Plans and Variations

"If you could choose, which of the top five European leagues would you want to go to the most?"
During a break in the dribbling drill, Xu Jie asked with a smile.

On the pitch, between the two goals, Xu Jie had set up many obstacles.
He and Chu Xiaoran ran back and forth across the field.
The session focused mainly on basic skills like sudden acceleration, deceleration, and using the instep, toe, outer foot, and heel to dribble past obstacles.
Chu Xiaoran's forehead was beaded with sweat, and his breathing was much heavier than when they started.

He answered without hesitation, "Teacher Xu, the English Premier League, of course!"
"Is that even a question?"

His father was a fan of Chelsea, the Blues.
His grandfather was a fan of Manchester United, the Red Devils.
From childhood to now, the league he watched the most was the English Premier League.
As for other leagues like La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1, he hadn't watched them nearly as much combined.
Therefore, when he heard Xu Jie's question, Chu Xiaoran chose the Premier League immediately.
The influence of parents and grandparents on their children often happened unconsciously.

Xu Jie smiled and nodded, "The Premier League indeed has very high entertainment value."
England, as the birthplace of modern football, possessed unique advantages in this sport.
The pace, physicality, and impact of the Premier League were all top-tier among the five major leagues.
The matches often emphasized physical confrontation, without too many flashy tricks.
Just like in martial arts, every punch was solid, filled with the beauty of explosive power.
That was one of the main reasons why Premier League matches were so appealing.
La Liga leaned toward tactics, Serie A focused on defense, the Bundesliga prioritized attacking, while Ligue 1 was somewhat heavy.
The five major leagues each had their own charm.
But the entertainment value of the Premier League was undoubtedly at the very top.

"Then what if you had to choose a team?" Xu Jie asked again.

"Uh..."
This time, Chu Xiaoran hesitated.
The Premier League had many strong teams.
Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Leicester City...
Every team possessed formidable strength.
To ask him to choose one right away?

"Teacher Xu, isn't our progress a bit too fast?"
Chu Xiaoran smiled sheepishly, "I haven't even met a single scout yet, and you're already asking me to choose a team?"
"Aren't you overestimating me too much?"
Xu Jie valued him so highly that even he felt a bit embarrassed.
Sometimes he wondered, he had only heard of the God of Literature descending to the mortal realm, but he had never heard of a football star descending.
Could he really be a once-in-a-decade genius?

Xu Jie laughed heartily and said:
"Strategically, we must despise our enemies; tactically, we must take them seriously."
"Having you practice basic skills every day is the tactic."
"Having you daydream about which team to join is the strategy."
"You must have a favorite team, right? Don't you want to play there?"

Hearing Xu Jie's words, Chu Xiaoran thought seriously and replied, "Manchester United or Chelsea."
"That way, if I really get to play in Europe, maybe my dad and grandfather will finally make peace!"

Xu Jie smiled and nodded.
He asked this for another important reason: he planned to use the "Network Relationship Card."
Actually, he had thought about whether he should link directly with the president of UEFA.
That way, across the vast continent of Europe, the top five leagues, and prestigious clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, and AC Milan, he could establish connections everywhere.
But what left Xu Jie completely speechless was that when this thought crossed his mind, the system popped up a warning.
The higher the social status of the person linked by the "Network Relationship Card," the shallower the host's relationship with them would be.
In other words, linking with people of different social standings would yield different levels of relationship!

What a scam!
Linking with someone of equal status could directly make them life-and-death friends.
Linking with someone of vastly different status might only result in a casual acquaintance, or even just a one-time meeting!

Xu Jie was furious at the time.
When giving the card, this damn system didn't explain it clearly!
It actually divided the depth of the relationship based on the social status of the linked person?
What kind of system scams its host like this?

Then Xu Jie thought about it.
He had once been a member of the Dragon Nation's national team, so he wasn't a complete nobody in the sports world.
Compared to Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, his status probably wasn't that different?
Maybe just a little bit?
Because of this, Xu Jie asked Chu Xiaoran which team he wanted to join.
Some scouts only served one team.
But there were also those who acted like agents, working for multiple clubs.
Xu Jie's primary targets were naturally the top scouts in the industry!
For example, the one who had discovered the two legendary Ronaldos.
Or the veteran scout who had found talents like Lewandowski and Hummels for Dortmund.
...

After school, Zhou Yutong came to find Xu Jie, holding her textbooks, her face filled with joy.
"Teacher Xu, the children's enthusiasm for learning has improved tremendously."
"How did you do it?"
Just now during math class, as she lectured on the podium, almost all the students below were listening intently.
Was this still the Class 11/9 she used to know?
It was simply a miracle!
Xu Jie had only "stolen" her job for less than a week, and it already had such a magical effect?
She was truly curious!

"Take a guess?"
Xu Jie laughed heartily, putting the football back into the equipment room before walking toward the office.

"Hmph!"
Zhou Yutong stamped her foot in annoyance, following behind Xu Jie.
"Give me yesterday's math tests, I'll grade them."
She knew that currently in Class 9, besides math, the other academic subjects were still being taught by Xu Jie.
Since he was so busy, she would help ease his burden a little.
She didn't even know what had possessed her to actively help Xu Jie share the pressure.

Hearing that she wanted to help him grade the papers, the corners of Xu Jie's mouth curled up.
"Sure!"
"Then thank you, Teacher Zhou!"
He couldn't wait to see the expression on Zhou Yutong's face when she graded the tests.

Sure enough, it was just as Xu Jie expected.
During lunch, Zhou Yutong, with a look of utter shock, actively sought out Xu Jie's group.
Now, whenever Xu Jie had lunch, he was surrounded by the students of Class 9.
It looked like they were having a class party every single day.
This scene made the teachers and students of other classes eating on the third floor of the cafeteria look over.
In their eyes, every time they ate, the school's notoriously rebellious Class 11/9 looked like a triad gathering from the movie *Young and Dangerous*.
Xu Jie was tall and muscular, looking exactly like a mob boss.
The teachers and students of other classes kept a respectful distance, pointing and whispering.
People's inherent impressions of others couldn't be changed overnight.
But Xu Jie didn't care. Over time, everyone would witness the transformation of these kids.
When they achieved unbelievable results one by one, standing on the highest podiums of their respective fields, those who had once looked down on them would naturally realize how foolish they had been.

"Teacher Zhou, what's wrong? Why are you looking at me with that expression?"
Xu Jie smiled, asking despite already knowing the answer.
He naturally knew why Zhou Yutong had such a shocked expression.
But teasing a beautiful woman once in a while wasn't a bad thing!