Chapter 14 When Zhou Yi Arrived in Dortmund, It Was Already Evening

The players went home, and Zhou Yi returned to his rented house.

He saw that the windows were dark.

Zhou Yi looked at his digital watch, eight o'clock in the evening.

Surely the two of them weren't going to bed so early?

It looked like neither of them was back.

With that thought, Zhou Yi took out his key and opened the door.

The moment he pushed the door open, the living room, which had been pitch black, suddenly lit up. At the same time, with a *poof*, streamers burst in front of Zhou Yi and then fluttered down.

Zhou Yi was startled. He almost had the urge to turn around and run away.

Fortunately, his eyes gradually adjusted to the light, and he finally saw Hannah standing in front of him, holding a pull-string party popper, cheering, "Congratulations on your triumphant return! Congratulations!"

And Zhou Yi also saw Kotana on his other side, holding a similar party popper, but with a slightly awkward expression.

When Zhou Yi looked over, Kotana finally pulled the string on her party popper, shooting streamers all over Zhou Yi's head…

"What are you doing…" Zhou Yi didn't understand.

"Congratulations on your victorious return!" Hannah said with a smile.

Zhou Yi thought of the last time Hannah had pulled a similar stunt. He said helplessly to Hannah, "Thank you very much, Hannah, but could you please not do these kinds of surprise attacks every time? I don't want to retire early because of heart problems…"

"Ah, I'm sorry, Zhou Yi…" Hannah said sheepishly.

But Kotana said, "Oh, don't you have a big heart? The rookie who scored a goal and assisted another in his league debut."

"I didn't expect you to be so concerned about me, big sister," Zhou Yi said strangely.

"Who cares about you!" Kotana snorted, then threw the party popper aside and turned to the sofa. "I was just forced to watch one of your games when I was called home."

"Did Mrs. and Mr. Wagner watch it too?" Zhou Yi asked.

"They were very happy watching it," Kotana said, opening her book.

"Oh, hehe!" Zhou Yi scratched his head with a smile.

Kotana glanced back at him. "What are you blushing about!"

Zhou Yi ignored her, thanked Hannah, and returned to his room.

He turned on his computer, logged into QQ, and saw that people in the "Exclude Lao Guo" group were talking.

He opened it and found that everyone was talking about his first game.

Sun Pan: "Lao Yang, how was Zhou Yi's game?"

Yang Muge: "It's over. He came on as a substitute in the sixty-fifth minute, scored a goal and an assist, helping the team beat Hoffenheim 3:1."

Guo Nu: "What the?! That awesome?"

Sun Pan: "What's so surprising about that, Lao Guo? Isn't he always showing off? Remember our reality show…"

Guo Nu: "But this is a real professional league after all! The intensity of the competition and the pace of the game are completely different!"

Sun Pan: "Hmm… that's true. I thought it would be great if the kid could come on as a substitute, but I didn't expect him to be so greedy after coming on! Truly insatiable!"

Seeing this, Zhou Yi typed, "Panpan, if you don't have culture, don't try to use idioms."

Sun Pan: "Yo, the hero is back!"

Zhou Yi had just shown his face when He Ying, who hadn't said anything all along, popped up: "Zhou Yi, tell us how the game against Hoffenheim felt? What's the difference between playing in the youth team, and the first team friendlies?"

"Sure. Actually, I just wanted to come up and tell you guys this. The difference between the first team and the youth team is too big. The Bundesliga isn't really a fast-paced league, but it's much faster than the youth team in terms of attack and defense transitions. Although I came on as a substitute and only played for less than half an hour, I felt very tired. My clothes were soaked with sweat by the end of the game. If I were to play the whole game… I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up at all, so Klopp is right when he says my stamina isn't up to par yet…"

Zhou Yi started typing furiously on the keyboard, telling his friends all his game experiences without reservation, hoping to help them advance to the first team in the future.

Everyone else, whether it was Yang Muge, Sun Pan, or Guo Nu, fell silent at this time, quietly waiting for Zhou Yi to type out and share his心得 *xinde* (insights, experience).

Five young men playing overseas in Europe were connected through a QQ group, chatting, joking, learning, and progressing. It seemed a bit of a playful approach, but it was quite in line with the way these post-90s did things…

※※※

The constantly flashing QQ group had quieted down, and the last sentence in the chat log was from Sun Pan: "Go, go, go to sleep, you're exhausted after playing for thirty minutes, young man, you still have a long way to go!"

That was fifteen minutes ago.

But He Ying in front of the computer was still busy. He opened the group's chat log, copied everything Zhou Yi had said, and pasted it into a new document.

It took him fifteen minutes to sort out everything Zhou Yi had said.

Then, he named the document and saved it in a special file.

The folder was called "Zhou Yi's Experience," and the document was called "Zhou Yi vs. Hoffenheim."

The exceptionally talented He Ying had always been a highly anticipated star in Chinese football. From the beginning of his playing career, he had been selected for the national teams of all age groups. The proud He Ying didn't really admire many people. Even when he came to La Masia, facing those Barcelona-born geniuses, He Ying wasn't afraid at all. He felt that he was no worse than them and that he would surpass them sooner or later.

But if he had to admire someone, He Ying admired only one person: Zhou Yi.

Ever since Zhou Yi had entered his world, he had been rising rapidly in ways that he couldn't understand. In the reality show, the two of them had lived together day and night. He Ying had gone from disliking him at the beginning to sincerely admiring him at the end, and it only took a month. In that month, He Ying had personally witnessed how Zhou Yi had gone from an unknown substitute to the team's savior. In the final match, defeating the La Masia youth team, Zhou Yi had made a great contribution.

Later, Zhou Yi had rejected Barcelona's invitation and chosen Dortmund, which he hadn't quite understood. But now he admired him even more.

In Dortmund, he had made the leap from the youth team to the first team faster than anyone else, and while everyone else playing overseas was still trying to secure a position in the youth team, Zhou Yi was already playing in official league matches in the first team!

Such a rate of ascent felt like it wasn't even enough to describe it with a rocket.

Whether it was his performance on the field or his choices at the crossroads of life, He Ying couldn't help but admire him.

That's why He Ying now attached great importance to Zhou Yi's experience. He believed that it would allow him to avoid some detours in the process of conquering European football.

He believed everything Zhou Yi said.

※※※

Yang Muge had finally found footage of Zhou Yi's game this afternoon. He had only heard Zhou Yi's game on the radio in the afternoon, but he hadn't seen Zhou Yi actually play. He didn't know what Zhou Yi's playstyle was like.

Now, he had found highlights of the Dortmund vs. Hoffenheim game online.

He watched the part where Zhou Yi came on as a substitute over and over again.

Watching Zhou Yi appear in Dortmund's bright yellow jersey in the afternoon sun, like a Saint Seiya wearing golden armor, his jersey and skin were shimmering in the sunlight.

Yang Muge was a little envious.

Then Zhou Yi's passing and movement made Yang Muge realize that he was even better than the last time they had played in the u19 game!

You really couldn't tell that this was a rookie with no official first-team experience.

Seeing this scene in front of the computer, Yang Muge suddenly thought of when he and Zhou Yi had first met in the training camp of the reality show team. At that time, Zhou Yi was still worried about which path to take after the reality show, whether to follow his mother's expectations and go to university, or to stick to the football path he loved.

He was very happy that he had given Zhou Yi an assist at the time, helping him to strengthen his determination to take this path.

Therefore, he and everyone else could see such a genius appear on the stage where he should be, instead of fighting a possibly doomed war in a test center where the air was stagnant.

※※※

In the early winter night in Milan, Guo Nu, naked to the waist and wearing only shorts, didn't feel cold at all. He even exuded a faint white vapor all over his body.

He was sweating profusely, doing push-ups on the floor.

He didn't know how many he had done, because he hadn't counted at all.

Or rather, he couldn't bother to count in his mind at all.

He still hadn't seen Zhou Yi play. He only knew that Zhou Yi had one goal and one assist, but he didn't know how he had done it.

But even just looking at Zhou Yi's eloquent sharing of his game experience and feelings in the group was enough to make him yearn for it—that was the Bundesliga, one of the top five leagues, a formal professional league for the first team!

It was his ultimate goal in Milan, working so hard!

He did push-ups desperately until he was too tired to support his body any longer.

Then he flipped over, lay on the floor, and started doing sit-ups.

It seemed that only by frantically exhausting his energy could he calm his restless heart a little…

※※※

The lights in the room were already off, but Sun Pan was not asleep. Instead, he was leaning against the headboard with his hands behind his head.

He turned his head to look out the window. The visibility in the former fog city was now very good. In the middle of the night, in the suburbs of London, Sun Pan could still see the starry sky outside the window.

Under this same starry sky, Zhou Yi, who had played for thirty minutes, was probably sleeping like a log.

Although he had teased Zhou Yi in the group that he still had a long way to go, he was very envious of Zhou Yi in his heart.

Zhou Yi, who had done his best on the field, could now have a very, very sound sleep.

What about himself?

He wasn't tired at all yet. It seemed that falling asleep tonight wouldn't be so easy…