Chapter 691: Welcome Home
"Bambi! Bambi! Bambi!"
The shouts, uniform and overwhelming, were so loud that they made his eardrums ache. After arriving at the scene, Chen Muyan was completely stunned.
As a staff member of NFL China's publicity department, she was specifically in charge of welcoming the first Chinese player in the NFL to China today. Originally, she thought this would be an easy job. Not out of disrespect, but because football wasn't like soccer or basketball; the audience base had a fundamental difference.
But now, Chen Muyan felt like a small boat in a storm. She couldn't even take a step forward, let alone stand upright. The vast cheers and support were everywhere. She could only struggle to move forward in the surging crowd, barely inching her way through with great difficulty.
Such a grand occasion was truly terrifying.
It took what felt like an entire century for Chen Muyan to finally reach the front. She saw the smiling Lu Ke and shouted, "Lu Ke, welcome to Shanghai! I'm..."
"Ahhh!"
"I'm a staff member of NFL China and am here to pick you up." Chen Muyan's words were interrupted countless times. Her sentences were fragmented, and she repeated herself several times before finally getting her message across. "Please follow me. We have a series of events to complete today."
The noise on the scene was too loud. Lu Ke didn't speak but gestured with his hands and walked along the railing. The crowd followed him closely as if Moses' staff was in Lu Ke's hand.
Lu Ke noticed the scene and stopped. He was worried that the crowd might get too chaotic and cause pushing or trampling. This was supposed to be a happy occasion, and it would be best to avoid any unnecessary accidents.
Turning to face the group of passionate football enthusiasts, Lu Ke used the power from his core and shouted, "Thank you all for coming all the way to welcome me home. I'll see you all later at the event!"
Seeing Lu Ke so close, Zhou Yuxiang was the first to raise his arms and cheer, "Bambi, welcome home!"
Then, everyone else around him couldn't wait to join in the shouting:
Welcome home!
Lei Qingkong's nose felt a little sore. In a corner where no one was paying attention, this group of loyal football fans had persevered and worked silently for almost twenty years. While people's attention was focused on sports like table tennis, badminton, soccer, and basketball, they still worked diligently and never gave up.
Now, they had finally waited for Lu Ke to emerge and stand in the spotlight with dignity.
Although he was no longer young, no longer slim, no longer agile, and no longer playing on the football field, he had finally waited for this day. The emotion made a six-foot-tall man show a hint of vulnerability.
Straightening his back and raising his right fist, Lei Qingkong also shouted loudly, "Welcome home!"
...
With Chen Muyan and Vincent's protection, and the help of the fans, Lu Ke successfully got into the black van sent by the official and slowly drove away under everyone's watchful eyes.
Chen Muyan looked at Lu Ke awkwardly. She knew she was a mess, sweating profusely, with smudged makeup and messy hair. But in the narrow space of the car, she couldn't fix herself up, which made her even more anxious. Then, she saw Lu Ke hand her a pack of tissues.
"Th-thank you." Chen Muyan took it awkwardly.
Lu Ke gave a big smile. "You can speak Chinese; it's okay. I think my Chinese hasn't gotten rusty yet, but some of my vocabulary might not be... accurate." During their meeting just now, Chen Muyan had been speaking English, but for Lu Ke, Chinese was not unfamiliar at all.
His Chinese was very fluent. Although it had a slight accent from being a second-generation immigrant who grew up overseas, she could still vaguely hear the accent of the Jiangnan water towns, which made him instantly feel more approachable. Chen Muyan was a little stunned.
"You're welcome." Lu Ke gestured to the tissues in Chen Muyan's hand. "I know the temperature in Shanghai has warmed up these two days, and I was worried that I would sweat a lot, which would be unfriendly to the media. So I specifically prepared these. I just didn't expect to encounter a situation like this and use them so early."
"Yeah, I really didn't expect it," Chen Muyan said awkwardly, but her nervousness and anxiety had unknowingly eased. She had no idea that Lu Ke was younger and more cheerful than she had imagined.
"Thank you for coming all the way to pick me up. Otherwise, Vincent and I wouldn't have known what to do." Lu Ke said frankly, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Lu Ke. The 'Ke' from 'Yong Zhi Yan Ke, Xu Mei Shen Wei'." After saying that, Lu Ke laughed happily. "My father told me that's where my name came from, but I never had the chance to introduce myself like this when I was growing up. I've finally achieved it today."
That subtle childlike demeanor made Chen Muyan chuckle. "My name is Chen Muyan. I work for NFL China's publicity department." She paused for a moment. "I don't know how to explain the origin of my name. But young people rarely introduce themselves like this now. Maybe it's the 'Mu' from 'love' and the 'Yan' from 'speech'?"
Lu Ke nodded in understanding and then switched to English to introduce them to each other. "Vincent, Andre, this is Muyan, a staff member of NFL China. Muyan, this is Vincent, my assistant, and this is Andre, my physical trainer."
Compared to Andre, Vincent was the talkative one. He also had a cheerful and outgoing personality. "Phew, although I was mentally prepared, the difficulty of Chinese is still far beyond my imagination. Do you know that all Americans can only speak English?"
"I thought Spanish was also very popular," Chen Muyan said. She had done some research. Spanish was the second most spoken language in the United States due to the large number of Mexican and other Latin American immigrants.
Vincent spread his hands. "In middle school, it was a required subject, and almost everyone chose Spanish. But honestly, our language learning ability is really bad, or we're just too lazy. We always think that English is enough. So... I've already forgotten everything."
That self-deprecating expression made the atmosphere in the car even more relaxed.
Chen Muyan carefully wiped the sweat from her forehead and then began to perform her duties. "We'll go to the hotel first. Then, there will be three interviews: one for a TV station, one for a magazine, and one for a web portal. After the interviews, NFL China's official media will join us for lunch, a photoshoot, and an official interview. We chose local Shanghai cuisine, or do you have something else you want to eat..."
Lu Ke's expression was one of sudden realization. "I've watched those news interviews before. When top superstars like Beckham, Ronaldo, and Kaka came to China, they always had this kind of schedule. They'd eat some steamed buns, practice calligraphy, and then go see the Bund or the Oriental Pearl Tower, right? Are we going to do that now, too?"
Chen Muyan's expression became a little awkward.
Lu Ke laughed heartily. "No, no, no. I don't mean anything by it. I just feel like I'm getting superstar treatment now. I can't speak for anything else, but I'm more confident in using chopsticks than they are. Are we having local Shanghai cuisine for lunch today? I've never tried it before. Can you tell me what the specialties are? I'll write them down and tell my parents to make them envious."
...
The two-day, one-night trip was already tight on time, and Lu Ke also needed time to rest and train, so the schedule became even more packed. From the moment he landed until the moment he left, every minute was accounted for.
The fans who stayed at Pudong International Airport were in no hurry to leave. They knew about Lu Ke's schedule through official channels. The morning was all about interviews, and there was no way the fans could get in. They had enough time to rest and didn't need to rush.
"Uncle Kong, what should we do now? Should we find a place for lunch first? Or should we wait for Bambi downstairs at the Peace Hotel? I've seen those young girls chase their idols like that." Zhou Yuxiang couldn't help but get excited and eager.
Lei Qingkong began to ponder. "The Peace Hotel is out of the question. We can't see anything if we go in, and it's too boring and meaningless to stay there."
After a moment's pause, Lei Qingkong continued, "The fan interaction event in the afternoon is from 4:30 PM to 6:30 PM, and then Bambi will watch an amateur football game in the evening. How about we go to the Hongkou Football Stadium now and wait there in advance? Maybe we'll get something out of it. Even if we don't, we can have a friendly match with the Shanghai Hawks players beforehand."
"Okay!" Sun Tongfei was the first to agree.
Sun Tongfei was twenty-one years old this year and was studying at the Communication University of China in Beijing. Last year, he became a member of the first team in China to play American football with equipment. He specifically skipped class and snuck over for Lu Ke, hoping to get a close-up look at Lu Ke and even have a match.
This was a golden opportunity he had been dreaming of.
Zhou Yuxiang had no reason to object and immediately raised his hands and feet. "Everyone, let's head to Hongkou Football Stadium now. Those who want to come with us, follow me. If you have other plans, we'll see you there at 4:30 PM. But I should warn you in advance, it's going to be very crowded, so it's best to get there early."
The entire arrival hall echoed with a resounding "Hoo, hoo, hoo!" instead of "Okay, okay, okay!"
Like a war cry of the Maori natives, it was grand and powerful, echoing throughout the entire space and bursting with a thrilling excitement that made people want to join in, yell, roar, and be loud together!
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