Chapter 338 Farewell Dinner

Pérez originally intended for this matter to escalate as much as possible; he needed to find something for Chen Hero to do. Unexpectedly, Chen Hero added fuel to the fire.

His one sentence dragged the entire La Liga into the mix. Thus, the dispute evolved from an argument between Barcelona media and Italian media to one between Spanish media and Italian media. The focus of the debate centered on the following aspects: First, had La Liga completely surpassed Serie A in overall level? Second, was Chen Hero too arrogant?

The second focus was particularly pointless. There was no debate about whether Chen Hero was arrogant; he wasn't just too arrogant, he was exceptionally so.

Pérez was delighted to see this booming hype—he had found something else for Chen Hero to do.

Who knew that these things wouldn't affect Chen Hero at all. After the matter blew up, Chen Hero's management team took over. Vera proactively announced that all questions related to such topics should be directed to her, not Hero.

"Hero is focusing on preparing for the Champions League final. If you want to know anything about him, you can ask me. Of course, you may not get what you want to know from me. But from Hero, I guarantee you definitely won't get what you want to know…"

When Vera first became Chen Hero's spokesperson, many media outlets already defined her as "difficult to deal with." Now, after years of experience, she had been promoted to "press officer," making her even more difficult for the media.

She was a woman, a beautiful woman, so the media couldn't be too harsh when evaluating her, after all, they still needed their reputation.

※※※

While the media was in a frenzy, Chen Hero welcomed his twenty-third birthday amidst the noise.

He planned to invite all his teammates to his birthday party—invitations had been sent out long before the team won the league championship, and everyone had promised to come at that time.

Although there were still two days left before the Champions League final, Mazzarri didn't stop Chen Hero from doing this, because he knew that Chen Hero wasn't just inviting everyone to dinner.

This was actually a farewell meal to his Napoli teammates… a last supper.

In the backyard of his house, Chen Hero planned to host all his teammates with a barbecue—it was the simplest, freest, and most convenient way. Everyone could barbecue and chat at the same time, without forcing everyone to sit around the table. They could wander around with their plates, chat with this person for a couple of words, and chat with that person for a couple of words.

However, before that, Chen Hero had a request for Cabral.

"Do you remember that Christmas, Christine?"

Hearing Chen Hero suddenly mention Christmas, Christine was stunned for a moment, then remembered.

For some reason, when she remembered, she felt her heart beat a little faster. It was as if she was expecting something, but also worried about something.

"I want you to dress up like you did then to come to my birthday party, Christine," Chen Hero said to his female bodyguard.

"I can't do that, Mr. Chen…" Cabral shook her head and refused.

"You're not even accompanying me to England, can't you even fulfill this little wish of mine?" Chen Hero said anxiously. "Everyone there will be my teammates, people I know, my friends. At my own house, there won't be any danger, so… I hope that day you can put down your identity as a bodyguard. I'm inviting you to my birthday party, but not as my bodyguard."

"Not as a bodyguard, then in what capacity?"

"As… my friend. I'm inviting you to my birthday party," Chen Hero hesitated and said.

Cabral frowned and thought for a while, then raised her head again: "Okay, I promise you." There was no expression on her face, and no one knew if she was reluctantly agreeing or doing so willingly.

But her agreement was already a good result.

※※※

May 25th, Chen Hero's twenty-third birthday.

After the afternoon training session, some teammates completed the bathing and changing process directly in the locker room. They brought the clothes they were going to wear to the party directly to the training base.

Others had to go home to change, but they would be back soon.

Everyone witnessed such a scene in the parking lot.

Chen Hero's Land Rover was parked in his designated parking space. As he and his teammates walked towards his car, talking and laughing, the car door was opened.

Cabral, wearing a long dress with a low-cut top and high slits, stepped out of the car. When she made this movement, everyone saw her slender, snow-white legs, exposed to the air.

And when she bent over to get out of the car, the low-cut split set off the two snow-white mounds inside, looming…

Chen Hero heard a gasp beside him.

"Hiss—"

Even Chen Hero's eyes straightened—although he knew that she had agreed to his request, he still didn't expect Cabral to come and pick him up dressed like this.

He was a little… uh, a little surprised.

As Cabral walked towards him gracefully, Chen Hero stretched out his hand to the side. Cabral naturally knew what that meant, she walked over and took Chen Hero's arm.

Chen Hero turned around and said to the dumbfounded teammates, not without pride: "I'll take a step ahead, brothers, I still have to go back and get ready!"

Supported by Cabral, Chen Hero got into the car and didn't forget to wave to everyone.

Seeing his car disappear at the exit, many people said bitterly:

"This attention-seeking star will die if he doesn't show off!"

"So enviable…"

"Damn it! It's the female bodyguard again! There are such good benefits for provoking fans, I knew I would provoke fans too!"

"Okay, Christian… can you withstand that much pressure?"

※※※

In the car, Chen Hero, sitting in the back seat, was observing Cabral through the rearview mirror.

"You look very beautiful today, Christine," he said.

"Thank you." Cabral drove attentively, as if she was just answering casually, without showing a smile after being praised. Shouldn't ordinary women be like that—if a man praises them with words like "You are so beautiful," even if they complain a little, they would be sweet inside, and even more directly, their faces would bloom with smiles.

But Cabral's performance made Chen Hero feel a deep sense of frustration—all sweet words were useless in front of her! She was like a piece of steel, cold, silent, and impervious to persuasion.

Such a woman… was truly a rare anomaly in Chen Hero's life. Those women who frequented his side would take the initiative to stick to him without him even needing sweet words. If he was willing to say some sweet love words, they would probably be soft all over.

He was silent.

After a while, Cabral seemed to realize that the sudden silence in the car was a bit strange, and she asked, "What's wrong?"

Chen Hero curled his lips: "Nothing, it's just that you make me lose face, Christine."

"Why?" Cabral asked strangely, "I saw envy and jealousy in the eyes of your teammates."

Chen Hero laughed: "So you also know these emotions!"

"Of course I know, I'm not stupid, Mr. Chen."

"Alright, alright… I just think your reaction to me saying you're beautiful makes me feel bored."

"I thank you for that."

"Of course I know you thank me, but your thanks are like… um, like something thrown away casually, you're just saying it off the cuff, right?"

"No."

"Really not?"

"I'm happy inside." When she said this, Cabral's face was still expressionless.

Chen Hero stared at her face for a long time, then sat back.

"Forget it, I know you don't like to walk around in front of people dressed like this. You don't like jewelry, you don't like makeup, you don't like spending hours doing your hair, you don't like wearing skirts, you don't like… anyway, anything a woman should like, you don't like… sometimes I really doubt if you're a woman…" Chen Hero spread his hands and said to himself in the back.

"Of course I'm a woman, Mr. Chen."

"Hehe, how do you prove it?"

Chen Hero jokingly teased Cabral.

Cabral naturally knew that Chen Hero was joking. But because of this joke, his mood improved again, so she didn't mind.

※※※

In the evening, teammates came to Chen Hero's house one after another. There were still fans coming to protest, but the momentum had diminished a lot—the team had won the league championship, and everyone's joy in the championship hadn't disappeared yet, so naturally they couldn't bother to argue with Chen Hero. And the Napoli players wouldn't break off contact with Chen Hero just because some extreme fans didn't like him. Not only would they not do that, they would definitely come to this birthday party to show their support for Chen Hero.

Of course, besides the fans, there were also many reporters. Keen-nosed reporters had already learned in advance that Chen Hero was going to host all the Napoli players at his home, so they all guarded Chen Hero's door, filming the Napoli players who came to the party. This had nothing to do with the game, it was just a celebrity gossip, but fans were still interested, even more interested than the football game itself… Everyone was always full of curiosity about the private lives of public figures, otherwise why would so many people be so obsessed with the privacy of celebrities, even running to rummage through the garbage thrown out by celebrities to see if they could find any clues. They could even infer the happy life of celebrities last night from the number of condoms in the trash can.

In Chen Hero's garden, twenty-odd people barbecued together and chatted happily.

Chen Hero also took this opportunity to formally apologize to everyone, because he hadn't told everyone the news before, but only confronted everyone after it was revealed by the media, which was a bit unkind.

Now that the league championship had been won, there were no obstacles for him to leave the team after this season.

It was better to say goodbye in this atmosphere than in a sad and mournful atmosphere, right?

Look, everyone ate, drank, chatted, sang, and said goodbye, how good.