Chapter 77: For Granny

“Dingding has stabbed a hornet’s nest!” Chen Huafeng said to himself as he looked at Xia Bo, who was still lying inside the goal.

Xia Bo was surrounded by few of his teammates.

“How are you feeling? Are you okay?”

Xia Bo strained himself to stand up and rubbed his hands. “It’s nothing. I’ll be good after I move about.”

Su Rui recalled the scene, feeling fortunate that he was not a goalkeeper. “What an incredible shot…”

The referee squeezed himself in. “Hey, are you okay? Do you need treatment?”

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Xia Bo quickly waved his hand. “I don’t need it. Just continue on with the game.”

Kaka went for a corner kick, while Shu Guang’s middle defender, Lin Xiaofang rushed to the goal. There were only 15 minutes remaining and they were lagging behind by one goal.

Kaka did not bring the ball into the penalty area right away. Instead, he passed it to Yang Pan who was not very far away from him.

“Shu Guang performs a tactical corner kick!”

Yang Pan took the ball and did not pass it as well. He took the lead in the middle lane, but soon he was surrounded by his opponents again.

Lu Hui and Dong Yiluo both defended against him. Yang Pan then used his heel and gave the ball to Kaka, who was behind him.

“Kaka passes!”

This time, Su Rui headed the ball out while Cao Po stopped it with his chest and charged forward. Shi Lei gave the ball to Shi Yan preemptively and Shi Yan, who was originally on the right, now ran to the left. It really was a matter of taking everything from the right to the left.

Shi Yan wanted to shoot, but he was faced with Chen Bo. Nonetheless, he passed the ball back to Fan Cunjie on the right and ran to the bottom line. Fan Cunjie took the initiative to pass the ball to his right and it flew over Chen Bo’s head to Shi Yan.

Shi Yan unloaded the ball with his right foot, changing to his left shortly after and passing the ball!

“Bin Fei heads it to the goal!”

An Ke moved sideways and caught the ball firmly in his hands. He tumbled when he landed on the ground to avoid any injuries.

“What a beautiful save!”

“A shot like that is definitely not enough! Are you guys joking? Is this Dingding’s strength?” An Ke shouted and kicked the ball out.

Naturally, it caused an uproar in the stands.

As Bin Fei ran back, he looked at Shu Guang’s goalkeeper who stood there with both hands on his hips.

After Dingding got their power back again, Fan Cunjie advanced past Yang Yong and entered the penalty area. Bin Fei quickly started chasing after the ball, but An Ke was one step ahead of him. He raised both of his hands to catch the incoming ball. Bin Fei did not retreat in time and fell to the ground.

Shi Lei immediately raised his hand to the referee for a penalty kick, but the referee shook his head and motioned for the game to be continued.

However, the audience was not buying it and they booed him. Whenever An Ke got the ball, there would always be booing sounds coming from the stands.

Chen Huafeng laughed. “An Ke has become the public’s enemy.”

“An Ke solved our worries, shouldn’t we put up a better performance too?” Kaka called out to Zhang Jun and Yang Pan as the ball went out of bounds.

Yang Pan nodded.

Zhang Jun replied, “I have a plan, we…”

The trio got together and shortly after, they split up as they gave each other high-fives. “Let’s go with this plan then!”

Kaka pulled Wang Ning to the side to discuss as well.

It was Shu Guang’s ball and Wang Ning passed to Kaka. Kaka controlled the ball when he was faced with Cao Po. At this moment, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan suddenly ran in Kaka’s direction. Dingding’s defenders did not know what else to do and they followed those two as well.

However, Kaka did not pass the ball to Zhang Jun or Yang Pan, who were running towards him. Instead, he passed it to Wang Ning who was running from the back.

“Cao Po is very defensive. Kaka has no choice but to turn and pass the ball to Wang Ning.”

However, Wang Ning did not continue with the pass. He headed the ball all of a sudden and it flew towards Zhang Jun!

Zhang Jun stopped abruptly and turned around to face Yao Wang, who was defending against him. He did not seem to be aware of the ball falling towards Dingding’s goal.

Yao Wang froze for a moment, not knowing what Zhang Jun was about to do. Despite that, he followed and ran up to Zhang Jun when the ball fell to his side.

“Why is Zhang Jun acting like this? Is he going to give up that ball…”

Yao Wang thought the same too. Although he was somewhat confused, he still ran towards the ball.

“Yao Wang, get the ball! With his height, this ball should be nothing… This isn’t right! Wait!”

As Yao Wang witnessed Zhang Jun running beside him, the ball fell just right behind him. He was getting ready to extend his leg to stop the ball like before, but he found the soccer ball rising again and flying over his head to back!

“Zhang Jun! Zhang Jun kicks the ball with his heel! As he runs, he is still able to use his heel to move the ball forward! What an exquisite move!”

Yao Wang never thought that Zhang Jun would have such a skill. He was frozen in place, and as a result, forgot to turn back and give chase.

The moment Su Rui saw Yao Wang being passed, he immediately went to fill his place.

Zhang Jun stopped the ball as Su Rui rushed in front of him. After the two were entangled, Zhang Jun started to wobble, but Su Rui remained unmoved as he followed him.

Zhang Jun wrapped the ball with his left foot, then switched to his right as he sped up to cut into the penalty area!

Su Rui knew how powerful Zhang Jun’s explosiveness was and he did not dare neglect it. Nevertheless, as he waited for the right moment to give chase to Zhang Jun, he could not see the ball. He then heard Zhang Jun’s suspicious voice. “Hehe! You’ve been tricked!”

“It’s Yang Pan! He’s so fast!”

Yang Pan sprinted, waiting for this opportunity. His distance from Lu Hui was small, but it was enough. Zhang Jun used a series of fake actions to deceive Su Rui, who was following him. All the while, the ball remained in his possession. Yang Pan took this chance and rushed over with full force.

…

“Why are you being so ignorant? Now that you’re like this, you still want to go back and play the game?” his mother said in an unhappy tone.

Yang Pan did not reply. He stood in front of his grandmother’s catafalque without saying a word.

“Is a game really that important? Even more important than Granny?”

“Granny raised him with her own hands, how could he do something like this?”

“I don’t understand kids these days!”

His relatives were talking with each other, but Yang Pan stood silently as he looked at a portrait of his grandmother smiling. Granny was always smiling like this. She was never seen being unhappy. Even until now, she’s still smiling at me…

His father approached him. “You really want to go?”

Yang Pan nodded.

“Go on then, but remember to rush back after the game finishes. Granny is still waiting for you.”

Yang Pan looked at his father and knew that he was supporting him. Shortly after, he took another glance at his grandmother’s portrait and bowed deeply. He then turned and walked out of the door, ignoring the discussion behind him.

“Hey—” His mother extended her arm and called out to Yang Pan, but she was stopped by his father.

“Let him go. Mother supports him playing soccer the most.”

…

“Yang Pan has taken a big shot—”

The commentator’s voice dropped as the soccer ball turned into an orb of white light, rushing straight into Dingding’s goal. Xia Bo attempted to make a save, but it was only after the ball went in.

Lu Hui, who just caught up with Yang Pan suddenly felt a few drops of warm water hitting his face and arm. He did not have the time to think about it as he heard the commentator yell, “The ball! It went in…”

With that first insight, the reactions from the stands became very strong; more and more spectators began exclaiming.

Fan Cunjie waved his left hand angrily. They only had 10 minutes left, but the score was now a tie. Had the first 70 minutes of hard work gone to waste?

Yang Pan broke free from Chen Bo and ran to the corner. Then, he tripped and headed the ball to the north, in the direction of his hometown. After doing so, he bowed his head solemnly.

Zhang Jun looked at Yang Pan making his way to the north. He had endured his tears for so long and in the end, he could not take it any longer. In his teary vision, he pretended to see himself and Yang Pan sprinting home as Granny followed behind them. There was laughter all the way and the lights from the roadside also joined in their happy chorus, lighting up one by one…

Granny, have a safe journey…

When Xia Bo stood up, his face was pale and scary looking. He laughed for the first time. “Too fast, too fast…”

Fan Cunjie looked at him. As the game progressed, even Xia Bo began to feel nervous. This showed how much pressure Shu Guang had been exerting on them. Moreover, the closer the game was to the end, the greater the pressure got. It seemed like it was going to crush his nerves and will.

He shook his head and oulled himself together. It was not the time to think about such things. There were only 10 minutes left and they needed to score another goal!

“Can you keep a shot like that out?” Li Yongle turned to ask the Zhongyuan goalkeeper.

Zhang Lintao was having his eyes closed. After a while, he opened his eyes and said, “I can promise if it’s from a range of 30 m. I might also have a chance to succeed if it’s within 25 m. But with a shot from the penalty zone, I can only pray that God stands behind me.”

“You really are hilarious!” Zhang Yang pressed Zhang Lintao’s head and laughed. “God will be with you!”

“Hehe! You can rest assured that in next week’s game, I will not let Yang Pan score a point!” Zhang Lintao laughed too.

“Dingding kicks the game off for the fourth time. The tenacious Shu Guang was left behind twice, but the team has also equalized the score twice. There are only nine minutes left until the game ends and both sides have returned to the starting point. The score is now 3: 3. The last few minutes will decide the victor!”

“Hey, I admire Shu Guang’s performance and I have to admit that they are an excellent team!”

Once again, Fan Cunjie took the ball into Shu Guang’s side of the field. He had to keep running and not stop to vent. This way, he could avoid thinking about stupid questions like, “Can we still win?”

Kaka forced his way up.

Fan Cunjie kicked the ball and Shi Yan received it, bypassing Kaka in the process. “Hurry up! Pass it over here!”

Without considering the time, Shi Yan quickly passed the ball.

“Two over one!”

This time he was faced with Wang Ning. Li Hao did not have time to get into the mix and it now evolved into a single battle between Wang Ning and Fan Cunjie.

The two of them were stuck together once again. Fan Cunjie’s strength was not to be underestimated. After all, he managed to crush Li Hao, who was as strong as a bull. However, Fan Cunjie found that although Wang Ning looked pretty ordinary, he was no less stronger than Li Hao. What was even more surprising, the midfielder had many moves up his sleeves. If the referee did not pay any attention, there would be no foul. And this could potentially make him suffer.

As Fan Cunjie braced for support, Shi Lei ran over. Fan Cunjie got a hold of Wang Ning with his hands and since he used his hands, it was fair for everyone to use their hands as well. He held on to Wang Ning and hurriedly gave the ball to Shi Lei.

Shi Lei did not turn around, opting to pass to Dong Yiluo who was on the side lane. Dong Yiluo did not make a break through after he saw the opponent’s “ferocious” defenders. If he had rushed through them, there was a possibility that he would have fallen into their quicksand. So, he led the ball directly into the penalty zone.

Bin Fei once again showcased his exceptional sense in the penalty zone. He snatched the first point with his height of 180 cm.

“Bin Fei is going to attempt a goal!”

An Ke quickly moved to his position,but Bin Fei headed the ball and passed it to Shi Lei.

“An Ke was tricked! Shi Lei is going to take a shot now!”

Su Fei could not help covering her eyes.

“Just kidding!”

An Ke twisted his body and lunged sideways towards the ball! Bin Fei was already raising his hands, ready to cheer, but An Ke extended his long arms and threw the ball out of the bottom line.

“He threw it out! An Ke! That was some divine intervention from God!”

“If there is a God to intervene…” Li Yongle pointed at Shu Guang’s goal and turned to look at Zhang Lintao.

“It’s not divine intervention. Most goalkeepers would have already given up at this point, even if conceding a goal isn’t really their responsibility. It was the defenders who didn’t mark the person properly. But, he’s different. His will to not lose allows him to prevent his goal from being breached.”

“Hey! You seem like you understand An Ke,” Zhang Yang replied.

“I’m also a goalkeeper and there’s always a similarity. If I had been the one facing that ball, I wouldn’t have let it enter too.” Zhang Lintao laughed.

“Ah! After beating around the bush so many times, you were actually boasting about yourself!”

“Dingding takes a corner kick and An Ke grabs the ball in front of everyone again.”

An Ke fulfilled his promise with much diligence. “Until the game ends, I will not allow Dingding to score another point!” Zhang Jun wondered if he should finish what he said before the game, “We must win!”

He lifted his head as An Ke released the ball with a big kick. The soccer ball flew through the air and carried along with it the sunshine.

There were only six minutes left until the game ended and both teams were tied with a score of 3: 3.