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Precious written records of early magicians taming humans
1.
Tiny Herb Club issued a holiday notice. Unlike Li Yihui, who was overjoyed to finally have a holiday and not have to eat in the cafeteria anymore, Xiao Xiao's not-so-round face puffed up like a little bun. Ms. Zhou was firmly opposed to her signing a contract as a professional player. In the end, Xiao Xiao asked her father, who had been separated from Ms. Zhou for many years and was far away on the other side of the ocean. Her father sent his lawyer over and Xiao Xiao signed the contract with Tiny Herb.
Because of her conflict with Ms. Zhou, Xiao Xiao did not plan to go home this year. However, for safety reasons, the club did not allow players to stay overnight during the Spring Festival. Since she was not yet eighteen years old, she could not stay in a hotel alone.
Just as she was pondering where to spend this long Spring Festival holiday under a bridge—while also being careful not to get caught by the urban management officers—Wang Jiexi stood in front of her.
"Captain?" Xiao Xiao put her hands behind her back, twirling her fingers around her hair. She was a little nervous, but anyone would be nervous under Wang Jiexi's scrutinizing gaze.
"Aren't you going home?"
Xiao Xiao shook her head, so Wang Jiexi told her to pack her luggage and took her back to his home.
When Xiao Xiao followed Wang Jiexi through the door with her bag on her back, Wang Jiexi's parents were stunned: "Xiao Jie... no matter what, this child doesn't look like he's even an adult yet..."
Wang Jiexi: "..."
Xiao Xiao once again displayed the same innocent charm that had deceived everyone at Tiny Herb when they first met, greeting the two elders: "Uncle and Aunt, I apologize for disturbing you. I will be sixteen years old after the New Year."
Faced with his parents' horrified looks, Wang Jiexi rubbed his temples and said, "The kids in the team don't have anywhere to stay, don't think too much about it."
Wang Jiexi's family has a Chinese domestic cat, and it's strange that one of its eyes is bigger than the other. Xiao Xiao is holding the cat in her arms and occasionally glances at Wang Jiexi.
Wang Jiexi caught Xiao Xiao's gaze. The little girl stuck out her tongue, pinched her cat paws, and greeted him with an exceptionally innocent smile on her face, although Wang Jiexi read the annoying thought in that smile: "Captain, your little brother looks just like you."
Wang Jiexi was sometimes very curious. The well-behaved and cute little girl he met for the first time was actually quite playful. Although there was only a four-year age difference between them, most of the time Wang Jiexi felt that he and Xiao Xiao were a generation apart.
Thinking that it was the Lunar New Year, Wang Jiexi decided not to hit the child and let her off the hook.
If Wang Jiexi knew that Xiao Xiao had another skill called "taking advantage of someone's kindness," he certainly wouldn't have been so lenient at this moment.
Xiao Xiao returned to the club on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year and ran into Fang Shiqian. Seeing Xiao Xiao carrying a bag, Fang Shiqian asked with concern, "Xiao Xiao, where did you spend the New Year?"
Xiao Xiao: "At the captain's house."
Fang Shiqian: "..."
Knowing that Xiao Xiao was staying at Wang Jiexi's house for the Chinese New Year, her teammates expressed their concern. Li Yihui secretly asked her, "Won't you get indigestion eating New Year's Eve dinner with the captain?"
Xiao Xiao was momentarily dazed and said, "No way, there's a red envelope too."
She whispered even more softly in Li Yihui's ear, "You know what? The captain has a cat at home that's practically his twin brother."
"?"
Fang Shiqian spoke privately with Wang Jiexi after the competition: "I have two questions, which one do you want to answer first?"
Wang Jiexi: "?"
Fang Shiqian: "Did Xiaoxiao spend the New Year at your house?"
Wang Jiexi: "She's so young, we can't just ignore her."
Fang Shiqian subtly understood the concern of an elder, put aside his worries about the morality of Team Tiny Herb's captain, and then asked the second question: "I heard your parents had a second child?"
Wang Jiexi: "?"
He closed his eyes, trying to suppress the urge to go to the girls' dormitory to pick someone up late at night.
The next morning, Xiao Xiao, who had been punished by being made to face the wall in the corner, argued vehemently: "This isn't my fault! The person who spread the rumors should be held accountable!"
Wang Jiexi certainly didn't punish her by making her stand because of the rumors: "You almost fell behind in yesterday's team competition, you should reflect on that."
Xiao Xiao: "..."
2.
Long, long ago, in a faraway Eastern country, there lived a great magician. He wore a bright green hat and a bright green cloak, and his staff was forged from the stars in the sky, possessing power that was unimaginable to ordinary people.
One day, the magician had a sudden inspiration and decided to artificially create some difficulties for his life, which had been too smooth and somewhat mundane.
So he activated the legendary forbidden summoning circle.
Guided by his staff, the stars fell into the array. When the light faded, a masked youth appeared in the center of the array. He looked at the magician before him and asked, "Are you my Master?"
—The Magician and His Assassin
Wang Jiexi stood behind Xiao Xiao for a long time, still unable to understand the words on the screen, so he asked, "...What are you looking at?"
Xiao Xiao leaned back and met Wang Jiexi's gaze: "Uh, the Glory fanfiction forum?"
"So what does this say?"
"A story about a magician who, in a moment of despair, summoned an assassin to his side."
"?" Wang Jiexi felt a bit uneasy.
Seeing Wang Jiexi's subtle expression, Xiao Xiao pushed off the ground with both feet, spun half a circle in her gaming chair, and faced Wang Jiexi. She covered her face and said, "When I bought her half a year ago, I called her 'Little Sweetie.' Now that I've got her, I'm starting to look down on her. Waaah."
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Wang Jiexi tapped Xiao Xiao's head lightly with his finger.
Xiao Xiao stuck out her tongue, then turned back, propped her elbows on the table, and swiped the mouse: "So boring. Right now, the forum is just either Excellent Era fans and Tyranny fans arguing or Excellent Era fans cursing Mu Mu... Help! Why is the light off?! I'm still a minor! Ah, I'm dirty!"
"What?" Wang Jiexi wanted to look at the screen, but Xiao Xiao hurriedly closed the interface. "No, no, no, nothing."
The fourth season of the Glory League has come to an end. The club officially started its holiday the day before yesterday, but Xiao Xiao still hasn't gone home.
Wang Jiexi was worried about leaving her alone at the club, so he came to check on her every day without fail. Xiao Xiao used Gaode Maps to estimate the time he would spend on the road, and gained a deeper understanding of the captain's dedication.
Wang Jiexi comes every day. She can't just lounge around in the dorm, so she has to come to the training room to play computer games every day.
Wang Jiexi couldn't stand her decadent lifestyle and asked her, "Do you want to go sightseeing around the area?"
"Captain, this is summer vacation. Do you know what summer vacation means?"
Wang Jiexi, an e-sports geek who also dislikes crowded places, realized this.
For a girl addicted to the internet, enjoying the cool air conditioning, high-spec computer, and unlimited broadband speed, not playing games would be a waste of life. So Xiao Xiao closed the forum and went online to play games.
She glanced at the announcement: "Wow, they released fashion lucky bags! They're so pretty! Waaah, Glory's art team is a god... There's no pity system? This is terrible!"
"..." Wang Jiexi hadn't put on his headphones yet.
Sometimes Wang Jiexi really wanted to ask Yu Wenzhou how he became teammates with Huang Shaotian.
Wang Jiexi's behavior of going to the club every day despite being on holiday naturally attracted the attention of his family. He explained to them with some helplessness the situation of Xiao Xiao being alone at the club. Wang Jiexi's parents remembered Xiao Xiao, the little girl who was homeless during the New Year. So when Wang Jiexi went there again the next day, he was carrying a thermos.
"Eating is prohibited in the training room, Captain." Xiao Xiao said, a Want Want Ice Pop in his mouth.
Wang Jiexi glanced at the clock: "It's only eight o'clock."
"So what? The captain can't break the rules either." She crossed her index fingers and made an X.
Wang Jiexi reached out and grabbed the bottom half of the shaved ice: "You didn't eat breakfast, did you?"
"..."
“Eating ice on an empty stomach,” Wang Jiexi glanced at the date again and sighed, “Don’t you know you can’t eat ice these days?”
"???"
Xiao Xiao's ears turned red: "You you you..."
Wang Jiexi tossed the popsicle into the trash can without changing his expression: "Come out and have breakfast."
"oh."
Wang Jiexi brought her red date porridge. Xiao Xiao sat down with a twitch at the corner of her mouth: "Captain, you know what, this makes me feel like you're pretty weird."
Wang Jiexi glanced at her, and Xiao Xiao shrank into a small ball, pinching her finger and drawing a line across her mouth to indicate that she would shut up immediately and stop talking.
Wang Jiexi didn't intentionally try to remember Xiao Xiao's menstrual cycle, but the way the little girl would crawl into the training room with a pale face every time was too shocking. So Fang Shiqian did some calculations and said that it was Wang Buluoxing's turn to go on stage.
Wang Jiexi: "..."
It was impossible to get Xiao Xiao to sit still. Wang Jiexi was lost in thought for a moment, and when he came back to his senses, he heard Xiao Xiao singing softly.
"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, Wang Bu Liu Xing cures menstrual cramps~"
“?” Wang Jiexi tapped the table.
Xiao Xiao pretended nothing had happened, picked up the bowl and drank the porridge clean. "Delicious! No wonder the captain carried this porridge for me for over an hour! It's so good!"
"That's enough."
Wang Jiexi took the bowl back.
3.
After the start of Season 5, everyone noticed a significant change in Xiao Xiao's style. Previously, Xiao Xiao would often be noticeably out of sync with his teammates in team matches, resulting in Tiny Herb's team fights exhibiting a clear "1+1+3" situation. As a result, after each match, Fang Shiqian would loudly announce that he would let the assassins go in the next game, and as for Wang Buluoxing? He would go back to find a healer himself.
Therefore, in Team Tiny Herb, Xiao Xiao would act arrogantly in front of Wang Jiexi, but he would never test Fang Shiqian's bottom line.
Of course, Xiao Xiao had thought about how to change her bad habits. Ye Qiu told her that she could learn from Huang Shaotian. Although Huang Shaotian was a swordsman, his style was more like that of an assassin.
So Xiao Xiao, who had spent the summer studying Blue Rain's game recordings, brought a huge surprise to the league in the new season.
Xiao Xiao wasn't originally from Blue Rain, so she couldn't learn Huang Shaotian's control-style play that was ingrained in his DNA. But she thought more during the game, knowing when to give and when to take. She seemed to be playing aggressively, but in reality, she was deliberately digging her own grave.
Xiao Xiao's nine-game winning streak in individual competitions is the best proof of her progress.
The result was gratifying, but what was complicated was that Xiao Xiao only learned a part of Huang Shaotian's restraint techniques, but he did learn the essence of Huang Shaotian's trash talk.
From then on, Huang Shaotian was no longer the only shining star in the chat channel. Moreover, unlike Huang Shaotian who relied on quantity to win, Xiao Xiao paid more attention to quality. She pioneered a new language style called "Xiao Yan Xiao Yu" with her messy way of speaking. It seemed like she was saying something, but she wasn't. It was like she was saying something but not saying it, but she was saying something—in short, she didn't speak properly and had to be a little cheeky.
The match between Blue Rain and Tiny Herb was truly thrilling. While Yu Wenzhou and Wang Jiexi's team tactics were ingenious, they couldn't compare to the exciting verbal sparring between Xiao Xiao and Huang Shaotian. Huang Shaotian even received a yellow card, making one deeply respect the professionalism of the league's referees. After all, in such a high-speed barrage of messages, to spot Huang Shaotian's inappropriate remarks must have been incredibly difficult.
The outcome of the match did not affect the relationship between the two teams. After the match, Blue Rain team, as the host, treated Tiny Herb team to a meal in the cafeteria.
Last season, they only played against Blue Rain at home, and the intense playoff schedule left no time for a post-game dinner. So Xiao Xiao, who was eating at Blue Rain's cafeteria for the first time, shed tears of emotion.
She took Yu Wenzhou's hands in her own, her tear-filled eyes brimming with sincerity: "Captain Yu, is Blue Rain still recruiting? What do you think of me?"
Yu Wenzhou smiled and withdrew his hand, coldly rejecting Xiao Xiao's suggestion: "No, Blue Rain doesn't need two chatterboxes." (Huang Shaotian: "Captain?!")
Xiao Xiao was not giving up and tried to cling to Yu Wenzhou again: "I can shut up! I don't talk much, sob sob sob."
Fang Shiqian pressed down on Xiao Xiao's head from behind: "Do you want to be let go in the next match?"
"TAT, God of Healing SAMA! I know I was wrong!" Xiao Xiao honestly admitted his mistake.
When Tiny Herb almost lost their assassin because of the cafeteria, Huang Shaotian ruthlessly mocked, "No way, no way, Wang Jiexi, Tiny Herb wouldn't be abusing children, would you?! Look how thin she is, she's almost lost all the flesh on her face, you wouldn't be withholding meat from her, would you?! Abusing children is illegal!"
Xiao Xiao nodded vigorously, agreeing with Huang Shaotian's words.
Huang Shaotian put his arm around Xiao Xiao's shoulder: "Isn't your contract about to expire? Seriously, you should transfer. The captain was just joking with you. If you come, we'll definitely want you."
“Child abduction is also illegal.” Wang Jiexi hooked his fingers around the back of Xiao Xiao’s collar and pulled her up.
Xiao Xiao: "Children?"
Fang Shiqian: "Otherwise what? My six-year-old nephew wouldn't be fooled by a meal."
Yu Wenzhou smiled and added, "Maybe it's because Xiaoxiao is only five years old."
Huang Shaotian: "Xiao Wusui, that's a good name."
Xiao Xiao: "Huang Shaotian???"
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