Chapter 1 A Sudden Surge

When Su Su woke up, she was shocked to find that the number of reposts on her Weibo had exceeded ten thousand.

Yesterday, breaking one thousand had already seemed incredible, so what was going on with breaking ten thousand today?

Although some influential bloggers had reposted it, it shouldn't have become this popular, right?

She didn't even bother brushing her teeth, grabbing her phone while still sitting in bed.

Then she saw that Zhou Yi himself had actually reposted her Weibo. No wonder the number of reposts had exceeded ten thousand…

The thought of her photo being reposted by such a big star made Su Su feel a bit happy, as if she'd reached the pinnacle of her life…

※※※

After Zhou Yi reposted the girl's Weibo, he put the matter out of his mind and continued touring Chengdu with Cortana.

Leaving from his home, the reason he chose Chengdu as a tourist destination in China was because Cortana was very interested in giant pandas. So, he brought her to Chengdu to see the pandas.

Cortana, usually a very assertive woman, melted when she saw the giant pandas, turning into a cute little girl.

When they left, the two bought many panda-related souvenirs from the gift shop, including fluffy panda hats, fluffy panda plush toys, fluffy panda backpacks, as well as badges, t-shirts, scarves printed with pandas… and so on.

Zhou Yi realized for the first time that someone could like pandas to this extent. As a Chinese person from the homeland of pandas, he felt that his love for pandas wasn't deep enough, and he was somewhat ashamed.

Because of the netizen who accidentally photographed Zhou Yi, everyone knew that Zhou Yi was in Chengdu during this time.

Some netizens spontaneously organized "Spot Zhou Yi" activities, where everyone would go out to shop and play, hoping to bump into Zhou Yi.

This activity aroused everyone's interest.

In the vast ocean of people's war, Zhou Yi's whereabouts were quickly discovered.

Some fans found Zhou Yi and took photos with him.

Zhou Yi didn't refuse these fans' requests for photos.

However, the fans were also considerate and didn't pester Zhou Yi. After taking the photos, they quickly said goodbye.

Soon, local Chengdu media called, hoping to interview Zhou Yi and report on his visit to Chengdu. For them, this was another great opportunity to promote Chengdu.

Zhou Yi didn't refuse. He knew that as a public figure, these things were bound to happen once his whereabouts were exposed.

During the interview, he naturally praised Chengdu a lot—you can't speak ill of your host while staying in their home, that's just impolite…

And Chengdu was indeed quite fun, except for the food…

"Why 'except for the food'?" The Chengdu reporter's eyes widened in surprise. Chengdu was a famous food paradise, and everyone who came was captivated by the charm of the food. For many, eating was the main purpose of visiting Chengdu.

Why would Zhou Yi say that eating in Chengdu was torture for him?

Zhou Yi pointed to his girlfriend Cortana next to him: "Most of Chengdu's food is off-limits for me, otherwise my body fat percentage will be too high when I go back from vacation. The coach won't bother me, but he'll bother Cortana…"

As soon as he said this, the reporter understood.

Whether it was hot pot, chuanchuan (skewers in hot broth), maocai (a Sichuan dish similar to hot pot), barbecue, or Sichuan cuisine, it really didn't fit the dietary standards for athletes…

"Okay, that's true…" The reporter wanted to comfort Zhou Yi, or rather, pretend to comfort him, to avoid being too awkward.

Unexpectedly, Zhou Yi was very open-minded: "It's okay, when I retire in the future, I'll come to Chengdu and enjoy Chengdu's cuisine!"

Look at his speaking skills, he's charming without revealing it.

He expressed his love for Sichuan cuisine and left a promise to come to Chengdu again, which was full of anticipation.

So, there's a reason why Zhou Yi has the best reputation among Chinese players…

※※※

After finishing his trip to Chengdu, Zhou Yi returned to his hometown and spent two more days with Cortana and his parents. Then he set off for Germany to prepare for the second half of the Bundesliga and Champions League seasons.

On the way from China back to Germany, Zhou Yi thought for a long time and decided to "come clean" with Cortana, asking if she was willing to marry him and spend the rest of her life with him.

The question was simple, but it was difficult to ask.

Zhou Yi thought for a long time, considered many possibilities, and came up with countermeasures for each of them, which was quite similar to his style of playing football on the field.

Then he turned to look at Cortana, who was sitting next to him, focused on reading.

"Hey…" he called softly.

Cortana looked up at him.

"I have something very serious I want to talk to you about." Zhou Yi made his expression look as serious as he said.

Cortana didn't say anything, just raised her eyebrows.

"Well, what do you think about marriage?" Zhou Yi asked cautiously.

Cortana smiled, "Is that a proposal?"

Zhou Yi was stunned for a moment, then felt a little embarrassed, as if someone had preemptively said what he wanted to say. So he quickly shook his head: "No, no, I'm just asking for your opinion. If I were really proposing, how could it be so casual? It would have to be, it would have to be…"

Zhou Yi hadn't figured out how he wanted to propose yet. He was just making up an excuse to deal with Cortana.

Unexpectedly, Cortana took it seriously and pressed him, "It would have to be what?"

Zhou Yi felt his heart racing under Cortana's gaze, but he didn't back down. He knew Cortana was just provoking him. If he wanted to avoid being completely dominated after marriage, he absolutely couldn't avoid it at this moment.

Zhou Yi realized that this was a very crucial moment, not only determining whether he could successfully win the beauty, but also determining his status after marriage.

So he glared back.

"Hey, talk, it would have to be what?" Cortana found Zhou Yi's glare amusing.

Zhou Yi then remembered that he had been too busy staring at Cortana, but his face didn't change at all, and his wide eyes didn't blink.

But his mind was racing, thinking of a solution.

What kind of proposal should he use?

Kneeling in the street, proposing with candles in the street—Zhou Yi rejected these methods outright, they were just too boring.

Preparing a candlelight dinner? Too ordinary…

I'm a football player…

Zhou Yi suddenly had an idea, so he blurted out: "I'll use a hat trick to propose to you! During a live game, in front of all the television viewers and fans!"

Zhou Yi said fiercely.

Cortana was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "Have you ever scored a hat trick?"

"Hey, don't look down on me! I scored one in the Dortmund youth team!"

"That's the youth team. Is the youth team the same as the first team?"

"That's because there was no need to score so many goals before. I'm an offensive organizer, assists are my main task…" Zhou Yi explained.

"So?"

"So it's not that I don't have the ability to score goals, it's just that I don't bother to score." Zhou Yi snorted. "Now it's different, there's a need for it, a hat trick is a piece of cake, right?"

Seeing Zhou Yi's nostrils almost pointing to the sky, Cortana said, "Okay, then I'll wait for your proposal. Also, goals in warm-up matches and friendlies don't count."

"Of course, am I the kind of person who takes advantage of small things?!" Zhou Yi was full of confidence.

Then he suddenly remembered the purpose of his discussion with Cortana, and he asked, "So you're saying you're willing to marry me?"

Cortana smiled, "Propose first."

"I'll take that as a yes." Zhou Yi pointed at Cortana.

Cortana smiled without saying a word, and continued reading her book.

Zhou Yi then put on his eye mask, wanting to quickly fall asleep and train to improve his skills in the virtual world.

But today, perhaps the matter of the proposal made him a little excited, and he couldn't fall asleep for a long time.

In the end, he simply gave up, angrily tore off the eye mask, and leaned back in his chair, turning to scrutinize Cortana next to him.

"What?" Cortana sensed Zhou Yi's gaze.

"Nothing, you look at yours, I'll look at mine." Zhou Yi didn't change his posture.

"Oh." Cortana continued to enjoy reading her book.

They weren't like those couples who had just started dating, who seemed to have endless things to say and wanted to be together all day long.

They enjoyed these quiet moments even more, you do your thing, I do mine, making everyone comfortable.

Just like that, Zhou Yi looked and looked… and fell asleep.

※※※

After returning to Dortmund, Zhou Yi and Cortana went back to her home and had a meal with Cortana's parents and younger brother, spending a pleasant day. Only Mark was a bit dissatisfied, sourly saying that the lovebirds had returned from their world tour, and they hadn't forgotten about him, their brother, and knew to come see him.

As a result, Cortana pretended to be surprised and said, "Aren't we here to see Dad and Mom? Just checking in on you, dear brother."

Mark protested, "Hey! You value your lover over your family!"

Then he turned to Zhou Yi and shouted, "You value your lover over your friends!"

Zhou Yi could only respond with a silly smile. Who told him to steal someone else's sister? Who could have imagined that?

During dinner, when they talked about their experiences traveling in China, Cortana told everyone how Zhou Yi stole the spotlight, making the Wagners laugh, but Mark was the most heartbroken person. He seemed to have lost two loved ones at the same time.

However, he didn't wallow in this emotion for too long. After dinner, he asked Zhou Yi gossipily, "When are you getting married?"

This question reminded Zhou Yi of the proposal.

A hat trick…

Something he had never done in his career.

Although he had previously focused more on assists and more or less neglected scoring goals, Zhou Yi wasn't sure if he could really focus on scoring goals now.

He spread his hands, "I have to propose first, right?"

"That's true, so when are you going to propose?" Mark continued to ask.

"Soon, soon…" Zhou Yi had no choice but to brush him off.