【ZGDX、Smiling: Our captain went on a blind date today. Heard the girl's a 1.72m tall returnee with a master's in finance who wears high heels. Their families are business partners.】
【A Mao's Mom: If you went abroad to finish your studies, you could've gotten a master's degree too.】
【ZGDX、Smiling: But I'd need bone-lengthening surgery to reach 1.72m, or a Harry Potter who knows a height-increasing spell.】
【A Mao's Mom: You'd have better luck praying Cheng Ge has a peculiar taste for short girls.】
【ZGDX、Smiling: …………Why would I pray for that?】
【A Mao's Mom: Then why are you comparing yourself to his blind date's height?】
【ZGDX、Smiling: Was I? I was just gossiping with you—you're the one who started comparing! Seriously, where do all these tall, pretty, well-educated girls from good families even come from!!!!!】
【A Mao's Mom: You can play games though. The Mulan of esports. You're pretty awesome too!】
【ZGDX、Smiling: Piss off.】
【A Mao's Mom: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!】
Tong Yao rolled her eyes and put down her phone. Distractedly flipping through her notebook filled with data on HUAWEI Team's players, she realized after a few pages that she couldn’t focus on a single word—only growing more irritated. She snapped the notebook shut with a thud , turned off the light, and crawled under the covers.
Da Bing, already half-asleep, let out a displeased meow and kicked her with his hind legs.
"Stop kicking! This is my bed. If you're so unhappy, go sleep in your cat bed."
Tong Yao bickered fiercely with the cat while yanking the blanket over her head. She wasn’t entirely sure who she was sulking at. Closing her eyes, she couldn’t help but recall how Lu Sicheng had mocked her that afternoon— "All you know is eating." Under the covers, she puffed her cheeks indignantly. What do you mean 'all you know is eating'? While you were out on your fancy blind date, I was stuck at headquarters reviewing match footage until my eyes nearly bled! Not a single word of praise, huh? Pfft!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.
For a brief moment, she almost grabbed her phone to curse someone out. But deep down, she knew her reason for being mad was ridiculous and flimsy. In the end, her innate fear of the captain overpowered her rage...
Eventually...
She fell asleep still fuming.
......
The next day was match day.
Tong Yao and the team arrived at the venue at 3:30 PM. After the usual makeup session, they waited in the lounge for the match to start.
By 4:30 PM, the murmur of the audience and the live host’s voice could faintly be heard outside.At 4:40 PM, there was an LCD screen in the players' lounge, synchronized with the broadcast outside. Players could watch the ongoing matches during breaks. Currently, the screen was playing last week's TOP10 highlight plays. Tong Yao sat cross-legged on a chair, eating fruit while counting the clips—Lu Sicheng appeared in two, and she made one. Lu Sicheng's highlights mostly featured solo outplays in the bot lane or 1v2 reversals, while Tong Yao's was a slick backline positioning play in a teamfight, cleaning up the remnants with precise attacks...
At 4:45 PM, Tong Yao set down her fruit takeout box and stood up, about to say it was time to head out. Just then, a cheerful BGM suddenly blared from the TV behind her, followed by an exaggerated, drawn-out announcement—
"Toooournament Quooootes!"
The girl, who had just turned toward the door, stumbled mid-step and spun back with a bewildered look—just in time to see her own face fill the screen.
["They picked late-game Champions, and we're all going early-game? Wow, teammates, y'all are really cocky, huh."] This was Old Cat sighing.
["I have a headache. Let’s finish this quickly and go home to sleep."] This was Lu Sicheng, expressionless and hoarse.
["Seconded."] This was Tong Yao, looking solemn.
"AAAAAAAAAH!" Tong Yao covered her eyes in horror, only to peek through the gap between her middle and ring fingers at the TV. "Didn’t the backstage guys promise not to include this in Tournament Quotes?!?!?!"
Lu Sicheng scoffed. "You idiot. Who promised you anything?"
On the screen, Old Cat, wearing headphones, leaned slightly forward past Old K to glance at Tong Yao: ["What’s wrong now, little sis?"]
Tong Yao immediately plugged her ears with two fingers.
But the Tournament Quotes editing team had no intention of sparing her. The screen showed her originally deadpan face twitch slightly before she calmly declared—
["Stomach hurts. Need to take a shit."]
["Stomach hurts. Need to take a shit." X2]
["Stomach hurts. Need to take a shit." X3]
The line replayed three times, the last iteration stretched out with a monster roar sound effect. Above Tong Yao’s head, colorful subtitles popped up alongside a cartoon toilet and a crying poop emoji...
The camera cut to each of her teammates’ awkwardly silent expressions, ending with Little Fatty’s sigh: ["I think you just wanted to make it into Tournament Quotes."]
Tong Yao’s stoic face finally cracked—on-screen, she realized in horror how wide her nostrils flared and how pronounced her double chin was, rivaling any rage comic meme. The editors added a waterfall of tears for effect: ["No no no, backstage bros, do me a solid—cut this part out, I’m begging you! I’ll kowtow and wish you an early New Year!!!!"]
In the top-right corner, a small S meme appeared with a deadpan expression, captioned by the editors: ["Nah."]Tong Yao slapped a hand over her face, unable to bear watching. Even through the long corridor and a closed door, she could hear the audience outside roaring with laughter—"HAHAHAHAHAHA." When the broadcast played her Twisted Fate ulting bot lane while yelling at Lu Sicheng, "Give me a kill! Give me a kill! I worked so hard flying down here—if you dare not give me a kill, I’ll never come bot again in my life!" and Lu Sicheng told her to calm down before she pissed herself, the laughter from the audience sounded like they were about to suffocate from amusement...
Tong Yao: "No way. I can’t go out there today. Lu Yue, you take this game—I need to calm down."
Lu Yue: "No way, I’m staying right here to watch you suffer."
Little Fatty: "Don’t be scared."
Tong Yao: "How could they do this to a young maiden!!!!"
Little Fatty: "Esports has no gender."
Tong Yao weakly waved her hand. Just then, Xiao Rui opened the door to urge them to head to the stage. Little Fatty half-dragged, half-coaxed her out the door. As she passed Xiao Rui, she clearly heard their team manager say, "I love how unrestrained you are—no pretenses, completely different from those flashy posers outside."
In the dim corridor, Tong Yao widened her eyes innocently, watching their team manager lean against the wall cackling, feeling like the entire world was against her—
When she walked out of the player tunnel and took her seat, Tong Yao heard not just applause but also the audience’s raucous laughter. She rubbed her face and sat down, sensing countless eyes scanning her. This time, not even the computer screen blocking her face could save her...
Tong Yao grabbed her headphones and muttered before putting them on, "My mental’s shattered. Mid’s doomed today. Top and bot, you’re on your own."
Lu Sicheng: "If you get solo-killed once, I’ll take this Tournament Quote back home, buy a giant screen, and loop it in the living room 24/7 for a full day. Twice, two days. Three times, three days..."
Tong Yao: "..."
Tong Yao: "Are you even human?"
Grumbling, she adjusted her headphones. The noise and laughter outside faded slightly, but Tong Yao still hadn’t recovered from the earlier humiliation. The tomato-red flush on her face had only faded to a faint crimson... A while later, the match officially began. As they entered the draft phase, her teammates stopped joking and focused on strategy—
Old Cat: "Pick Ekko for me, get me Ekko. Ekko’s broken right now."
Old K: "No way, you’ve only practiced him in a few Ranked Games—I don’t trust this."
Lu Sicheng: "Ban Rek’Sai, ban Evelynn too. Don’t let Kun get them."
Little Fatty: "Ban a Mid Laner too—get rid of Viktor."
Tong Yao: "..."
Old Cat: "Then I’m locking Ekko."
Old K: "What should I pick, Ming Shen?"
Ming Shen: "Graves is still open—you want him? I think Graves is solid."
Old K: "Alright."
Lu Sicheng: "With Graves, I can pick a scaling Champion."
Little Fatty: "Jhin, Jhin—great engage."
Tong Yao: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "Where’s our Mid Laner? DC’ed?"
Little Fatty: "Silent as a chicken."
Ming Shen: "Right, what’s Mid thinking? They picked Ezreal—Syndra’s still good here... Tong Yao, can you play her?"Tong Yao: "Can, take."
Little Fatty: "Little sister, do you believe that some people will still make it into the Tournament Quotes even if they don’t speak or keep their words brief?"
Tong Yao: "……………………………………"
Tong Yao declared that she didn’t believe it.
So, from the start to the end of the first match, which lasted forty-five minutes, she spoke no more than ten sentences, each with fewer than ten words. Little Fatty and Old K both marveled that Tong Yao seemed possessed by Lu Sicheng, to which Lu Sicheng obviously objected: "I’m not mute."
Because she didn’t speak, and due to the pre-match "shameful play on loop" death threat from the captain, Tong Yao played with hyper-focused intensity and carried explosively in the first match. Right from the start, she and Old K ambushed the enemy Jungler at the river crab, securing First Blood. The first fifteen minutes became a personal showcase of her Syndra mechanics—a textbook performance—as she solo-killed HUAWEI Team’s Mid Laner three times.
Then came the teamfight phase.
In teamfights, wherever Tong Yao’s Syndra aimed her spheres, she pushed them there. The enemy backline squishies were shoved around miserably, getting pushed back into the frontline every time they tried to retreat. With their already disadvantaged items, they were quickly burst down in two or three hits!
Fortunately, their Jungler recognized the dire situation early and abandoned the mid lane, successfully counter-ganking Old K a few times in the top and bottom lanes, barely dragging the game into the mid-to-late phase. HUAWEI Team struggled to hold on for over forty minutes… Ultimately, because their Mid Laner was too far behind in farm and couldn’t deal or survive in two consecutive teamfights, they were finally aced and lost the game.
After the first match ended, Tong Yao pulled off her headphones, stood up to take a sip of water, and without saying a word, scurried off to the restroom like a dog with its tail between its legs. On the way, she ran into HUAWEI Team’s Jungler, Kun, in the hallway.
Tong Yao paused and nodded at him as a greeting. Unexpectedly, he flashed her a bright smile and said in a distinctly robotic foreigner’s Chinese accent, "I watched your video. Very cute."
Kun had always had a lot of female fans back in Korea. Tall, fair-skinned, with dimples when he smiled, he looked like a clean-cut young man. During streams, he rarely spoke, just smiling while his teammates spammed trash talk during duo queues—
He never flamed teammates for feeding, but he would type compliments when they carried.
Most importantly, he took learning Chinese seriously, often using pinyin to chat with fans.
Being suddenly praised by this angelic guy for her shameful play, Tong Yao was so flustered she nearly wet herself… She had no idea what was going through young guys’ minds these days, so she just forced a polite smile, thanked him, and bolted into the restroom.
—Originally, this was just a brief interlude that could be easily forgotten.
Tong Yao had no idea what went wrong or if her hurried, smiling retreat into the restroom had somehow inexplicably angered the guy… But when the second match began, she suddenly realized that the same guy who had called her cute outside the restroom now seemed to have taken up permanent residence in the mid lane—Throughout the entire early laning phase, Kun was either ganking mid or on his way to gank mid.
When Tong Yao got caught in his first gank and gave up the First Blood of the entire match, she still thought it was her own carelessness.
But then the enemy Evelynn kept appearing mid over and over again—
Calm Tong Yao: "Jungler's mid, I'm dead, minions are pushing in, Old K, come take them so they don't go to waste."
Calm Tong Yao: "Jungler's mid again, I'm recalling."
Less calm Tong Yao: "I'm dead."
Confused Tong Yao: "What's up with this Evelynn? Did someone cut the map and leave only the middle lane?"
Deadpan Tong Yao: "I died again."
Tong Yao, her expression twitching with frustration: "I fucking died again!"
Tong Yao, staring at the gray screen and slamming her keyboard in utter breakdown: "What the actual fuck?! A jungler with no Summoner Spells Tower diving just to trade one-for-one to kill me!!!!"
Despairing Tong Yao: "...Why didn't we ban Evelynn? If he shows up mid one more time, I swear I'll puke right here."
Little Fatty: "Bro, hold on."
Tong Yao: "Bro can't hold on anymore. Hurry up and take the first tower so we can teamfight. I don't want to lane anymore—they're treating mid like a duo lane."
By this point, the game had reached the 25-minute mark. The enemy team seemed to have coordinated perfectly, with their top and bot lanes playing ultra-safe, holding their ground without giving Tong Yao's team any openings to gank. Meanwhile, their jungler relentlessly targeted mid, pushing the game into an inexplicable deadlock—
Staring at the fact that she had contributed all of the team's deaths, Tong Yao mentally cursed every swear word she knew. She was so furious that when they finally lost the match, she didn't even have time to feel disappointed—only pure, burning rage filled her chest.
After the second match ended, Tong Yao sat in the corner of the break room, silently pressing her forehead against the wall as if in deep reflection. Lu Sicheng and the others were discussing the issues from the previous game... Just then, the break room door opened. Under everyone's gaze, the jungler from HUAWEI Team poked his head in, greeted everyone, then walked straight to Tong Yao. He bent down beside her chair and said, "Can I have your WeChat? Give me your WeChat, and I won't go mid next game."
Tong Yao: "……………………"
Tong Yao lifted her head from the wall.
Tong Yao: "???"
Kun narrowed his eyes and smiled cutely, even showing little fangs.
It wasn't unusual for players to exchange WeChat info—they often added each other while chatting backstage between matches. Tong Yao didn't think much of it and agreed. She watched as Kun seriously opened WeChat, added her, then stood up contentedly with a "thank you" before walking out. Even after he left, Tong Yao was still processing what had just happened.
Tong Yao: "What was that about?"
Lu Sicheng: "Collecting contacts."
Tong Yao: "..."
Little Fatty: "He already has all of our WeChats. Don't listen to Cheng Ge's nonsense."
Tong Yao: "Oh."
In the third match, Kun indeed stopped coming mid—
Not that it would've mattered anyway. This time, Tong Yao specifically picked Lulu—fast, long-range, with shields, slows, and silences. After level six, her ultimate became a lifesaving God-tier ability with healing and knock-up. Plus, the team had discussed during the break how to handle another mindless camping situation if it happened again.The third match proceeded normally with no one pulling out any unconventional strategies, and ZGDX pushed onto the High Ground at the thirty-eight-minute mark. After the final team fight, they secured the victory at forty-one minutes.
When they stood up to shake hands with their opponents, Tong Yao felt like she had aged three years today.
Shaking hands all the way to Kun, the latter gripped her hand and shook it with a smile, saying, "See you on WeChat."
Tong Yao: "...Oh."
...
By the time they returned to the team headquarters, it was already 9:30 p.m.
Having played three full matches and endured the shock of the second game, everyone was exhausted like dogs. Tong Yao suggested ordering takeout, which was unanimously agreed upon. Just as she pulled out her phone to open the food delivery app, she noticed that the jungler from HUAWEI Team had sent her countless WeChat messages—
[Kun: Back at the headquarters?]
[Kun: Me too.]
[Kun: Eaten yet?]
[Kun: You played really well today. You're strong.]
[Kun: Haven’t met many girls who are this good at gaming :)]
[Kun: Wanna eat?]
[Kun: Tired? Wanna hang out?]
[Kun: Ignoring me QWQ]
Tong Yao: "..."
……What’s going on?
Tong Yao put down her phone.
Lu Sicheng, sitting not far from her, lifted his eyelids and glanced at her: "Weren’t you ordering takeout?"
"I was about to, but before that, I have a thought—not sure if I should say it."
"Then don’t."
"I think that little jungler from the phone team might be trying to hit on me."
"..."
Lu Sicheng, who had been typing one-handed on his phone, paused. He looked up at her with an expression that said, "Have you taken your meds?" Then, before she could react, he snatched her phone, glanced at it briefly, and fell silent.
Lu Sicheng: "What do you think?"
Tong Yao: "I just want to shove him and the Champion Widowmaker into a coffin, nail it shut, and bury it deep underground. Really deep."
Lu Sicheng gave an "Mhm," then lowered his head to download an input method app on Tong Yao’s phone. He typed a string of characters before handing the phone back to her and resuming his own phone activities...
Tong Yao looked down at her screen—
[ZGDX、Smiling: Chessman.]
[ZGDX、Smiling: ???????, ??????????.]
Three seconds later, a reply came—
[Kun: ………………?????! QAQ]
Tong Yao: "What the hell? What does that say?"
Lu Sicheng lifted his eyelids for a glance: "He said sorry."
Tong Yao: "What did you say to make him apologize? You didn’t curse at him, did you?"
Lu Sicheng paused briefly before replying coolly, "Don’t worry about it. He won’t bother you again."
Tong Yao gave an "Oh," opened the food delivery app to order dinner, ate, washed up, and by the time she got into bed, it was already 12:30 a.m. Her teammates were still downstairs, raising hell while playing Ranked Games. Tong Yao climbed into bed and played with her phone.
As she scrolled, she suddenly realized Kun really hadn’t sent any more messages. So she opened WeChat, copied the exact phrase Lu Sicheng had typed, and pasted it to [A Mao’s Mom]—
[ZGDX、Smiling: What does this mean?]
[A Mao’s Mom: Did you copy this from some Korean drama?]
[ZGDX、Smiling: Autumn in My Heart.]
[A Mao’s Mom: ..."]【ZGDX、Smiling: Stop with the dots, what do you mean?!】
【A Mao's Mom: She's my woman. Don't touch her, you little brat.】
"……………………………………………"
Tong Yao's hand trembled, and her phone fell with a "smack" onto her face.
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