That evening, the photograph of Twain smiling with the check in his hand appeared on the various major television stations’ sports news and football programs. Even the entertainment talk shows, which had nothing to do with football, excitedly discussed this affair—because this matter was really hilarious.
Most of England was on Twain’s side in this rare instance.
The influx of foreign capital had caused a lot of panic among those who feared the erosion of English football. At this time, it was a coincidence that Tony Twain came out with “Tony Twain’s style” of rejecting Manchester City’s monetary offensive. Although he himself only wanted to protect his players, he could almost be equated as a “national hero” in the eyes of many outsiders…
“… To be honest, I think they (the Arabs) should know what kind of opponent they’ve encountered. It’s not easy to poach a player from Tony Twain.” In the Sky TV’s football news, the news anchor smiled as he critiqued after he reported the news.
※※※
The BBC television station conducted street interviews. A bald man clenched his fists and shouted excitedly, “Although I’m not a Nottingham Forest fan, this time I support Tony Twain and his team! Can’t allow the Arabs to think that they can act without the slightest scruple because they have money! Keep fighting, Forest! Oh yeah!”
After the excited fan left, the reporter spoke to the microphone and said to the camera, “Obviously, he is not a Manchester City fan.”
“Well, thank you, Vincent. Maybe he’s a Manchester United fan.” The host said after the footage cut back live to the studio.
※※※
On a late-night talk show, the invited female star thrusted up her generous bosom and said to the host with a laugh, “Ah, I think I’m a little obsessed with the lovely Tony. He’s so manly! I don’t mind having a one-night stand with him… I hear he doesn’t have a girlfriend?”
The host pretended to make a face and said, “Aren’t you afraid that he’s gay?”
The female star’s eyes sparkled, and she smiled happily, “I don’t mind at all! And I think it’s going to be more thrilling!”
※※※
The BBC 5’s correspondent and the reporter, Spicer from The Daily Telegraph was producing a book called <The mysterious aura of Tony Twain—the man he is>. He said through the telephone on the live show to everyone who followed this incident closely, “This is not just a football event. I’d rather call it a social phenomenon! My <The mysterious aura of Tony Twain—the man he is> is about to be finished! At that time, I believe you can learn some of the reasons. Frankly speaking he is such a person!”
※※※
The Sky TV’s website message board was even livelier. There was less constraint here than on the television media, so it seemed a little confusing. Those people who supported Tony Twain were in the majority, and the opposition party was almost all Manchester City fans.
“Let him die! Who does he think he is? This clown, Tony Twain is the bastard resulting from me screwing around with his mother. Wah haha haha—”
“Poor man, another idiot driven mad by Tony…”
“You damn moron, why did your father not flush you down the toilet when you were born?”
“Don’t mind him. Leave him be.”
“Tony Twain keep fighting! We are all your supporters!”
“Why should we support an upstart like Nottingham Forest? A hooligan has become your idol. I really feel sad for the British people!”
“You’re not qualified to say that, you Manchester City upstart asshole!”
“You Manchester City idiot, who are you calling an upstart? Come to Stamford Bridge if you dare. I’ll show you a thing or two!”
“We, Manchester United fans have announced that there is only one team in Manchester, and that is Manchester United! Oh yeah, oh yeah—Oh yeah!”
“Get out of the way, you red devils! Don’t you know who the first owner in Manchester was! Blue is the main color of English football!”
“F**K! Are you completely ignoring the existence of Liverpool? I tell you; we’ve won the most championship titles in England! Blue is shit!”
“Anfield bastards, don’t think that just because we Everton fans are away, you can be full of shit!”
“Manchester City are stupid c**ts, can’t even be compared to Arsenal…”
“White Hart Lane bastards don’t lump the Gunners together with idiots like Manchester City. We’re better than them!”
“Damn it, we’ll show you Gunners in the next North London derby!”
…
It was really chaotic and indeed the first mess in history.
※※※
And the main character who caused this chaos was at home, with his legs crossed and holding a cup of tea, talking to Shania on the phone.
“Uncle Tony, you’re making headlines again!”
“How so? Does the American side cares about the Premier League too? They all don’t watch soccer, do they?”
“I checked online!”
“The Internet is so annoying. Can’t even pretend to be a good guy…” Twain did not even watch his mouth and teased Shania who could not see him. He found that during this time, as long as it was a phone call with Shania, he could not act serious. He initially wanted to seriously ask her about her study and career, but all he could say became jokes. Perhaps it was because they had not seen each other for too long. He really miss her…
Sure enough, Shania giggled and said, “But I like to see you pretend to be a good guy, Uncle Tony.”
“Why?” Twain did not understand. There was nothing to like about pretending to be a good guy.
“Because it’s cute!”
A huge bead of sweat dripped from Twain’s forehead. Was an uncle who was close to fort years old in biological age, still cute? He thought about it and felt a chill down his spine.
“Hey, Shania. Don’t use the word ‘cute’ to describe an old man in the future. I’m covered in goosebumps.”
Shania chuckled even more happily.
But he really felt good to be able to cheer up Shania who was alone in the United States. Not to mention that he would be a cute middle-aged uncle, even if he were to be a clown, Twain would do so too.
There was a strange feeling growing in Twain’s heart. He liked to hear Shania silvery bell-like laughter. He felt that if he could make Shania happy every day, it would be a great achievement. He would never forgive whoever made Shania unhappy. And whoever get any ideas about this lovely fairy, he would also never … he did not seem to have any right. She was not even his own daughter… But I can keep her safe. Those guys whom I don’t think are good enough for her cannot approach Shania within five square miles!
After laughing happily, the two people then fell in a silence.
Twain could even clearly hear her gasps coming from the other end of the phone. Perhaps she had laughed too long. He could even imagine that Shania must be red in her face with a fine bead of sweat on her forehead. The gasps continued, and it became clearer, as if Shania herself had put her lips next to Twain’s ear.
Twain felt a little itchy in his ear…
“Is your work difficult, Shania?” In order to get out of this awkward situation, he spoked first and asked.
“Of course, it’s hard. Sometimes I feel like I’m too busy.” Shania pursed her lips and said. “I feel like giving myself a year off!” She stretched her back and said loudly.
As she grew more famous and had made more new friends in Hollywood, her career gradually expanded. It was normal to be busy.
Twain smiled and thought that even though Shania was eighteen years old, she was still like a child psychologically. “If you want to take a year off, would Mr. Fasal cry?”
“Hee-hee. I can only tell you this. Mr. Fasal is getting stricter.” Shania stuck out her tongue.
Twain suddenly thought of something. “How about your parents? Did you stay in contact?” When he found that they were together, Shania rarely took the initiative to mention her family. Even if her concept of family was indifferent, she should not be like this. Not to mention he heard that Brazilians were not like the British, their sense of family was actually very strong.
“Yes, they came to L.A. some time ago to spend a few days with me. But they’re all busy. I’m been used to it since as long as I can remember. By the way, they asked about you.”
“Asked about me?”
“Yeah, they heard you went to China and Japan, and asked by the way, seeing that you are also busy …”
Twain scratched his head and said, “If I can, I really want to put myself on leave for a year too…”
He finished his sentence only to find that he and Shania had said the same thing and heard Shani’s delighted laughter in amazement.
“If you take a year off, it would not be one person who would be crying, would it? Well, Uncle Tony?”
“Well, can’t always fulfill beautiful wishes. Ah, the reality is so cruel, and society is so harsh…”
After he chatted with Shania for a while more, he eventually hung up. Both of them were a little tired from working every day. They were tense from being public figures all day long and could only be themselves for so little time at night at home.
Lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, his eyes gradually adapted to the darkness in the bedroom. He was not thinking about how to deal with more reporters coming in tomorrow, or what would happen after his fight to death with Manchester City. He suddenly recalled Shania’s gasps over the phone.
In addition to the clear gasps in his mind, there was only the slightly open and moist red lips. The small and lovely tongue hidden behind the pearl white teeth gently poked its tip out, as if a budding lotus had just exposed its sharp tips.
Uncle Tony….
Twain suddenly sat up from the bed. He got off the bed, bent his waist and ran into the bathroom. He remembered that he had cared about talking to Shania over the phone just now and forgot to empty his bladder for his survival… Soon, the sound of peeing into the toilet could be heard.
Once he came out of the bathroom, he passed by Shania’s room, stood at the door and looked inside for a moment. The décor was exactly the same as when Shania was there. The family of Totoro soft toys sat on Shania’s bed and became temporary tenants.
Looking at these charmingly naïve and furry soft toys with their different expressions, Twain laughed as he leaned against the door frame.
The eighteen-year-old supermodel and Hollywood’s new star with countless fans around the world, Judy Shania Jordana was considered the star with a boundless future but she was still a little girl who could not sleep at night without holding anything.
※※※
The next day, outside the gates of Wilford, Twain and Dunn came together. They could see the crowd of people swarming around there. They knew who those people were and why they were here.
“Honestly, I’m not surprised at all.” Twain raised his head and said off-handedly.
“Truthfully, I will be shocked if you’re surprised.” Dunn deadpanned and make sarcastic remark next to him.
“Hanging out with the beautiful female reporter has made you more eloquent, Dunn…” Twain gave his partner a sideways glance.
An occasional glib repartee was good for the physical and mental health.
“Hi, good morning…Yo, Mr. 007, how early did you come here? There’s dew on your hair…” Twain skillfully greeted the reporters and did not forget to make a joke or two with the people he had a better relationship with.
“That’s perspiration, Tony…” Pierce Brosnan smiled awkwardly, and reached up to wipe the sweat on his forehead.
Twain signaled for Dunn to enter first. Then he stood at the gate and turned to ask, “What can I do for you?”
He did not want to bring this mess to the training ground. He wanted to settle it here, and not let a single reporter enter.
“Do you know the the Manchester City club’s latest response?” Someone asked aloud among the reporters.
“What?”
“Manchester City’s chief operating officer, Paul Aldridge has made a statement to hit back at your performance at yesterday’s press conference. He thinks you’re a circus clown, putting on a show.”
“He’s not the first person to say that about me. Doesn’t matter. They wanted to buy our player and we sincerely gave a price. If they can’t afford to pay, just come out and say they can’t afford to pay. We can also announce the end of the transfer deal. I don’t know how this personal attack came about.” Twain spread his hands with an innocent face. But the reporters knew that if he were really innocent, there would be no bad guys in the world.
If they were aware of such a Chinese saying— lead the life of a whore and expect a monument built for one’s chastity, and understood what it meant, they would have given it to Tony Twain. Because in their view, Twain was the kind of person who was like a whore that wanted a chastity monument…
“But, Mr. Twain. You don’t think this offer is a little like…”
“Do you think it’s not enough?” Twain asked which shocked the reporter to quickly wave his hands. Who would dare to think it was not enough with so many “9s”? They could not even count the figure!
“I mean to say…a little like daylight robbery.”
“I don’t think so.” The expression on Twain’s face looked even more innocent. “The Manchester City owner told us very sincerely to fill in the check as we like. He didn’t state the amount that we couldn’t fill in, nor did he set a limit for the lowest or highest. Hence I sincerely met the other party’s sincere request. I don’t think we’ve done anything wrong on both sides. So, I don’t understand what the chief operating officer is angry about… Don’t tell me the money is coming out of his own pocket? Oh, then he’s such a poor thing in that case…” Twain raised his eyebrows and sighed.
Some of the reporters laughed.
This time, most of the media stood on the side of Tony Twain. Many of the actions of the Manchester City club since the change of ownership had angered many in this circle, but they had not had the opportunity or excuse to express their dissatisfaction. If they deliberately picked fault with them, it might give the other party information that could be used against them. Now that Manchester City had provoked Nottingham Forest, there would be a good show.
“If the Manchester City club makes a public statement that they have never sent us a blank check and have never said those words ‘fill in the figure you want’, then everything was hyped up by me using the name of the new Manchester City boss. In that case, I can hold another press conference and publicly apologize to the Manchester City Football club as a whole. The sincerest apology and no objections from me!”
※※※
Manchester City certainly could not lick back its sprayed spittle. That would be too disgusting…
The real reason was that the pervasive news media had already brought to live the description they wrote about their image as obscenely wealthy and squandering money around—furthermore, it was what they wanted to see most initially. They hoped to attract the world’s top players to play for them in this way.
As a result, now that they were checkmated by Twain, they had no way to refute.
Twain won in another clash between Nottingham Forest and Manchester City. He finally got his dignity back that he had lost on Richards.
Manchester City suffered a loss and had to suffer in silence. But did that mean they had no way of dealing with Tony Twain?
No, they had many ways.
Today’s Nottingham Forest might be a delicious cheesecake, 82 Lafite, scrumptious French banquet, scantily clad beautiful woman in the eyes of these big shots … The more resistance they put up, the more it aroused the desire of the strong party to conquer.
