The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 646 New Wealthy Family!!!
On January 1997, 1, light snow was falling in the Munich Olympic Stadium. In the warm ViP box, Liu Shudong loosened the collar of his camel hair coat.

Before the game officially started, red and white flags were already surging like waves in the stands, and the German war cry made people's chests tremble.

Liu Shudong looked down at the Patek Philippe limited edition watch on his left hand. It was 6:57 and the race would officially start in three minutes.

His resolute and wise face was reflected in the floor-to-ceiling windows of the VIP seats.

Three years ago, the image of Liu Shudong standing at the press conference at Old Trafford suddenly flashed. Under the spotlight, his promise that "we want to make the Red Devils spirit shine in the new era" is now undergoing the ultimate test on the green field.

"Mr. Liu, do you want to turn up the heating a little higher?" The accompanying secretary Moon Lee handed him a cup of hot coffee.

Liu Shudong waved his hand and fixed his eyes on the player tunnel.

The first person to jump into the audience's sight was Cantona, with his collar still turned up.

The Frenchman's profile as he chewed gum was sharp in the wind and snow.

Following closely behind was Beckham, who shook his newly dyed blond hair. The 19-year-old boy was still practicing free kicks with the youth team two years ago.

……

The commentator's suddenly raised voice pierced the cold night: "Unbelievable! Bayern Munich scored within 30 seconds of the start! Matthäus' long shot was like a cannonball!"

"Fuck!" Liu Shudong's fingernails dug into his palms.

The players in gray away jerseys on the field were like frozen statues, and Schmeichel knelt in front of the goal line and pounded the grass hard.

The broadcast deliberately swept the camera across the VIP seats, and the audience in front of the TV found that the chairman of Manchester United club remained calm.

Liu Shudong's hand holding the coffee cup was as steady as a rock. This was the first time in three years that Manchester United fell behind at the beginning of a Champions League knockout match.

"Tell Ferguson," Liu Shudong pressed the call button on the satellite phone, "We'll add another 5 million pounds to the winter transfer window budget."

He doesn't care about money. Any slight fluctuation in the stock market of any group company under "Liu's Overseas Investment" is enough for Manchester United to buy a few more superstars.

Grass-stained sneakers were piled up in the corner of the locker room, and the smell of sweat mixed with German sausages fermented in the air.

Cantona suddenly tore off his soaked jersey, the red devil tattoo on his chest undulating with his muscles: "Remember what the boss said in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong last summer?"

Everyone looked up.

How could everyone not remember that after winning the first Premier League treble last year, the club chairman chartered a special plane to invite all the club members and their families to go on vacation to Hong Kong in order to reward the whole team.

Under the blazing sun of Hong Kong, the middle-aged man in a polo shirt pointed at the huge ships passing through Victoria Harbour and said, "Do you see those containers? Each one contains an opportunity to change your destiny."

We are now the container of English football, and inside it lies the future of the entire Premier League.”

Beckham was wiping the mud off his sneakers when he suddenly remembered the newly installed physiotherapy room at the Carrington training base.

While he was relieving his sore muscles on the massage bed customized in Xiangjiang, the youth team coach was analyzing running routes with a projector - these were all changes brought about by that oriental man.

"Switch to 4-3-3 in the second half." Ferguson tapped the tactical board heavily with a marker. "Gary, you go forward to assist, Ryan, go to the wing."

The Scotsman glanced at each player, "Think about how many championships we have won in the past three years. If we lose in the round of 16 tonight..."

The door of the locker room suddenly opened, and Liu Shudong, who came in wrapped in the wind and snow, took off his sheepskin gloves.

He walked straight to the tactical board and said something in Cantonese. The translator hesitated for a moment: "Mr. Liu said that when the Kowloon Walled City was demolished, banyan trees could grow where the bulldozers ran over."

Cantona suddenly laughed out loud, and the Frenchman continued in stiff Cantonese: "I know that bauhinia flowers can bloom in the cracks of rocks." Sporadic laughter was heard in the locker room, and the tense atmosphere suddenly loosened.

In the second half, in the 61st minute, Giggs split the snowy sideline like a red lightning.

The Welsh player changed direction continuously and dribbled past two defenders before hooking the ball into the penalty area from the bottom line.

The moment Shelingham jumped up, the boos from 60,000 Bayern fans in the stands became background noise.

"Goooal...! In the 61st minute, the great Manchester United finally equalized the score!" The commentator screamed at the top of his voice, "This header reminds me of Best in 1968..."

Seeing this goal, Liu Shudong finally loosened his tie.

At the end of the field of vision, Hong Kong young player Ou Weilun was warming up on the bench. This kid, who he personally recruited from the South China Club, was now walking on the sidelines, following the steps he had learned on the Kowloon Street Stadium.

The flashing 1:1 on the scoreboard was like a metaphor, indicating that the East and the West were finally evenly matched in the football arena.

When Beckham scored a free kick in the injury time that was destined to go down in history, Liu Shudong took out the pocket watch from his suit pocket.

There was a one-year-old photo of my daughter embedded in the watch cover. At this moment, the second hand passed the twelve o'clock position and the ball fell into the upper right corner of the goal.

The blizzard suddenly turned severe, but it couldn't cover the singing of the Manchester United fans who were traveling with the team.

They sang "Under the Lion Rock" in broken Chinese, a song that Liu Shudong taught the players at the club's treble celebration dinner last year.

Ice particles hit the glass of the VIP seats. Liu Shudong looked at the red figures hugging each other on the field and recalled the lights of Victoria Harbour overlooking from the rooftop of Central Building on the night when the acquisition was successful.

The cell phone vibrated in my pocket. It was a text message from the manager of the England headquarters of the Asia Pacific Bank in London: space was reserved on the front page of the Times.

Liu Shudong smiled with satisfaction and pressed the screen.

In the distance, the night sky of Munich is turning pale. In another six months, the five-star red flag will be raised at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center.

Beneath the victory, there are undercurrents.

The next day.

The biting cold wind carried the Bild newspaper fluttering in the streets of Munich, and the headline on the front page "The Red Devils Shock Europe" appeared from time to time.

When Liu Shudong stepped over the snow and got into the Rolls-Royce, the car phone was playing urgent news from the BBC: "The English Football Association has announced the establishment of a special committee to investigate whether some foreign clubs have 'unfair competitive advantages'."

"Go straight to the airport." He loosened his tie. The bronze spire of Munich City Hall was receding in the reflection of the car window. "Notify the legal department to prepare the materials, and then ask the London office to fax over the details of last quarter's community donations."

Albert Ou, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was clutching the signed jersey that had not been given away.

The Hong Kong boy, who was not even 17 years old, looked at the Olympic Stadium which was gradually shrinking in the rearview mirror, and the Cantonese cheers were still echoing in his ears.

A year ago, he was still playing in the amateur league at the Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai, but now he follows the Manchester United chairman through the dressing rooms of European giants - his life is changing faster than Beckham's scimitar.

In the VIP lounge of London Heathrow Airport, crystal chandeliers cast tiny spots of light on the cashmere carpet.

Liu Shudong opened the Times and a headline on the sports page caught his eye: "Red capital invades English football."

The accompanying picture showed him hugging Cantona, and the commentator wrote sharply: "When the Hong Kong ballad floated out of the Manchester United dressing room, did we only lose the game?"

"Mr. Liu, this is a call from the Football Association." Secretary Moon Lee held up the satellite phone and hesitated to speak, "This is the seventh call today..."

Liu Shudong waved his hands, his attention drawn to the live broadcast on TV.

The G14 summit was being held at the Stade de France. Bayern chairman Beckenbauer looked solemnly at the camera: "Some upstart clubs are destroying the ecological balance of football."

The scene cuts back to the studio. Ferguson in the guest seat sneers: "Three years ago you said that the Xia people didn't understand football, and now you're talking about ecology after losing the game?"

Suddenly there was a sound of porcelain breaking.

Albert Ou was busy cleaning up the spilled English tea set.

Liu Shudong rushed to rescue the documents on the table and suddenly found a faded Kowloon Walled City demolition commemorative ribbon tied around the boy's wrist.

"Starting tomorrow, you will train with the first team." He took out a handkerchief and handed it to the trembling boy. "You must remember that what you are stepping on is not just grass, but the expectations of hundreds of millions of Chinese fans."

Manchester's rainy nights smell of rust.

In the tactical room of the Carrington training base, a projector is breaking down AC Milan's chain defense.

Liu Shudong pushed open the French window, and humid air drifted in with Cantonese - young team member Ou Weilun was stretching the amulet he got from Wong Tai Sin Temple.

Financial Director Ma Zhong suddenly rushed in: "Mr. Liu, this is bad. The English Football Association has announced that it has temporarily frozen our transfer budget for next season!"

"It doesn't matter. We are already strong enough. This money is just right for the youth training team."

Liu Shudong frowned upon hearing this, but soon relaxed his brows, "Do you remember how Jardine Matheson Company monopolized the Hong Kong docks back then?
Now we want to replicate the Wharf model in the football world.”

At this time, the training base suddenly sounded an alarm. The security guards at the training base were employees of the "Shenlong Security" training. They found on the monitor that dozens of people were climbing over the east wall and running into the training ground. The security guards immediately went to stop them.

When Liu Shudong grabbed the walkie-talkie, he stood there in a daze.

It turned out that these people were football fans. The leader was holding a banner with a distorted dragon and lion flag painted on it next to the slogan "Please keep football pure".

The front page of the next day's Daily Mirror was shocking: "Red alert! Extreme fans raid Manchester United's youth training base at night."

The accompanying picture shows the torn training suit of youth player Ou Weilun, with a bloodstain on his exposed back.

Liu Shudong stood in front of the mirror in the dressing room and changed his tie to a black one with gold patterns - this was the attire worn by a certain Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce when paying tribute.

"Mr. Liu, do you really want to attend the hearing?" The lawyer flipped through the 28-page inquiry letter sent by the Football Association. "They are obviously targeting us..."

"When my eldest brother learned that the Union Jack in front of the Hong Kong government would be lowered soon, he said something." He fastened his cufflinks, "The heavy rain could not extinguish the lights of Victoria Peak."

The columns of the Palace of Westminster cast a cold shadow. When Liu Shudong stepped onto the marble steps, he heard a familiar melody coming from behind him.

Thousands of Manchester United fans held up banners with "Thank you Mr. Liu" in traditional Chinese characters and sang "Glory Days" in Cantonese.

In the crowd, an old man wearing a fisherman's hat was particularly eye-catching - he was the die-hard Manchester United fan who scolded Liu Shudong as a "football colonizer" in The Sun three years ago.

In the fourth hour of the hearing, the questioning officer showed his trump card: "The evidence shows that your club took advantage of Hong Kong's tax-free policy to transfer capital!"

Amid the uproar in the audience, Liu Shudong untied the chain of his pocket watch, and the four words "We are in the same boat" engraved on the surface flowed under the spotlight.

"When we acquired Manchester United in 1994, the company was in debt of 1.2 million pounds," he said, pushing the microphone aside, his voice echoing under the oak dome. "We not only paid off the debt, but also built the largest and most professional football training school in Asia."

The big screen suddenly played the scene of a training ground in Yunnan Province of Xiaguo. The children running on the green field were all wearing "Manchester United Theatre of Dreams" jerseys.

"In the past three years, the revenue from Premier League broadcasting has increased by 150%, also because we have opened up the Far East market."

He walked to the questioning seat and slammed the youth training camp's "Cantonese-English Bilingual Textbook" on the table. "While you are worried about the loss of tradition, we are creating a greater football civilization."

In the dead silence of the meeting hall, an old man wearing a bowler hat suddenly stood up from the audience.

He took off his gentleman's hat to reveal his bald head: "I propose a vote by show of hands."

Liu Shudong looked out the window and saw a cargo ship slowly passing by on the Thames. He stroked the engraved patterns on the edge of his pocket watch and waited patiently.

When the Premier League chairman read out "24 votes in favor, 32 votes against", the gears of the pocket watch just vibrated slightly to signal the hour.

"The proposal against Manchester United was not passed!" The Guardian reporter knocked over the shorthand notebook.

"We won!" The sudden cheers in Cantonese from the end of the corridor scared away the white doves in front of the square.

Liu Shudong unbuttoned his cuffs as if relieved, revealing a shirt with kapok flowers embroidered on the inside.

Outside the glass curtain wall, the barge on the Thames blew its whistle, which seemed to overlap with the whistle of the Victoria Harbour ferry to form the same frequency.

The morning fog in Manchester has not yet dissipated, and the graffiti on the east wall of Carrington Base has been painted into a huge poster.

The inkjet artist is coloring the gold-plated date "1997.7.1". In the picture, Beckham and Ou Weilun are standing back to back, with the Bauhinia flag flying on the top of Victoria Peak in the background.

The sound of drums and music came from the youth training camp. Twenty children from the mountainous areas of Yunnan Province were holding copper suonas and rehearsing "Pearl of the Orient" with the Scottish bagpipe band.

"Mr. Liu, the Hong Kong government has sent an invitation letter. The secretary handed over a gold-stamped envelope, "The cultural performance at the handover ceremony..."

"Got it!" Liu Shudong waved his hand, his eyes still fixed on the surveillance screen.

On the screen, Albert Ou was practicing a curve ball on the edge of the penalty area.

The scabbed scar on the boy's back rose and fell with his muscles, like a dormant dragon.

A year ago he was still a kid playing soccer, but now his free kick success rate is close to 58%.

In the second round of the Champions League, the Old Trafford locker room was filled with a tense atmosphere.

Cantona suddenly hummed "A Man Should Be Self-reliant" in Cantonese. The Frenchman is now an expert on China.

Beckham was adjusting his newly cut hair in front of the mirror, with an amulet hanging around his neck.

These details will appear on the cover of The Economist three days later, with the headline "When England meets Eastern metaphysics".

In the 88th minute of the game, when Ou Weilun came on as a substitute, a -meter-long Bauhinia flag was suddenly unfurled on the south stand.

The Bayern defender's spiked shoes rolled heavily over the boy's instep, but the referee called it a dive.

Liu Shudong angrily tore the Buddhist beads in his hand apart, and the sandalwood beads rolled onto the carpet in the VIP seats and scattered all over the floor.

In the last minute of extra time, Ou Weilun steadily caught Schmeichel's powerful hand-thrown ball in the center circle.

At this moment, when the mottled brick walls and bustling streets of Kowloon Walled City flashed through Ou Weilun's mind, he suddenly moved, and like a dragon, he passed three Bayern defenders in a row.

Facing the attacking Bayern goalkeeper, Kahn, known as the "Lion King";
The young Albert Ou, however, had a resolute look on his face. While dribbling the ball at high speed, he first took a step forward to the left with his left foot, while shifting his center of gravity slightly to the left. Then he also took a step forward to the right with his right foot, and then did it again with his left foot, like a giant clock swinging left and right;
Finally, he dribbled past Bayern goalkeeper Kahn who had lost his balance, and then gave a light push with his right foot.

"Goooal..."

When the ball entered the net, the commentators were stunned. "Oh, mygad, mygad, I can't believe my eyes. It's a pendulum dribble. Is he Ronaldo?"

The sound of "Goooal..." instantly swept across the entire Old Trafford, and the cheers of more than 70,000 fans were as deafening as a volcanic eruption.

The broadcast camera keenly captured Liu Shudong bending down to pick up the scattered Buddhist beads.

When he stood up, what came into his sight was a huge wave of people rising and falling in the stands.

It was not until he looked up at the replay on the big screen in the stadium that Liu Shudong suddenly realized - he had missed this decisive moment that would go down in the club's history!

……

In the steaming mist of the locker room shower, the scar on Albert Ou’s back glowed red.

Liu Shudong handed over the iced Wanglaoji: "Knowing that there are so many geniuses, why should I work so hard to cultivate you?"

The boy shook his head, and the condensation on the can dripped onto the Manchester city emblem on the locker room floor tiles.

"The year when Kowloon Walled City was demolished, you kicked a plastic ball in the ruins." Liu Shudong clicked on the video on his computer. In the video, eight-year-old Ou Weilun was bouncing a Coke can with his knees. "The spirit of finding fun in desperate situations is the true meaning of football."

Liu Shudong handed the laptop to Albert Ou and asked him to read it himself: "Next month we will take the youth training team to Lantau Island for training. You can teach them how to play elevator ball."

A few days later, Liu Shudong returned to Hong Kong.

As his private plane flew through the clouds, Liu Shudong opened the Financial Times.

The small headline in the corner of the financial edition made his pupils shrink: "HSBC Bank suddenly appeared at the London Metal Exchange..."

Outside the porthole, ionospheric lightning illuminated the smile on Liu Shudong's lips.

This smile may appear on the front page of The Guardian in forty-eight hours, with the caption: "Eastern hunters are frantically acquiring British capital."

As the morning light pierced through the mist of Victoria Harbour, Liu Shudong's black Rolls-Royce sedan had already driven into the dedicated elevator in the basement of Central.

The numbers on the elevator display screen jumped like the K-line of the futures market. He loosened his crimson tie, and the metal cufflinks flashed coldly under the surveillance camera.

The war room on the 25th floor was filled with the roasted aroma of Jamaican small-grain coffee. In front of the data waterfall composed of six large screens, the three traders had blue eyes.

"The short position of LME copper three-month futures contract increased by 27%," said the young man with gold-rimmed glasses in a hoarse voice, "and 42% of HSBC's pledged warehouse receipts are in the Rotterdam warehouse."

Liu Shudong stroked the celadon teacup with his thumb, and the bottom of the cup reflected the lines at the corners of his eyes. "Start a Class B account and use a Dubai offshore company to take orders from London." He suddenly knocked the teacup on the marble countertop. "Wait, let the South China Morning Post send a news flash first - say we are in contact with the executive director of Standard Chartered Bank."

Canary Wharf, London.

HSBC's global head of commodities, Crawford, pulled off his headphones.

Red alarms sounded one after another in the trading hall behind her, and the copper price curve was soaring into the sky at a 45-degree angle.

"Find out the warehouse relationship of Asia Pacific Bank in Rotterdam!" She squeezed the Starbucks paper cup until it was deformed. "Notify LME and we demand an increase in the margin ratio!"

(End of this chapter)