Driving in silence, his mind went blank, even the radio was turned off, and any sound seemed to be a source of noise, just wanting to enjoy a moment of peace, complete peace.

Before the brain began to think, the body reflexively slowed down the car, parked in the parking space on the side of the road, opened the door and prepared to get out of the car, at this time, Lu Ke noticed that something was wrong, looked left and right, and realized that he did not go back to his apartment, but returned to his parents' home in an unconscious state.

By the end of the game, it was close to midnight local time in Baltimore, but the San Francisco 49ers did not stop there, but took a red-eye flight back to San Francisco, arriving at the local airport just after the morning sun was falling.

Along the way, Lu Ke remained silent and did not talk to anyone, not even Logan and Marcus, the whole team seemed to be practicing silence, everyone kept their mouths shut and returned to San Francisco without saying a word.

This state of affairs worries the coaching staff, and even Jim Hubble senses that something is wrong, fearing that the negative impact of the two consecutive defeats will be far beyond imagination, but he tries to boost morale, but he doesn't know how to start, just a few dry words and no more.

So, the whole team left Baltimore in a gloomy and depressed state, and after arriving at the San Francisco airport, the team bus carried all the players back to the training base, and everyone drove home. There was no communication during the whole process.

In fact, on the plane, Patrick Willis and Jonathan Goodwin both tried to find Lu Ke and talk; But Lu Ke slept with his eyes closed the whole time, they didn't find a chance at all, Alex Smith gave friendly advice, today is not the best time to talk, for rookie players, such a loss takes time to digest.

What's more, burdened with the identity of an undrafted rookie and a Chinese player, standing in the position of quarterback, Lu Ke has been more difficult than others along the way, and now facing failure, he is naturally more uncomfortable.

The whole team said goodbye to the training base in such a calm and happy manner, but Lu Ke didn't expect that in a daze, he actually returned to the door of his parents' house.

After closing the car door again, Lu Ke was ready to start the engine again and divert home.

appeared in front of his parents' house without warning, and after such a loss, Lu Zhengze and Jiang Youning must have been worried; Last night on the bus, Lu Ke made a special call to his mother to report his safety, although she didn't say anything, Lu Ke could still feel his mother's worry.

He didn't want his negative emotions to drag down his parents and worry about it.

However, his right hand was on the key, but his eyes fell on the door of the house, and he couldn't move away, so he looked at the mottled door quietly.

There were no thoughts in his mind, and even the ability to think had been lost, so Lu Ke leaned quietly on the back of the chair, staring at the door, and his irritability and depression slowly calmed down unconsciously. Inexplicably, I was so distracted, and the focus and focus slowly blurred, as if I could hear the cries of my childhood mother.

"Xiao Ke, Xiao Ke."

Echoing throughout the house, upstairs and downstairs, in the vestibule and backyard, everywhere, babbling and nagging, endlessly, sometimes really unbearable, so irritated that they just want to explode on the spot; But sometimes I can't help but start to miss it, as if without those voices, life is a little bit less.

"Xiao Ke!"

There was a dull "bang" sound in his ears suddenly, and then a call burst above the eardrum, Lu Ke sat up straight suddenly, quickly rubbed his eyes, looked left and right in a panic, and then saw Jiang Youning standing next to the driver's seat window, with a confused expression on his face, and motioned to Lu Ke to roll down the window.

Lu Ke hurriedly rolled down the window.

"Xiao Ke, what are you doing here? Why don't you go in? Jiang Youning frowned slightly, stood on tiptoe, and looked at the situation in the car.

This made Lu Ke a little nervous, and he covered up in a panic, "No, uh, no...... I am...... Just passing by, I thought, there are some things at home that I forgot to take, training, well, training things. But it's too early now, and I'm worried that you're still resting, so I'm here for a while. ”

The terrible excuse, Lu Ke himself couldn't help but grin his teeth, it was simply full of loopholes.

Jiang Youning didn't debunk his son's excuse, he just looked at Lu Ke intently, and kept looking at Lu Ke as hairy, as if the bad magazines he had hidden under the bed were discovered, and he reflexively wanted to grab the door, and then Jiang Youning opened his mouth to release Lu Ke's tense nerves, "Then go in, your father and I have already gotten up." ”

Lu Ke nodded hurriedly, unbuckled his seat belt, pulled out the key, opened the car door, and walked quickly in the direction of his home, but Jiang Youning's voice came from behind him, "Xiao Ke, wipe your mouth first, there are still traces of saliva, your father will definitely laugh at you when he sees it; Also, don't you take your carry-on luggage off? You go upstairs and take a shower, and I'll pack up all your tracksuits. ”

Lu Ke's whole face wrinkled, and all the dioramas were dismantled in an instant, this feeling was really embarrassing.

In the end, Lu Ke closed his eyes, pretended not to hear anything, and pretended not to know anything, quickly entered the house, and saw Lu Zhengze who was wearing a tie at a glance, and only had time to shout, "Dad, I'll go upstairs first." Then, with a puff of smoke, he rushed upstairs and hid in the bathroom.

Lu Zhengze stood in the hall, his face full of stunned, full of question marks, blinking, not understanding what was happening at all.

After a while, Jiang Youning walked in, Lu Zhengze pointed upstairs, and even the action of tying a tie stopped in place, "What's the matter with your son?" It's like a tornado, and it's going upstairs with a bang? ”

Jiang Youning didn't answer immediately, but made a silent finger, cautiously raised his head and looked upstairs, and after making sure that Lu Ke stayed upstairs, he relaxed slightly, and the worried look between his eyebrows flowed, completely lacking the ease and naturalness just now.

"Xiao Ke...... Not in good shape. Jiang Youning's brows tightened, and he shook his head slightly, "He was sitting in the driver's seat of the car just now, and he fell asleep like that; When asked how he came back, he was stunned, not knowing what was going on. As he spoke, Jiang Youning glanced upstairs again, and his voice was slightly choked with thick worry, "I don't know if he was injured or if something happened in the team......

Halfway through speaking, Jiang Youning's voice stopped, and he wiped the tears from his eyes in a panic.

As Chinese Americans, living on the North American continent, Jiang Youning and Lu Zhengze clearly know what they need to face; As the only Chinese player in the entire league, they can't imagine what kind of challenges and dilemmas Lu Ke has to face.

Lu Zhengze hurriedly stepped forward and handed a tissue to his wife, "Didn't Xiao Ke say that everything is fine?" The teammates also seemed very kind. ”

"That's because Xiao Ke doesn't want us to worry." Jiang Youning immediately realized that his voice rose slightly, so he hurriedly lowered it for fear of disturbing his son.

Don't talk about Lu Ke, after losing the game last night, the two of them didn't sleep well all night, not worried about the team, but worried about Lu Ke's position in the team and the predicament he might face. At the end of the day, they're still worried about landing Ke.

Jiang Youning then said, "We have always been able to win before, and all the contradictions can be suppressed temporarily, but what if we fail? And it's still a two-game losing streak? Jiang Youning didn't say the words that followed, but was deeply worried, "Look at Xiao Ke's state just now, it's not good, it's really not good." ”

Lu Zhengze sighed lightly, but he didn't know what to do. In competitive sports, many times, they can only be spectators, even if they want to roll up their sleeves to help, they can't start, and they don't even know where to start with a few words of comfort.

Xiao Ke drove back as soon as he got off the plane, and it is estimated that he is also in chaos now. Today, I won't go to work and stay at home with him. I called the company to ask for a leave of absence. Jiang Youning said decisively and made a decision without any hesitation.

Lu Zhengze nodded again and again in agreement, "I also asked for leave today and stayed at home to accompany Xiao Ke." ”

But Jiang Youning shook his head, "You better go to work." Looking at her husband and wanting to refute, Jiang Youning explained, "We need to pretend that nothing happened, and we can't put too much pressure on Xiao Ke." I stayed at home and said that I was a little unwell, a woman's business, and it didn't matter; If you also stay, it's a big fuss. ”

Lu Zhengze was still a little hesitant, raised his head and looked upstairs, his eyes were also full of worry.

"Go ahead, you go to work. If there is a situation, I will always text you to let you know. Jiang Youning began to help her husband tie, "However, come back early from work today and accompany Xiao Ke at home." There are some things that may be more convenient for you to talk between father and son. You just tell Xiao Ke, don't think too much, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers, the important thing is to learn from failures and grow up next time......"

As he spoke, the words began to become longer, and Jiang Youning immediately realized this, and hurriedly stopped, "You go to work first, and the family will be handed over to me." ”

Lu Zhengze exhaled heavily, "Don't worry too much. Xiao Ke is not so easy to defeat, every time it has been like this before, the two of us are in chaos, but Xiao Ke stands up strong and continues to move forward. Believe Xiao Ke, this failure is not a big deal. He can handle it. ”

Having said that, the worry between Lu Zhengze's eyebrows still lingers.

It's not high school or college, it's a professional league, a professional league where profit comes first, and two consecutive defeats are a heavy burden for any quarterback; What's more, is it a special unsuccessful rookie like Lu Ke?