T/L: Alright, after this chapter, the update schedule is every Mondays and Thursdays, with exceptions if there’s bonus updates from ko-fi donations~
So uh, tomorrow, actually.
Jiang Shi spent the night grinding with Xie Xu, helping him climb back to the Grandmaster rank. They queued up until around 3 AM, yawning as they finally went to bed.
In his dreams, Jiang Shi found himself running around the Rift as Senna, searching for a low-health The Cat, worried she might get bullied by someone else.
When he woke up the next morning, Jiang Shi felt completely drained, as if he had really been running around in the Rift all night.
He covered his head with a pillow, hoping to get some more sleep, but an unexpected memory suddenly resurfaced.
A year ago, Jiang Shi had used Senna to help his online boyfriend rank up online, just like he had done for Xie Xu.
However, that person’s The Cat wasn’t nearly as agile as Xie Xu’s, usually just staying attached to him with the ultimate, and their chats were infrequent, the other person remaining silent and aloof.
Jiang Shi rubbed his face, thinking that maybe he had overdone it with the high-stakes games the previous night, which was why he was recalling these nearly forgotten details.
But it wasn’t entirely without emotion—
That person’s hands were super beautiful!
Lying in bed, Jiang Shi sneakily opened his secondary Weibo account. He had a lot of good stuff saved there, including close-ups of his former online boyfriend’s hands.
Despite the poor image quality obscuring any details, those slender, elegant hands had left a lasting impression on Jiang Shi—he had never seen anything quite like them.
Of course, Xie Xu’s hands were also nice.
However, after spending so much time with him, Jiang Shi didn’t dare openly stare at Xie Xu’s hands.
Xie Xu was too perceptive; even though Jiang Shi hadn’t revealed anything, he still felt completely seen, which made him instinctively suppress his little thoughts.
It was a miracle he hadn’t made a fool of himself already.
Satisfied after looking at the pictures, Jiang Shi was just about to stretch and get out of bed when there was a knock on the door.
For the past few days, the only person who had knocked on his door was Xie Xu.
Jiang Shi immediately threw off the covers and jumped out of bed. Just as he was about to open the door, he glanced down at his pants—
Good, no Crayon Shin-chans were showing.
Still, he straightened his slightly crooked waistband, adjusted his collar, and made sure his feet were properly inside his slippers.
He didn’t forget to rub his eyes, trying to create a cute, sleepy look.
Once everything was ready, Jiang Shi eagerly opened the door—
And was greeted by Jiang Lele, who was grinning at him with all eight of his pearly whites.
Jiang Shi: “?”
Jiang Lele couldn’t help but stare at Jiang Shi’s pink teddy bear pajamas for a moment.
He couldn’t understand how this fierce Little White Hair liked wearing such cutesy clothes. And why, despite wearing such cute pajamas, did Jiang Shi still look like he was ready to kill him on the spot?
Seeing Jiang Lele take a step back, Jiang Shi’s expression remained blank. “You better have a good reason for knocking on my door this early.”
Jiang Lele quickly remembered his purpose and forced a smile. “I came to invite you to breakfast! We have wontons today!”
Last night, Jiang Shi had helped Xie Xu rank up like crazy, and Jiang Lele had secretly checked Xie Xu’s match history. It was full of The Cat games, with stats even better than when he played Snowman, proving just how strong Jiang Shi’s ranking was.
Zhao Jiu too — rumor has it he never lost when playing with Jiang Shi.
Today, Yu Hui was supposed to practice new top-jungle strategies with Zhao Jiu, and since the captain was out filming an endorsement and wouldn’t be back until the evening, Jiang Lele figured he’d try to duo with Jiang Shi to rank up.
He had been stuck at Grandmaster for ages.
That’s why he woke up early today, hoping to share breakfast with Jiang Shi and try to strengthen their fragile teammate relationship.
Luckily, the mention of wontons seemed to soften Jiang Shi’s expression slightly. “I’ll be down after I freshen up.”
While eating wontons, Jiang Lele kept glancing at Jiang Shi, his face full of hesitation. Ever since that scrim, Jiang Shi had been waking up an hour or two earlier than usual. Today was no different. With only the two of them at the table, Jiang Shi didn’t bother pretending to be polite. He took a sip of soup and said curtly, “Spit it out.”
Jiang Lele immediately spoke up, “So, uh, Xiao Shi, with the captain out today and Nine practicing new top-jungle strategies with Back, how about we duo queue? My Nuka is really strong right now!”
Jiang Shi looked up at him. “Who are you calling Xiao Shi?”
Jiang Lele quickly corrected himself. “Uh, Little White Hair? That feels more intimate!”
No sooner had he said it than Jiang Lele noticed the chopsticks in Jiang Shi’s hand suddenly bending at a strange angle.
Jiang Shi smiled. “What did you just call me, Little Winter Melon?”
Jiang Lele: “…”
But he had a favor to ask, so he swallowed his pride and racked his brains. “Uh, what should I call you then? Obedient Jiangjiang?”
He remembered seeing that nickname in the group chat once and had felt all his hair stand on end.
He muttered, “I have no idea how the captain manages to use that nickname when tagging you every time…”
Before he could finish, Jiang Shi’s disposable chopsticks snapped with a loud crack.
Jiang Shi placed the four pieces of the broken chopsticks in front of Jiang Lele. “I don’t know if the captain can manage, but I know I can definitely handle you right now.”
Jiang Lele’s eyes widened as he looked around the room. It was just the two of them.
He wisely kept his mouth shut.
The two ate in silence for a few minutes before Jiang Shi checked his phone and saw a message from Yuan Yang saying he’d be out with Xie Xu today for a commercial shoot and would be back in the evening.
If he had known, he wouldn’t have queued with Xie Xu so late last night.
Jiang Shi couldn’t help but wonder if Xie Xu had gotten enough sleep.
As breakfast was nearly finished, Jiang Lele finally couldn’t hold back any longer and asked, “So, are you queuing with me later?”
Jiang Shi ate the last wonton from his bowl, not even bothering to look up. “No.”
Jiang Lele immediately deflated. He poked at the wontons in his bowl, suddenly recalling how, after measuring their heights last time, Xie Xu had fed Jiang Shi a wonton, and Jiang Shi had eaten it so obediently, even blushing.
Today was no different—Jiang Shi had been scowling until he heard there were wontons for breakfast, and then his mood improved!
Jiang Lele had an epiphany. He quickly picked up a wonton from his bowl and held it up to Jiang Shi’s mouth, drawing out his words in a loving tone, “Obedient Jiangjiang, let me feed you!”
“Ah~”
Jiang Shi stared at the wonton practically shoved against his chin and the soup dribbling onto his teddy bear pajamas. He gritted his teeth, picked up his bowl with one hand, and said slowly and clearly, “Take it away.”
“Before I dump it on your head.”
Meanwhile, Yuan Yang was accompanying Xie Xu as he got his makeup done, with the makeup artist using concealer to cover Xie Xu’s dark circles.
“Didn’t I remind you about the endorsement shoot yesterday?” Yuan Yang said, watching Xie Xu frown uncomfortably as the makeup artist applied powder. Yuan Yang was both amused and exasperated. “You didn’t go to bed early, and instead, you stayed up late queuing with Xiao Shi.”
Today, Xie Xu was visibly listless.
Xie Xu didn’t respond. He hadn’t expected Jiang Shi to be so determined, insisting on regaining all the lost rank in one day.
Just as Yuan Yang was about to say something else, his phone rang. He answered it, only to hear Jiang Lele wailing on the other end.
“Yang-ge! Captain! Little White Hair wants to kill me!” Jiang Lele cried miserably. “If you don’t come back soon, you won’t see me alive again, wuwuwu…”
Jiang Lele had realized that only Xie Xu could keep Jiang Shi in check. When Xie Xu was around, Jiang Shi was as meek as a kitten, but as soon as Xie Xu left, Jiang Shi would bare his claws at him.
Yuan Yang winced at the loud volume, pulling the phone away from his ear. Seeing Xie Xu glance over, he put the call on speaker. “Can’t you just stop provoking Xiao Shi?”
“I didn’t provoke him!” Jiang Lele’s voice was even more aggrieved. “I was just trying to feed him a wonton, like the captain did last time!”
And right then, Jiang Shi had flipped out, threatening to dump the bowl on his head.
Xie Xu waved for Yuan Yang to hand him the phone. “Let me talk to him.”
When Jiang Lele heard Xie Xu’s voice, he sounded like he had found a savior. “Captain!”
Xie Xu responded with a simple “Hmm?” and asked, “Did you two have a fight?”
Jiang Lele hesitated. “Not really.”
Jiang Shi had just been in a bad mood, and their little spat hadn’t even disturbed the cook on the first floor. Upstairs, the others were still fast asleep.
Xie Xu asked, “Where’s Jiang Shi?”
Just then, the sound of a chair being pushed back came through. “I’m still here.”
Jiang Lele had been complaining with Jiang Shi sitting right next to him, his face cold and silent.
Hearing the tension in Jiang Shi’s voice, Xie Xu chuckled. “Why would you leave? I’m not here to scold you.”
Jiang Lele sensed that something was off and scratched his head awkwardly. “I wasn’t really trying to tattle.”
He had just panicked when Jiang Shi got angry and sought help.
Jiang Shi’s hand, which had been gripping the edge of the chair, relaxed a little.
Yuan Yang, both amused and exasperated, said, “You two really can’t behave when Xie Xu and I aren’t around, huh? Jiang Lele, apologize.”
Jiang Lele quickly complied. “Jiang Shi, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to mess up your clothes.”
Jiang Shi grunted in acknowledgment.
He had been angry partly because Jiang Lele had no sense of boundaries and partly because he only had one pair of these cute teddy bear pajamas.
Seeing Jiang Shi accept the apology, Jiang Lele breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to move on, Xie Xu suddenly spoke up.
“Jiang Shi.”
He only said Jiang Shi’s name, but it made Jiang Shi sit up straight.
Jiang Shi fidgeted with the edge of the chair and mumbled, “I shouldn’t have lost my temper with you.”
Jiang Lele was completely surprised by Jiang Shi’s sudden change in attitude, staring at him in disbelief.
Noticing Jiang Lele’s expression, which seemed to be watching a monkey show, Jiang Shi’s fists clenched again. He was just about to say something when Xie Xu’s pleasant, laughing voice came through the phone.
“I’ll finish up and come back soon, okay?”
Jiang Shi clenched his fist in the air, and after a few seconds, he finally said, “Okay.”
