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Chapter 226 The Climbers

Chi Zhen was still dropping back to receive the ball before the referee blew the final whistle.

Seeing his teammate get the ball in the backfield, he raised his hand to ask for the ball while continuing to make runs.

It was as if he had inexhaustible energy.

Until he heard the whistle.

He was still positioning himself when the first sound came.

He didn't stop immediately on the second sound due to inertia.

He stopped on the third note, feeling an overwhelming wave of exhaustion that made him unable to support himself any longer. He could only bend over, resting his hands on his knees, his head bowed, panting heavily.

The match is over, and he lost.

Although he broke his goal drought at the start of the new season, he was hardly satisfied with his performance.

After all, the team lost.

Losing a game is a failure, no matter how well you performed.

He left a pledge for the head coach before the game.

He'll give his boss one last chance; he certainly won't let his boss down.

How can I avoid disappointing my boss?
It's definitely not possible that just one goal led to the team losing the game.

So he didn't actually seize this last chance...

Who can blame this?
I can only blame myself for not being strong enough.

In the same situation, Wang could score a hat-trick to help his team secure a last-minute equalizer against Clayton Sports.

He could only score one goal himself.

Compared to him, Brother Wang was like a miracle cure, while I was just a placebo...

If the manager really does remove him from the starting lineup for the next game, he won't have anything to say. He can only accept the fact and continue to work hard in training to regain the manager's trust.

He had no choice but to accept his fate...

But he still felt somewhat unwilling.

With only one season left to achieve his World Cup goal, he has to give up his starting position at the club and start all over again. How much time and opportunities will this cause him to waste?

Just as Chi Zhen was feeling distressed, he saw a pair of familiar sneakers appear in his field of vision.

The black upper features red and yellow flame patterns.

This is Brother Wang's signature sneaker style.

Sure enough, Wang Ge's voice rang out above his head: "Are you that tired?"

He looked up and saw Brother Wang smiling.

"Brother Wang..." he quickly straightened up to greet him, "No, I'm just taking a break..."

Wang Lie seemed not to hear what he said: "It's normal to be tired, after all, you were down to one player in just over twenty minutes. It's a pity, this is not a normal game."

The implication is that the Skos people were unable to demonstrate their full strength because they were one person short.

Chi Zhen shook his head: "But in the last round of the league, Brother Wang, you were not facing a normal match, but you did not lose in the end."

Wang Lie laughed and said, "You can't compare them like that. Every match is different, even if they seem similar. You have your own situation, which is normal. So, how we are doesn't mean that you have to be the same way."

Chi Zhen smiled wryly, "Brother Wang, please don't try to comfort me..."

Unexpectedly, Wang Lie's face hardened: "When did I ever know how to comfort people?"

"Huh?" Chi Zhen didn't immediately understand what Brother Wang meant by that...

Wang Lie looked at Chi Zhen with a serious expression: "I'm telling the truth, not making up lies to make you feel better. Your performance in this match was excellent. Of course, it's normal to feel upset about losing. Seeing your performance makes me feel much more at ease..."

Don't worry? What's there to be worried about? What do you mean by "don't worry"?
Before Chi Zhen could figure out what Brother Wang meant, he saw the other man start taking off his Tyne jersey.

Chi Zhen immediately realized that Brother Wang hadn't come to him just to comfort him, but to exchange jerseys!

Then he remembered something Feng Qiyuan had once mentioned:

Last season, when he faced off against Brother Wang, although he lost to Brother Wang, Brother Wang still approached him after the game to exchange jerseys and told Feng Qiyuan about his ambition and goal of winning the World Cup.

He also told Feng Qiyuan that if he agreed with his goal and was willing to fight alongside him, then he should accept the jersey and make a promise to him...

When Chi Zhen heard Feng Qiyuan relay these words in the national team's meeting room, he got goosebumps.

He even wished that it was himself, not Feng Qiyuan, standing in front of Brother Wang at that moment.

Exchanging jerseys to exchange promises... Only Brother Wang could come up with something like that!

That's so cool!
Unexpectedly, Brother Wang has now come to him to exchange jerseys!
※※※

"Wang Lie seems to be going to exchange jerseys with Chi Zhen..."

Luo Jin's tone revealed a hint of surprise and a touch of doubt.

It's understandable that he reacted this way, because Chi Zhen is a player for the Scots team. Wang Lie and the Scots team have always been at odds, each regarding the other as their enemy. To avoid causing trouble for the other—mainly to avoid causing trouble for Chi Zhen—the two have never exchanged jerseys in previous matches.

At most, we'll chat briefly after the match ends.

Another reason that Luo Jin didn't quite understand was that Wang Lie rarely took the initiative to exchange jerseys with others—he wouldn't refuse if someone asked him to exchange jerseys, but he rarely took the initiative to ask others to exchange jerseys.

Even in his younger days before he became famous, he would never ask to exchange jerseys with superstars familiar to Chinese fans unless they approached him first.

At first, no one paid attention, but as Wang Lie became famous, his every move was scrutinized under a microscope.

Every detail about him has been dug up, including the jersey exchange incident.

So a reporter asked him this question during an interview.

Guess how Wang Lie explained it?
He said that proactively exchanging jerseys felt like begging from someone, and he didn't like that feeling of "begging," so he rarely took the initiative to exchange jerseys with others.

This answer caused a huge uproar at the time, with criticism and ridicule directed at Wang Lie flooding the internet and media.

This forced Wang Lie's PR team to issue an emergency statement, claiming that Wang Lie's meaning had been misinterpreted by the interviewer, and that that was not what he originally meant, blah blah blah...

People often criticize Wang Lie's PR team for taking money but not doing anything. But if they had done anything, would Wang Lie have this image?
This is truly unfair to the PR team...

Wang Lie's PR team mainly does one thing: clean up his messes. Trying to silence him is virtually impossible.

Therefore, Wang Lie's reputation in the public sphere is mixed, and his public relations team deserves great credit; otherwise, he would have received nothing but criticism.

Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration.

However, Wang Lie's comments about why he didn't take the initiative to exchange jerseys did draw a lot of criticism at the time, and even many of his fans couldn't understand why he said that.

Regardless of the criticism and ridicule from the outside world, Wang Lie did not succumb to the pressure and did not change his practice of almost never exchanging jerseys.

The reason I say "almost" is because Wang Lie is not someone who would absolutely never offer to exchange jerseys with others.

Therefore, when Wang Lie took the initiative to ask Feng Qiyuan to exchange jerseys last season, it did not attract much attention from Luo Jin.

But now that he has exchanged jerseys twice in a short period of time, both times with national team teammates, Luo Jin has to think more about it.

Is there any special meaning behind this?

※※※

"Seeing how upset you are after losing the game makes me feel relieved."

Wang Lie took off his jersey and repeated what he had just said to Chi Zhen.

"Although you have some objective reasons, and it's understandable that you lost the game, it's a good thing that you can still feel such deep resentment towards defeat under these circumstances. It shows that your body and mind haven't lost their desire to win. The Chinese team needs you like this in next year's World Cup."

really!

Upon hearing what Brother Wang said, Chi Zhen thought to himself.

But his eyes were fixed on the jersey in Brother Wang's hand, and he forgot that he also had to take off his jersey.

Finally, Brother Wang reminded him: "Don't just stand there, take off your clothes quickly."

Chi Zhen seemed to wake from a dream, and hurriedly took off his jersey.

However, because the jersey was soaked with sweat and stuck to the body, it was a little difficult to take off.

It took him a while to finally take off his jersey and hand it to Brother Wang. He then took the jersey from Brother Wang, completing the jersey exchange ceremony. Holding Chi Zhen's soaking wet jersey, Wang Lie nodded: "He really played until he was completely exhausted."

The jersey of Wang Lie in Chi Zhen's hand was also soaking wet, and he didn't know what to say.

After exchanging jerseys, Wang Lie prepared to leave. He patted Chi Zhen on the shoulder and said, "Good luck, Chi Zhen. I'm right here."

He pointed at himself.

Then he turned and left, and after blending in with his teammates, he joined in the celebration, wiggling his hips and shaking his head.

Chi Zhen remained in the same position as before, without moving.

The short jersey exchange seemed to contain a lot of information, and he needed to sort it out carefully.

First, let's look at the meaning behind the action of exchanging jerseys.

Unlike with Feng Qiyuan, he didn't ask himself whether he should accept the jersey or make a promise.

Is it because Brother Wang already made this goal public during the national team competition, so there's no need to ask for everyone's opinion again?
He assumes everyone wants to do it... but what if someone doesn't?
The question had barely popped into Chi Zhen's mind when he laughed self-deprecatingly:

What else can we do? Of course, we have to drag them forward, even if it means dragging them along!
That's just Wang Ge's style.

He wasn't there to discuss things with everyone at that meeting; he was there to inform them.

Then tell everyone, "If you can keep up, keep up; if you can't, you still have to keep up. If you don't want to keep up, then I'll drag you along. Don't say I didn't give you a chance when you're all battered and bruised!"

Therefore, he spoke to himself, not to Feng Qiyuan, because Feng Qiyuan was, after all, the first person to do so.

He had already accepted that he was the one who would accompany him to the World Cup to fight for the championship.

Of course, Chi Zhen is indeed one.

So Chi Zhen quickly stopped dwelling on that and instead kept pondering the meaning of Brother Wang's last words.

I'm right here...

What does it mean?
Why did Brother Wang specifically say something that seemed so out of the blue?

Just as Chi Zhen was still pondering Wang Ge's words, the team's head coach, Josep Gil, walked over.

Seeing Chi Zhen bowing his head and remaining silent, like a wooden statue, he assumed that Chi Zhen was still not over his defeat, so he offered some words of comfort:

"Hey, Chi. You played very well in this game, so you don't need to blame yourself. I'm the one who should be responsible for this defeat."

Upon hearing this, Chi Zhen looked up at the head coach, unsure of what to say, and remained silent.

Gil then turned his gaze to the Wang Lie jersey in his hand: "Looks like you've gained China Wang's approval, you're qualified to be his opponent."

"I..." Chi Zhen was worried that his boss was being sarcastic, since he had gotten what he wanted but the team had lost. So he wanted to offer a little explanation.

But Gil wasn't going to listen to him and continued talking to himself: "I know the King is a very proud man, and it's not easy to gain his approval. So I'm thinking, maybe I can trust you more in our next match against Wittonhill?"

Chi Zhen was stunned for a moment before he understood what his boss meant—he wouldn't remove him from the starting lineup; on the contrary, he would give him an important role!

He doesn't have to start all over again!

Realizing what was happening, Chi Zhen immediately made a promise: "You can absolutely trust me! I will try my best not to let you down, boss!"

He was terrified that his boss might change his mind at any moment...

Gil smiled and nodded, released him, and went to comfort the other Scorsese players.

Chi Zhen then hung Wang Ge's jersey around his neck and walked off the court.

※※※

"Brother Wang and Ah Zhen exchanged jerseys... According to Feng Qiyuan, this is a promise. Does Brother Wang intend to exchange jerseys with each of us?"

In the "Three Musketeers" group chat, Su Ju was talking to Yue Hang about Wang Lie and Chi Zhen exchanging jerseys.

They knew a little more inside information than Luo Jin, but only a little more.

In response to Su Ju's speculation, Yue Hang said, "Isn't that unlikely? We might run into Premier League teams, and Champions League teams too, but what about Europa League teams? And what about teams that haven't even participated in European competitions? Like me."

Yue Hang's Scottish Premiership team, Linton, is ineligible to participate in the Champions League, the Europa League, or the Europa League.

There was absolutely no way he would run into Wang Lie.

Su Ju wasn't sure either, so he could only make up an excuse: "Maybe we'll run into one and exchange jerseys once..."

"I don't think Brother Wang went to exchange jerseys with Chi Zhen specifically for the World Cup. After all, we already know that goal, and there's no need to tell us one by one by exchanging jerseys," Yue Hang analyzed.

Just then, Chi Zhen appeared and said, "You two are chatting for so long, don't you need to prepare for the competition?"

"Oh, the main character is here. You went back to the locker room?" Su Ju asked.

"Yeah. I just got back and picked up my phone to see dozens of group messages. You two were watching the live broadcast of the game and chatting in the group at the same time."

Su Ju said, "Isn't this more atmospheric? Since you're here, let me ask you what Brother Wang said to you when you exchanged jerseys?"

Yue Hang also deleted all the words he had typed—instead of guessing, it's better to ask the person involved directly.

He just comforted me a little...

Chi Zhen briefly relayed his conversation with Brother Wang to his two close friends.

Su Ju sent a startled emoji: "Brother Wang actually knows how to comfort people!!"

Chi Zhen didn't care much about this. He remembered what Brother Wang had said to him at the end, so he said it as well.

Then he asked his two friends, Brother Wang, what he meant by specifically saying that?
Su Ju couldn't figure it out, but Yue Hang gave Chi Zhen an answer: "I don't know what Brother Wang meant by that, but I've seen something very similar."

"akin?"

"Yes, it must have been said by a famous mountaineer. Someone asked him why he was so determined to climb the world's highest peak, and this is how he answered: 'Why? Because the mountain is there.'"

Su Ju frowned as he read Yue Hang's words over and over again, still not understanding: "What does this have to do with A-Zhen's problem?"

“How would I know…” Yue Hang said, “I was just stating what I knew about that statement. I’m not a mind reader, how could I possibly know what he was thinking?”

Chi Zhen stared at the message Yue Hang had typed earlier, lost in thought.

As he looked around, he focused his gaze on the "world's highest peak".

Suddenly, it dawned on me.

Just as a reporter asked this mountaineer why he wanted to climb the world's highest peak, don't the people around him always ask him why he was competing with Brother Wang?
How similar!

Why do you want to climb the world's highest peak?

—Because the mountain is there.

Wang Ge's words seemed to answer that question for himself:
Why do you insist on competing with Brother Wang?

—Because Brother Wang is there.

Some might only see Wang Ge's "arrogance" in comparing himself to the world's highest peak, but Chi Zhen saw it as Wang Ge's...recognition of him:
The world's highest peak is waiting for him to challenge!
He recalled how he had gone to the boss and made a solemn pledge to earn a starting position in this match.

Isn't it just that I want to stand upright in front of Brother Wang and make him treat me as an opponent?

At the very least, you need to prove that you are capable of being Brother Wang's opponent.

If you don't even have the qualifications to challenge Brother Wang or be his opponent, then don't even talk about defeating him.

Now Brother Wang says he's right here, waiting for me to come and challenge him.

This is recognition!

Approval from Brother Wang!
While Chi Zhen was thinking, Su Ju and Yue Hang in the group noticed that Chi Zhen hadn't spoken for a long time. Su Ju asked, "What's wrong? Did you burn out Chi Zhen's CPU?"

Yue Hang: "What does it have to do with me... They're in the locker room, they must have a lot of things to do. You just sat there chatting on your phone after the game?"

Just then, Chi Zhen popped up again: "I understand, thank you, A-Yue!"

Su Ju asked, puzzled, "No, what do you understand?"

Yue Hang was also a little confused: "Why are you thanking me? I didn't do anything..."

Chi Zhen sent out a line of text:

"The mountain is right there, I'm getting ready to climb it!"

(End of this chapter)