Super Wingstorm

Ajax was very reliable and efficient.

In just one day, Priscilla Jansen handled all of Yang Yang’s school transfer paperwork and completed the handover from the Almere Club. During that time, Yang Yang made a special trip to the club to say goodbye to John Reep, Dick Van Puer, and the others.

From the moment he signed his name on the Ajax contract, he no longer belonged to Almere.

John Reep and Dick Van Puer both encouraged Yang Yang to keep working hard at De Toekomst and invited him to visit Almere whenever he had time. That same evening, former teammates like Henk Demyer and Nick came to the Chinese restaurant to say their goodbyes.

The next day, the Chinese restaurant was closed. Yang Yang’s uncle, Shen Ming, drove him to Amsterdam with his family.

The rental house Ajax found for him was in a small, scenic town called Oude Kerk, located between Amstelveen and the Southeast New City. It was three kilometers from De Toekomst and had a population of only seven or eight thousand.

The Amstel River flowed from north to south, passing by the west side of town. A tributary cut horizontally across, dividing the town into northern and southern halves before emptying into Oude Kerk Lake to the east. The A2 motorway and the Southeast New City bordered the lake’s eastern shore, while endless pastures stretched to the north and south.

Sitting in the car as it drove along the A9 Motorway, Yang Yang felt his spirits lift at his first sight of the Dutch pastures.

After exiting the motorway at Oude Kerk, they followed the map and soon found the town’s sports center and library on the river’s north bank. Less than four hundred meters further east, they took a left and easily located Yang Yang’s rental house by its address.

It was a typical old-style Dutch building: a single story with a large attic, a utility room on the side, but no garage.

The entire street was a row of buildings in the exact same style. If it weren’t for the house numbers, it would have been very easy to get them mixed up.

As he got out of the car, Yang Yang took a look around. The street was unremarkable, with just a few cars parked here and there. The most eye-catching was a Porsche 911 Turbo parked in front of the house across the street. All the other cars combined probably weren’t worth as much as that one, yet its owner lived in the same kind of house as Yang Yang’s.

Yang Yang strode to the door and rang the bell. He soon heard stirring from within.

The door opened, and the people on both sides were struck speechless.

"It’s you?!" they both said in unison.

Opening the door was none other than Thomas Vermaelen, the Belgian center-back Yang Yang had encountered during the amateur tournament.

"So you’re the new player Priscilla was talking about?" Vermaelen asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I didn’t expect you to be my roommate," Yang Yang said, quite pleased. They had, after all, played in the same match before.

He really admired Thomas Vermaelen’s ability.

"Come on, get in here."

Vermaelen enthusiastically helped Yang Yang with his luggage and welcomed him and Shen Ming’s family inside.

He explained that he had just moved in a couple of days ago himself; he’d been staying in a hotel until then.

"Even though I signed with Ajax back in 2001, this is my first time actually coming to the Netherlands to play for them, so I’m still new to all of this," Vermaelen said, a bit awkwardly.

The attic upstairs had two bedrooms, each with its own private bathroom. The ground floor contained the living room, kitchen, and a shared bathroom.

The house wasn’t large, but it was spotless, clearly having been cleaned professionally before their arrival. From now on, they could either clean it themselves or hire a housekeeping service, but they’d have to pay for it out of pocket.

Vermaelen had already taken one room, so Yang Yang naturally took the other. To his satisfaction, the room was spacious, with excellent ventilation and light.

Uncle Shen Ming and his family helped Yang Yang organize his room. After looking around, they agreed it was a very nice place with nothing else needing to be done. Seeing Yang Yang and Vermaelen getting along well also set their minds at ease.

After all, Yang Yang was already sixteen. If you went by traditional Chinese age reckoning, he was almost eighteen.

Before they left, his uncle, aunt, and cousin got the landline number for the house. They urged him again and again to stay in touch and to call them immediately if he needed anything. Yang Yang felt a mix of gratitude and sadness; after all, he had lived with them for the past year.

After seeing his uncle’s family off, Yang Yang’s emotions soon settled, and he immersed himself in the excitement of his new life.

Vermaelen explained that there was a supermarket a short walk to the north where they could buy all their groceries. The hospital was also conveniently located, only about five hundred meters to the northwest.

Eating out was a bit more of a hassle, though. If he didn’t cook, he’d have to walk west along the river, go another three or four hundred meters past the library. There were several restaurants in that area, but to Yang Yang’s dismay, not a single one was Chinese.

It wasn’t a big deal, though. He could just eat his meals at the academy or De Toekomst in the players’ cafeteria. If worst came to worst, he could cook for himself. After helping out at the Chinese restaurant for a year, he’d picked up more than a few tricks. Feeding himself wouldn’t be a problem.

Through his chat with Vermaelen, Yang Yang learned that Oude Kerk was very close to De Toekomst, which was why many Ajax players rented places here.

"Guess who lives across from us?" Vermaelen asked mysteriously.

Yang Yang’s mind immediately went to the flashy Porsche 911. He’d assumed it belonged to some wealthy person, never expecting it to be an Ajax player. His curiosity piqued, he pressed, "Who?"

"Ibrahimovic."

"Him?" Yang Yang exclaimed in astonishment.

"I heard he used to live in Diemen but moved here later. Nearby, you’ll see a Fiat parked out front—that’s Brazilian player Maxwell’s house. The two of them are best buds on the first team."

Yang Yang was genuinely surprised; he hadn’t expected so many Ajax players to live here.

’This is good, though. We can all look out for each other.’

* * *

Around noon, Yang Yang and Vermaelen left the house. They walked back to the intersection and continued east for five hundred meters to catch a bus that took them the two kilometers to De Toekomst.

As Priscilla Jansen had instructed, Yang Yang went to the club to check in. He paid the twenty Euro insurance fee and received a full set of Adidas training gear—everything from cleats to training apparel. The gear was provided to the youth team for free as part of Adidas’s sponsorship of Ajax.

With his new gear in hand, Yang Yang followed Vermaelen to the Ajax Second Team’s locker room. He picked an empty locker, put his things away, and then headed to the head coach’s office.

Van Basten’s office door was open. The moment Yang Yang appeared at the doorway, Van Basten saw him. He smiled, waving him in.

"Boss," Yang Yang said respectfully.

’Before, I might have been able to call him Marco, but now that I’m one of Van Basten’s players, I should address him as ’Boss’ like everyone else.’

"Good." Van Basten couldn’t stop grinning when he saw Yang Yang. He motioned for Yang Yang to sit before continuing. He began by explaining the Ajax Second Team’s current situation: with so many players called up to the first team, they were short-handed.

"We’re facing a lot of pressure in the upcoming season. We’ll be competing in the league and the Dutch Cup. I need you to prepare well, especially when it comes to building up your stamina. You have to get your conditioning right during this preseason."

From his tone, Yang Yang could feel that Van Basten had high hopes for him.

Fred Arroyo had told him that Van Basten himself had hand-picked him for the second team.

"Don’t worry, Boss. I’ll give it everything I’ve got," Yang Yang promised earnestly.

"Don’t be nervous. This is your first season, and both the league and the Dutch Cup will be challenging. In the Dutch Cup especially, we won’t just be facing other second teams or lower-division clubs—we could even go up against teams from the Eredivisie."

The cup competition in the Netherlands is a bit different from other countries, as second teams are allowed to participate. The Ajax Second Team has always been strong and frequently causes upsets in the Dutch Cup. Sometimes, they can even hold their own against Eredivisie teams.

As for the league, the Ajax Second Team competes in the top division of the Dutch youth league. Their opponents are mostly the youth squads of professional Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie clubs. Every one of them is formidable, presenting a completely new challenge for Yang Yang.

Back in the amateur tournament, Almere had fought tough battles against teams like Warrendan and Ajax. Yang Yang had learned a great deal from those hard-fought matches and the diverse challenges his opponents presented.

But that was a cup competition, where there were only two or three truly strong opponents. The league would be different. Every opponent was formidable, and he might even have to face the star-studded youth teams of Feyenoord and Eindhoven. That would be a massive challenge for him.

"Beyond just the opponents, you need to learn how to manage your own form," Van Basten continued seriously. "A season is a very long grind. Knowing how to maintain your peak condition throughout that entire time is a profound science in itself."

Van Basten explained gravely, "If you only shine in a few games here and there, it’s meaningless. And if your performance is too inconsistent, you’ll never secure a spot on the team. You’re only a true professional when you can maintain a stable competitive form."

Yang Yang knew this was wisdom from Van Basten’s own career. The fact that he was sharing it during their very first meeting showed how much he valued him. So he listened with sincere humility, promising that he would work hard, follow the coaching staff’s instructions to the letter, and not let Van Basten down.

Van Basten also cautioned him, "I know you have a habit of doing extra training from your time at Almere. I’m not against it, but I want to remind you to be sensible about it. Don’t overdo it. Overtraining can be counterproductive and won’t help you maintain your form."

’I’m not worried about that at all,’ Yang Yang thought. ’After all, I have Old Ice in the Super Training to help me manage everything. I’m confident there won’t be any issues on that front.’

’At the very least, judging by my experience in the amateur tournament, Old Ice has a real knack for this sort of thing.’