Chapter 1 The Netherlands

As the plane shuddered, Qi Wei took off his headphones. He knew they had arrived in the Netherlands. They were a film crew from CCTV5's "Football World" program, sent to the Netherlands to do a special feature on two young Chinese players. Because of Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's meteoric rise in the Dutch Super League, Chinese fans were paying more and more attention to them. Newspaper reports and short highlight clips were no longer enough to satisfy the public's desire to know more.

As the leading television media outlet in China, and the best sports channel, CCTV5 would be completely defeated in this news battle if it didn't take action. No one, except perhaps their competitors, wanted to see that happen. Therefore, a film crew led by Qi Wei, the host of "Football World," was quickly assembled and dispatched to the Netherlands. They would follow and film the two players in Volendam for a week. A week later, the edited special would be broadcast on "Football World."

Qi Wei and his colleagues pushed their luggage and some simple equipment out of the airport. A colleague who had arrived earlier was waiting for them at the exit with Li Yan and Wang Hua, the authoritative reporters from China who covered Zhang Jun and Yang Pan.

Qi Wei's collaboration with Li Yan could also be seen as a collaboration between *Titan Sports* and CCTV5. Li Yan had already received instructions from his headquarters to fully cooperate with and support the CCTV reporters during this period. Establishing a good working relationship with CCTV was part of *Titan Sports*' plan for growth.

After a brief exchange of greetings, they got straight to the point.

"Let's go to Volendam!"

In the car, Li Yan introduced the history and recent performance of Volendam to the CCTV5 reporters. There was no need to introduce Zhang Jun and Yang Pan; thanks to the joint efforts of all the Chinese reporters in the Netherlands, they were constantly making headlines and had quickly become the top news figures in the hearts of Chinese fans.

Volendam had been doing well recently. After eleven rounds of the league, with four wins, two draws, and six losses, they had fourteen points and had temporarily moved out of the relegation zone. Those four wins and two draws had all been achieved after Zhang Jun and Yang Pan started playing for the first team, which showed how important these two players were to the team. Moreover, Volendam had been making great strides in the cup competition, having already reached the top sixteen, a result that greatly excited the club owner.

After arriving at the Volendam club, the interview team had a brief meeting with the club owner and the head coach, with Wang Hua acting as the interpreter. CCTV5 had actually sent a letter of intent to interview them before coming to Volendam. After receiving a reply agreeing to the interview, they sent Qi Wei and his team to the Netherlands. The purpose of this meeting was mainly to communicate face-to-face and arrange the filming schedule according to the current situation of the team.

None of this was a problem. Hoorns never imagined that the addition of two Chinese players would give his club such high visibility in China. He even wanted to open his hotel in China. Naturally, he was very cooperative with CCTV5's interview requests.

Adriaanse found it amusing to watch the fat man nodding with a smile on his face, agreeing to all the requests. Just over a month ago, the same man was still cursing those two Chinese players as "damned" in front of him…

Adriaanse was not as happy as Hoorns. He just hoped that the film crew would not affect the team's normal training and matches. As for other filming requests, such as entering the locker room when no one was using it during training, getting on the team bus for matches, interviewing team members, and following them throughout, he did not refuse.

Adriaanse's attitude towards reporters had taken a 180-degree turn compared to before. This was all because of what Li Yan had said to him when he initially requested to interview Zhang Jun and Yang Pan: "How can a fledgling eagle learn to fly if you don't take it to see the blue sky? Flowers in a greenhouse can never withstand the wind and rain, and chicks protected under the hen's wings will never become eagles!"

Indeed, they had to learn to face the media, and this was a stage they had to go through in their growth. He had no right to prevent them from contacting the media, and in fact, he had no way to prevent it. Today's reporters were becoming increasingly resourceful. But he could provide guidance from the sidelines and teach them how to interact with the media correctly.

A Chinese reporter who had come from afar had actually given him a lesson. Adriaanse looked at Li Yan. No wonder Zhang Jun and Yang Pan trusted him so much, even inviting him to their birthday party and giving him news first. All his reports back to China were exclusive, first-hand news, and it was not difficult for him to become a well-known sports reporter in China.

A very responsible reporter, a trustworthy person. This was Adriaanse's evaluation of this future famous Chinese football reporter.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan had learned a few days in advance that CCTV5 was coming to the Netherlands to interview them and follow them. They had only seen interviews with players who went abroad to play on television before, but they never thought that one day they would become the subjects of an interview themselves.

However, when they heard the news, their first reaction was not excitement, tension, suspicion, or anticipation. They just shouted, and then, after training, rushed back to the apartment to give the place a thorough cleaning. Dirty clothes were washed and hung up to dry, the bedsheets and covers were changed, the sneakers were neatly placed in the shoe cabinet, and the cluttered table was cleaned spotless. The glass was wiped, and the floor was mopped.

When Kozer came to chat with them, he thought he had entered the wrong door. After learning the reason, he laughed so hard he almost choked. The next day at training, he patted Zhang Jun on the shoulder and said with a serious face, "I think the coach should let you guys do more of these interviews, so you can save on the cost of hiring cleaners, and you can also exercise your self-care ability, which is also extra physical training, how great!"

Qi Wei and Li Yan carefully studied the filming plan in the hotel and decided to start the interview the next day, starting with their daily training. Then, while they were training, they would enter the locker room to show the audience Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's wardrobes and some equipment, satisfying the audience's desire to peek.

Interspersed with this would be interviews with teammates and coaches, other staff, and local residents and fans, looking at the two Chinese players from the perspective of the Dutch.

Then they would enter the two players' apartment to film their lives after training.

The match was an important part, and the film crew had to follow it throughout. They even received special permission to enter the locker room before the match and during halftime to film. This was a very tolerant attitude from the interviewee. For many teams, the locker room was a restricted area, with the absolute privacy of the players and coaches inside, and outsiders were not allowed to enter.

After studying the filming plan, Qi Wei yawned and said to Li Yan, "What time do they start training tomorrow morning?"

"Ten o'clock."

"Then we have to set up the cameras by nine-thirty, and we have to leave by nine o'clock. Let's go to bed early!" Qi Wei yawned again. It seemed that he really couldn't hold on any longer. He was busy working without even adjusting to the time difference, which showed how dedicated and responsible he was.

The next day, CCTV5's team arrived at the training ground before nine-thirty. The morning sun in the Netherlands was bright, but as it was nearing winter, the temperature was a bit low.

"It's nothing! It's snowing in Beijing at this time!" Qi Wei said to Li Yan beside him while directing everyone to set up the cameras quickly. But when he turned his head, he saw three figures already running laps on the training ground.

"Huh?" Qi Wei looked closely and realized that two of them were Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, and the other was the team's main defensive midfielder, Ses Kozer. Qi Wei raised his wrist to check his watch. It was only nine-thirty.

"Are they, are they always this early?" Qi Wei asked Li Yan.

Li Yan nodded: "Almost every day."

Qi Wei was excited as if he had discovered a treasure. He pulled over a cameraman: "Quick! Film the training ground, let's get to work!"

Thus, in the lens, two Chinese teenagers and a Dutch youngster were jogging side by side, chatting with each other from time to time, looking very close.

Qi Wei began his report with the microphone. He first stood in front of the camera and introduced to the audience that he was now at the training ground of the Volendam club: "Dear viewers, I am now outside the training ground of the Volendam club in the Netherlands. The green field and the two small buildings hidden in the trees that you see are the Volendam training base. As you can see, the training base is not magnificent, but the environment is very good."

The cameraman gave a panoramic view of the training ground, and then moved the camera according to Qi Wei's explanation: "This white two-story building is the Volendam club's office building. The offices of the club chairman, Mr. Hoorns, and the head coach, Adriaanse, are in the building. The orange and white three-story building next to the office building is the team's complex, with a physiotherapy room, massage room, indoor football field, gym, and other rooms. As you can see, it is small but complete, and Volendam has all the facilities that a professional club should have."

Then Qi Wei stepped aside, letting the camera focus on the training ground.

"Our film crew arrived here at nine-thirty to prepare for filming, but we unexpectedly saw this scene. It's just past nine-thirty now, and the team's training starts at ten o'clock. But, viewers, what do you see?"

The camera zoomed in, and close-ups of Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's faces appeared in the lens respectively. The lens then zoomed out to a medium shot, showing three people in Volendam sportswear warming up on the training ground.

"Many people know that Zhang Jun and Yang Pan have performed very well in the Dutch league. In terms of goals and assists, the two are ranked first in the team respectively. Some say that they are Chinese football geniuses, but everyone has seen that, according to *Titan Sports* reporter Li Yan, who specializes in following them, this phenomenon of them training early happens almost every day! Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, and the performance of Zhang Jun and Yang Pan well interprets this saying for us."

"The other one is Kozer, the team's main defensive midfielder who lives next door to them. He was loaned from the Ajax youth team this season for a period of one year. Watching the three of them chatting and laughing on the field, we can tell that they have integrated into the team very well. They should have passed the language barrier, and we are sincerely happy for them."

While jogging, Kozer glanced at the reporters on the sidelines: "Tsk tsk, big scene! Hey! Zhang Jun, teach me a Chinese greeting, okay? I'll go up and say hello later."

Zhang Jun remembered that Oechie had been pestering him for some time, insisting on taking him as a teacher to learn Chinese. Zhang Jun was annoyed by his nagging, so he casually taught him a few sentences so that he could show off when he met Chinese reporters.

He also remembered that Kozer was laughing at them yesterday, so he came up with a plan. He looked at Kozer with a sincere "smirk": "Okay, I'll teach you the simplest and most common greeting. The one I taught Oechie the other day was fake, this is the correct one..."

The cameraman was still working, and Qi Wei was chatting with Li Yan and the others: "I wonder what they're talking about, they look so happy. Look at how Yang Pan is smiling!"

"Hehe, I don't know, I can't hear. But this kind of scene is common. Volendam is a young team, with many young people who are easy to get along with. Zhang Jun and the others have come to a good place!" Li Yan sighed.

"Two excellent coaches, a relaxed environment, and a group of excellent teammates. No wonder these two can succeed so easily."

"Excellent coaches?" Li Yan thought of Qiu Suhui, who had briefly worked as an assistant here some time ago, a name that once represented Chinese football. However, their first meeting was not pleasant. He took the initiative to shake hands with Qiu Suhui, after all, he used to be his fan. As a result, the other party ignored him and turned away, making him feel very embarrassed.

He followed Zhang Jun and Yang Pan and witnessed firsthand how Qiu Suhui arranged training and how he trained two fledgling Chinese teenagers into today's popular new stars in the Dutch Super League. "He is indeed an excellent coach, but I don't like him very much..." Li Yan muttered in his heart.

The players arrived one after another. They seemed to be used to Zhang Jun and the others training early and were not surprised at all.

Oechie, the team's live treasure, came hopping over. He got excited when he saw so many Chinese reporters. He rushed to the cameraman who was working, opened his big mouth, and said in Chinese, "Ni da ye de!"

As soon as these words came out, all the crew members present were stunned. Then Oechie smiled and asked the staff, "How is it? How is my Chinese?" regardless of whether they could understand his broken Dutch.

At this moment, Kozer also came up. He pulled Oechie away: "Zhang Jun said that what you said is wrong, this is the correct Chinese!" Then he cleared his throat: "Ahem!" He said the "greeting" that Zhang Jun had just taught him in awkward but clear Chinese, word by word: "Ya--ting--de! Ya--ting--de!"

Everyone in the room should know what this meant, and the faces of the film crew had already changed. But they suddenly heard a burst of laughter from the side.

Li Yan and Wang Hua squatted on the ground, clutching their stomachs, while Zhang Jun and Yang Pan were also laughing so hard that they couldn't breathe.

Kozer didn't understand what was going on, so he had to laugh along with the others.

Qi Wei, who didn't know what was going on, pulled Li Yan up and asked him, "What's going on?"

Li Yan wiped his tears: "Haha! It's, it's like this. Some time ago, Oechie kept pestering Zhang Jun to learn Chinese. Zhang Jun couldn't stand his nagging, so he casually taught him a curse word and told him that it was a common Chinese greeting, equivalent to 'hello!' in English. Oechie learned it, and he would say it to Chinese reporters whenever he saw them. Wang Hua and I have also been 'greeted' by him like that, ha!"

"Then... what about 'Ya ting de'?"

Li Yan smiled: "Didn't you just see them 'chatting and laughing' together? You even said that Yang Pan was smiling... haha!"

Qi Wei and his team finally understood. Qi Wei shook his head and smiled: "That troublemaker!" He gave Kozer a thumbs up and replied: "Very good! Ya ting de, ya ting de!"

The others also followed suit in "greeting" Kozer: "Ni da ye de, ni da ye de!"

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan laughed even harder, but later, after Kozer learned the truth, he fought Zhang Jun in earnest during training. The fierce confrontation made the Chinese reporters who had come from afar break into a sweat. Only Li Yan watched from the sidelines as if nothing had happened, and even cheered for Zhang Jun's dodges and Kozer's tackles. He had seen this kind of training many times.

Adriaanse was the last to arrive at the training ground, and then the team began the day's official morning training. The players stopped joking and focused on training seriously.

Qi Wei and his team became busy again. One camera followed Zhang Jun and Yang Pan all the time, while the other filmed the performance of other players and coaches. Now Li Yan had nothing to do, so he sat by the field, quietly watching the training.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan had fully integrated into the team, performing excellently and consistently on the field. Now even CCTV5 had sent a special film crew to interview them and make a special feature about them. Their names would surely resonate throughout China, and in the future, Li Yan seemed to already see the scene of these two names resonating throughout the world.

If he hadn't seen their match in the first place; if he hadn't made a temporary decision to extend his vacation to interview them; if he had given up after being rejected once in the first place… Li Yan shook his head, unwilling to think about those ifs anymore. The most important thing was that he was now sitting by the field watching the two players train, surrounded by busy CCTV5 reporters.