Chapter 17 – “Mm, I’ll listen to him on everything.”
It wasn’t snowing that afternoon. The windows of the training room at Faith Esports’s base were open for ventilation. Cool air poured in, helping everyone feel much more awake.
The end-of-season break had officially ended today, and everyone had returned to their normal training routine as scheduled.
Jiang Jiang queued up for a few duo matches with Ink. When he noticed Rong Qing had gone out to take care of something, he finally stopped playing and excitedly called out to A-Kai across from him.
“Hey, Brother Kai, what were you doing all these days that you didn’t come back?”
A-Kai looked completely uninterested. While continuing his game, he replied, “Don’t even mention it. It was nothing but trouble.”
A-Kai had gone back to Zhejiang on the morning of December 22. The four of them had originally planned to go out for a meal together the day after tomorrow, but A-Kai suddenly called to say something had come up, and it dragged on until he hurried back only this morning.
Jiang Jiang had never been able to suppress his love for gossip, and hearing that only made him more curious.
“No way, Brother Kai… what kind of thing can’t you tell your bros about?”
A-Kai let out a sigh.
“What else could it be? You know… that kind of thing.”
That kind of thing…
Jiang Jiang exchanged a glance with Ink before turning back.
“Don’t tell me… they made you go on another blind date?”
A-Kai had just gotten ambushed in-game and died on the spot. With a bitter expression, he nodded heavily.
Jiang Jiang clicked his tongue twice.
“Come on, Brother Kai. Aren’t you only twenty-seven? It’s not like you’re that old.”
“Exactly. I’m only twenty-seven, not forty-seven. But every time I go home, I get forced into meeting blind date candidates.”
A-Kai shut his eyes in pain.
Jiang Jiang shook his head.
“Well, can’t help it if that’s how your family thinks.”
Then he added, “So aren’t you planning to tell them about your sexual orientation? If you just said it outright, wouldn’t there be a lot less trouble?”
A-Kai gave a bitter smile.
“If only it were that easy. Judging by how accepting my family is… it’d probably turn the whole house upside down.”
Jiang Jiang wagged a finger.
“Good thing Ink, the captain, and I are all straight. Saves us from all that trouble.”
Ink shot him a glance and helplessly flicked him on the forehead.
“You really talk too much.”
A-Kai sighed again.
“This kind of thing is something you’re born with. What can I do about it?”
Jiang Jiang kept talking.
“Then Brother Kai, I guess you’re probably not planning to date someone in the same industry in the future either?”
His game character had already respawned. While controlling it, A-Kai answered, “Probably not. Even if I wanted to find someone, there probably isn’t anyone. If there were that many gay people in esports, do you think I’d still be single right now?”
Jiang Jiang ordered Ink to pour him a hot drink while counting on his fingers.
“Come to think of it, other than Brother Kai being the oldest, next in line is the captain.”
“Brother, you’re twenty-three now. Has your family ever arranged blind dates for you?” Jiang Jiang asked curiously.
Pei Ming sat across from them with his back facing Jiang Jiang, practicing heroes in a custom game.
Hearing the question, he paused.
“Once.”
Ink set the hot drink down on Jiang Jiang’s desk.
“That one time over a year ago?”
Pei Ming didn’t turn around. He simply nodded.
Ink seemed to remember something and suddenly said, “I still haven’t compensated you for the cake.”
Pei Ming simply replied, “It’s fine.”
Jiang Jiang, holding his hot drink, looked completely confused.
“What do you mean over a year ago? What cake? How come I don’t know about any of this?”
Ink crossed both hands behind his head, leaned back in his gaming chair, and let out a yawn.
“Secret. Send me fifty million and I’ll tell you.”
Jiang Jiang angrily kicked at Ink.
“Stop copying that little green-haired guy!”
Ink lifted his leg to dodge Jiang Jiang’s flying kick.
“I’m not copying him. I’m just naming my price.”
Jiang Jiang let out a sarcastic laugh. He knew what Ink was like—generally speaking, if Ink truly didn’t want to talk about something, then even if you interrogated him a thousand times over, he still wouldn’t say a word.
He had been like that back when they were in school. Although he had gotten better now, the things rooted deep in his nature still hadn’t changed.
Looking at Ink sitting there perfectly calm, Jiang Jiang immediately lost steam.
There was no helping it. If he wanted gossip now, the only option was to ask the person involved directly.
Thinking that, Jiang Jiang sprang to his feet and darted over to Pei Ming in one quick motion.
Pei Ming had just finished his custom match and was looking at messages on his phone.
Jiang Jiang leaned over just in time to catch what was on the screen.
[Universe’s Most Handsome Bang] : I’ve got good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?
Pei Ming raised a hand and replied with a simple: Good.
[Universe’s Most Handsome Bang] : Ghost just came to see me. He told me he agreed!
Pei Ming’s fingers paused slightly over the screen as he typed back: Pretty good.
Behind him, Jiang Jiang’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
“!!!”
“That little green-haired guy agreed???”
“Didn’t he roast every single person on our team equally?!”
“Ahhh, brother, what do you mean pretty good?! What’s that supposed to mean?!”
On the other side, both Ink and A-Kai were drawn over by Jiang Jiang’s earth-shattering outburst.
“What do you mean the little green-haired guy agreed?” A-Kai asked, completely confused.
Ink tapped lightly on his keyboard.
“ghost might be joining our team.”
A-Kai thought for a moment.
“The good-looking guy with the vicious mouth? The one who flamed the captain a couple days ago and ended up trending?”
Ink nodded.
A-Kai looked thoughtful.
“Oh… I’ve watched ghost’s streams before. He’s really strong, but isn’t he a trainee over at Monster Esports?”
“The exchange agreement,” Ink replied.
A-Kai thought about it for a second.
“The trainee exchange agreement we signed with Monster Esports? I thought that was just for show.”
“It probably was before,” Ink paused. “But not anymore.”
A-Kai frowned in confusion, so Ink added another sentence.
“The captain wants him here.”
Pei Ming ignored Jiang Jiang’s wailing and continued typing.
[D] : Bad news?
It took a while before the other side finally replied.
[Universe’s Most Handsome Bang] : He said he has conditions.
Jiang Jiang watched helplessly as Pei Ming sent the words.
[D] : I’ll agree to whatever conditions he has.
In that instant, his heart turned to ashes.
The captain had really gone this far. He was actually going to ignore the objections of his loyal teammates—brothers who had stood together through thick and thin—and insist on marrying that little vixen… no, dragging him into the team!
Just as he was about to see what other “conditions” ghost could possibly demand, Ink’s voice suddenly came from behind him.
“One minute left.”
Jiang Jiang’s brain froze for a second.
“One minute left for what?”
Ink replied flatly, “Perfect attendance.”
At the mention of money, Jiang Jiang snapped back to reality.
Crap, he had almost forgotten!
Because he played support, his training schedule was usually more relaxed. So during his free time, Jiang Jiang normally spent it streaming.
This month just happened to be the end of the competitive season, and a lot more viewers had been sending gifts in his stream, so he was aiming to secure perfect attendance for the month.
Azure TV had a rule in place to maintain a healthy streaming environment: once a streamer scheduled a broadcast in advance, they couldn’t be late. Be late even once, and they’d lose eligibility for that month’s perfect attendance bonus.
The time he had scheduled yesterday was 5:30 PM.
Right now, it was exactly 5:29 PM.
“Zou Zou Zou Mo Xing, hurry up and set up my streaming equipment already!”
Jiang Jiang immediately scrambled back to his seat.
Without even looking at him, Ink replied, “Already done.”
Jiang Jiang blew him a flying kiss.
“I knew it. Brother Ink treats me the best. Muah!”
Ink looked speechless.
“Cut it out. Keep going and I’m unplugging your computer.”
Jiang Jiang had just started streaming, and the noise from his side was getting a little loud, so Pei Ming put on his Bluetooth earbuds.
At that moment, Bang’s call came through.
“Hello? Brother?”
Pei Ming answered simply, “Tell me the conditions.”
Bang sounded a little awkward on the other end.
“Well… honestly, I think this is kind of weird too.”
Pei Ming waited for him to continue.
“It’s just… uh… Ghost told me he wants you to play a solo match against him.”
Pei Ming raised an eyebrow.
“A solo?”
“Yeah,” Bang said. “He said if you beat him, he’ll join.”
Pei Ming nodded.
“That works.”
“Wait, I’m not done yet.”
Pei Ming stayed silent, waiting.
“He already set the time too. Tomorrow afternoon.”
Bang paused for a second before adding—
“Live on stream.”
Pei Ming’s fingers paused slightly.
“Live on stream?”
…
“Live on stream?”
Wink had been using chopsticks to pick up noodles, but hearing that made him freeze on the spot.
Qi Qiao nodded and added a spoonful of minced meat onto his clear noodle soup.
“Wait, you’re going to play a solo against Devil… and stream it live?”
Wink looked so shocked it was like he could swallow an entire egg whole.
Qi Qiao finally stopped moving his chopsticks.
“How many times do I have to repeat myself?”
Wink sucked in a breath.
“Well… I mean, if you want to do a solo match, it’d be enough if only the two teams knew about it. But streaming it…”
“Why does streaming it matter?”
Wink replied, “Because if you stream it and lose, that’d be seriously humiliating. And when that happens, all your haters will have plenty to say again.”
Qi Qiao continued eating his noodles.
“Oh. Doesn’t matter.”
Looking at Qi Qiao’s completely indifferent expression, Wink suddenly didn’t know what else to say.
To begin with, Wink hadn’t expected Qi Qiao to agree to this in the first place.
Back when he had invited Qi Qiao to join Faith Esports’s youth training camp, Qi Qiao had rejected him outright, as though there were something there he was desperate to avoid at all costs.
Yesterday, when the team manager Rong Qing brought it up to him, he had refused immediately too.
Then, in order to keep Qi Qiao from feeling too pressured, Wink had spent quite a while trying to persuade him while they were eating hotpot.
And yet this afternoon, Qi Qiao suddenly asked him out for noodles and told him he agreed.
It was just… this agreement had come completely out of nowhere.
“So… has Faith Esports agreed to your condition yet?” Wink asked.
Qi Qiao shook his head.
“No idea.”
Wink cautiously suggested, “Why don’t you think about it again? Honestly, it’s fine even if you don’t go.”
Without even lifting his head, Qi Qiao answered,
“No need. I’ve already made up my mind.”
Wink knew Qi Qiao’s personality well enough—once he got stubborn, not even ten oxen could drag him back.
So he could only accept it.
“Alright then. I’ll go check what Jiang Jiang and the others think about it.”
He pulled out his phone, and just then saw a push notification from Weilan TV.
It happened to be Jiang Jiang’s livestream.
“Well then… he’s streaming right now, so I can’t exactly ask.”
Qi Qiao nodded.
“It’s fine. If there’s any news, we’ll know soon enough.”
Seeing Qi Qiao focused on eating, Wink didn’t want to bother him anymore.
With nothing else to do, he casually opened Jiang Jiang’s stream.
Jiang Jiang was chatting with his viewers.
“Same as usual today—I’m duo queuing with Ink and grinding rank.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t count as a free carry? With an unbelievably adorable support like me, of course he gets to play comfortably!”
“Thanks to Jiang Jiang Is the Cutest for the confession balloon gift. You want to see my captain? Sure, I’ll turn the camera.”
As he spoke, Jiang Jiang adjusted the camera angle so that it captured Pei Ming’s back.
“There. His back view. Handsome, right?”
Wink casually typed in chat: [“What about my idol’s face?”]
Jiang Jiang clicked his tongue.
“His face? That costs extra.”
“Think about it—after all these years I’ve been streaming, when has my captain ever shown his face in my stream?”
Jiang Jiang shook his head dramatically.
“Sigh… unlike certain people, who didn’t even do anything and still managed to win my captain’s favor.”
“Certain people?”
A calm voice suddenly sounded from behind Jiang Jiang.
Instantly, goosebumps erupted all over his body.
“C-C-Captain…?”
Jiang Jiang turned his head back stiffly.
At some point, Pei Ming had quietly appeared behind him, lazily staring at the flood of comments rolling across Jiang Jiang’s livestream screen.
[“Hahaha, by “certain people,” you mean ghost, right?”]
[“That really is unfair. Our Jiang Jiang has been here for years and still hasn’t been favored even once.”]
Jiang Jiang covered his face.
“Captain, there’s no one! I was just imagining things, wuwuwu…”
Seeing the sudden turn of events in Jiang Jiang’s stream, Wink was startled too.
It was true—he had never seen Devil show his face on Jiang Jiang’s livestream before.
Could something have happened this time?
Wink had a feeling that whatever it was, it had something to do with ghost.
“Hey, ghost, come take a look,” Wink called out.
Qi Qiao had just finished eating and was wiping his mouth. Hearing that, he frowned slightly, but still got up and walked over.
On the screen was Jiang Jiang’s utterly miserable expression, and behind him stood a tall young man, lazily watching the stream.
“Next time, stop imagining things,” Pei Ming said flatly.
Then he continued,
“It’s kind of troublesome to start a stream myself, so I’m borrowing his stream to announce something.”
[“What is it???”]
[“Holy crap, Devil is actually making an announcement on stream? No way!”]
[“Husband, husband, lean closer when you talk!”]
A strange sense of foreboding rose in Qi Qiao’s chest.
He had a feeling this was going to involve him somehow.
“Tomorrow afternoon, Ghost and I will be livestreaming a solo match.”
Qi Qiao’s hand froze halfway through wiping his mouth.
“Yeah, not duo queue. A solo match,” Pei Ming continued. “I wanted to duo queue, but he didn’t.”
Qi Qiao blanked out for a second.
On the livestream screen, Pei Ming suddenly smiled.
“Mm. I’m listening to him on everything.”
Author’s Note:
Jiang Jiang: So I’m just part of your little play too, huh?!
Author: Came rushing in with the manuscript (fully revived) (hugs everyone) (mwah) (leaves marks of love) (hehe)