Fox in the Penalty Area

…In that interview, I posed a question to Hou Lai: "In your football career so far, which goal has impressed you the most, or has the most meaning for you? "

I've asked this question to almost every striker I've interviewed.

This is actually a very formulaic question, and the answers of most players are indeed very formulaic-most people will choose their goals in a certain final, and then lean back slightly on the sofa or 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, and I've gotten an answer even as I've asked the question. I know which goal they will choose because I know them all.

The meaning of this question is actually not to let readers and audiences really understand the heart of a player, but just to let these stars have a chance 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 stars to still accept the interview honestly in the face of the aggressive questions of the interviewer.

When this question is asked, both the host and the guest can be happy.

I know that Hu Lai has scored many goals, some of them are very important and very beautiful, and his answer should be among them. I already had some alternatives in mind, and I swear by my professionalism, his final answer should be among them.

But what I didn't expect was that Hu Lai's final answer was completely beyond my expectation.

He told me that for him, the most important, meaningful, and impressive goal is not among the 761 career goals he has scored, but a goal that has not been recognized at all. Goals counted in statistics. It wasn't even in a game, it was a goal in training.

This answer surprised me, and I hurriedly asked: "A goal in training? I can't understand why you say that..."

I still remember Hou Lai's answer and the vivid expression on his face when he said this-I have seen similar expressions on the faces of players who recalled the highlights of their careers, but they What comes out of the mouth is often the key goals in those important games. Only Hu Lai, this efficient scoring machine, did not choose any of the 761 goals he scored before the end of his career, he did not choose the alternatives in my memory, but A goal in training was selected.

This goal seems to be the glorious moment in his life.

"Because that goal opened the door to a new world for me," he said.

—— Lemon Rainey, a well-known sports reporter who writes for world-class media such as "Football Illustrated".

The excerpts are from the book "The Archer", Hu Lai Pian, which won the "Weich Sports Book Award".

※※※

The stadium of Dongchuan Middle School, 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 unbelievable and unbelievable.

No need to seem.

They just saw something incredible and unbelievable.

Hu Lai, everyone knows that rookie who knows nothing but fooling around. In the special training just now, he used a very, very shocking upside-down golden hook, facing the joint defense of the school team's two main central defenders, and shot the football into the goal guarded by the school team's main goalkeeper.

If you didn't see it with your own eyes, it would be like rushing into the police station and telling the police that you were kidnapped by a mermaid, it would only make people laugh.

Li Zhiqun, who pressed his tongue against his teeth, was so frightened by this scene that he couldn't hold back.

A loud whistle came from his mouth.

This seemed to be the clarion call to wake up all the people present, and there were more whistles coming from the stands and the sidelines in all directions. The boys put their hands in their mouths and whistled desperately, expressing their respect for Hu Lai in this way. The bursting mood of this goal.

The girls sent cheers and screams to the sky.

Everyone came alive, cheers thundered around the stadium.

"I rely!!"

"What did I see?! What did I see?! Barbs?! Am I right?!"

"Awesome—!"

"This Hu Lai... is amazing!"

Li Qingqing slapped her hands hard, with the brightest smile on her face.

Song Jiajia was beside her, turned her head and looked around, looking at the excited boys and girls with some confusion, each of them had an excited expression on their faces.

These same people once laughed at Hu Lai, appreciating Hu Lai's "performance" with curious eyes.

But now they all seem to have become fans of Hu Lai.

It's as if they didn't show up here to watch Hu Lai's jokes, but spent two days waiting, waiting for this moment, waiting for Hu Lai to jump in the air and score with a barb.

He had told Hu Lai before that making a fool of himself and being laughed at can be considered a man of the hour in a certain sense. After all, isn't this the only way for people like them to attract attention?

But now... his tablemate, without making a fool of himself or being laughed at, has actually become a man of the hour!

These people cheered him, sent him screams and applause.

As his deskmate, Song Jiajia was very uncomfortable with the current situation.

His eyes turned around in a circle, took in the carnival scene, and finally fell on Li Qingqing who was beside him. There was no joy on his face, only doubt and astonishment. He couldn't quite understand what he saw all of these. He thought maybe Li Qingqing could explain it to himself.

While applauding like everyone else around her, the tall girl turned her head and smiled at him: "Student Song Jiajia, it seems that your deskmate won't be eating chicken with you."

※※※

Amidst the huge cheers and applause, Hu Lai didn't get up, and rushed to the stands to celebrate and accept the glory that really belonged to him.

He lay sprawled on the ground, his chest heaving violently, panting like a cow.

He didn't actually go to confirm whether he really scored the goal, but when he heard the cheers, he knew that he had succeeded!

He passed the coach's devil special training with a world wave.

the most important is--

he!

finally!

available!

It's time to play!

He slowly raised his arms, spread his fingers, and lifted them up to the sky, as if pushing open a door with great force.

The door was closed and heavy, and it took all my strength to push it open.

Finally, when the arm was completely straightened, the ten fingers that blocked his eyes were retracted and clenched into fists, making his eyes suddenly open.

At this moment, in his field of vision, the sky was full of clouds and glowing, and a golden light swept across from the direction of the sunset.

Someone among the cheering crowd noticed the strange scene in the sky and couldn't help exclaiming: "Wow! What a beautiful Huoshaoyun!"

Amidst the exclamation, Luo Kai raised his head and stared blankly at the burning sky.

※※※

Hu Lixin just rode outside the gate of the community where he worked. He didn't rush in to take over the shift. Instead, he parked his electric bike on the side of the road, supported his feet on the front of the bike with both hands, and looked up at the sky.

The orange-red glow gushed from behind the row of towering mountains on the horizon in front of him, and rushed all the way to the eastern sky behind him.

Like a wildfire, it swept across the sky, leaving only turbulent red wherever it swept.

Colleagues standing outside the gate of the security room, owners outside the gate of the community, guards in the parking lot on the side of the road, people in the shops facing the street... No matter what they were doing before, they all raised their heads to appreciate the rare beauty at this moment, and There was a burst of exclamation.

Everyone took out their mobile phones one after another, aimed at the clouds in the sky, and pressed the camera button.

Under the red sky, the originally tough lines on Hu Lixin's face became much softer.

※※※

Xie Lan looked up at the clock hanging on the wall, then used the remote control to pause the TV series that was playing on the TV, got up and walked to the kitchen.

According to past experience, it won't be long before my son should be home.

It's just the right time for her to start cooking, 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 cooked several times.

Xie Lan, who walked into the kitchen, saw the red sky reflected in the small window next to the kitchen at a glance.

She leaned up and looked out with her head. Through the anti-theft fence stained with kitchen oil, she was attracted by the scenery outside the old residential building.

Her gaze stretched across the rooftops of the residential buildings where clothes and bedding were drying, and in the orange-red sky, under the rose-gold clouds, suddenly a flock of pigeons rose up, flying up from the rear of the opposite building, After hovering in the glow for a while, they collectively flew towards the western sky, pulling out countless long shadows behind them.

It's like the planes pulling smoke in the festival sky, but what they pull out are the shadows facing the sunset.

Seeing this scene, Xie Lan suddenly felt better, as if something good had happened.

Humming a song, she looked away, walked to the stove, and turned on the ignition knob of the gas stove.

With a soft pop, red and yellow flames rose up, and then quickly transformed into blue flames.

Xie Lan's eyes were filled with flames, and the corners of her mouth were curled up. She sat on the oiled pan, and when the oil was slightly hot, she poured the bean paste that she had prepared into the pan.

Amidst the popping sound, a strong fragrance spread in the small kitchen, and then floated out from the small window beside her, flying towards the fiery red sky.

※※※

PS, so what, so far, the new world I described before has opened the door to Hu Lai, and Hu Lai has officially entered the door.

I know that many people will definitely complain about the slow pace and slow progress. It is almost fifty chapters now that Hu Lai has not even played an official game.

But this was originally in my plan. I didn't intend to let the rhythm of the beginning of the story run wild all the way, transitioning to the professional league part like a wild horse.

For me, the football and life drama in the campus part of high school 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, I said that I had hesitated about whether to use a dozen chapters to quickly pass the campus part 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 I wrote a story about a boy who loves football and grows into a superstar step by step. As the birthplace of his legend, how can he be perfunctory as the starting line where a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step? What about skimming?

I told Squid that I want to write the campus part seriously, and I want to spend a lot of space and heavy ink to write, to describe the world and those people I want to describe. Hu Lai who loves football to the point of paranoia, father Hu Lixin who does not let his son play football to the point of paranoia, mother Xie Lan who carefully maintains a balance between her son and her husband, and Li Qingqing who is helpful, kind and cute but talented and super capable. Fatty Song Song Jiajia who says he doesn't like Hu Lai's football but never misses every training game, as well as the currently unpopular coach Li Ziqiang, the genius Luo Kai...and those characters who have not yet appeared.

It also includes the description of Huoshaoyun, the details of Hu Lixin standing outside the security booth saluting the owners, including the snail powder, including the setting of Hu Lai's secret training base...

These people and details are the important cornerstones that support this new world, and I am depicting 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 to go back and find out how this person became famous, and how his past experiences affect his current life. How does a high school boy who loves football grow into a world-class superstar step by step through the national high school football competition and the domestic league...

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 is not the kind of person who jumps out of a rock and has neither a past life nor a next life. He just sprang 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 layers of thick fog, making it unclear and incomprehensible.

Such a person's background is not innocent, comrades!

As I said in the preface, I know that choosing to write an overhead football world like this is a risk, and the results may not be very good, so I also let go of my obsession with results, or at least I didn’t put it in the first place , unlike before, I always thought about creating conflicts in the first few chapters, leaving suspense and attracting readers.

This time I just want to write a good story and create a good world, so even if the pace is slow at the beginning, I will insist on writing like this. Or as I said in the preface, I will write willfully.

At least I am very happy with what I have written so far. Although I still write slowly, it is because I have carefully considered my words 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 wrote the chapter. It was as if I was standing by the window and looking outside. The red and golden Huoshaoyun is in a happy mood, wanting to hum a song.

It seems that I have traveled from the computer to the world I created myself.

This is the so-called creative passion...

I hope that everyone can feel my enthusiasm through my words, and I hope you like it.

Finally, once again, I solemnly ask everyone for a recommendation ticket!

Thanks!