Thus began the cohabitation of Chen Yingxiong and Mario Götze.

Chen Yingxiong's method of helping Götze adapt to his surroundings and familiarize himself with his methods was simple and brutal—which was quite in line with his consistent style and personality traits. He was not the kind of teacher who patiently and meticulously enlightened others.

When the two of them were together, Chen Yingxiong used English for every sentence, and even hand gestures were kept to a minimum. What if Götze didn't understand? Chen Yingxiong tossed him an electronic dictionary that could record, then translate, and finally read aloud. This was Götze's translator.

Not humanistic at all, but it forced Götze to work hard to adapt to this lifestyle if he didn't want to spend the whole day in a daze.

From the first sentence in the morning to the last sentence before going to bed at night, Chen Yingxiong transformed into a chatterbox, talking non-stop. Because he spoke so much, his voice became a little hoarse, and he drank more water every day than before.

When taking Götze out to dinner at night, Chen Yingxiong tried not to go to the same place twice, even if the restaurant wasn't very good, even if it meant driving across town, Chen Yingxiong wasn't afraid.

This also showed that Chen Yingxiong really put a lot of effort into completing this task. Just finding those restaurants was enough to take up a lot of his time.

Whether it was ordering food in a restaurant or going to the supermarket to buy daily necessities and paying the bill, Chen Yingxiong always made Götze do it when it involved contact with strangers.

At first, Götze was quite resistant. He was a little shy when facing strangers, and the language barrier made him feel even more embarrassed.

But Chen Yingxiong forced him to do it, whether he wanted to or not.

He still remembered the first day he lived with Chen Yingxiong, it was like this.

He was picked up from the hotel by Chen Yingxiong, checked out of the room, got into Chen Yingxiong's car, and the two went to dinner. After arriving at the Italian restaurant that Chen Yingxiong had mentioned, Götze thought that Chen Yingxiong would ask him what he wanted to eat. He really liked pasta.

But Chen Yingxiong looked at him and said in very slow English, "When the waiter comes, you order. You tell him what we want to eat. Let me tell you first, I want to eat veal steak, medium-rare. You order what you want."

How could Götze have imagined that it would be like this? He thought that Chen Yingxiong would order... He only needed to tell him what he wanted to eat.

He never thought that he would be the one ordering...

He shook his head reflexively. His English was not good enough to cope with such a situation, and he couldn't understand the waiter's English with a thick Liverpool accent...

Chen Yingxiong didn't insist. When the waiter came, he took the menu, ordered his own food, and handed it back to the waiter. Then he said to Götze, "Order what you want. Not just today, Mario. From now on, we live together, eat together, go out to the supermarket to buy things together. Whenever you need to have contact with strangers, you have to do it yourself."

He didn't care if Götze understood or not, anyway, he had made his point.

Götze was confused and didn't understand what Chen Yingxiong was saying. But soon he understood—when the waiter brought the food, there was only Chen Yingxiong's veal steak, and Götze's side was empty. Chen Yingxiong didn't care about him and lowered his head, eating on his own.

Götze, who had undergone a day of high-intensity training, was already very hungry. Now, seeing Chen Yingxiong eating so deliciously, his stomach immediately rumbled.

Götze's face turned red—this was too embarrassing!

Chen Yingxiong said without looking up, "Order what you want, don't be polite!"

It was as if he was taking good care of Götze.

Faced with such treatment, Götze didn't slam the table, get up, and leave to go back to the hotel.

Perhaps it was really because he wanted to succeed in Liverpool, wanted to temper himself, wanted to break through bottlenecks in Liverpool and become a true world superstar... It was precisely because of this persistent belief that he beckoned to the waiter again.

As Götze used broken English, gesticulating as he told the waiter what he wanted to eat, he didn't see the arc at the corner of Chen Yingxiong's mouth as he buried his head in cutting his steak.

※※※

The following days were like this. After training, Chen Yingxiong took Götze all over Liverpool to find places to eat. Even when going to a gas station to refuel, Chen Yingxiong made Götze go forward.

If people who didn't know the situation saw this, they might have thought that Chen Yingxiong had taken Götze as a lackey, making him do all the work of serving tea and water.

This approach was really a bit inhumane and simple and brutal, but the effect was quite good.

Götze found that his English conversation skills and listening comprehension were gradually improving. Sometimes he could accurately understand Chen Yingxiong's words without needing any gestures.

This was only four days, and his progress surprised his English teacher.

And because Chen Yingxiong now took Götze everywhere, in the locker room, Götze naturally no longer only communicated with Krashnich. He actively or passively had to participate in the topics of Chen Yingxiong and his friends.

Even if he just listened on the sidelines, he could still practice his listening comprehension, right?

The only problem was... everyone's eyes looked at the two of them strangely.

Well, something seemed wrong again.

But Chen Yingxiong didn't take it to heart. He was usually so carefree, so he naturally wouldn't pay attention to his teammates' gazes.

As for Götze, because he was focused on learning English and trying to integrate into the team, he didn't pay attention to his teammates' strange gazes either.

※※※

The media were even more surprised than the Liverpool players.

Some media outlets were specifically guarding Chen Yingxiong's house in Liverpool, because some stories that couldn't happen in ordinary places might happen there. If they could catch one, it could become a sensational exclusive news story.

But when Chen Yingxiong brought Götze home, the reporters waiting outside were surprised.

When did Chen Yingxiong change his ways? Instead of bringing women home for the night, he started bringing men home?

Each one thought they had caught Chen Yingxiong's big secret, and their hands trembled with excitement as they held their cameras. By zooming in, they discovered that this man was Mario Götze!

Uh...

It's just inviting a teammate to his house as a guest...

How boring!

Chen Yingxiong often invited his teammates to his seaside home for parties, so the reporters were used to it.

So it was nothing for Chen Yingxiong to bring Götze home.

But later, everyone realized that something was wrong, because after Götze entered Chen Yingxiong's house, he never came out again...

This... Could it be that Chen Yingxiong had interests in that area?

But it didn't seem like it... He clearly liked women. Or was he bisexual?

Until the next day, everyone discovered that Götze went home with Chen Yingxiong again.

Now everyone was confused. If Chen Yingxiong really had an affair with Götze, then wouldn't this be too blatant? Although the issue of homosexuality was getting more and more attention, in English football, homosexuality was still a taboo topic.

No one thought that Chen Yingxiong could be so bold... Also, there was no evidence to prove that Götze was also a homosexual player.

On the third day, Götze still went home with Chen Yingxiong. The media finally couldn't bear it anymore, and they raised this question to Martin O'Neill at the routine press conference every Wednesday.

This question didn't seem to have anything to do with football. But Martin O'Neill still answered them, because he didn't want his players to get into such troublesome problems. Fortunately, these people came to ask him. If they had gone to ask Chen Yingxiong, with Chen Yingxiong's temper, he might have first cursed homosexuals and then said that he was not some "son of a bitch homosexual" or something like that.

That would be a big problem, and troublesome too.

Once Chen Yingxiong was labeled as "discriminating against homosexuals", Chen Yingxiong's career would inevitably be affected.

In England, this charge was very serious. Back then, the head coach of the English national team, Hoddle, was forced to step down from the position of head coach of the English national team because he made discriminatory remarks against disabled people. Later, two commentators from Sky TV were also fired by their respective TV stations for using discriminatory words to ridicule female referees during their commentary.

Martin O'Neill knew that there were many people who hated Chen Yingxiong. If they caught this handle, who knew how they would deal with Chen Yingxiong? Anyway, Chen Yingxiong would definitely be doomed.

So now the fact that the reporters ran over to ask him was actually a good thing.

"Oh, this matter... Everyone knows that Götze has just joined the team and is not familiar enough with the environment here. Yingxiong, in order to help him adapt to his new life as soon as possible, took the initiative to invite Götze to stay at his house temporarily. This will make it easier for him to help Götze adapt to life in Liverpool and integrate into the team..."

Martin O'Neill's explanation relieved the reporters—so that's how it was!

But this truth was really boring...

They would rather Chen Yingxiong be a homosexual...

※※※

And so, the new season also arrived during the days when the two lived together.

The Community Shield was just around the corner.

For Chen Yingxiong, this would be the first championship he could potentially win in the new season.

He needed championships, many, many championships, and he couldn't let the Community Shield go either.

Even a mosquito is meat.

Since even the Catalonia Cup championship could be counted on Messi's list of honors, compared to that, the Community Shield, as the English Premier League's Super Cup, had even more gold content...

For Liverpool fans, the upcoming Charity Shield meant that after a summer of rest, the new season was about to begin. Every weekend they would enjoy the wonderful performances of Chen Yingxiong and the Liverpool football team.

From now on, their moods would fluctuate with their team's performance every week. The old season full of tears and laughter had passed, and the new season full of hope was slowly unfolding before their eyes.

This was a great event in their lives. Going to Anfield to watch the game had become an indispensable part of their lives, just like eating, sleeping, and breathing.