Chapter 2

Jiangcheng is a small city, through which a river flows, supplying resources to the entire province. The city's development plan is strictly restricted, and this is well-known to the residents. Even if the province subsidizes Jiangcheng every year, industrialization is not allowed, and excessive commercialization is strictly prohibited.

Urban greening is the top priority, and environmental protection is also a key focus. Therefore, the city is picturesque, with a mild climate, making Jiangcheng a famous retirement city in China, rather than a place where young people would come to start a business and seek a bright future. The pace of life here is so slow that it often leaves young people uninterested.

As the sun set, on the other side of the river, a young man knelt on the green slope of the riverbank, a sketchbook on his lap, and a pencil in his right hand, quickly outlining the scene of the setting sun before him.

Below the slope, there was a shared football field where two teams were playing a friendly match. From their attire, one could see that they were the famous "Manchester United" and "Real Madrid," with red and white colors, clearly representing the two dominant colors of European football.

Of course, the red devils of England and the galactic giants of Spain could not possibly come to this small city of Jiangcheng. Especially two months ago, the top star of Manchester United, and the most popular star on the planet, David Beckham, broke with his mentor Sir Alex Ferguson over the "flying boot incident" and eventually transferred to the star-studded Real Madrid, marking the official launch of the Spanish white giants, the Real Madrid galactic fleet!

Jiangcheng could not afford to invite either of these teams.

It was clear that the local teenagers, who were fans of these two world-class clubs, had chosen to wear the jerseys of the red devils and the galactic giants.

The young man sitting on the slope was doing a simple sketch. The lower part of the drawing depicted the nearby football field and the two teams playing, while in the distance, the continuous and majestic green mountains were sketched. The upper part of the drawing looked normal, with the sunset's glow and the soft light making the scene heartwarming. If the drawing ended there, it would be a fine piece of work.

However, above the clouds of the sunset, the young man was depicting a scene that did not exist before him: a fierce-looking green dragon!

The green dragon looked down upon the world, its face as demonic as a symbol of misfortune and disaster, eyeing the human world with a predatory gaze!

The young man's right hand, holding the pencil, moved faster and faster, adding more and more dark colors to the green dragon. His eyes were filled with determination, as if he himself had been possessed.

A shout pulled him back to reality.

"Hey, buddy, can you help us out?"

The young man looked up and saw a dirty football at the bottom of the slope. The players on the field were looking at him, waving and signaling for him to kick the ball to them to save them the trouble of running out to retrieve it.

Coming back to his senses, the young man put away his sketchbook and pencil into his casual shoulder bag, stood up, and at that moment, the teenagers playing football in the distance noticed that this stranger, who had been sitting on the slope for quite some time, had a tall and slender figure, which many men envied from a distance.

The young man, dressed in sports attire, walked down the slope, lightly stepped on the football with his right foot, and glanced at the goal on the left side of the field, which was about 100 meters away. He then kicked the football forward with his right foot, took a step forward with his left foot to support his body, and pulled back his right leg, forming a perfect bow-like stance, which caught the attention of the teenagers on the field.

It was hard to say whether it was too standard or too smooth, but the young man's kicking stance was particularly pleasing to the eye.

Bang!

The inside of the young man's right foot hit the football, and the instep generated a powerful force. The football rose into the air, spinning rapidly, and a beautiful arc was formed, as if slicing through the sky.

The teenagers on the field opened their eyes wide, looking up to follow the trajectory of the spinning football.

The arc was astonishing!

A banana ball!

But, where was it going to land?

As the football flew through the air, it sometimes created a beautiful and unpredictable scene.

The football, kicked by the young man, drew a large arc in the sky, then rapidly descended, and flew straight into the goal on the left side of the field!

The goalkeeper standing in front of the goal had no time to react. At first, he had a premonition that the ball was coming his way, but the large arc and the sudden acceleration after the descent caught him off guard. The angle at which the ball entered the goal was not particularly tricky, just two steps away from him, but his panic affected him, nearly causing him to stumble and fall.

Apart from the goalkeeper, everyone else was dumbfounded!

It was important to note that the young man was at an angle to the goal, which reduced the goal's effective width, and the distance was nearly 100 meters!

When they recovered from their shock and looked for the young man, they found him walking away on the road above the slope, with a shoulder bag and his hands in his pockets.

One of the teenagers immediately shouted, "Hey, are you Qin Xiong?"

The young man, who was walking away on the sidewalk, did not turn back or respond.

"It must be him! It must be him! No one in Jiangcheng can do such a cool thing with a football!"

"From his build, it could really be him!"

"My God! He was sitting there the whole time! We should have taken a photo with him, the prince of Chinese football!"

On the field, the teenagers, whose attention had been diverted, gathered together and discussed excitedly.

In 2002, the Chinese team suffered a crushing defeat at the Korea-Japan World Cup, while the host South Korean team made a historic run to the semi-finals, and the Japanese team reached the round of 16. The Asian teams performed well, although the achievements of the South Korean team were highly controversial. In comparison, the Chinese team could not hold their heads high in front of the Koreans and Japanese.

At the end of 2002, a U18 China-Korea friendly match was held in Busan, organized by a Chinese private enterprise in collaboration with the Korean Football Association. The U18 Chinese team defeated the U18 Korean team 3-1.

In the first half of 2003, the same U18 Chinese team traveled to Tokyo, Japan, for another friendly match, organized by a Chinese private enterprise in collaboration with the Japanese Football Association. The U18 Chinese team won 4-0.

In both matches, the captain of the U18 Chinese team was 17-year-old Qin Xiong!

Although these matches were not widely known or influential, many people, especially those in Jiangcheng who loved football, knew that these were friendly matches organized by the Tang Group. Most of the Chinese players came from the Jiangcheng Youth Football Home, and Qin Xiong, a native of Jiangcheng, was the captain. After the two inspiring victories, Qin Xiong, who played a leading role, was hailed by Jiangcheng fans as the "Prince of Chinese Football"!

They were waiting, waiting for Qin Xiong's next step, whether he would rise to prominence domestically or choose to play abroad. Now, he was the prince, and when he grew up, would he become the emperor of Chinese football?

Especially the young football enthusiasts, while idolizing Qin Xiong, were eagerly looking forward to the day he would ascend to the throne!

The young man, having left the riverbank, headed north. Half an hour later, he reached the end of his journey: the Jiangcheng Youth Football Home.

This was a property of the Tang Group, with a history of nearly 20 years. Initially, it was thought to be an orphanage, but ten years ago, it was officially designated as a youth football training base. The facility, though not large, was like a slightly larger middle school, with dormitories, a dining hall, a gym, a medical room, and four football fields, making it a complete, albeit small, complex.

The young man began jogging towards his destination, smiling at the security guard at the gate, who returned the smile with a kind look, watching the young man go by and thinking, "To be young, how wonderful!"

The young man jogged to his dormitory, which was different from the other boys. Over 90% of the boys lived in the dormitory building, but he lived in an independent apartment.

On the floor above his apartment, a foreigner named Kyle Freddie lived. He was a refined and gentlemanly Englishman, exactly forty years old. He had known the young man for eleven years and had been his guardian for eleven years.

At that moment, Freddie was reading a book on the third-floor balcony. Seeing the young man jogging along the path beside the dining hall from a distance, he immediately put down his book and turned on a camera mounted on a tripod, which was aimed at the relatively open road below. He pressed the record button and shouted from above, "Qin, run, run, run! Faster, faster, faster!"

The young man, who had been jogging, casually took off his shoulder bag and threw it on the ground, then suddenly increased his speed. If anyone had been paying attention, he started to accelerate right at the edge of the small flower bed in front of the building, and the road leading to the apartment building was exactly 30 meters long!

The young man ran at an incredible speed, his eyes determined, like a cheetah sprinting across the savannah!

Like a gust of wind, he crossed the flower bed, reached the front of the building, slowed down, and then jogged back to pick up his shoulder bag and head towards the apartment building.

On the balcony upstairs, Freddie smiled and went to watch the recorded footage, repeatedly checking the speed the young man had achieved in the 30-meter sprint.

When he confirmed that the young man had improved his sprint speed by a tiny bit, just 0.09 seconds, he still showed obvious joy.

People often talk about the 100-meter speed of football players, but in reality, this is a one-sided view. In football, the key sprint distance is usually 20 to 30 meters!

What truly decides success or failure in a critical moment is not just speed, but explosive power and acceleration!

Freddie walked back into his room, took a notebook from his bookshelf, and recorded the date and the precise time of the young man's 30-meter sprint on the latest page.

On the bookshelf, which was filled with notebooks, it was hard to imagine that this was the result of Freddie's work over more than ten years. The content of each notebook was a record or analysis of the young man's growth and football-related data.

After putting away the notebook, Freddie walked out of his home and saw the young man, who was carrying his shoulder bag, opening his door. Freddie greeted him with a smile, "Hey, Qin Xiong, where did you go today? Did you have any romantic encounters?"

His Chinese was fluent!

However, Qin Xiong seemed to be in a bad mood. He did not respond, opened the door, and went directly into his room.

Freddie followed him in, sighing lightly, "Not in a good mood, huh."

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