Chapter 38

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On the subway back to the Yiyou Building, Yao Sen recalled what his second aunt’s family had said to him before the New Year and was immediately struck with a headache.

Yao Sen himself had been recruited by the Titans due to his solo ranking on the Asia server. He’d spent some time in the youth training team–though it had only been a week. At that time, Yao Sen told his second aunt that he really didn’t have a hand in this matter, which made his cousin’s family somewhat unhappy.

If he, as a captain, could just let anyone into the youth training team as he pleased, he might let it pass if they were a once-in-a-decade e-sports genius, yet as it happened, his cousin’s skills were only so-so. Who knew what those youth trainees who had been painstakingly training for one or two years in the training centre would think.

His parents told him not to worry, they’d advise him about these things.

Yao Sen returned rather late-ish. The rest of his team members had basically arrived already, and they were each mournfully counting the red packets they received this year in the group chat.

Wang Yuxi: My relatives are so damn stingy. I’m not even married yet but they won’t give me any. They even brought their kids along and they all came wanting one from me.

Bai Yue: I’m lucky, our family gives them out to everyone who isn’t married

Wang Yuxi: I’m not married either, give me one eh

Bai Yue: Come call me Daddy nicely

Wang Yuxi was very principled, but met with this kind of thing, he decisively abandoned his face: “Daddy!”

Bai Yue: Good son. All right then, take this

Bai Yue: [WeChat red packet 66.6]

Wang Yuxi: Thank you daddy! Love ya~

Bai Yue: I take it back. Give that back to me, I refuse to have a sao son like you

Yao Sen got off the subway. The subway station was around four-to-five hundred metres away from the Yiyou Building. He gave Shao Han a call as he walked, and just as the number was dialed, a figure appeared at the subway exit and walked right up to him.

Yao Sen looked up and saw that the person standing in front of him was his precious boyfriend whom he had slept with and dearly missed. He hadn’t seen him for over twenty days. Now that Shao Han was standing before him, had they not been at the crowded subway station, Yao Sen would’ve drawn him into his arms and kissed him till he was out of breath.

Yao Sen held his phone dumbly, after a moment, he showed a helpless smile and said, “Didn’t I tell you not to pick me up?”

It looked like Shao Han had been waiting for a good while. It was so gusty at the exit that his hands and cheeks were slightly flushed from the wind. He stared at Yao Sen for a bit, not telling him that he couldn’t resist wanting to run out and pick him up. He answered, “…I had nothing to do in the dorm anyway.”

“Look at how red your hands are. C’mere, put it in my pocket. My pocket is nice and warm.”

There was a portable charger in Yao Sen’s coat pocket that he’d just been charging his phone with, so it was indeed sufficiently warm. Yao Sen grabbed Shao Han’s hand and put it in his pocket, and together they went back to the Yiyou Building.

On the way, Yao Sen suddenly recalled something, and asked, “Shao Han, if I don’t remember wrong, you used to train at Bangrui, right?”

“Yeah.” Shao Han was a little surprised that Yao Sen would suddenly ask him this. “What’s wrong? Does the Titans’s youth training team plan to recruit fresh talent?”

A majority of the clubs that recruited youth training team members would first look at the domestic youth competition rankings and server rankings, and then poach people from the youth training base. A renowned powerhouse like Titans that had a ton of youth trainees dying to squeeze themselves in didn’t need to select members from youth training centres–they were the natural first choice for new talent in domestic youth competitions.

“No, I have this cousin,” Yao Sen sighed helplessly. “He asked me to act as his go-between. But it’s impossible to have him join the club in such a short time. I reckon I could just help him get into a training base or sign up for a youth competition or something.”

Shao Han nodded, knowing how much of a dilemma Yao Sen was in. He replied, “Bangrui’s screening threshold these last couple of years has been a bit higher. There’s a minimum points requirement for every role. Xingjia is a little easier to join, you can train after a basic registration. I still have Bangrui’s manager’s contact info, why don’t I ask them for you?”

“Then I guess that cousin of mine is out of luck.” Yao Sen laughed helplessly as he shook his head. “I’ll ask Xingjia for him.”

Shao Han sent Yao Sen back to his dorm–supposedly. In reality, it was Yao Sen who automatically towed Shao Han back with him. Right then, Wang Yuxi was watching a movie in their dorm room. When he saw that Yao Sen had returned, he threw himself at him and yelled, “Daddy give me a red packet!”. But when he spotted Shao Han behind Yao Sen, he immediately held himself back.

Shao Han looked at him, somewhat embarrassed upon recalling that his hand had been stuffed into Yao Sen’s pocket. He greeted Wang Yuxi with a bit of awkwardness, “Good evening.”

Wang Yuxi promptly nodded. “Hi Shao ge, hello.”

Yao Sen set his suitcase down by his bed, pulled Shao Han in with one hand, clasped his chin, and kissed him on the lips. Wang Yuxi immediately whirled around and looked at the ground.

Yao Sen: “Go back, ‘kay? Rest early.”

Kissed right in front of someone he wasn’t too close with, Shao Han blushed somewhat awkwardly. He couldn’t stay long, so he nodded and turned around and left.

Only after Shao Han left did Wang Yuxi silently enter the bathroom to brush his aching teeth. After brushing his teeth for a while, Wang Yuxi poked his head out of the bathroom with the toothbrush still in his hands, and couldn’t help asking, “How far have you two gone?”

“Not as far as you think.”

Wang Yuxi’s eyes widened. “You’re not even there yet but you two are already this intimate, what’ll it be like when you do get there?!”

“If you can’t eat our dog food anymore*, then go find yourself a girlfriend.” Yao Sen leisurely unpacked his clothes. “Daddy’s okay if it’s a boyfriend too.”

*can’t stand their PDA

Wang Yuxi rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Shut it. Did you know that Lao-Song is pretty much practically about to get himself a girlfriend? He went to an AD fangathering when he went back for the New Year and met a young lady, and they got to talking.”

“Oh, really?”

“If you’re the first one out of the five of us to find a partner, then fine, whatever. You’re a hot dude as long as you keep your mouth shut anyway–but Lao-Song is actually the second?! This is so unfair!”

“What’s wrong with Lao-Song? He’s tall and dependable, quite a few girls like having a sense of security,” Yao Sen said. “Also, I’m still hot even when I open my mouth.”

“Can Lao-Song even date a girl?!” Wang Yuxi clutched at his eyebrows, disbelief written across his entire face. “He only has you, his idol, in his heart! If you and his girlfriend were drowning, he’d choose to save you first!”

Wang Yuxi looked heavensward and sighed. “Luckily, Lao-Bai and Ziyu are still on this boat with me. Otherwise, who knows how depressed I’d be.”

Wang Yuxi’s troubles about his poor luck with the ladies were unlikely to affect his training. Later on, when the members were all present, training resumed as usual.

After the Chinese New Year came March. The intensity of their training was a level higher than it was before, and the program carried on until the start of June. After that came last minute preparations before the competition, and then their training intensity would subsequently lessen, allowing the members to cool their heads before the battle.

Yao Sen was a good guy to the end. Not only did he contact Xingjia for his cousin, but he also helped arrange for his cousin to be taken in by a reputable coach by virtue of the cooperative relationship between his and Xingjia’s manager so that he could start training over summer vacation. Incidentally, he also helped register his cousin for Xingjia and Bangrui’s Alliance Cup, a youth e-sports competition in August of this year.

Yao Sen and the others were also required to watch all sorts of match videos of active and retired players every day. Having to both analyze their tactics and technique, he felt like his brain was going to explode.

That night, the Titans had extra training. After Wang Yuxi’s fifth consecutive time watching Odin’s winning match, he was completely listless. He draped himself in front of his computer, incessantly grumbling, “Any more of this and I’ll have a C3 in German.”

*the highest german language level is C2

Yao Sen was also a little beaten. He massaged the space between his brows, and said, “I’m gonna go out for a walk.”

Bai Yue got up with him. “I’ll go with you. I’m about to ascend any second now.”

“No, don’t. I’m going to Building B.”

“What are you going to Building B for?”

Upon hearing ‘Building B’, Wang Yuxi immediately knew that Yao Sen was going to look for his little boyfriend. He suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and stood up at once, hooked a hand around Bai Yue’s shoulders, and dragged him out. “Don’t mind him. There’s a new store downstairs, let’s go!”

Yao Sen cast Wang Yuxi an appreciative glance and immediately left for Building B. It seemed like Noah’s Ark main team also had extra training—a few members were buying drinks from the vending machine in the corridor ahead of the training room.

The appearance of the Titans captain here at this point in time was definitely a little weird. Yao Sen nodded at a few of the Noah team members in greeting, then headed to the main team’s training room like he was taking a walk in the park. His appearance down to his gait was leisurely and natural, like his showing up here was a matter of course.

Noah’s main team also happened to be in the middle of a break. Yao Sen stood at the doorway, and knocked on the glass door of the training room.

Inside, Shao Han turned his head from where he was sitting. The moment he spotted Yao Sen, a streak of joy undetectable to outsiders flitted across his eyes. He got up, and walked over to Yao Sen.

The two went to the lounge on the same floor. There was no one around, so Yao Sen confidently hugged Shao Han’s shoulder and rested his head against it, then exhaled at length. “Today’s training was a bit tiring.”

Shao Han was slightly tickled by Yao Sen’s hair rubbing against him. He patted the head on his shoulder, and sat down on the sofa. “If you’re tired, then rest early.”

“Isn’t that why I came to see you?” Yao Sen chuckled. “Seeing you makes me feel so much better.”

Yao Sen cupped Shao Han’s left hand, playing with his slender hand and the soft pads of his fingers. Shao Han’s hands didn’t resemble one that held a mouse all year round, but rather like one that played the piano. His hand was a little bigger than Shao Han’s, which fit just right in his hold.

As he massaged his hand, Yao Sen suddenly recalled the bad things this particular hand had done on a certain night last month–his heart was immediately somewhat stimulated. Yao Sen touched his nose, and reason made him let go of Shao Han’s hand.

In a while, he’d have to go back and be ravaged by German. Yao Sen couldn’t stay long. He’d go back after getting fully charged by Shao Han.

When Yao Sen returned to Titans’s training room. He saw that his remaining four team members all had a cup of milk tea in their hands, and only his desk was barren.

Yao Sen: “You didn’t buy one for me?”

Wang Yuxi, both jealous and envious of Yao Sen’s secret PDA, smiled particularly kindly. “Aiya, since you’re prone to insomnia, I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to sleep after drinking too much milk tea.”

Reasonable, sincere—a teammate’s love was simply tear-jerking.

Recently, they had all been going through bitter times, but the payback was naturally not small. The foreign e-sports industry had started out early. Their training was systematic, and there were many professional players who’d only first got acquainted with e-sports when they started on the professional path, just like Shen You. Yet domestic-wise, a majority of players were amateurs turned pros, they were naturally at a slight disadvantage.

At eight past that evening, while they were having extra training, Manager Guo suddenly visited the main team’s training room and said to Yao Sen, “Yao Sen, there’s someone in the lounge who’s looking for you.”

Baffled, Yao Sen said, “Who?”

“He didn’t say who he was, he directly asked the front desk to contact the club.” Manager Guo looked extremely weirded out. “He said you knew him and asked you to come down.”

No matter how it sounded, these scammer-like actions thoroughly confused Yao Sen. Today was a workday, which meant that the building was closed to visitors. Outsiders who wanted to come in required a team or staff member to help them register.

Yao Sen nevertheless went to go down and check. When he arrived at the downstairs lounge, he saw a man sitting on the sofa from a distance. After the man saw him, he smiled and waved.

Yao Sen froze and said in surprise, “Kai ge?”

☆ ☆ ☆

⟵ Chapter 37 | TOC | Chapter 39 ⟶

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