Chapter 12: Relationship is to treat guests to dinner ()

Popovich was surprised when he received a notice from assistant coach Porter asking him to arrange Chen Yingxiong into the weekend's youth league roster.

You know, the hero has been training with the team for two weeks, less than three weeks. In addition, he has no language understanding, so there is no way to talk about his tacit understanding with his teammates. Just let him play like this, what can he show?

Of course he knew what this requirement was for.

It must be Edward Carter wants to see Chen Yingxiong's strength to judge whether the player signed by his ex is capable of staying in the team. If he is not strong enough... he will rent him out, which is enough for the two-year contract expiration and no longer renews the contract. Chen Yingxiong will naturally get out.

But he thought it was completely unfair to use the competition to test Chen Yingxiong's strength so early.

To be honest, Popovich didn't have a good impression of Porter because of his "sneer".

He even suspected that the idea was made by the assistant coach. He wrongly accused Porter. Porter suspected Chen Yingxiong's strength, but the head coach Edward Carter came up with this idea.

"I can't agree with this." Popovich shook his head and shrugged. "He has only been joining the team for less than three weeks and has very little time to train with his teammates. As a center, he relies very much on the midfielder and has high requirements for tacit cooperation with his teammates. Now if you let him play, you can't see anything!"

Porter didn't agree with Popovich's words.

"If his strength is really as powerful as you said, then I think he can solve the game alone. Scoring goals alone shouldn't be a problem?"

Popovich treated Porter's words as a ridicule to him, and his face immediately collapsed.

He originally wanted to refuse directly, but then he thought... If Chen Yingxiong could really slap the old man in the face in the game, he really wanted to see the expression of this person at that time.

After two weeks of training, Popovich felt that he had a good understanding of Chen Yingxiong's heading ability. At the youth team level, his heading can be considered outstanding.

Zenit Youth Team is the first in the first group of the Russian 18-year-old Youth League. The team's defense line performed very well, and this defense line can also represent the highest level in this group of youth leagues.

However, during training, Chen Yingxiong was still repeatedly beaten with his head.

This should show Chen Yingxiong's header strength.

Thinking of this, Popovich nodded: "Okay, I will send him to the youth league on weekends, but I have the final say in the playing time."

As the youth training supervisor, he is not weak at all.

He has the final say in all matters of the youth team. I am the first to come and I will never miss you.

When Chen Yingxiong learned from head coach Popovich that he would play in the league on the weekend, he was surprised first, and then he was happy.

I'm going to play?!

Chen Yingxiong, who has only been in the team for less than three weeks, did not expect that his first official game would come so quickly. He originally thought that he would still practice with his teammates... Although he really wanted to participate in the game, the translation that the club promised to find for him was not in place, and the language communication was not smooth. His tacit understanding with his teammates was always a big problem.

Although he is still in good relationship with his teammates in the team now.

As a newcomer, he didn't act very low-key, on the contrary... he was very high-profile.

He was very active in the locker room. He couldn't speak Russian, so he spoke English and gestured. The most important thing was that Chen Yingxiong always kept his smile on his lips. He spoke loudly and was enthusiastic, and he was not at all disliked. This was particularly likable.

He doesn't mind joking about it, and he even jokes with others. He is a good person to get along with.

Although he abused his teammates before he even joined the team and was abused again during training, he was very smart and asked each teammate to solve the problem with a bottle of drink.

This kid is quite good at bribing people's hearts... This is the feeling of Popovich, a bystander. Sometimes he really doesn't look like an eighteen-year-old...

"Uh, I have a request, Mr. Coach..." Chen Yingxiong said to Popovich while being happy.

"Yeah, you said."

"That's right, can you please inform everyone... I'll treat you to dinner tonight!"

Popovich was stunned for a moment.

"Treat? Why?"

"Hehe, celebrate my selection in the weekend league roster!" Chen Yingxiong said.

"If you are selected, you will treat you? Then, will you treat you every day from now on?" Popovich was amused, for this reason...

"No, this is the first time. The first time is very important and very memorable. I want to invite everyone to have a meal to commemorate it!"

Popovich glanced at him - he didn't think Chen Yingxiong was really so simple to commemorate his first appearance on the roster.

This is his first time playing for the team. Before that, he and his teammates had not had enough tacit understanding on the court. He is a type of player who relies heavily on the cooperation of his teammates. If he does not have a good relationship with the players, he will not be able to show anything once he is isolated during the game...

Popovich felt that Chen Yingxiong must have made this decision for this consideration. But what surprised him was that he did not tell him what the weekend game meant to him, how did he know to perform well in the game?

Did he just use the youth team as a springboard from the beginning? Or did he think this way in every game - try to score goals and perform well?

Popovich did not go into the deeper, and after training, he announced the decision in public.

"Your supper is over, boys!" he pointed at Chen Yingxiong and said. "Our Chinese heroes plan to invite you to eat...his hometown dishes!"

"Oh?! Is this true? Coach!" Someone was shouting, his excitement was beyond words.

There are many Chinese restaurants in St. Petersburg, and now there are about 300, and it is still growing at a rate of two per month. But in St. Petersburg, there are only 5,000 Chinese people, and 3,000 of them are Chinese students. So many Chinese restaurants are definitely not just for Chinese people to eat, otherwise even if these 5,000 people eat in Chinese restaurants every meal, they will not be able to support so many Chinese restaurants.

In St. Petersburg, Chinese food is a favorite of more and more young people. After the improvement of Chinese food, it has become the favorite of many Russians.

Chen Yingxiong did not expect that the head coach would propose to have Chinese food...but he knew nothing about the local Chinese restaurants, so he looked at Popovich for help.

Popovich patted his shoulder: "Don't worry, I won't take you to high-end hotels like Beijing Hotels or Hong Kong Hotels, ha!"

The big red corridor columns in the hall are arranged in different places, and the big red lanterns are hung high. The fortune-hunting boy on the poster is smiling at you. Even the bar is decorated with traditional Chinese eaves and beams. It is really a restaurant in China. There may be few such decorations, but it can still attract Russians who have such a strong curiosity about Chinese culture.

Although this decoration style is no longer popular in China, when Chen Yingxiong saw these traditional Chinese elements, his eyes still felt hot - he missed home again. For more than half a month... No, it should be said that he has never eaten a Chinese meal in the past month. At the beginning, he thought it was quite fresh and delicious when he ate Western food. After eating too much, he realized that he still liked Chinese food the most...especially the home-cooked dishes cooked by his mother.

Refried beef, beef stewed with potatoes, rotten vermicelli, lung slices, fat intestines... Even the diving kimchi made by home is delicious.

Just thinking about it makes you drool.

But now looking at the "Chinese food" on the table, he didn't even drool at all.

Not everyone chooses to go out for dinner at night, and many of them will return to their homes. But today, all the Zenit Youth Team players gathered in this Chinese restaurant called "Ruilongju" and enjoyed Chinese food.

His teammates thought the Chinese food here was so delicious, but Chen Yingxiong was really unacceptable to these obviously improved "Chinese food" - it was too sweet and sour.

He held up his chopsticks and tasted every dish. He found that all the dishes were like this, so he gave up.

Most of the time he just drank beer - youth training coach Popovich did not come with him, they were all places where young people were there, and with him as a coach, everyone couldn't play, so he went home to have a meal very sensible - he was very happy to see his teammates eating.

Well... no matter what, his teammates were happy and his goal was achieved.

Popovich actually guessed well. Chen Yingxiong was not treating to the meal to commemorate the first time he was selected for the roster... It was just to use this excuse to enhance the feelings of the players and establish a good relationship with everyone - the relationship was already good before, but now we are further improving our relationship.

I had a good relationship before, but at least there was no conflict of interest. Now it's different. What if everyone just wants to show themselves desperately during the game and don't pass the ball to him? As the saying goes, "A man is soft-hearted and rude, and treat them to a meal by himself. At least during the game, I won't make things difficult for me, right? It's not too difficult for them to pass the ball to me, right?

Chen Yingxiong is making such a small abacus, but his teammates may not know. Anyway, someone treats to Chinese food and can drink as much as you want, and everyone is very happy.

The wine table is indeed a place that can enhance feelings. Soon a drunk teammate dragged Chen Yingxiong to chat. Although Chen Yingxiong could not understand the other party's Russian at all, he could guess what the other party said based on the other party's facial expressions, and then make the correct response...

"I tell you, hero... we didn't choose the 'Beijing Hotel' and showed mercy!" The drunk man was the team's main central defender Krotkov. When Chen Yingxiong showed his mighty sway in the air many times, he was a pitiful supporting role, Green Leaf.

But now I’ve drunk too much and can’t remember those grievances.

Seeing him hugging Chen Yingxiong, it was like two of them had known each other for ten years.

Chen Yingxiong couldn't understand Krotkov's words, so he could only smile and accompany him.

At this time someone came to help him.

"Are you Chinese?" A Mandarin with a clear Northeast accent sounded behind Chen Yingxiong. Chen Yingxiong, who had not heard Chinese for a long time, was now like he heard the sound of nature. He turned around and saw a middle-aged man standing behind the seat. He had yellow skin and dark hair, and a metal framed glasses, and looked quite elegant.

"Ah...ah, I, I am, of course I am! You, so are you?" Perhaps it was because I haven't spoken Chinese to anyone for too long, and Chen Yingxiong actually stuttered a little.

The man smiled: "I am the owner of this restaurant. The owner of the Chinese restaurant is of course Chinese!"

Chen Yingxiong was very excited when he met his compatriots in a foreign land. He quickly stood up and shook hands with the other party: "Good luck."

"Happy. My name is Ren Tianhua, from Harbin. Where are you?"

"Chen Yingxiong, from Chengdu."

After introducing himself, Ren Tianhua looked at the players of Zenit Youth Team who were eating well: "I heard from the waiter that many people came, but I was afraid that they would not be able to take care of them, so I came over to take a look. I didn't expect to see a compatriot in the crowd. To be honest, there are quite a lot of Chinese compatriots coming to me, but they are all repeat customers. You and I have never seen you before, haha!" Ren Tianhua has the unique generous and directness of the people of Northeast China.

Chen Yingxiong scratched his head: "I came to St. Petersburg three weeks ago... Today is my first time... Hi, the first time I have been to the city in more than two weeks."

"Oh? What are you doing? Go to college?"

"Uh, not... I'm here to play football."

Ren Tianhua was stunned for a moment.

He is not unaware of football. He is also very clear about the fact that there is a professional team in St. Petersburg. But he was unable to connect this professional football team with a Chinese for a while.

"Play football?" he asked.

Chen Yingxiong nodded.

"Professional?"

Chen Yingxiong continued to nod. His contract was indeed a professional contract, although the various treatments were only slightly better than those of ordinary youth teams... Thanks to the past few weeks, he could not go anywhere, so he could only take it in the dormitory and had no place to spend money. So except for the ones he used, the rest of his salary was transferred to his home to help pay off the debt. After all, the debt that his father borrowed for himself was so he could turn a blind eye to it and only care about his own pleasure?

Ren Tianhua laughed: "That's really a rare guest!" He pulled Chen Yingxiong out, and the two stood in front of the bar and started chatting. Chen Yingxiong was indeed a rare guest. His restaurant has received many Chinese guests, most of them tourists, and there are also Chinese students in St. Petersburg. But this is the first time he has received professional players from China.

"It must be a great level to sign a professional team!" asked Ren Tianhua.

"Hehe, that's OK!" No matter how modest he was on his lips, in fact, the fool could tell that he was not humble at all.

"Ha! Play well! Compete for the glory of our Chinese! Did you hear it? Do it well! Don't let those Russians underestimate us Chinese! Haha! OK! That's great. I didn't expect to meet Chinese professional players today..." Ren Tianhua laughed. "In this way, your consumption here today... is all free!"

Chen Yingxiong was surprised. He didn't say anything, but the boss was so enthusiastic, how could he be embarrassed? The people of Northeast China are indeed as enthusiastic as the legendary...
To be continued...