Soccer: If they're using these kinds of cheats, what's the point of training?

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong.

A-Jie is a "Happy Bean Player," which is his nickname for his profession.

He works as an agent for illegal sports betting, primarily serving clients in the Chinese-speaking regions of Southeast Asia. This Saturday night, as usual, he was monitoring the live odds changes for several matches, including the Ligue 1 Round 20 game between Auxerre and Bruno Fernandes.

"Auxerre -1, low odds... Brendan +1, high odds..." A-Jie was looking at the odds and communicating with clients on the messaging app.

His clients are mainly from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, and most of them are Mandarin speakers. Their way of betting on sports is simple and direct - they don't bet on winning or losing, but on "special betting options".

For example, "who scored first", "total number of goals", "whether there was a hat-trick", etc.

"Brother Jie, what's your opinion on this Auxerre match?" a Taiwanese customer asked in the group chat.

Ajax glanced at the odds: "Auxerre are favored by one goal at home, which seems pretty solid, but their attack is weak; they only scored 18 goals in 18 rounds in the first half of the season. I wouldn't recommend betting heavily."

"Didn't they just sign a mainland striker?"

"What's the point of signing him? What can he do in his debut?" another client interjected. "How many Chinese players have actually made it in the top five leagues? I'm betting on Brendan to accept the transfer."

The group was filled with agreement.

A-Jie didn't participate in the discussion, but he opened the profile of the new Chinese player—18 years old, with no professional match experience, previously trained in the domestic U20 team, was expelled for fighting, and then banned for five years.

This resume made A-Jie frown.

It's not because the resume is bad, but because the resume is too outrageous.

A player who was expelled from the national youth team and banned for five years signed directly to Ligue 1? And started in his debut?

Ah Jie had been an escort agent for seven or eight years and had seen countless unsavory and shady dealings, but he had never seen anything like this before.

"Interesting," he muttered to himself, then sent a message in the client group:

"Anyone want to bet on Auxerre to win by a large margin? The odds are good."

No one replied.

Ah Jie shook his head and continued staring at the screen.

The game started.

In the first twenty minutes, Zhang's arrogant performance made A-Jie's eyes widen more and more – this mainland player was not here to just coast along, he really could play.

In the 25th minute, Zhang Kuang scored with a header.

A-Jie's finger paused on the mouse for a second.

In the 43rd minute, Zhang Kuang unleashed a spectacular volley, a world-class goal.

Ah Jie took a deep breath, opened the customer's chat window, and quickly typed a few words:

"This mainland guy is no ordinary person."

In the 67th minute of the second half, Zhang Kuang Shi headbutted his opponent, completing his hat-trick.

Ah Jie fell silent.

He'd seen hat tricks before, but he'd never seen one like this. Three goals, three different ways, and all world-class.

"This mainland guy..." Ah Jie murmured, "He's going to be famous."

Without hesitation, he immediately opened the recording software and captured footage of the second half of the game. Then, he posted the video on several Chinese forums he frequented.

The title has only four characters:

[Chinese striker's hat-trick shines in Ligue 1]

---

On the forum, the first person to see this video was a Chinese Manchester United fan who had lived in Manchester for over a decade. His online name was "Red Devils Old Chen".

When he saw the headline, his first reaction was, "Someone's bragging again."

He was stunned after clicking on it.

The image quality wasn't great, but that white number 33 figure was just too eye-catching. Every touch of the ball seemed to be in slow motion—not actually slow, but his rhythm was different from everyone else's. While others were tackling, he had already stopped. While others were stopping, he had already passed. While others were passing, he had already started moving.

"This is not scientific..." Old Chen of the Red Devils stared at the screen and watched Zhang Kuang's second goal three times over - a volley that gave the defender no chance.

"Is this really a Chinese player?"

He opened a search engine. Fifteen minutes later, Old Chen from Red Devils posted a long thread on the forum with the title:

[Regarding arrogance, here is all the information I found, and my analysis.]

The post is long, but the core content consists of only a few paragraphs:

"First, Zhang Kuang, born on August 18, 1991, is 18 years old this year, 185 cm tall, weighs 75 kg, and plays as a forward."

"Secondly, he had trained at a domestic football school and was selected for the Chinese U20 training team four months ago. He was expelled two months ago for fighting and was also banned for five years by the Chinese Football Association."

"Third, after a week's suspension, he went to France, joined Auxerre through a trial, officially signed on January 4, and made his debut on January 16, scoring a hat-trick."

At the end of the post, Red Devil Old Chen wrote the following:

"I won't comment on what happened to him in China. I'll just say what I'm seeing now—an 18-year-old Chinese player scoring a hat-trick in his Ligue 1 debut, all three goals being world-class. We've never had a player like that before, never."

The post was forwarded thousands of times in the next two hours, spreading from forums to Baidu Tieba, from Baidu Tieba to Weibo, and from Weibo to every corner of the Chinese internet.

"Has anyone watched League One? That Chinese guy really scored a hat trick."

This sentence became the most popular phrase in the Chinese football circle that night.

---

Singapore.

Lin Zhiwei is a senior football data analyst who usually provides data services to several Southeast Asian betting companies. This weekend, he had no work scheduled and instead stayed home to watch the live broadcast of the Auxerre vs. Bruno Fernandes match.

It wasn't because he had a mission, but because a little over a month ago, while compiling the winter transfer list, he happened to see Zhang Kuang's trial data—that set of data left a deep impression on him.

"A striker with an overall rating of 81-83?" He frowned at the time. "A Chinese player? Impossible."

But now, having witnessed the outrageous hat trick firsthand, his professional judgment began to waver.

After the match, Lin Zhiwei immediately opened his database and began searching for all available data on Zhang Kuang.

Training records at domestic football schools: exist, but information is incomplete.

U20 training team selection record: Yes, but only for a little over a month.

Then he couldn't find anything.

He has no appearances in the Chinese Super League, China League One, or even China League Two.

An 18-year-old player who had never played in a professional league scored a hat-trick in his Ligue 1 debut.

Lin Zhiwei stared at the lines of data on the screen and remained silent for a long time.

Then he picked up the phone and called his boss.

"Boss, I need you to investigate someone for me."

"Who?"

"A Chinese player. Arrogant. He's in Auxerre."

"What's wrong?"

"I need to know all his stats," Lin Zhiwei paused, "because he might become one of the most sought-after players in this summer's transfer window."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone: "Okay, I'll have someone check."

--

As Zhang Kuang left the stadium and prepared to get into his car, his phone was already bombarded with messages.

He unlocked his screen and saw dozens of unread messages.

Aisha's, Lina's, Matilda's, Jonathan's, and a few others he barely contacted.

He opened Jonathan's messages first:

"Zhang, your phone must be ringing off the hook. I've screened them for you; three domestic media outlets want to interview you, and two French sports media outlets have also sent interview requests. But I don't think you're ready for media interviews right now. Let's wait a few more games, when you've performed even better, before you accept interviews. What do you think?"

Zhang Kuang replied with "OK," then opened a message that was both expected and unexpected—Wu Guohua.

"Xiao Zhang, I watched the game. A hat-trick, great! Great! Great! Play well in France, don't waste your talent. Also, take care of your body, don't get injured."

Zhang Kuang looked at the message and suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

This old coach, in his sixties, gets up at three or four in the morning to watch his game live.

He rubbed his nose and replied:

"Coach Wu, thank you. I will continue to work hard. I will come back to China to see you after the season ends."

Less than ten seconds after the message was sent, Wu Guohua replied:

"Don't go back to China, train hard. I'll come see you in France after I retire."

"it is good."

Zhang Kuang held his phone tightly, not turning off the screen for a long time.

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