The entire book is actually a story about dreams.

The first volume is about the dreams of the young men after they meet, and the second volume is still on this theme, only Zhou Yi meets new young men.

It's still a story about dreams, but Mark is more cowardly and timid than Zhou Yi's previous teammates. I know this kind of character is not popular in today's online novels.

But I still wrote such a person, because I think it is real and representative—the word "dream" is actually very simple to say. It can be said in less than a second, but how many seconds does it take to really realize a dream? An astronomical number, right?

We are used to talking about dreams. Just saying it seems like we are people with dreams.

Before meeting Zhou Yi, Mark was also this kind of person. He kept saying that his dream was to play for Dortmund and lift the Bundesliga championship salad bowl while wearing a Dortmund jersey. But in fact, he had never worked hard for this dream for even a day.

For him, having a dream is like keeping up with the times. Dreams are just clothes worn on the body, scarves around the neck. When needed, he puts them on to show off to others, telling them: "I have a dream, oh, I really have a dream! I'm not a salted fish without a dream!"

After receiving everyone's praise, when he returns home and is alone, he puts away his dreams, hangs them in the closet, and waits for the next time to show off in front of everyone.

In real life, too many people also claim that they have dreams, that their dreams are this, that, and the other. But if you ask them, "Then have you realized your dream?" they will mostly tell you that it's not that they didn't work hard, but that reality is too cruel. There are strange and numerous reasons for not realizing a dream.

But frankly speaking, they are not defeated by the cruel reality, but by their own dreams. Just like what Zhou Yi said to Mark.

Dreams can bring some vanity and praise, but also bring great pressure.

But isn't this normal? If dreams can always be easily realized, why should we praise dreams and the people who pursue them?

If a flower does not bloom on a cliff, but in a roadside flowerbed, easily picked, then what is there to be proud of in getting this flower?

So I wrote Mark as such a person. He once regarded dreams as a fashion, and he was once afraid of dreams, but in the end, he decided to bravely face his dreams. He did not complain or feel sad about the result of staying in the youth team. He was no longer as vulnerable as he was when he first joined the U19 team. He is growing and becoming more mature.

Having said so much, will some people still think that no matter how meaningful I say this character is, it still has nothing to do with the protagonist Zhou Yi? So I created this character, and spent so much time on him, making him the second lead for an entire volume. Is it meaningless filler?

I won't say the lie that Mark's growth is closely related to Zhou Yi's growth.

Because to be honest, Mark's growth and changes really don't have much to do with Zhou Yi's personal growth. There doesn't need to be a Mark for Zhou Yi to experience his years in the youth team. He will still have his growth. His goals are clear and firm, and his dreams are consistent. They will not change because of Mark.

Then shouldn't we not write characters that are not very related to the protagonist, or not spend too much time writing about them?

If it were me in the past, I would agree with this idea—everything that is not related to the protagonist should be discarded.

But now, in this book, I don't think so. I want to write something different. Just relying on Zhou Yi alone cannot support what I want to express in the book.

Zhou Yi's position on the field is midfield, an organizer, an assister, not a scorer who is in the limelight and leads the way.

Such a positional role setting determines that there will be many different kinds of people around him. He will have various connections with these people, or bonds. There will be good and bad, joy and sorrow. These people and Zhou Yi together form Zhou Yi's rich and colorful life and career, and also form the story in this novel.

Everyone is an integral part of this story since ancient times.

So I used a volume of 240,000 words to write a Mark. I hope I can write more such people and things in the future.

I have been writing football novels for thirteen years. After writing back and forth, the plots are all the same, and the game results are all the same. If it was just to write these things, I probably would have stopped writing five years ago.

But if it's about different people, writing about their different lives, then there is simply endless writeability. I can also write the niche genre of football novels with great success.

The above is a little understanding of me as an author, a creator, to tell everyone, taking up a little of everyone's time and word count for reading, not to explain anything, just a simple sharing and outpouring.

Any author has a desire to confide.

Finally, let me tell you a little anecdote.

About dreams, about the last part of this chapter.

During college, my roommates and I discussed our dream lives after graduation. I said I hoped to be on the computer every day, whether surfing the Internet or playing games, and still earn three thousand yuan a month.

My roommate joked that I was daydreaming.

At that time, I was really just talking nonsense and fantasizing. I myself didn't really believe that what I said could be realized.

But now, I sit in front of the computer every day, playing on the computer, writing novels, browsing Weibo, playing games, watching movies... and my monthly income has long exceeded three thousand.

So you see, you always have to have a dream, right? What if it comes true?

Thank you for listening to me babble so much. I hope everyone can continue to support the third volume, thank you!