Because of the conflict between the French Cup and the league schedule, the 36th round of the league that was supposed to be played on April 30th was postponed to May 3rd. So after playing the French Cup semi-finals with Rennes on April 19th, the team has ten days off, and they will participate in the French Cup final at the French Stadium on the 29th.

Before this, in order to ensure his condition, Fernandez arranged a warm-up match for Metz, with a German Class C team. The team will go away to participate in this warm-up match.

Before going to Germany again, Chu Zhongtian had one more thing to do.

April 22nd is Mathilde's 22nd birthday, and Chu Zhongtian wants to give her a gift.

This day was originally planned for Mathilde to come to his house to give him German lessons, but as soon as Mathilde entered Chu Zhongtian's house, he was startled - it was pitch black and she thought there was a power outage.

Moreover, the door was hidden, and no one came to open it for her, so she opened it with a slight push.

"Is anyone here? Chu?" Mathilde looked into the dark room, hesitant and did not dare to go in. She stood at the door and shouted softly.

"Chu are you here?"

At this moment, Chu Zhongtian walked out with a birthday cake with a candle lit, singing a happy birthday song. Then he turned on the light and said to Mathilde, who was a little surprised and happy, "Happy birthday, Mathilde."

Mathilde asked in surprise: "How did you know that today is my birthday?"

"Your resume says that when you come to apply for my French teacher." Chu Zhongtian smiled and invited Mathilde in.

"Please come in. We won't go to class today. I'll celebrate your birthday!"

Mathilde was pressed by Chu Zhongtian in front of the table, and the birthday cake and a bottle of red wine were placed on the dining table.

"Thank you, Chu..." Mathilde was moved, and her eyes were filled with tears in the candlelight.

Chu Zhongtian smiled at her: "Don't say thank you to friends. Make a wish, Mati."

Mathilde obediently closed his eyes, closed his hands in front of his mouth.

After a while, she opened her eyes again and found that Chu Zhongtian was staring at her. She felt a little embarrassed and her face turned red. Fortunately, the lights were dim and Chu Zhongtian did not see it.

"What wish did you make, Mati?" Chu Zhongtian asked.

Mathilde thought Chu Zhongtian’s question was funny: “If you say it, your wish will not work.”

Chu Zhongtian also felt that his question was abrupt, and he was just curious. In order to cover up this embarrassment, he handed the knife in his hand over: "Cut the cake, Mati."

"I haven't blown the candle yet." Mathilde glanced at Chu Zhongtian, which made Chu Zhongtian even more embarrassed... He wanted to blow the candle, but just lowered his head and remembered that the candle was about to celebrate his birthday to blow it himself, so he made a "please" gesture: "Then blow the candle..."

Mathilde leaned over and blew out the two digital pictogram candles, took the knife, first cut a piece from the cake, and distributed it to Chu Zhongtian.

Chu Zhongtian did not refuse, took the butter cake and took a bite. Seeing the cream on his lips, Mathilde also laughed.

After eating the cake symbolically, Chu Zhongtian took out the gift he had prepared long ago.

"What's this?"

Mathilde couldn't guess when he looked at the packaging.

"Look at it for yourself."

She unpacked the packaging and found that there was a beautiful box inside, and then opened the lid. Emily Stan appeared in front of Mathilde's eyes with a smile - it was a photo of Emily Stan with an autograph on it!

Mathilde looked at the pictures, posters and a pink lace-edged T-shirt in front of her in surprise. When she saw the T-shirt, she screamed: "This is the one Emily wore in "Christmas Boy"!"

She pulled the T-shirt out of the box with some excitement, and finally brought out a greeting card.

Put the T-shirt aside first, pick it up and open it to see.

"Happy birthday to my dear Delphin Mathilde, and I wish you good health and happiness forever! Your friend Emily Stan."

Mathilde saw the greeting card and didn't know what to say. She was stunned for a while before she raised her head and asked Chu Zhongtian: "How did you do it, Chu?"

Chu Zhongtian shrugged: "I told Emily that I have a friend who likes her very much and is about to celebrate her birthday recently. I hope she will give her a gift."

"What did you tell Emily? Do you know Emily...?"

Chu Zhongtian nodded. There is nothing to hide when he is involved in this matter. Anyway, Mathilde is not a reporter, so it is no big deal to be known to her.

Seeing Chu Zhongtian nodding, Mathilde was a little excited. She asked: "I really know you? How did you know you?"

"Didn't I tell you that I used to play football at Wimbledon? You like Emily so much, you should know that she is a Wimbledon girl, right?"

Mathilde understood that they met at that time, that is, they met before they met Chu Zhongtian... She thought about it and said to Chu Zhongtian: "I am very interested in the story between you. Can you tell me more, Chu?"

"If you like it, no problem." Next, Chu Zhongtian told Mathilde the story between himself and Emily. Starting from the two of them, Emily came to Duns Bar to find him, hoping that he would participate in the team's trials until Emily graduated and went to the United States to develop, while he was loaned to Metz, France.

Of course, he hid some ambiguous scenes, such as the kissing and kissing in the crowd after the team's successful advancement game, and the scene of snuggling up to each other on the rooftop. He felt that it was not good for everyone to tell these very private things.

"And then we got in touch some time ago. That's it..." Chu Zhongtian finished speaking.

Mathilde fell into silence. She seemed to be very sensible and came back to her senses after a while.

"It sounds like a beautiful story..." she sighed. "It's incredible that she actually fell in love with your talent for playing football at a glance."

Chu Zhongtian laughed, not knowing how to answer. However, this story reminded him of the carefree days at Wimbledon. Amateur football and professional football were really two completely different worlds. In the bar, Emily asked herself if she wanted to play professional football. She always seized every opportunity to persuade herself to play professional football. She didn't appreciate it at that time. Now it seems that Emily is right again. Compared to herself, she is always right... Mathilde looked at Chu Zhongtian who was trapped in memory. She noticed that the man in front of her had a softer tone than usual when she mentioned the name "Emily". Maybe he himself did not notice this change in his tone, which further shows that this was a completely heartfelt feeling.

This was the first time she saw such a change in Chu Zhongtian.

Mathilde put away the birthday gift from Emily and smiled at Chu Zhongtian: "Thank you, Chu. This is the best birthday gift I have received, thank you!"

"Just like it." Chu Zhongtian was also very happy.

"Thank you too for letting me know about a real Emily Stan." She looked down at her watch. "I think I should leave, Chu."

Chu Zhongtian stood up and sent Mathilde to the door, reminding her to be careful on the way.

The two were about to say goodbye, and Mathilde and Chu Zhongtian gave a kiss. This is not the first time they have done such a thing, and Chu Zhongtian won't be overbearing because of kissing Mathilde.

But this time, when Mathilde's mouth was pulled back along Chu Zhongtian's cheek, it touched the corner of his mouth.

Chu Zhongtian's mouth felt a little soft and fleeting. When he realized that when Mathilde had just kissed his lips, the feeling was gone.

After kissing Chu Zhongtian on the cheek, Mathilde smiled and waved at him: "Goodbye, Chu."

Chu Zhongtian replied dullly: "Goodbye, Mati..."

Keeping watching Mathilde leave, Chu Zhongtian reached out and touched the corner of his mouth.

Chu Zhongtian turned around and put the unfinished birthday cake on the table and put it in the refrigerator. After washing his hands, he went upstairs and entered the study.

He sat in front of the computer and looked at the photos of Emily's new post on the blog.

He took out his cell phone and sent a text message to Emily: "The gift is given out, she likes it very much. Thank you, Emily."

After a while he received a reply from Emily: "It's good to like it."

Because I just told Mathilde about his and Emily’s story all night, Chu Zhongtian suddenly missed Emily very much, especially when they were not famous and were unrestrained in Wimbledon.

In an impulse, he sent Emily a text message: "Emily, I miss you a little..."

As a result, he regretted it after sending it... But what should I do? How to take back the text message and the water I poured out? Could it be that I sent another message and said that it was all jokes, but I didn't think of her? Isn't this even more stupid? What does it mean to have no silver here? What does it mean to cover up the truth?

When Chu Zhongtian held his cell phone and didn't know what to do, his cell phone rang. He knew who came from the text message, but he didn't dare to read it. He didn't know how Emily would answer him. Waiting for him was the result he vaguely hoped or he vaguely didn't want it?

After hesitating for a while, Chu Zhongtian opened the text message.

It was indeed Emily's reply, with only one simple word:

Fool.

※※※Emily put up her phone after sending the text message, then turned her head to look at the view outside the car window, and she hummed a song softly.

"...Look at everything we create, look at the life journey we have walked hand in hand. Maybe it was a detour, but we firmly believe that we will eventually set foot on the other side of happiness..." (Singed from "you_are_still_the_one" by the Canadian country female singer Shania_twain) The mother who was driving in front heard her daughter's singing and felt it was quite strange: "Are you in a good mood now, Emily?" Just half an hour ago, her daughter was angry at her mother because she arranged several shows she didn't like, and she didn't say a word after getting in the car.

"Now...it's not bad." Emily shrugged and continued to hum.

"...You are still my only goal, my only destination, you are still the only one in my life, you are still the only one I love, the only one I have been thinking about day and night, you are the only angel I kissed and said good night..."

"Who are you singing?" Miranda didn't know why her baby daughter suddenly felt better, but she knew that this was an opportunity to ease their relationship, so she took the initiative to talk.

"Shania Don Eun's. I'm fascinated by her songs recently... I'm so glad we succeeded. Look at the life journey we have walked hand in hand, Bao-Bei..."

※※※I celebrated Mathilde's birthday, and Chu Zhongtian went to Germany with the team, and they had to play a warm-up match there.

Although Metz is close to the German border, the place they are going to this time is actually quite difficult to find... "Hoffenheim? Where is that?" Ribery searched for the newly purchased German map on the trip, but he couldn't find their destination.

In fact, it was not just him, but no one in the team knew where the place they went to warm up this time was in Germany.

"Maybe you need a magnifying glass, Frank!" someone joked.

"Give me a microscope, I can't find it!" Ribery threw the map aside and did not look at the densely packed place names and roads and rivers.

"Why do we have to run so far to play a warm-up match? Just find a team in the Lorraine area? I have no objection even if I look for Nancy." He complained.

Many teammates also think so - they ran so far to find a German-Central team to play a warm-up match, and they were so full.

But let Fernandez have a high prestige in the team. Except for Ribery, the rebellious guy, who dares to complain, everyone else can only complain in his heart.

Metz's itinerary is as follows: First, take an international flight to Paris, then take a train to Mannheim, transfer to Sinsheim in Mannheim, and continue taking the train to Sinsheim in Sinsheim. Their opponents are waiting to fight them.

Chu Zhongtian picked up the map that Ribery threw away and started looking. He followed the team's travel route and quickly found Frankfurt, followed by Mannheim south of Frankfurt. Then Sinsheim was difficult to find. Because he didn't know the direction, he turned around and finally found Sinsheim in the southeast of Mannheim. But after that, he could no longer find the legendary "Hoffenheim". Because there is no administrative unit name with a lower standard on this map. Hoffenheim, which is lower than Sinsheim, naturally did not appear on this map.

Chu Zhongtian's search activity also failed, so he folded the map and returned it to Ribery.

"Stop looking for it, what are you looking for?" Ribery said to him, "Anyway, I'll know where it is."

Yes, I'll know where it is then.

"I still don't know where this is..." When Metz's players got off the train, they stood on the simple platform, looking at the blue sky, the green trees, and the railway that stretched deep into the forest, all looked confused.

"Okay, don't worry about where this is, we'll go back after the game." After a long trip, Ribery was also a little dizzy.
To be continued...