Chapter 18

Yu Qinghuan began to count the bits and pieces of Ren Jian’s obsession with him playing e-sports with his fingers: “I felt strange before. Although my first place was changed to the second due to the fault of the sponsor, it should be irrelevant to you, right? Not to mention that it may damage your glorious image of taking first place in the youth training competition. Even if you feel guilty, you should not feel so guilty that you must return to the TKOW team, and also go to find my US server account…”

“Not only did I specifically look for your US server number, but I also looked for you for three years.” Ren Jian interrupted Yu Qinghuan’s words with a smile, “To be honest, I did not feel guilty at all. I didn’t expect that you would give up e-sports after the youth training competition. I thought you had gone to another team, so I trained hard, thinking that I would be able to play with you after I joined the TKOW first team, and then I could meet you on the field. Who knew that after I joined the first team, I couldn’t find out which team you were in? It was only after a year that I realised that you didn’t go to another team, but gave up e-sports.”

“Why?” Yu Qinghuan was confused, “Do I owe you money?”

Ren Jian: “…… No.”

“Then why?”

Ren Jian took a deep breath and was just about to speak when Yu Qinghuan suddenly said, “You didn’t eat your noodles. They’ll be cold and mushy as dough. Why don’t you eat them first?”

Ren Jian: “……”

Yu Qinghuan said sincerely: “It’s very expensive, it’s a waste if you don’t eat it.”

Ren Jian: “……”

Expensive, expensive… Screw expensive! I’ll buy ten bowls tomorrow so you can eat them all in one go, okay?

Ren Jian muttered in his heart, but he didn’t show it on his face as he buried his head and ate all the noodles.

Yu Qinghuan took advantage of the time Ren Jian was eating the noodles, and thought hard for a while. When Yu Qinghuan saw that he had eaten the noodles, he said, “I’ve just thought about it carefully, and I don’t think I’ve borrowed anything without returning it.”

Ren Jian: “……”

“No campus violence, no illegal pyramid selling, no fake sales, no cheating. I(‘ve been honest and trustworthy, eager to help others, and dedicated to building harmonious socialism and a community of shared future for mankind.” Yu Qinghuan kept saying, “I really don’t know why I can make you think about me for so long.”

Ren Jian: “Can …… I speak then?”

“I’m sorry.” Yu Qinghuan hesitated, “Say it.”

“Then it’s my turn to say it.” He clasped his hands together and looked at Yu Qinghuan. “Actually, I guessed that you would ask, but I didn’t expect you to ask so quickly. I thought you would at least wait until you joined the TKOW team and the other teammates mentioned to you how persistent I was in looking for you these past three years before you would ask me, but it’s good to ask now. I want to tell you too. “

“When I went to the TKO Battle Team’s youth training tournament, I had only one purpose, and that was to be on the same team as you, to be able to reach you.”

“Yu Qinghuan.” Ren Jian’s hands trembled slightly from the force of his grip. “I went down this path of e-sports because of you.”

“What?” Yu Qinghuan slapped the table and stood up, showing a stunned expression.

The TKOW team relied on absolute strength to reach the highest domestic hall for three consecutive years, and the ace jungler in the TKOW team told him that the reason he chose the path of e-sports at the beginning was because of him.

He was not dreaming, was he?

Ren Jian laughed and hesitated before lifting the sleeve of his right hand to show Yu Qinghuan.

Yu Qinghuan looked down and froze in place.

On the inner side of Ren Jian’s right arm, there were some shallow scars that had turned white.

“I got this with a knife when I was in my third year of high school.” Ren Jian said lightly, “When I think about it now, I really feel like a fool. But at that time, it didn’t mean that I deliberately committed suicide or self-harm. I just thought that life was meaningless. I wanted to try it all, including the pain. I had a very difficult time in my second and third years of high school. Later, I went for a long walk and saw you. To be precise, I saw your game. At that time, you wore a mask, so I didn’t know what you looked like. “

“Ah …… big ……” Yu Qinghuan remembered.

It was the place where Yu Qinghuan won the championship for the first time.

It was also the place where Ren Jian first met Yu Qinghuan.

Ren Jian was in the audience, mingling with the crowd, when he raised his head and looked at the dazzling game skills on the big LED screen.

Suddenly, the crowd erupted in deafening cheers.

Ren Jian was confused when he saw the five people on the right side of the stage jump up, happily raising their arms and cheering, before shouting, “We won!”

The MC then handed the microphone to the boy in the mask: “QH, as the MVP 1 Most Valued Player of the winning team, do you have anything to say?”

The boy’s eyes glowed, and he shouted, “We are too good. We were fighting back with blood. We are champions. Why are we such good people? We are champions!!!”

Ren Jian looked at him.

He saw the enthusiasm and energy that life should have.

That splendour, that excitement, with blazing pride and undisguised joy.

It hit the deepest part of Ren Jian’s heart.

Ever since watching that game and QH’s interview, Ren Jian had been slowly getting into gaming and had unexpectedly discovered that he had a talent for it.

And with something to fall back on and keep busy with, his depression didn’t seem so annoying.

“Later, I heard that you had joined the TKOW team’s youth training tournament, so I signed up too. I remember the day of the tournament. You were hidden in a group of excited players, but I recognised you immediately because you were still wearing your mask. It was a familiar face to me. I wanted to tell you all this after I entered the TKOW club with you, but I didn’t expect you to disappear as soon as the tournament was over. “

“Ah ……” Listening to Ren Jian’s words, Yu Qinghuan couldn’t return for a long time. He never thought that he would have such a big impact on someone.

This feeling was too wonderful. The sea of people is vast, and if you pass by, you may never see each other again. Those things you think are unintentional can change the trajectory of a person’s life.

“At first… I wore a mask because I was worried that my university class teacher would recognise me. At that time, e-sports tournaments were always held at universities. My class teacher couldn’t understand the matter of me playing e-sports, so I hid it tightly every time for fear of being caught and read by him. Pfft. ” Yu Qinghuan said, gently laughing out loud. “When I was a freshman and sophomore, in the eyes of other teachers, there was no cure for me. Only the head teacher kept persuading me, and when I decided to study hard, the old class teacher almost cried in front of me.”

Ren Jian did not say anything. He just quietly listened.

Yu Qinghuan lifted his head and said, word by word, seriously, “Thank you, Ren Jian.”

Suddenly being thanked, Ren Jian was stunned: “What?”

Yu Qinghuan had always felt like a remnant of ashes, burnt out of all heat and consuming all the light, curled up in a corner where no one knew, waiting to be cruelly blown away by a gust of wind. And that unwilling perseverance was just a little bit of ash on ash, no light and no flame.

Later, in the midst of thousands of doubts about where to go, Yu Qinghuan heard someone say to him: “You were the first place back then, and I chose the path of e-sports because of you.”

At this point, distractions, frustration, cowardice, and timidity were instantly consumed by a blazing fire.

Under the sky, a spark ignites a prairie fire.

Yu Qinghuan laughed happily.

“I’m going to show everyone what it means to be a well-deserved number one.”

TLN: As I translate, edit, and proofread my chapters myself, I may make mistakes at times, so please feel free to point out any errors you may find. Thank you so much for reading!