'Mom!'
A thought flashed through Sean's mind, and he suddenly felt a little helpless.
'Why did Mom suddenly appear? What should I do now?'
Before he could figure it out, a fragrant breeze suddenly wafted from in front of him, and his face instantly stung.
Anna Martins tugged at Sean's cheeks, looking him over.
"It really is Sean, not someone pretending to be him. When did you get so good?!"
The slight sense of unfamiliarity in Sean's heart vanished instantly.
"Hahaha, I'm amazing, right? Does this mean I don't have to go to university?"
"You wouldn't dare!"
Anna, who had been beaming, suddenly became serious. "You just played one good game, that's all. Besides, even if you become Beckham, you still need to get a university degree!"
"Ha~~" Sean gave a dry laugh: "Alright, Mom, I was just kidding. By the way, how did you get here? Are you coming back to Amsterdam with us?"
"Tsk, Brussels isn't far, I just took a train," Anna waved her hand, "You don't need to worry about me next. I'll go back to Amsterdam with my new friends!"
"Hey, Sean, over here!"
"Don't worry, we'll get your mother home safely!"
"..."
A group of Ajax fans not far away seized the opportunity to greet Sean.
Sean smiled at them, which drew another round of screams, and then he looked at his mother, "But I'm planning to go out for dinner with my teammates tonight."
"Hmph~" Anna was even more dismissive, "It's good to get along with your colleagues. It's not like I don't know where your rented apartment is; I can go by myself. You go do your thing!
By the way, do you have enough money?
If not, I'll transfer some to you!"
Anna was someone who could turn a family laundry business into a chain, so she naturally understood the importance of managing relationships.
Belgian civil servants certainly wouldn't take bribes or demand favors, but if you slipped a tip into your documents, the processing would be much faster.
If you went a step further and treated the police officers from the nearby station to a meal every month, patrol cars would frequently pass by your house, and petty criminals wouldn't dare to approach, saving who knows how much trouble.
Only the new China immigrants were stubborn, disdaining such methods until they hit rock bottom and cried, realizing that all crows are black.
"Enough, enough, I have a lot of bonus money now!"
Sean wasn't being coy. After signing a few more autographs for the fans, he neatly boarded the bus.
But, did he forget something?
The bus had already started moving when Sean remembered that he was currently sharing an apartment. He quickly sent his mother a text message explaining the situation and telling her to stay in his room.
As for himself, he would just have to stay in a hotel.
What to do if he had no money?
He could run a tab at a bar by showing his face, but he couldn't do that at a hotel, could he?
He didn't know which hotel would let him stay just by showing his face.
Oh, he'd have to use his credit card.
Having to rely on a credit card for daily life, this was truly...
However, using a card was better than asking his mother for money.
Why was his predecessor so insistent on moving out of the dorms and renting a place?
Wasn't it to prove that he could now support himself?
Although it seemed a bit childish to the current Sean, it wouldn't do to go back on his word... The Ajax II team's bar outing had nothing special to report.
Everyone was quite sensible, having at most two beers, and then whistling at the beautiful women.
After all, it was during the season, and most people wouldn't dare to get openly drunk in public.
Sean, of course, drank even less. He had only intended to hold a beer glass as a gesture.
But,
After Sean took a sip,
"Ding, Host, please note, 'Easy-to-gain-weight' physique activated!"
Damn it!
Sean had been basking in the pervasive praise—this was a bar run by Ajax fans, and the regulars were all Ajax fans, so they would naturally heap praise on the team's emerging talent.
He was startled awake by the system prompt!
He just took a sip of beer, and he's already gaining weight?!
That's ridiculous!!!
Although excessive drinking is harmful to the body, what harm could an occasional beer do?
According to the system, he really had to abstain from alcohol entirely?
It was important to remember that Belgium, where his predecessor lived, was the land of beer.
On a small land area of 30,000 square kilometers, there were over 3,000 breweries. No Belgian could live without beer.
His predecessor was no exception; although he wasn't a heavy drinker, he would occasionally have a taste since childhood.
Now, this small hobby was going to be taken away.
Sean's expression was complex for a moment, and he couldn't find his joyful mood again!
Until Fischer came over with a glass to toast him.
Fischer's expression was complicated. He said a few disjointed words, then clinked Sean's glass, drank it down, and showed Sean the empty glass before turning to leave.
Sean touched his lips with his glass, and his mood suddenly brightened again:
Who said foreigners don't understand human relations?
He understood quite well... The next day, Sean arrived at the first-team locker room on time.
"Woah~ Look who it is? Our Mr. Stiletto."
"That's incredible, was yesterday really your professional debut?"
"Kid, welcome to the Eredivisie!"
"..."
Sean had already trained with the first team a few times.
Although he hadn't spoken to most of them, everyone knew about him, the young player, they just might not have known his name was Sean.
After a night of anticipation, everyone knew about Sean's great achievements.
And because of Emmen's coach's lament, Sean got his first nickname: Stiletto.
Many newspapers today reported on yesterday's match with headlines like "Emmen Brutally Slaughtered by Stiletto."
So, everyone at Ajax knew him. They weren't surprised to see him in the first-team locker room and greeted him, each more enthusiastic than the last.
This was Ajax; if you had the ability, you could be a first-team captain at eighteen.
Now he was just being promoted, what was so surprising about that?
Facing the welcome from his seniors, Sean's mind instinctively began to work.
On one hand, he analyzed the hidden meanings in their words, discerning which were sincere and which contained veiled sarcasm. Fortunately, most were dismissive, with teasing being the predominant tone.
On the other hand, he was contemplating the best reaction.
A seemingly shy smile, presenting an innocent, harmless image, might garner more favor.
Just as Sean was about to do this, he suddenly realized, damn it, he had clearly made up his mind to live a simple, straightforward life, so why was he still thinking so much?
Isn't it tiring!
The future has misled me!!
It was too late to react; the shy smile was already on his face!
So, Sean could only obediently reintroduce himself to his teammates, and seemingly shyly claimed his jersey and locker.
Still number 19, hmm, very good.
Even better, the coaches' attitudes toward Sean were all normal.
Head coach Frank de Boer, besides initially praising Sean's performance yesterday, encouraging him to keep up the good work, and having Sean introduce himself to the whole team, otherwise treated Sean as if he had been with the team for a long time.
This made Sean much more at ease, allowing him to focus on training.
With the match approaching, today's training was relatively simple, just to keep everyone in shape.
A day of training didn't exhaust Sean much, but Sean didn't have a chance for extra practice.
Because his mother called, wanting to have dinner together.
So, he went...
...
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