Not sure what came to mind, but Lu Yue's expression shifted. As he asked, "Where's that damn shorty?" he walked toward Lu Sicheng. When he reached the dressing room door and was about to turn the handle, the man who had been crouching by the door stood up—his tall frame completely blocking the space between Lu Yue and the door behind him.
"Go back first."
Lu Sicheng's voice was calm, his face expressionless. Aside from slightly disheveled hair, there was no trace of the earlier emotions—as if Lu Yue had simply misread the situation.
Lu Yue withdrew his hand: "Is she inside?"
Lu Sicheng: "Yes."
Lu Yue: "Doing what?"
Lu Sicheng: "No idea."
The responses came smoothly.
After a pause, Lu Sicheng added, "Go back first. She'll be out soon."
Lu Yue stared into Lu Sicheng's eyes: "Xiao Rui insisted that the starters and substitutes take a set of duo photos. That's why I came looking for her."
Lu Sicheng gave a noncommittal "Hmm," clearly unwilling to elaborate further. Seeing that nothing more could be pried from him, Lu Yue had no choice but to give up. He tossed out a "Hurry up, then" before turning and reluctantly heading back toward the studio.
The hallway was left with only Lu Sicheng again. About ten seconds later, the door behind him clicked open from the inside, revealing a narrow gap. A cautious face peeked through the crack, cheeks slightly flushed under the dim dressing room lights: "W-who were you talking to just now?"
"Lu Yue."
Lu Sicheng turned and glanced through the gap. The white team jersey was already on her—he paused, then said in an unreadable tone, "If you're dressed, come out already. What's taking so long?"
The phrase "If you're dressed" nearly made Tong Yao yank the door handle off its hinges. Gripping the metal tightly, she pulled the door open a little wider—the girl in the ZGDX Summer Split jersey slipped out like an eel...
The white Summer Split jersey looked entirely different on her compared to her teammates. Her pale, slender arms exposed by the short sleeves made the white fabric appear even lighter—clearly the result of someone who stayed indoors all year, avoiding the sun. Lu Sicheng said nothing, gave her a glance, then turned to lead the way.
The atmosphere was nothing short of awkward.
Tong Yao trailed behind with her hands clasped behind her back, desperately trying to smooth things over: "What did you see earlier?"
A tactful Lu Sicheng would say, "Nothing." But instead, the man in front paused mid-step and answered honestly, "Everything."
Tong Yao stumbled, nearly stepping on Lu Sicheng's heel. Regaining her balance, she looked up: "How many times have I told you to knock before entering a room?!"
"...Lu Yue didn't knock either just now when he tried to open it," Lu Sicheng deflected. "I stopped him."
"I'm talking about you! Why bring up Lu Yue?"
"You've been in the dressing room for an hour and forty minutes. The odds of me opening the door to find you wandering around in that state, that outfit, and that pose were about the same as me opening it to find you inexplicably dead."
"......"The entrance to the photography studio wasn't far away. From a distance, they could already hear Little Fatty loudly asking Lu Yue, "Weren't you going to find our girl Mid Laner? Where is she?" Tong Yao felt like she'd grabbed onto a lifeline and stretched her neck, about to respond that she was right here. But just then, the man walking in front of her suddenly stopped—Tong Yao froze slightly and looked up. From her angle, she could only see the man's broad shoulders. Before she could figure out why he'd stopped, she suddenly heard him say calmly, "But, sorry."
Tong Yao: "?"
Lu Sicheng: "I'll knock first next time."
Tong Yao: "……………………………………"
Tong Yao's mind went blank.
Three seconds later, a massive Live Comment flew into her brain—
The captain is apologizing.
To me.
Her head, which had only felt awkward and shy a second ago, suddenly exploded with a "boom." She raised her hands and slapped them over her face, which had turned red enough to fry an egg. Gripping her facial muscles, she pulled them downward and instantly squatted down, her face almost buried in her knees: "Y-you're insane! Why suddenly apologize so seriously!!!"
"?"
The man who had been facing away turned around. Looking at the person squatting on the ground, the corner of his mouth twitched. He grabbed her slender arm and pulled her up, ignoring her face, which was as red as a boiled shrimp. He said flatly, "I thought you needed a serious apology."
"Y-yes, right, I do." Tong Yao glared at him fiercely, her face still red. "In ancient times, doing something like this would mean you'd have to marry me."
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Tong Yao: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "........"
Tong Yao: "........"
Lu Sicheng: "That punishment seems a bit excessive."
Tong Yao: "…………………………"
Lu Sicheng: "Don't push your luck."
Tong Yao immediately scrambled: "Sorry!"
Lu Sicheng let go of her arm, kept his expression blank, turned, and walked toward the studio. Tong Yao followed behind him, looking utterly defeated, utterly impressed by her own terrible habit of babbling nonsense when nervous... The two entered the studio one after the other. Little Fatty was the first to spot Tong Yao, his eyes lighting up as he was about to say, "You're finally here." But then he noticed Tong Yao walking behind Lu Sicheng with her head down and exclaimed, "Tong Yao, what's wrong with your face?"
His shout instantly drew everyone's attention.
Lu Sicheng glanced back at Tong Yao, who abruptly lifted her head, feigning composure as she tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear and cleared her throat. "What do you mean, what's wrong?"
"Red," Lu Yue said expressionlessly from the side. "What were you two doing just now?"
If gazes could have sound effects, the looks everyone was giving Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng right now would probably be accompanied by the "clang swoosh swish" of swordplay from a martial arts movie—
"Ran here," Lu Sicheng said calmly. "Aren't we in a hurry?"
Lu Yue: "If you ran here, why don't you look affected?"
Lu Sicheng: "My legs are longer."
Lu Yue fell silent.
At that moment, urged by the photographer, Tong Yao stepped into the studio to begin shooting her solo promotional photos.Tong Yao was the last one to take her solo photos. The team's promotional group photos were actually individual shots later photoshopped together into one image. To make the editing easier, there were some requirements for the players' poses during their solo shots. For instance, the photographer now instructed her to cross her arms, slightly lift her chin toward the camera, and lower her gaze slightly—
Anyone familiar with basic team promotional photo rules would recognize this as the signature pose for the center position. What an honor it was for her to be given such prominence—standing in the middle while overshadowing even Lu Sicheng, the team's star player! Anyone else would have been overjoyed, but someone was still grumbling:
"...Like this? Really? Chin this high? Are you sure? Mister, won’t my face look huge like this? And if I lower my eyes, they’ll disappear—they’re already small enough as it is..."
Photographer: "They will."
Tong Yao: "?????"
Photographer: "But that’s what makes it domineering. Imagine yourself as a queen."
Tong Yao looked baffled: "A queen?"
Xiao Rui stood nearby, watching her with an expression that suggested he wanted to grab a stick and knock her out... Lu Sicheng sat to the side, legs crossed, seemingly engrossed in his phone before suddenly remarking, "Asking a Thumbelina to act like a queen—maybe consider the inherent limitations of the character first."
In the end, the photographer personally directed his assistant to forcibly adjust Tong Yao’s head into the right pose. The shutter clicked rapidly as they barely managed to capture something usable, leaving the rest to the mercy of post-production...
After the solo shots came the duo photos, which Xiao Rui had strongly insisted on.
"We need a sense of fateful confrontation, a fierce clash, full of killing intent—the silent war between a substitute and a starter! We have to highlight the tension between you two because of your competitive dynamic!"
Xiao Rui enthusiastically explained the concept to Tong Yao and Lu Yue. Lu Yue remained expressionless the whole time, unclear if he was even listening, while Tong Yao nodded along with a vague understanding. Lu Sicheng stretched his legs and commented, "Aren’t these two already in a constant state of fierce clashes, killing intent, and silent warfare flooding the entire team headquarters? Just channel the idiocy from your chair-stealing fights—Xiao Rui basically wants you to act naturally."
Tong Yao shot Lu Sicheng a glare from across the room.
...
That evening, exhausted after a full day of posing, everyone returned to the team headquarters. Tong Yao collapsed onto the couch and began ordering takeout for everyone on her phone, asking each person what they wanted to eat. Just then, Little Fatty, who had returned to his computer, suddenly exclaimed, "Whoa!"
Startled, Tong Yao nearly dropped her phone. She struggled to lift her head from the couch. "What’s wrong?"
"The official Weibo just posted a preview of the photos from this afternoon!" Little Fatty pointed at the screen. "This one actually turned out really good!"
Hearing this, Tong Yao felt a twinge of nervousness, recalling the forced poses that emphasized her round face and narrowed eyes. She quickly logged into Weibo and refreshed her feed—the first post that appeared was from the official ZGDX account, now trending as a hot topic.
Tong Yao’s eyelid twitched.
The photo featured her and Lu Yue.The godlike post-production team dimmed the lighting around the studio. A beam of light shone from Tong Yao's left, illuminating half her face while the other half remained in darkness. Behind her, standing back-to-back, was a young man much taller than her, his back facing the camera. He resembled a towering mountain shadow behind Tong Yao, his head slightly tilted toward the light source. The beam highlighted his high nose bridge and indifferent lips, his eyes slightly lowered with long lashes casting a small shadow beneath them...
The young man hovered between maturity and youth, with a faint heroic air between his brows.
The photo was reposted over two thousand times, but the comments below exploded—
【That young man is Lu Yue: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OUR LV!!!!】
【Her King: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MY WIFE SHOT THE MIC!!!】
【China Telecom Above All: This photo looks great.】
【Hehehe: A new generation of "Light and Shadow" is born. Can't wait for the Summer Split.】
【Short-legged Doggo: The new Summer Split uniforms look nice, heh. China Telecom should always be blue and white.】
【Lu Yue's Little Wife: ………………I'm so jealous. Isn’t this basically a wedding photo if hung in a bedroom?? Want to send knives again.】
【Just Passing By: Does this mean Lv is confirmed on the roster this season? The photo seems to imply—starter: iling; substitute: Lv.】
【Give Me an Elephant: Cheng-Yao shippers, hold me tight! Stay firm in your stance and don’t waver!】
【Ah Tong: To the Cheng-Yao shipper in the top comment, hello. I’m a Yue-Yao shipper. Starting today, our faction rises.】
……
Tong Yao stared at the photo for a while, then scrolled through the comments. After a long pause, she let out a puzzled "Huh?" and turned to look at Lu Yue, who was also holding his phone, his gaze calm as he stared at the screen. Sensing her eyes on him, he lifted his eyelids and glanced at her—
Their eyes met for three seconds.
Then they both rolled their eyes at each other in mutual disdain and looked away. Tong Yao flopped back onto the sofa.
"I had the official account post this photo," Xiao Rui floated into the room. "Before the official roster announcement, let those who can read between the lines understand—this Summer Split, China Telecom still has two Mid Laners."
"Not many got it," Lu Sicheng remarked coolly from the side. "Most people still think your team’s two Mid Laners went to the civil registry office to get married."
Tong Yao shot up from the sofa, back straight, hands on her knees, wide-eyed and innocent as she stared at the captain. Xiao Rui also froze: "Most people? Who?"
"My mom. His mom." Lu Sicheng pointed at Lu Yue. "Five missed calls on my phone, over a dozen unread WeChat messages, all asking if my little brother has a girlfriend and why his couple photos are being posted on the official account."
Hearing this, Lu Yue froze, then quickly grabbed his phone to dial a number and stepped out to clarify the dating rumors.Tong Yao was grateful her mom didn’t use Weibo, but she forgot she had a best friend who did. So within five minutes of Lu Yue turning to leave, the Mid Laner from the neighboring team showed up at her door with his girlfriend in tow. The moment Tong Yao opened the door, her 1.72-meter-tall best friend—who still insisted on wearing high heels—slapped a big paw on her shoulder: "Nice photo."
She felt a pair of eyes burning into her back.
Tong Yao stiffened. "Stop talking nonsense! Our team forbids internal relationships."
Jin Yang smiled brightly. "I didn’t say anything, pal."
The gaze behind her intensified. Tong Yao couldn’t take it anymore and turned around—only to find no one there. Xiao Rui was on a call, Old Cat and Old K had booted up their computers for a duo queue, Little Fatty was rummaging through the fridge, and Lu Sicheng sat on the sofa scrolling through his phone—
Everyone looked busy.
Tong Yao exhaled in relief, shoved Ai Jia back to his teammate, and pushed Jin Yang upstairs. As they climbed, Jin Yang chattered, "I saw the male lead when I came in—he was outside on a call. I heard he’s Lu Sicheng’s actual brother? They do look alike. At first glance, I almost mistook them, except Lu Sicheng’s taller… And damn, he’s handsome. For a second, I almost believed the esports circle was just full of pretty boys."
"And then?"
"And then how did I end up picking up leftovers like Ai Jia in a circle full of pretty boys?"
"..."
"—Hey, upstairs! I can hear you!" Ai Jia’s voice floated up from below.
Jin Yang stuck out her tongue, pulled Tong Yao into her room, and shut the door for girl talk. Tong Yao was still wearing her Summer Split team jersey, which was stiff from not being washed. She planned to change into something more comfortable—as she pulled off the jersey, Jin Yang, sitting cross-legged behind her, caught sight of the underwear beneath and let out a disapproving "Tch." "What the hell are you wearing?"
"Underwear," Tong Yao deadpanned, turning around. "What about it?"
Jin Yang’s gaze skimmed over the childish print along the edges, where soft, pale skin swelled slightly under the pressure, forming a delicate curve. Below lay a flat stomach, and though the panties matched the same juvenile print, they had a subtle design—ties on the sides fastened into little bows.
Jin Yang propped her chin on one hand and hummed meaningfully. "I think I might’ve been wrong about something."
"About what?" Tong Yao asked absently, pulling on a shirt.
"Maybe someone’s into this style after all."
"..."
"But if that’s the case, you should be careful. No doubt, that person would be a total creep."
Tong Yao turned and smothered Jin Yang’s face with the Summer Split jersey. Jin Yang yelped, laughing as she collapsed onto the bed. The two tussled, and the one pinned underneath had no way of noticing how abnormally red the other’s face was as she hissed, "Shut up already!"
Amid their wrestling, Tong Yao’s phone buzzed. Gasping, she scrambled up to check it—a string of gibberish as the sender’s ID, but the message was straightforward:
【djwdb2333: The takeout’s here.】
【djwdb2333: I paid for it.】[djwdb2333: Come down for dinner.]
Tong Yao: "Ah!"
Jin Yang sat up as well: "What's wrong?"
Tong Yao ran a hand through her hair: "The takeout's here."
She scrambled off the bed, grabbed her phone, and rapidly sent three WeChat messages—
[No no no!]
[Let me pay, I promised to treat everyone today!]
[Coming right now! Don't do anything rash!]
After sending the messages, she stuffed her phone into her pocket and rushed downstairs in slippers. As she opened her bedroom door, she heard the sounds of people moving about downstairs getting bowls and chopsticks. She quickened her pace, intending to pay Lu Sicheng for the takeout, when she suddenly heard Lu Yue say: "Bro, let me borrow your phone. Mine's dead."
Without much thought, Tong Yao clattered down the stairs.
Halfway down, she abruptly heard Lu Yue's voice pause, followed by a confused question—
"Who's this contact named 'Bunny Hugging Carrot'? They just texted you saying they're coming right now and telling you not to be impulsive—impulsive about what?"
The moment Lu Yue finished speaking.
Everyone heard a loud series of thuds and crashes from the staircase, accompanied by a girl's pained shriek of "Ah!" Turning in shock, they saw their starting Mid Laner sitting awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs, her slippers missing, clearly having just tumbled down and landed squarely on her backside.
"Holy shit, Tong Yao, are you okay?"
"Why the rush? Were you that hungry?"
"Get up, get up... Where did you hurt yourself? Did you twist your ankle?"
After the initial shock, everyone rushed over to help.
Only the Lu brothers remained where they were. Lu Sicheng glanced at the girl at the foot of the stairs—her face scrunched in pain as she clutched her waist while Little Fatty helped her up—then turned away, snatching his phone back from Lu Yue: "No one important. Since when are you so nosy? If you're borrowing my phone, just use it. Why go snooping around?"
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