Chapter 66 – So Cheap
“Thanks! And that jelly over there too…” Fat Tangyuan clutched a bag of chips, and as he turned around, he was so startled he practically flattened himself against the wall like a gecko, nearly bursting into tears. “Sc-sc-sc-sc-scared me to death… Brother, w-w-when did you get back?!”
Shao Zhan took the chips from his arms and tore them open with one hand to eat. “Does it matter when I got back?”
“Of course it matters! It’s super important,” Fat Tangyuan blurted out, using his blubber as a shield. “You’re our jack! Our anchor! Our guiding compass on the road ahead!”
Shao Zhan felt something was seriously off about that: “Isn’t it usually anchor? Why are you calling me a jack…”
“Aiya, Captain, we’re all brothers here—why split hairs over jacks and anchors? It’s all the same, all the same,” Fat Tangyuan said shamelessly. “If we’re truly brothers, we shouldn’t fuss over little things like that.”
Unable to stomach the triumphant look on his face, Shao Zhan glanced at the oversized snack bag in his hands. “What’s this? Thought your captain got injured, the team’s done for, and now you’re stockpiling snacks to run off?”
“No way, you’re overthinking it,” Fat Tangyuan and Jiang Ranan said nervously, huddling together and awkwardly stuffing two bags behind them—failing miserably to hide them.
“Still denying it? Huh? Still?” Shao Zhan circled the two guilty-looking guys like a shark, scaring them so much they broke into a cold sweat. “If you don’t start talking, next season’s uniforms are getting ordered two sizes smaller…”
“Captain!” Fat Tangyuan puffed out his belly in protest, his ample flesh jiggling indignantly. “That’s just evil! I’ve seen bad guys before, but never one so transcendentally wicked!” He grabbed his double-decker floatation ring of belly fat. “Sure, your Grandpa Tangyuan is fat, but I’m still a righteous, upright fatty! You think I’d ever betray my friends? My brothers?!”
“Well? Gonna talk or not?” Shao Zhan’s patience was quickly wearing thin.
“I’ll talk!” Fat Tangyuan waddled in a dramatic wide-legged stance, pressing his chubby index fingers together and twisting his pudgy hips in a pitiful little dance. “I’ll tell you, okay? Geez…”
So, when Yang Sa ran into Shao Zhan—dressed to the nines in a suit, with one arm still in a cast—at the airport while seeing off a friend, he immediately sent a voice message in the group chat hastily created the night before:
“Who. Invited. Him. Here?!”
You could feel the murderous rage and gritted teeth through the voice message—even through the screen, it felt like he wanted to kill someone.
Fat Tangyuan carefully tucked his phone away, then picked up a bag and began introducing snacks to his Brother Blue.
“Sweet, my love. I’ll never forget you,” the Smurf sobbed dramatically, clutching his ever-growing belly that had expanded since arriving in China. “Even if I turn to ashes, I won’t forget you…”
Fat Tangyuan nearly choked on his breath. “Okay but, just saying—if you do turn to ashes, maybe it’s okay to forget. Really. Let it go.”
“I won’t, I won’t, I won’t,” the Smurf clung to his hand with deep emotion. “You’re the sworn brother I bowed to heaven and earth with. This life, next life, and the one after that—I’ll never forget you!”
Fat Tangyuan, slightly grossed out, pulled out a tissue and handed it over. “Blow your nose first.”
Max, still with a bruise around his eye, held onto Qin Chuan’s hand tightly. “Please, make sure to take care of Sa. He… he’s got a lot going on. I can’t really explain, but it hasn’t been easy for him. Please, I’m begging you—take good care of him.”
“Don’t worry,” Shao Zhan cut in smoothly, “As long as I’m in Xinghai, the only one doing the bullying will be him—no one else will ever get the chance.”
The touching farewell mood instantly crumbled. Qin Chuan, who was about to give a heartfelt speech, glared at him. “Do you mind? Do you mind? If you’re fine, can’t you just go take a walk somewhere else?!”
“Nope.” Shao Zhan sneaked a glance at Yang Sa, who was busy checking in luggage with Little Black, and responded righteously.
“Unbelievable.” Qin Chuan cursed under his breath, unable to stand it any longer, then quickly resumed his refined, humble demeanor—worried nearby fans might overhear and it would ruin his usual image.
He leaned toward Max and handed over a tube of ointment. “Don’t stress over the case. I know the procedures here well—just leave it to me. If we need your cooperation, I’ll reach out.”
Max nodded and made a “call me” gesture. “Keep in touch.”
Once Max had been passed off to Jiang Ranan, Qin Chuan took the chance to “go to the bathroom” and dragged Shao Zhan into an empty hallway.
“Tell me the truth—what’s going on between you and Yang Sa right now?”
Shao Zhan replied, “Nothing,” and it nearly made Qin Chuan throw his back out from frustration.
“You—you—you…” He stammered for a good while, spinning in place twice with bulging eyes. “What kind of situation is this? A king avoiding another king? If you guys had a fight, then either stay away or patch things up before showing your face. How are the rest of us supposed to survive this?”
“I wish he would fight with me,” Shao Zhan said, brushing his bangs aside.
They’d had a pretty decent conversation the night before, but now Yang Sa was avoiding him again. He knew rushing wouldn’t help—Yang Sa was under a lot of psychological pressure. After everything that happened, the club’s morale had been shaken, and it wasn’t something that could be fixed overnight.
In his experience growing up, he’d been hurt and kicked while down more often than he’d been helped. So Yang Sa’s reaction—while it might look like dislike on the surface—was actually more about not knowing how to interact with him.
What else could he do? All he could do was give him space and let him slowly come to terms with everything.
Shao Zhan pulled a set of prepared team badges from his pocket and handed them over, asking Qin Chuan to give them to the international friends who were about to leave.
“Hey, where are you going?” Qin Chuan asked, half-heartedly.
“Work, obviously, brother,” Shao Zhan replied just as half-heartedly. “You didn’t seriously think the young master of the company doesn’t have to clock in, did you?”
“Yeah, yeah, get going,” Qin Chuan waved him off like he was swatting a fly. “Remember to approve more budget for next season.”
Team manager Qin Chuan strutted back to his group, shaking his head like he was on a mission. Then, with all the pomp of a news anchor, he presented the team souvenirs to the international friends.
Fat Tangyuan rolled his eyes at his over-the-top act. “Chuan’er, did you just lose your golden toilet privileges or something?”
Qin Chuan, standing on his skinny legs, suddenly bounced in place and bolted for the restroom like a flash. “D*mn that old bast*rd—I forgot what I came here for!”
On the way back after saying goodbye to their friends, even the most cheerful member of the group, Tangyuan, fell into a brief funk.
Yang Sa, on the other hand, didn’t show much of a reaction. Maybe he was used to farewells like this. Still, he would occasionally glance back, eyes scanning the crowd.
Then Nicholas Qin Chuan—the team’s clever rascal and core figure—nudged Zhuang Bai, who hadn’t said a word the whole time. “Huh? What did you say?”
Zhuang Bai scrunched his face, the result of late-night gaming leaving faint forehead lines: ???
“You’re asking me where the captain went?” Qin Chuan suddenly raised his voice like a half-deaf grandpa. “You’re asking about the captain? About Shao Zhan?”
Zhuang Bai gave him a full-on look of disdain. “Did I ask that?” But seeing how hard his friend was trying, he didn’t have the heart to shoot him down. “Fine, let’s just say I asked.”
Never one to miss a bit of drama, Fat Tangyuan immediately joined in. “Where’d that old bast*rd go?”
“That old—” Qin Chuan clamped a hand over his mouth, worried passersby might hear him spouting nonsense. He cleared his throat and corrected himself, “The captain went to headquarters for a meeting. All team matters are now in the capable hands of yours truly—your Brother Qin Chuan.”
“Brother, let’s go get some Sichuan food,” Fat Tangyuan said without missing a beat, jumping right on the opportunity. “I’ve been feeling heaty these past two days—got ulcers in my mouth. I need some chili to balance it out.”
“Shouldn’t you be eating something light if you’ve got mouth ulcers?” Jiang Ranan asked, shaking his phone with the search results displayed.
“That’s where you’re wrong, kid,” Fat Tangyuan rolled up his sleeves. “This is called fighting poison with poison. The best doctors treat it this way.”
“Just admit you’re craving spicy food. Don’t give me that ‘treating an illness’ nonsense.”
Seeing that no one objected, Qin Chuan suggested, “Then why don’t we grab something on the way?”
He gave the address of their usual Sichuan restaurant to the waiting taxi driver. Fat Tangyuan, leveraging his physical advantages, was the first to snag the front seat. Qin Chuan called Jiang Ranan into the car and kept an eye on the others.
Yang Sa had already gotten into another taxi and left.
Zhuang Bai, who had been walking with him earlier, noticed Qin Chuan’s gaze and offered an explanation: “Yang Sa went back to the base. He wanted more time to review yesterday’s scrim and work on syncing with the team.”
“That’s a good thing,” Qin Chuan said, bracing against the car door. “Why didn’t he just say so?”
Zhuang Bai reminded him, “He said it in the group chat.”
“Oh, right.” Qin Chuan glanced at the unread message notification on his phone. “Forgot to check.”
Truthfully, whether in terms of technical skills, tactics, or overall game sense, Yang Sa’s capabilities were top-tier—even by professional standards. Starsea needed someone like him, especially with the captain injured and unable to play.
Even though both sides were trying to work together sincerely, the tension hadn’t fully disappeared. These things don’t just go away overnight.
Like now—Yang Sa leaving on his own was tinged with regret, but more than that, it brought a quiet sense of relief.
With the captain and new guy both gone, no one was holding back anymore. At the Sichuan restaurant, the remaining Starsea team members acted like wild horses off the reins—or monkeys playing king while the tiger was away.
“Boss!” Fat Tangyuan pointed at the wall plastered with menu items. “One of everything!”
“No, no, no!” Jiang Ranan and Qin Chuan quickly restrained the maniac. “Ignore him—he’s not well.”
Then to the boss: “The usual. Just give us a table full of the regular stuff.”
While waiting for the food, Fat Tangyuan pulled up a video from their airport farewell. He was hugging his foreign bros so hard he nearly scared passersby away. The emotions on the other side were real too—especially Little Blue. The tears carved two shiny trails down his cheeks.
“I’ve had it,” Qin Chuan grumbled, stabbing a perfectly plated spicy crawfish with his chopsticks. “You guys have been apart for not even an hour. Is all this melodrama necessary?”
Fat Tangyuan, licking red chili oil off his fingers, said solemnly, “Ours is a mutual admiration of the soul. You wouldn’t understand.”
All the while, he was shoveling food into his mouth, sobbing over his photo album of brotherhood, and shouting to the boss: “Another two pounds of crawfish—garlic-flavored this time!”
Qin Chuan gave a cold snort. “Your so-called soulful bond is so cheap.”