Chapter 173 Celebration Banquet(1/2)
After Zhang Jun returned to Milan, he did not go directly to Yang Pan's house, but parked his car in the parking lot of the Milano base.
This time he came back, without any hand, with a few pieces of change of clothes in his bag, so he drove back in his Mercedes-McLaren. All the things he moved out were still in Florence. In fact, if the agreement was agreed this time, he would continue to move things from Milan to Florence. He also came back with the idea of leaving. If Milan disagreed, he would be tough. Of course, no one wanted to have such a day, it would be no pleasant to tear apart.
He is very familiar with this base, and it is not a waste of time for half a year. After parking his car, he looked at his watch. At 5:50 pm, Milan players should all participate in a grand celebration in Milan. He did not tell anyone the specific time of his return, including Yang Pan and Kaka. He wanted to come to talk to Ancelotti and Galliani first. He didn't want to be too arrogant before things were clear.
After knowing Zhang Jun's identity, the lady at the reception desk did not let him go directly, but asked step by step: "So have you made an appointment with the two gentlemen?"
Zhang Jun shook his head: "No, I forgot their phone number."
The receptionist smiled apologetically and said to Zhang Jun: "I'm so sorry. The head coach and the chairman have both gone to Milan to attend the celebration banquet. I'm not at the base now and can't meet you."
Zhang Jun was very disappointed. He didn't want to attend any celebration banquet because it was a player who played in Milan. He was a player who was loaned to get involved. Forget it, it's better to find another time. "So can I make an appointment now?"
The receptionist nodded first: "Yes." Then he lowered his head and adjusted the closest time schedule for the two people from the computer. "Mr. Coach will have time tomorrow, and I can arrange it for you at 10 am. Mr. Chairman will have to wait until 3 pm the day after tomorrow for half an hour. If you want, I can also make an appointment for you."
Zhang Jun nodded, naturally he was willing. "No problem, just arrange it at that time."
"Okay, we've made an appointment, we'll notify both gentlemen."
Zhang Jun nodded: "Thank you, goodbye."
"You're welcome, go slowly." The receptionist politely returned the gift. He deserves to be the receptionist of AC Milan, and his temperament is different in every move.
When Zhang Jun walked out, he decided to drive back to Yang Pan's house, which was the home he and Yang Pan used to be together. He had the keys and didn't have to worry about not being able to enter.
When he walked to the parking lot, Zhang Jun took out the key and planned to open the door, but heard someone calling him. He turned around in a conditioned manner, and then saw Pirlo waving to him with a smile.
"I didn't expect to see you here. I just came back to get the things I forgot." Pirlo took the initiative to walk forward and smiled.
Zhang Jun was a little embarrassed about this meeting. He didn't want to meet any Milan player at this time. He greeted Pirlo unnaturally: "I...uh, I'm just coming back to find the head coach and the chairman." The unnaturally had no place to put his hands, and he waved casually in the air, making gestures of unknown significance.
"They all went to the banquet and weren't here."
"Yes, I only found out when I came."
"Did you not make an appointment?"
"I forgot, I didn't expect Milan to hold a celebration banquet today. I'm in vain and am preparing to go home."
"Go home? Don't you go to the celebration banquet?"
"Me?" Zhang Jun smiled self-deprecatingly, "Forget it, this champion has nothing to do with me..."
Unexpectedly, Pirlo interrupted him, "What does it mean 'no matter'? Didn't you help the team win the half-time championship in the winter? This is very important for us to win the final championship. Go, I think everyone wants to see you."
"See me?" Zhang Jun smiled bitterly, "I'm afraid it's 'I'm extremely jealous when we meet enemies'?"
Pirlo naturally knew what Zhang Jun was saying. "That was just a misunderstanding, and Pipo was not a narrow-minded person. Don't mention the past. You can also find the head coach and the chairman."
Zhang Jun really couldn't bear to refuse Pirlo's invitation. After all, the relationship was second only to him and Yang Pan and Kaka. In addition, he also wanted to know the opinions of the senior executives of Milan as soon as possible, so he nodded and agreed. "Okay, I'll go. So where was it held?"
"Sfanercha Castle." Pirlo seemed very happy to see Zhang Jun going.
"That's a museum!" Zhang Jun was surprised. The Swingercha Castle is a symbolic building in Milan. It was built in 1450 and is now a museum. It contains many rare cultural relics. It is really the greatest luxury in Milan that can hold a celebration banquet here.
"Yes, it's worthy of Milan's status!" Pirlo looked proud. Zhang Jun had seen this expression on yesterday's TV broadcast, which was on Yang Pan's face. Pirlo debuted in Inter Milan. When he became famous in the Italian national team under 21, he was still a member of Inter Milan, but now he is a pure AC Milan.
I have to say that AC Milan is indeed a very humane team, and most people can find a sense of belonging here. However, Zhang Jun is an exception other than "most people", and he has never been able to find a sense of belonging in Milan.
"Okay, you can lead the way."
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When the car passed the Domo Square in the center of Milan, Zhang Jun saw many Milan fans gathered in the square. Some of them climbed up the statue, tied a Milan scarf for it, and asked the sculpture to raise the Milan team flag. Even on the iron railing beside the fountain in the square, there were many Milan fans sitting on the iron railings beside the fountain in the square. People waved the team flags and Italian flags in their hands, cheering happily. There were many cars blocked on the outside avenue, and Milan scarfs and team flags were extended in the car. The way they expressed their joy was more direct: honking the horns hard. The back seat of the motorcycle was filled with flags, which kept flying as the car drove. Not only the fans in the square, but also the Italian flag with the Milan team logo was constantly extended in nearby buildings.
Cars, motorcycles, and crowds were all blocked. The patrol officers and traffic police were responsible for maintaining order and guiding traffic. However, they were all on the periphery and did not interfere with the celebrations of Milan fans.
Pirlo used a turn signal to Zhang Jun in front: Let's take a detour.
Zhang Jun responded on the light and agreed.
He looked at the lively Plaza Domo. The square celebration he participated in in Fiorentina a week ago was crazy enough, but it still couldn't compare with Milan. It's really a big team, and the number of fans is much greater than that of Fiorentina.
But he was neither envious nor jealous. Because he firmly believed that one day he would participate in celebrations of this scale as the protagonist, rather than today's bystanders.
Whether it is a celebration in the square, a museum or a celebration banquet in a five-star hotel.
When he turned around, Pirlo did not forget to honk the horn like other Milan fans. But Zhang Jun did nothing.
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The car stopped near the castle. According to the traffic police's instructions, they had to park their cars here and walk to the castle. There was a red carpet not far away, and there were two types of Milan team flags on both sides of the road, so they would not worry about not being able to find the road.
They were not the first to arrive, nor the last to arrive. There were many cars parked in the temporary large parking lot, and Zhang Jun could not count how many cars were. While they were parking, cars were introduced into the parking lot by the traffic police. Zhang Jun looked roughly and did not find Yang Pan's conspicuous red Hummer. As for Kaka's Audi A4, there were too many Audi cars, so he could not tell which one was Kaka at a glance. But he knew that Kaka would always be with Yang Pan. If Yang Pan hadn't come yet, Kaka wouldn't have come yet.
Walking on the red carpet with Pirlo, Zhang Jun could feel that many people were watching him. This was not surprising. In the environment where everyone was wearing black suits, he wore a beige casual short-sleeved T-shirt and dark blue jeans, which was really eye-catching.
Who made him come temporarily by Pirlora? He was not prepared at all?
When they walked to the gate of the castle, they stopped because they were stopped.
Shepchenko first saw Pirlo walking on the left and approaching him. When he waved to say hello to Pirlo, he saw Zhang Jun beside Pirlo.
The moment he saw Zhang Jun, he was a little surprised because he didn't expect Zhang Jun to come to attend the celebration banquet. In fact, it was not only him, but many people did not expect it, and even Zhang Jun himself did not expect it.
But he quickly returned to normal and greeted Zhang Jun. He introduced his wife Shepchenkova Pazk to the two. In fact, Pirlo didn't need to introduce it, but mainly introduced it to Zhang Jun.
Pazk's original name is Kristen Pazk. He changed his name to Shepchenkova Pazk after he secretly married Sepchenko the summer of the past year. He is a well-known American model, the signature cover girl of famous market magazines such as "GQ" and "MAXIM". He is tall, has an outstanding appearance and is a sexy beauty.
However, today's Pazk dress is much purer and simple. He is dressed casually with a blonde hair, a white low-cut T-shirt on the upper body, a blue denim jacket on the outside, a black knee-length skirt and black high heels on the bottom. Compared with the Pazk on the magazine, who has a naked upper body, it is too different.
Pirlo stepped forward to give a voucher to Pazk, and his lips symbolically kissed Pazk's face.
Zhang Jun was more embarrassed. It was not that he was shy, but that as far as he knew, only friends who were very close to each other would do this kind of etiquette that was passed down from France, but he was obviously not familiar with the other party.
However, Pazk took the initiative to come forward and give Zhang Jun a gift, which made Zhang Jun a little nervous and his neck very stiff.
He is worthy of being a supermodel and has seen the world. Zhang Jun sighed in his heart as he looked at Pazk's smiling face, but he didn't know that at a cocktail party, everyone would give such a tribute, whether it was the first time they met or had a very familiar relationship. He was so nervous.
"You did a great job in Fiorentina. You became the third in the league scorer list in half a season and helped the team upgrade. So what are your plans to return to Milan next?" Shepchenko asked a question that made Zhang Jun very embarrassed, and he didn't know how to answer.
Finally, Zhang Jun decided not to answer this question, so he led the topic to other places. "I don't have any plans yet, now I'm just thinking about the World Cup."
Sure enough, when she heard the World Cup, Shepchenko became interested: "Yes! This is your first World Cup, and it's mine. It's really a coincidence that we were actually assigned to the same group, and Brazil is there. It seems that we have to duel for another qualifying place."
Zhang Jun was relieved to see that he didn't mention Milan. "This is really a bit cruel. Only one of them can be left..."
"Oh no." Shepchenko interrupted Zhang Jun, "Maybe we can join forces to get rid of Brazil." He joked. It was obvious that the first time he appeared on the World Cup field made him look forward to and happy.
Zhang Jun smiled: "It's better not to let Kaka, Dida and Kafu hear this."
Shepchenko laughed heartily, he took Pazk's hand and said to Zhang Jun and Pirlo: "Let's go, we'll enter."
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The gray-brown walls of Sfanchar Castle can be seen everywhere from hundreds of years of wind and rain, which can be easily found on many ancient buildings with a history of hundreds of years in Milan. The sunset paints the castle with a warm yellow color, and the place not taken care of by the sun is a huge black shadow. The entire castle looks like black bread with butter.
More people have gathered in the square in the castle, and most of Zhang Jun doesn't know them because they don't look like they are playing football. Pirlo introduced him and most of them are club members, sponsor representatives and some political officials who were invited to attend. With Berlusconi's influence, there were nearly 1,000 guests from all walks of life who were invited to the banquet this time.
Zhang Jun was so surprised that after the successful upgrade in Florence, there were only less than 400 guests invited to the municipal government banquet, and the venue was just in the garden behind the city hall. Whether it was in scale or grandeur, it was a very different place from the celebration banquet in Milan.
Following the guidance of the red carpet, Zhang Jun entered a podium next to the main building of the castle. The podium was in the shadow of the main building and looked inconspicuous at all, but when Zhang Jun walked in, he realized that there was a different world.
This is a hall, walls, ceilings, floors, rostrums, dining tables, chairs...all white, showing the noble and elegant nature of Milan. Behind the rostrum are two large-screen plasma TVs, and on the wall facing the entrance is the Milan team logo, and next to it is written: A.C.Milan.
There were already many people sitting in the hall, wearing white clothes and white pants and white gloves walking through the crowd, making a busy scene.
Pirlo and Shepchenko were busy saying hello to others. Zhang Jun was not used to such scenes. He shrank into a corner alone, standing against the wall, watching the crowd coming and going, Kaka and Yang Pan still did not arrive.
He raised his hand and looked at his watch. It was almost seven o'clock. Pirlo said that the banquet would officially start at eight o'clock. Maybe the two guys were coming at the junction, maybe... they were still waiting for him at home?
Just as Zhang Jun was thinking about it, he suddenly saw head coach Ancelotti. He hesitated for a moment whether to go up to explain his purpose, and finally decided to go. After all, this is the purpose of his coming to the banquet.
Ancelotti obviously didn't expect Zhang Jun to attend the banquet uninvited, so he was really surprised when he saw clearly that the person standing in front of him was Zhang Jun.
"Uh, I want to talk to you, sir. Are you free now?" Zhang Jun was straight to the point. He didn't want to waste time. It would be bad if he was seen by more people.
Ancelotti looked at Zhang Jun and nodded: "Okay, let's go outside to talk."
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It is said that it is outside, but it is actually a small rest room on the other side of the hall. There is no one else here. It is indeed a good environment for private chats. Once you close the door, you don’t have to worry about someone breaking in suddenly.
Sitting down on the sofa in the lounge, the first one was head coach Ancelotti: "I also want to find an opportunity to talk to you. I think there are some misunderstandings between us, but it is not as exaggerated as the media said. We need to communicate."
Zhang Jun nodded. He didn't know whether he should take the initiative and be more relaxed or more serious in this situation.
"Then you should know the general situation now, right? Milan has won the league championship. Next season, our goal will still be the league championship and the European Cup. In addition, the Italian Cup does not want to give up easily. This requires multiple battles, but our forwards are not enough. I still hope you come back, we need you very much. I have watched the video of your game in Fiorentina. I am very happy that you have regained your form. Milan still has your place."
Zhang Jun didn't know how authentic what Ancelotti said was. He never reads the news, so he didn't know that Ancelotti did tell reporters, including Chinese reporters, that he hoped Zhang Jun would return to Milan. He now has Fiorentina as capital, has the third place in the second division scorer list, and has twenty-one goals in half a season as bargaining chips. He can also negotiate terms with Ancelotti.
"So can the team guarantee my main position?" he asked. The information contained in this question is very clear: if you don't be the main force, you will leave.
This made Ancelotti fall into contemplation for a while. Zhang Jun didn't bother him, waiting for the answer with an indifferent attitude. Even if Ancelotti refuses, he will not lose much, because he wishes Ancelotti refuses, so he put forward a somewhat excessive condition.
As expected, Ancelotti frowned and thought for a while, then shook her head gently and said, "This is impossible, Zhang. You know, Pipo has been in very good shape for most of the season, and he is also an important reason why we can win the league championship. I don't want to deceive you with beautiful lies, but after you come, if neither Sheva nor Pipo are injured, you can only be a substitute... But, I can guarantee that you will be the first substitute on the forward line, and in some games, I will use rotation, and you have a lot of playing time."
Ancelotti is an honest man and honest. Otherwise, he could have nodded and said OK, and keep Zhang Jun first.
This time, Zhang Jun knew that Ancelotti was telling the truth, but he was completely disappointed with his future in Milan. He was already twenty-four years old. With his talent, if he had played professional football from the beginning, he would have been a quasi-superstar figure, just like Adriano, like Rooney. But he still had to work hard for a main position, proving himself on the bench while watching time pass by.
He also knew that Sheva and Inzaghi were in good shape, and Boreno was definitely not his opponent, but was it meaningful to compete for the boss on the bench? He was not sure how long he would have to wait to become the main force in this situation so that he would not have to live in the shadow of Sheva and Inzaghi. He believed that the best and most convenient solution was to leave on his own initiative.
"Sir, I can't accept this condition. I still have the same requirement. If I can't be the main force, I will leave. In fact, many teams are very interested in me now. I hope you and the club can understand my situation." Zhang Jun directly explained what he was about to leave. He wanted to hear Ancelotti's opinion. If he agreed, everyone would get together and part. If he didn't agree, he would be tough. Zhang Jun secretly made a fuss and was mentally prepared to tear his face.
To be continued...