Yu Nuo was stunned for a moment before hurriedly explaining what had just happened.
After hearing her explanation, Yu Ge scoffed coldly, “He thought you were a fan?”
“More or less…” she said.
Yu Ge sneered, “What nonsense.”
Yu Nuo carefully watched his expression.
Fortunately, Will came over at that moment. Seeing Yu Nuo’s drooping eyebrows, he thought Yu Ge was scolding her again.
Will asked, “What’s going on here?”
Yu Ge didn’t even look up, “What is it?”
While the two of them chatted, Yu Nuo stood beside them, lost in thought.
After finishing his conversation with others, Yu Ge turned his gaze toward Yu Nuo, filled with scrutiny.
She faltered in her steps.
Yu Ge glanced at the hem of her sweater again, as if it bothered him, and said flatly, “Throw away the clothes when you get back tonight.”
Yu Nuo was speechless.
After having dinner with the OG team, Yu Nuo caught a ride back to school. At the school gate, she made a detour to buy tomorrow’s breakfast at a newly opened dessert shop.
The store had soft lighting, and at this hour most of the bread in the display case had been picked over.
She crouched down to look through the display window, debating between blueberry jam or cream. Just then, two male students stopped beside her.
They were discussing a popular battle royale game, laughing as they talked, seemingly waiting for someone.
As they chatted, one suddenly asked, “By the way, did you watch OG’s match today?”
“I haven’t watched in a long time. Which team did they play against? Did they win or lose?”
“They got crushed by TG.”
Yu Nuo’s hand froze.
“OG is that bad?” the male voice asked in surprise. “Did they mess up again?”
“It was okay, just the jungler threw a few times.”
The two began discussing today’s match, and Yu Nuo quickly made her decision, picking up the blueberry jam bread and going to the counter to pay.
As she passed by them, another comment drifted to her ears.
“…That Conquer guy is really amazing, if I had a p*ssy I’d let him have it.”
“Fuck, don’t disgust me.”
… …
Yu Nuo returned to her dorm with the bread, where only one person was watching a drama.
Liang Xi saw her and greeted her first, “You’re back, where did you go today?”
Yu Nuo replied, “Went to watch a match.”
Liang Xi seemed to remember something, “Oh right, Nuo Nuo, I want to ask for your help with something.”
“Hmm?”
Liang Xi said: “Hehe, you know I got a boyfriend recently, right? The other day when we were chatting, he said his idol is Fish from OG. Then I remembered that’s your brother, right? If it’s convenient, could you help me get an autograph? I want to give it to him as a birthday present.”
Yu Nuo thought briefly and agreed, “Okay, just remind me when the time comes.”
After running around all day, she was extremely tired. She went to her seat, plugged in her phone to charge, sat down to rest for a while, then opened her mirror to remove her makeup.
They had hot pot for dinner, and both her hair and clothes smelled of it. After removing her makeup, Yu Nuo took her pajamas to the bathroom.
Coming out after her shower, she picked up her phone. A few minutes ago, there was a message from a planning coordinator, reminding her to repost a Weibo about an 8 PM radio drama broadcast1.
This radio drama was based on a currently popular boys’ love (BL) novel, and they had specifically invited several famous cosplayers to take some traditional-style photos.
Yu Nuo had entered the circles of Chinese anime, traditional culture, and cosplay when she first started university. Though she only occasionally participated and was just an ordinary unknown in these circles, this time she played a minor female supporting role.
After reposting the Weibo, she received dozens of fan messages.
She read them while blow-drying her hair.
Over the roar of the hairdryer, Liang Xi called out to her, “Hey, Xiao Nuo, I’m going to do laundry, want me to wash yours too?”
Yu Nuo poked her head out and responded, “Sure, thanks!”
Then she suddenly remembered something, put down the hairdryer and stood up, “Wait.”
Liang Xi was throwing clothes into the washing machine one by one, “What’s wrong?”
Yu Nuo bent down and searched through the clothes, pulling out the top she wore today.
“You’re not washing this one?”
“Ah?” Yu Nuo held the sweater, feeling inexplicably guilty, “I… won’t wash it for now.”
Yu Nuo had just instinctively thought about the autograph on the sweater and took it back.
Thinking of Yu Ge’s words, she contemplated for a while, then found a plastic bag, put the sweater in it, and stuffed it into a random corner of her wardrobe.
A few days later, Fu Yidong called to invite her to watch another match. Yu Nuo was busy editing photos and gave a few perfunctory responses on the phone.
Fu Yidong kept begging, but Yu Nuo reflexively refused, “Forget it, ask someone else.”
Hearing her tone, Fu Yidong immediately understood about seventy percent of the situation and rambled on: “Oh come on, what’s wrong with you? Are you still hung up on that thing? Don’t take it to heart. You don’t follow the esports circle so you don’t know, but Conquer is pretty famous these days. Last time when I went with a friend, we saw several girls specifically waiting for him. He’s probably forgotten about a fake fan like you already.”
“That’s not it,” Yu Nuo couldn’t explain clearly in a few words, so she sighed, “Next time, I’m really busy right now.”
After finishing the phone call with Fu Yidong, she quickly forgot about it.
One day, she remembered and searched for the match schedule on League of Legends mobile.
The Spring Split2 was already in its latter half. Following the regular season rankings, eight teams had been eliminated, leaving eight remaining. One round had already been played, leaving four teams in the semifinals, divided into two groups, set to begin next week. … …
Finally, on a free weekend, Fu Yidong called Yu Nuo to go shopping at the newly opened IFS3 in their city. When they arrived, she discovered another young woman was joining them.
Both of them had elaborate makeup and were dressed very fashionably like urban ladies. Getting closer, you could smell their perfume.
Fu Yidong saw her first, “Why are you so plain today?”
Yu Nuo looked down at herself. Standard student attire: white shirt and plaid skirt, white sneakers, low ponytail. After her previous hair color faded, she had dyed it back to black. She was completely bare-faced, looking plain with just sunscreen on.
Yu Nuo explained: “I just woke up, didn’t have time to get ready.”
The other young woman also greeted her warmly: “Hi, I’m Dong Dong’s friend, call me Gu Yi.”
Yu Nuo smiled, “Hi, I’m Yu Nuo.”
Today was Sunday, and every restaurant was packed with long queues at their entrances. Fortunately, Fu Yidong had made a reservation at a Japanese restaurant. During the meal, the two of them kept discussing TG. Yu Nuo focused on grilling meat and just listened to them talk without taking it to heart.
After eating, they bought some bubble tea and walked around the shopping area to digest their food. While that girl was on the phone, Fu Yidong mysteriously leaned close to her ear, “Guess who Gu Yi is?”
Yu Nuo: “……?”
Seeing Fu Yidong’s expectant face, she had to play along: “Who?”
“TG jungler’s girlfriend!”
“Which jungler?”
“T-G.”
A tapioca pearl got stuck in Yu Nuo’s throat, and she covered her mouth, coughing violently.
Fu Yidong patted her back, teasing: “I say, do you need to be this excited?”
Yu Nuo waved her hand, “No, I just choked by accident.” She caught her breath and managed to ask, “…How did you meet?”
“In TG’s fan club group chat, there weren’t many people, just us two talked a lot, then we added each other on WeChat, that’s how we met.”
Yu Nuo congratulated her, “Nice, you’ve infiltrated the inner circle.”
Just then, Gu Yi waved at Fu Yidong.
They said something unknown, and Fu Yidong’s face lit up with excitement as she gestured.
After a while, Fu Yidong came over with a solemn expression, “Nuo Nuo, I need to tell you something.”
Yu Nuo paused: “What is it?”
Fu Yidong grabbed her arm, “You need to be mentally prepared before I tell you.”
Yu Nuo found her behavior amusing, “I’m prepared, go ahead.”
“Are you sure I should say it?”
“Say it.”
Fu Yidong’s eyes sparkled: “Let’s go to an internet café, what do you think!”
“……”
Yu Nuo: “That’s it?”
Fu Yidong clasped her hands together, looking at her expectantly, “What do you think?”
Yu Nuo had a vague sense of foreboding.
“Gu Yi said her boyfriend is playing at an internet café nearby.”
Yu Nuo: “……?”
Fu Yidong carefully added: “And his boyfriend’s… teammates.”
After a solid hour of fussing, Fu Yidong felt her hair smelled like barbecue and insisted on getting it washed at a salon first.
At the internet café’s front desk, Gu Yi texted her boyfriend saying they had arrived. Fu Yidong took out a lip gloss from her bag, “Nuo Nuo, want to put on some lipstick?”
Yu Nuo shook her head: “No need, you go ahead.”
She and Gu Yi waited outside the bathroom for Fu Yidong.
After waiting a while, Yu Nuo received a WeChat message from Fu Yidong: [Nuo Nuo, why don’t you go in with Gu Yi first? My stomach really hurts!! Need to use the bathroom!!]
Before she could reply, she heard Gu Yi say softly beside her, “What’s taking Yidong so long? Why isn’t she coming out?”
Yu Nuo shook her phone, explaining, “She says her stomach hurts and she needs to use the bathroom.”
“Then let’s go in first!” Gu Yi was eager to see her boyfriend, “We can just send her our location later.”
Yu Nuo hesitated: “It’s okay, why don’t you go in first, and I’ll wait for her here?”
Gu Yi grabbed her arm and started walking forward, “Oh come on, what are you waiting for, let’s wait inside!”
Today was a holiday, and the internet café was crowded with no empty seats anywhere. The TG members were all in a private room. Gu Yi pushed open the door first, while Yu Nuo hesitated at the entrance.
She still felt a bit awkward and didn’t really want to meet the TG team. She had planned to wait for Fu Yidong to come out, say goodbye to her, and then find a less crowded place to go online by herself.
But now it was just her and Gu Yi, and Yu Nuo didn’t feel comfortable making requests to someone she barely knew, afraid of ruining their mood or being presumptuous.
Now she had no choice but to reluctantly go in.
The room had two rows of seats, one row was full, and the other had only one person sitting. Gu Yi put down her things and went straight to Van’s side, “Honey, I’m here!”
Van briefly looked up at her, “Babe, wait a moment, let me finish this game.”
The others knew Gu Yi and casually greeted her before continuing to focus on their games. No one noticed the extra presence of Yu Nuo.
For a while, the private room was filled only with the clicking sounds of mice and keyboards, mixed with chaotic phrases like, “Last teamfight at fountain, charge!!”
“I’m not there yet, don’t fight, don’t fight.”
“Protect the ADC, I’ll flank them, they don’t have ultimates.”
“…Don’t be a coward, push forward, my damage is insane.”
“Boys, ready to lie down? Watch daddy show you how it’s done!”
Yu Nuo, the outsider, stood quietly for a while.
The window seat was occupied by Gu Yi’s bag, so Yu Nuo could only move to the side. She was next to some TG team member.
As she was about to pull out the chair to sit down, she encountered a problem.
Yu Nuo rarely visited internet cafés, so she didn’t know how to turn on the computer.
She stood up and looked behind the computer, but couldn’t find the power switch.
Then she bent down to feel around the CPU area, but after all that effort that made her break into a sweat, she still couldn’t find it.
Fortunately, everyone in the room was focused on their games and hadn’t noticed her actions. Yu Nuo felt a bit embarrassed and sat down, about to take out her phone when she noticed a button on her left.
She tried pressing it, but the computer showed no response.
Yu Nuo pressed it again for several seconds, then suddenly froze, abruptly stopping all movement.
A socially mortifying moment occurred.
Yu Nuo stared in disbelief.
—She had just shut down the computer of the guy next to her.
Her mind went blank, and she completely froze.
After a moment of silence, Yu Nuo looked at his blackened screen, first with confusion, then slowly turned red from her ears to her face.
The guy was wearing a baseball cap, his expression unclear. His hand still gripped the mouse, maintaining his computer-viewing posture, as if he hadn’t processed what happened yet.
It felt like an eternity passed before he finally moved. He turned his head, shifting his gaze from the computer to her.
The internet café’s lighting was dim, casting a soft, warm yellow glow over his features.
The moment Yu Nuo clearly saw his face, a suffocating feeling instantly surged from her chest to her throat. Her mind went completely blank.
She originally wanted to explain, but she couldn’t utter a single word.
Chen Yuzheng stared at her expressionlessly and slowly asked, “What do you want?”
- The radio drama culture is pretty different to that outside of China with cult followings and massive popularities. I enjoyed this read about radio drama culture, which also ties into BL/danmei scene within them. ↩︎
- The LCS is an 8-team league with 28 games per split. Top teams go to playoffs; lower teams face wildcard matches or relegation. Spring Split includes an All-Stars event, and Summer determines spots for Worlds. ↩︎
- International Finance Square (IFS) – high-end commercial developments in China, commonly found in major cities like Chengdu or Changsha, featuring luxury stores, restaurants, and leisure facilities. ↩︎
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