That night when Dong Yuan was silent in the commentary box, the national football team fell outside the door again.
The director called him three times.
He couldn't say a word.
When he woke up again, he was eighteen years old, standing under a purple sky, with a player card numbered 013 in his pocket.
This place is called Blue Star.
Football is not a sport.
It is the national destiny.
When the ranking rises, the mountains and rivers recover; when the ranking falls, the abyss opens.
And Long Xia has been silent at the bottom of the standings for too long.
An old coach who was missing two fingers took a fancy to Dong Yuan.
"The eyes are right."
"Follow up."
So Dong Yuan entered a dilapidated youth training camp.
There were children who couldn't run fast but refused to admit defeat, goalkeepers who could save the ball even when they were asleep, teenagers who stood in the shadows and were barely seen, and a girl who always sat quietly on the sidelines holding her training diary.
They train, lose, review, and keep training.
Like all humble youth teams.
Until Dong Yuan saw the black crack under the turf for the first time.
Until he discovered that Shen Lie's hand, which was missing two fingers, was shaking every time he held the teapot.
Until he finally understood——
On this green field, what is really being fought for is never just a ball.
And some things woke up as early as their first lap.
