Mark stared blankly at the TV screen. Pique passed the ball down to Xavi, who turned and passed it forward to Iniesta. Iniesta dribbled past a petrified Şahin and passed the ball to Messi.

Facing Dortmund's center-back Subotić, Messi easily broke through and entered the penalty area. He shot!

Weidenfeller tried to make a save, but he couldn't stop Messi's shot.

The ball crashed into the net. Barcelona led 2-0, sealing their victory!

The Champions League title had completely waved goodbye to Mark.

Mark slowly turned his head toward the door, his dull gaze gradually clearing. Then he leaped up from the floor, rushed to the door, and roared downstairs, "Zhou Yi—! What are you yelling about?! My Champions League! My Champions League title, ahhhhhh!!! You—pay for it!!"

"What are you still doing playing games, Mark! Pack your things and get out the door! We're going to Brackel!" Zhou Yi shouted from downstairs.

"Why? The season's over, isn't it? It's the holidays. What are you doing at the training base?" Mark asked, puzzled.

"To sign a contract! A professional contract!" Zhou Yi yelled at the top of his lungs.

Back in the kitchen, Mrs. Wagner, who was busy at work, stopped when she heard Zhou Yi's words.

Soon, she heard a flurry of frantic footsteps from overhead.

Mark appeared at the top of the stairs, grabbing the railing and leaning down, looking at Zhou Yi. "Are you kidding me, Zhou Yi?"

"Who's kidding? Mr. Rieken called to tell us that you and I are going to Brackel right now to sign professional contracts!" Zhou Yi shouted excitedly to Mark.

Mark was stunned for a moment, then turned and ran back. "I'm going to change my clothes!"

Zhou Yi followed him upstairs to get his things too.

※※※

Lars Rieken held his phone, listening helplessly to the various shouts and footsteps coming from the other end.

"Hello, Zhou Yi?" he asked tentatively. "Zhou Yi, are you still on the phone?"

He was answered by the faint voice of Mrs. Wagner, "I'll call your father back, Mark, and have him take you!"

Then there were various footsteps…

Zhou Yi didn't answer Rieken.

Clearly, Zhou Yi seemed to have forgotten that he was still talking to him and just ran off.

He had been the youth training director for a year and had been responsible for notifying some players to sign professional contracts, but this was the first time he had seen such an excited person being notified…

He smiled and shook his head, then hung up the phone himself.

Oh well, he thought, the rest can wait until he gets to the training base…

※※※

Mark's father was working at the company when he suddenly received a call from his wife. After listening to the phone quietly, he hung up and went to his boss to ask for leave.

"Uh, Old Wagner, it's not time to get off work yet…" The boss pointed to the clock on the wall to remind Old Wagner.

Old Wagner nodded, "I know, sir. But I have to go home."

"Reason?" the boss asked.

"My son is going to sign a professional contract with Borussia Dortmund, and I'm going to take them to the club."

"Ah? Ah!" The boss was stunned when he heard the news, then slapped his thigh. "Okay, I'll give you the leave! Hurry up! This is very important!"

"Thank you, sir." Old Wagner turned and left his boss's office.

Leaving the company, Old Wagner drove silently and quickly, returning home as fast as he could.

As soon as his car stopped in front of his house, Zhou Yi and Mark, along with Mrs. Wagner, opened the door and walked out, already prepared.

"Get in the car, kids." Mrs. Wagner pushed the two children into the car, and sat in the passenger seat herself.

"It's a pity the timing was so sudden, I didn't have time to tell your sister." Sitting in the car, Mrs. Wagner still felt a little regret. "But, I'll call her back for dinner, we must have a good celebration tonight!"

After speaking, she patted the car's center console, and announced spiritedly, "Let's go! To Brackel!"

It felt as if the person who was going to sign a professional contract with Dortmund wasn't Mark, but her…

※※※

On the way, Mark and Zhou Yi looked forward to the good life after signing a professional contract. They would no longer have youth contracts, and in terms of income, they would be much better off than they were now. They could be considered real professional players, supporting themselves with the salary given by the club, instead of relying on their parents.

While they were talking, the car had already arrived at the parking lot outside the Brackel training base. The guard at the gate saw Old Wagner, Zhou Yi, and Mark, and raised the barrier without saying anything, letting them pass.

The guards had long recognized these parents who often brought their children to the club for training, and there was no need to check any documents.

But the guard also wondered, hadn't the youth team already had a holiday? What were these two kids doing at the training base?

Before the car had even come to a complete stop in the parking lot, the back door was opened by Mark, who couldn't wait to jump out of the car, followed by Zhou Yi. The two wanted to run inside, but were stopped by Mrs. Wagner.

"Wait a minute, kids!"

She got out of the passenger seat and quickly walked up to the two impatient teenagers, then straightened their clothes.

"Don't run, it'll be embarrassing to sign the contract out of breath." She said to the two children. "Be steady, you are professional players now!"

Mark scratched his head embarrassedly, while Zhou Yi just smiled.

"Go ahead." Looking at the two children, Mrs. Wagner said with affection.

The two turned and walked towards the youth training building. At first, they were able to maintain their pace and not walk too fast. But later, they couldn't restrain the joy and excitement in their hearts, and walked faster and faster, finally simply running.

Mrs. Wagner watched the backs of the two children running, and just shook her head with a smile, without saying anything to stop them.

Because that was the nature of children.

※※※

Rieken waited for the two teenagers, Zhou Yi and Mark, in his office. Seeing that they were out of breath and their cheeks were a little flushed, Rieken pretended to be surprised and asked, "You didn't run all the way from home, did you?"

"How is that possible, sir. We don't have that kind of stamina, we ran from the parking lot." Zhou Yi said.

Rieken smiled.

"Okay, come on, you can take a look at the contract, and you can ask any questions you have at any time." Rieken pushed the two children to sit down on the chairs. Contract texts had already been placed in front of each of them.

Actually, in general, when signing a professional contract, an agent should be present, even for youth team players. More and more players are precocious now, and can enter the first team to play games or even become main players at the age of seventeen or eighteen. Therefore, agents have already extended their tentacles to the youth team. As long as there are talented and famous youth players, agents will come to them.

However, Mark and Zhou Yi had emerged too quickly, so neither of them had an agent yet.

Naturally, they could only look at the contract themselves.

In fact, Zhou Yi couldn't understand the contract at all. The cumbersome legal terms immediately reminded him of the paragraphs in the political class textbook that needed to be memorized, and just thinking about them made his head hurt.

Zhou Yi only cared about two things—the length of the contract and the salary, time and money.

That was all he could understand.

And frankly speaking, that was also the most important thing about a professional player's contract.

How long a player plays for a team determines the player's next development. The more famous players are unwilling to sign contracts with small teams for too long. However, this is not a problem for youth team players, because they often have not yet achieved fame. At this time, they often pursue stability, rather than treating the team as a springboard.

At the same time, clubs also have different treatments in setting the length of the contract. For those players with outstanding talent, the club will often give a very long contract, ten or eight years are possible, and five or six years are normal.

For those youth team players with average qualifications, the club will usually control the length of the contract to be relatively short, such as three or four years. Three or four years can also show what level an eighteen-year-old player can develop to in the future. If three seasons have passed and the player still doesn't have any good performances and progress tends to stop, then it can be said that the player no longer meets the requirements of his team. Then the club will choose to sell him a year before the contract expires, or simply wait until the contract expires and not renew it.

Zhou Yi glanced at the length of his contract—eight years.

He was eighteen years old this year, and eight years later he would be twenty-six years old, in the prime of his career.

From this length of time, it can be seen that Borussia Dortmund is still very optimistic about Zhou Yi's future. Of course, there is a reason for their optimism. It is all because of Zhou Yi's own performance that he has earned their optimism.

Having only been in the youth team for eight months, he has become the absolute main core of two youth teams, helping the Borussia Dortmund Youth A team win two important competition championships, and is a talented player second only to Götze.

Such talent and performance naturally deserve the club's attention to him.

Zhou Yi had no objection to the eight-year contract length, because he knew very well that the first professional contract in life often does not really last until the contract expires.

As long as he does well, this contract will definitely be re-signed, and both the salary and the length of time will be modified at that time.

So there is no need to worry about whether it is eight years or six years now.

With the contract length no problem, Zhou Yi then looked at the remuneration.

As the first professional contract in life, the salary is often not too high.

But this not too high is compared to the stars of the first team. Compared to an ordinary wage earner, the salary of a professional player is still very considerable.

Unlike English teams that pay attention to weekly wages, Bundesliga teams all talk about annual salaries.

So what is Zhou Yi's annual salary?

The contract states 150,000 euros.

150,000 euros!

Converted into RMB, that's a bonus of 1.5 million!

Zhou Yi is only eighteen years old and has already become a millionaire!

And this money, with his parents' current income, may take a lifetime to earn. Now it is just Zhou Yi's income for one year.

This is one of the reasons why Zhou Yi must be a professional player.

Both for the football dream in his heart and for the money.

However… Zhou Yi, who was in a period of happiness, suddenly saw a point in the contract, which stated that this 150,000 was… the pre-tax annual salary!

150,000 before tax, so how much is it after tax?

Zhou Yi looked up and asked Rieken, "Sir, how is… German personal income tax collected?"

Rieken seemed to be prepared. Seeing Zhou Yi asking this, he handed him a piece of paper. Zhou Yi took it and saw that it was a table of German personal income tax rates.

The tax rates for different income levels in Germany are clearly marked on it.

Annual income below 7,664 euros is not taxed.

The tax rate for annual income between 7,665 euros and 12,739 euros is 15%.

The tax rate for annual income between 12,740 euros and 52,151 euros is 24%.

The tax rate for annual income exceeding 52,151 euros is 45%.

Zhou Yi compared it and found that he had to pay 45% tax, and suddenly felt a pain in his heart.

After paying 150,000, only more than 80,000 euros are left…

Seeing that Zhou Yi was still studying taxes, Rieken asked, "By the way, Zhou Yi, do you have any religious beliefs?"

"No." Zhou Yi shook his head. "I'm an atheist."

"Oh, then you escaped a disaster." Rieken smiled.

"Ah?" Zhou Yi didn't understand.

"If you have religious beliefs, you also have to pay 3% to 4% of your income as church tax. But if you don't have religious beliefs, you don't have to pay this tax. After all, Germany is a country where politics and religion are separated, and this is a mandatory requirement in this regard. In addition, you have to pay about 11,000 euros for social insurance every year." Seeing that Zhou Yi cared about his income, Rieken explained in detail.

Hearing him say this, Zhou Yi calculated and found that his income was even less, more than 80,000 was only 70,000 left…

He thought 150,000 annual salary was a lot before, but now he felt it wasn't a lot at all!

While Zhou Yi was still struggling with his income, Mark next to him had already decided to sign the contract.

"Are you done reading?" Zhou Yi asked strangely.

"Yeah, there's nothing to see, it's always been my dream to become a professional player for Borussia Dortmund." Mark smiled.

Then Mark signed his name on the contract.

And Zhou Yi had nothing to say when he saw Mark signed it. This was the contract anyway, and he wasn't a professional agent. He wasn't good at bargaining with the club either. Anyway, it was the first contract in his life. Although he wasn't particularly satisfied with his income, this also gave Zhou Yi the motivation to continue working hard—work hard and then sign a big contract!

So Zhou Yi was about to sign too.

Rieken handed over the pen, but Zhou Yi waved his hand to refuse, and took out a Montblanc pen from his pocket. Rieken thought it looked familiar.

"Did we give you this the last time you signed a contract?" he asked.

Zhou Yi nodded: "I specially brought it to sign the contract."

Rieken smiled.

Zhou Yi unscrewed the cap of the pen and signed his name on the contract. From this moment on, he officially became a professional player.

His original goal had been achieved.

But Zhou Yi knew very well.

Becoming a professional player was just the beginning. If he couldn't play in the first team, then even having a professional contract would be meaningless.

Germany stipulates that you can sign a professional contract when you turn eighteen, so this is just a routine matter and does not mean that you can really play in the first team.

He wasn't even a first-team player yet, let alone playing in the first team.

※※※

After the two parties finished signing the contract, Rieken took out his camera and took a photo of each of them and a group photo as a souvenir.

Then there was nothing else to do. The two wanted to say goodbye and go out to tell the Wagner couple who were waiting outside the good news.

But Rieken stopped Zhou Yi: "Zhou Yi, stay for a moment, I have something to say."

Zhou Yi and Mark were both quite strange. Zhou Yi pointed to himself: "Only me?"

Rieken nodded.

"Then I'll wait for you outside." Mark said to Zhou Yi quickly, then said goodbye to Rieken and went out the door.

He closed the door, and now only Rieken and Zhou Yi were left in the office.

"Come on, sit down first." Rieken motioned Zhou Yi to sit down, so Zhou Yi sat on the sofa.

Rieken then returned to his desk and sat directly on the corner of the desk.

"What are your plans for this holiday, Zhou Yi?" he asked.

"Go home, sir." Zhou Yi replied.

"Oh? Have you booked your ticket?"

"Does the club reimburse it?" Zhou Yi's eyes lit up, thinking that Rieken was concerned about his ticket for this matter.

Rieken didn't expect Zhou Yi to have such a big brain, and quickly waved his hand: "You're thinking too much. I'm afraid you'll lose some money if you cancel your ticket at that time."

"Cancel the ticket? Why should I cancel the ticket?" Zhou Yi asked, puzzled.

"It's like this, Zhou Yi, you may not be able to go home for vacation." Rieken said.

Zhou Yi widened his eyes in confusion.

"I received a call from Klopp before. For the summer training camp, you will be transferred to the first team to participate in the training camp."

Zhou Yi opened his mouth wide and stared blankly at Rieken.

"And the start time for the first team's training camp is July 2nd, so… you don't have time to go home, Zhou Yi. But I want to remind you that you are only following the first team for training now, it doesn't mean that you are a first-team player. Whether you can stay in the first team or not depends on your performance during the training camp."

"Only you and Götze are going. You're the only ones from the entire u19 team going to the first team for training." Rieken added.

Zhou Yi was stunned—there was no Mark.

Zhou Yi understood why he was asked to stay to talk about this matter alone—it would be a bit awkward to say this in front of Mark.

But Zhou Yi was now in trouble. How was he going to face Mark later?

He originally thought that if Mark was going to the first team, he would definitely go with him, given his excellent performance during this period.

He didn't expect them to be separated.

Being able to be selected for the first team to go to the training camp should have been a very happy thing, but now Zhou Yi suddenly wasn't so happy.

Mark worked so hard and wanted to go to the first team. He had seen all his efforts in the past few months. In the end, he wasn't the one going to the first team. How disappointed would he be when he found out…