The entire stadium was chanting that syllable.
Dugarry took off his headphones in the commentary booth, clapped a few times, then put them back on. "All right, I admit it. This Chinese player is no ordinary player. Not 'no ordinary player'-he's 'something special.'
"His leap, strength, shooting technique, positional awareness-none of those are things an eighteen-year-old player should possess. They look exactly like the qualities of a top striker."
"And he's very handsome, too," Bart added.
"Of course, that's important too." Dugarry laughed.
In the seventy-second minute, play stopped. Fernandez made a substitution-Zhang Kuang came off, with Daniel Niculae replacing him.
Zhang Kuang jogged toward the touchline, where Fernandez reached out and patted his shoulder.
Thunderous applause filled the stadium.
It wasn't the scattered clapping of polite appreciation, but a genuine, heartfelt tribute to a hero.
Twenty-four thousand people stood to give this eighteen-year-old Chinese boy the first ovation of his professional career.
Zhang Kuang reached the bench, took the towel a staff member handed him, wiped his face, and sat down.
Twenty minutes later, the match ended: Auxerre 3-0 Boulogne (some people also translate the name differently; either translation is fine, as long as everyone knows which club it is).
Those exchanging shirts exchanged shirts, and afterward, the Auxerre players went around the pitch to thank the fans.
After thanking the fans, just as everyone was about to leave in excitement, a staff member ran over and told Zhang Kuang that he had been named the match MVP, and that his hat-trick also entitled him to take home one of the match balls.
Zhang Kuang froze for a moment before breaking into a happy smile. Unfortunately, the Ligue 1 MVP came with no trophy or certificate, just a notification.
There was, of course, an official interview, with a sexy young woman holding a microphone and a cameraman facing him.
Reporter: "Zhang, how does it feel to score a hat-trick on your debut?"
Zhang Kuang: "I'm very excited. Being able to help the team win shows that the club made the right decision signing me."
Reporter: "How did you come to sign for Auxerre?"
Zhang Kuang: "I went through a trial, then showed the coach and my teammates through my ability that I was worth signing."
Reporter: "We hear you were once a China U20 player, but were expelled for fighting. What happened?"
Holding the ball, Zhang Kuang gave a helpless look. "That was a painful, heartbreaking episode in the past. As everyone knows, there are only so many places on a team, but the competition is fierce.
"So someone kept attacking me verbally, and even tried dirty tricks to break my leg and ruin me. You know how youngsters like us are-powder kegs that explode at a spark. So, well, a fight wasn't surprising."
Reporter: "What are your plans going forward?"
Zhang Kuang: "Plans? Very simple. Just two. First, help the club win the Ligue 1 title, and if there's a chance, take the France Cup title along with it. Second, win the Golden Boot. As far as I know, the current leading scorer, Marseille striker Mamadou Niang, has fifteen goals. I'm still twelve behind him, and I'll work hard."
Reporter: "Wow, big ambitions. I wish you success, and thank you for answering our questions."
Zhang Kuang: "You're welcome. Goodbye."
After the interview, Zhang Kuang headed into the dressing room. The head coach had already gone to the post-match press conference.
Inside the players' dressing room, his teammates were celebrating.
Oliech was spraying champagne everywhere from a bottle he had somehow got hold of. Grichting chased him around, Mignot hid in the toilet, and Pedretti sat in a corner, smiling and shaking his head.
Zhang Kuang pushed the door open and entered. The entire dressing room went quiet for a second.
Then Oliech aimed the champagne at him.
"Let's celebrate our goal machine!"
Champagne sprayed all over Zhang Kuang's face.
"Hey!" Zhang Kuang laughed and dodged away, but everyone crowded around, patting his shoulders, back, and head.
Hengbart stepped out of the crowd and snatched something from Zhang Kuang-the match ball.
"Here, let's have everyone sign it, then you can keep it as a memento," Hengbart said. "Your first hat-trick belongs in your trophy room."
Zhang Kuang nodded, watching the players sign the ball one after another.
My first hat-trick.
There will be more.
He looked up at the photographs of Auxerre's history hanging on the dressing room wall-Guy Roux, UEFA Champions League qualification, the France Cup title.
"All right." Pedretti stood and clapped his hands. "This was just one win. We still have eighteen league matches to play."
Next, everyone began showering and changing.
Once inside the shower room, Zhang Kuang opened the system.
The system interface appeared in his mind:
[Goals ×3: +3 points] [Match MVP: +2 points] [Current Qi and Blood Points: 142 → 147]
He had forty-three points left after his last allocation, plus the ninety-nine points he had gained through cultivation over these twelve days, and another five this time, bringing his total Qi and Blood Points to 147.
Very good. I'll build them up slowly. Not only do my football skills need plenty of Qi and Blood Points, I also have to save them for my cultivation realm. He closed his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
Although he was still a long way from his next goal, this was a very good start.
At the post-match press conference, Fernandez showed a rare smile as he faced the reporters' questions.
"Zhang Kuang's performance?" He repeated the reporter's question, then shook his head. "Honestly, I didn't expect him to score three. I thought he might score, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly, or so often."
"Do you think he's the key to Auxerre securing UEFA Champions League qualification this season?"
Fernandez glanced at the reporter. "UEFA Champions League qualification? Sir, although we're currently fifth with forty points, we're only four points behind the leaders, Marseille. We're not thinking about European qualification. We're thinking about the title."
An uproar swept through the reporters. Had this usually low-key manager suddenly become so aggressive? Was he going for the title?
Then the reporters went wild...
Zhang Kuang put the match ball into his bag, then took out his phone and sent Aisha a message:
"Hat-trick. I'll treat you all to Chinese food tonight."
Three seconds later, Aisha's reply arrived:
"Saw it. The whole internet is talking about you. Tonight we're not eating dinner. We're eating you."
Zhang Kuang smiled and put his phone away.
Zhang Kuang's hat-trick had only just begun to make waves in French football, but back home, the news spread in a rather unusual way.
Late at night on Saturday, January 16, 2010.
Beiping.
Li Xiang was an ordinary office worker and a longtime Guoan fan. That Saturday night, he hadn't gone out, instead curling up on the sofa in his rented apartment and looking at his phone.
He liked browsing a forum called Football Home, where quite a few football enthusiasts like him gathered. The forum wasn't large, and new posts didn't come quickly, but its strength was its friendly atmosphere, without all those messy ads and flame wars.
Sometime after eleven that night, he came across a post on the forum with a single-line title:
[Holy shit! Anyone watching Ligue 1? A Chinese striker just scored a hat-trick!]
Li Xiang paused, instinctively assuming it was some kind of joke.
Ligue 1? A Chinese striker?
Just as he was about to close it, replies had already appeared in the thread.
First reply: "Where are you watching? Isn't CCTV-5 showing Serie A?"
Second reply: "OP, are you drunk? What Chinese player is playing in Ligue 1 right now?"
Third reply: "There is one. Auxerre signed someone a while ago. His name's Zhang something... forgot. But a hat-trick on his debut? Can't you at least draft your bullshit first?"
The original poster quickly replied: "It's not bullshit! I watched it on a Taiwanese streaming site. Auxerre 3-0 Boulogne, and that Chinese guy scored all three! A header, a volley, and another header! Fucking insanely cool!"
Then came a link.
Li Xiang hesitated, then tapped it.
It was an overseas pirate streaming site, its page covered in ads and pop-ups, but the replay still worked. The picture was very blurry, probably no better than 480p, but he could make out the shirt number.
Number 33.
A white shirt.
On-screen, a tall Asian player was celebrating by the corner flag, jumping and turning before flinging both arms backward-"Siu!"
Li Xiang stared at the image for three seconds, then opened a search engine and typed in "Auxerre Chinese striker."
The results appeared.
An announcement dated January 4 on Auxerre's official club website:
[Auxerre Football Club is delighted to announce that Chinese striker Zhang Kuang has officially joined the team and will wear the number 33 shirt. The two parties have signed a contract running until June 2012...]
Li Xiang's fingers began to tremble.
He opened the comments beneath the news article. They were all in French, which he couldn't read, but he spotted one word-"hat-trick."
He didn't know French, but he knew that word.
Hat-trick.
"Fuck..." Li Xiang sat bolt upright on the sofa, his eyes fixed on the screen. "Fuck, fuck, fuck... is this real?"
He reopened the replay on the pirate site and dragged the progress bar to the twenty-fifth minute of the first half.
Oliech crossed from the right, and number 33 leaped inside the penalty area, rising half a head above the defender and smashing a tomahawk header into the net.
Then came the forty-third minute of the first half. Pedretti chipped a pass, and number 33 struck a first-time volley from the top of the arc-the ball flew like a cannon shell, and the goalkeeper didn't even react.
Then came the sixty-seventh minute in the second half. A corner came in, and number 33 charged into the box from outside, swinging his head like a lion and sending it into the far corner.
Three goals.
Three completely different methods.
After watching the video, Li Xiang remained silent for a full ten seconds. Then he did something that would put him at the center of the storm that night.
He opened the posting window and began typing.
He was going to spread this news and let every Chinese football fan know.