CHAPTER 139: CHAPTER 45: CHEN GOES VIRAL IN CHINA (PART 2)

Perhaps for Lazio, losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage at the Bernabeu isn’t a disgrace.

This is the difference between giants, strong teams, and ordinary teams.

In the 37th minute of the match, Robinho sent a chip pass near the byline, reaching Raul on the far side. Raul headed the ball directly into the goal, rewriting the score to 2:1.

This goal seemed to make Lazio resign themselves to fate, and in the remaining time, they conceded two more goals consecutively.

In the 39th minute, Chen Zhong and his teammate performed a one-two play at the edge of the penalty area, delivering the ball to Sneijder, who passed it to Robinho. Robinho laid the ball off to the side.

Baptista faced the ball and unleashed a powerful shot straight into the corner.

Having scored more than 40 goals in two seasons at Sevilla, Baptista seemed to relive his old dreams a bit, and after completing this goal, he celebrated wildly.

3:1

Then in the 45th minute, as the first half was about to end, Real Madrid started a push from the backfield. Chen Zhong kept receiving dirty balls, cleaning them up, and passing them out. Lazio had no way to stop Real Madrid.

Real Madrid’s smooth, relaxed, elegant advancement from the backfield, along with their fluid coordination, made the Merengue fans feel immense joy.

Finally, Chen Zhong passed the ball to Robinho, who in the tight encirclement of Lazio, slotted it to Van Nistelrooy. Van Nistelrooy, hovering on the offside line, successfully broke free, evaded a sliding tackle from a Lazio player with a sidestep, and then nudged the ball aside.

Robinho, a few meters in front of the goal, made a curling shot without stopping the ball, bypassing the goalkeeper to score the match-deciding goal.

4:1

Lazio had completely lost hope for advancement, while in the stands, Merengue fans raised their arms high and sang songs.

In the second half, both teams attacked and defended each other, with Casillas making heroic saves to keep the goal secure, while Real Madrid began to practice their tactics more. Schuster made several adjustments on the sidelines, eventually substituting in Guti, Robben, and Higuain to experience the match.

"The match is over!"

"Real Madrid has successfully defeated Lazio."

"And in another match, Olympiacos surprisingly defeated Werder Bremen 3:0."

"Because Real Madrid and Olympiacos have a direct win-loss relationship, Real Madrid will advance as the group winner, while Olympiacos will surpass Lazio and Werder Bremen to advance as the group runner-up."

"This is a scenario that no one anticipated; who would have thought Olympiacos could capture the second group position from Lazio and Werder Bremen?"

After the match, Real Madrid players went to the sidelines to thank the fans for their support. On the stands, the bright Five-Star Red Flag was very eye-catching as Chen Zhong ran over, spotting some Chinese fans, and awkwardly scribbled his Chinese name on their jerseys or notebooks.

"Little Chen!" A kindly-looking uncle patted Chen Zhong’s shoulder and said, "You need to practice your signature!"

"We Chinese can’t forget our roots; we still need to know how to write."

"Hey! Uncle Zhang, you’re not right," a young guy beside him spoke up, "I reckon he’ll definitely practice. After he does well, his signature for us will be a rarity!"

Laughter echoed all around, creating a particularly harmonious atmosphere.

At this time, Spanish local fans and international fans squeezed in as well, all wanting Chen Zhong’s autograph. Unlike the "restraint" of Chinese fans, they were quite brash, even wanting to lift Chen Zhong up and carry him around...

A journalist snapped some photos and added the caption, "Chen from distant China has already captured the hearts of the Merengues, and they firmly believe that, in the future, Chen will be an essential member of Real Madrid."

After hesitating for a while, the journalist changed "essential member" to "flag of Real Madrid."

At night, back in his dormitory, Chen Zhong couldn’t help but recall what his fellow countrymen had said about practicing his writing...

Since joining Real Madrid, although he still had to attend cultural classes, they were primarily Spanish courses. His Spanish was quite fluent now, but he had indeed started to forget some Chinese characters.

This forgetfulness wasn’t about forsaking one’s roots but was more akin to having typed so much one forgets how to write manually.

If you look closely, Chen Zhong’s fingers lacked the "cultural callus" unique to Chinese students, a mark left by regularly holding a pen.

After the match, as Chen Zhong was about to sleep, he glanced at the time. In China, the sun should be rising, so he made a call over there.

"Son..." A drowsy voice sounded in his ear, and Chen Zhong patted his head. Of course, his parents had surely stayed up to watch his match!

This match in Spain local time started at 20:45, which in China is around 3:45 AM. Chen Zhong’s call was now around 6-7 AM back home, so his parents might have only slept for a few hours?

After communicating for a while, the parents’ drowsiness dissipated upon hearing it was Chen Zhong. As they chatted, they got more energized and agreed with Chen Zhong’s idea to practice Chinese characters and sign in Chinese in the future.

"Why sleep?"

"My son is making big money, and mom and dad can just enjoy life at home without having to work anymore, right? Isn’t that so, old Chen..." Mom proudly chimed in on the phone, "Son, our demands aren’t high. Just give mom ten thousand a month and dad one or two thousand for expenses; save the rest for your future wife."

Chen Zhong’s salary converted to the domestic currency is essentially millions annually, with a monthly pay of about 800,000. This isn’t counting various appearance fees, goal bonuses, assist bonuses, championship rewards, and advertising fees, etc.

Of course, his parents were mostly teasing. They still ran an appliance supermarket domestically, selling goods worth about 10-20 million annually. After deducting various costs, the profit was roughly 400-500 thousand, with the majority going towards rent.

After chatting for a bit, Chen Zhong declined his parents’ suggestion to have a girl he was engaged to in childhood send practice books and instead chose to have them sent from abroad.

"Mom!"

"Don’t talk frivolously about childhood engagements."

"What era is it now, and you still want arranged marriages?"

"Hey? Son, you’re being impractical! She used to follow you everywhere, and when I mentioned her being your future wife and asked you, you didn’t oppose it!"

"I didn’t oppose? I ran away right then!" Chen Zhong said here, "I just thought of her as a sister."

"Tsk..."

With a hint of cheeky banter, their conversation came to a close, and Chen Zhong turned off his phone, shut down his electronic devices, and went to sleep.

...

Meanwhile, back in China, as the day gradually brightened, various online forums, message boards, offline newspapers, and news were broadcasting Real Madrid’s advancement as group winners after eliminating Lazio, along with the news of Chen Zhong’s record-making achievements spreading everywhere.

The number of children wearing homemade number 22 Real Madrid jerseys was increasing, and at train stations, on streetlight banners, even on TVs, Chen Zhong’s image appeared everywhere like they were planned.

In places Chen Zhong once studied and lived, including his registered residence, numerous banners were put up, and even the school broadcast this news over the speakers.

Chen Zhong seemed like another "Liu Xiang," becoming a well-known figure.

Even the "Fat Penguin" released a mini-game in their space platform, helping Chen Zhong shoot just as it helped "Niu Xiang" with hurdles, quickly becoming a childhood memory for the kids.

Details from all angles demonstrated one thing.

Chen in China has "exploded."

Even "Golden Throat" lozenges were considering whether to replace Kaka with Chen Zhong, as Kaka’s endorsement wasn’t as effective as Ronaldo’s.