After training ended, the only people left on the Valdebebas training ground, apart from the staff cleaning up the facilities and equipment and maintaining the turf, were Yang Yang and Kaka, sitting in a corner.
Just as Yang Yang had constantly stayed by Kaka's side and encouraged him when Kaka was injured, Kaka had also remained beside Yang Yang and encouraged him throughout Yang Yang's injury. Especially after Yang Yang returned to training with the team, Kaka accompanied him in arriving early and leaving late every day.
Previously, Yang Yang had rested for more than a month while recovering from his injury, and he had put on quite a bit of weight. But during the half-month since returning to the team, he had persisted in intense training, especially his daily morning strength work. He had also been doing physical conditioning, gradually getting his body back into shape, and his body-fat percentage had quickly returned to competitive levels.
For a while, Real Madrid had been winning match after match, sweeping all before them, and nobody had thought much of it. But yesterday, the team had lost 1–0 away to Sporting de Gijón. They had unleashed twenty-nine shots over the course of the match, yet failed to breach Sporting de Gijón's goal. Everyone in the team had found it extremely hard to swallow.
"In the dressing room after the match, I felt it very strongly. Although nobody said anything, every single person was thinking the same thing."
At this point, Kaka turned his head and looked at Yang Yang with both admiration and anticipation.
"That is: If only Yang Yang were here."
Hearing Kaka say that, Yang Yang honestly did not know whether he should feel happy or sad.
He felt proud and honored to receive such an assessment from his teammates.