89, Living has already consumed all my strength.

Even in such a shitty club, even as an assistant coach, there was still some privilege: living alone in a shack. Niu seemed to care a lot about this hierarchy difference. The place wasn't air-conditioned, and it was even hotter than the big greenhouse, because the head coach and the other physical trainer were locals who went home every day. So he could let Bai Haonan live in the shack with him, and he was very proud of this.

Bai Haonan didn't even bother to tease him; there was nothing to tease about. Just like he told Chen Sufeng and Yisa, if he had no money he could live in a bridge hole on the construction site. Who asked him to be unlucky and end up like this? Bai Haonan never blamed himself and comforted himself that one had to be content. Otherwise, even living would be exhausting. Besides carrying Ada's bed into the shack, he didn't bother to take the messy things from his car.

Ada struggled to drag its hind legs on the ground, crawling, surprisingly agile. It was only when it saw the big wolf dog chained at the edge of the soccer field that it quickly followed Bai Haonan’s footsteps and hid under his feet, obviously carrying some of Bai Haonan’s scheming style.

Niu, who sat down and immediately took out a cigarette, wasn’t too bothered: “Since you’re here, if you want to work, work; if not, just eat and live here. Stay as long as you want. I wish you were here forever!” What saddened him most was that he couldn’t introduce him to everyone as his good brother, a real active top-league player. Because, as Bai Haonan, Lao Chen, and Chen Sufeng all knew, the disappearance of an unknown player, without family members continuously reporting and searching, would actually attract very little attention, and even no news or reports.

But within the circle, Bai Haonan’s disappearance spread like wildfire across the country in an instant.

There were many speculations: losing at gambling, getting castrated while chasing women outside, being kidnapped and ransomed because he was flashy, or even the simplest car accident where the body was destroyed. All kinds of rumors existed, anyway, everyone in the circle knew Bai Haonan had had an accident and disappeared.

Betting on matches and buying matches in China rarely involved a whole team as a collective event. After all, bribing an entire team was too stupid. For such collective sports, bribing one or two people was already the limit. So even if the whole team might have misconduct, only a very few people on the accepting side would buy from the bookmaker, and they wouldn’t expose themselves to avoid sharing the money. So in extreme cases, different results for different team members being bought would lead to internal conflicts, even though they didn’t know each other was involved in fixing.

So Bai Haonan wasn’t clearly defined as having had an issue because of match-fixing; at most there were guesses.

Even so, Bai Haonan still couldn’t appear on the field with his own name. The beard he had now did help a bit with covering, but appearing on the field in front of experts would easily give him away.

Bai Haonan didn’t explain why he ended up like this: “I offended someone, I can’t play anymore. What work can I do here?”

Even though honest, Niu was a veteran: “Lao Nan, you might not know, these years even in the second division, it mainly relied on fixing matches to support the team. Otherwise, with our setup, annual inputs of at least five or six million, who could afford that?”

When it came to team building, Bai Haonan was even clearer than the mom-sang at night: “Um, these players’ monthly salaries are three to five thousand, about twenty people, that’s about 100,000. A year, 1.2 million. All food, venue fees, and then winning bonuses. How much do you give?”

It was similar to bonuses in companies. Salaries were fixed, players relied entirely on winning bonuses, otherwise who would desperately fight for victory? Niu scratched his head: “Even in the second division league, winning now is 100,000, drawing half, losing nothing. This is already the rule of the trade. For important matches, extra money is added.” Calculating like this, over dozens of league rounds, as long as not relegated, bonuses would exceed a million again, but actually each of twenty to thirty people got almost nothing.

Bai Haonan nodded: “How much sponsorship can you pull in now?”

Taking another drag on a cigarette, Niu was like a little manager: “The naming sponsor, this construction site real estate boss, pays only 180,000. The rest are all scraps. Even so, he pays in installments and often drags. So usually we take people out to fix matches, helping other corporate units play games to earn living expenses. Otherwise, we couldn’t even reach the promotion matches. Now it’s good we don’t have to play home and away every week since we didn’t play second division. When we really get promoted to second division, the travel costs would be the biggest headache.”

Bai Haonan confirmed again: “How about this head coach?”

Niu without reservation: “Previously an assistant in a top team, good reputation. As for the rest, business level, you know the difference we can make.”

Bai Haonan made up his mind: “Fine, as long as the person is good. I don’t want money, just eat and live. Tell them I’m your former youth team buddy, named Wang Jianguo. Later didn’t make it to the youth team, always helped corporate teams in Chengdu. Now the team disbanded, nothing to do, just came to play. Not playing matches, but can help run errands and coach, just take a foothold.”

Niu immediately agreed without hesitation: “Wang Jianguo! Good, no problem! A little subsidy is fine, always you think so thoughtfully! Let’s go, eat out. I’ll treat you to local specialties!”

Bai Haonan smiled: “Not in a hurry. What about your girlfriend? Want me to check her pulse for you?”

Niu immediately laughed “hehe hehe”, opened a rather outdated laptop beside him, and only after it booted up said, “Online friends, chatting pretty well…”

Bai Haonan immediately deflated: “Forget it, Niu! How many times have I told you, even if a bit dumb, find someone you can see and touch. Don’t get into those brainless virtual things.”

Niu rubbed his head hard: “You know how to tease me. I’m not as eloquent as you. Besides, Xiaolin is really nice!”

Bai Haonan could only endure and look at the photo on the computer. Niu opened the messaging app to see the other wasn’t online, still a bit disappointed. What could Bai Haonan say? Even without fortune-telling ability, with years of experience with women as Hao Nan Ge, he could naturally tell from the woman’s face in the photo that Niu couldn’t handle her. Besides, the cigarettes on the table were so cheap. So even if Niu wanted to drag him out for dinner, Bai Haonan was unusually considerate: “Forget it, eat at the team. By the way, meet some people. For the evening physical training class, I’ll join to recover fitness.”

Niu admired him for this: “So back then among us few, only you could play in the Super League. Never smoked, ate wildly, kept up physical training. These points were never dropped.”

Bai Haonan smiled and shook his head: “Niu, besides that bit of relationship with Lao Chen, we had no background, no money, and even lacked talent compared to many others. Relying only on hard training isn’t enough. These things are just basic points, the key is to use your brain, what to use to make up for what we lack.”

Niu casually put the cigarette in his pocket and led the way: “I know, I only know how to train stupidly, ended up injuring my knee. Lao Chen wanted to drag me into the youth team but couldn’t. My fate was to never play professional matches. I’ve accepted it long ago. It was you who taught me not to be resentful. People have to live, right?”

Bai Haonan looked down and saw Ada struggling to get up with him, and suddenly smiled. I don’t know why, but as long as he saw this dog dragging its two broken legs, still enthusiastically wagging its half tail hard towards him, Bai Haonan’s mood was great. He put his arm around his best friend’s shoulder and went out together: “Right, live on. And we should try to live happily! Trust me, as long as I’m here, you’ll be happier than before!”

Niu followed his gaze to the dog and laughed heartily: “How did you raise a dog like this, and that tail…”

Bai Haonan casually: “I heard this kind is cut off from childhood to impersonate pure blood… Compared to it, at least we haven’t been so miserable, right?”

Ada seemed to know they were talking about it and wagged its half tail hard.

The way it was covered in bruises but still tried its best to please was quite funny.