DPTBG Chapter 22

Song Shihan went to his room to shower and change clothes, and then proceeded downstairs to the kitchen with the takeout Zuo Tao had ordered for him.

Although it arrived late, Zuo Tao protected the paper bag quite well, only being damp in some places. There was also a layer of aluminum so the food was still warm when he opened it.

Jiang Ming, busy brewing ginger tea, leaned over with a frown. “Just heat it up a bit. It’s raining, be careful of catching a cold.”

Song Shihan hummed in response, putting the food into the microwave before  pushing the window open and lighting a cigarette.

“You should quit smoking,” Jiang Ming said, looking at Song Shihan who was leaning against the window sill. He couldn’t help but mention, “You’ve been smoking a lot the past couple of days.”

“Has the preliminaries schedule been released yet, Jiang-ge?” Song Shihan asked. He checked the website before he left earlier, but the schedule hadn’t been released yet. Based on previous competitions, the schedule should have been announced around this time.

“No, they changed the rules this year. We’ll be drawing lots on-site.” After finally calming down completely, Jiang Ming moved closer to the window to light his own cigarette. “The announcement should be posted tomorrow morning. Damn, they’re saying that this year’s preliminaries are even more exciting that last year’s spring split. There’s no telling how many big-name teams are joining our bracket, it’s like New Year all over again.

“I can’t figure them  out. Are those teams really so idle that they just had to join in on the fun?”

Preliminaries were always just ordinary events in the past. Everyone played quietly and waited for the results quietly. There usually wouldn’t be so much noise about this stage of the competition.

But this year it was the complete opposite. The league had noticed the online interest, keeping Jiang Ming busy with related pre-match activities. He had received another notice just earlier this evening that they would also have to prepare for recorded pre-match interviews tomorrow.

Time was too tight.

Their team coordination in general hasn’t been honed yet, and they had so much more to deal with.

Seeing Jiang Ming’s anxiety, Song Shihan took one last puff of his smoke, extinguished the butt and walked back to the microwave. “Don’t worry about it. It’s no big deal.”

“It might not be a big deal for you, but what about the rest of them?”

It was predictable that all these pre-match processes were going to cause a stir online — after all, they weren’t as coordinated as other teams.

Jiang Ming wasn’t actually that worried about this issue in the past, since he thought that there wouldn’t be as much interest in the preliminaries. They would have time to train and practice their coordination after it ended, and they would simply have to adjust to the summer split.

But now that interest was rising, there were more people paying attention, and all the problems were naturally going to be under their scrutiny.

Jiang Ming’s biggest concern was still Zuo Tao. Kids his age tended to be impulsive, unable to hold on to their anger, and their mental states were also easily affected.

Like just tonight; thinking of Zuo Tao’s post on Weibo, all Jiang Ming could do was shake his head, frown, and sigh.

“Did you know? I got an email from the league,” Jiang Ming said, voice mechanical, “punishing player PINK for inappropriate comments on the internet. A full notice will be issued online tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock.”

Jiang Ming never expected that their team’s first ever violation notice since its establishment was going to come thanks to Zuo Tao.

Someone who he was satisfied with and felt good about.

How could such a well-behaved child possibly call others ‘idiots’ online?

“This is all your fault.” Jiang Ming rubbed his forehead, too tired to think about it further, blaming Song Shihan instead. “If it weren’t for you, he wouldn’t have cursed at anyone.”

Song Shihan raised his eyes, thoughts unfathomable. His lips curved slightly, and he said, “I’ll pay the fine for him, then.”

“Pay for him?” Jiang Ming asked with a sneer.

“What’s wrong?”

Jiang Ming remained calm as he answered, “I would have paid for him myself if it was that. Because the post wasn’t too unpleasant and there wasn’t much negative impact, his punishment is the deduction of personal points.” He smiled. “Zuo Tao is probably the only player in the entire domestic league to have negative points, you know?

“Thankfully there are no requirements for points when joining the preliminaries. If this had been the summer split, he wouldn’t even be able to qualify.”

Song Shihan had nothing to say.

“He looks good and all, but he’s still as rebellious as the rest of the kids his age.” Jiang Ming finished his cigarette, sighing. “I was just thinking, how could there be such an obedient boy? Turns out it was just that no one’s lit his fuse yet.”

He pointed at Song Shihan. “I can’t handle him. You take care of your support solo fan.”

Jiang Ming watched as Song Shihan picked up a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs. “Wait a minute, I thought you didn’t like it sweet?”

“En,” Song Shihan responded, lowering his eyes and continuing to eat quietly. “It’s fine now.”

—

Zuo Tao didn’t drink the ginger tea in the end. After taking a shower in his room and blowing his hair dry, he was so tired that he couldn’t stay awake. He fell into bed and laid down, still feeling dizzy.

The hangover the next morning was, naturally, terrifying.

When  he woke up, it was already 10 in the morning. The moment his eyes opened, his head started throbbing so painfully he just wanted to fly to heaven. After laying there for a few moments, he slowly flipped over, trying to stand up with the help of the mattress. He touched a piece of  fabric that was still slightly damp.

Looking down, he couldn’t tell what it was for a while but then—

Very good, it was Song Shihan’s jacket.

It was unknown just what the jacket had gone through through the night; it was so wrinkled it looked like a rag, it was almost impossible to tell what it was supposed to be in the first place.

Zuo Tao closed his eyes, trying to recall just what happened. After he took a shower last night, he put on the same clothes… probably because he was having a hard time sleeping well, he took his clothes off again. He tossed and turned on the bed, wrapping himself in his blanket — including the jacket — and so even his sheets were a little damp.

God, I sure had nerves of steel last night, huh…

Holding Song Shihan’s jacket, Zuo Tao felt like crying. Patting his forehead, he got out of bed, feeling extremely guilty. He went to the washing machine in his bathroom, putting the jacket inside.

He thought of what happened last night as he was loading the machine with detergent. While it was happening, he wasn’t really paying attention to anything, but with hindsight, he just wanted to collect every piece of himself and move to another planet entirely.

Especially when he remembered the White Shoes Incident; he almost stopped breathing as he knelt and covered his face.

I’m dead,

I’m dead ah!!!

Please help, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to go out there and talk to the others? Maybe I’ll just pretend I’m mute, and the mute won’t have to speak at all. Or, I can pretend to be crazy and say that drinking too much killed my brain. I can just act crazy for a while, and then talk?

Zuo Tao was restless. He washed up briefly and, probably from his unease, put on a thick hoodie from his closet to fight the slight chill. He had sneezed a few times and wanted to go downstairs for some hot water.

Jiang Ming had sent a message to the group saying that there wasn’t going to be any training matches this morning, giving them half a day off.

So he shouldn’t run into anyone, right?

He walked out of his room, his legs still weak, poking his head and checking up and down the corridor. Seeing no one, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Afraid of getting caught, he ran to the kitchen, heating water in the thermos as quickly as he could.

It was just that the world seemed to be going against him. The water was heating so slowly. Zuo Tao coughed, pressing the back of his hand against his lips, feeling anxious and impatient.

Can you please hurry? Zuo Tao rushed internally, afraid of meeting anyone right now.

However, the phrase ‘you attract what you fear’ seemed to manifest itself at that moment. Just as he was deciding whether half a cup of water was enough to drink, the sound of familiar footsteps came from outside.

Zuo Tao was speechless.

He turned around, and saw the one person he was most afraid of seeing.

Song Shihan must just have come from the gym; he was wearing short sleeved sportswear. A few drops of sweat slid down his forehead, disappearing at his collar.

Unlike other internet addicted teenagers, Song Shihan had a good figure. Because he just finished exercising, even with a t-shirt, one could see the vague outline of muscle lines on his back, which looked strong and powerful. His whole body emitted the feeling of being a vigorous athlete.

“Good morning,” Song Shihan greeted, surprised to see Zuo Tao. “Why are you up so early?”

“I’ve slept enough…”

Zuo Tao blushed and looked away from Song Shihan’s arm. He suddenly remembered Song Shihan carrying him from the car, and he struggled to find a topic. “Do you… want to get water?”

After pausing, he added: “Did you just finish running?”

Song Shihan responded quietly, realizing that something was wrong. He walked towards Zuo Tao, eyebrows furrowed, something different in his usually expressionless face.

“What’s wrong?” Zuo Tao asked, taken aback. He thought that Song Shihan was coming over to settle the accounts from last night.

Until Song Shihan raised a hand, pressing his palm against Zuo Tao’s forehead.

Zuo Tao froze, mouth opening but unable to say anything, gripping the cup in his hands without daring to move even a little.

“Zuo Tao,” Song Shihan said, and there was a faint hint of helplessness in his voice as he said: “Did you not even notice you have a fever?”

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