Chapter 135 Houses and Money

After Zhou Yi returned home, he discussed houses and money with his parents, things that sounded quite mundane.

On the field, he was a dazzling star, captivating tens of thousands. It seemed hard to connect that image with the one of him discussing buying a new house with his parents.

Because the former was radiant, while the latter was a bit too ordinary.

But life was originally the ordinary hidden beneath dazzling brilliance—life wasn't just about dreams and distant places, but also the daily necessities of life.

Zhou Yi didn't care if discussing mundane things like houses and money with his parents would damage his image. Compared to what his parents actually enjoyed, his image was not worth mentioning.

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After returning home, Zhou Yi lived a simple holiday life. He didn't go sightseeing everywhere, nor did he frequent commercial centers.

He was very low-key in the media. After participating in a few commercial events and media interviews, he didn't appear in any media outlets.

He was enjoying his small-town life in Qingyang, a city that wasn't even that famous in China.

In a way, Qingyang and Dortmund were similar for Zhou Yi; both were industrial cities relying on traditional industries.

Dortmund was based on the coal and steel industries, while Qingyang was a well-known heavy industrial city in northern China. Many areas of the city were basically the family areas of large state-owned enterprises, with the territory of one state-owned enterprise almost equivalent to a district.

Cities relying on heavy industry were very prosperous in the early stages of the country's development. But now, most heavy industrial bases were somewhat depressed. Of course, depression wasn't without its benefits. While housing prices were rising rapidly throughout China, Qingyang's housing prices were increasing very slowly.

Zhou Yi learned that the most expensive houses in Qingyang were only around 10,000 yuan per square meter, and that was the most expensive. In fact, many houses at 7,000 or 8,000 yuan per square meter were already very good properties, whether it was the surrounding environment, the community property management, or the quality of the houses themselves.

Did it seem like he was back to the mundane issue of houses again?

Who asked Zhou Yi to be learning about houses recently?

Of course, Zhou Yi's vacation wasn't always entangled with Qingyang's real estate. Sometimes he would go out for a walk. At first, every time he appeared, it would attract a lot of attention.

Because he wasn't used to dressing like a star in his hometown.

But later, when he went out, he wore a baseball cap, though he still wasn't used to wearing sunglasses... Of course, this already had a good effect—who would have thought that this person dressed plainly, wearing a baseball cap, and riding a bicycle was the famous football star Zhou Yi?

Zhou Yi liked to ride his bicycle around. This mode of travel was green, environmentally friendly, low-key, and convenient. Of course, it was also because Qingyang itself wasn't a very big city. Riding a bicycle leisurely, he could see almost everything in a day.

When he was in school, he used to ride his bicycle with his classmates and friends to find football fields to play on, starting from junior high school. Many schools, of course, had football fields, but they weren't open to the public. Even their own school wasn't open on weekends. So they had to ride their bicycles everywhere to find a place to play, one bicycle per person, carrying backpacks, but the backpacks didn't contain textbooks, but jerseys and football shoes, with a football clamped on the back seat, marching through the traffic.

Sometimes, in order to play football, they had to climb over the wall, of course, if they were discovered by the security guards, they would be chased out again, it was a complete mess.

But they were very happy.

Today, Zhou Yi put enough money for lunch in his pocket and rode his bicycle out. Half an hour later, he rode to the gate of his alma mater, Qingyang No. 1 High School.

May wasn't the summer vacation time for Chinese high schools, so when Zhou Yi came to Qingyang No. 1 High School, a lot of people and cars gathered at the gate, because it was noon dismissal time.

The students of No. 1 High School, wearing traditional Chinese sportswear school uniforms, were pouring out of the gate, calling out to their friends.

Zhou Yi parked his bicycle on the side, watching this scene. This was his daily student life.

The students passed by him, talking about where to eat at noon, this place's rice bowl was good, that place's pulled noodles were also very delicious, buy a cup of milk tea after eating, the grilled sausage at the supermarket at the door was also very good...

Zhou Yi wasn't unfamiliar with the names of the restaurants they were talking about. After all, he had only left the campus for two and a half years. However, those classmates he knew at the beginning had already graduated from this middle school. Some of them would successfully get into their ideal universities, some would go to universities they didn't really want to go to, and some might not have gotten into university and would enter society from then on.

Anyway, everyone went their separate ways. The class group that was quite lively at the beginning had gradually become deserted, and no one had spoken for ten days or half a month. Everyone was living a new life in their respective new environments, making new friends, and having new circles.

Wasn't Zhou Yi like this? It's just that his circle was too far away, and others could have some contact more or less, but others couldn't get into his circle at all. There really wasn't any common language. Moreover, with Zhou Yi's current status, it was inevitable that many people would be somewhat afraid, creating a sense of alienation.

So Zhou Yi rarely had contact with his classmates now.

The reason he suddenly wanted to come to his former high school today was just to reminisce about the past.

It wasn't to show off his success.

After working hard alone in Germany for two and a half years, Zhou Yi had matured a lot.

When he came back from the reality show, he was in the limelight when he attended classes at the school.

Now he just wanted to watch quietly from the side.

He found a place to lock his bicycle, and then went to a small restaurant he used to go to with his classmates to eat lunch with the money in his pocket.

A twice-cooked pork rice bowl and a glass of iced sour plum juice were Zhou Yi's standard lunch in high school.

He sat at a four-person table in the small shop, wearing his baseball cap backwards, and lowered his head to eat the rice bowl that had just been served. The taste... he had forgotten if it was still the same. To be honest, this was the first time he had eaten twice-cooked pork in two and a half years... As a professional player, he certainly knew the disadvantages of eating this kind of food, so he usually didn't eat it. But this time, Zhou Yi made an exception.

While he was eating with his head down, two students from No. 1 High School sat down next to him, ordered their meals, and started chatting about the people and things in the class.

So-and-so and so-and-so are together, so-and-so and so-and-so broke up again, they have no confidence in the final exam at the end of the month, where to go for summer vacation... that kind of thing.

These topics were also the topics that Zhou Yi would discuss with his classmates back then. In addition to that, there would be more topics related to football.

Zhou Yi just lowered his head to eat, listening quietly to their conversation, without interrupting.

After eating, he put the money on the table, put on his baseball cap, wiped his mouth, and got up to leave.

Although he only looked around at the school gate this time, Zhou Yi was already satisfied, and he was ready to go back.

But just as he walked to the bicycle parking area, he was recognized.

"Zhou... Yi?" a female voice called out in an uncertain tone.

Zhou Yi reflexively raised his head, and just happened to meet the woman's eyes, colliding head-on.

"It's really you?" The woman was stunned for a moment, then pleasantly surprised.

And Zhou Yi also recognized her. The person who called him was actually his high school homeroom teacher, Zhai Liying. He was also a little surprised: "Teacher Zhai?"

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Zhou Yi probably never thought that even though he had been away from campus for two and a half years, he would still be called to the teacher's office by his homeroom teacher...

Now he was sitting in Teacher Zhai Liying's office. But the treatment he was enjoying now was much better than in his student days, because his homeroom teacher was pouring water for him...

Standing up and taking the water glass handed over by Teacher Zhai with both hands, Zhou Yi asked strangely: "Teacher Zhai, I think I disguised myself quite well, how did you recognize me?"

When Zhai Liying heard Zhou Yi say this, she glanced at the baseball cap he put aside, and then said: "I still remember my students. Especially... those students who are often called to the office."

Speaking of this, she couldn't help laughing herself.

Zhou Yi also scratched his head with a smile. When he was in school, he was a "bad student" representative who made the teacher worry a lot, and was always called to the office to be scolded.

This joke resolved a lot of the initial awkwardness of the teacher and student reuniting. Zhai Liying looked at Zhou Yi, this naughty student who was always criticized by her, had completely changed, and that change was far beyond his peers. Many changes had really occurred in him.

"I'm not a football fan, and I don't usually know much about football. But I still often see you in newspapers and on TV. They all say you are very powerful, are you really that powerful?"

"It's okay, it's okay..." Zhou Yi continued to scratch his head.

"I'm very curious, Zhou Yi. Can you tell me about your experiences in Germany? Just say anything, I just want to hear about your situation there." Zhai Liying asked softly, facing the current Zhou Yi, she couldn't put on any of the airs of a former homeroom teacher.

The teacher wanted to listen, so Zhou Yi talked. He didn't reject this kind of exchange. When he was a student, which student didn't want to sit on an equal footing with their homeroom teacher, talking and laughing?

So he started with his experiences when he first went to Germany, telling the teacher some interesting things, and trying to avoid those boring and professional content.

He told it interestingly, and Zhai Liying also listened with interest, occasionally letting out a burst of laughter.

After telling his story, Zhou Yi lowered his head and took a sip of the water that had already cooled down. The office suddenly fell into a moment of silence, which was a bit awkward.

At this time, Zhai Liying suddenly asked again: "Zhou Yi, do you think you are successful now?"

This question stunned Zhou Yi. The atmosphere was still quite relaxed and normal before, how could she suddenly ask such a profound question?

"This... it depends on how you define success." Zhou Yi thought for a while and replied.

"Then how do you define success?" Zhai Liying asked.

"There are many kinds of success. Achieving a dream is a success, making a lot of money is also a success, and being famous is also a success."

Zhai Liying nodded: "If you define it this way, you have already succeeded, Zhou Yi, at the age of twenty."

Zhou Yi shook his head: "It's not really..."

"Then what counts as success?"

"This..." Zhou Yi tilted his head and thought, "After I die, there will still be many, many people who remember me?"

He said in an uncertain tone, which surprised Zhai Liying.

She didn't expect that the standard of success in this naughty student's mind was so high.

"But first get on the wall of honor! Haha!" Zhou Yi laughed himself.

So Zhai Liying also laughed: "I'd say success is being a person who is responsible for themselves and useful to society."

Zhou Yi quickly nodded: "Teacher Zhai is right, thank you for your teaching!"

Zhai Liying waved her hand and shook her head: "It's nothing, it's nothing."

Indeed, she heard these words from the old principal, Lin Xianrong, and the old principal's words were obviously inspired by Zhou Yi.

So it wasn't her teaching Zhou Yi, but Zhou Yi teaching her...