American Football: King of the Bay Area

Chapter 374: Chapter 371: Grown Up

“Lu Ke, are you sure you’re not taking these summer clothes?”

“Lu Ke, how about this tea set? Why don’t you take it? Your dad and I rarely drink tea these days—plain water is fine for us. You can have some tea occasionally to help you relax. That would be nice.”

“Lu Ke, why don’t you take the comforters and blankets, too? I’ve already washed all of these, so they’re fine. If you use brand new ones at your new place, they won’t have been washed. What if you have an allergic reaction?”

“Lu Ke, what about that bottle of herbal liniment your grandmother sent from back home? You should take that too. It’s just for external use, so it should be fine. You take so many hits in your games every week. After you get home, you can rub some on yourself to soothe your muscles. That would be good. Or do you need to ask the team doctor? To confirm the formula? Then again, these Western doctors don’t understand our traditional Chinese medicine at all, so their opinions aren’t necessarily reliable. It’s topical, so… why don’t you just take it with you?”

…

Turning his head, Lu Ke saw Jiang Youning standing at his bedroom door. She was clutching an enormous glass bottle, cradling it like a baby. It sat heavy in her arms, looking so precarious that she seemed in danger of dropping it at any moment.

“You could have just left it in the storage room. You didn’t have to lug it all the way out,” Lu Ke said with a helpless laugh. He quickly strode forward and took the heavy burden from his mother, freeing her hands. He then carefully placed the glass bottle in the corner beside the bookshelf, out of the way where it wouldn’t get kicked.

That large bottle of herbal liniment had quite a story behind it.

It was a medicinal brew that Lu Ke’s maternal grandmother had made herself, from personally picking the herbs to brewing and mixing the final concoction. It was based on a traditional folk recipe, but it was incredibly effective for all sorts of sprains, bruises, and strains.

When his grandmother learned that Lu Ke was constantly taking hits playing football at school and frequently suffering from sprains and strains, she had gone to the immense trouble of making it. The whole process took her nearly two years. Only after confirming its potency did she ship it by sea all the way to San Francisco.

However, customs inspections for such herbal remedies were notoriously strict. Unsurprisingly, the liniment was impounded and its entry was denied. For the next three years, Lu Ke, Jiang Youning, and Lu Zhengze took turns going to the customs office to file paperwork, fill out applications, and even submit a request to have it sent to a lab for compositional analysis. Only after all that trouble did they finally manage to rescue the large bottle.

Precisely because the entire process had been so protracted and full of setbacks, at one point they thought they would never get it back. But in the end, it was returned to its rightful owner. Lu Ke had half-jokingly declared that this bottle of liniment had to be kept and passed down for generations as a family heirloom.

“It’s a family heirloom, so it should stay here at home. If I need some, I can just pour it into a plastic water bottle and take that with me,” Lu Ke said with a wide grin.

Jiang Youning rolled her eyes and shot her son a glare. “Family heirloom? You’re taking that joke seriously? Grandma made this especially for you. Now that you’re moving, you could need it at any time. It’s better to take the whole thing with you, so you’re not stuck without it when you need it.”

Today was the day Lu Ke was officially moving out.

Ever since joining the Professional Alliance, Lu Ke had been thinking about moving out.

It wasn’t just because he was an adult now and wanted his own space—while also giving his parents theirs. It was also because the life of a professional player, with the constant hounding from reporters and paparazzi, was genuinely starting to affect his parents’ daily lives. And that’s not even mentioning the weekly rookie parties; a group of young athletes getting together was a recipe for absolute chaos.

All things considered, Lu Ke decided it was best to move out and rent his own apartment.

However, after making the team through tryouts, Lu Ke’s life kicked into high gear. Between fundamental training and trying to master the playbook, he used up nearly all his free time. He had no time to look for an apartment, let alone move. So, he kept putting it off until now.

With Ryan Steenberg’s help, Lu Ke found a new apartment. This week was a bye week, which provided the perfect window of opportunity to finally get the move done.

To Lu Ke, moving was no big deal—it was just a change of address. But to Jiang Youning, it was a major life event. She had been packing his things for the last few days, and from the looks of it, she wanted to move the entire house over for him—literally.

And now, she’d even brought out the “family heirloom.”

Before Lu Ke could argue, Jiang Youning scanned the room and exclaimed in surprise, “You only packed one suitcase? Are you moving out or just going on a vacation?”

“It’s not just one suitcase! I have my training duffel, too. All my gear is in there,” Lu Ke argued.

“That’s nowhere near enough.” Jiang Youning frowned. “Your new place is completely empty. Are you sure you don’t need to bring more? And what about your clothes? Just for fall and winter? What about the rest? You change your workout clothes at least three times a day for practice. You’re not taking those?”

“Mom…” Lu Ke started, trying to cut his mother off.

But Jiang Youning gave him no opening. Her eyes landed on the Rose Bowl Trophy on the bookshelf. It was a palm-sized replica that every player on the team had received as a souvenir after the Rose Bowl earlier that year, commemorating UCLA’s first Rose Bowl victory in twenty-five years.

“You’re not taking this trophy?” Jiang Youning asked, her face a mask of disbelief. “Isn’t this one of your best memories with Logan and the guys? Why wouldn’t you take it?”

“Mom, Mom, calm down.” Lu Ke waved his hands in front of her face until he had her attention. “I’m just moving out, not leaving forever. My room is still going to be my room. I’ll still come back once in a while. It’s perfectly fine for my stuff to stay here, right?”

Jiang Youning paused, looking Lu Ke up and down with a disdainful expression. “What are you talking about? After you move out, I’m planning to clean this room up and rent it out. If you come back, you can sleep in the guest room or on the sofa. What makes you think you’ll still have a room here?”

“…Mom, you’re not serious, are you?” Lu Ke’s jaw dropped in astonishment. “I’m moving out specifically so I won’t be a third wheel at home! And now you’re just going to get a new tenant? What’s that about? If that’s the plan, then I’m not moving.”

“No way!” Jiang Youning’s eyes went wide as she said with mock disgust, “I’ve been waiting for you to move out! This day has finally come, and I don’t care what you say, you’re moving out today! Hurry up, get a move on! You’re such a pain.”

“Mom, be honest. Was I a prize from a scratch-off ticket or something?” Lu Ke asked with a completely straight face, giving Jiang Youning a pitiful look.

Jiang Youning tried to hold back, but she couldn’t suppress a smile that slowly spread across her face. She poked Lu Ke on the forehead. “Yes, you were. So, hurry up, hurry up. Your dad and I can finally get some peace and quiet.” As she spoke, she waved her right hand in a shooing motion. “Get all this stuff packed and move it out. It would be best if you cleared everything out.”

With that, she left Lu Ke’s room and started down the stairs. But when she reached the last step, she stopped abruptly. Her smile slowly froze, her expression growing vacant. An overwhelming feeling of empty loss washed over her, and her eyes began to well up with tears.

‘Renting out the room… that was just a joke. She couldn’t bear to see him go. In the end, she just couldn’t bear it.’

Lu Zhengze, sitting on the living room sofa, heard footsteps but didn’t see his wife appear. He turned his head and saw Jiang Youning standing at the foot of the stairs, lost in thought. The loneliness and reluctance swimming in her tear-filled eyes made him stand up immediately. He walked over to her. “Ke is just moving out. You weren’t this sad when he went to college in Los Angeles. Why are you so emotional about it today?”

“It’s different. That was different,” Jiang Youning’s voice choked, becoming thick with emotion.

College was just for school. Even though he was in another city, Lu Ke was still a kid. But this move meant he had truly grown up. He was starting his own life, stepping out from under his parents’ wings, becoming an adult. Even though he was in the same city, they had to learn to let go and allow him to truly stand on his own two feet.

The significance, in the end, was completely different. And so, naturally, were the feelings.

A parent’s heart is always so full of contradictions. When their children are small, they hope they will grow up fast, become independent, and relieve them of the heavy burden. But when their children finally do grow up, they start to miss them, wishing time would slow down, just a little bit. They can’t help but worry about their future.

If they could, they would spread their own wings and shelter their child for a lifetime.

Lu Zhengze sighed softly and pulled his wife into his arms. “Ke is still in San Francisco,” he comforted her in a low voice. “The apartment isn’t far, just a twenty-minute drive. We can visit him anytime, and he can come back anytime. He doesn’t need our protection anymore, but we can still be there for him, walking alongside him.”

The bond between a parent and child is a journey of fate. In the beginning, parents protect their children, paving the way for their future. Then, parents and children walk side-by-side, continuing along the path of life together. And in the end, the children care for their parents, smiling as they escort them through the final chapter of their long lives.

This meeting, this shared journey—it is fate.

Lu Zhengze gently patted his wife’s shoulder. “Remember?” he said softly. “Every week, at every game, Ke is waiting for us to cheer him on. He can’t fight out there on the field by himself. He needs us all to pull together.” As he spoke, Lu Zhengze couldn’t help but feel a pang of melancholy himself.

Their Lu Ke had finally grown up.