At noon on October 16, Beijing time, at 11 p.m. local time on the 15th.

Dallas Fort Worth International Airport Border Control.

1/

"Business trip or travel?" Behind the counter of the border control window where Yang Yiming and Yu Xiaochun were queuing, sat a male official with a lovely smile but a little ridiculously fat. His uniform must have had four or five X's, but it still couldn't wrap up a belly like an oversized doughnut, half of which was overflowing on the workbench at the moment.

"Travel." Yang Yiming lined up in front of the two and answered the fat official in proficient English first. Since they have not yet signed a formal work contract with the team, he and Yu Xiaochun will first enter the country with their personal travel passports, and then change their work passports after the contract is completed. This is what the team took care of before Yang Yiming's trip.

"Destination?" The official took Yang Yiming's passport and went through it.

"Houston, we're here to turn around."

"Wow, you're so tall! yi-ming" The fat official scanned his passport and read Yang Yiming's name syllable-by-syllable with interest, "Ming? It's the same as Yao Ming's 'Ming' of the Houston Rockets, right? ’’”

"Hmm... The pronunciation is the same, but the meaning is a little different. ”

"yes. We used to have a big Chinese man, Wang Zhizhi. The fat official struggled to pronounce the words, but his hands were very skillful, and he neatly stamped a few seals and handed the document out of the window, "Now Zhou is alone." He also entered the pass from here, and I saw him at the time. ”

The fat official was obviously talking about Zhou Qi, who was about to become a teammate of Yang Yiming's Rockets, who was accidentally injured a few days ago.

"Good luck!"

"Thank you." Yang Yiming took the stacked list of passports, tickets, and declarations, and nodded vigorously in his hand. He gestured at me, motioned to wait for me, and walked out on his own.

Ahead, near midnight, the airport is still bustling with people.

Arrivals of different heights, nationalities, and skin colors had just received stamps permitting entry, and were walking through the rows of passages like Yang Yiming and walking forward.

What kind of world awaits them?

2/

Compared to the enthusiastic and talkative fat man at the Dallas U.S. border, waiting for a pick-up at the Houston airport is a different story.

Because the second flight from Dallas to Houston was delayed, Yang Yiming and Yu Xiaochun arrived in the second half of the night. The huge Houston Hobby Airport is sparsely populated and deserted at the moment. There are only a few floor moppers, making a low, boring running sound in a circular motion on the shiny floor tiles.

As far as the eye can see, the only connection to Team Rocket in the airport is the Toyota advertisement next to the baggage carousel. As a sponsor of the Houston Rockets, three players wearing familiar red jerseys also appeared in the advertisement. Among them, James Harden is in the center, Chris Paul and Eric Gordon are separated from the left and right, and all three have their arms crossed on their chests and their heads held high. Perhaps it's the visual effect of a car commercial, where the faces of the trio seem to have been weathered, but they still look resolute.

"Look there." After a long-distance flight, Yang Yiming didn't seem to be tired at all, and excitedly pointed to the advertisement of Toyota.

Yu Xiaochun knew what he was thinking.

"I'll probably see you tomorrow." He looked around, hoping for the carousel to move quickly, and looking for someone to greet them.

Through the glass door at the entrance of the arrival, Yu Xiaochun also saw a familiar touch of red. A brown-skinned man, lying on the railing of the arrival, lowered his head and pressed his mobile phone, and in the other hand lazily held a piece of printing paper with the logo of Team Rocket, next to which there were several English characters, presumably Yang Yiming's name.

"It could be him." Yu Xiaochun pointed and said to Yang Yiming, "I didn't check in my luggage, I'll go over and ask him first." ”

"Okay, I'll be over in a moment."

"Hey, excuse me - are you from Team Rocket?" Yu Xiaochun cautiously waved it in front of the sign-bearer's mobile phone to attract his attention.

"Yes, I'm Jose, Rocket." The brown-skinned pick-up man raised his head, looked Yu Xiaochun up and down, and asked in English with a strong Mexican accent, "Are you Yan?" ”

"It's not Yan, it's Yang." Yu Xiaochun patiently corrected him.

"Whether it's Yan or Yang, you have the final say." José was a little impatient and interrupted, "Where's your luggage?" ”

"I don't have any luggage, it's all here." Yu Xiaochun shook the backpack on his shoulder.

"Let's go, it's been more than two hours. It's always late. José's English was spoken intermittently.

"Wait a minute, he's still waiting for his luggage."

"Who? You're not Yan... Yang? ”

"No, I'm his agent."

"Broker? I wasn't notified, there were two people. José, who had just turned to leave, pulled back, frowning and shaking his head like a rattle.

"What's wrong?" During the stalemate, Yang Yiming, who had picked up the checked luggage, walked up.

"You're Yang?" Seeing the tall athlete's figure, Jose immediately understood that this was the person he was going to pick up.

"I am. Call me Julius. Yang Yiming introduced himself with a smile and passed his hand over the guardrail.

"Oh, Hurris Young." In Spanish, there is a habit of pronouncing J with H. José shook hands in response.

"Yiming, this is Jose." I saw Yang Yiming appear, and hurriedly helped introduce each other.

"Miss Meredith didn't tell me there was another guest."

"He's my agent. Mr. Yu. ”

Only then did Yu Xiaochun realize that he hadn't introduced it yet.

"So, you know, it's like a fish. Fish! Yang Yiming continued to chat enthusiastically with Jose, and popped out a Spanish word while making a gesture of a fish swimming in his hand.

"Yes, Mr. Fish." Jose finally smiled and nodded at Yu Xiaochun.

"The flight was late. Bad! Yang Yiming pointed to the information screen above his head, and complained fakely, "You must be very tired after waiting for a long time." Let's go. ”

When speaking, Yang Yiming naturally used his height advantage to pat Yu Xiaochun and Jose on the shoulders at the same time, and also slid a dollar bill into the pocket of Jose's shirt.

"Mr. Yang..." I don't know if practice makes perfect or other reasons, but Jose's Chinese pronunciation sounds much more standard this time.

"It doesn't matter. Wait until I'm settled in Houston and have a drink together. Seeing Jose's hesitation, Yang Yiming hurriedly continued to warm up.

"Good! I know a few good places – I'll show you the way. Jose took out the dollar bills in his shirt pocket and held them, stuffed them into his pants pocket, and took the luggage in Yang Yiming's hand between words, and led the way out, "This is what Meredith asked me to give you." Tomorrow's arrangement. ”

"Okay." Yu Xiaochun stepped forward, took a piece of paper that was full of prints, and read it.

"Stay at Marriott tonight. I'll pick you up tomorrow at nine o'clock. ”

"Nine o'clock?!" Yu Xiaochun exclaimed.

"No problem, you just need to wake up early."

"I'm fine."

Yu Xiaochun listened to the energetic conversation between Yang Yiming and Jose, and thought to himself, maybe this young man does have magic that people can't refuse.

3/

On the highway from the airport to the hotel, Yang Yiming and Jose, who were sitting in the passenger seat, were still talking excitedly. Yu Xiaochun's tiredness seemed to be dispelled. The highway turned a corner, and suddenly the high-rise buildings in downtown Houston were changed to the side of Yu Xiaochun's car window. In the middle of the night, NASA Space City, the home of the Houston rockets, the fourth-largest city in the United States, is still brightly lit under the skyline of tall buildings in the distance, and the sky glows grayish-blue. Yu Xiaochun looked carefully through the car window, recognizing and comparing with the impressions left by doing homework before leaving. The tallest one must be the JPMorgan Chase Building. The high-rise buildings next to it are next to each other, and under the lights, people are really in a trance.

Less than 100 hours ago, Yu Xiaochun was still on the other side of the ocean in Shanghai, walking out of the office building in Lujiazui and into the subway with the flow of people, and had no time to look up at the bustling scenery overhead.

In Beijing, he did not see any high-rise buildings. After getting off the plane, he went straight to the training base of the Beijing Enterprises men's basketball team in the suburbs, only to see Yang Yiming, who was tall in the front row at this moment.

"Are you all set?" Yu Xiaochun remembered that he learned that Yang Yiming was going to leave that afternoon, and asked him so at that time.

"I can't talk about preparation." The other side shrugged his shoulders and replied noncommittally, "I may never be fully ready." ”

"Have you packed your bags?"

"I'll go back to it later." Yang Yiming paused and said with some doubts, "But they said that I should bring an agent to talk about a work contract or something." I don't know where to look for it yet. ”

"Broker?"

"yes, maybe it's a ten-day contract or something."

"It shouldn't be a short contract, it may be a rookie base salary contract like Zhou Qi." Yu Xiaochun explained casually, "The ten-day short contract will not be used by the team until the end of each season and after January. ”

"You know this?" Yang Yiming excitedly also grabbed the iron net that blocked him.

"Well, I studied in the United States... Master of Laws. In this situation, Yu Xiaochun had to use his study abroad experience as a shield, he didn't want to admit that all the NBA knowledge he knew was only read from the news and Wikipedia.

"Then you can come with me."

"Huh?" He and the security guard behind him, who had just grabbed him, let out this stunned sound in unison.

"By the way, do you have a passport?" ”

"My 10-year U.S. visa seems to be valid..."

"With it?"

"Hmm." Yu Xiaochun patted his shoulders - he is a person who is used to bringing all kinds of tools out in case of emergency.

"Then I'll buy you a ticket. Give me your passport information. Yang Yiming had already taken out his mobile phone from the pocket of his training clothes.

But who would have thought that this passport with them would come in handy at this time!

In the midst of the change, he and the people who invited him were already on the road to the city of Houston.

Yu Xiaochun glanced at the piece of paper that Jose handed him at the airport earlier, from 9 o'clock in the morning from the hotel, to the afternoon to gather the whole team to fly to Oakland, after staying at the hotel, stepping on the field, ready to play the first game of the new season with the Golden State Warriors, their first day in the NBA looked full.

And this is a new journey!