The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 160 Back View
Early in the morning, the plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport once again, the second stop on the western road trip.

After getting off the plane, Gan Guoyang stretched, greeted Ramsey, and went to a public phone booth at the airport to make a call.

He opened the phone book and found the phone number Wang Fuxi had left for him when he left Portland, with the note: Zhengmin Electric Appliances.

Gan Guoyang was a little nervous. After dialing the number and listening to the dial tone, he took a deep breath.

The call connected, and a middle-aged man's voice came from the other end of the receiver. He greeted the caller in perfect English, but when Gan Guoyang identified himself, he immediately burst into laughter and spoke in a thick Minnan-accented Mandarin:

"Forrest Gump, Lake West is still asleep! You're here so early! I'll prepare some food and drinks right away. Come over at noon! You know where we live, right? Inglewood..."

Gan Guoyang repeatedly agreed, and after addressing him as "uncle" a few times, he hung up the phone and let out a long sigh.

Yesterday, Wang Fuxi returned to Los Angeles before Gan Guoyang. Gan Guoyang is coming to Los Angeles today for an away game, and Wang Fuxi invited Gan Guoyang to meet his parents.

The two had known each other for many years and had been officially dating for more than half a year. Meeting each other's parents seemed a bit premature, and Gan Guoyang had no plans to get married yet.

However, the Chinese community in the 80s was still relatively conservative. After all, Wang Fuxi had given everything to Gan Guoyang, and recently something happened.

When Wang Fuxi was studying at the University of Portland, he was attacked by several female students and had cold water poured over him in the dead of winter.

Later, according to the school and police investigation, the girls were fans of Gan Guoyang. They judged that Wang Fuxi was Gan Guoyang's girlfriend based on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine and attacked her out of jealousy.

Although he was not injured, Wang Fuxi was still frightened and took leave to return to Los Angeles.

After learning about this, Wang Fuxi's father discovered that his daughter was dating the top Chinese celebrity.

Shocked, he expressed his desire to meet this "prospective son-in-law" and arranged a meeting during this away trip.

It was difficult for Gan Guoyang to refuse, both emotionally and logically. After all, it was just a meeting, not an immediate marriage, so it was no big deal.

However, judging from Wang's father's rough voice, Gan Guoyang found it hard to associate him with the beautiful and delicate Wang Fuxi.

After settling into the hotel, Gan Guoyang and the coaching team asked for leave and took a taxi to their destination, Zhengmin Electrical Appliances—a medium-sized television and radio sales store.

Wang Fuxi had been waiting at the store entrance for a long time. When he saw Gan Guoyang get out of the car, he quickly went over and pulled him into the store.

"Hey, hey, why are you in such a hurry? I... I haven't even checked the surrounding area yet."

"It's nothing special~ It's just a small, run-down shop, and this whole street is full of ordinary shops like this. Don't let anyone see you, or people will start gossiping."

Gan Guoyang is a celebrity now, and his height means he can't be hidden anywhere. The taxi driver recognized him when we took a taxi, and chatted with him about basketball the whole way—although none of the conversation was relevant.

The store was filled with all kinds of televisions, radios, Walkmans, and even a computer. It seemed that this store mainly sold audio-visual equipment, which explained why Wang Fuxi liked to listen to music.

Although the store was not large, it was very clean and tidy, unlike some appliance stores that were messy with wires and old things everywhere. Gan Guoyang finally understood where Wang Fuxi's good tidying habits came from.

Soon Gan Guoyang met Wang Fuxi's father, Wang Zhengmin. To his surprise, Wang Zhengmin was different from the voice he heard on the phone. He was a middle-aged man with delicate features, even somewhat handsome.

If he doesn't speak, you'd think he's a gentle and refined middle school teacher, but once he opens his mouth, he exudes a江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the world of martial arts and chivalry) vibe, especially when paired with his Minnan accent, making you wonder if he's been involved in the underworld.

Wang Zhengmin was overjoyed to see Gan Guoyang. Now, there is no Chinese person in the United States who doesn't know Gan Guoyang. In the 80s, he was a rising star who dazzled everyone.

So their initial meeting was hardly a father-in-law meeting his son-in-law; it was more like a fan meeting his idol.

Wang Zhengmin took out yesterday's newspaper, the sports section of which reported on Gan Guoyang's super-outburst at the Denver Plateau.

"44 points and 33 rebounds, Gan Lin's mother, she beat those black and white devils to a pulp!"

Wang Fuxi kicked his father and said, "Dad, are you done yet? Can't you prepare lunch?"

Wang Zhengmin hurriedly said, "Oh right, right, get lunch ready... Um, your mom's at work, so I've already called and ordered takeout. Anleju, it's a restaurant owned by my good friend, the quality of the food is absolutely guaranteed, absolutely authentic! Gan, you don't mind ordering takeout, do you?" Gan Guoyang laughed and said, "Of course not, my family owns a restaurant. When I first came to America, I did takeout for the restaurant, and we relied on takeout to support our business back then."

Hearing Gan Guoyang say this, Wang Zhengmin laughed happily again. It was clear that he liked Gan Guoyang very much, not only because he was a basketball star, but also because Gan Guoyang had no airs of a star and was very down-to-earth.

Gan Guoyang bought two bottles of XO liquor from the airport duty-free shop and gave them to Wang Zhengmin. Wang Fuxi said that Wang Zhengmin liked liquor and he held the liquor that Gan Guoyang gave him with great affection.

"Dad, I think you shouldn't drink these two bottles of wine. Just keep them as souvenirs."

"No! Of course not! How can I just drink the wine that Forrest Gump gave me! I'll wait until you two get married to open it and drink it!"

Upon hearing Wang Zhengmin's words, Wang Fuxi's face turned bright red to the roots of her ears. She secretly glanced at Gan Guoyang, who was also looking at her with a half-smile. Wang Fuxi felt even more embarrassed.

An hour later, the restaurant's delivery driver arrived at the door on his motorcycle and carried an oversized food box into the store.

Wang Zhengmin went to greet him, but when he saw the deliveryman wearing a helmet, his expression changed and he said, "Why are you delivering the food yourself? Are all the guys in the store dead?"

The deliveryman wasn't a young man, but a middle-aged man wearing glasses. He smiled at Wang Zhengmin and said, "Brother Wang, you ordered so many dishes at once. You must have important guests at home. Of course, I have to deliver them personally."

Wang Zhengmin pulled the man aside and said, "With such a big thing happening recently, why aren't you going to hide out? You're still doing food delivery?"

"Hide? How could I hide after something like this happened? I'm already prepared to surrender to the US authorities."

"Confess? You... this has nothing to do with you, what's the point of you confessing? Did you participate?"

“I wasn’t involved, but my older brother was, so I have to save him.”

As the middle-aged man delivering the food spoke, he peered inside and asked, "Hey, who's our special guest today? Would it be convenient for me to see them?"

"Oh dear, this is inconvenient, these are guests from Xiaoling's family."

"Really? I heard it's Fuxi's prospective son-in-law who's come to visit? And he's a big star, too."

Wang Zhengmin's face darkened, his originally handsome features suddenly turning fierce. He said, "White Wolf, we used to be brothers, and we've done each other a favor. Now I've washed my hands of this and just want to live a peaceful life with my wife and children. It wasn't easy for my daughter to find a good family. If you dare to make any moves and harm my daughter and her future son-in-law, I won't show any mercy!"

The middle-aged man smiled and said, "Don't worry, Brother Wang, you don't need to hide it anymore. I know your future son-in-law is the famous basketball star Forrest Gump, the pride of us Chinese. Who would touch him, who would dare to touch him?"

Wang Zhengmin's expression softened slightly, and he asked, "What exactly do you want?"

The middle-aged man said, “I told you, I’m going to turn myself in tomorrow. My older brother left me a tape recording before he went back to Taiwan as evidence to save my life. I took advantage of this food delivery opportunity to change my clothes and sneak out. I want to leave the original tape with you, Brother Wang, and keep a copy. After I turn myself in, I will release the recording. If necessary, please bring the original to court to testify.”

"I told you, White Wolf, I've retired from the underworld. I just want to live a peaceful life with my wife and children. Why are you looking for me again?"

"Brother, the underworld isn't a company; you can't just come and go as you please. Fuxi has found a good husband now and will be a celebrity's wife. I guarantee you, all the Chinese gangs in America will be Agan's backers from now on! Oh, and I also heard Fuxi is being bullied at school; I'll get someone to take them out!"

Wang Zhengmin sighed and said, "Oh, forget it, don't do such a thing! My daughter and son-in-law are innocent, don't let them get involved in these things. As for us older generation, let it go. I want to thank you for what happened to Wang Yu back then, and now I'm returning the favor. Keep the tape with me!"

The middle-aged man named White Wolf nodded and said that the cassette tape was placed in the hidden compartment of the lunchbox.

"Dad, why are you taking so long to get some vegetables?"

"Oh, there's a small problem with some of the dishes. Please wait a moment!"

Four months later, in March 1985, Zhang Anle (nicknamed White Wolf), a friend of gang leader Chen Qili, along with an anonymous person known as "Back View" who kept the audio tapes, attended the "Jiangnan Murder Case Speech and Discussion Meeting" held by the Taiwanese community in Los Angeles.

During the meeting, the audiotape revealed the true culprit behind the case, shocking people both at home and abroad.

(End of this chapter)