Parting Ways

However, when Kobe saw Li Chen still looking at him with a serious expression, his lips trembled involuntarily.

He seemed to sense something was wrong; Li Chen might not be joking with him.

At this moment, the seed that Li Chen planted in Kobe's heart made Kobe subconsciously feel that Li Chen could not possibly be lying.

Because of Li Chen's powerful divination skills, he witnessed it firsthand.

Kobe looked like a helpless child at that moment, somewhat lost in thought.

Seeing this, Li Chen felt incredibly satisfied, but he couldn't laugh, which made him feel very uncomfortable.

At the same time, he thought to himself that he wasn't exactly talking nonsense. After all, their son was gone, the media was bombarding them with questions, and Vanessa was disappointed. If Kobe hadn't begged Vanessa so desperately, they might have already divorced. So what he said wasn't an exaggeration.

With this in mind, he felt at ease and continued to the next step.

But before Li Chen could continue his charade, Kobe became lame.

Kobe grabbed Li Chen's hand, his eyes pleading like those of an abandoned puppy, and said, "Li Chen, please, help me, okay?"

Seeing this, Li Chen was somewhat surprised, but more than that, he felt regret. If only he could have captured this pitiful moment of Kobe's, so that many years later, he could watch this wonderful moment with Kobe.

Lost in thought, Li Chen said seriously, "Kobe, we're friends, of course I'll help you."

Kobe nodded vigorously, his face flushed with emotion, and he burst into tears.

On June 30th, Kobe finished breakfast and walked heavily out of his house. He then said some inexplicable things to Vanessa, which made Vanessa worried that Kobe might have something wrong with his mind.

Kobe then boarded his private jet and flew to Eagle County.

During that time, whenever Kobe saw a woman, he would avoid her as if his tail had been stepped on.

This left his bodyguards bewildered. When they arrived at the Eagle County Hotel at 8 p. m., a waitress said she was Kobe fan and asked to hug Kobe, which he firmly refused.

Kobe breathed a sigh of relief after entering the room. After taking a shower, he sat on the sofa in a daze.

After calming down, he realized that he might have been fooled by that bastard Li Chen.

Then I recalled his behavior during the day and the strange looks from the bodyguards.

Thinking of this, Kobe felt an urge to disappear into the ground. He gritted his teeth and said fiercely, "You little bastard, just you wait. I'll make you pay when we get back."

Just then, the bodyguard waiting outside said, "Mr. Bryant, your fans want to see you."

Kobe was sitting in the room sulking, paused for a moment, his brow furrowing slightly before relaxing. He said, "Okay! Let him in..."

At this point, he seemed to remember something and then asked, "Are they male or female fans?"

"Uh..." The bodyguard hesitated for a moment, then said, "It's that female fan you just rejected."

Upon hearing that she was a female fan, Kobe felt a sense of dread, as if some treacherous person was plotting against him.

So he said, "No, no, tell her to leave immediately."

"Mr. Kobe, please, I have something important to tell you. Please, I beg you, you must save me."

Hearing this, Kobe was a little surprised, so the kind-hearted Little Kobe still...

The next day.

Li Chen received a call from Kobe.

Kobe said in a low voice, "Chen, I... something happened to me."

Upon hearing this, Li Chen had a few words he didn't know whether to say or not, "I went through all that trouble to fool you, and you still can't control yourself?"

So he angrily yelled, "You idiot, even a pig is smarter than you!"

In the past, Kobe would have already lost his temper, but now he thinks Li Chen is right, even a pig is smarter than him.

It turns out that last night, after Kobe kindly let that female fan in, she told him that her mother was sick and needed a lot of money. Then the girl clung to Kobe and cried, and then... the police came to his door the next day. That's when he found out that the woman had reported him.

At that moment, Li Chen remembered something and couldn't help but ask, "Where's your voice recorder? Don't tell me you didn't turn it on."

Upon hearing Li Chen's words, Kobe was stunned at first, then burst into laughter. As he laughed, he began to sob uncontrollably.

Hearing Kobe's voice, a mixture of crying and laughing, Li Chen knew this kid wasn't completely stupid.

Within a month, the matter was resolved. With such conclusive evidence as the recording, the woman with the freckled face could no longer deny it.

On the other hand, the Clippers also received good news: Karl Malone joined the Clippers on a $1.5 million minimum contract.

As soon as this news broke, the Clippers immediately became the favorites to win the championship.

Of course, there are also many people who believe that Li Chen's success was just a flash in the pan.

At the same time, the Lakers also issued an official announcement that Payton had joined the Lakers.

However, bad news also came from the Clippers.

Andre Miller is leaving the team.

Upon hearing this news, Li Chen immediately contacted Andre Miller.

He wants to lead his teammates to the top of the NBA and win the O'Brien Cup.

Therefore, he really didn't want his teammate to leave, so he wanted to ask Andre Miller why he chose to leave.

The two went to the Starbucks in Los Angeles where they had visited Avril last time.

After ordering two coffees, Li Chen frankly, "Andre, why are you leaving? Wouldn't it be better if we won the championship together?"

When Li Chen questioned him, Andre Miller silently lowered his head, and after a long while, he said, "Chen, your passing is better than mine..."

"Andrei, don't give me that nonsense. You know my personality; I want to hear the truth."

Li Chen abruptly interrupted Andre Miller.

Andre Miller gave a wry smile, "Okay! To be honest, the Nuggets offered me a $10 million annual salary, and... I really couldn't refuse."

Li Chen frowned, then after a moment said, "Then you could ask management for a raise! That wouldn't be the reason for leaving the team!"

"Chen, to be honest with you, if management could raise my annual salary from 2.46 million to 5 million, I wouldn't leave, but..."

At this point, Andre Miller became somewhat angry.

Li Chen frowned as well. Surely Lord Old Man Baylor wouldn't be this stingy?

But when he thought about how their Clippers owner, Donald Sterling, was a notorious miser, he felt relieved.

Li Chen knew it was incredibly difficult to squeeze money out of this miser. If he weren't a rookie, he could have asked Donald Sterling for it.

However, the team has a no-trade clause during the rookie season, so he had no leverage to get Donald Sterling to compromise.

Thinking of this, Li Chen said regretfully, "Then good luck, Andrei."

As he spoke, he picked up his coffee, looking dejected, and took a sip.

Seeing that Li Chen understood him, he breathed a sigh of relief, because if Li Chen hadn't led them to the NBA Finals, the Nuggets wouldn't have given him such a big contract. So he was truly grateful to Li Chen.

At this moment, Li Chen, who had just put down his coffee, casually asked, "By the way, Andre, what kind of contract did you sign with the Nuggets?"

When asked about this, Andre Miller was also quite excited, "Chen, speaking of this, I have to thank you. If you hadn't led us to the NBA Finals, I wouldn't have been able to get this six-year contract."

That's definitely a huge contract. You have to understand that Kobe only earned a little over 14 million a year this year!

Hearing this, Li Chen's eyes widened. It took him a while to recover before he congratulated him, saying, "Andrei, congratulations on your fortune!"

"Thank you," Andre Miller said with a broad smile.

Half an hour later, the two left the coffee shop together. Then, Andre Miller was busy moving, and that's how they parted ways.