When Chu Zhongtian was still feeling this change in his life, the Spring Festival had quietly come.

Originally, he was busy with training and didn't remember which day it was during the Spring Festival this year, but when he was video chatting with his parents at noon on the seventh day, he was reminded by his father: "It's about to be the New Year, you yourself have a good time in France, didn't you say that there is a Chengdu baby who is in Metz with you?" Let's spend the New Year together. ”

It was only at this time that Chu Zhong was shocked to realize that it was going to be the New Year...... It's not the first time he's spent the New Year in a foreign country, but he hasn't felt anything too special. It doesn't matter if it's one person or a lot of people.

But since my father mentioned it, then I can have a good year, so as not to worry my parents. Besides, he just had a great performance against Lyon, so it's time to celebrate.

I haven't seen Wang Hao for a month, this kid is playing in the French U14 Youth League with Metz's U14, and he is very busy with training, studying and competing, and he has very little time for himself.

If there are only two of us celebrating the New Year, is the taste of this New Year too light?

Chu Zhongtian thought about it and decided to call Lin Beiyao and invite her to come to celebrate the New Year together.

After Lin Beiyao received a call from Chu Zhongtian, she learned that she was invited to celebrate the New Year, and Lin Beiyao, who had already made arrangements, agreed without saying a word, and did not tell Chu Zhongtian that he had made arrangements, but after hanging up the phone, he pushed down his friend's invitation.

Chu Zhongtian, who had finished talking to Lin Beiyao, thought to himself, who else could he call?

Wang Hao didn't have a mobile phone, so if he wanted to inform him, he could only go to the academy after training by himself and tell him in person.

He took his phone and flipped through the names recorded inside. Mr. Merry returned to England and said he had something to attend to.

Frank. What about the Riberies? Well, last Christmas they invited themselves, and this time it was their turn to invite back, and they should be invited, but don't worry, he can wait for the afternoon training session to send an invitation to Ribery.

So who else?

Xu Xiaodi...... is a reporter, but it doesn't matter, he and his friends celebrate the Spring Festival, and he is also a friend.

After dialing Xu Xiaodi's phone, Chu Zhongtian invited him to come together for the New Year tomorrow night.

Xu Xiaodi was a little surprised, but also very happy. He didn't expect that as a reporter, he would be able to get Chu Zhongtian's invitation to the party. This is the only one of Chinese journalists!

"But no interviews and no photographs." Chu Zhongtian made a request, "This is a private party, not a press conference. ”

Xu Xiaodi hurriedly agreed. It doesn't matter if you don't let the report or take pictures, this is just a private party, and it doesn't matter if the newspaper doesn't report it. The key is that he was able to be invited to the party, which shows his status in Chu Zhongtian's mind, which is the most important thing, he is closer to Chu Zhongtian than other reporters, and it will be easier to get a lot of scoops in the future.

After calling Xu Xiaodi, Chu Zhongtian continued to rummage, but there were not many people who left their names on his mobile phone, and there were still some people who were not suitable for invitation.

He flipped down and down, and suddenly a name popped into his eyes.

Delphin. Mathilde.

The two of them haven't been in touch since their last class in early January. He didn't call Mathilde, and Mathilde didn't look for him. As if they never knew each other, they separated from each other and disappeared into the vast sea of people.

Do you want to call her?

Chu Zhongtian hesitated for a while, and finally dialed the phone. However, when he picked up the phone and listened to the waiting voices inside, he was still a little nervous and wanted to hang up the phone again.

He didn't know why he had this idea, he wanted Mathilde to pick it up, but he also hoped that Mathilde didn't hear it or that the number had changed.

Just as his two thoughts were clashing in his mind, the phone was answered.

"Chu?" Mathilde's voice rang on the other end of the line.

"I'm glad you didn't change your number, Mr. Marty." Now that you've picked it up, let's put aside all the other messy thoughts!

"Uh...... Do you have anything to do with me, Chu? Mathilde's voice was a little out of sorts.

"Are you busy right now, Mr. Marty?"

"No...... No, I'm not busy. ”

"So do you have anything to do tomorrow night?" Chu Zhongtian asked.

"Tomorrow night?" Mathilde tensed.

"Yes, tomorrow night is our traditional Chinese festival Chinese New Year's Eve, and I would like to invite you to come to me as a guest."

"......" Mathilde was silent, not knowing if she should agree to Chu Zhongtian.

"Marty-sensei?" Chu Zhongtian asked strangely.

"Huh? Is it tomorrow night? I...... I can come. ”

"Then tomorrow at seven o'clock in the evening, you can come directly to me."

"Okay...... Thank you for having me, Chu. ”

"No thanks, Mr. Marty. Didn't I please you as it should? ”

"Then I'll be here on time tomorrow."

Chu Zhongtian hung up the phone before he breathed a sigh of relief, in fact, he was quite nervous, worried that his invitation would be rejected. He always felt that Mathilde seemed to be hiding from himself on purpose, but why should he hide from himself? Could it be that she is interested in herself?

Chu Zhongtian was amused by his own thought, and looked very embarrassed.

Chu Zhongtian, Chu Zhongtian, you think too highly of yourself. People hate professional players the most, and they only take classes once a week, so why do they like you? Oh, just a hug that drinks too much, and a scarf can capture others to rest assured, then there won't be so many otaku who can't find a woman in this world!

He thought it was boring, smiled and tossed his phone aside. The person who should be notified has been notified, and he has to think carefully about how he will spend the year tomorrow.

You must have to buy your own groceries to do it, and it is expensive to go out to eat restaurants, but there are few and expensive Chinese restaurants here, and they are not authentic. Tomorrow the team only has half a day of training in the morning, and in the afternoon there is nothing to do, so he can go to the supermarket and see if there are any suitable raw materials.

In addition, this apartment still needs to be furnished, and I don't know if Mace sells Spring Festival couplets...... If you don't have one, you can hang some lanterns and streamers in the house.

It takes time, so after training in the evening, I go to the nearby supermarket to see if I can get something ready.

※※※ During the afternoon training, Chu Zhongtian sent an invitation to Ribery to "come to my house for the New Year", Ribery was very interested in the "traditional Chinese festival" that Chu Zhongtian said, and asked a lot of questions about the "New Year", from "what is the New Year" to "how to celebrate the New Year in China", he is like a curious baby.

In the end, he promised to take his wife to the appointment at that time.

After the training, Chu Zhongtian went to the academy to find Wang Hao.

When I met Wang Hao, he was sitting on the steps of the staircase of the dormitory, opposite the card phone of the dormitory building, and he usually came here when he called home.

Today, this kid's mood is a little wrong, listless, and he is not as happy as before when he sees Chu Zhongtian, and he does not take the initiative to say hello.

"What's wrong, homesick wow?" Chu Zhongtian could guess it. A small child, no matter how good his results are in the team now, will not make him feel good at this time, because this will be the first time in his life that he will spend the Spring Festival without his parents.

Wang Hao nodded sullenly. He had just called his parents until a new phone card was out of money. When I was chatting with my parents, I was fine, but as soon as I hung up the phone, I felt more and more homesick.

"Don't think about it, celebrate the New Year with me this year!" Chu Zhongtian patted his head.

Wang Hao looked up at him.

"I've got some friends and I'm done training tomorrow morning. I'm coming to you, go to the cafeteria to eat together, and go shopping with me! ”

"Wow!" Wang Hao heard that he could celebrate the Spring Festival with Chu Zhongtian, and there were friends coming to him, so he was happy again. A child is a child, and emotions come and go quickly. "Sister Lin is coming?"

"I'm coming."

"And what about 'Scarface'?"

"Come on."

"That ......" Wang Hao hesitated for a moment before asking, "What about Miss Mathilde?" ”

Chu Zhongtian glanced at him: "Come too." ”

Wang Hao laughed. "Okay, I'll help you when the time comes!"

※※※ I ate some fast food outside casually in the evening, Chu Zhongtian went to the nearby supermarket for a walk, there is definitely no such thing as a spring couplet and a window flower, and then bought some beef and a fish, and other messy ingredients. Of course, it is impossible to buy all the things you need for Sichuan cuisine here, so you can only make them according to local conditions and what you have. But fortunately, when he left China, his mother considered that he couldn't eat authentic Sichuan food in foreign countries, so she prepared a lot of Pixian Douban for him, but in addition to entertaining Wang Hao and Jiang Ran, he rarely made his own Sichuan cuisine, and it was not good for professional players to press things. I basically eat in the team cafeteria at noon, and cook whatever I want in the evening. There are still quite a few left. With this "soul of Sichuan cuisine", I believe that what will be made tomorrow will be somewhat homely.

He didn't have a small bag of flour yet, and planned to make dumplings for himself.

When he got home, Chu Zhongtian didn't turn on the computer or TV, turned on a set of mini stereos, played music and started cleaning. Prepare for the next day's guests, and also for the Lunar New Year, clean up and sweep away all the bad luck of the previous year.

When I woke up early the next morning, I found that it was snowing outside, and it was not small, so it is not an exaggeration to describe it as a goose feather snow. This made Chu Zhongtian feel very good - it snowed during the Spring Festival, which was really appropriate. I had never seen such a big snow in winter when I was in Chengdu before, and after four years in London, it rained in winter. This winter in Metz has given him a glimpse of all sorts of snow, and before today, the city on the northern border of France had already had four snowfalls. He was very excited when he first saw snow, but now he is much calmer.

In the morning, I went to the team for training, and because the snow was too heavy, the training was changed to indoors, mainly physical fitness and small field confrontation. At noon, I ate with Wang Hao in the restaurant and went to continue shopping, braving the heavy snow to visit several stores in the center of Metz. Bought some decorations to come back and decorate the room. When I returned home and went into battle with Wang Haoqi, we hung lanterns and color stripes together, and decorated the room, both of them were not short, and it was not difficult to do this kind of work.

After being busy for a while, Lin Beiyao knocked on the door, the girl was wearing a lovely red dress and skirt, her little face was red from the cold, and as soon as she entered the door, she took the gift she prepared, opened the exquisite outer packaging, opened the lid of the box, Chu Zhongtian and Wang Hao found that there was a pair of Spring Festival couplets and a blessing character inside.

"I don't think you can buy this either, hehe." Lin Beiyao looked at Chu Zhongtian and Wang Hao's surprised expressions, and was very proud. "I wrote it myself, and when I was in high school, I could be the leader of our school's calligraphy club!"

Chu Zhongtian opened it and took a look, and the red paper was written with a powerful line with a brush - solid as a rock, the green field is majestic, and the majestic Chinese will never give up, and the prestige of Lingyun will be passed on to the world!

He was stunned, he originally thought it was the kind of traditional Spring Festival couplets like "the sound of firecrackers bids farewell to the old year, and the new peach is always replaced with the old charm", but he didn't expect the little girl to take a lot of effort to make it up herself.

And...... "Huh? There is Brother Chu's name in the couplet! Wang Hao suddenly shouted, and then pointed to the word "middle" in the upper link and the word "day" in the lower link and said excitedly: "Look, Zhongtian!" Ha ha! Sister Lin really has a heart! ”

Chu Zhongtian realized that there was another mystery in this Spring Festival couplet, the little girl was so attentive, she had to thank her for everything.

"Thank you, Sister Lin."

Lin Beiyao was a little embarrassed by Chu Zhongtian's thanks, she waved her hand and said with a red face: "No need to thank ......" The red fluttering face looked very happy, and I don't know if the previous freezing has not disappeared, or because of shyness.

Wang Hao picked up the Spring Festival couplets and the word Fu to paste, and Lin Beiyao also said "I'll help" and chased out.

Chu Zhongtian rolled up his sleeves and continued to work.

It didn't take long for Xu Xiaodi to come, and the gifts he brought were also very chic, not any material things, but some songs.

"Turn on the computer, little heaven. See what I've brought you? ”

After turning on the computer, Xu Xiaodi plugged in a USB flash drive. Then use the player to open a few mp3 files inside, and then the room sounded "Every street and alley, everyone's mouth, the first sentence of the meeting, is congratulations, congratulations~~Congratulations, congratulations~~Congratulations, congratulations~~~Congratulations, congratulations~~~".

Hearing this singing, everyone was a little surprised at first, and then laughed - everyone's gift is really interesting, Lin Beiyao sent Spring Festival couplets and blessings, and Xu Xiaodi sent music to the occasion.

Now looking at the red Spring Festival couplets and blessing characters posted outside, and listening to the festive music, Chu Zhongtian felt that it was really a bit of a New Year's flavor.

It feels good to spend such a year in a foreign country.

When Chu Zhongtian was busy in the kitchen, Ribery came with his wife Vahiba, and they also brought gifts. As soon as I came in, I saw several Chinese busy, and they were also infected by them, so I took off my coat and rolled up my sleeves and began to help.

"Is this how you Chinese celebrate the New Year?" While helping, the curious Ribery asked. "It's very lively, I think it's fun to celebrate the New Year!"

When helping to make dumplings, Ribery naughtily pinched the dumplings into various shapes, and even rolled a round ball out, saying that it was a football-shaped dumpling, and he also crossed a line on the "football": "It's still Nike's football!" ”

Considering that Ribery and Wahiba are both Muslims, in order to take care of their religious beliefs, Chu Zhongtian did not stuff pork, but used beef to make the filling.

Mathilde was the last to come, and for good reason—she was all dressed up, her hair was permed, her clothes changed, she put on lipstick, her eyeshadow was on, and she wore foundation to make her freckles look much lighter.

"This is a gift for you, Chu. I specifically went to check your Chinese Chinese New Year's Eve and found that it is very similar to the New Year on our side, so Happy New Year, Chu! Mathilde offered her gift.

Chu Zhongtian took the gift and originally wanted to put it aside, because he was really busy with him, but Mathilde stopped him from doing so: "Forgot, Chu? It is respectful to the giver to open the gift in front of the giver. ”

"Ah...... I'm sorry, Teacher Marty......" Chu Zhongtian hurriedly opened the gift and found that it was a knitted hat inside.

"I see that you never have long hair, it will be cold in winter, this hat is for you."

Chu Zhongtian noticed that Mathilde still had the scarf he had given her around her neck, so he also wore a hat on top of his head. "It's warm, thank you, Teacher Marty."

Mathilde smiled at him.

After walking in, she watched everyone help, doing a good job. Wang Hao, Lin Beiyao and Xu Xiaodi, three Chinese, were busy making dumplings. Ribery and Vahiba cook their best dishes in the kitchen. She couldn't find anything to do.

Chu Zhongtian couldn't enter the kitchen, and the place was occupied by the Riberies.

"Need help?" Mathilde asked.

Chu Zhongtian looked left and right, everything that needed to be done was almost done, and the dumplings were almost wrapped, and there seemed to be nothing that needed her help.

He shrugged: "Just wait for the meal to start in a while." ”

"I'm sorry for being late......"

Actually, it's not nineteen o'clock.

Chu Zhongtian didn't mind this: "I haven't seen you for a month, are you doing well?" ”

"It's okay." Mathilde's answer was ambiguous.

Chu Zhongtian looked at the girl standing in front of him, although he kept calling her teacher, but in fact, she was one year younger than himself, and she was about the same age as Lin Beiyao, why did he think that she was much more mature than Lin Beiyao?

Mathilde was a little embarrassed by Chu Zhongtian's eyes, and she lowered her head.

"You look a little different from before, Mr. Marty."

"Really?" Mathilde asked, bowing her head.

Chu Zhongtian thought for a while, and suddenly said to her, "Continue to be my teacher, right?" I'm used to calling you teacher. ”

Mathilde was taken aback by Chu Zhongtian's words: "But I have nothing to teach you, you can now communicate with any Frenchman without any barrier......

"I've thought about it, Mrs. Marty. I also want to learn one more language - teach me German! ”

Chu Zhongtian looked at Mathilde, expecting her answer.

Mathilde looked at Chu Zhongtian in surprise: "Are you serious, Chu?" ”

Chu Zhongtian nodded: "It doesn't hurt to learn one more language, many people here in Metz speak German, if I don't know, I can't communicate with them." You only taught me to communicate with the French, but there are still many Germans in Metz. ”

Mathilde also felt that what Chu Zhongtian said was very reasonable, she thought about it for a while and nodded: "Okay, Chu." I promise you. ”

Chu Zhongtian slapped happily: "Thank you, Teacher Marty!" ”

In the kitchen, Ribery was calling Chu Zhongtian: "Chu! We've got it! ”

Chu Zhongtian answered, and then instructed Wang Hao and them: "Put the dumplings into the kitchen, put the table away, and prepare for dinner!" ”

Fifteen minutes later, everyone who had been busy all afternoon sat around the small table, and in the song of "Congratulations, Congratulations~~~" played on the computer loop, everyone raised the cups in their hands, which contained drinks.

Chu Zhongtian said to everyone in French: "Thank you for being able to come and celebrate the New Year with me." ”

Then he raised his glass and said in Chinese, "Cheers, Happy Chinese New Year!" ”

The Riberies and Mathilde followed along in the same tone they had just learned: "Cheers! Happy Chinese New Year! ”

Seven glasses collided with a crunching sound.

At this time in China, it was already three o'clock in the morning on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

There were no firecrackers, no Spring Festival Gala, and no family to accompany him, Chu Zhongtian spent his first Spring Festival in Metz, France.

(To be continued)