Chapter 42: Chapter 42 The Breaking Between Deng Kai and Hugo
Three people chatted together for a while, and Deng Kai, seeing Ronaldo wanting to invite Hugo to his house for dinner, took the initiative to say, "Ronaldo, haven’t you always wanted to have dinner at that restaurant in Principe Real?"
"Today is perfect since Hugo is here. Let me treat you both to a meal!"
"Really?" Ronaldo asked, pleasantly surprised, "That’s going to cost quite a bit, how can you bear to spend that much..."
"Yeah, it’s going to use up all of my goal bonus!" Deng Kai joked with Ronaldo and Hugo, all of them laughing.
But in reality, he just didn’t want to bring Hugo to his house.
Considering Ronaldo’s feelings, Deng Kai could only bear the expense himself.
Chinese people take the concept of home very seriously.
If we’re not friends, who let you into my home?
Especially those shady characters.
When inviting Hugo to eat, Deng Kai deliberately emphasized "you two".
And he deliberately chose an expensive place.
So that Hugo would feel embarrassed to ask to bring along the friends he always has around.
Hence, Hugo went to talk to his friends, and then followed Deng Kai and Ronaldo.
...
During dinner, Hugo was very curious about the situation inside the Sporting Lisbon U15 team.
Curious to a degree... beyond what a family member of a young player should be.
"It’s your European life-or-death match next, a home game against Feyenoord, do you feel confident?" Hugo asked seemingly out of concern, probing for specific information.
How could Ronaldo ever suspect his own brother of having ulterior motives?
He shared honestly, saying from his own perspective, he was confident in defeating Feyenoord.
But from the team’s standpoint, the match did not look optimistic.
Hugo then continued to ask about the tactical arrangements for the next game in detail.
Just as Ronaldo was about to speak again, Deng Kai interjected, "Hugo, may I ask you a question?"
The atmosphere suddenly became tense.
Hugo nodded his head.
"Are you planning to place a big bet on the game?" Deng Kai asked bluntly.
Ronaldo was taken aback, then looked at his brother, and tried to explain on his behalf: "Kai, what are you saying? You’ve misunderstood, my brother isn’t like that, he..."
"Yes!" Hugo was quite direct, or maybe he didn’t see anything wrong with what he was doing.
Ronaldo was stunned on the spot.
Deng Kai put down his cutlery, noting that sometimes they could become dangerous: "So you haven’t come to see Ronaldo for so long, and the moment you do, it is to get first-hand information so you can go gamble?"
Hugo attempted to explain, "Coming to see Chris and my betting are both things I want to do, you don’t need to put it that way. I am Chris’s brother, it’s only normal for me to understand his team’s situation."
Deng Kai laughed, "Normal, is it? Then let me ask you, is the betting agency you plan to use a legal entity in Portugal?"
Hugo’s expression stiffened.
Clearly, the bets he was planning on made use of illegal bookies.
Because that way, he could make more money, and after winning, he could avoid a hefty amount of taxes.
"Ronaldo, pack up, we need to go back!" Deng Kai stood up abruptly, pulling Ronaldo, ready to leave the place.
"Hey, hey, what do you mean? Who do you think you are? Chris, who’s working to support your football career? Are you really trying to disassociate yourself from me now?" Hugo was annoyed, grabbing Deng Kai and Ronaldo to stop them from leaving.
Ronaldo looked conflicted. He didn’t know what to do and was completely unable to handle such a situation.
That was his brother, his own flesh and blood!
"Disassociate?" Deng Kai laughed bitterly. "If I could easily disassociate, would I be this worried right now? Let me tell you, have you heard of the name Andoya?"
"You should know the person, considering his brother was just recently arrested for being involved in match-fixing. Your buddies should be quite familiar with him."
"Do you know what Andoya is doing now? He’s fourteen, plays really well, and if things go as expected, he could at least play in the Portuguese league or the English Championship, maybe even getting a chance to see the top five leagues."
"His potential annual earnings would be around one million euros, lasting for about a decade. His whole family could rise out of poverty and become middle class because of this, benefiting several generations!"
"But now, he has been utterly abandoned by the pitch; he can no longer play football. All he can do is study on one hand and play in informal games for others."
"He’s bound not to make it into college, and he’ll keep getting injured every so often on the makeshift fields. I guess he’d be lucky to play for two or three more years before some other boss’s player breaks his leg."
"His future looks utterly hopeless."
Hugo apparently knew about Andoya’s situation, and he accused Deng Kai, "So isn’t that your problem? You are the reason Andoya has no football to play. He had a conflict with you."
"Brother!" Ronaldo pursed his lips. "It was me. I was the one Andoya picked on. They looked down on me, called me a country bumpkin, an African runt, and they made my life difficult every step of the way."
"Kai only got into a conflict with Andoya because he was protecting me. I didn’t want to worry you and Mom, so I said that the conflict with Andoya involved Kai..."
Hugo was flabbergasted.
If he and his mother knew about all this, they might not have let Chris continue playing football for Sporting Lisbon.
It was too much bullying!
However, Deng Kai was unconcerned with all this, saying, "It doesn’t matter who it was."
"After the conflict with us, Andoya may have left Sporting Lisbon, but he became a starter for the U15 team at Qatar Sports. This wasn’t a bad thing for him."
"It was his own brother who truly abandoned him from the world of football!"
"Any player who gets involved with match-fixing will never even dream of stepping onto the highest stage again, of becoming a beloved star! They won’t even think of having a chance to play football anymore!"
"Those who enticed you into match-fixing, do you think they are truly your friends? If they really considered you a friend, they wouldn’t let you get involved in such things! They have never taken into account your and Ronaldo’s standpoint!"
"A true friend would never urge you to drink when you can’t, and certainly wouldn’t think of turning you into a vile gentleman!"
On one hand, Hugo felt that Deng Kai made some sense.
On the other hand, he was frightened by Deng Kai’s alarming words.
He suggested they all find a proper place to talk.
After all, this was a public space.
Discussing match-fixing or talking about drinking and drug use was inappropriate here.
So the three of them returned to Deng Kai’s home.
After coming home, Deng Kai mentioned that his father’s foot had entered the rehabilitation phase and needed some proper exercise and physiotherapy.
Deng’s father, shrewdly taking the hint, pulled Deng’s mother out for a walk.
He knew his son needed to handle some matters and hoped they would stay away for a while.
As soon as the elders left, Hugo also began to elaborate on his "big money" opportunity at hand.
It turned out Deng Kai’s guess was right. Hugo had been seduced by friends into thinking about a big score.
