Would You Mind If I Play?

If you just heard the sounds of reading and laughter from the inside, you would think that it was just an ordinary school. But the tall walls and gates that were guarded by security guards as well as the deserted streets near the school, all gave off an unusual feeling. Some people called it a place of management while others called it a work-study school. Actually, it had a very nice name―Yang Guang High school.

…

The place used to be a small warehouse, which stored sports equipment. Now, there was a tattered notice on it’s doorway and the handwriting on it was barely intelligible: Yang Guang High School Soccer Team. It was filled with darkness inside, so the lights were turned on for most of the day. It was a room filled with a heavy musty odor.

“Hey! Our next match is against Shu Guang High school.”

“I heard those brats were the dark horses last year.”

“Pah! Watch how I clean them off when I meet them!”

“Hey, but I heard their manager’s really pretty! Fine and tender meat―” Before the person got a chance to finish his sentence, a stool flew towards him from the door. He fell to the ground before he was able to dodge the broken stool.

A figure approached them and the players who were standing or sitting all stood upright. They then shouted in unison, “Coach!”

The man who was addressed as coach said gloomily, “I told you before that you’re not allowed to discuss anything unrelated to soccer in the activity room. Who was the bastard who farted?”

The person who fell earlier crawled his way up and stuttered as he replied, “It-it was me, C-Coach.”

“That’s 20 around the field.”

The honest person accepted his punishment.

The coach then took the stool and sat on it. He glanced at all his players without any expression before he said, “The next match is against Shu Guang. I suppose I don’t need to introduce any of them for you to know what kind of opponents they are? But I’d like to ask, are you guys confident that you’ll win?”

“Yes!” twenty of them shouted back, causing the dust to fall from the ceiling.

The coach nodded.

“This week, you’ll have to accept a training regime much stricter than before. Y’all better put some heart into getting ready. Tu Yong.”

A pale and tall boy who wore a pair of glasses stood up.

“Bring them out for training. Run 10 rounds first.”

…

“Our opponent for the next match is Yang Guang High School,” Liang Ke said.

There were whispers all around.

“Yang Guang High School… I’ve never heard of it.”

“Have you heard of this name?”

“No, but the name sure sounds nice.”

Liang Ke coughed and everyone in the room immediately quieted down. “The name Yang Guang High School is unfamiliar to everyone… But, I’m sure everyone’s heard of the work-study school,” Liang Ke said slowly.

This time, everyone jumped like they were in a frying pan.

“The work-study school? Coach, are you joking?”

“Oh God! How could it be them?!”

“Wow! This is terrible!”

…

Zhang Jun did not understand why everyone was so worked up. “What’s a work-study school?”

Ren Yu De explained to him, “There are tons of misbehaving teenagers in our society. Whenever they join together and become a force to be reckoned with, the policemen always get a headache. Now, if any of these teenagers are caught by the police, they’ll be sent to the work-study school to study. The school has the worst people from the same age group, hence the school’s also very strict in it’s management. Their militarized style of management and violence are key features over there.”

As Zhang Jun listened, he asked Ren Yu De, “How do you know about this so well?”

Ren Yu De did not answer Zhang Jun’s question, he just turned his head away to the side.

Liang Ke raised his voice again to cut off the players’ discussion. “Everyone should be able to know the characteristics of this school’s soccer team just from listening to its name. They all have a strong style― they are rough in their movements and cause frequent fouls. They would take any opportunity to vent when they’re playing soccer.” Liang Ke’s speech made a few of them turn pale in the face and green in the lips. Liang Ke knew how his speech would affect them, but telling them about it now was better than letting them find out on the field, where they would be flustered and weak in the knees.

“Opponents who have played against them were all injured and sent to the hospital. They were seriously injured and even hospitalized. Two years ago, the preliminary match between Yang Guang High School and Wai Yuan Fu High School took place in Yang Guang’s stadium. The spectators of Yang Guang High cursed at the opponents since the start of the game; any small or rough movements they made caused the atmosphere to become tense. After that, due to a foul, both of the teams fought and Yang Guang High was banned from sports for a year. They were not allowed to participate in any form of competition and their names were gradually forgotten. But this year, their ban has been lifted. They won their first game with their consistent rough playing and fouls.”

Everyone seemed to have a lot on their minds after training. They had made many errors earlier and Liang Ke could only laugh bitterly at this. It was up to them to overcome this psychological problem, no one else could do it for them. Their ability to overcome it would determine how far Shu Guang could go and also how far these kids could walk in their future. They had to rise above the occasion; this was the only way for them to grow.

Looking at how unnerved Zhang Jun was, Yang Pan could not endure his nervousness any longer. For Zhang Jun’s good, he decided that it was better to remind him. “Yang Guang players are notoriously brutal when they play. Looking at your current state, aren’t you afraid of being attacked by our opponents?”

Zhang Jun replied, “How can there be no fouls in soccer?”

“Their fouls are unusual; they’re rough and they even hurt people!”

Zhang Jun turned his head and said in a serious tone, “I think you’re just complicating things. They may be bad, but as long as they’re playing soccer, they can’t be that bad. People choose to play soccer because they love it. How can someone who loves soccer hurt other soccer players?”

Yang Pan was speechless. Was Zhang Jun being immature or just plain dumb? If everyone thought the way he did, the world would have no more frightening wars or violence, not even fake soccer. There would be less hooligans and violence on the soccer field. And all because of the simplicity of a happy person!

Su Fei was also less talkative than usual. She was probably worried too after listening to Old Liang’s speech.

Hey! Everyone in the world understood the situation except for that idiot. Not to mention, others were also worried for him…

…

“Little bastard! Run faster! You run like a snail, what ball are you actually kicking?

“Who told you to stop? Continue! There’s still eight rounds left! You’re not allowed to stop until you’ve finish running!

“You’ve got to be rougher with your actions! Kicking the ball so gently! Are you all girls?! Put a little more force into it! Bring out all of your energy!

“Get up! Don’t lie on the ground like a dog! Go back to your nest if you want to sleep!”

The coach had been yelling at his players continuously. Earlier on, he planted his foot on a player’s butt and he swiftly kicked another who fell on the ground. Only one person could endure it as he barked like a crazy dog, and that was the tall, gentle-looking boy, Tu Yong. He was positioned as the midfielder, the captain of this problematic team.

No one really knew about Tu Yong’s past because he was a quiet person. But, there were many who heard about his glorious years before entering Yang Guang High School―he was a silent master of fights. At one time, he was handcuffed and did not want to live. The crazy energy he possessed was actually enough to scare many. Later on in a fight, he attacked a total of four people on his own. Those four did not run away and just squatted on the ground. He staggered around and did not walk far before he fainted. After he woke up in the hospital, his mother as well as the police were right beside him. He was then sent to that school where he became a senior high school student. His expressionless face made him famous in school; many did not know what he was thinking, especially when he just glared at them.

Tu Yong’s specialty was being a midfielder. Therefore, he naturally became the captain when he entered the school’s soccer team. There were people who opposed it, but after finding out that those who opposed him were mysteriously sent to the hospital, no one dared to offer any other suggestions again.

But no matter what kind of person he was, he could lead his soccer team to victory and that was enough for him. During the first match of the qualifiers this year, it was Tu Yong who secured two goals and brought the team to the next round.

…

“Zhang Jun, the telephone. Li Yongle is calling,” Zhang Jun’s mom called from the living room.

Zhang Jun replied his mother and went to get the phone. The guy rarely called, why was he calling now?

“What’s up?” Zhang Jun was too lazy for small talk. He picked up the phone and went straight to the topic. He was at an important point of his comic.

“I saw the match schedule. Your opponent’s gonna be Yang Guang High School, right?”

“You’re asking even though you know about it?”

“That school’s known for it’s violence, will you be okay?”

“Why is everyone asking me the same thing? I’ll be okay!” Zhang Jun was full of laughter.

“You better be more careful. If you can’t snatch the ball, then don’t snatch it. If you can hide, just go into hiding―”

“Windbag, you’re not even my mom. Why are you fussing?” Zhang Jun cut Li Yongle off.

“I’m afraid that you’ll get hurt,” Li Yongle replied without any trace of anger.

“I assure you that I won’t be injured that easily. My goal this year is to get to the national championships!”

Li Yong Le seemed to be in a daze. He remained silent for a while then, he suddenly laughed.

“Hey! Why are you laughing? Is my goal that funny to you?”

He immediately stopped laughing. “No! If that’s the case, I can rest assured. Alright, I have things to do so I’ll hang up now.”

After he hung up, Zhang Jun was still thinking about what Li Yongle meant by his last words. Rest assured? Why would he be assured? What is there to be assured of? He had no idea what he was thinking!

…

First-year Tu Yong wore a No. 10 jersey along with the captain’s armband. This was enough to prove his strength.

During the third match of the National Championship Regional Preliminaries, their opponent was Wai Yuan Fu High, which was not a team of weaklings.

The audience’s curses and the team’s savage behavior was Yang Guang’s soccer style. This match was no exception. They inflicted tremendous pressure on Wai Yuan Fu High, both mentally and physically. Their movements were distorted and they were impatient. The game quickly evolved into a scene where dirty curses were thrown and players were pushed.

After Tu Yong managed to get pass a defender, he got kicked down by his opponent. The situation in the field immediately became chaotic as the referee and school police desperately tried to keep the situation in control.

As soon as Tu Yong crawled up from the ground, he silently approached the person who kicked him earlier and in front of everyone, he flipped his opponent with a kick without any expression! And this caused an even bigger uproar from the crowd! The audience outside the stadium had been suppressing their anger and they all screamed as they rushed into the stadium; the two teams then began to fight. The scene became even more chaotic, the referee and school police could not control the situation any longer. Eventually, the 110 things came to an end and the situation was handled. However, both Wai Yuan Fu High and Yang Guang were suspended for a year. The incident did not have much impact on society after the school’s deliberate concealment, but the Yang Guang soccer team was almost disbanded due to this. It was not until a year before that a coach came to accept this soccer team.

No one knew his name. During the introduction, he said with a sulky face, “You all will only address me by coach and you don’t need to know anything else.”

Those who thought that the team would be a place of enjoyment, or a place where they could be free from the school’s arbitrary violence found His absolute authority and devilish training methods unacceptable. Almost everyone there resisted him at first. However, after he used violence to pick on some of the most vicious people, they started to give in. Because they realized that they could not beat him. In this school, violence was everything. Those who could fight stayed on top.

When everyone opposed the coach, Tu Yong was the only one who did not. Others thought that he was just weird, but he was the only one who knew why the new coach said this: “Soccer is an unscrupulous fight for victory, if the rules allow it.” It suited his appetite. Because, before he entered the team, he always thought the same. In order to achieve his goals, he felt like he could do anything he wanted. How else did he become the big boss of a group of delinquents?

“Unscrupulous pursuit to victory.”

Dad, you’re the one who threw me and mum away, you’re the person who acted irresponsible and walked away. Back then, when you taught me how to play soccer, was it because you wanted me to understand this?

In the silent darkness of the night, Tu Yong expressed sadness on his face.