Chapter 50 – What’s going on with you two?
Ji Wei snatched the car keys from Xu Shaoqiu’s hand, fetched the medicine, and returned to find him still standing there, as if petrified.
“Brother Qiu, what’s wrong with you?”
“…Nothing.” Xu Shaoqiu resisted the urge to barge into the room and didn’t push the door open. He looked at Ji Wei with a complicated expression.
“Then Solve doesn’t need to come down. Let him lie down for a while.”
“How can that be?” Ji Wei called into the room. “Get up and go downstairs to eat something. You can’t take medicine on an empty stomach.”
There was a rustling sound inside, and Ji Wei turned back to say, “Brother Qiu, go ahead. We’ll be there in a minute.”
“Okay.” Xu Shaoqiu seemed to have aged ten years in an instant, his back stooped with weariness. He walked downstairs with his hands clasped behind his back, unable to tell whether the pig had eaten the cabbage or the cabbage had eaten the pig.
Ten minutes later, Ji Wei and Yin Sijue, their belongings packed, appeared in the manor’s buffet restaurant.
The restaurant was nearly empty. The AVG members had gathered around two tables. As Yin Sijue sat down, a hand reached out to offer him a pillow.
Following the hand, Xu Shaoqiu’s gaze—like that of an old father—was filled with concern.
“I just asked the front desk for this. You can lean on it.”
A question mark practically appeared over Yin Sijue’s head. He coldly refused, “No, thanks.”
“Really?” Seeing that Yin Sijue showed no intention of taking it, Xu Shaoqiu awkwardly withdrew his hand, then sternly reminded him, “We’ll be driving back after dinner. It’s a three- to four-hour journey. Are you sure you can handle it?”
“Why not?” Yin Sijue was completely baffled. “Didn’t we just drive four hours to get here?”
“But you didn’t… then!” Xu Shaoqiu bit back the words, his hand trembling as he nodded twice. “Forget it! I’m worrying about you for nothing!”
“Eat this.”
The clatter of ceramics echoed on the table as Ji Wei poured Yin Sijue a bowl of white porridge. “After you finish, I’ll grind some medicine for you.”
“What medicine?” Da Shu asked casually. “Brother, are you sick again?”
Yin Sijue lowered his head and took a sip of porridge. “Yeah, just a low-grade fever, nothing serious.”
Da Shu clicked his tongue. “Why would you grind some medicine? You two are really good friends.”
Lao Ma chimed in, “I think you’ve had more fevers this year than in all the previous years combined. The weather here is fine, so why are you sick again?”
Before Yin Sijue could reply, Xu Shaoqiu cut him off. “Eat your meal. Stop prying into your teammate’s privacy.”
“?” Lao Ma, inexplicably offended, stayed calm and simply went back to gnawing on his steak.
After lunch, everyone went back to pack their bags and get ready to leave. Ji Wei pulled Yin Sijue aside and whispered, “Why do I feel like Brother Qiu is acting a little strange? Do you think he knows something?”
Yin Sijue lifted his eyelids and glanced at Xu Shaoqiu’s back. “Didn’t you run into him at the door this morning? You should have guessed something.”
“Yeah,” Ji Wei murmured thoughtfully. “But it still feels strange. Even if he found out about us, he shouldn’t have reacted like that.”
Yin Sijue had actually thought the coach seemed a little off that morning, but he never wanted to dwell on such trivial matters.
“Forget it. Let’s go back and pack. Your underwear is still in my room. Should I bring it to you, or do you want to take it yourself?”
Ji Wei’s attention was instantly diverted. He glanced around with a flushed face. “Keep your voice down! I… I’ll get it later!”
…
By the time everyone got into the car, it was already two in the afternoon.
Happy times are always short-lived. Da Shu looked at the resort fading into the distance with reluctance.
“I don’t know when we’ll get to go out again…”
Xu Shaoqiu calmly kept his hands on the steering wheel. “When you win the PGC, I can ask the club to send you abroad for a week.”
Da Shu brightened. “Really? Then I’ll start watching replays right now.”
Seeing him grab his phone through the rearview mirror, Xu Shaoqiu cut in sharply: “Don’t. I’m driving on mountain roads. If you look at your phone now, you’ll get carsick.”
“It’s fine, I—damn it!” Da Shu suddenly screamed at his screen. “Brother Qiu, why did the official Weibo post a video? Didn’t I say I needed to check my appearance before they posted?”
“Did they?”
Xu Shaoqiu soothed in a low voice. “It’s fine. You’re barely in it anyway.”
Da Shu: …
Mi Li also opened her phone. “Is this the one you’ve been editing these past few days? How did it get posted so quickly?”
“Because I couldn’t hold back anymore. Look at the stats. It’s been up for hours.”
Da Shu scrolled down to the comments and exclaimed, “Eight thousand reposts and twenty thousand likes—that’s huge! But didn’t you not even know how to edit videos before?”
Xu Shaoqiu exhaled in relief. “I’m doing it for love. What do you know?”
In the back row, Ji Wei secretly hooked her pinky with Yin Sijue’s when no one was looking. Next to him, she opened the AVG official Weibo and found the latest video.
The eight thousand reposts Da Shu had just mentioned had already climbed to nine thousand.
[AVG Team-Building Daily: <PUBG Pro Players Playing Live Counter-Strike? Hands-on!>]
Ji Wei muttered, “…Brother Qiu came up with that title. When they see me win, they’ll definitely call it a scam.”
Xu Shaoqiu, who had overheard, went silent for a moment before replying, “It wasn’t originally titled that way. Later… well, I decided it wasn’t appropriate, so I changed it.”
Ji Wei kept scrolling. The comments section was almost entirely filled with posts about him and Yin Sijue.
[Ahhhhhh, I’d call this the must-see video of the year.]
[Solve and Unique are basically married in this video, and the kid is me.]
[Leopard, Leopard, Cat, I’m born. Come on, can I go pro?]
[Even the official Weibo accounts are fueling this—what is this, the American way?]
[Da Shu, Mi Li, Lao Ma, looks like we’re being exploited by the capitalists. The three of us together don’t even have as much screen time as those two.]
“What the hell did Brother Qiu film…” Ji Wei was overwhelmed by the comments. Just as he was about to click on the video, the car suddenly swerved sharply to the right, and he fell straight into Yin Sijue’s arms.
Clutching Yin Sijue’s thighs, Ji Wei reached for his phone to keep watching, but it was snatched away the next second.
Yin Sijue held him tightly. “It’s going to be a long detour for a while. Don’t watch—it’s bad for your eyes.”
Ji Wei struggled in vain, not daring to speak. Instead, he turned and bit the person next to him on the collarbone.
“Hiss—”
“What’s wrong, brother?” Da Shu turned around at the sound, stunned.
The two in the back seat looked like they belonged to different worlds. One leaned back lazily, a fresh red mark visible on his collarbone, while the other sat bolt upright, eyes locked straight ahead, looking like he could be nominated as a model student on the spot.
Da Shu: ?
…
By the time they got back to the base, it was already dinner.
“I’m not eating,” Xu Shaoqiu said wearily as he put down his luggage. “I’m tired from driving, so I’m going to lie down. Auntie’s still on vacation, so you can either go out for dinner or order takeout.”
Da Shu raised his phone. “I found a really good barbecue place yesterday. We can order from there. Want some?”
No one objected. Xu Shaoqiu added a reminder: “Don’t get anything too spicy.”
After that, he pulled Ji Wei aside and lowered his voice.
“I forgot to tell you the other day—the All-Star Game is being held at the Aurora TV headquarters in Taipei City. Is that okay with you?”
Taipei City? Ji Wei froze for a moment. In the past, he might have been reluctant to return to that city, but now it didn’t really matter.
“Sure, why not?”
Xu Shaoqiu faltered, then made up an excuse: “Well, it’s just… we’ll need to fly there, and I was worried it might be inconvenient for you.”
“?” Ji Wei’s face was full of confusion. He felt Xu Shaoqiu was acting very strangely today.
Which only made him even more curious about the video on Weibo.
The barbecue arrived quickly. When Da Shu came in with the food, he saw Ji Wei had already set up the tablet on the table.
“What do you want to watch?”
“Have you all seen the video Brother Qiu edited?”
“No.” Da Shu opened the barbecue bag and spread it flat on the table. “Go ahead, I want to see it too.”
Clicking play, the video ran for twenty-five minutes, starting with a few minutes of breathtaking shots of the resort scenery.
Comments floated across the screen in real time:
[This place is so beautiful! I’m obsessed!]
[12,888 per person]
[I’m out. Thanks for showing me around!]
With a burst of lively music, the scene shifted to their first night of outdoor barbecue with the UGC. The camera panned across the group as everyone chatted, clinked glasses, and laughed heartily. Xu Shaoqiu included close-ups of each person.
“Oh my god! There’s a vegetable leaf stuck in my teeth!” Da Shu screamed. “I’m going to report this video!”
Mi Li grabbed his hand. “It’s fine. No one will notice in such a short clip.”
“The comments are literally all pointing it out!”
[Hahahaha, Da Shu eats well!]
[Da Shu’s got food stuck in his teeth! Screenshot saved.]
[Where are Solve and Unique?]
The camera quickly answered, cutting to the two being discussed. They sat in a quiet corner away from the crowd, leaning close together, whispering as if no one else existed.
Ji Wei’s alarm bells rang instantly, and he darted to the comments.
[F*ck, that close?]
[What are these two talking about? Anyone got a guess?]
[Why did Unique even ask the captain to get him food? Acting like royalty?]
[That’s suspicious. Let me replay this.]
Ji Wei cursed himself for not noticing Xu Shaoqiu’s camera. He hadn’t realized they looked that close, with Yin Sijue leaning in to whisper in his ear. Anyone would think something was going on.
He sneaked a glance at his teammates—only to lock eyes with Mi Li.
Mi Li: …
He had already been suspicious a few days ago, but seeing Unique’s guilty look now left no doubt.
Mi Li tentatively started, “You—”
Ji Wei froze, hair standing on end. His right hand gripped the hem of his shirt tightly, eyes wide, holding his breath as if awaiting a death sentence.
“…Forget it.” Seeing him like this, Mi Li relented. “It’s okay.”
The next clip showed Ji Wei asking the housekeeper for a wrist brace before playing real-life Counter-Strike, carefully fastening it onto Yin Sijue.
Seeing this, Da Shu spoke with a pang of guilt. “Brother, I forgot you were hurt. How’s your wound these past two days?”
“I’ll take the stitches out tomorrow.” Yin Sijue reached for a few skewers, but Ji Wei immediately stopped him. He could only watch the others eat, his injured right hand resting casually on the edge of the table, while his free hand secretly slid over to his boyfriend’s thigh, tapping it with his fingers.
Ji Wei’s legs clamped together instantly, his face turning red. Wearing gloves, he was struggling just to peel shrimp—there was no way he could retaliate—so he had no choice but to endure the teasing.
Da Shu, completely oblivious, said, “You can still score that many points even with an injury? That’s amazing.”
Yin Sijue nodded matter-of-factly, then lowered his eyes and continued watching the video.
The real-life CS scenes primarily revolved around Solve and Unique.
[Six Hundred and Sixty-Six isn’t even acting anymore.]
[The official Weibo account can’t even hide their bias toward Maifan…]
[Is it not okay for me to be a fan?]
[Has no one noticed that Unique is still trying to rack up points in real-life CS? I’m dying of laughter.]
Xu Shaoqiu filmed Ji Wei hiding under a tree for a while, and within minutes, he spotted Yin Sijue nearby.
In the video, Yin Sijue leaned against a tree with his arms crossed. His outfit was so striking it was hard to look away, and the comments section exploded in screams.
He was holding a fake gun, but his presence made it look real. He lifted his eyelids and glanced at the camera coldly before turning his gaze directly onto Ji Wei.
In the background, Xu Shaoqiu’s voice muttered, barely restrained: “You’ve already seen him, why aren’t you going to fight?”
Yin Sijue ignored him. Coincidentally, the straw hat Ji Wei had woven for him slipped to the ground. Ji Wei crawled over to pick it up, dusted it off, and pressed it firmly onto Yin Sijue’s head.
Everyone at the table—and the millions of fans watching—saw it clearly: the previously expressionless Yin Sijue curled his lips without restraint as Ji Wei adjusted the hat.
Ji Wei’s heart skipped a beat, then pounded wildly.
It was the first time he had seen Yin Sijue’s gaze from a third-person perspective.
In truth, Yin Sijue had never been one to reveal emotion. Whether in a favorable or unfavorable position during a match, he remained calm—at most a slight frown, never more.
But Ji Wei had somehow broken that rule.
The twitch of his lips in the video tugged at Ji Wei’s heartstrings, making him realize more deeply than ever that the other person really did like him too.
Just as he liked Yin Sijue.
Ji Wei couldn’t help glancing at him. Yin Sijue’s expression was open, unashamed of being exposed. Instead, he casually reached out and tapped Ji Wei’s thigh.
Catching his boyfriend’s startled look, Yin Sijue held his gaze for a few seconds before curling his lips into a smile—exactly as he had in the video.
“I said, are you guys okay?”
Da Shu’s voice cracked with disbelief.
He truly couldn’t wrap his head around it. Just as he was about to ask a question after watching the video, he looked up to see his two teammates openly flirting. Even the dullest person would have realized by now that their relationship was far more than just teammates.
“What’s going on? Let me ask you something—what exactly is going on between you two?”