0065 Ludeyang's Frenzied Fan (Requesting Monthly Tickets and Follow-up Reads)

Lu Deyang treated the entire team and their families to a lavish outing in Milan.

Though they still stayed at the hotel, everyone had a wonderful time.

The main reason was that they hadn't booked a table in advance, and very few restaurants in Italy stayed open that late.

Waking up the next morning, Mancini mysteriously pulled Lu Deyang aside and asked, "Were you deliberately banging on the wall just to save face?"

"……Yeah!"

Lu Deyang replied with a somewhat helpless nod.

"I knew it, this wasn't my fault." Mancini breathed a sigh of relief.

"Today I'm planning to take Monica around Milan, so I won't be heading back with you guys." Lu Deyang said.

"No worries, we'll come along too."

Mancini said.

He happened to want to buy some new clothes anyway.

Genoa was great for everything except that the variety of goods sold there was rather limited.

Lu Deyang had no objections to this.

After seeing the newspaper, Mancini suddenly threw his arms around him and leaned in close. Lu Deyang quickly pushed him away with his hand and said with some alarm, "Man, you know I'm not into guys."

"Damn it, I'm just thanking you."

Mancini held up the newspaper and said, "As expected of my good brother!"

It turned out to be about the post-match interview.

During their shopping trip at noon, not only did Mancini treat everyone to lunch, but he also willingly paid the bill when Monica was choosing some jewelry.

This guy was quite generous after all.

In the afternoon, the group hailed a cab and headed back to Genoa.

The next day.

In the locker room, everyone was changing into their jerseys and preparing for training.

Suddenly, the theme music from James Bond began to play.

Wearing a full suit and oversized dark sunglasses, Mancini appeared with a boombox, raising his index and middle fingers on his right hand while sticking his thumb straight up, forming the shape of a pistol held against his chest.

Planting his feet firmly, he swiveled his knees so that everyone could get a good look at his outfit.

"Chaplin, is this a silent film you're shooting?" Vialli mocked.

This guy had called him early in the morning, making him promise to keep everyone in the locker room.

"Bond, call me James Bond!"

Mancini said coolly.

"Deyang, it's all your fault."

Pari complained, "This guy has completely lost his mind."

Lu Deyang smiled and shrugged.

Who could have anticipated Mancini pulling a stunt like this?

The last time he had seen a fool carrying a boombox around had been Jack Grealish.

Was Mancini going to turn into the next Jack Grealish as well?

"I know you guys are jealous of me, but I scored a hat-trick in the final, and Deyang even admitted that I was the biggest contributor. Maybe Baggio should take a good look at my match tapes."

Mancini set down the boombox and said.

"An outfit like that looks bizarre!" Lanna complained, "People who carry boomboxes are usually hippies, but they don't wear suits."

"Hey, hippie, if you're planning to throw a wild open-air party, don't forget to bring Marko. This guy might still be a virgin!" Vierchowod suddenly chimed in.

A burst of laughter erupted in the locker room.

Who would have thought the old Tsar knew how to tell jokes.

Everyone knew Lanna had a girlfriend, but he held very little domestic authority.

Salsano, the old rascal, even made an up-and-down pumping motion with a clenched fist and teased, "That's Marko's nightlife for you. The other day he even asked me if shaking hands could get someone pregnant. Other people probably wouldn't, but with him, you never know, hahaha..."

Young Lanna instantly flushed bright red and stammered that he had never asked Salsano any such thing.

Unfortunately, nobody cared what he was saying.

Even his good friend Chiesa was slapping his thigh in hysterical laughter.

"Alright, that's enough." Lu Deyang tapped on a locker, gave Mancini a light kick, and said, "Change your clothes and get out for training."

Laughing, the players filed out of the locker room.

Lanna said with a grateful expression, "Deyang, thank you so much. Thanks for understanding me."

"It's fine, a person should at least be able to keep a shred of dignity while working." Lu Deyang patted him on the shoulder, turned around, and left the locker room as well.

Marco Lanna's hand remained suspended mid-air.

Even Deyang wasn't backing him up—could he really have been in the wrong?

...

December had arrived, and the festive atmosphere of Christmas was gradually beginning to be felt.

Even in foreign countries, the festive spirit felt much stronger before the advent of the internet age.

Some merchants had already put out Christmas merchandise, and players' hearts began longing for a break around this time. Therefore, the English leagues without a winter break were far more complicated than simply playing a few extra matches.

It was also a massive psychological drain on the players.

Even if English clubs hadn't been banned from European competitions, very few players outside the English-speaking world were ever willing to go play there.

The prosperity of the Premier League was mainly driven by commercial development.

Despite the high wages, David de Gea still spent all those years at his peak dreaming of joining Real Madrid.

The weather alone was enough to make many people find it unbearable.

Gloomy weather genuinely affected people's moods.

December 2nd.

Lu Deyang and the entire team arrived in Lecce.

To prepare for the upcoming match against the Rossoneri, he was left out of the starting lineup.

"Is there something wrong with that kid? He keeps staring at you." Vialli pointed toward the pitch and said.

He was also resting on the rotation bench today.

"Who?"

Lu Deyang asked.

"Who else, that guy named Conte!" Vialli said.

Lu Deyang looked over in the direction indicated. Wasn't this motherfucker the hothead himself?

If you didn't look too closely at a young Conte, it was hard to see the shadow of his future self; at first glance, he looked a bit like Cassano.

Being targeted by him made Lu Deyang feel a bit uneasy.

A hothead's thought process was different from ordinary people; once he became a coach, he would directly text players to tell them to get lost.

And yet, to say he lacked cunning would be completely wrong.

Other managers would always claim they were Inter fans and would never coach Milan or Juventus, but Conte never said things like that. As a legendary Juventus captain, he even went on to coach Juventus's arch-rival Napoli later in life.

He was a person Lu Deyang simply couldn't figure out, and King Lu had no desire to be targeted by him.

What if Conte decided to two-foot King Lu out of nowhere one day?

Antonio Conte did things rather unpredictably, and Lu Deyang had no clue what he was plotting.

Still, the guy was genuinely a decent footballer; in the first half, he teamed up with his teammates to break through Sampdoria's defense.

Whether it was his passing, his timing for making forward runs, or his final shot, everything was handled very well.

Players capable of captaining a powerhouse club in this era were all of top-tier quality; there were no captains of Bruno Fernandes's caliber here.

Fortunately, Salsano equalized with a long-range shot in the second half, and the match ended in a 1-1 draw, allowing Sampdoria to take away an away point.

"If you had played, I probably would have scored."

Mancini pulled off his jersey and walked over to complain.

He hadn't felt very comfortable playing today with both Vialli and Lu Deyang off the pitch.

"I'm not made of iron."

Lu Deyang got to his feet and said.

As the few of them prepared to head back to the locker room, they saw Antonio Conte walking toward them.

Mancini's face immediately darkened; Conte had hacked him quite a few times during the match.

"What do you want?"

Mancini asked.

Conte ignored him entirely, took off his jersey, and handed it directly to Lu Deyang, asking with a look of anticipation, "I've always loved motorcycles. With my very first paycheck, I bought a second-hand Vespa. Even though it's a lightweight scooter, I really love riding bikes. Maybe I'll buy a bike you endorse in the future—yeah, that Suzuki one... I've watched your riding footage so many times, it's just so cool. Can we swap jerseys, and by the way, could you write 'To your loyal biker fan Antonio Conte' on it?"

Mancini stood there dumbfounded. Was that lunatic from the pitch just now actually a fan of Lu Deyang?