Chapter 142:"You don't know, he can't let go..."

After hanging up the phone with Stevens, Zhang Yu checked the time, it was already 11:30.

He waved his hand:

"I'm not going to catch a flight today, just rest in Indiana for the night!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd burst into cheers.

After all, people are land animals, and no one wants to float in the sky.

That night, the Warriors had a good night's rest in Indiana before taking a special plane to New York the next day.

Zhang Yu gave the whole team a day off to let everyone adjust their state.

The Knicks are still the Knicks that everyone is familiar with. They started the 1-8 season with a dazzling record of 2009 win and 2010 losses. Before this game, they had just suffered a 5-game losing streak. Can step on.

Before the game, Zhang Yu only watched a video of the Knicks game, and then stopped working.

The Knicks game is so eye-catching, Zhang Yu is very suspicious of how the brains of New York fans grow, and they spend so much money to come to Madison Square Garden to watch the Knicks feed them.

Zhang Yu closed the laptop, took out the phone, found Yi Jianlian's number from the address book, and dialed:

"A Lian, I just arrived in New York, do you have time to have a meal together?"

...

"Yi, let's go first." Brook Lopez greeted Yi Jianlian.

"Oh, slow down on the road, see you tomorrow." Yi Jianlian squeezed out a smile and waved to him.

Da Luo and several other Nets players left the locker room talking and laughing, and Yi Jianlian heard a few words:

"Why don't you call Shang Yi together..."

"You don't know, he can't let go..."

Yi Jianlian lowered his head, arranged his equipment expressionlessly, and waited for his teammates to leave before leaving the locker room alone.

"Yi, you are the last one again. Be careful on the road." A trainer of the Nets greeted Yi Jianlian.

Yi Jianlian nodded with a smile, walked out of the Continental Arena without saying anything.

He drove away and headed for downtown New York.

This morning, he received a call from Zhang Yu. It is 5 pm, the Nets training is over, and he happened to go to the appointment.

The timing of Zhang Yu's coming to New York was very coincidental. Tomorrow the Nets had a game against the Magic at home, so Yi Jianlian had no time to come out.

The distance between New Jersey and New York is 80 kilometers, and it takes an hour to drive.

Yi Jianlian was driving a sports car, and the words he heard just now appeared in his mind.

He knew that his teammates were going to the nightclub. When he first came to the Nets, Devin Harris kindly invited him to go with him.

But Yi Jianlian was originally a relatively introverted person with relatively traditional concepts, and he couldn't adapt to such an environment. After several rejections, no one invited him again.

And his English has not been very good. Although he has been in the United States for two years, there is no problem in daily communication, but his learning ability is average, he doesn't know much about English slang and black culture, and he can't talk to his teammates. As time goes by , and communication with others gradually decreased.

In this way, he felt the feeling when he played in the Bucks again-lonely and cold.

Yi Jianlian is extremely eager to go to a teahouse for morning tea after waking up in the morning, and listen to the uncle sitting next to him bragging and chatting in vernacular.

He deeply misses his life in Yangcheng, but every day he can only drive to the arena alone after eating the tasteless western food, train silently, appear on the stage silently, play silently, and then go home silently, watch Staring at the night scene outside the window in a daze, finally fell asleep silently.

Boring training is nothing to Yi Jianlian. He has received formal basketball training since he was 12 years old, and training has long been a part of his life.

But this feeling of being alone, far away from his hometown, with no relatives and no friends everywhere, made Yi Jianlian feel a little bit overwhelmed.

He can't see the hope of playing out. Although the Bucks selected him with the No. 6 pick, they didn't have any intention of cultivating him. Villanueva had a higher tactical status than him, and he was sent immediately after his rookie season. nets.

And the Nets didn't pay much attention to him, giving him more than 20 minutes of playing time each game, allowing him to play freely, without even a clear positioning. Although he tried his best to play every game, his heart was muddled.

This environment made Yi Jianlian more autistic, and his communication with his teammates became less and less. When he was in the Bucks, he didn't even say a word to the dead Australian.

Fortunately, he is not the only Chinese in the American basketball circle. When Yi Jianlian was selected for the national team for the first time in 2004, Yao Ming was very optimistic about him and gave him many valuable suggestions as a big brother.

Later, after he participated in the NBA in 2007, Yao Ming contacted him more often. Every time the Rockets played against the Bucks and Nets, he invited him out for dinner and gave him a lot of encouragement and help.

And he and Zhang Yu were able to get in touch because of Duan Ran's matchmaking.

Duan Ran followed Yi Jianlian's news for a while and introduced Zhang Yu to him, but one of them was in the NBA and the other was in the NCAA.

This time Zhang Yu invited him out for dinner, which was the first time the two met.

Yi Jianlian was driving the car, racking his brains but couldn't think of any delicious restaurant in New York. In the end, he decided to go to Chinatown in New York. There was a good Chinese restaurant there.

He searched all over New York and New Jersey before, but he couldn't find an authentic Cantonese restaurant or Cantonese style tea house, only a few restaurants that had been modified to suit American tastes. This was also an important reason why he hated New Jersey.

An hour later, Yi Jianlian finally arrived outside the hotel where the Warriors were staying. He called Zhang Yu and got out of the car to wait.

After a while, Zhang Yu came out of the hotel, walked towards Yi Jianlian, and said with a smile:

"Ah Lian, is this the first time we've met?"

Yi Jianlian said slightly respectfully:

"Coach Z..."

"Just call me Zhang Yu."

"Uh...Brother Yu." Yi Jianlian changed his words hesitantly.

Zhang Yu is the owner and head coach of the team, and he is a parallel rookie who no one cares about. Yi Jianlian spontaneously treats Zhang Yu with a low profile.

Zhang Yu knew that Yi Jianlian was introverted and needed to break the ice on his own initiative. He got into the car very familiarly, and smiled at Yi Jianlian:

"Get in the car, where shall we go to eat?"

Yi Jianlian was stunned for a moment, then hurried into the car:

"Brother Yu, I'm not very familiar with New York, I only know that there is a good Chinese restaurant..."

"Then let's go, but it must be delicious, otherwise I won't spare you."

"Uh, why don't we change to another..."

"Haha, just kidding, let's go."

...

Half an hour later, Yi Jianlian drove Zhang Yu to Chinatown in New York, stopped in front of a Chinese restaurant, and the two got off the car.

Yi Jianlian complained while closing the car door:

"There are very few people in Milwaukee. It is very cold and dry in winter, and there is no Chinese restaurant. Sometimes I don't want to eat Western food, so I cook for myself..."

After Zhang Yu's gags, Yi Jianlian's restraint dissipated, and the two quickly became acquainted.

Along the way, most of the time it was Yi Jianlian who said that he told Zhang Yu a lot about playing in the United States, most of which were complaints. It was obvious that he was very dissatisfied with his life in Milwaukee and New Jersey.

The two walked into the lobby. This is a restaurant with a Chinese-style facade, and the interior decoration is mainly Chinese-style.

After Yi Jianlian entered the door, he showed a sincere smile:

"Brother Yu, I come here to eat when I have time. The Chinese food here is very authentic. I can't find a second one in New York."

After sitting down, he ordered dishes skillfully. The waiter was from Huaxia and was familiar with Yi Jianlian. After ordering, he asked him for an autograph. Before leaving, he encouraged:

"A Lian, come on, Dayao is injured, Huaxia basketball depends on you!"

Hearing what the waiter said, Yi Jianlian forced a smile and waved to him.

After he left, Yi Jianlian's complexion darkened, staring at the table in front of him, he even forgot to greet Zhang Yu.

"What's the matter, aren't you happy to meet fans?" Zhang Yu teased.

Yi Jianlian sighed softly and said in a muffled voice:

"Of course I'm happy, but I'm so far behind Brother Yao. Brother Yao is a superstar, and I don't even know where my next contract is...I'm such a loser. Many people in China scold me."

The smile on Zhang Yu's face gradually disappeared, he pondered for a while, and said slowly:

"A Lian, you are playing for yourself, don't be influenced by other people's words, just be yourself."

Upon hearing this, Yi Jianlian gave a wry smile, and began pouring out bitter water:

"Brother Yu, I also want to play well, but I don't know how to work hard. The coach usually doesn't say a word to me, and only asks me to follow the team to practice tactics."

"I can only find a trainer by myself to practice inside skills and footwork, but the effect is not good. The trainer suggested that I gain weight, otherwise it will be difficult to fight against others inside."

"It's also difficult for me to integrate into the circle of my teammates. Black people are very... very open. I can't accept it. I can't play with them. Those defenders don't pass me the ball very much on the field. I can only get the ball. Do it yourself, otherwise the data will be too ugly..."

Yi Jianlian has accumulated too much bitterness on weekdays, but he can't express it at all in the face of his parents' concerned eyes.

And Yi Jianlian's domestic teammates teased him as a big NBA star as soon as they met. They were very envious of him playing in the NBA, as if he had a very prosperous life in the NBA, and blocked all his words.

Now it's hard to meet compatriots who are also in the NBA circle, and Yi Jianlian confides all the pent-up feelings in his heart.

Zhang Yu didn't intervene, but just listened quietly and echoed from time to time.

Yi Jianlian poured out his heart in somewhat blunt Mandarin, pausing only when the waiter served the dishes.

By the time he finished speaking, the table was already covered with various dishes, steaming hot, but neither of them moved their chopsticks, and the first hot dish served was already half cold.

"...I really don't know if I can stay in the NBA. If I go back to China, it will definitely be ridiculed...Hey, Brother Yu, eat, sorry (sorry), let you listen to my chant ( Long-winded) so many."

After Yi Jianlian finished his last sentence, he finally came to his senses when he saw the dishes on the table. He apologized again and again, unconsciously uttered a few words in Cantonese, and hurriedly served Zhang Yu some food.