Chapter 44
[Jiang Yijing: Weren't you coming that day?]
[Jiang Yijing: Okay, you've worked so hard for so long, let's take a day off]
[The live stream sub-venue for the Levin is now back online.]
[Zou Shu: Okay, Ms. Xu has contacted a lawyer.]
Originally, the team planned to use the prize money from the qualifying championship to rent a villa in the suburbs of S City as their training base for the next year.
S City is the most prosperous city in East China, where land is extremely valuable. The location Jiang Yijing just mentioned is in the most expensive administrative district. It has convenient transportation, but the rent is also frighteningly high, which is completely beyond the current LSG team's ability to afford.
As if seeing through Leng Zhi's thoughts, Jiang Yijing said, "It's the family property. We've cleaned it up and are giving it to you so you can make the most of it."
—It's fake; he had someone specially find the house for him.
He turned his head, his eyes innocent: "As for the ring, it really is a feature of that building, so don't feel guilty."
—It's fake, it's just to fulfill his own little wish for a couple to wear wedding vows together.
The small box was placed in Leng Zhi's palm. Jiang Yijing shut him down every word he was about to say. For the first time, the usually sharp-tongued Captain Leng felt speechless.
Suddenly, Jiang Yijing pressed a button, and the passenger door closed automatically. The next second, the car started moving.
“Come on, I’ll take you to see them,” he said. “We won’t take them; they’re all eating and drinking.”
The Maybach accelerated rapidly from a standstill, and before the waiting reporters could react, the black luxury car had already sped away.
They were all stunned.
Although the news this morning was covered up, I don't think I saw it wrong, right?
The footage captured was completely different from what they had imagined, and they then realized that they had become an integral part of the couple's romantic relationship.
The only change was that after winter vacation started in January, Jiang Mingzhe no longer needed to travel to and from kindergarten, so Jiang Yijing moved directly to the base with the baby.
He even stays here from time to time to work, and the team has specially set aside a conference room for him as his office space—after all, this entire base belongs to President Jiang.
The tickets for the World Invitational Tournament were personally delivered by Chairman Zhu and are now in the safe in the conference room.
No sooner had Chairman Zhu left than a group of people surrounded the tickets.
Zou Shu: "This year's World Invitational Tournament is in M City, Y Country. Have you decided where to travel after the tournament?"
Yu Fu: "Of course! Two weeks in Europe! Who's in favor? Who's against it!"
A flurry of hands shot up, and it passed unanimously.
Actually, the last World Championship was in Europe. Unfortunately, after the competition, in order to treat his hand injury, the whole team rushed back to China, and all the travel plans they had made were ruined.
Coach Tang smiled and said, "Okay, if you win the championship this time, you can play for three weeks straight, but you'll still have to carry the keyboard with you."
Zou Shu covered his face: "No way, we have to train even when we're out having fun!"
Leng Zhi agreed: "There are still regular season games in the spring, so we need to maintain our form."
They chatted away, as if the world championship trophy was already theirs.
Manager Chen, standing nearby, remained calm as he jotted down the planned itinerary on a notepad.
The new manager, Xiao Zheng, nervously tugged at her collar and whispered, "Sister Chen, why did you schedule three weeks' worth of slots right away? What if we don't win?"
However, Manager Chen gave a mysterious smile and patted his colleague on the shoulder: "You'll find out later."
“These people, they keep their word,” she said softly.
As an employee, Leng Zhi has indeed been getting quite close to the boss lately.
Whether he genuinely failed to notice the increasingly intimate atmosphere that was building between them when they were alone, or whether the hardworking captain was simply preoccupied with the competition, Jiang Yijing was like a patient hunter, gradually narrowing the encirclement of his prey.
Tonight is LSG's night of victory. Jiang Yijing finished his work early and waited at home for people to come back—but even at ten o'clock, not a single message came back.
Judging from the situation today, Leng Zhi probably won't be coming back tonight.
At ten o'clock, Jiang Mingzhe had long been put to sleep by the housekeeper, and only Jiang Yijing, who was waiting for his wife, was in the dimly lit living room.
He had prepared a gift for his wife, which was now lying in the pocket of his suit trousers.
When he finally arrived at the door and met the person, Jiang Yijing's temple throbbed with anger, and a surge of rage inexplicably rose within him.
The person on the other end of the line smiled, completely unaware of how long someone had been waiting or how long their message had remained unanswered. The first thing they said was "Boss."
Jiang Yijing's eyes darkened, and he reached out and pulled the person inside.
The semifinals have begun as scheduled.
Unlike the previous rounds of 64 and even 8, the audience was packed from the start of the semifinals, with esports enthusiasts showing great interest in the upcoming ninth team to be decided in the playoffs.
LSG will face another dark horse team, PXM.
The opposing team also swept through a group of cannon fodder, achieving amazing results to reach the semi-finals, attracting a large number of fans and becoming the top favorite to win the championship.
They are not some makeshift team; they are a grassroots team personally assembled by a well-known streamer in the industry in cooperation with capital. The players come from all over the country and are all top-notch. After six months of intensive training, they are said to be able to go toe-to-toe with official teams in training matches.
With all these gimmicks combined, PXM had even more fans than LSG. Their flamboyant pink team flags fluttered across most of the stands, making LSG's red and black support items seem rather insignificant.
"PXM! Victory is certain!" Gu Zuo's reaction, which sounded like he had just swallowed a fly, immediately amused his colleagues who were listening intently to the drama.
"Brother Zuo, you're trying to steal someone else's girlfriend," Jiang Shang joked.
Tang Wenshi rarely showed a smile: "Then it's no wonder they refused, their support is indeed very strong."
Gu Zuo plopped down, scratching his head awkwardly: "...Who knows?"
When Shen Yingcai heard Tang Wenshi praising Leng Zhi, he snorted and said, "Teacher Tang, you're just boosting his morale. Leng Zhi isn't that good. Brother Zuo is no worse than him."
He made a sarcastic remark, which made Tang Wenshi feel somewhat embarrassed.
Tang Wenshi felt increasingly that he couldn't control Shen Yingcai, but he was helpless and could only explain, "Gu Zuo, I didn't mean that."
Fortunately, Gu Zuo was very open-minded. He took it as a joke: "Yingcai, look how scared Tang Jiao is. He is a senior, and I am not someone who cannot take a joke."
Everyone burst into laughter, but Shen Yingcai's eyes remained expressionless. He simply stood up silently and said, "Let's go, we should go backstage to prepare. We'll have to face off against Brother Zuo online next time."
Gu Zuo nodded: "That's true, let's go, but we won't run into each other online, I'm not playing support today."
"Ah, am I going to witness Master Zuo's invincible jungle skills today?"
Jiang Shang's half-joking remark reminded everyone that when Gu Zuo first entered the e-sports circle, he played jungle and was considered a good jungler back then. However, later, due to the needs of the WRC team, a teammate was more suitable for playing jungle, so he switched to support.
That's why people say that jungle kings are the most reliable when playing support. Gu Zuo's transition was very successful. The superb strategic vision he developed while playing jungle was brought to support, forming a completely new style.
The answer was obvious, but Gu Zuo pretended to be mysterious, putting his index finger to his lips and saying, "It's a strategic secret."
Two matches were scheduled for the afternoon, which was a tight schedule, but LSG finished their matches so efficiently that they freed up a full two hours.
The commentators could only dissect the previous match into its entirety, analyzing it repeatedly and praising the LSG team to the skies.
"Is this the benefit of a shutout?" Meng Cheng, who was already sitting in the audience, felt that these boastful remarks were somewhat exaggerated.
Leng Zhi glanced at his phone: "You all have time, right? Let's watch today's match here."
Zou Shu asked in confusion, "I do have some free time, but should we share this game, which looks like an exhibition match?"
“No, the group is organizing a dinner party tonight, we can join.” Leng Zhiyang waved his phone.
"Captain, when did you become so sociable? You used to turn down so many post-match dinners."
"Yeah, they made a lot of accusations about us being arrogant back then."
Leng Zhi leaned back lazily in his chair and casually said, "Hmm, this meal is different."
I want to bring another person back to the team.
"LSG! Victory is certain!"
During the pre-match greetings, fans from both sides shouted so loudly in the open-air stadium that their voices could be clearly heard from the stands.
No one dislikes a story of an underdog's rise to success, and every fan in the audience hoped that their team could break through the encirclement.
City C is quite a distance from City S. Zou Lin and his group were not present in the audience this time, but the scale of the event was still quite large.
When it was Leng Zhi's turn to speak, he glanced at the sea of faces in the audience, and after a moment, he said:
"Thank you, you won't be disappointed."
The arena fell silent for a moment, then erupted in thunderous applause and shouts.
Amid the expectant gazes of the fans, both teams entered the competition room.
As the game loaded, Leng Zhi felt a strange unease.
However, his years of competition experience and good mental qualities allowed him to quickly forget this feeling and devote himself to the draft phase.
Before the match, Leng Zhi and Tang Wenshi developed a detailed drafting strategy based on the player styles of PXM.
Leng Zhi is meticulous and Tang Wenshi is shrewd. Before participating in the secondary league, the PXM team left behind a lot of match records, which provided them with samples for analysis.
"Disable Gongsun Shangxiang for now," he calmly commanded.
Zou Shu had no doubt about the captain's decision and immediately disabled his best hero.
"Are they targeting Meng Cheng? If they pick Azure Holy Hunter, it means they're going to focus fire on the jungle. Meng Cheng, you pick Bloodthirsty Blade Warrior."
Leng Zhi calmly analyzed the tactical intentions revealed by the opponent's hero selection and banning, and made a response and counterattack with composure.
Luo Hongshuo realized something was wrong: "This lineup..."
Leng Zhi's current appearance can hardly be described as elegant.
It wasn't yet late autumn, but the nights outside were still chilly. Inside, a stove was burning, and fueled by alcohol, Leng Zhi was only wearing a thin team polo shirt. Perhaps because of the heat, the top three buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing half of his clearly visible collarbone.
The important thing is that the distance is too close.
Jiang Yijing acted impulsively and pulled the other person over, but the latter was oblivious to the overly intimate gesture.
Leng Zhi knelt on the passenger seat, half of his leg sticking out, looking up as Jiang Yijing asked him the same question, feeling a little aggrieved.
The drunk Captain Leng was weak and struggled but couldn't break free. He could only remain in this strange position and whispered, "How did you find me here?"
Jiang Yijing replied irrelevantly, "You don't reply to my messages."
Leng Zhi: "...I sent it."
However, when he reached into his pocket, he realized he hadn't brought his phone with him and it was still on the dining table.
"I'll go back and get it for you to see!"
Leng Zhi was very dissatisfied. In his memory, he did send two messages to Jiang Yijing after the match.
Secretary Li also moved in with Jiang Yijing—to be precise, he was running back and forth between the two places.
Jiang's work system is very advanced, and most documents can be processed online. However, there are still some official documents that need to be processed offline, requiring Secretary Li to fetch them back and forth.
These were all important documents, and Secretary Li was meticulous and responsible, doing everything herself and refusing to delegate to others.
After going back and forth like this, Secretary Li was extremely busy and looked a bit listless.
"Secretary Li, you should send someone else to run errands. If you're worried, you can ask the old butler from the Jiang residence. Anyway, no one is living in the house for the time being... We need him here." Jiang Yijing noticed his worries and showed his concern for his subordinate.
Secretary Li nodded gratefully, then hesitated and said, "Thank you, President Jiang, but there's something I... I'm not sure if I should say it."
After receiving Jiang Yijing's approval, he was somewhat at a loss as to where to begin.
This matter dates back to the two days when he first came to the base to work with President Jiang.
Secretary Li wanted to ask Leng Zhi for a key to the base so he could easily get in and out. Just as he was about to knock on the door, he heard the following conversation coming from inside.
It was Leng Zhi's voice.
"I've been playing this hero since I was in the orphanage..."
His knocking interrupted the conversation, and then there was silence in the room, as if what he had just heard was an illusion.
Before Leng Zhi and Jiang Yijing signed their marriage contract, it was Secretary Li who was in charge of the background investigation, and he knew Leng Zhi's situation very well.
An orphanage...? According to the report, Mr. Leng should have been staying with relatives and then receiving financial assistance from Grandma Jiang to attend school. There is no record of him attending an orphanage at all.
A sentence he overheard unintentionally struck a chord in his mind.
What's the point of sending this out?!
What people want to see are sensational sex scandals, not these sweet and loving marital moments!
To avoid worrying his teammates, Leng Zhi still made a phone call to the manager.
The manager couldn't believe his ears: "Captain, are you saying that President Jiang suddenly kidnapped you to the new base? Where did we get a new base?"
Leng Zhi's head was throbbing from the manager's nagging, so he moved his phone a little further away.
"Hmm... It was a gift from him. There are many rooms, a large training room, a place for reviewing lessons, and even a tea break room. Everyone's requirements should be met. Okay, that's all for now. See you tomorrow."
The manager's "Hey, hey" was abruptly cut off, and Leng Zhi returned the phone to Jiang Yijing.
"So, do you like it?" Jiang Yijing led his people on a tour of the base, finally stopping in front of a bedroom.
The new team base is really big, a three-story villa, no less impressive than the base in the previous life. Although Jiang Yijing described it casually, the effort and money spent on it were impossible to hide.
Each teammate was assigned their own bedroom—but this one seemed to be an extra one, deliberately located in a corner away from the noise, for reasons unknown.
Leng Zhi nodded: "This is too valuable. Does President Jiang want to invest in our team? This is definitely the right choice, after all, he's a world champion..."
Although Jiang Yijing really liked the sparkle in his wife's eyes when she talked about winning the championship, it was obviously not the time for that.
"Of course, you will achieve unprecedented results, but..." he said, "and shouldn't we also take better care of our relationship?"
[Zou Shu: Oh right, I forgot to tell you, we just ran into Lei Shen]
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[Leng Zhi, Zou Shu, Meng Cheng.]
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