Chapter 4 Zhao Zhinian wrapped herself in the blanket as…
Zhao Zhinian wrapped herself in the blanket like an ostrich, and her phone screen lit up again, the light reflecting on her face. It was Zhou Zekai again, the gray and white cartoon penguin in his profile picture looking particularly innocent at that moment.
[Zhou Zekai]: Are you asleep?
Zhao Zhinian stared at those three words, wondering whether she should pretend to be asleep immediately. Her fingertips hovered above the screen for a long time before she finally took a deep breath.
[Zhao Zhinian]: Not yet, I'm reviewing Zhou's "wonderful" interview today (*￣︶￣)
She deliberately added a playful emoji, trying to make her tone sound relaxed and natural, to cover up the still panicked heartbeat in her chest.
The other party replied almost instantly.
[Zhou Zekai]: ...Hmm.
[Zhou Zekai]: That's the truth.
Zhao Zhinian: "..."
Very well, Zhou Zekai, the conversation killer, is the same both online and offline.
Zhao Zhinian was debating whether to reply with an emoji or simply say goodnight when another message popped up.
[Zhou Zekai]: I'll treat you next time.
It was in response to her saying "You treat next time" at McDonald's.
It was a response to her saying at McDonald's, "You treat next time." Looking at those words, Zhao Zhinian could almost picture his expression when he said those words—a mixture of expectation and embarrassment, yet his eyes were exceptionally firm. She suddenly realized that, having shed the awkwardness and timidity of high school, Zhou Zekai's honesty and directness now formed a unique, somewhat clumsy, yet remarkably focused offensive.
It's... hard to handle.
Zhou Zekai from high school is now just a few blurry fragments in her memory. At that time, she was preoccupied with the grief of her mother's passing and the trivial matters of going abroad, leaving her no time for anything else. Faced with his hasty confession, she first disbelieved it, then felt surprised, and finally chose to run away.
Seeing him again now, it's too early to say she likes him, but she probably doesn't dislike him either. She just feels it's sudden; this person has so irrationally barged into her life again, forcefully disrupting her peace of mind.
She paused for a few seconds at the top of the screen with her fingertip before finally typing a word.
[Zhao Zhinian]: Hmm.
[Zhou Zekai]: Good night.
[Zhao Zhinian]: Good night.
Putting down her phone, Zhao Zhinian buried herself in the soft pillow and let out a long sigh. The amount of information she'd received that day was simply overwhelming.
On the other side, in the Reincarnation Club dormitory.
Zhou Zekai stared at the brief "Mm" on the screen, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips. He looked at it several times before putting down his phone to go take a shower, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Xiao Zhou, you're finally back," Jiang Botao said, pushing open the door. His tone was tinged with helplessness. "The manager was almost in tears." For the past two hours, Zhou Zekai hadn't answered his phone, and the manager had been lounging in his room, tearfully berating Zhou Zekai for being so "willful and reckless" today.
"I'm sorry," Zhou Zekai said softly. Jiang Botao was still awake so late, clearly waiting for him to come back.
Jiang Botao sat down on the chair beside the bed: "It's nothing, it's just that the manager has been working hard. What happened today?"
Zhou Zekai's face still held an undisguised joy, his eyes sparkling: "She's back."
Jiang Botao paused for a moment, then connected the story from the karaoke bar with his performance on today's show, "Was it that host from today?"
Thinking of Zhao Zhinian's shocked yet composed expression during the live stream, Zhou Zekai's eyes softened. He nodded, his tone firm: "Yes."
"No wonder I felt this host was a bit strange," Jiang Botao said, seemingly enlightened.
Zhou Zekai immediately tensed up: "Huh? It's obvious?" He knew how many "crazy female fans" he had and didn't want to cause trouble for Zhao Zhinian.
Jiang Botao immediately understood: "No, it's just that after finding out it was her, it felt a little subtle, but outsiders probably wouldn't notice."
Zhou Zekai finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"You should get some rest. You still have to explain things to the manager tomorrow." Jiang Botao patted his shoulder and got up to leave.
Although he answered, Zhou Zekai was wide awake. After showering and lying in bed, he opened his phone and scrolled through Zhao Zhinian's WeChat Moments. As her high school classmate, he knew her private information, but she rarely updated her social media. Today, he got her WeChat account and found that she was much more active on Moments. So, feeling perfectly justified, the "Gun King" began to spy on her life, scrolling through Moments for two hours straight.
The next day, Jiang Botao accompanied Zhou Zekai to knock on the manager's office door. Jiang Botao did most of the explanation, while Zhou Zekai simply nodded or shook his head.
After listening to the whole thing, the manager asked hesitantly, "Xiao Zhou, what is your relationship with Miss Zhao now?"
Zhou Zekai clearly didn't like the question, uttering a few words: "High school classmate," pausing for a moment, and then adding three more words: "Temporary."
"Temporary?"
Jiang Botao quickly tried to smooth things over: "What the captain means is that we should develop a relationship as classmates for the time being, but other relationships may develop later, so it's temporary."
Zhou Zekai nodded in agreement.
"Xiao Zhou, how far do you want to go with Miss Zhao?" the manager asked again.
Zhou Zekai lowered his head and pondered for a while before finally giving an answer that he himself wasn't entirely sure of: "Marriage?"
"What?!"
The manager suddenly felt a mouthful of blood stuck in his chest, unable to spit it out or swallow it down: Although there was already a married person among the Samsara team members, Zhou Zekai's situation was clearly different! Not to mention his current popularity as the number one in the league, just look at the reality between the two of them: they just reunited yesterday, and today they want to get married?
Everyone says that Zhou Zekai is better at actions than words, but in relationships, is it also necessary to "strike hard" and accelerate the progress of the relationship?
Seeing the manager's "exciting" expression, Jiang Botao quickly stepped in to smooth things over: "Xiao Zhou was just imagining the final outcome, but the two have just reunited, so they will definitely need to get to know each other slowly. Manager, you don't need to be too nervous."
"Xiao Zhou, what's more important is Miss Zhao's attitude. If you're too direct and act too rashly, you might scare Miss Zhao." Jiang Botao added in his mind, "You might even scare the manager."
"If you ever want to announce your relationship, tell me in advance." The manager patted Zhou Zekai on the shoulder helplessly. "The summer break has started, and I want to rest well. I'm getting old, and I really can't stand the slightest bit of hardship."
That's just how our ace player is; the manager could only seethe with anger but dare not speak out. In the end, he could only arrange for the official Weibo account of Samsara to retweet a few related posts and create memes for entertainment purposes: "I feel sorry for my Gun King," "Don't be afraid, girl, Captain Zhou is just confessing his feelings to you, not asking Barrett to snipe you," "This is me, my account wasn't hacked, I just wanted to confess my feelings ╥﹏╥," "Straightforward as my Gun King is, I will never allow any problems on the teleprompter to be ignored."
With these posts and the help of online trolls, fans' focus indeed shifted to "feeling sorry for Zhou Zekai." The previous comments clamoring to unfollow or expose the woman were instantly drowned out.
Members of the Samsara team were also asked to share the post, resulting in a screen full of comments like "Feeling sorry for the captain [candle][candle][candle]".
Professional figures from all walks of life joined in the fun, collectively offering their condolences to Zhou Zekai.
Huang Shaotian posted a long Weibo post mercilessly mocking and expressing sympathy for Zhou Zekai, while also sympathizing with the frightened girl. He repeatedly mentioned that Samsara had won the championship against Blue Rain in Season 8, ultimately summarizing it as: "Success on the field, failure in love." And Blue Rain doesn't even have a single girl, so the next championship belongs to Blue Rain!
Zhou Zekai commented on Huang Shaotian's Weibo post with a single word: "Heh." This contrasted sharply with Huang Shaotian's lengthy post.
Enraged, Huang Shaotian posted several pages in the professional players' group, challenging Zhou Zekai to a duel.
The next day, Zhao Zhinian, who had been sniped by the Gun King in her dream all night, walked into the company with light dark circles under her eyes, and was immediately greeted with stares from all directions.
"Chinen, you're amazing! You dug up a huge bombshell about Zhou Zekai on your debut!" The show was quite popular yesterday, and my colleague came over to congratulate her. "Tell me, is there any other inside story?"
"There's no inside story, it's just a script issue. These top-tier players in Glory do things entirely based on their mood. Maybe their manager just told them to say something random to increase viewership..." Zhao Zhinian tried to bluff her way out of it.
"Come on, Zhou Zekai's reaction didn't seem like it was scripted or arranged by the manager." Her colleague interrupted her with a laugh, "But the effect was really good. The director just praised you and said that he could consider giving you all the interview programs related to Honor in the future."
Zhao Zhinian chuckled twice, wondering if this could be considered a blessing in disguise.
She was somewhat absent-minded all day, glancing at her silent phone every now and then. The culprit that had kept her awake yesterday was unusually quiet today.
He... should be training, right? Professional players are usually very busy.
Just before I was about to leave work, my phone finally lit up.
[Zhou Zekai]: Training is over.
[Zhou Zekai]: Have you had dinner yet?
It was just a casual greeting, but it made Zhao Zhinian's heart skip a beat. Looking at the message, she couldn't help but wonder if he had hesitated for a long time before sending it.
[Zhao Zhinian]: Not yet, I'm just about to go eat. What about you?
[Zhou Zekai]: No.
[Zhou Zekai]: I miss you.
"puff--"
Zhao Zhinian almost sprayed the water she had just drunk onto the computer screen.
Gun King, isn't your straight-shot attack cooldown a bit too short?! And where's the logic in all of this? Is there any necessary connection between not having dinner and missing you?!
Her fingers trembled; she didn't know how to reply.
Seemingly realizing that his words had been a bit off-topic, Zhou Zekai remembered Jiang Botao's instructions and, fearing he might frighten Zhao Zhinian, quickly retracted his statement and added another one.
[Zhou Zekai]: I'm starving! (*▽*)
[Zhou Zekai]: Didn't you see it? (￣△￣)
Looking at the message that was meant to make amends, Zhao Zhinian finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.
I don't seem to dislike it much... I even find it kind of cute.
The light from the phone screen illuminated Zhao Zhinian's face. She stared at the hastily retracted "I miss you," and the follow-up, seemingly misleading "I'm starving," and couldn't suppress the smile on her lips. She could almost picture Zhou Zekai on the other side of the screen, his handsome face tense, frantically trying to stay calm.
She straightened up and her fingers flew across the keyboard.
[Zhao Zhinian]: Then let's go eat quickly.
[Zhou Zekai]: Hmm.
[Zhou Zekai]: Next time, together.
He mentioned "next time" again.
As Zhao Zhinian read this sentence, her heartbeat gradually calmed down, and a subtle yet real sense of anticipation quietly grew within her.
She no longer avoided the question and replied earnestly.
[Zhao Zhinian]: Okay, I'll treat you next time.
On the other side of the screen, in the Reincarnation Cafeteria, Zhou Zekai looked at his phone and flashed an extremely bright smile at his plate, which almost made Du Ming, who was gnawing on a chicken leg across from him, choke.
"Captain...are you alright?"
Zhou Zekai looked up, his eyes shining brightly: "It's nothing."
He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat in a good mood.
Du Ming, left standing to the side, was itching with curiosity: anyone with eyes could see that their captain was in an exceptionally good mood today, not at all like someone who had "done nothing."
A note from the author:
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