Chen Yuzheng studied her, looking directly into her eyes.
Yu Nuo didn’t dare move, just staring blankly at him.
Chen Yuzheng thought for a while, as if preparing what to say, then paused and finally frowned, “Never mind.”
Yu Nuo: “Huh…?”
Chen Yuzheng: “I’m going to get water.”
……
Killer sat in his seat, watching Chen Yuzheng approach from afar with a scowl on his face, carrying water. Suddenly, a feeling of victory rose from the bottom of his heart.
He took a satisfied sip and dramatically sighed, “Ah, the water at this airport is so sweet. It’s the sweetest water I’ve ever had in my life. Delicious! So damn delicious!”
Chen Yuzheng laughed in anger. He held back for a moment, “Can you tell me now?”
Killer played dumb: “Huh, tell you what?”
Chen Yuzheng said calmly: “What did you ask Yu Nuo?”
Killer continued to tease him smugly: “Take a guess.”
Chen Yuzheng: “I’ll guess your mother’s ass.”
“………”
Killer almost choked, patting his chest, and asked Ultraman fearfully: “Why is Conquer so angry today, is it that time of the month? He’s being mean to me! Man Man, aren’t you going to do something?”
Ultraman sighed and also patted Chen Yuzheng’s shoulder: “What can we do, what can we possibly do!”
Chen Yuzheng turned his head: “What did she tell you?”
Ultraman’s face turned serious: “Well, might as well tell you – Yu Nuo already has someone she likes. Taller than you, and more handsome too.”
“…….”
Ultraman struck his teammate: “If only you’d made your move earlier. You kept complaining about us meddling, and now look what happened. It’s all over.”
Chen Yuzheng: “Who says she has someone she likes?”
Killer twisted the knife: “She said so herself.”
Ultraman: “Forget it, forget it Killer bro, let’s stop talking. Chen Yuzheng looks like his heart is about to be pierced through. If we keep going, he won’t be able to play in the match.”
—
Security check time came, and everyone got ready to board.
Xiang Jiajia took her boarding pass and found her seat, asking Yu Nuo: “Nuo Nuo, we’re sitting here, do you want the inside seat or the aisle?”
Yu Nuo held onto the seat, secretly glancing to the side. Killer, Ultraman, and Chen Yuzheng were storing their luggage, and they happened to be sitting next to them.
Yu Nuo: “Can I sit on the aisle?”
Xiang Jiajia nodded: “Sure, then I’ll sit in the middle.”
Yu Nuo sat down in her seat.
She had just found her earphones, which were in her pocket.
Before takeoff, the announcement reminded passengers to turn off their phones, put up their tray tables, and fasten their seatbelts. Yu Nuo was a bit nervous and put in her earphones.
After getting settled, Yu Nuo took a deep breath, waiting for the plane to take off. Everyone around was busy with their own things. She glanced to the side again – Chen Yuzheng was also sitting on the aisle.
He wore an eye mask, arms crossed over his chest. The brim of his baseball cap was pulled down, almost covering his entire face, already in sleep mode.
Only separated by a small aisle, Yu Nuo couldn’t help feeling a small joy in her heart.
She pulled her gaze back and started spacing out.
…
…
Sleep on the plane wasn’t steady, with turbulence causing bumps. After a while, the sound of wheels rolling could be heard as flight attendants pushed food carts out, softly asking passengers what they wanted.
With the faint sound of rolling wheels, Chen Yuzheng pulled off his eye mask, squinting to adjust to the bright light. He sat up a little.
The flight attendant came to his side, bending slightly: “Hello, would you like something to drink?”
Chen Yuzheng thought for a moment, asking sleepily: “Do you have juice?”
“Yes, one moment please.”
The flight attendant took a cup and poured juice for him.
Chen Yuzheng: “Thank you.”
Ultraman said from beside him: “Coffee for me please.”
The flight attendant replied patiently: “Certainly, one moment.”
His head starting to ache faintly, Chen Yuzheng felt around his pocket and pulled out a piece of chocolate, tossing it in his mouth, waiting for it to slowly melt.
His face looked unwell, with dark circles under his eyes. Seeing this, Ultraman knew his low blood sugar was acting up again and leaned over to ask concernedly, “Are you okay? Do you want something to eat?”
Chen Yuzheng didn’t want to talk and shook his head.
The tray table was pulled down. He held the cup in his hand, fingers lightly tapping the rim, staring absently at the slightly swaying juice inside.
Last time during Spring Finals, after losing two games to OG, they got scolded by their coach in the break room. Chen Yuzheng sat alone on the sofa surrounded by a gloomy atmosphere, and someone bought him a cup of juice just like this.
Her face was red then, with sweat from intense exercise on her temples. When she looked at him, she was a bit embarrassed, taking out glucose and juice from her bag, carefully asking which one he wanted.
Chen Yuzheng swirled his cup and turned his head to look at Yu Nuo.
She wore white earphones with a fluffy blanket over her knees, tearing off a piece of bread to eat. She was earnestly flipping through the airline’s business magazine, reading with great interest.
Sensing his gaze, Yu Nuo turned her head and met Chen Yuzheng’s eyes.
He didn’t look away.
Yu Nuo froze for a moment, looking around to confirm Chen Yuzheng was indeed looking at her. Since Jiajia was sleeping next to her, Yu Nuo was afraid of disturbing her, so she mouthed: “What’s wrong?”
Chen Yuzheng picked up his phone and messaged her on WeChat:
Conquer: “What are you eating”
With just an aisle between them, Yu Nuo picked up the wrapper to show Chen Yuzheng, then typed back: “Eating bread”
Conquer: “Hungry”
Yu Nuo glanced at him again: “I have other things, what do you want to eat?”
Conquer: “Let me see”
Yu Nuo lifted her blanket, stood up and tiptoed to get her snack bag from the overhead compartment. She unzipped it and took a photo for Chen Yuzheng.
He looked at it and casually picked one.
Yu Nuo took out the strawberry-flavored bread and reached over to hand it to Chen Yuzheng.
He leisurely tore open the wrapper and took a bite. His phone vibrated with Yu Nuo’s WeChat message: “Is it good?”
The irritation from just waking up seemed to dissipate a little. Chen Yuzheng was in a good mood and replied:
“Not bad.”
Yu Nuo: “I have two more, want them both?”
Conquer: “No need”
Right after replying to Yu Nuo, Chen Yuzheng looked up from his screen and glanced at Ultraman.
He coughed, a bit embarrassed at being caught peeking, “Uh, carry on, I was just looking, just casually looking.”
Chen Yuzheng ignored him and turned off his phone.
Ultraman deliberately lowered his voice, “You two are quite flirty.”
Seeing Chen Yuzheng still ignoring him, Ultraman felt annoyed: “Didn’t you say you didn’t want anything when I asked if you wanted to eat something earlier?”
Chen Yuzheng spoke up, his voice a bit hoarse with his usual impatience: “Can you talk less?”
Ultraman: “?”
Chen Yuzheng: “You’re making my head hurt.”
Ultraman: “………”
Ultraman was stunned for a few seconds, gritting his teeth: “Fine, I won’t say anything else. Just another life of a rejected man.”
—
After fourteen hours, the plane arrived in Paris from Shanghai. The organizers had arranged cars to pick them up and take them to the hotel.
Little Ying briefly went over their schedule for the next two days in the car.
This Inter-Continental Championship had 12 teams from three Asian regions.
The first day would be round-robin matches with six Bo1 games. After the Bo1 matches, rankings would be determined by regional points for first, second and third place. First place would advance directly to finals; second and third would compete for the other finals spot. Finals would use Bo5 format – the winning two regions’ four teams would have their coaches discuss playing order, and the region that gets 3 points first wins the championship.
Before the tournament starts, they need to wake up early the next day to film promotional videos. The schedule was very tight.
After sitting on the plane for over ten hours, Yu Nuo’s face had become quite unwell.
On the way to the hotel, Yu Nuo couldn’t hold it anymore and asked the driver to stop, getting out to throw up twice.
Xiang Jiajia followed her out, patting her back worriedly: “Are you okay, Nuo Nuo?”
Yu Nuo suppressed her nausea, crouching by the roadside. She took the tissue Jiajia handed her, wiped her mouth and forced a smile: “I’m fine.”
Not far away, everyone in the car was waiting for her. Yu Nuo was worried about delaying their time and said to Xiang Jiajia: “Jiajia, can you help take my bag and phone? You all go ahead first, I can’t ride in the car right now. Let me rest a bit and I’ll take a taxi to the hotel myself.”
“It’s fine, I’ll stay with you.”
Xiang Jiajia ran back to the car. Killer peered out the window to look back, also worried: “Is Yu Nuo okay?”
Xiang Jiajia walked to the back, finding Yu Nuo’s bag in her seat and picking it up, “She’s fine, she says she can’t ride in the car right now. You all head to the hotel first, I’ll walk with her for a bit then we’ll take a taxi to the hotel.”
Qi Ya’nan disagreed: “No way, it’s so late, it’s not safe for two girls to be out alone.”
Chen Yuzheng suddenly spoke up: “Give me the bag.”
Xiang Jiajia stood there, stunned: “Huh? What?”
He stood up from his seat, “I’ll go stay with her.”
…
…
Yu Nuo swallowed, suppressing the acid rising in her throat. Someone stood beside her, and she instinctively thought it was Xiang Jiajia.
Looking up, Chen Yuzheng was looking down at her.
Yu Nuo froze for a moment, supporting herself on her knees to stand up, “Why is it you… where’s Jiajia?”
“You…” Chen Yuzheng frowned, handing her a bottle of water, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Yu Nuo smiled bitterly and explained, “I just get a bit carsick after flying, I’ll be better after resting a bit.”
The lights were coming on, and Paris’ nighttime streets were quite charming.
This city was like a dazzling city that never sleeps, with streets full of brilliant lights and memorial buildings decorated with sparkling neon lights.
Yu Nuo took a few sips of water and walked slowly for a while. After being blown by the wind, she felt much better. She was captivated by the beautiful night scene and perked up, couldn’t help stopping to take some photos with her phone.
Chen Yuzheng waited on the side, watching her finish taking photos, and asked with some amusement: “Do all girls like taking photos this much?”
“Hm?” Yu Nuo was holding up her arm to photograph a distant carousel when she heard this. She turned her head and smiled shyly, “It’s quite pretty… want to take some pictures to remember it.”
Suddenly remembering Fu Yidong’s advice: [Use some small tricks, let him help you with little things to bring you two closer.]
She hesitated for a moment, pressed her lips together, and asked nervously: “Chen Yuzheng, could you take a photo for me?”
He shrugged.
Yu Nuo handed him her phone, “Help me get the carousel in the shot too, thanks.”
She ran to the roadside, turned her head to find the carousel’s position, raised her hand and made a peace sign next to her face.
She seemed to like making this gesture whenever taking photos. The first time they met, when she went on stage and mistook his identity, she had the exact same pose and smile.
Chen Yuzheng looked at her through the phone screen, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
After a while, Yu Nuo excitedly ran over, “How is it?”
He casually said: “Pretty good.”
Yu Nuo eagerly took back her phone, opened the gallery to check the photos he just took.
After looking at several shots, the smile gradually froze on her face.
Chen Yuzheng didn’t seem to know how to take photos properly. Yu Nuo felt she looked extremely short in the photos, with body proportions that looked like a 50-50 split. Her facial expression also looked particularly silly, and in one photo her eyes weren’t even open.
Seeing her not saying anything, Chen Yuzheng raised an eyebrow, “What, not satisfied?”
Yu Nuo didn’t want to discourage him and looked up saying: “…How about I take one of you, to demonstrate?”
She adjusted a filter and walked out a couple steps.
Chen Yuzheng wore his baseball cap, posed, and leaned against a tree trunk waiting for her.
He was always like this – except when playing matches, he was always lazy and spiritless at other times, never standing or sitting properly. But it somehow blended perfectly with this city’s lazy charm.
Yu Nuo specifically crouched down to find a particularly good angle for Chen Yuzheng.
After taking the photos, Yu Nuo ran over and handed him the phone like showing off a treasure: “What do you think?”
Chen Yuzheng took her phone, swiped left and right looking at several photos of himself, his expression remaining as calm as ever.
Yu Nuo asked expectantly: “How do you feel about them?”
Chen Yuzheng said matter-of-factly: “Pretty handsome.”
Yu Nuo: “………”
She couldn’t help mentioning: “Don’t you think I made your legs look really long?”
Chen Yuzheng’s expression seemed a bit confused: “But my legs are already quite long.”
Yu Nuo: “…….”
“Okay.”
Having been defeated, she muttered and decided not to count on him anymore. She turned the camera around to face herself.
A selfie would be more reliable.
Just as Yu Nuo adjusted her expression, a face suddenly appeared behind the lens – Chen Yuzheng tilted his head and leaned in.
Yu Nuo’s hand shook and pressed the shutter. She panicked: “What are you doing?”
“Taking a selfie with you.”
Yu Nuo made a sound of acknowledgment. After thinking for a moment in her heart, her ears turned a bit red and she lowered her head, saying something softly.
Chen Yuzheng didn’t hear clearly: “What?”
Yu Nuo gathered her courage and spoke a bit louder: “That last photo… didn’t turn out well.”
He didn’t say anything.
She peeked at him carefully: “Can we take another one?”
…
…
Yu Nuo had quite a height difference with him, so she raised herself a bit on her toes. She also didn’t dare get too close to him, maintaining some distance.
Chen Yuzheng stood slightly behind her, seemingly also noticing the height difference issue.
He saw that she had already posed, slightly bent down, held the phone farther out with his arm, and brought his head next to hers.
From far away, it looked like half his body was pressed against Yu Nuo.
His hair and clothes still had a faint scent of shampoo, a clean fragrance that suddenly surrounded her.
Yu Nuo even lightened her breathing, looking at their intimate image in the phone screen, nervously grabbing the hem of her clothes, eyes wide open, even forgetting to smile.
Click click click, Chen Yuzheng took three consecutive shots.
Even after he straightened up, Yu Nuo still maintained her previous pose, not daring to move at all.
He looked down, flipping through their selfies just now, and smiled: “Sister, your expression looks a bit stiff.”
Yu Nuo quickly snatched back her phone, not daring to look much, “It’s fine, it’s fine, let’s leave it at that.”
—
By the time they got back to the hotel it was almost 10 PM. After checking in with their passports, Chen Yuzheng returned to his room.
Ultraman was lying on the bed watching a drama.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
When Chen Yuzheng came out after taking a shower, Ultraman noticed his good mood and asked curiously: “What did you do with Yu Nuo? Why are you back so late?”
He replied lazily: “We went on a date.”
Ultraman was shocked by his shameless statement.
Chen Yuzheng sat on the edge of the bed, using a white towel to dry his short hair.
Ultraman threw aside his phone and crawled over to ask: “Doesn’t Yu Nuo already have someone she likes? You still went on a date? Your mental fortitude is impressive!”
Chen Yuzheng shook the water droplets from his hair, picked up the hair dryer, completely unbothered: “They’re not together yet.”
Ultraman was speechless, momentarily not knowing what to say.
After watching him blow dry his hair, Ultraman thought for a long time before finally asking: “Then what if they do get together?”
Chen Yuzheng’s moral bottom line had always been extremely low. He didn’t even think about it, still maintaining that unbothered expression: “Being together doesn’t mean they’re married.”
Ultraman: “………”
He cursed: “Chen Yuzheng, have you no shame at all?”
Previously everyone had mostly been joking around. Although the guys at the base often teased him and Yu Nuo, no one took it seriously – it was just for fun.
Ultraman hadn’t expected Chen Yuzheng to be serious about it, and couldn’t help reminding him: “Yu Nuo is Fish’s sister, you know.”
Chen Yuzheng tossed aside the hair dryer, leaned back on the bed, picked up his charging phone to look at it, “So?”
“You know how much Fish’s fans hate you. Can you be more sensible? Let’s just forget it, okay? Think about it – Fish is already an accomplished professional role model in the industry, way beyond our reach. And look at you? You’re just a nobody who just debuted, never won any championships, don’t have any fans, and don’t make as much money as her brother. You have nothing going for you – what are you going to use to pursue his sister? Your cheap sincerity?”
“Well, I still have my face,” Chen Yuzheng calmly countered, “Didn’t you know I was the school heartthrob in high school?”
Ultraman: “………”
Though he knew Chen Yuzheng was shameless, he hadn’t expected this level of shamelessness. Ultraman felt his expectations for Chen Yuzheng’s bottom line were refreshed every time.
After being speechless for a while, when Ultraman spoke again his tone was a bit forced, “Yu, looks alone won’t last long, you need to know that beauty fades and love wanes. What use is a face? Besides, Fish is handsome too. You think Yu Nuo hasn’t seen enough handsome guys? So what if you were the school heartthrob? You have no competitive advantage at all.”
Ultraman anxiously nagged on beside him for a long time, his mouth going dry, only to find Chen Yuzheng was browsing game builds on his phone, not having listened to a single word.
He suddenly felt all his concern had been wasted. Ultraman deflated a bit and asked: “Hey, Chen Yuzheng, do you really like Yu Nuo that much?”
Chen Yuzheng leaned against the headboard, not even looking up, lazily answering: “Isn’t it pretty obvious?”
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