Chapter 50 The Gate to the New World
…In that interview, I posed a question to Hulay: “In your football career so far, which goal is the most impressive or the most meaningful to you? ”
I've posed this question to almost every forward I've ever interviewed.
This is actually a very formulaic question, and the answers from most players are indeed very formulaic - most people will choose their goal in a certain final, and then lean back slightly on the sofa or chair On the back of the chair, with an expression recalling the glorious moment, he said in an excited or calm tone: "...That was really the most important goal in my life. Yes, because it brought us a championship... …”
None of these answers have ever surprised me. I even got the answer at the same time I asked this question. I know which goal they will choose because I know them well.
The point of this question is not to let readers and viewers really understand a player's heart, but to give these stars an opportunity to relive the highlight moments of their careers in front of the media. This is a tacit understanding between the interviewer and the interviewee, and it is also a small reward for these celebrities to still accept the interview honestly in the face of the interviewer's aggressive questions.
If you ask this question, both the host and the guest will be happy.
I know that Hulay has scored many goals, some of which are very important and very beautiful, and his answer should be among them. I already had some options in mind, and I swear on my professionalism that his final answer should be among them.
But what I didn't expect was that Hu Lai's final answer was completely beyond my expectations.
He told me that for him, the most important, meaningful and impressive goal was not among the 761 career goals he had scored, but a goal that had not been scored at all. Goals that count towards statistics. It wasn't even a goal in the game, it was a goal in training.
This answer surprised me, and I quickly asked: "A goal in training? I can't understand why you said that..."
I still remember Hulay's answer and the vivid expression on his face when he said this - I have seen similar expressions on the faces of players who were recalling the highlights of their careers, but they What comes out of his mouth are often key goals in important games. Only Hulay, the efficient goal machine, did not choose any of the 761 goals he had scored in his career before he was over. He did not choose any of the alternatives in my memory. It was a goal in training that was chosen.
This goal seemed to be the shining moment in his life.
He said: "Because that goal opened the door to a new world for me."
——Lemon Rainey, a famous sports journalist who writes for world-class media such as Football Illustrated.
The excerpt is from the Hu Lai chapter of the book "The Archer", which won the "Vichy Sports Book Award".
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The Dongchuan Middle School stadium, which used to be very noisy, has now fallen into an eerie silence.
Almost everyone's eyes widened and their mouths opened wide, as if they had seen something incredible and unbelievable.
No need to act like it.
They just saw incredible and incredible things.
Hu Lai, that rookie who everyone knows knows nothing but Hu Lai. In the special training just now, he used a very, very shocking upside-down golden hook to shoot the football into the goal guarded by the school team's main goalkeeper in the face of the joint defense of the school team's two main center backs.
If you hadn't seen it with your own eyes, it would have been like rushing into the police station and telling the police that you had been kidnapped by a mermaid. It would only make people laugh.
Li Zhiqun, who was holding his tongue against his teeth, was so frightened by this scene that he couldn't hold back, and a loud whistle came out of his mouth.
This seemed to be a horn to wake up everyone present. Suddenly more whistles came from the stands and the sidelines. The boys put their hands in their mouths and whistled desperately, expressing their support for Hu Lai in this way. The explosive emotion of this goal.
The girls cheered and screamed to the sky.
Everyone came to life and there was cheering around the stadium.
“Holy shit!!”
"What did I see?! What did I see?! Barb?! Did I read that right?!"
"Awesome——!"
"This Hu Lai... is so awesome!"
Li Qingqing clapped her hands hard, with the brightest smile on her face.
Song Jiajia was beside her, turning her head and looking around, looking at the excited boys and girls with some confusion. Each of them had an excited expression on their face.
These same people once laughed at Hu Lai and appreciated Hu Lai's "performance" with curiosity.
But now they all seem to have become Hu Lai's fans.
It was as if they were not here to watch Hu Lai's jokes, but had been waiting for two days, waiting for this moment, waiting for Hu Lai to jump in the air and score a goal with an overhead kick.
He had told Hu Lai before that making a fool of himself and being laughed at was considered a man of the hour in a certain sense. After all, if people like them want to attract the attention of the world, isn't this the only way?
But now...his deskmate, without making a fool of himself or being laughed at, has actually become a famous figure!
They cheered for him, screaming and applauding him.
As his deskmate, Song Jiajia is very uncomfortable with the current situation.
His eyes turned around in circles, taking in the carnival scene, and finally fell on Li Qingqing who was right next to him. There was no joy on his face, only confusion and shock. He couldn't quite understand what he saw. All this. He thought maybe Li Qingqing could explain it to him.
The tall girl applauded like the others around her, and turned to smile at him: "Classmate Song Jiajia, it seems that your deskmate will not go to eat chicken with you."
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Amidst the huge cheers and applause, Hu Lai did not get up and rushed to the stands to celebrate and accept the glory that truly belonged to him.
He lay sprawled on the ground, his chest heaving violently, and he was panting like an ox.
He didn't actually confirm whether he really scored the goal, but when he heard the cheers, he knew that he succeeded!
He passed the coach's devilish training with a world wave.
The most important thing is——
he!
finally!
It can be obtained!
Opportunity to appear!
He slowly raised his arms, spread his fingers, and raised them to the sky, as if he was pushing open a door with great force.
The door was closed tightly and heavy, and it took all the strength of the body to push it open.
Finally, when his arm was fully extended, the fingers that had blocked his vision were retracted and clenched into a fist, making his eyes suddenly clear.
At this moment, in his field of vision, the clouds all over the sky were burning, and golden light swept across from the direction of sunset.
Someone in the cheering crowd noticed the wonder in the sky and couldn't help but exclaimed: "Wow! What a beautiful fire cloud!"
Amidst the exclamations, Luo Kai raised his head and stared blankly at the burned-red sky.
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Hu Lixin just rode outside the gate of the community where he works. He did not rush in to hand over his shift. Instead, he parked the electric scooter on the side of the road, supported it with his feet, held the faucet of the scooter with both hands, and looked up at the sky.
The orange-red glow spurted from behind the row of towering mountains on the horizon in front of him, running all the way to the eastern sky behind him.
Like wildfire, it swept across the sky, leaving only churning red wherever it swept.
Colleagues standing at the door of the security room, owners outside the gate of the community, cabooses in the roadside parking lot, people in the shops facing the street... No matter what they were doing before, they all raised their heads to appreciate this rare beauty at this time, and Let out continuous exclamations.
Everyone took out their mobile phones one after another, pointed at the clouds in the sky, and pressed the camera button.
Under this red sky, the originally tough lines on Hu Lixin's face became much softer.
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Xie Lan looked up at the clock hanging on the wall, then used the remote control to pause the TV series being played on the TV, got up and walked to the kitchen.
Based on past experience, his son should be home soon.
It's just the right time for her to start cooking now, so she doesn't have to worry about the food getting cold. Although it can be reheated, some dishes will not taste good if they are reheated several times.
Xie Lan walked into the kitchen and immediately saw the red sky reflected in the small window next to the kitchen.
She leaned up and looked out. Through the anti-theft fence stained with kitchen oil, she was attracted by the scenery outside this old residential building.
Her gaze extended across the roof of the residential building opposite where clothes and bedding were drying, and extended into the distance. In the orange-red sky, beneath the rose-gold clouds, a flock of pigeons suddenly rose up. They flew up from the back of the building opposite. After hovering in the glow for a while, they collectively flew towards the western sky, with countless long shadows behind them.
It's like the planes pulling smoke in the festival sky, except they pull out shadows facing the sunset.
Seeing this scene, Xie Lan suddenly felt better, as if something good had happened.
She hummed and looked back, walked to the stove, and turned on the ignition knob of the gas stove.
With a soft popping sound, red and yellow flames rose up, and then quickly turned into blue flames.
Xie Lan's eyes reflected flames, her mouth curled up, and she sat down on the pot with oil. After the oil was slightly hot, she poured the bean paste she had prepared into the pot.
There was a popping sound, and a rich fragrance spread in the small kitchen, and then floated out of the small window next to her and flew into the fiery red sky.
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PS, what, so far, the new world I described before has opened the door to Hu Lai, and Hu Lai has officially entered.
I know there will be many people complaining about the slow pace and slow progress. It’s almost fifty chapters now and Hu Lai hasn’t even played in an official game.
But this was originally in my plan. I didn’t intend to let the rhythm at the beginning of the story run all the way and transition to the professional league part like a wild horse.
For me, the high school part of football and life is very important. That’s why I have to write slowly, strive to write well, and write what I want to express.
When I was chatting with Squid at this year's Qidian annual meeting, when talking about the new book, I said that I had hesitated whether to quickly skip the campus part in a dozen chapters and directly enter the professional league like the previous novels. But I thought about it again and again, and still didn’t decide to do it, because what I wrote was the story of a young boy who loves football who grew up step by step into a superstar. So, as the birthplace of his legend and the starting line where a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, how can I perfunctoryly write about it? What about passing by?
I told Squid that I would write the campus part seriously, and I would spend a lot of time and color writing it, to describe the world and the people I wanted to describe. Hu Lai, who loves football to the point of paranoia, father Hu Lixin, who is paranoid about not letting his son play football, mother Xie Lan, who carefully maintains a balance between her son and her husband, Li Qingqing, who is helpful, kind, cute but talented and capable, Mingming Fat Song Song Jiajia, who says she doesn't like Hu Lai's football but never misses every training match, as well as coach Li Ziqiang, who is not very popular at the moment, genius Luo Kai... and those characters who haven't appeared yet.
It also includes the description of Huo Shaoyun, including the details of Hu Lixin standing outside the security booth to salute the owners, including snail noodles, and the setting up of Hu Lai’s secret training base...
These people and details are the important cornerstones that support this new world. I am describing a world out of thin air. I want everyone to treat Hu Lai as a real person when he becomes famous in the future, and look back to find out how this person became famous and what impact his past experiences have on his current life. How a high school boy who loves football gradually grew into a world-class superstar through national high school football competitions and domestic leagues...
Then when everyone sees these details and stories now, they will believe that he is a real person, his success is traceable, and his story is so legendary but credible.
He was not the kind of person who jumped out of a rock and had no previous life or afterlife. He suddenly burst out like a rocket with tens of thousands of words and a dozen chapters, as if he was born out of nowhere. Everyone wanted to explore his past - but the author didn't write it, and his past in that world was shrouded in thick fog, making it unclear and unclear.
Such people have an innocent background, comrades!
I said in the preface that I knew it would be a risk to choose to write about an imaginary football world like this, and the results might not be very good, so I also gave up my obsession with results, or at least I didn’t put them first. , unlike before, I always thought about creating conflicts in the first few chapters, leaving suspense, and attracting readers.
This time I just wanted to write a good story and create a good world, so even if the pace was slow at the beginning, I insisted on writing like this. As I said in the preface, I will just write as I please.
At least I am very happy with what I have written so far. Although I still write slowly, that is because I have carefully considered every word and sentence and tried my best.
When I wrote this chapter, I had a strong sense of accomplishment. It took me half a day to write nearly 3,000 words, but I was very happy when I reached the end of the chapter, as if I was standing by the window, looking outside. The red and golden Huo Shaoyun was in a happy mood and wanted to hum a song.
It was as if I had traveled from the computer to this world of my own making.
This is the so-called creative passion...
I hope everyone can feel my passion through my words, and I hope you like it.
Finally, I once again solemnly ask for your recommendation votes!
Thanks! (End of chapter)