Chapter 149 Unskilled

When Zhou Yi went to the training base the next day, he was blocked by reporters at the gate.

These reporters, who had arrived early to wait outside the training base, were actually there to block him, because they couldn't block any other players. Only Zhou Yi, the only player in the team who didn't drive, could they get close to, ask their questions before he walked into the training base, and hope to get his answers.

Today's questions were all related to Mark Wagner's injury, because everyone knew that Zhou Yi was Mark's good friend.

"I am saddened and heartbroken by his injury, but not desperate," Zhou Yi said. "We will wait for him, wait for the day he recovers and returns. Then I will hug him with a smile and tell him, 'Welcome back.'"

With that, Zhou Yi smiled and nodded to the reporters, then walked into the training base.

The reporters stared blankly at his back, all pondering the meaning of his words.

As Mark's best friend, he didn't seem to be devastated, and his words were full of hope.

But everyone could understand him. Mark's surgery was successful, and Zhou Yi's smile must have been because he knew this news.

At this time, hope is more important than anything else.

※※※

After finishing a day of training, Zhou Yi returned home again. He was the only one in the house. Hannah was always away, and Zhou Yi thought it was normal that Kotana wasn't there today. After all, her younger brother had suffered such a serious injury, so as his sister, she certainly had to be by his side.

After taking a shower and changing his clothes, Zhou Yi began to busy himself in the kitchen, making dinner. Although his skills were far inferior to Kotana's, he was alone, so he shouldn't be too picky. As long as he could fill his stomach, that was enough.

But just as Zhou Yi put the meat to his lips, ready to bite down, the sound of the door lock came from the front door, and then the door was pushed open.

Then Kotana appeared before him.

Zhou Yi maintained the action of feeding himself meat, tilting his head to look in surprise at Kotana in front of him.

"Is it so bad? You can't even swallow it?" Kotana asked, looking at Zhou Yi's expression.

"Nonsense!" Zhou Yi reacted upon hearing this, and bit the piece of meat on the fork into his mouth, then began to chew.

But after only chewing a couple of times, he spat it all out with a "Ptooey!" "Damn it, I forgot to add salt!"

Kotana walked up, picked up Zhou Yi's plate, and went straight to the kitchen, sweeping everything inside into the trash can.

"Hey, what are you doing..." Zhou Yi reacted.

"I'll make it for you," Kotana said.

So Zhou Yi stopped talking. He did like to eat the food Kotana made.

Before long, a plate of fragrant pan-fried steak was brought to the dining table.

Zhou Yi took a bite, juicy and tender...

"It's much better than the garbage you made, right?" Kotana asked.

"Yeah, this time you put salt in it!"

Kotana curled her lips.

Zhou Yi swallowed the piece of meat, but didn't continue eating. Instead, he put down his knife and fork, and looked up at Kotana: "Why are you back? Is Mark discharged from the hospital?"

Kotana nodded and said, "I'm back to pack my things. I'm moving back home tomorrow."

"Not living here anymore?" Zhou Yi wasn't surprised. Since Kotana was a top student in sports medicine, of course she would want to be by her younger brother's side to take care of him.

"Don't get any ideas about my room," Kotana said. "I'm just not living here temporarily."

"Coming back in ten months?"

"Maybe not even ten months."

"That's great."

The topic ended there, and Zhou Yi lowered his head to eat his meat.

Then he heard the sound of Kotana getting up. He thought Kotana was going to her room to pack her things, but unexpectedly, there was a thud very quickly. He looked up and found that Kotana had placed a bottle of red wine in front of him.

At the same time, Kotana shook two glasses in her hand: "Have a drink with me."

She didn't use a questioning tone, but said it in a way that left Zhou Yi no room for refusal.

Although Zhou Yi was a little surprised, he didn't refuse: "Okay."

Kotana put down the two glasses, then opened the wine and poured it directly into the glasses, without bothering with any decanting.

Then she finished her glass in one gulp.

Zhou Yi was dumbfounded. He didn't expect this was a toast…

Kotana, who had honored her first, looked at Zhou Yi with her empty glass. Under her compelling gaze, Zhou Yi had no choice but to pick up his glass and drink it all in one gulp, then he wiped his mouth: "One glass down..."

"Drink another glass," Kotana interrupted him.

"..." Zhou Yi looked at Kotana, his eyes darting around, as if he had figured something out, so he nodded, "Okay, I'll drink with you!"

So they drank glass after glass, one after another, without Kotana saying anything in between, just drinking.

Zhou Yi didn't even have time to eat a bite of meat, he was just drinking with Kotana.

Soon, that bottle of dry red wine was emptied.

When the last drop of wine was poured into the glass, this time Kotana didn't raise her head and drink it all in one gulp, but didn't drink it at all.

She picked up the glass, but didn't drink, just squinted her eyes and looked at the red wine swirling in the glass. Through the glass, she saw Zhou Yi on the opposite side. Because of the curved glass wall, Zhou Yi's face was distorted and deformed, looking very comical.

Kotana smiled, and then suddenly asked, "Do you think I'm incompetent?"

Zhou Yi was very strange: "Why do you suddenly say that?"

"Because I study sports medicine, but I still let Mark get injured..."

Zhou Yi raised his hand: "I never thought that. And if you want Mark to avoid injury, studying sports medicine isn't useful, you have to study theology and pray to God every day."

Kotana heard the teasing in Zhou Yi's words, so she smiled: "Aren't you always curious why I hate athletes so much, but I still study sports medicine?"

Zhou Yi nodded: "It's very strange. I even suspect you're a masochist."

"You're the m!" Kotana glared at Zhou Yi, then put down her glass and said, lowering her head. "Do you know why Mark plays football?"

"Why?"

"Mark was physically weak and prone to illness since he was a child. He started playing football for the purpose of exercising."

Zhou Yi thought of Mark's physical data when he first saw him. He was indeed not a strong person, so he was suppressed by Schneider at the time and had no chance to turn over.

So he believed that Mark's body must not have been very good when he was a teenager.

"At that time, Mark's body looked thin compared to his peers. He was often attacked by opponents on the field. They treated him as an easy target, a soft persimmon that could be kneaded at will. So Mark was often injured at that time..."

Kotana told the story slowly. In her narrative, without any ups and downs, Zhou Yi could completely imagine what Mark's situation was like as a teenager.

"I advised Mark not to take football too seriously, but he had already made becoming a professional player his dream, seemingly forgetting that he had initially started playing football just to exercise. So I thought, if my younger brother insists on playing professional football, then at least I have to let him suffer less injury on the road in the future... So I chose sports medicine as my major when I went to college."

Zhou Yi was stunned. He didn't expect that Kotana had chosen sports medicine for this reason...

This is truly a loving older sister, a deeply loving older sister!

"I want to protect my younger brother, I want to keep him away from injuries, I want him to be able to fulfill his dream... But in the end, I still couldn't stop him from getting injured..."

"I told you, you're just a team doctor, not a god, how could you stop him from getting injured? Don't worry, Mark will get better, he will come back, and he will play football like before." Seeing Kotana so emotional, Zhou Yi almost reached out and patted Kotana on the back, but in the end he didn't dare to do so, and just comforted her with words.

"Liar." Kotana didn't seem to appreciate it, and glanced at Zhou Yi, "After an anterior cruciate ligament tear, no matter how much you recover, you can never be the same as before the injury."

"I'm just using a metaphor, a descriptive technique, don't take it too seriously... Of course, the way he plays football will be different from before the injury, but there's always a way. No one has stipulated that football can only be played that way. Maybe Mark needs to change his style of play after he recovers, that's not too big of a problem. Mark himself is not the kind of player who relies on his physical abilities, so he should be able to adapt to the new style quickly."

Zhou Yi said to Kotana.

In sports medicine, Kotana knew more than Zhou Yi. But in football, Zhou Yi definitely knew more than Kotana. Zhou Yi said this, and Kotana couldn't refute it.

So she said, "I'll... believe you for now."

"Hey! What do you mean 'believe me for now'? I'm sure that after Mark recovers from his injury, he will be reborn and appear before the world in a brand new姿态!" Zhou Yi had great confidence in his friend.

"Thank you for your kind words." Kotana smiled sweetly at Zhou Yi, then drank the last of the wine in her glass.

Then she supported herself with both hands, stood up from the chair, and turned to walk towards her bedroom.

"Goodbye, Chinese boy. I won't see you for a few months, but don't be sentimental, I won't miss you."

After saying that, she waved her hand and walked into her bedroom without looking back.

Zhou Yi turned his head to look at the closed bedroom door, frowning.

It seems she's really drunk... How is it possible that we won't see each other for a few months? We're still both at Borussia Dortmund!