the game.

In the end, thanks to Wang Lie’s hat trick, Sofia United defeated Scouse 3:2 at home.

At that time, the competition between Scots and Clayton Athletic in the league had become fierce.

The result was that the defeat sent the Scouse from leading Clayton Athletic by two points to trailing by one point – exactly the point difference between them and Clayton Athletic at the end of the season, and also the point difference between them and the league champions.

After losing this game, the media in Liverpool, where the Scouse people are located, were wailing. Because they knew that at this time, letting Clayton Athletic take the lead would almost mean that the championship race would lose suspense… How could Clayton Athletic, which has always performed stably, miss such an opportunity?

In fact, neither Sofia nor Wang Lie were in good form last season. Sofia failed to qualify for the Champions League for the third consecutive season, and Wang Lie also scored less than 20 goals in a Premier League season for the first time – he only scored 19 goals that season.

The nineteenth goal was the header he scored against the Scouse.

In other words, Wang Lie used the last three goals of last season to kick the league championship away to the Scouse team.

It is no wonder that after that game, the local media in Liverpool insisted that the Scouse did not lose to Sofia United, but only lost to Wang Lie.

After the season ended, they said sourly that the team that lost in the league championship battle was not Clayton Athletic, but Wang Lie. When Clayton Athletic celebrated the league championship, they should not forget to invite Wang Lie on the open-top bus.

This is just one example. The Scotus people suffered too much at the hands of Wang Lie.

Every time Wang Lie came to play at the Liverpool Stadium, the home of Scots, from the time the players from both teams were introduced before the game to the end of the game, he was only booed by the Scots fans.

On the one hand, it was because Wang Lie was the victim of the Scouse people, and on the other hand, it was also because of the many verbal battles between Wang Lie and the Scouse people.

Chi Zhen is a Chinese player playing for the Scouse team. Many Scouse fans have a favorable impression of the Chinese. But if you tell them that you are a fan of Wang Lie, then don’t blame them for giving you a cold shoulder…

Chinese people are Chinese, Wang Lie fans are Wang Lie fans, and Scouse fans are very separate.

Chi Zhen is very familiar with the grievances between his team and Brother Wang, so he can actually understand why his teammates are so happy after Brother Wang was terminated by Sofia. Even he himself has a very complicated feeling towards Brother Wang…

He was not angry with his teammates for this. He was just hesitant about whether to go in because he was afraid that both sides would be embarrassed.

While Chi Zhen was distracted, Captain Harper’s speech in the room was almost over:

“…Think about it carefully, guys! Our goal this season is still to win the league title. If we go by our performance in the last game, winning the championship is simply wishful thinking! What does other people’s business have to do with us? Mind your own business!”

Chi Zhen waited for a while and saw that there was indeed no laughter and joy in the locker room as before, but instead there was ordinary chatting, so he pushed the door and walked in.

Then, as usual, he greeted everyone with a smile: “Hi, good morning!”

※※※

“After friendly negotiations between the two parties, Sofo United has decided to officially terminate the contract with Wang Lie. The club is very grateful for Wang Lie’s contribution during his ten seasons with the team. His passionate celebration after scoring a goal will also become a classic in Sofo United’s history. He is an eternal legend in the history of Sofo United. We wish Wang Lie good luck in the rest of his life.”

Xiao Cheng read the content on his mobile phone over and over again. He even counted how many words were used in the official announcement of the Sofia United Club.

Including punctuation marks, there are 113 words.

If this were posted on Weibo in China, there would be no need for even a long Weibo post.

One hundred and thirteen words plus a picture, this is the club’s farewell to Wang Lie.

Xiao Cheng kept refreshing his phone for over an hour, but still didn’t see any new official related content released.

It seemed that the matter concerning Wang Lie ended here.

“I decided to leave at noon and go to Manchester.”

During the break, Xiao Cheng said to his friends.

The friend was surprised: “You have classes in the afternoon, brother! From London to Manchester, you will never be able to make it back before the class…”

“Escaped.” Xiao Cheng said it straightforwardly and lightly.

“Are you crazy, Xiao?!” His friend’s eyes widened, “That’s Professor Crowley’s class! He never allows anyone to skip his class!”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to see Wang Lie off.” Xiao Cheng said. His friend opened his mouth to speak but stopped, and finally sighed: “Then I wish you good luck, Xiao… You really need good luck!”

The friend knew how obsessed his Chinese friend was with Wang Lie—he came to study in London, England, because of Wang Lie, because Wang Lie played in the Premier League—so it seemed understandable that he did such a crazy thing…

※※※

After a day of training, the players of Nanhe Jiuding returned to the locker room, and while changing clothes, they talked about the top news of Chinese football today.

They were not allowed to talk during training, but they heard the news when they were about to start afternoon training, which made them feel very depressed.

“Any latest news?”

“No, after the official Twitter account of Sofolian released a message, there was no news… Oh no, there is new news, but it is about the training of the first team…”

“Fuck, a tweet just announced the departure of the club’s greatest legend? How heartless!”

“Alas, the two sides had a very unpleasant quarrel before, otherwise it wouldn’t have turned out like this…”

“No matter how unhappy you are, you have to keep up appearances, right? To put it bluntly, I think Sofulian is being unfair in this matter!”

The discussion was very lively, but Chu Yu, the captain of the team, did not participate in it.

He just changed his clothes silently, packed his things and prepared to leave.

Until he was called by his teammates: “Captain Chu, do you think Wang Ge will come back to play football after the contract is terminated?”

When he asked this, everyone in the locker room who was discussing the matter turned their eyes to him. Chu Yu smiled bitterly: “How should I know?”

“Didn’t Wang Ge also consider returning to China to play football? It’s all over the Internet…”

“Hey, did you listen to what you heard online? If Brother Wang wanted to return to China to play football, he would have returned long ago. Why did he wait until now?”

As expected, the discussion was heated. Chu Yu only said one sentence and everyone quickly shifted their attention away from him and continued their discussion.

Chu Yu was also happy with this and continued to clean up with his head down.

“That’s right, why doesn’t Brother Wang come back to play football? If he comes back to play football, he will definitely be able to play in the game, and he won’t waste half a season in Sofia…”

“What you’re asking is… Why doesn’t Brother Wang return to China to play football? Of course it’s because the level of our domestic league is low. Brother Wang must be afraid that he won’t even be able to get into the national team after returning to China to play football…”

Hearing someone’s words stinging in the discussion, Chu Yu, who had originally planned not to participate, coughed and said, “You can’t say that. Even I was able to join the national team after returning to China, so how could Wang Lie not be able to join the national team?”

“Then why doesn’t Brother Wang return to China?”

“He always has his reasons.” Chu Yu said, “For example, he is unwilling to accept…”

“Not willing to give up?” Someone was surprised. “Brother Wang’s career has been amazing. What is there to be unwilling about?”

Others agreed: “Captain Chu is right! I wouldn’t accept it even if it were me! Damn it, why? The top scorer in the club’s history, a well-deserved legend, is being treated like this? I almost got high blood pressure after reading those insults against Brother Wang online… A bunch of idiots are pointing fingers at Brother Wang, are they worthy?!”

“So where can Wang go now? Is there any team in Europe that he can go to? He said before that he only wanted to go to a team that can play in the Champions League. I think it would be difficult for any team that can play in the Champions League to sign him now…”

It has to be said that, although he is almost 38 years old, although he has not played well for half a year, and although his place in the national team is almost lost, Wang Lie is Wang Lie after all, the well-deserved number one star in China and the top star in Chinese football.

The fact that he terminated his contract with Sofo United could cause such a heated discussion in the locker room of an ordinary Chinese Super League team.

However, Chu Yu had no intention of continuing to discuss someone who was thousands of miles away with his teammates.

He packed up his things, reminded them not to stay in the locker room for too long, and left.

As soon as he left, people in the locker room suddenly stopped talking about Wang Lie and started talking about their captain instead.

“Captain Chu said he was unwilling to accept the result. I think Captain Chu is the one who is truly unwilling to accept the result, right?”

“No way. Didn’t Captain Chu say that? His ability at that time was already difficult to play in Berlin Star, so he came back to play football. If he didn’t return to China, he might not be able to enter the national team…”

“Even if he can’t play in Berlin Star, he can always go to other teams, right? It doesn’t have to be in the top five leagues. Look at the state that Chu has shown after returning to China. It is not impossible for him to stay in Europe. So that’s why Chu said he was unwilling to give up? If he had persisted a little more, maybe he would still be playing in Europe now.”

“I think it’s even more strange that our Chu team has been speaking up for Brother Wang recently… Isn’t it said that they have a bad relationship?”

“Now that you put it that way, it seems to be true…”

“That’s right! Captain Chu and Brother Wang are wearing the same pants? This is unscientific!”

The protagonist who was being talked about behind everyone’s back was already sitting in his car.

However, Chu Yu was not in a hurry to leave.

Instead, he took out his cell phone and read the news about Wang Lie and Sofo United’s termination of contract.

Chu Yu actually completely understood why Wang Lie did not return to China and why he insisted on staying in Europe, but he couldn’t explain it to his teammates. Not only was it very complicated to explain, but others might not be able to understand his meaning very well.

Wang Lie is that kind of person, always surrounded by controversy.

He and Wang Lie had known each other for a long time, even before they were professional players. They had trained in the same football school, the famous “Oriental Football School”, so in that sense they could be considered “alumni”.

But this relationship did not make the two people become friends. Not only did they not become friends, they were somewhat incompatible.

At first, Chu Yu was quite critical of Wang Lie’s leaving the Oriental Football School. At that time, Wang Lie had a very unhappy relationship with the Oriental Football School in order to play football in Europe. This matter was known to football fans all over the country, and Chu Yu, as a student who was trained at the Oriental Football School, of course knew it better.

However, after Wang Lie’s family sold the house and compensated the football school, Chu Yu couldn’t say that Wang Lie was “ungrateful”. After all, people really gave money… He just felt that although Wang Lie was gifted, he was too strong-willed, did not do things decently, and was not likable.

Later, a game exposed the conflict between the two.

It was the semi-final of the men’s football event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Chu Yu, 22 years old, was of the right age to play, while Wang Lie was 25 years old at the time and participated as an over-age player. His goal was clear, which was to achieve a breakthrough in Chinese football’s zero honors in international competitions and win an Olympic gold medal for the Chinese Olympic team.

Wang Lie is not dreaming about the future.

After all, the Chinese national team made it to the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup held in China, so winning an Olympic gold medal is by no means a fantasy.

In addition, after Chinese football became professional in the 1990s, it has been promoting youth training reforms and has indeed cultivated many outstanding players.

Wang Lie himself is also a beneficiary and outstanding representative of the Chinese football reform trend.

Chu Yu was one of them. He was the captain of the National Olympic Team at that time.

This extremely powerful National Olympic team, plus the over-age player Wang Lie who has already established himself as a main player in the La Liga giants Atletico Barcelona, ​​let alone the gold medal, at least it is not a dream to win a medal, right?

This National Olympic Team lived up to expectations. After making it through the group stage, they continued to work hard and made it all the way to the semi-finals.

At this point, the National Olympic Team is actually very close to its medal goal – even if it loses, it still has a chance to compete for the bronze medal.

As a result, the Chinese Olympic team lost to the Argentine Olympic team, which later won the gold medal, in the semi-finals.

After losing the game, the young men of the Chinese team were all very sad. Some of them shed tears on the spot, while others could hardly suppress their sadness and pain even when they returned to the locker room.

As the captain, Chu Yu had to comfort them: “Don’t be too sad, we have tried our best and have no regrets…”

This was supposed to be a normal consolation, but Wang Lie, who had been sitting there in silence, suddenly exploded and scolded Chu Yu: “Don’t make excuses for failure!”

Chu Yu was stunned: Brother, can’t you see that I’m fucking comforting someone?

Wang Lie seemed to be unable to see it, and was disappointed and angry: “You are deceiving yourself! What do you mean by ‘trying your best’? It’s just an excuse to comfort yourself after losing the game! What’s the point of saying nice things? How can you say you have no regrets? Who has no regrets? I don’t!”

To be honest, if Chu Yu had not chosen to endure at that time, the news of the infighting in the locker room after the National Olympic Team lost the game would have caused an uproar across the country.

After this incident, the relationship between Chu Yu and Wang Lie became very cold.

However… although Chu Yu was very unhappy with what Wang Lie said after the loss, he had to admit that Wang Lie was the biggest contributor to the National Olympic Team’s ability to win the Olympic bronze medal – in the final three or four place finals, it was thanks to Wang Lie’s goal and one assist that the National Olympic Team defeated the Japanese National Olympic Team and achieved a breakthrough in the Chinese men’s football team’s zero medal record in Olympic events.

When receiving the award, every player of the National Olympic Team was very happy, except Wang Lie.

After he came down from the podium, he took off the bronze medal hanging around his neck and held it in his hand. There was no smile on his face – he was still feeling upset about losing the semi-finals and not having the chance to win the Olympic gold medal.

After that time in Chu Prison, you will know that although Wang Lie is strict with others, he is even stricter with himself, so it is really hard to blame him…

So he returned to the feeling he had at the Oriental Football School—there was nothing wrong with Wang Lie’s approach, but it just made Chu Yu feel uncomfortable.

Maybe this is what is called “incompatibility”…

So even though the two had been teammates in the national team for more than ten years and often fought side by side, they failed to become friends.

Chu Yu also admitted that Wang Lie was a hundred times better than him, that Wang Lie had reached a height that no Chinese player had ever reached, and that he had made groundbreaking contributions to Chinese football. He admired him and respected him, but he just couldn’t like him.

When Wang Lie was at his most glorious, almost everyone tried their best to please him, flatter him, and cling to him. However, Chu Yu still kept a respectful distance from him.

Therefore, the relationship between Wang Lie and Chu Yu, the captain and vice-captain of the Chinese national team, is average, or even bad. This has been no secret in the domestic football world for many years.

Chu Yu never thought of pretending to have a good relationship with Wang Lie, and Wang Lie was even more disdainful of doing so.

But strangely enough, in recent times, every time Chu Yu heard someone around him say something bad about Wang Lie, he couldn’t help but want to defend Wang Lie:
“He’s actually not as bad as you think…”

“That’s an exaggeration. How could Wang Lie’s success be the result of marketing?”

“Of course Wang Lie has problems, but that doesn’t mean all of Sofulian’s problems are caused by him…”

“Wang Lie was indeed too impulsive in refusing to leave the field, but there is no problem at all with Helden’s substitution?”

“Wang Lie’s extreme fans are annoying, but what about Xiao Chi’s extreme fans? You want Wang Lie to manage his fans, but he doesn’t even have an official fan group. How can he manage them? Can he do it by sending a lawyer’s letter? Besides, if Wang Lie has the responsibility to manage his fans, then shouldn’t Xiao Chi also manage his fans? Everyone has to manage their fans? How is this possible?”

“Merits are merits, faults are faults. Wang Lie is not good now, but we cannot say that he was not good before. We cannot say that he won those championships by relying on his teammates, referees, or marketing… No matter what Wang Lie’s personality is, it cannot change his status in the history of Chinese football, or even world football…”

……

Chu Yu had never thought carefully about why this happened before.

It wasn’t until today that I heard the news that Sofolian and Wang Lie had terminated their contract.

He, who is about to turn 35, and Wang Lie, who is about to turn 38, have both irreversibly reached the end of their careers and may face a farewell at any time.

People are particularly vulnerable and sentimental at this time.

He suddenly realized some things.

Perhaps it was because over the years, even though he didn’t like Wang Lie’s way of dealing with people, deep down in his heart he was deeply envious of Wang Lie…

I envy him for being able to stick to being himself for twenty years, even if the world doesn’t like him. This is the case when he is successful and when he is at the bottom. He has never changed and is completely incompatible with this world.

I envy him for using inhumanely strict standards to demand and spur himself on for more than 20 years. Even if he is just pretending, it is really awesome that he can pretend for so many years.

I envy him for being able to hold on even when things were most unfavorable. He was unwilling to give up even when there was no hope. He truly achieved the unity of knowledge and action.

And these are all things that Chu Yu can’t do at all…

The reason why he disliked Wang Lie was probably because he knew that he would never be able to become the Wang Lie as dazzling as the sun in his lifetime. That dislike might just be the result of his desperate and incompetent jealousy.

And now, when Wang Lie terminated his contract with Sofo Union, ending his legendary career in Sofo Union in such an inglorious way, Chu Yu felt that he could exclaim without any jealousy:
What a wonderful person, what a wonderful life!
Coming out of the indescribable emotions, Chu Yu calmed himself down and drove out of the parking lot.

In the song that was randomly played on the car stereo, a man’s voice gradually rose from low and gentle to high-pitched:

“Take a break to sort things out and tell yourself that this will pass.”

“Don’t be sad and frustrated… Don’t be sad and frustrated…”

“You’ll jump on that speeding train—”

“Even if I am not a strong person of time, even if I feel heavy, helpless and lonely!”

“You’ll jump on that speeding train—”

“Even if we are not the same strong man of time, even if we fall in pain and sorrow, we must fight to the death–!” (Note 1)

※※※

Stanley Harris finished training with the first team and returned to the locker room.

He saw at a glance that there was neither Wang Lie’s poster nor Wang Lie’s name and number on Wang Lie’s cabinet.

It was empty, like a blank sheet of paper, as if there had never been such a person.

Not only him, everyone in the locker room was looking at the only empty locker in silence.

Then they withdrew their gazes, quietly returned to their lockers, changed clothes, took a shower…as usual.

Only Harris was still standing there in a daze.

Players have left the team in the middle of the season before, but never so quickly – in just one training session, everything about him in the locker room was gone.

It was as if what they were sending away was not a legend, but a hot potato.

※※※

Xiao Cheng stood outside the Red Stone Stadium in a daze. He felt like an idiot today.

A good friend said he needed good luck, and he really did need good luck…

He spent more than three hours taking the train from London to Manchester, and then took a bus to Heaton Sports City, wanting to see Wang Lie for the last time at Sofia United.

As a result, he waited for a long time before he suddenly reacted – Wang Lie had been punished by Helden and sent to the youth team a long time ago. He had not been training with the first team for many days. How could he possibly wait for Wang Lie in this place?

Then he remembered that there was a huge advertising poster on the outer wall of the Red Stone Stadium, and it had Wang Lie’s picture on it.

So he took a taxi across Manchester and arrived outside the Redstone Stadium.

What came into view was a huge poster of Wang Lie being dismantled.

The demolition work is nearing completion. Wang Lie’s upper body has disappeared, and only his two feet are left of his lower body.

Xiao Cheng didn’t expect that the Sofia Club was so efficient. His trip today was completely in vain.

Disappointed and aggrieved, Xiao Cheng couldn’t bear to watch the workers dismantling Wang Lie’s poster bit by bit. The tools seemed to be hitting him, so he turned around and prepared to leave.

Thinking that his youth had ended so abruptly, and he didn’t even have the time to say goodbye… he was overwhelmed with grief and cried as he walked, crying like an idiot.

Time is running and I don’t know where it’s going.

The world revolves around the complexity of silence
I will be confused but still keep my enthusiasm

No matter how hard it is, I will always cross mountains, lakes and seas to see you.
You’ll jump on that speeding train
Even if I am not a strong man of time

Even if he is not a time-strong man…

※※※

Note 1: The last paragraph at the end is from A Mansion’s “The Man Racing Against Time”

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(End of this chapter)