Chapter 77 — After the Rain Clears, Feeling Like I Can Do It Again
Jack shoved his daughter's pepper spray into his pocket and kissed his wife and daughter goodbye one by one.
He and his "comrades" would head south across a London where the temperature was only seven degrees: short-sleeved shirts on top, long trousers on the bottom, a mass "southern expedition."
Some twenty thousand or so "Jacks" would walk to Stamford Bridge.
Every London derby was like a "farewell to life" for the Jack family. Xia Qi thought it was over the top, but they took joy in it.
Football culture had already been woven into their blood; outsiders couldn't understand their happiness.
"Mm, mm..."
His phone vibrated.
A text: "I dreamed you scored last night."
Xia Qi was convinced Emma Watson had a bit of an interest in him, he just didn't know whether she was trying to stir up a bit of publicity or, like Cheryl, had actually fallen for him.
In Europe a football star's traffic rivaled that of a top entertainment celebrity — the classic example being David Beckham and the Spice Girls: the couple were traffic kings of their day.
Xia Qi felt a little wounded. Now he was Xia Pingzhi; Emma Watson had arrived two months early.
Xia Qi drafted a text: "Dreams are the opposite..." He was about to send it but thought it sounded too blunt, so he deleted it and rewrote: "For your dream, I'll definitely score."
But then he felt that sounded too flirty. Britain was relatively open-minded, but no — he couldn't let people know he was Xia Pingzhi.
So he deleted it again.
Women really did slow a man's draw.
...
The match hadn't started yet and both Emmas were already sitting in Chelsea's VIP box at Stamford Bridge.
"Has your little crush not replied to your message?"
Emma Watson sighed.
"What exactly do you like about him? Is he a little handsome? Hollywood is full of guys who look good but can't do anything…"
"Emma, you don't like football, you don't understand. If you saw him shoulder someone off, if you saw how he twists his waist in midair when he loses balance, if—"
"Stop. Today I want to see for myself…"
...
Arsenal's coach bus pulled up outside Stamford Bridge an hour before kickoff.
The sight outside the stadium was a sea of blue.
Only a handful of red-and-white Arsenal fans were mixed in.
When Chelsea fans saw the Arsenal bus arrive they all unfurled banners: "You will fail here," "Manchester United are champions!", "No one can double-up on us — The Great Blues."
"United are champions" — what the hell?
Xia Qi felt annoyed and missed Mourinho.
He drew an imaginary circle and cursed them: "Mourinho, come back soon. Your disciples have betrayed your oath; they've gotten close to the person you hated most. Come back and clean house."
Four months later, Xia Qi's curse came true, and from that day on he never dared to cast a casual curse again...
The end of science is superstition!
But that's later.
...
Wenger took Samuel Umtiti to a press conference while Xia Qi and the others warmed up.
Emma Watson, seeing Xia Qi warming up, stood specially on the VIP-box balcony outside. In an instant Xia Qi felt a chill.
He noticed his teammates' glances at him felt like knives.
"Me and her—"
"We know. You two are innocent!"
Xia Qi sighed. These days who believed the truth?
On the balcony, Emma Roberts saw that Xia Qi wasn't paying attention and curled her lips in displeasure. "Not impressive, no gentlemanly style at all."
"Darling, Xia Qi is like Messi with mild social anxiety."
"Then why don't you ask Messi out? He's got higher visibility."
"Messi's looks are inconsistent, and I'm not trying to create a stunt. I'm serious."
"Are you crazy? Your career is on the rise."
"But that feeling came over me. What can I do?"
"Crazy girl..."
...
"…Ladies and gentlemen, now I present the starting lineups. Chelsea in a 4-5-1 formation…"
Interesting — Wenger has changed formation. Arsenal will also play a 4-5-1 tonight. Point-counterpoint… (See author for exact lineup)
"Ding dong."
"Please choose 'Training' or 'Match' mode."
"Match."
"Please choose pitch position: A Forward, B…"
"A."
"Detected host situation, matching host with [Ultimate Strength] attribute."
"Manly charm comes from masculinity; masculinity comes from the expression of strength..."
Xia Qi felt a big problem was coming for Chelsea.
"Please choose 'Autonomous Mode' or 'One-Click AFK Mode.'"
"Tip: During AFK, the system will automatically complete all required actions."
"One-click AFK!"
"Easy AFK, one-click auto-complete — free your feet and bring a relaxed, joyful pitch experience! Match experience starting now."
Suddenly Xia Qi's whole bearing turned into CEO-level charisma.
A silent power filled his body. His fists didn't literally become pots of stone, but he felt like one man who could beat ten.
"Huh! Feel a few degrees more handsome."
"He really is handsome, right?"
"I like his serious look."
"Look at your lovesick face. Sister tells you, being handsome alone isn't enough…"
...
Lines, handshakes, coin toss...
Chelsea won the kickoff.
"Beep!"
"The match is underway. After the whistle Torres immediately passed back to Eden Hazard."
Wenger took this match very seriously and told the players frankly: tonight's lineup is a rehearsal for Bayern; players who perform well will start in the Champions League.
Who wouldn't give it their all?
After the whistle everyone surged forward like starving wolves.
Mario Balotelli was the fiercest; he charged at Hazard, who had the ball.
The dribbling wizard wouldn't be intimidated. Just as Balotelli rushed in, Hazard shifted the ball, did a Marseille turn, and Balotelli was left grasping at air.
Before Balotelli could recover, Hazard nudged forward and easily got past him.
But Hazard didn't have time to relish it. Suddenly his vision went dark — storm clouds overhead.
"Boom!"
A muffled bang!
He was knocked off balance and flew backward.
In the instant he was past, Xia Qi had come straight into him.
Beep! Beep!!
Xia Qi had dispossessed the ball and was about to sprint, but the referee blew the whistle to stop play.
Chelsea players charged at Xia Qi and surrounded him.
"Are you crazy?"
"What are you trying to do?"
Arsenal players pushed the Chelsea players back and formed a protective ring around Xia Qi.
In AI mode Xia Qi didn't answer; he simply stared coldly at the leader, John Terry.
Terry shivered inwardly and lowered his voice.
"Is this football?"
Emma Roberts said in surprise, "That boy doesn't look very big — how could he knock a guy a whole head taller flying through the air?"
"Very manly, right? His waist is strong — he can suspend himself even when off-balance."
"He's not your man, why are you so impressed?"
Live stream from Penguin:
"This opening is explosive; the London derby's intensity is maxed out. You can feel the gunpowder through the screen."
"But from the slow-motion replay, Xia Qi didn't foul — it was a misjudgment. He went for the ball and touched the ball first."
"Hazard wasn't lightly bumped; shouldn't Hazard be heavier than Xia Qi?"
Chat: [Coach Zhang, be bold; remove the 'maybe' and say it for sure.]
[This opening makes my blood boil. Tonight will definitely be a long drinking night.]
...
On the field,
Hazard got to his feet; he wasn't seriously hurt but was short of breath and looked shaken as he stared at Xia Qi.
A thousand questions churned in his head; he couldn't believe he'd been knocked over.
Forget it — the Premier League is terrifying. Maybe I should go someplace else to coast. With my "lucky healer" attribute it's easy to find a comfortable job.
The referee didn't issue a card; he just warned Xia Qi.
Although Hazard was fine, the tone of the match had been set — dark clouds, eyes closed!
Ramires took the restart. He glanced at Torres in the box and didn't loft the ball in; he passed to Juan Mata and ran forward himself.
Mata received it and began to bulldoze forward.
Jack Wilshere stepped up to intercept; after a wall pass between Mata and Ramires the ball was nudged forward, then struck with the outside of the boot.
Instantly the ball spun wildly toward Arsenal's penalty area.
"What a ball. Mata's vision is wide; he saw Torres."
Inside Arsenal's box,
Torres, jogging forward, seemed to have eyes in the back of his head and saw Mata's pass.
At the instant Mata played, Torres accelerated, ripping past Samuel Umtiti.
Torres,
successfully onside!
After breaching the defense, he glanced at the ball, adjusted slightly, and launched himself.
In the air his body arched back; as the ball came his leaning head snapped hard into it.
"The lion's headbutt!"
"Beautiful header."
The ball flew like a bolt toward the goal.
Roberto Di Matteo on the touchline saw the arcing ball and it looked destined for the net.
Such speed,
such a wicked angle,
this looked almost certain.
Di Matteo leapt from the coaching area, ready to celebrate with his players.
After so many losses, in this instant, the rain cleared and he felt alive again.
Meanwhile Arsène Wenger sighed with disappointment; conceding so early made the game hard to play.
A moment later,
their expressions swapped.
People's joys and sorrows don't connect...
All because,
in front of the goal Emiliano Martínez made a world-class save — he pushed the ball away.
"Ah!"
"World-class save! That was definitely world-class!"
"A header that close and that fast leaves the goalkeeper almost no reaction time."
"Martínez managed to parry it — that's the reflex of years of training."
"Thought this 21-year-old keeper might be Arsenal's weakest link, but he turned out to be a rock."
On the pitch,
after the divine save Emiliano Martínez rose and pounded his chest, roaring like a titan.
The Arsenal defenders all rushed to him and ruffled his hair hard.
Umtiti hugged Martínez and kept rubbing his head, snarling, "How are you so good? How are you so good? You're amazing, do you know that?"
That miraculous save lifted morale even more than a goal might have.
"Tonight Chelsea prepared well. There's not much intricate passing; they quickly go toward the goal to find openings."
"Di Matteo is using almost the same lineup as last time, but Mata isn't out wide; he's playing as an attacking midfielder. His front organization is simple: Hazard and Ramires break on the wings to stretch Arsenal's defense, creating single-player breakthrough chances for Torres, then play it to Torres."
"The tactic is simple. If Torres can break through the middle, it's deadly."
Soon after, Chelsea had the first corner.
Mata swung in from the left; Umtiti headed it clear from the box and Arsenal launched a counterattack.
The ball was moved quickly — Arsenal played one-touch as if whoever took a touch lost possession.
This sequence showed echoes of the invincible Arsenal of old.
Xia Qi, like Pires of old, took on an entire flank alone. When Branislav Ivanović called a teammate up to help, Xia Qi suddenly played a diagonal pass. The ball landed precisely in an empty area to the right of the goal.
Space!
How could there be a gap by the right side of the goal?
Chelsea players were startled and rushed for the ball.
But Mario Balotelli, ready as a cheetah, burst out of the crowd.
A cold silence swept over Stamford Bridge — the Chelsea fans held their breath.
David Luiz positioned himself between Balotelli's run and the goal.
But in Balotelli's world, ordinary people didn't understand.
Balotelli clipped the ball to the right foot and forced his way into the narrow gap between David Luiz and the post.
David Luiz hadn't expected Balotelli to enter that tiny space. Panicked, he stretched a leg out to trip him.
Halfway through the stretch, David Luiz regretted it — he worried he'd concede a penalty.
But Balotelli didn't barrel through. He slammed on the brakes!
With a tap of his heel,
the ball rolled backward.
The late run from Xia Qi at the far post was the killer move!
Seeing that Xia Qi was about to strike the ball, Ivanović lunged at him without thinking.
Xia Qi took a touch to steady himself and Ivanović clattered into him.
Then, as though staged, Ivanović tumbled in the box.
"Foul!"
Chelsea and Arsenal fans shouted in unison — but they were pointing at different people.
The referee ignored it.
Xia Qi was only slightly affected, momentarily delayed, and then shaped his left foot to the ball.
That fraction of a beat mattered.
Petr Cech shifted an extra step across his goal line — that step let him stretch a fingertip to push the ball out over the line.
Six minutes in, both sides had come within a hair's breadth of scoring.
The teams were evenly matched; tonight was destined to be a fierce battle!
(Late update tonight.)
Arsenal: 4-5-1
Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martínez
Defenders: Kieran Gibbs, Samuel Umtiti, Per Mertesacker, Carl Jenkinson
Midfield: Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta, Xia Qi, Jack Wilshere, Theo Walcott
Forward: Mario Balotelli
Chelsea: 4-5-1
Goalkeeper: Petr Cech
Defenders: David Luiz, Branislav Ivanović, John Terry, Ashley Cole
Midfield: Frank Lampard, John Obi Mikel, Juan Mata, Ramires, Eden Hazard
Forward: Fernando Torres
(END CHAPTER)
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