Su Dong is a Genius!

"Ha, you're something else, kid!"

When Su Dong finished showering and changing in the locker room, slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder, Jose Semedo charged over without ceremony and wrapped an arm tightly around his neck, looking like he was grinding his teeth with envy and admiration.

"Quiet as a mouse, then bam, a brace. Not bad, kid."

Su Dong grinned from ear to ear, letting Semedo hold him there—it wasn't uncomfortable anyway.

"Not bad, didn't embarrass me." Rony nodded with a smug look.

That almost earned him a flying kick from Su Dong, aimed at knocking the pretentious jerk flat.

Luckily, Rony had seen it coming and kept his distance, refusing to get close.

By then, most of the Sporting fans had already cleared out, so no one noticed the three of them.

They horsed around outside the stadium for a bit, then slung arms over each other's shoulders and headed off.

"Where to now?" Jose Semedo asked.

Their youth team had a match too, but not today, and they'd taken the afternoon off—going back now would blow their cover.

"Food, obviously," Su Dong said matter-of-factly. "Aren't you treating me to a meal?"

"When did I say I was treating you?" Jose Semedo asked, baffled.

"Right before the match, weren't you yelling about taking me to Intendente?"

Rony and Semedo exchanged a look at that, then burst out laughing together.

This guy had no clue.

"Come on, Su, that's a party spot, not a place to eat," Rony said, shaking his head.

"Isn't the Romario Seafood Restaurant over there?"

"Yeah," Semedo replied. "But that area's famous for more than just seafood restaurants, even though there are plenty run by immigrants from Asia, Africa, and the Americas. What it's really packed with is apartments and hotels."

Su Dong still didn't get it.

Seeing his clueless expression, Rony sighed with a helpless grin and urged Semedo, "Tell him. Just tell him."

Jose Semedo was laughing so hard he could barely breathe. "That's Lisbon's most famous red-light district. You know what a red-light district is, right?"

Su Dong wasn't stupid—of course he knew what a red-light district was.

Once it clicked, he instantly understood why Matello hadn't told him.

What a massive facepalm.

This was way too awkward!

"You're messing with me!" Su Dong launched a kick at Semedo. The Cape Verdean kid didn't dodge in time and caught it right on the ass.

Semedo yelped and bolted away, shouting for mercy.

Truth was, whether it was the seafood restaurant or the red-light district, Semedo didn't have the cash to treat Su Dong.

He got about two hundred euros a month in subsidies from Sporting Lisbon, but most of that went straight to his parents to help with household expenses—his family was really poor, with a bunch of siblings.

Rony had it even worse.

His subsidy was decent, a baseline three hundred euros a month, but the problem was it never touched his hands—the club transferred it directly to his mother, who gave him fifty euros a month as pocket money.

So yeah, he wasn't exactly rolling in it either.

The three of them were dead broke—no way they could afford a party, or even another seafood feast.

After some discussion, they settled on...

"I told you, Su's a good guy."

By the indoor court at Edward VII Park, Jose Semedo was chomping on a sandwich Su Dong had bought with King of Football Points, pretending he'd gone out to get it, and mumbling praise through a full mouth.

Rony, meanwhile, was gnawing on bread and chugging a Bull, nodding vigorously in agreement.

Lately, he'd been with Su Dong every day, and Su Dong covered all three meals.

The food was simple stuff, mostly takeout, but it tasted great, and every meal had some variety that kept Rony from ever getting bored.

How come he'd never heard of takeout this good before?

Rony always asked which place Su Dong ordered from, but Su Dong always told him not to ask so many questions.

"If you want to eat, come find me. Why bother buying it yourself?"

And every time, Su Dong would sneak off alone to get it, never letting Rony tag along.

That touched the Madeira kid deeply, and also made him a little ashamed—he always let Su Dong treat, and it felt awkward.

As the saying goes, a soft mouth leads to a weak hand.

Since he was always eating Su Dong's food, Rony made a point to come over and spar with him whenever he had time, giving it his all to help Su Dong improve.

"Honestly, your progress rate is pretty impressive." Rony gave Su Dong a rare thumbs-up.

When he first met Su Dong, he thought the guy was just an amateur player, maybe hardworking and determined, but he never imagined he'd improve this fast.

By now, he felt that Su Dong already had the quality of a first-team starter at Sporting Portugal, and even in Sporting Lisbon's youth academy, he'd probably have no problem playing as a starter for the U16s, or even holding his own at an older age group.

"That's because you taught him well." Su Dong casually tossed out a flattering remark.

Rony didn't hold back; he accepted Su Dong's praise without modesty.

"And Mr. Pontes and Mr. Nare too—if I get the chance, I really should thank them." Su Dong felt grateful to these two youth development experts he'd never met, as many of their training methods had been a huge help to him.

Not to mention specific drills, but Pontes's physical training was especially practical for him.

It didn't require going to the gym—he could do it right in the dorm—and it was safe enough to practice alone without any issues.

"Don't worry, I'll call them later and let them know." Rony patted Su Dong on the shoulder with a smile.

After eating and drinking their fill, the three of them had nothing else to do.

Truth be told, whether you're a professional player or a youth trainee, if you don't break the rules, life is really dull.

Especially when you reach the senior team—it gets even more tedious.

You can't just eat whatever you want; you have to watch your nutritional balance, and often you have to suppress your preferences and choke down foods you hate. As for alcohol and cigarettes, forget it—if you're disciplined, you don't touch them at all.

Personal life is a hassle too.

Take someone like Jose Semedo, who wasn't even a standout in the youth team—walking outside, he'd still have a swarm of women, fans, and journalists chasing after him, but every single one of them had an ulterior motive, right?

Rony kept advising Semedo because he knew all this.

Semedo wasn't clueless either, but that kind of life was undeniably tempting.

Being a professional player, if you followed all the rules to the letter, it was like living like a monk.

Rather than heading back to the dorm to stare at each other, they might as well stay at Edward VII Park and keep practicing.

Not only did Rony stay to train with Su Dong, but Jose Semedo also voluntarily stuck around for once.

Even though Su Dong had just played a match and was exhausted, thanks to the Bull's effect, by the time he walked from the home ground to Edward VII Park and rested a bit, his energy had mostly recovered.

The three of them trained in the park until past nine in the evening before reluctantly saying goodbye and parting ways.

Back at Tang Jose Apartment, Rony took a shower first, then called his family back on Madeira Island.

He called home every day, especially lately—there had been a lot going on in his family, and he was really worried, checking on the progress daily, afraid something might slip through the cracks.

When Semedo came out of the shower and walked in, he caught the tail end of Rony's call.

"Don't worry, second sister. I'll go to the mall later and buy a game console to send home, so you won't be bored."

After hanging up, Rony called Lionel Pontes.

Because of Su Dong, the two of them had been talking on the phone frequently lately.

As soon as the call connected, Rony got straight to the point and talked about that afternoon's match.

"What? A brace?" Pontes was stunned on the other end of the line.

Since it was just a Portuguese Second Division match, forget about TV broadcasts—it probably wouldn't even make tomorrow's papers. At best, there'd be a scoreline for all the Second Division games, and no one outside the respective fans would care about such matches.

So Pontes hadn't heard anything about it before, which was why he was so shocked he blurted it out.

"Yeah, it was really unexpected." Rony laughed.

Pontes hummed in acknowledgment. "Looks like he's improving fast. He's got good talent."

No one knew that Su Dong could boost his own talent; everyone assumed he'd always had great potential, just held back by poor youth training before. Now that he was getting proper development, even though he was older, he was still progressing quickly.

"If this had happened three or four years earlier, he'd definitely have become a prodigy on par with you and Ricardo." Pontes said with a note of regret.

Ricardo was Quaresma, another player Pontes had mentored.

Rony didn't mind—Su Dong was his best friend, so no matter how much Pontes praised him, it didn't bother him.

But Quaresma was different—he was Rony's rival.

"Lionel, I was thinking, is there any way to recommend him to the club?" Rony asked with concern.

"Given his current performance and how fast he's been improving lately, I think Sporting Portugal will soon be too small for him. When that happens, he'll definitely have to move to a higher-level league and team."

As a friend, Rony really hoped Su Dong could come to Sporting Lisbon.

"That's tough, Rony." Pontes shook his head with a sigh. "You know, we don't have much of a connection with Sporting Portugal. More importantly, that team is a feeder club for Belenenses. Over the years, almost every player who came out of that club went straight to Belenenses, with only one going to Benfica."

Rony felt a bit disappointed hearing that; he knew feeder clubs had contractual ties.

He couldn't help but feel a pang of regret—why wasn't Su Dong in Sporting Lisbon's feeder club?

Then it would be much simpler for him to come straight to Sporting Lisbon.

Now that he was at Sporting Portugal, getting him to Sporting Lisbon was a lot more complicated.

The best-case scenario would be if both Belenenses and Benfica had no interest in Su Dong, and Sporting Lisbon could swoop in directly.

But was that possible?

If a player caught Sporting Lisbon's interest, how could Belenenses and Benfica not be interested?

Look at it from another angle—as soon as Sporting Lisbon showed interest, Belenenses and Benfica would jump in to compete no matter what.

That was just part of professional football.

During the new book period, I humbly beg for tips, collections, and recommendation votes! Thank you!