Tong Yao trotted over with quick, small steps, coming to an abrupt halt under the lights in front of the person standing there. Before Jian Yang could speak, she blurted out first, "What are you doing here?"
Jian Yang had his hands stuffed in his pockets, his expression dark. Just as Tong Yao thought he was about to lecture her again, the person in front of her suddenly reached out and lifted her straight up—
Before Tong Yao could process what was happening, her heels left the ground. Utterly bewildered, her nose bumped into Jian Yang’s shoulder, his hot, ragged breaths landing on her collarbone.
Tong Yao: "???"
Tong Yao’s face was a picture of utter confusion.
……
Behind Tong Yao.
Someone from the Noob team headquarters let out a shocked yell—"Holy shit!"—as the bushes rustled. A patch of spring onions planted in the team’s courtyard was trampled under someone’s high heels as that person dashed back into the base. Amid the wails of the Noob team’s Mid Laner, Ai Jia—"What the hell, woman, give people some privacy!"—she snatched his phone away.
Three minutes later.
At the China Telecom headquarters, the man expressionlessly playing a game noticed his phone screen light up. He glanced down—
【YQCB、Ai Jia: A tip from an anonymous bystander: Your team’s Mid Laner is engaging in forbidden early romance and is suspected of planning to sell your team’s intel to another LPL powerhouse. We implore the captain to take action and execute justice on the spot! The LPL is a land of dreams—no room for shady dealings or harboring traitors!】
Lu Sicheng: "???"
【YQCB、Ai Jia: They’re hugging now! Damn it! My Tong Yao’s first kiss is still intact—I’ve guarded this treasure for so long, I can’t let some pig ruin it!】
Lu Sicheng: "..."
【YQCB、Ai Jia: Heartbreaking news! Tears will flow upon hearing this!】
Lu Sicheng twitched the corner of his mouth and ignored it.
After playing for a while longer, the man suddenly spoke up, asking the green-haired teenager sitting smugly in Tong Yao’s seat and using her account to play in the King-tier ranked games: "Got any cigarettes?"
"Huh?" Lu Yue side-eyed the man who shared similar features with him. "I quit, dumbass. You know that."
"Oh."
"You should quit too. You haven’t smoked these past few days and you’re still alive, aren’t you? Coughing and still smoking—what’s wrong with you? I’m telling Mom, watch her fly straight to Shanghai to punish you— Besides, don’t you have your own?"
"Ran out."
"Bullshit. What about behind your lucky cat piggy bank—"
As Lu Yue spoke, he leaned over, stretching his fingers toward the piggy bank on Lu Sicheng’s desk. Before his fingertips could even touch it, the back of his hand was smacked. He yelped and retracted his hand, glaring at the perpetrator, who remained unfazed. "Don’t touch it. After Xiao Rui saw me taking cigarettes from there last time, only an idiot would keep hiding them there."
Grumbling, Lu Yue withdrew his hand and slumped back into his chair.
After a moment of thought, Lu Sicheng added, "I’ll give you money. Go buy some?"
Lu Yue: "Stop being so impulsive. I’m not a three-year-old kid running errands for my dad."
Lu Sicheng: "During matches, I am your dad. Ask the live comments if they agree."
The live comments enthusiastically played along—"LOLOLOL" "Agreed!" "Always bullying our Lv Lv" "The little brother threatening to tattle to Mom is so cute, mwah!"—
Lu Yue rolled his eyes. "Go buy them yourself if you want. I’m not going."
Lu Sicheng thought for a moment, then replied, "Oh."Lu Yue was taken aback by the response and couldn't help but glance at the person beside him: Has the Yangtze River started flowing backward and the Yellow River become crystal clear? Since when was this guy so easy to deal with?
...
Outside.
At the entrance of the China Telecom Team headquarters.
Tong Yao stood on her tiptoes, firmly pressed against someone's chest. Far from feeling the romance of a shoujo manga, all she felt was her legs nearly giving out. She patted Jian Yang's shoulder with one hand: "What's gotten into you? Let go first—"
As soon as she spoke, the arm around her waist tightened even more.
"You and Lu Sicheng—are you really together?" Jian Yang's voice was full of gloom.
"…………………………You crossed half of Shanghai by taxi just for this? Do you even know how big Shanghai is, buddy? Together? Didn't he explain it during his livestream later?"
"Then why did he say all those ambiguous things to stir up trouble?" Jian Yang sounded aggrieved. "The forum is flooded with posts about you two, saying you're dating."
"Just teammates joking around... Ugh, never mind," Tong Yao squirmed like a loach and slipped out of his embrace. "Why should I explain this to you? What's with this sudden outburst, Jian Yang? I thought we'd made things clear before."
Jian Yang sniffled and took a step back, frowning. "What exactly did you make clear?"
"That we're over. Like this." Tong Yao cautiously glanced at Jian Yang, noticing his slightly reddened eyes. She stood on her tiptoes again and patted his head, as if comforting a misbehaving child. "Truth is, you don't actually like me that much. It's just the distance playing tricks on you—look at the past year. You were busy with your career, I was studying abroad. We didn't interfere with each other's lives. So why are you acting up now that I'm back?"
"You can't just sentence me like this. I was wrong to lie to you that time, but I was just scared you'd overthink it... I didn't do anything with those girls. I was drunk and went straight back—you can ask Haoyun Lai and the others if you don't believe me." "Shouldn't the usual script be 'things got out of hand after drinking'?"
"That's just TV nonsense," Jian Yang chuckled helplessly. "When you're drunk, you don't even have the energy for that kind of stuff."
"..."
Tong Yao was at a loss for words. What could she even say? Well, tough luck, even if it was a misunderstanding, I just don't like you anymore? Who gets back together out of "pity" or "to make up for past regrets"?
"Yao Yao, give me another chance, okay? Back then, you weren't in the pro scene and hated professional gamers—but now you're in the industry too. You know how hard it is, living under the scrutiny of media and fans, trying to protect someone you care about..."
On the battlefield, the young jungler of LPL's top-tier team was always full of vigor. But now, standing under the streetlight with half his body shrouded in shadows, he lowered his head. His dark eyes glistened with unshed tears, his expression gentle and pleading as he carefully took her hand...
"I missed you. I missed you so much. I kept dreaming that one day we could go to the S Series World Championship together—you'd be in the audience watching me play, watching me lift that trophy—"Tong Yao twitched the corner of her lips, about to say "You're drunk," when she suddenly felt a burning gaze searing into her back... She stiffened and turned around, immediately spotting a tall man standing in the shadows behind her. Meeting her eyes, he stepped forward calmly and said, "Buying cigarettes."
Tong Yao: "...Aren't you coughing? Still smoking?"
Lu Sicheng: "None of your damn business."
He walked up to Tong Yao and looked down at her: "Didn't bring money. Got any change? I'll pay you back later."
At this moment, Tong Yao's hand was still clutched in Jian Yang's grasp.
Tong Yao made a couple of "uh-huh" sounds, quickly pulling her hand back before rummaging through her pockets and shoving a handful of loose change into the large hand in front of her. Lu Sicheng stared at the messy pile of coins and bills, his eyelid twitching slightly, but he silently accepted it anyway.
Stuffing the money into his pocket, he said expressionlessly, "Carry on."
Then he walked away.
After two steps, as if remembering something, he paused, turned back—
"I have no objections to you two lovebirds, but I feel obliged to remind you of some objective facts—First, this shorty is indeed going to S6, but she'll be playing her own matches and probably won't have time to sit around watching your team compete; Second, this year's trophy already has China Telecom Team's name engraved on it. For the Championship Skin, I'm picking Kalista."
Jian Yang: "..."
Tong Yao: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "That's all. Now you can really carry on."
With that, the man patted Jian Yang's shoulder, turned on his heel, and strode off without a backward glance.
OpenNovel