Chapter 222 The Sister

Despite the fact that Cortana only made a brief appearance at the training ground before returning to Dr. Braun's office, the impact she had on the team didn't fade.

Cortana was the first female team doctor in the history of Borussia Dortmund.

That alone was enough to demonstrate her historical significance.

And she was such a beautiful team doctor.

Cortana could easily rival the celebrity wives of some of the players.

So during training that day, everyone was energized as if they had been injected with chicken blood, excitedly discussing their female team doctor. They had even elevated Cortana to the status of "goddess."

Some were already planning to fake an illness.

"...I don't feel quite right in my muscles. I'd like to request a massage..."

Of course, such clumsy tricks were ultimately seen through by the eagle-eyed Klopp.

And the players didn't seem to dare to actually injure themselves just to get close to her. They still had some sense and knew what was more important.

Cortana's identity, on the other hand, wasn't hidden for long.

Because some players discovered that Cortana and Mark shared the same last name.

"Hey, Mark. I noticed you and the new team doctor both have the last name Wagner. What a coincidence!" Grosskreutz said to Mark.

Mark grinned. "Of course, Großkreutz. Because she's my sister!"

When Mark said that, everyone in the locker room was shocked!

The next moment, almost everyone surrounded Mark.

"Introduce us!"

"Let us meet her!"

"Get us a date!"

Mark, surrounded by a pack of wolves, didn't know what to say.

It was Zhou Yi who helped him out of the situation. "Don't you guys dream. Professional athletes are definitely not included in her criteria for a partner."

He was best at pouring cold water on things.

Everyone turned to him. "How do you know, Zhou Yi?"

"Come on, I lived in Mark's house for almost a year when I was in the youth team," Zhou Yi said, spreading his hands.

Everyone then realized that what Zhou Yi said was true. No wonder his reaction when he saw Cortana was different from everyone else's. It wasn't surprise, but... astonishment.

Grosskreutz was still not giving up. "She doesn't like professional athletes? Then why did she come to Dortmund to be a team doctor?"

Actually, Zhou Yi didn't understand why Cortana had such a prejudice against athletes, yet still chose sports medicine and came to Dortmund as a team doctor. But he always had a way of pouring cold water on things. "Being a team doctor is a job, choosing a partner is about love. A job isn't the same as love. Uncle Kevin, you're a professional player, but you haven't found a female soccer player as your girlfriend, have you..."

"Girls who play soccer aren't good-looking!" Grosskreutz retorted.

"Maybe in Mark's sister's eyes, you're ugly too..."

"That's a foul, Zhou Yi! No personal attacks allowed!" Grosskreutz said, pointing at Zhou Yi.

"Anyway," Zhou Yi said, this time to everyone in the locker room. "Stop daydreaming. When I lived in Mark's house, just because I was a player—and I wasn't even a professional player back then—I got a lot of eye rolls and disdain from Mark's sister."

※※※

After training, Zhou Yi returned home alone.

After Mark signed his new contract, he bought a car and offered to drive Zhou Yi home, but Zhou Yi firmly refused—he didn't want Mark to know that he lived with his sister.

And now Zhou Yi was even more afraid of letting Mark know that he lived with Cortana...

When Zhou Yi returned home, he found that Cortana hadn't come back yet, so he went to take a shower.

After he finished showering and had just changed clothes in his bedroom, Cortana opened the front door.

Wearing a full Puma Dortmund sports jacket, with her long hair tied in a ponytail, she looked very athletic.

"Nice work outfit," Zhou Yi said. "How was your first day at work?"

"Not too busy." Cortana put her bag on the sofa.

"If you get busy, our team will collapse!" Zhou Yi wanted to give this woman an eye roll. "You're not a spy sent by Schalke 04, are you!"

As a result, Cortana gave Zhou Yi an eye roll.

"You haven't had dinner yet?" she asked.

"I just got back too."

"I'll make it." After saying that, Cortana walked to the kitchen without even changing her clothes.

Zhou Yi walked to the dining table, straddled a chair, leaned his hands on the back of the chair, rested his chin on it, and looked at Cortana busy in the open kitchen. He asked, "What are you thinking?"

"What do you mean?"

"Since you hate athletes so much, why did you study sports medicine, and why did you come to Dortmund as a team doctor? Aren't you dealing with people you don't like every day?"

Cortana didn't answer Zhou Yi's question, but just lowered her head and chopped carrots on the cutting board.

"Okay, never mind if you don't want to talk about it," Zhou Yi shrugged. "But let me remind you first, there are quite a few people on the team who are interested in you."

"So?" Cortana said, busy with her work.

"So? It's up to you. Don't be surprised if someone comes to you with a minor injury."

"I wouldn't be surprised if players whose brains are filled with either sex or muscles do that."

"Hey, I'm a player too! Is my brain filled with sex and muscles!" Zhou Yi protested.

"Oh, you're different. You even know Newton's second law," Cortana glanced at Zhou Yi and continued with her work.

"I know a lot more. Do you want me to tell you about Marxism? The dialectical view of historical materialism?"

"Naive," Cortana said softly, but clearly.

"You're the naive one, holding prejudices against an entire group because of the actions of a few individuals... By the way, your dear brother Mark was quite frightened by you."

"I didn't tell him."

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"What's the difference between telling him and not telling him?"

"Uh, that's true..." Zhou Yi thought about it, and it really didn't matter whether Mark knew or not.

The two suddenly fell silent, as if there was nothing to talk about. Cortana buried herself in cooking.

Zhou Yi didn't leave either. He just lay on the back of the chair, watching Cortana make dinner.

He watched this woman's skillful cooking skills, moving around in the kitchen. He suddenly wondered, what would his teammates think if they knew that he was living and eating with the goddess in their hearts?

Wouldn't he be torn apart by the perverts led by Grosskreutz?

※※※

Despite Zhou Yi's explanation of Cortana's personality to his teammates, it seemed that some still refused to believe it and insisted on trying.

Soon the news spread that someone had asked Cortana to dinner, but was firmly rejected with a smile.

"I told you!" Zhou Yi said to everyone in the locker room. "Don't embarrass yourselves! Just focus on training and matches. Wouldn't it be better to vent all that energy on the field?"

As a result, Dortmund defeated Leverkusen 3:1 away in the fourth round of the league. The players were in high spirits, full of morale, and in excellent condition during the match.

Klopp, who was watching the game on the sidelines, couldn't help but curse when he saw the players' performance. "These little bastards!"

Of course, he knew why the players were performing so well...

Assistant coach Buvac smiled happily beside him.

He never thought that hiring a beautiful team doctor would have such an effect!

※※※

After the league match against Leverkusen, after returning to Dortmund, many international players left the team and rushed back to their national teams to participate in the World Cup qualifiers.

Zhou Yi originally wanted to arrange to go back with Yang Muge, but after asking around in the group chat, he found out that the Olympic team's match was on September 21st, which was different from the national team's match time.

So he had to return with Kagawa Shinji.

One was going back to China, the other to Japan. They weren't too far apart.

In fact, China's first opponent in the top 20, Singapore, wasn't strong. Even if Zhou Yi didn't go back, China could still defeat them. However, Zhou Yi's main purpose in going back wasn't to win the game, but to further deepen his understanding with the team. After all, if he didn't go back to participate in the game for a long time, there would always be some distance between him and the team.

In the top 20, China was placed in Group A, with Iraq, Singapore, and Jordan.

In this group, Iraq and Jordan were both strong teams. If China wanted to participate in the final top 10, they had to get the top two spots in the group.

At the same time, considering that there might be a situation where goal difference was compared, they should try to score as many goals as possible against weaker teams.

Who was the weaker team?

At that time, it was Singapore.

China's first battle was at home against Singapore. Victory was a basic requirement, and on this basis, they had to score more goals and not concede any.

At 8:00 p.m. Beijing time on September 2nd, China's home game against Singapore kicked off.

Facing the quick and nimble Singapore team, Gao Hongbo's plan for China was control.

Using China's advantage in ball control to stop Singapore's quickness.

China's advantage in ball control naturally came from Zhou Yi.

With Zhou Yi, China's ball control ability was indeed better than before.

In the first half, with Zhou Yi's assist, China scored first.

However, China only had this one goal in the entire first half, which was obviously unsatisfactory.

In the second half, China accelerated the pace of the attack.

And scored another goal in the 60th minute.

In the 69th minute, Zhou Yi broke into the penalty area and was tripped, winning a penalty for China. The whole team gave the penalty to Zhou Yi to take.

Zhou Yi didn't decline this time, personally took the penalty, and scored in one go. China was leading 3-0 in the 70th minute.

Next, Gao Hongbo replaced Zhou Yi, who scored the goal. Zhou Yi received applause and cheers from the entire stadium when he came off the field. With one goal and one assist, Zhou Yi's World Cup qualifier debut was perfect.

After Zhou Yi came off the field, China and Singapore each scored a goal, and China finally defeated Singapore 4-1 at home.

The only flaw was that Singapore scored a goal at the end, and the goal difference was only three...