Chapter 361: Mr. Ferran Isn

Sohu. com: The draw for the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals will take place on the evening of March 16 (Friday) Beijing Time.

Teams that advanced to the quarterfinals: Manchester United, Juventus, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Porto, Barcelona, Roma.

The list of teams in the Champions League quarterfinals has been fully determined.

It is said that there are no weak teams in the Champions League knockout stage; now that we've reached the quarterfinals, there is even less chance of any weak team remaining.

Juventus, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Barcelona are all super teams in peak form this season.

Seeing this list, Manchester United fans and Chinese fans fell silent.

Which super team will Manchester United face in the quarterfinals?

Can Manchester United defeat that super team?

Setting aside the quarterfinal draw for now, Tang Ye, Luo De, and Ale got into a car together and headed to the restaurant.

As in the previous match, after this game Tang Ye would also have dinner with Bruno and the others.

"Tom"

Chewing gum, Ale suddenly called out Tang Ye's name from the back seat.

But Tang Ye sat motionless in the front passenger seat, showing no reaction at all.

"Hey! Tom!"

Ale reached over and tapped Tang Ye on the shoulder; only then did he snap out of it.

"Oh oh oh! What's up, Sebastian?"

"You seem a bit off?"

Ale lightly squeezed Tang Ye's shoulder: "Your whole body is shaking."

"Ah, really?"

Tang Ye rubbed his hair and gave an awkward smile.

"Are you nervous, Tom? It's just dinner. Bruno and the others lost the match, but they won't blame you—you're a Manchester United player, you should be proud of winning for Manchester United."

Ale assumed Tang Ye was nervous about dinner because he had defeated Huang Qian.

But it wasn't like that.

Tom is under huge pressure.

Because an hour ago he learned from his phone that Escrivá would also attend this dinner.

Tang Ye now felt a strange sensation.

It was like…

Hmm, like Conan's feeling right before facing a murderer—every muscle tensed!

Fortunately, Conan had Mouri Kogoro and Ran for company.

And Tom had Sebastian and Luo De with him!

Sebastian was a towering 1.9 meters tall—he'd be incredibly strong in a fight.

Luo De was also very strong!

Tom's friends were far more formidable than Conan's!

Thinking of this, Tang Ye exhaled in relief.

His greatest advantage was his friends—so many, so many friends.

So even if Mr. Ferran really was a serial killer, he had nothing to worry about!

Bruno and Matteo and the others would step in too.

Then Mr. Ferran would be fiercely confronted by Tom and Tom's friends!

…

On the second floor of an Italian restaurant.

"Bruno!"

Chewing gum, Tang Ye slapped hands with Bruno.

Since Huang Qian had lost today, Tang Ye kept watching Bruno and Mousakió's expressions as he greeted them.

He also didn't say much.

Because people who are sad rarely want to talk—he knew this well.

"You're here, Tom!"

Fortunately, Bruno seemed to be in decent spirits now, no longer looking like he was about to cry after the match.

After greeting Mousakió, Gaspar, and Ruiz and sitting down, Asensio across from Tang Ye suddenly spoke up.

"Tom, I thought you'd shoot to the left."

"Huh?"

Tang Ye paused, then realized.

Asensio was referring to the penalty kick in the second half.

"Oh, that was a feint."

During preparation, Fan De had emphasized to Tang Ye that Asensio was a goalkeeper easily fooled by fakes, so if taking a penalty, he must use deceptive moves—it would greatly increase Tang Ye's chance of scoring.

Asensio shook his head with a wry smile.

In the past he would have laughed, but the loss in this match was hard for Huang Qian's players to accept.

"Still, Tom, your penalty was really good—do you practice often…?"

"Pretty much. Whenever there's long-ball training, the coach calls me over to practice penalties."

Tang Ye explained: "Eric and Michel both say I don't need much passing practice, so they let me use passing time to train penalties. But I think that's wrong. Oh, you might not know who Michel is—he's our assistant coach and my friend."

"Think that's wrong?"

Asensio and Bruno exchanged glances, then looked astonished: "Even though I'm not an outfield player… your passing skill really doesn't need more practice."

When FIFA created player cards, Tang Ye's passing attribute ranked number one in the world.

This sparked online discussion at the time, and Bruno had even talked about it with Tang Ye on his phone.

"96 is fine."

Tang Ye whispered: "I think it could be higher."

"Hah!"

"Mm!"

Tang Ye's slightly boastful remark suddenly lightened the gloomy atmosphere; Bruno took a big gulp of wine.

"If 96 isn't enough, how high do you want? 100?"

"100?"

Tang Ye's eyes lit up: "Damn, 100 would be so cool—if it were 100, I'd play FIFA every day and stream it to promote the game."

If FIFA really set his passing attribute to 100, Tang Ye would repay the developers with massive gameplay hours.

Of course, a passing attribute of 100 was impossible.

"Tom."

A familiar voice came from behind; Tang Ye felt a pair of hands press onto his shoulders.

Those hands were squeezing his muscles hard!

"M-Mr. Ferran."

Tang Ye turned his head—just as expected, it was the serial killer Mr. Ferran.

"You look nervous."

Escrivá smiled and shook his head, then sat down near Tang Ye with Ma Di.

"No need to feel guilty—you lost, that's football. But you played really well."

"Yeah, th-thanks…"

Tang Ye gave a slight nod; Luo De beside him narrowed his eyes.

Hss—

Strange!

Tom felt that same tension he'd had in the car.

Was it because of Escrivá?

But that didn't make sense!

Escrivá isn't like Ten Hag—he's always friendly to players.

Tom shouldn't be tense only around Escrivá!

Late at night, since there was a La Liga match coming up, Huang Qian's players gave up the idea of going to a bar.

The players prepared to leave, when Tang Ye suddenly did something unusual—he stopped Escrivá.

"Hmm? What's up, Tom?"

Escrivá sat in his chair, curious why Tang Ye had kept him back.

Tang Ye didn't speak right away; he pretended to be calm while secretly scanning for the staircase.

Hmm…

Mr. Ferran isn't fast.

Simple calculation: if Mr. Ferran suddenly attacked him, Tang Ye could reach the staircase before him.

As long as he got downstairs in time, protected by Bruno and Ale and the others, Tang Ye would be 100% safe.

The only question now is: how fast is Mr. Ferran's reaction?

What if he catches me as I run toward the stairwell?

Including reaction speed in the calculation, Tang Ye's mind exerted all its effort.

"Tom? What's wrong?"

Escribá stood up and stared into Tang Ye's eyes.

"Oh oh, my fault, my fault—Mr. Ferran, please sit down."

After Escribá sat back down, Tang Ye rubbed his nose, then moved one seat closer to the stairwell.

He glanced at Escribá, chuckled, then moved another seat closer to the stairwell.

Then he rubbed his nose again.

This should be safe!

"Hm?"

Escribá had no idea what Tang Ye was doing: "Tom, is there something you want to tell me?"

Thump-thump!

Tang Ye's heartbeat suddenly accelerated.

"M-Mr. Ferran…"

Tang Ye never stuttered when speaking to Mr. Ferran, but this was a special case.

"Mr. Ferran, can you please stop doing this?"

"W-what?"

"No, Tom, listen to me—I'm not pretending to be happy. Even though we lost the match, we accept the result. It has nothing to do with you. Off the field, we've always been friends. I know you and Bruno are close."

Escribá clearly misunderstood what Tang Ye meant.

"No, Mr. Ferran, I'm not talking about that—I'm talking about something more important."

After thinking carefully, Tang Ye added: "Something more important than the match."

"More important than the match?"

Escribá fell silent. Tang Ye slowly opened his mouth, then fixed his gaze on Escribá's eyes: "M-Mr. Ferran…"

"Can you… stop killing people…?"

"…"

"T-this…"

Escribá scratched his head: "What do you mean? Are you using some kind of metaphor?"

Escribá showed no intention of standing up to grab a knife and attack—Tang Ye exhaled a huge sigh of relief.

Obviously, though Mr. Ferran was a serial killer, his friendship with Tom was genuine.

Mr. Ferran would never lightly lay a hand on Tom!

"Mr. Ferran, I won't tell the police about those things—but still, I just want you to stop. You know, I looked it up online—if you're a serial killer, you'll get the death penalty or life imprisonment. And life imprisonment isn't much better."

"If you get life and try to escape, I'll find a way to help you, Mr. Ferran… I could bribe the guards—but I still don't want you to get caught. You're a good man."

"Stop, Mr. Ferran. If you keep going like this, you'll get caught someday!"

"…"

"I…"

"What the—?"

Was it because of that joke last month that Tang Ye had developed some misunderstanding about himself?

"Uh, Tom, even though I acted a bit like a creep last month, it was just a prank—I never meant to keep you in Spain."

Escribá looked around, searching, then pointed toward the stairwell: "Yes, you can ask Bruno. I told him about it—you can confirm with him."

"Serial killer? No, Tom! How could I possibly be a serial killer?"

Escribá spread his hands: "My weekly salary isn't high, but it's 60,000 euros—add bonuses, it's 80,000 euros… Even if we won't get bonuses this season, Tom, I have no reason to kill anyone!"

"It was just a joke—that's all it was!"

Tang Ye leaned back, studying Escribá's expression as if he were analyzing a defender on the pitch.

"Really?"

"Of course it's real—it was just a joke!"

Escribá spread his hands: "I've never even killed a bird."

He observed Escribá's expression.

He didn't look like he was lying.

Hss—

Tang Ye took a deep breath, stood up, and hugged Escribá.

Wuh!

Sorry, Mr. Ferran.

Conan made a mistake!

…

Walking out of the restaurant, Escribá shook his head, then burst out laughing.

He never expected his joke last month would cause such a huge misunderstanding.

Serial killer?

Damn, what's going on in Tom's head?

Is that how he won the La Liga Player of the Season!

Thinking more carefully, Escribá suddenly noticed something odd.

Even though I acted strangely in the restaurant last month, it wasn't enough to make Tang Ye suspect I was a serial killer, was it?

Realizing this, Escribá rushed upstairs and found Tang Ye about to come down.

Tang Ye's eyes lit up: "Ah, are you ready to confess now, Mr. Ferran?"

"No no, you damn it—I told you, I didn't kill anyone. That's not the point now."

Escribá grabbed Tang Ye's shoulders: "Tom, did Eric do anything to you?"

"Why would he do anything to me? You're overthinking, Mr. Ferran."

"Good, good."

Escribá exhaled, walked down the stairs with Tang Ye, then suddenly turned back at the door: "If you run into any problems at Manchester United, you must contact me. Even though we can't afford you, but… but…"

"Yeah, you know—I'll do my best to help you."

Watching Escribá walk away, Tang Ye blinked slowly.

What's going on in Mr. Ferran's head?

He really is overthinking!

…

Dongqiu Di Match Preview: On March 18, early morning, FA Cup Quarterfinal, Manchester United vs. Brighton at home—can Tang Ye chase his second career title with Manchester United?

【Must Chase! Brighton OUT!】

【The FA Cup is tough—Chelsea hasn't fallen yet.】

【Are you sure Chelsea can beat Manchester United? Chelsea's three-back line gets shredded by my King Tang!】

Since March, Manchester United has gone undefeated, so fan expectations are high.

Their opponent, Brighton, ranks mid-to-lower in the league.

If Manchester United plays steadily, advancing to the FA Cup semifinals shouldn't be too difficult.

Will GGBond be playing at Wembley again?

Whether he'll return to Wembley is still uncertain—Tang Ye has another important task to complete.

That is signing with Mengniu Dairy!

Pre-tax 45 million RMB: Tang Ye becomes Mengniu's global brand ambassador and must film three promotional videos and take photos for posters.

Two of the video sets must be completed immediately after signing.

Because the World Cup is coming soon, and as one of the tournament's largest sponsors, Mengniu wants to seize this opportunity.

Toutiao: A Big Move for the World Cup? Tang Ye Named New Face of Mengniu Brand—Reported Signing Fee Approaches 50 Million RMB.

Thanks to Mengniu's behind-the-scenes push, the media quickly learned of the news.

Mengniu acted fast: the day after filming ended, the promotional images were released.

In the image, Tang Ye gazes across a distant grassland.

Above is Mengniu's green logo, along with the label "Official Global Sponsor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup."

Below is the promotional slogan.

【Natural Power · Born to Be Strong, 2018, Mengniu Joins Tang Ye, Toasting the World】

Besides Tang Ye, Mengniu also signed Messi.

Same slogan.

Tang Ye + Messi, red and blue together—Mengniu paid nearly 100 million RMB for this.

This is a gamble!

Mengniu's target: China earns one draw or win, and Argentina reaches the semifinals—that's how they'll break even on their 100 million RMB investment.

Besides Mengniu, their rival Yili has also made moves.

Sohu: Yili Becomes Official Strategic Partner of the Chinese National Men's Football Team.

EA signed with the Chinese national team, while Mengniu holds exclusive portrait rights to Tang Ye, creating a strange phenomenon.

Entering the subway station, the first thing you see is the Mengniu poster of Tang Ye.

Further inside, Tang Ye appears alongside Wu Lei and Zheng Zhi on EA's promotional poster.

Endorsing both Mengniu and EA—no wonder the little goat has so much milk!

…

The Sun headline: Special Treatment for the Nation's Sole Star; according to expert analysis, as China's only world-class footballer, Tom could directly profit by no less than 200 million pounds from the upcoming Russia World Cup, though this depends on the player's own willingness.

Regarding World Cup preparations, the club's director specifically sought out Tang Ye for a private chat after training.

Before the season ends, Tang Ye must not participate in too many commercial activities—it's written in the player's contract.

"I'm not warning you, Tom; this is just a reminder, because violating the rules would be difficult to handle."

If Tang Ye keeps breaking the contract, frankly, Manchester United's management would also find it difficult.

After all, they can't really issue fines to their star player.

"Of course, I know."

Motta had told Tang Ye about this before, and Tang Ye never intended to sign too many deals before the season ended.

"Good, then."

Motta smiled: "After May, we won't ask you about this anymore."

Manchester United certainly hopes Tang Ye will gain attention at the World Cup.

After all, he's a Manchester United player!

The Red Devil Tom!

…

After chatting with Motta, Tang Ye hurried to the cafeteria.

"Has it started? Has it started?"

"Almost."

"Tom, you'd better hurry."

Teammates' voices reached him; Tang Ye rushed to the TV.

Last time he noticed damage at the edge of the screen, but apparently no one reported it—the TV hadn't been replaced.

But it didn't matter; as long as the picture quality was good enough, the TV was fine.

"Who's that?"

Tang Ye pointed at the lottery guest on TV: "Huh, I feel like I've seen him somewhere before."

"It's Shevchenko."

Tang Ye got the answer from Ma Ta.

He's a Ukrainian legend.

Let's see how lucky this guy is!

If Shevchenko draws a good draw for Manchester United, Tom wouldn't mind making friends with him!

…

Dongqiu Di top post: Champions League quarter-final draw results: Manchester United faces Juventus, Manchester City vs Bayern Munich, Real Madrid vs Barcelona—Spanish derby.

(End of chapter)