For two consecutive days, the rain hadn’t stopped. Yu Nuo caught a bad cold from being drenched in the rain the day before, and had been lying in her dorm for three days.
By the fourth day, she really couldn’t take it anymore. Feeling dizzy, she crawled out of bed, planning to go to the hospital for an IV drip.
Yu Jiang called when she was waiting for a car at the school gate.
Looking at the caller ID, Yu Nuo gathered her energy, answered the phone, and called out, “Dad.”
“Why isn’t Yu Ge answering his phone?”
Her mind went blank for a moment before she replied, “Brother’s been busy with training lately, he probably hasn’t seen it. Should I…”
Yu Jiang impatiently interrupted her, “Enough, it’s always the same excuse. Let him be.”
“……”
A gust of wind blew by, the cold air catching in her throat, making Yu Nuo cough.
“What’s wrong with you?”
She said softly: “I have a bit of a fever.”
Perhaps her voice was too quiet and he didn’t hear. Or perhaps he heard but didn’t care. “Your younger brother’s birthday is in a few days. Your aunt wants you to come home for dinner. Don’t forget.”
After giving his instructions, Yu Jiang hung up without waiting for her response.
Silence. Yu Nuo stared blankly at a spot until the green light across the street lit up, and only then did she put her phone back in her bag.
…
…
Being a workday, the nearby small hospital wasn’t crowded. The doctor prescribed some fever medicine and set up an IV for her.
Yu Nuo flipped through the calendar and realized the semi-finals were the day after tomorrow.
TG and OG were ranked first and second in the regular season respectively, and would play semi-finals against two other teams over the weekend. Winning would mean direct advancement to the finals.
Yu Nuo originally planned to call Yu Ge but thought better of it.
At this time, he was probably still sleeping.
After finishing the IV drip, Yu Nuo felt much better. Thinking about having no classes tomorrow, she wandered to the nearby market, expertly bought some ingredients, vegetables, and a black chicken.
Two years ago, Yu Ge had bought an apartment locally. He spent most of his time at the team base, with regular visits from a cleaning lady. Yu Nuo would stay there during holidays. When she had part-time work off campus, she would cook for herself at home.
After buying groceries, Yu Nuo returned to the apartment, planning to make soup for Yu Ge.
…
…
She timed it well, sending Yu Ge a WeChat message and arriving around his usual mealtime. The security guards at OG’s base recognized Yu Nuo and asked her to sign in.
While writing, Yu Nuo asked, “Are visitors not allowed in recently?”
The guard explained: “Well, it’s playoffs season, isn’t it? Every year around this time fans gather nearby, we’re worried something might happen.”
Yu Nuo nodded in understanding.
OG’s club owner was wealthy to begin with, the organization was established early, and they had many sponsors, so their base was luxurious, located in a villa district in the city center – a standalone building. A popular esports drama had even filmed scenes there before.
The front desk lady smiled when she saw Yu Nuo carrying two thermal containers, “Xiao Nuo, bringing warmth to your brother again?”
Yu Nuo smiled and nodded. She pointed inside, “Is my brother awake now?”
“Yes, you can go right in.”
The base had a dedicated small cafeteria.
OG’s jungler Awen was eating while watching a livestream on his phone. Looking up to see who came in, he called out: “Oh, look who’s here!”
Yu Nuo stared at the yellow-haired person greeting her, her brain short-circuiting for a few seconds before recognizing him, “Brother Wen?”
Awen grinned from ear to ear, teasing her: “What, you can’t recognize me just because I dyed my hair? Am I still your honorary brother?”
Yu Ge had just woken up and was walking past in slippers, holding a bottle of mineral water. His tone was unfriendly: “Who’s your sister? Stop trying to claim relationships.”
Yu Ge was two years older than Yu Nuo, and though they grew up together, their personalities were completely different. Yu Ge had a strong personality from childhood, rebellious to the core, while Yu Nuo was a very mild-tempered person.
Though Yu Nuo was the younger sister, in her memories, she was always the one obediently following Yu Ge around, calling out: “Brother, this isn’t good,” “Brother, you need to behave, or auntie and dad will be angry.”
Fortunately, although Yu Ge was impulsive and easily impatient, he was generally friendly toward his somewhat slow-witted sister.
Yu Nuo casually placed the thermal containers on the table, ran to get soup spoons and bowls, and served everyone a bowl. During meals everyone gathered together, chatting casually.
Suddenly Awen let out a low exclamation of “Holy shit.”
Someone nearby asked casually, “What are you yelling about?”
Awen looked shocked: “Fish, your fans are too much.”
Yu Ge glanced at him.
Support player Little C went to grab his phone.
After looking for a while, Little C’s whole face wrinkled in disbelief: “Fish, your fans are really going too far.”
Yu Ge frowned: “What happened?”
Awen: “Did you know your fans ganked Conquer?”
Yu Nuo froze at hearing this name, choking on a mouthful of soup.
Someone asked curiously: “What did they report?”
She lowered her head, silently chewing her food while listening intently.
“Last week when TG’s team was playing five-man queue, there were some game streamers spectating Fish’s stream. Conquer went AFK in one game and got reported.”
Yu Nuo was shocked, her movements freezing.
Yu Ge didn’t even look up: “How do you know it was my fans?”
“The official ruling announcement is out, and all your fans are celebrating. Tell me, how spiteful is that?”
Yu Ge: ……
Little C casually gossiped, “That TG team is all rookies, right? I heard they don’t even have sponsors. They only started recruiting official coaches and analysts after the regular season ended, before that they just had temporary replacements. Wonder how they’re doing now.”
The others all sighed, and Awen clicked his tongue, “About their worth, talented people will naturally rise up. Actually, TG’s players all have potential, especially their AD.”
Will glanced at the silent Yu Ge beside him and joked, “Look at how arrogant he is, even daring to openly mock our Fish God, how can we tolerate this?”
They finished talking and moved on to other topics. Yu Nuo was distracted, having a vague bad feeling about her guess. She couldn’t eat anymore and sat to the side, secretly taking out her phone to search about this incident on Weibo.
As soon as she typed in a name, the first result was the League of Legends Professional League punishment announcement:
Regarding the Punishment Decision for Chen Yuzheng’s Inappropriate Behavior in Game
Player ID: TG.Conquer (Chen Yuzheng)
Date: April 19, 2021
Incident: Reported by fans with real names, TG.Conquer displayed AFK behavior in ranked games.
League of Legends Professional League Punishment Rules:
Professional players must not engage in misconduct (whether in or out of competition), such as going AFK, verbal abuse, or negative gaming. Whether intentional or not. Attempts to violate or infringe rules are also subject to punishment.
Ruling: According to the punishment rules, TG.Conquer is fined 5,000 RMB1.
April nineteenth…
Yu Nuo quickly checked her calendar.
It was exactly the day she went to the internet café…
And then…
She had turned off Chen Yuzheng’s computer.
Leaving the OG base, Yu Nuo called Fu Yidong.
The other end said hello.
Yu Nuo hurriedly asked: “Dongdong, do you know about Chen Yuzheng being fined?”
Fu Yidong was silent for two seconds, “I know, what’s up?”
Yu Nuo waited a moment before saying: “Well, that time I accidentally turned off his computer…”
She briefly explained what happened that night.
Fu Yidong laughed for a good while on the other end before clearing her throat, “Damn, so it was you? You didn’t do it on purpose, right? To get revenge?”
Yu Nuo wasn’t in the mood for jokes, “He was reported by my brother’s fans too, what should I do?”
“Was he banned from playing?” Fu Yidong suddenly became serious, “TG has their semi-finals soon, it would be trouble if he’s banned.”
Yu Nuo was startled and carefully read the announcement again, “Doesn’t seem like it.”
Fu Yidong sighed in relief, “That’s good then, it’s not a big deal.”
Yu Nuo said worriedly, “But he was fined five thousand.”
“Nothing can be done about that.” Fu Yidong comforted her, “Alright, don’t worry about it.”
“How about this.” Yu Nuo thought of an idea, “Can you help me get Chen Yuzheng’s phone number from Gu Yi, and I’ll transfer him five thousand directly through Alipay2, what do you think?”
Fu Yidong: “……”
Yu Nuo continued seriously: “And I need you to help me return the clothes too, I’ve been sick these past few days and forgot about it.”
Fu Yidong laughed: “It’s just a few thousand yuan, he probably doesn’t care about that amount, and you’re still a student, why compensate him? Return the clothes yourself, I’m in Beijing with my boss for business these two days, probably won’t be back until next month.”
“No.” Yu Nuo explained, “I just heard from my brother and others that new professional players don’t have much money, and TG is a new team, right? They don’t have many fans either, so…”
Fu Yidong got a headache from her chatter and quickly interrupted, “Okay, okay, I got it, I’ll help you get it tonight. I’ll definitely help you get it.”
…
…
Back at the school dormitory, only Liang Xi was there, voice chatting with someone while gaming.
Yu Nuo walked over and found she was playing League of Legends again.
Liang Xi was also quite a homebody, a serious gaming addict, rarely going out to play during free time, just staying in the dorm playing LOL. She even met her current boyfriend through gaming.
When Yu Nuo came out after showering, Liang Xi had already hung up the voice chat and was eating McDonald’s.
Seeing Yu Nuo come out, she smiled and asked: “Why are you back so late today?”
Yu Nuo sat across from her drying her hair, “I went to see my brother.”
Liang Xi’s eyes lit up at hearing this, sighing: “Ah, I’m so envious of you.”
Yu Nuo changed the subject: “Where are the other two? Why aren’t they here?”
“Aren’t they doing internships? They’re probably working overtime.” Liang Xi asked curiously, “By the way, have you found a job?”
Yu Nuo shook her head, “Nothing confirmed yet, how about you?”
“Me? Pretty much settled.” Liang Xi chewed her food, grabbed her Coke for a sip, and said indistinctly, “A gaming friend introduced me to be a nutritionist at a new LPL team, they happen to be recruiting right now. I went for an interview a few days ago, they thought I was pretty good, so it’s basically confirmed.”
Yu Nuo nodded: “That’s not bad, it’s something you’re interested in and suits this industry.”
Liang Xi asked again: “Isn’t your brother a pro player? You could go to their team.”
“They’re not short on people right now, I’d just be doing odd jobs. Don’t want to trouble him.”
“What about other teams?”
Yu Nuo considered for a moment, “If there’s something suitable I could try.”
After chatting for a bit, Liang Xi finished eating and continued gaming with her headphones on. Yu Nuo dried her hair halfway, restlessly picked up her phone.
She thought again about Chen Yuzheng being reported.
After the announcement was posted, it didn’t cause much discussion on Weibo. Maybe because they were all rookies without much presence, the TG members hadn’t even registered Weibo accounts yet.
Yu Nuo felt somewhat disappointed.
She had been running around all day and now exhaustion was hitting her. She rallied her energy to write her thesis progress report for a while, but couldn’t hold on anymore, went to brush her teeth in the bathroom, and climbed into bed.
In her drowsy state, WeChat suddenly buzzed.
Yu Nuo squinted her eyes and grabbed her phone.
Fu Yidong had sent a string of numbers.
It was Chen Yuzheng’s number.
Yu Nuo suddenly became wide awake. She sat up a bit and checked her bank account balance.
Between scholarship money and part-time work earnings, she had accumulated roughly tens of thousands.
Now five thousand would be gone in one go…
She stared at that string of numbers for half a minute.
After struggling internally for a long while, Yu Nuo finally made up her mind and searched for the phone number on Alipay.
After buffering for a moment, a user with a default simple avatar appeared.
Alipay transactions required verification of the recipient’s surname before sending. After entering “Chen”, the interface showed verification successful.
Fighting the pain, she slowly typed in 5000 in the box, feeling like her heart was bleeding.
After dawdling for a few minutes, she still transferred the money.
With a ding, her bank card also sent a consumption notification.
Yu Nuo couldn’t bear to look anymore, let out a breath, and lay back down in bed. She finally felt the weight lifted from her heart.
…
…
Meanwhile, at the OG base, Chen Yuzheng inexplicably received a 5000 yuan transfer from a stranger.
He frowned and called out to Van nearby, “Fan Qi.”
“What?”
Chen Yuzheng tossed his phone over, “Who’s this?”
Van saw the transfer and immediately laughed. Thinking about his girlfriend asking for Chen Yuzheng’s phone number earlier, he could probably guess it was Yu Nuo.
He returned the phone to Chen Yuzheng, deliberately putting on a surprised expression: “How would I know? Maybe it’s one of your obsessed fans? Looking at the name, seems like a girl.”
Van was a big mouth, and before long everyone in the base knew that a stranger had transferred a huge sum to Chen Yuzheng.
Ultraman let out a long sigh, deeply troubled: “Now Chen Yuzheng has a rich woman keeping him3, my youth is over.”
Chen Yuzheng didn’t respond. After looking at it a couple more times, he was about to send the money back when the interface suddenly popped up with a notification:
[The other party has added you to their blacklist, you cannot transfer money to them]
Chen Yuzheng: “……”
After a week of on-and-off rain, it finally cleared up on the second day of the semi-finals.
Yesterday OG played against YLD and won. Today TG (ranked first in regular season) would face WR. Because time was tight, the winning team would need to shoot promotional videos and take official photos with OG for the finals today.
The match started at 5 PM, and OG’s team arrived early. Yu Nuo had nothing to do so she came along.
She planned to find an opportunity today to return the clothes to Chen Yuzheng.
Yu Nuo greeted Yu Ge and waited in the parking lot behind the stadium. With her nearsightedness she couldn’t see clearly, so she wandered around the area.
Just when she was about to give up as it was almost time for standby, she turned around and happened to see the white bus with the golden team logo.
Several TG team members were nearby, gathered together chatting and laughing quietly.
Fortunately there were no fans waiting to meet them.
Yu Nuo looked around but couldn’t find Chen Yuzheng in the crowd. She observed for a bit and approached someone who looked somewhat familiar.
Killer was talking when he heard someone call him. He turned his head slightly and immediately recognized Yu Nuo, “Oh, aren’t you…?”
Yu Nuo took the initiative to greet him: “Hello, I’m the one who went to the internet café with you guys last time, remember?”
Killer smiled: “How could I forget? Why are you here? Came specifically to cheer for us?”
Yu Nuo felt embarrassed and held up the bag she was carrying to show him: “Well, I came to return something, could you help me? Could you give this to Conquer?”
Killer smiled suggestively, “You mean Chen Yuzheng?”
Yu Nuo made a sound of agreement.
Killer’s tone was teasing: “He even lent you clothes to wear? He won’t even give me a sip of water at the base.”
Yu Nuo knew he misunderstood and was about to try to explain, but was interrupted.
Killer smiled: “Why don’t you return it yourself? He’s right over there.”
…
…
Yu Nuo hesitated for a while.
Afraid of wasting their time, she stood there uncertainly for a moment before gathering her courage and jogging over to where Killer had pointed.
Chen Yuzheng was crouching by the flower bed, a half-smoked cigarette between his lips.
Hearing footsteps, his gaze swept over the newcomer. When it reached her face, he paused for two seconds.
Yu Nuo stopped in front of him, her face still slightly flushed from running.
After catching her breath, she tentatively spoke up, “Um, that… Con-Conquer…”
He stubbed out the remaining half of his cigarette and finally gave her a proper look, “My name is Chen Yuzheng.”
“Oh… Chen Yuzheng.”
Their eyes met, and Yu Nuo felt a bit panicked, her lips pressed together as if holding back words she didn’t dare to say.
Chen Yuzheng remained crouched without moving or speaking, looking up at her.
Seeing her worried expression, carrying undisguised fear, she might as well have had “scared” written on her face.
Not far away, the other TG team members pretended to chat while secretly stealing glances at the scene.
The afternoon sun was blazing. Chen Yuzheng squinted his eyes lazily, “Am I that scary?”
“No, no.” Yu Nuo immediately denied.
She just felt very embarrassed.
Yu Nuo carefully bent down and placed the items on the ground not far from him, “I, I came to return your clothes.”
Chen Yuzheng’s eyelids twitched, half-drooping, as he looked at the bag by his feet.
Before he could speak, he looked up again to find the small girl had already disappeared without a trace.
..
..
Someone called for him in the distance. Chen Yuzheng stood up and took the clothes out of the bag.
Just then, something fell out.
His movements paused.
He bent down and picked up the item from the ground.
It was a card.
In all his years, Chen Yuzheng had never seen something so abstract.
The design was cartoonish, pink and blue, with an innocent little elephant wearing white daisies.
As soon as he approached, Killer made a teasing “tsk tsk” sound, “Didn’t expect this from you, Conquer.”
Chen Yuzheng ignored him, walking straight past them to put his things on the bus.
Sharp-eyed Van pointed at the pink-blue card in the bag, excitedly asking: “What’s that?”
Chen Yuzheng couldn’t be bothered to explain.
Killer was quick, extremely rudely taking the item out, “Let me see.”
After looking excitedly for two seconds, he couldn’t stop laughing.
The others were curious too, crowding around to look before contentedly returning it to Chen Yuzheng.
He looked down and casually flipped the card over.
He hadn’t noticed earlier, but there was a line of black handwriting on the back, carefully written stroke by stroke:
I washed the clothes clean. I’m really sorry for causing you trouble before.
Good luck in the match.
…
…
In the backstage rest room.
The match hadn’t started yet, the host was warming up the crowd, and they could already hear the fans cheering from the front.
Killer sprawled in his chair sighing: “Alright, we’ve got this match against WR in the bag today.”
The TG team manager happened to come by and heard Killer’s words. Not understanding the situation, he asked: “We’re playing WR next, why are you so confident?”
“I’m not, but Conquer is. Today we’re counting on him to carry4.”
Chen Yuzheng was lying in his chair resting with his eyes closed.
Ultraman: “Why’s that?”
“Didn’t you see just now?” Killer enunciated each word: “The girl told him to ‘good luck in the match’ today.”
Chen Yuzheng kept a cold expression, slightly opening his eyes to glance at him, “You’re mental.”
Van added a line, “Promise me, Conquer, let’s crush WR today.”
He patted Chen Yuzheng’s shoulder concernedly, gritting his teeth: “Are you even a man if we don’t win?”
“Enough.” Chen Yuzheng leaned his body to the other side, shaking off his hand with a face full of mockery: “Bunch of sour lemons, stop being jealous.”
- 5000 Chinese Yuan is about 700 USD. ↩︎
- Alipay: A popular app in China for sending money, paying for things, and making transfers to people from your phone. Think an e-wallet. ↩︎
- “Keeping him” here refers to “bao yang” (??) i.e., a wealthy person financially supporting someone in exchange for companionship. ↩︎
- In gaming, “carry” means to take the responsibility in leading the team to success i.e., “carry everyone on their backs”. ↩︎
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