Chapter 253 Extraordinary Ordinary People
Hu Lixin changed into his security uniform and walked to the front door of the community to replace his colleague Lao Fan.
He was about to start another day of work.
When Lao Fan saw Hu Lixin, he stuck his head out of the guard room and waved to Hu Lixin.
"Lao Hu Lao Hu, your son is actually playing professional football?!"
As soon as Hu Lixin walked in, he couldn't wait to ask.
Upon hearing this, Hu Lixin frowned and looked at his colleague and partner.
"I saw it by chance last night. Old Hu, you hide it well..."
Lao Fan said and gave him a punch, hitting him lightly on the shoulder.
Hu Lixin figured out how Lao Fan knew - Anton TV played a trailer for the program "Characters" last night. It was only then that he found out that his son had actually appeared on Anton TV's flagship program.
Not only him, but also his wife was caught off guard.
At that time, the two of them were watching an anti-Japanese drama on Anton TV, and during the commercial break, a trailer like this suddenly came on.
When he saw the video of Hu Lai's shot appearing on the screen, Hu Lixin didn't even have time to get up and smoke. He could only sit on the sofa and finish watching. His son said to him: "It's never too late to pursue your dreams."
The wife next to her was surprised at first, and then laughed happily, making her lie on the bed and kick her legs hard.
She was so happy because she saw her husband deflated.
Hu Lixin was sitting on the sofa depressed at that time. Unexpectedly, he was stabbed in the back by Anton TV...
And then he realized the seriousness of this matter - Anton TV's "People Chronicles" column is very well-known, and I am afraid that soon everyone who knows their father and son will know that his son goes to play professional football...
Sure enough, as soon as he came to work today, he was caught by Lao Fan.
"I said, Lao Hu, so do you. Your son is already a big star, why do you want to be a security guard...to experience life?" Lao Fan said half-jokingly.
The reason why it is "half-joking" is naturally because in Lao Fan's mind, Hu Lixin's son Hu Lai must have made a lot of money as a professional star - he really believes that Hu Lixin does not need to work as a security guard for money now. This hard work.
Hu Lixin glared at his colleague: "What are you talking about? Is it so easy for professional players to make money?"
"Isn't it?" Lao Fan bulged his eyes, "I see on the Internet that professional players drive luxury cars, buy luxury goods and so on... It's hard to make money, can they spend it like that?"
"You are a typical example of a person who only sees thieves eat meat but never sees thieves being beaten. How can there be any easy money in this world? Professional players also pay for their lives in exchange for their money..."
"It's an exaggeration, it's an exaggeration. It's just a matter of playing football, and you're risking your life? Let me tell you, Lao Hu, based on the performance of those players, I feel like I can do it! Don't make too much money..."
Hu Lixin couldn't stand Lao Fan's nonsense anymore, so he interrupted him: "Lao Fan, you are really not good at fucking you."
Lao Fan looked at Hu Lixin's serious look and couldn't help but grin: "Why, are you so sure? Have you ever been a professional player?"
I really did it...
Hu Lixin said this in his heart, but he immediately realized that he was probably not qualified to say this, because he had never even played a professional game. Even if he signed a contract, what kind of professional player was he?
The thought of this reminded Hu Lixin of sadness.
So he didn't want to talk about this topic with Lao Fan anymore, waved his hand, and prepared to stand guard.
Lao Fan was still mumbling: "...Isn't it just embarrassing to play? What can't I do? Since they lose when they go up, and I lose when I go up, why can't I make this money? Hey!"
Hu Lixin has already stood on the guard box, staring straight ahead, saluting every owner who enters and exits the gate of the community.
Turned a deaf ear to Lao Fan's mutterings.
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Hu Lixin, who was sitting on the sofa watching TV and checking his cell phone, suddenly found his wife walking up to him and placing a plate of peanuts and melon seeds and a plate of cut fruits on the coffee table in front of him.
Although melon seeds and peanuts are on the same plate, they are distinct. Xie Lan arranged the dark brown melon seeds and yellow peanuts in a picture of Tai Chi Yin and Yang fish...
The apples formed a radial circle one by one on the outermost surface of the plate, and inside the circle were long strips of green apples, all arranged neatly into a radial circle. In the center of the circle, they were picked one by one. plump purple grapes.
There are just three layers, the innermost layer is red, the middle layer is turquoise, and the outermost layer is light yellow, which is quite nice.
"Why are you doing all this bells and whistles?" Hu Lixin wondered.
"Celebrating the holidays." Xie Lan happily sat down on the sofa next to her husband, then took out the remote control, turned on the TV, and switched to Anton TV.
"It's never too late to pursue your dreams!"
Hu Lai's face and his voice appeared on the TV again - this was the trailer for the program "Characters".
Hu Lixin immediately understood what his wife was going to do. Today, Wednesday, was the day when the latest issue of "People's Chronicle" was broadcast... She was doing this grandly just to watch her son on TV!
Hu Lixin rolled his eyes and planned to get up and leave to smoke in the kitchen.
But this time he failed because his wife stopped him: "Smoking is harmful to health!"
"Then I don't smoke..." Hu Lixin took out the cigarette case and lighter from his pocket and placed them on the coffee table.
I would rather not smoke than watch TV.
Xie Lan was anxious: "Must watch! You don't have to watch the game normally, but today's son's documentary must be watched! Hu Lixin, he is your son, not your enemy! You usually don't understand your son very well, look at him Wouldn’t it be nice to learn more about him in the documentary? Besides, you always complain that he was banned from playing football since he was a child, so how did he end up liking football... Then maybe you will know the answer after watching this documentary. So just sit still. Let’s watch together!”
She put her hands through her husband's arms and hugged him hard, for fear that he would run away.
Hu Lixin used some strength and found that it was difficult to drag his wife on the soft sofa. Halfway through, he lost all his strength and fell back onto the sofa.
Seeing this, he had no choice but to agree: "Okay, let me see. Don't keep dragging me..."
"No! I won't let go until I finish reading it!" Xie Lan shook his head and said firmly.
Hu Lixin was speechless and pointed at the fruit plate on the coffee table: "Then how do you eat these things you have carefully prepared?"
Now that his wife has both hands on her left arm, how can she have her hands free to eat?
"Feed me!" Xie Lan said matter-of-factly.
Hu Lixin turned to look at his serious-looking wife, and finally he could only sigh helplessly.
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Li Qingqing sat cross-legged on the bed, leaning back slightly against the head of the bed.
There was a plastic slag tray on top of her crossed legs. She held the paper bag filled with melon seeds in one hand, and kept taking out the melon seeds from it with the other hand, and then put them in her mouth to smash them.
The remaining melon seed skins were naturally thrown into the dregs tray on her lap.
Because of the broadcast rules of the Chinese League One, she has never been able to watch Hu Lai's games in Shanhai.
And this time, although it is a character documentary, there should be a lot of competition scenes in it.
Poor Li Qingqing can only watch Hu Lai's game through this method of "saving the country through curves".
The show starts, after the credits, the host appears. He was wearing a dark suit, and when he spoke, his voice was deep and magnetic. He was Ren Junsheng, the ace host of Anton TV: "...We always sing and praise dreams, and always talk about dreams. It seems that having dreams is It's something to be very proud of, but many people seem to stop there - they decorate their lives with dreams to make it look sparkling and glorious in the eyes of others. Eye-catching. But such a dream is just a decoration. Why is it so? Because it is not easy to realize the dream, and there will always be resistance of one kind or another... But it is precisely because the dream is difficult to realize that there are so many people. Passionate about pursuing dreams, so those who overcome all difficulties and obstacles and finally successfully realize their dreams are more worthy of our praise and respect..."
Li Qingqing didn't know when she stopped reaching out to grab melon seeds. She was still holding the packaging bag containing melon seeds in her hand, looking straight at the TV screen.
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"...Today, "Characters" is going to introduce to you a slightly special character. He is very young, but he has been in the limelight recently... Yes, he is today's protagonist, Hu Lai. The name sounds a bit Young people who are "random" have extraordinary life experiences... As we all know, those who want to become An outstanding professional player needs to receive training from a very young age, make great efforts and sacrifices, and also have good luck to finally succeed. But Hu Lai, a young man, is here. He first came into contact with formal football training when he was a freshman in high school at the age of sixteen..."
Zhang Qinghuan, who had just opened a can of beer for himself in front of the TV, was stunned when he heard the host say this.
His hand stopped halfway towards the beer can.
"Are you kidding?!" he then exclaimed.
He only started playing football at the age of sixteen, and now he is the top scorer in the Flash Stars team...is it such an exaggeration?
Nowadays, in order to create program effects, TV programs don’t even need common sense!
He regretted a little that he would improvise and stay in the apartment to watch TV...
What’s so good about this shitty show?
But when he was about to get the remote control and turn off the TV, he hesitated.
He hung his hand over the remote control, finally turned back to pick up the beer can, and took a big gulp of wine.
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"...The team's top scorer who has scored seven goals for Flash Stars in just six games was almost not even admitted to the Dongchuan Middle School team... Coach Li Ziqiang of the Dongchuan Middle School football team told us The past when he recruited new players for the school team..."
Li Ziqiang watched himself appear on the TV screen, and said to the camera and to himself in front of the TV: "...Actually, I didn't want to recruit him into the team at first. I wasn't very optimistic about him. In the future... Hu Lai is a very special player, the most special in that team. I think he can't bear the hardship... His foundation is really bad, so I arranged for him. A lot of Basic training, and I didn't plan to let him play...but he persisted, which was beyond my expectation. At that time, I thought, maybe he really wanted to play football, and he spent the previous 16 years. All the hunger and thirst for not playing football well was released... He knew that he had missed more classes than others. If he couldn't train harder than others now, he would never make up for it..."
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Li Ziqiang stared at himself on the TV, feeling a little unnatural.
But after some inner struggle, he still didn't turn off the TV and continued watching.
After all, just like his daughter said, this is his disciple, he should pay attention to it...
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"... In order to allow Hu Lai to carry out basic training with peace of mind, Coach Li even did not hesitate to play the villain in the training. He set up a very difficult training program for him. With Hu Lai's level at the time, it was almost impossible to complete... But No one expected at the time that Hu Lai would break Coach Li's game with a beautiful overhead kick during training..."
A scene of the Dongchuan Middle School football team training appeared on TV, but it was not the content of Hu Lai's original training.
Mao Xiao turned to his family and said: "I was there at that time! It was Hu Lai who I was guarding, but he still completed a hook shot under the defense of me and Team Yan! It's really beautiful, all of us Everyone was frightened!”
In the restaurant, Yan Yan pointed at the TV screen to show off to his companions eating together: "Let me tell you, that ball... Hu Lai hit the ball over my head! It was amazing! At that time, he was A beginner, but he made it to the top of the world! Who could have imagined this? Our coach was so stupid at the time! It was the first time I saw a coach lose his temper like this..."
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The TV screen gradually dimmed, and when it lit up again, some empty street scenes appeared.
Crossroads with people coming and going, bus stops with crowds of people, people flowing up and down subway platforms...
At the same time, music sounded in the background. After the piano intro, a male voice sang:
"I feel ashamed to say it, but I still do nothing; I wait for the bus, change the subway, and fight for seats every day..."
In a crowded subway car, a beautiful white-collar woman wearing a professional suit and exquisite makeup is holding the hanging ring with her hands, her head lowered and leaning on the arm holding the hanging ring, swaying gently as the subway train moves. It's like a leaf hanging on a branch and swaying in the wind.
"I once thought I would get ahead; I tried my best to prove that I could do it. No one in this world cares about your efforts, only your results..."
A delivery boy quickly ran into an office building with a bag containing food. Looking at the crowds of people crowded at the elevator door, he finally chose to turn up the stairwell next to the elevator.
Another courier boy was trying to lift up the food delivery battery truck that had fallen to the ground on the street in heavy rain. He was already soaked from head to toe.
"...It turns out that I spent my youth just to prove that I am mediocre..."
On the empty last bus, a young man in a dark suit sat on the seat, with his backpack at his feet and a small cake with a candle on his lap.
The dim candlelight reflected on the car window glass and on the young man's face. He raised his hand to wipe his eyes with the back of his hand, and then blew out the birthday candles on the cake.
"It's sad to think about it. I don't have any more time to waste; I started to bow my head to fate and stopped doing the right things... people who are better than you work harder than you, and it makes me sad when I think about it; it turned out that I spent my whole life just to prove that I am A mediocre person, I am a mediocre person..."
Li Qingqing looked at the TV, and the scene she saw on the podium of the Dongchuan Middle School Stadium appeared in front of her eyes.
It was her first physical education class in this school. The boys were playing football in separate teams. Hu Lai wanted to participate, but was excluded. Everyone thought he was bad at playing and didn't want to take him, no matter how he explained. , and no one paid attention to that thin figure.
In the end, everyone was chasing the football on the field, but he could only stand alone on the sidelines, staring at the field.
That lonely and stubborn back figure stayed in Li Qingqing's memory for a long time.
It was also the direct reason that prompted her to go to the secret special training base to find Hu Lai. She was really curious about the owner of this figure...
At this moment, the scene of the secret special training base suddenly appeared in front of her eyes - a small open space that was already overgrown with grass.
Li Qingqing thought she was dazzled, but she soon discovered that it was not her hallucination, but a real picture that appeared on the TV screen.
That's where she and Hu Lai used to play football and practice.
Now it was covered with weeds, and a young man appeared in this wasteland.
He turned his back to the camera, stood in front of a dirty football, ran towards the ball, and then kicked the football towards the stone wall facing him!
Although there is an annotation of "scene restoration" in the upper left corner of the screen, Li Qingqing feels that this is like a real shot at that time...
At the same time, the rapid and sharp sound of the electric guitar was added, and the originally low-pitched voice of the male singer became high-pitched, as if he was roaring and declaring war on this mediocre life:
"I am not a mediocre person! I will not be a mediocre person! I believe there is still a chance! I am not! I am not..."
Just repeat this lyrics over and over again, keep shouting.
As the boy kicked the football towards the stone wall, the scene suddenly changed, and the original grassy open space dispersed like water waves. The cheers in the background grew from small to loud, as if the tide was rising up, drowning everyone in front of the TV.
During the game, Hu Lai, wearing a Shining Star jersey, shot the ball towards the opponent's goal.
He ran toward the stands.
The Flash Star fans in the stands jumped to their feet, raised their arms and cheered.
They waved the flags in their hands, poured from the stands to the first floor, stretched out their hands to Hu Lai, and cheered loudly.
Amid the singing and cheers, Hu Lai jumped high and made his signature celebration move, proudly displaying his name and number in the broadcast footage.
"I am not a mediocre person! I will not be a mediocre person! I believe there is still a chance! I am not! I am not..."
Xie Lan on the sofa stopped holding her husband with her hands for a long time, but Hu Lixin didn't get up and leave either. She took a sneak peek and found that her husband was looking straight at the TV screen, completely unaware of her peeping.
As the song came to an end, the picture gradually dimmed, and the singer's voice returned to calmness from its high pitch: "I gave up love and betrayed my faith. Maybe this is the truth of life, so desperate..."
In the dark, the magnetic voice of host Ren Junsheng sounded again: "Before Hu Lai decided to play professional football, both his father and his professional coach in the school team had told him about professional football. This is a warning and a worry... But Hu Lai finally chose to embark on this unknown road to pursue his dream."
The scene turned bright, and Hu Lai stood alone on the early morning training ground covered in sweat. The golden sunshine shone on him, and the sweat beads on his face were all lit up by the rising sun.
"Romain Rolland once wrote in "The Life of Michelangelo": There is only one true heroism in the world, and that is to still love it after knowing the truth of life."
The camera zoomed in, all the way into Hu Lai's eyes. A pair of eyes reflected the light of the morning sun, as if they were burning.
"For each of us, we may be mediocre people in life, but we can also be different from mediocrity."
The picture finally freezes on Hu Lai's back. He faces the rising sun, and the bright sunlight pours in, tracing a golden edge around his slightly darker figure. More light overflowed from the outside of his body, cutting through the thin morning mist in the air, as if giving Hu Lai a pair of pale golden wings.
Subtitles appear on the screen:
It’s never too late to start pursuing your dreams.
——Respect those ordinary people who are unwilling to be ordinary
Zhang Qinghuan looked at this scene and a question popped into his mind:
How can a person... be so radiant?
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PS, the song that appears in this chapter is "Mediocre People" by Antusheng Band.
Regarding the outbreak... there will be a single chapter to talk about with you later. (End of chapter)