“So, my first piece of advice is that you must never use that ‘Scorpion’ you invented again,” Basten said, holding up a finger.

Zhang Jun’s mind went blank! Not allowed to use *Long Teng* (Dragon Soar)? Why?

Even Sophie, who was standing beside him, was stunned. *Long Teng* was Zhang Jun’s signature move, his symbol. Ever since he invented it in high school, he had always used it at crucial moments. If he wasn’t allowed to use it, Zhang Jun’s emotions wouldn’t be able to accept it.

Zhang Jun looked at Basten, thinking he was joking, but Basten’s serious expression told Zhang Jun that this was no joke.

“Wh… why?” Zhang Jun asked blankly.

“Haven’t you realized it yourself? The ‘Scorpion’ did have its element of surprise the first time it appeared. But it has too many flaws. It’s nice to look at and flashy, sure. But you have too many preparatory movements before shooting. In that situation, if you’re one-on-one with the goalkeeper, you can trick him and score as long as you shake your upper body or speed up your footwork. With your strength, it shouldn’t be a problem for you to do what I said. There’s no need to use the ‘Scorpion’ at all. The more unnecessary movements you make in the penalty area, the longer the preparation time, the greater the chance of the ball being intercepted, and the greater the chance of you getting injured. Nowadays, defenders use any means to stop a goal. Your injured left ankle will definitely become their target.”

What Basten said made sense. Zhang Jun also knew that the *Long Teng* was an action he invented on a whim, just for the sake of looking good and being shocking. But now, with the help of the media, this action had become his trademark. The fans’ cheers and expectations were all for him to use this move to tease the goalkeeper. Now, asking him to give it up was too cruel. “You’re right, but… but I’ll be extra careful and won’t let the defenders hit me…” Even Zhang Jun himself knew how absurd this sounded, and his voice grew softer and softer.

Basten looked at Zhang Jun. He didn’t blame him. Any striker would want to have his own unique signature move so that people would remember him and talk about him with relish. Just like his volley at a slight angle in the 1988 European Championship final, even though he scored countless goals, the one that people remembered most and often talked about was this one goal.

Hmm? Wait a minute! Speaking of that volley, I could have stopped and shot again at the time, but when the ball was at a certain point in the air, a flash of inspiration came to mind, and a voice told me to shoot like that, shoot directly without stopping the ball!

It can be said that an excellent striker needs inspiration in addition to solid basic skills. The “Scorpion” was supposed to be a product of inspiration, but now the “Scorpion” is becoming more and more like something that comes off an assembly line, without that amazing ability.

Logically speaking, the "Scorpion" shouldn't be like this. Since it's inspiration, it should have that ability to adapt to changes, and use unconventional goals in even the most difficult situations. That's what the "Scorpion" should be, right?

Basten’s thoughts became clearer and clearer. He said to the frustrated Zhang Jun, “Don’t worry, maybe I didn’t think it through completely…” He stood up and said to Stetson, who was still lying down and resting, “Don’t sleep, Michel. Go cross the ball from the wing, and I’ll demonstrate a move for Zhang Jun.”

Zhang Jun watched the two return to the field again, wondering if Basten had figured something out.

“Cross? High ball? Low ball? Or half-high ball?” Stetson asked, juggling the ball.

“Whatever, cross whatever you want, cross wherever you want, don’t worry about where I am.” Basten was re-warming up, this time focusing on his waist and abdomen.

“Watch carefully, Zhang Jun!”

Stetson saw Basten’s OK gesture and started dribbling along the wing. When he felt he could cross, he kicked the ball. But Basten headed the ball back hard. “Don’t cross the ball like that, cross it with a bit of trickiness! Michel!”

“Tricky? Got it.” Stetson smiled, and then waited for the ball to land and kicked it back to the front of the goal!

The football flew very low, below the knee, and the ball speed was very fast. What was even more deadly was that this kind of cross seemed to be badly passed and flew behind Basten!

If it was this kind of ball, even a bicycle kick wouldn't work, so he could only give up, right? Zhang Jun thought to himself, but he was shocked because he saw Basten brake suddenly, then use his left foot as a supporting foot, and swing his right foot back, his heel just hitting the flying football!

The football seemed to have life, leaping high from behind Basten, drawing an arc and falling towards the far corner of the goal, the theoretical dead corner! What shocked Zhang Jun even more was that Basten didn’t look at the ball throughout the entire process. His eyes were fixed on that far corner from the beginning!

This judgment, this ball control technique! No wonder he is the greatest Dutch star after Cruyff!

Zhang Jun was completely impressed by Basten’s effortless kick. A badly passed ball was turned into a goal by his casual heel! Just now, that ball could have bypassed the goalkeeper's hands and fallen into the goal in a real game because no one would have thought he would shoot like that.

“Another one, Michel!” Basten picked up the football from inside the goal and kicked it back to Stetson.

“OK!” Stetson crossed a half-high ball this time, but this time it seemed that Basten ran too early. When the football came over, his body had already passed the front of the football, so how would he shoot?

Basten leaned his body forward and lifted his right foot upwards at the same time, his heel hitting the football, and the football flew from the top of Basten’s head into the goal! After scoring the goal, Basten simply dived into the goal like a flying fish.

“This…” Zhang Jun was completely stunned. He had seen this goal before. Basten had scored a very similar goal for AC Milan! He had also seen it in the *Absolute Superstar – Van Basten* program produced by CCTV5’s *World Football*, but he never thought he would see Basten re-enact it with his own eyes.

At this time, Basten had already stood up from the ground, brushing the grass clippings off his clothes as he walked towards Zhang Jun.

“How was it? What did you see?”

“Heel… heel goals.” Zhang Jun thought that this was the only similarity between the two goals. Basten must want to tell him something through these.

“Yes, and what else?”

“It didn’t seem like the best opportunity to shoot at the time.”

“Haha! Not bad! Michel’s first pass was a bit behind, and I rushed too far ahead on the second ball. But in the end, I completed the shot and scored a goal. You know what? I just thought carefully about your ‘Scorpion’. Too complicated is certainly not good, but if it is simplified, maybe there will be unexpected results. You just saw the results.”

Zhang Jun was even more shocked: “This… this is my ‘Scorpion’?”

“Yes, strictly speaking, it’s the ‘Scorpion’ I improved for you. Remove the complicated movements in front, and any unconventional shooting method in unconventional situations can be regarded as ‘Scorpion’. In that situation just now, no one would have thought you would choose to shoot, so I said that in the situation where the ‘opportunity is the worst,’ it is precisely the ‘opportunity is the best.’ Don’t think about supporting feet, power feet, center of gravity, balance… just follow your feelings. Oh, and one more thing, football emphasizes the player’s control of the ball. The striker’s control of the ball should not only be reflected when the ball is at your feet, but more importantly, when you shoot, you must maintain control of the ball until it enters the goal. But you’re doing pretty well in this area.”

If Basten had read *The Smiling, Proud Wanderer*, he would have realized how similar his words were to the *Dugu Nine Swords* of the hero Feng Qingyang—no moves are better than having moves!

Basten’s nine wonderful goals were once rated by a Chinese sports magazine as the “Dugu Nine Swords,” so it is reasonable for him to play Feng Qingyang.

Zhang Jun’s eyes lit up: So *Long Teng* can be improved further! He had always thought that only that action could be considered *Long Teng* because it looked like a dragon. But after Basten said this, he had a feeling of enlightenment. Dragons originally roamed between heaven and earth, transforming clouds and rain, and traveling with the wind. They had no fixed posture and were ever-changing. Then *Long Teng* should naturally break through the limitations of the model. Just like Basten said, as long as you use unconventional actions to shoot in unconventional situations, it counts as *Long Teng*!

This is the real dragon! A dragon that soars freely between heaven and earth!

“If you can flexibly apply what I said in actual combat, then my first piece of advice can be invalidated.” Basten sat on the grass again and continued to say to Zhang Jun, “Now you still rely too much on your body in terms of dribbling and passing. This is not good. You have the capital of your body when you are young, but what about when you are old? The body is like your credit card. Overdrafting it now will only put you in trouble in the future. So my second piece of advice is: use more technique and rely less on your body. Especially when dribbling and passing, this is when you are most vulnerable to injuries from defenders. However, using technique to avoid physical contact with the opponent as much as possible will greatly reduce your chances of getting injured.”

Zhang Jun nodded in agreement with this point. He was indeed not good enough in individual technique. At present, he mainly relies on explosive power to instantly throw off his opponents, but after his ankle injury, he doesn’t know how long his explosive power can last, so technique is particularly important. “What’s the third one?” Zhang Jun was like a child who was fascinated by listening to a story, urging the storyteller to continue.

But Basten spread his hands and smiled, “You’re excellent, how can I find so many shortcomings to pick out? Haha, what you need now is experience. You’re very smart, I hope you think carefully about what I said and then integrate it into the game.” Basten looked at his watch, “Oh, it’s so late, I have to rush back. You should take good care of your injury. After you recover, you can come to Amsterdam to find me, and we can have a good chat. To be honest, I’m still ‘resentful’ that you chose to renew your contract with Volendam instead of accepting Ajax’s invitation! Haha!” He winked at Zhang Jun, then got up and said goodbye.

“I’ll see you off…” Zhang Jun stood up with Sophie’s support. But Basten reached out to stop him. “No need to see me off, go back and rest well. My car is parked outside.”

Sophie, who had been silent all the time, suddenly asked, “That, Mr. Basten, didn’t you say you were on vacation? Why are you in such a hurry to leave?”

Basten smiled, “Even the national team coach only has half a day off even on vacation!” Then he waved his hand and turned to walk out.

This time, Zhang Jun stopped him: “Sir, did someone ask you to come here?”

Basten stopped. He looked back at Zhang Jun, then slowly shook his head: “I just feel that it would be a pity if an excellent shooter disappeared like this. So I ran over to say the above things to you, being a bit nosy.” After speaking, he stopped looking at Zhang Jun and turned around and walked out of the football field with Stetson.

Zhang Jun watched this tall, thin figure disappear from his sight.

Thank you, sir!

※※※

“Why lie? Marco, didn’t you say it was Qiu who asked you to come?” Stetson asked, watching Basten open the car door.

“Oh, it was indeed Qiu who asked me, but it’s up to me to agree or not. Since I’m here, I voluntarily came to help him.” Basten threw his backpack onto the passenger seat.

“But, he’s Chinese. If you help him so much, what if you meet him in a game in the future…”

“Michel, you’ve hit my sore spot.” Basten sighed, “The only regret is that he is Chinese, not Dutch. Otherwise, I would definitely recruit him into the national team! But, even if he is Chinese, there’s nothing bad about it, haha! Football has no borders. Besides, it’s also very interesting to cultivate a strong opponent, isn’t it? Michel? I’m looking forward to China and the Netherlands playing against each other in the World Cup in the future!” He patted Michel on the shoulder, signaling him not to worry about anything. Then he got into the car and started it.

“Goodbye! Good luck to the Dutch team! And good luck to you!” Stetson waved and helped Basten close the car door.

Basten didn’t say anything, just waved in the car, then put on his sunglasses and drove the car towards the gate of the sanatorium, and soon disappeared outside the gate.

Will the Chinese team meet the Dutch team in the World Cup? Are you confident in him, or are you confident in yourself? Marco?

※※※

When Sophie left, Zhang Jun really didn’t see her off. Not because he didn’t want to, but because when he woke up in the morning, he found that Sophie was gone. All the luggage, along with her, was gone. There was a letter left on the table. It could be seen that it was written in a hurry, because the handwriting was a bit scribbled, and some mistakes were directly crossed out with a horizontal line.

“Zhang Jun: I should have called you ‘A-Jun’, because you call me ‘Feifei’, but I don’t know why I can’t open my mouth. Maybe it’s because I’ve always called you ‘Zhang Jun’ before, and I’m used to it. I’m not used to changing the name suddenly now.

I’m going back. I really wanted to stay with you for a few more days, but you’re right. I have my own studies, and I don’t want to be a housewife who relies on you to enjoy life at home every day in the future, hehe! Zhang Jun, you are a big star now, and I have to work hard to be worthy of you! I thought a lot last night. I originally planned to come to Europe to find you and be with you after graduation. But now I’ve changed my mind. I want to develop in China for a while after graduation. I want to see what I can do alone. Maybe one day I will appear in front of you as a photojournalist! Don’t be surprised then!

By the way, I took the photos I took in the Netherlands back to wash them, and then I’ll pick a few of the best ones and send them to you so you can see my level. You never believe me when I tell you my level is good now. Even Uncle said I took good photos.

Finally, these days in the Netherlands have been the happiest time in the past two years, really!

ps: I deliberately got up early and left early, because I knew that even if I didn’t let you see me off, you would still come, so I had to take the first step. Don’t come to me, Amsterdam is very big, you don’t know where I am. Forgive me for playing hide-and-seek with you like this, but I’m very afraid that I won’t be able to control myself at that time and stay again.”

Here, there were no punctuation marks, and no other words followed. Sophie seemed unable to write anymore. She must have paused for a long time, maybe she was trying to hold back her tears?

But judging from the few places on the paper that were wet, she didn’t succeed.

Jumping down a paragraph, there was only one sentence: “I love you, Zhang Jun. Sophie, 2004.8.28”

Zhang Jun sat on the edge of the bed, holding this message tightly in his hand, but his eyes looked out the window, as if he could see Sophie’s smiling face there.

Zhang Jun didn’t get up to chase her. He just sat there quietly without moving.

※※※

Sophie pulled her suitcase, carried a large bag on her back, and found an empty seat in the waiting hall to sit down and wait for boarding, but it was still early. She didn’t sleep well last night and got up early in the morning, so she wanted to take this opportunity to take a nap. But as soon as she closed her eyes, she heard a familiar voice: “Beautiful lady, it’s very dangerous to sleep here alone! Please let me protect you!”

“Brother Feng?!” Sophie was a little surprised, “Why are you here?”

Feng Qing put away his lecherous expression and laughed: “Haha! I saw you leaving alone and I was a little worried, so I followed you. A beautiful girl like you is in danger outside! There are perverts everywhere!” Feng Qing grabbed his hands and pretended to be a wolf.

Sophie covered her mouth and laughed, “Hehe! If all perverts were like Brother Feng, then this world would be much safer!”

Feng Qing was a little discouraged. He was really a failure to be a pervert to the point where even girls laughed at him.

“Why didn’t you let Zhang Jun see you off?” Feng Qing sat down in a seat next to Sophie.

“His foot hasn’t healed yet, so…”

“There’s no problem with his foot walking around.” Feng Qing interrupted Sophie, and in his opinion, this was definitely a clumsy excuse. “Ah, parting is always sad!” He sighed and looked at Sophie.

“This… this can’t be helped. I’m still in school and I have to go back to continue my studies. I can’t just run around.” Sophie smiled, but the smile was a bit forced.

Feng Qing didn’t want to make Sophie embarrassed anymore. He had originally planned to protect Sophie secretly, but he only came out to remind her because Sophie was sleeping here alone, which was a bit dangerous. “Then take a nap, I’ll watch your things for you here.”

“Okay.” Sophie nodded gratefully, then leaned on the seat and gently closed her eyes. She hoped that in her dream, she and Zhang Jun would be together forever…

※※※

When Sophie woke up, it was very punctual, and the broadcast also began to remind the passengers of that flight to board.

Feng Qing escorted Sophie all the way to the entrance, and then Sophie suddenly asked, “Brother Feng said that he came to treat Zhang Jun because he likes football and likes Zhang Jun, but I always feel that something is wrong, but seeing that your treatment is indeed effective. I really want to know why you ran to treat Zhang Jun?”

Feng Qing looked at Sophie, wondering whether to tell her the truth. The broadcast was urging again, but Sophie had no intention of leaving. Feng Qing gritted his teeth: “I can only say that someone paid a lot of money to entrust me to come, but who the client is, please forgive me for not being able to reveal it.”

“I see, no wonder you insisted on not charging any money… I don’t want to embarrass Brother Feng, so I won’t ask.” Sophie suddenly bent down and bowed deeply to Feng Qing.

“What are you doing?” Feng Qing was very surprised. He originally thought that Sophie was going to question him about his origins at this time, intending to interrogate him. But he didn’t expect the other party to bow to him!

“No matter why you came, you did cure Zhang Jun, so I want to thank you!” Sophie said with her head lowered.

Feng Qing was slightly stunned, then laughed: “Silly girl, I’ve been with you two all these days, thank you for your care. I’m very happy and grateful. Even if no one asked me, I would have treated him and wouldn’t have charged a penny. Besides, if Zhang Jun can’t continue playing football, he must be very sad, and you will also be very sad, right? It’s not my style to make a beauty sad, hehe!”

Sophie straightened up, she smiled at Feng Qing: “I still want to thank you, Brother Feng. You are a good person.”

“Hurry up and go, the plane doesn’t wait for people.” Feng Qing handed the suitcase lever in his hand to Sophie.

Sophie nodded, then turned and walked into the crowd, suddenly she turned around and shouted to Feng Qing: “Brother Feng, I’m leaving Zhang Jun to you!”

Feng Qing smiled and waved to her, indicating that he knew.

Have a safe trip, Sophie.

※※※

After Sophie left, Zhang Jun suddenly found himself a little uncomfortable. There was one less person by his side, and there were also many fewer things. Now he could only be in a daze when he had nothing to do. He was so anxious to urge Sophie to leave, but he regretted it a little when Sophie really left.

Fortunately, Feng Qing said that his injury was recovering very smoothly, and he could do ball training under the guidance of the coach next week, which made him feel a lot better. When he could do ball training, he wanted to try the new version of *Long Teng* that Basten taught.

However, Feng Qing saw through his thoughts. He heard about Basten coming here, and had always regretted that he had gone out that day and didn’t get an autograph from his idol. He told Zhang Jun not to rush to do that kind of training, his body couldn’t bear it at all now, and if he was careless, he would aggravate his injury, and then the gains would not be worth the losses.

Since Sophie left, Feng Qing’s demands on Zhang Jun have become more and more strict. Zhang Jun didn’t know that this was Sophie’s request when she left. Feng Qing, who had always been immune to beauties, naturally carried it out strictly.

Zhang Jun is sometimes like a child, he needs someone to supervise him. Feng Qing is now such a supervisor.

※※※

When Zhang Jun could jog slowly, it was already mid-September. During this time, he had been recovering at the Saint Edron Sanatorium in Utrecht. Volendam’s start to the new season’s league has not been smooth. From August 15th to September 11th, in four games, they only narrowly defeated The Hague 1:0 with Hevel’s goal in the first game, tied the newly promoted team De Graafschap 1:1 in the second game, and lost all the next two games. In the most recent game, they were even defeated by AZ Alkmaar 0:5!

This was completely different from last year’s undefeated start, and it was a bit unacceptable for many Volendam fans who had gradually become accustomed to having Zhang Jun and winning. People began to miss Zhang Jun and hoped that Zhang Jun could return as soon as possible.

Hope is always beautiful, but reality is not like this. Feng Qing once again reminded Zhang Jun to pay attention to the changes in his physical condition, control the training time, and insist on acupuncture, medicine fumigation, and massage. Zhang Jun didn’t dare to be careless either. This was a very critical time. If he was careless, all the previous efforts would be in vain. He carefully fulfilled every training plan.

After listening to Basten’s advice, he was even more clear that only by lurking could he have the possibility of an outbreak.

In this era when people have gradually forgotten the legend, when the dragon reappears in the world, it will surely shock the world.