It had been almost a month since the thrilling semi-finals of the play-offs. Although Tang En had long recovered from his defeat, he still had not recovered from it. Although Tang En had recovered from the defeat, he still dreamed that he was eliminated again on the night of the game and lost even more miserably — 0: 4. His team was powerless to fight back.
The team had already finished all the games for the season. A declining powerhouse struggling in England's second division did not have any commercial games to play. The team announced its dissolution on the second day of the game. From the players to the coach, they would all have a long holiday for them to enjoy.
As early as May 11th, the final round of the 02-03 English Premier League season ended. The final outcome was as Tang En had predicted. Manchester United, who was five points behind Arsenal, began a great counterattack after Christmas. In the end, they were five points ahead of Arsenal to win the championship. Tang En won his bet with Burns, but he was not in the mood to ask Burns to honor it because Gavin had just been in trouble. The bet to hold a cocktail party at the bar was canceled, but Burns honored another promise: from now on, Tang En's drinks at the Forest Bar were all free. After this incident, Burns looked at Tang En as if he were a Gypsy fortune teller.
Many other stories happened in between. The story of David Beckham being disfigured by Ferguson's flying boot also played out as scheduled, attracting the attention of the world for a while. Everyone thought that Beckham and Ferguson's 11-year master-disciple relationship had finally come to an end, and that his fate with Manchester United was over. But there were many doubts about where he would go next. Most people were inclined to think that he would go to Real Madrid because Real Madrid had been flirting with Beckham in the previous Champions League game. But Real Madrid's president, Florentino, firmly denied that Real Madrid would buy Beckham.
"There's no story between Real Madrid and David."
Tang En bought a copy of The Times from a street newsstand. He skipped the political and financial news and flipped straight to the sports section on the ninth page. The first thing that caught his eye was this huge headline. The season had just ended, and the media had begun excitedly hyping the transfer of players. The transfer market was like this every year, but this year, it was even crazier and more lively because of the addition of a heavyweight star player.
He looked at the news reported with certainty and snorted. From the perspective of an experienced person, the biggest hot topic of this year's transfer market was simply a farce.
Real Madrid tried hard to clarify: We won't buy Beckham. How could we buy Beckham? Of course we won't buy Beckham! We have a good working relationship with the Manchester United Football Club. Everyone is from G14. Why would we do something like poaching?
Everyone believed it, but what happened in the end?
When Beckham, who once wore the Red Devils captain's armband and fought for Manchester United, held the white Real Madrid jersey and stood together with Florentino and Real Madrid's honorary president Di Stefano, the Manchester United fans all over the world thought they had been deceived. Yes, they had enough reasons to complain about everything. But if they were smart enough, they should have known a long time ago that the Real Madrid president's promise of "we will never buy so-and-so" needed to be heard in reverse. Think about how Ronaldo managed to get here. It was only natural that Beckham would end up at Real Madrid.
Tang En roughly flipped through today's newspapers and found that they were all related to Beckham's transfer rumors. If his team had been promoted successfully, he would have loved to see this kind of gossip. But the truth was that he wasn't in the mood to care about the fate of others.
Tang En rolled up the newspaper he had just bought and threw it into the bin. He decided to walk around and relax.
Originally, Tang En had hoped to go to China with Yang Yan. After many conversations with Yang Yan, he found out that Yang Yan had not emigrated. She had only come to Nottingham to study and would return after graduation. Her family was now in Sichuan. But a sudden infectious disease completely disrupted Tang En's plans.
SARS swept through the whole of China in a few short months. Almost no place was spared. It was at its peak in May. By June, China's Beijing was still a tourist restricted area. Even if Tang En was not afraid of death, he could not go to China. In May, when the epidemic was at its worst, Tang En had pretended to make a wrong call and went home to check on the situation. Everything was fine, which made him feel a little relieved. But no matter what, he still hoped to be able to see his parents with his own eyes and see that they were still alive and healthy. This month's vacation was mainly to go to China. Unfortunately, he could not obtain a tourist visa to go to China.
As for the other "Tang En" … Unfortunately, Tang En remembered that he was very unlucky in 2003. In the first half of the year, he had lost two cell phones in less than half a year. He had changed his phone number so many times that he could not even remember what his phone number was from four years ago. He could not contact the other "Tang En" even if he wanted to. He could only pray that the other "Tang En" would be like the original 2003, safe and sound. As for the two cell phones he had lost, he would just treat it as a loss of money.
Actually, other than visiting his parents, he had another very important purpose in returning to China — to spend time alone with Yang Yan. He did not expect all his plans to go up in smoke. After muttering to himself that it was not meant to be, Tang En took out his cell phone and planned to ask Randy to drive him to the downtown area.
At that moment, he realized that a girl had stood beside him. Judging from her height, she seemed to be about 16 years old. She wore a red pleated short skirt, revealing two long and slender legs that were as white as pearls. Her light gray T-shirt even had a cute teddy bear printed on it. She was looking at him.
The girl had a head of dark brown shoulder-length hair and neat bangs that stuck to her forehead. Beneath her thin, curved eyebrows was a pair of wide-open eyes that were as clear and translucent as spring water. Tang En also noticed that the girl's eyes were not the more common blue, gray, or amber color of Westerners. Instead, they were the same dark brown color as her hair.
The girl looked up at him, and he looked down at the girl. Just like that, the two of them stared at each other on the street.
Tang En could not understand why the girl was staring at him. He was sure that there were no crumbs, butter, or grains of rice on his face. He was also very sure that he had zipped up his pants before leaving the house.
He treated this as a test of patience with the other party to see who could remain silent until the other party surrendered first.
"Sorry to disturb you. May I ask, sir, do you know how to get to 13 Branford Garden Street … "The girl surrendered first. There was even a hint of shyness in her crisp voice. It was very standard English with a London accent. Coming from that pink and pouty mouth, it was a pleasure to hear.
However, Tang En shook his head and muttered in a low voice, "It's a pity it's an airport …"
Midway through her sentence, the little girl was shocked, and then she suddenly raised her hand to cover her chest.
"Sir!" The girl pouted and glared at him. "I'm going to call the police!"
"Ah? Police … "Tang En turned his head and saw a patrol officer wearing a bright yellow vest walking towards him. Wow, he couldn't be that unlucky, could he? If he was arrested for molesting a young girl on the street, he could forget about having a peaceful summer.
Tang En really wanted to hide, but the other party seemed to have seen them and walked straight towards them.
The girl was very happy that the police was able to notice what was happening here. She walked forward, intending to complain first. "Mr. Police, this person …" She pointed at Tang En, only to realize that the police did not seem to see her. He walked straight past her and then walked towards the man she was pointing at with open arms.
"Ah ha! I really didn't expect to meet you here, Mr. Tang En! "The police happily greeted Tang En. Both the girl and Tang En were stunned.
"I watched the last match. To be honest, our luck is really terrible!" Because his back was facing her, the girl did not know what the police's expression was. But from his voice, it was easy to tell how he was feeling. "As for that child's death, I'm also very sorry … I wasn't on duty there at the time."
Tang En understood — he had met a police officer who was a Forest fan! So he immediately put away his surprised expression. "I'm also very sorry that I couldn't successfully promote the team …"
"No, no, it's nothing, sir. I believe that as long as the club gives you another year, you can definitely do it. I really like watching the Forest matches that you coach. Do you know why? Because we always win, haha! Don't be discouraged! Next season, next season, we can definitely do it! Forest, forest! " The interesting patrol officer shouted the fan's slogan twice, then patted Tang En on the shoulder and left. He completely did not see that there was still a poor girl waiting for him to save her.
Watching the police fan walk away, Tang En lowered his head and looked at the stunned girl with a victorious expression. He then gave her what he thought was his most charming smile. "Little girl, what were you going to ask me just now?"
The girl did not obediently answer Tang En's question. Instead, she cursed in a low voice, "What the hell!"
"Ahem! It's not good for a girl to curse. "
"None of your business!" The girl glared angrily at Tang En.
Tang En sized her up from head to toe. She was wearing comfortable white sneakers and was dressed in a short outfit. She even had a black and white Adidas sports bag slung across her back. Coupled with the fact that she did not have a Nottingham accent and her appearance was completely different from that of a British girl, he already knew that this girl was a foreign tourist. So he shrugged. "I just wanted to help you out of the kindness of my heart. Alright, since you don't want me to care, then I'll leave. Goodbye, little girl. "
He waved his hand and elegantly turned around to leave.
This time, it was the girl's turn to admit defeat. She shouted, "Do you know how to get to 13 Branford Garden Street?"
With his back facing the girl, Tang En revealed a victorious smile on his face. He then turned around with a smile. "You're really lucky. I live on Branford Garden Street." This place was less than 50 meters away from the newsstand at the corner of the street where Tang En bought and sold newspapers. From that newsstand to where Tang En lived, it was only a walk of 500 meters.
The girl stared at Tang En suspiciously. Perhaps she felt that this perverted uncle who stared at her chest did not seem like a good person.
"What? You don't believe me? You think I'm lying to you? " Tang En spread out his hands and shrugged innocently. "I live on 10 Branford Garden Street …" At this point, he suddenly stopped and looked at the girl opposite him in shock.
"… 13 …"
Both of them were stunned.
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
