The therapist that Jiang Ming had called for Song Shihan arrived soon after, and after examination, they found that the problem, at least this time, wasn’t too serious. Despite the assessment though, Jiang Ming did not rest assured; while the therapist was treating Song Shihan, he stayed close by and asked questions.
Over the years, they’ve talked about precautions, but it never solidified past discussion.
Song Shihan knew that Jiang Ming was asking these questions on purpose.
“They already said it’s nothing serious,” Song Shihan said after Jiang Ming had sent the therapist out. He sat on the sofa, moving his shoulders back and forth, looking somewhat helpless.
“It would be too late by the time the problem becomes ‘serious’,”1Hear, hear. Take it from me; I thought everything was just ‘normal’ until I had to get rushed to the ER, get emergency surgery, and then leave my job because the universe is being a total a-hole and keep giving me more and more things to slowly die from lmao Jiang Ming said, confiscating the phone Song Shihan had just taken out of his pocket. “Stop playing with your phone, don’t forget what the therapist just said. After today’s training, exercise your neck and shoulder a little and get sufficient rest.”
He bent at the waist, moving closer to Song Shihan. He sniffed. “FIRE, did you go to your room for a smoke?”
Song Shihan: “…en.”
“Starting today, you are not allowed to smoke,” Jiang Minghao announced, “until you recover.” Jiang Ming reached out a hand to Song Shihan. “I don’t think I have to tell you the effects of nicotine on blood circulation2In case you didn’t know: nicotine thins the blood, therefore it is discouraged for anyone recovering from surgery or undergoing physical therapy to smoke. The former because the wounds would take longer to heal, the latter because one’s blood vessels are thinner/more fragile, thus it’s easier to bruise.. Besides, it’s high time for you to quit smoking.”
Song Shihan silently took his pack of cigarettes and lighter out of his pocket and placed them on Jiang Ming’s palm. He and Jiang Ming have known each other for years, and he was well aware of the power of Jiang Ming’s mouth. He simply voluntarily handed his cigarettes over quietly, otherwise Jiang Ming wouldn’t stop nagging.
Jiang Ming was satisfied with his player’s decision, saying, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you quit alone. We will ban smoking on the base during this time. I’ll announce it to the group later.”
“No need,” Song Shihan said. He stood up to brew himself a cup of tea. Thinking of the scene he’d walked into when he smoked earlier, he curiously asked, “Jiang-ge, do you know anything about PINK’s family?”
“PINK?” Jiang Ming frowned, lowering his voice subconsciously. “He grew up in a single-parent household. I heard Lord Su mention a little when we talked before. It seems PINK’s father isn’t really in the picture and doesn’t really care about him.” It was at this point that he glanced at Song Shihan. “Why are you suddenly asking?”
The expression on Song Shihan’s face changed a little, his eyebrows twisting. “Just curious,” he answered.
Jiang Ming didn’t doubt his answer. He took a sip of hot water and continued: “That’s why I asked everyone to treat him a little better. The kid hasn’t had it easy growing up, going to school alone and then coming home to an empty house. You know Lord Su. Although she has quite the temper, she’s also reasonable, but any mention of her brother-in-law is always negative. It just means that PINK’s home environment isn’t all that good.”
Jiang Ming sighed, continuing: “I don’t know what his father was thinking. If I had a child as well-behaved and well-performing, I’d be laughing into my dreams.”
Song Shihan simply hummed, thoughts inscrutable. After a while, he asked, “How much is Zuo Tao’s compensation for the contract we signed with him?”
Jiang Ming was stunned. “…we’re not paying him anything.”
“We’re not giving him anything?” Song Shihan repeated, looking at Jiang Ming with surprise. “You’re making him play for us for free?”
“Wait a minute,” Jiang Ming said, “you’re making me sound like a criminal.” There was a hint of condemnation in Song Shihan’s words, and he was quick to explain: “When Su Yueyao came to talk to us, she proposed that we don’t give him a salary, and I honestly wasn’t expecting much from Zuo Tao. Now really, thinking about it, it seems that we’re taking advantage of a kid.” As he finished talking, he gave Song Shihan a look. “Then again, I guess I can understand.”
“What?” Song Shihan asked.
“Why would anyone want to simply experience the life of a professional esports player? Where couldn’t he go if that’s all he wanted? Why did he specifically join us?” Jiang Ming crossed his arms and smirked. “Not to mention doing it all for free, there really is no return of investment. I guess that’s just how badly Zuo Tao wanted to come.”
Song Shihan simply looked back at Jiang Ming.
Jiang Ming felt like something was wrong with Song Shihan today. Every other sentence he uttered seemed to have Zuo Tao’s name in it, and he squinted at him in suspicion. “What’s wrong with you anyway? Why are you so curious about PINK?”
Song Shihan’s face didn’t change at all. He said, “Everything should be fair. If we can’t change the contract at this juncture, then I’ll just pay him the salary he deserves from my own account.”
“No…” This was completely unexpected to Jiang Ming. “FIRE, what is up with you?”
“Is anything up with me?” Song Shihan asked back, taking his phone back from Jian Ming. “I’ve finally found a support, I don’t want to lose him again because of the way the team treats him.”
Jian Ming, however, found his answer strange. “If I remember correctly, you once said that it didn’t matter if you had a support or not, right?”
Song Shihan didn’t deign to respond, stretching his wrist before getting up to leave. Jian Ming clicked his tongue as he watched him.
“Sure enough, the true fragrance may be late, but it will never be absent3This is a meme from a show which basically means that time will always arrive when someone does the exact opposite of what they were once convicted in saying/stating. No one can escape this law.”
Song Shihan went back upstairs with his jacket and happened to meet the base’s aunt, who was about to go out shopping. The aunt hired by the base was called Huang. She was in her early fifties and had a three-year-old granddaughter who she had once brought over to the base. She was very cute.
“Xiao Song,” Aunt Huang greeted when she saw him, quickly noticing the slight flush on his neck: “You just had a massage?”
Song Shihan nodded, turning sideways to let her pass. Aunt Huang thanked him as she walked down the steps. Song Shihan, remembering something, called, “Aunt, I have a favor to ask.”
That startled Aunt Huang. “What is it?”
“When your granddaughter visited the base before, she gave me a marshmallow, remember?” Song Shihan asked, frowning as he tried to remember the scene. “It was in a pink bag. Do you remember what brand it was?”
Although she was confused as to why this was of interest to Song Shihan, she still nodded. “I remember. What do you need, xiao Song?”
Song Shihan: “Could you please text me what brand it was?”
“I don’t really remember how to write it,” Aunt Huang answered with a hint of embarrassment, “but I’ll just bring you some when I come back. We usually buy those at the children’s snack shop.”
Song Shihan thanked her. “I’ll pay you back later.”
Aunt Huang waved him away, still thinking that Song Shihan was never one to like sweets before, which piqued her curiosity. “Are you buying it for your younger siblings at home?”
“Not a sibling,” Song Shihan answered, and after a brief pause, continued, “but he is still a child.”
Aunt Huang didn’t ask any more questions, simply saying, “Okay, I’ll get some and hand it over later.”
*
As today was the last working day, there were no more training matches scheduled for that afternoon. After taking a nap, Zuo Tao continued lazing about in bed, browsing on his phone for a while.
The photo Jiang Ming had uploaded to their blog that morning had attracted a lot of attention, garnering tens of thousands of comments.
【Xiao Huabing: Wildfire management team understood the assignment 😏】
【Deer in the Deep Forest: Wow, so this is another one of PINK’s hidden talents?】
【Always Shipping CPs: You can’t hide the love in your eyes even if I can only see the backs of your heads (please take a frontal photo next time!!! Frontal photo!!! Frontal photo, you get what I mean)】
【Octopus: I thought the rumors said FIRE wasn’t one to spend time with others? What’s up with this? You’re breaking his character settings just like that?】
【Fairy Makes a Grand Entrance: OP, by “others” do you specifically mean PINK?】
Zuo Tao smiled knowingly at the comments. Although there were more and more talk about it online, he still felt shy whenever he read them…
He lay on the bed and looked at his hands. Today, these little hands had reached the achievements of two lifetimes.
He was about to switch to his alt account to interact with some of the comments when someone knocked on his door.
Zuo Tao’s heart skipped a beat. Quickly putting his phone aside, he got out of bed, running to open the door.
“What’re you up to?” Wang Qiu asked from outside the door, a bag of potato chips in his hands. “Jiang-ge called us downstairs, he’s been chatting in the group chat for a while.”
Zuo Tao was too embarrassed to admit what he was up to, so he covered his mouth and coughed. “Oh, I was asleep and didn’t hear my phone.”
Wang Qiu didn’t doubt him, yawning lazily and saying, “I just woke up, too.” He hooked an arm around Zuo Tao’s shoulder and said, “Let’s go. Jiang-ge said there’s good food downstairs.”
Jiang Ming had gone out for business after lunch, bringing back barbeque for the team when he got home. He left it on the table on the first floor and, once everyone had gathered, he said, “We’re playing against FG next Monday. Are you guys ready?”
FG was, indeed, one of the most popular teams in the league. More importantly, all five members of the team had been playing professionally for years. In addition to their skills, their cooperation and tacit understanding have also reached their peaks. Sometimes, they didn’t even need to communicate verbally in the arena; subtle operations were tacitly played immediately.
Seeing the table full of barbeque, Wang Qiu almost immediately threw his potato chips away, picking up a grilled chicken wing. “We must be, ah!”
“That confident?” Si Zheng asked in surprise, looking at him before saying pointedly, “Didn’t you always say that you get scared witless whenever you watch WIZARD in the jungle? You aren’t afraid of him ganking you in the midlane anymore?”
FG was well-known for the jungler-centric playstyle, and WIZARD, as FG’s jungler, has always trained to be their core carry. A commentator once bluntly said that if WIZARD got an economic advantage in the early game, then FG had already won half the game.
“Of course I’m scared,” Wang Qiu answered with a shrug, glancing at CAT. “But I have CAT-jie, so there’s no need to panic.”
CAT was silent for a moment, before saying frankly: “If I were to meet WIZARD, I don’t know how much of an advantage I can get in the match.”
Wang Qiu: “Don’t worry too much, it’s just the preliminaries. They’re not gonna go all out.”
Si Zheng: …
Remembering something, Wang Qiu added: “Besides, don’t we still have captain and Taozi in the bottom lane? With them, there shouldn’t be much of a problem, right?”
Jiang Ming couldn’t stand his yapping anymore, so he pinched his forehead and stopped him in his tracks. “Alright, I get it. Just eat your barbeque.” He turned on the TV in the living room as he spoke. “I’ve made copies of the match between FG and GGF. Watch while you eat.”
After speaking, he continued: “It feels like after half a season of not playing them, their tactics have improved once more.”
“I’ve seen the videos on Weibo, too,” Si Zheng said, leaning back on the couch. “Didn’t they always play around WIZARD as core before? It feels like that’s changed, the support was following their marksman the entire time, right?”
Wang Qiu: “Yeah. They always played jungler/support duo, with their AD4Attack Damage, or the role who is most concerned with dealing high damage throughout the game. They are usually easier to eliminate as well as they are squishy. more persistent to pressure than even their top laner. I didn’t expect that after they changed to an AD carry, he’d also be so good that his damage was almost at par with WIZARD’s.”
It was Zuo Tao’s first time participating in an analysis made over food, and he found himself troubled over following the conversation for a while, so he simply sat back and listened while he ate. There was a pot of thirteen spice crayfish, still steaming and looking very appetizing.
He was hesitating over whether to eat it or not when a pair of disposable gloves were handed to him.
Zuo Tao blinked at Song Shihan and said, “Thank you.”
Song Shihan was busy on his phone, his head bowed. He simply hummed without even raising his head.
“With all that said, I do admire Lord Su. Every time she changes her tactics, even if the general direction doesn’t change much, there is always a clever catch,” Si Zheng sighed. “Like the last game. No one ever expect a support to take retribution5Spell used by junglers, usually, which deals a certain amount of damage to jungle creeps/monsters and (usually) ensures that the creep benefits (such as gold, buffs, and EXP) goes to the jungler as their spell. GGF’s jungle near the bottom lane was almost always empty, right?”
“Lord Su is indeed amazing,” CAT said in agreement.
Jiang Ming didn’t comment. Instead, he looked at Song Shihan. “FIRE, what do you think?”
Song Shihan: “Is something wrong with WIZARD’s hand?”
The entire table fell silent.
“En,” Jiang Ming answered, confirming Song Shihan’s guess. “I heard on the grapevine that Lord Su took WIZARD to the hospital for an injection last week, but the injury shouldn’t be too serious, so he’ll still be able to play at this year’s Worlds. Of course, if they can make it that far.”
Wang Qiu was still reeling from the shock, taking him a few seconds before exclaiming, “Fuck! Is that true? What happened to WIZARD’s hand?!”
Jiang Ming sighed. “Occupational disease. Anyone who plays esports will have some sort of problem with their hands and wrists at some point. Besides, WIZARD has been an active player for years. If you think about it, it’s almost time for him to retire.”
The game recording was coming to an end, so Jiang Ming closed the TV. Although not his player, such a topic was still heavy. He couldn’t help but sigh once more: “No matter what, you should still take care of yourselves. There’s that saying that hands are weapons in the game…” He paused, eyes falling on Zuo Tao, who was busy working his way through deshelling crayfish.
It was less than thirty minutes and the entire pot has been demolished. Red shells were piled up like a small hill in front of Zuo Tao.
Jiang Ming: ??? What is with this kid’s hand speed?
Worried that there wouldn’t be enough for everyone, he’d bought a large portion of crayfish, which meant there were probably over a hundred in that pot. But he was able to peel all of them in that short amount of time?
Didn’t his hand hurt?
The point was, it would have been fine had he eaten the whole pot himself, but not — the next second, before Jiang Ming could even comprehend, he saw Zuo Tao put half the peeled shrimps into Song Shihan’s bowl and, as if afraid that it wasn’t enough, he even scooped soup into it.
He didn’t forget to reward himself with one shrimp before his hand was reaching for another crayfish.
“No…” Jiang Ming was amazed, not even knowing what to say. “PINK, what are you doing?”
Everyone turned to Zuo Tao as soon as he finished speaking.
Wang Qiu immediately realized what happened, his lips opening and closing several times before he settled with, “Taozi, aren’t you… a little too much?”
He pointed at the mount of shrimp shells in front of Zuo Tao.
“It’s fine if you don’t leave any of us,” he continued, “but you peeled all of them for the captain to eat?”
Even Si Zheng, who was usually the most patient and tolerant of them all, looked at Zuo Tao strangely.
Zuo Tao felt his ears warm with everyone’s eyes on him. “Well, the captain was sitting next to me, so I just gave it to him.”
No one responded to him for a long time, and the embarrassment quickly curdled in the silence. He cleared his throat, quietly pushing the plate containing the other half of the peeled shrimp to the middle of the table. “How about everyone shares the other half?”
Wang Qiu poked at a shrimp with his chopstick, complaining at unfairness: “So the weight of all of us combined in your heart doesn’t even equal the captain’s?”
Zuo Tao laughed dryly. “Of course not, that’s just what happened.”
Wang Qiu joked, “I’m sitting in front of you, can you peel some for me too?”
“Don’t peel for them and just eat it yourself,” Song Shihan interjected, pushing the plate closer to Wang Qiu. “Isn’t this much enough for you?”
Wang Qiu immediately sat up straight. “That’s enough.”
Taking off the plastic gloves that already had holes in them, Zuo Tao took the wet wipes CAT handed over and said to Jiang Ming: “By the way, coach, I may have to go out tomorrow.”
Jiang Ming: “Where are you going?”
“Our class has a gathering, and the teachers will also be there,” Zuo Tao answered. “It’s difficult to refuse.”
Jiang Ming didn’t have to think about it too deeply. “It’s fine, go ahead.”
“The forecast said there’s going to be rain tomorrow, right?” Si Zheng said, concerned. “Can you go out alone? Do you want me to drive you there?”
Zuo Tao waved the offer away. “It’s okay, I’ll take the subway. It’s more convenient.”
“Alright,” Si Zheng answered.
The group soon cleaned up the table full of barbeque. After helping Jiang Ming clear the living room of debris, Zuo Tao was about to go upstairs when a call from an unknown number came through.
Zuo Tao glanced at the number before answering: “Hello?”6Remember kids, don’t answer calls from unknown/unregistered numbers unless you’re expecting one!!!
However, no sound or response came from the other end of the call. It didn’t seem like a problem with the signal, since he could hear some background noise vaguely.
Confused, Zuo Tao said again: “Hello?”
After waiting a few more seconds for any response, he hung up.
Song Shihan asked, “Who was it?”
Zuo Tao shook his head, himself confused: “I don’t know, no one was talking.”
*
The next day.
It started raining around three in the morning.
Feng City was close to the coast, so it was often affected by typhoons during the rainy season. From mid-to-late June, heavy rains would pelt the entire city for days on end.
Because he had much to do, Zuo Tao woke up early and simply washed up, leaving a voice message to the rest of the team on the group chat before leaving the base.
He dropped by his house before heading to the class reunion.
There wasn’t any special meaning to it; it was simply just that the clothes he had brought to the base were too childish. If he wore them, he’d definitely be teased to death by those bad kids he called friends.
He’d gone through enough after getting caught crying on stage.
His image couldn’t afford another blow.
So, to help restore his reputation even a little, he’d especially bought himself a pair of shoes online — the latest AJ7Air Jordans released earlier this year. If he wore them to the party, he would be able to successfully save face.
He took a pair of ripped denim shorts from the closet, pairing them with a skull-print sweatshirt. The whole outfit gave off a ‘cool kid’ vibe.
After changing his clothes, he also put on a black baseball cap, found a Nike shoulder sports bag of the same color, and put on his shoes before contentedly leaving the house.
The moment he opened the door, he felt like he was finally free.
Although it was a little cold.
It didn’t matter. He, the pink tyrant, was finally back in business.
It was still a little too early for the class gathering, so he decided to go to the second planned stop for the day.
Ten minutes later.
Zuo Tao struggled to hold a transparent umbrella against the wind and rain as he stopped by a barbershop near the community.
He’d gotten his hair dyed pink in this shop right before the college entrance exams.
The owner was a man in his late 40s who kept his hair shoulder-length, always looking very fashionable. He probably wasn’t expecting anyone to come in in such weather; when Zuo Tao walked in, he was playing chess against himself at a small table inside the shop.
“Hmm?” It was obvious that he still had an impression of Zuo Tao, as he immediately put down the chess piece in his hand, handing Zuo Tao a dry towel before asking, “Young man, why are you coming to get a haircut in this weather?”
“I have a class reunion later,” Zuo Tao answered, taking the towel to dry his hair. “Just a slight trim, please, don’t cut it too short. Also, I would like a better haircut.”
The boss nodded, asking: “What kind of haircut?”
Zuo Tao: “Just… a little messy, but not too much, something cool.” Thinking further, he added: “Also, a hairstyle that can go back with just a wash.”
The boss couldn’t help but laugh. He led Zuo Tao to sit on one of the chairs and asked, “Why? You’ve dyed your hair pink but your parents still don’t accept that you perm your hair?”
Zuo Tao didn’t know how to explain, simply ruffling his hair and saying, “Pink hair may be the extent of tolerance.”
To be honest, he didn’t know exactly what Song Shihan meant by “good”, but Zuo Tao thought he must be doing okay at the moment. So, to stay on the safe side, it would be better if he got a change of hairstyle so that he could go home and wash off before he changed into his usual base clothes to become a well-behaved high school student again.”
“Alright.” The boss patted Zuo Tao on the shoulder before going through the motions of blow drying his hair and cutting it slightly shorter per Zuo Tao’s request. Finally, he took out a curling iron.
“I’ll use a curler for your hair, and set it with hairspray,” the boss explained. “You can wash it off and it’ll be back to normal.”
Zuo Tao made an ‘OK’ gesture.
Because there was no need for more styling products, the boss finished Zuo Tao’s hairstyle in a mere ten minutes. After putting aside the curling iron, he looked at the boy through the mirror and asked, “Is this okay?”
Zuo Tao examined himself in the mirror.
His hair fell a little long before, covering his eyes a little. Now it was cut short; he looked more energetic and emphasized his youthfulness.
He had to admit that the boss had skill. With just a curling iron, he was able to create a casual and messy look.
Zuo Tao was satisfied with this new hairstyle.
The wind and rain outside had finally stopped. He was about to leave after paying the bill when the shop’s door chimes rang as it opened.
“Uncle, mom asked me to bring you some food.”
Zuo Tao looked up subconsciously.
The girl who came in looked to be in her early twenties, with delicate features and a tall figure. After putting the lunch box on the table, she continued: “By the way, give me full waves please.”
Looking away, Zuo Tao was about to continue on his way when the girl suddenly stopped and turned to him. “PINK?!” She was stunned for a moment before looking Zuo Tao up and down, left and right, her face shining with happiness. “You are PINK, right?”
Zuo Tao never expected that he would bump into a fan when he came out to get his hair done. He was frozen for a moment before finally coming to his senses. “Uh, it’s me.”
The girl became even more excited. “Ahhhh, it really is you! You’re as cute as you look online!!”
Zuo Tao smiled calmly. “…thank you.”
“Why thank me?” the girl asked, finally calming down herself. She seemed to come to a realization as the smile froze on her face before her eyebrows furrowed, eyes scrutinizing Zuo Tao. “Wait a minute…”
Zuo Tao felt a sense of guilt under her examination. “What’s wrong?”
“Where are you going looking like that?” the girl asked. “Also, can’t you see the weather outside? It’s raining so hard and you’re wearing so little?”
Zuo Tao: …
The boss was busy shoveling rice into his mouth. He looked over at them after hearing their conversation. “You two know each other?”
Zuo Tao was about to answer, but the girl beat him to the punch: “I’m his online mother.”
Zuo Tao: …
The boss’s expression changed. “What the hell? Online mother?”
“I have no time to explain,” she said, waving him away before looking at Zuo Tao once more with a frown still on her face. “You’ve just recovered from a cold, why are you wearing shorts while out and about?” She took a few steps back, continuing: “Wait a minute, what’s with your cool and handsome vibe? I didn’t notice immediately. Who taught you to be bad?”
“No one…” Zuo Tao said, not daring to stay any longer. “Well… I have places to be, so I’ll go first?”
“Fine.” The girl was reluctant to let him leave, but she didn’t ask any more questions either. “Remember to change, okay?”
Zuo Tao nodded as he walked to the door. “Yes, I know.”
“Maybe you still don’t know.”
Watching Zuo Tao’s figure disappear out the door, the girl was still worried. She took her mobile phone, took a picture of Zuo Tao’s figure, and opened Weibo.
The barbershop boss didn’t understand these youngsters’ behavior. “What are you doing?”
“My son may be at the rebellious age,” the girl answered, “I need to find someone to control him.”
After that, she also sent the Weibo post she was busy making.
【PINK’s online mother: It’s so cold today and he went out looking like this. @Wildfire-FIRE, aren’t you coming to take care of him? 😡】
From the TL: Thank you for reading, and please support the author if/when you can! You can buy the raws here
![You’re Causing Chaos Again [e-sports]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1sMqC2JNjIep8Ov.jpg "You’re Causing Chaos Again [e-sports]")
