Chapter 112 Hometown

As Zhai Liying prepared for her afternoon classes, Zhou Yi bid farewell to his high school homeroom teacher, put on his baseball cap again, and left the office.

As he came out, he ran into many students already playing in the corridor.

They looked curiously at the young man coming out of the homeroom teacher's office, but because Zhou Yi's disguise was quite effective, no one recognized him.

He looked back at the alumni who were a few years younger than him. Student life was good, but he didn't want to go back to school. Because a professional career was even better...

Zhou Yi left his alma mater like this.

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Zhou Yi discovered that no matter how homesick he was when he was in Dortmund, and no matter how good his parents were to him after he came back, any long-awaited reunion vacation would eventually go through the following process:

The first few days of the vacation:

When Zhou Yi opened his eyes, he found that his parents had gone to work, and there was a note on the dining table telling him that breakfast was in the pot, and he could reheat it and eat it. They would bring back a lot of dishes at night and ask Zhou Yi what he wanted to eat, and his mother would make it for him.

After the first few days of the vacation:

Every day when his parents went to work, he would hear his mother's roar: "Still sleeping? Get up! You're a professional player! What's with sleeping in every day! Don't you need to get up for morning practice?!" So Zhou Yi had to struggle to get out of bed and go to wash up, still half-asleep, and it was often not even seven o'clock yet.

Next, his mother would urge him to go out for morning practice. If he didn't want to go, she would push him directly out the door, and then the security door would slam shut behind him.

If Zhou Yi asked his mother to make him Twice-Cooked Pork at night, she would definitely glare at him: "What are you eating? Is that something a professional player can eat! Eat boiled chicken breast!"

Zhou Yi was about to cry: "Mom, where did you learn all this stuff..."

Zhou Jianliang raised his hand beside him: "I didn't tell your mom, she looked it up online herself."

There was no arguing with his mother, so Zhou Yi had to eat his "athlete's meal," but at the same time, he had to watch his father eat the fragrant Twice-Cooked Pork. What was even more infuriating was that his father deliberately chewed loudly in front of him, constantly exclaiming: "Wife, your skills have improved again! This Twice-Cooked Pork is really delicious!"

Zhou Yi said angrily, "Dad, don't smack your lips when you eat!"

"Son, this is to train your willpower. Willpower is very important on the football field. If you can't even withstand the test of Twice-Cooked Pork, how can you win a championship?" Zhou Jianliang said righteously.

"Dad, if you could wipe the oil off your mouth before you say that, I might believe you," Zhou Yi said with a cold face.

"Hehe." Zhou Jianliang revealed a contemptuous smile, and then continued to chew loudly.

Zhou Yi's protest was ineffective, and he could only humiliatingly chew on the bland chicken, which was extremely miserable.

What kind of vacation was this?

This was clearly torture!

Fortunately, there were only a few days left like this... Wait, was this vacation really almost over?

Although the vacation was miserable, Zhou Yi was reluctant to leave.

Every separation was for another meeting, and every meeting would say "goodbye" again. It was a true cycle...

Zhou Yi looked up at his parents, his eyes a little wet: "Mom, if you could make me a Twice-Cooked Pork, I would miss you even more..."

In front of him was still a plate of white chicken pieces, pure chicken breast, with no chewiness or taste to speak of, let alone flavor.

"Stop talking nonsense, eat!" Li Cuiyun was unmoved.

Zhou Yi sighed, picked up a piece of chicken with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth, then mechanically and slowly chewed, his face full of hopeless expression.

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Zhou Yi's "warm" vacation would not end with a direct return to Dortmund. In fact, he would not leave China. He would fly to Kunming to participate in the national team's training camp, preparing for two friendly matches.

The opponents were Uzbekistan and North Korea.

These would be the last two friendly matches for the Chinese team before participating in the 2014 Brazil World Cup Asian Qualifiers.

At the airport, Zhou Yi bid farewell to his parents.

"Dad, aren't you going to open my suitcase this time to see if I forgot anything?" Zhou Yi asked.

"You're all grown up now. If you forget anything, it's your own responsibility," Zhou Jianliang said, passing the buck with skill. "You can't even pack your own luggage..."

Li Cuiyun said to Zhou Yi, "Don't worry about your dad and me. We'll find a house. Just focus on playing football well outside."

"Okay, Mom," Zhou Yi nodded.

Then, the three of them waved goodbye, without any tearful farewells. They simply began the cycle of looking forward to reunions.

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When Zhou Yi arrived at Kunming Airport, his identity changed from an ordinary child who wanted to eat Twice-Cooked Pork to the radiant hope of Chinese football.

Chinese fans at the scene held up banners to welcome him to Kunming, and reporters blinded him once again with flashes.

Zhou Yi realized that there was a reason why many celebrities wore sunglasses even at night when they appeared in front of the media—it was to prevent glare!

Although Zhou Jianliang was very happy that his son was wearing the Chinese national team jersey again and launching an assault on the World Cup, he was still a little dazed when he saw his son on the news. He pointed at the TV screen and asked his wife, "Hey, are you sure our son and this big star are the same person?"

Li Cuiyun curled her lips and ignored him.

Of course, she missed her son too, but she felt that a good man should be ambitious and travel the world. That lazy, unkempt brat who stayed at home all day, sleeping until noon, didn't seem like her son.

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After Zhou Yi returned to the national team, he saw many of his teammates from the Asian Cup, but he also saw some new faces—head coach Gao Hongbo was still constantly looking for fresh blood to supplement the team's strength.

After a week of training, the Chinese national team welcomed their first friendly match opponent, Uzbekistan, in Kunming.

Zhou Yi started and played for seventy minutes, helping the Chinese team defeat Uzbekistan 2:1.

Then the Chinese team moved to Guiyang to prepare for their second friendly match against North Korea.

In that match, Zhou Yi did not start, but was substituted on in the sixtieth minute. The Chinese team and North Korea drew 1:1.

After the friendly matches, the Chinese team disbanded on the spot. Zhou Yi's teammates in China would return to their respective clubs to continue their league campaigns.

And Zhou Yi? He was going to Shanghai to meet with his agent, Schulze. There, he would participate in a commercial event and sign a contract with a well-known domestic personal computer brand. This was an endorsement contract that Schulze had negotiated for him while Zhou Yi was on vacation in Qingyang. The five-year endorsement contract would bring Zhou Yi an income of fifteen million RMB.

And because this computer brand also had a mobile phone business, Schulze specifically emphasized that the scope of this endorsement was limited to PCs and laptops, and did not involve mobile phone brand endorsements.

Now, with the popularity of Apple phones, smartphones were the mainstream in the mobile market. Although no mobile phone manufacturers were looking for athletes to endorse them now, that didn't mean they wouldn't in the future. So Schulze didn't want to sell Zhou Yi's portrait rights at a low price at this time.

He wanted to keep it in his hands and wait for the smartphone wave to sweep the world before selling it at a higher price.

Zhou Yi also agreed with his choice. He wasn't short of that little money now, and if he could earn more money in the future, he could wait.

In fact, there were many other domestic brands that wanted to sign with Zhou Yi. After Zhou Yi won the Bundesliga title, his fame skyrocketed, and everyone hoped to get a piece of the action.

But Schulze successfully played the role of a tough German agent who was out of touch with human relationships and didn't understand China, and rejected them all.

He cherished Zhou Yi's image very much, and he wouldn't sign with any brand that wasn't internationally renowned, no matter how much money they offered.

Because Zhou Yi's initiative was to become a world-class star, the brands he endorsed should of course match his status in the football world.

In Shanghai, in addition to signing the contract, he would also attend the computer brand's press conference. At the press conference, the other party officially announced Zhou Yi as their global ambassador, and Zhou Yi would have to stay in Shanghai for two more days to shoot commercials for the brand.

Afterwards, Zhou Yi would go to the United States, where he would shoot a new season of promotional advertisements for Puma. This advertisement would mainly highlight Zhou Yi's identity as a "championship core."

In the United States, it wasn't just filming advertisements for Puma, a new advertisement for CK_jeans was also waiting for him.

In addition, there was a new endorsement contract waiting for him to sign, also with a famous international brand—Pepsi Cola.

Logically speaking, carbonated drinks should be a taboo for professional players, but on the contrary, in the field of advertising endorsements, carbonated beverage giants such as Pepsi Cola and Coca-Cola like to sign with athletes very much. Perhaps it was because the energy shown by athletes was attracting young people to pay attention to their brands.

The Pepsi Cola contract was the deal that Schulze spent the most effort on, negotiating with Pepsi Cola for almost half a season. It wasn't until Zhou Yi helped Dortmund win the league title that he completely suppressed Pepsi Cola, making them willing to pay Zhou Yi an "astronomical" sponsorship fee of 1.5 million euros per year. It should be known that world-class stars like Henry also only earned two million a year at Pepsi Cola.

This 1.5 million contract was for a term of six years. In six years, Zhou Yi would benefit from Pepsi Cola with a sponsorship fee of nine million euros, which was indeed an astronomical contract. Moreover, after six years, Zhou Yi would only be twenty-six years old, and his career would be in its prime. Whether he wanted to renew his contract with Pepsi Cola or switch to another company, the fee would only be more than it was now, and not less.

In addition to these, Zhou Yi would also have to accept interviews from two media outlets in the United States.

On the plane from Shanghai to the United States, Schulze was discussing the matter of interview fees with Zhou Yi.

"From now on, except for interviews stipulated in the contract, all other interviews will be charged," Schulze said to Zhou Yi.

"Charge for interviews?" Zhou Yi was a little taken aback.

"Of course! Interviews also take up your time. Every minute of yours is very valuable now. Because there will be countless people who want to find you, if you don't charge, wouldn't anyone be able to use a very casual reason to take up your valuable time?" Schulze said to Zhou Yi.

"Okay, okay, you're right." Zhou Yi was persuaded, "Then how should we charge? Half an hour... five hundred euros?"

Schulze laughed: "You really underestimate yourself, Zhou Yi. Five hundred for half an hour? Do you know what Messi charges for an interview?"

"According to his contract with Barcelona, ​​in addition to participating in fourteen press conferences arranged by the club each season, limited interviews with local media, and one interview with international media, he will pay for all other interviews. The fee is per minute... one thousand euros!"

Zhou Yi looked at Schulze with his mouth wide open, and it took a long time before he said, "This is robbery... Ah no, time is money..."