Godfather Of Champions

In England, Christmas is the most important holiday of the year. As such, regardless of how thrifty everyone usually is, during this time of the year everyone will rush into the malls with their families and splurge. A Christmas tree is something that every family has to buy, and they also have to prepare Christmas gifts for their children and friends. During this season, there will always be a wide array of discounted items for sale in the shops, causing one to be spoiledfor choice. Although England\'s shops start to enter their peak sales season one month before Christmas, the real peak is always right before Christmas Eve.

The afternoon sky gradually darkened, and it had even begun to drizzle. Although the weather forecast had reported that the temperature from the afternoon onwards would only be eight degrees celcius, it was unable to stop everyone\'s passion for buying things. The various shops in the Nottingham shopping district were all brightly lit up, and all the shops had advertisements for their store\'s discounts in order to draw in more customers. Tang En was strolling through the streets, and he could often see people who were content with their purchases walk past him. Seeing those people hugging and lugging around bags which were almost half the size of a person, Tang En felt worried for them. He walked from one store to another and hopped from mall to mall, thoroughly enjoying the festive mood. This was his first Christmas spent in England! Moreover, seeing this kind of festive mood, Tang En could not help but be reminded of the Spring Festival in China.

The laughter of small groups of strangers sounded beside Tang En as they walked past him, and their faces were filled with excited smiles as they carried shopping bags of all sizes. Regardless of how much sadness the past year had held, all of that was in the past.

One hour passed unnoticed, but Tang En\'s hands remained empty. That was because he simply did not know what kinds of gifts he should get for Sophia and Wood.

Tang En had never been good at buying gifts for other people. If given the choice, he would rather just give them money.

All of Wood\'s soccer equipment was provided by the club, so there was no need for Tang En to buy him a pair of soccer shoes. As for Sophia… Thinking of her name, Tang En was not even sure what kind of feelings he had for that woman. The pity that he had for the weak, which he had used to feel towards her, had slowly faded. Instead, another feeling was slowly blooming within his heart.

In the end, Tang En picked a red wool scarf for Sophia, and decided not buy anything for Wood because he already knew what present he should give him.

When the golden star on top of the Christmas tree downtown lit up at six o\'clock in the evening, Landy James\'s black rental car was parked outside of Wood\'s house. The song "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" was playing in the car. Amidst the children\'s joyous singing voices, Tang En pulled out three nicely wrapped gifts and gave them to Landy, who had accompanied him for the past year.

"Merry Christmas, Landy. Thank you for driving me around for the past year. You can return the car now and go be with your family. These presents are for you and your family." After watching Landy receive the presents, Tang En opened the car door, ready to leave.

"Wait, Tony." Landy stopped him and said, "I\'ve also prepared a… Erm, you\'re a manager, so you definitely make more than me. I didn\'t know what I should give you, so I just wrote a greeting card for you." He pulled out an envelope with the card inside and passed it to Tang En. "Merry Christmas, Tony. I hope you have a great evening. When you\'re going home, remember to give me a call." He made a phoning gesture before restarting the car engine.

After Tang En watched Landy leave, he lowered his head and opened the folded card. As expected, there was something written on it.

"Tony, thank you for choosing not to leave Nottingham Forest during the summer. I know that you were in a difficult situation at that time, and that there were also many other teams which were inviting you over. Actually, I was very worried that you would leave, but out of consideration for your own well-being, I could not say anything at the time. But everything turned out well. You stayed on and returned. Two consecutive wins! Bring us more victories, Tony! We love you! Merry Christmas!"

Tang En lightly shook his head, smiling. British people had a habit of bashfully expressing their inner feelings, regardless of whether they were of joy or of sorrow. It was therefore no wonder that they were so passionate about soccer; the stadium was the only place where they could express their inner emotions to their heart\'s content. Landy was an example of that kind of typical Englishman.

Tang En raised his head and surveyed the surrounding streets, and discovered the greatest difference from when he had first come here: there were "Merry Christmas" signs displayed in the windows of each and every household. In addition, there were even some houses which had hung a series of colored lights on their walls or had inflatable snowmen displayed in front of their doors. Regardless of how tough and difficult their lives usually were, they could not afford to be stingy during festive seasons. Although this was the slums of Nottingham, the festive mood here was in no way inferior to the bustling shopping district downtown.

Tang En raised his head and looked at the Wood family\'s windows. The curtains had been drawn, allowing the orange-yellow light inside the house to escape outside. Tang En thought about Sophia and Wood who lived there, and even though it was a dark and drizzling night, it was still enough to make his heart feel warm and fuzzy.

Knocking and pushing open the door, Tang En saw George Wood with his sleeves rolled up. Evidently, he was in the midst of helping his mother.

"Ah, I came at the right time. Do you need help?" Tang En asked.

Wood nodded his head and replied, "Yes."

Sophia, who had heard their conversation from the second floor, shouted, "No! Mr. Twain, you just sit down and rest!" Hearing her panting voice, Tang En smiled and replied in the same loud voice, "Don\'t put on a front, Madam! I\'ll make some Chinese cuisine for you guys. It\'s something that I\'ve just learned," he said, laughing.

※※※

After much bustling, the three of them weren\'t able to sit around the dining room table to enjoy their Christmas Eve dinner until after 8pm.

There was a small Christmas tree in the corner of the combined living and dining room, and it was decorated with colored lights and greeting cards. There were also colored ribbons strung from one corner of the ceiling to the other, and an old-fashioned candlestick placed in the center of the dining room table. On top of the candlestick was a brightly-lit white candle. Seeing the sumptuous spread of food on the table, Tang En felt that it was very similar to the Chinese reunion dinner, where the entire family would gather together and make merry. The only difference was that he and Wood were not family.

Before they started eating, Sophia returned to her bedroom and changed into her best-looking winter clothes. At the same time, she also touched up her makeup, which had partially come off while she was roasting the turkey. Her hair was no longer tied up, and instead was fully let down. Under the lights, her hair gave off a black luster and looked like a waterfall. Tang En felt that this lady had taken on an entirely new look. Compared to when they first met, the current Sophia was like a completely different person. Even the sickness in her body had been chased out.

When Tang En saw Sophia\'s eyes, full of tender affection under the candlelight, and her smile, which carried a tinge of shyness, he felt that he already knew the reason for her drastic change.

Feeling that fiery gaze from Sophia, Tang En looked away somewhat abashedly. He noticed the presents which he had left under the Christmas tree when he first entered, and decided that he might as well take that opportunity to go and get the gifts.

"Merry Christmas, Madam. This is for you." Tang En passed the nicely wrapped scarf to Sophia.

"It\'s really beautiful… How did you know that I like red, Mr. Twain?" Sophia said with shock, as she unwrapped the gift and took out the red scarf from within.

That can\'t be right? What a coincidence! Tang En was slightly dumbfounded. "Err… Sometimes, a man\'s intuition can be pretty spot on." That was the only way he could explain it.

Sophia happily wrapped the scarf around her neck before running back into her room and looking into the mirror.

During this short interval, Tang En looked at Wood who was seated opposite him. Wood was also looking at him, but neither of them said anything, which caused a slightly awkward atmosphere between the two of them. After a while, Wood finally opened his mouth, lowered his voice, and said, "My mom also has a present for you. If you don\'t want it, I\'ll kill you." It was apparent that he did not want his mother, who was in the room, to hear.

Tang En smiled. "Of course I won\'t reject it. Why would I do that?"

Hearing this, a sliver of a smile appeared on Wood\'s face as well.

"George, looks like you\'re doing great on the youth team." Tang En took the opportunity to say with concern. "How much time does Coach Kerslake give you for every match now?"

"I just got to play throughout an entire match," Wood replied.

"How do you feel about your performance?"

"Very good." It did not sound fake in any way, and there were no fluctuations in Wood\'s voice when he said it. The casual way in which he had said it implied that that kind of performance was a given.

Tang En nodded his head and did not say anything else. At that moment, Sophia emerged from her bedroom with a box in her hands. The scarf around her neck was already nowhere to be seen, evidence that she had carefully stowed it away.

"This present is for you, Mr. Twain. Merry Christmas to you too!"

"Thank you, Madam." Upon receiving the box, Tang En opened it up. To his surprise, it was also a scarf! But this one was white.

"I noticed that you didn\'t seem to have a scarf, so I knitted one myself. Because I didn\'t know what size would fit, I used George as a model," Sophia said as she turned her head and smiled at her son. "At first, he thought that I was making it for him, and refused it profusely."

Tang En gently stroked the purely hand-knitted scarf, which did not have a store label. Just from putting his hands on it, he was able to feel its warmth. In reality, it was not that he didn\'t have a scarf, it was just that he wasn\'t in the habit of wearing one in the winter. But perhaps from that day on, he would get into the habit.

Seeing the slightly distressed Wood, Tang En smiled. "George, so sorry. I didn\'t bring your present today. Wait till I return from Norwich, and find me in my office."

Wood nodded his head, but did not ask why. This disappointed Tang En slightly. He had originally expected Wood to ask "why", so that he could unravel the mystery.

"Erm… After the winter break, the team will have two EFL Cup semi-finals matches, and we just happen to be lacking a defensive midfielder. I intend to move you over to the first team, and if you perform well, you will stay and sign an entirely different contract… This time, it will be a professional contract for the first team."

Before Wood\'s face could have any expression, Sophia, who was at his side, shouted with surprise. "Is that true, Mr. Twain?"

Tang En nodded his head and said, "Your son will soon become a real, professional soccer player, Madam."

At that moment, Wood was finally struck by the realization of what had happened. He looked at the smiling man in shock. Tang En liked that expression on Wood, so he said with a smile, "Merry Christmas, George."