As soon as Jiang Shi and Xie Xu started queuing together, Jiang Shi’s ID was quickly recognized by the viewers.
[This guy looks so familiar.]
[The ID is pretty cocky…]
[Isn’t this the accompanying player who’s famous in the national server as the AD who only takes jobs based on mood and climbs ranks super fast?]
[Yeah, I heard he once refunded a customer and flamed them because they were bad and talked too much. The customer was so mad they made a video to complain about him.]
[Oh right, the customer was playing jungle with zero rhythm, and I remember this accompanying player saying, “Are you here to shop at the Rift or to rack up WeChat steps?”]
[Is he really that sarcastic? I hope he doesn’t mess with Xu! How could Xu have such a rude person on his friends list?]
As more people started discussing Jiang Shi’s past antics, Xu’s fans became worried that he would be a bad influence and began spamming the chat, asking Xu to change teammates.
While waiting for a match, Jiang Shi saw the comments on his phone and his face turned sour, but he didn’t use an alt account account to clap back.
After all, the match was already underway, and Xu wasn’t going to kick him out mid-game.
Jiang Shi held back, but Xie Xu spoke up.
“I’m not changing teammates,” Xie Xu said calmly. “Mods, ban anyone stirring up trouble.”
The chat instantly quieted down, and soon, some viewers began defending Jiang Shi.
[The customer’s video was misleading. The accompanying player later posted the full match to clarify.]
[The customer was the one who started flaming, and it was really nasty. I think it was fair for the accompanying player to retaliate.]
[Even after the customer rage quit, the accompanying player didn’t give up and led the rest of the team to victory.]
[No matter what, this guy’s skills are legit. I’m kinda excited to see him duo with Xu.]
Jiang Shi kept an eye on Xu’s livestream chat and sighed in relief when he saw the shift in sentiment.
People were starting to see the truth, and his reputation seemed safe.
But just then, a comment made Jiang Shi’s smile freeze.
[I actually like this accompanying player. His playstyle is really similar to my idiot son Time’s. Love him, love his dog.]
The comment came from someone with a high-level fan badge from Jiang Shi’s own stream.
Jiang Shi stole a glance at Xie Xu, who was busy selecting his hero and didn’t seem to have noticed the comment.
As soon as the game started, someone on the enemy team typed in all chat.
[All] Lion-Juzi1his name is Lion-橘子; Since the rest of the player uses Latin alphabet for their ID name (yes even yaowan. His ID is not capitalized too), I decided to not translate his ID. 橘子 means Tangerine: Wow, Xu, long time no see!
[All] Lion-Juzi: Please go easy on me, don’t gank mid QAQ.
[All] TLG-Xu: I’m playing bot lane this game.
Jiang Shi didn’t expect to run into a pro player in their very first match, especially Lion, specifically the mid-laner for the Lions team.
Seeing that their own mid-laner was struggling to clear waves, Jiang Shi didn’t want Xie Xu to feel obliged to stick with him, so he typed.
[Team Chat] Don’t Look For Abuse: It’s fine, I can hold mid.
Xie Xu’s hero paused for a moment.
In their previous duo games, Jiang Shi would always smile noticeably whenever they were paired in the bot lane. Now, he was actively refusing to duo with him.
Viewers in the chat also started questioning Jiang Shi.
[Using Senna to hold mid? Shouldn’t this champion be freed up early to make aggressive plays?]
[And isn’t this accompanying player supposed to have a bad temper? Why is he being so accommodating now?]
[Well, it’s Xu we’re talking about. Who would dare put on airs in front of him?]
[Not letting Xu stick with him? Probably afraid their mid-laner can’t handle Juzi and wants Xu to help out.]
[What’s the point of playing Senna if you’re just going to play scared? I thought he’d pull off some flashy plays with Xu…]
[Xu should just duo with Juzi. I noticed Juzi’s solo queueing too.]
[Yeah, and Juzi’s really sweet, knows how to make people happy!]
It was as if the viewers were trying to sabotage them, and sure enough, the next second, Juzi sent an invite to duo with Xie Xu.
[All] Lion-Juzi: Ge, wanna duo next game? Carry me~
[All] TLG-Xu: No thanks, I’m already duo-queueing with someone.
[All] Lion-Juzi: Who? Could they be better than me?
Juzi hadn’t recognized any familiar pro players on the opposing team.
Jiang Shi was initially just farming peacefully against the enemy ADC. But after seeing Juzi’s message, he quickly cleared the last minion and immediately headed to mid lane.
He collided with Juzi’s mage hero, who had been planning to gank bot lane.
In a swift exchange of skills, Jiang Shi’s unpredictable movements left Juzi heavily injured, even forcing out his Flash.
[All] Don’t Look For Abuse: What do you think?
Xie Xu chuckled, not holding back his praise, “Beautiful.”
The chat exploded with fans spamming “666” in admiration.
Jiang Shi hadn’t turned on his microphone, but he had his headset on.
The deep, amused tone of Xie Xu’s voice came through, sending a warm flush to Jiang Shi’s ears.
Jiang Shi’s cold expression crumbled in an instant.
He couldn’t help but tug at his headset, trying to loosen it so the sound wouldn’t be so close to his ears.
He was already a total hand-con and face-con, but since when did he become so down bad for a nice voice?
But Xie Xu’s voice continued to come through.
“The Lions team’s jungle and mid tend to focus on bot lane, especially Sun. But that’s only in solo-queue. In official matches, their strategy is much more flexible, so don’t be fooled.”
Hearing this, Jiang Shi quickly adjusted his headset back into place.
His poor performance during their last scrimmage was partly due to being misled by Sun in a similar situation. Since he could counteract the pressure from a top-four team’s jungler, handling MR should be a breeze.
That overconfidence had nearly cost him the scrim, so was Xie Xu giving this explanation for the viewers’ benefit?
Jiang Shi suddenly felt like he was getting special treatment and secretly turned up the volume on his headset.
“When you face them in ranked, it’s not hard to counter. Either hold down the bot lane or push mid faster with a strong offensive.”
However, in this game, Xie Xu clearly chose to stick with Jiang Shi.
Jiang Shi didn’t say anything about “holding down” anymore and naturally went along with Xie Xu.
A few minutes later, Juzi made another move toward the bot lane, but before he could even check the bush, Xie Xu flashed and controlled him, allowing Jiang Shi to follow up with damage and take him down in one swift combo.
[All] Lion-Juzi: !!!
[All] Lion-Juzi: Ge, you’re too ruthless!
The chat was full of teasing comments.
[The ruthless one isn’t Xu. It’s this ADC.]
[With the enemy mid-laner and ADC both controlled, this accompanying player didn’t even consider targeting their AD, instead going straight for Juzi without hesitation.]
[Brutal.]
[Tsk, you’d think they had some deep personal grudge.]
Juzi was also streaming and, after seeing his chat, realized that Xu was duo-queueing with an ADC.
[All] Lion-Juzi: Xu-ge, is this accompanying player someone you hired? Can you ask him to stop targeting me?
This time, before Xie Xu could respond, Jiang Shi spoke up.
[All] Don’t Look For Abuse: No.
After sending the message, Jiang Shi waited a moment, and Xie Xu didn’t contradict him.
Feeling emboldened, Jiang Shi, with Xie Xu backing him up, relentlessly targeted Juzi, ending the game with Juzi having a dismal 2-6-1 KDA score.
After the match, as Jiang Shi was about to queue up again, he suddenly received a party invite.
[Lion-Juzi has requested to join the party]
Jiang Shi was the party leader and didn’t have Juzi on his friends list, so the invite had come through Xie Xu.
On his desk, he could see Juzi’s livestream, where Juzi was messaging Xie Xu in a private chat.
[Lion-Juzi: Xu-ge, please carry me. The end of the season is so tough…]
[Lion-Juzi: I can play mid, but I can also fill other roles.]
[Lion-Juzi: humble.jpg]
[Lion-Juzi: How about I play jungle and give you the blue buff, hehe.]
Giving the blue buff to a support is a particularly pampering gesture in the game.
Fans were adamantly pushing for Xie Xu to kick Jiang Shi out and link up with Juzi as a mid-support duo.
Since Xie Xu had let the assumption that Jiang Shi was an accompanying player to avoid revealing too much, and now that Juzi, a more popular and skilled option, was available, many fans naturally sided with replacing the less-known Jiang Shi.
Some even suggested that Jiang Shi should be considerate and approve Juzi’s request to join the team.
Jiang Shi “calmly” read through all the comments, then moved his hand on the mouse and decisively clicked the [Start Match] button.
This time, the matchmaking took a while. After they were in the queue, Jiang Shi leisurely offered an explanation.
[Team Chat] Don’t Look For Abuse: Was someone trying to join the party just now? I didn’t notice.
[Team Chat] Don’t Look For Abuse: My hand slipped and I accidentally clicked start. Is that okay?
Even if Xie Xu had something to say, it wouldn’t matter. By the time this game ended, their play schedules would be out of sync, and Jiang Shi knew that Xie Xu’s relationship with Juzi wasn’t close enough to wait for him to finish another game.
Jiang Shi had calculated all the pros and cons, but the next second, he saw a message pop up in team chat.
[Team Chat] Lion-Juzi: ?!
