Chapter 1 The Changes Brought by Attention

Zhou Yi had been back in Dortmund with the team for four days. During these four days, he could clearly feel the changes that the domestic media's attention had brought him during training.

For example, after training, some Chinese fans actually stopped him, asking for autographs and photos!

"I'm studying in Dusseldorf. After seeing the news from China, I came here specifically to support you!"

"I'm also a student, from Cologne. I even follow your Tieba forum. I came here to tell you: keep it up, you've given me some hope for Chinese football!"

"I came all the way from Munich. Although I'm a Bayern Munich fan, as long as Dortmund isn't playing against Bayern Munich, I'll support you, Zhou Yi!"

...

These Chinese fans were mostly students studying in various cities in Germany. They were all young and enthusiastic, and their faces showed happiness and excitement when they saw him.

And there was even a female fan among them—the Bayern Munich fan who came from Munich—which made Zhou Yi feel extremely flattered!

So he gave priority to the female fan's request for a photo, even though she wasn't particularly attractive.

These fans probably didn't know each other before, but while waiting for Zhou Yi, they had formed a temporary small group. You helped me take a photo with Zhou Yi, and I helped you take a photo with Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi stood still, smiling, as the photo partners next to him kept changing.

Finally, when saying goodbye, the female fan shyly made a request to Zhou Yi: "Can I hug you?"

She seemed to feel that her request was a bit excessive and seemed embarrassed, her voice a little quieter.

But to her surprise, Zhou Yi generously agreed to her request: "Sure!"

The girl looked at him in surprise and joy: "Really?"

"Of course." Zhou Yi had already opened his arms.

Seeing Zhou Yi being so proactive, the boys next to her also became eager: "We want a hug too!"

"Ladies first!" Zhou Yi solemnly declared to them that he was a gentleman.

"Boo—!" The boys jeered.

The girl also laughed, no longer embarrassed, and took the initiative to hug Zhou Yi, even pressing her cheek against Zhou Yi's chest, closing her eyes, and fully enjoying the moment.

Next, the other fans also came up to hug Zhou Yi in turn.

After the hugs, they happily said goodbye to Zhou Yi: "Keep it up, Zhou Yi! We'll watch your games! Will you be playing in the first league game?"

Zhou Yi shook his head, answering truthfully: "I don't know yet, I'll try my best. Goodbye, be careful on the way back, and stay safe!"

"Don't worry! We'll come to see you again!" The young people waved to Zhou Yi and left together.

※※※

"Wow! What a lucky guy, big star!" Grosskreutz's voice sounded behind Zhou Yi. He turned around and saw Grosskreutz looking at the backs of the fans. "How is it, what's it like to be surrounded by fans?"

"Not bad." Zhou Yi smiled.

Seeing Zhou Yi's smile, Grosskreutz pointed at him and said, "Young man, you're a little proud!"

"How is that possible, Kevin? Don't you know I'm Chinese?"

"What's wrong with being Chinese? I'm not discriminating..." Grosskreutz was a little confused.

"The traditional virtue of the Chinese is modesty." Zhou Yi said proudly.

"But I don't think you're modest at all, Zhou Yi." How could Grosskreutz not understand Zhou Yi's implication? "Let's go, hurry back and take a shower, the coach will scold you if he finds out."

The coaching staff had a rule that after training, all players had to return to the locker room as soon as possible to take a shower to avoid catching a cold. This was a strict rule, and if any player violated it, they would be reprimanded by the assistant coach or head coach.

So everyone paid attention, even if they fulfilled the fans' requests for autographs and photos after training, they had to return to the locker room as soon as possible afterwards.

※※※

As Zhou Yi and Grosskreutz walked towards the locker room, several young Chinese fans also walked out, discussing enthusiastically.

"I don't think he's arrogant at all. Just like what they say online, he doesn't seem like a star, but more like my high school classmate..."

"After all, he's a player who started halfway, he didn't have time to pick up the bad habits of the national team, right?"

"He's super cute!" The female fan couldn't help but smile when she thought of hugging Zhou Yi. "He seemed quite proactive, but when I leaned against his chest, I clearly heard his heart beating fast!"

"Really?"

"Of course!"

"So he looked like nothing was happening on the outside..."

"Don't you know there's a term called 'pretending to be calm'?"

"Oh my, I really didn't expect Zhou Yi to have this side..."

A group of people laughed happily.

"I can't wait to post this on the internet... Hey, did any of you take pictures? During the hug just now?"

"Uh..." Everyone looked at each other, only to realize in surprise that they were all so busy cheering and being happy during the hug that they completely forgot to take pictures as souvenirs...

"Oh no! What a pity! This was a hug with Zhou Yi!" The girl was very annoyed.

"It's okay, it's not like we won't come again, we'll come next time..." A boy comforted her.

"You guys are close, I came all the way from Munich, it's not easy to come once..." The girl frowned in regret.

※※※

After finishing a day of training, Zhou Yi returned to his residence, which was not far from the training base. He still hadn't bought a car because he didn't know how to drive at all, and he didn't have time to learn, so he still ran to training and ran home.

Back home, he opened the door, and the house was still empty, with no one but him.

Ever since he returned to Dortmund with the team, it had been like this.

Neither Hanna nor Kotana, the two beauties, had appeared.

But that was normal. They were renting a place here because of school, and now it was summer vacation, so they definitely wouldn't stay here. They had all gone back home or traveled together.

But with only him left in this big house, he was still a little unaccustomed to it.

After simply making spaghetti to fill his stomach, Zhou Yi opened QQ on his computer.

When he was training intensively abroad, he was exhausted every day and had no energy to go online at all. He only went on QQ once in the middle, and now he finally had time.

When he opened QQ, the first thing that popped up was a message from his father.

"The domestic media has reported that you're staying with the first team. We plan to go to your school principal after school starts and ask him not to keep your student status for you anymore. Also, your mother has been very happy these past few days. Although she didn't say it, I can tell that she's also happy for you!"

Zhou Yi smiled. He could seem to imagine his mother being happy. As a son, there seemed to be very few times when he could make his mother happy... Being able to make his mother happy for him, Zhou Yi still felt quite accomplished.

"...Also, I checked, Dortmund's first league game is on the evening of August 8th. If you're on the roster, be sure to tell us in advance. The TV station will definitely broadcast the game live. Your mother and I will be waiting for you to appear on TV..."

Zhou Yi wiped his sweat—his dad was so anxious, he wanted to see him play in the first league game?

But in reality, Zhou Yi knew very well that it was unlikely that he would get a chance to play in the first league game, maybe he wouldn't even make the roster. He himself hadn't thought about it, and coach Klopp had told him very clearly before that staying with the first team didn't mean success. If he wanted to play in the first team, he still had a long way to go.

After more than a month of intensive training, Zhou Yi's mentality had been tortured by the coaching staff to the point where it was difficult for him not to think badly.

He had stopped thinking about how long it would take for him to play in the first team. As long as he could stay with the first team, there would always be opportunities sooner or later.

The next thing was actually very simple, which was to train, train, and work hard to improve himself and meet the coach's requirements.

In football, there are no shortcuts, only hard work.

After explaining this to his dad on QQ through a message, Zhou Yi suddenly thought of Yang Muge.

According to rumors within the team, the team should have one or two days off before the official start of the league, without training.

And although he and Yang Muge were very close, they hadn't really seen each other except when they went to away games.

Since there was a vacation, he might as well ask to meet up, otherwise not seeing each other all the time would be really inexcusable.

So he dialed Yang Muge's phone.

After the phone connected, he heard Yang Muge's slightly surprised voice: "Oh, Zhou Yi, you actually have my phone number in Germany?"

"Oh, Lao Yang, I'm sorry, I was really too busy before... Isn't this the number you gave me back then!"

Yang Muge laughed on the other end: "Not busy now?"

"Before the league starts, the team seems to be having a vacation. How about going out for a meal and chatting? We've always said we should chat, but we never have the chance... Will you be free then?"

"The youth team isn't as busy as the first team. I still have half a day."

"That's good, that's good. Hey, how have you been lately?" Zhou Yi asked about Yang Muge's recent situation. He really didn't have time to take care of other people before. He was being worked like a dog every day...

"I'm already in Schalke 04's youth A team."

"Awesome! I think I'll be able to see you in Schalke 04's first team soon!"

"You're the most amazing one among us now, the first one to be promoted to the first team."

"Hehe..." Zhou Yi smiled slightly embarrassedly. "How are they?"

"That's a long story, let's talk about it when we meet." Yang Muge also seemed to have a lot to talk about with Zhou Yi.

"Okay, okay, let's talk when we meet."