Chapter 1 Forging Iron

For Liverpool, coming to Beijing to play in the Holy Temple Cup was naturally something they were happy to do, because it gave them another opportunity to continue expanding their influence in China. Chen Hero's appeal, coupled with Liverpool's own influence, meant that the theme color of the Chinese football market this summer would be red.

For this reason, Liverpool also attached great importance to this game. Gareth Bale, who had just joined the team, also came with the team. All the main players, except for those who were injured, came to China.

During the trip, they also had to participate in two commercial activities, with Chen Hero as the main attraction.

Because it was stipulated that Chen Hero must participate, it was written into the contract at the time. If Chen Hero did not attend, or attended for less than the specified time, then Liverpool would be in breach of contract and would have to pay compensation.

From the moment they arrived at the Capital International Airport, Chen Hero and Liverpool felt the enthusiasm of the Chinese fans.

About several hundred fans came from all over the country. Some of them wore Chen Hero's number nine jersey from Liverpool, some held posters of Chen Hero from his Napoli days, and some wore Chinese national team jerseys, but with Chen Hero's name and number printed on the back, and held up a banner that read: "Football Association, apologize and bring Hero back to the national team!"

These people were particularly excited when they saw Chen Hero appear. They waved everything they could wave in their hands and cheered and screamed.

Chen Hero smiled and waved to his compatriots.

He felt good about his second time back to play a game.

Although he still couldn't represent the Chinese national team in matches.

But the Football Association should be the one worrying about this, not him.

He had already decided that if any media outlets asked him about this issue again, he would directly announce that if the Football Association publicly apologized and sincerely invited him, then he might consider returning to the national team, otherwise, forget it.

He wasn't afraid of what others would say about him, nor was he afraid of being labeled as "unpatriotic." He was who he was, and no one could change his decision. He was at odds with the Football Association.

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But he was overthinking it. This time, no one asked him this unpleasant question—over the years, his attitude had been very clear, and everyone knew what he thought. The Football Association's attitude was also clear: they still turned a blind eye to Chen Hero, and for good reason. The Football Association had now replaced the person in charge with a leader who had previously managed the national ball team with great success. It was said that this leader was very dissatisfied with Chen Hero's undisciplined and unpatriotic behavior, so he had issued an internal rule: no one was allowed to apologize to Chen Hero on behalf of the individual or the Football Association.

In that case, the matter was completely hopeless. Now, everyone was gradually accustomed to seeing things separately: on one side was Chinese football, and on the other was Chen Hero. They paid attention to national team events, but it didn't prevent them from cheering for Chen Hero. When watching Chen Hero's games, they automatically switched to club mode and never thought about childish questions like "How great would it be if Hero was in the national team?" When watching national team games, they automatically switched to national team mode, vowing that they would never watch again, but the next time they would continue to sit in front of the TV and curse, but they would never think about unrealistic things like "If we had Hero, we would definitely win this game."

Chen Hero and the national team were like two parallel lines...

But someone asked him another question, a question that surprised Chen Hero.

Because this question was related to "nationality."

The matter had to be traced back to a few days earlier—just when the entire Liverpool team was setting off from Liverpool to Beijing, a "authoritative message" suddenly began to spread wildly online: "...According to British media reports, the English Football Association is secretly contacting Chen Hero to ask him if he is willing to change his nationality and play for the English national team..."

A screenshot of an English website was also attached, and the news in the screenshot was indeed about this.

In today's online world, news spreads very quickly, let alone a hot social topic.

On Weibo, in forums, and in QQ groups, this news was spreading at the speed of light in China's online world.

It also attracted the attention of traditional media.

Some people also verified it and found that there was indeed such a news item on the website of the British media outlet. However, it was not very long.

The main content was that the English Football Association was talking to Chen Hero about naturalization. They promised many preferential conditions, as long as Chen Hero agreed to join British citizenship, everything would be easy to discuss. The article also analyzed the possibility of Chen Hero joining the English national team to play, although Chen Hero had been selected for the Chinese Olympic team, but in fact, he had not played a single game for the Olympic team—he had only stayed in the Olympic team for one day in total...

In this way, Chen Hero would have the conditions to play for the English team without violating FIFA regulations.

But in fact, this article was still wrong. FIFA regulations state that as long as you have not represented any country in an international A-level match, you can change your nationality at any age and play for other countries. The Olympics are not considered an A-level event, but only B-level, so even if Chen Hero participated in the Olympics, it would not prevent him from changing his nationality.

Of course, now Chen Hero had even fewer obstacles.

This news had sources and origins, and it was written in a very serious manner, which really fooled many Chinese fans and reporters.

As everyone knows, the Chinese media has a habit of reprinting news from foreign media to fill their own news, so with everyone working together to reprint it, this news quickly became known throughout the country. Whether they were fans or not, everyone now knew about this. It had become the most popular topic on Weibo, ranking at the top of the topic charts.

Countless fans expressed their concerns.

Because the current situation really made them worry. When those media outlets reprinted this article, they added fuel to the fire and added a lot of their own private opinions...

So, the very initial contact between the English Football Association and Chen Hero eventually became "Chen Hero has confirmed that he will change his nationality to join the English football team and participate in the 2014 World Cup!"

Because China does not allow dual citizenship, there was only one way for Chen Hero to join the English football team—give up his Chinese nationality, swear allegiance to the Queen of England, and become a British citizen.

This was naturally unacceptable to many Chinese fans. For them, Chen Hero was already the last hope for Chinese football in their hearts.

If Chen Hero couldn't join the national team, would they even be deprived of the joy of watching him play for his club?

Although Chen Hero would still be a Chinese with yellow skin and black hair even if he changed his nationality, his identity would have changed from a Chinese citizen to a British citizen, and there would be a huge gap between them.

Jeremy Lin, who suddenly rose to prominence in the American professional men's basketball league, was a typical example of this. Although he was Chinese, he grew up and was educated in the United States, and he was an American citizen, so his relationship with China was not very deep. Although the media hyped him up a lot at the beginning, making many people interested in this Chinese player, as time went on, the Jeremy Lin craze passed. In the eyes of most Chinese fans, he was just an ordinary NBA player, not comparable to Yao Ming at all.

And he himself did not admit that he was Chinese. If they had to force a relationship just because the other person also had yellow skin and black hair and their ancestors were Chinese, it would be very boring to offer a warm face to someone's cold backside.

Only when they needed to make money from the Chinese market would such people "suddenly" remember their "Chinese" identity. At other times, if there was no money to be made, they would not have time to pay attention to what the Chinese people thought...

Therefore, many people did not want Chen Hero to go this far. Once he gave up his motherland and chose another country that had nothing to do with him, how many people would turn from his fans to his mortal enemies... Because for them, Chen Hero would no longer be the hero they could be proud of, but a traitor who could abandon his country for vanity.

After all, football was just football, and the motherland meant much more.

Of course, the world was so big that there could not be only one voice on any matter.

Where there were objections, there were also supporters.

Moreover, many of the supporters were media personalities and so-called experts and professors. They believed that since Chen Hero had no chance to participate in the World Cup by staying in China, it would be a pity for the World Cup and for himself that such a great player could not participate in the World Cup, and it would also be a pity for fans around the world. Therefore, for the sake of the world's fans and for all those who loved him, he should resolutely abandon such illusory things as nationality and go to a country that would allow him to participate in the World Cup.

Most of the ordinary fans who supported him in changing his nationality were motivated by their disgust for the Chinese Football Association and hoped to see Chen Hero participate in the World Cup and slap the Football Association in the face.

The two sides clashed constantly on the internet, attacking each other, and it had become a fierce war...

In addition, new news kept popping up, such as the Italian Football Association and the Russian Football Association issuing statements that Chen Hero was their man!

For a time, the internet was in chaos.

No one knew what the truth was.

But it seemed that no one had thought about whether the person involved, Chen Hero, was willing to change his nationality...

In their opinion, Chen Hero seemed to have made up his mind to change his nationality. After all, the Chinese Football Association had done such a terrible job in this regard, and any person with blood might do such a thing on impulse, let alone the foolish Chen Hero—what was there that he couldn't do?

When Chen Hero arrived in China, everyone naturally wanted to hear Chen Hero's views on this matter—whether he intended to stay or leave...

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This matter had been raging the most on the internet. Although mainstream media had also reported it, Chen Hero didn't watch the news or read the newspapers, so how would he know that such a thing had happened?

He was asked this question at the first press conference after arriving in China.

When he heard this question, Chen Hero was stunned for a moment: "Sorry, I didn't hear clearly... Can you say that again?"

The reporter had no choice but to repeat his question: "Some media outlets claim that you intend to change your nationality in order to obtain the opportunity to participate in the World Cup. Is this true?"

Chen Hero was sure that he had not misheard. The reporter was really asking about changing his nationality.

He suddenly laughed, because this question was too absurd, and he couldn't help but laugh: "Where did you hear that from?"

"Uh, many media outlets are reporting on this matter now, and it's also spreading on the internet..."

"That's amazing, I'm hearing about it for the first time!" Chen Hero spread out his hands. "It's fake, a rumor."

Although Chen Hero had already denied the rumor, as a reporter, he had to have the professional qualities to get to the bottom of things. Chen Hero only said that it was a rumor, but he didn't say whether he had this idea...

"Then if they really come to you, Hero..."

Chen Hero felt that this question was really boring. He didn't want to answer it, but he was afraid that he would be misinterpreted by these media outlets, so he simply shook his head and replied: "I have no intention of changing my nationality to participate in the World Cup."

The next reporter stood up. He had just opened his mouth and hadn't had time to speak when Chen Hero interrupted him: "You're not here to ask about my nationality, are you? I won't answer that question, it's too boring!"

The other person was stunned for a moment, and then said: "Uh, no. It's about your Holy Temple Cup..."

"Oh, then you can ask." Chen Hero didn't forget to warn all the other reporters in the audience. "Don't ask any questions about nationality. I won't answer them. If you ask, I'll leave."

He put on a big star attitude, but no one got up in anger and walked out to protest.

Chen Hero was qualified to act like a big shot in front of them.

Moreover, he had already given the answer that the reporters wanted to know the most. If they weren't allowed to ask, then they wouldn't ask...

The press conference continued, but Chen Hero began to be a little absent-minded.

Because of that sentence just now, the reaction he got from the reporters made him care about this matter—it seemed that this matter had a big impact?

In that case, what kind of voices would appear...

He planned to go online to find the news and take a look after the press conference.

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Chen Hero almost smashed his laptop. Many people were already scolding him as a traitor.

But he had never even thought about changing his nationality!

Although on the internet today, "traitor" was no longer just an insulting term, and had even become a compliment that many people flaunted, it was still a very serious insult to Chen Hero.

Just because of a rumor from some damn media outlet, he had suffered such a great misfortune. Chen Hero felt that he had been wronged too much. If he had really changed his nationality, then he would have accepted being scolded as a traitor, but the point was that he hadn't!

What the hell was going on!

Chen Hero suddenly felt that his lighthearted remarks at the press conference might not have been enough.
Hu Die Lan