Chapter 1 Monday Morning

On Monday morning, Qingyang Avenue, as the main thoroughfare running north and south through Qingyang City, was as congested as ever. The motorized lanes were practically at a standstill, and even the non-motorized lanes were filled with a tide of electric scooters, a rather spectacular sight.

Although there is now an emphasis on individual uniqueness, with every individual being considered remarkable, even the most unique individuals, when swept up in such a torrent, appear as just another ordinary member.

Zhou Jianliang was one such ordinary member.

Riding his electric scooter amidst countless similar vehicles, he headed towards his workplace. At an intersection, he didn't continue straight but turned right. This wasn't where his workplace was located, but there was a newsstand there.

He stopped next to the newsstand, one foot propped on the ground, the other still on the scooter's pedal. He craned his neck and asked the owner inside the newsstand, "Has the latest *Sports Weekly* arrived?"

"It's here, just arrived," the owner replied, picking up a copy for Zhou Jianliang.

Zhou Jianliang took the newspaper, and before he could even flip through it, he saw his son's photo in a prominent position on the front page.

*Zhou Yi's Bundesliga Debut—Perfect!*

Zhou Jianliang asked the owner, "How many copies do you have?"

"I only ordered thirty..."

"I'll take them all!" Zhou Jianliang declared.

"You'll take them all?" the owner asked, surprised. "That's thirty copies. Can one person read that many?"

"Yeah, I'm getting them for other people," Zhou Jianliang explained.

The owner didn't refuse such a transaction. Selling to one person was the same as selling to thirty.

So, he lifted the remaining newspapers, still bound by rope, onto the scooter's footrest.

Zhou Jianliang paid and, carrying the newspapers, turned back onto the main road, heading towards his workplace.

After arriving at the office, Zhou Jianliang parked his scooter in the bike shed and carried the thick stack of newspapers into the building.

Inside, he ran into an acquaintance.

"Hey, Lao Zhou, have you changed careers to selling newspapers?" a colleague joked.

Upon seeing him, Zhou Jianliang chuckled and pulled a copy from the stack, handing it over. "That's right, I've changed careers, but not selling, but giving away! Here, take a look!"

"What's this…" The colleague took it and immediately noticed the large bold characters "Zhou Yi."

"Your son?!" he exclaimed, looking at Zhou Jianliang in surprise.

"That's right, that's right, finally amounts to something, haha!" Zhou Jianliang said with a smile, continuing inside, still carrying the remaining twenty-nine newspapers.

Once in the office, Zhou Jianliang began handing out copies like he was distributing wedding candies. Everyone was initially puzzled—why had Lao Zhou become a "newsboy" today?

But once they saw the words "Zhou Yi" on the front page, they understood.

They all congratulated Zhou Jianliang on having such an accomplished son.

Even the head of their department came out to congratulate Zhou Jianliang on raising a good son.

Hearing everyone's congratulations, Zhou Jianliang's face beamed with joy.

For so many years, he had been a diligent, low-key, and honest person in the office. This was the first time he had enjoyed such a moment of glory…

And when he had asked for leave to take his child to Beijing for the final audition, some people in the office had gossiped behind his back.

Now, those who had once spread rumors were among those congratulating Zhou Jianliang.

Seeing them, Zhou Jianliang felt incredibly pleased.

※※※

Qingyang Peak Co., Ltd. was formerly Qingyang Peak Burner Factory. After restructuring, it became a joint-stock limited company, but it remained a state-owned enterprise. It mainly produced various gas stoves and water heaters.

In Qingyang City, it had high visibility and a relatively high market share due to its cooperation with Qingyang Gas Company. But outside of Qingyang, it wasn't very popular. It still had some influence in the province, but in the Chinese market, Peak was just a small fry.

Zhou Yi's mother, Li Cuiyun, worked in Peak's administrative office, not involved in production or sales, but rather in administrative management, doing office work.

The work seemed relaxed, but the income wasn't high. After all, sales had commissions, and frontline production workers also earned decent wages. But the main advantage of administrative work in the office was that it was leisurely and there was plenty of time.

The office was a place where women outnumbered men. In Li Cuiyun's department, there was only one elderly man waiting to retire; the rest were all women, and all middle-aged. Young people, male or female, didn't want to come to this hopeless, lifeless office filled with a depressing atmosphere.

The old women spent most of their time together not working, but chatting, gossiping.

Talking about this family or that, like when someone's neighbor made strange noises yesterday, and the knowing laughter from a group of experienced women would erupt with a "you know what I mean" attitude.

Leading cadres were also the objects of their gossip. Things like a certain deputy manager of the head office getting involved with a female subordinate and being caught in bed were the most popular gossip. The teller would speak with flying spittle, vivid expressions, and rich body language, as if they were right there watching when they were doing it, creating a very realistic scene.

Another topic was discussing the latest popular TV dramas. Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law dramas always resonated, and from the dramas, they could extend to "My friend's family is about to break up because of a fight between her and her daughter-in-law," "My distant relative's son was instigated by his wife to drive the old couple out"... Hearing this made everyone feel indignant, lamenting, "The world is going downhill," "People's hearts are not what they used to be," "These young people nowadays, tsk tsk," "Things were better in our time."

Li Cuiyun was rarely seen in these gossip sessions.

If there was anyone in this office who truly worked seriously, it would definitely be Li Cuiyun.

Every time a group of middle-aged women enthusiastically gossiped, Li Cuiyun wouldn't participate but would bury herself at her desk, doing her work.

Even the old man waiting to retire would occasionally join the women's gossip endeavors. Li Cuiyun was about the same age as them, not much younger, but she never participated.

It wasn't that she looked down on these people, but her personality wasn't that of a gossipy woman. She simply wasn't interested in such gossip.

If others asked her, she would say a few words, but she wouldn't continue the conversation. Her cold and unsociable personality naturally aroused dissatisfaction among some people in the office. Some said she was pretending to be noble behind her back, but Li Cuiyun didn't care about others' opinions of her.

She continued to do things her own way.

Monday was the peak period for gossip in the office. Because the old women had accumulated two days' worth of gossip, so much that they couldn't hold it in any longer.

The usual procedure was that as soon as someone entered the office, they would close the door, look left and right, and then begin to say to everyone in the room in a mysterious tone, "Hey, have you heard?"

Then, someone would definitely chime in, "Heard what?"

Next, a gossip conference would begin...

Today, the gossip started with Kang Erjie's neighbor's third uncle's son getting married, and then moved on to the topic of the children's generation.

"Wang-jie's son is really promising! Graduated from a famous university and now works in a big company in Shanghai, earning 20,000 a month!" Kang Erjie said to an older woman in the office with slightly graying hair. This woman was the most senior in the office, second only to the man who was about to retire.

Wang-jie, who was being praised, couldn't hide the smug look on her face, but she still had to be modest on the lips, "Oh, what's so good about Shanghai? It's so far from home, he only comes back once a year. Your daughter is filial, she married a good husband, one who owns a company!"

Kang Erjie also had a clear look of joy on her face, but she also had to pretend to be modest on the lips, "It's not as good as you said. These days, entrepreneurs are also having a hard time... By the way, Xiao Zhang, your daughter did well on the college entrance examination this time, right?"

The topic naturally transitioned to another person.

A woman who was slightly younger than both of them, looking about the same age as Li Cuiyun, said with a beaming smile, "It's okay, it's okay, she barely got into Xichuan University..." The smile and what she said formed a paradox, which may be "Chinese modesty."

Although Li Cuiyun didn't participate, she heard everything they said.

Especially when Zhang-jie said that her daughter had gotten into Xichuan.

She couldn't help but think of her son, Zhou Yi. If he hadn't gone out to play football, he would have already taken the college entrance examination. What university would he have been able to get into? Based on his usual academic performance, not to mention Tsinghua or Peking University, it would be difficult for him to even get into a 211 university (a project of national key universities in China).

Thinking about it this way, perhaps going to play football was better?

But Li Cuiyun still felt some regret. She hoped that her son would get into a good university, learn something useful, and be more successful than her and his father in the future. When she was young, she also had ambitions and dreams. She wanted to achieve something at work and even won the company's annual outstanding employee award once. But later, she encountered a huge setback in the process of moving up, and now she was content with the status quo. She just wanted to safely and smoothly raise her son.

So, she placed her dreams and hopes of making a name for herself on Zhou Yi, hoping that he could surpass her and his father. Zhou Yi was indeed very smart when he was young. He could read and write before he even started school.

From elementary school to middle school, his academic performance was also very outstanding. Otherwise, how could he have gotten into Qingyang No. 1 High School, the city's top key high school?

But later, Zhou Yi's academic performance began to decline. Perhaps it was because there were too many good students at Qingyang No. 1 High School, so many that even the top students from other schools were insignificant here, which made Zhou Yi lose interest in continuing to study.

Perhaps it was because he put too much energy into football, which led him to be unwilling to study...

Looking at it now, playing football could also be a way out. Although he couldn't go to college, and he didn't even get a high school diploma, he could be considered successful now, right? How many people in China knew her son?

Even Europeans were cheering for him.

Just as she was thinking, Li Cuiyun was nudged on the arm.

"Hey, Xiao Li, Xiao Li."

When Li Cuiyun came back to her senses, she saw Kang Erjie's round face.

"What's the matter, Kang-jie?" Li Cuiyun asked.

"How did your son do on the exam? I haven't heard you mention your son's affairs..." Kang Erjie asked.

Li Cuiyun had just opened her mouth, but before she could make a sound, she heard Zhang-jie next to her say, "Aiya, Kang-jie, didn't you know? Xiao Li's son didn't take the college entrance examination?"

"Didn't take it?" Kang Erjie said with an exaggerated surprised expression, "What's going on?"

Li Cuiyun wanted to open her mouth again, but she was interrupted by Zhang-jie again: "I seemed to have heard some time ago that he went to play football... Where did he go?" She frowned and thought for a long time, then shook her head and said, "I can't remember."

"Play football? Aiyo..." Kang-jie sighed, "What future is there in playing football in China now? Even someone who doesn't watch football like me knows that our national team is terrible, they can't even beat small countries like South Korea and Japan! Aiya, Xiao Li, how could you let your son play football? Wasn't he studying at Qingyang No. 1 High School? That's a key high school!"

This time, Li Cuiyun didn't open her mouth. She was waiting for someone else to "explain" for her.

Sure enough, Zhang-jie didn't disappoint: "Hey, Kang-jie, you can't say that. Qingyang No. 1 High School also has good students and bad students. Not all students from key high schools can get into good universities. But..." Saying this, she sighed. "No matter what, getting into a university is more reliable than going to play football. These days, it's hard to find a job without a college diploma, Xiao Li. Aren't you worried at all?"

These old women, although they seemed to be caring about Li Cuiyun, Li Cuiyun wasn't stupid and could naturally hear the barbs in their words.

Her daughter got into a university in the 211 Project, and she felt a sense of superiority in front of the person she hated most in the office.

"That's right, that's right, Xiao Li. We know that your son likes to play football. But as parents, we have to keep an eye on our children. Those harmful hobbies must be resolutely eliminated! What's the use of playing football? Can playing football make a lot of money? Can it be respectable? If things continue like this, your son will be ruined for life..."

Before Kang-jie could finish speaking, the only male in the corner of the office, Old Sun, who was fifty-eight years old, suddenly read, "...In a Bundesliga match held in Beijing time last night, our city's player, Zhou Yi, came on as a substitute and completed his debut in the Bundesliga league, with one goal and one assist... After the match, German media has been consistently selecting Zhou Yi as the best player of the match. Having earned the best player award as a substitute, Zhou Yi's Bundesliga debut can be described as perfect. Domestic media can't wait to give Zhou Yi the title of 'Hope of Chinese Football'..."

Reading this, he suddenly raised his voice and looked up at Li Cuiyun: "Hey, Xiao Li? Isn't this your son? Zhou Yi!"

His loud question was like a bolt from the blue, exploding in the office. Everyone quieted down and turned to look at Old Sun.

Zhang-jie reacted the fastest, she quickly said: "Hey, Old Sun, you can't talk nonsense, right? There are many people in the world with the same name..."

Old Sun raised the newspaper and pointed at it, saying, "'Our city's player, Zhou Yi', this is Qingyang Daily!"

If Old Sun's previous sentence was a bolt from the blue, then his current sentence was simply a bombshell...

This time, even Zhang-jie was speechless and couldn't say anything more.

In the silence, Li Cuiyun said softly, "Yes, it's my good-for-nothing son."

The words "good-for-nothing" were like three slaps in the face, making some people's faces burn.