When Hu Lai rushed to the school cafeteria, he saw Mao Xiao waving to him: "Here, Hu Lai!" ”

As soon as he passed, Mao Xiao stuffed a stainless steel dinner plate into his hand and pulled him to stand with him and line up to eat.

Dongchuan Middle School has a cafeteria, but it is not open on Saturdays and Sundays.

Now, because the school football team needs to eat, it is temporarily open on Saturdays to provide lunch for the team.

And this meal was not made casually in the canteen, Li Ziqiang took out the recipe, and then asked the canteen to make it according to the recipe.

The nutrition is reasonable, and it must not be greasy.

In this regard, the school provided the greatest support, and the school cooperated with what Li Ziqiang said. It seems that they are really determined to resurrect the honorary title of "Football Tradition Strong School" of Dongchuan Middle School.

Although it was a middle school football team, Li Ziqiang still showed his professional attitude in the football school to demand.

He can't control what his players usually eat, but at least he has to take care of the meal before the game.

Hu Lai lined up in the line, looked at the lightly colored dishes in the window in front of him, and smacked his lips: "I knew I would eat more in the morning......

These dishes are unappetizing at first glance.

Obviously, Hu Lai was definitely not the only one who felt this way, and many of the team members showed frowning expressions after seeing the food provided in the cafeteria.

There are also whispers circulating among the players.

You don't have to think about the specific content to know that you are complaining about this seemingly unappetizing meal.

Mao Xiao explained with a smile: "Professional players also seem to ask to eat these things, although they are not delicious, but they are healthy. ”

At the front of the team, where the cafeteria aunt was cooking, head coach Li Ziqiang was repeating his words loudly: "Don't eat too much, avoid indigestion and afternoon sleepiness." Don't be afraid to get hungry, there will be bananas to replenish your energy during intermission! ”

Mao Xiao continued: "The professional team usually provides some fruit or snacks at halftime to allow the players to quickly recover their energy. ”

Meng Xi pouted beside him: "It's good, our team is already a professional standard in terms of dietary standards!" ”

※※※

The three of them took the plate and found a table for four that was not yet occupied, and sat down.

Mao Xiao and Meng Xi sat side by side, while Hu Lai sat opposite Mao Xiao.

Meng Xi looked down at his referee, pulled the broccoli that had just been boiled with chopsticks and said, "I think our coach thinks too much, and no one will eat too much of this thing." ”

Hulai also stared at the broccoli and said, "Why can't you make broccoli into a dry pot of cauliflower?" Put some fat pork belly, burst a little harder, boil out the oil, cut the broccoli into small pieces, and soak it in oil......"

"Don't say it, I can't eat it anymore!" Meng Xi stretched out his hand to stop Hu Lai.

Hu Lai picked up a piece of boiled broccoli, put it in his mouth, then closed his eyes and chewed, and nodded: "Well, I thought about the taste of dry pot cauliflower in my mind, and this broccoli has an inner taste!" ”

"Is that okay?" Meng Xi frowned.

"Don't believe you? Think of something you like best, try to remember the taste, and eat what is in front of you. Hulai instructed.

Meng Xi half-convinced picked up the broccoli, put it in his mouth, closed his eyes and chewed it carefully, and then ...... Spit it out: "It's far from spicy crayfish!" ”

Mao Xiao frowned and ate the meal, he also felt that the food didn't taste very good, and it was really unacceptable to eat something with less oil and less salt, but he was still trying to eat it. It's just that when eating, you can't think about what you like to eat like Hulai said, otherwise you won't be able to eat this meal at all.

He decided to change the subject: "Eh, I heard that our new jersey will be distributed before this game, so we'll know what our number is. Didn't you also conduct a small survey before to ask us to report our favorite numbers? ”

"What's the use of that? I chose the number nine, and I don't believe they could really give me the number nine. Huley paused for a moment and continued. If they dare to give, I will dare to ask for it! ”

"What's the matter with your expectant tone?" Meng Xi complained, "I think I can definitely get the number I like, so I chose No. 1, as the team's main goalkeeper, it's not too much to give a No. 1, right?" As for you......"

Meng Xi pointed at Hu Lai.

"It doesn't matter what number it is, it's good to have a number."

※※※

Hulai was holding the new jersey that had just been handed out, and the plastic bag on the outside had not yet been removed.

The main color of Higashikawa Middle School's jersey and pants is positive yellow, but there are blue stripes on the collar and the hem of the pants.

The color scheme of this jersey reminded Hu Lai of a team in another time and space - Sichuan Quanxing. It was a very popular team that had few achievements in the history of Chinese professional football and was only third in the top flight.

There is no Sichuan Quanxing team in this time and space, and the designer of this set of jerseys will definitely not be able to refer to the jersey style of Sichuan Quanxing.

The main color of yellow is actually derived from the school emblem of Dongchuan Middle School, and even the school uniforms of Dongchuan Middle School are all yellow and blue sportswear, which is very different from the same blue-white or red-white school uniforms of other schools.

He flipped his jersey over to reveal the number on the back: 14.

This surprised him a little, he originally thought that he would be assigned to No. 36, after all, it was the last number in line, but he didn't expect it to be No. 14, much ahead.

He was still a little happy.

There was Meng Xi's puzzled voice next to him: "You can still laugh, Hu Lai?" ”

"Huh?" Hu Lai was confused and didn't understand why Meng Xi said that.

"This is the fourteenth, for our Chinese football, it is a cursed number." Meng Xi said very seriously. "In 2001, it was the closest we got to the World Cup finals, but in the most crucial game, Wang Xiaojun scored an own goal, which made us lose that crucial battle and finally missed the World Cup finals. And Wang Xiaojun was wearing the No. 14 jersey at that time! If you want to say that it's just this time, the Asian Cup final in three years will be held on our own home stadium, and what will be the result? We lost the championship because of a handball goal from Japan, which was the closest we came to winning the Asian Cup, and Koichi Sato, who scored with his hand, was wearing the number 14 shirt! You see, twice. ”

Meng Xi raised two fingers, his expression was exaggerated, and his tone was even more exaggerated: "But do you think this is the end?" No! In 2005, the Chinese team once again hit the World Cup, and this time we simply fell on the way to the top ten. Fourteen minutes into that game, Zhao Kangming was sent off, and that was our main central defender! The third fourteen! ”

Meng Xi's erected fingers turned into three.

"And it happened to be April 14th! It's only three, but you see it's forty-four! Later, some people said that the number fourteen was cursed, and as long as Chinese football and fourteen were involved, it would be no good thing......"

Hu Lai then remembered that he had just found a lot of football information about this world on the Internet on the day he had just crossed and had seen this so-called "Fourteen Curses", but he didn't remember it just now.

There are many differences between this world and the world he used to be in terms of football, but there are some places that seem familiar.

For example, in that world, no matter how bad the Chinese team is, at least one World Cup finals has been played, that is, the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. In this world, the 2002 World Cup was indeed held in Japan and South Korea, but the Chinese team finally hated the top 10 and failed to participate. Then until now, in 2019, the Chinese team has not participated in a World Cup finals.

Rumors about China's bid to host the World Cup also come out from time to time in this world, but every time it comes out, it will be ridiculed - you haven't even participated in the World Cup finals, and you still have the face to host the World Cup? Haven't all of the previous host countries already participated in at least one World Cup finals?

As for the 2004 Asian Cup, both worlds were the same, it was indeed held in China, and the Chinese team did not win the championship in the end, losing to Japan in the final, and there was also a controversial goal in that final.

It's just that in the previous world, Hulai remembered that the player who scored the second goal for the Japanese team with his hands was called Koji Nakata, and the jersey number he wore was not No. 14, but No. 6. Here, it turned into Koichi Sato wearing the No. 14 jersey.

In the 2005 World Cup qualifiers, the Chinese teams in both worlds did not participate in the top 10 matches, but the reasons for not participating were different. In that world, it was because the black people had never played West Asians, and here they lost to their opponents cleanly, resulting in missing the top 10.

So it was just an ordinary number in the history of Chinese football in that world, but in this world, it has become a cursed number......

"Hu Lai, don't listen to Meng Xi's nonsense, this is just a superstitious statement." Mao Xiao came out to comfort Hu Lai, he was afraid that what Meng Xi said was too exaggerated and scared Hu Lai.

Meng Xi was unhappy: "Who said nonsense?" This is a well-established fact. Do you think since that incident in 2005, which main player in the major clubs of the Chinese Super League will choose the number fourteen? Of course, those players won't admit it with their mouths, but they all voted with their feet, and their bodies are honest! Besides, fourteen wasn't a lucky number in the first place, so it's going to die......"

In the face of the facts, Mao Xiao also had to admit: "No. 14 is indeed given to young players or substitute players by default, and no one will take the initiative to choose this number......"

"There are also those who do not believe in evil." Meng Xi snorted. "But they didn't perform well after wearing the fourteenth, do you want me to give you those examples?"

"Alright, Meng Xi." Mao Xiao stopped his good friend in a very serious tone, and at the same time signaled to him with his eyes, don't rub salt on Hu Lai's wounds.

It's frustrating enough to be assigned to this number that no one wants, and to listen to his cursed legends, isn't it the same as going to the funeral of someone else's relative, and then comforting people, "Don't be sad, you will be reunited with him sooner or later anyway"?

Meng Xi grimaced, but still kept his mouth shut.

Hu Lai knew Mao Xiao's kindness, but he didn't really care about this so-called cursed number.

He just retrieved the football knowledge he learned after coming to this world, and found that in the football history of this world, the fourteenth is just an ordinary number in world football, and there are indeed some stars who have passed through it, but there is no shortage of such stars in this world, after all, only a slightly famous football player can be called a "star", that's all.

So people in this world may not be able to understand what makes Fourteen special.

That's Johann Cruyff and Thierry Henry's numbers!

Hule removed the plastic packaging, took the jersey out of it, and shook it open so that the number was facing him.

There were hands in the dark that brought this number to him, as if a bridge connected the two worlds.

Those names that he was familiar with, those classic scenes, those legends and legends...... It all converged on this number, reminding him that he was from that world.

"I love this number!"

Hulai, holding his jersey, said.