Chapter 28 A Good Night's Sleep

The next day, when Zhou Yi climbed out of bed and stretched, he heard Mark's weak voice beside him: "Did you sleep well last night, Zhou Yi?"

Zhou Yi turned his head to look. "Didn't you sleep well?"

Mark pointed to the dark circles under his eyes and said, "Do you think I look like I slept well?"

"Uh..."

"I don't even know when I fell asleep, and then I woke up very early..." Mark said with a distressed expression.

"You can't do that, Mark. Today is the final. If you don't get enough rest, how are you going to score goals on the field?"

"It's because of the final!" Mark said. "I get nervous as soon as I think about the final, and when I'm nervous, I can't fall asleep..."

"After lunch, we seem to have a nap time. Don't think about anything and just sleep well." Zhou Yi got out of bed. "If you still can't fall asleep then, I can help you."

"How can you help?" Mark asked.

"Knock you out!"

Mark rolled his eyes.

After lunch, Mark indeed listened to Zhou Yi and obediently went for a nap. Perhaps because he was too tired from not resting well, Mark fell asleep as soon as he got into bed this time.

When Mark woke up from bed, Zhou Yi was on the sofa in the room, reading a book.

Hearing the movement from Mark's bed, he asked, "How did you sleep?"

"Great." Mark stretched and yawned.

"That's good, our championship has a chance!" Zhou Yi said, closing his book.

"Hey, don't talk like you're just counting on me to win the championship..." Mark complained, "You're making me nervous..."

"We are the trident. If any one of the trident is off, we can't unleash the full power of the trident. Besides, if this puts pressure on you, the pressure will be even greater when you go to the first team in the future. Are you going to retire early?" Zhou Yi rolled his eyes at Mark. "What will you say at your retirement press conference? 'Ah, I think the competition in the first team is too fierce. Eighty thousand people watch a game, and there are so many camera lenses pointed at me. I'm under too much pressure. I'm not playing anymore. I'm going home to be an ordinary person!' What do you think?"

"That's lame."

"Isn't it?" Zhou Yi spread his hands. "Mark, if you want to become the person you envision, treat this German Cup final as a drill."

"I understand, Zhou Yi." Mark nodded.

Zhou Yi was right. To become a qualified professional player, you must be able to withstand pressure. If you can't, then give up early.

※※※

"Are we here too early?" Mrs. Wagner stood on the stands of the Berlin Olympic Stadium, looking around. As far as she could see, it was empty.

This is a comprehensive stadium that can accommodate 75,000 people, with blue and white athletic tracks, but now there are not many people sitting in the stands of this stadium. People were scattered in the stands on all sides, sparsely populated.

"How many spectators can there be for a youth team game?" Kotana said.

"But this is the German Cup final!" Mrs. Wagner retorted to her daughter.

"It's the Youth German Cup, Mom. If your brother hadn't reached the final, we wouldn't even be watching this game on TV. It's already great that so many people are here to watch the game live," Kotana said.

Mrs. Wagner sighed, feeling sorry that her son's performance in the German Cup final could not be seen by more people.

※※※

When the Borussia Dortmund U19 players' bus arrived outside the Berlin Olympic Stadium, they did not see the scene they had imagined of countless fans gathered on both sides of the road cheering for them.

This made everyone a little disappointed.

"Why aren't there many people?" Mark looked around for a long time and only saw a few Borussia Dortmund fans.

"It's a youth team game," Zhou Yi said, looking outside.

He had seen the German Olympic Stadium during the live broadcast of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, but today was the closest he had ever been to the World Cup final venue.

"Zhou Yi, why do I feel like you're not nervous at all?" Mark turned to look at Zhou Yi and said.

"What's there to be nervous about?" Zhou Yi pointed to the empty outside and said.

"No, it has nothing to do with the number of people. It's still the German Cup final, after all," Mark said.

"Tch, we are going to play in the Champions League final in the future. How could a mere Youth German Cup final make me nervous?" Zhou Yi scoffed at Mark's words.

"Champions League final?" Hearing Zhou Yi say this, Mark was a little absent-minded.

He is now only playing in the Youth German Cup final for Borussia Dortmund U19, and Zhou Yi is already thinking about the Champions League final. Should he say that he is whimsical or has courage?

Gotze, who was sitting in the back, heard Zhou Yi say this and simply leaned over: "Yes, yes, Zhou Yi is right. And not only the Champions League final, I will also play in the World Cup final in the future!"

Zhou Yi glanced at him sideways, always feeling that Gotze's words had a hidden meaning—the Champions League final is not too far away for me, but I am Chinese, and the World Cup final is too far away for me!

"World Cup final?" Mark was even more stunned.

Zhou Yi patted Mark on the shoulder: "Snap out of it, snap out of it. The World Cup final is too far away for us. Let's be realistic. Only by being down-to-earth can we go further."

Gotze said: "It's as if the Champions League final is very realistic. Let's play today's game well first. I don't want to come to Berlin and go back empty-handed."

As he spoke, the car stopped. They had arrived.

The young players followed the coaches out of the car. There were no cheers from gathered fans, and no media reporters greeted them with long guns and short cannons.

Compared with the adult team's German Cup final two days later, not many people were interested in youth-level competitions.

※※※

After entering the locker room, everyone began to change clothes and prepare to go out for warm-ups. But after Zhou Yi changed his clothes, he did not go out with everyone. Instead, he took out his digital camera and asked Mark to take a photo of him in front of his locker.

Holding the camera and looking at Zhou Yi posing in the viewfinder, Mark pressed the shutter. Then he was about to return the camera to Zhou Yi, but Zhou Yi waved his hand: "Wait, let me change my pose and take a few more pictures."

Mark rolled his eyes: "We still have to go out for warm-ups, Zhou Yi..."

"It won't take much time. Hurry, Mark!" As he spoke, Zhou Yi changed his pose again.

In this way, Mark took several pictures at Zhou Yi's request. After Zhou Yi checked the quality of each photo, he put the camera back in his bag and went to warm up with Mark—at this time, only the two of them were left in the locker room.

"I haven't seen you take pictures before the game?" Mark was very strange.

"After all, it's the final. I'll take pictures and send them to my parents later. They can't come to the stadium to watch the game, and there won't be any live TV broadcasts in China," Zhou Yi explained. "I'll show them the pictures later so they know I'm playing in the German Cup final."

"Oh, oh, so that's how it is..." Mark understood Zhou Yi. His parents and sister would be watching the game in the stands, and they were so close to him. If there were few spectators in the stadium, he might even hear his mother cheering for him.

But what about Zhou Yi? His parents are all in China and can't come to watch the game at all. Zhou Yi can't hear their cheers either.

Thinking of this, Mark suddenly felt that he was simply weak.

Zhou Yi is far away from his hometown, came to unfamiliar Germany alone, and is still so optimistic and strong.

And what about himself?

He doesn't have to be far away from his parents. He can go home after training every day and eat the fragrant and delicious food made by his mother. He can also play in his favorite team since he was a child.

How could he be so weak that he feels nervous even about a Youth German Cup final?

He used to just think that Zhou Yi was smart, had a brain, had ideas, and knew a lot. He was willing to listen to him. But now, he truly understands why he is willing to listen to Zhou Yi.

Because Zhou Yi's strength and confidence have always been what he envies and yearns to have.

He also wants to be like Zhou Yi, confident and strong, and move forward firmly towards his goals.

Then let's start from today, from this game.

Be a confident and strong person who can be independent.

Mark followed behind Zhou Yi and walked towards the stadium.

The nervousness about the final gradually faded from his body.

※※※

"Is it still not ready yet?"

In China, at Zhou Yi's home, Li Cuiyun held a cup of hot water and sat next to her husband.

Her husband, Zhou Jianliang, was nervously pressing this and that button in front of the computer, constantly switching between the desktop and webpages.

"Still working on it. These are all in English, I can't understand..." Zhou Jianliang pushed the glasses on his nose and then looked down at an English-Chinese dictionary spread out on the table, pointing at the dictionary with his hand.

"When does our son's game start?"

"Midnight on the 30th, our time."

Li Cuiyun glanced at the time in the lower right corner of the computer screen: "It's already 11:50, can you do it in ten minutes?"

"I'm trying hard. Anyway, I'll guarantee that you can see our son's game!"

"Tch, isn't it you who wants to watch it the most?" Li Cuiyun said and took the dictionary. "You go online and check how to use this software. I'll help you look up any words you don't understand."

"Okay."

"This means 'register,' right? You have to register an account first..."

"What does 'that' mean?"

The couple faced the computer screen, looking up words in the dictionary and studying together.