As soon as Yang walked back to the guest room of the mansion, the two roommates Yu Xiaochun and Nina had already closed the door and slept. He opened the master bedroom door, lay down on his bed, opened the letter that Penelope had handed him, and read:

"Dear Mr. Yang Yiming: Zhan Xinjia!"

The entire letter is written in English and is written on two pages. didn't want to wake up his good friend Yu Xiaochun, Yang Yiming opened the "English-Chinese Dictionary" APP on his mobile phone again, ready to try to read it first by his own ability.

(The following is the text of the letter)

Dear Mr. Yang Yiming,

Zhan Xinjia!

I'm pleased to inform you that you've been selected for this year's YACAP Young Athletes Career Advancement Program, and I want to take this opportunity to congratulate you on my efforts to help you on your path to the Hall of Fame.

I've been following you for a long time. Your performance with the Rockets was amazing. Although I had my eyes on you before you landed in the U.S., before you realized that you were following more than just a handful of people in the arena, I have to say that your trajectory in the NBA has managed to impress me again.

Your maturity, your professionalism, your ease on and off the court, and your ability to deliver on and off the court quickly have all exceeded my expectations and that of any NBA scouting team. This season, you've had several stats that stand out among all the rookies of the year, and you've been named to the All-Star starting lineup for the first time, which is rare for a full-fledged team at a championship-caliber level — and maybe you'll be the "Dr. Young" of the Rockets, the piece of the puzzle for the Space City dynasty.

But I want you to see further.

"Excellence" and "greatness". I'm going to make you understand the difference between the two. Although I suspect that you yourself are well aware that there will always be an insurmountable gulf between good and great, like the Rubicon, the forbidden river conquered by your namesake Julius, the great Julius Caesar. His enemies could only look at the river and sigh, and Julius Caesar was already in power. If you can't tell the difference, or just settle for the former, then maybe I sent this letter to the wrong person. But I'm still confident that you'll get tired of being "excellent". "Greatness" is your ultimate pursuit.

Remember, "excellent" is always self-consolation that does not reach "greatness".

Inferior greatness is excellent.

So I'm going to invite you to participate in the YACAP program. This is a long-term training program for young talents like you, which has been practiced for more than 30 years. In the YACAP program, you will not only receive professional career planning and technical guidance from great players, but you will also discover new world opportunities that open up to you, and all kinds of possibilities that you never thought of before!

You'll get to know other young people like you who have been selected for the YACAP program. On the pitch you may be bloody enemies, but off the pitch, in this project that I preside, you have the potential to be friends for life. "Brother basketball", as they call it.

If you still don't understand what the YACAP program can offer you, take a look at two of the most important pieces of the Bulls dynasty's puzzle, the right-hand men of Michael Jordan, the "God of Basketball": Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. Without the YACAP program, Pippen might not have been able to go to any college after graduating from high school, and Rodman was working in the lowest-paying job in a parking lot or restaurant (of course, he might not have had the opportunity to be friends with Mr. Kim, an enemy of the United States, in North Korea...). Naturally, the Bull Dynasty is out of the question. You can look at the Celtics' Big Three: the three old guys who joined the YACAP program were obviously not "young athletes" anymore, but fortunately it wasn't too late. If it weren't for that lost championship, what would Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce have in history?

The best high school student power forward.

The best pure shooter.

The best small forward, I'm afraid the word "one" will be added to the back.

You see, "excellent" again!

Go to TM's Excellent!

Whoever wants to have anything to do with the excellent will be left to him. It's just that YACAP doesn't have the word "excellent" in its plans.

Not only that, but I'm not only going to help you become a great player, I'm going to help you become a great person. In this turbulent era, you new young players will become social and cultural trendsetters, you will have the power to influence the world, and you will become a feared business giant. Your athletic career has been more than ten or even twenty years, but as a "human", your latitude is much longer than that. YACAP teaches you how to be the best in the arena of life, with the help of any power you can use, whether it is with each other, yourself, or new friends.

This is YACAP.

You may also wonder why I delivered this letter through Penelope.

Before your Lunar New Year, I met your friends Yu Xiaochun and Penelope. That's right, it was I who eventually brokered the signing of "Rose" Rose with the Houston Rockets, and he became your current teammate. Derek, he could have joined YACAP, but he chose his own path — or his career would almost certainly have been better, and he might have worn a championship ring by now — but I'm not one to be a skeptical person, everyone has their own options, and it's said that being teammates with Rose is your first wish.

So, I'll give it to you as a gift.

It's just that I really hope you don't make the wrong choice.

I didn't mention the YACAP matter to your friend and your agent, Yu Xiaochun. He's a "nice guy" and he must be wholeheartedly good for you, but he's not "really" good for you, if you know what I mean. You need a noble person who matches the "greatness", a program like YACAP that comes with experience and resources. In this regard, with all due respect, Mr. Yu is still a little worse. You're already a rookie in the NBA, and you can't hope that the person who helps you is a rookie.

So I commissioned Penelope to deliver this letter to you.

If the above tirade is not enough to convince you, perhaps my Messenger can. I know your current girlfriend, Miss Meritis. She's a wonderful young woman, outstanding. But there is still true greatness in this world, the embodiment of the word "beautiful". Penelope can be counted as one.

I'm not trying to persuade you to give up your girlfriend. In fact, a stable relationship with a woman like Miss Meredith will do you more good than bad for your growth. I just want to remind you that in addition to a rewarding life, never forget the "great" beauty that exists somewhere in this world.

Waiting for you to explore and discover greatness.

All in all, YACAF welcomes you to join us. If you do, just send a message to Penelope. On June 14, Moscow, I will send a private jet to pick you up.

Most sincerely,

Scott Kalonsky

March 12, 2018