Candice looked at Lu Ke seriously, her clear and translucent eyes looking at every detail change in Lu Ke's expression without concealment.
That bold and direct look made Lu Ke's heart tremble. He spread his hands helplessly, "Two eyes, a nose and a mouth. We haven't seen each other for seven months. I shouldn't have turned into an alien yet."
Candice chuckled, "I knew you would be fine. Bambi is not that easy to defeat."
Lu Ke laughed dumbly, "So, you finished your busy work and came all the way to Los Angeles just to say this?"
In the past six months, Candice has been extremely busy at work, first the spring and summer catwalks of the four major fashion weeks, and then the annual "Victoria's Secret" catwalk. This is Candice's first appearance on the stage; and then there are a lot of Invitations from magazine shoots, and then the autumn and winter catwalks of the four major fashion weeks...
He was so busy that he didn't even have time to breathe. The two of them just exchanged emails to understand each other's current situation and complain about trivial matters around them. Although we haven't seen each other for a long time, there is no feeling of strangeness or alienation at all.
Candice nodded vigorously and said crisply, "Yeah!" Such straightforwardness made Lu Ke choke and chuckle. Candice continued, "Remember? When I auditioned for the first time, I was scolded by the interviewer..."
"Of course I remember. It was an audition for Gucci at New York Fashion Week, right?" Lu Ke's memory was extremely clear and accurate. "You were crying so hard that you even had snot coming out of your nose..."
"Bambi!" Before Lu Ke could finish his words, Candice raised her hand and strangled Lu Ke's neck - but she didn't use any force and abruptly cut off Lu Ke's last words, "As long as you know. , there’s no need to bring it up every time, okay?”
Candice grinded her teeth fiercely, then let go of her hands, and continued, "At that time, the interviewer scolded me for being useless. She thought that I was too fat and it was absolutely impossible to find a job in the modeling industry. Then you told me, Giving up is the simplest thing in the world, everyone can do it, but persistence is not. Because persistence requires ten times or a hundred times the strength to reach the end."
A big smile broke out at the corner of Candice's mouth, she turned her head and looked into Lu Ke's eyes, "So, I believe that those teams that did not select you, those teams that missed you, this is their loss. They don't Knowing what an outstanding player they missed, they will definitely regret it to the point of stomachache in the future."
"Just like Gucci?" Lu Ke raised the corners of his mouth and chuckled. This year, Gucci invited Candice to walk the show during Paris Fashion Week.
Candice pursed her lips and shook her head repeatedly, "No, no, I agreed to Gucci's invitation. I am only a small model now, and I have no right to refuse Gucci."
The contrast between before and after made Lu Ke and Candice laugh at the same time.
Looking at Candice who was smiling beautifully in front of him, Lu Ke seemed to be able to capture the warmth of the sun and said sincerely, "Thank you."
Lu Ke knew that Candice was still busy with work and had very little time to sleep; but she still rushed back to Los Angeles as soon as possible to express her support.
Candice blinked her right eye, with a playful light shining in her eyes, and said jokingly, "If it doesn't come in handy at the critical moment, it's okay not to have such a friend."
Lu Ke pursed his lips, hiding his smile in his eyes, and then said seriously, "I think we can break off our relationship."
"Hey!" Candice bumped Lu Ke's shoulder with her shoulder, expressing strong dissatisfaction. However, it only lasted less than half a second before a smile appeared on her face. "Are you still training every day?"
"Yes, it's not to maintain the status, but to improve the status. Next, I hope to find an opportunity for trial training, and then seize it firmly." Lu Ke explained simply, "You should understand it all too well."
Models and professional players are the same, they must be alert every day, and even must be in shape all the time. For models, the difficulty of paying attention to diet, exercise, and staying in shape is no less difficult than that of professional players.
When Lu Ke was a freshman and sophomore in college, Candice settled in Los Angeles for eighteen months, and her apartment was only four blocks away from Lu Ke's home. One thing the two people do most often is exchange each other's training schedule and daily diet list, and then train together and complain together.
This lasted until Candice moved to New York for her career.
The race and competition when they met today were no strangers to the two of them, and were more like a part of their ordinary daily life.
"Then, I will cross my fingers and hope that you can use a little bit of luck." Candice raised both hands, overlapping her index and middle fingers in a praying gesture.
Lu Ke also raised his hands and made the same gesture with a smile on his face, "What about you? How many days will you stay in Los Angeles this time?"
"One night." Candice stretched a lot to relieve her body's fatigue, "I will go to New York tomorrow, and two magazine shoots are waiting." But then, she showed a big smile, " However, now I can still take a good rest and relax. How about you, are you ready to start training? I can be the caddy!"
"Then we'd better hurry up, free caddy, you can't miss this opportunity." Lu Ke winked and said jokingly, and then the two of them walked out of the stands one after another, playing around. He threw himself into the training - real training, no joke.
On the road of chasing dreams, it is happiness to have a partner who walks side by side, supports and encourages each other, and will not be alone or lonely.
The next day, Lu Ke personally escorted Candice to the airport and watched Candice board the plane to New York. After that, his life returned to its original track.
Since May 1st, Lu Ke has been paying attention to the news about the trial camp. The following three months have become the most strenuous, busy and difficult period.
The first trial training opportunity came from the Washington Redskins. The interview in the rookie training camp seemed to be effective. They immediately sent an invitation to Lu Ke, so he traveled across the entire North American continent. , drove all the way from San Francisco to Washington, but only stayed in the Redskins' trial camp for three days before being eliminated.
The feeling of emptiness is truly indescribable. But, this is just the beginning. Waiting, long waiting, this is the most painful part.
Without the opportunity for trial training, Lu Ke could only return to Los Angeles. On the one hand, he continued to complete his graduation thesis, and on the other hand, with the help of Anthony, he continued to train in school. Day after day, the waiting begins to become excruciating. Even if I force myself not to think randomly, when I relax and rest, or when I fall asleep at night, my brain just needs to stop for a moment, and those complicated thoughts will still surge up uncontrollably - —
Even if there is a system, so what? Without enough time, he still couldn't become Superman. This is not "Spider-Man". The spider can transform with one bite. If the system had been obtained a year earlier, would the current situation be different? Can he be directly selected based on his strength and start killing everyone on the court now?
Lu Ke knew that these fantasies were meaningless, because there was no if in the world; however, the waiting process was really too long, and it was not easy to control his thoughts.
After waiting for three full weeks, the second trial opportunity finally arrived, and a full month had passed since the draft. This time the opportunity came from the St. Louis Rams, and this time it came from Adam Klein. It still had to cross half of the North American continent, but Lu Ke still couldn't wait to jump in his car and drive all the way there.
This trial was a little longer, lasting two weeks. Every day, Lu Ke trains with the team's substitute players, and then conducts various quarterback-specific training. In a daze, he returns to his training period in college, and his daily life becomes regular. It seemed like he was the Rams.
However, the dream bubble soon burst. The Rams still passed on him, deciding he wasn't an option for them. Dejectedly, Lu Ke returned to Los Angeles again.
After calming down, Lu Ke devoted himself wholeheartedly to the busy work of defending his graduation thesis. This made him temporarily forget the frustration of being an unsuccessful rookie, return to his identity as a student, seize the tail of youth, and enjoy this carefree life to the fullest. The last good moments.
After the defense, after waiting for a while, another team started trial training, first the Kansas City Chiefs, then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and finally the Dallas Cowboys.
Before the official start of the preseason, each team started their final moves one after another. This period of time became Lu Ke's busiest time, running back and forth between various cities, but the busy ending resulted in nothing. All three teams rejected Lu Ke, and the one with the greatest chance was the Cowboys. This team, known as "America's Team," urgently needed a third quarterback. After repeated attempts, Lu Ke Still missed it.
Then... there is no more.
The so-called preseason is a game where teams continue to fine-tune their tactics, switch lineups, and examine players. The outcome is not important. What is important is the idea in the coach's mind and the running-in between the players. In the four quarters of a game, the player lineup may be different in each quarter.
The preseason whistle is about to sound, and an undrafted rookie is still an undrafted rookie. This also means that the ship of the season is gradually moving away from the port. Lu Ke has missed his opportunity to board the ship. It seems that all the clues are suggesting: This is This is it, this is it, this is the end.
Even if you get the system, so what? In this land, Chinese players do not get corresponding opportunities or recognition. Layers of obstacles make it difficult to reach the sky.
It’s another brand new day, another routine training. In fact, Lu Ke doesn’t know what the meaning of insisting on training now is, but habitually, he starts the daily training tasks again. All this seems to have become a physical a part of.
After training and bathing, he opened the storage room and Lu Ke picked up his mobile phone. Only then did he realize that there were fourteen messages in it. This shocked Lu Ke. He opened the first message and called A familiar yet unfamiliar voice came from the other end:
"Hey, Lu Ke, this is Kip Krest..."
