Mendes talked a lot with Gao Bo, but Gao Bo didn't agree on the spot.
Agent, huh?
After sending Mendes away, Gao Bo was still thinking about this question.
On the plane back to China, Gao Bo touched Mendes' business card in his chest pocket, which had Mendes' phone number on it.
Mendes didn't ask Gao Bo to agree immediately; he gave Gao Bo time to consider.
"If you think it over, you can call me anytime!"
Mendes handed Gao Bo his business card.
"Believe me, there is no better agent in the world than me!"
Mendes was full of confidence when he said this.
Perhaps for every industry, self-confidence is the foundation of success. Gao Bo was the same when facing every game.
Gao Bo didn't think too much about the agent matter. He opened the football card system on the plane, after all, he hadn't used the rewards after winning the FA Cup yet.
A blue card exchange ticket, one hundred lottery opportunities, and eight thousand experience points!
The experience required to upgrade to the third level is 60,000! Counting the 8,000 experience points obtained and the experience from defeating Liverpool itself, Gao Bo's current level is: Level 2: 15000 / 60000
Still a long way to go before leveling up...
Gao Bo hesitated for a moment, finally restraining the urge to use the exchange ticket immediately. He needed to wait until the new season started and see how the team was doing!
After that, Gao Bo put on his eye mask and fell into a deep sleep on the plane.
After more than ten hours of flight, when he opened his eyes, the plane was preparing to land at Guangzhou Airport.
After experiencing the turbulence of the plane landing and more than ten hours of flight, after six years, Gao Bo finally set foot on his homeland again.
There were no tears in his eyes; when Gao Bo walked out of the airport, he was just about to explode from the heat.
The temperature in Guangdong in May and June was already over thirty degrees.
....
Subway, bus. After several transfers, Gao Bo finally returned to Meizhou.
This is his hometown, the football city of the South, a place that once produced many national-level players like Dalian.
Of course, the most famous football player to come out of here is Li Huitang, the Chinese King of Football in the 1920s and 30s.
Gao Bo, with a backpack and luggage, was stunned as he looked at the bustling construction site in front of him.
Where's the orphanage he grew up in?
Where's the small hill that held countless childhood memories?
Where's the sandy football field that he scraped himself on countless times?
Now they're all gone, replaced by buildings, which look like an incomplete residential area. The scaffolding outside the buildings hasn't been removed yet, and the roar of vehicles transporting soil and building materials is intertwined with the shouts of workers.
Gao Bo looked at the scene in front of him somewhat blankly. He grew up in the orphanage since he was a child. In a sense, this is his home.
But the situation here is too different from what it was six years ago... The orphanage is gone, where is home?
....
"The orphanage?"
"It was demolished a long time ago!"
"Something big happened during the demolition... The real estate company seemed to have hired some people to drive people away..."
"I heard that the old director was injured quite badly..."
"He was a good man..."
...
The more Gao Bo listened to the discussions of the people around him, the more anxious he became.
Where are the people from the orphanage? Where did they all go? And Old Chen, where did Old Chen go?
He's injured?
I don't know if it's serious.
For Gao Bo,
he doesn't have any relatives. Old Chen raised him single-handedly. Old Chen was like a teacher and a father in his growth process. When he was a child, Old Chen and his wife taught the primary school courses, one teaching Chinese and the other teaching mathematics, from first grade to sixth grade, until the children went to junior high school.
"That Director Chen? I heard he went back to his hometown..."
Gao Bo got this information from the construction site security guard.
Hometown?
Gao Bo breathed a sigh of relief; Old Chen's hometown wasn't too far from Meizhou City.
After changing several means of transportation, Gao Bo stared at the scorching sun, dragging his suitcase, which was covered in a lot of mud, and walked through the country path. When he saw the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village and the pond in front of the door, Gao Bo breathed a long sigh of relief.
This is it.
When he was a child, Old Chen often took the children here during the winter and summer vacations, and Gao Bo also had an impression of this place.
After not returning for several years, Old Chen is the only person Gao Bo is concerned about in China. I wonder how his old body is?
Gao Bo walked into the village along the embankment of the fish pond. When he walked past the open space in front of the village ancestral hall, he attracted the attention of a large number of children playing football in the open space.
This is a village located deep in the mountains. It is usually rare to see outsiders. Gao Bo, wearing a white T-shirt, dragging a suitcase, and carrying a large backpack, naturally attracted a lot of attention.
Gao Bo looked at the children playing football in the open space. There were probably a dozen of them, the older ones probably sixteen or seventeen years old, and the younger ones only seven or eight years old.
He hasn't been back for six years, and these children probably don't remember him anymore. Gao Bo glanced at the village ancestral hall. Apart from the ancestral hall, the old houses in the village have been replaced by new buildings. A lot has changed in six years.
Gao Bo smiled and nodded at the children. Then he found the oldest-looking child and, although he hadn't returned for many years, his Hakka dialect was still fairly pure: "Young man, is Grandpa Chen Guoping at home?"
"You're looking for my grandpa?" The young man was a little surprised. He scratched his head, feeling that the person in front of him looked a little familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere.
Gao Bo was stunned. Isn't Chen Lao only have one granddaughter?
He sized up the young man in front of him. His face was childish, with a buzz cut, and he was holding a peeled football in his right hand. His features were also upright, and he looked seventeen or eighteen years old. He was tall, even a little taller than Gao Bo when he stood up straight, and his shoulders were wide, making him look very strong.
If you didn't look at his face, Gao Bo would have thought he was an adult.
"That's right, my name is Gao Bo. Chen Lao raised me," Gao Bo nodded and said.
The young man smacked his head, looking like he suddenly realized: "You're Gao Bo?!"
"Yes, I'm Gao Bo!" Gao Bo was a little strange.
"You're the Gao Bo who led Luton Town to win the FA Cup a few days ago?!" The child looked very excited, scratching his head and cheeks, as if he had a lot to say.
Gao Bo was stunned; he really didn't expect to meet someone who recognized him in this small mountain village.
"Grandpa said he knew you very well. I thought Grandpa was bragging..." the young man said garrulously.
Gao Bo smiled dumbly; Old Chen likes to joke with children.
He and Old Chen are more than just familiar. To some extent, Old Chen has always played the role of a father in his growth...
"Coach Gao!" The young man grinned, smiling flatteringly, threw the football away, "My name is Li Yuanshan, Yuanshan as in distant and mountain!"
As Yuanshan spoke, he enthusiastically snatched the luggage backpack from Gao Bo and put it on his back.
"You guys play by yourselves!"
It seemed that Yuanshan was the leader of these children, but his words caused a cheer from the surrounding children.
"Looks like they don't like playing with you..."
Gao Bo teased Yuanshan from behind.
"It's boring to play with them. I'm just the goalkeeper for them. If not... I would have been playing in League One!"
Has this kid been trained in football?
Gao Bo looked at his figure carefully. From his build, he really looked like an athlete; he just didn't know how good he was.
Following Yuanshan, after passing through an alley, Gao Bo saw from afar an old man wearing a Zhongshan suit and glasses, with completely white hair, sitting on a rocking chair, swaying back and forth, his palms tapping on his thighs.
"Chen Lao!"
Gao Bo rushed forward and shouted.
After not seeing him for several years, Old Chen looked much older than before.
The old man opened his eyes and suddenly sat up, scaring Gao Bo.
He jumped off the rocking chair and walked over a few steps. Gao Bo was shocked when he saw the old man jump off the rattan chair..... After not seeing him for many years, this old man is still in good shape...
"Xiao Bo!!!"
"You've been gone for six years..."
Hearty laughter rang out.
Gao Bo's eyes turned red as he listened, and he hugged the old man tightly.
This child... After going abroad, he even learned the bad habit of foreigners hugging people casually...
Old Chen thought as he patted Gao Bo's back.