Happy Halloween y’all~
The first match of TLG’s Spring Split was in the same city, just an hour’s drive away. Before departure, a light rain started to fall. Jiang Shi put on a hat, and after getting on the bus, he pulled it down over his head and closed his eyes to rest.
He hadn’t slept well the night before, staying up late to watch something.
Once everyone from the team base had boarded, Yuan Yang turned around, intending to give Jiang Shi, who was participating in such a formal match for the first time, some psychological guidance. But when he looked back, he saw that Jiang Shi had already fallen asleep, head tilted to one side, with just a small part of his chin showing under the hat.
As if sensing someone was watching him, Jiang Shi pulled the brim of his hat down further, adopting a “don’t talk to me” posture.
In contrast, the others were all looking at their phones. Even Jiang Lele was watching past matches of the Hurricane team.
Yuan Yang breathed a sigh of relief. Jiang Shi was young and didn’t understand the harsh reality of the arena, but at least the others were taking things seriously.
But in the next second, Jiang Lele’s disdainful voice broke the silence in the bus. “Their jungler is so weak! He’s not even half as good as Back. With this kind of skill, how do they have the nerve to taunt us?”
Jiang Lele then nudged Yu Hui’s shoulder, “After I clear my lane, take me to invade their jungle. The blue buff is mine, and the rest is yours.”
Still resting with his eyes closed, Jiang Shi added, “Red buff is mine.”
Without even looking up, Yu Hui replied, “If you can beat my Smite, it’s yours.”
Zhao Jiu laughed, “I don’t want anything, I’ll just leech some experience.”
Yuan Yang: “…”
They hadn’t even arrived at the arena yet, and these guys were already planning how to divide the enemy’s jungle?
Shortly after speaking, Jiang Shi started coughing, causing his hat to shift, revealing his slightly pale face.
Recently, the temperature had dropped, and Jiang Shi had fallen ill with a fever before the match. But after taking medicine, he seemed fine, except for a persistent cough. Yuan Yang had allowed him to play.
“When we get to the arena, if you feel unwell, make sure to say something,” Yuan Yang said, frowning as he looked at Jiang Shi’s weak state. “The second team’s AD is on the bus behind us. He can sub in for you if needed.”
Before Yuan Yang could finish, Jiang Shi immediately sat up straight, removed his hat, and forced himself to stop coughing. His pale face flushed from the effort.
Once he was sure he wouldn’t cough again, Jiang Shi said, “Yang-ge, I can play.”
His fever had subsided the night before, and aside from the cough, he was fine.
With the hat completely off, the dark circles under Jiang Shi’s eyes were now fully visible to everyone.
He was naturally fair-skinned, with light-colored hair, which made the dark circles even more prominent.
Jiang Lele stared at the dark patches under his eyes and asked, puzzled, “Did you rob a bank last night?”
Zhao Jiu was also confused, “We finished training early last night, and you said you were tired.”
Xie Xu glanced at his phone. It wasn’t even midnight when Jiang Shi had said goodnight to him the night before.
Jiang Shi, feeling Xie Xu’s gaze, quickly made an excuse, “Maybe I was too nervous about today’s match against Wind and couldn’t sleep.”
“Bullshit,” Jiang Lele was the first to expose him, “I went looking for food last night because I was hungry, and your room lights were still on.”
Yu Hui glanced at him, “So that smell in the lobby this morning was because you snuck and ate snail noodles again?”
Yuan Yang’s eyebrows shot up as he snapped, “Jiang Lele, how many times have I told you not to eat spicy, greasy food before a match?”
He hadn’t brought a substitute mid-laner this time. If Jiang Lele ended up with a stomachache, who would he find to play in the match?
Jiang Lele didn’t expect this to backfire on him and muttered, “Weren’t we talking about Little White Hair? How did this turn into an attack on me?”
Jiang Shi quickly coughed weakly, “Yang-ge, my bad. I’ll sleep earlier next time.”
“I’m going to take a nap now.”
Yuan Yang couldn’t say much more, so he waved his hand, “Alright, we’ll settle accounts after the match.”
But Jiang Shi might have escaped Yuan Yang, though not Xie Xu.
Xie Xu handed him a thermos, “Drink this to soothe your throat before you sleep.”
Jiang Shi looked at the thermos, which was identical to his, and suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to bring his own water.
But this was even better—now he could drink Xie Xu’s.
Without hesitation, Jiang Shi took a sip from Xie Xu’s cup. It was sweet honey water.
Letting out a satisfied breath, Jiang Shi pulled his hat back down and settled in for a nap.
He had actually planned to go to bed early last night, but right before he was about to sleep, he logged into Weibo and saw that [18 Years Old Pure Female College Student] had sent him a new collection. It wasn’t as explicit as the previous one but was practical and suggestive, with many tricks he hadn’t seen before.
For instance, sharing a cigarette or a piece of candy, things that made his heart race. Before he knew it, it was late, and he hadn’t gotten enough sleep.
But he had already uploaded the new collection to his Weibo side account and planned to savor it again after the match.
After dozing for about an hour, Jiang Shi was woken up by the cheering from outside.
He lazily opened his eyes and was about to open the car window to take a look when someone adjusted the crooked hat on his head, which had shifted while he slept.
Xie Xu’s gaze moved from the small TLG-Xu logo on Jiang Shi’s hat. “There are a lot of fans. You can greet them when we get off the bus,” he said.
Still not fully awake, Jiang Shi lazily responded with an “oh.” He figured there wouldn’t be many fans for him anyway.
As soon as they stepped off the bus, the waves of noise completely shook Jiang Shi awake.
“TLG, victory!”
“Xu, get MVP again!”
“Husband, look at me!”
“Xu is invincible!”
The area outside the venue was filled with TLG fans, or more specifically, Xu’s fans. The moment Xie Xu stepped off the bus, the screams pierced the sky.
It was Xie Xu’s first public appearance since TLG’s defeat in the last finals.
Even though they were all dressed in team uniforms, Xie Xu’s tall figure and striking looks made him stand out in the group, and the scene resembled a celebrity walking the red carpet.
Jiang Shi, standing slightly behind and to the side of Xie Xu, covered his ears and glanced around. Beyond the barricades, the fans were packed in layers, all holding support items for Xu, many of them shouting “husband” with enthusiasm.
Jiang Shi pouted in displeasure.
They were all his rivals in love.
Sniffing, he couldn’t help but sneeze.
The cold air after getting off the bus triggered another urge to cough, so Jiang Shi quickly pulled a throat lozenge from his pocket and popped it into his mouth.
Because it was drizzling, the others walked quickly, but Jiang Shi slowed down as he struggled with the candy wrapper, lagging behind the group.
As he fell back, he suddenly noticed a twin-tailed girl on the edge of the fan circle, waving a small flag and shouting, “Go, T Bao!”
A fan of his?
Jiang Shi squinted, peering through the light rain to get a clearer look at the flag. It had a cute chibi version of Xu on it, and it looked quite adorable.
Jiang Shi changed direction and walked toward her. “Can you give me one of those?”
He hadn’t seen this version of Xu before.
The girl quickly handed him the flag. “T Bao, I’m actually your fan. We just didn’t think about the weather when we made these, so they’re not waterproof.”
She then pulled a similar flag from her backpack and handed it to Jiang Shi. “Here, this one’s for you, and now you and your husband can have a matching set!”
Jiang Shi hadn’t planned on taking it, but hearing this, he accepted it without hesitation.
The flag had an image of him drinking from Xie Xu’s thermos during his first livestream, with a thoughtful annotation next to it:
[Kissed Xu thirty times~]
Jiang Shi: “?”
He was about to stuff the embarrassing thing back when the girl quickly stepped back. “Everyone worked on this all night, you have to take it.”
The twin-tailed girl grinned happily at Jiang Shi’s reluctant expression. “But T Bao, you’re quite handsome! I guess you really don’t use beauty filters when you stream.”
“Did you just wake up? There’s still a mark on your face!”
Jiang Shi rubbed his face, about to respond, when suddenly someone pressed his hat down from behind, blocking his view.
“Stop playing around,” Xie Xu said, looking at the girl. “Sorry, he’s sick. He can’t stay out in the rain too long. I’ll take him inside.”
Because the rain was light, no one had brought umbrellas.
The girl quickly nodded, “Okay, okay! Good luck with the match!”
The two of them quickly walked into the venue. Yuan Yang, seeing Jiang Shi arriving late, frowned. “Why did you wander off? What if you got lost?”
Jiang Shi waved the flag he was holding and poked the chibi Xie Xu on it. “I saw a cute version of the captain, so I asked a fan for one.”
Of course, the flag with the “kissed Xu thirty times” annotation had already been shoved to the bottom of his bag.
“Still, you shouldn’t just wander off. It’s your first time here, and you’re unfamiliar with the place. There are so many people here, and you wouldn’t even know if you got sold off,” Yuan Yang scolded, sounding like a worried elder. “Good thing Xu found you quickly and brought you back.”
He had searched all over but couldn’t find Jiang Shi earlier and had almost called the staff to help.
Realizing that his behavior had been a bit thoughtless, Jiang Shi obediently nodded. “Next time, I’ll stick close to the captain.”
Yuan Yang was about to say more when Xie Xu interrupted, “Alright, let’s not stand around. Let’s head to the lounge.”
Today, not only were TLG and Wind playing, but several other teams were as well. A few players from other teams glanced over, smiling with an expression that wasn’t entirely friendly, whispering among themselves.
Yuan Yang noticed this too. “That’s GZ, they’re friendly with the Hurricane team. They’re playing against MR today.”
As they talked, members of the Hurricane team arrived, greeting each other enthusiastically, with occasional glances in TLG’s direction.
Xie Xu’s expression remained indifferent as he said, “Let’s go.”
Standing closer to the Hurricane team, Jiang Shi, with his sharp hearing, faintly overheard some of their conversation.
“Did they really run out of AD?” someone from the other team scoffed.
“He looks like he’s underage. I bet we could win even if we were the ones playing.”
“With all these TLG fans buying tickets, it’d be hilarious if they got wiped out.”
After the snickering died down a little, An finally chimed in, “That AD used to be a gaming companion. I heard he sold lessons for money. Wonder if he’s managed to switch back to competitive mode.”
“Ha! A gaming companion selling lessons? How desperate for money do you have to be!”
Their laughter grew even louder.
Jiang Shi didn’t care much about their comments. He had been short on money, and he put a lot of effort into those lessons — there was no shame in earning a living from them.
Still, hearing these remarks made him realize that TLG’s reputation had indeed taken a hit. The large fan turnout at the entrance wasn’t just about cheering for the team, but also about supporting TLG’s image.
Even rival teams felt bold enough to gossip about TLG now.
Jiang Shi clenched his jaw, and with a crunch, bit down on the candy in his mouth.
He had been walking behind Yuan Yang and Xie Xu toward the lounge when he suddenly stopped. He took off his hat, ran a hand through his slightly damp hair, and turned back toward the group that had been laughing. Without a word, he gave them the middle finger.
His brightly dyed hair, combined with the disdainful look in his eyes, made him look cocky and aggressive — nothing like the obedient figure who had just been listening quietly.
The laughter from the other team visibly faltered.
Jiang Shi smirked in full mockery.
What a bunch of idiots.
