In the instant Zhou Yi's mother's scrambled eggs with tomatoes entered his mouth, Yan Min desperately suppressed the tears welling up in his eyes. He was homesick; he missed his parents.

Actually, Yan Min had thought that missing home and his parents was something he wouldn't experience again. He never expected that today, at Zhou Yi's home, eating a simple home-cooked meal would open the floodgates of his emotions.

He had left his parents and hometown at a very young age, coming to Shanghai to make his own way. Although Shanghai had always been a central city, Chongming Island at that time was very desolate. Every day on the island, he went nowhere except to train, staying in the training base dormitory.

At first, he was a bit homesick, especially after his teammates who were also from out of town had all "gone home" through the dry-kin relationships they had made in Shanghai. The local Shanghai kids also went home, and the training base became much quieter. At that time, the emotion of loneliness came like a tide, threatening to drown him.

At times like that, he would grab a soccer ball and run out of the dormitory to practice dribbling and outmaneuvering on the field.

He completely immersed himself in the world of soccer, imagining himself on the field facing the defense of all eleven opponents. He had to get past them all; some defensive players he had to pass not just once, but two or three times, before he could finally shoot the ball into the goal.

Only by immersing himself so completely in the world he had imagined could he forget his loneliness and longing for his parents.

Over time, he stopped missing home so much.

Every year, except for the Spring Festival holiday when he went home to celebrate the New Year, he stayed on Chongming Island to train, day after day, year after year.

But his training wasn't mechanical. He worked so hard because he had an ambition in his heart—one that was indeed an ambition for him. But to others, it might seem ridiculous, or at least they would feel it wasn't commensurate with the effort he put in—he hoped that one day he could buy a luxury house in bustling Shanghai, and then bring his parents, who were working hard in their hometown to support him, to Shanghai, so they wouldn't have to go out to work anymore and could enjoy the modernity and prosperity of Shanghai like the Shanghainese.

Today, being in Zhou Yi's luxurious apartment, that ambition in Yan Min's heart started pounding again.

He didn't have high demands; he didn't need to buy a house in Dortmund, just in Shanghai. If he could become as famous and earn as much money as Zhou Yi, buying a house in Shanghai shouldn't be a problem, right?

"Mr. Schulze," Yan Min, who had been silent in the agent's car, suddenly spoke.

"Hmm?"

"When can I play in a match?"

Yan Min's question surprised Schulze. He even turned his head three times in a row while driving to look at Yan Min in the passenger seat.

Previously, regarding the question of whether or not to play, he had worried that the young and vigorous Yan Min would be impatient. Contrary to his expectations, Yan Min had been very calm.

But why was he suddenly concerned about this question again?

"Only by playing in matches can I get sponsorship contracts, right?" Yan Min asked.

"That... in theory, that's how it is..." Schulze replied.

The world of soccer, when you get down to it, is a world that values strength. If you have strength, you win everything; if you don't have strength, no one cares about you. The stronger you are, the more rewards you can get. Relatively speaking, those who are weaker naturally don't earn as much money.

"I want to play in a match as soon as possible..." Yan Min clenched his fist.

Schulze was in a difficult position. "I'm not the head coach; I can't solve this."

Hearing this, Yan Min loosened his fist again, somewhat dejected. He knew that Schulze was right; whether he could play probably depended on Klopp. But from the current situation, Klopp didn't seem to have any intention of letting him play.

He didn't know how long he would have to wait. He used to think he had the patience to wait forever, but now, his heart wasn't as calm as before.

"The advice I can give you is to train hard, perform actively in team matches, and then hope that Klopp can see your efforts and strength and give you a chance to play..." Schulze said while driving.

Yan Min leaned back in his seat, feeling a little helpless. It seemed that besides this method, there was no other way...

Yan Min, who had returned to the training ground, was as diligent and focused as ever. He couldn't be more diligent and focused, because his attitude in training had always been impeccable.

In fact, the Dortmund coaching staff had been watching these attitudes. But that doesn't mean that performing well in training guarantees a chance to play. A team's lineup is determined by many factors. If the starting lineup is performing well and their physical condition is not a concern, why must substitute players be arranged to play at this time?

Even for rotation, there are still people ahead of Yan Min in the order of appearance.

The competition for the Dortmund midfield is actually very fierce right now. Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang, these two new players who have joined the team, are performing very well, and Kuba, a player who has always been with the team, is also very stable. Fortunately, Dortmund is currently rotating, otherwise it would be impossible to arrange it all.

Yan Min may still need to wait for an opportunity to play.

Since Zhou Yi's parents came to his home, there was nothing he had to worry about in terms of living, and he could put all his energy into training. Klopp was also very satisfied with Zhou Yi's performance in training. He knew that this was thanks to his parents, so he indirectly asked Zhou Yi how long his parents would stay in Dortmund.

When he heard Zhou Yi say it might only be a month, he was a little disappointed.

He felt that the most important thing for Zhou Yi right now might be to get married as soon as possible.

As long as he had a stable family environment, he could unleash all his energy on the field.

At that time, the Dortmund team would naturally be the biggest beneficiary.

But Klopp couldn't control these personal emotional issues. Fortunately, even without a girlfriend, Zhou Yi wasn't like players like Grosskreutz who liked to frequent nightclubs. He could manage his rest and condition very well.

The fifth round of the Bundesliga is scheduled to kick off on September 13th, and Dortmund will host Hamburg at home on the evening of September 14th.

Next midweek, Dortmund will usher in their first match of the new Champions League season, a road game against Napoli.

Considering that the match against Napoli was more important, and considering that many national team players were tired after playing in the national team matches.

So, for the match against Hamburg, Klopp naturally used rotation.

Some national team players who were not in good physical condition were left out of the 18-man roster for the match against Hamburg.

As a result, Yan Min was included in the 18-man matchday squad for the first time.

This was Yan Min's first time since joining Dortmund.

Although Zhou Yi had criticized the Chinese media, telling them not to pay too much attention to when Yan Min would be on the roster and when he would be able to play.

But the news still excited the Chinese media and fans who were concerned about him.

Before the match, the number of Chinese reporters who went to interview Yan Min exceeded the number of reporters interviewing Zhou Yi for the first time.

"I'm very happy to be included in the roster..." Facing the reporters' microphones and cameras, Yan Min, as he himself said, looked very happy.

He had just been stimulated, and then he was selected for the roster, so of course he would be excited.

However, one reporter asked him: "Then do you think you will have a chance to play?"

Yan Min was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: "I don't know..." His happy expression faded by half.

At this moment, Zhou Yi walked up, stood next to Yan Min, and said, "I think the most important thing for Yan Min is not to think about when he will play, but to do his best, and then successfully seize the opportunity when it comes. Thank you, everyone..." After saying that, he made a farewell gesture.

Seeing that Zhou Yi had come forward, the reporters couldn't continue to surround Yan Min and ask questions, so they made way for him and watched Zhou Yi and Yan Min leave.

After leaving the reporters' encirclement, Zhou Yi said to Yan Min: "Patience, patience, Yan Min. You signed a five-year contract with Dortmund, there's still a lot of time."

Accompanied by Zhou Yi, Yan Min nodded, but didn't say anything.

He understood the reasoning, but he still wanted to get a chance to play as soon as possible. However, he didn't throw a tantrum because of this. He knew that Zhou Yi was doing it for his own good. He could be chuuni (a person with grandiose delusions), but he couldn't be ungrateful.

※※※

In the match between Dortmund and Hamburg, although Klopp rotated the starting lineup, it wasn't to the point of completely fielding the second team.

At the very least, Zhou Yi started the match.

Considering Dortmund's lineup rotation, pre-match analysts believed that Dortmund should be able to win at home in this match, but the process of winning wouldn't be very smooth.

But the actual result was surprising.

In the first ten minutes or so, Hamburg, playing away, could still maintain a balance of power with Dortmund, and seemed to be holding their own. Dortmund also seemed to be affected by the national team break and rotation. Although it was their home stadium, the players' performance wasn't very exciting.

But in the nineteenth minute, Kuba opened the scoring for Dortmund with a beautiful long-range shot.

The deadlock on the field was broken!

In the twenty-second minute, just three minutes after Kuba's goal, Mkhitaryan extended Dortmund's lead.

Dortmund led by two goals!

But the good times didn't last long. In the twenty-sixth minute, Lin Zhijian, a German-Chinese player playing for Hamburg, pulled one back for Hamburg with a world-class goal.

This player has an Eastern face, but he is not Chinese. He was born in Hamburg, Germany. His father is from Hong Kong, China, and his mother is German. Although he is of mixed blood, his mixed-race features are not very prominent.

This player had already played for Hamburg's first team in the 2011-2012 season. For the Bundesliga, he is not a rookie.

Lin Zhijian was very excited after scoring the goal. This was his first goal in the Bundesliga.

He Ping, the CCTV commentator, also briefly introduced Lin Zhijian's profile and situation to the television audience.

And he mentioned that he might play for the Hong Kong team, but he might also play for the German team, after all, he had already been selected for Germany's U20 team.

As for playing for the Chinese national team...

In the past, Chinese fans might have looked forward to Chinese players like Lin Zhijian, who were born and raised abroad and couldn't even speak Chinese, playing for the Chinese team.

But now that they have Zhou Yi and the others, everyone's interest in these kinds of people has cooled down a lot.

Moreover, after Zhou Yi, we have another Yan Min, doesn't that mean that Zhou Yi and the others have successors?

Great China, after all, still has to rely on itself.