Chapter 393: Brother Tang Zhengxiong Becomes a Negative Example; The French Duo

Baidu Hot Search No. 1: Russia World Cup.

Sohu News: The Chinese national football team's first opponent at the Russia World Cup is the German team; the match time is 23:00 Beijing time on June 17.

Moscow, Russia.

Boom!

A passenger plane marked with the "CHINA" logo landed on the airport runway.

The plane had taken off from Italy.

Clearly, this was the chartered flight of the Chinese national team.

"Damn, I feel like I'm about to pass out; why does it feel like we've been flying forever?"

Cursing under his breath, Tang Ye walked down the steps and discovered several Chinese and local Russian reporters already gathered on the ground.

"Wow, hello everyone."

Shouldering his backpack, Tang Ye disembarked from the plane alongside his teammates.

Click-click!

Click-click!

Seeing the cameras turn toward him, Tang Ye deliberately gave a thumbs-up.

Glancing at the suits worn by the teammates beside him, then looking down at his own Nike short-sleeved shirt, Tang Ye touched his nose and walked over to Zhang Zhang Yuning: "Hiss, I should have worn a suit too; it would look better."

More than twenty players dressed in suits disembarking from the plane together created a truly spectacular scene.

They had to overwhelm everyone with their presence the moment they arrived in Russia!

Just as Mr. Marcello had said, they needed to bring their best form to play with an 80-point feel!

"Haha, so why didn't you wear one?"

"I do have a suit, but I left it in Spain."

Tang Ye said quietly.

He had specially ordered a suit for the Golden Boy Award ceremony earlier, but when preparing to leave Spain afterward, he felt suits were uncomfortable to wear, so he simply hadn't brought it along.

Looking at it now, Tang Ye was still too young; he should have kept the suit.

"Forget it."

Thinking of the inconvenience caused by wearing a suit and leather shoes, Tang Ye shook his head gently.

Better to wear a short-sleeved shirt; it's more comfortable.

The bus had long been ready, but there was no need to rush.

According to communications between the reporters and the Football Association, Lippi, Feng Feng Xiaoting, Wu Lei, and Tang Ye would accept interviews immediately upon disembarking.

CCTV.

"Hello, Tang Ye!"

The reporter interviewing Tang Ye was a Chinese woman.

Tang Ye was certain he had seen her before, but he just couldn't recall after which match they had met.

"You are the 22nd participating team to arrive in Russia; could you share your current feelings?"

"Hmm..."

Tang Ye looked up at the sky: "I feel alright; the temperature here is quite nice, and it doesn't feel stuffy; I think it's fine."

"Uh... I meant on a mental level."

The reporter reminded him: "For instance, whether you feel nervous, or perhaps feel anticipation for the match, and so on."

"Oh, that."

"Of course, I'm anticipating it."

Tang Ye took a step forward: "We spent twenty days training and playing warm-up matches; I feel we've become much stronger compared to May, and our coach says the same."

The reporter very much wanted to discuss with Tang Ye the matter of Tang Tang Zhengxiong betting ten million on the Chinese team to win, but since this was CCTV after all, seriousness had to be maintained, so the topic was shelved.

That was true enough, yet the reporter had a feeling.

Namely, as long as Tang Ye's head appeared in the lens, this interview video simply couldn't remain serious.

"Do you have any arrangements for the coming days? For example, training matches?"

"We will play a half-field training match against a local team, but it's closed to the public, so I can't say too much."

Tang Ye spoke slowly: "After that, we'll just try our best to maintain our form."

Reaching up to touch his head, Tang Ye wore a helpless expression: "Mainly, Germany is too difficult to handle; I don't know why we're playing Germany first."

The reporter nodded, acknowledging Tang Ye's words: "We've heard you quite enjoy playing games; will you use gaming to relieve pressure during the match preparation period?"

"Oh, no."

Tang Ye answered quickly: "Time is already short, so I won't be playing games now; I barely played even during the warm-up matches before."

After speaking, Tang Ye watched the reporter's expression.

Hiss, he somehow felt this reporter in front of him didn't believe what he was saying.

"No, no, I'm not lying."

Tang Ye took off his backpack, placed it on the ground, unzipped it, and showed the reporter the contents inside: "I didn't bring my computer."

The corner of the reporter's mouth twitched.

However, since Tang Ye was willing to display the contents of his backpack, she might as well take a look.

The camera zoomed in; inside Tang Ye's backpack were...

Several packs of chewing gum; yes, very classic.

And then there was also a GGBond lollipop.

"..."

The reporter went dark-eyed; after getting Tang Ye's permission, she pulled out the lollipop: "Th-this is..."

"Oh, I didn't buy this, I didn't buy this."

Tang Ye pointed at the plane: "A fan handed it to me on the flight from Shanghai to Saudi Arabia; I thought it looked nice, so I kept it and never ate it."

"Oh, oh."

The reporter nodded quickly, then took out a small white notebook.

"This is..."

"Oh, this is my notebook."

Tang Ye opened the notebook and showed it to the reporter.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

The reporter was startled; she suddenly stood up and nearly tripped over her own high heels.

"Cut this part, cut this part!"

If the tactics were leaked, her career as a CCTV reporter would be over.

But...

Looking at the notebook in Tang Ye's hand, the female reporter slowly narrowed her eyes.

Tactical Notes (Very, very, very important!)

1. Coordinate with Brother Lei.

2. Coordinate with Brother Zhang Yuning.

3. Coordinate with Brother Ting.

22. Coordinate with Brother Wang Dalei.

Twenty-two notes in total, all much the same.

Oh, not only twenty-two.

The reporter flipped the notebook to the second page; there, a twenty-third tactical point was written.

23. Listen to the coach.

"..."

She glanced at the cameraman beside her: "Forget it, no need to cut this part."

CCTV-1 Comprehensive, host Kang Hui: "The Chinese National Men's Football Team arrived in Moscow, Russia, at 2:00 p. m. local time on June 11. The first opponent for the Chinese team in this World Cup will be the defending champions, Germany."

"Yes, fans of the Chinese team are already making their way to Moscow one after another; this is the second time in history that the Chinese men's football team has participated in the World Cup finals; previously, the best result achieved by the Chinese men's football team was a draw."

The scene switched, and Tang Ye's interview video was broadcast.

【Tang Ye, Chinese National Team Athlete】

"I didn't bring my computer; yes, really didn't bring it; I wouldn't lie."

【The familiar Tang Tang Qiuwang】

【Didn't bring a computer? Then Dembélé is going to be on a losing streak.】

【Sacrificing his gaming time for the national team—Tang Tang Qiuwang really... I'm crying.】

【Tang Tang Qiuwang is still too abstract; I'm going to Douyin to find my Brother Tang Zhengxiong; Brother Tang Zhengxiong is probably arguing with someone again.】

GGBond appeared on CCTV-1 again, and besides GGBond, GG Tang Zhengxiong had recently gained a lot of attention.

The reason was simple: during a reporter's interview, he had boasted that he would spend ten million to bet on the national football team winning; now Tang Tang Zhengxiong was already being criticized by the authorities as a negative example.

The Singapore Anti-Gambling Council released a public-service advertisement against gambling.

In the advertisement, three children playing football gathered together: one of East Asian descent, one of African descent, and one of European descent.

The white child suddenly said, "The World Cup is about to begin; who do you think will win the championship?"

"Brazil, I like Neymar's dribbling."

The black child answered first, but the white child merely shook his head: "Neymar isn't as strong as before; I like Tom. Although China won't win the championship, I will watch all of Tom's matches."

"Haha, I also like Tom."

The black child flashed his brilliantly white teeth, then looked at the East Asian child beside him who had been silent all along: "Yang, what about you? Which team are you rooting for?"

The East Asian boy named Yang suddenly lowered his head and reached out to touch the football on the grass: "My dad used all his savings to bet that China would beat Germany."

"..."

The other two children fell silent; "dun-dun-dun," a sorrowful background music slowly began to play.

As expected, another family was about to break apart...

【Stay away from gambling; cherish your family.】

【From the Singapore Anti-Gambling Council】

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: "Singapore's anti-gambling advertisement appears to subtly target Tang Tang Zhengxiong." (Comments: 46,213)

Singapore's speed was still too fast; they directly seized China's hot topic to release an anti-gambling advertisement.

Tang Tang Zhengxiong had been busy to death recently; besides battling anti-national-football trolls on Douyin and Weibo, he also had to post videos responding to fans' questions.

Nevertheless, Tang Tang Zhengxiong greatly enjoyed this sense of busyness; he felt that everything he was doing was highly meaningful.

As the saying goes, "A tiger begets no dog of a son!"

GG Tang Zhengxiong always stood at the forefront of Chinese football!

People's Daily Online: "The hotel where the Chinese team is staying in Moscow is only 2 km from the French team's hotel and merely 7 km from the German team's."

"Hoo-hoo."

Jogging slowly with the team on the training ground, Tang Ye felt extremely relaxed.

It was a very strange feeling; during the warm-up matches he had been nervous every day, yet after truly arriving in Russia, the pressure wasn't so great after all.

Was it perhaps because Moscow was comparatively cooler?

Tang Ye didn't know exactly what the reason was, but he hadn't planned to delve deeper into it anyway.

Running while glancing at the teammates beside him, Tang Ye blinked his eyes: "Brother Zhang Yuning, are you very nervous? I can sense it."

"Oh? What's up?"

Zhang Zhang Yuning seemed to be in a daze; upon hearing Tang Ye call his name, he quickly turned his head over.

"Mm, that's about right."

Tang Ye nodded thoughtfully: "If pressure is rated from 1 to 10, Brother Ning, I'd give you an 8."

"Haha!"

Zhang Zhang Yuning was still in a state of bewilderment, while Wu Lei and Wei Wei Shihao beside him had already burst into loud laughter: "Tang Tang Qiuwang, what about me? What score do I get?"

"As for Brother Hao... 5 points!"

"Brother Lei, hmm... I'll give you 7 points, though if you want 8, I can give you that too."

GGBond was always very generous.

Giving a few extra points was no big deal.

"Does this refer to today?"

Realizing what was meant, Zhang Zhang Yuning slowed down to run alongside Tang Ye and asked.

"It's probably for the last few days; data from a single day isn't accurate, that's what my assistant coach at the club told me."

Tang Ye recalled Fan Fan Dejiahe's teachings to him in his mind.

As an organizing player, Tang Ye had to be more rigorous!

"Wait, why do I only have 5 points? Do I look that relaxed?"

Wei Wei Shihao pointed at his own nose, curious about Tang Ye's scoring method.

At that moment, Madaloni's voice rang out.

"Hey! Warm up properly! Why are you running in a single line?"

The Chinese national team's formation had initially been vertical, but now it had become a horizontal line; Zhang Zhang Yuning, Wei Wei Shihao, and Wu Lei had surrounded Tang Ye.

While the team was still warming up, Lippi took a moment to go to the restroom.

Standing at the restroom entrance, Lippi frowned tightly, then adjusted his glasses.

He didn't go straight in; this wasn't because Mr. Marcello suddenly didn't need to use the restroom, but because two individuals who shouldn't be there were standing at the entrance.

Dembélé's big eyes first glanced at Mbappé beside him, then looked at Lippi: "Hello, Mr., we're here to find Tom to play. Are you guys training today?"

"..."

After hesitating for a while, Lippi adjusted his glasses again.

"The main gate is off-limits."

Dembélé chuckled: "That's why we came in from the side."

"..."

Lippi took a deep breath; suddenly, the desire to use the restroom vanished.

"When you came in, were you photographed by the reporters outside?"

"Of course not; we exploited their blind spots in vision."

Mbappé replied.

Dembélé blinked his eyes again.

Lippi glanced toward the distance: "There are at least 20 reporters outside; are you sure you avoided all of them?"

"Of course!"

Dembélé raised his eyebrows: "So, Mr., are you training today? If not, could you let Tom come out? He hasn't replied to my text message; could he be asleep?"

Two hours later.

"Damn, Mr. Marcello, believe me, they really didn't come to steal tactical secrets; Ousmane and Kylian aren't the kind of people you think they are; I know them very well!"

Outside the training ground, Tang Ye was doing his utmost to speak up for the two French national team players who had broken into the Chinese national team's base.

Lippi also looked quite embarrassed: "Tom, listen to me, this isn't my fault; four newspapers captured photos of those two climbing over the fence!"

"Huh?"

Tang Ye glanced at Dembélé; the latter chuckled awkwardly, his expression somewhat embarrassed.

"Well, so what..."

"Come, look here."

Madaloni took out his mobile phone and displayed it in front of Tang Ye.

The front-page headline of Marca, in bold full text—What Are They Up To? French Stars Mbappé and Dembélé Photographed Breaking Into Chinese Team Training Base. Currently, dozens of reporters and hundreds of fans have gathered outside the Chinese team's training base.

The front-page headline of L'Équipe—Not in the Same Group Yet Peeking at Tactics; Will the French Team Face Punishment?

"This..."

Tang Ye rubbed his nose: "This shouldn't be a big deal, right? The restroom is over 300 meters away from the training ground; just let them go back and..."

Before Tang Ye could finish speaking, the sound of police sirens suddenly erupted from outside the training base.

It was unknown which kind-hearted fan or reporter had called the police.

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Mbappé panicked now; he pulled Dembélé over and stood together with Tang Ye.

"Why have the police come?"

Tang Ye looked at Sitting Like, who spread his hands helplessly before turning and walking away.

Two police cars slowly drove into the Chinese team's training base; six officers got out, four of whom fit the stereotypical image of Russians.

Under Tang Ye's gaze, Mbappé and Dembélé were led away by the police.

"Hey, hey, Mr., listen to me, they just came for me."

Tang Ye held the police officer back: "It's just that my phone was in the locker room so I couldn't reply to messages, that's why they came to find me. What I mean is, they didn't come to spy on tactics; they had no such intention."

The police officer looked at Dembélé, who quickly raised his hand: "Yes, what he said is right; we had no such intention. We're on holiday today, so we just came to hang out with him. If you don't believe us, you can ask N'Golo 【Kanté】; we told him before we left, and we even called Neymar. You know Neymar, right? That star player from the Brazilian team. He and Kanté are already waiting for us at the hotel."

Dembélé said a lot, but the police officer still led him away.

"Roar roar!"

After a few revs of the engine, the police cars slowly drove off, leaving only Tang Ye standing alone in the wind, utterly bewildered.

On his second day in Russia, his two best friends had been arrested by the police.

Shaking his head everywhere, he found Madaloni nearby: "Mr., what should I do now?"

Madaloni was suppressing laughter.

"Ahem, well, it's simple; they'll be out soon because we're not in the same group. But..."

Tang Ye had just breathed a sigh of relief, but Madaloni's "but" made him tense up again.

"But what?"

"There might be punishment, but we don't know what the punishment will be yet."

"Then it's fine."

Tang Ye waved his hand.

Punishment just means a fine; for Ousmane and Kylian, a small fine meant nothing.

"Yeah, as long as they don't go to jail."

He recalled that spring two years ago, when the Dutch police arrested the respected Mr. Eric right in front of his eyes!

Hiss!

Tang Ye involuntarily shuddered.

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: The national football team releases video of their first training session in Moscow; Tang Ye is in good spirits. (34,712 comments)

The national football team has officially begun training in Moscow.

And Tang Ye is in great form!

This is naturally good news for fans of the national football team, who expressed their sincere wishes for the Chinese team's World Cup journey in the comments section.

However, this pinned news was quickly pushed down.

TASS front-page headline: Two players from the French team arrested by local Moscow police for trespassing at the Chinese team's training base; the French Football Federation is currently cooperating with FIFA to investigate the matter.

【????】

【Brothers, what's going on? France, is it France?】

【France really has face, coming to spy on our great national football team's training.】

【France probably wouldn't go that far... hiss, is it Dembélé?】

France and China are not in the same group, and as a favorite to win the championship, France had absolutely no need to spy on the Chinese team's training.

A crowd of detectives gathered in the comments section and quickly figured out the general situation.

One of the two arrested players must be Dembélé!

The reason is simple: fans familiar with Tang Ye all know that Ten Hag was once detained because of Tang Ye.

Tom carries a "jail" buff, so as Tom's friend, Dembélé naturally couldn't escape it either!

The identity of one person has already been confirmed.

So then...

Who is the other person who was arrested?

Moscow International front-page headline: The combined market value of the two arrested French team players is 230 million euros.

Fans: 6.

With two people totaling 230 million euros, there is only one combination in the entire French team that can add up to this value.

That is Kylian Mbappé at 120 million euros plus Ousmane Dembélé at 110 million euros, one on the left and one on the right, respectively the first and second most valuable players in the French team.

France Football front-page headline: If the news that Mbappé and Dembélé trespassed at the Chinese team's training base is confirmed, they may face detention and fines from the Moscow police. Additionally, the French team could be deducted points by FIFA.

Once the news from France Football came out, French fans panicked completely.

The World Cup finals haven't even started yet, and the French team is going to have points deducted?

If you deduct points from zero, doesn't that become a negative number?

But no need to panic!

In the view of the arrogant French fans, there was absolutely no need for them to study the Chinese team.

Mbappé and Dembélé could not have trespassed at the Chinese team's base!

The thought was nice, until a reporter released the video.

The camera angle was very far away, but the camera quality was excellent; after zooming in, everything could be seen very clearly.

It was a fence two meters high, bearing the "FIFA" logo of the International Federation of Association Football.

【Chinese National Team Training Base】

【Severe punishment for trespassing — Ministry of Internal Affairs, Moscow City, Russian Federation】

The scene was utterly calm until Dembélé appeared, sneaking around with Mbappé.

Their words were indistinct, but among hundreds of millions of football fans, there were surely masters of lip-reading, and their conversation was quickly translated.

"It can't be that bad; if we get caught, things will go wrong."

Mbappé pointed at the sign hanging on the railing.

"It's mainly because Tom hasn't replied to my text."

Dembélé shook his phone.

However, he did not receive the text message he was hoping for.

"We already agreed with Júnior (Neymar); it would be too embarrassing if we didn't bring Tom over."

Dembélé turned his head, wanting to check if anyone was around.

At this moment, the camera's horizon line clearly dropped a distance.

Obviously, the paparazzi photographer, afraid of being discovered, had bent down.

"Let's go, let's go, don't be afraid, Kylian, nothing will happen; we're not in the same group as China anyway."

Having said this, Dembélé first placed his phone on the other side of the railing, then grabbed the sign reading "Trespassers Will Be Heavily Fined" and climbed directly onto the railing.

"Hurry up, Kylian, there are no reporters here yet; once the fans and reporters arrive, we'll be in trouble. If we get photographed, big trouble will ensue."

"Phew!"

Mbappé exhaled a breath and climbed up after him.

Fans: 6

【Are we really going to get points deducted? Dembélé and Neymar probably just wanted to find Tom to play CS, but China happened to be training at that time—is that what this means?】

【What do you mean "happened to be training"? China arrived yesterday; of course they're training today. Dembélé is so stupid!】

【The French team is doomed!】

【Can't China save us? Our relationship with China should be pretty good; we even played a friendly match together a few days ago.】

……

Russia Today, 2018 FIFA World Cup Final Promotional Video.

"Battle of the Gods: Stars Descend Upon Moscow"

In this 4-minute-57-second video, Messi and Ronaldo, Tang Ye, Neymar, Mbappé, Griezmann... every star valued at over 60 million euros made an appearance.

FIFA showed great respect; in the video, Tang Ye's screen time was on the same level as that of Messi and Ronaldo.

Of course, this might also be because Tang Ye was relatively slow to run out and celebrate after scoring.

【Forget about the stars descending; France still has two "stars" stuck in a detention center. Can you hurry it up, damn it?】

……

PS: The second update will be out before 8 PM tonight; tomorrow we return to three updates per day.

(End of Chapter)