Shan He thanked his father for agreeing to let him play professional basketball;
He thanked Mom for speaking up to Dad and convincing him to let Shan He play basketball.
But Shan He's mother shook her head. "You shouldn't be thanking us. You should be thanking Wang Yi. Your dad agreed because he helped you."
Shan He froze. "Brother Yi helped me? Did he call you to speak up for me? Or did he get someone else to talk to you?"
Shan He's mother shook her head.
Shan He was even more confused.
Then how exactly had Brother Yi helped him?
Shan Zeming's tone softened a little as he said:
"You're still too young to understand a lot of things. Let me ask you: normally, after a game, would a coach talk to the opposing players first or the opposing coach?"
"The coach, of course."
Shan He answered.
Maybe some coaches in the NBA went straight to the opposing players after a game, but in China, coaches almost always spoke to each other first. If you talked to the opposing players first, their coach might feel disrespected.
Shan Zeming went on, "So why did Wang Yi talk to you first?"
Shan He thought for a moment, then answered, "Maybe because I scored 42 points this game and broke the record."
Shan Zeming shook his head. "That alone wouldn't have been enough for Wang Yi to risk being accused of disrespecting the other coach by speaking to you first."
"He spoke to you first so I would see it."
"Huh?"
Shan He was even more confused.
How could those things possibly be connected?
Shan Zeming continued, "And when he said that if you played professional basketball, you'd surely become a world-famous basketball star in time, he was saying that to me