Chapter 34 – “Your Brother isn’t a very patient man.”
Qi Qiao froze instinctively. Originally, he had thought that when Specter said that yesterday, he might not actually go through with it—but unexpectedly…
[Team Chat] Jiang Jiang: Ghost, you couldn’t find anyone either? Wuwuwu?
As Jiang Jiang typed out that message, his face had already scrunched up like a bitter melon.
If Qi Qiao also hadn’t found anyone on his side, then that meant either he or Wink really would have to leave.
He and Qi Qiao had been playing together for so long. If one of them absolutely had to leave later, and it ended up being Wink, he’d honestly feel bad about it…
Qi Qiao stared at the screen as Specter sent another request asking to join the team.
His palm grew slightly damp with sweat, and the scene from last night on the way back to the base flashed through his mind.
–Flashback-
The streetlights glowed with a dim yellow hue, reflecting against the cold, delicate snow drifting through the air, spreading layer upon layer of soft halos.
Qi Qiao had both hands tucked into his pockets as he followed Pei Ming forward.
Ever since Pei Ming had said, “Don’t forget to wear it whenever you go out from now on,” and Qi Qiao had nodded in response, neither of them had spoken again.
The atmosphere felt as cold as the snow falling around them.
Qi Qiao actually had a lot he wanted to say, but when he thought about how they were probably still in the middle of a silent standoff, he ultimately kept quiet.
It wasn’t until they were almost at the entrance of the residential complex that Pei Ming finally spoke.
“Is there anything you want to ask me?”
Pei Ming’s voice was calm as usual, but to Qi Qiao, it sounded exceptionally clear.
In an instant, countless questions rushed from his mind to his throat, nearly slipping out.
But the moment he thought about what he had seen at the hospital more than ten months ago, he backed down again.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to ask.
Qi Qiao was simply afraid of hearing an answer he didn’t want to hear.
Because everything Pei Ming had ever told him… had always been the truth.
“…No.”
Qi Qiao’s voice came out dry and hoarse.
Pei Ming didn’t continue that topic. Instead, he said, “If you ask, I think I can give you an answer that satisfies you.”
Qi Qiao thought he heard him let out a quiet breath.
“But you won’t ask.”
Without realizing it, Qi Qiao’s small canine tooth bit hard enough to break the skin on his lower lip.
Slightly dazed, he looked up, just in time to meet Pei Ming’s dark, ink-black eyes.
But after only the briefest moment, Pei Ming looked away again.
“Then I have a few questions for you.”
Qi Qiao’s heart skipped violently.
“The ‘Specter’ from Team Temple… is that Xie Haocheng?”
Pei Ming’s calm voice drifted over.
As expected.
Pei Ming had still asked about it.
Originally, agreeing to add Specter on WeChat today had been Qi Qiao’s gamble—he had been betting that Pei Ming would care.
But Qi Qiao hadn’t expected him to ask so directly, and for a moment, he didn’t know how to answer.
In the end, Qi Qiao still nodded.
Pei Ming stayed silent for a long time.
Qi Qiao’s thoughts were in complete disarray as he followed him all the way to the entrance of the base.
Just when Qi Qiao thought he wouldn’t speak again accompanied by the click of the password lock opening, Qi Qiao heard him say “Don’t have any unnecessary contact with him.”
Pei Ming’s voice remained calm, but Qi Qiao could hear a trace of coldness hidden underneath.
“I’m not a very patient person.”
— End of Flashback —
“Hey, little gg, is there really nobody left?”
Wink’s voice came through the team voice chat, pulling Qi Qiao’s thoughts back to reality.
At the same time, Qi Qiao saw a message from Specter pop up on his screen—
Temple-Specter: [I’m watching your stream. Looks like you’re short one player?]
The moment he saw the word “stream,” Qi Qiao unconsciously tightened his grip on the mouse.
Since Xie Haocheng had already seen his livestream, if he tried brushing him off now, would that…
[“Holy crap? Isn’t that Specter? The little brat actually knows Specter?”]
[“Emmm, anyone saying that clearly isn’t an old fan. These two go way beyond just knowing each other. Remember that livestream before? (snicker) (snicker)”]
[“What livestream? I’ve practically rewatched all my son’s streams to death. How come I don’t know about this?”]
[“Ah, then you don’t know — that stream got deleted by the platform.”]
[“Deleted? Ah… what was the reason?”]
[“Hard to explain, but I think it’s because during that stream, Specter sent the little brat several Brilliant Galaxies, then said some stuff about friend slots (not really lol). The platform officially forbids buying and selling friend slots, remember?”]
[“Alright, hmm… but why is the version I heard completely different? (doge)”]
[“So little brat, you’ve kept the guy waiting this long — aren’t you going to invite him already? (I’m about to start shipping this CP!)”]
Jiang Jiang had apparently seen it too while watching Qi Qiao’s stream from next door. Carefully, he asked over team voice chat,
“Uh, Ghost… do you want to invite him in?”
If this had been before yesterday, Jiang Jiang definitely wouldn’t have dared bring this up.
But after finishing that practice match, Qi Qiao didn’t seem especially resistant toward Specter anymore. He had even agreed to add him on WeChat.
And judging from what the two had said yesterday, Specter and Qi Qiao had probably known each other for a long time already…
Seeing that Qi Qiao didn’t respond, Jiang Jiang asked again, “Ghost, you there?”
Qi Qiao looked once more at Specter’s Request to Join Team notification on the screen, took a deep breath, and clicked Accept.
They were short one player. If they didn’t bring someone in, they couldn’t start the match.
Besides, playing with Specter now would also let them test his actual skill…
Today probably didn’t count as unnecessary contact, right?
Feeling a little guilty, Qi Qiao glanced over at Pei Ming.
He noticed that Pei Ming wasn’t typing on his keyboard right now. Instead, he was leaning back against his chair, apparently looking at something.
He couldn’t be watching my stream… could he?
Almost instinctively, Qi Qiao opened the viewer list for his livestream and took a quick look.
At the top were Jiang Jiang, Wink…and Specter.
Pei Ming wasn’t there.
Qi Qiao quietly let out a sigh of relief.
Looks like he didn’t come in after all.
By the time Qi Qiao switched back to the game screen, Jiang Jiang, Wink, and Specter were already chatting.
[Team Chat] Wink: Oh, so you and Ghost went to the same school too?
[Team Chat] Temple-Specter: Not exactly. I was a grade above him.
[Team Chat] Peerless Invincible Little Cutie: I know this one — seniooor~
Qi Qiao: “……”
To stop things from escalating any further, Qi Qiao quickly typed a single word at lightning speed—
[Team Chat] Ghost: Start.
Sensing the low-pressure atmosphere radiating around him, Jiang Jiang cautiously glanced over at Qi Qiao, then hurriedly queued them into ranked.
After Specter joined the team, they played several matches.
Qi Qiao realized that Specter was actually a pretty skilled jungler. In fact, he was good enough to rival the current junglers from some of the so-called veteran teams. Aside from occasionally playing a little too aggressively, he was very steady in every other aspect—especially when coordinating with Qi Qiao.
But compared to Pei Ming…
there was still no comparison.
During every break between matches, Qi Qiao would glance over at Pei Ming.
Pei Ming was still leaning back against his chair, seemingly not training at all. Occasionally, he would pick up his water cup and take a sip. His narrow eyes remained slightly lowered, making it impossible to read any emotion from his expression.
The more Qi Qiao looked at him, the guiltier he felt.
The way Pei Ming was acting…
was he really not watching the stream?
Because Specter was paying special attention to mid lane, every time he finished clearing jungle, the very first lane he came to gank was always mid.
Qi Qiao had already pinged Don’t come at him several times, but it did absolutely nothing.
And because of that, Qi Qiao’s fans had started noticing the subtle atmosphere between the two, and their comments were becoming increasingly bold.
After another match ended, Qi Qiao opened the bullet comment assistant.
[“Tsk tsk tsk. Wait, isn’t this little brat’s first time playing with Specter? Their coordination is actually pretty good.”]
[“Of course. I mean, Specter clearly treats our son a little… differently.”]
[“Enough already. Our son is straight as an iron rod, don’t even go there. (angry) (angry)”]
[“Come on, what’s wrong with joking around a little? Besides, maybe he looks straight, but who knows—he could actually be gayer than a curly telephone cord.”]
The more Qi Qiao read, the darker his expression became.
He knew the viewers in his livestream were always unruly, but he hadn’t expected that after leaving them alone for just a while, things would escalate to this extent.
Just as he was about to hit the mute all button to make his stance clear—
his phone suddenly rang.
Without thinking much about it, Qi Qiao picked it up and answered, while his other hand searched for the mute all button.
A calm male voice came from the other end.
“You left your scarf in my room last night.”
“Come to my room tonight.”
It was Pei Ming’s voice.
Qi Qiao froze abruptly.
He had just been about to say okay when he suddenly realized something was wrong.
He had only been holding the phone on his lap just now.
He hadn’t put it against his ear.
But he could hear the voice clearly—
way too clearly…
A flash of realization exploded in Qi Qiao’s mind.
He immediately looked down at his phone—
His index finger was resting directly on the speakerphone button.
That’s right.
Speakerphone.
Still clinging to a shred of hope, Qi Qiao immediately looked toward the livestream chat, praying that his microphone quality wasn’t good enough to pick up what had just been said.
[“?”]
[“?”]
[“Scarf. Last night. Left in my room???”]
[“Those are all normal words individually, so why do I suddenly not understand them when put together???”]
[“What do you mean, “Come to my room tonight”???”]
[“Wait, am I the only one who thinks the voice on the phone sounded exactly like D-God’s?!”]
[“D-God? Now that you mention it, it really does! That’s 100% his voice!!!”]
[“So… were we all wrong? The person our son has been hopelessly hung up on lately isn’t Imperial Consort Jiang—it’s D-God?!”]
Qi Qiao shut off the stream, utterly devastated..
…
Faith Base – General Manager’s Office
“Are you two trying to give me a heart attack or what?!” Rong Qing took a huge gulp of water, his pained expression making it look like the word death was practically written across his face. “Pei Ming, couldn’t you have picked a better time to call? Did you have to call while Qi Qiao was livestreaming?”
Wearing his team jacket, Pei Ming stood in the office with his narrow eyes half-lowered.
“Yeah. My mistake.”
Rong Qing was so exasperated he nearly exploded. He pointed at Qi Qiao, who was standing beside him as quiet as a mouse.
“And you, Qi Qiao. I always thought you were a careful kid. Answering your phone during a livestream is one thing, but how the hell did you manage to put it on speaker?!”
Qi Qiao lowered his head.
“…My fault.”
“I’m telling you, after tomorrow’s official announcement, you can interact however you want—I won’t interfere. But could you at least keep it under control today?” Rong Qing lectured, pointing at the two of them. “You know what this means? Now I have to get in touch with the people over at Monster and figure out how we’re going to handle this…”
As he spoke, Rong Qing replied to several urgent PR messages on his phone.
Everything had already been arranged for tomorrow’s official announcement. Who could have imagined that Pei Ming and Qi Qiao would suddenly pull something like this at the last minute?
Fortunately, the phone call had only lasted for two sentences. On top of that, the audio had been picked up through the livestream microphone, so the sound quality was poor. At this point, everyone could only speculate about who had made the call—there was no concrete proof.
Besides, Qi Qiao had already collaborated on livestreams with Jiang Jiang several times before, and Rong Qing had deliberately released information in advance about exchanges involving youth trainees. Now, all of this simply served as additional evidence supporting Qi Qiao’s transfer to Faith.
After all, if the caller really had been Devil, and the two of them weren’t living at the same team base, then a line like “You left your scarf in my room last night” would have been far stranger.
After scolding the two of them for a while longer, Rong Qing received a call from Monster.
Qi Qiao watched him cautiously. It wasn’t until Rong Qing’s expression gradually softened that he finally let out a sigh of relief.
“Alright, alright. Then we’ll stick with the original plan and post it tomorrow.”
After finishing the call with Monster’s manager, Rong Qing looked back at the two of them.
“Okay. Luckily we laid enough groundwork beforehand, so this hasn’t caused too much of an uproar online. The two of you are not to post anything on Weibo tonight.”
Qi Qiao hurriedly nodded and stole a glance at Pei Ming beside him.
Pei Ming said nothing.
He didn’t seem to think the incident was much of a big deal.
Rong Qing checked the time on his phone, calmed himself down a little, and gave the two of them a few more words of advice before waving them off.
“Don’t ever pull something like today’s stunt again. That’s enough. Don’t go saying anything online, and now go eat.”
Only then did Qi Qiao finally breathe a sigh of relief. He followed Pei Ming out of the office.
Earlier, when Rong Qing had stormed upstairs to drag them into his office, he had looked so furious that even Jiang Jiang had been startled. Now, there wasn’t a single person outside daring to eavesdrop through the crack in the door.
When Qi Qiao followed Pei Ming into the hallway, it was completely deserted.
Pei Ming walked ahead without looking back, seemingly having no intention of waiting for him.
Qi Qiao unconsciously bit his lower lip.
There were too many suspicious things about what had happened today.
Putting aside why Pei Ming had chosen that exact moment to call him, even what he had said over the phone didn’t make sense.
He had definitely taken that cashmere scarf home with him last night.
After thinking it over, Qi Qiao quickened his pace and caught up.
“Um… about the phone call you made today…” Qi Qiao said awkwardly.
Pei Ming stopped in front of him.
Since they were already walking so close together, Qi Qiao nearly bumped into his back.
“What about it?”
Pei Ming’s voice was cool. Though it was a question, there wasn’t the slightest hint of curiosity in his tone.
Feeling guilty, Qi Qiao lowered his voice.
“The scarf… I took it home yesterday.”
Only then did Pei Ming turn around to look at him.
Qi Qiao didn’t move.
“Mhm. You did.”
Pei Ming neither confirmed nor denied anything. Then, without warning, he took a step closer.
They had already been standing close to each other. Now that Pei Ming had shortened the distance even further, Qi Qiao could almost hear his own heartbeat.
Pei Ming lowered his gaze to look at him.
“But do you really think I called you because of the scarf?”
Qi Qiao’s breathing became uneven.
He turned his head slightly, trying to hide the half of his face that had grown warm.
Pei Ming simply looked at him, saying nothing for a long while.
Only after what felt like an eternity did Qi Qiao feel a cool fingertip brush lightly across his earlobe.
“I told you before.”
Startled, Qi Qiao looked up, his eyes colliding with Pei Ming’s calm, ink-dark gaze.
Then he heard him murmur softly by his ear—
“Your Brother isn’t a very patient man.”
Author’s Note:
Captain Pei: Guess why I called you.