C9 Part3

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Chapter 9: Years, Don’t Push Me, I Will Not be Moved (Part 3)

Sun Qian was Sun Zeyi’s cousin. Her parents were both overseas and she was timid, so she was closest to her older cousin who was nearly old enough to be her father. Ji Xiangkong was close to Sun Zeyi, so he also took special care of this little sister.

As they crossed the road, Ji Xiangkong held the little girl’s hand. Qiu Ying’s stomach filled with acid.

Sun Qian’s hair had come loose, so Ji Xiangkong squatted down and helped her put it back up. Qiu Ying’s stomach filled with acid again.

As they were in line to buy ice cream, Sun Qian shook Ji Xiangkong’s hand: “Xiangkong gege, I want strawberry.”

Ji Xiangkong’s eyes curved with a smile. “Alright.”

Qiu Ying stood behind them and also said sweetly, “Xiangkong gege, I want vanilla.”

Ji Xiangkong didn’t even turn around. “Buy it yourself.”

Qiu Ying curled her lip: “Stingy.”

When they were at the park watching a fountain show, the central plaza was full of people. The small Sun Qian couldn’t see anything, so Ji Xiangkong lifted her up and put her on his shoulders, arms supporting her body.

Qiu Ying did her best to jump up: “I… I can’t see, either.”

Ji Xiangkong looked steadily forward. “Oh, it’s almost finished.”

Qiu Ying unhappily unhappily dropped her head. So weird, he had such an indifferent attitude the entire day long. But as she thought about it again, she couldn’t be so bothered about it! She was getting jealous over a little kid!

After they went back, Qiu Ying saw Sun Qian playing with a doll house with Ji Xiangkong not far away and and whispered to Lin Yixuan, “He’s so good at humoring people, so has he hurt a lot of girls before?”

Lin Yixuan eyes burned alight. “Seriously, no. When we were at Legend, Xiangkong hugged me to sleep every night.”

Qiu Ying laughed, secretly relieved.

In the evening, Sun Zeyi cooked an entire table of food. Ji Xiangkong, Qiu Ying, Lin Yixuan, and Sun Qian sat in a circle in the dining room.

Sun Zeyi served out rice for everyone and then began peeling shrimp. After he filled a large bowl with peeled shrimp, he tipped them into Ji Xiangkong’s bowl and smilingly said, “You always find it so annoying, you definitely won’t eat any if I don’t help you out.”

“Xiangkong, here, eat more beef.” Lin Yixuan loyally served him food, too.

Not to be outdone, Sun Qian pushed over her own dessert toward him: “Xiangkong gege, eat this.”

Qiu Ying almost choked on her rice. Setting aside the little loli for now, she was a single woman sitting with three men, so the plot shouldn’t be like this!

After they finished eating, Qiu Ying ran over to Ji Xiangkong when she saw him go alone into the kitchen. She obediently bowed once: “I’ve heard about all of it, so thank you for helping me so much behind my back! In the future, I’ll definitely speak well of you at the commentators’ desk!”

Ji Xiangkong hummed, barely audible. “What did you promise me before?”

Qiu Ying raised her head. Tentatively, she asked, “Are you mad because I was alone with Pei Xi again? No wonder you’re a little weird today.”

Ji Xiangkong glanced at her noncommittally.

Qiu Ying patted her chest faithfully. “Don’t worry, I’m not his fan at all! He accused me of hugging your thigh and using you, and told me to stay away from you.”

Ji Xiangkong tilted his head, eyes lowering as his gaze gradually moved from her ankles up, an electric current seeming to leap in the places where his eyes touched. Qiu Ying couldn’t move, her body wound tight. Finally, when his gaze landed on her eyes, he smirked. “Is there anyone who’ll hug thighs like you? I haven’t even tasted a bit of sweetness.”

Dissatisfied, Qiu Ying counted on both of her hands, “You’ve hugged me, pinched my chin, pulled on my wrist… I even went and hugged you first…”

Ji Xiangkong stretched out his words. “Is that enough? When other people hug thighs, they give out even more than you have.”

Qiu Ying realized that he was leading around their conversation, and her apricot eyes rounded with her cheeks puffing up in anger. “I already said that I never hugged your thigh!”

Ji Xiangkong shrugged, unable to keep the corners of his lips from pulling up.

Qiu Ying went over to the other side of the kitchen to put the dishes into the cupboard. “Our dinner tonight made me completely realize that whether it’s serving food or peeling shrimp, everyone really loves you!”

Ji Xiangkong didn’t respond as he leaned on the countertop to peel an apple. His posture was loose, but his expression, with his eyes lowered and his eyelashes casting a slight shadow on his face, was focused. He held a knife in his right hand and the bottom of an apple in his left, slowly turning it in the direction of his chest. The apple peel became a long, thin, and beautiful strip that spiraled downward.

He turned to patiently slice the apples, one by one, into a bowl. Sun Qian ran over and lay on the counter, her large eyes blinking, and smiled in an attempt to get it. Ji Xiangkong lifted the bowl and gently said, “This is for big sister.”

Startling slightly, Qiu Ying watched him walk over to her with the bowl and sedately say, “They’ll pour tea for me, serve me food and shell me shrimp. And I — will peel apples for you.” As he spoke, he pinched an apple splice between his finger and thumb and put it in her mouth.

“Is it sweet?” The corner of Ji Xiangkong’s mouth lifted, revealing a smile that made her heart ripple. “Do you feel like you’re at the top of the food chain?”

His mood was finally better, it seemed.

The apple was crisp and sweet, and Qiu Ying’s heart warmed as she thought of his focused expression. Just when she was about to say something, she suddenly choked on her own spit and started coughing. Her entire face strained into a maroon red color.

Ji Xiangkong set the bowl down on the table and lightly patted her bent back. “Are you okay? Ai, eat slowly.”

Both ashamed and embarrassed, Qiu Ying started coughing even harder. She could only cover her mouth and squat down. Ji Xiangkong also squatted down with her, casually leaning his elbows on his knees. When he saw that she was finally alright, he couldn’t help but turn and laugh so hard his shoulders started shaking.

Not far away, Lin Yixuan’s pesky voice lightly carried over.

“Qianqian, be good, Xiangkong gege is busy flirting with that jiejie. Do you want to play with A’xuan gege instead?”

“What’s flirting?” The little loli’s voice was naive and innocent.

“It’s difficult to explain, you need a practical example, for example, if I kiss you right now…”

Qiu Ying could no longer listen. As she was about to get up and beat him, she she heard a sudden thump as something fell down. Immediately after that, Lin Yixuan wailed, “Sun… Sun ge! I’m joking! Put down that knife… let’s, let’s use our words!”

**

After 10 o’clock, the people from Sun Zeyi’s club came over to pester the champion commander Ji Xiangkong for some advice.

Qiu Ying thought of buying everyone night snacks, but Ji Xiangkong was worried and assigned Lin Yixuan to walk her there. On the road, they pretty much only talked about Ji Xiangkong. Two years ago, Ji Xiangkong had uncovered Lin Yixuan at Sun Zeyi’s internet cafe to join Newland. At the time, it was still a second-string team, but with the several extraordinarily gifted newcomers there and under Ji Xiangkong’s guidance, they shot up within the rankings.

At the beginning, Lin Yixuan had only been treating it as a hobby, until one day…

“In our deciding game, we used a new lineup that had never before been seen in competition. There were no late-stage heroes, and it was an uncommon combination, so the in-person audience blew up right there. While we were playing, we didn’t carry out our strategy well enough; after we lost, all the posts on the forums said that it wasn’t that there was an issue with our strength, it was Ji Xiangkong’s BP that was faulty. They asked why he chose what he did, if it was a fake match.

“They picked apart his operating mistakes, shoved the entire responsibility for the game onto him, and cursed him as trash, that his entire family should die, everything you can think of. Everyone was so frustrated, but Xiangkong, he smiled and said not to worry about it, and even turned around and comforted us.”

Lin Yixuan took a deep breath. “I’ve never met anyone like him. Someone who doesn’t show their joy or anger, whose emotions are impenetrable.”

“Later on, Xiangkong picked up a call while we were in the training room watching game recording. I heard his mom’s voice on the other end of the phone, ‘Son, the internet is cursing at you, my heart hurts to look at it… isn’t it alright, if you don’t play professionally?’ He didn’t have any expression at all until then, but at that moment, he turned his head and cried.”

This scene was burned into Lin Yixuan’s mind. Afterward, he made a decision — to become even stronger, so that he could take off some of the burden on Ji Xiangkong’s shoulders and assist his vision. To stay with him and protect him, to be his blade of defense.

That year, the greatest genius support was created. Every giant threw olive branches at him, one after another, but his response was resolute: “Wherever Xiangkong goes, I go. On this battlefield, I will never leave him.”

Qiu Ying remembered when she had once seen the drunk Ji Xiangkong’s depression and regrets. He was not a perfect person; he too had a weak side. A team’s morale was particularly important, and so that his teammates wouldn’t worry, he buried his emotions deep within his heart and bore all of the suffering by himself.

Qiu Ying’s eyes turned slightly red. She could deeply understand what Lin Yixuan felt back then — because, she was the same.

Seeing that they only had to cross the road and they would be at Sun Zeyi’s internet cafe, Lin Yixuan suddenly stopped and scratched his head with worry. “I don’t know if I should tell you this.” He struggled for a moment, then asked, “Do you like Xiangkong?”

“What?” Her hidden feelings were suddenly laid bare, catching Qiu Ying off guard.

Thinking of Ji Xiangkong’s “welfare” approach toward his female fans, Lin Yixuan looked slightly embarrassed. “Xiangkong treats other people well, but there are times when he probably goes too far and makes girls misunderstand.”

“Mm, I know.” Qiu Ying lifted the corner of her lips and pretended to be relaxed, “It seems like a lot of people have misunderstood him before.”

“Not just that, his feelings have always been a mystery. During our serious night talks, he always tricks us out of answering. We’ve all wondered if maybe he’s waiting for someone…” Lin Yixuan stopped. “Later on, there was a time when he got drunk. Then I found out that he had once deeply liked someone.”

Qiu Ying’s scalp suddenly prickled. Her mind buzzed.

Lin Yixuan didn’t realize that there was something wrong with her expression and continued, “If you really like him, should I help you find out more?”

It was like something had bitten her heart. Qiu Ying shook her head, her nose sore, afraid of the words he might say to Ji Xiangkong. She changed the topic and successfully distracted him out of it.

Ji Xiangkong opened the door when they returned to the internet cafe. Qiu Ying momentarily didn’t know how to face him, so she lowered her head and tried to walk past him. Yet he stretched out his index finger to tap in between her eyebrows. “It’s wrinkled here.”

When he saw that Qiu Ying didn’t respond and was looking intently at the floor, his voice softened. “What’s wrong? Was it cold outside?”

His warmth was like a net that covered her everywhere. She didn’t know why, but she very much wanted to cry.

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5 points to anyone who can guess who the person in Ji Xiangkong’s heart is (yep, there are hints in previous chapters)!

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