Candace looked at Lu Ke seriously, her clear and translucent eyes, undisguised, looking at every detail in Lu Ke's expression.

The bold and direct eyes made Lu Ke's heart furious, and he spread his hands helplessly, "Two eyes, a nose and a mouth, I haven't seen them for seven months, I shouldn't have become an alien yet." ”

Candace chuckled, "I knew you were going to be fine." Bambi isn't that easy to beat. ”

Lu Ke smiled dumbly, "So, you ended your busy work and made a special trip to Los Angeles to say this?" ”

In the past six months, Candace has been extremely busy with her work, first the spring and summer catwalks of the four major fashion weeks, and then the annual catwalk of "Victoria's Secret", which is her first appearance; Then there were a lot of invitations to magazine shoots, and then there were the autumn/winter catwalks of the four major fashion weeks......

Busy with his feet on the ground, he didn't even have time to breathe. The two of them just went back and forth through emails, learning about each other's recent situation and complaining about the trivial things around them. Although I haven't seen each other for a long time, there is no strangeness and alienation at all.

Candace nodded vigorously and said crisply, "Hmm! was so straightforward, but it made Lu Ke choke and chuckle. Candace continued, "Remember? The first time I auditioned, I was scolded by the interviewer......"

"Of course I do. It's an audition for Gucci at New York Fashion Week, right? Lu Ke's memory is extremely clear and accurate, "At that time, you cried so much that even your snot came out......"

"Bambi!" Before Lu Ke's words were finished, Candace raised her hand and grabbed Lu Ke's neck - but without force, she forcibly cut off Lu Ke's words, "It's good that you know, there's no need to bring it up every time, okay?" ”

Candace grinded her teeth viciously, then let go of her hands and continued, "The interviewer scolded me for being useless, she thought I was too fat to get a job in the modeling industry. And then you told me that giving up is the easiest thing in the world, everyone does, but persistence is not. Because persistence requires ten, a hundred times the strength to reach the end. ”

A big smile bloomed on the corner of Candace's mouth, and she turned her head to look into Lu Ke's eyes, "So, I believe that those teams that didn't pick you, those teams who missed you, this is their loss." They don't know what a great player they missed, and in the future, they will definitely regret it to the point of stomach aches. ”

"Just like Gucci?" The corners of Lu Ke's mouth rose and he chuckled. This year, Gucci's Paris Fashion Week invited Candace to walk the runway.

Candace pursed the corners of her lips and shook her head repeatedly, "No, no, Gucci's invitation, I agreed." I'm just a small model now, and I don't have the right to turn down Gucci. ”

The contrast between before and after made Lu Ke and Candace laugh at the same time.

Looking at the smiling Candace in front of him, Lu Ke seemed to be able to capture the warmth of the sun, and said sincerely, "Thank you." ”

Lu Ke knew that Candace's work was still busy, and even the time to sleep was very scarce; But she rushed back to Los Angeles as soon as possible to show her support.

Candace blinked her right eye, with a playful glint in her eye, and quipped, "If the critical moment doesn't come in handy, don't be such a friend." ”

Lu Ke pursed the corners of his mouth, the smile was hidden in his eyes, and then said seriously, "I think we can break off our relationship." ”

"Hey!" Candace bumped Lu Ke's shoulder with her shoulder, expressing strong dissatisfaction, but it only lasted less than half a second, and a smile appeared on her eyebrows, "Do you still insist on training every day?" ”

"Yes, not to keep the form, but to improve the form. Next, hopefully find a tryout opportunity and then take it. Lu Ke explained simply, "You should know better. ”

Models are the same as professional footballers, they have to be vigilant every day, even all the time. For models, paying attention to their diet, paying attention to their sports, and staying in shape are no less difficult than professional players.

When Lu Ke was a freshman and sophomore in college, Candace lived in Los Angeles for 18 months, and her apartment was only four blocks from Lu Ke's home. One of the things two people do most often is exchange each other's training schedules and daily diet lists, and then train together and complain together.

It lasted until Candace moved to New York for her career.

The race and competition when they met today are not new to the two of them, and they are more like a fragment of ordinary daily life.

"Well, I'll cross my fingers and hope you can use a little luck." Candace raised her two hands, overlapping her index and middle fingers in a prayer gesture.

Lu Ke also raised his hands and made the same movement with a smile on his face, "What about you?" How many days to stay in Los Angeles this time? ”

"One night." Candace stretched a big stretch to relieve the tiredness of her body, "I'm going to New York tomorrow, and two magazine shoots are waiting. But then, she smiled widely, "But now I can rest and relax." How, are you ready to start training? I can be a caddy! ”

"Then we'd better hurry, free caddies, we can't miss this opportunity." Lu Ke blinked and said jokingly, and then the two of them walked down the stands one after the other, and threw themselves into training in a playful manner - real training, not a joke.

On the road of chasing dreams, it is happy to have a little partner who walks side by side, supports and encourages each other, and will not be lonely or lonely.

The next day, Lu Ke personally escorted Candace to the airport, watched Candace take the plane to New York, and then, his life returned to the original orbit.

Since May 1, Lu Ke has been paying attention to the news of the trial camp, and the following three months have become the hardest, most rushing, and most difficult years.

The first tryout opportunity was from the Washington Redskins, who seemed to have an effect during the rookie training camp and sent an invitation to Lu Ke as soon as possible, so he traveled across the North American continent and drove all the way from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., but only stayed in the Redskins' tryout camp for three days, and then was eliminated.

The feeling of emptiness is indescribable. But that's just the beginning. Waiting, long waiting, that's the most painful part.

There was no chance of a tryout, so Lu Ke could only return to Los Angeles to continue to complete his graduation thesis on the one hand, and continue to train in school with the help of Anthony. Day after day, waiting began to become tormenting, even if I forced myself not to think crankily, but when I was relaxing and resting, or when I fell asleep at night, my brain only needed to stop a little, and those chaotic thoughts still surged uncontrollably-

Even if there is a system, so what? Without enough time, he still can't become Superman. This is not "Spider-Man", a spider bites and can complete the transformation; If we had gotten the system a year earlier, would the situation be different? Can he be selected directly by virtue of his strength, and then start killing all sides on the court now?

Lu Ke knows that these fantasies are meaningless, because there are no ifs in the world; However, the waiting process is really too long, and it is not an easy task to control your thoughts.

After three weeks of waiting, the second tryout finally arrived, a full month after the draft. This time the opportunity came from the St. Louis Rams, this time it was news from Adam Klein, and it was still necessary to cross half of the North American continent, but Lu Ke still couldn't wait to jump into his car and drive all the way.

The trial was a little longer, two weeks. Every day, Lu Ke trained with the team's bench players, and then conducted all kinds of quarterback special training, and in a trance, he returned to the sparring period in college, and his daily life became regular, as if he was a member of the Rams.

However, the bubble of dreams soon burst. The Rams still gave up on him, believing he was not their choice. Dejected, Lu Ke returned to Los Angeles again.

Calming down, Lu Ke devoted himself wholeheartedly to the busy defense of his graduation thesis, which made him temporarily forget the setback of losing the rookie, return to his identity as a student, grab the tail of youth, and enjoy this carefree last good time.

After the defense, there was a little more waiting, and another team started a tryout, first the Kansas City Chiefs, then the Tampa Bay Pirates, and finally the Dallas Cowboys.

Before the official start of the preseason, all teams have started the final moves, and this time has become Lu Ke's busiest time, running back and forth between various cities, but the busy ending is nothing. All three teams rejected Lu Ke, and the biggest chance was the Cowboys, a team known as the "American Team", which urgently needed a third quarterback.

And then...... There is no then.

The so-called preseason is that each team constantly runs in tactics, switches lineups, and examines the players' field, and the victory or defeat is not important, but the important thing is the idea in the coach's mind and the run-in between the players. Over the course of four quarters of a game, the lineup may be different in each quarter.

The whistle of the preseason is about to sound, and the unselected rookies are still undrafted rookies, which also means that the big ship of the season is gradually moving away from the port, and Lu Ke has missed the opportunity to board the ship, and it seems that all the clues are hinting: This is all, this is all, this is the end.

Even if you get the system, so what? In this land, Chinese players do not get the corresponding opportunities and do not get the corresponding recognition. Layers of obstacles, it is difficult to reach the sky.

It's a brand new day, and it's a routine training, in fact, Lu Ke doesn't know what the meaning of insisting on training is now, but habitually, he still started his daily training tasks again, and all this seems to have become a part of his body.

After the training and bathing, when he opened the storage room, Lu Ke picked up his mobile phone casually, only to find that there were fourteen messages in it, which made Lu Ke startled, opened the first message, and a familiar and unfamiliar voice came from the other end of the phone:

"Hey, Lu Ke, this is Kip-Kleist......"