Chapter Eighteen
On Tuesday, April 23, the offline competition officially started. Happy had a bye in the first round of the group stage, but the group still came to the venue to experience the atmosphere of the competition.
Mo Fan didn't sit with the rest of Happy's group; instead, he chose a row in the back. He didn't expect Zhou Qiao to sit next to him with her laptop.
Mo Fan endured the silence for five minutes before breaking it: "What are you doing?"
Zhou Qiao didn't even look up: "I have to write a paper. Even though I took leave, I still have to hand in my assignment."
An Wenyi and Luo Ji, sitting in the front row: "..."
An Wenyi turned to look at her: "How much can you write in such a short time?"
Zhou Qiao typed at lightning speed, perfectly demonstrating the hand speed expected of a professional player: "If you guys don't make noise, I can write a lot."
An Wenyi: "...Then what are you doing here?"
Zhou Qiao: "To experience the atmosphere of the competition?"
At that moment, Mo Fan and An Wenyi felt a strange resonance in their hearts: The women of Happy are all oddballs!
More than an hour later, the match ended. The second round of matches was scheduled for Friday night. In Group B, Xuanqi had a bye, Xingxin played against Shibu Yisha, and Yunxuange played against Caopanshou.
Zhou Qiao had entered a state of selflessness, completely ignoring the external environment, and did not react at all when Ye Xiu called her name.
Baozi waved her hand in front of her, but Zhou Qiao slapped it away: "The last two sentences."
Ye Xiu: "You're working way too hard."
Baozi nodded: "That's right, that's right, Moguang, you should learn from others."
Luo Ji: "We're not in the same profession... Never mind, I can't communicate with you."
Baozi choked him: "Is this the attitude a subordinate should have when speaking to the boss?"
Luo Ji was furious: "Let me go!"
After typing the last word, Zhou Qiao clicked save and closed his laptop: "That assassin is worth keeping an eye on."
She was referring to the Yunxuan Pavilion player who scored the only point from the Xuanqi battle.
Ye Xiu was surprised: "You're watching the game?"
Zhou Qiao nodded: "Of course, that desperate strike was spectacular."
The wait for the second match was not peaceful. The discussion on the forum about Happy and Excellent Era intensified. Although Excellent Era had tried its best to obscure the issue of Ye Qiu and Ye Xiu's names, Zhou Qiao, who also changed her name after retiring and returned to the Challenger Series, inevitably brought up Zhou Qiao when discussing Ye Xiu. And when Zhou Qiao was mentioned, the issue of her name change was discussed.
Excellent Era's comments about online names are completely unconvincing to modern netizens who use microscopes to browse the internet—after all, the League of Legends officials previously swore that Ye Qiu and Ye Xiu of Team Happy were definitely not the same person. Online names are understandable, but how do you explain fake ID cards?
Excellent Era's public relations department is on the verge of collapse and can only try their best to stir up trouble among Excellent Era fans and incite their hostility towards Ye Xiu.
Cui Li was filled with hatred, both for Ye Xiu and Zhou Qiao.
As the hype grew, Ye Xiu's name successfully dominated the top spot on Weibo's trending topics for an entire day, an achievement that even during Excellent Era's three-peat era had not reached.
Yan Yu couldn't help but sigh, "If the old man knew, he'd probably be furious."
Zhou Qiao didn't look at the related discussions, so as not to affect her mentality before the competition. She only asked, "If we don't get first place, does Ye Shen have to retire and go home to get married?"
Yan Yu: "..."
Zhou Qiao: "Marry into the Tyranny Group?"
Yan Yu thought for a moment and spread her hands: "Although I would also like to see him become the live-in son-in-law of Tyranny, it is unlikely that this will happen. The old man did not agree to the marriage in the first place."
They said your child's birth chart is auspicious, so why don't you consider arranging a marriage between my child and yours? It's only because Liu Shaoyou's master wasn't kicked out that he was allowed to leave, given that he's a descendant of Jingshan.
Zhou Qiao: "Oh no, this plot sounds more and more like a broken engagement story. Do you think President Liu bought Tyranny back then to get revenge on Ye Shen? Wait, if that's the case, Tyranny ended Excellent Era's three-peat, so they've already successfully gotten their revenge!"
Yan Yu: "Wake up, if you arranged it like this, the novel would have been finished three years ago."
Zhou Qiao: "Maybe this is a side story... or perhaps it's the prequel to the 'son-in-law' genre?"
Yan Yu: "He won't become a live-in son-in-law of Tyranny."
Zhou Qiao: How did you know?
Yan Yu handed her phone to Zhou Qiao, and the screen showed the chat history between Yan Yu and Liu Shaoyou.
[Rain Shatters the South of the Yangtze River]: Have you considered assembling an even more dreamlike lineup?
[Same Wine]: Your brother, don't even think about living off a woman in Tyranny.
[Sharing wine]: Don't even think about any of my brothers.
Zhou Qiao: "..."
Zhou Qiao: "Should I complain about you not writing notes for people, or should I complain about CEO Liu's charlatan-like tendencies?"
Yan Yu: "Actually, I did make a note for you."
Zhou Qiao: "Really! I knew you loved me a little more!"
Yan Yu: "I keep a note for people who frequently change their WeChat names."
Zhou Qiao: "...Where is the love? Has it disappeared?"
Yan Yu shook her head: "It has never happened before."
The group stage determines the qualifying spots based on the total points of the four matches. Every point is crucial, but at the same time, it's important to let the newcomers on the team experience the atmosphere of a formal competition. After much deliberation, Ye Xiu finalized the roster for Team Happy in the second round: Individual Match: Wei Chen, Luo Ji, Tang Rou; Arena Match: Baozi, Qiao Yifan, Zhou Qiao (defending the title); Team Match: Tang Rou, Luo Ji, Qiao Yifan, Ye Xiu, An Wenyi, with Zhou Qiao as a substitute.
Ye Xiu: "After all, we need to give young people more opportunities to experience competitions."
Zhou Qiao gestured to Mo Fan with her eyes, and Ye Xiu smiled and said, "He has a good attitude and will not train for the time being."
Zhou Qiao sidled up to Mo Fan and whispered encouragement to him: "Go up and yell at him, grab him by the collar and tell him you have to make an appearance too."
Mo Fan remained silent.
Zhou Qiao didn't give up even though she didn't get a response: "Do you want to participate in the ring or the team competition?"
Mo Fan looked at her like she was an idiot: "You don't want to go on stage?"
"Of course not, but I want to give young people more opportunities to compete."
Mo Fan's gaze swept over Zhou Qiao's head, and without saying a word, he turned and left.
Zhou Qiao: "..."
Zhou Qiao grabbed An Wenyi, who was passing by: "What does he mean?"
An Wenyi pushed up his glasses: "Maybe it's because they think you look younger."
Zhou Qiao exploded: "So what if he's 1.7 meters tall! I'm two years older than him!"
Sun Zheping patted Zhou Qiao on the shoulder: "Alright, 159, it's time to go."
"Senior Grandson?!"
"Xiao Wu Sui, come here quickly!"
"I'll really get angry! I'll really, really get angry!"
Ye Xiu was quite satisfied: "Then let's keep this up and let loose on the field."
As a result, Zhou Qiao had no chance to vent his anger. In the arena match, Baozi accomplished a feat of taking on three opponents at once, and An Wenyi and Luo Ji also performed well in the team match. Zhou Qiao won the match without even having a chance to participate.
After Zhou Qiao came out, Yan Yu encouraged her: "Congratulations on your first victory."
Zhou Qiao tilted her head and twitched the corner of her mouth: "Are you mocking me?"
Yan Yu looked at Zhou Qiao, whose black aura had almost materialized behind her, and smiled silently: "How could that be? This is just your first official competition since you retired."
Yan Yu gripped Zhou Qiao's shoulder with one hand and pulled her hand to her chest with the other: "I'm just concerned about you."
Zhou Qiao: "Waaah, I knew you still loved me."
Ignoring Ye Xiu who was giving her a thumbs-up, Yan Yu successfully tamed Zhou Qiao and turned her into a villain.
On April 30, a major upset occurred in the third round of the group stage, with the bookmakers defeating Happy by a score of 7-3.
In the 81st minute of the team match, Zhou Qiao locked the tablet.
Ye Xiu, who had been watching Zhou Qiao's match records, noticed this and asked, "Aren't you going to continue recording?"
Zhou Qiao put the pen back in its slot: "The outcome is already decided. It's a matter of tactical arrangement. Instead of hoping that someone will have a big breakout and turn the tide, we should think about how to proceed with the rest of the game."
"It seems you've really improved a lot." Ye Xiu patted Zhou Qiao's head.
Zhou Qiao expressed his dissatisfaction: "The match analyses I submitted were all written very carefully."
Ye Xiu continued to press down on the strand of hair on Zhou Qiao's head that was sticking up for some reason: "I'm just surprised by your progress. After all, you used to be known as a crazy person with no sense of the big picture."
Zhou Qiao: "...No, compared to Baozi, I can also be called a crazy knife?"
Ye Xiu: "The unpredictable one can be very strong when he gets going, don't you think, Da Sun?"
Sun Zheping sat on the other side of Zhou Qiao, his hands clenched into fists and resting on his chin, his gaze deep, ignoring Ye Xiu's trash talk.
The team match ended in the 92nd minute. After the "Glory" message appeared on the big screen, the six players from the trading team rushed off the stage and hugged the seventh player on the sidelines. However, the players from Happy, who had lost the match, were clearly not in good condition. Wei Chen even staggered a few steps and collapsed into his chair after coming out.
Ye Xiu handed Wei Chen a cigarette: "Are you alright?"
Wei Chen took the cigarette and took a deep drag, his voice weak and listless: "I'm really tired..."
While the others weren't as overly fatigued as Wei Chen, they were also visibly exhausted. Zhou Qiao handed out energy drinks to everyone, but Wei Chen was so weak he seemed to lack even the strength to unscrew a bottle cap. Zhou Qiao sighed and opened it for him, saying, "Don't go too far!"
Judging from the boos directed at Team Happy, Team Happy's current status is equivalent to the landlord evil forces in the old society who have finally been overthrown.
Then, someone who looked more like the landlord's (foolish) son appeared: "Oh, taking a break!"
Sun Xiang clapped his hands in a mock manner amidst the boos from the crowd: "What a wonderful match! But how can we ever meet again in a match like this? It's really worrying."
"Who are you?" Sun Zheping, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.
And who are you?
“I am your grandfather.”
"What nonsense are you spouting?!"
"Whether I'm lying or not, go home and ask your dad. Don't get in my way."
Sun Xiang's hand trembled as he pointed at Sun Zheping. After calmly delivering his harsh words, Sun Zheping called out to everyone, "Let's go back."
Zhou Qiao complained, "Senior Sun, you seem to be the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who commands his monkey subjects on Flower Fruit Mountain. Hmm, there really is a monkey subject?"
Xiao Shiqin, who had originally come to stop the conflict between Sun Xiang and Happy, said: "Xiao Xiao, you've also insulted Senior Sun Zheping in your statement."
Zhou Qiao: "Huh?!"
Sun Zheping began to grow impatient: "Are you leaving or not?"
Zhou Qiao skipped over Xiao Shiqin, seemingly unaffected by the increasingly loud boos as Happy left the stage: "Let's go, let's go, I'll always be Senior Sun's most obedient junior."
"You're subtly elevating your seniority, aren't you?" Ye Xiu slapped Zhou Qiao on the back of the head.
"Do you have some misunderstanding about me? I don't need to use seniority; Sun Xiang should still call me senior."
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