Daily Life at Men's Soccer Team Training Camp

Blurb:

To promote economic development, China, Japan, and South Korea are jointly hosting the World U17 Men's Football Championship. Reaching the knockout stage comes with a prize of over ten thousand, while winning the championship brings a ten-million grand prize and an honorary certificate issued by the United Nations.

Jing Yan returned to China full of confidence to join the training squad. As a recognized rising star and a young player coveted by several top European clubs, he figured it would be like playing on easy mode.

On his first day at the training camp,

he pushed open the dorm door and felt as if he'd entered a whole new world...

The Guangdong guy waging war on a cockroach with a flip-flop. Check.

The brawny Hebei guy jumping up and down. Check.

The Tianjin guy holding clappers and cheering him on. Check.

"You're Jing Yan, right? The one playing in Germany." The poker-faced boy by the door handed Jing Yan a segment of tangerine. "I'm Jin Yi. Welcome to Dorm 420."

"They..."

"Yeah, everyone's in great spirits. You'll get used to it."

Jing Yan silently popped the tangerine into his mouth. The next second, he thought he saw his great-grandma waving to him from the afterlife.

"Sour?"

"...Sour."

"Good."

"Where did you get this painfully sour tangerine?"

"Mo Fang gave it to me." Jin Yi pointed at the Tianjin guy playing the clappers. "I didn't expect him to be able to eat it with a smile, either."

Just as Jing Yan finished the tangerine on his knees, tears streaming down his face in two long strands, a new guy showed up at the door.

"What a rundown building... Oh, hey there." The newcomer wore sunglasses and designer clothes, looking every bit the rich young master. "I'm Li Yaoliang. Who are you guys?"

Jing Yan gave the young master his brightest smile.

"I'm Jing Yan, and this is Jin Yi." He took the tangerine from Jin Yi and offered it to him. "Want a tangerine, bro? It's super sweet!"

**

Coach: Football is a team sport. If you only care about yourself and not your teammates, you'll never be any good!

Jing Yan (quietly): Coach Wang, what did he just say?

Li Yaoliang: He said we're too ugly to play football well.

Jing Yan: ...

Jing Yan: Get out of here! Your boy Yan is way more handsome than Kaka and Beckham, okay!

Mo Fang: What are you two talking about?

Li Yaoliang: Brother Yan said if you can't play well, you won't get a boiled egg.

Mo Fang: ?

Mo Fang: I only stole one of his chicken legs yesterday. Is he really that petty?

Jing Yan (rolling up his sleeves): So you were the one who stole my chicken leg yesterday!

Mo Fang: ...A-Liang set me up.

Li Yaoliang: Fight! Fight!

Jin Yi: Coach Wang is looking at you.

Coach Wang: ...

Coach Wang: You three! You think I'm not here?

Coach Wang: Get out! You're doing double training today!

**

And yet this ridiculous team kept winning all the way to the end, despite the entire world betting against them.

France, Italy, Argentina, Germany... As one old football powerhouse after another fell, people's mocking glances turned to shock.

Only one last match stood between them and the World Cup.

Jing Yan: Well, weren't we all in it for the prize money at first?

Reporter: And what about later?

Later on,

Jing Yan and his friends decided that, money aside, winning a World Championship would be pretty nice.

Theme: Life is about passion