Chapter 1 Teenie Weenie

Chen Yingxiong felt very strange. When he arrived for training, his teammates looked at him oddly, smiles playing on their lips, but he couldn't figure out what they were smiling about.

At first, he thought his zipper was down, so he specifically looked down, only to find his little bird safely caged.

Was there something dirty on his face? He wiped it, but there was nothing.

"Hey, Yingxiong. Have you watched the news, read the papers, or been online these past two days?" Denisov's first words to Chen Yingxiong were these.

"No, I've been busy learning to drive," Chen Yingxiong shook his head.

Then he saw Denisov seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and the surrounding teammates suddenly became enthusiastic.

"Ah! Yingxiong, your goal the other day was so awesome!"

"Yeah, yeah! Just like a Northern Giant Bear!"

A group of people said cheesy, flattering words, but Chen Yingxiong was completely baffled—there was nothing particularly amazing about that goal, so why were they praising him so much? They usually didn't react to even more spectacular goals...

This was something that confused him.

Another thing he couldn't understand was that whenever he got the ball during training, he would hear the fans outside the training ground collectively chanting "Winnie, Winnie."

What did that mean?

He didn't understand.

This was the first day of training after the holiday after the game, and for Chen Yingxiong, the atmosphere wasn't just strange, but...very strange!

※※※

After training, when Chen Yingxiong walked outside the training base, ready to call a taxi back to his apartment, he found Uncle Ivanov smiling and waving at him: "Winnie, hello!"

He heard that name again!

Chen Yingxiong felt inexplicable. Uncle Ivanov knew him; he had been running this newsstand here for a long time. When he lived in the training base, he would often come here to buy newspapers and magazines. He and Ivanov were very familiar...

Why was he calling him "Winnie" too?

When did I get such a nickname?

He walked over, intending to ask clearly, while his eyes scanned Ivanov's newsstand, planning to buy a few newspapers to take back.

At that moment, he saw a very striking photo, a shot of himself celebrating a goal with his back to the camera, but on his back was a poster, and the figure in the painting was... Winnie the Pooh!

This photo appeared on the front page of a newspaper, the headline above the photo was a striking "Terrible 'Winnie the Pooh'! Fourteenth Goal!"

"What the f—!" Chen Yingxiong's mother tongue blurted out.

※※※

"...In yesterday's match between Zenit and Spartak Nalchik, the most eye-catching thing was not the goal, nor the victory, but Chen Yingxiong's celebration after scoring... This showed us a different Chen Yingxiong! The arrogant him used to annoy many people, but this time he seems to be taking a cute route..."

Chen Yingxiong threw the newspaper away.

Cute my ass!

You're the one taking the cute route, your whole family is taking the cute route!

The television, which was on, was also talking about this, and the host was having a great time. "...Yes, yes, Yingxiong's Winnie the Pooh poster is so cute! Especially with the movements of his body... Haha! This is the shot, everyone take a look! We have received many calls from fans, especially female fans and children, who are eager to express their support and love for Chen Yingxiong's celebration! But what I want to say is that this must not have been Chen Yingxiong's idea, because...let's take a look at this slow-motion replay..."

Chen Yingxiong's attention was drawn to the TV.

"This was taken by a camera from another angle..."

On the screen, he saw that after he scored, Anyukov ran straight to the bench, and then took something from Denisov.

The picture froze there. The host's voice rang out: "The key is here, Anyukov took something from Denisov, so what is it?"

The picture suddenly switched to the movement of him celebrating the goal with his back to the camera.

"Winnie the Pooh!"

Chen Yingxiong shuddered.

"Actually, it's like this, Anyukov took this poster from Denisov, and then... everyone look here, under the cover of Arshavin and Kerzhakov, he successfully slapped the poster on Chen Yingxiong's back while going up to celebrate the goal! And look at Chen Yingxiong's expression... he's still happy about the goal, and doesn't know anything about what's happening behind his back, hahaha!"

"Damn it!" Chen Yingxiong finally discovered the culprit!

Bad friends! This group of bastards...

At this moment, he received a call from Dekula.

"Yingxiong, there's a new endorsement invitation, are you interested?"

Of course he was interested in making money. Chen Yingxiong perked up: "Tell me."

"A clothing brand under the Korean E-Land Group wants to invite you to be their spokesperson."

"E-Land Group? I've never heard of it."

"It's the largest fashion company in South Korea."

"Sounds pretty awesome. The price shouldn't be low, right? What brand is it specifically?"

"Teenie Weenie."

"..." Chen Yingxiong paused for a moment, "You're not here to make fun of me, are you, Mr. Aurora?"

"It's not me, they're interested in you..."

"They only became interested after that thing was stuck on my back, right?"

Dekula finally laughed: "Hahahaha—"

Listening to his long laughter, he must have been holding back for a long time, right? Chen Yingxiong rolled his eyes, this Mr. Aurora is becoming more and more like a human being, which isn't necessarily a good thing...

"Just laugh if you want!"

"Alright," the laughter stopped abruptly, "Give me an answer so I can reply to them."

"The answer is—rejection." Chen Yingxiong answered decisively without hesitation.

"You really won't consider it?"

"Not at all!"

If he really endorsed some Teenie Weenie clothing, wouldn't this nickname stay with him for the rest of his life? He wasn't that stupid, he wouldn't give others a handle to tease and laugh at him!

※※※

The next day, when Denisov walked into the locker room humming a song, a dark shadow rushed towards him, blocking all the light, and he only felt a darkness in front of his eyes...

By the time he reacted, Chen Yingxiong had already grabbed his collar.

"Denisov!"

Chen Yingxiong used to call him "Commander." Suddenly calling him by his name meant he was definitely angry.

Denisov knew instantly that this kid finally knew... He quickly raised his hands: "Don't shoot! I surrender! It was just a joke, Yingxiong!"

"A joke? You made me the laughingstock of everyone!" Chen Yingxiong brought his face close to Denisov's, spitting saliva stars at him.

Anyukov shrank in the corner, looking at Denisov with sympathy, he had just been blasted with Chen Yingxiong's saliva spray.

When this bear roared at him, he really felt like he wasn't facing a human, but a brown bear living in the Siberian jungle...

"We'll take you to Katyusha!" Denisov quickly begged for mercy.

"I can go to that place myself!"

"We'll take you to eat Chinese food at Ruilongju..."

"Thanks, I'm very familiar with the boss there."

"We... uh... I got it!" Denisov shouted, "I know a very good tattoo artist!"

"So what?"

"Don't you especially like the nickname Northern Giant Bear? I think you can get a giant bear tattooed on your body!"

Chen Yingxiong was stunned for a moment, the hand tightly gripping Denisov's collar involuntarily loosened, and the commander took the opportunity to slip away.

He said to Chen Yingxiong, grabbing his neck: "You can consider it, Yingxiong, anyway, I think it's pretty cool!"

For young people today, tattoos are already a symbol of fashion, although for many Chinese people, tattoos still have some ambiguous relationship with "gangsters," "hooligans," "thugs," and the "underworld."

But in foreign countries, tattoos are very normal, and many sports stars like to tattoo themselves, the most famous being Beckham, who is almost covered in tattoos...

Chen Yingxiong is still an untouched virgin land.

He doesn't reject tattoos, but he had never thought about it before.

Now that Denisov had reminded him, he felt that it really seemed feasible.

He turned around and grabbed Denisov, who was planning to slip away: "Where's your friend?"

※※※

"Are you sure this is the place?" Chen Yingxiong looked around. He and Denisov were standing on a street that looked quite dilapidated. The dim streetlights couldn't bring any heartwarming light to this street.

The houses on both sides of the road were old and dilapidated, but they were very lively. Burly men with tattoos on their arms and necks roamed the streets, drunks fell under the streetlights, at the sewer entrances, and next to the trash cans in the dark corners... Prostitutes with a lot of powder on their faces and a pungent fragrance on their bodies stood on the roadside waving and soliciting customers.

"Come play, handsome guy!"

"Strong man, you'll be satisfied!"

Chen Yingxiong covered his nose and pushed away a prostitute who took the initiative to grab his arm, and asked the question just now.

This was not the "most beautiful in Europe" St. Petersburg he usually saw, but a dark world completely unfamiliar to him.

"Of course, it's just ahead." Denisov pointed forward.

Chen Yingxiong looked in the direction he was pointing, and in the midst of a riot of colorful neon lights, he saw that inconspicuous sign: "Shitty Tattoos."

"..." Chen Yingxiong was shocked by this domineering name. He turned his head to look at Denisov.

"Ha, pretty unique, right?" Denisov said with a dry laugh.

"Too unique..."

The tattoo shop's sign was small, and the shop itself wasn't very eye-catching.

"Monster! Monster!" Standing at the door of the shop, Denisov shouted.

This name almost made Chen Yingxiong trip...

Monster's Shitty Tattoo Shop...

What is all this!

He looked up and a... a ray of light walked out from inside! Chen Yingxiong felt a flash before his eyes, and the starlight-like light almost blinded him.

When his vision returned to normal, he saw a... white bald man. He was full of holes, covered in various metal ornaments.

Chen Yingxiong looked up at the bald man who walked out of the shop. Anyone who required Chen Yingxiong to look up... couldn't be short!

"Hello, Igor." The bald man spoke, his voice hoarse, like the kind of voice that never recovers from a throat infection.

"Hello, Monster!" Denisov raised his hand to greet him, then pointed to Chen Yingxiong next to him. "I brought my friend to get a tattoo!"

The bald "Monster" turned to look at Chen Yingxiong, then nodded, and turned to walk into the shop.

"Follow me."