Chapter 11 Spicy

Although reporters had just photographed him partying at nightclubs, and Chen Hero had only managed to keep the Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Gang in the first team after suffering injuries, instead of them being sent to the reserves. But the Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Gang still found time to go out for a gathering.

This time there was a new member—Andrei Arshavin.

Because Arshavin was there, everyone didn't go to a bar. Chen Hero took them directly to Ruilongju Restaurant for dinner.

The owner of Ruilongju, Ren Tianhua, was very happy to see Chen Hero. There had been more and more media reports about Chen Hero recently. At first, it was about him partying at nightclubs, and then it turned into reports of him displaying great power and performing a hat trick. Ren Tianhua was very excited to see it.

When he first saw the news about Chen Hero partying, he was worried that Chen Hero would lose himself in fame and fortune, like those Chinese players who became arrogant after gaining some fame. But he didn't expect Chen Hero to immediately score a hat trick in the game, fiercely fighting back against the media's criticisms and doubts.

Although Ren Tianhua didn't know much about football, he could see that Chen Hero was rapidly becoming a new hero figure in the city. Because the Russian college students working in his store would talk about Chen Hero of St. Petersburg Zenit whenever they had the chance.

Of course, it was a happy thing for a fellow countryman to become famous, but Ren Tianhua had a little regret, which was... Chen Hero didn't take a photo with him last time he came.

There was a wall in his small shop where he hung photos of many customers and himself, including some ordinary tourists and some celebrities.

But his wish was soon fulfilled... because Chen Hero brought his teammates to eat here again.

And this time, he brought a big-name star—Andrei Arshavin!

After Ren Tianhua happily took photos with the five of them, he instructed the kitchen to prepare two kinds of dishes. One was of course Chinese food with a sweet and sour taste for the Russians, and the other was authentic Sichuan cuisine prepared separately for Chen Hero.

Denisov was unhappy when he saw that Chen Hero had special treatment. "Hey, Hero. I'm the captain, right? Why do you get this kind of treatment?"

Chen Hero was tasting Mao Xue Wang (a Sichuan dish with blood curd). He thought that although it was still a bit different from the taste of his hometown, it was probably considered authentic in St. Petersburg. At least it had the spicy and fragrant flavor.

He looked at Denisov and then at the other three. They were all staring at him with the same gaze, as if he was eating alone.

He smiled, and a mischievous thought flashed through his mind. "Ah, this... I don't think these dishes suit your taste..."

The more he tried to cover it up and refuse, the more excited and interested his teammates became.

"No way, if you still consider us friends, we insist on eating these dishes!"

As Denisov spoke, he reached out his fork and stuck a piece into his mouth, and then...

Chen Hero saw Denisov's face turn red instantly!

Russians are East Slavs with fair skin, so when Denisov's face turned red, it became very, very obvious... like a monkey's butt.

Denisov, who was affected by the spiciness, grabbed the large glass beside him and took a big gulp... and then it was even more tragic, because he had just downed a large glass of vodka...

Vodka is known for being a strong liquor.

So Denisov grabbed another glass next to him.

"That's mine..." Anyukov wanted to stop him, but it was too late. He saw Denisov tilt his head back and empty the glass.

"...Vodka..." he murmured.

Denisov felt his throat and mouth burning! It felt like he could breathe out flames.

He wanted to speak, but he couldn't say anything. In the end, he held back a lot of strength and roared, "It's so f***ing spicy! Ahhhhh!!"

Chen Hero was already laughing so hard that he was lying on the table, hitting the tabletop with all his might.

Denisov drank two whole bottles of iced mineral water to control the burning sensation, but even so, his face was still red all the way to the base of his neck, and there were a lot of beads of sweat on his forehead.

It was obvious how embarrassed he had been just now.

"I told you this dish definitely wouldn't suit your taste..." Chen Hero shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands, looking innocent.

"Damn it..." Denisov admitted defeat.

Arshavin, who was next to him, saw Denisov's embarrassed appearance and asked, "Is it really that scary?"

Chen Hero shook his head. "If you're afraid of the spiciness, just drink some water, but don't drink this..." Chen Hero pointed to the vodka in their glasses.

"You're wrong, Hero! For Russians, vodka is water!" Anyukov said righteously.

"Water is vodka!" Kerzhakov added from the side.

Chen Hero curled his lips. Sichuanese people also drink alcohol when eating Sichuan cuisine, but they've never been this exaggerated. What a bunch of country bumpkins!

Denisov looked hesitantly at the colorful dishes in front of Chen Hero. "But... now that I think about it, I think the taste is okay..."

"Really?" Arshavin was obviously also very interested in the "special Chinese food" that Chen Hero was eating.

"Really!" Denisov nodded vigorously.

"Then let's try it!"

The other three reached out to the dishes in front of Chen Hero.

And then...

Now there were four monkey butts in front of Chen Hero!

After eating a meal with Arshavin, Chen Hero felt that their relationship was closer than before. In the past, everyone interacted only as teammates, but now they could be considered "teammates with a good relationship."

So it is said that the best way to build relationships is at the dinner table...

In fact, Chinese and Russians can find common ground in talking about feelings at the dinner table.

Of course, Chen Hero's relationship with Arshavin had not yet reached the point where he could joke around with him like he did with Denisov, Anyukov, and Kerzhakov.

After the game against Wings of the Soviets, the league ushered in a break, because the national teams were calling up players for matches, so the league was suspended, and the next round of the league would have to wait until October 14th.

The Yudelny Park training base suddenly became a lot quieter, because many national team players had been called up.

Those non-national team players, of course, still trained according to their usual schedule. It was impossible to say that non-national team players would also get a vacation...

So for Chen Hero, apart from the locker room being slightly deserted, there were no other changes. He could just seize this time to train hard and accumulate experience for himself.

It took 90,000 experience points to level up from level 5 to level 6, and now he had only leveled up one-third of the way. In the past, he thought that leveling up was quite fast and easy. If he left the game running overnight, he could jump up a big chunk. But now that more experience was needed to level up, he realized that the experience bar was moving so slowly!

During this period, Advocaat arranged a friendly match for the first team, and the opponent was... their own youth team.

After leaving the youth team for a month, Chen Hero finally saw his teammates in the youth team again, as well as coach Popovich.

Everyone exchanged greetings on the sidelines for a while.

The youth team teammates were very envious when they saw that the Chinese kid who had just joined the team not long ago had become the first team's popular main striker, scoring five goals in three league games.

When he saw Popovich, Chen Hero naturally bowed to thank Popovich for his training. Although they hadn't spent much time together, he felt that Popovich was a serious and responsible coach who was good to his players, and... he could get along with young people, so that this newly joined player didn't feel any estrangement and integrated into the team quickly.

Popovich was surprised that Chen Hero still had such an attitude when he saw him. He thought that Chen Hero should be as complacent as any successful young man, but he didn't expect Chen Hero to have not forgotten him.

He was suddenly very happy.

He patted Chen Hero on the shoulder and said, "No matter when or what happens, don't forget the afternoon you joined Zenit."

He was referring to the afternoon when Chen Hero defeated the Zenit youth team and proved his strength to everyone with his actions.

Chen Hero nodded, "I know, coach!"

Popovich winked at him, "Do well in the first team!"

In this friendly match with the youth team, Chen Hero started for the first team and was substituted off in the first half. He showed his header prowess again in the game, and his former teammates in the youth team deeply realized that after several rounds of the Super League, Chen Hero was more powerful in many aspects than before. It wasn't a quantifiable power, but purely a feeling—Krotkov, the center-back who had competed with Chen Hero since Chen Hero's pre-entry test, clearly felt that Chen Hero was more difficult to deal with than before. He felt that Hero had completely broken away from the level of the youth team and become a qualified professional player.

Chen Hero completed a hat trick again in the friendly match, and of course, all of them were scored with his head.

But scoring more goals in the friendly match was useless. The gold content of goals in the friendly match was too low, so the experience reward was much less.

In addition to leveling up, another thing that Chen Hero had been brooding about was... money!

He was short of money now. The more than 100,000 yuan that his family owed had not been paid off yet. Although he was helping to repay it, he could only earn 20,000 yuan a month. After deducting the money he needed to spend, even if he sent all the remaining money to his father, it would only be a drop in the bucket.

However, the contract at the time was signed when he had just joined the team. At that time, he had nothing, no fame, and he had not proved his strength in the same level of competition. To the Russians, he was no different from an amateur player.

Now it was different. He had scored five goals in three league games, and there was also a hat trick in one game.

He felt that he had the capital to negotiate terms with the club.

One should become famous as soon as possible, and get a raise as soon as possible...

But first, he had to have an agent.