The Midfield Master

On December 3, 2013, British local time, at the Carrington training base in Manchester, Manchester United players, who just had a difficult draw with their opponents in the weekend league, are undergoing recovery training under the leadership of their coaches.

Head coach Moyes stood on the sidelines, speaking to a middle-aged man in his fifties, wearing a black training suit.

"David, you must go and see that kid this time, he is really talented, we can't miss him!" Toninho Cruz said urgently.

He has watched Xia Ze so many games in the past two months, and he has learned that Xia Ze's talent is absolutely rare among his peers, so he keeps urging Moyes to make a decision.

"Toninho, it's not like you don't know that the team's record has not been good in the past two months."

David Moyes frowned tightly: "Vazza (Rooney), Vida (Vidic) and their contract renewal issues have to be resolved again, and I can't spare time."

After Manchester United took over from Moyes, the team is in a period of adjustment, and the record is not good. It has only played 14 rounds and is only ranked 6th in the standings.

Fortunately, this season's Premier League has all the heroes together, and all the strong teams have lost points, so the current gap with the top of the list is only 7 points, and there is still hope for the championship.

"But you can also see from the reports that this kid has been noticed by many teams. If you don't make a move as soon as possible, it will be too late." Cruz's tone is still eager.

"I also understand." Moyes replied, then lowered his head and thought for a while before raising his head: "Well, I will go to Portugal with you this week. They have a derby match, right?"

"Okay, I'll ask my assistant to book a plane ticket!" Cruz saw Moyes agree to watch Xia Ze's game, and left the training ground cheerfully.

...

In Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, in an inconspicuous old building among old residential buildings, a gray-haired old man in his seventies is sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a pair of presbyopic glasses, and holding a wrinkled right hand. The scissors are slowly cutting the newspaper.

Know... know...

The sound of the scissors cutting the newspaper echoed in the quiet house, and the old man was earnestly looking for the squarest figure on the newspaper.

Around the house, there are posters and photos of a football boy wearing a jersey; among the thick newspaper clippings on the table, there are reports related to the football boy on the wall.

After the scissors made a hole in another newspaper, the old man finally showed a satisfied smile on his face.

This is Xia Ze's home in Guangzhou, and this old man is Xia Ze's grandfather Xia Jinhua.

Although because of his son, Xia Jinhua resented football very much, and even his grandson who played football was once the target of his hatred.

But in recent months, Xia Ze's outstanding performance in Portugal still made him feel proud as a grandfather. The kindness that a grandfather should have is also reflected in this thick newspaper clipping.

Since Xia Ze's transfer to Portuguese Super League Maritimo was reported by Guangzhou Daily, Xia Jinhua cut out every report on Xia Ze and pasted it in this newspaper clipping.

In the past three months, this newspaper clipping has accumulated from only one or two pages to a thickness of one centimeter.

And Xia Ze has sent money back three times after playing football, which has greatly eased the family's financial situation. Li Chunhua doesn't have to hold several jobs. The biggest thing Xia Jinhua does every day is to cut out information about Xia Ze from newspapers. reports, and repeatedly watched the video of Xia Ze downloaded from the Internet by Wang Xiaolin and carved into a CD.

Xia Jinhua applied glue to the newspaper that had just been cut out, and carefully pasted it on the newspaper clipping. However, his usually steady and strong hands trembled slightly while holding the small piece of newspaper.

bang...

There was a muffled sound, and Xia Jinhua slipped from the wheelchair and fell to the ground.

Li Chunhua, who was cooking in the kitchen, heard a noise in Xia Jinhua's room, and hurried in to check, only to find that Xia Jinhua had passed out on the ground.

...

Xia Ze, Zhang Wei, and Hua Yan were walking on the street in Madeira, Portugal. In the past two months, Xia Ze and Zhang Wei's Portuguese has made great progress under Hua Yan's teaching. You can basically communicate with people.

And they were able to make such progress, not only Hua Yan, but also Monica's credit.

After getting to know Xia Ze, Monica came to see Xia Ze and his training almost every day, and pestered Xia Ze to talk, her love for Xia Ze was beyond words.

Although Xia Ze repeatedly expressed to Monica from the front, side and back, that he already has a girlfriend, and he loves it very much. But the enthusiastic Monica didn't care about it at all, and still haunted him like a ghost.

It was very difficult for him to get away from Monica's entanglement today, and went shopping with Zhang Wei and Hua Yan.

Strange to say, Hua Yan originally had a special feeling for Xia Ze, but Xia Ze has been pestered by Monica for the past two months, which has allowed Hua Yan and Zhang Wei to spend more time and talk together. The relationship between the two is now somewhat ambiguous.

Xia Ze didn't mind making light bulbs, standing between Zhang Wei and Hua Yan, because he felt that being a light bulb by himself was better than being pestered by Monica. Thinking of Monica, Xia Ze frowned with a headache.

But today Funchal is still sunny, every pedestrian on the road seems to have a smile full of sunshine, enjoying the gentle sun all year round.

Among the pedestrians, those who occasionally recognized Xia Ze greeted him one after another. In this small town, the name Xia Ze has become too famous in the past two months.

Everyone knows that the Maritimo club has produced a Chinese genius, leading the mediocre Maritimo to hit the Champions League seat.

Among the pedestrians, there will also be unkind eyes towards Xia Ze. Xia Ze knows that it is a supporter of another Portuguese Super League team in Funchal, the National Athletic Team.

The reason why such a bad look is shown is that the first Madeira derby of the season will be staged in the middle of this week, and Maritimo will play against Atlético Nacional at home.

The National Athletic has also been in good form in recent rounds, ranking 7th in the league. The difference between the two teams is only 5 points, so this game is quite full of gunpowder.

As the core of Maritimo, it's normal for Xia Ze to be looked down upon by fans of the national team.

Xia Ze smiled, as if enjoying this feeling. After Maritimo was in a duck to water, he looked forward to those high-profile games, such as this derby.

Walking slowly on the street, the three of them seem to have forgotten the passage of time...

bru bru bru... bru bru bru...

A bell rang from Xia Ze's pocket. He took out his cell phone and found that it was Wang Xiaolin calling.

He counted, and now it is around 12 noon in Portugal, so it should be around 8 pm in Guangzhou.

In the past two months, Xia Ze and Wang Xiaolin also talked frequently, basically at noon in Portugal time and at night in Beijing time.

This time Wang Xiaolin called again, Xia Ze thought that the other party was missing him, and after answering the phone, he laughed at Wang Xiaolin: "What's the matter? Did you miss me?"

"Xiao Ze, your grandpa is in the hospital!" Wang Xiaolin's anxious voice came from the phone.

Xia Ze, who was still smiling at first, felt cold when he heard these words, the smile on his face froze immediately, and his body also froze in place.

"Xiao Ze, what's the matter?" Hua Yan, who was walking with him, found that Xia Ze suddenly stopped, his face pale.

Xia Ze didn't answer, and now his mind was in chaos, as if he couldn't accept this fact for a while.

"Xiao Ze, did you hear that?" Wang Xiaolin's voice sounded again.

Xia Ze suddenly shivered, and immediately woke up from the surprise, and quickly asked Wang Xiaolin, "What's wrong with Grandpa?"

"Your grandfather fainted suddenly at home yesterday. Auntie sent him to the hospital. The examination found that he had a heart attack. Now his condition is stable. Auntie asked me to call you."

Xia Ze let out a long breath when he heard that he was fine for the time being. But he also knew that if his mother asked Wang Xiaolin to call him, there must be something else, so he asked Wang Xiaolin to answer the phone for his mother.

"Mom, how is grandpa doing now?"

"Ozawa, your grandfather is fine for the time being, but the doctor suggested that it is better to have a heart bypass surgery, otherwise there is still a risk of another attack in the future." Li Chunhua said worriedly.

"Did the doctor say that the risk of surgery is great?"

"The doctor said the risk is not great, it's just..."

"Then let's have an operation, how much will it cost?" Xia Ze knew what his mother was hesitating about, and immediately made a decision for her.

Although grandpa didn't show himself a good face after his father passed away, but he was his grandfather after all, and he didn't want him to leave me so soon no matter what. "The doctor said that the cost of the operation plus the post-treatment would cost more than 100,000 yuan."

Xia Ze did some calculations in his own mind. In the past two months, his salary and bonus added up to about 15,000 euros, of which he remitted 6,000 euros back home. More than a thousand euros.

Mom certainly didn't spend much money at home, and it was still barely enough for the cost of surgery.

"Mom, then I'll send you the money first, and tell me if it's not enough. Don't worry about the money, I'll take care of it." Xia Ze comforted.

"Okay then, let me tell your grandfather to make him feel at ease." Li Chunhua felt a little more determined when she heard that her son had enough money to pay for the operation.

"Mom, you have to take care of yourself too."

"Well, I see, you should also be careful in Portugal."

...

Grandpa Xia Jinhua's sudden illness disrupted Xia Ze's mentality of preparing for the Madeira Island Derby. Xia Ze's absent-mindedness during training that day also caught the eye of the head coach Martins.

After the training session in the afternoon, Martins called Xia Ze aside and asked him with concern: "Xia Ze, has something happened recently? Why are you absent-minded during training?"

"It's something at home, but it's almost taken care of." Xia Ze said with some shame.

"That's good." Martins said lightly, but he immediately turned his tone aside, looked at Xia Ze seriously and said, "Can you play this game?"

"Yes, I'm ready!" Xia Ze replied without hesitation with firm eyes. Red Devils Manchester United Rewards Grain 188 Red Devils Manchester United Rewards Grain 388 Red Devils Manchester United Rewards Grain 188 Red Devils Manchester United Rewards Grain 388 Red Devils Manchester United Rewards Grain 88