Tong Yao slipped out of the break room behind Lu Sicheng and happened to bump into Lu Yue on the way. She grabbed his team jersey and pulled him back to her side. "Play well, don't mess up, don't chicken out—just go all in."
"What's gotten into you?" Lu Yue looked utterly baffled. "Planning to retire already?"
Then he raised his head to ask Lu Sicheng, who was walking ahead, "Did you absorb this person's willpower or something?"
Before Lu Sicheng could even respond, Tong Yao smacked Lu Yue on the back. "Stop talking nonsense. If we win this match, we'll finish the first round of the Group Stage undefeated. Did you see the crowd outside—those waving glow sticks? That's the kingdom I fought to build with my own hands..."
Lu Yue: "And then you kicked over your own kingdom and paid 120,000 for it."
Tong Yao: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "You two really talk too much."
Snatching Lu Yue's jersey back from Tong Yao, Lu Sicheng pressed a hand to her head and shoved her back into the break room. After the earlier pep talk, Tong Yao actually felt much lighter, the weight on her shoulders not as heavy as before. So she simply sat down with the other staff to watch the match. Honestly, after Lu Sicheng's lecture, she was now more afraid of Lu Yue losing than of him crushing the enemy team and winning.
Especially if they lost because Lu Yue couldn't coordinate with his teammates—Tong Yao felt like she might have to kneel and kowtow to apologize to the team.
Sitting in front of the live broadcast screen, Tong Yao was nervous. At the start of the second game, the enemy team immediately banned Twisted Fate. Since they also had to account for Lu Sicheng's Kalista and Little Fatty's Alistar in the bot lane, Azir was left open, and Lu Yue smoothly picked him.
ZGDX's mid lane now had its third turret.
Seeing Lu Yue secure Azir, Tong Yao let out a sigh of relief and leaned back in her chair to focus on the match, casually chatting with Xiao Rui. "What's the deal with Lu Yue's Twisted Fate?"
Xiao Rui glanced back at Ming Shen and gestured toward the smiling data analyst with his chin. "Ask him."
Tong Yao turned to Ming Shen, who maintained his smile as he answered, "I taught him. I told him that every domestic Mid Laner in the LPL must know how to play Twisted Fate, just like how every Jungler in the LPL must know Lee Sin. These are the legacy Champions established by the older generation of players back in the ancient days—regionally dominant picks regardless of the meta. One day, we'll bring these Champions back to the world stage."
Tong Yao: "I’ve never seen him use it before."
Ming Shen: "Twisted Fate doesn’t suit his playstyle, so he never used it—but pulling it out now makes it an unexpected trump card. It shows how much he cares about this match."
Xiao Rui: "Well, it’s also a battle for the Water Dispenser spot."
Ming Shen: "Xiao Rui, stop scaring Tong Yao—though it’s true that Lu Yue only started seriously learning Twisted Fate after I said, 'Look how good Tong Yao is with Twisted Fate, why can’t you?'"
Tong Yao: "..."
Tong Yao rolled her eyes.
The match began, and the spectator system initially focused on the bot lane because they traded blows with the enemy at level two. But Tong Yao’s gaze was fixed on the minimap in the bottom right corner, watching the tiny Azir icon representing Lu Yue in the mid lane—Staring intently, Tong Yao was suddenly startled by the vibration of her phone. Pulling it out, she saw it was a call from her dad. Without much thought, she answered with a "Hello," but before she could say anything else, she was met with a barrage of scolding—the gist being: "We sent you to play games, not to fight," "Your first month's salary hasn't even warmed your hands, and you're already paying out sixty grand," "What kind of girl gets into fights? Are you out of your mind?" and so on.
Tong Yao: "..."
If her parents weren't online, her little brother—the notorious tattletale—was a level 13 Forum user. Just yesterday, she had wondered why her family was so silent despite the huge drama unfolding...
Turns out they were saving their ultimate move.
After enduring Lu Sicheng's stern lecture earlier, she was now caught off guard by her biological father's storm of reprimands. Tong Yao was dazed by the scolding, holding the phone while her eyes remained fixed on the live match broadcast, filtering the call's content in one ear and out the other. The match lasted forty minutes, and so did the call. Just as Lu Sicheng and the team began pushing Red Arrow's Team headquarters, her dad coincidentally started wrapping up his speech—
Including the inevitable golden line: "What man would ever dare to marry a lunatic like you?"
Tong Yao: "...I'm perfectly happy on my own."
Tong Yao's Dad: "You dare talk back?"
From the moment she picked up the call, Tong Yao had only responded with "Mhm," "Ah," "Oh," "I get it," and "I was wrong." This was the first full sentence she had uttered, only to be immediately shut down. She fell silent again until her dad, just before hanging up, asked a question that proved she wasn't picked up from a trash can: "Are you hurt?"
The sudden shift in tone moved Tong Yao to tears. After denying any injuries, the call ended with a final "Don't cause any more trouble." Right then, Lu Sicheng and the team walked in. Glancing at her stone-faced captain, Tong Yao realized she had been played by her own father—
Today, it seemed like every man in the world had mastered the "slap then sugar" tactic.
Lu Sicheng picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, and turned to see his Mid Laner staring at him with wide, unblinking eyes. He paused and asked, "What?"
Tong Yao numbly averted her gaze.
Lu Sicheng asked Xiao Rui, "What's wrong with her?"
Xiao Rui: "She got lectured by her dad for the entire forty minutes of your match."
Lu Sicheng raised an eyebrow.
Xiao Rui added, "Her biological dad."
Lu Sicheng's eyebrow lowered again.
...
Meanwhile, Lu Yue was outside giving an interview after being named MVP of the second game. Tong Yao stood at the edge of the player tunnel, listening as the host asked Lu Yue how it felt to return to the battlefield.
"Pretty good," Lu Yue replied with a laugh. "That's why I used a new Champion I've been practicing."
"Indeed, it was surprising to see Lv pull out Twisted Fate today, a pick that doesn't quite match his usual playstyle. Was this pre-planned?"
"Well, not exactly pre-planned. Our Data Analyst—" The crowd erupted in cheers, with some shouting Ming Shen's name. Lu Yue chuckled and continued, "Our Data Analyst said a domestic Mid Laner must be able to play this Champion, or it'd be embarrassing. So I practiced it.""So you're saying Smiling can also play Twisted Fate."
"Right, she's really good with Twisted Fate. Honestly, I feel like she can play anything. At first, she wasn’t great with Azir, but later she got pretty good at it too."
"Oh, so it seems the relationship between the starters and substitutes in our Operator Team isn’t that tense—"
"There’s nothing to be tense about. We just have different playstyles. Whoever should play, plays... Maybe some people think I’m being wronged as a substitute after seeing my performance today, but as of now, she’s more suited to be the starter. But I’ll definitely get stronger in the future—that’s for sure."
"Seems like Lu Xuan Shou is responding to some of the online doubts about China Telecom."
"I trust my teammates’ judgment. If there’s something I want, I’ll fight for it myself."
Tong Yao listened for a while, silently labeling Lu Yue as a "brother-defending maniac," then turned to put on her jacket and headed to the parking lot with her teammates—where a crowd of fans and esports reporters were already waiting by the team bus after the match. In the past, only fans would show up, but today there were a few extra reporters, making the crowd look especially large.
The moment those reporters spotted Tong Yao, it was like pigs spotting fresh cabbage. They excitedly rushed over with their cameras, shoving microphones and recording devices so close they nearly reached her nostrils—
"What are your thoughts on this Suspension?"
Tong Yao: "I deserved it."
"Don’t you feel wronged? There are rumors that you acted that way to defend your teammate!"
Tong Yao: "Not wronged."
"Care to elaborate?"
Tong Yao: "Elaborate on what?"
"Aren’t you worried about being replaced by Lu Yue from now on?"
Tong Yao: "I’m only Suspended for one match."
"Why did you resort to violence? Didn’t you consider how this would affect your image? Or did you do it because, as the only female player, you knew your every move would draw attention—so you couldn’t resist doing it for the spotlight?"
Tong Yao: "..."
Tong Yao thought, What kind of banana boat chocolate ice cream bullshit is this? You think I’m Fan Bingbing, needing to stay in the spotlight all the time? But before she could find a gentler way to respond, the microphone in front of her was suddenly pushed aside by a large hand from behind. A man’s cold voice cut in: "That’s enough. How do you expect her to answer that? Which media outlet are you from?"
The reporter instantly shrank back at the question, just as a swarm of fans surged forward, pulling him away. The girls chattered like little birds—"Are you trying to insult her?" "What kind of question is that? Have you no ethics?"—while the fiercer ones outright snapped, "Spotlight my ass, you freak."
Blinking, Tong Yao felt the warmth of her fans. She took a pen and notebook to sign a few autographs, accepted some gifts with thanks, and as the crowd finally parted slightly, she sighed in relief and started heading toward the bus. But just as she took a couple of steps, she heard someone nearby say—"What kind of pro player is that? Got directly into the starting lineup without any trial period news. I heard they signed a contract beforehand... Even if they're really good, they never turned on the camera during streams before. Who knows if it was really them playing? And the club just handed them a contract. Tsk tsk, tell me—"
It was the male reporter who had been pushed aside earlier.
Leaning against the wall, he looked at the photos he’d just taken with a suggestive expression while whispering to a colleague beside him.
Mid-sentence, he suddenly noticed someone approaching. Before he could lift his head, a pale, slender hand clamped over his camera lens. Startled, he looked up to see someone standing before him—a head shorter, with dark eyes glinting.
She abruptly raised her hand—
The reporter flinched back in alarm.
But she merely wagged a finger in front of his nose, tilting her chin up and grinding her molars as she hissed, "You should be grateful."
Reporter: "????"
Tong Yao: "My dad told me not to cause trouble, so I’m letting you off this time."
With that, ignoring the reporter’s stunned expression, she sharply withdrew her hand and stormed off, footsteps blazing as she climbed onto the team bus. She yanked the curtains shut and plopped into the window seat, fuming... Until about three minutes later, Lu Sicheng followed her onto the bus. Passing by, he casually pulled up the hood of her jacket over her head and patted it.
Tong Yao swatted his hand away.
Xiao Rui leaned over mischievously and asked, "Which dad told you not to cause trouble?"
Tong Yao: "..."
She stared at Xiao Rui expressionlessly.
Amid the awkward silence, Lu Sicheng suddenly rummaged through a gift bag from a fan, pulled out a small carton of Wangzai milk, stuck a straw in it, and held it to his sulking Mid Laner’s lips. "A fan asked me to give you this to cool your temper."
Tong Yao: "..."
She took the milk, downed it in two gulps, and tossed the empty carton into the trash bag on the bus.
Lu Sicheng: "Still mad?"
Tong Yao: "Yes."
Lu Sicheng: "Let’s go eat hot pot."
Tong Yao: "Okay."
Lu Sicheng: "Still mad?"
Tong Yao: "Yes."
Lu Sicheng took out the remaining row of milk from the bag, stuffed it into her hands, then carried the empty bag to the back of the bus... Xiao Rui seized the opportunity. "Hey, give me one."
Tong Yao immediately hid the milk behind her back. "No."
Xiao Rui: "It’s not like Cheng Ge gave it to you. Why so possessive?"
Tong Yao thought about it and realized he was right. She pulled the milk out from behind her and watched as Xiao Rui shamelessly helped himself to her spoils. Suddenly, as if remembering something, she scrambled up from her seat and called toward the back, "Is it the hot pot place where a plate of beef costs 888? I want lobster."
A brief silence from the back.
Then, a calm male voice replied—
"Whatever makes you happy."
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