Chapter 88 – Coriander
When Lin Xingling entered the room, he only saw a dumpling sitting cross-legged on a chair. The dumpling held a phone to their ear with their right hand while gesturing with their free left hand.
…He really didn’t want to eavesdrop on their gibberish.
Anyway, it was just some trivial matters.
“They ended the broadcast so early?”
Cheng Che shook his head and pointed to the computer, saying that he turned off the camera and microphone.
After explaining, he continued to criticize Liu Ying in hindsight, wearing the appearance of a post-event armchair strategist. “If it doesn’t feel right, it’s better to break up early. No one should… shouldn’t delay anyone.”
Lin Xingling listened in a daze and asked, “Who is it?”
“Your good… good mid laner, who else.”
…
After a few sentences, Lin Xingling roughly understood the ins and outs of the situation.
The couple in the mid lane was having a fight for some reason, and it had been going on for a few days without any resolution. Liu Ying insisted on breaking up unilaterally, and even Lian Rong was angry and ignoring everyone…
It was really boring.
“I understand that they are arguing, but advising a breakup instead of reconciliation… to be honest, it’s a bit unethical.”
Liu Ying on the other end of the phone remained silent.
Cheng Che rolled his eyes and said, “I just want him to think for himself. But if I were in this situation, I would definitely consider whether the two of us are compatible or not.”
Lin Xingling reached out and touched his soft hair, smiling. “So, have you considered it? Are you compatible?”
Liu Ying: You two look at me… am I compatible?
Something was said in a coquettish manner from the other side, and the call was suddenly hung up.
Leaving the mid laner alone in the corner of the bed, playing the peak competition in a lonely and pitiful state.
Perhaps it was an unlucky night. The champion mid laner kept repeating “timi, defeat” after four consecutive losses and uninstalled the game directly.
Getting angry and playing games only made you angrier.
For a moment, Lin Xingling wanted to call Brother Che, but he was afraid of disturbing Dad Star and Mom Star. After thinking about it, he decided not to make the call.
Refreshed the messages countless times, but there was still no update from the specially marked “concerned” message.
“…”
In the DCT-Clear live streaming room, there was no video or sound.
The viewers had been staring at the black screen since Lin Xingling and Liu Ying flipped the game against the wind with Yao and Xi Shi for half an hour. When the streamer finally managed to turn on the microphone and camera, he had to announce that the broadcast was ending.
[“We’ve been waiting in vain, another heartbreaking day with DCT”]
[“???”]
[“What does this mean?”]
[“Dad Star’s hand! On his shoulder! Dad Star!!!”]
[“What the hell happened to your mouth, did someone hit you? /silly”]
Some observant viewers had already noticed the redness around Cheng Che’s mouth and the wrinkles on his clothes. With a little more speculation, they could figure out something extraordinary.
Before they could start discussing it in depth, Lin Xingling once again turned off the camera and microphone, swiftly ending the stream and logging out.
Cheng Che’s progress in today’s live broadcast task: 25%.
“If we keep doing this every day, the task won’t be completed at all… What should I do about my streaming hours?” Cheng Che raised an eyebrow and looked at him, asking, “How about you accompany me for a duo stream to meet the streaming hour requirement?”
“Let’s talk about it tomorrow.” Lin Xingling kissed his cheek and said, “It’s time for you to sleep.”
“It’s only ten o’clock…”
The sleep schedule for professional players was usually from 3 a.m. to 12 p.m., but there were no matches recently, so Lin Xingling wanted him to get some extra sleep.
“Now is the time to grow taller.”
Lin Xingling pointed at the tip of his nose with his finger, educating the child, “I asked the doctor, at your age, sleeping more can help you grow taller.”
“Growing taller… I won’t grow taller if I’m being crushed.”
“Then don’t let yourself be crushed.”
“Hey! That’s not what I meant!”
Cheng Che took a small orange from the desk next to the computer and showed it to him, smiling mysteriously.
“I meant this.”
A navel orange.
Lin Xingling pursed his lips and said no.
Anything related to making heart-shaped cakes was absolutely not allowed.
After experiencing that incident for the first time, Cheng Che was like a porcelain doll in Lin Xingling’s eyes, unable to touch… at least not too forcefully.
Hemostatic disorders were quite scary, and he didn’t want his child to bleed again.
Even now, he didn’t let Cheng Che even cut an apple by himself, fearing that he might get injured.
“I really can’t do it… Hmm, really, it was just that I didn’t adapt the first time, but now I have adapted. Let’s give it a try.”
Once you start eating meat, it’s not easy to stop. It had been more than ten days, and logically, the wound should have healed by now and forgotten the pain.
Lin Xingling insisted on not touching it, so he ended up receiving a tantrum-throwing and rolling cat on the bed, begging for consent.
Begging was futile. Captain Cheng was “heartless,” directly tucking him into bed and hugging him, then turning off the lights to sleep.
“Do you still think of me as a child…”
“Just sleep.”
The two weeks of vacation passed peacefully, and when it was time to return to the team, Cheng Che’s complexion had visibly improved.
Eating well and sleeping well, it would be strange if he didn’t look good.
Wu You and Phantom were still the same, one lively and cheerful, the other silent and reserved, yet they insisted on standing together.
Creating a stark contrast.
Coach Liang Feng had gone home to visit his parents and seemed quite energetic.
Lin Xingling was similar to him.
During the vacation, Lian Rong and Lian Ying have been in a cold war and still haven’t made up. Liu Ying is the one who has changed the most among everyone: he has probably lost some weight, and his eyes also appear somewhat dull.
But a passionate young man would always be a passionate young man. As soon as he saw his usual teammates fighting side by side with him and returned to the familiar training room, he would immediately recover his vitality when sitting in his own position.
“Jungle, jungle, smite them to death!!!”
“Liu Ying, is your flash ready? Can we make a play?”
“You really are a melon shooter, Brother Che, you are.”
“Support, protect the ADC, Dad Star protects the backline.”
“You two, Wu You, Xiao Pei, what are you doing?! Don’t push the lanes!”
Everyone was playing a messy five-man rank, making the coach sigh repeatedly from the sidelines. “Indeed, it’s necessary for you to regain your touch a bit. Otherwise, is this how you’re going to play training matches?”
It wasn’t that their touch was off, but facing each other and playing ranked together again was exciting.
Teammates who were usually close hadn’t seen each other for half a month, so seeing each other again would naturally bring joy, and conversations would involuntarily become more frequent. In this afternoon of regaining their touch in the five-man rank, everyone was giving commands, and everyone was chatting a lot.
Except for Phantom, who remained as calm as ever.
Liang Feng had to repeat many times that the main shot-caller was Lin Xingling as support, followed by mid-laner Liu Ying, then jungler Wu You, followed by ADC Cheng Che and top laner Phantom.
Everyone: Got it!
In the evening, they ordered takeout, fried chicken, Sprite, and spicy hot pot, ordering a whole bunch of food.
They replaced alcohol with water, considering it a small team-building activity.
They posted on Weibo.
[DCT Esports Club]
The five divine beasts are gathered! Coach Liang summons the Divine Dragon!
[Image: Five team members fighting for food.JPG]
[Everyone knows that the food in DCT is good because we have a chef, the jungler]
[uu: Are you polite?]
[If I Had Three Smites]
[Looking at Dad Star and Cub Che, so sweet aww]
[Starry Sky is amazing]
[I didn’t see it wrong, Dad Star is feeding Cub Che, eat more to grow taller!”]
Wu You waved a Sprite in front of Cheng Che’s eyes, “Brother Che, look, see what this is.”
“Give it here.” Cheng Che snatched it with one hand, “Hey…”
The Sprite bottle he just got disappeared?!
Lin Xingling said, “He’s already had two drinks today, he can’t have any more.”
“What, what’s with this person…” Cheng Che picked up a sesame ball with his chopsticks and threw it into Liu Ying’s bowl, “Liu Ying, eat more.”
Liu Ying obediently ate.
Wu You said, “I want to eat too~”
“You don’t have hands, do you~” Cheng Che raised an eyebrow at him.
“Xiao~ Pei~”
Phantom stood up and left.
Liang Feng held his forehead, “It’s starting again.”
During dinner, there was chaos, but when it came to transferring spoons or tidying up the takeout bags, everyone suddenly fell silent.
“It’s your turn…”
No one wanted to be chosen.
Lady Luck favored everyone except Cheng Che.
Cheng Che:…
“Beautiful.”
Wu You stood up and applauded, laughing as he patted Cheng Che’s shoulder. “Brother Che, work hard and strive to clean up more neatly.”
“Then let’s go back and compete in the peak tournament.”
Those who didn’t want to clean up had all left, leaving only Cheng Che in place.
Lin Xingling rushed back faster than anyone else.
[DCT-Clear: I’m back.]
[DCT-Stars: Okay /grinning]
Lin Xingling came back again.
“Sharing blessings and hardships, look at this table…”
“I’ll do it, I’ll do it.”
Lin Xingling, who voluntarily offered to help clean up the table, had a pained expression on his face.
Cheng Che was browsing his phone on the side.
As he scrolled, he saw a notification: “There’s hope for people who don’t eat cilantro…”
He clicked on it: [How to make cilantro taste delicious]
He felt a sudden unease in his heart.
“Captain…”
“Yeah?”
Lin Xingling looked up at him, and in the dim light, he could see that the child’s eye sockets were red, with tiny specks of light shimmering within.
Very beautiful…
Cheng Che’s eyes were very beautiful, like clear lakes in the snowy highlands.
They say that’s called a “lake.”
“What’s wrong?”
Upon hearing the response, Cheng Che blinked his eyelashes a few times and suddenly chuckled, “Can you eat cilantro?”
…
Eating cilantro…
Lin Xingling nodded, saying that he could eat it but also that he could choose not to… because Cheng Che didn’t like cilantro, this matter was firmly engraved in his mind.
“Well then, I should keep my distance from you.” Cheng Che rubbed his eyes, making his eye sockets appear even redder in the dim light, as if he had cried.
“Haha, what do you mean?”
Lin Xingling finished tidying up the last bit, packed the trash bag into the trash can, and then went to the small kitchen to wash his hands.
Cheng Che followed behind, “If you can eat cilantro, what will happen if one day you eat me?”
This… Lin Xingling found it amusing, “When I eat you, I’ll sprinkle cilantro on you.”
Cheng Che looked at him seriously, “I will die without closing my eyes.”
Lin Xingling said, “Sprinkle cilantro, green onions, minced garlic, shredded ginger, diced celery… everything.”
… What a devilish remark.
Cheng Che blinked his eyes and smiled, “So you mean… one day you will actually eat me?”
Lin Xingling nodded.
“Rather than choosing a day, let’s do it today!”