Portsmouth travel to Birmingham City, a Premier League team that is relegated last year in terms of quality and staffing. In order to get back to the game, they spent a lot of effort to retain the core players in the team, such as Chris Burke, who ranked first in assists this year; Former Inter goalscorer Martins and so on, they are aiming to surpass.

But for Portsmouth, the whole team has come to a pole.

At this time, all England is on holiday, and the last week of December has the most traditional holiday in the West - Christmas. It's still snowing in Birmingham today, with snow everywhere on both sides of the road, bells and lanterns hanging from trees along the way, maybe Santa Claus is hiding behind a tree and snickering.

Hydward couldn't laugh, and Uncle Barton's company had to rush back to reunite with his family during the holidays. Richards is also gone, the young man has not been home for more than half a year, and if he doesn't go back, his parents should cut ties with him. The bus could not be rented, the head coach personally drove the players to the away game, and his logistics director was gone, so he had to go on his own, and the already heavy pressure added a little bit again.

Food, accommodation, equipment, travel, everything once again interfered with the already difficult Portsmouth.

……

"Boss, get me some ice."

Birmingham arranged a hostel, and Margery was iced in the hall. This is the first time he has played continuously for such a long time since he participated in the professional league, and his calves are swollen everywhere from the bare legs to the bare feet. You can't touch it, and it hurts when you touch it.

Hydward was busy and took advantage of the effective time to eat and arranged for everyone to either apply ice or soak their feet.

The hall was full of splashes, the hotel was short of guests because Christmas was approaching, and there were only Portsmouth players on this floor, chatting, fighting, bustling and noisy.

Master Yang Dianqiu boiled hot water for the players in the kitchen, this hotel does not have a water heater in winter, and it is very difficult to take a bath.

When the players saw the team chef running over, they touched their stomachs and asked in the way of Chinese speech: "Oh, when will Lao Yang start eating?" ”

"Right now, right away!"

Master Yang looked embarrassed, took Hyde Waldra aside and whispered in a low voice.

"Really?"

"I've rummaged through it, and there's nothing left."

Hydward also looked embarrassed, Portsmouth to Birmingham was evening, and by the time everything was done, it was already seven or eight o'clock in the evening. Naturally, the hotel does not provide dinner, and Master Yang is ready to cook it himself, but there are no ingredients in the kitchen except oil, salt, sauce and vinegar.

The people live on food, not to mention the players who have been training for a day. Ward looked out the window, there was still goose feather snow, and it was before Christmas, where to buy any ingredients?

He looked at the players, looked at Master Yang, and grabbed his hair irritably, that's how the coach got so many bald heads. What are other teams eating at Christmas? Turkey, cakes, cereals and seafood, Portsmouth has nothing. The players call him the boss, and how much this boss has failed to feed his men.

In the end, the players still found out that something was wrong, starting from Chef Yang not bringing the dishes.

"Hey, Ricardo, bring out your treasured jerky for everyone to taste," Jonathan put his arm on the Brazilian's chest, dissolving the somewhat quiet and somewhat awkward atmosphere.

"Hey, why don't you bring out your Yorkshire pudding and Victoria sponge cake? …… Why are you covering my mouth? … Not... I watched you take it to the car, eating alone... Eat guys! ”

Jonathan looked at the manager with some embarrassment, the pudding and the cake were delicious, but they were all hot food, which was banned in the team, but it was obviously poked out by Ricardo.

Everyone in the hall chattered, and Ricardo gave his companion a fist, "Have you been thinking about my jerky for a long time?" You know how difficult it was for my sister to bring me these two pieces from Brazil! ”

Hydward watched in silence, with a faint fire in his eyes, has Portsmouth changed so far? Maybe not, people are still those people. Perhaps again, crazy physical training; Strict team discipline; High-pressure rule management. There may be a couple of insignificant victories, and the gang drinks; Smoke; The English hooligans who gambled on the cards actually did not rebel?!

No one should be easily trusted, but not everyone is untrustworthy. Please see with your eyes and feel with your heart who is the one who is sincere to you. Margery distinguished; Haim, Lawrence, Jonathan, they all tell.

He wanted to say something, but the words got stuck in his throat and couldn't swallow it, and the manager lost his voice as a well-spoken guy.

"I'll go and look in the warehouse with Master Yang," said he hurriedly went downstairs.

……

God still feels sorry for us, Hydward really found something in the warehouse. small half bag of potatoes; Tomatoes and half a box of eggs.

Chef Yang fried a few plates of sour and hot shredded potatoes with scrambled eggs with tomatoes and served them to the players for dinner. The magic in the hotel is that there is nothing, there is a big bag of rice that foreigners rarely eat, and after boiling some small white porridge and steaming a pot of rice, the rice is opened.

People don't care what they eat, they care about how they eat and who they eat with.

Just two dishes, everyone ate with relish. Master Yang Dianqiu seems to have taken out the greatest ability in this life, two slices of hot and sour shredded potatoes, two slices of fiery red peppers, and shredded potatoes cut into the same size with oil flowers, which make people appetizing no matter how you look at it. Tomato eggs, bright in color, sweet and sour, refreshing, the more you look at it, the more beautiful it becomes. Chinese cooking, a melon more than a dozen styles, a dish more than a dozen flavors, this is a simple change to the extreme art.

Foreigners' eating habits pay attention to the combination of all kinds of dishes, utensils, materials, and service, but no matter how it is packaged, from Los Angeles to New York, steak has only one taste, and there is no art to speak of. As a dish, chicken is chicken, steak is steak, and even if there is a match, it is also done on a plate, a plate of "French lamb chops", with mashed potatoes on one side, lamb chops on one side, boiled green beans on the other side, and a few slices of tomatoes. But Master Yang Dianqiu is Chinese, and the concept of "people take food as the sky, food as the first taste" is revealed from his bones, and his pursuit of deliciousness has reached the extreme.

The Portsmouth players didn't have any food tonight, but they ate more than usual, and the dishes on the table were wiped out, and there was no soup and water left.

Lao Yang waited for everyone to finish eating, and then served himself some white rice in the kitchen, and he would settle this dinner without any dishes. After washing the dishes, he asked where the nearest 24-hour supermarket was, and went out with an umbrella in the wind and snow, and he still had to think about tomorrow's breakfast.

Hydward was rummaging through his room and preparing for tomorrow's Christmas game, and he saw Master Yang go out, as did many of the players. The success of a team is never only the players or coaches, he comes from the hard work and hard work of every staff member of the club.