Chapter 137: Where to Go From Here

Long Bisheng walked briskly into his home, and then he was greeted by a scene that terrified him: Ning Xi was sitting on the sofa with a warm smile, intimately side by side with Yin Xiuping, who was holding Ning Xi's hand and patting it repeatedly, looking at her with a satisfaction that grew stronger by the moment.

Seeing Long Bisheng walk in, Ning Xi smiled at him and said to Yin Xiuping, "Auntie, I'm sorry to barge in so uninvited today. I hope I haven't disturbed you."

"Oh, child, what are you saying? You coming over is something Auntie couldn't be happier about. What disturbance could there possibly be?" Yin Xiuping said as she stood up. "Look at my memory! I haven't even brought you anything to eat yet. You talk with Bisheng, and Auntie will go get you some Xinjiang raisins!"

As she passed Long Bisheng, Yin Xiuping playfully slapped her son across the back, sending him stumbling right into the middle of the living room. "Silly boy, why aren't you greeting your agent?"

Hearing his mother place heavy emphasis on the word "agent," a blush crept up Long Bisheng's face once more. He walked up to Ning Xi and asked hesitantly, "You... why did you come here?"

"What, am I not welcome?" Ning Xi shot Long Bisheng a sideways glance, her face beaming with smiles.

"Of course you are," Long Bisheng immediately denied. "I couldn't be happier that you're here... No wonder I couldn't reach you online these past few days; so you came all the way to Xinjiang. You must be tired from the trip, right?"

"At least you still have a conscience," Ning Xi said softly. Seeing Long Longyun walk into the living room, she immediately put on a gentle expression. "I came this time to discuss some matters regarding your transfer."

As soon as Long Longyun stepped through the door, he heard Ning Xi's words and hurriedly stopped in his tracks. "You two go ahead and talk about work... I'll help your mom fetch some snacks."

"Uncle, please sit down too. We need to discuss this with both you and Auntie," Ning Xi quickly stood up to say.

Hearing this, Long Longyun took a seat on a nearby sofa. Just then, Yin Xiuping came out carrying a plate laden with treats. Seeing that all the members of Long Bisheng's family were present, Ning Xi finally spoke: "Negotiations with Qingdao Haifeng have been going very smoothly... They are extremely sincere, and the terms they've offered are quite good. Strictly speaking, we could have basically finalized the contract a couple of days ago, but another situation has arisen. Therefore, I need to talk it over with Bisheng and see what your thoughts are."

Long Bisheng straightened his posture. Upon hearing that the negotiations with Qingdao Haifeng were going smoothly, he felt a wave of relief, knowing that even if there were other issues, this path at least remained viable. But when Ning Xi mentioned this new development, a surge of intense curiosity gripped him.

"Naples."

Ning Xi clearly uttered these four words. "Last year, due to bankruptcy, they were relegated to Serie C1. Afterward, local Neapolitan billionaire and film tycoon Aurelio De Laurentiis stepped in to acquire the club. Retaining most of their core players, they began competing in the Serie C1 league... Their momentum has been very good over the past half-season, but their starting central striker, the Argentine Sosa, frequently suffers from injuries and they lack a good backup. That's why they remembered you and sent an invitation to the club, hoping to resume the negotiations that were interrupted half a year ago."

Naples...

The moment Ning Xi spoke those four words, Long Bisheng could more or less guess what she was going to say next. Half a year ago, he would have been ecstatic, but now...

Naples was currently playing in Serie C1! That was the third tier of Italian football, and in terms of standard, it was hardly any better than China League One! Most crucially, after the previous incident, Long Bisheng harbored a lingering distrust toward the club—although bankruptcy wasn't something Naples had wished for, back then it truly made Long Bisheng feel as though he had been deceived.

Beside him, however, Long Longyun was extremely excited. "Go! Why wouldn't you go? Son, it's Naples! The place where Maradona used to play!"

Ning Xi offered a wry smile. "Uncle, it's not quite as simple as that... The terms offered by Qingdao Haifeng are very good: a starting position, a monthly salary of eighteen thousand, with appearance fees, training subsidies, and goal bonuses higher than this year's regulated amounts. If Ah-Long plays at Qingdao Haifeng for a year, his earnings will at least reach three to four hundred thousand. And if they succeed in winning promotion, the bonuses will be calculated separately—just think, this year, successfully avoiding relegation netted Long Bisheng seventy or eighty thousand in bonuses. If they successfully get promoted, just how much would that be?"

"Then... how much salary does that Naples place offer Bisheng?" Yin Xiuping asked from the side.

"The annual salary is fifty thousand Euros. Appearance fees and goal bonuses are calculated additionally," Ning Xi replied.

Yin Xiuping began doing the math in her head. "I remember the exchange rate between the Euro and the RMB is quite high, right? More than ten times? So Bisheng's annual salary would be over five hundred thousand RMB."

Long Longyun nodded. "In terms of income, it seems about the same, and Naples might even be paying a bit more."

Ning Xi didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Uncle, Auntie, you can't calculate it that way... In Europe, the purchasing power of fifty thousand Euros is far less than the purchasing power of five hundred thousand RMB in China."

"Ah!" Long Longyun and Yin Xiuping looked at each other in dismay, only then realizing the issue with European prices...

"Then do you think it's better to go to Qingdao Haifeng or to Naples?" Long Bisheng pondered for a long time before asking Ning Xi.

Ning Xi said with a troubled expression, "I couldn't make up my mind, which is why I came to ask you. After all, it concerns your future prospects. Both of these teams have their own advantages, and this choice is something you should make for yourself."

"That's right, son. What your future holds is something only you know best. Everyone else can only offer you opinions, but the final decision must be your own," Long Longyun chimed in from the side.

Long Bisheng scratched his head and said with a troubled look, "Right now my brain feels like a bowl of mush... Ning Xi, help me analyze it. Your analysis always makes a lot of sense."

"Then I won't be modest," Ning Xi said unhesitatingly. After all, giving advice to players was part of an agent's responsibility. "There are many benefits to going to Qingdao Haifeng: your actual income will be relatively high, and you'll have familiar teammates and a coach who believes in you and is willing to use you heavily. The downside is that the standard of China League One is still a bit low, and you have immense potential—this isn't just my opinion, it's what Coach Ding Yu said. He said that if you get used to scoring relatively easy goals in China League One, your development might stagnate. For a young player, the stronger the opponents you face, the more likely you are to stimulate your potential. Given the overall strength of Qingdao Haifeng, getting into the Chinese Super League will probably take two or three years. By that time, you might already be over twenty, and if your playing style and technique become fixed, making further progress later on will be quite difficult."

"And what about Naples?" Long Bisheng nodded. Since Coach Ding Yu had said so, it certainly couldn't be wrong. Toward this mentor in the truest sense of the word, Long Bisheng held an almost superstitious level of trust.

"If you choose to go to Naples, the downside is that your income will be reduced significantly. An annual salary of fifty thousand Euros is probably only enough for you to live quite comfortably in Europe... Furthermore, at Naples, you won't have a guaranteed starting position. You will face a completely unfamiliar environment, completely unfamiliar teammates, and a completely unfamiliar coach. You will need to put in much more effort to establish a foothold in Europe. You'll need to re-adapt to the tactical style of Italian football, familiarize yourself with new teammates, and learn Italian. Although your English is quite decent, if you want to play football in Italy, at the very least you need to be able to communicate simply with the others."

"Are there no benefits?" Long Bisheng suddenly asked.

Ning Xi burst into laughter. "The benefits are naturally saved for last... Although Naples is currently in Serie C1, given the strength of their squad, winning promotion to Serie B this season won't be too difficult. With Laurentiis's financial power, rebuilding a Serie A-level Naples is not an impossible task either. Even if you go there and can't crack the starting lineup, your biggest rival, the Argentine Sosa, is already thirty years old and has frequently been plagued by injuries lately. Securing a primary backup spot shouldn't be too difficult for you. The level of Serie B is no lower than the Chinese Super League, and even playing as a substitute there will give you adequate training. More importantly, the harshest competition awaits you! None of this is something Qingdao Haifeng can offer you, because if you go to Qingdao Haifeng, you'll hardly encounter any competition, nor will anyone be able to shake your status as a starter."

"Young lady, from what I'm hearing, I don't see any benefits at all?" Long Longyun asked, looking somewhat puzzled.

"These *are* the benefits!" Ning Xi said with a smiling, beaming face. "Only with fierce competition will there be pressure, and only with pressure can Ah-Long's potential be maximized... Which world-class player hasn't grown up amidst cruel and fierce competition? Flowers in a greenhouse will never have any competitiveness."

Long Longyun nodded thoughtfully. He thought of Peng Fei; this boy had been considered by everyone since childhood to be destined for great success. And the result? Now he couldn't even find a club to take him in. Yet Long Bisheng, who had always been considered inferior to Peng Fei since childhood, had become a hot commodity—not only was Qingdao Haifeng trying to attract him with lucrative terms, but even Italy's Naples hoped he would join!

Aside from the stroke of luck that saw Long Bisheng selected for the Yunguan Tianyu Football School, much of the reason probably lay in the fact that Long Bisheng always carried a sense of crisis in his heart. It was precisely this sense of crisis that drove him to continuously improve, progressing much faster than anyone else.

With this thought, Long Longyun began to look at Ning Xi in a whole new light. He had initially thought Ning Xi had only become Long Bisheng's agent because of their familiar relationship. Now, it seemed this young lady truly possessed genuine substance. At the very least, she had laid out the pros and cons of both transfers with absolute clarity. It appeared Long Bisheng had found himself a good agent!

Which path to take? Visible gains or long-term prospects? Three people and six eyes were all fixed squarely upon Long Bisheng.