Mazzarri probably knew a little about why Marino had been fired, because De Laurentiis had called him again afterwards, telling him that although the club's senior management had undergone personnel changes, the goals he had promised for this season could not be changed.

"We still have to qualify for the Champions League next season."

Although the media were hyping the matter, as far as the players were concerned, it didn't matter who the manager was; their direct contact was with the coach, not the manager. If the head coach was suddenly replaced, they might be disoriented for a while, but a new manager? They would just carry on as usual.

For example, Chen Hero himself didn't care who the manager was. His salary was written in the contract, and the contract had legal force, so for the duration of his contract, no matter who came to be the general manager, the club would have to pay his wages and bonuses.

The only person who was shaken by this was Lavezzi.

Marino had personally brought him to Napoli from San Lorenzo.

Marino had discovered him, and if it hadn't been for Marino, he might still be in the Argentine domestic league.

He even wondered if Marino's sudden dismissal at this time meant that the boss was determined to let him go.

Although he had wanted to leave anyway, at this moment, he suddenly felt a little unwilling...

Why should he be the one who ended up a failure?

In the second half of the season, Mazzarri had completely benched him. From the match against Roma onwards, his total playing time did not exceed ninety minutes...

Mazzarri was very strict with those who dared to disobey his orders and challenge his authority, even to the point of being cruel.

At first, some media outlets spoke out in Lavezzi's defense, arguing that Mazzarri shouldn't treat a player who was so popular in Naples like that.

Mazzarri remained unmoved and insisted on banishing Lavezzi to the cold palace. This also served as a warning to other players in the team who had other ideas—don't even think about challenging my authority. In this team, I am the boss!

The media then began to speculate about Lavezzi's departure. Today, Real Madrid was interested; tomorrow, Inter Milan was asking about the price; the day after, a preliminary agreement had been signed with Juventus; and the day after that, Roma expressed its interest... In short, all sorts of news were happening every day, making people feel that Lavezzi would have to split himself into several pieces to satisfy so many enthusiastic wealthy clubs.

Later, as Chen Hero continued to score goals, everyone's enthusiasm for Lavezzi quickly faded.

Lavezzi also experienced what is meant by "the warmth and coldness of human relationships," what is meant by "the fickleness of the world," what is meant by "new talents surpassing the old," and what is meant by "whoever has the milk is the mother"... The media's attitude towards Chen Hero had gone from initial ridicule, criticism, and doubt to today's praise, cheers, and flattery.

They had absolutely no integrity!

What made him even more uncomfortable was that the fans' enthusiasm was also gradually shifting.

How spectacular was the booing that echoed across the Stadio San Paolo whenever Chen Hero touched the ball at first... Now, the boos were still there, but much quieter, and those guys in the west stand had begun to cheer for Chen Hero. More and more fans were throwing themselves into Chen Hero's arms.

The local Neapolitan newspaper, *Il Mattino*, conducted a street survey. The question on the survey was very simple: "What is your impression of Chen Hero?" The multiple-choice options were: A, like. B, dislike. C, neutral.

The results showed that 31 percent of people chose like, 50 percent chose dislike, and the remaining 19 percent chose neutral.

In the first half of the season, the results of this survey were that 97.5 percent of people chose dislike, 2 percent chose neutral, and only 0.5 percent of people liked him, which was almost negligible.

The change in the results of this survey also reflected Chen Hero's current status in Naples.

What Lavezzi hated most was that this person had never publicly apologized to the fans for his previous remarks about Maradona, nor had he expressed reconciliation with the fans. He still slapped those die-hard fans from time to time after scoring, but the number of fans who liked him was rising... What was wrong with the world?!

Lavezzi couldn't figure it out.

But he didn't need to dwell on the issue.

Because just after he returned with the team from Cagliari, he received a call from his agent, Mazzoni.

On the phone, Mazzoni sounded happy: "Ezequiel, Ezequiel! I have good news for you: the club has agreed to let you go! De Laurentiis, that old geezer, just called me and told me that you can go wherever you want; the club won't stop you!"

Lavezzi said unhappily, "What's so good about that?"

"Haven't you always wanted to leave?" Mazzoni was surprised to hear that Lavezzi's mood wasn't high.

"I did... but..."

"No buts, Ezequiel. Didn't you see Marino leave? It's obvious that it's time for you to leave this place!" Mazzoni was afraid that Lavezzi would change his mind, because transfers were the most profitable for him as an agent. It might be a risk for the player, but for the agent, it was a sure thing.

When Lavezzi was having conflicts with Chen Hero in the team, he, as a qualified agent, kept persuading Lavezzi to leave this team. Napoli was just a small team, and even if their chairman announced some laughable second five-year plan, it was impossible for them to really become a wealthy club in five years. So if you want to take your career to the next level, you have to go to a bigger stage.

"Don't worry, Alerdo, I won't change my mind. Okay, I think I can talk to Juventus about personal terms now..."

Lavezzi hung up the phone.

He walked to the balcony of his house and looked out at the Bay of Naples at the foot of the mountain.

It was brightly lit, and where the city and the sea met, there was a mysterious, brilliant, and mellow gold color, as if a spotlight was specially shining a glittering golden belt on the coast. The dark blue sea merged with the sky in the distance, and the bright moon appeared on the horizon. At first glance, it looked as if there were two moons in the sky.

He had only been in this city for a year, but he had already fallen deeply in love with it. Walking in every corner here, he seemed to be able to feel the aura of his idol, Maradona.

He loved Naples so much, but Naples had ultimately chosen to abandon him.

This made him feel resentful.

You chose someone who was destined not to love you, but you abandoned me.

You will regret it one day!

※※※

A day later, Juventus offered Napoli eight million euros to buy Lavezzi. Napoli countered with twelve million, and the two sides finally settled on a price of ten million.

Two days later, Napoli and Juventus officially announced at the same time that they had reached an agreement on Lavezzi's transfer. This summer, Lavezzi would be able to leave Napoli and go to the wealthy club he had always dreamed of.

Some media outlets commented on this transfer deal: "They sold the Argentine in the team who was closest to Maradona. It seems that everything is as Chen Hero said when he first joined the team—if they want to rebuild their glory, they must first get rid of Maradona's shadow... But this is a dangerous gamble. If it fails, De Laurentiis will not only bear the responsibility for the failure, but also have to prepare to face the saliva of those Maradona fanatics. Critics will also have something to say—'Look, I told you a long time ago that forgetting history is tantamount to betrayal! It is futile to try to erase Maradona's influence from Napoli!' But De Laurentiis has always been a controversial person, and perhaps this is the path he should take... I can only wish him good luck."

Even Maradona spoke out in Lavezzi's defense: "I think this decision by Napoli is very, very wrong! Ezequiel is the person they need, not that big guy. He can score goals, so what? Lavezzi is the one who fits the temperament of Naples..."

This was Maradona's first comment on Chen Hero. When they were arguing so fiercely at the beginning, this eternal legend of football did not say a word. Now that Lavezzi had left, he expressed his attitude towards Chen Hero. In his opinion, Chen Hero was not worthy of being the leader of Naples, and he could not bring glory to Naples—in short, he was completely pessimistic about Chen Hero.

Reporters, always nosy, immediately took Maradona's words to ask Chen Hero for his opinion.

Chen Hero's answer was very simple and consistent with his usual style: "Then I will be very happy to let such a great figure be wrong!" In today's football world, players mention Maradona with great respect, even Brazilian players. After all, his status in the world is there, but Chen Hero is an exception. Not only did he publicly say that Maradona should go to the museum on his first day of joining Napoli, but now, when he mentioned the name again, he showed no respect at all.

The media took Chen Hero's answer and happily hyped it up.

Chen Hero didn't care how the media would distort his words. Anyway, he already had enough controversy, and he didn't mind having a little more. Lice don't itch if there are too many.

He was in no mood to argue with the media. His battlefield was in the league.

In the thirty-third round of the league, Napoli played against Inter Milan at home.

This was the main event.

After this match, the opponents behind them would basically pose no threat to Napoli's results. So if they could beat Inter Milan, the road ahead would be smooth and allow them to gallop freely. If they lost to Inter Milan, the gap in points that they had just narrowed with Genoa might widen again. The result of the last round of the league, an away win against Cagliari, would also become meaningless.

So this match was the key of keys.

This match was placed at the end of the round and broadcast live nationwide in Italy.

This showed how much importance was attached to it.

※※※

ps, it's the middle of the month, if you have some extra money, don't forget to vote for *Jin Qu Zhi Xiong* if you have extra monthly tickets!

Also, I would like to report on the current progress of this book—Volume 2: Bear Alert is a transitional volume, so it will not be too long, only telling the story of Chen Hero's first season after landing in Serie A.

After this volume is over, please enjoy the more passionate and exciting third volume "Bear Out, No Alert". Smart people should be able to guess something from the title of this volume, right?

Let us enjoy the stories of those tragic cups and saucers and big coffee tables caused by not paying attention to the bear coming out in the third volume!