Chapter 1 What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

What a small world…

That was Meng Ran's only thought right now.

Chen Yingxiong was looking at him with a grin on his face. That smile and look were definitely not friendly, but… full of obvious sarcasm.

"Yo, Meng Ran. How much did you pay to get in this time, huh?" Chen Yingxiong teased Meng Ran in his hometown dialect.

Hearing Chen Yingxiong's words, Meng Ran was stunned. Did he know? Impossible! There was no way he could know that he bought his way into the training camp… Wait! He must have done the same! Otherwise, how could he know? Haha, no matter how great you are, you still have to pay to get into the Olympic training roster!

"Fuck off! I'm here on my own merit!" He had played eleven games in the China League One last season and scored six goals. The China League One had just started this season, and he had already scored four goals. His form was not bad, so it made sense that he was selected for the final Olympic training roster. Therefore, he had the confidence to say that.

Of course, if he hadn't paid, he wouldn't have been able to catch this last train with just those few goals.

"How much did you pay? 100,000? 200,000? Aren't you rich?"

Chen Yingxiong's smile deepened when he heard Meng Ran's words.

Actually, it was very simple for him to come to the Olympic training camp—his name appeared on the Olympic training roster, and then he received a call, notifying him to come to Shenyang for training.

It was that simple. He didn't know why his name appeared on the Olympic training roster, and he hadn't given the Football Association a single cent.

Of course, he knew how valuable these training spots were. This was the last training camp before the Olympics, and the final eighteen-man roster for the Olympics would basically be selected from these thirty people, unless there were any injuries.

So many spots, so many people fighting for them, why would they choose you over someone else if you didn't pay? Meng Ran was such a nobody, he must have paid to get on the Olympic training roster.

Dujkovic said at the end of last year that the Olympic roster was basically confirmed, and unless there were any injuries, the door to the Olympics would not be opened again. But what happened? Every training camp after that, new faces came to the training camp like a revolving door, constantly changing.

Why was that?

It was too obvious. There were economic benefits in it! Every time someone new came to the training camp, there was one more person paying.

He thought that he was able to participate in the training camp without paying because his performance in the UEFA Cup and at Zenit was too good, and the Football Association couldn't ignore him. After all, those big names with outstanding strength wouldn't do the paying thing. It was basically done by a group of marginal national players.

What surprised Chen Yingxiong a little was that Meng Ran wasn't afraid of him at all in the Olympic training team. He had taught him a lesson twice before…

He originally thought that Meng Ran would be more honest after being taught a lesson by him that time. He didn't expect to meet him again in the Olympic training camp, and he was still so arrogant.

That was strange. Was he really someone who forgot the pain once the wound healed?

※※※

Chen Yingxiong quickly found out why Meng Ran dared to talk back to him.

Because he had latched onto a strong backer.

Chen Yingxiong laughed when he saw Meng Ran's obsequious expression around Zhang Wei, the captain of the Olympic team, the main player of the national team, the absolute core, and one of the three overage players in the Olympic team.

This turtle was still so used to finding a backer.

He found Wang Yongjun in the club, and now he found Zhang Wei in the Olympic team.

Zhang Wei was currently the number one star in Chinese football—if Chen Yingxiong didn't count.

He had a long history in the national team and outstanding strength. Like himself, he was currently playing in Europe and was considered a representative of Chinese players playing abroad—if Chen Yingxiong didn't count.

In the Olympic team, he was the undisputed big brother and the number one star of the team—if Chen Yingxiong didn't count.

Not only Meng Ran was around him, but also many other people who were willing to be the lackeys of the "old big brother of the national team."

But Chen Yingxiong didn't like it. He never became a lackey for anyone. So he was quite lonely in the Olympic team. Logically speaking, with his personality, it would be easy to make friends—but if everyone was deliberately isolating him, then that was another matter.

Chen Yingxiong was selected for the national team for the first time. He had never been selected for the national youth team or the national junior team before. At the national team level, he was a real newbie, a lone commander. He didn't have a single teammate here that he even knew before.

In addition, his personality was arrogant and annoying. In this team, which was divided into various small gangs and valued seniority, it was normal for him not to have any friends…

He also knew very well that Zhang Wei, the big brother of the Olympic team, didn't like him at all.

He arrived at the Shenyang Olympic team's residence yesterday evening. In the dormitory building, he saw Zhang Wei, the famous "number one brother" in China, for the first time.

Out of courtesy, he felt that he should say hello to this number one brother, after all, he was a newcomer…

Who knew that Zhang Wei would have no reaction to his greeting and directly ignored him!

What kind of person was Chen Yingxiong? When had he ever lost face like this? Since playing for Zenit, he had been smooth sailing. Arshavin was such an awesome player, wasn't he better than you, Zhang Wei? He was my brother! What were you, Zhang Wei? Trying to put on airs with me?

You fucking picked the wrong person!

Zhang Wei's action angered Chen Yingxiong. He came to the Olympic team to participate in the Olympics, not to be anyone's grandson.

Since Zhang Wei didn't know why he disliked him, then he didn't need to give him any face. He didn't have the hobby of offering a warm face to a cold reception.

What he didn't know was that there were two reasons why Zhang Wei looked at him with displeasure—first, they were both playing abroad, but obviously Chen Yingxiong's performance was much better than his. Although Chen Yingxiong played in a second-rate league like Russia, he won the UEFA Cup champion and was the league's top scorer. He had also transferred to the Serie A team Napoli, and the transfer fee of 12 million euros also set a record for Chinese players' transfer fees. One was an already famous number one player in Chinese football, and the other was a newly emerged and popular up-and-coming star. Mutual comparison was inevitable. Many media were praising Chen Yingxiong, and the domestic media were almost monopolized by Chen Yingxiong's name. Zhang Wei's news about playing abroad could only appear in various corners and crevices now. This would of course make Zhang Wei feel very upset.

The second reason, of course, was that someone was provoking him. Meng Ran, who had latched onto Zhang Wei's thigh, couldn't possibly let go of such a great opportunity? He didn't say a few bad things about Chen Yingxiong in front of Zhang Wei, such as "Chen Yingxiong said when he was in the youth team, 'What is Zhang Wei? I'm definitely better than him!'" "Brother Zhang, do you know Wang Yongjun? That kid smashed Wang Yongjun's car and said, 'Don't say it's you, a national team player, even if Zhang Wei, the main player of the national team, comes, I'll smash it anyway!' Look at this… it's simply too hateful!"

He was already feeling upset because Chen Yingxiong had stolen his limelight, and now that Meng Ran was provoking him like this, how could his attitude be good?

As the boss of the Olympic team, Zhang Wei wanted to give this ignorant kid a warning.

So when Chen Yingxiong took the initiative to say hello, he didn't even bother to acknowledge him.

Generally speaking, this unlucky guy would know that he had offended the boss of the team, and the boss could wait in his room for this poor guy to come to the door to apologize, take the initiative to show weakness and submit, and then… he would have a new little brother, and the Olympic team would still be his territory.

But he waited in his room all night and didn't wait for Chen Yingxiong to take the initiative to show his goodwill.

The next day, he went to ask Zhou Da'an, an Olympic player who lived in the same room as Zhang Wei, and the result he found out made him furious—Chen Yingxiong had been on the phone in his room yesterday for several hours in a language that Zhou Da'an couldn't understand, and then he went straight to sleep!

When he saw him again in training, he also raised his head high, as if he didn't see him at all. Not to mention taking the initiative to admit his mistake, he didn't even say a word… Yesterday he ignored Chen Yingxiong, and today Chen Yingxiong ignored him. Retribution came so quickly.

When had Zhang Wei ever been treated like this in the Olympic team? If he just kept silent like this, how could he continue to hang around?

He couldn't swallow this breath no matter what, he had to let it out!

Meng Ran, who was next to him, secretly laughed in his heart after seeing Chen Yingxiong walking past Zhang Wei with his head held high, and then seeing the expression on Zhang Wei's face—Chen Yingxiong, you idiot! You've offended the boss? You're dead! Not to mention the Olympic team, I'll make sure you can't even stay in the national team!

※※※

The last item of today's training was an intra-team scrimmage.

To be honest, although he had only trained with the Olympic team for one day, Chen Yingxiong was quite disappointed.

Before joining the team, he was indeed full of fantasies about the Olympics. But in less than a day, he changed his mind. He suddenly felt that with such a team, wanting to complete Xie Yalong's goal of "reaching the top four in the Olympics" was simply a pipe dream!

The team's training was disorganized, almost practicing whatever came to mind, without a plan—before this, Chen Yingxiong absolutely couldn't believe that a national-level team, which carried the expectations of hundreds of millions of Chinese people, would train so unprofessionally…

But after personally experiencing a training session, he believed it.

Even the head coach Dujkovic didn't arrive until half an hour after the training started, and the team didn't do anything except warm up for this half an hour. After he arrived, he didn't start directing the training, but sat on a chair by the side of the field, took out his mobile phone and lowered his head to send text messages…

Chen Yingxiong had never seen such a head coach. Advocaat wasn't like that, and neither was Popovic.

Chen Yingxiong was completely disappointed with the brains of the Football Association officials that such an irresponsible head coach was actually the head coach of the national team and the Olympic team.

Before this last item today, they practiced shooting almost all day… Such basic things actually needed to be practiced for a whole day, and Shang Yifei, the head of the Chinese coaching staff who was acting as Dujkovic's agent, said, "Our players' shooting in front of the goal is generally terrible, so we must strengthen this aspect of training."

This final scrimmage was arranged only after the players strongly requested it…

Chen Yingxiong was amazed by the strange phenomena he witnessed this day.

He had played in Russia for two seasons and had already adapted to the European training level. Moreover, the training level and concepts of Russian football were only second-rate in Europe, but even so, it was still countless levels higher than the Chinese Olympic team…

He never expected that the training level of China's top team would be so… amateurish.

He knew how many people were full of expectations and hopes for this team, thinking that this Olympics was on home soil, and they wouldn't be too bad, right?

But in reality, it was just so bad!

※※※

In the scrimmage, Chen Yingxiong was assigned to the reserve team, which was different from Zhang Wei and the other main players.

All those who had a good relationship with Zhang Wei and others were on that side. Chen Yingxiong stood outside the center circle and saw Meng Ran, who was standing in the center circle preparing to kick off. He was also on the same team as Zhang Wei.

Since it was a scrimmage, physical confrontation was naturally inevitable.

So Chen Yingxiong was knocked to the ground by the opposing players again and again.

No matter how strong he was, he couldn't resist them deliberately trying to knock him down…

Chen Yingxiong felt that this wasn't like playing football at all. It was simply a "siege" against him alone!

He wasn't stupid. He knew that this was because he had offended Zhang Wei.

But he had offended him, so what? He didn't regret offending the boss of the Olympic team.

Due to his position, there were quite a few confrontations between defensive midfielder Zhang Wei and Chen Yingxiong.

The two of them looked down on each other, so every collision was like Mars hitting Earth…

Zhang Wei didn't show any mercy when tackling, and it couldn't be seen at all that his opponent was a teammate.

Shang Yifei, the assistant coach who was temporarily acting as the referee, also saw that the confrontation between Zhang Wei and Chen Yingxiong was particularly intense, like a real battle.

He was a little worried. He could see that these two players didn't like each other. What kind of person was he? He had been immersed in Chinese football for many years. If he didn't even have this bit of insight, he shouldn't be in this business.

However, he didn't stop the confrontation between these two people, because… he, as an assistant coach, shouldn't interfere in this kind of thing between players.

Dujkovic also noticed it. But he didn't take it to heart—it was normal and should be encouraged for players to have such a close-to-real performance in training.

He lowered his head to play with his mobile phone again. If Xie Yalong and other Football Association leaders didn't come, he would basically lead the team like this…

When Chen Yingxiong turned around and dribbled the ball forward, Zhang Wei rushed up from the side and made a very fierce flying tackle!

He was aiming for Chen Yingxiong's ankle.

If this kick had landed firmly, Chen Yingxiong would probably have to lie in bed for the second half of the year…

Fortunately, Zhang Wei underestimated Chen Yingxiong's speed. When he tackled, Chen Yingxiong barely dodged it.

He didn't hit Chen Yingxiong's ankle, but his studs hooked a little of his sock, and then his other leg rushed up and hit Chen Yingxiong's supporting leg's calf, knocking Chen Yingxiong to the ground.

This was a very intense collision, definitely exceeding all their previous collisions. Those who saw this scene next to them even couldn't help but worry about Chen Yingxiong—with this hit, he must be crippled, right? Zhang Wei was really ruthless!

Zhang Wei was very proud in his heart—this was the consequence of going against me! But on the surface, he still had to pretend. He rolled over and wanted to pretend to be concerned…

Who knew that someone would get up faster than him!

Chen Yingxiong jumped up from the ground with a carp jump, and then punched Zhang Wei!

His punch was so fast that Zhang Wei didn't even react—not to mention him, even the others didn't expect it! Who could have thought that after being tackled so fiercely, he could still jump up and punch someone in the first place?

The consequence of not expecting it was that Zhang Wei took a solid punch!

He had just stood up and hadn't even stood firm yet, when he was knocked back to the ground by Chen Yingxiong's thunderous punch… The feeling was like being slapped away by a giant bear.

"You motherfucker!! You dare to cripple me! Fuck your mother!" All kinds of foul language spewed out of his mouth.

The enraged Chen Yingxiong didn't care about the status of the person in front of him at all. He hated this kind of thing the most. Before, in the youth team, Meng Ran had given him a black foot, and he was beaten into the hospital for a month by the furious him. Because of this incident, his fate had undergone earth-shattering changes.

Although he had promised his father not to be impulsive, when the other party so blatantly went for his ankle, the anger in his heart still burned fiercely.

He was no longer an unknown person now. He was about to transfer to Napoli. If he was crippled by his teammate in the Olympic training camp, his future might be over! His life might even be ruined.

Therefore, he couldn't tolerate this kind of malicious foul no matter what.

This was his sore spot.

※※※

When Chen Yingxiong punched Zhang Wei to the ground, the first person to react was Meng Ran—after all, he had similar experience.

He certainly knew the consequences of being knocked down by Chen Yingxiong. He would directly ride on you, and then keep punching you. With his weight of nearly 200 pounds pressing on you, you couldn't get rid of him at all…

Anxious to protect his master, he pounced on him and hugged Chen Yingxiong from behind, hanging the weight of his entire body on Chen Yingxiong, not letting him continue to punch Zhang Wei.

He knew how strong this kid's fighting power was… so in the youth team, everyone rarely provoked him.

"Ah! Quick, hold him! Don't let him—damn it!" Meng Ran, who was hugging Chen Yingxiong and shouting loudly, was hit in the nose by Chen Yingxiong's elbow as he swung his arm…

At this time, a group of people reacted with loud shouts, rushing up to pull, push, and hug. Shang Yifei also blew his whistle hard, intending to rush in, but there was no room for him to intervene…

The scene was in chaos.

Dujkovic, who had been playing with his mobile phone with his head down, heard the commotion and looked up, looking at everything that was happening on the field with some surprise…

※※※

Zhang Wei was lying on the ground, unable to get up from the ground, with countless legs shaking next to him. He could hear the noisy voices, the whistles, and the panicked shouts of the players.

But he couldn't react. He couldn't get up from the ground. He couldn't even open his mouth to speak.

He was very angry, but he didn't know what to do.

He felt that he must have been concussed by that punch just now…

June was definitely not a lucky month for him. His national team was eliminated from the 2010 South Africa World Cup Asian qualifiers. As the core of the team, he was scolded a lot. He returned to the Olympic team, thinking that he could dominate, but he didn't expect to run into a Chen Yingxiong who challenged his authority!

Now, he was knocked to the ground by this bastard with one punch, and he couldn't even get up!

He clenched his fists and grabbed a few tufts of grass. But he still couldn't get up. His head was still dizzy.

He could feel a hot stream on his face. That definitely wouldn't be his tears. The answer was simple—it was blood.

In addition to dizziness, his mouth and nose were very painful. It was estimated that something was broken there.

"Don't stop me! Damn it! You want to cripple me? Okay! I'll cripple you first, you idiot!" Chen Yingxiong, who was surrounded by five or six people, was still fighting hard, constantly struggling and roaring, wanting to rush towards Zhang Wei, who was already unable to fight back.

Zhang Wei was lying on the ground, with Chen Yingxiong's shouts in his ears, but he couldn't do anything. He couldn't move at all. Chen Yingxiong's heavy punch almost knocked him into shock…

The number one player in Chinese football… was now in a very embarrassing situation!

This… damn bastard!

※※※

When Nan Yong received the call from Shenyang, he was stunned for a moment. After listening, he said, "I'll communicate this matter with Yalong. Yes, that's it."

Then he dialed Xie Yalong's number.

"That Chen Yingxiong that you insisted on recruiting into the Olympic team has had an accident."

Xie Yalong was shocked: "Ah? What's the matter?"

"He got into a fight and knocked Zhang Wei unconscious in training. I told you at the beginning that that kid was a bomb. Look at his style, does any of it meet our requirements? Recruiting such a player into the Olympic team is not to enhance our strength, but to smear the image of Chinese football!"

Faced with Nan Yong's outburst, Xie Yalong had nothing to say. There was a fierce debate within the Football Association at the beginning about whether to let this person into the Olympic team? Xie Yalong felt that he could be recruited, after all, he was so strong and so famous. If the Football Association remained indifferent, it would be difficult to explain to the media and fans.

Nan Yong was in the opposition, and his reasons had just been stated. But the problem was that the person who would be scolded for not recruiting Chen Yingxiong was not him, Nan Yong, but himself, the full-time vice chairman! If the team lost the Olympics, then not recruiting such an excellent eligible player would become his evidence of guilt.

In fact, the State General Administration of Sport had called to inquire about this issue… asking why there was no movement to recruit Chen Yingxiong.

"Now the Olympic team is asking us what to do."

"How is Zhang Wei's condition?"

"He's lying in the infirmary."

"That… what about the person who hit him?"

"He's in his room under house arrest. What do you say we do with this matter?"

"What is the team's opinion?"

"They suggest expelling Chen Yingxiong. He has seriously affected the team's internal unity… It is said that he has a very bad relationship with people in the team. I think this conflict has something to do with this, right? Such a thing happening in the last training camp of the Olympics will affect morale and is extremely detrimental to the team's preparation. If it ultimately affects the team's performance in the Olympics, I'm afraid you and I…" Nan Yong was a firm opponent of Chen Yingxiong. He couldn't stand this player in any way. So if he had the opportunity, he would of course drive the other party to the point of no return and cut him off at the root.

In fact, the team didn't say anything about expulsion at all. They just said to ask the Football Association leaders for instructions.

This suggestion was more his personal opinion than the team's.

Nan Yong's last sentence made Xie Yalong fall into silence.

The Olympic strategy was so important that the Football Association had revised the Chinese Super League schedule for the sake of the Olympics, and even the national team had to give way to the Olympics—even the importance of the World Cup qualifiers couldn't compare to the Olympics… Perhaps only in China would such a bizarre thing happen?

The State General Administration of Sport and the Football Association had placed a heavy bet on the Olympic strategy. If it failed in the end… he didn't even want to think about what kind of situation he would face.

Now it seemed that Nan Yong was right. Chen Yingxiong was indeed a very serious unstable factor for the Olympic team. His existence was a time bomb. This time it was still okay. It was at the end of training. There were no reporters and fans on the sidelines at that time. It was a closed training session. If this happened during the Olympics, when countless eyes were staring at the Olympic team… he estimated that he would be dismissed on the spot.

He really couldn't stay.

If the superiors asked again, he would just tell the truth. Any player who fought with his teammates in the team, no matter how famous he was, couldn't be kept. Wasn't Keane great? He was still kicked out of the Irish national team, wasn't he?

"Okay, let's respect the team's opinion." Xie Yalong cleverly chose to abandon his pawn to protect his king. "Such undisciplined players cannot be tolerated!"

※※※

When Chen Yingxiong packed his things and left his room, it was exactly twenty-four hours since he arrived at the training base last night.

He had only stayed in the Olympic team for one day, and he was about to leave again.

He didn't seem to be here for training, but for a one-day tour.

There were many teammates in the corridor quietly looking at this shortest-lived "Olympic player" in history outside their respective rooms. The expressions on their faces were different. Some were gloating, some were expressionless, some were frowning, and some seemed to be a little unbearable… But their common characteristic was that they were quiet. No one made a sound, just watching him like that.

He had only been here for a day. Although everyone had heard many legends about him, this short day had already made a very deep impression on everyone.

Chen Yingxiong didn't want to leave like a defeated loser. He ignored those onlookers and walked straight out. Just then, he heard a chuckle.

"Chen Yingxiong, you idiot…"

Before Meng Ran could finish his mocking words, Chen Yingxiong's big hand had already grabbed his neck. He couldn't say the rest of his words. He couldn't even make a sound.

"Being expelled for hitting one person is the same as being expelled for hitting two. I don't mind doing wholesale, Meng Ran." Chen Yingxiong stared at the somewhat panicked Meng Ran and said, "Also, don't think that kissing Zhang Wei's ass will allow you to stay in the Olympic team. Haha!"

He laughed.

For some reason, every time he saw Meng Ran, he would laugh from the bottom of his heart. Even now, he had enough sense of superiority.

This was exactly what made Meng Ran very upset—why could he still laugh! Why did he still look so superior? Why could he not care about these things? Why? Why!

He didn't know that Chen Yingxiong didn't care about being expelled from the team at all. After seeing a day of training with the Olympic team, he felt that even if he continued to stay in this team, it probably wouldn't be of much use. The Olympic team, which had been hyped up by the media, carried the good wishes of countless Chinese fans. But in the end, these wishes would be like flower petals in the mud, trampled on and crushed.

Even if he was strong, he couldn't change this result, so… leaving might not be a bad thing.

Therefore, he could still laugh and didn't feel ashamed at all.

After letting go of Meng Ran, Chen Yingxiong didn't look at those panicked teammates who wanted to call the coach. Instead, he walked out of the dormitory building without looking back.

※※※

Shang Yifei was standing in front of the window of his room, watching Chen Yingxiong walking out of the building.

Looking at that back, he remembered this person's reaction when he heard that he was being expelled from the team.

He wasn't angry, nor did he cry out injustice, let alone collapse and cry. He just smiled.

Then he shrugged to Shang Yifei and said, "Expel me? This is not my loss, but yours."

After saying that, he began to turn around and pack his things. He was clear about this result after he hit Zhang Wei. It would be strange if he could still stay in the Olympic team. So his luggage was basically packed, and only a few small things were left. He could leave after putting them in.

At that time, Shang Yifei felt that this kid was really arrogant!

The Olympic team, which gathered the most outstanding Olympic-age players in the country, would become the biggest loss because of the lack of you? What do you take everyone else for? Even if you can score goals abroad, so what? Football is a team sport, and the outcome of the game cannot be determined by individual heroism alone.

He was disgusted by this kid's arrogance and didn't want to say any extra words. He just retreated like this.

Now, looking at this kid's leaving back, he thought of this matter again.

Our loss? The Olympic team is a whole. It can still work without anyone. Don't think too highly of yourself.

He finally understood why there was such a fierce debate within the Football Association about whether to recruit Chen Yingxiong—such a person was indeed very controversial!

With his temper and personality, if he didn't restrain himself and change, he wouldn't be able to survive in China at all.

However…

Shang Yifei suddenly remembered that he seemed to have been hanging around abroad all the time…

What an oddball!

He didn't seem to care about those explicit and implicit rules at all. When he punched Zhang Wei, Shang Yifei was really shocked. Did he know what he was doing?

Did he know what kind of impact this punch would have on his future prospects in the national team?

Shang Yifei couldn't understand why Chen Yingxiong did this. Even if Zhang Wei liked to put on airs and be the big brother, you could just let him put on airs and be the big brother. It wouldn't hurt to be humble. So many players in the Olympic team followed Zhang Wei's lead, and they didn't seem to be affected in any way. Why did he have to create opposition and create this situation—one was expelled from the team, and the other was still lying in the infirmary, his mind still not very clear.

If you give him face, he will give you face. Isn't it all about face in this circle?

What was the point of making such a fuss?

Obviously, Shang Yifei didn't understand Chen Yingxiong.

Those who understood Chen Yingxiong would not have such questions at all.

Chen Yingxiong only asked himself if he wanted to hit someone. He never asked if he should hit someone, nor did he ask what the consequences would be if he hit someone.

Hit the son of a bitch first!

※※※