"How could he do this? Doesn't he know how dangerous this is?"
When Gao Shen returned to his home in Cheshire from Carrington, he heard his mother's "roar" before he even entered the door.
He froze for a moment. He hadn't seen his mother this angry in a long, long time.
The last time was when he said he wanted to drop out of school and go abroad to study football.
"I don't care, Xiaoqing. When he gets back, don't say anything and don't defend him. I have to teach this brat a lesson today. What kind of man pushes his wife into danger like this?"
"Mom, it really wasn't dangerous." Su Qing said timidly.
Ever since they got engaged, she had started calling her mother-in-law "Mom." But like most daughters-in-law around the world, even if she was assertive outside, she was still a bit timid in front of Zhang Wenying.
It was just how things were.
"How can it not be dangerous? I heard British fans are aggressive. There are even hooligans. What if you run into someone who throws a beer bottle at you? What then? You're such a beautiful girl. If your face gets ruined, it'd break my heart!"
"Actually, Xiaoqing is right. It's not as bad as you think..."
"Shut up!" Zhang Wenying glared at her husband and snapped, "You're the one who spoiled him."
Gao Jianguo immediately fell silent.
At home, he really didn't dare go against his wife.
Just then, he saw Gao Shen walking in. He quickly gave him a look—"Good luck to you"—then shook his head and sighed.
"What's going on? A struggle session?"
Gao Shen had already guessed what was happening. He walked in smiling and asked.
"You're back, kid. Come here. Come here and tell me what's going on. Your wife is meant to be loved, not pushed out to take risks. Why didn't you go yourself? Why make her deal with this mess?"
While scolding, she walked over. From an angle Su Qing's parents, Su Zhijun and Lin Xiuhui, couldn't see, she winked at Gao Shen.
Gao Shen immediately understood and smiled bitterly in his heart.
According to the veteran comrade Zhang Wenying, the most difficult and complicated relationship in a household is between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
But it also plays a crucial role in a harmonious family.
As the saying goes, a harmonious family brings prosperity.
There's even an old saying: when something happens, blame your own child first.
So a very interesting dynamic emerged—whenever something happened between Gao Shen and Su Qing, even if it was just a minor argument, Zhang Wenying would scold Gao Shen and protect Su Qing, while Lin Xiuhui would scold Su Qing and defend Gao Shen.
Sometimes, the two mothers even argued over it.
According to Gao Jianguo and Su Zhijun, these women were just reenacting palace dramas every day.
But there was some truth to that.
At the very least, Su Qing and Zhang Wenying didn't really have the typical mother-in-law–daughter-in-law relationship. While Zhang Wenying and Lin Xiuhui seemed to side with their daughters-in-law and sons-in-law respectively, in reality, the two old friends were always on the same page.
The current situation was that the parents had just arrived in London, and upon hearing that Su Qing had gone to Leeds to face protesting fans, especially with the media sensationalizing the event, they became alarmed, thinking the situation was extremely tense.
In truth, nothing had happened at the scene. Police were on-site the entire time.
If there had been even the slightest danger, would Gao Shen have let his wife go?
But the older generation didn't see it that way.
So naturally, Gao Shen had to be scolded in front of his wife and in-laws.
This, apparently, was part of family diplomacy.
Gao Shen was speechless.
"I'm sorry, I was wrong. Mom, I know I was wrong!" Gao Shen admitted with a straight face.
Zhang Wenying was caught off guard by his sudden apology and didn't know how to continue.
Hey, brat, I gave you the look. Why didn't you just play along?
Now that you admitted fault, how am I supposed to keep scolding you?
Seeing her flustered, Gao Jianguo chuckled.
Su Qing also smiled, walked over, and pulled Zhang Wenying to sit down.
"Mom, that's just the way he is. Don't argue with him or he'll just make you angrier."
Zhang Wenying was so exasperated that she couldn't get a word out. "Alright, alright, from now on it's your wife's turn to deal with you. Your mother's done worrying."
Everyone burst into laughter again.
…
Both sets of parents had arrived in London and Manchester earlier that day.
The purpose was clear—to watch the Champions League final.
This was a major milestone in Gao Shen's career. How could they miss it?
The spacious villa in Cheshire was usually just occupied by Gao Shen and Su Qing. Now with both families there, it suddenly felt lively.
Even being scolded felt warm and familiar to Gao Shen, who had been away from home for years.
After all, it wasn't real scolding.
Su Qing had just acquired Leeds United and had a mountain of work to handle. Gao Shen wasn't planning to return to China this year, so he tried to persuade their parents to stay in the UK a bit longer.
But neither side had any such plans.
Seeing that Gao Shen's career was thriving in Europe, and that Su Qing had left her job in the ministry to join him and had now started her own business, the families shifted their focus more to domestic business.
In the past two years, whether it was cherries, blueberries, or wine, their operations had become more and more successful, and the company had grown rapidly. Several of their wine brands were now hot sellers in China.
The farms and vineyards in Chile had also been expanding repeatedly, which made Sanchez, Vidal, and Vargas very happy, since they were all earning a good return from it.
Now that the company was running smoothly, most of the work was handled by others.
But when it came to business, if you weren't involved directly, it was hard to feel at ease.
…
The "family storm" ended quickly.
Their first meal together after arriving wasn't at home, but at a nearby hotel.
Gao Shen inquired about the wine sales, the winery, and the farms. After hearing that everything was progressing well, he felt relieved.
"To be honest, introducing Ferguson really helped us open doors." Su Zhijun said, convinced.
It was thanks to Gao Shen's original plan that domestic wine sales had accelerated, and volumes had skyrocketed.
After years of steady growth, they now had agents across nearly the entire country. Sales were rising consistently, setting new records. Especially with new trade agreements between China and Chile, the momentum had only grown.
"Next, are you interested in sponsoring Leeds United?" Gao Shen asked.
Su Zhijun and Gao Jianguo exchanged a glance, both struggling to keep up with Gao Shen's pace.
Su Qing quickly explained that since everything was essentially under her name anyway, it made sense to keep it within the family.
Besides, football and wine had always gone hand-in-hand.
Sponsoring a European club, especially a historic team like Leeds United, could further open up China's mid-to-high-end market if executed well.
More importantly, Gao Shen's target was to get Leeds United into the Premier League within two years.
One key reason it was two years was to give Sarri time to adjust and grow.
If Gao Shen were coaching, he could probably get promoted in a single season.
Once Leeds United reached the Premier League, the significance of such a sponsorship would be entirely different.
And now, Leeds United was already tied to Gao Shen.
Although it wasn't officially acknowledged, Fernando Lucas had already contacted many media outlets and reporters to downplay Gao Shen's involvement, but anyone with common sense could see that Gao Shen was the true boss behind the scenes.
What, was he supposed to break up with Su Qing over it?
They already had a marriage certificate back in China.
As for the sponsorship fees? That was a minor matter.
It was all about brand licensing.
Back when Calderon and Mijatovic were running Real Madrid, they let others advertise with the Real Madrid name globally for just 50,000 euros. With Gao Shen investing this much into Leeds United, doing something like this was child's play.
By the way, Elland Road Stadium, Fullerton Park, the Thorp Arch training base, and the land northeast of the stadium no longer belonged to Leeds United. They were transferred to a newly formed company owned by Su Qing.
In other words, Leeds United technically didn't own a stadium or training base. Everything was rented.
Unlike before, when the annual rent was 3 million pounds, Leeds United currently didn't pay rent. But all costs, including maintenance and taxes, were covered by Leeds United.
Not only now, but in the future, any renovations to Thorp Arch, expansions of Elland Road, or construction of a new training base would all fall under that new company. Leeds United would simply foot the bill.
There were many ways to structure it.
This was a form of capital operation. Gao Shen didn't know all the details—Su Qing handled everything.
She would also control Leeds United's finances moving forward.
"Do you really think there's money to be made running a Premier League club?" Su Zhijun frowned, looking at his daughter and future son-in-law.
"I've heard from more than one person that football clubs aren't profitable, not in China, not in Europe either."
He was worried. He feared Gao Shen and Su Qing would fall into a financial trap.
Gao Shen understood the concern, looked at Su Qing, then smiled and said, "Uncle, you know I had a profit-sharing contract with Napoli, right?"
"Yeah, you mentioned before that you made some money from that."
"But do you know how much?"
Su Zhijun and Gao Jianguo exchanged another look. Neither had a clue.
Once Gao Shen went to Europe, he handled everything on his own. How could they know?
"I got 20% of Napoli's transfer profits. In 2009 alone, I earned over 30 million euros."
"This… over 30 million… euros?" Su Zhijun was stunned.
Gao Jianguo was equally shocked. That much?
"And that's just my 20%. Now you understand why every time De Laurentiis sees me, he looks at me like I'm the God of Wealth. His eyes practically glow." Gao Shen said with a laugh.
Su Zhijun and Gao Jianguo looked at each other again, completely in disbelief.
So football could really make money?
(To be continued.)