Chapter 50: Jinjiang Novel Reading Exclusive is not good. ...
LEO: “?”
LEO: "What's wrong with him?"
Jiang Yuan opened his mouth and said, "...I don't know. Maybe you said something bad about our captain."
LEO: “?”
Didn't he just praise the SFD captain's charisma?
"Xiao Tiantian is a die-hard fan of Lu Shen." Matt said, "If you talk about Lu Shen's private matters, be careful that he will punch you."
LEO: “…”
Jiang Yuan wouldn't be surprised if LEO, who always gossips about others, got beaten up one day. He glanced in the direction Shi Jing was walking and suddenly remembered.
That's not right.
Everyone else was upstairs, and the training room arranged for them by the competition team was also on this floor. Only Brother Lu and his father were downstairs.
Sweet is a teammate. He went downstairs to...join the conversation between Lu Zhiye and his father?
A bit weird, right?
Shi Jing didn't know what he was doing.
Hearing what Leo said, he felt an inexplicable irritation. When the elevator reached the first floor and the door opened, he saw a group of people waiting in front of him, and then he realized what was going on.
Oh shit.
What was he running down for?
It’s not like I don’t know the character of those people in LA.
This club, from the manager and coach to the players, all are there to watch the fun and make trouble.
Rather than playing games and winning results, they are more interested in finding out the gossip in the e-sports circle, like some kind of mysterious intelligence agency.
He never bothered to pay attention to those groundless discussions. At most, if he encountered someone who jumped in his way during the ranking match, he would beat them up until they dared not to scream anymore.
The person LEO was talking about just now was Lu Zhiye.
It's someone else's family affair and privacy, why is he so angry here?
In a few minutes, the elevator had returned to the upper floor, and a group of people squeezed in from behind, blocking his way back. Shi Jing stood in the middle of the lobby on the first floor of the hotel and easily spotted Lu Zhiye in the coffee shop without any effort.
And a middle-aged man sitting opposite him.
LEO's words really gave people plenty of room for imagination. On the way downstairs, Shi Jing had imagined all the bad situations. Now, he saw that the scene in the cafe did not match any of his assumptions.
There were no difficult scenes.
“…” Shi Jing stood outside and looked through the glass wall between the lobby and the cafe.
The middle-aged man had his back to him. He looked dressed in a suit, but his hairstyle didn't quite match his clothes. His pants were also much shorter, and his leather shoes... were showing signs of tearing.
But overall, he is a decent person.
Not to mention Lu Zhiye.
He always looks the same wherever he sits, straight and upright like a model of good manners.
As long as there is no trouble.
Shi Jing had a tense face, but he breathed a sigh of relief without even realizing it.
Grass.
After all, he is Lu Zhiye's father.
What trouble could you encounter?
Not every family is as bad as his.
I'm really thinking too much.
Shi Jing's expression became even more depressed.
Suddenly, he noticed that Lu Zhiye's expression was different from usual.
Is it an illusion?
Although Lu Zhiye had an emotionless face most of the time, Shi Jing could read a hint of indifference and displeasure in his eyes at this moment.
Are you unhappy to see your dad?
Before he could think any more, the person on the other side of the glass wall suddenly raised his head—
He made eye contact with Shi Jing who was observing secretly.
Shi Jing: “.”
Shi Jing confirmed that it was his illusion.
Across most of the coffee shop, across several tables of different people, those black eyes fell straight on him.
There was no displeasure or indifference at all.
Apart from the initial confusion, Lu Zhiye's eyes were exactly the same as when he usually stared at him with his eyes downcast, asking for a beating.
What are you looking at?
Still watching?
Lu Zhiye's father was still talking to him, but the former had no intention of listening at all, and his eyes were fixed on Shi Jing.
After a moment, Shi Jing read doubt in his eyes.
Why are you here?
none of your business.
It's not because of you anyway.
He turned his face away, put his hands in his coat pockets, and walked a few steps as if nothing had happened, as if he had accidentally discovered that there was a store here, and pushed open the door without any sign of performance.
"A cup of espresso." Shi Jing said to the salesperson after casually flipping through the menu.
The salesperson was very professional: "Okay, do you want to drink here or take away?"
"Take him away." Shi Jing turned his back to Lu Zhiye the whole time, ignoring the burning gaze behind him.
It was unclear whether the coffee was freshly brewed or instant, but a cup was brought out in no time, not even as high as his palm.
"Sweet?" Shi Jing walked out of the coffee shop and someone called him, "Why are you buying coffee here?"
He almost spilled his coffee because of a shake in his hand.
It’s Coach Wan.
He went out to buy some things, and when he came back he felt that the young man in front of the coffee shop was acting sneaky and had a strong sense of stealing.
When he looked again, he saw that it was his team member.
Shi Jing felt relieved when he saw it was him, and started to make up a story: "I'm a little sleepy, just bought something to drink."
"There's a coffee machine in the breakfast room upstairs, and they use freshly ground coffee beans. It's much better than what this shop sells." Coach Wan is a coffee connoisseur and can tell the quality of coffee just by sniffing it. "This shop is just trying to scam the wealthy guests who come to stay at the hotel. Their coffee is instant, with non-dairy creamer, and they charge several times the price."
"..." Shi Jing thought to himself that the man in the store was not a stupid rich man.
No, then what does it matter if he bought the coffee?
For half a second, his face remained blank: "Nothing, I just suddenly felt like spending some money."
Coach Wan: “…”
You were really sudden.
"It's ok, shall we go upstairs?" He didn't look towards the coffee shop, nor did he notice Lu Zhiye sitting on the inside. He patted Shi Jing and said, "Don't be nervous about the double row tonight. If you are nervous, I will tell you the details."
Inside the coffee shop, Lu Zhiye watched the young man push the door open with ten small movements per second, avoiding eye contact the whole time, buying a cup of coffee with his back to him, and then being caught by the coach when he went out.
To avoid embarrassment, he took a small sip.
The next second, his whole face wrinkled with pain.
"Xiao Lu, it's not that Dad insisted on doing things this way. Dad had no choice at the time... If I had more money back then..." The middle-aged man sitting opposite Lu Zhiye sighed awkwardly.
Before I could start to say what I was going to say, I realized that the person sitting opposite me hadn't responded for a long time.
The man looked up and saw Lu Zhiye looking behind him. He didn't know what he saw, but a smile seemed to flash in his eyes.
It had been an unknown amount of time since he had seen him show any emotion other than indifference in front of him. He was stunned for a few seconds before coming to his senses, turning his head and looking in the same direction.
A group of people had just left the hotel lobby, and now it happened to be empty. Only a middle-aged man and another young man were walking towards the elevator one after the other.
The young man was wearing a jacket with the same letters printed on it as Lu Zhiye's.
"Who is that?" he asked Lu Zhiye.
When he turned back, the smile in Lu Zhiye's eyes had disappeared, as if it was just an illusion.
"It has nothing to do with you." It was unprecedented to hear Lu Zhiye say such rude words without emotion.
The middle-aged man was surprised.
-
After a cup of coffee, Shi Jing was taken upstairs by Coach Wan, who gave him individual tutoring for nearly an hour, explaining the mentality adjustment techniques for double-row matches and the details of various hero operations.
The content was something he was already very familiar with, but Shi Jing couldn't speak. He could only pretend to listen carefully, and from time to time he had to give some feedback and surprise as a newcomer.
Finally, Lu Zhiye came back. Seeing that everyone was there, the SFD public relations team said they wanted to take a few more photos and group photos in the lounge and training room. Only then did Shi Jing feel relieved.
"Come on, stand according to your height. The tall ones should stand at the back. Everyone should stand closer together, otherwise the photos won't look good." I have to say that the SFD team is very professional in every aspect. The photographer arranged people's positions right from the start, and there were two people standing by to help with fill light.
After the words fell, Matt and Jiang Yuan looked at each other and took two steps back at the same time.
"What are you two doing standing in the back?" the fat manager waved at them. "Didn't they say tall people stand in the back?"
Jiang Yuan: “…”
Jiang Yuan: "Manager, I'm already 1.76 meters tall! I grew another two centimeters this year."
"Wait until those two centimeters grow back." The fat manager didn't bother to discuss these trivial matters. "Hurry up and stand forward. Otherwise, if someone blocks half of your face in the photos, will your fans scold me or the person who blocked your view?"
It seems to make sense.
Jiang Yuan glanced at the person in front of him.
Meet Shi Jing's eyes.
Jiang Yuan: “…”
Although Xiao Tiantian is a newcomer, his fans have the same style as him, and each of them is terrifyingly powerful. Jiang Yuan had seen them in the comment section of EVG's video clip and in the comment section of the host named Wa Zai before that.
Feeling that even if ten of his fans were put together, they were not as bad as the other person could scold him, Jiang Yuan coughed lightly and moved back.
"Why doesn't Sweet stand at the back?" Zhou Li'an asked, "He and the captain are both quite tall."
Shi Jing is not as tall as Lu Zhiye, but his height is still enough to crush others when standing among a group of e-sports geeks.
The fat manager put his hands on his hips, very hypocritically: "Of course the two C positions should stand in the middle. There's another row of people squatting in front of you, and the second team will half-crouch at the front. They stand in the middle. Right, right, right, that's it."
When he was pushed to the side of Lu Zhiye and almost stood next to him, he said: "..."
"One, two, three, smile!" The photographer pressed the shutter button quickly.
The positions were arranged and the photo was taken. He looked at it and frowned.
"How is it?" SFD was criticized by fans last year for the poor quality of their game photos. In addition, compared with other clubs, the fat manager paid special attention to it this year.
"There's nothing wrong with the positioning," the photographer thought, stroking his chin. "The color matching of the clothes is fine, and the lighting is even better...but why does it feel like something's not right?"
"Are these two guys standing in the wrong place? I think he is taller than him. They should change positions." The fat manager pointed at Matt and Dunzi.
Matt: “?”
Matt: "Manager, the soles of the shoes he wore today are thicker than mine, and his hair is standing up. That doesn't count!"
"Oh, that's enough. I'm not going to write 'This photo is ranked in order of height' on Weibo. Besides, each of your contestant information is online. If fans want to check it out, they can just search it and see it. What's there to hide..."
"That's different! Just looking at it quietly while someone else is checking it out is different from executing someone on such an important date!"
“…”
The fat manager wanted to say something else, but the photographer clapped his hands and said, "I know!"
Fat manager: “?”
"It's you two, the center position, who aren't smiling." The photographer walked up to Shi Jing and Lu Zhiye and looked at them. "Are you unhappy about playing the game? I heard you have a huge advantage in points, and the championship is almost certain. Why are you so sad? Is there something worrying you?"
Everyone else looked over.
"Sweet, it's great that you can achieve such results just after entering the professional industry. Don't feel pressured and smile." The fat manager squeezed a fake smile at him, and his eyes, which were not big to begin with, were completely squeezed into a line.
Shi Jing pulled the corners of his lips stiffly.
Photographer: “…”
Fat manager: “…”
"Hahahaha!" Jiang Yuan was extremely amused. "Who said a sneer doesn't count as a laugh?"
Shi Jing: “…”
Did he just smile coldly?
"Captain Lu, Master Lu, smile during today's game." Giving up on the newcomer next to him who couldn't smile at all, the photographer turned his gaze to Lu Zhiye.
"Come on, photographer, please don't embarrass Brother Lu." Jiang Yuan had the final say. "Ask the people on our team, when have you ever seen Brother Lu express any emotion, let alone smile?"
Shi Jing was stunned.
Hasn’t Lu Zhiye ever laughed?
Doesn't he laugh easily? And his smile is always so annoying?
"That's true." The photographer had been working here for quite some time and was familiar with Lu Zhiye. Upon hearing this, he gave up without hesitation. "I don't think there's a way in this world that can make your captain laugh."
Shi Jing subconsciously looked up and glanced around him.
He met Lu Zhiye's gaze, which was also looking down at him.
With the professional photography lights on, the shadows between his eyebrows were not as heavy as usual, and his black pupils were not as annoying as they were in the room last night.
Shi Jing suddenly remembered that Lu Zhiye had smiled at him several times... strictly speaking, it was all in private.
When there was no one else around, just the two of them.
He rarely smiled in front of others. For a long time, Shi Jing had mistakenly thought that Lu Zhiye was pretending to be cool with that icy face. But after spending so much time with him recently, he had almost forgotten about it.
Grass.
What should I do then?
You can't say that if he stares at Lu Zhiye for a while, Lu Zhiye will laugh.
This is so fucking weird.
“Click.”
The flash of light flashed by, and Shi Jing turned his head towards the light in a daze.
"I got it, I got it! This one's good. Even though he's not smiling, it looks very natural, and it fits the double breakthrough feeling our manager wants." The photographer happily showed the camera to the fat manager.
"Let me see, I want to see too!"
"Don't push me, I want to see first!"
All the team members rushed over, paying close attention to whether the photos that would be posted on the official Weibo account would match their perfect image.
After a moment, Matt's voice came from the crowd——
"This is great, this is great! The two damage dealers are looking at each other, what a deep brotherhood!"
Shi Jing: “…”
Brothers, love, friendship.
Shi Jing definitely didn't have these words, and he was also sure that there was no such thing in Lu Zhiye's eyes when he looked at him just now.
His eyes were never clear.
"Okay, this one then." Without leaving any room for rebuttal, the fat manager made the final decision with a flushed face. "I'm not sure which club's live photos can compare to ours this time. Those staged photos they have are all fake."
Damn. What a weird desire to win.
Can this club be a little more normal?
All other preparations before the game were completed, and the remaining time was given to the players to rest and ensure the best level for the evening game.
Resting means going back to the room.
The few sips of coffee Shi Jing had just downed could last him for a while. He practiced shooting for a while and thought he would rather go to the courtyard to enjoy the cool breeze.
There were not many people staying in the hotel at noon, and the contestants would not stay outside for long, so I didn’t meet anyone along the way.
Before I reached the destination, I found that the calico cat had also arrived.
The man and the cat looked at each other for a few seconds halfway.
Then the calico cat turned its head and slowly walked towards the banyan tree, wagging its tail.
Shi Jing felt as if he saw disdain on a cat's face.
"?" Following the cat, he was about to continue walking towards the banyan tree -
"Xiao Lu, Dad really had no other choice back then. So much time has passed. No matter how much you hate me, it will only hurt yourself and our father-son relationship. Your mother wouldn't want to see such a scene..."
Shi Jing paused.
You heard it right.
It was the same voice that had spoken to Lu Zhiye in the cafe that morning.
Lu Zhiye's father?
Didn’t he just come to see Lu Zhiye and then leave?
Shi Jing had no habit of listening to other people's privacy. He turned around and prepared to go somewhere else. From a distance, he saw another group of security personnel coming from the opposite direction.
The next second, Lu Zhiye's voice rang out: "How much more do you want?"
In an instant, the fragility and guilt that the middle-aged man had felt just seconds ago disappeared.
"Five million," he said. "The credit limit on the card you just gave me isn't enough, so I'll give you another five million. This is the last time. I swear I won't come to you again. You've played in competitions all these years and inherited so much wealth. This is just a small amount of money to you. Dad will pay you back in the future."
Lu Zhiye: "The family property belongs to my mother."
"Then think of it as doing it for your mother. If she were still alive, she would definitely agree..." The security guard brushed past Shi Jing, carrying a large iron pitchfork to prevent others from getting close. The middle-aged man's voice suddenly stopped, and he shouted again in a timid tone, "What do you mean? You promised it, five million, you promised it! Lu Zhiye!"
Probably because he had sat down and talked with Lu Zhiye in a cafe before, and he was still dressed like that, he was not stopped from entering the hotel this time.
But this does not mean that the security of this level of star-rated hotel is idle.
"Sir, please cooperate, or we will notify the police."
Hearing the word "police", the middle-aged man seemed frightened: "No, don't call the police. He is my son. I just came to talk to him."
"Sir, please cooperate with our work." The security guard was not tactless. Working in a hotel, this kind of scene was probably not the first time he had seen it. He did not slow down his attitude because of his words.
Seeing that it didn't work, the middle-aged man turned around and saw Shi Jing again in the crowd.
After glaring at Lu Zhiye fiercely, he was carried by security personnel to leave in another direction towards the hotel exit.
"Sir, are you okay?" The hotel manager who rushed over kept apologizing to Lu Zhiye.
I don't know what they talked about, as we were not close enough to hear clearly. But I don't think Lu Zhiye would make things difficult for a staff member.
After everyone left, Lu Zhiye was still standing in the central courtyard.
He stood as straight as usual.
Lu Zhiye stood there for as long as Shi Jing stood behind and watched.
It lasted so long that Shi Jing couldn't bear to watch it any longer, so he finally sat down on a big rock next to him.
Shi Jing pursed his lips.
Push open the glass door and walk over.
The sound of footsteps made Lu Zhiye turn around. When he saw it was him, he was stunned for a moment.
The midday sunlight was dazzling, shining on Shi Jing's short hair, making him feel warm and fluffy. The cobblestone road was also covered with a layer of golden light, as if he had walked out of a circle of light, giving a sense of unreality.
Lu Zhiye still sat upright with his hands on his legs.
He raised his chin slightly and looked at Shi Jing.
The pair of clear black pupils were half-hidden under the long eyelashes, and the pupil color was lighter than usual in the light.
Very softly, Lu Zhiye said: "Shi Jing."
Shi Jing didn't say anything.
Lu Zhiye paused and raised his hand.
He lightly touched Shi Jing's fingertips.
Shi Jing: “?”
Shi Jing thought to himself, why did you resort to physical contact when we were talking so nicely? Even if you just went through something bad, that's not an excuse—
See Lu Zhiye's appearance.
All of Shi Jing's thoughts suddenly disappeared.
Her head was half lowered, her black hair draped across her forehead in a messy way he had never seen her look before. It was as if she was drawing a little warmth from somewhere.
Breathing in the scent of the young man, Lu Zhiye said, "I'm not as good as they say."
Lu Zhiye's voice was light, and although he was clearly speaking of self-denial, it seemed as if what he said was not about himself at all.
He doesn't have a happy family.
He didn't have proud parents who wanted him to be successful. He wasn't some genius sniper, or some wealthy young master who could return home and inherit a multi-million fortune at any time.
He has nothing to do with the perfect fake Lu Zhiye that his teammates and fans have fabricated on the Internet and by people around him.
There was also a past that was almost completely the opposite.
No one knew about this. Lu Zhiye didn't try to hide it, but he wouldn't easily share his injuries. When his father came to see him, he didn't inform anyone at the club.
"It's okay." Shi Jing heard himself restrain all aggressive tone and tighten his voice.
Without asking what had just happened, nor with any intention of digging into the wound, he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and let himself be hooked with his pinky finger: "It's not good, it's not good. I'm not a good person either."
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The author has something to say: Here it comes. This chapter took me a long time to write. I was not satisfied with the first few times. I have been waiting for a long time TT
Thank you for the nutrient solution and the overlord tickets, and thank you again for waiting~[kiss][kiss]
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