Chapter 183

{What's going on? }

{So GGBond's homework really wasn't written by himself? }

{Impossible, my homework as Tang Qiuwang is definitely mine alone}

{What the hell is French? There's no French player in Huang Qian's squad, right? }

{It feels real—if the reporter wanted to frame Tang Ye, they'd use another language, not French. But why French? }

{The question is, how did the reporter get hold of Tang Ye's homework? }

Sitting on the bus back to base, Tang Ye's face was flushed.

Because all his teammates on the bus were staring at him, making Tang Ye feel awkward.

{What's going on, Tom? }

Bruno shrugged at Tang Ye, his right hand showing a phone screen displaying news from Marca and AS.

{W-what's wrong…}

Tang Ye rubbed his hands, unsure what to say next.

Seeing Tang Ye pretend ignorance, Bruno slowly explained: "We have a 17-year-old first-team midfielder who likes to push forward and play as a striker. Now the reporter has exposed that he wrote his homework in French, but he shouldn't know French at all."

Tang Ye looked at Bruno, then turned to Musacchio and Ale and others who had gathered around.

Tang Ye turned back: "No, I don't know him…"

{You don't even recognize our only possession-based midfielder? }

{Alright, it's me}

Tang Ye rubbed his head: "Honestly, I have no idea what's going on—I didn't even know my homework had French in it."

{So you had a Frenchman write your homework for you? }

Escribá walked over, squinting at Tang Ye.

It was clear the Huang Qian head coach was barely holding back laughter.

A Chinese player in his squad, fluent in Dutch, had French in his Spanish homework?

Is this something a La Liga head coach should be dealing with?

{Impossible}

Tang Ye immediately denied: "I didn't have any Frenchman write my homework."

{So you had someone else write it for you? }

{…}

Tang Ye squinted: "No, no."

{Hah! }

Escribá reached out to pat Tang Ye's head.

This must be a prank.

A prank from one of the players in Huang Qian's squad.

Escribá shook his head and returned to his seat.

{Just a prank, but now we need to figure out how our players' homework ended up in the reporter's hands. }

Escribá pulled out his phone and reported the incident to Chairman Roig.

A reporter had infiltrated the club's affiliated middle school!

This was something Villarreal absolutely could not accept!

{A prank? Whose prank? }

Ma Di suddenly asked. Escribá shook his head: "No need to investigate that."

{We shouldn't have anyone on the team who speaks French, and besides, the ones who help Tom with homework are all strikers…}

Ma Di stopped mid-sentence, but Escribá already understood his implication.

His pupils dilated sharply.

Of course!

The only one who helps Tom with homework besides Bruno is a striker.

Escribá knew exactly what those strikers were like.

Those guys all think writing more homework means more goals—they wouldn't dare mess with Tang Ye's pranks!

They wouldn't even dare write nonsense, let alone let Tang Ye submit nonsense to school!

Then why was there French in Tang Ye's homework?

That was Escribá's question—and Tang Ye's too.

{Think, think fast, Tom—did you ask someone else? }

{Could you have been framed by the reporter? Think hard! }

Under his teammates' urging, Tang Ye thought deeply for a long time.

French, French, French…

Tang Ye didn't understand French, but he wasn't completely clueless—he knew a few words.

Why did Tang Ye know French? That was thanks to Dembélé…

Right!

Dembélé!

Tang Ye slapped his hands together.

At that moment, a scene flashed into his mind: a luxury e-sports hotel room, Dembélé sitting to his right, their computer searching for teammates in a ranked LoL match, Dembélé holding a pen in his right hand, a phone in his left, translation app open, and on the table—

Tang Ye's homework notebook!

{Damn…}

He didn't remember clearly, but he recalled the scene vividly.

{I get it}

Tang Ye suddenly said. Hearing the noise, Escribá rushed back to the rear of the bus.

{When we went to Monaco, I met Osman—Dortmund's Dembélé. We were playing on the NA server and kept failing to find teammates, so I asked him to write my homework for me. }

{So it was Dembélé's prank? }

Bruno's eyes widened.

Tang Ye pictured Dembélé's face: "Hmm, probably not—he didn't even realize my homework had to be in Spanish."

{Why? }

{Because I didn't realize it either. }

Tang Ye's face flushed.

{Hah! }

{Hahaha, Tom, you're a god—the Homework God! }

The bus erupted in laughter.

{Wait, wait! }

Escribá cut in: {Monaco? When did you go to Monaco? }

{When I got the Golden Boy award. }

Bruno reminded him.

{…}

Escribá stared into Tang Ye's eyes: {You took your homework to the Golden Boy ceremony and had your friend write it for you? }

{Is homework really that hard? More important than the Golden Boy award? }

{I, I…}

Tang Ye didn't know how to explain.

In truth, he was quite innocent.

Two backpacks: one for boots, jerseys, and gear; the other for homework and personal items.

One day, Boer reminded him he had to go to Monaco for the Golden Boy award—he suddenly remembered his homework.

He rushed back to his apartment and had to choose one backpack.

Obviously the second one! Two pairs of boots had already filled the first one—there wasn't even room for his passport!

Only when Tang Ye went through security did he realize he'd brought his homework along. But since he'd already brought it, he couldn't just leave it at the airport.

It made perfect sense!

While waiting in queue for a LoL match, he asked his friend to help write his homework.

That made perfect sense too!

Friends help each other!

…

Marca front page headline—Reporter analyzed all French players Tang Ye knows; the only lead points to Bundesliga rookie Dembélé, who ranked fifth in the 2016 Golden Boy voting.

{At the award ceremony, Dembélé and Tom sat together—they seemed to know each other, } recalled a guest on-site.

Villarreal Evening News front page headline—Villarreal Club executives are furious about the leak of homework from youth players at the affiliated school (Ceramic International School) and will launch a major purge of school staff.

AS front page headline—If it's confirmed that Dembélé wrote Tang Ye's homework, Huang Qian will be immediately disqualified from this season's Spanish FA "Fair Play Award."

Dortmund and Standard Liège's friendly match ended at 8:30 p. m. local time. The team's teenage prodigy, Osman Dembélé, arrived at the press room accompanied by head coach Tuchel.

This was a friendly match, nothing worth discussing—the reporters' first question went straight to Dembélé.

"The Spanish journalist says you helped Tom with his math homework?" The journalist and Tuchel both turned to Dembélé, the French genius flashing his white teeth.

As soon as the match ended, Tang Ye contacted him via WhatsApp.

"I didn't do it."

Dembélé answered quickly; Tuchel beside him exhaled in relief.

Villarreal is already on the hot seat—don't drag Dortmund into this too.

Dortmund is in a critical phase of the Champions League and La Liga—they can't afford more media pressure!

"Alright."

The journalist nodded.

"But Osman, your math homework had a very low accuracy rate—can you explain why?"

The journalist handed the microphone to Dembélé.

"Uh, to be honest, I've never been good at math, so I really couldn't do it."

The French genius, facing the camera, spoke calmly.

!

Then he suddenly noticed something wrong—he rubbed his nose.

Mistake… mistake…

He took a deep breath.

Dembélé lowered his head.

Tom, I'm sorry.

Good luck to yourself…

…

The day after the German journalist interviewed Dembélé, Spanish reporters blocked the entrance of Ceramics International School.

As the most famous private high school in the area, Ceramics International School not only served Villarreal's youth players but also taught regular students, so its gates were open seven days a week.

But today was different: although classes were still in session, security personnel blocked the entrance, giving reporters no chance to enter.

A C-Class AMG parked at a distance; Tang Ye stepped out.

Reporters and school security rushed toward him at nearly the same moment.

But the security team, tipped off earlier, moved faster and successfully separated Tang Ye from the reporters.

Tang Ye, carrying a backpack, walked toward the school under the escort of security.

"Tom, did you really get someone to do your homework for you?"

"Tom, should I help you with your homework? My math is better than Dembélé's."

"Tom, have you ever worried you won't pass your high school graduation exam?"

"..."

Reporters fired a barrage of questions at Tang Ye; he stopped just before entering the gate, facing them directly.

Click!

Click-click-click!

Tang Ye raised his hand to block the flashes—his mood wasn't good.

"I know what you want to ask, but I can't answer. I have class soon."

"Tom, if you can't pass your high school graduation exam, will you keep studying?"

"I will pass the exam."

Tang Ye replied quickly: "But I need to get to class now—my teacher and classmates are waiting."

"Classmate, classmate!"

The reporters changed how they addressed Tang Ye.

"Classmate, Villarreal's next La Liga match against La Coruña is about to start—will you need to submit a leave request to school if you play?"

"I, I..."

Tang Ye fell silent, pulled two pieces of gum from his pocket, walked up to the reporters, and shoved them into their hands: "Sorry, I won't talk anymore. I don't like talking to you. I'm leaving now."

Marca front page headline—Villarreal's executives believe a teacher at the school leaked the information; all of Tom's subject teachers have been suspended and cannot return to work until the club's investigation concludes, but they will receive compensation from the club.

Villarreal Business Daily—Villarreal suspects one of the school's teachers is a part-time journalist who used their position to obtain Tom's homework.

Now, whenever you open Dongqiu Di, two red characters—"Homework"—jump out at you.

They look bloody, as if ready to devour you.

Dongqiu Di's official team was clever—they prominently displayed a photo of Tang Ye with his backpack, waiting outside the school gate for someone to pick him up.

Dongqiu Di pinned post: Caught Getting Homework Done by Reporter—How Will Villarreal's Midfield Prodigy Handle This Media Storm? (Comments: 23,712)

【So who leaked it? Damn it, they're framing my King Tang!】

【What kind of homework requires the Golden Boy Award #1 and #5 to complete together? Is this Ceramics School that prestigious?】

【Could it be that even the Golden Boy Award #1 and #5 combined couldn't finish much homework...?】

【Bold!】

【Go search for the account ggbond—Tang Ye ranks in the top 800 in FIFA in all of Spain. How much homework do you think he can write?】

【La Liga's #1 Esports Midfielder】

【Tang～～Ye! Play↑games, play, keep playing! Homework? Sorry, can't even write it～】

【Didn't some fans say they'd help King Tang with his homework? Can they step forward now?】

If Tang Ye had simply refused to do homework, reporters wouldn't have reacted so strongly.

But Tang Ye's move was truly outrageous.

During the Golden Boy Award ceremony, he had Dembélé use a translator to write two pages of Spanish math homework in French.

One can only say... perhaps this is the creativity of a teenage genius!

It was January 13. Tang Ye, having completed his makeup midterm exam the previous afternoon, fully returned to training.

Tomorrow was La Liga Matchday 18 against La Coruña!

Despite all the turmoil, Tang Ye was in excellent spirits today.

The reason was simple.

The long-awaited La Liga match!

His plan was to earn the French Star Box by reaching 18 assists.

He already had 15 assists in La Liga.

Three more assists...

Thinking of this, Tang Ye slowed his gum-chewing, lost himself in his pleasant fantasy.

Assist hat-trick.

Win the Star Box in one match!

Perfect plan!

"Tom!"

Escrivá called Tang Ye over to the sideline.

Without rushing to speak, Escrivá sized Tang Ye up.

"You look in good form?"

"Yeah, I should pass my chemistry exam."

Tang Ye revealed the reason for his good mood.

"Good, good, good."

Escrivá laughed: "I just wanted to tell you—the homework thing is over... uh, you weren't affected, right?"

"I was blocked by reporters, but luckily, school security was strong—they kept me apart from them."

Tang Ye said slowly: "Some reporters offered to do my homework, but I turned them all down—they can't catch me."

"Then it's fine."

Seeing Tang Ye had improved in handling reporters, Escrivá breathed a sigh of relief.

As head coach of a La Liga team, he knew how troublesome reporters could be!

"Tom, I won't say more. Today I just want to remind you: all this is over. Reporters know you asked your friend—Dembélé, right? —to do your homework. Fans know too. But it doesn't matter. Your job is to stop thinking about it and focus on training and matches ahead."

Escrivá spoke with gravity.

Learning the matter was over, Tang Ye smiled.

Without those news stories, he could finally focus on his game and his matches.

"Everything's finished. Our second half of the season has just begun."

Escrivá placed his hand on Tang Ye's shoulder.

Marca front page headline—Reporters carefully analyzed Tom's math homework and found at least four distinct handwriting styles, each with "different" accuracy rates. They consulted handwriting experts to compare the four styles against the name "Tang Ye" on the cover—but none matched.

Dongqiu Di match preview: 3:45 AM, November 15, La Liga Matchday 18, Villarreal away vs La Coruña—Bruno and Tang Ye lead the squad.

(End of Chapter)