The drama started at half past midnight.
Within fifteen minutes, the spectator masses had dug up Jin Yang's Weibo posts. Every two months, she would travel around the world, and now her travel photos—featuring various bags, shoes, accessories, even her luggage—were all posted and scrutinized one by one.
"Holy shit, an LV Petite Malle! That's 30,000 yuan!"
"Damn, the latest Roger Vivier! 7,500 yuan! And she has one in every color? No one buys like that—must be knock-offs?!"
"This scarf is from Acne Studios, 2,000 yuan." "The hat too, 1,000 yuan."
"She’s cycled through sunglasses from every luxury brand—I won’t even bother counting."
"This Dior bag is insanely expensive, starts at 25,000 yuan."
"Chanel 255! I’ve been eyeing this bag for twenty years—it appreciates faster than my salary. Still can’t afford it!"
"BIRKIN BAG!!!!!!!!!!!!! See that?! Crocodile skin!!"
"Spot the Hermès bracelet?" "TIFFANY DIAMOND KEY NECKLACE OMG!!" "Zoom in on the watch—the pic’s too blurry, but I think it’s a Cartier Ballon Bleu…"
"Just one trip to any country would cost Ai Jia a kidney, let alone all of them… Starting to believe this girl’s loaded on her own."
Some even analyzed whether her legs were photoshopped to look so long.
Tong Yao was speechless reading this: these people really had too much time on their hands. Little did they know, a third of those photos were taken by none other than China Telecom’s Mid Laner, Comrade Tong Yao herself.
Under a pseudonym, Tong Yao rolled up her sleeves, ready to battle the haters in the forum for three hundred rounds—when suddenly, a notification popped up on her phone: [YQCB’s Ai Jia is now live-streaming.]
This guy was live-streaming in the middle of the night.
Hesitantly, Tong Yao clicked into Ai Jia’s stream. The moment she entered, she heard the neighboring team’s Mid Laner wailing—
["For fuck’s sake, listen up—you can eat whatever crap you want, worst case you lose your life. But spouting nonsense can instantly turn an innocent guy into a single dog—that’s a fucking sin, you hear me?!"]
Tong Yao: "…"
["Alright, shut the hell up. Forget whether I have a girlfriend or not—even the keyboard I game with was a gift from her."]
Since the team rules prohibited idle chatting during streams, Ai Jia had no choice but to queue for a ranked match—though his expression made it clear his mind was elsewhere, frantic like a man whose backyard was on fire.
["I chased my girlfriend a long time ago—yes, I chased her, me, I’m emphasizing this, important things need saying three times—I chased her! Screw this ‘screwing fans’ bullshit about who chased who! You’ve seen her plenty—when has she ever looked at me with worship in her eyes? Tell me, so I can go burn incense in gratitude!" Ai Jia slammed the table, drawing glances from his teammates. ["So what if I have a girlfriend?! Never had a teenage crush?! With or without her, I’d still be fighting relegation in Spring Split—stop stirring shit!!"]
Tong Yao’s lips twitched.Before she could even send Jin Yang a text to vent, she saw the woman herself appear on camera—holding her Ragdoll cat, A Mao, she casually leaned against the chair behind Ai Jia and said, ["So getting relegated in the Spring Split is something to brag about? What’s all the shouting for? The neighboring team can hear you—aren’t you embarrassed?"]
Ai Jia: "…"
Tong Yao: "…"
The live comments were instantly flooded with "66666666," "Damn, sis just charged straight into the storm," "Zero hesitation, I love it," and "Those legs are seriously long."
Tong Yao nervously watched the small camera frame as her best friend leaned in, giving herself a close-up: ["I know you all have a lot of interest in me—and a lot of opinions. I’ve seen all the ‘heartfelt blessings’ under my Weibo posts. First, let me clarify: the Rainbow Team RV shoes aren’t knock-offs. I hauled every single pair back from the boutiques with my own two hands. And second—stop digging into these little things. Look at this."]
She then pulled out a Maserati key and dangled it in front of the camera.
With slender fingers, she tilted Ai Jia’s chin up and planted a loud kiss on his cheek: ["Our Ai Jia gave this to me as an anniversary gift last Double Eleven. Happy now?"]
Ai Jia’s face turned green.
Tong Yao’s face matched his color.
While most people avoided stirring up drama, her troublemaking best friend didn’t just meet it head-on—she grabbed the flag and marched straight to the front of the parade.
Damn, sis.
Tong Yao propped her forehead on one hand, watching her friend wreak havoc. Once she’d had her fun, she pocketed the car key, tossed out a "Y’all have fun," stuffed A Mao into the cat carrier, and strode out in her high heels without a backward glance—
Leaving a bewildered Ai Jia behind, futilely explaining: ["Don’t listen to her nonsense. Do you even know how much that car costs? I couldn’t afford it even if I sold myself! She’s just messing with you…"]
But it was no use.
After Jin Yang left, Tong Yao opened the Forum and found that some idiots had actually taken it seriously, posting threads like: ["Holy shit, major drama! Ai Jia’s girlfriend just admitted he bought her a Maserati!"]
Below, the spectator masses cheered and jumped around excitedly. The few rational voices questioning it—["The average LPL player’s monthly salary is between 20,000 to 80,000. That key looks like the latest Ghibli series, the same as Lu Sicheng’s. How could Ai Jia afford that?"]—were quickly drowned out in the sea of frenzy.
The wildest part? Some even mocked Jin Yang for being a terrible teammate, only making things worse for herself.
Tong Yao sighed and silently changed Jin Yang’s WeChat nickname to "Night Angler - Crazy Fisherman" as a sign of respect.
……
Tong Yao tossed and turned in bed past 1 a.m., her mind racing—thinking about Jin Yang and Ai Jia, then about herself and Lu Sicheng. At her most extreme, she felt she’d committed an unforgivable sin and wanted to cast an Avada Kedavra curse on herself in the mirror. Around 1:30, her phone screen lit up—the person gaming downstairs had texted to ask if she was asleep.
After a moment’s hesitation, she sent back a GIF of a little yellow dog shaking its leg, captioned: Nope.A few minutes later, her door was knocked on. She jumped off the bed, shuffled over in her slippers, and opened the door a crack. A man pushed a bottle of mineral water through the gap.
Tong Yao: “???”
“I told them you asked me to bring you water.” Lu Sicheng squeezed into Tong Yao’s room through the door crack without closing it, keeping his voice low as he asked the person looking up at him, “Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
Seeing her wide-eyed stare, Lu Sicheng raised his hand—originally intending to pull this chick-like figure into his arms—but hesitated and didn’t follow through, as if afraid of scaring her and getting his probation revoked. His large hand eventually landed on her head, ruffling her hair instead…
“The screenshots of your flirty chat with the AD from next door got leaked online tonight,” Tong Yao grabbed his hand with both of hers, stopping him from messing with her hair. But after pulling his hand down, she didn’t let go. “Now it seems like everyone knows the LPL clubs are undergoing a major management reshuffle. I heard even the Great Qing Team replaced several people in their management…”
“Oh,” Lu Sicheng leaned casually against the doorframe, holding Tong Yao’s hand in return, absentmindedly squeezing her palm and then the back of her hand. “Isn’t that good?”
“Good? How is that good!”
Tong Yao yanked her reddened hand back.
“What’s bad about it?”
Lu Sicheng lazily pulled her hand back.
“This fire’s burning too far,” Tong Yao snorted through her nose. “Now they’re even policing players’ normal relationships. They’re saying Jin Yang relies entirely on Ai Jia to support her, that she’s always hanging around the team headquarters distracting him from training—calling her a full-blown Vixen!”
“Doesn’t your friend drive the same car as me?” Lu Sicheng paused his hand-squeezing and glanced at her. “Ai Jia’s annual salary is barely enough for maintenance and gas.”
“They don’t know that!”
“……………They don’t know, but I do,” Lu Sicheng said helplessly. “Why are you mad at me about it?”
Tong Yao thought for a moment, then turned to grab her phone from the bed. After scrolling for a while, she found the comment: Women are terrifying. Thank god my Cheng Ge is single. I don’t want any girls affecting his professional state. Hope all brothers and sisters can do him a favor and stay away from him. She tiptoed and raised the phone high to his face—
Lu Sicheng skimmed it quickly.
Finally understanding what she was worried about.
After a pause, before the tiptoeing figure could react, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace—Tong Yao, still holding her phone aloft, was caught off guard. She let out a surprised “Ah!” as she stumbled forward, stepping on Lu Sicheng’s foot, her nose bumping against his firm chest. She felt his strong arms tighten around her waist.
Tong Yao: “…”
Her heartbeat stopped for a second.
Three seconds later, it accelerated wildly, blood rushing from her toes to the top of her head—her face turned pink, her ears burning. Tilting her head slightly, she could see the halo earring on the ear of the man bending over her.
“You know fan comments don’t represent the person, right?” His deep, magnetic voice murmured by her ear. “This seems a little unfair to me.”The man pressed down on Tong Yao like a small mountain.
Tong Yao’s hands, initially stiff and hanging by her sides, hesitated for a few seconds before tentatively lifting to clutch the hem of the man’s shirt…—In the place she couldn’t see, Lu Sicheng sensed this. He shifted slightly, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
“Hm?”
“I know,” Tong Yao whispered, “but… what this person said isn’t entirely unreasonable. Maybe in everyone’s eyes, it’s more fitting for you to just be a single dog who only knows how to play games.”
“No.”
“…………………………What do you mean ‘no’?!”
“At worst, we just don’t announce it. Things can stay as they are now.” Lu Sicheng lifted his chin from her shoulder and raised a hand, brushing away the stray strands of hair on her forehead with his slender fingers. “I won’t force you.”
“…Really?”
“Really.” Lu Sicheng’s voice was calm. “I was the one who crossed the line first—when I think about it, given your position, you probably need this kind of drama even less than I do.”
Tong Yao stared into those deep brown eyes.
Her gaze flickered.
Her heart, which had been suspended high just moments ago, now felt as though it had sunk to the depths of the ocean. She paused, but before she could ask what he meant by that, the man spoke again:
“But that doesn’t mean I regret it.”
“?”
“If you want to blame someone, blame me.” The man pulled the girl back into his arms, holding her firmly—like a big Ragdoll cat in a nest, thoroughly embracing the little American Shorthair. His hand pressed against the back of her head, keeping her close to his chest. “Since I was the one who provoked you first, I’m prepared to take responsibility to the end.”
“…”
“At most, you’re just an accomplice.”
“…How am I an accomplice?!”
“You play games too well, take your career too seriously, and act too adorably—such behavior is a serious provocation to me—”
Tong Yao blinked in utter confusion. “What the hell?”
The man lowered his head, burying his face in the crook of her neck. Like a wolfish dog, he nuzzled her slightly heated earlobe with his cool nose… then paused before saying solemnly, “I want to commit a crime.”
“…”
“Are you even an adult yet? That way, the sentence might be lighter—”
In the end, Tong Yao stood on her tiptoes, slapped a hand over Lu Sicheng’s face, and shoved this foul-mouthed, internet-addicted old man out of her room.
……
Lu Sicheng went downstairs with a dark expression.
Little Fatty glanced up at him. “Took you long enough to deliver some water.”
“She was asleep after sending the message. Took forever to get her to open the door.” Lu Sicheng returned to his seat, cracked his knuckles, stretched, and put his headphones back on, ready to resume his Ranked Games training.
Little Fatty: “Bold as hell, making the captain bring her water.”
“…Yeah,” Lu Sicheng leaned back in his chair, lazily lowering his eyes as he chuckled briefly in agreement. “No idea who spoiled her like this. Really bold as hell.”
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