Chapter 7 [Can We Still Be Friends? TT]...
"If someone insults me behind my back, and all they can come up with to insult me are 'idiot,' 'little bastard,' and 'big jerk,' then I'd think that person is secretly in love with me. Do you understand?"
Nan Zhiyi lay dejectedly on the table, fiddling with a blue bird feather.
Song Baiyu stood with his hands on his hips, pacing back and forth angrily in front of him.
As he spoke, he almost laughed at himself: "'Little bastard'? Is that an insult? It's like a cat scratching an itch!"
"Do you know where you're going wrong? You're going wrong because you're too polite. Come on, open Stars now, open the gaming section, start a stream on any platform. How many streamers don't use 'parents' a few times during their streams?" Song Baiyu continued his vehement analysis. "And, congratulations, you're extremely unlucky to have caught Yux disappearing from the public eye at such a convenient time. Now his fans are itching to vent their frustration—"
"You Qing told me yesterday that Yux said he was going to retire."
Nan Zhiyi spoke up in a muffled voice.
"—You just walked right into their line of fire, wait, what did you say?" Song Baiyu was clearly still angry and barely managed to stop himself from speaking.
Then, his voice suddenly rose several octaves: "Who wants to retire? Yux??? Who told you that??"
“...You Qing.”
"You...what the hell? Who is that?"
“CG’s new investor,” Nan Zhiyi said. “You should know him, right? He was a guest commentator last year, and he happened to be commentating on your playoff game against HYG.”
Song Baiyu: "...You mean You Qing? The You Qing who acted in 'Falling in Love with You'?"
Nan Zhiyi was a little surprised: "I didn't expect you to like watching these kinds of idol dramas."
"That's what my mom loves to watch! She watched it on TV every day during the Spring Festival," Song Baiyu said angrily. "You Qing, right? I remember him, that pretty handsome male celebrity, the blond guy—a complete idiot!"
"This idiot doesn't understand the game at all! He doesn't even play the game! But he insists on pretending to know everything!! I died protecting the carry, and the coach didn't say anything to me, but he comes out and says that the support is feeding? Can you believe that?!"
"Wait a minute." He paused abruptly. "You mean, CG's new owner told you that Yux doesn't want to play anymore, and wants to retire?"
It seemed he had finally discovered the key to the problem. Nan Zhiyi nodded with satisfaction.
Song Baiyu and he stared at each other, wide-eyed.
"Is he crazy or am I crazy?" After a long while, Song Baiyu said incredulously, "No, buddy, I don't understand. He, Yux, retired? What makes him think he can retire? Is it because he just won the runner-up title last year? Or is it because he's not even 21 yet? No—what makes him think he can retire? If he should retire, then shouldn't I have packed up and found a job in an electronics factory long ago?"
"Absurd!" he exclaimed, slapping his thigh as a final, definitive statement.
“…Actually, what you said makes a lot of sense.” Nan Zhiyi absentmindedly tapped the table with her fingertips. “But the problem is…sigh.”
"If you know him, you'll know that this is something he's really capable of doing."
Song Baiyu looked at him in surprise: "What is it?"
"So," Nan Zhi hesitated, then said, "a fight to the death?"
"...Who is he going to fight to the death with? Yu Qing?" Song Baiyu asked, puzzled. "I know that CG's management seems to have some problems. I knew it when my brother suddenly said he was going to retire... But at least my brother's career had a sharp decline back then. Yux played fine all year last year, even in that BO5 final."
"Is it really necessary for them to push their core player, who has no real problems, to the point of wanting to retire?"
"Probably," Nan Zhiyi said softly. "Do you know that many celebrities use stage names when they debut?"
The topic changed so quickly that Song Baiyu couldn't keep up with his train of thought for a moment: "Why did you suddenly bring this up?"
“‘You Qing’ is just a stage name. His real name is You. You know which one I’m talking about…” Meeting Song Baiyu’s increasingly shocked gaze, Nan Zhiyi nodded, “Yes, he and Yux are brothers. Blood brothers.”
After thinking for a moment, he added: "Half-siblings."
Song Baiyu slowly opened his mouth wide, then slowly closed it again. From his eyes, Nan Zhiyi could sense that he had already imagined eight words: The struggle for the crown prince has always been like this.
"Okay. If that's the case, I think I can understand why you're angry." Song Baiyu finally said, "Even if you're going to retire gracefully, this isn't how you do it. If this team isn't working out, just switch to another one. Who just disappears at their peak? What do you take your fans for? Honestly, I think you didn't scold me enough. No, it's not even scolding. You're just disappointed in me and got carried away for a moment."
Nan Zhiyi didn't speak. The blue bird feather fell to the ground as he fiddled with it.
Seeing his expression, Song Baiyu suddenly felt a bit disappointed in him.
Nan Zhiyi's unfortunate video is being reposted by ten marketing accounts every second, and fans of both sides are about to go crazy. But at this moment, what she cares about most is not "who is the person who filmed it" or "what should I do now", but "is Yux really going to retire?"
When I liked CG.Nova back then, I wasn't this fanatical, was I?
It's as if the moment you come into contact with anything related to the other person, your mind automatically flies out of your head and ceases to exist.
Song Baiyu suddenly remembered some strange comments he had seen on Weibo earlier that day.
For example, why does Angel Yi get so shy when Yux is mentioned? I don't remember him being like that.
Another person replied: "[If you remember correctly, back in the day he lost a competition and had to recite the opening lines of thirty of his own fanfictions on Truth or Dare without even blinking.]"
[My heart sank before his live stream yesterday, but I was completely revived afterward, okay? Who reacts like that when they see their own exposé video?]
He just happened to enjoy it, even in the chaos; he still loves it too much.
As a gossip enthusiast, he was well aware of what they were talking about.
You know what, it actually does seem to have that kind of meaning?
But... that's unlikely.
If there really was something going on, Song Baiyu, as the other party's best friend and roeCN's number one gossip king, wouldn't be completely unaware of it.
He did know that Nan Zhiyi had a first love that ended without a trace, and although he had pressed her several times about it, she refused to talk about it much. From the few words she spoke, Song Baiyu guessed that it was a relationship from their student days, and Nan Zhiyi described it as, "We were all so immature back then, it was all too childish."
Song Baiyu agreed wholeheartedly, recalling how he had played the role of a "concubine" for his deskmate when he was in elementary school.
He thought to himself, shook his head, and tried to shake these strange comments out of his head.
"So what are you planning to do now? Clarify? Apologize?" Song Baiyu asked. "Say, 'Because someone told me that Yux wanted to retire, I was too angry and drunk, so I spoke without thinking'?"
Nan Zhiyi glanced at him silently.
Clearly, if he had actually said that, the problem would have been far more complicated than it is now.
There is no solution.
Finally, Nan Zhiyi leaned back in her chair, closed her eyes, and rubbed her temples.
“I want to take a break for a while,” he said.
"Alright then, you guys don't have any training assignments anyway. Frankly, this can only be handled quietly." Song Baiyu sighed. "How are you planning to rest? Go on a trip or something?"
Nan Zhiyi thought for a moment: "Go out for a walk, write my thesis? I'm graduating in a few months."
Song Baiyu had just taken a sip of water, and now he almost spat it out.
"Damn it, I forgot you were still in college." He wiped his mouth. "There's nothing we can do. Our entire WD team can't even scrape together a single high school diploma."
Nan Zhiyi finally showed her first smile of the day.
Song Baiyu patted his head: "This is actually quite easy to handle—I see my brother has been quite free lately, I'll ask him if he's free to take you out for a while, you can just think of it as going out to relax."
"Listen to my advice, okay? This matter actually has nothing to do with you. Stop thinking about your lewd affairs."
-
True to his word, Song Baiyu contacted Song Meng for Nan Zhiyi, bought him a plane ticket, and even booked a ride-hailing service to take him to the airport. He repeatedly reminded him to bring all kinds of documents, acting as if he were about to start working the next day, transforming into Nan Zhiyi's personal nanny.
Before setting off, Nan Zhiyi handed over all his various platform accounts to Sister Li, who managed them with her professional team. He also attached a self-written apology statement, which expressed his remorse for his drunken slip of the tongue and the hurt he caused to others.
Sister Li didn't blame him too much. She sent him a text message, telling him to rest well, adjust his mood, and not to pay attention to the rumors online.
Exiting the conversation with Sister Li, Nan Zhiyi unconsciously swiped down the text message interface.
He rarely chatted with people via text message. So, he quickly found a chat window with someone whose contact name was "[Blue Heart]" among a bunch of spam text messages.
Nan Zhiyi clicked into the chat box.
Their last conversation was three years ago.
【January 31st 00:00】
[Me: Happy Chinese New Year! Thank you to all my friends who have been with me along the way. May the new year bring us even more joy and success, and may we all welcome a brighter tomorrow together! Wishing everyone a happy Chinese New Year and all your wishes come true!]
【January 31, 12:14】
[Blue Heart]: Happy New Year.
The last conversation took place not long after this one.
【February 21, 02:36】
Me: Can we still be friends? TT
The text message was scrolled to the bottom, and the phone vibrated slightly.
Like a tiny pebble thrown into a pool, it sinks to the bottom before it can even create ripples.
...
Nan Zhiyi's trip to clear her mind did not go smoothly.
After the plane landed, he turned on roaming and quickly received his first bad news.
[Meng: Sorry, Xiaoyi, there's a problem with my car.]
[Meng: The road broke down]
[Meng: [Image]]
[Meng: I'm in the middle of nowhere, and you can't get a taxi. Here's an address, take a taxi to this place...]
Once outside the airport, Nan Zhiyi took the address given to her by Song Meng and hailed an Uber.
After finally arriving at his destination, he got off the bus with his suitcase, only to suddenly feel as if something was missing from his pocket.
Upon reaching out, I discovered that the spot where my ID bag had been was now empty.
Nan Zhiyi: "..."
Suddenly found herself undocumented on the streets of a foreign country, Nan Zhiyi had no choice but to send Song Meng a WeChat message: "My bag is missing. It must have been stolen before I boarded the train. My documents are still inside. [crying.jpg]"
Song Meng replied immediately.
[Meng: Don't worry, send me your location again, and I'll have a friend pick you up in a bit.]
[Little Yi: Thank you, Meng Ge]
Nan Zhiyi opened "Send Location," zoomed in on the map, and carefully studied how to clearly describe her location.
Just then.
With a "whoosh" sound.
—Nan Zhiyi only had time to see a dark shadow flash past her and feel the immense force coming from her hand.
By the time he realized his phone had been stolen, the uninvited guest, dressed even more conservatively than him, had already ridden away on a black bicycle at a speed Nan Zhiyi had never seen before.
Nan Zhiyi: "..."
This year... doesn't seem to be... his year of birth sign...
The first month of the lunar calendar has barely begun, and we've already suffered so many calamities...
Nan Zhiyi stood on the street, dragging her tiny 20-inch suitcase, looking completely bewildered. For the first time in her life, she felt that her very survival was in question.
He is now an undocumented, penniless man from the primitive era.
They hadn't even had time to send the location to Song Meng yet.
He could only hope that the location where the driver dropped him off was not far from the location Song Meng had sent him. He dared not move around anymore, so he dragged his suitcase to the side of the road, found a place to squat down, and obediently waited for someone to come and rescue him.
I had only been squatting for a short while when I heard a "ding" sound in front of me.
Nan Zhiyi looked up and noticed a coin had been thrown on the ground in front of her.
"…………"
Surely I don't deserve to be mistaken for a beggar!
"Sigh." He buried his head in his arms, feeling a little dejected, and wondered what the chances were of him sleeping on the streets tonight if Song Meng didn't find him.
After a while, Nan Zhiyi felt someone stop in front of her again.
"..." I don't think I'll have to toss him a coin, do I?
Unable to communicate with the other party, Nan Zhiyi simply buried her head, closed her eyes, and pretended to be dead without moving.
But the other party did not leave for a long time.
Of course, they didn't throw anything in front of him either.
A long time passed.
"Nan Zhiyi?" the person standing in front of him called out uncertainly.
Nan Zhiyi was startled when she first heard her own name.
But then he realized an even more terrifying problem—
The voice was so familiar to him that it was almost frightening.
Nan Zhiyi looked up and saw You Xin, dressed in a black hoodie and jeans, looking like a high school student passing by after class, standing not far in front of him, even holding a book in his arms.
For the first time, Nan Zhiyi saw a look of surprise on the other person's face, a face that had never changed its expression over the years.
It felt like an entire century had passed.
In reality, You Xin quickly concealed his surprise.
"Have you had dinner?" He leaned forward slightly and asked casually, "Are you hungry?"
It was as if the person in front of him at this moment was not his first love and ex-boyfriend, whom he had never spoken to or seen again after their breakup.
A note from the author:
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The next chapter will be updated at 12 PM on September 11th (the day after tomorrow). Because I need to control the word count, I'll be taking a one-day break, and I'll update earlier the following day.
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