Chapter 1 Chen Yingxiong Receives a Text

Chen Yingxiong turned on his phone after getting off the plane and saw the text message from Sharapova.

"What do you think?"

He stared at the message for a while, then backed out without replying.

Because like Sharapova, he didn't know how to respond.

Too much had happened in the past week, and both of them were overwhelmed. Their minds were still buzzing, full of things they hadn't had time to digest.

Chen Yingxiong decided to calm down and think it over.

Chen Yingxiong was actually quite busy. In addition to the team's regular training, he also had to find time for special training in the dungeon, enduring the pressure of gravity higher than normal on Earth for live-fire exercises. He knew that this kind of training could lead to injury or even ruin. He had almost been injured by Li Hao in the dungeon once. Everyone in the system seemed to feel the same way about him as they did in the outside world. Li Hao didn't like him in real life, and it was the same in the dungeon.

If Chen Yingxiong hadn't dodged quickly, he would have had to make up an excuse about stubbing his toe in the shower and missing a month of games...

Despite this, he still suffered a minor injury and had to end his training early.

That injury made Chen Yingxiong realize that what Dracula had told him before was not bragging or sensationalism, but the truth—he really could end his career early because of special training in the dungeon!

Injuries can happen in real training, not to mention in the more demanding environment of the dungeon...

In addition to training desperately in the dungeon to gain more experience points to help him level up, Chen Yingxiong had many other things to do. For example, he had to learn to drive...

But he had been too busy last week to find the time. Starting this week, he would start learning how to drive.

None of this mattered as much as the reporters, who were like flies buzzing around him incessantly.

Now, there were even more reporters waiting in cars outside his apartment building. They obviously wanted to capture the moment when Sharapova came out of his apartment again, which would be irrefutable proof.

Chen Yingxiong looked down from his bedroom window, saw the row of cars and the groups of reporters gathered together, and shook his head with gritted teeth.

What else could he do?

He picked up the newspaper he had bought, and the entire page was filled with news about his scandal with Sharapova. The reporters had somehow found out that Chen Yingxiong and Sharapova had filmed an advertisement for Clear Shampoo together, playing a couple in the commercial, and they were making a big deal out of it.

The reporters' stories became more and more legendary, more and more detailed. Some said that he had met Sharapova because he had saved her from danger, some said that he and Sharapova had been secretly seeing each other for a long time, and others said that he was with Sharapova because he was attracted to her money and fame and wanted to use her to climb the ladder...

As for the details of their relationship, the reporters wrote even more vividly.

After reading it, Chen Yingxiong admired the reporters from Zhejiang. What a waste of talent for them not to write pornographic novels.

He was a man, so he didn't care about being written about like that, but Sharapova was a woman, and she must have been very upset to be made up like that.

Sharapova had learned how to deal with it. Her strategy was to ignore all the news about her and Chen Yingxiong's scandal, not to read the newspapers or watch TV.

Let them say what they want, as long as she didn't know.

Being in St. Petersburg felt like being an animal locked in a cage, surrounded by people pointing and staring. She decided to end her vacation early and return to the United States.

Although there were also boring newspapers in the United States, she had more ways to deal with the media there. And the media there were a little more restrained when writing about her than the Russian media—at least they wouldn't write about her and Chen Yingxiong's relationship like it was softcore pornography...

She had read some of it before, and her face had turned red with embarrassment, so she threw the newspaper aside.

Now she was smarter.

She booked a flight for tomorrow. When the time came, her agent would deal with the reporters, and she would naturally sneak out through a side door, get into a waiting car, and go straight to the airport.

She was leaving tomorrow. Sharapova stroked the small, exquisite phone in her hand, hesitating about a question.

Should I tell him?

In the end, Sharapova didn't say goodbye to Chen Yingxiong. This was normal. What was the relationship between her and Chen Yingxiong? Why did she need to say goodbye specifically? She still hadn't figured this out yet.

When Chen Yingxiong was asked about his relationship with Sharapova again, he always answered, "There's nothing between us."

Sharapova had left, and the media seemed to have gotten tired of it. In modern society, people's interests are easily diverted. Scandals come and go quickly.

Besides the fans of the two, how many people cared?

So soon, the Russian and American media moved on to new chapters.

Chen Yingxiong regained his peace and quiet. The reporters who waited day and night outside his apartment building became fewer and fewer, and eventually returned to their previous state.

He also hadn't received any more calls or texts from Sharapova. The message "What do you think?" remained in his inbox, but he never replied, because Chen Yingxiong still didn't know how to answer the question that he had raised and been thrown back at him.

The story between him and Sharapova seemed to have ended just like that.

The Clear Shampoo commercial was released a week after filming and caused a sensation in the media. The commercial was very relevant to the previous scandal. In addition, before the commercial was released, many media outlets had already hyped it up, making the whole of Russia aware that there was such a commercial about to be released, starring Chen Yingxiong and Sharapova, the male and female celebrities who had a scandal, so everyone was looking forward to it. During that time, the media was full of the name of this shampoo, and the publicity effect was better than expected.

Needless to say, the advertising director who came up with this idea made a lot of money, and Clear was not stingy with the commission at all.

Clear also gained a lot of benefits from this signing.

Another benefit that they hadn't expected was that... the Chinese media was also helping them promote it.

At this time, they realized what Chen Yingxiong, a player playing football in Russia, had behind him—a huge and attractive market. Of course, this was not the first time they had entered the Chinese market. In fact, they had been there for a long time, but no one minded having another strong product spokesperson.

They were already brewing a plan to sign a contract with Chen Yingxiong specifically for the Chinese market. If they were to shoot another commercial, it would be launched in the Chinese market...

While Chen Yingxiong was dealing with the scandal with Sharapova and media relations, the Russian league did not stop its progress. It continued to move forward at a fixed frequency of one game per week.

On May 6th, in the eighth round of the league, Zenit St. Petersburg played against Soviet Wings at home. This team was responsible for Chen Yingxiong's hat-trick last season, which was the first hat-trick of his career. So he had a deep impression of this opponent.

However, Chen Yingxiong's weaknesses were also revealed starting from that game.

Soviet Wings was naturally well-prepared for this rematch with Zenit. They had two central defenders with excellent headers and strong aerial defense capabilities. They had a good foundation for defending Chen Yingxiong.

But they were not able to extend Chen Yingxiong's goalless streak to two games.

Chen Yingxiong discovered the effect of the "Air Master" talent in the game. There are many ways to manifest jumping ability. It was not very obvious in other aspects, but he felt it very clearly in the speed of his jump!

When he and his opponent jumped at the same time, he was always the first to reach the highest point.

This allowed him to take the initiative in the header competition.

In fact, that was exactly what happened...

Chen Yingxiong pushed down on Soviet Wings' central defender Bus and headed the ball in.

"Hero... Hero... Long shot—" commentator Vasily. Hilgayevsky stood up excitedly and shouted.

"He scored his eighth goal in the league! His goal drought lasted only one round! The league has started eight rounds, and he has already scored eight goals! An average of one goal per game! What amazing data! A genius is rising before our eyes!"

It was no wonder that Hilgayevsky was so excited. After all, he was a commentator from St. Petersburg and naturally favored the home team.

In the previous round of the league, although Chen Yingxiong performed actively, he did not score a goal, which made the media laugh at him. They said that he was too busy indulging in Sharapova's body and commercial activities and had forgotten his job.

Some media outlets were already speculating about how many more rounds it would take for Chen Yingxiong to score next, as if Chen Yingxiong's goal drought had already arrived. In particular, the Moscow media were completely watching with a mocking look.

Who would have thought that Chen Yingxiong would use this goal to prove that the previous round of the league was just a small mistake and a small accident, and that his scoring momentum had not really come to a screeching halt, and that he was still moving forward.

After scoring the goal, Chen Yingxiong raised his arms and cheered to celebrate the goal. The stands of Petrovsky Stadium were filled with cheers, and everyone was shouting his name: "Hero! Hero!!"

His teammates rushed up and surrounded Chen Yingxiong, patting him and congratulating him on his goal.

"You're crazy! This is the eighth goal! Just two more goals, and the number of goals will be in double digits!"

The top scorer in the Russian league only scores a dozen or so goals. At this rate, Chen Yingxiong might really be able to win the league's top scorer this season...

Advocaat also stood up from his seat and raised his hands to celebrate the goal. Finally, he said to his assistant coach, Potter, "Well, Kurt? Do you still have prejudices against him now?"

He had always known that Potter didn't like this Chinese kid, but he never said anything. As his assistant coach, he needed to maintain a relationship of mutual trust, and he didn't want to fall out with his assistant because of a player. So he could only let Chen Yingxiong conquer his assistant coach with his actual actions.

In other words, if Chen Yingxiong really had the ability, then he would rather fall out with Potter than support this young man. If he didn't have the ability, then he wouldn't bother to offend an assistant coach to help a waste.

Fortunately, Chen Yingxiong's performance was quite perfect. Since his first appearance, he had played a total of only nineteen official league games for Zenit's first team, but he had already scored eighteen goals, averaging close to one goal per game. Was such a performance not enough to convince Potter?

Kurt. Potter nodded helplessly: "With such a performance, what else can I say? I just think... such a person is difficult to manage, Dick."

Advocaat shrugged: "I'll do my best."

Potter did say one thing that made Advocaat particularly headache – although Chen Yingxiong was talented, his personality made him difficult to manage. How to guide such an unruly person onto the right path would test his coaching ability. But...

"It's also very challenging," Advocaat added. "At least I feel very accomplished this way, haha."

Looking at his appearance, Potter shrugged. Dick really doted on this Chen Yingxiong. He admired Chen Yingxiong's talent in football very much, but as for Chen Yingxiong's personality... he remained skeptical. He always felt that people with Chen Yingxiong's personality liked to play around and didn't listen to others, and they would suffer sooner or later. Now, he was sailing smoothly, but what would happen if he encountered setbacks in the future? He would most likely fall into depravity, right?

He had nothing to say about Chen Yingxiong's present. As for Chen Yingxiong's future, he would wait and see.