When he entered the conference room, everyone except Yuan Yang was seated, their expressions complicated as they looked at him. After all, it’s hard to accept that the Obedient Jiangjiang turned out to be the foul-mouthed livestreamer Time.
Jiang Shi walked to the front, bowed deeply, and apologized to everyone. “I’m sorry for hiding it from you all for so long, but yes, I am Time.”
Jiang Lele let out a scoff, about to speak, but a glance from Xie Xu immediately silenced him.
“I’m sorry for causing everyone trouble with my reckless words, especially the captain.” Jiang Shi remained bent over. “I used to think that acting this way would help me stand out and make troublemakers think twice before messing with me. Even if Little Bear TV tried to lowball me, they’d still have to reconsider.”
“But now, I have TLG and teammates. I don’t need to worry about being bullied anymore, so I’ll work on correcting this problem.”
Jiang Shi’s words carried a tone of vulnerability, but they were sincere.
Back when Little Bear TV wanted to halve his pay because he wouldn’t show his face, Jiang Shi had relied on his shamelessness and assertiveness to reduce the cut to just a third.
At that time, the amount of money directly determined whether he could eat enough the following month.
“But my words to the captain weren’t meant to ride the wave of his popularity — I truly admire him. I just went too far, and I’m really sorry.”
Jiang Shi’s voice grew softer, and so did his posture, his head nearly touching the conference table when a hand stopped him. Only then did he lift his head, looking foolish.
Xie Xu retracted his hand and turned to the others. “Any more questions?”
Zhao Jiu looked at the young man bowing before him, feeling a bit heartbroken. “Xiao Shi, this isn’t a big deal. None of us are mad at you — we were just surprised and needed a moment to process. It’s all good.”
They had all overlooked Jiang Shi’s age.
According to Jiang Lele, Jiang Shi had been streaming for several years, but he was only 19 now, which meant he had started making a living before he was even an adult.
And the internet is a complicated place — if he had presented a soft personality to go with his delicate looks, he probably would have been eaten alive.
Even Jiang Lele, who had initially been the most critical, had red eyes. “Why didn’t you say any of this during your streams, you Little White Hair!”
Many of Jiang Shi’s fans were quite wealthy, but he never played the victim in his streams.
Yu Hui pursed his lips, handing Jiang Shi a tissue from the table. He had seen Jiang Shi rub his eyes.
Hearing Jiang Lele’s words, Jiang Shi blinked. “Oh, well, since you all came along, my situation hasn’t been that desperate.”
In other words, if he had needed to, he wouldn’t have hesitated to ask for help.
After finishing, Jiang Shi looked a bit embarrassed as he glanced at the tissue Yu Hui offered. “I’m not crying, I just didn’t dry my face properly after washing it, and some water got in my eyes.”
Yu Hui: “…”
Zhao Jiu: “…”
Jiang Lele, who had been on the verge of tears, immediately swallowed them back and cursed, “Fuck!”
‘Damn Little White Hair!!!’
After clearing things up, Xie Xu called everyone to the training room for practice.
Jiang Shi and Xie Xu were the last to leave. As they were about to exit, Jiang Shi couldn’t help but ask, “Where’s Yang-ge?”
He hadn’t seen him the whole time.
Xie Xu replied, “He’s handling emergency PR for you, but I sent him everything you just said. He said it’s fine—just focus on playing well from now on.”
The fact that Jiang Shi and Time were the same person could be a big deal or a small one. Given that the two fan bases had clashed before, if the situation wasn’t handled properly, the fans might feel deceived and all turn against him, which would be a huge problem.
Yuan Yang, as the team’s coach and manager, immediately recognized the severity of the situation and went to make preparations.
After speaking, Xie Xu walked a few steps toward the training room, but then he felt his shirt being tugged.
Jiang Shi’s fingers had turned white from gripping so tightly, but he bit his lip and said nothing.
Xie Xu paused. “Want to talk to him in person?”
Jiang Shi nodded.
Yuan Yang had genuinely treated him like a beloved junior, and he didn’t want any misunderstandings between them.
“Alright,” Xie Xu said. “He should be in the office now.”
Jiang Shi was just about to ask where the office was when he saw Xie Xu take a step forward and then realized he was still holding onto his shirt.
Xie Xu glanced at Jiang Shi’s slightly bewildered expression, a small smile playing on his lips. “Do you want me to lead you there like this?”
Jiang Shi’s eyes lit up — Xie Xu was offering to go with him!
Jiang Shi immediately let go of Xie Xu’s shirt and took large strides to walk alongside him.
When they arrived at the office, Yuan Yang was on the phone. “Keep a close eye on Weibo and Time’s livestream account. If you see any extreme comments, report and delete them immediately. And for Saturday’s livestream, hire extra moderators just in case.”
After Yuan Yang finished his call, Xie Xu knocked on the door.
Yuan Yang asked, “What’s up?”
Xie Xu stepped aside, revealing Jiang Shi behind him. “He’s got something to say.”
Yuan Yang noticed Jiang Shi’s hesitant expression and seemed to realize something. He frowned and asked, “Did some fan send you abusive messages? Don’t check Weibo or the livestream backend for now. Wait until the Saturday night stream to respond officially.”
At this moment, Jiang Shi couldn’t quite describe how he felt. He rubbed his face and tried to speak as clearly as possible. “Yang-ge, no one’s insulted me. I just wanted to apologize for causing you trouble. I’m sorry.”
Yuan Yang was momentarily stunned but then laughed. “What’s there to apologize for? When Jiang Lele signed his contract, he claimed to be the best mid-laner in the league and challenged the top player on the Korean server during a livestream. He played three games and didn’t win a single one.”
During that time, not only Jiang Lele but also TLG became the laughingstock of the esports community.
Yuan Yang comforted Jiang Shi. “As long as this situation is handled properly, it’s no big deal. Besides, you’ve already turned off the replay function on your livestreams, right? Even if someone took screenshots, they’re all your fans. As long as you calm them down, it won’t spread.”
They were fortunate that Time wasn’t very famous, otherwise, just the comment about Xie Xu would have made him notorious.
Jiang Shi still seemed uncertain. “Really?”
Yuan Yang replied with a straight face, “Really. But your earlier statement about quitting can’t stand. You need to change your profile picture and background on Little Bear TV back to the original ones, and post a notice on Weibo.”
Jiang Shi nodded. “My original profile picture and background both featured the captain. Can I still use them?”
He had carefully selected two photos—one highlighting Xie Xu’s hand and the other his face. Seeing those photos always brightened his mood whenever he logged into Little Bear TV.
Yuan Yang’s mouth twitched. “No.”
“Never mind, I’ll take over your livestream account for now and find something more appropriate for you.”
He left the Weibo post to Jiang Shi to handle himself, to avoid fans questioning its authenticity.
After their conversation, Jiang Shi finally felt a weight lift from his heart.
Seeing that the matter was resolved, Xie Xu told Jiang Shi to head to the training room while he had a word with Yuan Yang.
Once Jiang Shi was out of earshot, Xie Xu asked Yuan Yang, “What did you find out?”
“I haven’t said anything yet, but you’re sharp as always,” Yuan Yang replied, perplexed.
Xie Xu found a chair and sat down. “You usually dote on Jiang Shi the most, and you were just as angry as Jiang Lele earlier. Yet you came out of that meeting with a calm face. No way you’d be this gentle unless you found out something.”
Yuan Yang sighed. “Nothing gets past you.”
The fact that Jiang Shi and Time were the same person should have been uncovered when Jiang Shi first joined the team if Yuan Yang had done a thorough background check. But at the time, he only cared about Jiang Shi’s gaming skills.
When this incident occurred, Yuan Yang instinctively investigated Jiang Shi and was shocked by what he found.
“Jiang Shi’s been streaming for three years, starting when he was still a minor. I found some blurry old pictures — his face was so thin it was smaller than a palm. Apparently, he used to work as a delivery boy during the day to make ends meet, often getting underpaid and not even having enough money for food.”
Yuan Yang’s voice grew more sorrowful as he spoke, taking a sip of water to compose himself. “I finally understand why he was able to lift that box of team uniforms so easily — he got strong from all that manual labor.”
Xie Xu sat quietly, his eyes lowered, making his expression unreadable. “What about his parents?”
Yuan Yang replied somberly, “His mother died in childbirth, and his father is a drunk and a gambler who couldn’t care less about him. That’s why Jiang Shi had to start streaming before he even turned eighteen.”
“And Little Bear TV treated him terribly too. His contract was the oldest, with ridiculously low revenue shares. If it weren’t for some loyal fans and Jiang Shi being an accompanying player, I don’t know how he would’ve survived.”
He muttered, “I need to find out who the staff handling Time’s account were. When it’s time to renew his contract, I have a few questions for them.”
Xie Xu recalled how Jiang Shi once mentioned that a friend had been lowballed by Little Bear TV — now it was clear he had been talking about himself.
Their conversation was interrupted by simultaneous notifications on their phones.
Yuan Yang glanced at his phone and smiled in relief. “Jiang Shi just posted on Weibo.”
“His fans really do care about him. They were even saying they’d come to TLG to demand an explanation. But now, with the drama resolved, and a bit of buzz, this could actually give Jiang Shi a great starting point.”
He opened Jiang Shi’s profile and saw the latest Weibo post:
[Time: Family members, I’m back! (Love.jpg) (Hug.jpg) (Rose.jpg)]
The tone was playful and cute, making Yuan Yang smile unconsciously—until he saw Jiang Shi’s previous post:
[Time: I’m quitting livestreaming, and my streaming account will be canceled. If we are fated, we will meet again.]
He tried to reassure himself that everything would be fine, especially since Jiang Shi’s fans were diehard loyalists. The new post had over a thousand comments within a minute.
He clicked to see the top comment, which was blunt and to the point:
[Get lost. (Slap.jpg)]
T/L: Jiang Shi is stronger than me bc if I was him, I’ll simply kms—
No seriously, how do you come back from THAT????
