Chapter 14: Selfless
As the days grew longer and the weather colder, another December arrived.
In the cool evening, it started raining again outside without him noticing.
The piercing cold wind blew in through the window cracks, making Xie Yang sneeze.
The sudden drop in temperature made the whole city feel like it had plunged into winter overnight.
Xie Yang had woken up from the cold this morning; the thin bedding couldn’t withstand the cold air’s invasion.
Just the night before, he felt comfortable with a thin quilt, but with the temperature dropping overnight, even tightly wrapped in the quilt, he still felt very cold.
When Xie Yang got up early, he already felt a bit dizzy. He hurriedly found a jacket in his closet and headed out.
Today was Saturday, and he had to work at the cake shop.
The streets were deserted on this rainy day.
There weren’t many customers coming into the shop.
Xie Yang made himself a hot drink, holding the paper cup with both hands. The steaming vapor warmed his face, making him feel a bit better.
The aroma of instant coffee and the sweet scent of cream filled the cake shop.
Ding-a-ling!
“Welcome.”
Raindrops splashed on the umbrella, creating little water flowers and the sound of pattering rain.
With his arrival, a faint, moist scent of rain filled the air.
Xie Yang looked at the newcomer, set down his coffee, and said calmly, “Hello, what would you like to order?”
“One caramel pudding.”
“Alright, please wait a moment.”
Xie Yang quickly packed the pudding and handed it to the man.
“Take care, and welcome back next time.”
Xie Yang stared at his retreating figure, lost in thought.
Time passed so quickly.
He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he last saw Qi Xu.
Nor could he recall how long it had been since he paid any attention to news about Qi Xu.
The photo album locked with a password seemed to have gathered dust.
Since the time he decided to give up on this unrequited love, he hadn’t opened it.
He had liked Qi Xu for so long.
Yet he gave up so easily.
With the intrusion of another figure.
His thoughts were entirely captivated, and he was deeply entangled, unable to extricate himself.
Sometimes Xie Yang despised himself.
He even doubted his feelings of the past two and a half years.
–
After finally enduring until his shift ended at 8 PM, the drizzle continued unabated.
Xie Yang stood under the eaves of the cake shop, holding a worn umbrella, feeling somewhat melancholic.
On rainy days, ride-hailing apps always had dozens of people in the queue.
The roads were filled with red traffic lines, and car horns occasionally blared, making it take half an hour to an hour to get a ride.
The journey from here to school wasn’t very far, and the rain had lessened since earlier.
Xie Yang gritted his teeth and ultimately decided to run back to school.
The cold wind hit his face, making him shiver uncontrollably.
His shoes and socks were already soaked through by the puddles on the ground, and the splashes from passing cars had drenched him further.
His wet clothes clung to his body, sending shivers down his spine from the cold.
It was freezing.
Xie Yang returned to the dormitory in a sorry state, just before 8:30 PM.
He hurriedly took a hot shower to chase away the chill, then eagerly logged into the game.
Seeing CX330 online, he quickly sent a private message.
Caramel Pudding: [Sorry, I’m late today.]
CX330: [No problem, I just got on not too long ago.]
Xie Yang curled up in his bed, but since his hands and feet were always cold in winter, the bed stayed cold for a long time.
He had only eaten a small piece of bread for dinner, and now lying in bed, he realized his stomach had long since started to ache from hunger.
Xie Yang invited CX330 to join his game room.
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Brother.
[Team] CX330: What’s up?
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Can I play Yuumi and hang on you?
[Team] Caramel Pudding: So hungry QAQ I want to make some instant noodles.
Qi Xu, seeing this message, frowned and turned on the voice chat: “It’s so late, and you haven’t eaten yet?”
The slightly anxious voice from the headset warmed Xie Yang’s heart.
[Team] Caramel Pudding: I had a small piece of bread, but now I’m hungry again.
Qi Xu canceled the match and said, “No rush to play, eat first.”
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Instant noodles are quick, just give me a few minutes.
Hearing him repeatedly mention instant noodles, Qi Xu felt a bit annoyed.
Why didn’t he have dinner? How could he only eat a small piece of bread?
Can instant noodles even fill you up?
He wanted to ask what Xie Yang wanted to eat and offer to order takeout for him.
But then Qi Xu realized that despite knowing each other for so long, he didn’t even have his little support’s contact information, let alone his address—such intimate information.
He didn’t even know the other person’s name or gender.
Despite knowing nothing about him, he had spent a month playing games with him just because the other person acted cute.
Even though their only connection was through a game.
Yet he was deeply involved, enjoying every moment.
He even wanted to care for this online acquaintance, wanted to know his contact information, and wished for further development.
Was he crazy?
Qi Xu spoke softly, “Take your time.”
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Okay, brother, wait for me a few minutes. I’ll be right back.
Xie Yang got out of bed and boiled a pot of hot water. He still had a few boxes of instant noodles in his cabinet. He chose the only non-spicy tomato egg flavor, since he needed to take cold medicine later and couldn’t handle anything too spicy.
He had been feeling out of sorts all day, probably because he caught a chill from the cold wind in the morning and got soaked by the rain in the evening. If he didn’t take medicine tonight, he might catch a cold tomorrow.
After eating the hot noodles, Xie Yang felt much warmer, and his stomach felt more comfortable.
After taking his medicine, Xie Yang also took out his winter bedding and replaced the current set.
Once everything was settled, Xie Yang returned to his bed to play on his phone.
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Brother, I’m back.
Qi Xu: “Are you full now?”
[Team] Caramel Pudding: I’m full. Let’s start.
Qi Xu had many things he wanted to say to him, but nothing seemed appropriate.
Just like their current relationship.
Qi Xu calmed his thoughts and spoke softly, “What do you want to play?”
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Brother, teach me a new hero I’ve never played before. Let’s practice one every day.
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Obedient.jpg
Qi Xu: “Which one do you want to play?”
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Something simple, please. I can’t handle heroes that are too difficult to play QAQ.
Qi Xu browsed through the hero collection on the main page, selected the support role, and after a few seconds of consideration, said, “Zyra, perhaps. She doesn’t require much skill and can still deal some damage.”
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Let me check. I don’t think I have that hero.
Xie Yang searched through his collection and realized he didn’t have Zyra. He opened the game store to look for her.
Seeing he had 3000 Blue Essence displayed on the main page, and Zyra required 5500 Essence to purchase…
He remembered buying Rakan.
His regret peaked at that moment.
Xie Yang replied a bit regretfully: Not enough Blue Essence. I’ll need to save up for a while to buy her.
Feeling a bit frustrated, Xie Yang couldn’t help but complain to Qi Xu: I spent the 5500 Blue Essence I saved with great effort on a hero I can’t even play, Rakan qaq.
Qi Xu read this message and thought of the Rakan that hadn’t been used since that day, a smile forming on his lips.
He returned to the main store page, clicked on the [Gift] feature, and selected Zyra.
Then he chose a friend.
Caramel Pudding.
Closeness: 520.
Selected to [gift], and [confirmed].
Thinking about how his little support only played a few heroes repeatedly, Qi Xu opened the gifting system again, selected support heroes, and gifted three more soft supports.
Unfortunately, the system limits gifts to three per day. Otherwise, Qi Xu would have gifted all the remaining support heroes, so his little support wouldn’t have to grind for Blue Essence daily.
His little support wasn’t good with tank supports and was too timid to initiate fights.
So Qi Xu only sent him soft support heroes.
Xie Yang was still typing, telling CX330 that he would need to save for a while, but before he could send the message, the system notifications kept popping up.
Ding—
Several popup windows appeared.
[Congratulations!]
[CX330 has summoned a gift for you.]
[Rise of the Thorns (Zyra).]
Xie Yang: “!!!”
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Brother, please don’t send me heroes QAQ.
Xie Yang had once looked at the gifting system and saw that a hero cost 45 yuan!
Blue Essence can be saved up, and some heroes are cheaper, not all costing 5500 Blue Essence. However, these heroes uniformly cost 45 yuan when purchased with real money. At that time, Xie Yang had thought it was too expensive, and no one would be willing to be that generous.
He noticed that Qi Xu had sent him a total of three heroes.
That alone cost over a hundred yuan.
CX330 suddenly gifting him three heroes left him feeling a bit overwhelmed and unsure of what to say.
He didn’t want to say anything about wasting money that might dampen CX330’s spirits.
Nor did he want to undermine his kind gesture.
Xie Yang rarely received gifts growing up. He didn’t have many friends, so naturally, he didn’t receive gifts from them either.
This was the first time he received a gift online.
He was happy but also a bit annoyed and anxious, wishing he hadn’t complained to his brother about not having enough Blue Essence.
Sensing the little support’s unease, Qi Xu spoke first to break the silence: “Consider it a small gift from your brother for knowing you for so long.”
To Qi Xu, it wasn’t about the money.
It didn’t even feel like a significant gift.
He just didn’t want the little support to have to grind for so many days to save up a bit of Blue Essence.
However, it seemed like he had scared the little support.
Just sending a few heroes, which wasn’t worth much money, was enough to startle him. This was a bit unexpected for Qi Xu.
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Brother, don’t send me any more gifts in the future.
[Team] Caramel Pudding: Because I don’t know how to repay you.
Qi Xu: “Why do you need to repay me?”
The dormitory was very quiet, with only the faint light from the corridor shining in.
Xie Yang curled up in the corner of his bed, staring at his phone screen in a daze.
Only the shallow sound of CX330’s breathing came through the headset.
Xie Yang gently typed a few words.
Thank you, brother.