Chapter 1 Before the Battle

Before the match against sCheerenveen, ranked fifth in the league, many Dutch people held this view: "Admitting that Zhang Jun and Yang Pan do have some strength, but most of the opponents they have encountered are not very strong, which makes them seem outstanding. In fact, their level should be in the middle of Dutch youth players, far from the super-class level mentioned by some Chinese media. They are still far from vandermeyde, vandervaart, mido, and ibrahimovic. Some media hype them up simply because they come from China, that distant and mysterious land."

Because there was a league match tomorrow, today's training ended earlier. The film crew followed Zhang and Yang from the training ground to their apartment. This was the first time the film crew had filmed where they lived.

Although the players are young, they also need privacy. The film crew will not enter their apartment to film their lives unless it is necessary. Today, because there is a game tomorrow, Qi Wei believes that they should film some of their pre-match activities. Moreover, after tomorrow's game, most of them will fly back to Beijing, leaving only two resident reporters to continue their work and send news about Zhang Jun and Yang Pan back to the station from time to time.

They had never filmed it before, but today Qi Wei wanted to film some scenes from their lives, which would objectively and comprehensively reflect the situation of the two players studying abroad.

The two of them showered in the locker room, changed into clean clothes, and led the film crew back to their apartment. On the way, Qi Wei told the two of them not to mind the camera. "Just treat it like a puff of air," he said, pointing to the cameraman. "Just do whatever you usually do, as if a friend has come to your house. That's me, a friend from afar." Qi Wei patted his chest. "Just chat or something. Don't act like you're filming a movie. Just relax."

However, Zhang Jun seemed to be too relaxed. He said to Yang Pan with a worried look, "There's not enough food at home."

Yang Pan was puzzled: "Didn't we just buy rice and noodles a few days ago? We haven't eaten much!"

Zhang Jun pointed to the film crew. "So many friends have come. We have to prepare food for them!"

Everyone laughed, and the cameraman almost fell to the ground with the camera. Qi Wei quickly explained: "Haha! You guys eat your food, don't worry about us. We'll go back to the hotel to eat after we're done filming."

"Don't be shy. My cooking is not bad. Try it!" Zhang Jun insisted.

"It's not... it's..." Qi Wei didn't know what to say, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Yang Pan was smarter. He slapped Zhang Jun on the head. "Damn it! They're here to film our daily lives, not a Manchu Han Imperial Feast. What does it look like to have seven people's meals on the table? Do you want the audience at home to think we're pigs? Eating so much in one meal! Stupid!"

"Ha... that's what I meant. Yang Pan is right. Just pretend we don't exist."

"Oh." Zhang Jun rubbed his head, which had been slapped by Yang Pan. "I see. Then you guys are really working hard, not even knowing when you'll get to eat."

"Hehe..." Qi Wei chuckled twice. Many years later, when Qi Wei recalled this experience, he didn't think Zhang Jun was as stupid as Yang Pan said. He was just too simple.

After entering the apartment, Zhang Jun threw down his bag and went to the kitchen to get busy, while Yang Pan turned on the mini stereo he had bought not long ago with his newly received salary, letting music fill the entire apartment. Then he sat on the sofa and picked up the football magazine that the film crew had brought them from China. There were many reports about him and Zhang Jun, but the content was mostly the same, and he was just flipping through it casually.

"Aren't you going to help?" Qi Wei asked Yang Pan from outside the camera.

Yang Pan shook his head, feeling a little embarrassed. "Zhang Jun said that I'm more of a hindrance than a help in the kitchen. I always have to knock something over before I'm done, so he doesn't let me into the kitchen."

Qi Wei laughed. "So, he does all the cooking usually?"

"Yeah, his father and mother cook good dishes. He's been practicing since he was little. Now he's learned some simple Western dishes from Wang Bo, so I naturally just open my mouth to eat, haha!"

"Yang Pan, remember to wash the dishes after the meal!" Zhang Jun shouted from the kitchen.

Yang Pan rolled his eyes.

Qi Wei laughed again. "It seems there's no such thing as a free lunch in the world! Where do you usually buy these daily necessities?"

"There are several supermarkets like that in the city, so naturally we go to the cheapest one. We don't have much money, but it's enough for living."

"Do you go often?"

"No, we don't like to go to shopping malls and supermarkets. And we don't have the time. Usually, we're either training or learning Dutch, so we usually go once every two weeks, and we buy a lot of things at once and put them in the refrigerator when we get back."

Qi Wei looked around the clean room. All kinds of small ornaments and furniture were neatly arranged. He praised, "I didn't expect you to be so good at managing your lives at such a young age! Many players who go abroad have difficulties because they lack the ability to take care of themselves."

"Zhang Jun's parents are often not at home, so he has to know everything. My dad is not home for more than a few days a year, so my self-care ability is not bad."

While they were talking, Zhang Jun had already brought the food to the table. The staple food today was noodles, the dish was beef, and there was a vegetable salad. When Yang Pan saw that Zhang Jun had already started bringing dishes to the table, he also got up to get two glasses, filled them with juice, and placed a glass in front of each of them.

Qi Wei sniffed. The aroma of beef wafted over. Among the players, this was indeed a good skill!

"Is this what you usually eat?"

Zhang Jun scooped the noodles from a large basin into a plate. "Not really. We change the variety every day. Rice, noodles, chicken, beef, cheese, and so on. Everyone will get tired of eating the same thing every day!"

"Ha! I think you're more like a chef!" Qi Wei laughed.

Zhang Jun buried his head in his food, feeling embarrassed. In order not to disturb the two of them, Qi Wei didn't ask any more questions, and the cameraman turned off the camera after filming for a while.

After eating, Yang Pan washed the dishes, while Zhang Jun turned off the stereo and turned on the television.

"Do you usually watch TV a lot?" Qi Wei noticed the television as soon as he came in, but he always thought it was just a decoration. He didn't expect Zhang Jun to actually turn on the television.

Zhang Jun shook his head. "We don't understand most of the programs. Our current level of Dutch is limited to general daily conversation and football terminology, so we mostly watch football programs."

Sure enough, as soon as the television lit up, it was the sports channel. Zhang Jun glanced at the clock on the wall. "There are five minutes left. In a while, there will be an analysis of the lineups for each league match in the next two days. Watching this will help us understand our opponents." In fact, when Zhang Jun and Yang Pan first came, they just regarded the television as a decoration, but later Qiu Suhui told them that this would not work. If they wanted to get in touch with Dutch football, they had to watch the local Dutch sports channel in order to obtain all kinds of information and also to improve their Dutch language skills.

When Yang Pan finished washing the dishes and sat back on the sofa, the opening credits of the program also appeared on the screen. Ajax raised the league championship trophy high; Eindhoven's keizman headed the ball into the goal; Feyenoord's Ono made an accurate pass to assist his teammate in scoring... Qi Wei saw a scene of Zhang Jun and Yang Pan embracing each other to celebrate a goal in the quickly flashing shots.

A football flew through various scenes, and finally froze on the left side of the screen, with subtitles: Dutch Football Super League 0203 Season.

The host and the guest commentator combined the game footage from the previous round to introduce the situation of both sides in all the games in this round to the audience, and predicted the outcome and score.

Qi Wei and his group could understand English, but Dutch was still a bit difficult to understand. Yang Pan and Zhang Jun watched with great interest.

"They are now commenting on this battle for the top spot between Ajax and Eindhoven." Zhang Jun acted as a temporary translator. "The two teams now have 30 and 28 points respectively, ranking first and second. So tomorrow's game will be the focus of attention in the whole of the Netherlands. They predict that Ajax has a better chance of winning, so the score should be 2:0, Ajax wins."

Next, the orange-yellow jersey of Volendam appeared on the screen. "It's our turn." Zhang Jun straightened up.

The footage showed Zhang Jun receiving a through pass from bayes in the previous round, and poking the ball into the winning goal in front of the goalkeeper. This shot had been repeatedly played on "Tianxia Zuqiu" last week, and Qi Wei was deeply impressed. (Tianxia Zuqiu = Football World, a popular sports program on CCTV).

After scoring the goal, Zhang Jun and bayes passionately embraced, and other players also gathered around.

"They said that after our 2:1 victory over Utrecht in the last round, we have been unbeaten in seven consecutive games in the league and cup, and our momentum has been very strong recently..." Yang Pan said, "They said that young players in the team have played an important role, especially the two young players from China. Zhang Jun is now the team's top scorer with seven goals, and I am the top assist provider. But..."

When Qi Wei heard the word "but," he knew that what followed would not be good. Sure enough, Yang Pan continued: "That guest believes that the reason why the two of us have been able to achieve such results is largely because most of our opponents are not very strong, take us lightly, and are arrogant. In addition, they lost because they didn't understand us. Heerenveen is a veteran team with its strength has always been in the middle and upper reaches, so tomorrow's game is the real first test..."

"What do you think of this evaluation?" Qi Wei asked them.

Zhang Jun thought for a while: "There's some truth to it, but not entirely."

Yang Pan replied: "You can ignore what that guest said. Tomorrow we will let him know who is wrong." His answer was firm and decisive.

In order not to affect the two players' match status tomorrow, Qi Wei decided to end the filming here. After saying goodbye to the two young players, the film crew returned to the hotel in the moonlight.

Thinking about the two people's words and deeds, through this week's contact, Qi Wei discovered a problem. For Yang Pan, he could immediately say that Yang Pan's personality was bold and generous, with a very strong self-confidence, just like his hundred-meter speed and thunderous long shots that were said to be comparable to Roberto Carlos, with distinct characteristics, which was impressive.

As for Zhang Jun, in addition to his gentle smile, Qi Wei actually found that after a week, his impression of this top scorer was very vague! On the court, his performance, except for the moment of shooting and scoring, was not even as eye-catching as Yang Pan's, who played as a right midfielder. He remembered what Li Yan said when commenting on Zhang Jun:

"...In addition to shooting and celebrating goals, fans can easily ignore him, but if even the opponent ignores him, they will definitely suffer a big loss. He gives people a very quiet impression off the court, but it is also when he accumulates strength, and then suddenly erupts when he is most needed, sealing the throat with a single sword! This is Zhang Jun, a smiling assassin."

Smiling assassin...

Qi Wei suddenly found the answer. As expected of the reporter who claimed to be the most authoritative in reporting on Zhang Jun, he hit the nail on the head. That somewhat lazy smile seemed to have a magical power to calm the nerves. If he had to find a word to describe Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, Yang Pan should be more like a raging fire, extremely swift and violent, his breakthrough on the court was like a raging chariot, after sweeping through, there would be no trace of life left.

And Zhang Jun? Like a gust of wind, rolling up pieces of fallen leaves, gently caressing the face, making people feel relaxed and happy, but unintentionally, gently cutting your throat, so that you die with a smile on your face.

In Qi Wei's mind, he had already thought of the ending of this special, and it was the best ending he thought. He moved his fingers quickly and typed all his thoughts into the computer, and the rest was to return to Beijing for post-editing and production.

Finally finished writing, only a nice name is ok. Qi Wei closed the laptop, stretched, and then walked to the window, gently opened the curtains, the colleagues in the room were already asleep, and they would be busy all day tomorrow. Qi Wei looked at the deep blue night sky outside, the stars were shining, sometimes visible and sometimes not, there was no moon tonight, the stars were the protagonists.

The night is deep, but the dream has just begun...

November 28, Saturday, sunny.

Qi Wei and the film crew arrived at Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's apartment early at five o'clock in the afternoon, and then turned on the cameras to record the whole process of the two players' pre-match preparations.

The preparations were very simple. Put on the jersey, put on a warm sportswear jacket, put the shoes in the bag, take them to the stadium and change them, and put the shin guards in the bag as well. Zhang Jun's hair was long, so his bag had a hairband more than Yang Pan's, which was used to tie his hair.

Qi Wei noticed that Zhang Jun's shoes were old-fashioned black Adidas shoes, with three white vertical bars on the side. Yang Pan's shoes were a pair of dark red Adidas, with some white stripes on them, which were very eye-catching.

"Are the shoes also provided by the club?"

"Yes." Zhang Jun replied while sorting out his equipment.

"Then why are your shoes different?" Qi Wei pointed to the shoes in front of them and asked.

"Haha, the team doesn't only have one style of shoes. I like red, so naturally I chose red ones. Zhang Jun chose these shoes because they fit his feet very well."

After packing their things, the two left the apartment and went to the club to wait for the bus to take them to the stadium. There were already players waiting for the bus in twos and threes in front of the gate.

Ochoa saw the CCTV reporters behind Zhang Jun and them, and went up to greet them again, "F*** your father! F*** your father!" -- He was the only one who was still in the dark. (CCTV = China Central Television).

The CCTV reporters were used to it, and they responded to Ochoa very enthusiastically: "F*** your father! F*** your father!" However, they all emphasized the word "you."

The bus slowly drove up. AdriAnse jumped out of the bus and asked steller to count the number of people, and then got on the bus. Here, the people from the film crew would split into two groups, one group would get on the bus and go with the team. The other group would drive to Veronica Stadium by themselves.

Qi Wei and a cameraman followed Zhang Jun and Yang Pan onto the bus. They were allowed to film the scenes inside the bus.

Everyone was there, the door closed, and the bus slowly drove towards the stadium.

As soon as Yang Pan got on the bus, he put on the earphones of his portable Cd player, turned on the music, and closed his eyes.

Zhang Jun smiled at Qi Wei behind him: "This is his habit, he always has music with him, and he closes his eyes when he gets on the bus."

The bus quieted down, Zhang Jun no longer cared about the camera next to him, but turned his head and stared out of the window in a daze.

Qi Wei would not know what Zhang Jun was thinking at this time, he could only guess. Therefore, he explained this paragraph in this way in the later program: "As soon as the car started, Yang Pan put on his headphones and immersed himself in the music. After Zhang Jun explained Yang Pan's actions to us, he also turned his face to the window and said nothing. Maybe at this moment, his mind had already flown to Veronica Stadium, looking forward to the game that was about to start to prove himself, right?"

In fact, Zhang Jun's heart flew to China, thousands of miles away, deeply missing someone.

The people who went to the stadium first had already set up the machines on the sidelines to film the team's pre-match warm-up. Qi Wei took advantage of the team's warm-up to get busy in the locker room, which angle was the best to set up the machine; which place had bad lighting, so he had to avoid it as much as possible; Veronica's sound insulation effect was not good, so he also needed to consider it when shooting, and use directional recording to minimize the impact...

Fifteen minutes later, the door of the locker room was pushed open by the staff, and the players, coaches, and the stadium's noise all squeezed in together.

"Turn on the camera!" Qi Wei whispered to the cameraman next to him.

The players took off their coats while listening to AdriAnse talk about the game requirements. Veronica's sound insulation was indeed not very good, and the noise outside the locker room could be heard clearly, so AdriAnse had to raise his voice so that everyone could hear clearly.

"We are at home and have been unbeaten recently. And Heerenveen will challenge Eindhoven at Philips Stadium in the next round, so they should have some reservations in this game. That's our chance!"

Across the aisle was the visitors' locker room.

Heerenveen coach Haan still used his best 4321 formation.

"Volendam has been unbeaten recently, and their momentum is very strong. We still focus on defense and avoid their edge. The other side is mostly young players, we mainly stall them, defend steadily and counterattack. Keep the score level in the first half, wear down the opponent's spirit and physical strength, and then seize the opportunity to counterattack in the second half. The opponent's Zhang Jun is a player who is good at shooting near the goal, the defense line should pay attention and don't let the opponent's two wingers easily cross the ball. Klomp, pay attention to Zhang Jun, mark him and don't give him a chance. In the midfield, keep the formation tight and don't give their two full-backs space to break through, especially pay attention to Yang Pan with number 25. His speed and long shots are very threatening. Edman, you are on the left, and the task of defending Yang Pan is up to you. According to my observation, as long as you stick to him when Yang starts, his speed will be useless..."

Li Yan stood in the press box, waiting for the start of the game. Many of those around him were Chinese colleagues with the same skin color as him, speaking Mandarin with certain local accents.

When he first saw these compatriots in the press box of Veronica, he was shocked. Now he was used to it.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's success has also attracted many Chinese reporters to this small town. These reporters were like wolves smelling blood, flocking here. The small town of Volendam actually has hundreds of Chinese reporters. If calculated according to the proportion, this is probably the place with the highest proportion of Chinese in the entire Netherlands.

Li Yan thought that fat Hons must be laughing in his dreams, counting money until his hands cramped. Eighty percent of the hotels in this town are under his name. With so many Chinese reporters coming, the town's catering and hotel business is booming. These reporters, who are mostly reimbursed by the government, don't care about the price. They pay whatever the store asks. No wonder the owners smile at people with yellow skin and black hair, because they are their gods of wealth!

Li Yan now has to make reservations in advance to eat at Wang Bo's restaurant. As the only Chinese restaurant in Volendam, it is full of customers every day, and he can't keep up. But there are also people who come to kill two birds with one stone. After eating, they also interview Wang Bo, who used to be a full-time translator and nutritionist for Zhang Jun and Yang Pan. At first, Wang Bo was very happy and gladly accepted the reporters' interviews and photo requests. Later, there were more and more people, and he became unhappy. If it was like this every day, he wouldn't even have time to cook. Now when he sees Li Yan, he will give him a wry smile -- it was Li Yan who introduced the detailed situation of Zhang Jun and Yang Pan when they first arrived in the Netherlands to the people of the country through newspapers, but Li Yan underestimated the fighting power of his domestic colleagues...

As the only professional football club in the Volendam area, they did not consider any factors other than football when introducing Zhang Jun and Yang Pan. It was just that AdriAnse felt that the two Chinese teenagers would help to enhance the strength of the team, but he did not expect that their rapid fame would indirectly stimulate the economy of the small town of Volendam. It is said that domestic travel agencies have already launched routes for Dutch or European x-day tours, with Volendam as an important stop, and the slogan "Go to the Netherlands and cheer for Chinese players!"

Li Yan looked at his colleagues around him and shook his head. The noses of the media and businessmen are more sensitive than dogs... but he forgot that, in terms of smell, he should be the undisputed number one. It was he who helped Zhang Jun and Yang Pan reach their current status.

Zhang Jun put his hands behind his head and tied his long hair with a hairband. He learned this trick from Su Fei when he was in college. At first, his hands were clumsy and he couldn't tie it well, but now he is very flexible, practice makes perfect.

He had just stood up and was about to go out when he was stopped by AdriAnse: "Zhang, in this game, move back more, move closer to the midfield, and shorten the distance with bayes. You have shown a strong ability to shoot near the goal in the previous games, and the opponent will definitely keep an eye on you. If they take a man-marking tactic, you should run horizontally and diagonally in front to disrupt the opponent's defense and create opportunities for Yang Pan and bayes."

AdriAnse was going to sacrifice Zhang Jun's scoring ability and use his good sense of position and off-the-ball running ability to create opportunities for his teammates to insert into the attack.

Zhang Jun understood the opponent's strength, and he nodded without hesitation.

AdriAnse smiled at him, then patted him on the back: "Go!"

Zhang Jun stood at the back of the team. The two sides' players were standing next to each other in the aisle waiting to enter the field. Next to him were Heerenveen's players. Everyone didn't know each other, and they didn't say hello. But Zhang Jun could feel that there was still an unfriendly gaze coming from the side. As Volendam's top scorer, he could feel this gaze in almost every game. Defenders and forwards are natural enemies.

Zhang Jun ignored the gaze -- when he first felt this gaze, he was a little uneasy, but now he can face it calmly -- he just lowered his head and kept rubbing the amulet on his left wrist. It was a red bracelet that Su Fei made for him, with his name "zhangjun" and number "11" on it. This was Su Fei's birthday gift to Zhang Jun some time ago. Dozens of bracelets in a package scared Zhang Jun and Yang Pan -- so many, how much time would she spend! In a letter that Su Fei sent with the package, she told Zhang Jun that this kind of bracelet was easy to break, so if it broke, he should replace it with a new one by himself. If he was running out, he should call back and tell her, and she would make more.

The team moved forward. Zhang Jun raised his head. He had thought of Su Fei again just now, which was the second time today. He hurriedly calmed himself and moved forward.

The players from both sides ran out of the tunnel in a row. Some religious players would bend down and touch the turf with their hands when they stepped onto the field, and then make a cross in front of their chests. They use this method to pray to God, to bless them with good condition and to be protected from harm.

Zhang Jun is not religious, but he also has his own entrance ceremony.

The people in front ran out of the tunnel one by one, and the noise from the stands was getting closer and closer to Zhang Jun. Yang Pan in front of him bent his back, stepped on the steps and ran out.

"Su Fei, watch me play football..."

Zhang Jun touched the bracelet, muttered silently in his heart, and rushed into the stadium.

Suddenly, everything was bright in front of him. The white lights shone on the turf, reflecting a somewhat dazzling light. Smoke filled the air, blurring his vision. The fans' noise was pounding on his eardrums, and even the air was permeated with a murderous aura.

The announcer introduced the last player of the home team in an extremely inflammatory tone.

"Zhang--Jun--!!"

"Wula!!" A mountain of cheers pressed towards the field.

This is professional football!