C11 Part3

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Chapter 11: To Accompany You is the Longest Confession (Part 3)

At 12 in the evening on Saturday, Qiu Ying sat in front of the computer at Dream Traveler’s VIP area’s bar. She was completely absorbed in learning from the competition recordings.

A cold voice came from above her head. “Why haven’t you left yet?”

Qiu Ying angrily replied, “To make money, you know. The night shift salary is high.”

Pei Xi looked at her with lidded eyes. “Do you not have much money?”

“Yeah, I don’t have anyone to rely on. I need to make a lot, a lot of money, and then I can feel secure.”

“…And so you had to do that kind of streaming before?” Pei Xi furrowed his brow and added, “Now those past videos of yours are all across the internet.”

Yet another person who was bringing up her past. Qiu Ying’s heart surged with bitterness. “I’ve never had anything of my own, I was forced to ask for things from everyone everywhere.” She paused. “So when I truly met the person I liked, rather, I don’t dare to ask him for anything.”

She looked him in the eye. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Pei Xi shook his head.

“Well, fine. I’ll tell you a story, although an OP King of Hell like you won’t be able to understand it.”

Pei Xi remained in place without any intention of leaving.

Qiu Ying took a deep breath and slowly said, “There was a girl whose family was very poor since she was a child, and she was a charity student in school. Her father’s startup businesses failed again and again; to pay his debts they had nothing left. Finally, his heart collapsed into ashes and he lived a deadbeat life in the house. When she was in her second year of middle school, finally, her mother could no longer her stand her corpse of a father, and she brought her with her as she remarried.

“Her stepfather was a businessman who thought her existence as unnecessary and treated her extremely stingily. He often said to other people, ‘Her father is a good-for-nothing, a penniless good-for-nothing, and the fact that this girl can go to school is all thanks to me.’ At the very beginning, she was disgusted and treated her stepfather as a wild dog, but it resulted in him kicking her out of the house. Her mother was angry within her heart but dared not to speak. Not only did she not help intercede, she even accused her of not understanding anything and said that the fact that she could keep on going to school was all thanks to her stepfather…

“At the time, she was learning how to dance. The other girls all had beautiful and quality dance shoes, yet because she did not gain her stepfather’s favor, he did not buy any for her. She could only wear a pair of dirty old shoes in front of everyone’s sneers. She was even disqualified from a competition because of it. Later, her stepfather didn’t even give her money to pay her school fees. Finally, she chose to abandon her self-esteem to kneel down and beg her stepfather. When her stepfather saw her at his feet, he was extremely happy. Laughing long and hard, he dropped money on her face.

“Later on, her stepfather began to be even more unrestrained. When he was entertaining many guests at the house, he made her kowtow to him in thanks. And when the guests wanted to watch a show, he made her perform. There were times when everyone was happy and threw some money onto the ground… As time passed, she understood that there was no use in crying. It would be better to become strong and learn how to use dances and smiles to gain the adults’ favor.

“Since then, she started to relentlessly make money. Only if she saved money could she live an independent life with dignity. A very good way to do so was by being a popular streamer. She was able to gain a lot of happiness when she streamed; a lot of audience members treated her as a friend, someone they could chat with. When it was her birthday, the whole entire screen was filled with blessings. She was often able to receive private messages such as, ‘Thank you for accompanying me as I crossed the most painful times of my life.’

“But with the good comes the bad. She was suppressed by her competitors, she received violent destruction online, private messages sexually harassing her, attacks on the chat barrage, pressure from the streaming platform. No one helped her along this road through her challenges, and he was the first person behind her who protected her in the midst of the whirlpool of public opinion.

“He is a professional player with a mixed reputation. Even if he won many medals, countless people still call into question his value in the professional circle. Online, where no one has to be responsible for their words, those who flame him can’t understand his tactics, can’t understand anything on the high end, but they need to vent their emotions. He’s recognized in the professional circle as a handicap with no talent, and so you absolutely won’t be wrong in cursing him out. He never defends himself, enduring the humiliation to go onward, and carries the blackened pot for his teammates until his back is nearly broken.

“He told her: Those who hate you won’t listen to your explanations. They think that even your breathing has an ulterior motive, they can use a thousand different reasons to blacken you, and they’ll harp on any small mistakes you make over and over again. There’s no use in explaining.

“He quietly helped her behind her back. When she was lost and depressed, he comforted her. Before, she had only ever thought of making money, so much money, yet after she came to know him, she began thinking about her future and dreams. She wants to become a professional gaming streamer, she wants to stand at the world’s tallest commentator’s chair and declare to everyone, he is a genius who is not understood. She wants to accompany him to the top of the world and watch him wear the national flag and raise the trophy that represents the strongest level in sports and the supreme glory.”

After she had finished speaking her entire stomach full of thoughts, Pei Xi was still completely silent, and Qiu Ying couldn’t help but lament that talking to him was truly like facing a wall. But her entire body felt much lighter after her emotional outburst. She suddenly wanted to thank him, a bit.

The two of them fell into an awkward silence. After a long time passed, Pei Xi finally spoke. “Is that girl you?”

Qiu Ying startled, dropped her gaze, and quietly said, “It’s just a story.”

“Her wish will come true.”

Qiu Ying heard Pei Xi calmly say, “Last year at the Seattle Global Finals, he carried the second-string team Newland into the Top 8. He chose unpopular heroes during the competition who disregarded the current game version. The entire arena was cheering, the foreign commentators lamented that before he appeared, Chinese teams prioritized stability and kept on coming back to a few specific lineups for the game. Their tactics and playstyle were very simple, relying on the professional players’ repeated practice to reach the limits of their operating. There had never before been a Chinese player who appeared with such a novel lineup at a global competition.”

Pei Xi repeated each word and syllable. “Never before.”

Qiu Ying nodded vigorously.

“Unfortunately, the members of that team were mostly newcomers and they performed unstably. In the end, they could only reach the Top 8. The audience kept on saying that they were recklessly playing around at a big competition.

“The art of war is just like this. ‘Let your plans be as impenetrable as the night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.’”1 Qiu Ying pressed her lips together, her cheeks slightly puffed. “It’s not as if something is only correct if it conforms to what the audience thinks. Those keyboard warriors should really spend more time in looking at competitions and less time in sending chats in the barrage.”

The corners of Pei Xi’s lips lifted slightly, as if he was smiling. Though when Qiu Ying blinked again, he was already back to his previous iceberg-like face.

Pei Xi had a single-person apartment in Dream Traveler’s VIP area where he came to live whenever he wanted to be alone. After he listened to Qiu Ying’s words and returned to his room, a memory that had long been covered in dust emerged in his mind without warning.

“Genius, an absolute genius.”

From childhood to adulthood, he had always been defined as such by others.

Winning too many awards in various academic competitions, he was quite amazing in sports to boot. Once, in a basketball game in middle school, he set a record where his individual score exceeded the opposing team’s total score. As long as it was a competitive activity, his name was often equivalent to “bug”.

As a single person, it could still be tolerated, but in a team competition his teammates were always unwilling.

Because Pei Xi’s skill was too eye-catching, the onlooking masses tended to think that their victory in the competition was due to him alone, and his teammates were just a couple of weeds there to serve as a foil. His light was too bright and it made others afraid. Those who stood next to him, no matter how excellent, were nothing more than mortal.

A crane amidst a flock of chickens would always be offensively conspicuous. When little buddies teamed up to play soccer, they never liked to call him along, especially when there were girls coming to watch them.

On occasion, he also overheard other people’s private conversations —

“Pei Xi can just compete all on his own. At least then he won’t overshadow us again.”

“There’s no meaning to playing against him if we just keep losing.”

How direct the words of children are. They hit the nail straight on the head.

He became even more silent and taciturn, cold and withdrawn.

When he was in college, the nearby internet cafe held a Local Area Network League. He sat alone in a corner fighting, and the team he was matched against was five people, all wearing black, by chance sitting across from him.

When the game started, those on his side were heading toward an unimpeded victory, those on the enemies’ side were utterly surrounded. Pei Xi glanced quickly across and saw a row of boys all with bitter faces, yet the person sitting in the middle was at ease and placidly said, “Don’t worry, we still have a chance.”

Under that boy’s direction, their team gradually adjusted their rhythm and their situation became hopeful. In the end, they actually achieved a shocking turnaround by breaking through with the situation in all three lanes.

That afternoon, Pei Xi kept on matching several times against that group of people. The laughter on the other side made him feel particularly uncomfortable.

When they left, he saw that group of boys happily talking and laughing while surrounding the person who had directed them during the competition. When they passed by each other, that person who had been the moon to their stars reached out to stop him, his eyes curving like a crescent moon. “You play really well, let’s play as a team next time.”

Pei Xi remembered that back then, he held himself back and didn’t turn his head. He didn’t know how to answer, so in the end, he ignored the other person and went straight ahead.

“Hey, classmate!” That person, unwilling to leave it be, called him from behind.

“Xiangkong, don’t be stupid. He’s in our school and he’s super proud, he never pays attention to others.”

Although he hadn’t given the slightest response, later on, Pei Xi would go to that internet cafe from time to time. Yet he never again saw him. There was no way to fulfill their promise to play together.

Until many years later, on the stage of a professional competition — the battle horn sounded, the gunsmoke scattered; Pei Xi was on this side, he was on the other. He extended his hand to Pei Xi, his eyes still curved and his smile still lazy, but there was none of the warm happiness of that year. Only politeness was left.

Like he was facing a player he had never met before.

Even later, Pei Xi’s wish was finally fulfilled and he transferred from VPG to Legend. Yet he was suddenly informed that Legend no longer had a position for Ji Xiangkong.

The words of the higher-ups chilled him to his heart: “A team with you at its core has no need for him.”

How fate taunts people. Once again, his path missed Ji Xiangkong’s.

The memory gradually faded out of his mind. Pei Xi massaged his temples. He wasn’t yet sleepy, so he decided to go out again to get a can of something to drink.

He went to the front of the bar and saw that Qiu Ying was already sprawled out sleeping. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly heard her mumble Ji Xiangkong’s name. A single tear slid slowly down her cheek and silently melted away on the table.

Pei Xi looked downward for a long while, his lips pursed slightly. He took off his coat and covered her.

**

The next day when Qiu Ying awoke, it was already noon. The lock screen on her phone showed countless messages and missed calls.

Another piece of news exploded in the Conquer circle!

Qiu Ying hurried to get online. Her head nearly exploded from the bold headlines on the front page.

[Furious on behalf of a beauty? Ji Xiangkong and Qi Yue fight at the VPG base!]

With a terrible foreboding, like a hurricane crossing a border, Qiu Ying tremblingly opened the page with more information, hugging her knees while shivering.

The report stated: VPG team member Qi Yue blatantly insulted Qiu Ying during his livestream late last night, thunderously saying that she was a scheming b*tch with an unrestrained and vile moral character. He also pointed straight at Qiu Ying as someone who once asked him to sleep together and was refused. For a while, the audience was astonished.

What people expected even less was that Qi Yue’s livestream room suddenly went dark. This morning, someone broke the news that it was Ji Xiangkong who pulled out his Internet cable and beat him up!

All of the blood in her body surged up in an instant. Qiu Ying covered her mouth with both hands, staring with wide eyes again and again at this piece of news. She felt like she was sitting on a mountain bike, her heart full of a whole multitude of feelings.

Her phone vibrated again. It was a WeChat message from Lin Yixuan.

“Ying meimei, I’ll bet ten cucumbers that Xiangkong is definitely in love with you!

“I’ve never seen him be so crazy!”

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1 A tactic from The Art of War, translation not my own but thanks to here

***

Lin Yixuan, why cucumbers….????

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