Chapter 1 Chen Hero

Wearing sunglasses, Chen Hero walked off the flight from Chicago to Shanghai. Among the large group of passengers, no one knew that this burly man was Chen Hero, the Chinese striker who was making a name for himself in the Russian Premier League.

Returning to his country, he felt a sense of "returning home in glory." He wanted to see if anyone would recognize him at the airport if he took off his sunglasses…

So he decisively took off his sunglasses.

He waited for a while. There were no screams, no excited shouts, and no flashes of light in front of him.

Nothing at all.

The crowd flowed past him. Although a few people curiously looked at this big man standing in the passage in a daze, no one recognized him.

Chen Hero pouted in frustration.

Forget it, I'll just buy a newspaper and see if there's any news about me!

Chen Hero thought to himself as he went to buy a copy of *Titan Sports*.

Holding it in his hand, he first turned to the international football section.

An inconspicuous piece of news popped out, catching his eye.

"Liverpool announces the signing of Slovakian young center-back Martin Škrtel, who was once a teammate of Chen Hero."

Chen Hero was stunned for a moment, then he reacted, took out his cell phone, found Škrtel's number, and sent him a text message.

"You'll have to treat, even if you go to Liverpool!"

After a while, his phone rang.

"Don't worry, I'm waiting for you to treat, Hero."

Chen Hero chuckled and didn't reply.

To be honest, in his heart, he was a little envious of this "senior" and junior member of the "eating, drinking, and having fun group" in his team, because he was the first in the team to go to a top club.

Liverpool is a top club with enough class, even if their results aren't very good.

In any case, they are more famous and have a bigger stage than Zenit Saint Petersburg.

From then on, Škrtel stepped onto a bigger stage…

But!

Chen Hero perked up when he thought of the UEFA Cup knockout stage matches next year.

I have my own stage too, and… it's not small either!

Chen Hero's phone, which he had just put down, rang again. This time it was from his agent, Dekura, who had arrived earlier.

"Are you out yet, Hero?"

"Ah… almost, almost…"

Chen Hero was delayed a bit, and he guessed that Dekura was getting anxious after waiting outside for so long.

He picked up his suitcase again, tucked the newspaper under his arm, and strode toward the exit.

His journey home would begin in Shanghai.

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The Chinese company interested in Chen Hero's endorsement was a functional beverage called *Maitong* under a beverage group.

After some bargaining, the two parties finally agreed on all the details. All Chen Hero had to do was come to Shanghai to attend the *Maitong* signing ceremony, and then shoot an advertisement and a set of photos for the other party to use in advertising and on product packaging.

As a football player, signing with a sports functional beverage was indeed a good match. The commercial endorsements that Dekura found for Chen Hero were all closely related to his personal image and career, and there would be no advertising behavior like Kaka and Ronaldo endorsing Jin嗓子喉宝 (Jin嗓子 throat lozenges), which seemed completely irrelevant.

It could be seen that his agent was carefully managing Chen Hero's image.

In today's era of overall weakness and declining image of Chinese football, most Chinese football players have no income from image endorsements—you almost never see product advertisements endorsed by football players on TV or in newspapers, right?

Chen Hero's ability to sign with *Maitong* was not because *Maitong* actively sought out Chen Hero, but because Dekura went to *Maitong*—*Maitong* had not yet realized that they could cooperate with players like Chen Hero, and everyone habitually disliked football players at the mention of them.

However, *Maitong* also made up its mind to cooperate after seeing Chen Hero's popularity. After all, almost every weekend, people could see Chen Hero's goal news in the sports news section of CCTV Sports Channel.

Of course, they didn't know about Chen Hero's "negative news" in Russia…

This commercial endorsement contract could bring Chen Hero a total income of three million RMB over two years, which was not low in the domestic sports world.

So far, Dekura, the agent, has helped Chen Hero pull in three commercial endorsement contracts. The first one was a one-year endorsement for Clear Men shampoo, which was also the most expensive contract, worth 500,000 euros. The second was for zArA, the number one-selling casual wear brand in Spain, for a period of two years, with a total price of 600,000 euros, an average of 300,000 euros per year. The *Maitong* endorsement was the third, with a total of three million RMB over two years, which translates into 300,000 euros.

Moreover, Dekura also asked *Maitong* to invite many well-known domestic media to participate in the reporting of this signing, which greatly increased Chen Hero's popularity in China. Although the continuous goals had given him a fixed group of fans in China, these fans were limited to the football level. Dekura felt that this was far from enough. A successful sports star should be able to transcend the sport he is engaged in, just like David Beckham and Ronaldo. Many people who are not football fans should also be able to hear their names and know their existence.

In the past, Chen Hero's popularity was concentrated in the football circle, which could be seen from the fact that his name was only exposed in sports news.

In addition to the news reporting Chen Hero's goals, people lacked other ways to learn about him as a person.

How could he expand his popularity like this?

When Chen Hero held a bottle of *Maitong* in his hand and let the reporters on the scene take pictures, he smiled particularly brightly.

Like any teen idol, his appearance was handsome, his personality was lively, and he met the standards expected by the public. In addition, he was also an athlete with a strong physique, making the endorsement of this beverage a match made in heaven.

Afterwards, the media also helped spread Chen Hero's popularity when reporting on the signing. Because… a football player being able to get a commercial endorsement contract in China… was in itself a very noteworthy thing!

"...In recent years, the image of Chinese football has plummeted, which has also affected the players. How many Chinese professional players still have commercial endorsements? At least I, as a reporter, have never seen any... But Chen Hero has risen sharply in such a miserable environment and obtained the endorsement of a well-known domestic beverage brand. I think this may be enlightening to many people..."

"Yesterday, Chen Hero, a player playing football in Russia, returned to China to participate in the endorsement signing ceremony of a well-known domestic brand. The person in charge of the brand revealed to reporters that inviting Chen Hero to be the spokesperson was a well-considered decision and definitely not a temporary hype. They believe that Chen Hero's healthy sports image is very consistent with the product positioning... Chen Hero just won the league's top scorer award in the Russian League and broke the historical record. His popularity is increasing day by day, and I believe that the company's signing of him is a very cost-effective signing..."

"...Yesterday, a beverage brand in our country held a press conference to introduce their new product spokesperson to the public... Many people therefore know the name Chen Hero. This football player currently plays for Zenit Saint Petersburg in the Russian Premier League and is the team's number one shooter... In the just-concluded 2007 season, he scored twenty-seven league goals alone..."

Not only sports media, but also some comprehensive newspapers such as daily newspapers and evening newspapers were introducing Chen Hero to everyone.

It could be seen that *Maitong*'s public relations department had put a lot of effort into maintaining good relations with the media, and they must have given a lot of red envelopes. Otherwise, how could a simple signing attract so many media to introduce them with so much ink?

For Chen Hero, this was a win-win situation. He got the endorsement fee, and the media helped him promote it for free...

His popularity in China soared.

※※※

After filming the television and print advertisements in Shanghai, Chen Hero finally returned to his hometown and met with his parents.

Unlike the last time, this time when his parents came to pick up Chen Hero at the airport, they were surrounded by a group of reporters, most of whom were local media from Chengdu, who came specifically to report on Chen Hero's return home.

Look, just returning home has reporters coming to interview and report. Chen Hero's treatment is indeed very different now.

But this time, he didn't go out and play everywhere like last time. The time was too short, and he had to stay at home with his parents.

Reporter interviews? No time.

Program announcements? Have you contacted my agent?

At home, Chen Hero once again expressed that he was making a lot of money now, and his parents didn't have to work so hard, opening that clothing store from early to late every day.

But his father still smiled and didn't answer, not agreeing to the retirement request.

He just told Chen Hero not to worry about the situation at home when he was outside, and just focus on playing football.

During this week, Chen Hero had another task—to teach his parents how to use a computer to go online and have video calls with him.

Because his mother missed her son too much, and just relying on phone calls was no longer enough to satisfy her. So, it was better to use online video calls, so she could not only hear his voice, but also see his face.

In a week, Chen Hero finally taught his parents the most basic operations in a superficial way—turning the computer on and off, opening QQ, and opening a video call request.

Typing?

There was no time to teach that at all. Chen Hero could only throw his parents a Xinhua dictionary and let them practice typing in pinyin according to it when they had nothing to do...

This time, Chen Hero still spent New Year's Day at home before setting off to leave, heading to Beijing to participate in an online video live broadcast organized by an online media outlet.

After the interview, he would leave China and return to Saint Petersburg, Russia.

He came and went in a hurry in China, busy as a bee.

When he boarded the plane back to Saint Petersburg, he sighed to Dekura, his agent, beside him.

"It's fucking tiring!"

Dekura smiled.

"This is just the beginning, Hero. You're not a world-class star yet. When that time comes… the vacation you can enjoy will be even shorter."

Chen Hero thought for a while. "Okay, then I'll count how much money I make every day, and I'll feel balanced!"

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ps, I know everyone doesn't like to read excessive transition chapters, so let this uninteresting holiday pass quickly!

In the last chapter, Chen Hero was cheering and jumping—the holiday has begun!

In this chapter, he bowed his head with a bitter face: The holiday is over...

In order to satisfy everyone's desires, Chen Hero's holiday has been compressed to only two chapters. For his hard work, please give him some monthly tickets!