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Chapter 49 Starting
Saturday, game day, morning.

When Tang Lin got up today, Mr. Berg had already prepared breakfast, so he just had to eat.

Ever since he taught Mr. Berg how to use a Chinese steamer to heat up various buns and dumplings, Tang Lin no longer has to have the same old three things: toast, toast, and toast for breakfast.

Mr. Berg was surprisingly very adaptable to Chinese breakfast and raved about the buns of various flavors.

So now whenever Tang Lin has free time, he will buy fillings and make dumplings at home.

He didn't think it was troublesome, because his own Chinese stomach was in urgent need of being soothed...

Tang Lin was eating pork and green onion stuffed buns with milk when Mr. Berg asked him this question:
"Tang, aren't you going to watch today's game? This is a contest between two Chinese players!"

Tang Lin was stunned for a moment. He thought of his previous interest in football. He was indeed curious why football could bring such a big change to Mr. Berg?

It is even more amazing than modern medical technology.

It can really save a poor person who is on the verge of despair from suffering.

Is it because as a Tyne fan you can enjoy the positive feedback that comes with victory?
The problem is that Tyne is not strong and his results are not good. In fact, there is not much positive feedback like the joy of victory that can be brought to Mr. Berg.

Tang Lin initially thought that during the darkest time in Mr. Berg's life, his favorite team Tyne ignited the light in his heart with one victory after another and one championship honor after another, which eventually made him cheer up and love life again...

So after Wang Lie's debut for Tyne, Tang Lin, who was curious about this issue, went online to search the history of the Tyne Club.

If you don't search, you don't know.

Founded in 1872, Tyne is one of the earliest football clubs in English football and even in European football.

It now has a history of 165 years.

However, in the course of its 165-year history, the team has won only a handful of honors, so much so that the encyclopedia has to use various "runner-ups" to fill the void - at least it shows that the team once made it to the finals, which is not bad.

The last time Tyne won a championship was thirty-two years ago in the 2004-2005 season, when Tyne won the English Championship and was promoted to the Premier League.

As for the English Premier League championship, it dates back to the 1906-1907 season years ago...

At that time, China was even still in the feudal dynasty period!

As for the champion of the intercontinental competition?
They did win the European Fairs Cup once, in the 1958-1959 season.

This is the predecessor of the current Europa League, but it is not officially recognized by UEFA.

Therefore, Tyne does not have a single European champion officially recognised by UEFA.

After reading the pathetic history of the Tyne Club, Tang Lin’s doubts were not only not answered, but deepened!
You have to know that even these pitiful honors were almost all won before Mr. Berg was born... In the decades since Mr. Berg became a Tyne fan, there has only been one English Championship title. The encyclopedia says that it was only the championship of the second-level league in England, and its gold content cannot be compared with the top league championship at all.

What kind of energy can Mr. Berg gain from such a mediocre team?

Think about it, if a child likes to play football, but he is terrible at it, and no one wants to play with him, he can only play football against the wall alone to entertain himself. He doesn't get any positive feedback from playing football, but only the ridicule of others, the slap of his father and the scolding of his mother...

Will this child continue to like football?
In Tanglin's opinion, it is incredible that Mr. Berg can draw the courage to live again from the Tyne team, just like the child can continue to like playing football.

He was completely unable to understand the logic, reason and cause and effect behind it.

So after learning about the history of Tyne, he became even more curious: Was it Tyne, his hometown team, that gave Mr. Berg energy, or was it the magic of football itself…

This morning, when Mr. Berg asked him the question as a routine, it was different from the previous times. This time, Tang Lin was really interested.

But when he thought about how he had always rejected Mr. Berg before, he felt embarrassed to suddenly change his attitude. He was afraid of embarrassment.

So he could only make up an excuse: "You know I don't like football, Mr. Berg. And today is the day of the game. It must be hard to buy tickets for such a popular game, right?"

"I have the tickets, Don."

"I know you must have tickets, but I don't..."

"I mean, I have your tickets, too."

"Ah?" Tang Lin looked at the landlord in surprise.

Under his dull gaze, Mr. Berg took out two A4 papers from his pocket as if by magic, with a QR code printed on each paper.

"I am a season ticket holder for Tyne, and so is my wife. We always go to the games together on every home match day. After she passed away, I stopped going to the games at Leeds Park because I was sad, because our seats were next to each other. Every time I went there, I couldn't help but think of her. That empty seat seemed to remind me over and over again that she was gone, gone forever..."

Mr. Berg calmly told Tang Lin, who was sitting opposite him, about the past.

"Then I started drinking and nearly drank myself to death, and then, you know... I was back in the stands at Leeds Park, but I was alone... Even with Robbie and the rest of the gang, it was still a little strange sometimes. Then I started buying her season tickets again, so that every time I went to a home game, I would always feel like she was with me."

At this point, Mr. Berg pulled out a piece of paper and placed it in front of himself: "This ticket is mine."

Then he put the remaining ticket in front of Tang Lin: "This ticket belongs to my wife. Now I give it to you."

※※※

"Old Guo, what did I just take a picture of?"

In the media seats of Lize Park Stadium, Liu Zhong showed his mobile phone to Guo Xuequan.

On the phone screen were the backs of two fans walking towards the ticket gate of Lize Park Stadium. They looked to be Chinese fans as they both had yellow skin and black hair, and were both wearing Chinese team jerseys.

The two fans seemed to be a couple as they were holding hands.

But none of that matters.

What’s interesting is the jerseys the two men wore.

There were two red Chinese team jerseys. The one the girl was wearing had the number 10 and Chi Zhen’s name printed on the back: “CHI.ZH”.

The boy's Chinese team jersey is printed with the number 9 and Wang Lie's name: "WANG.L"

Seeing this scene, Guo Xuequan couldn't help laughing.

Liu Zhongze complained: "I am now very curious about how they can avoid breaking up?"

Guo Xuequan laughed and said, "It's normal actually. Not all fans of Chi Zhen and Wang Lie are extreme brainless fans. There are always normal people."

"It would be great if all the fans of these two people could be like this couple." Liu Zhong sighed as he looked at the couple he photographed. "Today's game will stir up a storm on the domestic Internet... It wasn't so exaggerated before. I remember when Chi Zhen first joined the national team, wasn't it quite harmonious?"

Guo Xuequan laughed, "That's because Chi Zhen couldn't threaten Wang Lie's position at the time. The battle for the core, the battle for status, the battle for the top player in Chinese football... to put it bluntly, Wang Lie is old and has no ruling power, and the younger generation wants to seize power, but Wang Lie is reluctant to hand it over... think about it, isn't this very similar to the relationship between our ancient emperor and prince?"

"Speaking of the crown prince..." Liu Zhong also laughed, "Former crown prince Fu Xiaofeng has something to say: 'How can a crown prince last for 70 years?'"

Guo Xuequan smiled and shook his head: "So, Fu Xiaofeng's previous experience is right in front of Chi Zhen, how could he really wait? The key is that Chi Zhen's talent is really good, and he can be said to be the best in Chinese football after Wang Lie. His ability and performance do not match his position in the team, so there will naturally be many contradictions.

"Chi Zhen himself doesn't dislike Wang Lie, but his fans, especially those who have only entered the circle in the past one or two years, didn't watch Wang Lie at his peak, so of course they don't have any respect for Wang Lie. In the eyes of Wang Lie's fans, the words and deeds of these Chi Zhen fans are almost as disrespectful as regicide!

"From a rational point of view, the demands of Chi Zhen's fans seem reasonable. Since Wang Lie is no longer capable, he should give way to Chi Zhen. This is also the best for the Chinese team. Wang Lie does seem to be taking advantage of his seniority. At the very least, this makes people dislike him, and at the most, it damages the interests of the national team.

"But emotionally, especially for people like us who grew up watching Wang Lie play football, watching a bunch of newcomers rush into this circle, and then pointing at the scene where Wang Lie couldn't even outrun a Championship player in the FA Cup and saying, 'First time watching football, is this what you call the Chinese football king?' It's really... hard to calmly accept the attitude of these newcomers towards Wang Lie."

Liu Zhong also sighed: "Since ancient times, famous generals are like beauties, who are not allowed to grow old in the world... So I am actually annoyed by those who say that 'being bad is the original sin'. When Wang Lie swept the European football scene, how could he be bad? If they say he is bad now, then they'd better pray that Chi Zhen can stay young forever, otherwise the boomerang will hit their own idol sooner or later. Because everyone will grow old, no one can stay young forever..."

Guo Xuequan said: "The so-called 'food is the original sin' actually deconstructs very complex things and labels them simply, trying to deal with everything by labeling them. It is actually a very low-level, childish and naive way of dealing with this complex world. It is in line with the current situation of subculture popularity. There are many social, economic, political and cultural reasons behind this argument. I can only say... 'food is the original sin' has some truth, but using this truth to explain everything is a typical generalization and far-fetched reasoning."

Liu Zhong nodded. "Unfortunately, society is so impetuous and fast-paced nowadays that only this simple labeling method can be recognized by the public and widely spread. For the content we just talked about, let alone making a video of more than ten minutes, even if it is written, it would take one or two thousand words, right? Who has the patience to read one or two thousand densely packed words now? Don't even expect them to accurately understand what we want to express from these words and extract the central idea... I'm afraid they will just think it's 'watery'."

Guo Xuequan was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed again: "I remembered that 'food is the original sin' can be interpreted from another angle - isn't it 'the winner is the king'? The winner takes all, and whatever the winner says is right. When you think about it this way, it seems that we are no different from those people we look down on... Alas!"

He shook his head: "So in the final analysis, the battle between Wang Lie and Chi Zhen still depends on their performance. Whoever performs better will be the winner. The winner's farts are all fragrant - Wang Lie farted a lot in the past, didn't we also admire him?"

"Hmm..." Liu Zhong had to admit that he was also a vulgar person and was not immune to the phenomenon they had just criticized. He might not be much more noble than those fans of Chi Zhen.

Guo Xuequan continued, "So let's get back to the game at hand. If Chi Zhen helps the Scouse people defeat Tyne, and his personal performance surpasses Wang Lie, then Coach He will lose a few hairs - he will be here to watch the game today. On the other hand, if Wang Lie helps Tyne defeat the Scouse people, and his personal performance is better than Chi Zhen... Oh, don't mention Coach He, I get a headache just thinking about it! It's so exciting!"

※※※

He Zhenyong sat in his own seat - on the sofa in a private room.

The soft leather massage sofa made him feel a little uncomfortable.

This was his first time to watch a game at Tyne's home ground, because this was the first time that the Tyne team had Chinese players.

What a rich guy...

He Zhenyong stroked the leather covering on the sofa and expressed the same emotion in his heart as Guo Xuequan, Liu Zhong and other Chinese reporters, as well as Wang Lie.

Then he turned his gaze towards the playing area. Players from both teams had just arrived at the stadium and had not yet come out to warm up.

The stadium's automatic sprinkler system is watering the field to keep it moist.

Fans entered the stadium one after another, gradually filling up the stands. Just like a coloring game, the blue Tyne fans were definitely the mainstream in the stands of this stadium, while the red Scouse fans basically shrank to a corner of the second-tier stands.

There weren't many people, but the noise created by the Scouse fans was huge.

They even put up a slogan:
"You choose the king, you are doomed!"

Some Tyne fans were very dissatisfied with the slogan and booed and shouted, so they responded with their middle fingers.

If the stands where they were weren't surrounded by police officers, fans from both sides might have really started fighting.

There wasn't such a deep conflict between Scots and Tyne fans before...

He Zhenyong certainly knew why.

He had seen similar scenes during the match between the Scouse and Sofia, and they were even more intense.

At that time, many people may have thought that it was because the Scouse people and the Sofo League were mortal enemies.

But now with Wang Lie coming to Tyne, the Scouse people seem to have brought their hatred to Tyne as well...

So it is obvious that the Scouse people and the Sofo League are mortal enemies, but they are also mortal enemies with Wang Lie!

He Zhenyong sometimes couldn't help but wonder if Wang Lie particularly liked the feeling of being treated as a mortal enemy?

Is he enjoying… “being against the world”?
I wonder what kind of performance Wang Lie can show today when facing his mortal enemy, the Scouse people...

In addition, he didn't know what kind of performance he should expect from Wang Lie in this game.

If Wang Lie performs poorly, can I really continue not to summon him?
Just as He Zhenyong was lost in thought, the vibration and ringing of the mobile phone in his palm reminded him that there was new message.

He came to his senses and looked down.

A flash message popped up on the screen:
“#TainVSScooters#Tain announced the starting lineup for this game, Wang Lie will start!”

※※※

Tang Lin, wearing Wang Lie's No. 99 Tyne jersey, stood in the stands of Lize Park Stadium.

The stadium is right next to his school, and he can see the roof of the stadium from the teaching building.

But it was his first time entering the stadium.

This was completely different from what he saw in the picture.

Not only are there images, there are also sounds.

The crowd was full of people.

Singing, shouting, as well as cursing and booing.

Just now, Mr. Berg next to him was giving the middle finger to the Scouse fans in the second-tier stands behind them and shouting curses.

With that wild look, you really can't tell that he is a 74-year-old man. He was almost sentenced to death by the doctor in the ICU...

He really wanted to persuade Mr. Berg to calm down and not get too excited.

But... in this environment, how can I not be excited?

He had to find some milder topics to talk to Mr. Berg to divert his attention and make him less excited.

"Didn't they say that it's all real-name registration? How come I was able to get in so easily?"

Tang Lin was very nervous when he entered the stadium just now, because he heard that in order to prevent scalpers from reselling tickets, the real-name system had already been implemented in the Premier League.

When it comes to the real-name system, he remembered that when he watched concerts in China, the real-name system was also used. When entering the venue, you have to provide your ID card, and the ID card information must match the ticket information before you can enter.

On his way here, he was really worried that he would be stopped outside because he did not meet the real-name authentication requirements.

He even found a reason for himself - it's not that I'm not satisfied with Mr. Berg, it's the stadium security that didn't let me in, it's really not my fault...

Even when he was saying this in his mind, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful, thinking that it would be a great pity if he was really turned away.

Unexpectedly, all his psychological preparation was in vain - he followed Mr. Berg and others into the stadium very smoothly.

There was no one checking tickets, just a row of ticket checking machines. I just stuffed the A4 paper with the QR code printed on it into the entrance of the ticket machine, and after it was scanned, I passed through directly.

There are only a few people like him who print their tickets on paper. Most fans just use their mobile phones to show the QR code to the machine.

Mr. Berg turned around and explained to him with a smile: "It's called a real-name system, but the club certainly won't check the identity information of every fan entering the stadium. So it's actually just a formality."

Speaking of "going through the motions", Tang Lin also felt it very much during the security check.

Although there was no one at the ticket gate, there were people guarding the security check area.

Although he didn't bring any contraband, he was still shocked when he saw Robbie Dixie in front of him carrying a bulging backpack, walking to the security checkpoint, unzipping his backpack, letting the security officer take a look, and then going in - so perfunctory? ! Aren't you afraid that the bulging bag might contain some homemade bomb or something? !
He used his own personal experience to verify why Europe is prone to terrorist attacks...

So he nodded: "So the security check is just a formality..."

Mr. Berg shook his head and refuted his statement: "That's not true. The security check for away fans is very strict. What do you mean by bag inspection? You are not even allowed to bring bags in! You have to store your bags in the check-in area. Oh, by the way, bag storage is not free, you have to pay for it."

He pointed to the away fans' stand upstairs behind him.

"This... this is too much of a host-guest distinction!" Tang Lin couldn't help but complain.

"Haha! Very normal, very normal!" Robbie Dixie on the other side of Mr. Berg laughed and waved his hand nonchalantly, "Not only the security check, the passage they come in is very narrow, only allowing a maximum of two people to pass side by side. If one of the two people happens to be fat, then I'm sorry, the two people walking side by side will be stuck in the passage..."

Mr. Berg added: "In fact, they are trying every possible way to cause trouble for the visiting team. The visiting fans are important members of the visiting team, so it is necessary to cause trouble for the visiting fans. We are treated similarly when we go to the away games. Besides, look at the slogans they hang, I think we are too friendly to them!"

After that, Mr. Berg and Dixie and others turned around and raised their middle fingers to the Scouse fans in the second-floor stands and shouted:
"Fuck you Scouse people! Fuck you!!"

"You sons of bitches! You're the ones who are finished! You were finished last season!"

"Clayton Athletic! Clayton Athletic! You will never beat Clayton Athletic!"

Someone else turned around and held up a sign to the Scouse people, which read: "Thirty-four games, twenty-three goals, three hat tricks. This is the result of the Scouse people against the king!"

Dirty words and foul language exploded in Tang Lin's ears, hissing was so sharp and piercing that it seemed to pierce his eardrums, and there were many low-frequency noises whose contents were unclear, which made his heart feel uncomfortable and he seemed to be unable to breathe...

This chaos made him uncomfortable and he felt out of place here. He already regretted agreeing to follow Mr. Berg to watch the game.

As expected, I still don’t like football…

At this moment, Mr. Berg beside him stopped his output to the Scouse fans and suddenly cheered: "Wang started! This is his first start for Tyne! The right decision! McNeil made the right decision!"

Then he grabbed Tang Lin's arm very hard and said, "You are so lucky, Tang! The first time you come here, you can see Wang starting here! Although you missed the historic moment of his debut in Tyne, you caught up with his historic moment of his first start in Tyne! Haha! You lucky boy!"

Tang Lin forced a smile: Ha, am I lucky?
Then, he didn't know if it was an illusion, but he felt that the chaotic noise above Lize Park Stadium suddenly decreased, and the burden on his heart was also relieved.

But soon, huge cheers broke out again, and his heart beat violently again, almost suffocating him...

He covered his heart:

Is it too late for me to regret now?

※※※

PS, I will update twice a day starting today!

There will be another update at 6pm!
(End of this chapter)