Brother, Fend for Yourself!

"Kid, I heard you went out on a date alone with my little sister last night?"

The moment Jardel's booming voice rang out, the temperature in the locker room seemed to drop by at least ten degrees.

Everyone looked over at once and sucked in a cold breath.

Had this kid who had just come up from the Youth Team lost his mind?

He had actually gotten involved with Jardel's sister?

That little girl didn't seem that old, did she? Was she even an adult?

Rony's face changed instantly, and he immediately looked at Su Dong. Su Dong shook his head hard, his face full of innocence.

They had been together the whole morning. When would he have had time to snitch?

Besides, was Su Dong the kind of person who betrayed his friends?

"No, Mario, listen to me. Actually, Jordana and I only..."

Jardel stretched out that thick, solid arm and clamped it hard around Rony, then asked in a low voice that carried a hint of ill intent, "You went to a hotel?"

His voice wasn't loud. Most of the others in the locker room basically couldn't hear it; only Su Dong beside them heard it, and he was left dumbfounded.

Was this the kind of question a future brother-in-law should be asking?

"No, we didn't go to a hotel..." Rony panicked.

"You didn't go to a hotel?" Jardel tightened his grip even more. "You actually did it out in the open? That's too much. How could you do that?"

"No, Mario, we didn't do anything," Rony shouted.

He really wanted to cry.

Why did every single one of them think that if they went out for a walk, they must have gone to a hotel to get a room?

But he clearly hadn't done anything. They had only held hands. Was that a crime?

And besides, it had clearly been Jordana who took the initiative to hold his hand.

"I swear, Mario, we only held hands, really." Rony was so anxious he nearly cried.

Su Dong saw that the expression on Jardel's face was twisted, as if he wanted to laugh but was desperately holding it in, and he immediately understood a little.

Sure enough, the Brazilian striker suddenly let go of Rony's neck and cursed indignantly, "Only held hands? Useless."

Rony was completely dumbfounded.

What was that supposed to mean?

So he had been deliberately scaring him just now, had he?

Then he looked at Su Dong. The guy was clearly laughing so hard he was about to stop breathing, and as for the others in the locker room, which one of them wasn't grinning?

Rony really wanted to say, screw your uncle.

But there was nothing he could do. Saddled with such a fierce future brother-in-law, he really had no moves left.

"I'm telling you, kid. From now on, when you go on dates with my sister, I don't care what you do or how you fool around, but it comes down to one thing: don't bully her, and don't let anyone else bully her. No matter how late it is, you have to take her home. Got it?"

What could Rony say?

Other than nodding in agreement, he really couldn't say anything at all.

"Also, I heard you were pretty wild in yesterday's match?" Jardel changed the subject.

Rony looked around, then wilted again. Which bastard was it who specialized in bad-mouthing him?

"Honestly, with five or six shots and not a single one going in, don't bring out that kind of shooting technique and show off with it. I feel ashamed for you. And don't go out telling people you're dating my sister. I can't afford that embarrassment."

Rony was speechless and had no way to refute it.

Who was Jardel?

A European Golden Shoe winner. During his five years with Porto, he had scored 150 goals in 146 matches, won the championship four years in a row, and been the Portuguese Super League Top Scorer three years in a row.

A player like that was fully qualified to lecture professional rookies like Rony and Su Dong.

Of course, it seemed he wasn't doing it just to scold them.

"To keep you from embarrassing me again, starting today, after afternoon training ends every day, you stay behind. I'll give you an hour of special training. Don't you dare disappear on me."

After pointing at Rony and threatening him, Jardel then noticed Su Dong beside him.

"You, kid, were pretty efficient. Three shots, two goals."

Su Dong smiled modestly and didn't dare respond.

"But as a lone striker, you only had three shots in one match. You actually had fewer chances to shoot than a winger. You really are enough to embarrass us strikers."

Su Dong froze. How had the fire spread to him?

Please, I wasn't planning to chase your sister.

Besides, you only had one sister.

"I'm telling you, as a striker, whether you're confident or not, the most important thing is to have killing intent, to be aggressive. You have to be ruthless, fierce, and ferocious. Only then can you hold down those cunning defenders. But you right now..."

Jardel shook his head and sighed.

Su Dong had to admit that Jardel's words of experience really did make sense.

Any scorer worth the name was a Lone Wolf.

From Romario to Ronaldo, from Van Nistelrooy to Henry, and then to Jardel—who wasn't one?

Selfless devotees could never become scorers!

"One hour every afternoon. You come too." After Jardel threw down those harsh words, he turned and left.

Su Dong and Rony looked at each other, unsure whether they should be happy or not.

Still, it was clear that Jardel actually did not have any bad intentions.

Maybe he was secretly delighted right now, happy that his sister had found a talented Portuguese boyfriend.

Otherwise, why would he personally give Rony special training?

Su Dong was just benefiting from it by association.

To receive special training from a famous European player like Jardel would benefit both Su Dong and Rony enormously.

"That future brother-in-law of yours is pretty decent." Su Dong gave a thumbs-up and praised him.

Rony secretly let out a breath. "He's just a bit fierce. The pressure's huge."

Su Dong patted Rony on the shoulder in deep sympathy. Brother, you're on your own!

Maybe it was psychological, but maybe it was real.

After scoring twice in his Youth Team debut, Su Dong clearly felt that the First Team players looked at him a little differently.

Some people began nodding to him in greeting. Going a step further, some would even smile slightly at him. Captain Barbosa looked more enthusiastic, and Viana also seemed more willing to get close to him.

But there were also some who kept a respectful distance from him, such as Niculae. He had suffered a slight injury recently and did not play in this round.

However, Jardel, who started the match, also failed to score in this round. Instead, the center back Andre Cruz, who had tormented Su Dong until he was in a miserable state, produced a brace. Both goals came from corner kicks.

For a center back, such opportunities were quite rare.

This also made the way Su Dong looked at the veteran center back grow even more awed.

He had, after all, fought his way out of a European giant. Though he was old now and no longer as brave as in his prime, in a league like the Portuguese Super League, he was still a dimensionality-reduction strike.

Gisvi and Lourenço's attitude toward Su Dong was as cold as ever, even carrying a hint of wariness.

Clearly, they were both well aware that their situation in the First Team had become even worse. There were blockers ahead and pursuers behind. Jardel and Niculae's positions were very secure, and Nalitzis had only just arrived and had yet to integrate into the team, but all three were Boloni's first choices.

Gisvi and Lourenço had originally been hoping to step up when Jardel and Niculae got injured, but in this match Boloni would rather sacrifice the attack and go back to a lone striker than arrange for them to come on. That hurt them deeply.

The key was that Su Dong had scored twice in his debut for the reserve team, showing very strong momentum. That made them feel threatened.

There was one more person who was extremely cold toward Su Dong: Quaresma.

It was said that when he and Rony were in the Youth Team, they had always been mortal rivals.

The grudge between the two came from back when Rony had boldly declared that he would take down Quaresma and become the Youth Team's number one. Later, the two had tangled for a long time without a clear winner, but their relationship became extremely bad.

Hating someone by association, it was only normal that Quaresma did not give Su Dong a pleasant face.

He did not give anyone a pleasant face. He seemed very withdrawn and out of place.

Yet interestingly, Quaresma, with that sort of personality, had integrated into the First Team better than Marcelino.

Although he had performed well in the Youth Team match, in First Team training, Su Dong still could not keep up.

Often, by the time a training session ended, he had only managed to grit his teeth and hold on until the very end.

Whether it was the speed of play, the rhythm of training, or the demands on the players' concentration, the intensity of First Team training was even higher than reserve-team matches. For Su Dong, this was extremely difficult.

But precisely because the intensity was high, in the Path to the King of Football system, using First Team training to improve his strength was also the fastest method, even faster than reserve-team matches.

Right now, among Su Dong's two major categories of technical and physical attributes, all of them had already exceeded 60 points. Even his weakest defensive attributes had reached 50 points, while his speed and explosive power had both reached 73 points.

Su Dong had reason to believe that as long as he continued to train hard, once his strength slowly rose, he would definitely have a chance to appear for the First Team.

Rony's situation was not much better than Su Dong's. He also looked like he had been badly abused.

The two fellow sufferers were about the same; they still seemed out of place with the First Team.

However, Su Dong and Rony's greatest strength was their resilience. They did not admit defeat easily.

No matter how intense the training was, they could grit their teeth and endure it.

After the afternoon training session ended, Su Dong and Rony very consciously stayed behind on the training ground.

Jardel temporarily took on the role of coach, specifically training them in shooting techniques.

It seemed very simple—just shoot the ball into the goal.

But in reality, it was extremely, extremely difficult.

"There are eleven players on the pitch. If I had to choose, I'd say forward is the hardest position to play, because on the front line, any flaw in technique or decision-making on the ball—even the tiniest, most insignificant blemish—can be magnified."

"Everyone only sees the glory after a forward scores, but few people see the effort and pressure behind that goal."

"In my view, every missed shot is a betrayal of the hard work of the ten players behind you."

As a goal scorer who had taken European football by storm, Jardel's words made Su Dong see him in a new light.

He had originally thought that Jardel, who had been set on transferring, was rather irresponsible. But after hearing this, he had no choice but to change his mind. The player reported in the media was not necessarily the real person.

Wanting a transfer had no necessary connection to his ability or his sense of responsibility.

To put it plainly, professional football was a job. As long as the club paid his salary during the contract period and the player did his utmost to perform, that was enough.

As for transfers, there were far too many interests and reasons involved. Who could really explain it all clearly?

Just for the president's handsome face that still hadn't been beaten up, dear readers, shouldn't you do the triple combo of tipping, bookmarking, and recommendation votes?