(Such quick push has disrupted my pace. I will update it today. There is no competition in this chapter, it is a bit boring, so please forgive me. I will use the big move in the next chapter and invite a little mysterious person.)

After the game, most of the players of Palo Alto High School took the school bus back to the school. Only Gan Guoyang, because his home is in San Francisco, asked Bellman for leave and wanted to go back early.

Because the team was in a good mood to win, and Gan Guoyang was the number one hero, so he did not make a big splash for the first time and agreed to Gan Guoyang's request indifferently.

"Go back and have a good rest."

Gan Guoyang is still a little uncomfortable with Bellmann's words such as "**" and "ass". It seems that people are sometimes cheap and often scolded, but they are not used to being kind to you at once.

In this way, Gan Guoyang took the bus from Oakland to San Francisco and drove on the road connecting the two cities.

The game started at three o'clock and played for more than an hour and a half. When the bus arrived at the Eisenhower Bridge, it was already dark.

It is now the end of October. The NBA regular season for the 1981-1982 season will kick off on October 30. Gan Guoyang is looking forward to his first official game at the Auckland Stadium.

However, at this time he had no intention of thinking about the Saturday game in Auckland. He sat in the car, staring at the night falling outside the window, and enveloped the vast San Francisco Bay.

The downtown area of ​​San Francisco has begun to be brightly lit. Feeling the dazzling brilliance and the cold sea breeze, Gan Guoyang's mood has gradually calmed down.

The joy of victory and the shock of seeing Russell made him confused and gave him an unreal feeling, just like he traveled to the hotel in Shanghai on the first day.

Now his mind began to seriously recall today's game and what Bill Russell said to him in his ear before leaving.

"You performed well today, but you have to slowly learn to control yourself before you can really control the game."

Russell's words came back and forth in his mind, but he still couldn't understand what "control yourself" means?

Should I control the foul, or control my desire to show more and cooperate with my teammates, or control my emotions?

Gan Guoyang felt that he did all three things well, and he was acceptable for three fouls in the second half. After leading, he did not care about swiping his own data, but instead provided cover for his teammates. Emotionally, he was very focused at other times, except for his nervous start.

"Maybe he was just talking casually." Gan Guoyang thought so.

Soon, the bus crossed San Francisco Bay and arrived in San Francisco.

After getting off the bus in Chinatown, Gan Guoyang took his bag and headed straight to the Gan Family Restaurant.

Today is Friday, and the restaurant business is very good, and the Gan Family Restaurant is no exception. Since Gan Youwei became the chef here, the restaurant business has been getting better and better every day.

Before Gan Guoyang entered the door, he felt the noise in the restaurant. Chinese people eat for fun, even if foreigners come to eat, they must follow the customs.

As soon as I entered the door, it was even more noisy. The whole shop was full and the waiters were busy. At this time, Gan Youwei was naturally busy in the kitchen.

Gan Guoyang went upstairs and put his own things downstairs and went into the kitchen to find Gan Youwei.

"Dad, I'm back."

Gan Guoyang felt an unusually suffocating feeling when he stood in the kitchen. Now his height is 6-foot-8. It seems that it is not a problem to reach the 6-foot-10 game set before graduating from high school.

"Guoyang, I'm back! Have you had dinner? Dad got you something to eat?" Gan Youwei cared about his son, but his hands were not idle, and the dishes in the pot were stir-fried.

"No need, you can be busy. I'll go to Mr. Nate's place to have something to eat in the evening." Gan Guoyang saw that his father was so busy, and he had some questions to ask Thurmond, so he decided to go to the Big Nate barbecue restaurant to eat some barbecue to replenish his energy.

"Come back early! Don't play basketball again after dinner, until late!" Gan Youwei told her when she watched her son go out with another basketball.

"I know!"

When he went out, Gan Guoyang glanced at the TV in the restaurant, and there was news from China.

“…The State Council approved the establishment of the first batch of special economic zones, “Shantou Special Economic Zone”…”

Gan Guoyang knew that reform and opening up was about to begin to completely change the face of the motherland, and many people's lives were about to change. And his own lives had to rely on himself to fight.

……………………

"Mr. Thurmond, is Russell really that...so...unkind?"

After Gan Guoyang came to Thurmond's barbecue restaurant, the two of them had a meal together in a small private room. Gan Guoyang and Thurmond talked about the situation of the game this afternoon and the meeting of Bill Russell.

Thurmond naturally praised Gan Guoyang's performance in the second half, but his evaluation of Russell was "a cruel and cruel NBA tyrant."

Gan Guoyang stuttered for a long time before using the word "unreasonable" to describe Russell, because Thurmond's evaluation of Russell made him a little unacceptable.

"Hahaha, he is not an unreasonable and humane person, but the premise is that these principles and rules are all set by him. You must understand that he is the real king of the NBA. In 13 years, he missed only one finals, won 11 championships, eight consecutive championships, and two player and coach wins the championship."

Thurmond narrated Russell's great achievements. Even though Gan Guoyang had long been familiar with this, he was still full of shock when he heard these achievements from an NBA center who had played against Russell.

"I still remember when I was a rookie, it was 1963, when I first met Russell. He stood beside me and said to me, 'Hey kid, what are you doing here? Don't your teammates pass the ball to you? Do you know what you are? **Nothing isn't."

While eating barbecue, Thurmond recalled the past with some helplessness on his face. Gan Guoyang listened quietly to him telling the story of the basketball ruler.

"Later, you know I was so angry that I grabbed a frontcourt rebound at the basket, and I wanted to jump up and dunk the ball into the basket, and prove it to Russell that I was not useless. Of course, Bill gave me a block and told me that I was really nothing in front of him."

"Then... is he still like this now?" Hearing this, Gan Guoyang felt a little cold on his back. He didn't know what would happen to him if he met such an opponent on the court.

"Of course not. After any dictator takes off the altar of domination, his divinity will fade away, and human nature will slowly recover." Thurmond said, as if Russell was an inhuman killer.

"Yes, in my eyes, or in the eyes of almost all NBA players at that time, Bill was an inhuman tyrant dictator," Thurmond added.

"What does it mean to say to me, 'Learn to control myself'?" Gan Guoyang never understood the meaning of this sentence, so he came to ask Thurmond.

"Haha, learn to control yourself, Bill is not wrong at all."

"Many people think that Bill and I are very similar. We have excellent body, strong defense, fierce playing style, and even worse offenses. But the achievements we have achieved are vastly different. He has so many rings that he is not satisfied with his hands, but I can't even get any of them." Thurmond said without regret.

"No, you are the best in my heart." Gan Guoyang didn't want to see Thurmond's loss.

"Haha, thank you for being so kind, but some things cannot be changed by comfort."

"You have to understand that in high school, you can rely on your talent to achieve success; in college, you need talent and hard work to be recognized; and in the NBA, only by having extraordinary talent, unremitting efforts, extraordinary wisdom, and a little bit of luck can you become the real king!" Thurmond's eyes seemed to burst into glory.

"Bill said that you have to learn to control yourself, that is the first step to having extraordinary wisdom. Talent and luck are beyond human control. Trying to reflect a person's will. Only wisdom is the key to truly change your destiny!"

"Why can't I compare to Bill? In the past, I thought he was just lucky, had a good coach and a good manager, and had a group of good teammates. Later I realized that it was because I didn't really control myself at all, I wouldn't avoid my shortcomings, I took a lot of actions; I couldn't bring a system, I was just an excellent single defender; I was persistent in being fierce and strong, but lacked flexibility and flexibility."

"I can't control myself, so I can't control my teammates, my team, the NBA, and even more so I can't control my destiny."

"But Russell can, he not only controls his own destiny, but also controls the destiny of others. The only thing that can stop him is God and those who are close to God."

"Gan, you have to keep thinking, understand yourself, understand the world, and then you can control yourself and then control the world. This road will be extremely difficult, but you have to understand that a road without thorns is often not a path to success, but a path to the execution ground. May God bless you."

Walking on the way home, Gan Guoyang recalled what Thurmond said to him, but he couldn't calm down for a long time.

For Gan Guoyang now, Thurmond's words are undoubtedly too profound and too heavy.

Basketball life is still a comedy for him. The sweat and pain of training, the failure and victory of the game are just the necessary twists and turns of this comedy.

Thurmond has experienced the ups and downs of basketball's life. Basketball is no longer a fun and interesting game for him, but "To-be-or-not-to-be", survival or destruction? From the perspective of the champion, he has moved towards destruction.

This heartfelt statement from Thurmond was not until a long time later that Gan Guoyang experienced many successes and failures before he could truly understand it.

…………………………………

The next morning, Gan Guoyang got up early and prepared to help the restaurant do some work.

Since the father and son arrived at the Gan Family Restaurant, their business has been getting better and better, and Gan Youwei has become busier and busier. In addition, Gan Guoyang went to Palo Alto to attend high school, and the father and son spent much less time together.

Despite this, Gan Guoyang's feelings for this father have not been cut in half. He knew that the reason why his father worked so hard was for himself. The basketballs he brought and the basketball shoes he wore every day were bought by his father for him by making money.

"Dad, I heard that the country has started to build a special economic zone. If you stay in China to do business, it should be quite good." Gan Guoyang told Gan Youwei the news he saw yesterday.

"Oh, it's still too difficult to survive in China. It's not easy to truly change your destiny in the reform." Gan Youwei started chatting with his son recently.

"Hehe, if we still stay in China, I can't play basketball."

"Tsk, you guy, you know that playing basketball is really a traitor!"

During his father's "criticism", Gan Guoyang worked all morning. It was a big deal that he was so embarrassed to wear it around the store.

"Cousin, Guohui hasn't come back yet?" Gan Guoyang asked Gan Youtang's fat cousin.

Originally, Gan Guohui was going to take a bus to Auckland to watch the Gan Guoyang game after class on Friday, but his mother came back from Washington and went to Palo Alto. He asked him to go to his grandmother's house after class on Friday, but he didn't watch the game.

"Guohui's mother said she would come back with Guohui this morning. It's past nine o'clock now, so it should be soon."

As he was talking, a large figure appeared at the door, almost covering the entire door. Needless to say, Gan Guohui is back.

"Guohui! You are back!" Gan Guoyang was very happy to see his cousin coming back, and was about to tell him about the game yesterday.

But Gan Guohui looked hurried and impatient. Before Gan Guoyang could continue, he said, "Big cousin, the people from Kinmen Park are here to break the ground! You are looking for you by name!"

Gan Guohui said this and scared Gan Guoyang. Kinmen Park was a disaster? But he immediately thought that it must be Pittman of the cancer team, and they came to take revenge.

"Let's go to the Binhai Stadium!" Gan Guoyang immediately pulled Gan Guohui out.

"Hey! What are you doing? Don't hit people!" Gan Youtang heard the scene and thought it would be a fight.

"It's okay, Dad! Let's play basketball!"

After a while, the two of them arrived at the Binhai Stadium on the bus. On the way, Gan Guoyang knew that as soon as Gan Guohui came back in the morning, he met Chen Xing who was waiting for him near his home. He said that Pitman of the cancer team brought several masters from Kinmen Park to the Binhai Stadium and wanted to find Guns and Roses to fight for another match.

Because Gan Guohui did not go to Oakland to watch the game, his best friend and friend Chen Xing naturally did not go, so he went back to San Francisco first and went to play in the Binhai Stadium. As a result, he encountered this.

"Are they still three people from the cancer team?" Gan Guoyang asked as he walked.

"No, I heard from Chen Xing that there is a master from Auckland, who is a fat man..."

"Fatty?" The two had already walked to the Binhai Stadium. Gan Guoyang looked around and saw the old acquaintance "Little Kusi" Pitman in the middle of the venue. A fat man about 6 feet 4, and a tall 6 feet 10!

The Binhai Stadium was already full of people. Pitman saw Gan Guoyang and Gan Guohui coming, and pushed the crowd away and greeted him.

"Hello, Gan, long time no see."

"Long time no see Pittman."
To be continued...