[Han Zhang] One thought

Chapter 38

38.

The first half of the eighth season was fairly uneventful—if Zhang Jiale's sudden retirement was not discussed.But in fact, the entire league couldn't get around this matter, whether it was his former teammates or old opponents like Han Wenqing, Ye Qiu, and Wang Jiexi.

The most terrible thing is that Zhang Jiale announced his retirement only five or six days before the start of the new season. The entire Hundred Blossoms team was caught off guard. It wasn't until the start of the new season that Hundred Blossoms hastily announced that Zou Yuan, a second-year rookie from the Baihua youth training camp, would take over "Dazzling Hundred Blossoms". core.

The names Tang Hao and Zou Yuan are no strangers to Team Hundred Blossoms' team reporters and die-hard fans. On the contrary, Tang Hao still has some very eye-catching highlights in their memories, and Zou Yuan, even in In the eyes of the most "die-hard" fans of Team Hundred Blossoms, it was also very transparent - could he really be the backbone of Hundred Blossoms?

But at this moment, the battered Hundred Blossoms team couldn't deliver any satisfactory answers other than "we choose to believe him".

And the captains of other teams in the alliance—except for Ye Qiu, who was still invisible, and Zhou Zekai, who couldn't pry his mouth out anyway—were also inevitably asked about Zhang Jiale's sudden retirement at their respective press conferences. view.

"If it were me, I wouldn't quit suddenly like this, which would be equivalent to pushing the entire team into a desperate situation." Han Wenqing paused, looking solemnly at the reporters who were eager to try, "but I It's not him, and I have no right to point fingers at his choice."

"Then what impact do you think Zhang Jiale's retirement will have on the league structure?"

"This is not my concern. No matter what changes happen to the alliance, Tyranny's goal will never change—to be the champion."

The reporters who had been suffocated by Tyranny still didn't give up, and went to "harass" Lan Yu and Tiny Herb. Before Yu Wenzhou could speak, Huang Shaotian had already delivered a 15-minute keynote speech. Han Wenqing is exactly the same - Zhang Jiale's retirement will not affect Blue Rain's championship plan.

Wang Jiexi was much more kind than Huang Shaotian, who played Tai Chi in fancy styles. He told the reporter frankly that Zhang Jiale's retirement was a "serious injury" to Hundred Blossoms, and an opportunity for other teams to overtake him, but he was "inconvenient" Too many comments, so as not to add insult to injury.”

"Team Wang is a kind person." Zhang Xinjie, who watched the whole press conference, commented.

Han Wenqing frowned, with a thoughtful look on his face: "Maybe Wang Jiexi and Zhang Jiale are confidants in another sense."

"Just like you and Ye Qiu?" Zhang Xinjie joked.

"Pull it down." Han Wenqing glared at him angrily, and didn't reply.

Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie, who have confirmed their relationship, seem to have no substantial change in their way of getting along with each other. In the eyes of others, they are still close and unintentional teammates and partners; for themselves, life seems to be no different than before.

The fast-paced game schedule and never-ending training and replays are not suitable for a romantic situation, so that they rarely even hug and hold hands.Before the start of the season, they tried a skin-to-skin date, but unfortunately they did not achieve "the great harmony of life".

Due to lack of experience, Zhang Xinjie's legs were trembling from the pain from the very beginning, and Han Wenqing had no choice but to retreat. Although this completely failed experience did not cause any disturbance to the relationship between the two of them, it naturally did not help. beneficial effect.The two are like two planets in the boundless universe, moving step by step along their respective orbits, waiting for one day to embark on a coincident orbit, or a sudden comet to hit them together.

This "comet" did not come in the end, but another comet that hit the league left everyone dumbfounded—the season was interrupted, and shortly after the winter transfer window opened, Excellent Era announced the retirement of captain Ye Qiu, and his successor... The position of captain is Sun Xiang, who was transferred from Yueyun.

If Zhang Jiale's retirement was a bomb dropped on the league, then Ye Qiu's resignation was no different from a nuclear bomb.

For a while, almost all the media and fans were talking about this matter. "E-Sports Home" was full of reports about "Ye Qiu's retirement". No one even cared about Tyranny's three consecutive defeats.

"What on earth does this person want to do? He doesn't say a word, he retreats as soon as he says, isn't this a pit team..."

After Tyranny's routine tactical meeting ended, Bai Yanfei packed his things and complained to Zheng Chengfeng beside him.

"Who knows him, isn't this person always elusive..." Zheng Chengfeng spread his hands, showing an indescribable expression, "However, he can really do it if he slips away in the middle of the season. It's good that the team can find a successor. If you can't find it, won't the second half of the season be ruined?"

"What are you worrying about for Excellent Era?"

Han Wenqing asked suddenly, startling everyone present, Zheng Chengfeng and Bai Yanfei looked at each other, not knowing how to respond for a moment.

"It's probably not that simple." Zhang Xinjie, who was checking the projection equipment, suddenly interjected, "Regardless of whether Ye Qiu's work style is this way, judging from the situation in the past few seasons, there may have been problems within Excellent Era. It's because they absolutely can't do such a dangerous move of changing generals, let alone changing the backbone of the entire team..."

"You mean, Excellent Era 'replaced' Ye Qiu, not him leaving?" Han Wenqing's expression could already be described as "scary".

"Why did Ye Qiu leave?" Zhang Xinjie asked calmly.

At this time, not only Han Wenqing, but the entire conference room fell into silence.

Yes, why did Ye Qiu leave?

Probably no one in this world wanted Ye Qiu to disappear from the league more than the players of Team Tyranny, but when Ye Qiu really retired, they were left with endless questions.

"Could it be... like Zhang Jiale, disappointed in the team, or... disheartened about his future in the championship?"

"There is such a possibility—however, we can assume that Zhang Jiale's frustration is because Baihua fell for the third time, only one step away from the championship. This kind of blow may be unbearable for him. Then, What is the reason for Ye Qiu's discouragement? There must be a chance for him to retire so suddenly, right? Do you really believe that a person who has been the captain of Excellent Era for seven years will leave without saying goodbye? Is this logical? ?”

"Then why did Excellent Era replace Ye Qiu?" Bai Yanfei was still at a loss.

"do not know."

"Otherwise... you can ask the deputy team?"

"Why do I ask this?" Zhang Xinjie showed a look of confusion, "The most important thing we should care about now is how to end the losing streak?"

The conference room fell into silence again. Everyone's faces were ugly. Han Wenqing frowned, as if he was going to say something, but he chose to remain silent in the end.

The teammates left the conference room one after another, but Zhang Xinjie was still sitting there, flipping through the notebook in his hand, as if trying to find something in it.But when he raised his head, he unexpectedly found that Han Wenqing was still sitting there, motionless.

"team leader?"

Han Wenqing looked up at him as if waking up from a dream, didn't say anything, just nodded at him, got up and walked out of the conference room.

But with just this glance, Zhang Xinjie fully understood that there was no need to say some words.It only took him a moment to understand why Bai Yanfei was still thinking about Ye Qiu's retirement after three consecutive losses, and even wanted to find out about Ye Qiu himself—for Tyranny, the name Ye Qiu meant nothing. The meaning of bearing has long been far more than simple as "opponent".Even for the entire league, he has become an insurmountable "benchmark".

As for Han Wenqing himself, this shock inevitably contained a trace of helplessness—after Ye Qiu retired, Han Wenqing was already the only remaining player of the "Generation Pioneering" in the league.

Objectively speaking, Han Wenqing is luckier than many people—the team and teammates can give him the greatest support, and he himself does not need to experience the ups and downs of the transfer and the troubles of injuries—but his powerlessness in the face of the passage of time It will not be one point less than others because of this.

Han Wenqing is not a sentimental person, but this does not mean that there are no waves in his emotional world.But such "waves" were exactly what Zhang Xinjie couldn't get his hands on.

In the end, Zhang Xinjie found Han Wenqing in the small garden under the club building.

Beside the originally empty path, several benches were placed at some point. At this moment, Han Wenqing was sitting on a bench under a certain street lamp in a daze, not paying attention to the snow moss in the air, even Zhang Xinjie had already walked beside him They didn't realize it.

Zhang Xinjie looked at him quietly for a while, then bent down and brushed off the snow on the bench, and sat down beside him.

"What are you thinking?" Zhang Xinjie's voice was very low, as if he was talking to himself rather than asking.

"Two days ago—" Han Wenqing answered the wrong question, "My mother called me and asked me to go back to celebrate the New Year."

"Oh..." Zhang Xinjie was stunned, and it took him a while to come back to his senses, "Isn't this pretty good?"

Han Wenqing was noncommittal, and continued to stare blankly ahead. Zhang Xinjie didn't urge him, but just sat quietly with him. Seeing the snow falling harder and harder, he raised his arm and helped him pull up the hood of his team uniform.

Tyranny just replaced the new version of the winter team uniforms eight seasons ago. The style has not changed much, but the use of red has been reduced in color matching. The whole team uniforms look more "dark", more calm, and a bit more The taste of vicissitudes - especially in the dim street lamps and flying snowflakes, it seems to have the breath of years of wind and frost.

Zhang Xinjie looked at Han Wenqing quietly, and suddenly began to think about getting him a red scarf.

At this time, Han Wenqing suddenly spoke, his voice sounded a little hoarse: "I was wondering if I was really old and my ears were soft. When I left home, I thought that I would never go back in this life. Everyone Go your own way, just pretend that I was never born in his Han family... Now that my mother calls, I want to go back again."

Hearing these few words, Zhang Xinjie felt he couldn't express it. He was born in an enlightened family and had never suffered from being misunderstood or "abandoned" by his parents, so he couldn't say any words of comfort at this moment.

"It's normal to be homesick..."

Han Wenqing turned his head, frowned, and glanced at him hesitantly.

"Two years ago, I wouldn't even answer the phone."

"I know..." Zhang Xinjie slowly stretched out his hand to shake Han Wenqing's hand hanging by the bench, choosing his words carefully, "But it's not impossible to go back and have a look... After all, we haven't seen each other for so many years. ...I should miss you a lot."

"Really?" Han Wenqing's voice didn't sound confident.

"If you need, I can accompany you back—" He paused, then added, "As your colleague..."

"Well," Han Wenqing was still noncommittal, but grabbed Zhang Xinjie's finger with his backhand and squeezed it firmly, "I see."

TBC