Being lumped together so bluntly with Lu Yue, Tong Yao was not happy.
So she grabbed the hem of the man's clothes and asked with great seriousness, "Tell me, what kind of troubles have I caused you?"
She had thought Lu Sicheng would at least hesitate for a moment, but instead, he immediately shot back without thinking, "Have you ever seen a Mid Laner who roams to the bot lane and demands a wave of Minions as toll?"
………………Seems like the resentment had been building for a while.
Tong Yao: "I created the opportunity for you to kill the enemy and get gold—300 gold for a kill, 15 gold for a Minion, 45 for a siege Minion. What’s wrong with taking a few Minions as payment? You get the meat, but won’t even let me have a sip of soup?"
Lu Sicheng: "Is there no soup for you in the mid lane?"
Tong Yao: "No, I want yours."
Lu Sicheng: "See? You steal my Minions and still act righteous. And I can’t even yell at you or AFK. Doesn’t that count as trouble you’ve caused me?"
Tong Yao: "Aren’t you happy about it?"
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Tong Yao repeated with sparkling eyes, "Aren’t you happy?"
Lu Sicheng: "Happy, happy. Now shut up."
As he spoke, the hand that had been gently ruffling the back of her head suddenly pushed her away... Tong Yao swatted his hand aside and looked up to see the rest of their teammates wearing expressions that screamed, "I’m so jealous my teeth hurt watching you two flirt." Old K stroked his chin and said, "Suddenly realizing you two kept your relationship secret just to spare our eyes and ears, letting us live a few more years. Such kindness. Is it too late to say thank you now?"
Lu Sicheng glanced at him, then turned to Tong Yao. "I’m going back to my room to apply medicine. Bring the bandages to my room later."
Before Tong Yao could reply, Xiao Rui chimed in from the side, "I’ll be guarding the door. If you take longer than twenty minutes, I’m breaking it down."
Tong Yao paused, then blushed as she caught his meaning.
Lu Sicheng, on the other hand, looked disdainful and sarcastic. "Twenty minutes? Who do you think you’re underestimating?"
Tong Yao: "..."
……
Lu Sicheng had a habit of showering first when he returned to his room. Tong Yao wasn’t in a hurry either. She tidied up her desk, logged into the game to readjust her settings—by the time she got up from her computer, half an hour had passed. Old K, Old Cat, and Little Fatty had taken the second-team kids out to eat. Remembering that Lu Sicheng probably wouldn’t want to go out while he was uncomfortable, Tong Yao declined their invitation, saying she and the captain would order takeout later.
Most of the noisy crowd had left in a lively car ride, leaving only a few staff members, Ming Shen, and the coach sitting on the sofa reviewing replays. The Team headquarters suddenly fell quiet.
Before heading upstairs, Tong Yao sent Lu Sicheng a WeChat message: "Done showering? Put some clothes on, don’t be a pervert." Her captain replied with "......"—six dots as his answer.
As if seeing him naked would be some kind of divine blessing.
Tong Yao didn’t dwell on it. She sent him an eye-roll sticker, put her phone away, and returned to her room.After rummaging through the room without finding any bandages, Tong Yao suddenly remembered that she had taken them out the other day when Lu Sicheng complained about his hand hurting. After using them, the man had casually placed them in the storage cabinet of the second-floor training room... Tong Yao opened her door again and headed to the training room across the hall. As she approached, she realized that not all the kids from the second team had gone with Little Fatty and the others to grab food. Greedy Wolf was sitting alone in front of the computer, practicing last-hitting drills on the freshly reset computer.
Tong Yao: "..."
Given that Greedy Wolf had ignored her earlier when she tried to talk to him downstairs, Tong Yao felt a bit awkward and didn’t know what to say now. So she just muttered, "Didn’t go with them to eat?" before turning to search for the bandages—starting from the bottom shelf of the storage cabinet all the way to the top. When she reached the highest shelf, she rolled her eyes: of course, this height was perfectly convenient for someone like Lu Sicheng.
Tong Yao had to stand on her tiptoes, stretching her arm as far as she could, blindly groping around like a blind man trying to identify an elephant—but after a long while, she still couldn’t find them. Just then, she suddenly sensed someone approaching from behind. A stranger’s presence loomed briefly before retreating. Greedy Wolf, expressionless, reached up and took down a roll of bandages, placing them on a middle shelf where Tong Yao could easily reach.
Then he stepped back.
Tong Yao: "..."
Kids these days really get good nutrition.
Sixteen or seventeen and already towering like a giant.
Tong Yao twitched her lips, feeling a bit embarrassed, and whispered a small "thank you." Picking up the bandages, she found the atmosphere stifling and immediately wanted to flee—but the moment she took her first step, her elbow was caught in a firm grip. The boy’s fingers were slender, but his grip was strong.
Tong Yao froze and turned back.
Their eyes met, and for the first time, Greedy Wolf showed a hint of awkwardness. He loosened his grip slightly but didn’t let go—as if afraid she’d run away the moment he did.
"About what happened during the Demacia Cup," Greedy Wolf suddenly spoke up, "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push you."
"..."
The apology came out of nowhere, leaving Tong Yao at a loss for words. She tugged at her arm but couldn’t free it. Her eyelid twitched, but she kept her tone gentle. "It’s fine. I was a bit worked up too... Getting caught contacting headhunters from other clubs during the off-season transfer period would mean suspension. I was just worried you’d make a mistake. The second team has a real shot at making it to the LPL this year. I didn’t know if you were really talking to someone from another club—anyway, don’t act impulsively..."
By the end, Tong Yao felt like she was some kind of moralizing preacher.
Her tone was beyond awkward.
So she gave up and shut her mouth, only for Greedy Wolf to suddenly smile. "I was talking to the manager of HF Gaming about transferring next season."
Tong Yao blinked.
"But I turned him down. I suddenly realized there’s no need to switch teams." Greedy Wolf’s voice was calm as he tightened his grip slightly, pulling Tong Yao closer. Then he abruptly changed the subject. "You know, I watched your match against YQCB today. If Lu Sicheng hadn’t been so overconfident and picked that weird Ashe when Pope first-picked Sivir, you might not have lost the first game."
Tong Yao knew.
Of course she knew that Lu Sicheng’s Ashe pick hadn’t been the best.But the loss of that match ultimately came down to the team's deteriorating atmosphere at the time. Whether Lu Sicheng's champion pick was countered or not wasn't the main reason—the game's collapse had been evident from the very beginning...
"Ashe does struggle against Sivir, and your Cheng Ge isn't a hundred percent perfect either. But the reason we lost the first game was mainly—"
"Did any of you object to his pick?"
"We..."
Before Tong Yao could finish, Greedy Wolf shoved her the next second. She staggered and fell onto the sofa, then felt the light before her dim as the teenager pressed his hand on her shoulder, leaning in close—his voice practically dripping with resentment when he spoke: "You always say I'm overconfident, that I don't cooperate with the team, that I don't value my teammates. So what? Has he done any better? On the battlefield, all he thinks about is how to show off, how to defeat his rival. You praise his Ashe, so he just picks Ashe, trying to step out of Pope's shadow like that... When he did that, did he ever think about the rest of you? Did he ever consider that his choice might lead the entire match to failure?"
"..."
"And then what?" Greedy Wolf's voice rose slightly. "Did any of you blame him even once?!"
Tong Yao's ears buzzed.
She stared at Greedy Wolf in stunned silence—her lips slightly parted, as if her mind had short-circuited for a moment, unable to refute him.
Greedy Wolf's gaze briefly brightened intensely before darkening again. He lowered his eyes, his inscrutable stare sweeping over the lips of the person he had pinned to the sofa...
With a cold laugh, he leaned in even closer, his tone mocking and flippant: "Seems like I'm not the only one who doesn't know how to cherish my teammates, huh?"
By now, the two were extremely close.
So close that the unfamiliar scent of him enveloped her, making every hair on her body stand on end in alarm—her fingers gripping the bandage turned white from the force...
"His hand injury is so severe, he can only play for another season or two at most," Greedy Wolf let out a short laugh. "And the only one who can take his place is me. I don't know what you fools are clinging to. All I know is that if I get this chance, with you as my teammate, I'll prove I can do better than him—"
As he spoke, his warm breath practically brushed against the tip of Tong Yao's nose.
Tong Yao stayed silent for three seconds.
Unexpectedly, the girl's voice suddenly rang out—unusually calm for once:
"Prove you can make it to the starting lineup first, then talk."
Greedy Wolf froze.
The next second, he felt the person trapped between the sofa and his chest shift to sit up, followed by a sharp elbow jabbing forcefully into his stomach, shoving him away. Tong Yao sprang up from the sofa, shooting Greedy Wolf a glare as she left and stomping hard on his foot.
As the boy recoiled in pain, Tong Yao noticed the man's door across the hallway behind him had opened at some point. Now dressed in a T-shirt and loose shorts, the man stood leaning against the doorframe in slippers, arms crossed, his expression blank but his gaze dark as he watched them.
His eyes met Tong Yao's from afar.
Yet he neither said nor did anything.[What's the use of education of love?]
[This little brat won’t learn until he suffers a bit himself...]
[Before he figures it out on his own, nothing you say will make a difference.]
Tong Yao took a deep breath and walked toward him, circling around most of the corridor before stopping firmly in front of the man—for a moment, neither of them spoke. Tong Yao raised her head and met those deep brown eyes.
Lu Sicheng curled the corner of his lips.
Baring his stark white teeth.
Under that dangerous gaze, Tong Yao was so startled she instinctively took a small step back. But the moment she retreated, the man suddenly reached out, grabbed her, and pulled her into his arms. With a dark expression, he shot a glance at the second-floor training room across from them, then flung his hand—slamming the door shut with a deafening bang !
The earth-shaking noise even rattled the windows on the first floor of the team headquarters.
Downstairs, the data analyst and coach, who were reviewing match stats, paused and exchanged bewildered looks before glancing up at the second floor in unison, utterly clueless: What now? Tearing the house down?
OpenNovel