Tong Yao scurried over to Lu Sicheng with her tail between her legs, glancing at the cigarette he had tossed into the trash—barely touched after being lit before it was snuffed out. She remembered Little Fatty once mentioning that Lu Sicheng wasn’t much of a heavy smoker before. He only did so occasionally when he was upset or needed to unwind… Smoking was banned in the team, so to avoid affecting others, he would step out into the Team headquarters courtyard to smoke. Even if it meant getting caught easily by Xiao Rui and having his salary docked, he didn’t care.
After Tong Yao joined the team, he rarely smoked anymore.
Though hiding cigarettes and outwitting Xiao Rui remained one of his unshakable hobbies.
Standing in front of Lu Sicheng, Tong Yao didn’t get a chance to speak before the man straightened up first, pausing briefly before saying, “Let’s go eat.”
With his long strides, Tong Yao had to hop twice to keep up, panting slightly. “Why didn’t you just wait for me at the restaurant?”
Lu Sicheng slowed his pace a little, thinking before answering, “Didn’t want to go alone.”
Tong Yao grabbed the hem of his shirt. Lu Sicheng didn’t turn around or stop her, so she held onto him as they walked a short distance in silence—his expression, usually cold and aloof when he kept a straight face, was familiar to her. He was her captain, sure, but not her boyfriend.
Letting go of his shirt, she stealthily reached for his hand. But as if he had eyes on his chin, he casually lifted his hand, effortlessly dodging her.
Tong Yao: “…”
Now she was certain—her captain was genuinely upset.
Undaunted, Tong Yao tried again to grab his hand, and again, he evaded her—
When she finally resorted to clamping both hands around his wrist like catching a rabbit, he clicked his tongue and yanked his hand away, making it clear he wasn’t cooperating… Seeing this, Tong Yao gave up and went back to clutching his shirt hem, twisting it until the loose fabric formed a tiny triangle. Feeling a slight tug from behind, Lu Sicheng raised a brow and turned around, meeting a pair of dark eyes staring up at him. Tong Yao said earnestly, “I saw one of our fans outside the Korean restaurant earlier, so I let go of your hand.”
“Oh.”
Lu Sicheng showed no reaction.
They passed by a home goods store, and under Tong Yao’s bewildered gaze, Lu Sicheng abruptly walked in and grabbed a black face mask from the shelf.
Tong Yao trailed behind him like a little tail, watching as he paid at the counter. She leaned over, peeking her head out. “Why buy a mask?”
After paying, Lu Sicheng tore open the packaging, put it on, and replied calmly, “Being considerate. Since I’m apparently unfit to be seen.”
Tong Yao: “………………”
Under the cashier’s perplexed and slightly judgmental stare—probably thinking, Girl, are you blind? Your boyfriend is anything but unfit to be seen, stop taking him for granted —Tong Yao stood on tiptoe, reaching to pull the mask off. But Lu Sicheng leaned back, hands tucked in his jacket pockets, easily staying out of her reach.
The cashier’s expression grew even more peculiar.
Helpless, Tong Yao simply wrapped her arms around Lu Sicheng’s arm and dragged him out of the store in a hasty retreat.At this moment, Lu Sicheng was wearing a black mask, the perfect curve of his jaw faintly visible beneath it. Only a pair of deep brown eyes were exposed above the mask. His tall, upright figure made him look like some celebrity incognito as he walked down the street.
Countless passersby stole glances at him out of the corners of their eyes, then huddled together to whisper.
Tong Yao walked beside him. If she hadn’t been clinging to his arm like a sloth, she would have at best been mistaken for a celebrity assistant or a nanny… But because she had made a mistake first, she endured this torment without complaint, resignedly dragging Lu Sicheng down to the restaurant they had agreed upon earlier.
However, even after arriving at the restaurant, Lu Sicheng’s psychological torture didn’t end.
He sat with his hands in his pockets, not ordering anything, just staring at Tong Yao across the table with those calm eyes—his gaze practically burning a hole through her face. Finally, Tong Yao couldn’t take it anymore and raised the menu to block that terrifying stare. Only after deciding what to order did she lower it. “I’m ready. What do you want?”
“Not eating.”
“What?”
A deep, magnetic voice came from behind the mask, sounding muffled: “Someone as ugly as me doesn’t deserve to eat.”
“…”
Tong Yao’s first reaction was to glance at the waiter, who indeed looked utterly bewildered.
Then the waiter shot her an accusatory look.
Their eyes met, and an awkward silence fell.
Tong Yao quickly changed her order from one serving to two identical ones, shooing away the waiter who kept sneaking glances at Lu Sicheng as if expecting to see a face disfigured by sulfuric acid beneath the mask. Then she reached across the table and yanked off Lu Sicheng’s mask!
Lu Sicheng: “Tsk.”
Lu Sicheng: “What are you doing?”
Tong Yao wanted to curse, but under his gaze, she chickened out. “Alright, fine, I was wrong, okay? Lu Sicheng, can you just let it go? There were fans back there! Would it have been appropriate for them to see us holding hands and strolling down the street? Remember those fan comments I showed you the other day? They don’t accept you having a girlfriend! They won’t accept it!”
Lu Sicheng frowned. “I don’t care.”
As he spoke, he reached out. “Give me back the mask.”
Tong Yao clutched the mask, dodging his large hand with a nimble lean back. But his arms were long, and his fingertips brushed teasingly against her face before pinching the tip of her nose… Tong Yao was so flustered she nearly slammed the table. “You might not care, but I do. It’s not that I’m afraid they’ll treat me like they did Jin Yang, or that they’ll say I’m not focused on my career and only know how to seduce their idol—I just know that no one has ever said a single bad thing about you in your entire career. Not even in the Forum, where people love to trash others!”
Lu Sicheng’s hand, pinching her nose, paused before releasing her. His deep brown eyes flickered slightly. “So?”
“I won’t allow myself to become the weak point they use to attack you.”
“…” Lu Sicheng fell silent for a few seconds before calmly sitting back in his chair. “Isn’t it a bit late to say that now?”
“?”
“You already are.”
“??”
“Every ordinary person has their weaknesses. I’m not a God, so I have mine too.”
“…”
“You’re it.”Lu Sicheng finished speaking, fell silent, then shifted his sitting position: "I don't care what they say about me. If their evaluation of me is positive, then I'm happy and honored, but my actions won't be morally bound by these positive evaluations—reputation arises from my actions, not the other way around—do you understand something this complex?"
Tong Yao looked utterly bewildered.
The man sighed lightly: "I just happened to fall for a little girl, that's all. I didn't do anything wrong, so why are you so nervous about protecting me?"
The bewilderment on Tong Yao's face showed slight cracks.
It wasn't that she didn't understand what Lu Sicheng was saying, but rather that she'd been battered speechless by the sudden consecutive critical hits—she had no idea what she'd done or said to deserve becoming the "soft spot" of the number one male god in the professional League of Legends circle. Yet this definition had naturally emerged from the male god's own mouth in a "let me reason with you" tone...
Tong Yao could only desperately try to recall whether she'd truly saved the galaxy in her past life—
Because with her limited vocabulary, she simply couldn't find the words to tell the person sitting across from her at this moment that yes, she was indeed nervously protecting him, afraid he might suffer even the slightest harm or grievance.
Because just the fact of "being together" already made her feel incredibly, incredibly lucky.
Now she was surprised to find Lu Sicheng felt the same way.
—She had always thought that in this newly begun relationship, the scales were obviously tilted in Lu Sicheng's favor. Until about a minute ago, when she suddenly realized that wasn't the case—their scales had never been tilted, not by the slightest margin.
And so.
The final result of their argument was Tong Yao, blushing, stuffing Lu Sicheng's face mask back into his pocket and lowering her head to eat... The conversation that followed was very safe, mostly discussing their itinerary to Xiamen for the Demacia Cup.
Lu Sicheng scrolled through his phone looking at the second team members' profiles and the Demacia Cup attendance list, speaking in his captain's tone: "Lu Yue will be playing this time. He's the only one on the primary substitute list attending the Demacia Cup. Seems the club is hoping for at least top three if not the championship this year."
Tong Yao scrolled through her phone looking at travel guides and foodie maps on X'er website, speaking in a spectator masses tone: "What's good to eat in Xiamen? Pineapple cakes? Pork jerky? Night market stalls? Is our hotel far from the night market? It'd be bad if we finish matches too late and the night market closes."
Lu Sicheng: "..."
Tong Yao: "What's the weather like in Xiamen? Hot? Short sleeves should be fine, right?"
Lu Sicheng: "Tong Yao."
Tong Yao: "Huh?"
Lu Sicheng: "We're going to watch the second team compete in the National Cup Tournament, not for tourism."
"...I didn't say I wouldn't cheer for them." Tong Yao put down her phone with a serious expression.
"Cheer for them to win quickly so you can go to the night market, is that it?"
"..." Maintaining her deadpan expression, Tong Yao pointed at the bowl in front of Lu Sicheng, "Eat your food."
...
After the meal, the two wanted to be affectionate but were afraid of actually getting ganked on the street. What to do? They could only choose to hide in a pitch-black movie theater where even ghosts couldn't see them.As they left the restaurant, Lu Sicheng put his mask back on. Tong Yao frowned, "Got the energy to sulk again after eating?"
"No," Lu Sicheng tilted his head slightly, glancing at his reflection in a nearby shop window. "At first, I wanted to lecture you, but then I realized I look pretty good with the mask on."
"…………………………"
Tong Yao rolled her eyes dramatically behind him.
Entering the top-floor cinema, they found a long queue. While waiting in line, Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng continued their discussion about the Demacia Cup, analyzing the strength of the second-tier team members. They soon reached the front, selected a movie and showtime. As Lu Sicheng leaned slightly to pull out his wallet, laughter and chatter drifted in from the cinema entrance.
Tong Yao glanced over the crowd behind them—it was those fans again, coincidentally crossing paths with them once more.
But there were plenty of people between them.
Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng exchanged a look. The man lowered his eyes and handed the ticket money to the cashier. Just then, Tong Yao noticed from the corner of her eye that the girls had gathered around the self-service ticket machine. She looked up at Lu Sicheng—
Thinking she was still nervous, Lu Sicheng casually pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt to cover her face.
Suddenly, he heard Tong Yao call his name and say, "What's that on your face?" as she raised her hand as if to brush something off for him. Lu Sicheng bent down slightly, one hand still holding his wallet—
Then he felt her warm fingers brush past his ear as she removed his mask. The next moment, she stood on her tiptoes and planted a quick, feather-light kiss on the corner of his lips.
Like a whisper of a touch.
Grinning, she pulled his mask back up for him. A delicate blush spread across her fair cheeks, like a silly deer who had just pulled off some grand prank.
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