Chapter 402: The Tang Ye Bible: The Birth of 2018's First Love Song

"Tom!"

"Stalin!"

"Stalin Ura!"

As the Chinese team's bus drove into the training ground, local Moscow fans trailed along both sides of the vehicle.

After the match against Germany, Tang Ye had won the affection of many Russian fans, who consequently dubbed him the "Living Stalin."

Few people managed to stop Germany in Moscow, and Tang Ye was one of them.

"Thank you, thank you all!"

Tang Ye high-fived the fans, whereupon one supporter produced a Chinese national team No. 10 jersey, purchased at great expense, and gestured for Tang Ye to sign it.

"Can you sign it as 'Stalin'?"

"Huh?"

Tang Ye craned his neck: "What? What did you say?"

"Can you sign it as 'Stalin', Tom? I want a unique autograph, thank you."

The local fans were very polite, but this request was truly too much.

Hmm...

After a moment's thought, Tang Ye finally wrote Dembélé's name on the jersey: "No need to thank me, brother."

"Here."

Tang Ye prepared to walk back to the bus to retrieve his forgotten backpack, but Zhang Zhang Yuning had already fetched it for him.

"Oh, thanks, Brother Zhang Yuning."

"They keep shouting 'Stalin'..."

Zhang Zhang Yuning pointed toward the gathering of Russian fans nearby.

Although he didn't understand Russian, since personal names are merely phonetic transliterations, the players knew exactly what the local fans were shouting.

"I can't help it."

"I've said I don't know any Stalin."

Tang Ye hung his head: "But I do know Sterling; if they're looking for Sterling, I can give them his contact information."

"..."

"Go, go, go!"

Shouting loudly, Tang Ye immediately played a direct through-ball to Wu Lei near the baseline; the latter dribbled inward toward the center and then calmly slotting the ball into the near corner.

Goalkeeper Yan Yan Junling simply had no time to make a save.

"Haha, Brother Lei!"

Tang Ye ran over and high-fived Wu Lei.

After the match against Germany, the entire Chinese men's football team seemed transformed; Zhang Zhang Yuning and Zhang Zhang Xizhe, who had previously appeared somewhat constrained on the field, now played with ferocity.

And, of course, the crucial Wu Lei!

Today, after resuming training, Tang Ye clearly felt that his coordination with Wu Lei had improved.

To be honest, if the national team were to play Germany again in their current form, Tang Ye estimated he would lead his teammates to a two-goal victory over Germany.

This was no joke!

"Brother Lei, aiming for the top corner works very well; I'm not lying to you."

Tang Ye shared some shooting experience with Wu Lei: "When coming from that position, striking for the top corner is very effective, better than a simple push shot."

Wu Lei stood with hands on hips, gazing at the goal ahead.

"The top corner is hard to hit... it's easy to miss."

"Mm, it depends on the situation; if you can pull it off, I think aiming for the top corner is better. Those goalkeepers love defending the near corner, but the top corner is difficult to strike, so basically no one watches for it."

Having said this, Tang Ye and Wu Lei walked near the center circle, where Tang Ye lofted the ball from the ground and immediately delivered an aerial long pass.

"Don't dive for this one!"

Tang Ye shouted toward Yan Yan Junling.

The ball soared directly into the dead corner at the top right of the goal.

"That's about how it's done."

Wu Lei:...

Training concluded, and Lippi gathered the players together to briefly discuss the upcoming match against Senegal.

Before the match against Senegal, the national team had nearly a week to adjust; while time was relatively ample, to be honest, for the national team players this might not be good news.

A week's time, and by then the momentum gained from beating Germany would have completely dissipated!

"I've glanced at the match recordings, the recordings of Senegal's matches. Hmm..."

Just as expected, Lippi spoke very slowly, which was a problem that gave Tang Ye a severe headache.

He was already prone to zoning out; if he didn't listen carefully this time, he would have absolutely no idea what Lippi was talking about.

"Senegal will not be easier to play than Germany; in fact, I think it will be much harder. In their match against Sweden, Senegal played very well; at least judging solely by the previous round, Senegal appears considerably stronger than Germany."

Lippi spoke briefly, then stepped aside.

The detailed explanation was left to Madaloni.

Madaloni explained Senegal's playing style and characteristics to the players, specifically highlighting several distinctive individuals.

"For the next match, we have two key points!"

Madaloni held up two fingers: "First is the wings; this is the most critical. We need to withstand the charge of their forwards. In this afternoon's training, we will focus specifically on this. Marcello has arranged for a local team with sufficiently fast wingers to help us simulate match conditions."

"Then, the second point..."

Madaloni looked left and right, finally locating Tang Ye standing behind Zhang Zhang Yuning.

"And there's also Tom."

"Uh..."

Zhang Zhang Yuning stepped aside to make room, leaving Tang Ye facing Madaloni directly.

"May I ask you a question, Tom?"

"Oh, certainly, Mr., as long as it's not a question I can't answer, I can answer it."

"What are the rules for yellow card suspensions in the World Cup?"

"..."

The rules for yellow card suspensions in World Cup matches are something even some fans would know.

But for Tang Ye, who actually plays on the pitch, this question was indeed somewhat difficult.

"Well, Mr., this is a question I cannot answer..."

"I guessed as much."

Madaloni chuckled.

It was in Tang Ye's nature never to bother seriously learning these rules.

"Two yellow cards mean suspension for the next match; there are three matches total in the group stage. If you receive a yellow card in the match against Senegal, you won't be able to play in the match against Sweden."

Madaloni pointed out the crucial part.

The knockout stage was still too distant for the current national team, so it wasn't worth considering.

The three crucial group stage matches.

Tang Ye was planned to play the full duration of every match, a decision made before the World Cup began.

If Tang Ye received a yellow card in the match against Senegal, the national team might as well book their flights home immediately.

"I don't actually receive many yellow cards, do I? I play quite cleanly, don't you think, Mr.?"

Tang Ye recalled; in his memory, he indeed hadn't received many yellow cards.

"In the last match, you were at risk of receiving a second yellow card at any moment."

"... Let's not count the match against Germany, though; that one was mainly because they went too far."

"So you think the upcoming matches will be easy for you?"

Madaloni gave a meaningful smile, making Tang Ye suddenly feel a bit nervous.

Yes.

The group draw had been completed last December.

The World Cup participating teams had a full six months to study their three group stage opponents.

Would Senegal and Sweden not know how to target Tang Ye?

"Damn..."

Thinking of the playing style of African teams, Tang Ye's face turned somewhat pale.

"I'm not going to be treated like a ball, am I..."

"Hmm, I think that's likely."

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: After receiving permission from the Chinese team, FIFA released the locker room camera footage from the China vs. Germany match. (62,342 comments)

The video was quite long, totaling nearly four minutes.

Right from the start, Tang Ye was seen slumped on a bench, leaning against a cabinet and spreading his hands toward Madaloni.

"This has nothing to do with form; I wanted to say this earlier."

"During the match, I told you we could attack, but you just kept nodding, nodding away, yet still passed the ball back and forth in our own half, never moving forward..."

"You were clearly capable of passing forward and linking up with me, so why wouldn't you pass forward?"

By this point, the fans watching had already stood up.

Yet this was merely the beginning.

"Always defending, always defending. Even a scrub like Özil can play offensively, but I'm stuck playing defense? Am I worse than him, that I have to keep playing defense?"

【6】

【I thought Lippi had manifested his divine power, but it turns out Tang Ye activated his godhood.】

【"Even a scrub like Özil can play offensively"】

【Haha, I've watched this twenty times already, bros; I can't stop.】

【Holy crap, is no one daring to make a sound?】

【GGBond is actually this fierce? I truly didn't expect that.】

【Let's be honest: do those three German midfielders combined have as much impact as Tang Ye alone?】

This was the "Tang Ye Bible"; some genius had apparently extracted the audio from this video and uploaded it to QQ Music.

Still, it made sense; over three minutes was about the length of a song.

QQ Music song popularity rankings.

1. "Tang Ye Bible," Artist: Tang Ye.

2. "Little Hero, Big Belly," Artist: Zhou Youge.

3. "Beyond the Light Year," Artist: G. E. M.

4. "Learn to Meow," Artists: Xiao Panpan, Xiao Fengfeng.

Tang Ye Bible?

Fans who clicked in due to the hype to listen to the song were completely bewildered.

Just one person talking to himself, yet topping the entire internet's song popularity charts?

"What kind of celebrity has such massive status that even QQ Music has to show respect?"

"Hey, don't say it, this status is truly something G. E. M. can't compare to; one really has to admit defeat here."

"Asking for those who don't know: between Tang Ye and G. E. M., who has higher status?"

"Forget about Tang Ye for now; let's take down 'Little Hero Big Belly' first."

Moving quickly, Bilibili football content creators collaborated to merge footage from the second half of the China-Germany match with "The Tang Ye Bible," producing a music video for "The Tang Ye Bible."

Thus, this song was officially born.

"The Tang Ye Bible."

Original singer: Tang Ye.

Lyricist: Tang Ye.

Composer: Tang Ye.

Release date: Early morning, June 18, 2018.

Song genre: Love song (emotional expression).

MV cast: Chinese National Men's Football Team, German National Men's Football Team, German Deputy Chancellor, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chinese Ambassador to Russia, FIFA President, CFA President, CFA Vice President.

Artist agency: Chinese National Men's Football Team.

Recording: Russian Federation World Cup Committee, FIFA Match Supervision Department.

"The full-back keeps telling me to go; how am I supposed to go?"

"Am I worse than him that I'm always playing defense?"

……

"The Tang Ye Bible" wasn't just available in Mandarin; fans also translated it into twelve different languages.

Among them, the English translation was titled "Tom's Chant," meaning Tang Ye's chant.

The song briefly surged to number one on YouTube, forcing Tang Ye to issue a statement on social media declaring he would not pursue any liability against the creators.

"Damn, they are geniuses!"

Looking at the Bilibili guichu version of "The Tang Ye Bible" on his phone, Tang Ye himself widened his eyes.

The editor of these videos had actually found scenes in the second-half match that corresponded perfectly with the lyrics.

The lyrics and match footage matched completely; when mentioning "that trash Özil," the screen showed exactly the moment Özil made a mistake and was tackled by Feng Feng Xiaoting.

"Haha, you're late; I saw this last night."

Walking over with a food tray, Wu Lei guessed from the sound what Tang Ye was watching.

"If I became a video blogger, I'd definitely starve to death."

Placing his phone on the table, Tang Ye took a bite of the fried noodles in his bowl.

One advantage of playing for the national team is having a dedicated Chinese chef, so there's no need to eat those tasteless British foods anymore.

"Starve to death? Why?"

"I definitely couldn't make videos like this; it's too exaggerated, damn it."

Tang Ye marveled at the creativity of the netizens.

In Tang Ye's view, the creator of this video was the GOAT of Bilibili's guichu section!

While eating his own food absentmindedly, he suddenly noticed Wu Lei next to him watching match recordings of Senegalese players.

"Hmm, not bad, Brother Lei."

"Haha, no big deal; I'm just checking out their defenders' situations."

The match against Germany had filled Wu Lei with overflowing confidence; he also wanted to score in the World Cup finals just like Tang Ye!

But that was absolutely not an easy task.

Wu Lei needed to grasp the characteristics of the Senegalese defenders and then devise targeted strategies!

"I also watched the video he (referring to Lippi) gave last night, but I only watched half before going off to play games. However, I did put in some overtime; I played matches using the Senegal lineup."

"I basically have every player, including Zidane and those others," Tang Ye said proudly.

"So, what did you figure out?"

As soon as Wu Lei finished speaking, the attention of all the Chinese football players at the table focused entirely on Tang Ye, making the latter feel somewhat awkward.

"For Senegal, I only know Mané; he's quite formidable. As for the others... hiss, I'm not very familiar, but I feel their team's base stats are all pretty high; one press of the sprint button and they run incredibly fast."

Currently, Senegal's world ranking was 21st, a gap far more than slight compared to China's 54th.

A gap at this level involved player stats.

"Senegal, they're all stat monsters!"

Tang Ye said quietly.

Wu Lei and Zhang Zhang Yuning remained silent, looking at Tang Ye in unison.

Senegal was a stat monster.

Then what were you?

GGBond.

……

The Paper News: One week after the World Cup kicked off, Yiwu exported 1,500 GGBond costumes to Russia.

"After the national football team confirmed their World Cup qualification last October, we started preparing; we also prepared some GGBond pendants, GGBond keychains, and similar products. Judging by the pre-order volume, these products should be quite successful."

【Shop owner Ms. Wang】

【Yiwu International Trade City】

While nodding, the reporter expressed appreciation for the business acumen of the people of Yiwu.

"We also made some books."

"Making a book?"

The landlady's words made the reporter's eyes widen.

"Yes, the 'Tang Ye Bible.' We've produced many language versions; they should be nearly finished now, and we're preparing to sell the first batch."

"Exactly. We used that kind of scripture for the cover, and the content inside consists of the things Tang Ye said. Hmm, I think a bible should be just like this."

"..."

Reporter: 6

PS: Regarding updates, my internet addiction has been acting up lately, making me feel terrible... but I will do my best to make up the extra chapters promised for monthly votes.

(End of Chapter)