Chapter 30: A Momentous Event

Seeing the young man speak in such a manner, Long Bisheng immediately believed him. He too came from a family that struggled to make ends meet. As the old saying goes, the poor help the poor and the rich help the rich—if we don’t look after each other, who will?

With that, Long Bisheng eagerly divulged everything he knew, from tuition fees to monthly expenses, pouring out all the details without reservation. He even enthusiastically led the young man around the dormitory and cafeteria, as though he were welcoming a relative to his home.

“This isn’t very cost-effective,” the young man muttered to himself after the tour.

“What do you mean by cost-effective?” Long Bisheng asked curiously, genuinely puzzled by the phrase.

The young man smiled gently. “Cost-effective means: is what you’re paying worth the price? For example, two products with the same function, one expensive and one cheap—the cheaper one is more cost-effective. That’s all it means.”

“Oh, so it’s about whether something’s worth it or not,” Long Bisheng said, suddenly enlightened.

“That’s a perfectly fine way to put it,” the young man replied, beginning to see Long Bisheng in a new light. Anyone who could explain things so simply could hardly be considered foolish. He then asked a question, “You’re quite tall—have you been training here for a long time? And the others seem much younger than you. No wonder you’re the most diligent during practice.”

“I only started last year—haven’t even been here a year yet. But my dad’s been having me play football since I was little,” Long Bisheng replied earnestly.

“How old are you?” the young man asked absentmindedly. To him, Long Bisheng’s training was simply diligent—at his age, this was the best one could expect, and his abilities seemed limited.

“Almost ten,” Long Bisheng said, beaming with pride.

The young man’s mouth fell open.

He wasn’t particularly tall himself—about one meter seventy. But the youthful Long Bisheng was less than half a head shorter than him. He had assumed Long Bisheng was around fourteen or fifteen years old, yet here he was, not even ten—wasn’t that a blow to his own ego?

He looked Long Bisheng up and down and believed him; there was no reason for the boy to lie. Ten years old and one meter sixty tall—a height common among basketball players, but rare among footballers.

Recalling Long Bisheng’s performance in recent training sessions, the young man realized his gaze had shifted.

After a few more words, the young man thanked Long Bisheng and took his leave. He’d learned everything he wanted to know, and though he hadn’t asked directly, his skillful conversation hadn’t aroused Long Bisheng’s suspicions.

Long Bisheng soon forgot about the whole incident and carried on as usual.

Summer vacation drew near, and the students eagerly awaited its arrival. Attending a football school was a joy—no endless holiday homework, just two months to play—hurrah!

The coaches and principal were also looking forward to the break. Working at such a football school brought little excitement; the salary wasn’t much higher than that of a regular physical education teacher, and the students didn’t inspire much passion. There was no real sense of accomplishment in nurturing them. So, with a two-month holiday, the coaches could finally relax.

The principal, however, was delighted for another reason. With the end of the semester, another round of hefty tuition fees would roll in, and the past two years had indeed been quite profitable. The professionalization of football had truly benefited him.

But just a week before the vacation, an incident shattered everyone’s expectations for the summer.

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During another training session, the anticipation for summer left everyone lethargic. Aside from Long Bisheng, all the students were distracted, their minds wandering, some glancing around and stealing moments of idleness.

The coaches didn’t normally discipline such obvious laziness, especially now. Even in ordinary training, both students and coaches were often lackadaisical—save for one boy, who was always buried in his practice.

Suddenly, a student scanning his surroundings shouted, “There’s a crowd at the school gate!”

The training field was small, and his exclamation immediately drew everyone’s attention.

Everyone looked toward the gate and was startled—ordinary folks in China always feel a twinge of fear when confronted by someone in uniform, and even more so when their ranks are multiplied.

Indeed, a large group of uniformed officers had appeared at the school gate—at least several dozen, by rough estimate, along with a few in plain clothes. To the students, anyone walking with the uniformed officers must, at minimum, be an undercover police officer.

“Police, commerce, tax…” a coach murmured, “All three departments at once—a joint enforcement? What’s happened? It’s just a football school. Do we really need so many people?”

No one could answer him. Over a hundred coaches and players watched as the members of state enforcement marched toward the teaching building—the principal’s office was there.

Long Bisheng suddenly cried out; he had spotted the young man who’d questioned him just days ago among the group. Perhaps noticing Long Bisheng’s gaze, the young man turned and offered him a slight smile.

Everyone watched as the young man and the others entered the teaching building, speechless and motionless, staring blankly in that direction.

After about half an hour, roughly half the group returned. The portly principal, looking dejected, was surrounded by the officers. Alongside him was the coquettish, alluring assistant. Several uniformed public security officers escorted the principal and his assistant out through the gate, while a few plainclothes officers strode briskly toward the field, the young man among them.

“They’re coming over,” a student said.

“I think something big is about to happen,” Long Bisheng declared.

Everyone rolled their eyes—his words were nothing but the plainest of truths.