Qiao Ran was stunned for a moment, and quickly stood up: "Captain..."

"This is not training, and I don't want to scold you. Why are you so scared?" Pei Yan walked over to sit next to Qiao Ran, and patted the sofa, motioning Qiao Ran to sit down as well.

Qiao Ran sat back down, but he became more reserved.

Pei Yan noticed it, but didn't say anything. He leaned back, appearing relaxed. "My mom didn't scare you just now, did she?"

"Ah?" Qiao Ran was stunned for a moment, struggling with his words, "No... Auntie is a very nice person... um... very enthusiastic..."

"Ignore her. She's just like that. Even at her age, she's still acting like a child. She's all spoiled by my dad."

Qiao Ran lowered his head, his eyes falling on the tips of his shoes: "Auntie is prettier than on TV."

Pei Yan chuckled, "She's covered so tightly today, yet you can still tell she's pretty? You have quite the eye for beauty." Then he added, "Don't let her hear this, or she'll brag about it for days."

Qiao Ran did not respond. She thought that today must be an accident. Pei Yan's mother must have come to see her son. She probably didn't have much chance to see Pei Yan's mother normally.

"How does it feel to play in your first game?" Pei Yan changed the subject.

Pei Yan's casual tone slowly relaxed Qiao Ran. "It's not that bad. I was a little nervous before going on stage, worried about something going wrong, but it's all under control. I paid attention to the audience at first, but once the game officially started, I didn't have time to think about anything else. It feels pretty much the same as a team practice match... well... today's match was even easier than a practice match..."

Qiao Ran expressed his feelings truthfully.

"Are you happy about winning the game?" Pei Yan asked again.

"Of course!" Qiao Ran answered affirmatively, then hesitated for a moment before turning around and asking, "Captain...is there something wrong? I saw that you and the coach looked a little strange after returning."

Pei Yan chuckled and touched his face: "Is it so obvious?"

"Is it related to me?"

"It has nothing to do with you."

Sure enough, Qiao Ran was as sensitive as he thought and had already noticed something.

In order to prevent her from having any psychological burden, Pei Yan did not tell her about Zhang Qian's thoughts.

Although there happened to be only the two of them at the moment, it was a good time to talk.

"Then...is there anything I can help with?" Qiao Ran asked after careful consideration.

Not to mention that Pei Yan has taken good care of her since she joined the team, just the fact that the team captain had a conflict with the coach would not be a good sign.

Pei Yan was thinking about how to answer Qiao Ran's question. Qiao Ran would definitely be able to hear any reason he gave, so he tried to cover his name.

After a moment's silence, Pei Yan actually thought of an excuse.

"LC suffered a loss today, and the coach doesn't think they'll let it go. He's worried they might be plotting something behind the scenes. It's easy to avoid an open attack, but it's hard to guard against a hidden one. There aren't any substitutes on the team right now. If one of us gets attacked, there won't be anyone to fill in."

Pei Yan said this and quietly looked at Qiao Ran's reaction.

Qiao Ran couldn't figure out what Pei Yan said that caused the conflict between him and Zhang Qian.

"Since we're short of substitutes, let's just hire one. The coach's thinking is not without reason."

Pei Yan didn't expect Qiao Ran to vote in favor without thinking too much.

After all this time, he was worrying in vain.

"It's unlikely to recruit five substitutes at once. The ideal situation is to first find someone who can play in all positions, and train them according to their all-round development. That way, no matter what position has problems in the future, a substitute can fill in."

Qiao Ran said to Pei Yan without any doubt: "What does the coach mean?"

"What does he mean? He wants Chou Chou to try out the substitute position. Chou Chou has the foundation of support, so he can slowly practice other lanes."

Pei Yan changed Zhang Qian's purpose of finding a substitute for Qiao Ran into finding an all-round substitute just in case.

Qiao Ran pondered for a moment: "It's not impossible... I asked him before, and he seemed to think that professional players are too stressful. If the coach really has this idea, I can help ask him."

Pei Yan was slightly surprised, but he didn't show it. He simply said, "This matter hasn't been finalized yet. I told the coach that if Chou Chou has always played support, suddenly adding training to another lane might not be feasible. We should look for another one."

Speaking of this, Qiao Ran remembered something and asked about it casually.

"Captain, I remember there were two other good players selected from the youth training camp besides me. Where are they? How come there's not even a substitute in the team?"

"They didn't stay long before leaving," Pei Yan said calmly. "At the time, Jiang Wenzhou and Zhang Qian discussed letting them play a few games and see how things went before finalizing the contract."

"One of them was too nervous after entering the court and made a mistake. Although it didn't affect the result of the game, he was still scolded by netizens. His mentality collapsed and he couldn't stay."

"The other is that I'm not willing to accept that he's only allowed to train in less important matches, and that he spends most of his time backstage watching the water dispenser."

Qiao Ran didn't expect that the two people who were selected because of their gender advantage at that time were not able to stay in the end. Instead, she, the loser, came back after many twists and turns.

"So what happened next? Didn't the team recruit any more young players?"

"How could I not recruit him? But gold is easy to come by, but good generals are hard to find." He glanced at Qiao Ran and said, "Fortunately, I bet on the right horse this time."

Qiao Ran realized Pei Yan was praising her, and her face flushed. "Captain... you'd better stop praising me. I'm afraid I'll get carried away and lose my focus on my skills."

"How about this, if you win the autumn tournament, in addition to the prize money and the money the club gives you, I'll personally give you an extra reward."

Qiao Ran raised his eyes slightly, feeling a little flustered but also a little expectant: "Extra reward? What is it?"

"I won't tell you for now. I'll keep it a secret so that you'll have expectations. Expectations will make you work harder." Pei Yan couldn't help but reached out and rubbed Qiao Ran's head again, like petting a cat.

This time, Qiao Ran clearly felt her heartbeat quickening. She gritted her teeth and restrained herself from jumping up from the sofa.

"Okay, you've been in the bathroom long enough, it's time to go back." Pei Yan smiled and withdrew his hand, stood up first and went back to the box.

Qiao Ran looked at Pei Yan's back, let out a long sigh, raised his hand and touched the top of his head, as if the warmth of Pei Yan's palm still remained.

Captain...did you mistake her for a cat?

——

NSD was having a great time laughing and having fun in the KTV, but LC was in a dead mood.

After leaving the venue and the car door closed, their assistant Xiao Wei couldn't help but kick over the trash can on the car and cursed: "Fuck! That little bitch, don't let me see her again next time!"

"What's the point of you getting angry here? Will it solve the problem?" Top laner Changgong said discontentedly, picking up the trash can. "If we get caught on camera, netizens will just say we're incompetent and furious."

"What do you mean? Who's incompetent?" Xiao Wei was so angry he couldn't vent his anger, so he could only be aggressive. "If you're capable, then just fight! You're not initiating a teamfight, you're not supporting, it's like you're just playing solo in the top lane."

"I was playing a single-player game, at least I didn't give up." Changgong was of course unwilling to be criticized, and immediately retorted.

"Can you please stop talking? A female player on the other side got you into this!" LC's captain, Dasheng, yelled, "Who swore before the game that a little girl shouldn't be taken seriously?"

Seeing this, Money quickly interrupted and tried to mediate: "Stop arguing for now, it's just a game. We can still play later. We can make up for the loss we suffered today by finding a chance later."

Seeing everyone quiet down, Money continued, "If we lose a game, netizens will curse us for two days at most. Then when another team loses, they'll go after them. What kind of memories can these netizens have? But that... Qiao Ran, she's different. She's a woman! No matter what, netizens' eyes are always on her."

"Yes! She won the game today and showed off a little bit, and netizens started praising her. But what if she loses next? Or what if she's photographed with some members of their team in a scene that could be easily misunderstood?"

Xiao Wei listened to Money's words and immediately had an idea: "Right, right, right! NSD is smiling smugly now. They definitely can't imagine that Qiao Ran's gender is their time bomb!"

Xiao Wei chuckled sinisterly. "Let's find someone to investigate Qiao Ran's background. She's a good girl from a normal family. Why would her parents agree to her playing games? If she has a falling out with her family over this, we can make a fuss about it..."

The Great Sage frowned upon hearing this. "Are you resorting to these unorthodox methods again? If you have the skills, can't you practice your own techniques more? Targeting a girl like this isn't a bit mean!"

Xiao Wei crossed his legs and said, "I'm only calling you Captain out of respect. Don't take yourself too seriously. Why are you pretending to be a good guy? Were you not involved in Yang Rui's incident back then?"

“That’s because…” The Great Sage choked on the words.

Why? Because of his own selfish motives!

He wanted to win the World Championship before retiring, so he was obsessed with it and agreed to Xiaowei's request for Money to contact Yang Rui.

The day Yang Rui came to his door, he regretted it...

But there is no regret medicine in this world...

What's more, Xiaowei is the son of the club's boss and the local bully in the team. He, as the captain, is useless and means nothing in the eyes of the prince!

"Think carefully before you try anything. Pei Yan is no pushover. He'll let you push his limits again and again." Ah Cheng, who had been pretending to sleep with his hat covering his face, suddenly spoke up. "Pei Yan's hitting me so hard this time is just to settle the score from last time."

"Settling accounts? Haha..." Xiaowei relied on the support of his family and didn't take other people seriously at all.

Except Money.

Money is his lackey, so he only has a slightly good face.

He is like this even to the people in his own team, let alone those in other teams.

"If Pei Yan really had that ability, why would Yang Rui be in such a miserable state now? He can only meet them in competitions and win a couple of games to vent his anger. Can we still meet them every time?"

The Great Sage wanted to say something else, but Acheng pulled him and shook his head.

There's no point in saying it...

The author has something to say:

Pei Yan: How can we make Qiao Ran accept the possibility of recruiting a substitute without any resentment?

Qiao Ran: Yes! That's a good thing! Do you need any help?

Pei Yan: ...

Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution between 2021-12-09 11:26:51 and 2021-12-10 11:53:09~

Thanks to the little angels who cast mines: Tiglath-Palahil 1;

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Sannian, Sixin, and gooddd! 1 bottle;

Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!