Chapter One: The Number After Two Hundred Million

Under the table, Luo Xiao pinched Lu Chen hard. His agent had survived six lean years beside him; even the cuffs of his suit were polished thin. Two hours ago, they had been discussing tryouts in a second-tier league. Now two hundred million lay before them. Xu Boyan sat opposite, smiling gently. “You earned it.” Lu Chen opened the final pages. Base salary, appearance bonuses, win bonuses, image rights—the numbers made him dizzy. He remembered the leaking roof over his mother's apartment, the seventeen thousand yuan in his bank account, and every midnight practice of the past seven years, when he had not even been given a starter's jersey in scrimmage. Luo Xiao pressed a fountain pen into his hand.