With China's massive population and vast territory, it can be said to already form a world, a colossal football empire！ Defeating South Korea, defeating Saudi Arabia, qualifying for the World Cup, reaching the round of 16... Can these small goals really satisfy the Chinese world's appetite for football？ Far from enough！
What I want is a powerful football empire capable of standing up to all of Europe and the Americas！ No money？ I'll give it to you！ A hundred million dollars？ Too little？ Then a billion！
——Ye Wudao's remarks as China entered the World Cup finals for the second time in 2006
Receiving a lofted through ball over the top from Jiang Yiyan, Ye Wudao showed explosive power and speed, shaking off all defenders and charging into the penalty area. The three defenders from the high school division, plus the aggressive Zheng Yan, immediately closed in to block. But instead of the usual approach—a direct chip shot, a leftward change of direction, or cutting horizontally across the right to dribble past the goalkeeper for an open goal—Ye Wudao made an unconventional sudden stop, then executed four wide, wheel-like step-over moves with strong upper-body leans left and right—the same "step-over" trick Jiang Yiyan had just used！ The result: Zheng Yan was floored, the others were fooled, and Ye Wudao easily slotted in from the left for an open goal. The entire goal gave a feeling of "natural" and seamless smoothness.
All the students of Mingzhu Academy's middle school division went wild. This was simply a football feast—not only did it give the ever-arrogant high school football team a harsh lesson, but it also treated everyone to a high-quality match. Perhaps they, unlike the football coaches, couldn't fully grasp the true weight of those goals, but such fancy dribbling and shots were always a delight to watch. The charm of football needs no words to explain！
Then, while acting as a sweeper at the back, Ye Wudao cleanly intercepted the ball from an opposing attacker, sprinted the full length of the pitch, suddenly performed a 360° drag-back turn in midfield, spinning his body past a defender, and pulled off the legendary "Marseille Roulette"—a flashy, skillful dribbling move to beat the man. Then, he curled a perfectly weighted instep shot with his right foot that sailed over the heads of all the defenders, sending a junior high forward who had overlapped in behind racing through on goal with just the keeper to beat. But the kid, probably too nervous, completely whiffed on the shot.
Ye Wudao patted the trembling, head-lowered teammate who was apologizing to him in panic and laughed. "Good job! You were the only one on the pitch who saw what I was planning—your positioning was spot on! A striker missing a shot isn't a big deal; just score two and you're even!"
While Ye Wudao was busy winning hearts and minds, both goalkeepers were thoroughly pissed off. The senior high keeper thought that bastard Ye Wudao had made his life a living hell—scoring two or three goals would've been bad enough, but he had to let some nobody humiliate him too. The junior high prodigy keeper, on the other hand, was bitter about having nothing to do, loafing against the goalpost, just short of cracking open some sunflower seeds. To be honest, if they had a deck of cards, the three junior high defenders plus him could've just played a casual game.
Ye Wudao found it amusing watching his relaxed defenders and goalkeeper at the back.
Then the "battle" rapidly escalated. Under Zheng Yan's constant egging on, the senior high team stepped up their physical play; after all, with the school board chairman's son covering their backs, who cared? Besides, getting trashed by a bunch of junior high punks was a total blow to their pride. Jiang Yiyan had the ball stolen from him four or five times due to malicious collisions, and Ye Wudao was their "special treatment" target. If he weren't as slippery as an eel, he'd have ended up in the hospital long ago.
Finally got the ball, a furious Ye Wudao let out a low cold laugh. Looking at the high school player whose action was definitely worthy of a yellow card, he dribbled slowly. One guy who tried to knock Ye Wudao flying was instead knocked back himself, stumbling several times and nearly falling flat on his face. Ye Wudao just kept bumping them off one by one, and when he reached outside the penalty area in front of Zheng Yan, he pulled back and unleashed a furious shot, scaring Zheng Yan into quickly crouching down with his head covered. Having witnessed Ye Wudao's kicking power, he couldn't imagine what would happen if that ball hit him.
The strong downward spin made the ball look like it was clearly going out of the field, but suddenly it dropped mid-flight and went straight into the goal. This kind of 'falling leaf' goal was erratic and unpredictable, and it even gave the unlucky goalkeeper a dizzying sensation.
"Falling leaf ball！" Jiang Yiyan and the backfield goalkeeper shouted at the same time. Using the three toes on the outside of the left foot to kick the middle of the ball—in Brazil, this technique is called the 'three little toes.' The ball first goes high and then drops sharply. Brazilians call a ball with such a large curve a 'falling leaf ball."
After scoring the goal, Ye Wudao made an extremely arrogant contemptuous gesture toward all the high school players on the field. This move drew cheers from a large number of spectators off the field, while those high school players were burning with anger that wouldn't subside. At this moment, Ye Wudao poured fuel on the fire by spitting at Zheng Yan, the unruly little tyrant in this school.
Zheng Yan's handsome face twisted into a terrifying snarl. He said coldly, "Fuck！ I've been putting up with your shit for too long. Was going to come for you in a few days, but didn't expect you'd deliver yourself to my doorstep！ Beat him to death—whoever breaks this bastard's leg gets ten thousand, an arm twenty thousand, and if you kill him, I'll take the responsibility！"
Upon hearing Zheng Yan give the kill order, the high school team members, who had been simmering with anger, one by one cracked their knuckles and moved toward Ye Wudao, still looking like a slacker thug. A brawl was about to break out. Would this become another campus violence incident doomed to have no 'consequences' and just fizzle out？ Many watched the situation unfold with a 'let's see how this plays out' attitude, along with those already impressed by Ye Wudao's football skills, worried that he might be beaten into a cripple by Zheng Yan, a spoiled rich kid with a long list of crimes.
Many had only heard of the infamous name 'Ye Wudao' and had no idea that the guy who played awesome football on the field but was about to face misfortune was actually Ye Wudao. If they knew, they would probably be even more eager to witness the 'ultimate showdown' between the two 'trash' young masters of Mingzhu Academy.
Wu Nuanyue was the first to rush to Ye Wudao's side, glaring hostilely at those who had almost lost their minds. Murong Xuehen struggled for a long time before breaking free from her friends' restraints and reaching Ye Wudao. Surprisingly, Jiang Yiyan also stood by his side, without panic or fear, only the same pride and contempt as Wu Nuanyue.
Unexpectedly, besides Jiang Yiyan, two other members of the junior high football team chose to stand with Ye Wudao at the critical moment instead of running away. One was the goalkeeper who had rushed over from the backfield, and the other was the forward who had received Ye Wudao's brilliant pass. Though his face was somewhat pale, he was still much better than those who had already hidden away. This pleased Ye Wudao, suggesting that the football department should be a key development direction for him in the future.
Just as the two sides were about to come to blows, the cold, stunning beauty who had been standing courtside ran over and handed her phone to Zheng Yan. As Zheng Yan took the phone with a puzzled expression, she cast a seemingly casual glance at Ye Wudao, who remained completely calm. In her eyes, there was no longer the scorn and coldness from when she first saw him, but curiosity and a hint of admiration.
Zheng Yan put down his phone and glanced at the stands where only a few people remained. The utterly aloof and handsome young man with a crew cut nodded. Zheng Yan set down his phone, glared fiercely at Ye Wudao, and snarled, 'Next time, it won't be as lucky as today！ From now on, I'll beat you every time I see you！' With that, he led his men out of the stadium. The little beauty who looked like Karena Lam turned back and stared at Ye Wudao several times.
Ye Wudao watched the second young master of Pearl Academy, who controlled nearly three hundred people there, a hint of amusement flickering in his eyes—not gratitude, only gloom.
(I originally planned to finish a soccer novel, but the more I wrote, the more discouraged I became. Chinese football is just too disappointing—it even made my imagination impossible. So I had no choice but to 'gloriously' pull the plug. Deep apologies here！！！)