Gerrard could not believe how fast his luck had turned.
The kid with the unreal passing had just been cut by Tottenham.
Cut.
There was no better news in the world.
He almost felt like the whole trip had been arranged by fate.
A gift dropped straight into his hands, and only a fool would hand it back.
Bill Vance was still standing there with his mouth open when Gerrard grabbed Ethan and started moving.
He did not slow down until they were out the gate.
The last thing he needed was someone at Tottenham coming to their senses.
Ethan had planned to leave the moment the system activated anyway.
His bags were already packed in the dorm.
They grabbed everything and walked out together.
Only when the training ground was behind them did Gerrard finally exhale.
“Ethan.
I want to make this official.
How would you feel about Liverpool?”
“Liverpool needs a talent like you.
The team is struggling right now.
Fresh blood like yours is exactly what we need.”
“I can promise you a place in the first-team squad.
With your ability, you won’t be waiting long for minutes.”
“Will you come and fight alongside me?”
Gerrard had spent seventeen years at Liverpool.
Captain, legend, the heart of the club.
His word carried weight that needed no explanation.
The final call on signings belonged to the sporting director, Michael Edwards, and the manager, Brendan Rodgers.
But a personal recommendation from Gerrard, combined with Ethan’s obvious talent, made a deal and first-team chances far more realistic.
[Ding!
New mission triggered!]
[Mission objective: Appear for any team in one of Europe’s top five leagues.]
[Mission reward: One random-quality chest.]
Gerrard was a living legend of the Premier League midfield.
A hero to countless young players, and Ethan respected him deeply.
When a man like that stands in front of you and asks you to join him, saying no is almost impossible.
And the system had just made the timing impossible to ignore.
Ethan barely thought about it.
He took Gerrard’s hand.
“Captain, joining a club like Liverpool would be an honor.”
He was not even signed yet and already calling him captain.
Gerrard laughed at the kid’s easy confidence.
“Good.
That’s what I wanted to hear.
Give me your number and your address.”
“I’ll call the club right away.
I promise you’ll have an answer within two days.
Then we fly to Liverpool together.”
That was when Ethan remembered he had left someone waiting for a very long time.
“Steven, seriously, go see a doctor.
What took you so long?”
Harry Kane’s shirt had nearly dried in the wind by the time Gerrard finally showed up.
“Don’t start.
I told you, middle age.
You’ll get there too.”
Kane shook his head.
“So are we drinking or not?”
“Drinking.
Obviously drinking.
I came here to see you, and I’m in too good a mood to stop now.”
Kane stared at him.
Gerrard had arrived looking miserable.
Now he was glowing like a man who had won the lottery.
Kane could not figure it out.
Was a long bathroom break really enough to make a middle-aged man this happy?
Gerrard kept grinning into his beer for no reason at all.
“Steven, why do you keep smiling?”
Gerrard waved him off.
“Nothing.
I’m just really, really glad I came to see you today.”
Chinatown, London.
The sign outside read Ren’s Kitchen.
The place was small, but the room was full and loud.
After the lunch rush, Ren Jianjun took off his chef’s hat, pulled up a chair, and finally sat down.
He had just lit a cigarette when the door rattled.
“Welcome, what can I get…”
His accented English trailed off as Ethan stepped inside, grinning.
“Hey?
Son?
What are you doing home?”
His mother, Gao Xiaoyi, appeared from the back, beaming.
“Xiao Yuan!
Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”
This was Ethan’s first time home in the month since his return.
Looking at his parents, still in their early forties, no gray in their hair yet, he felt a wave of emotion he did not try to name.
After the surprise faded, confusion set in.
“Weren’t you about to be selected for first-team training?
Isn’t the academy in a closed camp right now?
You shouldn’t be home.”
“I’ve terminated my contract with Tottenham.”
His parents froze.
Ethan gave them the full story.
The exclusion, the harassment, the final explosion with Bill Vance.
All of it.
His parents had supported him from the first time he kicked a ball.
They had poured everything into his career.
What surprised him was how calm they were when he finished.
His father took a long drag and let the smoke out slowly.
“Then leave.
Sounds like Tottenham’s academy wasn’t a good place anyway.”
“You did the right thing, Xiao Yuan.
That director had it coming.”
“I’ve always told you.
We don’t go looking for trouble, but we don’t run from it either.”
“Tottenham is a big club, sure.
But nobody gets to walk all over us.
And England has more than one club.
We’ll find another one, start over, and keep building.”
He was warming to the subject now.
“Your old man’s cooking is famous in Chinatown.
One of my regulars is a scout for Blackburn Rovers in the Championship.”
“Getting you a trial there?
No problem at all.”
“Don’t look down on Blackburn just because they’re in the Championship now.
They’re a faded rose, but the roots run deep.
One of England’s old clubs.
They won the Premier League after the 92 rebrand.
More history than Tottenham, if you ask me.”
Ethan had always stood out among his peers.
But his father knew how brutal the competition was at a club like Tottenham, fighting near the top of the Premier League.
A sixteen-year-old breaking into that first team and staying there was a brutal ask.
Now that the academy contract was gone, why not use the chance to develop at a smaller club?
With Ethan’s talent, he would get real minutes in the Championship.
Ren Jianjun was decisive and practical.
He had left the army, his wife had lost her factory job, and they had ridden the wave of emigration to England.
He built a life in Chinatown with his cooking.
The plan had been to save money and go home.
Then Ethan was born, and the boy loved football from the moment he could walk.
Ren Jianjun had been a fan of the old Chinese league, and he knew exactly how bad the football environment back home was.
Sending Ethan there to train was never an option.
So he made the bold call.
Ethan would go through the English academy system.
The talent on display now proved the decision right.
It also proved something else.
Give Chinese kids a proper football environment, and they could play with anyone.
Ethan had expected disappointment.
Instead, his parents were already planning his next move.
The warmth of it hit him harder than he expected.
In his last life, he had been too cautious.
He had swallowed every insult just to stay at Tottenham, and it had wrecked his career.
Not this time.
This time he had walked away.
And he was going to climb higher than he had ever dared imagine.
He looked at his parents and smiled.
“You don’t need to worry about my next step.”
“It’s basically settled.
If nothing goes wrong, I’ll be joining Liverpool.”
His parents went still again.
His father’s face twisted in confusion.
“Uh…
Xiao Yuan, I know a Blackburn scout.
A Liverpool scout?
Not so much.”
“Dad, you’re not hearing me.
I forgot to tell you.
When I left Tottenham today, I met Steven Gerrard.
The Liverpool captain.
He promised to recommend me to the club himself.”
“Who?
Gerrard?
Which Gerrard?”
The sentence was too much.
Ren Jianjun’s brain simply stopped.
The closest he had ever been to Gerrard was sitting in the stands with six-year-old Ethan at a Liverpool match.
That was the season Liverpool won the Champions League in the Istanbul miracle.
Gerrard was at his peak, captain of the best team in Europe.
Liverpool were struggling now.
But Gerrard’s place in English football was untouchable.
A legend of one of the country’s great clubs.
The couple had always been proud of their son.
But connecting him to Steven Gerrard, a living Premier League legend, was beyond anything they could process.
They exchanged a long look.
Finally, Ren Jianjun cleared his throat.
“Son…
don’t put too much pressure on yourself.
Leaving Tottenham is fine.
We really don’t mind.”
“Ethan, I’ve spoken to the club.
If you’re free, we can fly to Liverpool today.”
“I’m not far from you.
I’ll come over now.”
Gerrard’s voice crackled with excitement.
The deal was clearly as good as done.
“Mom, Dad, I’m not lying.
That was Gerrard on the phone.
I gave him the address.
He’ll be here soon.”
His parents said nothing.
His mother punched his father in the shoulder.
“I told you not to put so much pressure on the boy!
Look what you’ve done to him!”
Ren Jianjun looked pained.
“I didn’t put any pressure on him!”
Both of them were now deeply worried.
Football was one thing.
Their son’s mental health was another.
They sat Ethan down and spent the next fifteen minutes trying to talk him through it.
Then the door rattled, and the room went quiet.
“Gerrard?!”
“It’s really Gerrard?!”
The couple stared, eyes wide, as Steven Gerrard waved at them from the doorway.
A Premier League legend had actually shown up at their restaurant to recruit their son.
When had Xiao Yuan become this kind of prospect?