"Have you no shame? Can't you talk things out properly instead of hitting a woman?!"
Amid the woman's shrieks, Tong Yao ignored her, simply turning on her tiptoes to pat Lu Sicheng and coming away with a handful of water—truth be told, a bottle of mineral water didn't really hurt, but it had stunned her with anger. Quick as lightning, Tong Yao squirmed out of Lu Sicheng's arms like an eel—she had just taken a Godzilla-like step forward when, before she could strike, Lu Sicheng called out in a low voice, "Little Fatty." His support immediately understood and reached out to grab Tong Yao again, lifting her up effortlessly...
Everyone usually called her fat, but at critical moments, anyone could lift her with ease.
"Oh, so you're the only woman here? Which eye of yours sees me as a man, huh? If I spoke nicely to you, would you even understand human language? With this huge convention packed with people, where exactly am I supposed to find a dog to translate for you?"
Unable to break free from Little Fatty's grip, Tong Yao stretched her short legs and kicked midair. Little Fatty held her back as he retreated, while Lu Yue, beside them, handed tissues to Lu Sicheng to wipe off the water, laughing uncontrollably...
Meanwhile, the woman was also being restrained by other showgirls, who held her arms while chattering in attempts to calm her down—
"It's normal for guests to have schedule conflicts and switch events. Why are you interfering?"
"We're all here for the money, but guests are called guests because they're actually invited..."
"Stop it, just stop."
"Seriously, what's it to you? They were discussing with the host—why did you butt in? You didn't even say thanks when they gave you a seat earlier..."
Hearing that even her fellow part-timers didn't side with her, the showgirl seemed to reach her limit. Shaking off the hands holding her, she charged forward in her high heels—but just as she raised her hand to strike, a powerful grip seized her wrist. Startled, she looked up into a pair of cold, deep brown eyes. The tall man, his hair still damp, glanced down at her and asked, "Had enough?"
The sharpness in his gaze made her instinctively shrink back.
No sooner had he spoken than a slightly shorter young man, who bore a striking resemblance to him but with streaks of green in his hair, stepped forward. He pried her arm free from the man's grip and shoved her back with considerable force, still smiling as he said, "Don't start trouble."
Yet his smile was just as chilling, no friendlier than the first man who had stopped her.
Seeing so many people against her, the showgirl could only huff, kicking over a nearby chair before snarling, "Screw this job, you bunch of morons!" With that, she stormed out of the lounge, head held high—
Only to trip violently over a suddenly outstretched foot after two steps. Staggering, she whipped around furiously, but everyone in the room looked back at her innocently. Unable to pinpoint the culprit, she spat another loud "Morons!" before yanking the lounge door open and slamming it shut behind her.
Everyone: "..."
Five seconds later, the entire lounge remained frozen in silence.
Until Little Fatty reached up and patted Tong Yao's head. "You're such a troublemaker."Tong Yao wriggled out from under his arm, bent down to rub her leg—which had also been kicked by the high heels during the tripping incident—and remained silent... Lu Yue looked down at her for a while before chuckling, "Alright, with the drama you've stirred up for yourself, deducting a month's salary would be the least they could do."
"It's fine, it's fine. I'll talk to the club about it... No one wanted to see this happen today."
Xiao Rui stepped in to mediate, though his position was the most awkward—caught between the club and the players, he couldn't openly take sides. Truth be told, he also thought the event arrangements were utterly ridiculous, but at this moment, he was the least qualified to speak up...
So he had been passive all day.
As the chaos temporarily settled, everyone finally relaxed. A few showgirls gathered around to ask if Tong Yao was okay, and the host also tried to smooth things over... Only Lu Sicheng took the event schedule to a corner, snapped a photo with his phone, then tossed it aside. Tong Yao turned and noticed his back was still damp. Frowning, she rummaged through her pocket, pulled out a pack of tissues, and walked over to hand them to him.
"The event will proceed as scheduled," Lu Sicheng took the tissues without looking at her. "Little Fatty, Old K, and Lu Yue—those without hand injuries—follow the host and complete the game segment. We'll discuss the rest later."
Tong Yao widened her eyes. "Still doing it? Then what was the point of my earth-shattering tantrum just now—"
Before she could finish, the rest of her complaints were stifled by Lu Sicheng's calm but piercing glance.
After the earlier commotion, the host, seeing Lu Sicheng relent, didn't dare push further with demands like "you all must participate." Instead, he seized the lifeline, quickly agreeing and even thanking them before hurriedly ushering Lu Yue, Little Fatty, and Old K onto the stage, as if afraid someone might change their mind.
As the event noises resumed outside, the break room suddenly felt eerily quiet.
Lu Sicheng sat in the corner, holding the tissues Tong Yao had given him, silent and unmoving. The atmosphere was inexplicably heavy... Tong Yao and Old Cat exchanged nervous glances, fidgeting as if their chairs had sprouted thorns. Tong Yao sheepishly picked up the scattered chairs, tidied them, then followed Xiao Rui onto their team bus, carefully carrying Lu Sicheng's spare uniform like a eunuch delivering an emperor's robe.
Back in the break room, she handed it to him and whispered, "Cheng Ge, change your clothes first."
Lu Sicheng paused his phone scrolling, glanced up at her, and wordlessly took the uniform before heading to the restroom. As he pushed open the door, he lit a cigarette between his lips—no one dared to stop him.
"..." Tong Yao crouched beside Old Cat. "Cheng Ge hasn't smoked in a long time."
"Yeah, probably using it to calm his nerves," Old Cat nodded solemnly. "Otherwise, how else could he suppress the primordial power urging him to beat you up? Actually hitting you is out of the question, and whipping you with a belt would be too harsh. So he lights a smoke, deducts some salary, and cools down..."
As he spoke, they watched the man stub out the half-smoked cigarette in a corner trash can.Old Cat: "Imagine that cigarette is your head."
Tong Yao: "..."
Tong Yao accidentally recalled what Lu Sicheng had said to her on the plane yesterday. Then, it dawned on her: Her captain was genuinely angry with her.
……………………This was fucking hard to deal with.
Tong Yao had never tried to placate a captain whose fury was directed squarely at her—
A seasoned driver facing engine failure for the first time.
……
3 PM.
The event ended.
As it turned out, truth could not be concealed.
On the way to the airport after the event, Tong Yao sneered as she watched the Weibo account named 【Little Cat Meow】 blow up. The account posted several tearful complaints about how arrogant and uncooperative the members of the China Telecom Team were during the event, especially the female player who allegedly almost threw hands at the slightest disagreement—
Threw hands as in physically fought!
This was probably the biggest controversy Tong Yao had stirred since joining the team over a month ago.
In an instant, platforms like Weibo, the Forum, and major entertainment sites exploded. Spectator masses, unaware of the full story, forwarded the posts en masse, and all sorts of comments flooded in—
【Oh my god, I was waiting for news about this girl screwing fans, or being a fake, or being a useless pretty face—waited a whole month for nothing, and now the first scandal I get is "physical altercation"? Alright, fists flying at the drop of a hat, let me laugh before I start hating.】
【Is this woman insane?】
【Once again proving that a normal girl can’t possibly play professionally—either she’s trans or mentally ill.】
【Wait, why did she hit you? What did you say? Be clear—she wouldn’t just hit you out of nowhere. And what was the event content you argued about?】
【HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA this China Telecom Mid Laner has a tradition of throwing hands at the slightest disagreement??? Toxic much?】
【Regardless, this is pretty rude. Hope the OP is okay.】
【Nice, nice, women fighting is extra thrilling! Y’all really know how to entertain!】
【Just look at her face and you can tell her manners are lacking.】
……
Tong Yao scrolled through the comments and reposts, her heart as calm as still water.
She glanced back at Lu Sicheng, who, for the first time ever, wasn’t sleeping in the car but was instead staring at his phone—Tong Yao hoped he wasn’t reading all these discussions seriously debating whether she was insane.
Hunching her shoulders, the guilt-ridden Tong Yao shrank into a corner, trembling quietly. After browsing the near-identical reports about her alleged fight with the showgirl, around 3:30 PM, she finally received a call from the club’s higher-ups. They first tore into Xiao Rui, then had Xiao Rui pass the phone to Tong Yao. The two of them bowed and scraped like siblings in misfortune, enduring the scolding together. In the end, the club docked two months of Tong Yao’s salary and bonuses, announced plans to publicly reprimand her on the official blog, and suspended her for one match.
Suspension?
…Fine.
Biting her nails and frowning, Tong Yao obediently promised to reflect deeply on her actions once back—
Not that she was convinced. She really wasn’t.However, in this world, not everything can be solved by acting on impulse. The club had already done what they could at this point—the punishment could have been much harsher, but in the end, it was almost negligible... Tong Yao hung up the phone and picked up her phone again to scroll through her Weibo. Many people had sent her private messages cursing her out—some were downright vicious, calling her petty, rude, and a disgrace to women—
She skimmed through them and let it go.
Though she had brought this upon herself, it wasn’t true that the insults didn’t sting. She could only vent to Jin Yang because, at this point, she didn’t know what else to do. After all, the spectators had no idea what had actually happened that afternoon—they were only hearing the showgirl’s side of the story.
She had no way to defend herself.
After listening to her ramble for a while, Jin Yang directly called her: "Who the hell isn’t their parents’ little princess? If someone’s mouth is foul, they deserve to get slapped—what’s the problem? Why didn’t you hit her a few more times back then—Ai Jia, stop snatching my phone?! Get lost! Quit messing around!"
"Don’t add fuel to the fire," Ai Jia’s voice faintly came through the phone. "This isn’t something you can handle recklessly. Haven’t you seen how the public narrative is being shaped?"
"I saw it, which is why I said not slapping her a few more times was a huge loss," Jin Yang’s voice returned to the call, likely after violently reclaiming her phone. "If women can’t even hold other women accountable these days, then all the little bitches in the world would run wild. Manners with those troublemaking sluts? Please… Hey, Mulan, why do you sound so weak and defeated, like you’ve been suspended for life?"
Tong Yao cautiously glanced behind her, then whipped her head back and whispered like a thief, "...Our captain is furious."
Jin Yang: "What’s he mad about?"
Tong Yao: "He just gave me a whole lecture yesterday about behaving properly and not stirring up drama—and then twelve hours later, I got suspended."
Jin Yang: "...That’s pretty self-destructive. I’d probably be pissed too if I were him."
Jin Yang: "But wait, why aren’t you explaining yourself? Just silently taking all the insults?"
Tong Yao thought about it—it wasn’t that she couldn’t say anything, but she knew that anything she said now would just sound like excuses, lacking any real persuasive power...
After agonizing over the phone with Jin Yang for a while and pouring out her grievances, Tong Yao bottled everything up until 4:30 PM, when the team bus arrived at the airport to return to Shanghai.
As she got off the bus, she received a WeChat message from Jin Yang—
[A Mao’s Mom: Go check the wall and see your corpse fluttering in the wind.]
Tong Yao twitched her lips, already guessing what Jin Yang meant. She opened Weibo and, sure enough, the official ZGDX account had already hung her corpse on the wall—At noon today, during a booth event at the C City X Comic Convention, Tong Yao (@Salty Fish Girl Smiling, ID: ZGDX、smiling), a member of the ZGDX Esports Club's League of Legends division, got into a dispute with a showgirl over the event's content. During the argument, our club member used excessively aggressive language, resulting in a negative impact on the community atmosphere. The club deeply apologizes for this incident and has issued the following penalties to the member:
Suspension. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the member is prohibited from participating in the Professional League match scheduled for 17:00 on June 11 (tomorrow afternoon) and is ordered to reflect on her actions in hopes of prompt correction.
Deduction of two months' salary and all bonuses.
We urge all other club staff to take this as a warning and work together to uphold a positive atmosphere in esports.
That was the official announcement.
The standard PR-speak was vague, then announced the punishment—suspension and salary deduction. Normally, this would have drawn the matter to a close, even if some people stubbornly demanded the truth or wanted to know why Tong Yao had "lost her mind." But the official stance would have ignored them.
However, just then, the situation took an unexpected turn.
Right after the club's Weibo post about the punishment, a brand-new account—clearly bought from Taobao—appeared in the comments. Without any explanation, it simply posted a photo of the event schedule handed to guests that afternoon, which Tong Yao had long forgotten about, with the caption: "The so-called truth?"
This reply was quickly upvoted to the top of Weibo's trending list.
Countless responses followed:
"What's this?"
"What's going on?"
"WTF is this 'princess carry' nonsense?"
"Don't tell me our Tong Yao got her salary docked because she refused to do this 'princess carry' interaction and pissed off some showgirl who was trying to jump into someone's arms?"
"This game... disgusting. Is this even appropriate? Did they actually go through with it? Does your club management have shit for brains, allowing a player with hand injuries to do this kind of interaction?"Immediately, someone screenshotted this and posted it on the Forum for clout, titling it: ["Mid Laner Sister's fight incident might have a twist?""]—
The thread instantly racked up hundreds of replies!
People declared the afternoon's dramatic twist absolutely thrilling!
With this development, even more people came forward—this time, mostly ZGDX Team fans who had been at the scene. They testified that the event had indeed taken place that afternoon and had been painfully awkward to watch!
Even more damning, someone uploaded a video of Old K and the others carrying showgirls during the game. In the footage, fans could clearly be heard shouting, "What the hell is this?" "So gross," "Stop it, we don't want to see this!"—
Old K and the others running around in the video were ironclad proof.
Now, whether they were ZGDX Team fans or not, public opinion suddenly swung hard in the opposite direction. Comments like "disgusting," "club management is braindead," and "I thought making them attend an event the day before a match was stupid, but this takes it to another level" flooded in nonstop—["We went to the venue to see the players, not to watch them being treated like circus monkeys by you."
"I heard that all members were supposed to participate in the interaction at first—don’t ask me how I know—there were six showgirls on stage, and when Old K and the others were doing the games, three of them just stood there watching… So in the end, the Carry Position players didn’t even go up. I heard your team’s Carry Position players all have occupational injuries. If this whole thing blew up because of that, then I’m siding with Smiling :)"
"I was one of the showgirls at the venue this afternoon, and I’m part of the esports scene! Honestly, that girl totally deserved it. Since morning, she kept going in and out of the players’ lounge asking for autographs over and over. After Smiling refused, she came back complaining to us about how stingy she was. During the event, when Smiling said Cheng Ge and the others had hand injuries and needed to switch, before the host could even finish, she ran out asking why they had to change. Ugh, I just wanted to slap her right then and there!"
"Wow, is what the person above said true?! Big drama!!!"
"……………………………………This plot changes every second, unbelievable."
"Whatever, just in case there’s a reverse sweep and I get proven wrong, I’m gonna delete my comment calling Smiling rude first lolololol"
"Seeing esports players doing this kind of thing makes me really unhappy :( They should be the ones shining behind their computers, receiving cheers, not acting like clowns for cheap entertainment. The event planners should go die, and the club should seriously reflect—if you don’t even know how to cherish and protect your own players, who else will?"
...
Tong Yao skimmed through the reversal posts on the Forum, then exited and opened Weibo.
A few people who had been particularly vicious in criticizing her had privately messaged her to apologize.
Aside from that, many fans—judging by their profile pictures and usernames, likely young girls—had also sent her private messages thanking her, saying things like, "I can’t even imagine what would’ve happened if Cheng Ge (Old Cat) had been forced to do that activity..."
Tong Yao closed Weibo and glanced at her teammates sitting in the airport lounge. She stood up from her seat, waved her phone, and asked, "Who sent out that program schedule?"
"No idea."
"Wasn’t me, I was just watching the chaos."
"I was holding you back, sis, when would I have had time to meddle with details like that?"
"Some staff member? A real master manipulator, turning the tide with a flick of the wrist, playing with public opinion like it’s nothing—"
Her teammates chattered away, offering their thoughts. Lu Yue, arms crossed, smirked at Tong Yao and said, "Welcome to my world." Beside him, Lu Sicheng had his headphones on, the hood of his sweatshirt covering half his face, his expression cold as he rested with his eyes closed...
"Whoever it is, even though I don’t know, you’re my savior. Thank you, seriously." Tong Yao bowed deeply toward her teammates and all the staff. "And I’m sorry for causing trouble today."
"Don’t mention it."
"Stop bowing, you’ll shorten my lifespan!"
"Really wasn’t me. Whoever it is, step up—our Mid Laner might just marry you out of gratitude..."
Amid the playful teasing, the airport announcement for boarding began to play.At that moment, Lu Sicheng opened his eyes, took off his headphones and casually stuffed them into his pocket as he stood up. Looking down at his teammates who immediately fell silent, he said, "Board the plane, go back and train, prepare for tomorrow's match."
After speaking, he walked past Tong Yao without even glancing at her, heading straight for the boarding gate.
Tong Yao was momentarily stunned as she watched the man's straight-backed figure that seemed to carry an aura of frost and snow—
...Great.
Her captain was still angry.
OpenNovel