First in scoring

Chapter 15 15. Keep going with determination and hard work!

Zhang Yang didn't expect that his adoptive parents were more open-minded than he thought.

He thought about it carefully and felt that he might have been "misled" by the memory of his original body.

I remember that my parents were very strict. They didn't let him do this or that.

But when Zhang Yang thought carefully about those things that he was "not allowed to do", he realized that they really shouldn't be done. The mistake of his parents was because their son was still young and they rarely explained why he shouldn't do something.

My parents agreed to almost all the reasonable requests I made, but I took them for granted.

This brings us back to traditional Chinese education - when recording history, victorious wars are always mentioned briefly, while defeated wars are always remembered clearly.

In the next few days, Zhang Yang continued to do what he was supposed to do, training, helping out in the store, nothing different from before.

Andy and Thomas will help with the transfer, so he doesn't need to worry about it.

Soon, August 8st, a new month arrived, and the day for Zhang Yang to go to Compton also arrived.

Thomas rushed back from Compton yesterday. One reason was to check whether the files Andy got from Hidden Mountain Middle School were complete. He did this to be on the safe side and avoid making another trip. Another reason was that Zhang Yang was going to stay at his house.

Thomas agreed to help Zhang Yang find a host family with good conditions, including the living environment and the quality of the landlord. He went back to school and looked through the information of the registered families, but couldn't find one that satisfied him, because when he chose the host family, he used Zhang Yang's family as a reference.

In the end, he took the initiative to take on this responsibility and help take care of Zhang Yang. He lives alone, his home has a good living environment and is very close to the school, so all the conditions are met.

After Zhang Yang's parents came into contact with Thomas, they learned that he was a very responsible coach. In addition, Thomas was Andy's good friend, so they accepted his kindness.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, Thomas first picked up DeRozan who was hitchhiking, and then came to Zhang Yang's house.

After Zhang Yang put his luggage in the trunk, he said goodbye to his parents.

"Mom, if you get a call from me asking for money, call the coach first to confirm it's really me calling."

"Mom, if you get a call saying I've been kidnapped and you can't contact me, don't rush to send money. Call the police first. Although calling the police is useless, it's more useful than sending money."

"Mom, don't buy health supplements randomly. If you really feel that you need to supplement your nutrition, go to the hospital and register early. When it's your turn in a few days, you will calm down."

"..."

"..."

"..."

After giving his mother a lot of instructions, Zhang Yang turned his head and said to his father, "Dad, take good care of Mom."

Zhang Chen: "..."

You said so much to your mom, but only this one to me? And you didn’t even speak directly to me!

If he hadn't seen that his son was as handsome as he was when he was a child, he would have doubted whether he was his biological son.

Watching Zhang Yang saying goodbye to the teachers and classmates who came to see him off, Zhang Chen complained to Yang Jing: "Wife, is it you who is going to go far away, or Yang Yang? He is the one who is giving you instructions."

Yang Jing raised her chin: "He is smarter than me, of course he is more worried about me!"

Zhang Chen: "..."

What's the point of being so proud?
After a moment of pride, Yang Jing suddenly became depressed.

Zhang Chen noticed his wife's mood change and said, "Now Yang Yang is going to fight for his dream, and we have to fight for what we want! Haven't you always wanted to expand the store? Aunt Connett next door is old and is ready to sell the store. We can buy it and hire a pastry chef and a barista. We still have too few varieties of food. Our store is in such a good location that people often come to ask if we have tea and snacks. We have to make use of the free time in the morning and afternoon."

Yang Jing's eyes lit up: "Yes! Now we don't have to take care of Yang Yang, we have time to work on our careers! Work on our careers! Make money!"

Seeing his wife regain her energy, Zhang Chen smiled.

In recent years, their attention has been focused on their son, and they have to run a business to support their family, so they have little time to think about themselves and their careers. Now is the time to focus their lives on themselves!

……

……

Located in Los Angeles County, Hidden Hills and Compton are not far apart. In China, the distance between them is about the same as that between adjacent counties.

During the journey, Thomas and DeRozan kept informing Zhang Yang about various aspects of Compton, mainly the public security situation.

Zhang Yang has taken the initiative to go online to learn more about this in the past few days.

If we look at the economic output alone, Compton is higher than Hidden Hills, and has a larger population, because there are mines here, really - there are mines, but this city is extremely uninhabitable - the proportion of blacks is a terrifying 40%+.

This city was once a slave trade zone built around mining areas. Today, it is still one of the cities with the highest proportion of blacks in the United States. Whites account for just over 10%, and the rest are mostly Hispanics. Chinese and Southeast Asians avoid this city and their number can be ignored.

But it is just that 10% of white people who control more than % of the city's wealth. In such a city, beautiful scenery often appears, but violent crimes are also common.

Thomas and DeRozan had agreed that in order to give Zhang Yang a chance to be well prepared, they exaggerated the situation when promoting the news, almost describing the city as a purgatory on earth, just to make him more alert and not wander around like he did in Yinshan.

The journey was smooth and they entered the city of Compton an hour later. Thomas first sent DeRozan home and then took Zhang Yang home.

After helping Zhang Yang carry his luggage to the living room, Thomas left home in a hurry for school.

Zhang Yang walked around the house. It was a typical single man's home, messy, but it was obvious that it was cleaned regularly, so it was not dirty. It was just that the man was used to leaving things everywhere.

Before entering, he looked at the exterior of the house. It was quite new, bought no more than two or three years ago. It was a two-story building with a small yard. The houses nearby were similar. It was a standard middle-class residential area, which meant that the security in this area was relatively good.

The first floor is the living room, a kitchen that looks almost unused, a bathroom, a study, and a storage room. There are three rooms on the second floor. Zhang Yang chose the second bedroom facing east and moved his luggage in.

After going downstairs, Zhang Yang originally planned to have lunch first, but when he saw the messy living room, he really couldn't stand it... He rolled up his sleeves and started to clean up.

On the other hand, Thomas handed Zhang Yang's information and transfer application form to the colleague in charge of admissions. The transfer procedures were completed. He had done everything he needed to do a few days ago. After submitting the transfer information, Thomas immediately returned to his office to start his work as the head coach of the school team.

Originally, his vacation plan was not that long, but he spent three extra days recruiting Zhang Yang. This also meant that his work piled up for three days, so he had to hurry up and deal with it.

CIF Division I high school team coaches have good salaries, but it is a tough job because everything from communicating with the NCAA to basic purchasing has to go through them.

He doesn't have a professional team like college coaches, with only a few small players under him, and he has to do everything himself.

The basketball team has three teams: the freshman team, the reserve team, and the main team. He needs to lead the main team personally, and he also needs to pay attention to the other two teams at all times and tap the potential within the teams.

After a busy afternoon, Thomas dragged his tired body back home, and found something wrong as soon as he opened the door.

The previously messy living room has been organized into a neat and orderly place.

"Jack?"

Thomas shouted, but got no response, probably because he went out.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

Before returning to Richmond, he had just washed his clothes and quilt covers. After drying them, he threw a pile of things on the bed and hadn't put them away yet. Had they been put away too?

He excitedly went upstairs and opened the master bedroom door...and saw that the bedroom was as messy as it could be.

I went downstairs and looked at the study, and it was still a mess.

The young man attached great importance to privacy, and Thomas was both happy and upset.

He is a single middle-aged man and has no privacy! Really, can't we sort it out together?

Coming out of the study, he smelled a fragrance. He seemed to have smelled it when he entered the room just now, but his attention was drawn to the tidy living room.

He came to the kitchen where several dishes were placed on the warming table.

At this time, the door opened, Thomas came out of the kitchen and saw Zhang Yang coming back with two empty plates.

Thomas asked, "Jack, what are you doing?"

Zhang Yang replied: "I cooked two dishes to thank the neighbors across the street for taking me to the supermarket. They invited me to their house for dinner."

"Oh, George and Milena are very nice and welcoming people. You can get to know them... I didn't expect you can actually cook!"

"My family owns a restaurant. If things don't go well for me at work in the future, I can go home and take over from my dad. It's better to be prepared."

“It’s right to be prepared like this.”

"By the way, Tony, I saw a broken table in the storage room. The tabletop is big enough. Can I make a basketball hoop in the yard? I can use it to practice shooting."

"Of course, do you need my help?"

"That's great. The neighbor on the corner who is renovating his house said he would give me some leftover wood..."

Watching Zhang Yang go to the kitchen to wash dishes, Thomas breathed a sigh of relief. This young man was far better than he had imagined.

Having brought Zhang Yang to this city, he felt it was his responsibility to take good care of him.

If he was recruiting black students from a slum to come to this city, he wouldn't care so much. For those students, it's the same everywhere. For some black students from very poor small places, being able to study in Compton can even be profitable, and the welfare benefits will be much better.

But a young man who grew up in a happy family came alone to such an uninhabitable city because of his recruitment. If he did not live well, he would feel very guilty.

...

After dinner, Thomas took Zhang Yang to the supermarket to buy a basketball hoop and stickers, and went to a neighbor's house that was renovating his home to pick out the things he needed from the leftover wood.

Thomas felt depressed. He was too busy with work to have much time for socializing. He had been here for two years and was not very familiar with most of the neighbors. But when Zhang Yang arrived, he already knew several neighbors.

There were shovels, electric saws, hammers, nails, screws, nuts... everything in the storage room. The two of them installed the basketball hoop overnight.

With Thomas as a professional, the rebounds, basket height, backboard size... are all done quite standardly.

Thomas slept soundly that night because he hadn't done any physical work for several months.

At around seven o'clock the next morning, Thomas woke up and heard a bang bang sound downstairs.

Didn't he install the basketball hoop last night? He got up, opened the window and looked down at the yard. He saw Zhang Yang was hitting the iron... No, he was practicing shooting, and he was sweating all over.

"Jack, you work so hard! Getting up so early to train."

Zhang Yang looked up and replied, "I woke up at 6 o'clock. I got up to practice shooting because I had nothing else to do. I cooked some vegetable and lean meat porridge in the rice cooker. It should be ready now. Coach, can you help me take it out of the pot and let it cool down? If you are busy, you can eat it first. I will practice a few more sets."

There is breakfast made by my beloved disciple! Thomas responded and went downstairs with a thump.

Thomas had eaten the food Zhang Yang cooked last night and it tasted pretty good. There would be no problem opening a restaurant. He thought Zhang Yang was serious about considering being a chef as a way out.

Zhang Yang was not affected and continued training.

Since you have chosen the path of basketball, then keep going forward with determination and hard work!

……

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