Chapter 41 "Who told you that Yux and I..."
Back in the lounge, Nan Zhiyi learned that Lao Xu had also come to the event today.
At that moment, Xiaoyu was clutching the corner of his team uniform with his fingers, asking himself with anticipation how he had performed that day and whether he had said anything wrong during the interview. You Xin, who had been lazily lounging on the sofa playing on his phone, saw this and put his phone away, jumped up, and asked the same question in a similar manner, his face clearly saying "I want praise."
Before Nan Zhiyi could speak, a voice suddenly came from the doorway behind her: "What are you all doing here? Is the kindergarten holding a commendation ceremony?"
As Lao Xu walked over, he turned off his phone, which was still displaying the call log, and put it in his pocket. He reached out and patted Nan Zhiyi on the shoulder: "Not bad, Xiaoyi, you made it to the finals on your first time leading a team. I heard that some training groups want to learn from you."
"Brother Xu?" Nan Zhiyi asked in surprise, "What brings you here?"
"I came over when you were interviewing me, and I just went out to answer a phone call."
"...I mean, why did you suddenly start watching the streamer's cup?"
"I just happened to have a day off today, so I came to see you." Old Xu put on a bright smile.
"Wow, really? Look at me?" Nan Zhiyi glanced to the side. "Or are you here to see him?"
You Xin stood to the side with an innocent expression.
Old Xu: "..."
Old Xu was caught red-handed and laughed awkwardly twice: "Oh, Xiao Yi, you're making it sound like I'm some kind of scheming person—I'm here to see you today! What? You didn't see me on stage, did you? Go online and search for me later; I even held up a sign for you! There will definitely be pictures!"
"I was just kidding." Nan Zhiyi chuckled, then became serious again. He lowered his voice slightly, "Are you really going to contact Yux? Seriously? You don't want your team's main DPS anymore?"
“There are so many people who want to get in touch with Xiaoyou now, so I’m taking advantage of this opportunity.” Seeing him lay his cards on the table, Lao Xu stopped pretending this time. “Our team… this is a bit complicated, I’ll talk to Xiaoyou about it in detail later. Don’t worry, we’re not like those old bastards at CG, we buy players with sincerity, we don’t buy players and then put them on the bench.”
Nan Zhiyi nodded: "Yes, I believe you."
"How about we grab a bite to eat later? It's on me. Does everyone have any other plans?" Old Xu looked around, and the others shook their heads. "Okay, it's settled then."
As he spoke, his gaze darted around and landed on the little fish: "Oh, right, I don't know this little friend yet."
Nan Zhiyi pushed Xiaoyu in front of him: "Xiaoyu, he's just sixteen this year. He used to be a streamer on Stars, he's a very obedient kid."
Little Fish obediently greeted him, "Hello, Brother Xu."
"Hello, hello." Old Xu gave him a friendly smile, then thoughtfully stroked the stubble that had just sprouted on his chin. "I watched your match today, and you played really well—hey, Xiaoyu, have you ever considered joining our HYG youth training camp?"
Little Fish immediately looked flattered and surprised: "I...can I?"
"..." Nan Zhiyi chuckled, "You came here to buy goods today, right?!"
-
Old Xu drove over; the car could have just fit five people.
However, when they reached the parking lot, they could hear a quiet argument coming from around the corner.
Old Xu, thinking that he might as well take a look since there was something to see, went over out of curiosity. He was surprised to recognize them: "Hey, Xiao Shi? What are you two doing here?"
Nan Zhiyi followed and found that the two arguing in the parking lot were actually Song Shi and Qiu Cheng.
Song Shi clearly recognized Lao Xu: "Brother Xu? What are you doing here?"
"I'm off today, nothing to do, so I came to watch Xiaoyi's match." Old Xu chuckled, using Nan Zhiyi as a shield, then turned to Qiu Cheng, "Hey, you...you're that..."
Qiu Cheng recognized the HYG club manager: "Hello, Brother Xu, I am..."
"Oh, I've seen you before. You're Xiaoyi's good friend, right?" Old Xu seemed unaware of the twists and turns in the online controversy. He slapped his forehead. "We were just about to go eat. Why don't you and Xiaoyi come along too?"
Qiu Cheng was taken aback.
He agreed: "...Okay, thank you, Brother Xu."
Old Xu was unaware that his actions had seriously crossed a line for someone on the field. You Xin struck that pose again, arms crossed, but said nothing. After all, the other person was a senior figure in the industry, his mentor in his career, and also known for being warm, hospitable, and having a good reputation for frequently hosting large groups for meals.
The number of people at the dinner party suddenly increased from five to seven, and one car was clearly no longer enough. Old Xu called another car, and as the driver pulled into the parking lot, he instructed, "Xiao Meng, Xiao Yu, and Xiao You, the three of you can take this car. The rest of you can take my car."
The two people who were called out earlier had no objections, but You Xin immediately objected: "No way, I want to ride in the same car as Nan Zhiyi."
"?" Old Xu looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Are you a primary school student? You need to hold hands to go to the toilet? It's only a ten-minute walk!"
He opened the car door and gave You Xin a push on the back: "Go, go, get in the car! Stop dawdling."
You Xin reluctantly got into the passenger seat.
Old Xu pushed hard, and the car door slammed shut. He turned to Nan Zhiyi and complained, "How old are you? Why are you still so clingy? How childish!"
“…He’s always been like this,” Nan Zhiyi said helplessly.
Old Xu thought for a moment and said, "It really is true. I remember he was very attached to you back when we were in youth training. Once, I invited him out to dinner, which was organized by the CG management team. But you had gastroenteritis that day and couldn't go. When he heard that you weren't going, he refused to go either, no matter what I said! That stubborn temper of his."
Nan Zhiyi was about to reply when she suddenly remembered something and froze.
Sure enough, the next moment, he heard Qiu Cheng speak up behind him, his voice full of confusion: "Youth training? What does youth training mean?"
Old Xu looked at him like he was an idiot: "So, it means exactly what it says? Youth training, youth training."
Then he noticed that Song Shi was also full of surprise. He said "Oh" and explained, "Xiao Yi used to work for me, quite a few years ago, when I was still coaching the youth team at CG. He was doing really well back then, the top support player by a wide margin. It's just a pity that later—what? Did he never tell you guys about this?"
-
On this day, Nan Zhiyi finally found the "second biggest sieve" in the world, second only to Song Baiyu, the "number one sieve".
Within ten minutes of arriving at the hot pot restaurant, everyone at the table had already learned from Lao Xu about his three-month stint in CG's youth training program, how he was recruited along with Yux, and even the embarrassing story of how he had performed poorly for three consecutive days and ended up secretly crying in the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, Nan Zhiyi had to face Xiaoyu's bright, ardent, and admiring gaze.
"CG training!" Xiaoyu said admiringly. "I sent them my resume before, but they didn't want me..."
Among the ten clubs in the league, CG's youth training is known for its strictness. They only select the best prospects, and after training the promising young players, they only select the best to enter their second team. The rest are all sold to other clubs, making a profit from the transfer fees.
Those who manage to stay with their team must possess some exceptional talent. CG.Yux is a prime example.
"Yi-ge, you're really amazing. No wonder you understand the game so well. It's just... such a pity," Xiaoyu murmured. "If you had chosen to stay back then, you and You-ge would definitely have been the strongest rookie duo that year!"
You Xin didn't say anything, silently simmering a piece of mutton in the small pot in front of him—Old Xu had brought them here for a hot pot buffet. After all, given You Xin's personality, the thought of him eating a whole pot of hot pot with strangers made him think he might jump into the Huangpu River right now.
Nan Zhiyi smiled helplessly: "There aren't that many 'what ifs'."
He paused, then added, "Even if they had stayed back then, they should be playing for WD now. They're the only ones looking for support players in our year."
“Oh right.” Little Fish seemed to remember something. “The assistant for CG is Wind.”
That's the little prince of their team.
“That’s not necessarily true,” Old Xu suddenly interjected. “Actually, Xiao Yi, if you had chosen to stay back then, I heard, I heard—the top management actually had the idea of replacing Wind with you.”
She paused, then added quietly, "He hadn't hooked up with that person yet back then."
As soon as he said this, everyone in the private room turned to look at him.
Old Xu shrugged again, skipping over the topic of "partner": "Later, after you left, they saw that Bai Yu was the number one support, so they told me they didn't want him anymore and moved him to the draft camp."
Clubs often send players they're willing to trade to draft camps, and other clubs that aren't good at developing new talent then buy players from those camps. As for players like Yux, whom they want to keep for themselves, they wouldn't even let the rumor of him being put on the transfer list spread.
Song Meng laughed after hearing this: "Brother Xu, if my brother heard what you said, he would be so angry that he wouldn't be able to eat for days."
"We might 'accidentally' reveal a few big news stories about CG during the transfer period," Nan Zhiyi added.
After he finished speaking, they all laughed.
"That……"
At that moment, someone spoke up from the corner.
Nan Zhiyi turned her gaze and found that it was Song Shi who had spoken, who had kept a straight face and hadn't said much since he came in. His face was a little pale, and he was gripping his chopsticks tightly.
"Since you had such good results back then, why didn't you stay and play professionally? Why did you come back to be a streamer?" he asked with some difficulty.
Song Shi was a player who was eliminated from a professional team. During the season when he played as the secondary carry for HYG's second team, the team's performance in the secondary league was almost at the bottom. However, after a rookie player was brought in, the team immediately improved.
"No teams want me in the secondary leagues, so I have to go home and become a streamer" has always been a deep-seated problem for Song Shi. He's usually a guy who can chat with others in his streams and argue with the chat for ages without batting an eye, but as soon as someone mentions this topic, he immediately turns on his face and sends them a permanent ban.
So everyone in the room turned to look at Nan Zhiyi.
"Uh... well." Nan Zhiyi put down her chopsticks.
He gently moved his right wrist, then raised it and lightly tapped it with his left hand. A faint scar was visible between his wrist and palm.
"My hands... aren't very good."
"Not good?" Xiaoyu immediately asked, then hesitated, as if she had said something wrong.
“Yes, I fractured my bone when I was little. It didn’t heal properly at the time and later caused complications.” Nan Zhiyi met his gaze and smiled frankly. “It happened when I was in elementary school. My mother was a bit fierce back then, so I was afraid to tell her… Thinking about it now, it was pretty silly.”
Little Fish looked at him worriedly: "A fracture? What happened?"
Nan Zhiyi paused for a moment, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Qiu Cheng, who hadn't said a word since getting into the car, looking at him: "He broke it."
"It's not that serious." He picked up his chopsticks from the plate again. "It's just that I can't train too intensely, or I'll easily get a relapse. Playing a few games a day is fine."
Old Xu shook his head and sighed, "I remember that day, it was the day before the final competition, right? You practiced for 14 hours straight, and in the end you couldn't even lift your arm! It scared me to death! I called 120 and had you taken to the hospital!"
Nan Zhiyi looked at him innocently: "Calling an ambulance was a bit of an overreaction. The whole base came out to see what was going on... People who didn't know better would have thought I was going to die."
"You said your hands were numb a couple of days ago, and I told you to practice less and rest, but you wouldn't listen!" Old Xu clearly hadn't heard a word he said. "Now look what happened, the competition didn't even happen. And then there's this guy on the team who's even more stubborn. As soon as he heard you weren't playing, hey, he didn't want to play either! You two are like devils, living devils! You two have tormented me to death."
Nan Zhiyi coughed and said softly, "I'm sorry."
The other party involved didn't react at all. You Xin seemed to be fixated on the abalone on his plate, completely ignoring Lao Xu's complaints.
The little fish slowly opened its mouth wide, then closed it again.
"No wonder you only play practice matches with us, Yi-ge," he said. "I've noticed you rarely play ranked games..."
“He’s more useful even if he doesn’t play ranked matches than some people who play a hundred.” You Xin stabbed the abalone with his chopsticks and blurted out a sentence out of the blue.
The two men in the private room, who had just been swept 3-0, immediately looked even more disgusted.
“If that’s the case, then Brother Yi really is…” Xiaoyu struggled to dig through his limited vocabulary, “a brilliant talent who died young.”
Nan Zhiyi: "..."
“That’s called ‘the heavens are jealous of talent,’” Song Meng reminded him. “Xiao Yi isn’t dead yet.”
"Oh, right!" Little Fish blushed. "I'm sorry."
-
Although no one at the table suggested drinking today—there was a minor, two people who had just lost a game and were in a bad mood, and a middle-aged man suffering from gout—Old Xu still symbolically ordered a few bottles of beer.
Whether it was because of the previous topic or something else, Nan Zhiyi stared at the wine bottle and suddenly felt a little restless.
Finally, he took a bottle and only drank most of it, being very restrained. Nan Zhiyi knew his own alcohol tolerance: the time before last, he got drunk and made some crazy remarks that were filmed; the last time he woke up, he found himself lying in the same bed with You Xin and had a complete mental blank, knowing nothing about what had happened the night before, which scared him so much that he almost jumped three feet high on the spot.
Nevertheless, as the event drew to a close, he still felt slightly dizzy, so he stood up and said, "I'm going to the restroom."
Nan Zhiyi bowed in front of the sink, scooped up a handful of water and splashed it on her face, wetting a few strands of her hair.
His fingers slid down his face as he stared at his own eyes in the mirror, looking at his face, which was wet from his brow to his eyelashes. For no reason, he recalled last winter when he bumped into You Xin backstage at the finals, whose hair was still dripping wet.
That was, in fact, their first meeting in recent years.
The conversation at the dinner table kept echoing in his mind.
if……
If I hadn't been injured and hadn't withdrawn from that training session back then...
Could it be yux and himself standing on the final stage?
Will the outcome of that day be different from what I expected?
Long, long ago, he also fantasized about standing on the highest podium, side by side with his best friends and loved ones, raising the silver trophy high.
A deafening roar of cheers erupted from the audience, and golden rain showered upon them. They embraced tightly, and everyone offered their heartfelt congratulations.
Unfortunately, as he himself said, there aren't that many "what ifs" in this world.
There are too many regrets.
Nan Zhiyi blinked, and a drop of water hanging on his eyelashes fell down and landed on the back of his hand.
He snapped out of his reverie, shook his head, and felt himself becoming a little more sober. He then got up and prepared to return to the private room.
When I turned around, I found that there was another person behind me.
Qiu Cheng had been standing at the door for an unknown amount of time. He stood there, his arms hanging straight at his sides, his head slightly lowered, motionless, showing no intention of going out or coming in.
Nan Zhiyi glanced at him but didn't say anything. He grabbed a tissue to wipe his hands and tried to squeeze past Qiu Cheng.
"Wait...wait a minute."
Qiu Cheng spoke. He hadn't spoken for a while, and his voice was a little hoarse.
Nan Zhiyi stopped in her tracks.
"Why have you never mentioned that you used to play in CG's youth training program?" he heard Qiu Cheng ask him from behind. "And with Yux, no less?"
Perhaps due to the alcohol, Nan Zhiyi's emotions seemed to be amplified. Normally, he would have pretended not to hear and simply walked away without looking back.
But now he turned around: "Why should I say that?"
Nan Zhiyi looked directly into the other person's eyes.
Qiu Cheng paused for a moment, then avoided his gaze: "I thought we were friends. Before, back then..."
Nan Zhiyi hummed in response: "Then what do you think a friend is?"
Qiu Cheng: "Like you and Yux."
"What about us?"
"..." Qiu Cheng gritted his teeth, "I invited you to participate in the Juxing Cup, and you said you wouldn't participate, but then you teamed up with him; the guild wanted you to do some promotion with me to gain fans, but you refused, saying it would interrupt your live stream, but then you did such a... intimate live stream with him. I only found out today that you actually participated in CG's youth training program. I never knew you could play games at a professional level. Were you pretending to be bad when you duo queued with me before?"
“I’ve been thinking about this for the past few days. Nam Ji-yi, sometimes I feel like I’ve never really known you all these years.”
"It seems like you'd do anything for him. You'd go to youth training with him, but you wouldn't even tell me you went to youth training yourself."
After the group stage of the Juxing Cup, Qiu Cheng carefully watched the post-match videos of the Angels team and also read some technical commentary bloggers' recaps.
Their evaluations and his entire understanding of the game told him that the person controlling this character behind the scenes had a far greater understanding of the game than anyone else present in the competition. Although his skills were often flawed and he couldn't reach the level of another top professional player on the team, his understanding of the game alone was enough to easily lead the team to crush all their opponents in the Juxing Cup.
Moreover, the flaws in the operation itself do not outweigh the merits. Even without mentioning the league, it is more than enough to play a single game in a top 100 ranked match.
His memories of Nan Zhiyi, however, were still stuck in those chaotic Platinum-level games.
As Qiu Cheng watched the video of those incredibly familiar characters—elementalists, priests, hunters—moving effortlessly across the battlefield, he felt as if he had never actually met them before.
—And now, everything finally has an answer.
Nan Zhiyi listened for a while, then looked thoughtful.
After a while, he chuckled.
"Who told you that Yux and I are just friends?" Nan Zhiyi crossed her arms and looked at him with glee.
Qiu Cheng was taken aback: "...What do you mean? You...?"
In an instant, his mind raced. Countless memories surfaced: those things that had seemed strange to him, Yux's inexplicable hostility, the times they ate together and Yux was suddenly called away halfway through the meal by a phone call, the sudden argument and breakup without explanation, the fact that he still kept tabs on Yux's activities even after they had been separated for a long time, and every instance of almost irrational attempts to protect him…
His eyes widened in disbelief. "You wouldn't...you're going to say you're...?"
"Are you going to say that homosexuality is disgusting or something else?" Nan Zhiyi said softly. "It's okay, don't worry. Even if I were gay, I would only have liked one person."
“No.” Qiu Cheng looked a little surprised, but he quickly forced himself to calm down. He raised a hand. “No, that’s not what I meant…”
"Then why do I like him?" Nan Zhiyi continued, as if she hadn't heard him. "Probably because he doesn't get jealous of me just because my grades are better than his, or think that I'm 'condescendingly criticizing him' by not letting him hang out with his 'friends in the underworld'."
"It's probably because he's good at the game and can win two FMVP awards in the league a year. He won't see that someone's account has six Asia server badges and assume that the person must have hired a booster."
"It's probably because he's quite interested in being a live streamer. He never thought that being a technical streamer was more noble than being an entertainment streamer, and he didn't think that being an entertainment streamer just required being good-looking and selling your face. Instead, he helped me come up with video ideas and accompanied me to record them."
"Don't you think he has a lot of good qualities?" Nan Zhiyi stood there, smiling as she looked at the other person.
With each word he spoke, Qiu Cheng's face grew paler. By the end, his once sharp features had completely faded.
Qiu Cheng hung his head. He opened his mouth, then said dejectedly, "Everything you've said is wrong..."
Nan Zhiyi stared intently at the person in front of her who seemed to be regretting his past actions.
“But it’s too late, isn’t it?” he said. “You’ve gone too far.”
Upon hearing this, Qiu Cheng shook his head violently.
“No, no…” He took a step forward and reached out his hand, as if to grab Nan Zhiyi’s sleeve.
A soft sneer suddenly rang out from around the corner.
The two of them turned around at the same time.
You Xin stood empty-handed not far from them, leaning lazily against the corner of the wall, his body in a very casual, attentive posture.
For some reason, he seemed to be in a good mood now. At least much better than when he was silently poking at the seafood by himself earlier.
Qiu Cheng immediately remembered something. He looked at the other person, then at Nan Zhiyi, and quickly withdrew his hand.
As for Nan Zhiyi... he felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over his head, and the dizziness he had just felt from the alcohol instantly vanished.
Heaven above.
What did he just say?
Did he just say... "Why I like him again"?
You Xin's scrutinizing gaze swept lightly over the two people.
"Brother Xu paid the bill," he said after a moment. "He asked where you guys went."
"Oh...oh," Qiu Cheng responded blankly, "I'll head back now."
He lowered his head and hurriedly squeezed past You Xin.
The narrow corridor was suddenly left with only Nan Zhiyi and You Xin.
"..."
Nan Zhiyi was now fully awake. He looked up at the other person, forced a dry smile, and tried to find evidence on the other person's face that he had only been there a short time and had not heard a single word of their conversation, especially his own words.
"Um," he tentatively began, "shall we go back? Brother Xu and the others are still waiting..."
Nan Zhiyi took a small step forward.
You Xin stood motionless at the corner, like a mountain blocking the way.
"Before you leave," he tilted his head, speaking with a hint of inquiry, "don't you have anything you want to say to me?"
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