The next morning, Chen Jinyang crawled out of bed at the crack of dawn, bleary-eyed as she opened WeChat only to see an overly excited message from someone—
[ZGDX、Smiling: Wuli Bing has a little brother now! Come see!]
Half of Jin Yang was still buried under the covers, her face a complete question mark. She couldn’t figure out how Da Bing, who was an only child just yesterday, suddenly had a younger sibling today. Yawning, she sent back a question mark, then got up, washed up, did her makeup, got dressed, and left the house.
Two hours later.
She and the China Telecom Team’s Mid Laner sat shoulder-to-shoulder on the stairs of the team headquarters, both cupping their faces as they watched two cat food bowls, three litter boxes, and two cats not far away.
The smaller one, an American Shorthair kitten no bigger than a palm, had a stubby tail and tiny paws—a fluffy little ball that looked like a tiny Twitch. Right now, it was crouched with its butt in the air, noisily chowing down on kitten food from a can. Beside it, a plump Ragdoll cat weighing over ten pounds hunched its neck, staring intently at the kitten as it ate, its expression solemn and serious.
"Look at our Da Bing, truly a young master from a wealthy family—graceful and composed," Tong Yao said smugly, half-squinting. "Facing Little Cong, he doesn’t back down at all, nor does he bully the kid just because he’s bigger. So friendly."
The moment Tong Yao finished speaking—
The Ragdoll, which had been staring at the kitten eating, suddenly moved. It raised a paw and, with lightning speed, pressed the unsuspecting kitten’s entire face into the food bowl. The kitten, caught off guard, slipped and ended up with its face smeared in wet food!
Tong Yao: "..."
Jin Yang: "Tell me a joke—your Bing is a young master from a wealthy family, graceful and composed, so friendly."
Tong Yao let out a furious shout—"Da Bing, ahhhh!"—and jumped up, not even bothering with her slippers as she dashed over to the two cats in a few quick steps. She scooped up the bewildered Ragdoll and stomped into the base, heading straight for a certain computer. Without hesitation, she dumped the ten-pound cat onto the lap of the man sitting in front of one of the screens—Lu Sicheng, who happened to be in the middle of a game, flinched as his hand slipped, causing him to miss a cannon minion. He looked up, ready to snap, only to meet a pair of eyes even angrier than his own.
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Lu Sicheng: "What are you doing?"
Tong Yao: "Da Bing shoved Little Cong’s face into the food bowl! This vicious little bastard!"
Lu Sicheng let out an "Oh," then reached out to pat the big cat, who had no intention of leaving his lap. "What’s the big deal? Why are you yelling? Big cats are naturally curious about kittens—it’s normal for them to paw at each other. You’re overreacting. How many siblings end up estranged because of parents like you who can’t treat them equally—"
"Oh," Tong Yao raised an eyebrow. "So this little bastard licking your boots every day actually has some effect, huh?"
"They’re all just little furballs—why bother ranking them?" Lu Sicheng released Da Bing, his gaze lazily drifting over Tong Yao’s face before returning to his computer screen. Casually, he added, "Could you put on your slippers?"
Tong Yao looked down at her bare feet.At that moment, she saw the man's feet shift under the computer desk as a pair of men's slippers were kicked out from beneath it. Simultaneously, the computer speakers played the "First Blood" system announcement. Tong Yao looked up just in time to see the death animation of the enemy AD Big Mouth exploding on the screen...
After securing the kill, Lu Sicheng continued farming minions, pushing the wave into the enemy Turret and starting to attack it—
He was completely focused on the game.
Tong Yao's face grew slightly warm as she slipped on the oversized slippers, quickly turned back to the stairs, swapped into her own slippers, then bent down to pick up Lu Sicheng's and hurried back to place them neatly by his feet—crouching under the chair, she tapped his knee. Without a word, he kicked the slippers she had worn back under the desk.
...The entire exchange was silent.
Old Cat at the neighboring seat only heard rustling from Lu Sicheng's side and turned his head in confusion. "What are you two doing?"
Tong Yao's face, stiff with tension, peeked out from the height of Lu Sicheng's armrest. Lu Sicheng, however, remained composed. "She dropped something and was looking for it—found it yet?"
Tong Yao: "Found it."
As she spoke, she stood up and scurried back to the stairs, plopping down next to her best friend. Before Jin Yang could even ask, Tong Yao blurted out: "I know what you want to ask, and I know I have the right to remain silent, but anything I say can and will be used against me—yes, Xiao Cong is the cat that scumbag Xu Tailun and his fan mistress raised together. After Xu Tailun got Suspended, he lost interest in keeping the cat, so our captain took it from the Great Qing Team. Whether money changed hands, I don’t know. This happened last night. I named it Xiao Cong. Because it’s also my cat now. So the question is, how can one cat have two owners? There’s only one answer—our captain and I now have an indescribable relationship."
Jin Yang: "?"
Tong Yao: "That’s it."
Jin Yang: "?????? What the hell?????"
Tong Yao gritted her teeth. "That’s it."
Jin Yang: "What? Excuse me? What the fuck? You and who?! Chess—"
Before Jin Yang could finish her outburst, Tong Yao frantically clamped a hand over her mouth—Jin Yang's pupils dilated before narrowing slightly as she turned to look at the tense girl beside her. Her fair skin was tinged with a faint blush, but her dark eyes sparkled. Lowering her voice to an infuriating whisper, Tong Yao hissed, "Don’t shout! No one else knows!"
"..." Jin Yang pulled the small hand away from her mouth, took a deep breath to calm herself, then said, "Damn, Mulan. The enemy forces haven’t even retreated from the battlefield, the great esports conquest isn’t complete, and you’ve already bagged our General Lu."
"……………………Shh shh shh, not yet, not yet, we haven’t gotten that far."
"Oh, you little minx, you sound disappointed, huh?!"
"Shhh!!!" Tong Yao recoiled, wide-eyed. "Keep your voice down!"
"Oh," Jin Yang nodded. "So when are you applying to Tsinghua or Peking University?"Tong Yao: “...”
Jin Yang: “Hear that slapping sound in the air? That’s the sound of you getting owned.”
Tong Yao reached out to pinch her, but Jin Yang dodged with a giggle. The two of them tumbled together on the stairs. After horsing around enough, Tong Yao finally let go and glanced around like a thief before whispering, “I didn’t actually plan for this, really. It just came up suddenly yesterday. He even used Mao to trick me, and I couldn’t hold back—so I agreed. But it’s just a trial period for now, okay? The captain said, ‘Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.’”
“What truth?”
“That he’s a good man, not like Jian Yang and the others…” Halfway through, Tong Yao seemed to realize how ridiculous she sounded and lowered her voice, fiddling with her fingers before adding, “…or something like that.”
“…………………Can you two just date like normal people? All this secrecy and now experiments—can you even return him if you’re not satisfied?”
“Three-month trial, five-year nationwide warranty.”
“………………Alright, alright. Well, make good use of that trial.” Jin Yang emphasized the word “use” while pulling her friend into a side hug, grinning. “My little cabbage finally learned to waddle right under the pig’s snout and let it have a go.”
“...”
“Good choice, though. At least it’s the king of pigs.” Jin Yang sighed. “Unlike me, who just picked some random little spotted pig from the next pen over—all it does is eat, sleep, piss me off, and roll around in the mud.”
“...”
...
That night, after seeing Jin Yang off,
Tong Yao tiptoed and leaned over the back of Lu Sicheng’s chair, watching him play. She noticed he was chatting enthusiastically in Korean with an unfamiliar ID—both in and out of the game. Though Tong Yao couldn’t read Korean, she could recognize the frequent bursts of "hahaha" or "hehehe" or "sob sob."” Her head tilted. “Captain, who are you talking to?”
“A normal social contact.”
“?”
“The AD next door.”
“...”
Oh. Pope.
Normal social contact , my foot. Do you even know about the grand spectacle when fans showed up with your Chessman light signs to greet Pope on his first day in China?
“What’s so funny?”
Lu Sicheng glanced sideways at the person clinging to his chair like a gecko. She shrank back slightly, and he turned his face forward again, answering unhurriedly, “Since you don’t read the news—after Xu Tailun’s scandal broke, our interview yesterday stirred things up again. Now the narrative is that no one in the domestic pro scene, foreign or local, can keep it in their pants. So a lot of clubs have tightened their rules. I asked Li Junhe if he wanted to grab a drink for some old-man entertainment, and he said his club has a curfew—no leaving after 10 PM unless it’s a group outing supervised by management. Otherwise, even if he starves, he can only order takeout.”
“...”
That’s a thing? Isn’t that overkill?
Tong Yao glanced back at Xiao Rui, who was sitting on the sofa blissfully buried under two cats, and joked, “You hear that, Rui Ge? Other clubs are stepping up—we can’t fall behind.”"I heard, I heard," Xiao Rui moved Da Bing's chubby paw away from Xiao Cong's forehead. "Our team members are self-disciplined enough, no need for such measures."
"...Your team's AD was just trying to lure their AD out for drinks earlier! What self-discipline?!"
Tong Yao raised her hand to point at Lu Sicheng's head from above.
Originally, she had been craning her neck to watch the living room area.
At that moment, the man who had been gaming seemed to have eyes on the top of his head—he suddenly tossed aside his keyboard and reached up to grasp her hand firmly in his palm. Startled, Tong Yao glanced around to ensure no one was watching before desperately trying to pull her hand back. Yet his grip was strong, and he forcefully spread her fingers apart, his slender fingertips slipping between hers—
Their fingers interlaced, palms pressed together.
His warm, dry palm pressed against hers.
Tong Yao quieted completely, resting her chin on the back of the man's chair as she cautiously watched their joined hands lower. He toyed with her hand for a moment before calmly releasing her.
Her heartbeat still hadn't settled. Clearing her throat, she stepped away from her captain's chair, the lingering warmth still on her palm... Walking back to the living room, she sat on the sofa and took the restless Da Bing from the team manager's arms, who was fussing over his younger brother... After petting him a couple times, her phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out to look—
[fhdjwhdb2333: How are your hands so soft?]
Tong Yao: "………………………………"
One minute later.
The phone screen of the man engrossed in his game lit up.
[RabbitHugsCarrot: You pervert!]
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