Chapter 1 After the Final Match with La Masia's Youth Team

After their final match against La Masia's youth team, the Chinese soccer prodigies didn't immediately return home. Instead, they spent three more days in Barcelona. During these three days, they visited various tourist attractions in and around Barcelona, and they were even given a free day for those children whose families were financially comfortable enough to go shopping. It wasn't just for the kids, though. The production crew and coaching staff, who had worked so hard for the past two months, also took this opportunity to enjoy Barcelona to the fullest.

Afterward, they boarded a plane from Barcelona, transferred in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and flew back to Beijing, China.

Their two-month European challenge tour had come to an end.

When the production crew and the young players were separating at the hotel, Zhou Yi was surrounded by the staff.

They all held out clothes, hats, and other items with pens in hand, asking Zhou Yi, "Sign your name for us, Zhou Yi! This signature will be worth a lot in the future!"

Zhou Yi didn't refuse and signed his name on the items that everyone handed him.

As the core of this team, the Chinese team's performance before and after Zhou Yi's appearance was completely different, and the effect on the show was also completely different. Therefore, the staff of the production crew admired and were grateful to Zhou Yi. If it weren't for him, this show might have really been a bust—so many resources spent, the entire crew of more than a hundred people's efforts over the past two months, might have all been cut short and abandoned.

Everyone liked Zhou Yi, this lively and cheerful kid.

They were also very happy to see that he had finally reached an agreement with Borussia Dortmund. Now, when they watched the Bundesliga, they would have more to look forward to.

The cameraman who had been following Zhou Yi since he first arrived in Barcelona also came up to Zhou Yi to ask for his autograph.

As Zhou Yi signed, he said, "Ah, I won't even be able to go to the bathroom normally when I get home."

The people around him asked curiously why.

Zhou Yi handed the signed item to the cameraman and said, "There aren't any cameras around anymore!"

Everyone burst out laughing, including the cameraman.

After laughing, he suddenly felt very touched—he didn't expect Zhou Yi to still remember this, to remember him. There were more than thirty cameramen in the production crew alone, and they had never introduced themselves to the young players. They simply filmed silently beside the young players during training and in their daily lives.

He was an ordinary staff member, and he didn't enjoy celebrity treatment. So, while the show was glamorous and glitzy, no one knew the hard work and effort these staff members put in behind the scenes.

They were busy from morning till night, sometimes not even getting a hot meal, or even a meal at all. They had to get up after only two or three hours of sleep to adjust the equipment. While the young players were still dreaming, they had already set off to the filming location to set up the cameras.

But as long as they could make the show a success, they had no complaints. If they couldn't get water or food, they understood and didn't make a fuss.

They seemed to be used to not making demands and just burying themselves in their work.

Their names only appeared in the credits at the end of the show, and nowhere else. And not many people actually watched the credits.

They just silently finished this job and moved on to the next one.

Working hard, trying to earn money to support their wives, children, parents, and elderly relatives.

This was their life.

They could use their cameras to capture the beautiful images of celebrities, but their own images would never be in those shots.

They seemed to be used to being excluded from the public eye, and the celebrities wouldn't pay much attention to them either.

But Zhou Yi actually remembered him!

This made him feel extremely touched.

He gave Zhou Yi a thumbs up. "Young man, I'm thirty-seven this year. I used to be a soccer fan, but I stopped watching. I won't say why I stopped, but I want to say that because of you, kid, I'm planning to start watching soccer again! If you go to Germany, you have to work hard! I'm your fan!"

The other staff members around him also shouted, "That's right, Zhou Yi! We're your fans too!"

"Don't worry, I won't sell this autograph. I'm going to frame it in a glass case when I get back!"

Zhou Yi looked at these cameramen, the audio engineers, the directors, the producers, the makeup artists, the art designers, the post-production team, the external relations team… and all the other members of the film crew. He had spent two months with them, from being unaccustomed to having cameras around him at first to eventually ignoring their presence and chatting and laughing with friends…

Zhou Yi felt that he had grown a lot as well.

He had seen the hard work of these crew members with his own eyes.

Everyone was working hard to make this show a success.

Just like everyone on the field was striving for victory.

Reality TV was a project that required teamwork to achieve results.

So was soccer.

Zhou Yi suddenly bowed to everyone, unusually not being playful, and said seriously, "Thank you, brothers, sisters, and teachers!"

Someone in the crowd took the lead in applauding, and the applause quickly turned into a roar. Some people were even secretly wiping away tears, and a sense of reluctance spread through everyone's hearts.

The applause attracted the attention of people in other areas.

Hao Dong was chatting with the chief director, Xu Tao, and he was also drawn to this scene.

"This kid always manages to make everyone focus on him, always manages to stir up everyone's emotions, always manages to attract everyone's attention… He's definitely going to be a remarkable person in the future!" Xu Tao sighed softly.

"Yeah, in the future, I can say that I picked this kid out of a reality show audition," Hao Dong added.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

They shook hands. "Hard work."

"You've worked hard too, General Manager Hao."

"For these kids, suffering a little bit is nothing, ha!"

In Barcelona, the *Green Field Heirs* reality show production team officially disbanded. The team would return to China in batches, and the children would leave first.

When they came, their first stop was Barcelona.

When they left, they also left from Barcelona.

It was a perfect circle.

※※※

While they were still flying in the sky, the final episode of *Green Field Heirs* was finally broadcast on Zhejiang TV.

The production crew and the television station attached great importance to this episode—they knew the results of the match in advance, so naturally they had to pay attention.

Starting three days before, in addition to promoting the show on their own television station, they also launched a very aggressive publicity campaign in traditional newspapers, print media, and emerging online media.

The personal images of Zhou Yi, He Ying, Sun Pan, and Hao Dong also appeared frequently in everyone's field of vision. Even bus stop signs could be seen advertising the exciting finale of *Green Field Heirs*.

Some people noticed their slogan.

"Exciting" finale.

Exciting?

Those who followed *Green Field Heirs* knew that the Chinese soccer prodigies' route in Europe was a circle, and they would eventually return to Barcelona to challenge La Masia's Youth Team B.

And this opponent had humiliated the Chinese youngsters with twelve goals in the first episode of the show.

The difference in strength between the two sides was very significant.

Even if the Chinese soccer prodigies had defeated Chelsea's youth team, defeated Liverpool's youth team, and even drawn with Manchester United's youth team, it didn't mean they could defeat La Masia's youth team.

Moreover, they had lost both of their matches in Italy.

In the face of such a huge difference in strength, how could it be exciting?

Some people ridiculed the production crew's promotion, "What 'exciting' finale? I think it's clearly a melodramatic finale! The producers are definitely going to pour out a lot of melodrama in this final episode! Trying to be sentimental with ideas like, 'Even though they lost, they're still honorable,' 'Never give up after repeated defeats,' 'The young men's unyielding spirit of sportsmanship'… In short, it's a 'glorious defeat'! But no matter how glorious it is, it's still a defeat!"

Others wondered about the television station's uncharacteristic high-profile promotion: "Isn't this just raising everyone's expectations? What if they lose the game in the end? Nowadays, television stations will do anything to attract attention! I think the kids are really innocent. If they lose the game, won't the audience whose expectations have been raised scold them terribly?"

Everyone was speculating about what this "exciting finale" would be.

They guessed many possibilities, but no one guessed that the Chinese team would win, because that was absolutely, absolutely, absolutely impossible.

But this kind of speculation and debate made the show a hot topic. Even people who didn't usually follow soccer reality shows knew about it and were curious to see it.

After attracting enough attention, on Thursday night, Zhejiang TV officially broadcast the finale of *Green Field Heirs*.

Countless people sat in front of their televisions to watch this episode, but many of them were actually there to see a joke, to see how the television station would make good on its boasting!

Zhou Yi's parents had also sat down in the living room early on, and they had prepared tea, peanuts, melon seeds, candy, and other snacks, as solemnly as if they were watching the Spring Festival Gala every year.

Lin Xianrong sat directly in front of the television, surrounded by family members. The whole family was basically in front of the television, surrounding their patriarch and waiting for the final episode of *Green Field Heirs* to begin.

No one would be surprised now why Lin Xianrong would be interested in a soccer reality show. Because everyone knew that one of the students from Qingyang High School was on that show, and his name was Zhou Yi.

※※※

At the beginning of this episode, the viewers who had watched *Green Field Heirs* before felt that something was wrong. Because this time, the show didn't have any pre-arranged games or segments. Instead, it seemed to revolve around the final match from the very beginning. A reality show, but it felt like… a soccer documentary!

From the players to the coaches, they took turns appearing in front of the camera, talking about their feelings about their experiences in Europe over the past two months.

"European soccer and our domestic soccer are simply two different worlds…"

"…The gap in strength is too obvious. We can't deny it, and we can't pretend we don't see it…"

"Their training system is very clear about what to do, their thinking is unified and continuous. How could they not achieve results in the long run? Looking back at us… sigh!"

Interspersed with these interviews were various scenes from the Chinese youngsters' journey along the way.

Without exception, they were all scenes of helplessness, pain, and despair after losing the ball and losing the game. The colors were dark, making people feel down.

Especially the first match against La Masia's Youth Team B, the one they lost 0:12, there were a lot of scenes from that match.

It wasn't until Zhou Yi appeared on the screen that the style suddenly changed.

"Were you nervous for your first appearance? Not nervous! What's there to be nervous about? It's not as nerve-wracking as the final exam! I've been 'tested' for a long time!"

A caption appeared below the screen: Before the match against Borussia Dortmund's youth team, Zhou Yi made his debut.

The interspersed match footage then changed, from the previous despairing and painful scenes of losing to scenes of the team celebrating after scoring a goal.

For example, the scene where Zhou Yi assisted He Ying to score the Chinese soccer youngsters' first goal in Europe, and he howled and pounced on He Ying, pinning him to the ground.

For example, when Zhou Yi scored a goal against Manchester United's youth team, he turned to the camera and flipped open his student ID to prove that he was a student at Qingyang High School.

When this scene came on, many people in Lin Xianrong's family turned their attention to their patriarch.

Someone flattered the old man, "This kid, Qingyang High School will be famous now!"

Lin Xianrong shook his head and said, "Qingyang High School is already a national key school."

But when he said this, he had a very obvious smile on his face, the kind of doting smile that watched his own child playfully causing trouble but didn't intend to stop him.

※※※

Zhou Yi became a watershed. After he appeared, whether it was the scenes, the music, or anything else, it gave people a feeling of being positive and upbeat.

Then the screen went black, and a caption appeared on it: "The final battle, opponent La Masia Youth Team B."

The previous positive and sunny feeling was gone, and the black background once again gave people a feeling of depression, a feeling that a storm was brewing.

Then, starting from the morning of the match day, the young players got up, washed up, and then went to the restaurant to eat. They listened to the coaches on the coaching staff make today's arrangements, what time to eat lunch, what time to go to La Masia, what time the match would be, what time to come back…

The camera panned across the young players one by one. Most of them were listening very carefully, so focused that they didn't even bother to eat breakfast.

There was no narration, and no music was added. It was all original sound, and in the gaps between the coach's words, there was only the crisp sound of silverware touching porcelain plates, which made people feel the pressure and tension of the impending battle.

The viewers in front of the television couldn't help but feel nervous.

Even though they knew that this match would definitely be lost, they felt that the young men had a heroic and tragic feeling of going off to battle and never returning.

Perhaps this was the reason for the "exciting" that the television station promoted?

What everyone didn't expect was that the pre-match segment ended here, after only twelve minutes.

After a commercial break, the show entered the match segment.

This amount of time was unprecedented in all the previous episodes. This made the viewers in front of the television very strange—the television station was using so much time to show the match? What was there to make a big deal out of a defeat?

The match began, and the Chinese team still had the first chance to shoot, threatening La Masia's Youth Team B's goal. But those who had watched the episode of the last time the two teams played each other wouldn't think much of it—what if they threatened the opponent's goal at the start? If they couldn't score, it would all be in vain, and instead they would provoke the opponent. It seemed that this match would definitely be another massacre, only the Chinese team was still the target of the massacre.

Sure enough, La Masia's Youth Team B then launched a fierce attack on the Chinese team's goal, forming a siege.

But what surprised the viewers was… La Masia's Youth Team B's goal was slow in coming!

Ten minutes passed, and the score was 0:0.

Fifteen minutes passed, and the score was still 0:0.

Twenty minutes passed, and the score was still 0:0!

Surprised comments began to appear online: "What the heck? What's going on today? They haven't conceded a goal yet?"

"What's Barcelona doing? Score a goal quickly so I can feel at ease!"

"Twenty minutes and still 0:0? I must have opened it wrong!"

What surprised them even more was yet to come.

When Zhou Yi still managed to control the soccer ball after a teammate's pass was missed, and then made a through pass to assist He Ying in breaking the deadlock first, countless posts instantly flooded the *Green Field Heirs* online forum.

"Holy crap!!!"

"The Chinese team is leading 1:0! I'm not lying!"

"How is this possible?! The Chinese team scored first!"

"Those little brats broke La Masia's goal?!"

"My God!"

"He Ying! He Ying! Like a shadow!"

"He Ying is so cool! Zhou Yi's assist was really beautiful too!"

"That's right, that's right. After Li Xiang missed the pass, I thought the Chinese team's attack was over…"

"I'm a student at Qingyang High School, and I'm proud of Zhou Yi!"

"Can you help me get Zhou Yi's autograph?"

"Me too, me too!"

……

Even more people in front of the television were stunned, unable to believe what they were seeing.

In the first half, the Chinese team relied on He Ying's goal to lead La Masia's Youth Team B 1:0. During the commercial break, many people were discussing with some trepidation—was this really the performance of Chinese soccer?

After the second half began, La Masia's Youth Team B stepped up its attack and successfully tied the score.

When La Masia's Youth Team B scored, some people were relieved instead—they felt that the match had finally entered the right track.

The Chinese team's performance before conceding the goal had really frightened them.

But more people were… holding their heads in their hands in front of the television, lamenting loudly.

But after watching the Chinese team play for the past few dozen minutes, they would all feel sorry for conceding the goal at this moment.

"Actually… even a draw would be very good. Their performance is good enough…" A post quickly appeared on the forum, with the poster trying to comfort everyone.

But someone quickly retorted, "But we were clearly leading! We were clearly performing so well, why can't we enjoy the victory?"

Someone below replied, "But that's La Masia's Youth Team B! That's Barcelona's youth team! Their strength is far beyond what we can imagine!"

"So what? We were the ones who were leading before! We were leading for dozens of minutes. How can we accept being tied at this point?!"

"Everyone, think about it a little bit. With our strength, it's already exceeded our expectations that the match can be like this. I'm proud of these kids. I've changed my opinion of them. I think the 'exciting' that the television station said is really true. Their performance is really great! Even if we can't win the match in the end, we don't have anything to complain about. We just need to applaud them!"

"That's what you say, but soccer is a sport where victory determines the hero. If we lose in the end, everyone will still only remember the image of the loser. What if you lead for eighty-nine minutes in the match? As long as you lose in the end, all the previous efforts will be meaningless!"

Just as everyone was arguing, someone suddenly replied in the post, "I say… Is Zhou Yi about to be substituted? The match is already in the seventieth minute…"

This sentence ended all the previous arguments, and everyone's attention was focused on whether Zhou Yi was about to be substituted.

In every match before, Zhou Yi would be substituted at around the seventieth minute, because his stamina could only last that long. There was no point in him staying on the field when he couldn't run at all.

"Hurry up and watch the show. It seems like Zhou Yi is really going to be substituted!"

"Sigh… It seems that getting a draw in this match will be very good. Those who were arguing about whether to win or draw earlier, stop arguing…"

"Sigh… What a pity!"

Just as everyone was sighing in the posts, they suddenly discovered… Zhou Yi wasn't substituted!

"Hey, Zhou Yi didn't come off?!"

"It seems like Zhou Yi himself asked to stay on the field…"

"See! I knew we should win if we could. Why should we accept a draw? As expected, Zhou Yi didn't give up!"

"Good job, Zhou Yi! Don't give up! This is the spirit of sportsmanship!"

"Even Zhou Yi hasn't given up. What reason do we have to give up?!"

"Sigh, I say you people… Don't forget that Zhou Yi's stamina is his weakness. Although he didn't come off, what's the point of him staying on the field when he can't run anymore?"

"That's what you say… But as long as Zhou Yi is still on the field, I still have expectations for this match!"

"That's right! The person upstairs is right! Me too!"

"I have expectations for Zhou Yi too!"

"Sigh, you group of Zhou Yi fanboys… Okay, actually, I have expectations too, but I can't say it. If I say it, it won't work!"

※※※

The online users seemed to be energized by Zhou Yi's blood boiling, but the viewers in front of the television could actually see that although it was inspiring that Zhou Yi stayed, he was actually exhausted.

What was the point of staying on the field?

Some self-proclaimed mature and rational people even thought that Zhou Yi's decision was purely for him to show off, and he didn't consider the actual situation of the team at all. Him staying on the field was the same as the Chinese team having one less player. This would only accelerate the team's defeat.

But when they saw Zhou Yi constantly yelling and directing his teammates to pass the soccer ball back and forth, and they didn't let La Masia's youth team steal the ball for three minutes… they were all stunned.

Holy crap, soccer can be played like this?!

"Hahahaha! Using your mouth to tease the monkeys! Zhou Yi is too awesome! So you can still play soccer like this when you can't run!"

But this relaxed and funny atmosphere didn't last long, because everyone realized that the Chinese team's predicament hadn't actually been resolved.

As the match went on, La Masia's youth team went all out and attacked desperately. Their attack was like a storm at sea, and the Chinese team was a small boat in this storm. Being overturned was a light punishment; the most likely thing was to be smashed into pieces by a wave…

Especially when La Masia's youth team started pressing in the frontcourt, the Chinese team couldn't even get past their own half.

"Hold on! You must hold on!"

At this time, even those who had thought that a draw was unacceptable before were starting to say this.

They would be very satisfied if they could get a draw.

With the Chinese team's performance, such a draw would definitely be worthy of an "exciting finale!"

※※※

But some people always liked to come up with unexpected "big news."

Just when everyone thought that a draw would be good enough, Zhou Yi went to take the goal kick.

Seeing him run from the central midfielder position to the front of the goal to take the goal kick, everyone felt very strange.

When they heard the words Zhou Yi spoke, which were picked up by the microphone behind the goal, they were even more shocked—in such an unfavorable situation, when everyone was thinking about desperately holding on to a draw, what Zhou Yi was thinking about was making this attack a success… He was thinking about winning!

Then, everyone watched the final climax scene of a movie. They watched Zhou Yi kick the soccer ball out, and then Guo Nu, Sun Pan, and Zhou Yi passed the soccer ball to each other continuously, actually getting the ball out!

But the players from La Masia's youth team were still trying to intercept and block desperately, and the situation was still very critical. The viewers in front of the television still had their hearts in their throats—if they lost the ball in this position, it would be terrible!

Zhou Yi didn't let their worries become reality. Through his cooperation with Yang Muge, he shook off the defending players and then passed the soccer ball to He Ying!

"Go!" Someone in front of the television couldn't help but roar, as if they were watching a live broadcast of the match.

"This is the Chinese team's last chance! You must score!" Someone put their hands together and prayed in front of the television.

They had forgotten that this was actually a variety show…

※※※

The television camera was locked firmly on He Ying, and everyone's attention was also focused on He Ying.

They watched as He Ying was caught in a heavy siege, and it seemed like he had entered a dead end, with no way to turn back, and the attack that Zhou Yi had emphasized on making a success seemed to have failed…

But at this moment, they saw… He Ying suddenly passed the soccer ball out!

He passed the soccer ball horizontally out of the encirclement!

Was there someone else following him?

Would it be the other striker, Zhang Tao?

The camera moved with the soccer ball, and when everyone saw clearly who was following He Ying, they all exclaimed.

"Zhou Yi?!"

Incredible!

Wasn't that kid unable to run anymore?

Why was it him, and why only him?

After receiving the ball, Zhou Yi was stumbling and staggering, and it looked like he was about to fall at any moment, which made the viewers in front of the television feel nervous—if he fell at this time, it would be a pity if they fell short of success!

Everything happened very quickly. From the time Zhou Yi received the ball to the time he suddenly kicked it to shoot, time passed so quickly that people didn't even have time to worry about Zhou Yi for too long before they saw that the soccer ball had already… rolled into the goal!

At that moment, many people felt like their scalps were exploding.

"Good shot!!"

The one who shouted this was Lin Xianrong. At the same time, the old man slapped the armrest of the mahogany sofa. Bang!

And his family didn't even bother to be surprised that the old man would be so out of control. When Zhou Yi scored, they also jumped up and cheered.

A sudden death!

Zhou Yi, a student from Class 3 of the third year of high school at Qingyang High School, had a sudden death against La Masia's Youth Team B!

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Zhou Jianliang sat on the sofa, raised his arms, and shouted in a drawn-out voice. "I said it! I said our son is a genius! I said our son is a genius! Our son is a genius!!"

His wife, Li Cuiyun, gently hit him. "Okay, okay, saying it once is enough."

"Important things must be said three times!!" Zhou Jianliang shouted at his wife.

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