It was a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon, with blue skies and cool breeze outside the window. Chen Jian had no interest in taking in the sun outside. Volendam during the weekends was not a quiet place. As a famous wedding photography spot and a tourist attraction in Netherlands, the place would be bustling and packed with tourists every weekend.
He was watching TV at his place at that moment while his agent, Mr. Xia had just arrived and was making coffee in the kitchen.
Chen Jian’s eyes were fixed on the live broadcast of the match between AZ Alkmaar at home against FC Volendam on TV. The match was only 10 minutes old and FC Volendam was already a goal behind.
“You’re still watching?” Mr. Xia said as he walked out of the kitchen with coffee in his hands, “This team’s standard is just like this. It’ll play for a while in the Eredivisie then go back to where it belongs.”
Chen Jian did not answer him as he continued watching the match.
Mr. Xia sat diagonally opposite Chen Jian and stirred his coffee with the spoon. After stirring for a while, making some clinking sounds, he asked Chen Jian, “Chen… Have you considered about the thing I told you about?”
Chen Jian turned to look at his agent, “I haven’t decided yet, Uncle Xia.”
Mr. Xia glared at him and said, “How long do you want to think about this? The season is almost over, this team is definitely going to be relegated.” He pointed at FC Volendam on the screen and said, “You say the manager said he’s not planning to loan you next season? I told him I don’t intend to let you stay at this place. You’re already 23 years old, when the new season start in the second half of the year, you’ll be 24. Do you really want to waste your golden period in this kind of team?”
Chen Jian fell silent again after these words.
“What’s the meaning from Nottingham Forest’s side?” Mr. Xia asked after having a sip of coffee.
Chen Jian shook his head and said, “I don’t know what do they mean.”
Hearing this, Mr. Xia could only sigh helplessly. Nottingham Forest was unlike FC Volendam, he could not scold them the same way he scolded FC Volendam. After all, they were soon-to-be one of the top teams, one of the hottest teams in Europe. Many people made every effort they could but still could not play in Tony Twain’s team. Yet his player was already part of the Forest team… Even though he had not played for Forest before.
After sighing, Mr. Xia thought about it and felt even more aggrieved as he complained, “Dong Fangzhuo at least put on the Manchester United jersey when playing for them and they brought him to South Africa, to Hong Kong to play for them. As for you… They did not say anything about you, neither are they excited about your prospects, nor are they not excited… What does Tony Twain mean by this? I’ve introduced so many Chinese players overseas but I’ve never seen your situation before.”
Chen Jian asked, “Uncle Xia, did you talk to Mr. Twain?”
“What’s there to talk about? He doesn’t care about me at all… A big shot manager is a big shot manager…” Mr. Xia was getting angrier the more he talked about it as he drank all the coffee in one gulp, “But this time…” He swallowed all the coffee, “I must have a talk with him. There’s only a year left on the contract. I must know what plans the club have for you. Otherwise I can’t plan your future for you. Chen Jian, do you know… I originally wanted to make you the example of Chinese players playing overseas because you’re a full-time player for Nottingham Forest. This was very exciting. But if you keep messing about in this kind of teams, it’s useless even if I boasted that you’re the combination of Maradona and Pelé. There are an Eredivisie team and two Belgium First Division A teams interested in you now, I believe this is an opportunity for you. You have to cooperate with me and convince the club to agree to a transfer for you.”
Chen Jian frowned. He was no longer focused on the match as he said, “I don’t think I can convince that person…”
“We’ll do it the hard way then! At such a crucial moment, we have to fight for a better future for you even if we have to burn bridges!” Mr. Xia said as he clenched his fist, as if he was very agitated, “Initially when you were loaned out, what did the club say? It was for you to train. It has been two years and you’re the main player for this team, leading them to the Eredivisie. If they still don’t have any reactions to that, I believe they’ve never really placed much importance on you. Just like Dong Fangzhuo…” He muttered, “In front of the Chinese media, they always say ‘We are not doing this for the Chinese market, that youth really has potential.’ But in reality? Chen, do you feel like you’re important to them?”
This was a difficult question for Chen Jian to answer. Was he not important? Coach Twain called Tianjin himself to ask to let him chase his dreams in Nottingham Forest, and he even set up a special training menu for him. When coach Twain was still in the Forest team, he took extra care of him. Was he important? After he was loaned out, the club almost did not ask about him at all. FC Volendam would report the performance of the player on loan to Forest once every quarter. Chen Jian knew that this was not a special privilege that he had. Every player on loan would have the same treatment. As for the reports that were sent back, would his be looked at a few more times? He did not know.
Mr. Xia looked at Chen Jian and waited for his reply.
Chen Jian did not know how to answer this question, so he resorted to the same old reply. He shook his head and said, “I don’t know…”
“You! You…” Mr. Xia was fuming at Chen Jian’s reply, “I’m trying to fight for your benefits, bro!”
Chen Jian knew that everything Mr. Xia was doing was for his own good of course… At least from a financial point of view.
Mr. Xia say down after he finished complaining and stayed silent. Chen Jian did not know what to say either. The room fell into an awkward silence. At this moment, there were cheers coming from the TV and their attentions were momentarily drawn by it.
FC Volendam had equalized.
“How stubborn…” Mr. Xia mocked.
“They have no hopes of escaping relegation even if they draw,” Chen Jian said calmly at the side.
This topic gave them another impetus to talk as Mr. Xia continued asking, “Can you tell me what you think, Chen? Do you want to stay at FC Volendam, or at Forest, or at another place?”
Chen Jian did not hesitate this time, “If possible, I wish to play for Nottingham Forest of course.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s the top league, the level is the highest, and… If I play in a team like that, my parents would find it easier to watch me on TV,” Chen Jian replied.
Mr. Xia grunted in reply, “This last point fits your personality. I also know that it will be great if you can play for Nottingham Forest. But…it’s too difficult.” He dusted his hands and shrugged his shoulders as he continued, “I think you should not hold on to impossible fantasies like this, Chen. The current situation is that Nottingham Forest is not interested in you. Obviously, I’m not concerned about you being dealt a blow by what I’m saying, Chen. You’re indeed not good enough to make them attracted to you…” At this point, Mr. Xia stole a glance at Chen Jian and found out that there were no signs of unhappiness on his face. He thought that he was a fellow who knew his own strengths.
“So, the plan I have for you is to train yourself in teams from the Eredivisie or the Belgium First Division A for a few years first, then transfer to a team in one of the four big leagues. First, you have to leave Nottingham Forest. They might be your parent team, but they are no help to your development at all, even hindering your progress.”
Mr. Xia started to list down the various wrongdoings that Nottingham Forest had to Chen Jian. At this moment, there was a knock on the door outside.
Chen Jian waved at his agent apologetically and went to answer the door.
There was a young man with a yellow cap and a yellow jacket standing outside. Chen Jian noticed the “dhl” printed on the cap. That was the logo for DHL Express.
“Mr. Chen Jian?” The man smiled and asked in English.
Chen Jian nodded out of reflex, he still did not know why the logistics company was looking for him. Could it be his parents sending food from China to him to add to his meals again? When he thought about that, he turned and looked behind the courier, other than the exclusive yellow dhl van with red stripes, there was nothing else. Could the item be in the vehicle?
After confirming the identity of the customer, the dhl staff took out an express delivery envelope and a pen.
“Please sign here, Mr. Chen Jian.”
“Eh?” Chen Jian felt strange looking at this letter.
“It’s for you sir, please sign here, Mister Chen Jian.” The dhl staff did not show any signs of unhappiness at the hesitation displayed by Chen Jian, instead, he repeated what he said earlier with the addition of honorifics.
Even though he did not know what it was exactly, Chen Jian still signed his name.
After ensuring that there was no mistake, the dhl staff passed the envelope to Chen Jian and politely took his leave.
Chen Jian stood at the door in a daze, holding the envelope until that van drove off.
Mr. Xia felt something wrong when he did not see Chen Jian return after so long and he stood up and walked towards the door, “What’s wrong, Chen, who was it?”
“Ah… A letter. But I don’t know who is it from,” Chen Jian replied as he turned around, waving the item in his hand.
“Open it up and you’ll know,” Mr. Xia said as he turned back, it was nothing serious, “You have to give what I said earlier some serious consideration, Chen. Nottingham Forest is really not suitable for you…”
He was still rambling on.
Chen Jian opened the envelope and found another red envelope inside. He flipped it over and saw the Nottingham Forest badge.
“It’s from Nottingham Forest,” Chen Jian did not hear what Mr. Xia was saying at all. He waved the envelope in his hand and continued opening it.
Two pieces of paper fell out from the envelope.
“They sent it to you? What did they send?”
Chen Jian did not answer his agent’s question. He bent down to pick up the two pieces of paper, one thin and one thick. The thicker one was actually a ticket.
“UEFA Champions League…Finals…Ticket?” Chen Jian read it out softly. He looked up at Mr. Xia in surprise. Nottingham Forest did not reach the Champions League final ever since he was loaned out, so this was his first time receiving a ticket from Forest, it was no wonder that he was shocked.
Mr. Xia had a sudden realization. He shrugged and said, “This trick again…” He explained to Chen Jian, “Every player being loaned out will receive this ticket when Forest reaches the Champions League Final. Tony Twain thinks that this is a way to cultivate the honor and loyalty of these players to Forest. As for the effect of it, I’ll not go into details. They’re not treating you any differently, Chen.”
Chen Jian looked down at the ticket in his hand. Then he saw that there was another piece of paper in his hands.
It seemed to be a letter, he opened it up. There was just one line on it, written in Mandarin:
“Foolish old man, how’s the digging of the Taihang and Wangwu mountains?”
This sentence struck a chord deep inside Chen Jian’s heart. He remembered how he answered Twain when he was at the Tianjin Justice Jingguan School then.
—Chen Jian, for you, when the road to your dreams leads to a dead-end, what do you think is standing in front of you? A wall? No, I’m telling you now, what’s blocking in front of you is not a wall, but a huge mountain! Then Chen Jian, if you want to fulfill your dreams, what do you plan to do? Answer me.
—Dig through it, sir!
Dig through it, dig through it… dig through it!
Chen Jian trembled slightly with the letter in his hands.
That voice had already became muffled gradually and there were times when he even forgot this conversation.
I always thought that I had succeeded because I’m playing professionally here and I have an agent, just like any other professional players… But I see, I’m still just digging through the mountain.
If I stop here thinking that I’ve already dug through that mountain, then I’ll be stuck here my whole life. I’ll look up and think that the sky that I’m looking at is the whole world. I won’t be resigned to this…
The agent, Mr. Xia realized that Chen Jian was acting weird and he asked, “What’s wrong, Chen? What’s written there?”
Chen Jian looked up, smiled and said, “Dear Chen Jian, the club has always been monitoring your performance very closely, please continue to work hard…something like that. It’s just as you said, Uncle Xia, beautiful words to win people over.” He folded the letter properly and placed it back into the envelope before showing Mr. Xia the ticket.
“I’ll go watch then.”
“Me too,” Mr. Xia took the ticket from him, had a good look and returned it to him, “I’ll book one online. I have to find an opportunity to have a good talk with Tony Twain.”
“There’s no rush actually. Let’s wait till after the Champions League final. You’ll definitely not be able to have a private talk with him before the final, Uncle Xia. He’s sure to be extremely busy then.”
Mr. Xia thought about what Chen Jian said and realized that he was right.
“Okay then, after the season is over, you’ll return to China to visit your parents and I’ll go look for him.”
Chen Jian nodded.
“We’re not done yet, Chen. You have to tell me about how you’ve planned for your own future? Don’t tell me things like you still wish to play for Nottingham Forest. That’s impossible, you know? It’s a delusion and empty delusions are pointless. You have to be realistic, your future lies elsewhere…”
Chen Jian waited for Mr. Xia to finish talking before replying calmly, “Sorry, Uncle Xia. I still want to play for Nottingham Forest, at least until the end of my contract.”
Mr. Xia put a hand on his forehead and exclaimed, “Why? To be a star? To let your parents see you on TV every weekend? To win more champion’s trophies? To earn more money? Why?”
This time, Chen Jian smiled and shook his head, “I don’t know.”
“You…you’re really an idiot!” To be stuck with a player like this, Mr. Xia, the agent, had no choice.
Chen Jian could only smile as he looked at him lying down on the sofa, unwilling to acknowledge him.
There are some things that you can’t tell an outsider so easily, Uncle Xia, very sorry.
