When Jiang Shi had made those wild remarks, he never expected that Xie Xu would hear them.
He also never expected that the audio would be recorded and played in front of everyone at the TLG training room.
Did the universe think he was living too comfortably in this world?
But one audio wasn’t enough for the villainous Jiang Lele. He kept scrolling through his phone, saying, “There’s a ton of this stuff in the group chat. Time didn’t just say those things during the livestream…”
It was clear from his actions that Jiang Lele was gearing up to destroy Jiang Shi’s carefully crafted “career fan” image with a flood of evidence.
“Stop—!” Jiang Shi quickly reached out to halt Lele’s actions. “I think that’s enough.”
He gave Lele a friendly look and suddenly brought up something unrelated. “Lele, if I’m not mistaken, didn’t you post a photoshopped selfie on Weibo during New Year’s Day? You asked us to like it, right? I forgot at the time, but I can make up for it now.”
Jiang Shi pulled out his phone, tapped a few times, and added, “Is it okay if I comment with a few more photos?”
Jiang Lele’s eyes lit up. “You’ve been keeping my handsome pics all this time? That’s perfect! Fans in the comments have been begging for more pictures of my handsomeness. If you post one from your pro account, it’ll show off our great team bond!”
But just as Lele finished speaking, his phone started buzzing non-stop with notifications.
He was startled. “Wow, the feedback is so fast?”
At that time, there were not many notifications when he first posted that photo.
Jiang Lele then opened Weibo. Upon seeing the new comments, his eyes went dark—
Jiang Shi had posted nine crystal-clear, high-definition photos of him.
There was one of him devouring a pork knuckle with grease all over his mouth, one where he was sloppily laughing while leaning on Yu Hui’s shoulder, another of him with messy bed hair and a dazed expression right after waking up, and a shot of him secretly eating snail noodles at dusk, giggling to himself.
Then, there’s this candid shot of him sleeping during a midday nap in the training room, drooling, with the string of saliva… it was the pièce de résistance prominently featured at the top of the comment thread.
The entire comment section erupted in laughter.
Jiang Lele went ballistic. “Aaaaah! Little White Hair, how do you have so many ugly pictures of me!”
Jiang Shi casually waved his phone, revealing an album filled with over a hundred of Lele’s pictures. Tilting his head, he smiled, “Maybe it’s because of our precious team bond?”
If he couldn’t kill this little winter melon, he would have lived in vain for so many years!
But Jiang Shi wasn’t done. He turned past Lele and looked at Yu Hui. “Back, didn’t Lele pester you yesterday to sign into your CP super topic, show off some love, and even say you were the only one for him? He sweet-talked you into duo queuing on the stream, but after the duo match, he immediately went and gifted a female streamer a spaceship, using his main account.”
Yu Hui: “…”
He shot a cold glare at Jiang Lele. “If I do any more ship fanservice with you, I’m a complete idiot.”
Jiang Lele: “!”
This little white hair actually knew all of this!
And Jiang Shi’s revenge wasn’t over. He turned to Yuan Yang next. “Yang-ge, yesterday at 19:37 in the Arena, Lele used River Girl’s forced displacement skill to mess with the jungle player on his own team. He got reported, lost some points, but the league didn’t catch wind of it.”
As professional players, every match had to be taken seriously. Inactivity or trash-talking could lead to penalties.
Lele had dodged a bullet because the arena match didn’t display player IDs, so the league didn’t notice and he got away scot-free.
But now that Jiang Shi had spilled the beans to Yuan Yang, Lele was definitely going to get chewed out.
“Aaaah! Little White Hair, it was obviously because the jungler insulted me first, called me a noob, and even cursed me! You’re the one who told me to curse back!”
Faced with both internal and external troubles, Jiang Lele cried out in frustration, “You’re the one who suggested pulling the buff monster out of the pit to mess with the jungler!”
At the time, Jiang Lele was so angry that he went to Jiang Shi for help, and after feeling better, he even gave Jiang Shi a grateful hug.
Who would have thought Jiang Shi would backstab him like this!
Upon hearing this, Yuan Yang frowned, “Jiang Lele, let’s not talk about your in-game behavior for now. Did you use your main account to gift a female streamer a spaceship yesterday?”
Jiang Lele shrunk his neck, not daring to make a sound.
Jiang Shi chimed in, “Yeah, and it was one of those borderline inappropriate streamers.”
Jiang Lele’s face flushed red as he stammered, “I didn’t mean to click on her stream. She called me ‘Lele-ge,’ so I just tipped her a little.”
Yuan Yang felt a headache coming on. “The team’s popularity has been high recently, and you’ve been pushing that fanservice with Back. Now you pull this? Be careful, or the fans will tear you apart.”
He glanced at the long pre-match warm-up on the screen. “I’ll check if there’s been any backlash. It’s best to handle this privately with the female streamer to avoid any misunderstandings.”
With that, Yuan Yang shot a glare at both Jiang Lele and Jiang Shi. “You two better behave.”
He had previously hoped for better synergy between the mid and bottom lanes. Now he would just be grateful if they didn’t sabotage each other off the field.
After Yuan Yang left, the training room fell silent, except for the sound of the pre-match performance on the screen.
Jiang Shi sat in his chair, staring straight ahead, pretending to focus on the celebrity performance.
Thank goodness.
His distraction had successfully shifted everyone’s attention away from the whole “husband fan” and “comfort him in bed” incident.
Just as Jiang Shi was beginning to relax, Xie Xu’s lazy voice sounded next to him, casual and nonchalant, “I didn’t hear any of those things you said.”
Jiang Shi was momentarily confused. “Huh?”
Jiang Lele helpfully explained, “The captain’s talking about the ‘husband fan’ stuff! He’s asking if you want to tell him directly~”
Jiang Shi’s temple throbbed, suppressing the urge to silence Jiang Lele for good. With no choice but to face the music, he awkwardly explained to Xie Xu, “I was just talking nonsense earlier. I didn’t mean any of it.”
He nervously pursed his lips after speaking. “I’m sorry, Captain. Please don’t be mad.”
His apologetic tone was a far cry from the fierce attitude he had used earlier to expose Jiang Lele.
The contrast was so stark that Zhao Jiu couldn’t help but tease, “Jiang Shi, you didn’t hesitate at all in that recording.”
Yu Hui added, “No wonder you got so upset when the captain went on a blind date.”
Jiang Lele chimed in, “Exactly! He totally covets the captain’s body!”
Jiang Shi: “…”
Will they ever let this go?!
Thankfully, Xie Xu intervened. “Alright, that’s enough.”
“I didn’t go on a blind date, and I won’t be going on one in the future either, so stop teasing Jiang Shi about it.”
Jiang Shi immediately turned to look at Xie Xu, his eyes full of anticipation. “Really?”
Xie Xu: “Yeah.”
That good news instantly erased all of Jiang Shi’s earlier embarrassment. A wide smile spread across his face as he couldn’t help but praise Xie Xu’s decision, “Captain is so amazing, you don’t even need blind dates to find someone!”
Like him, for example!
But this topic shouldn’t be continued.
Jiang Shi quickly shifted his gaze and pointed at the two boxes Xie Xu had brought back, swiftly changing the subject. “Captain, are those the new keyboards from TKI?”
As soon as he mentioned this, the other three immediately perked up.
Keyboards—a passion for any man.
Xie Xu nodded. “The keyboards at the base are from TKI too, but apparently, they’ve upgraded their craftsmanship this time. If they’re good, we can get some for the base as well.”
Jiang Lele leaned in curiously, flipping through the boxes. “I heard the color is silver-pink, the kind that appeals to both men and women.”
Now Jiang Shi was genuinely excited.
He loved using cute and tender pink keyboards when he confronted people during his livestreams for maximum effect.
Under everyone’s eager gaze, Xie Xu unboxed the keyboards and handed one directly to Jiang Shi. “This is TLG’s endorsed bot lane keyboard. I had them send one to you with your ID on it.”
Jiang Shi looked down and saw that the side of the keyboard was engraved with the “TLG-Time” logo.
Not only was this a keyboard, but it also confirmed Jiang Shi as the spokesperson for TKI.
This was a high starting point for someone new to the professional scene.
Jiang Shi could almost hear the sound of money flowing into his pockets. He immediately switched to the new keyboard, smiling as he said, “Thank you, Captain!”
He had never owned a keyboard with his own logo on it before. It felt like a one-of-a-kind gift from Xie Xu.
Clearly happy, a round dimple appeared on Jiang Shi’s right cheek, making him look sweet and well-behaved.
Once the keyboard’s cord was plugged in, Jiang Lele and the others crowded around to test the feel, squeezing both Xie Xu and Jiang Shi away from the table.
Especially Jiang Lele, who, without much care, bumped Jiang Shi’s chair, sending it sliding toward Xie Xu.
A hand caught the back of Jiang Shi’s chair, steadying it. Xie Xu looked at the dimple on Jiang Shi’s cheek that hadn’t disappeared and suddenly asked, “Are you still angry?”
Jiang Shi belatedly realized that their chairs were once again side by side, with Xie Xu’s hand resting on his armrest. As Xie Xu leaned in to speak, Jiang Shi, lowering his head, could see the gold stitching on Xie Xu’s team uniform sleeve.
Involuntarily, a rather inappropriate thought about the team uniform floated into Jiang Shi’s mind.
What color would the stitching turn if it got wet?
He rubbed his ear for a moment, finally realizing Xie Xu had said something earlier. “Captain, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”
At that moment, the loud opening speech of the commentators, accompanied by enthusiastic applause, echoed from the computer.
Jiang Lele, while typing on Jiang Shi’s keyboard to join a raffle, complained to Yu Hui, “Why do they always talk for so long? It’s the same stuff every time. My ears are getting calluses.”
Yu Hui replied coldly, “Weren’t you just calling her your goddess?”
Jiang Lele chuckled. “Back, are you jealous? You know I love you the most!”
Speaking of jealousy, Jiang Lele instinctively glanced back and saw Jiang Shi and Xie Xu leaning close together. Just as he was about to check what the two were up to, Zhao Jiu called out, “The raffle is about to end, and you haven’t sent your message yet.”
Jiang Lele quickly turned back. “Coming!”
The training room was too noisy. Jiang Shi worried that he still wouldn’t be able to hear Xie Xu clearly, so he pushed his chair and himself closer to Xie Xu, leaning his head in.
Both the commentator and Jiang Lele were too loud.
Xie Xu glanced at Jiang Shi’s reddened ears and paused. “There’s some styrofoam on your ear.”
When they unboxed the keyboard, some styrofoam packaging had floated out, getting onto Jiang Shi’s hair as well.
Jiang Shi quickly rubbed his ear. “Is it gone?”
But his rough movements only tangled his hair further, and the styrofoam on his ear became even more hidden.
Xie Xu reached out. “Now it’s gone.”
Jiang Shi felt a cool touch on his earlobe, which sent a shiver down his spine, causing tiny goosebumps to rise on his neck. The sensation was strangely tingly.
He couldn’t help rubbing his ear again, even pinching the spot where Xie Xu had touched, feeling how hot it had become.
Up front, his teammates were excitedly testing out the new keyboard, while he and Xie Xu were busy touching each other’s ears in the back — definitely a strange scene.
Jiang Shi suddenly felt a bit too self-conscious to meet Xie Xu’s gaze. Covering his ear, he looked down and asked quietly, “Captain, what did you say earlier?”
Xie Xu’s eyes lingered on the hand Jiang Shi had pressed against his ear as he replied with a soft chuckle, “Can you hear me with your ear covered?”
Flustered, Jiang Shi immediately dropped his hand, exposing his burning red ear, but his tone remained obedient. “Please speak, Captain.”
Xie Xu shifted his gaze away from Jiang Shi’s ear. “I asked if you were still angry.”
Jiang Shi blinked, looking a little confused.
Why would he be angry?
“You said earlier that you were upset about me going on a blind date. So upset that you couldn’t even eat,” Xie Xu said slowly.
“But didn’t you say you didn’t actually go on the blind date, Captain?” Jiang Shi blinked again, speaking naturally. “Plus, you brought me soup. I wasn’t hungry at all.”
After he finished, his gaze drifted toward the thermos still on the table and the keyboards peeking through the gaps between his teammates. He asked tentatively, “Captain, you brought me soup and even went out of your way to get me a keyboard. Were you trying to coax me?”
Perhaps feeling overwhelmed by joy, Jiang Shi instinctively grabbed the cuff of Xie Xu’s sleeve, his fingers lightly rubbing against the raised gold stitching. His eyes sparkled with hope.
It’s very obvious that he’s thrilled by the idea that Xie Xu would coax him.
Xie Xu took in Jiang Shi’s small, fidgety movements but didn’t pull his hand away. Instead, he gave a quiet hum. “I was coaxing you.”
He subtly twisted his wrist, making it easier for Jiang Shi to hold onto his sleeve, then lowered his gaze and asked, “So, did I do it well?”
Jiang Shi had been distracted, wondering if the gold stitching on the uniform would be uncomfortable to sit on, but Xie Xu’s question immediately pulled him back. He quickly pushed aside his wandering thoughts in his heart.
He replied with a sweet and innocent expression, “Of course.”
He blinked and continued, “Captain, I’m really easy to coax. Can you coax me often?”
And maybe, while doing that, they could end up on the bed~
