He Scored Again!

"An accident?" Su Dong was shocked and quickly pressed, "What kind of accident?"

"You don't know?" The driver seemed a bit confused instead.

"Just tell me." Su Dong urged with concern.

"Their family has two boys and two girls, four kids in total. The first boy is called Hugo. He played football too, but later switched to being a painter's apprentice. Then he quit that job and started hanging out with all sorts of shady people in the village. Not long ago, he got arrested by the police—said he was causing trouble after taking drugs."

"Drugs?" Su Dong was utterly stunned.

Back in China, that was an extremely serious matter, something that could ruin a person's reputation and life.

The driver noticed Su Dong's reaction and seemed a bit surprised.

Was it just drugs?

Why such a big reaction?

"Don't worry, it's fine now. I heard that Ronaldo came back and forced his brother into rehab."

Even so, Su Dong still felt shaken.

Having grown up in China, he'd been taught to stay far away from drugs.

To him, addicts were people to be avoided at all costs.

"But honestly, things aren't looking good either."

"Why?"

"Ask around—who doesn't know Falcao Village? It's all immigrants here. The houses are government-built social housing, rented out to them at dirt-cheap prices. Most villagers work in the tourist areas, but there are also some idle folks who stir up trouble all day. Hugo hangs out with them all the time, and who knows if he'll get hooked again."

With that, the driver turned serious and warned Su Dong.

"Alcohol and drugs—they're common in Falcao Village. Drunks and addicts are everywhere, any time of day. So when you get in, go straight to their place and don't wander around."

The driver was genuinely trying to look out for Su Dong.

Su Dong nodded blankly, still deeply shaken by the news.

This must have been why Rony took a week off not long ago and disappeared.

Even if Su Dong and Jose Semedo racked their brains, they never would have guessed it was because his brother was on drugs.

This kind of thing seemed normal on Madeira Island. From the driver's tone, it sounded like as long as you didn't cause trouble, doing drugs wasn't a big deal.

But for Su Dong, who'd grown up in China, it was truly shocking.

Thinking about Rony again, Su Dong suddenly realized that everyone had their own struggles.

No wonder he scrimped and saved, putting aside his fifty-euro monthly allowance to buy a Sony PlayStation for the family.

In the end, it was just to give his brother something to pass the time, to keep him from sinking back into drugs.

As a minor celebrity in Funchal, Rony's family had plenty of gossip floating around.

It turned out his father had once fought in Portugal's war in Africa. He came back safe, but with war trauma, and had been numbing himself with alcohol for years.

"They say he even showed up late to Ronaldo's—his own son's—baptism because he went off drinking."

And Rony's mother, it was said, had been sent to an orphanage as a child and suffered abuse there. Later, she met Aveiro, whom she loved, but her husband was sent to war young and came back to drown himself in drink every day.

She had raised four kids all on her own.

Rony's older sister and older brother hadn't had much schooling. His second sister had some education, but not much.

Calling their family destitute wasn't an exaggeration.

Or maybe, almost every family living in Falcao Village was just as poor.

And Su Dong could feel that Rony carried almost all of their family's hopes.

If he didn't become a professional footballer, his parents and siblings would end up like everyone else in Falcao Village, never escaping this miserable fate.

If he hadn't come here, hadn't heard this from the taxi driver, Su Dong would never have known that behind Rony's usual aloof and confident facade, there was such a hidden background.

Maybe that aloofness and confidence were just a mask he put on, never letting anyone see his true self.

It was probably a way of protecting himself too.

When Su Dong's taxi arrived at Falcao Village, the driver stopped at the intersection.

As soon as he got out, a pretty young woman around twenty years old stared at him for a moment, then walked up and asked if he was Su Dong.

Su Dong nodded quickly, and after asking, he learned she was Rony's second sister.

The two of them took the luggage out of the trunk and walked along the narrow village road to Rony's house.

It was a two-story building, identical to the houses around it, probably, as the driver had said, government-built social housing.

As soon as he stepped inside, a strong smell of alcohol hit him.

In the living room, Rony's father was already dead drunk, even though it was early morning.

Then Su Dong met Rony's mother and brother. The latter was skin and bones, exactly like the image of an addict Su Dong had seen on TV.

Su Dong didn't stay long at Rony's place. After all, he was out on leave, so he declined the hospitality of Rony's family and returned to the intersection to catch a ride back to the hotel.

Along the way, he kept thinking about Rony's family.

Everyone had reasons they couldn't avoid, reasons they had to succeed.

Jose Semedo had them, Rony had them, and Su Dong did too.

Su Dong still clearly remembered when his father decided to sell everything to send him abroad. Many people around them mocked him, thinking he was chasing a fantasy—that China couldn't produce a football prodigy, let alone Su Dong.

But his father believed, and he was willing to give everything for Su Dong.

Su Dong had never told anyone that his determination to become a professional player came from a single wish: one day, to return to his hometown, stand before his father, and tell him that his choice back then was wise.

That way, his father could hold his head high in front of relatives and friends.

Of course, by now, Su Dong wanted a bit more.

He longed to be like Jardel, earning cheers and applause from the entire stadium.

He knew he was still far from that goal, but he was willing to work for it, to try.

He hoped to be like Rony, pressing forward through hardship, not like Jose Semedo, crushed by the weight.

With that thought, Su Dong's gaze grew even more resolute.

The match against Maritimo's B team was held on the training ground's pitch and didn't draw many fans.

The stands were sparse, barely holding maybe three or four hundred people at most.

The game itself was fiercely contested.

Maritimo's B team, playing at home, came out aggressively from the start and were indeed a notch stronger. Not long into the match, they capitalized on a defensive error by Sporting to score a goal.

After that, Sporting barely managed to steady themselves, clinging to their defensive line.

Maritimo's B team kept up the pressure, constantly creating chances to score again.

This time, Pereira didn't bring Su Dong on at halftime. Instead, he substituted him in at the sixtieth minute of the second half, but he didn't take off the team's center forward, opting instead for a two-striker formation.

Even though he came on late, Su Dong was still very active once on the pitch.

The center forward stayed up front, while Su Dong frequently dropped back to receive passes and drifted wide, covering a lot of ground to avoid direct physical battles with the opposing defenders—that wasn't his strength.

His teammates were also noticeably more familiar with him now, whether it was passing to him or receiving his passes, there was better chemistry.

Especially with Canelas.

When the match reached the seventy-third minute, the score was still nil-one.

Su Dong dropped back again, received a pass from a teammate, and laid it off to Canelas, who had moved into open space.

As he passed the ball, Su Dong, with his back to the goal, pointed his left hand toward his team's right flank.

Canelas understood immediately, turned, and dribbled to the right. He saw that Maritimo's B team's left flank defense had a gap, and Baru was already poised to sprint.

The Sporting midfielder didn't hesitate, sending a diagonal pass to the right wing. Baru sprinted at full speed, broke through the defense, caught up to the ball at the edge of the penalty area, and sent a cross into the box.

Center forward Sami tried to charge in for the first header but collided with the opposing center back, and neither of them got to the ball.

The ball wobbled down toward the center.

Su Dong, who had dropped back earlier, now turned and sprinted forward. Seeing Sami go for the near post, he immediately changed direction and charged toward the center, ready to pounce on the second ball.

Sure enough, the ball fell to the center, and Su Dong arrived just in time. Meeting the dropping ball, he struck a fierce right-footed volley that drove it straight into the bottom left corner of the goal.

Goal!

The referee's whistle confirmed it was a valid goal!

Su Dong, overcome with excitement, turned and sprinted out of the box, racing toward the sideline.

Playing away, there were no cheers from fans, not even boos from the opposing supporters, but that didn't dampen Su Dong's thrill—this was his second official match.

He had scored again!

"Yes!"

Head coach Pereira clenched his fist in excitement.

Su Dong's movement this time was really clever. Instead of fighting Sami for position, he chose to go for the second ball. Unexpectedly, both players at the near post missed it.

That was luck, sure, but wasn't it also skill?

"Scored in two consecutive games now." Pereira shook his head with a wry smile.

Su Dong's performances were surprising them more and more. It was a pleasant shock, but it also meant the days before they lost him were drawing closer.

Word had it that scouting Su Dong had already been added to Belenenses' scouting team's schedule.

The Sporting players also rushed over one after another to celebrate the goal with Su Dong.

Scoring in two consecutive matches is no easy feat, especially for a sixteen-year-old player.

"That was brilliant!" Matello ran over and hugged Su Dong, praising him with a smile.

"Keep it up, try to get another one," the captain encouraged.

Su Dong nodded with a smile.

But Maritimo's second team reacted quickly and didn't give Su Dong another chance to shine.

In the end, Sporting Portugal drew 1-1 away against Maritimo's second team.

Su Dong scored in two consecutive rounds.

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