Chapter 9

Zhou Yi was pulled by Yang Mugē and ran all the way to a three-story building painted white. It looked exactly like the building he had just reported to. If it weren't for Yang Mugē pulling him, he would have thought he had run in a circle and returned to the starting point.

"Is this the dormitory?" he asked, looking at the building in front of him.

"Yes," Yang Mugē nodded. "Which room are you in?"

Zhou Yi took out his room card from his pocket and looked at it. "204."

Then he asked Yang Mugē, "What about you?"

"I'm in the same room as Sun Pan, the tall guy you just met. He's the goalkeeper, so he's tall," Yang Mugē introduced.

Zhou Yi looked up at Yang Mugē. "You're not short either."

Yang Mugē smiled shyly.

"Thanks a lot just now. I'm Zhou Yi," Zhou Yi extended his hand to Yang Mugē.

"You're welcome. We're teammates, so we should get along well. I'm Yang Mugē," Yang Mugē responded warmly.

Zhou Yi really liked this new teammate. He was kind and warm-hearted.

At that moment, Sun Pan walked over with a swagger. Seeing the situation, Yang Mugē went up to him and asked, "Where's Guo Nu?"

"He's gone," Sun Pan replied.

"Did you guys fight?" Zhou Yi asked, concerned.

"Ha! What kind of person do you think I am? That kid wouldn't dare touch me. He should look at my size! How stupid would he be to cause trouble for me?" Sun Pan proudly showed off his muscles, though he didn't really have much, but his height made him quite intimidating. Zhou Yi had estimated that Guo Nu was about the same height as him, and he had to look up to see Sun Pan, so Guo Nu must have been about the same height.

Then Sun Pan extended his hand. "I'm Sun Pan, from the northeast."

Zhou Yi nodded and shook his hand. "I can tell, you sound just like Zhao Benshan."

"Hey, not the same, not the same. He's from Tieling, I'm from Shenyang. He's from a big city, ha ha!" Sun Pan laughed, his voice loud and cheerful, fitting Zhou Yi's stereotype of northerners.

After laughing, Sun Pan said, "That Guo Nu is also our teammate, but he's quite... insecure." Sun Pan carefully chose this word. "Because he looks old and isn't handsome, he's very sensitive about his appearance. Of course, it's hard for someone as handsome as us to understand his feelings..."

He also combed his hair.

Zhou Yi found Sun Pan to be very enthusiastic and... talkative.

However, he didn't mind Sun Pan's talkativeness. It was interesting, and being able to chat was not a problem. As the saying goes, "When you meet a true friend, a thousand cups of wine are not enough," meaning that if you really get along, even a thousand words would seem too few.

Sun Pan continued, "...and he has another taboo. He stutters a bit when he's nervous, and he hates it when people make fun of his stutter. Actually, he speaks normally most of the time, but he stutters when he's emotionally agitated. Just be careful about this when you interact with him. He can get very explosive, like a bomb. On the first day of joining the team, someone laughed at him when he stuttered during his self-introduction, and he turned around and hit them..."

Zhou Yi was stunned—fighting with a teammate on the first day, this guy's temper was indeed not ordinary... It seemed his luck was good today, meeting Sun Pan and Yang Mugē at a crucial moment.

"If it weren't for our head coach suppressing the incident, Guo Nu might have been kicked out of the team. So now everyone keeps their distance from him, no one wants to interact with him."

"Actually, he's quite pitiful," Yang Mugē interjected. "He's all alone, so his personality has become more isolated."

Sun Pan immediately criticized, "A pitiful person must have something hateful. You're too soft, a pushover!"

Yang Mugē, criticized by Sun Pan, didn't get angry. He just smiled and didn't argue with Sun Pan.

"Let's go, I'll check out your dorm," Sun Pan said to Zhou Yi.

"Okay," Zhou Yi nodded.

So the two of them escorted Zhou Yi to his dorm. Along the way, Sun Pan's mouth didn't stop, like a machine gun.

But thanks to him, Zhou Yi learned a lot about the team.

For example, before he arrived, the team had already been training for almost a week, but Sun Pan said not everyone was there. Besides Zhou Yi, there was one more person who hadn't arrived.

Zhou Yi curiously asked who that person was, and to his surprise, Sun Pan huffed, clearly unhappy, "He's a big star, so it's normal for him to arrive late and be the last one."

He seemed reluctant to mention that person and quickly changed the topic.

The three of them walked through the long corridor of the dormitory building and arrived at the dormitory door. Zhou Yi took out his room card and swiped it to open the door. He entered the dormitory and put down his luggage. Sun Pan was about to leave, and he patted Zhou Yi's shoulder, speaking in a tone that sounded like a big brother from the northeast sitting at a barbecue stand, with a girl in a fur coat peeling garlic for him, "If you need anything, just find me. Don't be afraid of that Guo Nu, I'll take care of him! Okay, rest up, we're leaving!"

Yang Mugē also smiled at Zhou Yi and nodded, "Goodbye."

The two of them left Zhou Yi's dormitory one after the other.

Zhou Yi saw them off and returned to his dormitory. He didn't rush to unpack his things but lay down on the bed, hands behind his head, looking at the beige ceiling.

This was his first day with the team. Although there were some unpleasant moments, he had also made new friends. It was only the first day, and only half of it had passed. What other interesting things would happen next...

He turned over and saw the bed next to his.

He remembered that Sun Pan and Yang Mugē were roommates, so who would be his roommate?

At that moment, the electronic lock on the closed dormitory door beeped, and the door was pushed open.

Zhou Yi quickly got up from the bed and looked down the corridor.

He saw a tall boy dragging a suitcase walking in.

It seemed this was Zhou Yi's roommate.

Zhou Yi jumped off the bed and extended his hand, "Hello, I'm Zhou Yi. You must be my roommate, right?"

The other boy shook Zhou Yi's hand with his other hand, his smile barely noticeable, and said in a simple and flat tone, "Hello, I'm He Ying."

After saying that, he let go of Zhou Yi's hand and started to unpack his things, ignoring Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi, being a warm-hearted person, quickly offered, "Do you need any help?"

To his surprise, this action made He Ying react strongly. He immediately stood up, blocking his already opened suitcase, and said in a very unfriendly tone, "No, this is my privacy."

Usually, even if someone doesn't want help, they would politely say thank you and then decline.

This was the first time Zhou Yi had encountered such a hard and cold response, and he was momentarily stunned, feeling a bit awkward.

He Ying didn't care about Zhou Yi's feelings. After saying that, he turned around and continued to unpack his things. However, because Zhou Yi was still standing there, every time he took something out of his suitcase, he would close and lock it, then get up to put the items away, like putting a toothbrush and towel in the bathroom.

It seemed he really didn't want Zhou Yi to see what was in his suitcase.

After realizing this, Zhou Yi turned to unpack his own things to cover his embarrassment. He hadn't even opened his suitcase since he arrived.

Unlike He Ying's cautiousness, Zhou Yi was quite casual. He took things out of his bag and suitcase and placed them on the table, then continued to rummage through his bag. When the table was full, he started piling things on the bed, clothes, towels, and daily necessities scattered everywhere.

On the other hand, He Ying kept locking and unlocking his suitcase, but his bed remained clean and tidy.

Throughout the process, he didn't say a word, just silently doing his own thing.

Zhou Yi was also focused on unpacking his things, so he didn't notice much.

But when he finished unpacking and was in the same room with He Ying, he felt... uncomfortable.

He had just sent off the talkative Sun Pan and now had a "mute" who didn't say a word. The contrast was significant.

Zhou Yi would rather be with Sun Pan than with this cold and distant person. Even though it was summer, he felt particularly cold in the room.

He even went to check the air conditioner to see if the temperature was set too low, but it showed 26 degrees, which was normal.

Several times, Zhou Yi wanted to speak to He Ying, even if it wasn't for a chat, just a few simple words.

But every time he was about to speak, He Ying, as if sensing it, would look up from his book and stare at Zhou Yi.

His eyes were like a still well, completely expressionless, making Zhou Yi feel uneasy. The courage and words he had just mustered up vanished.

Fortunately, He Ying's phone rang, and he went out to answer it. Zhou Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

He lay down on the bed, taking a deep breath, as if he had been holding his breath underwater.

However, he didn't let this bother him.

He was still full of anticipation for the upcoming training and matches.

A temperamental and sensitive guy, a talkative northerner, a warm and friendly guy, and now a cold and distant guy...

This was indeed interesting!