Just when Yang Yiming was watching the NBA bigwigs fighting on the court in the All-Star Game, Yu Xiaochun beside him disappeared without paying attention.

How could this basketball nerd rather miss the opportunity to see a superstar play up close - Yang Yiming was puzzled. He was also looking for Yu Xiaochun to verify his judgment of Donovan Mitchell the day before: although Mitchell's physical fitness did seem to have grown significantly overnight, his guess still needs to be supported by data and video, which happens to be Yu Xiaochun's specialty - but at this time, this guy doesn't know where to run.

1/

In fact, Yu Xiaochun is still in the Staples Arena.

VIP box on the second floor.

The location with the best view of the entire arena.

This box is in the mezzanine of the first floor stand and the second floor stand, with a large floor glass five or six meters wide facing the position of the midfield line of the stadium, the line of sight is neither too high like a bird's-eye lens, nor like the field seats, although the details are captured but the overall situation is lost, in short, from here, the dynamics of the entire stadium from small to large, all in full view. To be honest, the broadcast footage of the TV signal should probably be in this position.

"How can you afford a box like this? Aren't you usually watching from the stands? Yu Xiaochun was in front of the big glass in this VIP box, and his glasses were almost attached to it. He exhaled as he spoke, spraying on the glass to blur his vision, and he quickly grabbed his sleeve to wipe the mist away.

Yu Xiaochun turned around and sat in the dark upholstered sofa in the box, facing the old man of Karonsky II. The latter held a red wine glass in his fingers and watched the ball with Erlang's legs crossed.

"What's the matter, I won't be allowed to be extravagant? It's an All-Star Game, after all. Karonsky II took a sip of the wine in his glass, and used the rim of the glass to hold up his crooked glasses, his eyebrows furrowed, as if he was enjoying it.

"I thought the All-Star Game wasn't worth much." It's rare for this old man to speak so well today, but Yu Xiaochun is a little uncomfortable and provokes him.

"It's really worthless. Even if the fight is intense, it is still for you to see. "Kalonsky II finally returned to his cynical normality. On the court, the "battle" between the James team and the Curry team entered the fourth quarter, and the former was falling behind by 10 points, but it seemed that he had no intention of giving up.

"What are you drinking?"

"Red wine, will you take a sip?"

"No, of course I know it's red wine." Yu Xiaochun waved his hand and said, "I mean, is there anything special about this red wine?" Vintage, origin? ”

"Huh? Kalonsky II frowned.

"You are tasting wine in such a luxurious box..."Yu Xiaochun raised his hand and turned around, a row of spotlights were installed under the white ceiling, and he was a little dizzy when he looked up, "The wine must be worthy of it." ”

"Oh, what it means." Kalonsky II put down his glass, took the red wine bottle on the coffee table next to him, looked at the front and back labels and shook his head, "French, I don't understand." It should be a good bar, 96 years old, almost 20 years old. ”

"'96... That should be good. Yu Xiaochun didn't study these red wines or anything, in his opinion, the older the vintage, the higher the value.

"Hmm..."

There was a sudden silence in the huge VIP box. The sound seems to be sucked into the thick white wool carpet...

"This box and the wine are not what I want," Karonsky II finally opened his mouth to interrupt the awkward few seconds, "It's all from the third, my son... Others in Los Angeles..."

"I guessed it."

"Hmm. He said that I could use my words for All-Star Weekend, and he would have been very busy anyway..."The old man in front of Yu Xiaochun took a sip of red wine, his cheeks flushed, and his eyes narrowed.

"So your family is so rich, so rich? Except, of course, you..."

"What do you mean? …”

"It's not interesting, it's just..."

"What's it?!" As if enraged, Kalonsky II sprang out of the couch.

"It's nothing," Yu Xiaochun gestured to show that he didn't mean to offend, and said, "It's just that I've met your son, Karonsky III." Last week, I went to old Scott as well. They all seem to be very rich, although the wealth of Old Scott and III is not the same... Old Scott was well-dressed and upper-class; Your son, there's a saying that 'money makes people crazy,' but I guess those rich nouveau riche are probably like that. ”

"So here's my problem." Yu Xiaochun wiped the lenses of his glasses with the corner of his clothes: "Why can they all be so rich?" On the contrary, you are also engaged in basketball, but you seem to be living a dull life, or is your wealth hidden deeply, I can't see it at all? …”

A smug smile appeared at the corner of Yu Xiaochun's eyes.

"I'm good enough to live comfortably, just have food and drink." Kalonsky II slowly walked to the glass of the box with his glass in his hand, and looked at the court (the James team had just tied the score, and Curry's head coach Mike D'Antoni called a timeout), "As for the difference in the amount of money earned, I don't really care about it anyway." But if you have to pursue a reason - it can only be said that the technology is really poor, haha. ”

"But I remember you said that your father, Scott Sr., used to do player data analysis and reporting just like you, why is he..."

"That's right, he used to be a data strategist too, and he brought me into the industry."

"That's... How..."The question Yu Xiaochun wanted to ask was, of course, "Then how did old Scott transform from a scout into the 'godfather' character he met in Boston (another character played by Al Pacino)", of course, he wanted to see if there was anything he could refer to in the answer to this question, but the more eager he wanted to know, the more words could not be spoken.

Kalonsky II drank all the red wine from the glass in his hand, wiped his lips with the back of his hand, and said: "96 years old, it is still good." Think about the time when this bottle of wine was filled into this bottle, who would have thought that after so many years, it would finally be drunk. ”

"'96..."

"An era."

"96 Golden Generation?!"

"yes, those old guys... No, that group of high-spirited teenagers seems to be still in front of them. Kalonsky II poked the glass with his index finger, and Yu Xiaochun looked in the direction of his index finger, as if it was the position where Yang Yiming was sitting on the sidelines, and the huge white No. 17 on his back was particularly conspicuous. II continued: "It's really like... The golden generation, and the group of people in front of us..."

"You mean the '96 Golden Generation and this year's rookies?" Indeed, the rookies of the 17th class are also full of talents, and they are not lost at all.

"Well," but Karonsky II replied ambiguously, "but the last old guy in '96 has recently officially retired." ”

Yu Xiaochun knew he was talking about Stephen Marbury, who held his retirement ceremony in Beijing.

"Do you remember that there was a trade in that draft?"

"Ray Allen for Marbury?" Yu Xiaochun's mind was Marbury's shadow for a while. At that time, the draft results had just been announced, and Marbury, who was the fourth pick, swapped owners with Ray Allen, with the former going to the Timberwolves and the latter going to the Milwaukee Bucks.

"No, no, another one." Kalonsky II motioned to Koharu with his eyes to pay attention to the scene outside the glass, the arena was crowded, the All-Star Game entered the last minute, the James team overtook the score, and the voice of solidarity between the two teams under the huge circular dome with "Staples" written on it became louder, almost like the same city derby between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Clippers...

"Isn't it?!"

"That's right." The second slowly turned his head, looked at Yu Xiaochun and said, "That's the person." The high school student who was traded from the Charlotte Hornets. It was because of advising on that deal that Scott Sr. got into his current life. The wealth you can see in life..."

"It's not that I don't want to, I'm just waiting for this opportunity, this person..."

Karonsky II, who spoke, pointed behind him with a thumbs up, and high up, a retired jersey of number 8 and number 24, fluttering high.

In the field, Los Angeles native DeRozan's stunner shot overtime, and Yang Yiming waited on the sidelines to celebrate the victory with LeBron James.