When Zhou Yi returned home, his emotions hadn't returned to normal, so much so that his parents saw through him at a glance.

"What's wrong? Is your physical recovery not ideal?"

"Did you get injured again?"

The two elders asked almost simultaneously.

Only then did Zhou Yi realize that his expression had betrayed him, so he quickly shook his head and said with a smile, "How is that possible? I'm in great shape, very good. I feel like I can play a full game in my next match."

"Then why do you have such an expression?" His mother was observant.

"Well… I'm just reluctant to see you two go back in a few days…" Zhou Yi was always quick-witted, and this excuse came right out of his mouth. It was perfect, immediately dispelling Li Cuiyun and Zhou Jianliang's doubts.

Li Cuiyun couldn't help but feel a little sentimental at the thought of leaving in a while and not being able to see her son.

Zhou Jianliang was still carefree: "Hey, a man should have ambitions all over the world, what's there to be reluctant about? Besides, we can see you on TV every weekend, and there's a lot of news about you online now. I don't even feel like you're not by my side, haha!"

Li Cuiyun rolled her eyes at him, "That's just you!"

Zhou Jianliang chuckled, not arguing with his wife.

Zhou Yi had just made up a casual excuse, but it was also a true reflection of his feelings.

So he couldn't say anything, enveloped by the real emotions of parting.

What a sad and melancholy day…

※※※

Lying on his bed at night, Zhou Yi couldn't help but think of everything that happened in the physiotherapy room during the day as soon as he closed his eyes.

Zhou Yi didn't call Grosskreutz to explain because he knew it would be useless, and would only have the opposite effect—if there really was nothing between him and Kotana, why would he need to explain? As long as Grosskreutz thought that, he would be even more convinced that he and Kotana were having an affair.

When this matter was discovered by Grosskreutz, it became difficult to salvage.

He couldn't explain, nor could he advise Grosskreutz not to tell anyone—if he did, it would be tantamount to admitting that he and Kotana had an unspeakable relationship. Otherwise, why would he hide it from everyone? If it was as he said, that he and Kotana were just ordinary roommates, why not let others know, why hide it for so long?

Zhou Yi didn't even know why he hadn't told anyone after he started living with Kotana. He hadn't even told his agent, and Mark was completely unaware of his relationship with his sister, thinking that his relationship with Kotana was terrible…

As a result, because of his previous decision, Zhou Yi was now in an extremely passive situation.

He couldn't explain it now, and he couldn't not explain it.

A dilemma.

If it was just his own trouble, so be it, but this matter had also dragged Kotana into it.

She must be annoyed now too, right?

※※※

Kotana was lying in bed with her eyes wide open, looking at the ceiling, with no intention of sleeping at all, but she had indeed changed into her pajamas and was lying on the bed.

She had been working at Borussia Dortmund for more than two years. Based on her understanding of Grosskreutz, she didn't believe for a second that Grosskreutz would be able to keep his mouth shut about this.

Grosskreutz was the typical athlete representative that Kotana looked down on. His big mouth would definitely spread this matter everywhere.

It would inevitably spread quickly within the team, and there was even a high possibility that the media would find out.

At that time, how would she face the media's questions?

Of course, she could generously say that there was nothing between her and Zhou Yi, and that they had just rented in the same house for a period of time.

If the media didn't twist her meaning and reported her answer verbatim, what would others think when they saw her answer?

Would they believe her words?

Would they think she was trying to cover things up?

Kotana really didn't expect that she had been so careful and cautious, but now she had become Zhou Yi's "rumored girlfriend"… This was a great irony for her.

※※※

When Zhou Yi arrived at the first team's locker room at the Brackel training base, he didn't know if it was because he felt guilty, but he was more concerned about his teammates' eyes than usual.

He would involuntarily glance at others, secretly observing whether anyone was discussing him.

If someone seemed to mention him, his ears would immediately perk up.

But no one said anything sensitive, and when they saw Zhou Yi, they greeted him with natural expressions, with absolutely no intention of watching Zhou Yi's gossip.

While Zhou Yi was relieved, he was also secretly puzzled—could it be that Grosskreutz, the bigmouth, hadn't been spreading it everywhere?

Although it wasn't in line with his style, Zhou Yi hoped that Grosskreutz could be abnormal all the way this time.

At this moment, the locker room door was pushed open, and a person barged in like a whirlwind—it was Grosskreutz!

Seeing Grosskreutz, Zhou Yi's eyes were fixed on him.

His gaze was also noticed by Grosskreutz, who turned his head and smiled when he saw Zhou Yi.

When Zhou Yi saw Grosskreutz's smile, he suddenly had a bad feeling.

Almost at the same time that Zhou Yi had this premonition, Grosskreutz opened his mouth and shouted at Zhou Yi, "Zhou Yi, Zhou Yi! Confess honestly!"

His shout immediately attracted the attention of all the teammates in the locker room.

Everyone looked at him and Zhou Yi.

"Confess what?" Zhou Yi could only pretend to be confused, but this was the last struggle, and it was actually useless…

"Your relationship with Kotana!" Sure enough, Grosskreutz, the bigmouth, didn't give Zhou Yi a chance to struggle any further and directly exposed the male and female protagonists.

Zhou Yi never expected that Grosskreutz wouldn't spread it around in private first, but instead said it in front of him, and in front of all his teammates…

He really wanted to cover his face—damn it! Grosskreutz really was unexpected!

Grosskreutz's words were like dropping a bomb in the locker room.

Before the words even faded away, everyone stopped looking at Grosskreutz and turned to look at Zhou Yi.

Among them, Mark's eyes were the most surprised. His eyes widened, like an innocent girl.

"Is this true? Zhou Yi, are you…are you living with my sister?" Mark asked Zhou Yi in surprise.

Everyone knew that Kotana was Mark's sister, and there was nothing to hide.

Zhou Yi turned to look at Mark and said with a wry smile: "Sorry, Mark. But that was before, when I was renting a house, I happened to find the house your sister was renting…"

Then he turned to Grosskreutz and said: "Stop it, Kevin. Kotana and I have nothing to do with each other. We are just tenants."

Grosskreutz raised his hands in surrender: "I know, it's just a pure relationship between tenants, I understand! No problem!"

But looking at his expression, it didn't match what he said at all.

Looking at the other teammates, they also showed thoughtful expressions, and some people were whispering: "…I was wondering why Zhou Yi never invited us to his house…"

"Yeah, yeah, it turns out it's inconvenient…"

Seeing this, Zhou Yi knew that he couldn't clear his name even if he jumped into concentrated sulfuric acid…

He glared fiercely at Grosskreutz, but Grosskreutz didn't realize it at all, and continued to wear a cheap smile on his face.

Zhou Yi couldn't do anything about him. Not to mention him, even Klopp couldn't do anything about Grosskreutz…

Someone came up to Zhou Yi and said: "Don't worry, Zhou Yi! We will never tell the media!"

"Yeah, yeah, we will never tell the media!"

"We all know it's inconvenient for you…"

"That's right, you decide whether to expose this kind of thing yourself, I won't talk about it everywhere."

Everyone seemed to be thinking of Zhou Yi, but it made Zhou Yi laugh and cry. There were so many people in the team, and now everyone knew. Even a fool knew that there were no airtight walls in this world…

He had no choice but to repeat: "I really have nothing to do with her… I met her for the first time at Mark's house. We didn't have a good impression of each other, so how could we… you're right, Mark?"

Zhou Yi turned his pleading eyes to Mark.

But this time, his good friend Mark didn't stand up to vouch for Zhou Yi, but instead looked dazed, as if he hadn't recovered from the shock.

Seeing Mark's distraught appearance, Zhou Yi knew that he most likely really believed that he had something going on with his sister…

People say "trying to steal a fish but getting covered in fish scales instead." At least the subjective intention was to steal a fish, but he didn't want to steal a fish at all, and he got covered in fish scales. Who could he reason with?