Do you gamble on football?

  Remember in one second

  The first Madeira derby of the season ended with Marítimo losing 0-1 at home. Nobody expected that Marítimo, undefeated in ten rounds and on a roll, would lose to their city rivals Nacional at home.

  The whole game, Marítimo had the advantage, whether it was shots on goal, possession rate or other data, they were all in a favorable position. However, no matter how beautiful the data is, the most critical score allowed Nacional to take the lead.

  In this game, Wu Yu's mediocre performance in the first half became a topic of discussion among many media and fans. He had always been a highlight performer before, but now he has become the target of criticism. Whether Wu Yu can withstand the pressure of major games and take on the responsibility of leading the team forward has become the most heated debate outside of the game's outcome.

  And this defeat of Maritimo also made many lottery fans lose their glasses, while the betting company made a fortune.

  For two consecutive days, Wu Yu had not adjusted from the state of failure. Every day's training was even more intense, but his heart was always shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere. Even though Grandfather Wu Jinhua's surgery was very successful, it did not add much joy to him.

  Hua Yan and Gao Wei saw it with their own eyes, and they were very worried. But they both knew that this was Wu Yu's own problem in his heart, if he couldn't break through this constraint himself, it would be difficult for him to make progress again.

  Why did we take all the advantages but end up with a failed outcome?

  Obviously we worked harder than them, so why did we fail instead of them?

  ……

  Wu Yu's mind had been troubled by these questions all along. He was a person who did not like to fail, and since he started playing for Maridimo, he had never experienced defeat. This time's loss in the competition was a new feeling for him.

  。

  "Xiao Yu, don't think too much, there are always wins and losses in competitions, it's impossible for us to win all the time." Gao Wei and Wu Yu walked side by side on the street, comforting him with the little ink left in their bellies.

  Wu Yu did not respond and just looked ahead in a daze, blindly walking towards Hua Yan's home.

  "Xiao Yu, doesn't that person look very familiar?" Gao Wei suddenly pointed ahead and said with some surprise.

  Wu Yushun looked in the direction that Gao Wei pointed, and saw a man wearing a black coat with a hat on his head, his whole body wrapped in clothes, as if this was not very cold weather to him, like the Arctic.

  This person walks hastily, constantly looking around in all directions, with a scarf covering their face, as if worried that others will discover them.

  Wu Yu looked at this person's figure and gait, feeling very familiar, and judging from the other's hurried expression, something must have happened.

  He called out to Gao Wei and followed him. Gao Wei was somewhat perplexed, but could only follow Wu Yu's lead, trailing behind the windbreaker-clad man.

  The three of them walked in a line, one in front and two behind, which made Gao Wei feel like they were filming a detective movie, or that they had transformed into detectives. Thinking about Sherlock Holmes' handsome movements and expressions, he couldn't help but feel a little excited. But when he thought about his own appearance and figure, at most he could be Watson, how could he possibly be Holmes?

  In his daze, the man in the windbreaker had already walked into a betting company. Gao Wei suddenly bumped into Wu Yu who was standing still at the corner of the alley.

  "How about it? Want to follow him in?" Gao Wei seemed to have already taken himself as Watson.

  "That person I always feel very familiar with, but can't think of who it is." Wu Yu's eyebrows were tightly furrowed, obviously trying his best to recall.

  "Who cares who it is, entering a lottery company with such vigilance, must have hit the jackpot!" Gao Wei said with a big smile.

  "It would be terrible if it were someone we know."

  "Wu Yu said with concern."

  "Could he be silencing us?" Gao Wei exclaimed, boldly voicing his conjecture.

  "Idiot! Say a few less words, everyone says you're stupid!" Wu Yu heavily hit Gao Wei's head and said with some helplessness.

  ……

  Ten minutes later, the man came out of the lottery company. Although he still covered his face with a scarf, Wu Yu still recognized him from his thick eyebrows.

  "It's him!" Wu Yun took a deep breath, unable to contain his shock.

  The man in the windbreaker looked around and confirmed that no one had discovered himself, then carefully turned into a small alley.

  Wu Yu and Gao Wei hurried to catch up, while Wu Yu no longer cared about exposing his tracks, hastily taking two steps forward, appearing in front of the windbreaker-clad man.

  That man in a windbreaker suddenly stopped and stared at Wu Yu in front of him, with a look of surprise on his face.

  "It's you, Gret. Wu Yu looked at the man with thick and fierce eyebrows and said seriously: "Why are you appearing in a betting company? Don't you know that professional athletes are not allowed to gamble?"

  Gleit saw the other party recognize himself, and he didn't cover his face. The scarf on his face slowly fell off, and from his complex expression, a strong sense of guilt could be felt.

  "Oh! It's you! Gret, how much did you win? Treat us to something!" High Wei, who was also unaware of the situation, recognized Gret at this time and came over to put his arm around Gret's shoulder, saying happily.

  "Great Wei, stop messing around!" Wu Yu shouted at Gao Wei.

  Gao Wei was startled and quickly released his hands from Gret's shoulders, looking back at the two of them with tension and puzzlement in his eyes.

  "Greit, have you bet on the ball?" Wu Yu looked at Greit coldly and questioned him.

  Gleiter's face was complex at this time, with sadness, guilt and hesitation. In the end, he still dimmed his eyes and nodded slightly.

  Wu Yu couldn't help but let out a long sigh when he saw him admit to match-fixing, and the scene from over a decade ago flashed through his mind:

  13 years ago, in Guangzhou at the turn of the millennium, a man stood on top of a building over ten stories high, surrounded by crowds of onlookers below.

  At that time, Wu Yun, who was only 5 years old, looked up at the man on the rooftop and vaguely shouted: "Dad, come down!"

  The man standing on the rooftop seemed to have heard Wu Yun's call, ignoring Li Chunhua's advice behind him, who was crying with tears in her eyes. He closed his eyes and jumped down from the building. The height of over ten floors, a time of one or two seconds, for Li Chunhua, it was like the distance between heaven and hell, she fainted.

  Xiao Wu Yun looked at his father who was in a free fall, and in his innocent eyes, there was a hint of terror.

  Bang!!

  A dull thud, and a life bid farewell to the world.

  Wu Weihong's self-abandonment allowed him to escape the troubles and sufferings of this mundane world, but instead shifted these sufferings and troubles onto his wife, children, and parents.

  At that time, Wu Weihong, who was just 30 years old, was originally a professional player. In the hot A-League era, he could also make his family live a comfortable life with his own football skills.

  He knew that after his retirement, he had no other means of making a living, so he took to betting on football matches and became deeply mired in it.

  Wu Yu gradually grew up and understood his father's mistakes, also knowing the disastrous consequences that gambling on football matches would bring to a football family.

  Looking at Gretel in front of him, filled with guilt, he was angry, shocked and regretful.

  ……

  Porto was still in that luxurious office, the chairman of Porto club Da Costa sat at his desk, on the phone, with a somewhat annoyed tone.

  "Holger, it's been two weeks now, how come you still can't get your hands on those two Chinese kids?"

  "Mr. Costa, those two Chinese kids already have an agent, I couldn't possibly use force, could I? Maybe I can help you get in touch with their agent and let you privately sign a transfer agreement." Mendes said slowly on the phone, seemingly unaffected by the 70-year-old man's slightly angry tone.

  "That kid has been so outstanding in the past two months, do you think he can escape the attention of other clubs? I want you to bring him into your agency, just to avoid being poached by others."

  Dacosta's tone remains somewhat tough.

  "Mr. Costa, if you push me this hard, I can't guarantee that they will transfer to Porto." Mendes seemed somewhat irritated, his tone implying a threat towards Da Costa.

  Dacosta also heard the implication in Mendes' tone, this 70-year-old man was still very clever despite his age. He knew the power Mendes had in the transfer market and knew he couldn't afford to fall out with him at this time.

  He paused for a moment to calm down the anger in his heart, then cleared his throat and said calmly: "Haurhe, I just hope to determine the future of those two children as soon as possible, because I have high hopes for their prospects. I hope you can also give me good news as soon as possible."

  "Mr. Costa, I also have high hopes for them and over the past two months, I've been working hard on this matter, believing that there will be results soon." Mendes' tone also calmed down, after which he hung up the phone.

  After hanging up the phone, Da Costa sat quietly in his chair, staring at the team photo on the wall with a hint of distraction.

  On the other end of the phone, Mendes tossed his mobile onto the sofa and stood up from it, next to the wine cabinet in the office. He carefully selected a bottle of red wine, poured a small cup, walked to the window, gazed at the scenery outside while thinking about something.

  Dong, dong......

  There was a knock at the door outside the office.

  "Come in." Mendes said calmly without turning around.

  "Boss, I'm back." The one who came in was a young man in his 20s wearing a suit, holding a file bag.

  "How's it going?"

  "I spent two months in Guangzhou and finally figured out the background of Wu Yu and Gao Wei. Gao Wei is unremarkable, with a father who works as a manager, and they are all very law-abiding. But Wu Yu is different, his father was a professional athlete who committed suicide due to debt from gambling on football matches. His family was left with a huge debt, fortunately, his father's teammates helped him pay off the debt..."

  Mendes listened to his assistant's narrative while gazing out of the window, a hint of a smile on his face.

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