Ye Chen's terrifying influence in China.
Ye Chen returned home just before midnight. As he opened the door, the television was playing highlights from the Dortmund vs. Dresden match… specifically, the replay of Ye Chen's goals.
However, Lina was asleep on the sofa.
On the coffee table in front of her were a bottle of red wine, glasses, and plates covered with lids.
There was also an exquisite white candle in the middle.
It seemed that Lina had prepared everything in advance for a special evening!
Ye Chen stepped lightly and closed the door quietly.
But just the subtle "click" sound caused Lina to slowly open her eyes…
"You're back!" Lina said, a radiant smile spreading across her face.
"Did I wake you with the sound of the door closing?" Ye Chen asked, a little apologetically. "You must be exhausted today, right?"
"It's all your fault! If you hadn't scored so many goals, I wouldn't have to scream so much!" Lina pouted and said with a touch of grievance.
"It's my fault, huh? Then next time, I'll score fewer goals!" Ye Chen teased.
"No, you score more! I'll be happy then!" Lina immediately replied, but after saying this, her face flushed with embarrassment. "Go wash your hands, I've prepared steak for you. You said you'd eat a little steak tonight!"
Ye Chen smiled and nodded. "Alright, I'll wash my hands, and we'll celebrate simply tonight!"
"Yay!"
Because of his strict dietary control, Ye Chen didn't eat anything outside of what his nutritionist recommended during the season.
Today, he had discussed with his nutritionist and made a few adjustments, which allowed for this steak dinner!
Of course, he couldn't drink wine, since he had training the next day.
Three days later, they would be traveling to Stuttgart in southwest Germany to challenge the 11th round of the away game.
Stuttgart was ranked fifth in the league after ten rounds, with three consecutive unbeaten games, and their form was excellent.
Last season, Dortmund had drawn and won against Stuttgart, and it was a tough opponent.
The main point was that it was another "Asian derby."
Stuttgart's star forward was Shinji Okazaki from Japan…
Ye Chen had just broken the historical record set by Yasuhiro Nakayama, and fans in Japan were in mourning.
So now, they were placing their hopes on Okazaki, and countless Japanese fans were flooding his Instagram with comments!
Ye Chen didn't know this, but honestly, he felt a bit sour.
After all, after spending a long time in the Bundesliga, you realize that there are a lot of Japanese and Korean players.
Not to mention Dortmund's core player Shinji Kagawa, and Son Heung-min from Hamburg, who was also a key player for his team.
And there was also Shinji Okazaki, as mentioned earlier…
Unknowingly, the foreign players had already established themselves in the Bundesliga, but the last player from China, Hao Junmin, who went to the Bundesliga, was just a substitute—no, he was more like a fringe player!
Given such a comparison, it was no surprise that the gap between the two sides was widening!
While Ye Chen washed his hands, Lina lit the candle she had prepared and poured the red wine into the glasses.
When she uncovered the plate, she found that the steak had already cooled down.
When Ye Chen returned after washing his hands, Lina quickly said, "Wait a moment, I'll reheat the steak!"
"No need to heat it up. It's fine; I'll just eat a bit. We have training tomorrow morning!" Ye Chen grabbed the steak and took a bite.
Lina looked at him expectantly. "So, how is it? Did I cook well?"
This was her first time cooking, and her nervousness was obvious.
In fact, while making the steak earlier, she even woke up her mom, who had already been asleep… she really put in a lot of effort!
"It's not as good as yours," Ye Chen winked and said.
Lina's face turned even redder, and she stuck out her tongue. "Hmph, if you keep teasing me like this, I won't talk to you!"
Ye Chen laughed and took another bite. "Alright, alright. I was just kidding! It's a little bland, but if you had added some black pepper sauce next time, it would be perfect… but I really like it. Thank you for preparing everything for me!"
"Really? Then I'll make it again next time!" Lina said, thrilled.
"Sure, but no wine tonight. We're playing against Stuttgart in three days, and I need to be in peak condition for the match!"
Lina immediately nodded. "Okay, I understand. Then I'll sleep in the guest room tonight."
"No need, I want to try sleeping while hugging you!"
Lina raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Can you really hold back?"
"Let's see…" Ye Chen smiled.
Honestly, if it weren't for the game against Stuttgart in three days, he would've definitely held a concert that night!
Let her sing for him!
...
Meanwhile, in China, it was already past 5 AM.
But the fans couldn't sleep.
They were chatting excitedly in the Dortmund fan forum!
The hottest topic wasn't "What do Ye Chen's female fans look like?" but rather "Who witnessed Ye Chen's record-breaking performance, come and leave your name!"
In just half an hour, the thread had over ten thousand replies…
Not only that, but the fans who had promised to buy jerseys were posting pictures of their purchases online.
In no time, the official website sold out of Dortmund jerseys!
Of course, they were all Ye Chen's jersey with his number printed on them. Other players' jerseys didn't sell as well.
This batch of jerseys had been printed just recently.
After Ye Chen became an official player, Dortmund had witnessed the terrifying purchasing power of Chinese fans.
The previous batch of 3,000 jerseys sold out in just one day, so this time, they printed over 10,000!
That alone amounted to over six million yuan…
But it still wasn't enough.
Puma's official website quickly responded, launching pre-sale jerseys…
However, the 20,000 pre-sale jerseys with Ye Chen's number sold out in just 10 minutes.
Helplessly, Puma had to release a statement saying that any further pre-sale would have to wait another half a month.
But the passionate fans said they were willing to wait!
So, Puma launched another pre-sale for 100,000 jerseys. In just an hour, 20,000 jerseys were sold again!
In just one night, 53,000 of Ye Chen's jerseys had been sold, and considering that printed jerseys were expensive—each costing at least 500 euros, or over 600 with a Champions League patch…
After breaking the record, Ye Chen's fans indulged in a shopping spree, and the jersey sales alone reached a staggering 30 million…
Was this Ye Chen's commercial value?
Even if some people might cancel their orders later, the sales would still exceed 25 million!
Puma made a fortune!
Of course, the explosive pre-sale in China also caught the attention of Puma headquarters, and they quickly held an emergency meeting to discuss Ye Chen's sales, working overtime at midnight…
The same world, the same pressure!
But the busiest place was still Weibo!
The post Ye Chen had made earlier went completely viral!
"From now on, Ye Ge is Ye Shen! YYDS (forever God)!"
"Ye Chen, born on September 16, 1994, at 17 years and 71 days old, created a Guinness World Record for five consecutive hat-tricks and 17 goals in five matches!"
"Ye Chen broke the Guinness World Record of 16 goals in four consecutive hat-tricks set by Japan's former national player Yasuhiro Nakayama in 1998! Ye Chen surpassed Nakayama in both the number of matches and goals! Ye Shen (Ye God) is born!"
"Leave your name after watching the match, witness Ye Chen's first five-consecutive hat-tricks!"
These posts were pinned at the top, and many excited fans were leaving their names.
"From today on, follow Ye Shen in the Bundesliga, wherever the sword points, that's where my heart follows!"
Of course, there were always some who praised and others who criticized—it's the constant cycle…
"Stop exaggerating, the last match was against Dresden, a second-division team. Even Evergrande couldn't beat them! If we had Gao Lin or Sman, we could score five goals too!"
"Don't mention Evergrande to me, thanks! No provoking wars!"
"Claiming a second-division team makes him a world-class star? Fans should have some dignity!"
"Shut up, don't you know what the Football Association says? He's just a negative-energy player. The future hope of Chinese football? Who's being disgusted?"
"Here comes the Football Association's lackey, brothers, charge!"
"The Red Army is not afraid of long expeditions, it's tough to qualify for the national team!"
"Chinese national football team's feet stink, they might as well go home and sell potatoes!"
"Are we back to the exciting national football bashing? I'll eat some sea cucumber to calm my nerves!"
...
Ye Chen's post turned into a battlefield, and the matter continued to escalate.
So much so that Ye Chen's conflict with the Chinese national team was brought up again.
Due to its large impact, even the General Administration called Liang Zhijun from the Football Association for a talk!
Wait a minute!
The chairman is Liang Zhijun, and the U17 head coach is Liang Kailai… Could there be another nepotistic relationship here?
Hmm, why "another"?