Aurelio De Laurentiis, bathed in the glow of the lights, stepped onto the makeshift podium.

De Laurentiis, whenever he appeared before the public, was always impeccably dressed, his hair meticulously combed. He was a man who paid great attention to his image.

He walked to the microphone, a smile on his face as he surveyed the audience, exuding confidence.

"I'm very happy that you could all attend this banquet. On behalf of the Napoli club, I thank you for your contributions over the past year." The opening was conventional.

"This year has perhaps been our best year in terms of momentum, but I hope we can have even better results next year. I know this requires all of us to work together..." After some platitudes, De Laurentiis, known as a big mouth in Italian football, finally couldn't hold back. "Now, let's talk about current affairs. After qualifying as group winners, I said I would continue to enjoy this wonderful feeling until the draw came out. It's not that I won't continue to enjoy it after the draw, in fact... I'm very happy with the draw."

"I think I can start looking forward to two very exciting games, what do you say..." He raised his hands and shouted, "Right?"

"That's right!"

"Yes, boss!"

"Ooooooh!"

The players roared and howled.

But what made them roar even louder was yet to come.

De Laurentiis waited for the shouts to subside before continuing, "Each player will receive a gift from me and the club later. It's a piece of parchment, and the number on the parchment is the amount of the bonus for reaching the Champions League round of sixteen, which will be credited during the Christmas holidays."

Sure enough, the cheers grew louder. Professional players, professional players, what are they striving for so hard and so professionally on the field? Money is their greatest motivation...

De Laurentiis did not give a long, rambling speech like Chinese leaders, going on for an hour.

His speech was very short and stirred up the atmosphere.

He stepped down to the cheers of the players.

Then it was Mazzarri's turn to take the stage.

He brought an awards ceremony.

The "2009 Napoli Player of the Year," voted for by Napoli fans, would receive a beautiful trophy.

The winner was the team's midfield maestro, Hamsik, who received a whopping sixty-two percent of the vote.

Although Chen Yingxiong was the team's top scorer last season, and also the league's top scorer, scoring a total of thirty-six goals in all official competitions in 2009, he was not the most popular player in the fans' hearts. His vote share was a pitiful 8.9 percent.

But this was normal. The player who scores the most goals for a team is not necessarily the most popular and liked by the fans. Just like the captain of a team is not necessarily the biggest star in that team, and the leader in a team's locker room does not have to be the team's captain.

Hamsik went on stage to accept the award amid the applause and whistles of his teammates, and then gave a short thank you speech. In fact, everyone knew this result for a long time, and it was not surprising at all. Hamsik also won this award for two consecutive years.

"I am very grateful to be able to play in Napoli, to be able to fight alongside so many excellent teammates. I hope we can celebrate Christmas together at this time next year... Brothers, I love you!" Finally, he shouted with his arms raised.

"Ooooooh!" A burst of boos, whistles, and cheers rang out from the audience.

Chen Yingxiong put his hands to his mouth and cheered vigorously.

He had no jealousy. Hamsik's popularity and status among Napoli fans was very high, which was a well-known fact. Hamsik was worthy of being elected as the most popular player among Napoli fans.

At the same time, his low vote share made him realize how difficult the task of "conquering Naples" was.

But, one always has to look at the bright side, right? At least now in this city, there are still 8.9 percent of fans who support and like him.

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After Hamsik came down, Mazzarri announced the official start of the banquet, and everyone could finally sit down and enjoy the delicious feast.

Because it was a family banquet, everyone was sitting with their female companions.

Christine Cabella sat beside Chen Yingxiong, looking very quiet. She didn't chat with the other female companions, nor did she flirt with other men like a social butterfly.

Although she had changed her outfit, she still seemed like a bodyguard, remaining quiet and vigilant.

This made her stand out among all the women, always attracting the attention of other men. Even with girlfriends and wives by their side, some men couldn't help but cast curious glances at this woman with a mysterious background.

For example, Cassano... was so mesmerized by her that he was snubbed by his girlfriend, Carolina, who ignored him no matter how he tried to talk to her, leaving Cassano embarrassed and helpless.

But while he was embarrassed and helpless, Chen Yingxiong laughed happily—let you laugh at me before, now it's my turn to laugh at you! Ahahaha!

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When the banquet was more than halfway over, it reached its climax.

Maggio jumped onto the stage, unscrewed the microphone, and tapped it. An ear-piercing metallic screech echoed through the banquet hall, causing the people who were eating and chatting to turn their heads and glare at Maggio.

Maggio quickly put on a smiling face: "Sorry to bother everyone. Now we have a program. Each man and beautiful lady will then receive a ballot. Please write on it who you think is the most eye-catching star of this banquet! Men can only choose women, and women can only choose men. If you don't know the name, you can write 'so-and-so's partner'." This was also for the convenience of everyone, as not everyone knows the names of their teammates' female companions. "The man and woman with the most votes will be invited to the stage, they must fulfill a wish for everyone, and then win a mysterious prize! So, ladies and gentlemen! Bravely write the name of the person you think is the best on the ballot! Don't worry about the murderous looks from your partner!"

The people in the audience burst into laughter.

"Of course, if you really have concerns, you can pay attention to covering your ballots. Please rest assured, this is an anonymous vote, so you definitely don't have to worry about being retaliated against when you get home!"

Everyone laughed again.

"Can you choose your own girlfriend!" Cassano raised his hand, taking the opportunity to please his girlfriend, Carolina, who had been giving him the cold shoulder since just now. "She is the most beautiful in my heart!"

Carolina, who had been cold-faced, finally showed a smile, obviously very happy with Cassano's sweet talk.

"Of course, Antonio. We all understand!" Maggio winked at him from the stage. Many people saw the scene where Cassano was caught looking at Cabella and made his girlfriend angry.

Amid the laughter of the crowd, the restaurant staff began to hand out ballots to the players, staff, and their female companions, which were just blank pieces of paper.

Everyone had to write on it who they thought was the most outstanding star of the banquet tonight, men choosing women, and women choosing men.

This was also an entertainment program. After all, it would be boring to just eat and chat, and it would be more interesting to play interactive mini-games.

Some people stood up from their seats after receiving the ballots and looked around, searching for the star they thought was the most dazzling.

Others obviously already had an answer and bent down to write as soon as they received the ballot.

Among them, there were some scenes of playful banter, which goes without saying.

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When Chen Yingxiong received the ballot, Cabella also received it, and she asked Chen Yingxiong, "Whose name should I write?"

Her turn startled Chen Yingxiong, who quickly blocked his ballot with his arm—he thought Cabella was trying to peek at whose name he had written.

"How do I know whose name you want to write?" Chen Yingxiong felt that Cabella's question was too strange.

"I'm not familiar with them..." Cabella lowered her voice and said in Chen Yingxiong's ear. As she exhaled like an orchid, a fragrant scent entered Chen Yingxiong's nostrils, making him feel a little itchy... and wanting to sneeze.

Chen Yingxiong was afraid that if this continued, he would really lose control, so he shrugged his shoulders and pushed Cabella away a little, responding perfunctorily: "Then just write whatever you want!"

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After everyone had filled out the ballots, a staff member held a ballot box and collected the ballots table by table.

After all the votes were collected, specialists conducted the vote counting work, while others continued to eat, drink, and chat, doing whatever they were doing. No one worried about the occurrence of favoritism—there was really no need to engage in favoritism for this sort of thing...

But in reality, many people were concerned about the results. Some people even went to ask their friends: "Hey, who did you choose?"

This seemed to be an opportunity for comparison.

The wives and girlfriends of the football stars were all beautiful women, some were even well-known celebrities. The banquet was an opportunity for them to show off their charm, so everyone had dressed up carefully, wearing their best gowns and dazzling jewelry, hoping to outshine the other women.

This was also quite normal. Everyone has a desire to compare, but everyone compares different things. Some compare academic performance, some compare money, some compare beauty, and some compare taste... And women, their desire to compare is just a little stronger.

Of course, everyone still had to maintain appearances. Comparison is comparison, but when they met each other and gathered together to chat, they were as close as possible.

The vote counting work finally ended.

When Maggio took the stage again, the lights in the venue dimmed, leaving only a beam of light above the podium shining on him.

He held an envelope with a grin, it seemed the answer was in the envelope.

Maggio really did a thorough job of putting on a show, just like a Hollywood awards ceremony. But instead of directly announcing the winners, he invited club president De Laurentiis back to the stage to serve as the award presenter—this was a brilliant arrangement. De Laurentiis himself was in the film industry, so it was very appropriate to have him present the award in this movie award ceremony-like approach.

De Laurentiis gladly agreed, indulging in the antics of these young lads.

He walked onto the stage in a tuxedo, took the envelope from Maggio, and said into the microphone: "I assure you, I haven't seen what's inside either. I just found out that I would be called up to present the award, so you definitely don't have to worry about us being... UEFA."

"Hahahaha!" All the men in the audience couldn't help but laugh, sincerely admiring the boss's humor. Even at this time, he didn't forget to satirize UEFA, which was at odds with Napoli.

After joking and livening up the atmosphere, De Laurentiis began to open the envelope, saying as he opened it: "Actually, I'm also very curious, who is the most dazzling couple tonight..."

As he spoke, the envelope was opened.

The venue also quieted down, everyone was waiting for the answer to be revealed.

De Laurentiis glanced at the results written on the stationery, and then smiled.

Then he folded the stationery directly and put it in his pocket.

Then he leaned to the microphone: "Actually, there's no suspense in this answer, at least that's what I think. The star couple tonight is..."

He drew out the sound, and as his voice trailed off, the lights wandered around the darkened venue, waiting for the moment to settle down.

"Hero and his partner!"

As his voice fell, the lights all focused on Chen Yingxiong and Cabella next to him.

A huge cheer, whistles, and applause rang out in the venue.

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ps, the second update is here!

Bring on the monthly votes too!