Dortmund and Kaiserslautern played their match first, with Dortmund taking a one-goal lead in the first half at home.

However, Kaiserslautern equalized in the second half.

In the seventy-seventh minute, Zhou Yi assisted Robert Lewandowski, helping the Polish striker shoot the ball into Kaiserslautern's goal.

Ultimately, Dortmund defeated Kaiserslautern 2-1 at home.

Bayern Munich obviously understood the significance of being the winter break champion, and they also defeated Stuttgart with the same score after taking the field.

The two teams remained only one point apart.

※※※

A week later, in the final match before the winter break, Dortmund traveled to Freiburg. Bayern Munich hosted Cologne at home, and Schalke 04 was also at home, their opponent being Werder Bremen.

This time, the first match of the league round was Bayern Munich hosting Cologne.

Bayern Munich ultimately won 3-0 against Cologne, effortlessly.

A day later, Dortmund and Schalke 04 took the field one after another.

Dortmund first defeated Freiburg 4-1 away.

Thus, Dortmund became the Bundesliga winter break champion by a one-point advantage, laying a psychological foundation for their eventual league title.

Subsequently, Schalke 04 defeated Werder Bremen 5-0 at home. Yang Muge started for the third consecutive match and played the entire game.

Being able to start consecutively and not be substituted, playing the full match each time, already indicated that Yang Muge's position in Schalke 04 was secure.

This time, Yang Muge's performance was more outstanding because, due to his excellent performance, Schalke 04 kept a clean sheet against Werder Bremen, not allowing them to score.

※※※

After playing all the matches in the first half of the season, the Dortmund team disbanded. They would have a holiday of more than half a month, and then gather again in the new year to prepare for the second half of the season.

This was the first time Zhou Yi had truly enjoyed a winter break since participating in professional leagues.

In his first season, he seized the time during the winter break to train and improve his physical fitness and strength weaknesses.

In his second season, after the end of the first half, he went directly back to the national team to report for duty, participating in the Asian Cup in January.

Zhou Yi and Yang Muge agreed to return home together.

And not only them two, they also invited Sun Pan, He Ying, and Guo Nu to gather in Beijing, and then go home separately.

Because La Liga and Serie A have winter breaks, they were able to gather together. If someone was playing in the Premier League, this gathering would have to be missed. Because the Premier League does not have a winter break, on the contrary, the schedule becomes more intensive towards the end of the year.

When Yang Muge and Zhou Yi arrived in Beijing, Guo Nu was already waiting there.

The next day, Sun Pan and He Ying, who played in Spain, also returned home together, and the five people finally gathered in Beijing.

This was the first time they had gathered together since the reality show was filmed.

Beijing was He Ying's territory, so where to gather and how to have fun were all arranged by He Ying.

He Ying arranged a place for them that would allow them to have a good get-together without being disturbed by reporters and paparazzi.

The reserved program for five good friends getting together was naturally... making fun of Guo Nu.

Amidst the laughter, Guo Nu was thoroughly roasted.

But Guo Nu himself also laughed very happily.

He used to be a person who could not tolerate others saying a bad word about him, because of his inferiority complex, he became very sensitive and fragile.

But now he was different from what he used to be. Listening to his friends teasing him, he could still laugh heartily, and even make fun of himself.

He would still stutter when he spoke, but he no longer cared about this problem. He would even actively tell his friends why he stuttered.

Such a scene would never have happened to him before.

His experience playing in Europe had enhanced his confidence and changed his entire temperament.

At the end of the gathering, Zhou Yi suggested that everyone take a group photo, which was also the first time the five of them had taken a photo together alone.

Through a tripod and a delayed shutter, the five people realized this historically significant group photo.

Many years later, when people discussed the on-field understanding and off-field friendship of China's golden generation of football, this photo would be a precious testimony.

But at the time, no one would realize this, because everyone's focus was not on such grand significance as historical witness...

Zhou Yi used the digital camera's screen to replay the photo, and everyone gathered behind him to see how well the photo was taken.

"Hey, Lao Guo, you stuttered!" Zhou Yi suddenly exclaimed.

"S-s-shut up! What's... what's st-stuttering about the photo?" Guo Nu stammered.

Everyone laughed.

"Ah, I misspoke, you blinked," Zhou Yi corrected without changing his expression.

Looking closely, Guo Nu did blink.

Fortunately, in the next photo, everyone's expressions were normal.

"Perfect, this is the one." Zhou Yi said, deleting all the other photos, leaving only this group photo on the memory card.

Looking at everyone in the group photo, Zhou Yi suddenly said, "Huh, I feel like this photo looks familiar..."

"Familiar with what? This is our first group photo," Sun Pan said from the side.

"Yeah, what's so familiar about it?"

Zhou Yi turned to ask everyone, "Don't you guys think it looks familiar?"

Everyone shook their heads: "We don't think so."

Zhou Yi moved the camera slightly further away, and the people on the LCD screen on the back of the camera became smaller, small enough that it was difficult to see the expressions on their faces clearly. Zhou Yi pointed to the screen and said, "Look, it looks different from the side than from the front, from far away than up close."

"How cultured, you can even quote poetry. But isn't that normal? We five people are all different heights," Sun Pan mocked.

"The point is not that I'm more cultured than you, Panpan, although that's a fact. The point is, don't you think this photo looks like a mountain?" Zhou Yi said.

"Mountain? What mountain?" Not only Sun Pan, but everyone else also felt strange.

"The Five Finger Mountain from *Journey to the West*!"

As soon as Zhou Yi said this, everyone was stunned. They hadn't thought about it that way, but now after hearing Zhou Yi say it, looking at the photo again, it seemed... it really did have that meaning!

Zhou Yi was still explaining, he stretched out one hand, making the "five" gesture, and placed it next to the camera screen for comparison: "Look, Guo and I are each on either side, just like the thumb and pinky..." He shook his pinky and thumb, and then retracted these two fingers.

Now "five" became "three".

"And then this is Lao Yang, the 1.86-meter Lao Yang is like the ring finger." Zhou Yi retracted the ring finger again.

"Three" became "two".

"Next is He Ying, He Ying, you're 1.83 meters, right?"

He Ying nodded.

"So He Ying is the index finger."

Everyone looked at He Ying next to Sun Pan in the photo, the positional relationship was really the index finger...

Sun Pan looked at the photo, narrowing his eyes, he suddenly had a bad feeling.

And at this moment, Zhou Yi had already retracted his index finger, and then said: "And the remaining Panpan, you are... this!"

After speaking, he placed his middle finger next to Sun Pan in the photo, the contrast was really strong!

"Damn it!!" Sun Pan finally understood what that bad feeling was... "You're not allowed to flip me off!"

The others were stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter.

Amidst the joyful laughter, Zhou Yi said: "I'm not flipping you off, Panpan, you *are* the middle finger!"

"Get out!"

"Ah ha ha ha ha!"

See, that's the truth of history, not beautiful at all, and a little... dirty.

And as for what historically significant group photo, that's just what people who don't understand have imagined...

※※※

After the "Five Little Dragons" finished their small gathering in Beijing, they went their separate ways and returned to their respective homes.

And as for what experiences they would have after being exposed upon returning home, that would be different for each of them.

Zhou Yi was the undisputed leader of the Five Little Dragons, the most well-known player, but also the one people were least interested in. He became famous the earliest, and everyone already knew everything they needed to know about him.

So in fact, the media was chasing after Yang Muge instead.

Yang Muge, who was freshly out of the oven.

Starting in three consecutive Bundesliga matches and playing all ninety minutes, Yang Muge quickly entered the public eye.

So this vacation, Yang Muge would probably be the busiest of the Five Little Dragons...

With Yang Muge attracting everyone's attention, Zhou Yi's vacation was actually very relaxed.

He only participated in a commercial event in Beijing and then returned to his hometown.

His parents had bought a new house, not too far from their old house, both belonging to the same district. Being able to be close to the original house was probably the main reason why Li Cuiyun ultimately chose here.

And Zhou Yi had no objections to this. Being able to be close to the place where he grew up was also what he hoped for.

Pushing open the window in the new house, as long as the visibility was high enough, you could actually see Zhou Yi's former home, which was an old and dirty residential area that was clearly shorter than the surrounding buildings.

In terms of the scenery after opening the window, it was certainly not good-looking, after all, everyone likes houses facing the sea with spring blossoms.

Real estate companies always boast that their houses are river-view houses, lake-view houses, and sea-view houses. Have you ever seen a real estate company claim that their house is a "slum-view house"?

But Zhou Yi quite liked the scenery after opening the window.

Because opening the window allowed him to see the place where he was born and raised, it would always remind him that he, Zhou Yi, came from that place that didn't look good, he couldn't forget his roots, he had to know where he came from, so that he could clearly determine where he wanted to go.