Zhou Yi returned directly to his hometown, Qingyang, from Changsha. News of his impending arrival had already spread while he was still on the plane.

Of course, the first news to spread was his departure from Changsha, so he received a warm send-off at the airport.

Then, on the plane, Zhou Yi, who was traveling in first class, was recognized by the flight attendants and passengers as soon as he boarded.

Before the plane took off, passengers kept coming to take photos with Zhou Yi and ask for his autograph.

Fortunately, after the plane took off, fewer people did this. Zhou Yi fell asleep on the plane, and no one disturbed him. Some people wanted to come and watch Zhou Yi, but they were dissuaded by the flight attendants.

When the Chinese team had just entered the World Cup, both the Chinese team and Zhou Yi were the focus of attention. Even non-fans who didn't usually watch football knew about the national team and recognized Zhou Yi at this time.

When Zhou Yi arrived at Qingyang Airport, because the plane did not land directly next to the terminal, but stopped on the apron, everyone needed to take a shuttle bus.

After the plane landed, everyone found that a grand welcome ceremony had been prepared on the apron.

The red banner read clearly: "Warmly welcome Zhou Yi, the pride of Qingyang, home!"

Truly Chinese characteristics...

In addition to the banner, many people had gathered, including fans and students. Zhou Yi's parents and leaders were at the front. On both sides of them were two children holding flowers...

When Zhou Yi saw this scene through the porthole, he couldn't help but grin—he felt like he was enjoying the treatment of a national leader.

However, he didn't dislike this arrangement. He could even imagine that his father must be very much in favor of it—of course, he would want the whole world to know that he had such a son, which would definitely make him feel very proud.

Zhou Yi knew very well that as a public figure, a star, having no privacy was a minor matter. He would definitely have to cooperate with the leaders to put on these shows.

Zhou Yi was mentally prepared for this and didn't feel resistant to it.

He rarely made enemies and was willing to help others whenever he could. This was one of the reasons why he was so popular.

And the key was that he knew very well that with his fame, it was impossible to secretly return home...

At this critical moment when the Chinese team was breaking out of Asia and heading to Brazil, when the Chinese team's popularity was soaring, how could he travel in plain clothes at night?

At this time, it would be too pretentious to hide it.

So Zhou Yi quickly adjusted his expression.

However, he didn't go down immediately. The flight attendants had received a ground notification to let Zhou Yi be the last to disembark.

So he had to wait in his first-class seat until the passengers behind him had gone down first.

Every passenger who passed him would give Zhou Yi a thumbs up, and the bolder ones would pat him on the shoulder.

However, no one asked to take photos with him or ask for autographs, which relieved the flight attendants responsible for maintaining order.

But in the end, the flight attendants swarmed up to take photos with Zhou Yi, which made the air police responsible for maintaining order a little embarrassed.

Zhou Yi said that he didn't mind.

The flight attendants cheered and surrounded Zhou Yi, then took photos with him.

Later, this photo of Zhou Yi surrounded by many beautiful women was uploaded to the Internet, arousing everyone's envy. However, whether they envied Zhou Yi for being surrounded by beauties or envied the flight attendants for being able to get close to Zhou Yi, no one knew...

After everyone had left the plane, the cabin door closed again. Zhou Yi, at the signal of the flight attendant, walked to the cabin door with his bag and waited.

This was to allow the camera to capture the scene of the cabin door opening and Zhou Yi walking out.

Waiting always made people feel unpleasant, so the flight attendant could only say to Zhou Yi with an apologetic smile and tone: "I'm sorry, just wait a little longer..."

Zhou Yi smiled at her and said, "It's okay, it doesn't matter if it's just a little longer."

With a command, the cabin door slowly opened.

Zhou Yi took a step forward and appeared on the ramp.

The scene was filled with cheers and flashing lights.

Zhou Yi walked down the steps amid the cheers, not forgetting to wave to the welcoming crowd below.

He appeared very generous and natural, without any sense of restraint.

As a top European star, Zhou Yi had seen many such grand occasions.

He handled the children who came up to present flowers and salute, the leaders who shook hands and exchanged greetings, and the reporters holding cameras and video cameras with ease and composure. He had a smile on his face from beginning to end, making people feel as if they were bathing in a spring breeze.

In the end, such a performance was naturally a happy ending for everyone.

As the pride of Qingyang, Zhou Yi and his parents were finally taken home in a Mercedes-Benz S600 sponsored by a certain company.

At the entrance of the residential area, there was naturally another such process, but on a much smaller scale. The highest-ranking leader was no more than the district leader of Zhou Yi's residential area.

After a lot of tossing and turning, Zhou Yi was finally able to sit on the sofa at home with his parents, and he let out a long breath.

"Are you tired? I told you not to do these things..." Zhou Yi's mother felt sorry for her son and complained to her husband.

Zhou Jianliang retorted, "If you say don't do these things, they really won't do them? Instead of letting reporters and fans squeeze together in a chaotic mess at the airport, it's better to arrange it in an orderly manner..."

Zhou Yi waved his hand: "I'm not tired. It's not because of this that I'm tired—how tiring can this be?"

"Alas, there will probably be a lot of activities in the next few days... Even if you come home, I'm afraid you won't have much time to actually stay at home." Mom sighed. She was unhappy that her son had finally come home, but he still had to participate in various activities, which made her feel like her son had been taken away by others.

Zhou Yi's father didn't care—these activities were all good opportunities to show off.

He suddenly thought of something and said to Zhou Yi, "Son, there's something... This morning, I received a call from No. 1 High School."

"Qingyang No. 1 High School?" Zhou Yi was stunned.

"Yes, they called and hoped that you could visit your alma mater and give a speech to the students."

"That's no problem." Zhou Yi agreed without hesitation.

Zhou Yi still had a lot of affection for his alma mater, and of course he was willing to return to his alma mater. Moreover, he would not charge for this kind of activity—according to Schulze, Zhou Yi's time was now money, and if he wanted him to participate in any activities, he had to pay, whether it was accepting interviews or participating in TV shows.

But Zhou Yi would not charge for this kind of activity.

Although his mother was dissatisfied with Zhou Yi participating in so many activities, she did not object to this invitation from the school.

She might feel that participating in those commercial activities was not very good, but Li Cuiyun was very supportive of him being able to return to his alma mater to give a speech to the students.

※※※

In the next two days, Zhou Yi participated in some government and commercial activities non-stop.

Basically, all the time from morning to night was fully arranged.

First, the Qingyang Municipal Government awarded Zhou Yi a prize. This prize was a bonus given by the government because the Chinese team had entered the World Cup finals. In fact, it was not given by the government, but a villa sponsored by a real estate company. The government itself did not pay any money, and the real estate company took this opportunity to brush up its presence in the media, which was equivalent to running an advertisement.

Although Zhou Yi's family already had a house to live in, and a family of three did not need a villa, Zhou Yi did not decline, but accepted it calmly.

In addition to the house, he was also awarded a car worth 300,000, which was also sponsored by the company.

Zhou Yi accepted it all the same, without any intention of being humble or polite.

These were all what he deserved, and his performance was worthy of such rewards, so he didn't think he needed to be humble or anything.

Sometimes, being humble is really just hypocrisy.

In addition to accepting awards, Zhou Yi also accepted interviews from several media outlets and participated in a charity event.

The two days passed quickly in this intense schedule.

The third day was the day Zhou Yi returned to his alma mater.