Chapter 1 The First Team

"This is the first team's head coach. He wants to see you." Rice gestured towards Adriaanse beside him.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan weren't too excited, because they knew this day would come sooner or later, ever since they started putting in extra practice on the training field without rest days. They simply greeted Mr. Adriaanse politely. The translator, Wang Bo, was somewhat excited, as he didn't know about Adriaanse's promise to Zhang Jun and Yang Pan in that small hotel room in Eindhoven. He just thought that these two kids' efforts had finally paid off, and they were getting closer and closer to their dream.

Years later, Chinese media would make various speculations about Adriaanse's conversation with Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, imagining all sorts of scenarios to prove that the future superstars had already shown the aura of kings from the start. However, they were all wrong.

Adriaanse looked at the two Chinese teenagers with satisfaction, just like when they had first reported to the club a month ago. He smiled slightly and said, "Both of you will start training with the first team from tomorrow. The club will prepare a new contract for you."

With just this sentence, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan began their professional football careers.

Then Adriaanse looked at Rice, "Do you have anything else to say to them? From tomorrow on, they're mine. Heh heh, it'll be a little difficult for you to see them again!"

Rice smiled and said to the two of them, "Actually, there's nothing much to say. I've taught you everything I could in this month. Although it's all basic stuff, you must remember that all beautiful movements and good awareness are built on a solid foundation. Don't underestimate these basic movements. I understand your loneliness being away from home, but you two shouldn't always be whispering to each other. The most important thing in a match is communication. You still don't talk enough with the others, and that's not good. Anything else… Zhang Jun?"

Zhang Jun looked at Rice.

"I know you're still angry that I lost my temper at you, right?" Rice pointed at Zhang Jun with a smile.

Zhang Jun quickly shook his head, blushing.

"Heh heh, I can understand your feelings. I was indeed too excited that day. I'm someone who attaches great importance to basic training, as you can see from my training arrangements. It's a pity that you only stayed with me for such a short month! If you had started training with me from the age of 10, I would definitely have repeated ground passing drills every day for three years!"

Looking at Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's surprised expressions, Rice laughed triumphantly, "Haha! That's true! You can ask your head coach about it later. When we were both at Ajax, that's how I trained those young players. Never underestimate these extremely ordinary movements. The speed, power, and trajectory quality of the ball will directly affect your teammates' next move. Receiving the ball is the same. As a center forward, in the narrow space of the penalty area, even stopping the ball off by just one centimeter can make a huge difference to the final shot. If you persevere with this seemingly tedious training, you will benefit greatly in future matches."

Finally, Rice patted the two on the shoulders, looking a little reluctant, and said, "Good luck!"

Although it was only a short month, Rice was Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's first teacher in their professional football careers, and he had a profound influence on their future development. Of course, they couldn't possibly know all of this yet. They just felt that this old man was pretty good, quite sincere.

After thanking Rice and Adriaanse, the three left the training ground.

"Actually, there wasn't much to say, but you ended up saying the most…" Adriaanse said, looking at the three figures.

"Too short a time, no choice!" Rice sighed, "What I said was from the heart. If they trained under me for three to five years… I can guarantee that they would definitely be much better than they are now. One month… although they are already very good, they still have to take many unnecessary detours… John, why don't we call them back to the youth team? Just one year, one year will do. I guarantee…"

Adriaanse shrugged and interrupted Rice, "I can't help it either. I know it's a bit inappropriate to do this, and it's not the most perfect approach. But the pressure from above is considerable. In two more rounds, we'll be playing against Eindhoven. If we keep losing, you and I will have to pack our bags and roll! I believe you wouldn't want to see that day come, would you?"

Rice was silent for a while, "Indeed, I wouldn't want to. But… to use the children's future for our own sake…"

"No, this is just gambling. They, like us, are on the betting side, and they're betting on the same outcome. If we win the bet, we'll all be happy. If we lose…" Adriaanse shrugged, "We're all screwed!"

Rice glanced at him, "But, we're old, we shouldn't be making such a big bet, should we? But they're still young…"

Adriaanse suddenly fell silent. His old friend was right. But did he, did they, still have a way out now?

Rice continued, "Forget it, since we've already placed the bet, we can only wait quietly for the dice to be rolled."

Life is originally a continuous super gamble, and who can guarantee that they will win every game?

Rice shook his head, and Adriaanse also shook his head.

Wang Bo was even happier about the two getting into the first team than the two people involved. He specially pulled Zhang Jun and Yang Pan to his restaurant to announce to everyone that the two teenagers were now professional players! Although they hadn't officially signed a contract yet, everyone came to congratulate them. Whether it was the customers eating here or the waiters in the shop, they used languages that the two could understand or not to hug and congratulate Zhang Jun. Wang Bo even personally cooked a sumptuous dinner for the two, all of which were home-style dishes that they hadn't eaten for a long time.

Chewing on the fragrant Twice Cooked Pork, Zhang Jun felt his eyes moisten. He had eaten "nutritious meals" for nearly a month, trained hard every day, used all his rest time for extra practice, and usually had to study Dutch in the evenings… Now he had finally taken another step towards his dream!

Yang Pan didn't gobble down those "nutritious meals" like he usually did, but instead chewed slowly like Zhang Jun. Perhaps their thoughts were the same at this moment.

A month was very short, but it was the first step in their professional football careers, solid and powerful.

The two only tasted a little of each dish in this sumptuous meal, and then, tacitly, politely suggested that they wanted to eat those terrible "nutritious meals" because they were about to become professional players and had to be stricter with themselves. Moreover, they both remembered the expression on Rice's face when he patted their shoulders and said "Good luck."

Wang Bo was stunned for a moment, and then went to prepare "professional player special meals" for them with half apology and half joy.

After dinner, the two wanted to call home to share the good news. They hadn't called home for a while. But when Zhang Jun picked up the phone, he suddenly remembered that this was the Netherlands, not Hefei. The two countries were six time zones apart, and it was the middle of the night over there now, so it was useless to call. As soon as he thought of the time difference, the disappointment on Zhang Jun's face became more obvious, because he also wanted to tell Sophie the good news. He wondered how happy she would be on the other end of the phone… Zhang Jun realized that the Netherlands and China were not only separated by geographical distance, but also by a six-hour time difference, which was an insurmountable distance…

Damn time difference! He cursed fiercely in his heart.

With only one point accumulated in three league rounds, no wins, and no goals scored, the players' morale was generally low. Compared to the pre-season, there was much less youthful laughter. Even Oichou, the team's jokester, hadn't cracked a joke in a long time. He was the team's forward, but he hadn't scored a single goal in the previous few games, disappointing everyone's expectations of him.

The training ground was lifeless, and everyone was in a bad mood. The head coach hadn't arrived, and assistant coach Stel was leading the training, but the players all seemed absent-minded.

Actually, two losses and one draw in three league rounds wasn't the worst. But the problem was that the last two games were lost to teams of similar level, and the game against Utrecht was even more frustrating. They were suppressed by the opponent throughout the game, and because the frontline was weak, they conceded the winning goal in the last minute and lost the game.

Despite Koze's efforts, despite Louis Link's efforts, despite Bayers and Herwer's efforts, individual efforts couldn't be transformed into effective results, so it was still useless. The team's failure wasn't the responsibility of any one person, but for the young people, watching the team lose and being unable to do anything about it was a really uncomfortable feeling.

Adriaanse brought the two Chinese teenagers out of his office and led them towards the first team's training ground. Everyone had just signed the new contract, which was for two years with a weekly salary of 1100 euros. Both were very satisfied with this contract and signed their names without saying much.

As they walked, Adriaanse briefly introduced them to the teammates they were about to meet. There was nothing else, and the coach's introduction was also very simple. It was mainly the names that gave Zhang Jun and Yang Pan some trouble to remember.

When they entered the training ground, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan saw many of their teammates, most of whom were listless and didn't pay much attention to their arrival. It seemed that what the coach said was right. The poor performance was a big blow to these young players.

Adriaanse also seemed a little helpless about the current situation. He looked at everyone, then signaled Stel to stop the players from training, as he had something to announce.

The players only noticed at this time that there were two unfamiliar Asians next to the coach. They were a little puzzled.

After everyone stopped and looked at the two Asians next to him, Adriaanse introduced Zhang Jun and Yang Pan in a very casual tone. He didn't want to make the scene too serious and add unnecessary pressure to the two, so he didn't even ask everyone to stand in formation.

"Okay, now I'd like to introduce two new teammates to everyone – this is Zhang Jun, and this is Yang Pan. They play as forwards and will be your teammates in the future."

Adriaanse could see a sense of distrust in everyone's eyes, especially Oichou. When he heard "play as forwards," his body trembled slightly, and his face turned pale.

Zhang Jun didn't notice and greeted everyone in his stumbling Dutch, but no one paid attention to him, and he realized something. Yang Pan had been watching coldly from the sidelines, observing everyone's expressions.

Adriaanse knew that they wouldn't be convinced with just a simple introduction like this, and there would be no cooperation in the future. It seemed that they had to establish mutual trust when they met, because they would be fighting side by side for who knew how long in the future.

He looked at Stel, then at the two Chinese teenagers next to him, and said to the players in front of him, "We'll stop the rest of this morning's training. Let's have a small-field scrimmage."