Ender's Football

Ender and Grandma had another good talk.

It's not that he doesn't want to live with Li Mei (his biological mother) again—after all, which child can refuse a mother who has cared for him since he was a child?But he also knew that his mother had remarried with someone else and had another family. To her family, he was an incompatible "aggressor" and might cause conflicts between them.His self-esteem as a little man made it difficult for him to ask Li Mei if her family in another country would accept him, or if he would cause trouble and trouble to her.

Moreover, grandma has lost her husband and a son, and lives alone in this huge city. Ander has to shoulder the responsibility of his father and take good care of grandma.

But the old man persuaded Ander with his persistence.

"I don't want to watch a child break his wings for his dream anymore, let's go with your mother," she said, "If you want, we can have a ten-year agreement. At that time, if you can enter the national team, Gloriously put on the five-star red flag, please invite me to watch the game live; if you can't, don't think that I will laugh at your failure, on the contrary, I fully accept it, and will give you a gift that will last a lifetime."

Ender didn't refuse the offer.

He used a piece of paper to write down his grandma’s mobile phone number, and put it in his stationery bag as a treasure, then he simply packed up the clothes he brought back from Ukraine, pulled the suitcase, and arrived at Jiangcheng Airport again .

This was the second time An De stepped into Jiangcheng Airport within a week. The last time he walked out of the gloomy cabin holding the candy box containing ashes, this time the trip was not so heavy.

Li Mei took his hand, ignored his protest of "I can do it myself", but printed the boarding pass for him in every detail, checked the contents of the box before going through the security check, and helped him when boarding the plane He pulled down the shade on the window and asked for a blanket from the flight attendant.

"How do you feel?" She asked Ander during the turbulent takeoff of the plane, "Do you feel uncomfortable?"

Ander shook his head, let himself lie on the seat, and quietly observed Li Mei's expression from the corner of his eye.

Li Mei sat very relaxed. After the bumpy period passed, she took out the mirror from the small bag she carried with her and tidied up her appearance.An De secretly compared the Li Mei in his memory with the current her. He didn't know if he hadn't seen her for a few years. It feels like a lot has changed.

In the past, Li Mei was a gentle and virtuous mother, but that kind of gentleness was introverted and docile, but now Li Mei has a kind of temperament that makes her look even more dazzling... It's like, polished, completely Blooming brilliant jade.

Noticing An De's gaze, Li Mei put away the small mirror in her hand, turned her head and smiled at him.

Ender quickly closed his eyes and fell asleep, trying to deceive his ears and make his mother laugh again.

The long-distance flight was exhausting. Fortunately, they had a direct flight. After the plane landed at Munich Airport, the two of them went to get the suitcase together, and then Li Mei took Ander to the parking lot of the airport. I found a couple of silver and black VWs somewhere.

Ander couldn't understand German. In this strange city in a strange country, he dragged his suitcase and followed Li Mei silently, trying to restrain his curiosity as much as possible.

Li Mei paused.

She turned around, squatted down and looked at Ander, and told him: "Mom's... now husband is waiting for us in the parking lot. He is a very good uncle and will live with us in the future... you ……Agree?"

Ender knew that there was such a person for a long time, and to be honest, it was a lie that he didn't care - he just lost his father, but now he has to live under the same roof with another middle-aged man, such a situation is really awkward.

But it was impossible for Ender to really disagree.Ever since he told his grandma that he was going to leave, he has been doing psychological construction. For this "uncle" who has never met, he only hopes that the other party will not be too difficult. He can accept quietly shrinking in a corner of their house Here, compress your own sense of existence into air.

"Can I not call him Dad?" He only asked Li Mei such a question.

"Of course." Li Mei said, "We talked about this issue in advance, and he told me...you can call his name directly."

Ender nodded.

When the two walked to the car together, a middle-aged man stepped down from the driver's seat. He was tall and looked very strong. He had a beard and a square face, which was a very ordinary appearance.He was wearing a simple shirt and T-shirt and a baseball cap. When he saw An De and Li Mei, he showed a big smile on his face, then walked over, extended his hand to An De, and introduced himself in English: "Hello, my name is Stanzel, Stanzel Schneider."

Ender looked at him quietly for a few seconds, then reached out his hand, shook hands with him, and said in English, "Ender."

"What a good name," said the man named Stanzel, who was not stingy with his kindness, and gave Ender another smile.

Then he turned to Li Mei, hugged her without hesitation, and said in English, "Welcome back, thank you for your hard work."

After this short hug, Li Mei separated from him, turned to look at Ender, saw that he did not show dissatisfaction or impatience, then took the suitcase from him, stuffed it to Stanzel, and greeted Ann. De said: "Okay, let's get in the car."

Ender knew what she meant by that look, he got into the car without saying a word.

It takes more than four hours to drive from Munich to Uwensberg*, the city where Li Mei lives. In the car, Stanzel and Ender gradually became familiar with each other.

During this short time together, Ender gradually developed a good impression of Stanzel. First of all, this man took good care of Li Mei.Although he looked like a very rough man on the surface, when he came, he specially brought Li Mei a thermos with hot water soaked in roses.Secondly, he also respected Ender very much.This kind of respect started from the fact that he could shake hands with Ander on an equal footing, and then in order to take care of Ander, even when he talked with Li Mei, he always spoke English that Ender could probably understand, and rarely spoke only German was the only thing they both knew.

Ander's restless heart eased a little along the way.

He didn't talk too much, but when Stanzel talked about football, especially the recent World Cup, Ender's interest was immediately aroused.Men and boys chat about the German national team has reached the semi-finals, and their next opponent - five-star Brazil.

"Although we won Algeria, it was not an easy game," Stanzel said of the next World Cup semi-final, worrying, "Brazil is also very strong, and it is at their home court. The lad will have to play while all the Brazilians are booing..."

Ander is looking forward to this game: "The German team is very strong and balanced, both in their midfield and in the backcourt have talented players, and Bayern Munich has just won the European Champions Cup in 2013. This German team has provided a lot of main players. The Brazilian team is also a traditional strong team. They have main players in Real Madrid and Barcelona. Even if their number one star Neymar can't play, it should be a very exciting game..."

Stanzel saw that he seemed to want to watch the game, and immediately said: "I will take you to our central stadium in Uwensburg to watch the game the day after tomorrow! They will broadcast the game on the big screen in the center of the stadium, and there will be many The fans went together and the atmosphere was great."

Hearing what he said, Ander glanced at Li Mei, saw that she was also looking at him with a smile, nodded hesitantly, and agreed.

Stanzel was even happier: "I heard from your mother that you are a very good player, right? Our youth training in Uwensburg is very good, and we have produced many good players. I will accompany you with your mother in the future. Go to the youth training camps of those clubs for trial training. Also, I can play with you on the turf near home. Although my level is not very high now, I was also a member of our small town football team when I was young."

Ender felt his efforts, and the other party seemed to really want to show kindness to him.

He didn't refuse either, and he responded one by one, and his posture was not as stiff as it seemed at first.

After a not too long drive, their car passed through the center of the small town and turned into a residential area.

The houses here are basically two- to three-story single-family houses, and the area of ​​each house is not large. Many of them are old houses, but they are basically well-maintained, and the gardens have no traces of being abandoned.

The car stopped in front of one of the houses.

Stanzel opened the trunk, took out the luggage of Li Mei and Ender, and approached the door of the house first with a box in one hand.Li Mei took out the key from her bag and prepared to open the door.

It's just that before the key in her hand was inserted into the lock, the door of the house was opened from the inside, and the little girl who ran out was wearing a pink skirt, her golden brown hair was tied into two small knots at the back of her head. Yaya, each of them is tied with a pink bow.

Ander was stunned by the little pink cannonball for a moment, he was surprised to see Li Mei's very similar face, and his mind began to be dazed.

When the little girl saw Stanzel and Li Mei, she first sweetly called "Dad" and "Mum" in German, and then when she looked outside, it was Ender who was staring at her in a daze.

Then she said something quickly in German, but her voice was very soft, and Ender didn't understand German, so she had no idea what this little girl who looked like her mother wanted to say to him.

But he saw Li Mei's doting, gentle smiling face - but this time it was not facing him, but facing that girl.

The little girl snuggled into Li Mei's arms intimately. Their faces were close to each other. No one would deny that they were a close pair of mother and daughter.

"You didn't tell me...you have a daughter."

Ander whispered in Chinese.

No one told him, neither did Li Mei, nor did grandma, nor did Stanzel mention it just now. He always thought that there were only two people in this new family, Stanzel and Li Mei.

Li Mei let go of her daughter in her arms, and turned to take her son's hand: "This is Helena, this is your sister, Ender, I just don't know what to say... Helena is still very young, she has been looking forward to being able to Seeing my brother, you..."

"Then you should have told me earlier, instead of asking me to come with you without knowing anything." Ender said.Then he glanced at the strange yet familiar girl, who turned around angrily and left, ignoring him.

Li Mei seemed a bit at a loss, and the mother and son froze at the door, until Stanzel came to make a rescue, and then they eased up a little.

Ender suddenly felt very helpless, but now he couldn't turn around and drive another four hours and then fly back to Jiangcheng, so he could only forcefully suppress the discomfort in his heart, followed Stanzel into the door.

When passing by Li Mei, his mother lowered her head.

But he didn't say anything more, he really had to be quiet by himself.