Lu Sicheng: "We're live streaming, mind your language. Kids shouldn't swear."
Tong Yao: "...Little Fatty swears all the time."
Lu Sicheng: "He's beyond redemption."
Little Fatty: "Hey!"
Tong Yao: "Then stop reading the live comments, it's distracting me."
Lu Sicheng: "No."
Tong Yao: "..."
And so.
While Lu Sicheng was thoroughly entertained, Tong Yao wanted to die.
—Just imagine, when you're seriously gaming, there's someone beside you constantly chattering away. Not only does he chatter himself, but he also faithfully relays what tens of thousands of others are saying word for word, complete with his own commentary...
【Big sis has such a deep champion pool, she can play anything.】—That's because you haven't seen her Yasuo.
【Smiling, you look so cute, why do you play so aggressively?】—"In me the tiger sniffs the rose," ever heard of it?
【Heard you had scrims with YQCB today? How did it go?】—Their VPN crashed, saving their dignity from being ground into the dust.
【Ahhhhhhh Smiling ahhhhhhh you're so pretty so cute!】—So many "ah"s, maybe you should go eat something in the bathroom to calm down?
【Smiling, change your chair, you look so short sitting like that.】—You'd see she's even shorter standing up.
【Who's reading the comments?】—Me.
【Cheng Ge, since you have time to read comments, why don't you stream yourself?】—Busy. Can't you see all these comments? Also, streaming two days in a row? I'd die.
Tong Yao: "..."
Lu Sicheng turned his head, glanced at the grayscale screen on Tong Yao's computer (*screen turns grayscale when a champion dies), and deadpanned: "Is our team so broke we can't afford a color monitor for you?"
Tong Yao stared at the grayscale screen and her pitiful corpse lying on the ground, seriously considering standing up and smashing her keyboard into this handsome face beside her—
By now, Tong Yao had dropped over 200 points in Grandmaster. She felt like she was under some bizarre curse—ever since joining ZGDX, she'd been losing rank like crazy for all sorts of ridiculous reasons...
"Is this banter with the live comments fun for you?"
"Very."
"When are you going to stop?"
"When I get tired."
"..."
Two hours later.
Lu Sicheng wasn't tired yet, but Tong Yao was exhausted—if mental exhaustion counted.
Wiping her face, she looked at her team's Nexus being mercilessly destroyed yet again and her abysmal stats. As the man beside her monotonously read out "Lost all night so tragic lololol," she quit the game. Checking the time—10:30 PM Beijing time—her stream showed over 1.5 million viewers: a mix of her fans, Lu Sicheng's fans, and spectators masses just there for the drama...
The live comments kept pouring in.
Besides discussions about her last game, the most unbearable ones were those speculating about her relationship with Lu Sicheng. Some even had wild imaginations, angrily calling her a spoiled princess for having Lu Sicheng read comments for her—how shameless—
...How shameless indeed.If it weren't for this meddlesome person watching and not allowing foul language, I'd have liked to kindly ask what kind of hole you've got in your head.
"Me, asking him to read live comments for me? Whoever buys a pack of mute medicine to feed him, I'll donate a dollar. See my battlefield stained red across the motherland? That's from reading live comments..." Tong Yao organized some civilized language to retort while waving at the camera, "That's all for today, the beautiful girl is off to sleep—"
Beside her, Lu Sicheng slowly lifted his head from his knees: "You're ending the stream?"
Tong Yao stood up and stretched: "Yeah, it's ten o'clock..."
"Then don't turn off the computer yet, tell me the address of where you bought that beauty camera—"
Before Lu Sicheng could finish, the person mid-stretch froze, then scrambled back to the computer to frantically click the stream-ending button—turning her head to glare at the man who was looking at her with utter confusion before slowly finishing his sentence: "—for Little Fatty."
Meanwhile, the stream chat was already flooded with: "Beauty camera lololololol," "6666666666," "HAHAHAHAHAHA beauty camera," "I knew she couldn't possibly look this good in real life," "This girl's got some serious image maintenance issues—"
Tong Yao shot a hateful glare at Little Fatty.
Behind Lu Sicheng, Little Fatty wore an "it's not my fault" expression: "The fans said I got fatter again, and your camera's effect looks really good—natural rosy complexion—so I asked Cheng Ge to check with you since he's closer... Who knew he'd just ask outright!"
Tong Yao glared back at Lu Sicheng, who remained completely innocent: "What?"
"Look at the stream chat yourself!" Tong Yao angrily pointed at the computer screen. "They're all questioning my beauty!"
Lu Sicheng glanced over, then chuckled lightly: "What beauty of yours is even worth questioning?"
"......"
Tong Yao shook her head, afraid that staying another second would make her grab a kitchen knife to plant in Lu Sicheng's skull. She turned to head upstairs for a shower and sleep, but just then, a hand reached out from behind and grabbed her T-shirt—
Tong Yao stumbled backward.
"What?"
"Going to sleep?" asked the man who had been squatting on his chair idly all evening.
"Yeah, in my dreams I'll be back at 600 points in Ranked. Sounds perfect."
"Don't sleep. Daddy will carry you in Ranked tomorrow, make your dreams come true."
"Nah, just reading live comments today got me called a spoiled princess. If you carry me tomorrow, I'll probably be labeled a Rank Up slut," Tong Yao said, entirely unmoved, turning to look at him. "If not sleeping, then what—let go of my shirt first."
Lu Sicheng released her shirt, hopped down from the chair, and after glancing at the others, announced: "I'm hungry. Anyone want late-night food? Hot pot, my treat."
Three seconds of silence.
On the fourth second, every person in the headquarters stood up as if hearing the national anthem. Little Fatty, in his tank top, looked frantic: "Where's my jacket? Where's my jacket? Wait three seconds, let me grab a jacket!"
Xiao Rui: "Perfect timing, was just about to order takeout."
Ming Shen: "I want sashimi!"
Old Cat: "Sea urchin!"
Old K: "Geoduck!"
Lu Sicheng: "Oh."
Tong Yao: "..."
...Tong Yao didn’t quite understand how eating hot pot in the middle of the night could be considered aristocratic behavior.
She had initially wanted to refuse, but Xiao Rui’s remark—“You’re not joining the group activity?”—left her no choice. As a newcomer, the last thing she wanted was to alienate herself from the team. Over her nineteen years of life, Tong Yao had learned one essential rule for navigating social circles: when a group of colleagues, friends, or classmates gather, if you choose to be the odd one out and skip the event, you’ll inevitably become the star of their gossip that night.
Not keen on being the subject of discussions like, “Why doesn’t she grow taller despite eating so much?” Tong Yao eventually gave in. Yawning, she followed the pack of night owls and climbed into the team’s van—emblazoned with the unmistakable blue-and-white logo of China Telecom. If not for the van’s high-end make, passersby might have been baffled: Why were so many telecom workers out repairing networks in the dead of night?
Inside the van, Tong Yao scrolled through Weibo and chatted with friends while her teammates’ conversation inevitably circled back to League of Legends—specifically, the recent Mid-Season Tournament. Everyone agreed that a certain Korean Operator Team was terrifyingly strong, having just crushed CK Team earlier that day. If the Chinese region wanted to make a mark at this year’s World Championship, they’d have to overcome the Korean region’s dominance.
“Since you’re both Operator Teams, have you scrimmed against them?” Tong Yao asked without looking up from her phone.
Jian Yang had just texted her, asking where she was going after ending her stream. Her reply was the classic four-word phrase: None of your business.
“We did, right before the Spring Split finals. Ming Shen was still here then,” Little Fatty said, gesturing toward the data analyst sitting beside him with his chubby chin. “We got destroyed. Only the bot lane, with Cheng Ge, managed to hold a slight advantage. The other lanes? Pfft—ask Ming Shen and Old Cat how badly they got stomped.”
Old Cat chuckled dryly. “We were completely lost.”
Ming Shen cleared his throat. “I had nightmares that night.”
ZGDX Team was undeniably one of China’s top-tier teams. Yet they had been that outmatched? Tong Yao paused, lifting her head from her phone. “That bad?”
Then she recalled the day she first met Lu Sicheng in person. The staff who picked her up had muttered something about “losing to the Korean team again.”
“And it’s not just this Operator Team. There’s also TAT,” Lu Sicheng said, stretching his legs with a sigh. “After Pope left, TAT struggled early in the Spring Split, but they bounced back hard in the latter half. Their new ADC is a rookie, but he adapted incredibly fast. Even though they lost to the Korean Operator Team in the finals, they pushed it to a full five-game series. If this keeps up, by the time Worlds rolls around, that rookie might become a monster-level threat.”
TAT was the team Lu Sicheng and Pope had previously played for.
Despite losing two powerhouse carries like Lu Sicheng and Pope in succession, they hadn’t collapsed—instead, they’d adjusted within a single split.
At this point, the mood in the van grew somber."There's no helping it. The esports industry in Korea is more mature, so they constantly have fresh talent..." Xiao Rui gave a bitter smile. "Over here, since last year, all we've been doing is buying established players from others. Very few have actually learned their core techniques..."
Hearing this, Tong Yao grew slightly interested and asked Xiao Rui, "When can we schedule another scrim with the Koreans?"
Lu Sicheng glanced at her and chuckled lightly, devoid of any negative emotion. "Beating Ai Jia today has really gone to your head, huh?"
Tong Yao widened her eyes. "What do you mean 'gone to my head'? I just want to try. I know the Koreans are strong, but how can we—"
Before she could finish, a large hand landed on her head, ruffling her short hair with the gentleness one would use to soothe a restless child. Lu Sicheng said calmly, "Not now."
Tong Yao swatted his hand away, looking disappointed. "Why?"
Xiao Rui nodded in agreement. "Yeah, why? Since our Marksman here is so eager, and the TAT team has been idle lately, why don't we just schedule—"
Lu Sicheng shot Tong Yao a glance. "She needs confidence, not a beating. You know what kind of person A Tai, TAT's mid laner, is."
Tong Yao: "..."
Xiao Rui: "..."
Xiao Rui looked from Lu Sicheng to Tong Yao, his expression hesitant.
Lu Sicheng reiterated, "So I said no, and that's final. It's not the right time yet."
Lu Sicheng's stance was firm, so no one dared bring it up again after that... As the conversation continued, the car seemed to have arrived at its destination and came to a stop.
Tong Yao stuck her head out to look. Apart from an old-looking villa, the street was pretty empty, with no sign of the so-called hotpot restaurant... She pulled her head back in. "I told my mom ages ago that Rui Ge is a human trafficker, but she didn’t believe me. Now you’re finally dragging me off to sell me for booze."
"Someone like you would only fetch a bottle of Tsingtao beer, and they’d probably ask for change," Lu Sicheng opened the car door. "Get out."
"Where’s the hotpot place?"
"Here."
Tong Yao watched as her teammates knocked on the villa’s front door. When it opened, it turned out to be an exquisitely decorated restaurant—a hotpot place open in the dead of night was already bizarre enough, but the scariest part was that it was located in a villa in this land-scarce city... Following the others inside, her first thought was: Holy crap, can they even cover the rent running a place like this?
...Then, when a well-dressed waiter handed her the menu, she flipped it open casually and got her answer: Yes, they could.
1,188 yuan for a plate of beef? Are you kidding me?
568 yuan per pound for shellfish? Were they dredged from the depths of the cosmos?!
And what’s with the 70 or 80 yuan for a plate of winter melon?!!!
...Are these prices in yen?
Tong Yao snapped the menu shut with a "I’ve seen the world, I’m not scared" forced calm. "I’m not hungry."
But no one paid her any attention. Lu Sicheng and the others seemed completely unfazed, cheerfully ordering a spread of dishes—meat, seafood, and all sorts of vegetables. As Tong Yao listened to them order, she did a quick mental calculation based on the prices she’d just seen and arrived at a figure that made her blood run cold—Her annual salary was 800,000 yuan—800,000! That might be enough for twenty or thirty meals here, meaning she’d basically be working all year for nothing.
When the dishes arrived, she was still in a daze. Glancing at the spread before her, the meats and seafood all looked incredibly fresh, truly premium ingredients… but in Tong Yao’s eyes, they were just plates of cash being tossed into the bubbling hotpot broth—
Little Fatty and the others, however, were eating happily. Their expressions made it clear this definitely wasn’t their first time here.
Tong Yao remained silent the whole time, quietly nibbling on her greens—each bite worth ten yuan. A single plate of these vegetables could probably buy out an entire farmer’s market stall… As she crunched away, the man sitting across from her suddenly stood up and pushed a plate of freshly cooked meat toward her. “Shorty, eat some meat.”
Tong Yao, still holding a leafy green between her teeth, looked up in confusion.
Lu Sicheng’s unexpected act of kindness made Little Fatty and the others, who had been chatting merrily, fall silent. They glanced between Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng, equally baffled—no one could figure out how these two, who were usually at each other’s throats, had suddenly developed the kind of camaraderie where he’d serve her meat…
Meanwhile, Tong Yao stared at the four-digit-priced beef now in front of her as if it had been seasoned with poison—
The air seemed to freeze.
“Ahem, so, I’ve been meaning to say this since the car ride,” Xiao Rui cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence. “Cheng Ge, do you really think of her as your daughter now? Wherever you go, you’re shielding her—one moment worrying she’ll roll off the bed and hurt herself; the next fretting she’ll get too upset after losing Scrims; and now you’re afraid she’ll starve if she only eats vegetables—”
Amid Xiao Rui’s rambling, Tong Yao slurped the green vegetable into her mouth. Thank goodness for the dim lighting in this upscale hotpot place—no one could see how red her ears had turned, matching the boiled shrimp in the pot…
A brief silence followed.
“She entertained me all night,” Lu Sicheng said flatly. “Letting her eat more to calm her nerves—what’s wrong with that?”
Everyone: “…”
Tong Yao: “…”
Tong Yao blinked at Lu Sicheng in bewilderment.
Then, it was as if a bolt of lightning struck her brain—
Oh right?
Exactly!
I’ve been tormented all night… shouldn’t I at least eat something good to soothe my nerves?!
Instantly, Tong Yao put down her chopsticks, straightened up, and scanned the room, looking for the waiter who had been serving them earlier—
She wanted the menu! She wanted lobster! She wanted bird’s nest! Shark fin too, if they had it—one bowl to rinse her mouth, another to drink! Expensive? Cheng Ge’s rich, Cheng Ge’s paying!!
OpenNovel