For years, the media has been discussing who Boss Huang's son is.
In the early days, the media identified over fifty potential candidates, as any of the 100 children who went to Europe for training could have been Boss Huang's son.
Later, the target range narrowed to about 30 people because in 2031, Team Am announced its roster, which consisted of 30 players, all of whom were young trainees studying in Europe. Thus, Boss Huang's son was definitely among these 30 individuals.
By 2033, this target range was further reduced to 11 people, as Team Am had only 11 starting players, and any one of them could have been Boss Huang's son.
However, the media eventually pinpointed three individuals with the highest probability: first and foremost, the biggest star of Team Am, Liu Xu, who was hailed as Messi's successor.
Although Messi's initial contract was only for two years, due to what was either an exceptionally pleasant cooperation with Team Am or the immense sum of money provided by Boss Huang, Messi signed an additional four-year contract. Consequently, Messi remained the head coach of Team Am.
Naturally, Messi would impart his skills to the team's players without reservation, and Liu Xu received the most direct mentorship from him.
This young man had almost entirely inherited Messi's footwork and abilities. When he sprinted across the field, many exclaimed that a young Messi had arrived.
Furthermore, thanks to receiving the most scientific training from a young age, coupled with various expensive nutritional supplements, the 20-something Liu Xu had even surpassed Messi himself at the same age in terms of personal ability.
He surpassed Messi in both physical fitness and technique. Messi's affection for Liu Xu was also undisguised; Liu Xu was always present whenever Messi gave interviews. There were even rumors that Messi had adopted Liu Xu as his godson according to Chinese tradition.
Liu Xu was also the absolute core of the entire team, the focus of all camera lenses. The media had even captured images of Boss Huang dining alone with Liu Xu, leading many media outlets to confidently declare that Liu Xu was Boss Huang's son, and his real name should be Huang Xu.
In response to this, the media even directly interviewed Boss Huang, asking for his views on Liu Xu as a player and the media's use of the name Huang Xu for him.
This was tantamount to directly asking Huang He whether Liu Xu was his biological son.
Boss Huang responded with a slight smile, stating that he found the name Huang Xu to be very pleasant, but adding a "Dong" to it would make it even better. He believed that the entire person would then soar like a flying dragon in the sky, dominating opponents.
Huang Xu plus Dong sounds even better?
This answer left all the reporters bewildered and caused a certain former StarCraft player, who was later recruited by Jiangnan Group and became a business manager under Jiangnan Esports, thus staying away from the media spotlight, to sneeze.
Besides Liu Xu, the media also unanimously identified two other highly probable candidates: striker Liu PeiQiang and defender Han ZiAng.
Han ZiAng's story was rather legendary. Born in '99, he was now 35 years old and did not belong to the group of young trainees who studied in Europe. He had always played in the Chinese Super League.
At the age of 35, he was practically at retirement age. His stamina had significantly declined, making it difficult for him to adapt to intense matches. Moreover, during his matches in the Chinese Super League, he had consistently been a substitute player.
In his 10-year career in the Chinese Super League, he played only 62 matches, and describing him as an insignificant minor character would be an exaggeration. Two years prior, no media outlet had paid any attention to such a minor character who was on the verge of retirement.
Han ZiAng truly began to shine two years ago during the Jiangnan Group employee amateur league. He was one of the 2000 employees who were hired by Jiangnan Group after applying from the Chinese Super League.
As mentioned before, the internal league for Chinese employees primarily used players from the youth training teams of that era. At that time, Han ZiAng, who was already 33 years old, was very sensible and applied for the position of assistant coach, never intending to play on the field.
Thus, Han ZiAng became an assistant coach for Jiangnan Optoelectronics. Having played as a defender for over a decade, he was specifically responsible for guiding the team's defensive strategy.
As a result, Optoelectronics ranked poorly in the first few rounds of the league, performing very badly, even with star goalkeeper Wang FanFan. After all, Wang FanFan was a nuclear weapon that could only be deployed during penalty shootouts and was generally unreliable.
In reality, Jiangnan Optoelectronics was not poorly equipped. Their top star, Liu Xu, was on this team. However, the team's defense was simply too weak.
This defender was also from the Jiangnan training camp, so his skill should have been decent. Unfortunately, he had slacked off in his training over the years, and his abilities failed to improve, ultimately becoming the opponent's breakthrough point. Many goals were directly scored by breaking through his position.
Helplessly, Han ZiAng had to guide this young player hand-in-hand. However, the more the young player played, the more his mentality deteriorated. In one match, he even fled the scene temporarily, disappearing without a trace.
But the problem was that this left the team's defense vacant. As for the substitute defender, he was even worse than this mentally broken player.
This particular match was also very crucial. If they failed to win, Jiangnan Optoelectronics would essentially be out of the playoffs. The idea of a team boasting the top star Liu Xu missing the playoffs was an absolute joke.
It is said that at this critical juncture, a player voluntarily suggested to the coach that assistant coach Han ZiAng be assigned as the team's defender.
Initially, the coaching staff considered this suggestion to be a prank. Han ZiAng himself also thought it was a joke. His position was assistant coach; how could he play on the field?
The most critical issue was that Han ZiAng was already 33 years old. If he joined the team directly, it would raise the team's average age by one year.
However, this player then stated, "Coach Han ZiAng, you are indeed an assistant coach, but this isn't a professional league, is it!"
Professional leagues require a registered player's qualification certificate to play, but this is an amateur league. As long as the company has no objections, you can play.
This suggestion was still rejected by the coaching staff. Unexpectedly, this player was quite persistent. He directly submitted a report to Jiangnan Optoelectronics, after which the president of Jiangnan Optoelectronics personally came to the scene, ordered Han ZiAng to join the defense, and invited the Jiangnan Commerce team to play a practice match to observe.
As a result, after the practice match, Han ZiAng was directly promoted to become the team's defender. When this news was announced, Han ZiAng even became a laughingstock for a time.
But once Han ZiAng actually joined the team, the entire Jiangnan Optoelectronics team underwent a complete transformation. The team's defensive line became incredibly solid. Any player facing Han ZiAng in the defense line felt like they were crashing into a bronze wall or iron bastion, unable to move. Forget about shooting; even breaking through was extremely difficult.
It was from this point onward that Jiangnan Optoelectronics experienced a qualitative change, winning consecutive games in the Jiangnan League, crushing their opponents in the playoffs, defeating all rivals, and ultimately winning the championship of the "I Love Boss Huang Cup."
This outcome stunned all the spectators who had watched the league games at the time. At the same time, all discerning observers could see that Han ZiAng, a player who had not participated in overseas training and was a full generation older than the other players, was actually the top defender in China, surpassing all the young players who had studied in Europe.
So, the question arises: if Han ZiAng's abilities were at this level, how could he have been overlooked by the Chinese Super League for over a decade?
As Han ZiAng gained fame, another significant issue emerged: did Han ZiAng actually have the qualifications to join Team Am?
After all, everyone knew that Team Am was the domain of the "Europe-studying faction," and those who did not study in Europe had no ability or qualification to join Team Am.
But the fact was that in 2034, Han ZiAng directly entered Team Am's roster, then became a starting player, and finally successfully qualified for the World Cup with Team Am.
This was his first World Cup and his last. His teammates who had surpassed him in the Chinese Super League for 10 years had not gotten the opportunity, which now fell to Han ZiAng. All these changes were astounding, leading Han ZiAng to be nicknamed "Lucky Han ZiAng."
So, the question arises: how could Han ZiAng, who was 35 years old this year and born in '99, be considered Boss Huang's son by the media?
After all, everyone knew that the reason Boss Huang had assembled this luxurious World Cup team was because his five-year-old son was disciplined during a football match in 2012.
Boss Huang's son would definitely be among that batch of players who studied in Europe. Han ZiAng, being a generation older, had no possibility of being Boss Huang's son.
However, some media outlets offered their own explanations, stating that Han ZiAng's story was too legendary, too dramatic, and his two resurgences were quite unbelievable.
It was hard to believe that without a powerful backing to help Han ZiAng, Jiangnan Group would never have agreed to let a 35-year-old join a team with an average age of only 23.
Furthermore, although Han ZiAng was 35 years old, it was perfectly plausible for him to be the son of the 57-year-old Boss Huang. Perhaps the 22-year-old Boss Huang had already had a son back then but never publicly acknowledged him, always protecting him well, so no one knew, and everyone assumed Boss Huang's son was only 22 years old.
As for the issue of studying in Europe, that could also be explained. Boss Huang knew that relying on players who were already teenagers at the time would not help his son reach the World Cup. He had to start from childhood, selecting dolls aged 5 to 9 to begin training in Europe from scratch.
And to protect his biological son from threats abroad, Boss Huang personally orchestrated the elaborate drama of that match and held high-profile selections precisely to make everyone believe that child was a 5-year-old boy, drawing everyone's attention to that group of young trainees studying in Europe. This way, no one would know that the true heir to the richest man in the world was actually participating in a Chinese Super League team, vigorously honing his skills.
This also explained why Han ZiAng, despite his immense abilities, remained obscure in the Chinese Super League for so many years: Boss Huang was deliberately suppressing him, preventing him from revealing his true capabilities.
In any case, the media had constructed a complete logical chain for Han ZiAng, and even Boss Huang had to praise it, acknowledging that there were no logical loopholes.
As for the third option, Liu PeiQiang, it was even more exaggerated. Boss Huang himself had praised him several times and expressed his intention to send him to space as an astronaut in the future, which was precisely the kind of treatment Boss Huang's son should receive.