Xiao Rui looked up at the two people causing a ruckus behind him: "Don't you get tired of teasing her every single day?"
Lu Sicheng patted the head of the person standing on the chair: "If I got tired that easily, wouldn't the streets be full of stray cats and dogs?"
Tong Yao thought about it and felt something was off: "Who are you calling a stray cat or dog?!"
Just as Lu Sicheng was about to respond, he suddenly noticed something out of the corner of his eye and turned his head. He immediately saw Lu Yue sitting in the back row, legs crossed, chewing gum while pointing his phone in their direction... Noticing Lu Sicheng's gaze, Ming Shen beside him patted Lu Yue's leg. Lu Yue gave an "Mmm" but didn't lower his phone—
Lu Sicheng asked expressionlessly: "What are you doing?"
Lu Yue answered without hesitation: "Helping you come out of the closet."
Tong Yao: "????"
Come out of the closet? What the hell?
Ming Shen turned his face away, laughing, while Lu Yue wore a lazy expression that practically screamed "You're welcome." Lu Sicheng's face darkened as he walked over and snatched the phone from his brother's hand. One glance told him it was too late—Lu Yue had already sent the recording to a contact named [Mrs. Wang] on WeChat...
Lu Sicheng clicked on the video. It perfectly captured the key moment when Tong Yao jumped onto the chair to grab Lu Sicheng's phone, then the car jolted, causing her to fall onto him... Below the video was Lu Yue's friendly caption:
[Yue Qiu Ren: The same person he couldn't stop gushing about with starry eyes during the interview just now.]
Lu Sicheng: "..."
God damn "starry eyes."
With a face as dark as the bottom of a pot, Lu Sicheng threw the phone back at Lu Yue's gleeful stomach. The latter let out an "Oof" and laughingly raised Ming Shen's arm to shield himself. Ming Shen smiled faintly and said in a placating tone, "Alright, enough fooling around."
Pointing at Lu Yue's nose from behind Ming Shen, Lu Sicheng threw out a "You just wait," then strode back to his seat and started typing furiously—
Tong Yao clung to the back of the chair like a gecko, watching for a while. She had never seen Lu Sicheng type so fast before... She twitched her lips and glanced at Lu Yue: "You recorded a video? Who did you send it to? You didn't post it online, did you?"
"Posting it online would be boring," Lu Yue rolled his eyes. "I'm not that low."
Hearing this, Lu Sicheng paused his rapid typing and gave Lu Yue a look full of silent accusation... After a moment, he said coldly, "You're lower than you think."
This only made Lu Yue laugh even harder.
...
When they arrived at the Korean restaurant, everyone got out of the car one by one. Lu Sicheng was still texting, while Lu Yue trailed behind him, taunting: "It's no use. Mrs. Wang is in a meeting right now. Later, she'll definitely check my WeChat first because she's more likely to worry that her younger son got locked up for fighting again and is texting her to come pay bail..."
Lu Sicheng thought about it and realized this was probably true. After shooting Lu Yue a glare to shut him up, he exited the messaging app.A group of seven or eight people settled into a private room at a Korean restaurant. Lu Sicheng set down his phone and excused himself to the restroom, leaving the others to peruse the menus—after the shock of the private hotpot incident, Tong Yao had learned to remain composed even when faced with a menu where a single plate of grilled meat cost three hundred yuan. She opted for a sixty-eight-yuan potato pancake, closed the menu, and glanced around—
Just then, Lu Sicheng’s phone on the table buzzed.
Tong Yao turned her head, noting that the man hadn’t returned yet, and peeked at the screen. The caller ID read [Madam Lu]. She stared at it for a moment, recalling how flustered Lu Sicheng had been earlier after the video incident, typing away to explain himself to someone. She felt she had pieced something together…
A slight pang of complexity stirred in Tong Yao’s heart.
She nudged Lu Yue, who was sitting beside her, with her elbow. “You messed around earlier, and now your sister-in-law is calling.”
“What sister-in-law?” Lu Yue, who had been twisting his head to chat with Ming Shen behind the menu, turned back in confusion. He glanced at Lu Sicheng’s phone on the table and calmly said, “Oh. You answer it for him.”
“Me? Hell no. Are you trying to stir the pot, you little brat?”
Tong Yao smacked Lu Yue’s arm. He chuckled lightly and was about to say something when Lu Sicheng slid open the door and reentered the room. He glanced at his phone, which had just stopped ringing from lack of response, and casually asked, “Who was it?”
Tong Yao straightened her back, inexplicably feeling guilty as if she’d done something wrong. “Uh… seemed like your girlfriend.”
Lu Sicheng gave her a baffled look. Tong Yao pointed at his phone. “The caller ID said ‘Madam Lu’… Ah! I just happened to see it, I wasn’t trying to—”
“Shut up. I didn’t say anything,” Lu Sicheng picked up his phone to check the missed call, paused, and realizing the misunderstanding, added flatly, “Not that kind of Madam Lu.”
Tong Yao: “?”
As they spoke, the phone in Lu Sicheng’s hand rang again, stubbornly persistent—the caller ID still displaying [Madam Lu]. Tong Yao immediately stiffened, watching her captain with nervous tension as he swiped to answer and uttered a simple, “Hello.”
Tong Yao instinctively held her breath.
After a brief acknowledgment, Lu Sicheng fell silent. Whatever was being said on the other end, the man fiddled with the cutlery in front of him and replied nonchalantly, “Slow down. What’s the rush? You’re slurring. Weren’t you in a meeting? …Slipped out halfway? Is your company going under, letting you act so recklessly?”
The tone was intimate. Detective Yao analyzed expressionlessly—this mix of complaint and indulgence was unmistakably directed at a girlfriend.
…Though it might seem nosy, since joining the team, Tong Yao had never heard Lu Sicheng speak to anyone in such a tone.
“—What? No, it’s no one, just a teammate… Why would I praise her? She played well, what’s wrong with that?”
The low murmur of the man beside her reached her ears. Tong Yao fell silent, feeling her stomach acid rise to her throat. Scanning the room, she noticed everyone else looked perfectly at ease, utterly unconcerned about their captain’s romantic affairs catching fire…But Tong Yao was different. She had already begun imagining the little girl on the other end of the call jumping in anger from the video Lu Yue sent, abandoning her meeting halfway to call her boyfriend and demand an explanation—maybe even crying from frustration. And all based on the flag Tong Yao had once set: "Though I don’t know who will have the honor of being your Mrs. Lu in the future, I’m already starting to envy her a little now."
…………………………Now that she thought about it, that statement sounded a bit shady too?
Tong Yao raised a hand and wiped her face exhaustedly—
From now on, ZGDX might never see Mid and Bot lane synergy again. The audience would surely question: This Mid Laner only TPs to Top lane.
Just thinking about it made her feel short of breath.
"—You’re coming to Shanghai? For what? The Summer Split has started. I don’t have time to entertain your nonsense."
Amid Lu Sicheng’s increasingly impatient voice, Tong Yao scooted closer to Lu Yue. A cold draft blew down the back of her neck—she needed some sense of security. At the same time, she wished she could draw a line between herself and Lu Sicheng with barbecue sauce to declare her innocence—
And now she’s coming to Shanghai for an on-site inspection?!
WTF!
Little girl, your boyfriend might seem decent, but you really don’t need to keep him tied to your belt! And if you’re worried about someone stealing him, shouldn’t you be more suspicious of that chubby guy who lanes with him every day? Just yesterday, I saw him clinging to your boyfriend’s arm, throwing a tantrum and begging to be carried for a Rank Up!
And right then—
As if sensing a scorching gaze sweeping over the hand holding his phone, Lu Sicheng paused mid-call. With a resigned expression, he turned to the person staring at him and mouthed silently: My mom.
Tong Yao: "…………………………"
Oh.
Ohhh.
So, there was no "frustrated, crying little girl."
……Definitely not "that Mrs. Lu."
Tong Yao turned her head back and stared at the tip of the chopsticks resting on her bowl—
Now, she could breathe freely again.
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