Chapter 134 - Eating Vinegar

translator: Oyen editor: Ciel

After returning to the dormitory at night, Qin Mo sat in the living room to think, eventually turning to ask Xiao Han. “Tell me, if I contact my master now, will he ignore me?”

Qin Mo usually looked proud and cold, but as soon as his master was mentioned, his momentum immediately fell flat. It might have been because Ling Xuefeng often scolded him when he was young, leaving a psychological shadow on his heart. Furthermore, he had always been in awe of Ling Xuefeng. Xiao Han did not have Ling Xuefeng’s contact information on hand, so he took out his mobile phone and sent his master a WeChat message: “Master, please pass me god Ling’s WeChat account number.”

Li Cangyu quickly replied: “Is it Xiaomo asking? [laughs]”

Xiao Han: “That’s right. [embarrassed]”

Li Cangyu quickly replied with an account number and told him: “Ask Xiao Mo to contact him quickly. He is so angry that he wants to buy a ticket to go back to China, be quick!”

Xiao Han immediately told Qin Mo about the WeChat account and showed Qin Mo the message from his master.

Qin Mo felt a chill go down his spine as he sent a friend application to that account with shaking hands. Written in the verification message was the name ‘Qin Mo’.

The application was quickly approved. The person named LXF on WeChat sent a sentence coldly: “Who is Qin Mo?”

Qin Mo: “…Master [tearful]”

LXF: “Oh, so you still remember that you have a master?”

Qin Mo: “[tearful][tearful][tearful][tearful]”

LXF: “Why are you crying? Shouldn’t the one crying be me?”

Qin Mo: “…”

Seeing this, Qin Mo didn’t dare send any more emoticons, and could only send ellipses instead.

LXF: “I raised an apprentice with great difficulty, only for him to disappear for three years without saying anything. Not only that, but for you to run to the Dragon Song club upon your return, you really are very good.”

Qin Mo replied awkwardly: “I’m sorry…”

LXF: “Forget it, this kind of thing can’t be explained clearly through WeChat. Wait till I get back before we have this conversation.”

Qin Mo was shocked: “Ah? When will you be back?”

LXF: “Originally, I planned to return to China during the Spring Festival, but now, the matter has been blown up. Wind Colour’s manager also called me, so I changed the plans and will be returning to China ahead of schedule. I have already booked a flight ticket for next week.”

Qin Mo: “…Next week?”

LXF: “What? Am I not welcome?”

Qin Mo: “No, no, master, come back soon, I’ll invite you to eat in Changsha ^_^”

LXF: “En.”

After the conversation ended, Qin Mo put away his mobile phone, worried. “He will be back next week…” From his expression, it was as if the great demon king was about to return, and he didn’t know how to deal with it.

“It’s alright.” Xiao Han patted Qin Mo’s shoulder reassuringly. “You were only 16 years old when he scolded you before. You weren’t grown up yet, so he treated you like a child. Now that you are so old, he won’t scold you again.”

Who knows? Perhaps in his master’s mind, he was still an immature child. Qin Mo also didn’t know how to explain the incident to his master. He didn’t particularly want to tell the truth, but if he didn’t, Ling Xuefeng wouldn’t be able to understand. This matter made Qin Mo feel distressed. Rubbing his temples, he decided to not think about it so much, and instead went to shower and sleep.

***

In his dreams, he returned to his teenage years.

In the conference room of Wind Colour club, Qin Mo lost a game because of his wild thoughts. Ling Xuefeng singled him out and lectured: “That match was played like you were sleepwalking. Is that what I taught you? Where are your pets? You even didn’t know how to summon the defensive pet when you were caught, and cowered behind the defensive pet when you were supposed to take the initiative to attack. Are you going to set a bad example for everyone?”

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Lowering his head further, Qin Mo almost cried.

“You don’t need to participate in the next few matches,” Ling Xuefeng added indifferently. “Go to the benches for a month and reflect on your mistakes!”

Qin Mo: “…”

Ling Xuefeng: “Don’t want to talk? Are you not convinced?”

“No, no.” Qin Mo choked up. “I was wrong, master…”

Standing up, Ling Xuefeng rubbed the teenager’s head. “Go back and write a review, make sure it’s more than a thousand words.”

Qin Mo silently went back to the dormitory to reflect, and sincerely wrote a thousand-word review for his master to review…

The fear of being lectured by his master as a teenager was simply Qin Mo’s nightmare.

Ling Xuefeng had a particularly cold and serious temperament. It was rare to see a smile on his face. When he stared at Qin Mo with a sharp gaze, Qin Mo almost wanted to dig a hole and hide himself.

Later, Li Cangyu brought Xiao Han back to the league, and Ling Xuefeng asked Qin Mo to practice with the newcomer Xiao Han, teaching him chinese along the way. Even if Qin Mo didn’t want to, he had to listen to what his master said. At that time, Xiao Han’s chinese was so bad that he often used strange terms. Qin Mo was so angry that he was about to cough up blood, but he didn’t dare to offend Xiao Han, in the end becoming an experimental subject for Xiao Han’s practice…

As the bottom of the food chain, those days were really bitter.

However, Ling Xuefeng’s teachings also helped Qin Mo realize his mistakes when he was young. He corrected his mentality, restrained his conceit and arrogance, studied earnestly and practically, and in the end, made a lot of progress. Therefore, even though Ling Xuefeng was a bit harsh on him, Qin Mo had always respected and worshipped his master in his heart.

At that time, he didn’t tell his master the reason for his retirement. He just didn’t want his master to feel sorry for him….

***

Qin Mo had a restless sleep, causing his eyes to be red when he woke in the morning. This fact was noticed by Xiao Han, who guessed that Qin Mo had nightmares the previous night. “Xiao Mo, you don’t have to think too much, what should come will come eventually. We will come to face it together, then I will stand in front of you to block the explosive damage.”

Amused by Xiao Han’s words, Qin Mo took a breath and replied calmly. “In fact, I’m not so afraid. I just don’t think I have the face to see my master.”

Xiao Han gently hugged Qin Mo. “Don’t say that. You’ve done well enough and definitely haven’t wronged him.”

Qin Mo changed the subject and replied. “Let’s go and have breakfast first.”

Today was Liu Xiang and Liu Hong’s turn to shoot at the advertisement agency. Qin Mo and Xiao Han stayed at the club to continue training.

The arena points of all members of Mojue had reached about 3,800 points, which was only 200 points away from the 4,000-point King rank. At this stage, the players encountered in the qualifying matches were basically experts. They happened to meet the five-member team of the Sword Song team. Lin Shuangcheng took the initiative to greet him: “God Mo, God Han, be merciful [smile]”

Qin Mo asked: “Have you been practicing with the team these few days?”

“Indeed,” Lin Shuangcheng affirmed. “We will participate in the preliminary competitions in December. There isn’t much time left, so we have to practice quickly.”

Non-governmental teams needed to go through a preliminary competition before they could be registered as a formal professional team. Because Mojue was affiliated to the Dragon Song club, Liu Chuan would take care of all these things, saving them a lot of effort. However, both Sword Song and Interlude had no club backgrounds, so they naturally had to compete with other non-governmental teams to advance.

Interested, Xiao Han asked, “Does the league have a quota?”

After returning from the official headquarters in Beijing, they were busy shooting advertisements, and didn’t pay attention to the preliminary competition.

Lin Shuangcheng replied: “The alliance has made an announcement about this. There will be four places for non-governmental teams. Together with the club’s professional teams, there should be ten teams in next year’s league.”

“If there are four places, don’t worry too much. Sword Song will definitely advance.” Qin Mo replied with confidence.

Lin Shuangcheng sent a row of praying emoticons: “I will borrow your words; I also hope that Sword Song can advance smoothly. Next time, I will ask Xiao Song to make you all some meatballs [smile].”

Song Changdong sent a shy emoticon: “Are my meatballs really that delicious?”

Xiao Han immediately replied excitedly: “Of course, much better than those chefs! And the taste is refreshing, not greasy at all! You send me two more boxes.”

Qin Mo felt helpless: “You still want to continue discussing meatballs? The escort team has already set off…”

Lin Shuangcheng: “I’m coming at once!”

In this game, Lin Shuangcheng’s Sword Song team was the attacker, and the front row was very fierce. Qin Mo didn’t form the defensive team today, instead bringing Pei Yu and Shen He along to practice the long-range obstacle penetration. However, the map that was randomly picked was not the obstacle map. As the defensive side, it could be said that there was no advantage at all.

The Sword Song team attacked fiercely. Lin Shuangcheng and Song Changdong cooperated very well in the front row. Soon, they killed several escorts and won the treasure in one go.

Finding that Qin Mo was out of state, Lin Shuangcheng could not help to ask: “Is god Mo affected by the news of Weibo?”

Qin Mo: “Do you know about that, too?”

Lin Shuangcheng: “En, it was reposted everywhere on Weibo, being pushed to the front page of the hot topic, I see a lot of people scolding you.”

Qin Mo was helpless: “I saw it this morning.”

The data of the reposted Weibo was terrible. The number of comments had exceeded six figures, with many of them being various kinds of scoldings. Qin Mo glanced at it in the morning and directly chose to not pay attention to it any more.

“Don’t worry too much.” Lin Shuangcheng sent a smiley emoji and comforted him. “There are many haters on the internet. Back when I was an esports anchor, those netizens scolded me from the start to the end. Some people said I was too ugly and polluted their eyes, others said I was an embroidered pillowcase, worthless except for an attractive face. Others thought I deliberately hyped up stories to cheat money… In fact, it is meaningless to compete with those people. When you see such comments later, just scold them in your heart—— perhaps the one that typed the words in front of the computer is a dog, and then you will feel better.”

Qin Mo: “…”

His way of comforting people was also unique, whose dog could surf the internet?

However, what he said was also reasonable. After all, the real identity of those online haters couldn’t be investigated. Wouldn’t it be useless to fight with those people?

Qin Mo was touched. “In fact, I don’t mind what those people say about me.”

Lin Shuangcheng replied: “En, I’m very clear about your strength, you don’t need to explain it. When the time comes, use your strength to slap them in the face.”

Qin Mo: “I know, thank you.”

Lin Shuangcheng sent a line of goodbye and took his team to continue training.

In fact, Qin Mo and Lin Shuangcheng didn’t have a deep friendship. At the beginning, they robbed the wild boss from Sword Song guild in the online game. The undercover agent sent by Lin Shuangcheng to Mojue was also found and kicked by Qin Mo. According to the normal scenario, they should have become sworn enemies who disliked each other, but later on, they became friends without knowing why. It was probably Lin Shuangcheng’s open and candid character, which Qin Mo appreciated very much. Both of them were also swordsmen. With their relationship to Song Changdong factored in, Qin Mo also felt that he was close to the Sword Song team, hoping that they could enter the preliminary competition smoothly.

However, Xiao Han was not too happy—— Lin Shuangcheng comforted Qin Mo in front of him, wasn’t this just treating him as air?

Trying to prove that his comforting abilities were stronger, Xiao Han grabbed Qin Mo’s hand and added. “If you feel uncomfortable, just tell me. I am always on your side.”

“What’s wrong with all of you?” Qin Mo asked helplessly. “There’s no need to comfort me, I’m no longer the glass-hearted little Qin Mo of that year. Even if the netizens casually scold a few words, I can bear it.”

Relieved, Xiao Han lowered his voice and replied. “Don’t get too close to Lin Shuangcheng, he pretends to be a gentleman, but is in fact a sly old fox.”

Qin Mo was stupefied. “I’m not very close to him, am I??”

Xiao Han chuckled and replied. “Take precautions in advance and don’t get too close in the future.”

Qin Mo always felt that Xiao Han’s words were inexplicable—— Seeing so many people scolding him on Weibo, Lin Shuangcheng was just comforting him as a friend. Why did Xiao Han react like this?

Thinking about it carefully, was Xiao Han perhaps drinking vinegar?

Thinking of this possibility, Qin Mo was full of joy. Looking at Xiao Han with a tender gaze, he replied quietly, “Who can I get too close to? I live in a dorm with you everyday, so naturally, you should be closest to me?”

“En,” Xiao Han nodded with satisfaction. “This is the best, we should continue like this.”

Feeling a little sweet in his heart, Qin Mo smiled.

Shen He noticed that his master and god Han were whispering together again, and could not help but ask. “Master, what secret are you and god Han talking about? Can’t you let everyone know too?”

Giving him a ‘you’re so troublesome’ look, Xiao Han coughed. “Keep training!”

***

Two days later, Liu Xiang and Liu hong’s advertisement shoot was successfully completed. It was now Xiao Han and Qin Mo’s turn to shoot the advertisement for the VR glasses.

This was the main product of Qingyang Electronic Technology company, so the plan was also more complicated. Both of them had to shoot at many outdoor locations, with cool sci-fi effects added at a later stage.

The first location was a shopping building near the company. Xiao Han and Qin Mo stood side by side with the special VR glasses for photographers to shoot from different angles, and the advertising company also hired several good-tempered actors to cooperate with them. The weather was relatively cold today. Although Qin Mo was wearing an overcoat and could stay outside for a long time, his fingers were still a little cold. After shooting the video, Xiao Han sensed that he was cold and gently grabbed his fingers. While the photographer wasn’t paying attention, he shoved Qin Mo’s hand into his pocket.

The warmth from his fingertips made Qin Mo smile. He wanted to say thank you, only to see Xiao Han’s expression change. Xiao Han then let go of his hand and walked quickly towards a corner.

Qin Mo turned around, confused. As Xiao Han quickly approached the corner, the person hiding there turned to run. Xiao Han grabbed the other person’s shoulder cleanly, swept his foot to trip him to the ground, and conveniently grabbed the camera in his hand.

This set of moves was so beautiful, seemingly causing the paparazzi to be stunned, staring at Xiao Han stupidly.

“Are you from the simple studio on Weibo?” said Xiao Han coldly. “Were the photos in Beijing taken by your people too?”

The reporter gave a hollow laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I just take photos of scenery…”

Xiao Han opened the camera and looked at the photos. There were indeed many photos of him and Qin Mo. The reporter should have followed them, and the action he had just helped Qin Mo warm his hands was also photographed clearly. Xiao Han was so angry that he really wanted to kick this paparazzi, but in public, he could not be too out of line, so he had to take a deep breath and suppress his anger. He calmly took out the memory card in the camera, crushed it into pieces, and threw it into the dustbin. The camera was thrown back at the paparazzi with a frown. “Don’t let me see you again. Get out!”

The reporter ran away with a camera in his arms. Qin Mo came over and looked in the direction of the reporter’s escape. “It seems that this group of paparazzi are targeting us?” he asked helplessly.

Xiao Han was very displeased. “As long as they have people in esports clubs all over the country, they’ll hide and take pictures like rats in the sewer every day…” He paused, reined in his bad mood, and looked at Qin Mo gently. “Now, the esports circle is not as clean as it was a few years ago. However, Xiao Mo, you can rest assured that I am here, and I will protect you.”

Qin Mo: “…”

Not only was this sentence a bit corny, he also didn’t know if Xiao Han was intentional with his word choice or not. The word ‘protect’ was not used casually by friends. Besides, Qin Mo was also a man and didn’t need to be protected by others.

After a moment of silence, Qin Mo replied, “Xiao Han, you really need to pay attention to the context… Words like ‘I will protect you’ can’t be said to others casually. It’s easy to be misunderstood.”

Smiling, Xiao Han gazed at him sincerely, whispering into Qin Mo’s ear. “I haven’t said it to anyone else, I’ve only told it to you. The only one I want to protect is also you.”

Qin Mo: “…”

This sentence made Qin Mo’s breath suddenly stop—— Could it be, Xiao Han also likes him?

This train of thought made Qin Mo’s whole heart beat fiercely. The displeasure of being photographed by paparazzi just now completely disappeared, filled with joy and excitement of ‘he might also like me’.

How about he look for a chance to test him?

It would be better to wait until they went back to the dormitory at night, without paparazzi to take photos, also without anyone to disturb. Should he kiss him at that time? And check if he felt disgusted or not?

Qin Mo decided to pay attention. He felt shy and excited about his first love. His gaze on Xiao Han became soft.

The photographer next to them: “…”

If both of them kept looking at each other like this, they wouldn’t even finish shooting the advertisement in three days’ time!

“Ahem! Back to work, let’s change the venue! ” The photographer pulled back their thoughts with a word, and Qin Mo looked away shyly and quickly followed the photographer’s footsteps. Xiao Han was confused—— Xiao Mo just suddenly looked at him gently, what was going on?