Chapter 47: Sprinting for the Throne

"Stop it, that tickles!"

Opening his eyes, Dai Zhiwei shot a glare at the girl beside him. "If you keep this up, I’ll have to enforce house rules."

After a night of passion, Dai Zhiwei was utterly spent, but Zhong Luchun, on the other hand, was brimming with energy. Upon waking, she glanced at the man lying next to her, a smile curling her lips as she reached out to gently tap his nose.

"Get up! We still need to pick up the car!"

At the mention of "house rules," Zhong Luchun’s face flushed red. She scrambled out of bed as if fleeing for her life, putting plenty of distance between them.

Dai Zhiwei chuckled and nodded. "You go freshen up first. I’ll be right behind you."

Watching her disappear into the bathroom, he couldn’t help but smile.

Plato once said: When the soul sets aside the body and yearns for truth, only then is thought at its best. Humanity is called a higher species because our nature is more human than beast, and spiritual connection is a beautiful thing.

Dai Zhiwei didn’t deny aspiring to Platonic love—it was simply something he knew he couldn’t, and didn’t want to, achieve.

He wasn’t worried about Zhong Luchun leaving him. He was certain he was the most suitable man she could hope to meet at this moment.

The reason Zhong Luchun mentioned picking up the car was, of course, because Dai Zhiwei had abandoned his BMW X1 and ordered a Porsche Macan to be their new ride, and today was the day they would collect it.

With wealth comes the luxury of enjoyment; Dai Zhiwei had no intention of living the life of an ascetic.

The excitement of the new car carried over into Dai Zhiwei’s performance in the 28th round of the Chinese Super League against Tianjin Teda the next day.

With Evergrande having already clinched the league title ahead of schedule, and an AFC Champions League away match against Gamba Osaka just three days away, Cannavaro fielded a starting lineup composed almost entirely of substitutes, save for Robinho and Dai Zhiwei.

Neither Robinho nor Dai Zhiwei would be eligible for the second leg of the AFC Champions League semifinal against Gamba Osaka—Robinho due to joining mid-season and not being registered for the competition, and Dai Zhiwei due to a red card suspension.

Unable to play in the Champions League match three days later, the pair unleashed all their energy against Tianjin Teda. After a hard-fought ninety minutes, both Robinho and Dai Zhiwei tallied a goal and an assist, helping Evergrande to a 2-1 away victory.

Three days later, Evergrande traveled to face Gamba Osaka, but Dai Zhiwei did not make the trip and remained in Guangzhou.

In the end, Evergrande, focusing on defense, held the match to a 0-0 draw, comfortably advancing to the final with a 4-0 aggregate score.

After returning from Japan, Khamis granted the first team three days of rest to prepare for the AFC Champions League final, meaning Dai Zhiwei missed the 29th round league match against Shandong Luneng.

Even though Dai Zhiwei scored four goals against Beijing Guoan in the final round of the Chinese Super League, he still fell short of reaching the 40-goal mark for the season.

Seeing his season tally stall at 39 league goals, the obsessive-compulsive in Dai Zhiwei left him burning with...

Tears?

Of course not.

Dai Zhiwei appeared in 29 Chinese Super League matches this season, scoring 39 goals—an average of 1.3 goals per game!

Such numbers inspire nothing but admiration from outsiders; there’s hardly a flaw to be found.

Yet, Dai Zhiwei hadn’t expected this to become one of the few regrets in his career...

With the Chinese Super League season over, Dai Zhiwei and the entire Evergrande team focused all their energy on the first leg of the AFC Champions League final.

The first leg would see Evergrande travel to Dubai to face West Asian powerhouse Al Ahli—a second AFC Champions League final for the Chinese champions, now aiming for a double after five consecutive league titles.

The first challenge Evergrande faced: Dubai’s Al Maktoum Airport was still under construction, with no direct flights from China landing there.

But Evergrande’s owner, Mr. Xu, was nothing if not extravagant. No commercial flights? Private jets would do just fine!

"Our boss is truly loaded!" Dai Zhiwei marveled as he sat on the plane, feeling like a country bumpkin entering a palace. "I never knew poverty could so limit my imagination!"

This time, the main squad and substitutes traveled on two separate chartered flights to Dubai, while the coaching staff and support personnel took a commercial flight.

The first jet, carrying starters like Dai Zhiwei, belonged to Xu Jiayin himself, while the other was provided by one of Xu’s friends.

Dividing the team in this way ensured the players could rest comfortably during the long journey, minimizing fatigue.

More than sixty local Chinese fans made the two-hour drive to the still-under-construction Al Maktoum Airport, the future world’s largest, to welcome the Evergrande players.

Before boarding the team bus, Dai Zhiwei made a special effort to mingle with the fans and take photos with his compatriots.

To his surprise, Al Ahli’s vice CEO, Faraj, led a five-person delegation to greet the team and presented every Evergrande player with flowers.

This would be the first ever meeting between Evergrande and Al Ahli, both clubs relying on their star national team players and powerful foreign signings.

The difference was that Al Ahli, with their youthful squad, were more prone to impulsive play—having collected 26 yellow cards and two reds over twelve AFC Champions League matches.

To give Al Ahli the best shot at the title, the UAE Football Association had even rescheduled league matches around the final. Even so, with two games in hand, Al Ahli trailed league leaders Al Ain by only three points.

"This is Huaxia Television! There may be no moment more crucial for Evergrande this season than today. If they want to make this season even more glorious, they must win today’s match. But clearly, Al Ahli, playing at home, won’t agree!" said He Wei, star commentator for Huaxia TV’s sports channel, before handing over to the thunderous roar of the stadium crowd.

High up in the stands, the soaring chants seemed to tell viewers at home: On the football pitch, those wearing different shirts will never be friends, only rivals.

The starting lineups were soon announced—

Al Ahli:
Goalkeeper: Mahmoud
Defenders: Haikal, Khamis, Sangour, Kwon Kyung-won
Midfielders: Hamadi, Hassan, Ribeiro, Fardan
Forwards: Lima, Khalil

Evergrande:
Goalkeeper: Zeng Cheng
Defenders: Li Xuepeng, Mei Fang, Feng Xiaoting, Zhang Linpeng
Defensive midfielders: Paulinho, Zheng Zhi
Midfielders: Huang Bowen, Goulart, Dai Zhiwei
Forward: Elkeson

At last, with the referee’s whistle, the first leg of the 2015 AFC Champions League Final was underway!

No sooner had the match started than a commotion erupted in the stadium, mingled with shouts and curses—some kind of scuffle, it seemed.

Dai Zhiwei was just about to make a run into the box, waiting for a teammate’s pass, when the whistle made him turn his head.

A crowd had gathered on Al Ahli’s left flank, with Zheng Zhi and several others squaring off against a group of Al Ahli players. The referee quickly rushed over, using his whistle to separate the two sides.

It turned out that right from the opening, Evergrande’s attack saw Huang Bowen take the ball down the left, only to be sent flying out of bounds by Khamis’s hard body check—an action that sparked the confrontation.

But with that, Khamis was making it clear: Al Ahli’s approach to this final would be hard and unyielding.

Such was the nature of the AFC Champions League Final—the pinnacle of Asian club football.

Play resumed, but Evergrande’s attacks were repeatedly shattered by Al Ahli’s rugged defense, prompting He Wei and the other commentators to exclaim that Al Ahli looked more like a rugby team, while Evergrande seemed hesitant and restrained.

Dai Zhiwei several times found himself in perfect scoring positions, but no matter how frantically he waved, his teammates on the ball seemed blissfully unaware of his presence, let alone willing to pass to him.

"So it was just luck after all. I thought he was something more," Kwon Kyung-won, who’d been marking Dai Zhiwei closely, sneered as he saw that Dai had yet to even touch the ball.

But before he could finish, as if guided by fate, the ball suddenly shot in Dai Zhiwei’s direction!

Kwon’s heart skipped a beat. He’d only meant to provoke the rookie with words—he knew full well what Dai Zhiwei was capable of. No one who scores 39 league goals in a season is merely lucky.

Kwon lunged forward, confident in his own speed, determined to intercept the pass before Dai could reach it.

But fast as he was, someone else was faster.

Seeing the figure ahead, Kwon was shocked. He’d expected to overtake Dai Zhiwei and leave him behind, but now, it was Dai who was leaving him in the dust.

Unable to accept it, Kwon instinctively reached out with his right hand, grabbing Dai Zhiwei’s right shoulder, trying desperately to halt him before he could break away.

A foul was inevitable.