Chapter 1 The Hat Trick

When Chen Yingxiong headed the football into the goal with a diving header, Shirgayevski called out in a drawn-out voice, "Goooooooal!! Hat! Hat! Hat trick!!"

The stands of the Kirov Stadium erupted with volcanic force in the final moments of the match, the cheers deafening.

Chen Yingxiong got up from the ground and bumped into Andrei Husin, who was standing next to him. Husin, like a puppet, allowed himself to be bumped aside by Chen Yingxiong, stunned.

Chen Yingxiong's mind was filled with a huge sense of happiness after the goal. He couldn't think about anything else at this moment. His mind was full of "I scored! I scored! Scored, scored! Hat trick!!"

This time he didn't celebrate with his teammates, but rushed directly to the stands where the media seats were located, and held up three fingers towards them.

After holding up three fingers, he raised his arm, as if gathering strength, and then suddenly slapped upwards!

Smack!

Didn't you say that I wasn't in good shape? Didn't you say that going to nightclubs affected my form? Is a hat trick good form or not? Is scoring three goals good form or not? Do you enjoy getting slapped in the face by me?!

Chen Yingxiong, having vented his inner emotions, was soon overwhelmed by his teammates who swarmed towards him.

They slapped Chen Yingxiong hard, "Good job! Well done!"

"You really did it!! Hero!"

"Hat trick! Hahaha!"

Everyone was cheering and celebrating Chen Yingxiong's three goals.

The reporters in the media seats fell into an awkward silence.

Everyone knew what Chen Yingxiong's celebration meant...

He was slapping them in the face!

All the reporters who had criticized Chen Yingxiong's performance before the game felt their cheeks stinging.

A group of people looked at each other. Criticizing players was their normal state. They criticized whoever they wanted to criticize. They could criticize with a reason, and they could criticize without a reason. But none of the players they criticized dared to say a word. Who would have thought that this Chen Yingxiong would react so fiercely, as if his ass was on fire.

Celebrating a goal by slapping reporters in the face? They had never seen such a person before!

"This... arrogant kid..." one reporter muttered through gritted teeth.

"That's great! Hero! You did it! You really did it!" Denisov was holding Chen Yingxiong's head, forehead to forehead, and roaring at him.

"Hat trick! Now the Dutchman has nothing to say!"

"We don't have to go to the reserve team anymore, haha! Thank you, Hero!"

"This is a victory for our Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Gang! Hooray!"

The four members of the Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Gang gathered together, extremely excited.

Chen Yingxiong's three goals saved them all. Of course, they had to thank Chen Yingxiong.

Chen Yingxiong laughed non-stop.

It felt so good to complete a hat trick! It felt so good to slap those blind reporters! It felt even better not to have to go to the reserve team... Ah ha ha ha!

When he ran back to his own half with his teammates, he didn't forget to take a look at the coach's bench. After seeing Advocaat, he grinned at the head coach.

When Chen Yingxiong smiled at him, Advocaat's face was expressionless. When Chen Yingxiong turned and ran away, he smiled.

He originally thought it was a very difficult thing to do, but he didn't expect that he would actually hand in a perfect answer sheet for himself.

What an amazing kid.

Potter next to him was a little disappointed—there was no way to let Chen Yingxiong go to the reserve team to calm down. How would the team's discipline work be carried out in the future...

"Hat trick! Chen Yingxiong completed a hat trick! This is simply a miracle! A player who has only played three official professional league games, has played in three games and scored in every game! And... he completed the first hat trick of his career in the third game! Five goals in three games! Unparalleled results! Ladies and gentlemen, although I have said it once, I still want to say it again - from today onwards, please remember this name! His name is Chen Yingxiong! He is Zenit's center forward!"

Shirgayevski's shouts came from the TV, and Yesenin smiled.

He thought of the various qualities that this child had shown since he came into contact with Chen Yingxiong.

After knowing that his suddenly awesome header came from supernatural powers, he was not depressed or down, nor did he deny himself. Instead, he accepted the result very naturally. This incident left a deep impression on him—from this incident, he felt that Chen Yingxiong was not an ordinary eighteen-year-old boy.

A hat trick tests more than just footwork and technique, but other things.

Faced with such a test, the characteristics that Chen Yingxiong originally had shone brightly.

When the two of them met for the first time, Chen Yingxiong pointed at himself with his thumb and said to Yesenin: "Who do you think I am? I'm a hero!"

This sentence showed all of Chen Yingxiong's characteristics.

A person with such a personality... maybe he can really succeed?

Yesenin laughed at the person in the TV screen who was swinging his arms and slapping the reporters hard.

Maybe he was also showing his identity to those reporters?

Who do you think I am?

I'm a hero!

Chen Yingxiong's hat trick allowed the game to end early. The referee didn't even make up for the full four minutes before blowing the final whistle.

When the game ended, the TV camera was firmly aimed at Chen Yingxiong.

He didn't celebrate the goal with his teammates, but ran towards the substitute bench of Soviet Wings.

There, Matthew Booth, who had been replaced, was getting up, ready to leave.

Chen Yingxiong called him to stop.

"Hey, number twenty-two."

Booth turned to look at him.

Chen Yingxiong took off his jersey and handed it to him: "How about we exchange jerseys?"

Booth noticed that Chen Yingxiong was also covered in marks caused by collisions. There was also a red mark on his right shoulder, which should have been caused by his teammate Husin. He, who was originally frowning, also showed his teeth and smiled, and also took off his jersey and handed it to Chen Yingxiong.

His chest had already been bandaged, but the collision marks on other parts of his body were still very clear.

The two equally scarred players completed the jersey exchange ceremony. Without further communication, Chen Yingxiong draped the other party's jersey over his shoulder, turned around and ran back to celebrate the victory.

Booth looked down at Chen Yingxiong's jersey, number 99 and "hero" were very conspicuous.

South African player Matthew Booth, of course, understood English, so he knew what this word meant.

Hero?

He really is a hero who likes to be tough and reckless...

Husin leaned over to look at him, staring at the jersey without saying a word, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Good opponent!" Booth raised his hand and threw the jersey over his shoulder, "Let's go."

When Chen Yingxiong returned to the locker room with his teammates, he had to pass through the mixed zone, which was where reporters could freely interview players. Players would usually stop here for a while to accept interviews from reporters. Of course, if the player himself didn't have this idea, and just walked away without stopping, the reporters couldn't do anything about it. At most, they would mention in later reports that the player was acting like a big shot.

When Chen Yingxiong passed through the mixed zone, the reporters were particularly conflicted. They seemed to want to stay but didn't want to stay. They wanted to keep him and let him accept their interviews, because Chen Yingxiong was the best player in this game. He staged a hat trick in the game and helped St. Petersburg Zenit win 3-0 against Soviet Wings at home. Such a player would definitely become a news figure.

They didn't want to stay because they had criticized him for being in poor form before, but now he had scored a hat trick. How could they face this person? Moreover, he also used slapping their faces as a celebration after scoring a goal... Such naked provocation, it was really not something that ordinary reporters could swallow.

Just as they were hesitating, Chen Yingxiong solved this problem for them.

He took the initiative to walk up to the many reporters and stopped.

It seemed that he was planning to accept an interview.

But before the reporters could hand up the microphone and ask questions, Chen Yingxiong had already spoken.

"How is it, everyone? How are you feeling now?" he said with a smile.

He raised his right hand, like he was swearing an oath, but only extended three fingers.

After speaking, without waiting for the reporters to react, he turned and left the mixed zone with his teammates.

Radimov, the captain who was being interviewed by reporters on the side, smiled helplessly when he saw Chen Yingxiong like this.

This kid is not interested in his own set of experience... Maybe people always have to be a little crazy to be considered young...

"What do you think of Hero's hat trick?" The reporter interviewing him seemed to have noticed what was happening over there, and he threw out such a question very appropriately.

Radimov withdrew his gaze, looked at the reporter and said: "Very exciting, that is the result of his efforts. I am happy for his hat trick, he is a very good young man, we all like him very much."

The evaluation was quite high.

The scars on Chen Yingxiong's body were only discovered by his teammates, who had calmed down, in the locker room.

The first person to discover the scars was Martin Škrtel. Škrtel exclaimed, attracting the attention of others.

Everyone gathered around to look at the scars on Chen Yingxiong's body.

"What's going on, Hero?" Denisov asked him.

"I got them from colliding with the opponent's two center backs," Chen Yingxiong replied nonchalantly.

"Really? Was it that intense?"

"I thought about it, and the only way to get a chance was to go head-to-head with them. Sure enough," Chen Yingxiong smiled, "Look, three goals!" He held up three fingers, very proudly.

His excellent teammates looked at this new teammate, who was only eighteen years old, with admiration. They were very clear about what a hat trick meant. Chen Yingxiong had paid so much to complete a hat trick, and they admitted that they might not be able to complete this point themselves. If such a thing happened to them, they might not be able to do it after scoring two goals. As for going to the reserve team or something, so be it.

But Chen Yingxiong gritted his teeth and worked hard to complete a hat trick!

This hat trick and an ordinary hat trick were completely two different things. Some people will choose to detour when they encounter difficulties, but the Russians don't. They will choose to use fists and strength to solve difficulties. In this regard, Chen Yingxiong's temper is very similar to theirs.

Therefore, Chen Yingxiong's final choice to start his professional football career in Russia was both luck and, in fact, an arrangement of fate in the vastness—perhaps only in Russia could his career be so smooth, and only Russia could accept his temper.

Russians admire strength and admire brave people, because they are all like this themselves. This kind of character has penetrated into their bones and blood.

Therefore, they admire and like a tough guy like Chen Yingxiong very much.

Speaking of the Russian people's character and temperament, they are very straightforward and like to go to extremes, so Chen Yingxiong, who is also straightforward and expresses his feelings in a carefree manner, is very popular with them. This welcome is a sincere welcome, which is completely different from the welcome out of politeness. In comparison, the personalities of the three Koreans are a bit gloomy—they mostly act together, and rarely interact with other teammates. It has been two months now, and they still can't say a word of Russian. In this way, of course, they can't integrate into the team. If they can't integrate into the team, they naturally can't guarantee their position. Therefore, Hyun Young-min became the first marginalized Korean player. He can't play as a starter now. His starting position is firmly occupied by Anyukov, and Fernando Ricksen, who was also transferred, can also pose a threat to him. It is estimated that it will not be long before he can't even be a substitute, and he can only go to the reserve team...

"In any case, I, Igor Denisov, thank you, Hero!" Denisov took the lead to give Chen Yingxiong a hug.

Then Anyukov and Kerzhakov also stepped forward and hugged Chen Yingxiong amidst the cheers of other teammates.

Advocaat pushed the door open and came in, seeing everyone congratulating Chen Yingxiong.

The appearance of the head coach slightly changed the lively atmosphere in the locker room, and everyone turned to look at him.

Advocaat spread his hands: "What are you looking at me for?" Then he said to Chen Yingxiong: "Congratulations, Hero. Each of the three goals was wonderful. Don't worry, I will keep my promise."

Then he pointed to the others: "Now I'm going to attend the press conference. Don't waste too much time in the locker room. I hope we can set off for home after the press conference!"

After speaking, he turned around and retreated, closing the door. At the moment when he closed the door, he could still hear huge cheers coming out of the crack in the door.

Standing at the door, Advocaat shrugged and smiled, then said to Potter: "Wait a while in the restricted area, Koel, let them make some noise."

"I know..." Potter pouted.

Advocaat waved his hand and left, while Potter stood at the door, listening to the whistles, screams, and cheers coming from the locker room.