Chapter 3 It's Hard to Forgive the Me That Lost to You

"Which team are you from? I feel like I've never seen you before," Mutinho, who was behind Deng Kai, was curious.

"I'm a free agent," Deng Kai shook his head, trying to sort out his jumbled thoughts.

His first step was to conquer the soccer field in front of him, this match!

"Oh, then it's really not easy for you to get here. I hope you perform well later," Mutinho said, indicating that he shouldn't have asked that question.

Another way of saying that someone became a free agent at the age of thirteen or fourteen is that the team doesn't want you anymore.

The dropout rate in European football academies is incredibly high.

Over ninety-five percent of academy players ultimately fail to secure a professional contract.

Every academy player needs to be mentally prepared for this.

"He's here! Look at him, he's got such an annoying expression. Does he think he's Simon and Quaresma?" Mutinho was muttering under his breath.

He really didn't like the person walking over.

Because the latter was the type of talented player who didn't need to worry about what to do without a professional contract.

Although he's still on the small Madeira Island, everyone knows that Sporting Lisbon is ready to turn him into the next Quaresma!

Deng Kai also looked at the newcomer, whose expression under the curly hair made him burst out laughing.

No matter the age, Ronaldo is always the proud Ronaldo.

As a kid, he used his pride to overcome social anxiety and discrimination.

After becoming famous, he used his pride to overcome opponents and fans.

And when he got older, he used it to combat time and himself.

Such pride was always one of the sources of his strength and inspired many others.

But those who hated him often hated him for this very reason.

"Are you crazy? He's going to think you're provoking him... Damn, here he comes!" Mutinho quickly moved away from Deng Kai and with a look explained to Ronaldo that they didn't know each other.

The gazes of the other young players also followed Ronaldo as he approached.

Many of them thought that the person "mocking" Ronaldo was about to have a bad time.

But Jose Fonte recognized Deng Kai immediately.

Because three years ago in the semi-final, the Ronaldo who had overwhelmed him was also blown away by this little guy in the final. His performance had been simply divine in the midfield!

"You haven't grown much in these three years," Ronaldo stood in front of Deng Kai, looking deeply resentful.

As soon as he said this, many people understood.

The little guy knew Ronaldo.

And it seemed their relationship wasn't very good.

"So we're rivals again, huh? Then it doesn't matter how much you've grown," Deng Kai refused to look up at Ronaldo, his height was too much of a disadvantage—he was only about 1.4 meters tall, while Ronaldo, who was half a year older, was already 1.65 meters!

His height might be lacking, but his ability to trash talk certainly wasn't.

"Rivals? Sorry, don't you know what your substitute jersey means? To be frank, you'd be lucky to get on the field in the last seventy minutes!" Ronaldo bent down to look at Deng Kai, "Three years! Do you know what I've gone through in these three years?"

"The day I lost to you, I cried and swore I'd never lose again—and I've done it!"

"And you? What have you been doing? Learning trigonometry, memorizing the periodic table, studying Newton's first law?"

"Deng Kai, I've long since surpassed you!"

Ronaldo's words made the other players in substitute jerseys feel awkward.

No matter what, wearing a substitute jersey meant you were a step below the starting players.

However, Deng Kai just spread his hands and joked, "What can a jersey represent? You're thinking too much. If it really represents something, then perhaps it represents that I only need twenty minutes to make you taste defeat again."

"Coming out to play football, no one never loses. You're too full of yourself, Chris! To become a real star, first you need to accept your own shortcomings."

"Three years, I thought you might have understood this, but I overestimated your insight."

"Since it's like this, then let me be the one to wake you up. Otherwise, you might have trouble becoming a better Ronaldo!"

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

The atmosphere in the player tunnel dropped to a freezing point.

Everyone was worried that Ronaldo would hit Deng Kai, thereby overlooking why Deng Kai was calling Chris "Ronaldo."

However, after clenching his fists for a few seconds, Ronaldo suddenly turned and walked back to the end of the line, trying to keep a straight face, but his smile couldn't be hidden.

In fact, when he saw Deng Kai return to the soccer field, no one was happier than Ronaldo.

Because Deng Kai was the only one, like Ronaldo, among their peers who could hardly find any rivals.

Seeing Deng Kai, Ronaldo was like seeing a midfield version of himself.

Seeing another me in this world.

Seeing another possibility outside of his own path.

This feeling was incredibly magical; perhaps it's what they call "meeting a kindred spirit."

Yes, Ronaldo had self-studied Chinese over these three years, so it had been particularly agonizing.

"Then I'll wait for you on the field to see how you can make me lose again! You better not disappoint me... Kai!"

"Otherwise... it would be hard for me to forgive myself for losing to you three years ago!"