Prologue 3: First-Class God Liu Chuan (First Protagonist)

Liu Chuan walked out of the airport and saw a girl with long hair and big eyes looking around. When Liu Chuan walked up from behind, he lightly flicked the back of her head and the girl immediately turned around. When she saw him, with shining eyes, she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him like an octopus. “Brother!”

Liu Chuan helplessly pried away from the octopus on him. “…how old are you, is this proper?”

Liu Xiaomeng smiled and released her arms. She raised her head to look at Liu Chuan. His younger sister’s personality was a bit crazy. When she was young, she loved to pester him by asking why——brother, why is this, why is that, exactly why? It was the typical millions of questions that children asked.

However, after puberty, the girl who was once a crybaby became a beautiful woman. Only people that knew her, knew this mischievous girl can drive people crazy.

He hadn’t seen her for a few months. She seemed to have grown?

Liu Chuan looked at his sister, smiled and rubbed her head. “Where’s mother and father?”

Liu Xiaomeng said, “Father is waiting at home and mother has a meeting so she’ll be coming home later. I, as the Liu family’s representative, came to personally welcome you.”

Liu Chuan walked out carrying his luggage and asked, “Did you drive here?”

Liu Xiaomeng nodded. “Mm, I recently got my driver’s license.”

The two siblings walked to the parking lot to grab the car. Just as she was going to sit in the driver’s seat, she was blocked by Liu Chuan. Liu Chuan forced his sister into the front seat, while he sat at the driver’s seat and said, “I’ll drive, move aside rookie.”

Liu Xiaomeng stuck out her tongue but didn’t argue with him and fastened her seat belt.

The car drove out from the airport and followed the highway towards their house. Liu Chuan was familiar with the area he grew up in so he didn’t even need to use the GPS to know which way to go.

The car stopped at a red light and Liu Chuan’s phone rang with a text notification. Liu Chuan picked it up and looked at it. It was Ye Se replying: “I have a flight for Xi’an at 8 pm tomorrow. The time we planned to go out to eat needs to be changed.”

Liu Chuan replied: “Then let’s go at 5 o’clock. There will be many people during rush hour, I’ll make a reservation. After eating, I can drive you directly to the airport.”

The other person replied: “Okay.”

Liu Xiaomeng’s big eyes stared curiously at her brother’s phone. Liu Chuan glanced at her and put the phone back.

Liu Xiaomeng gave a sly smile. “Why so secretive? Is it your girlfriend?”

Liu Chuan said, “It’s Qin Ye.”

Liu Xiaomeng understood and sat back properly. “Oh oh! Is it the Chang’an team’s Vice-Captain Qin Ye?”

The corners of Liu Chuan’s mouth perked up slightly. “Silly girl, your memory is very good, even remembering Qin Ye?”

Liu Xiaomeng said, “Of course I remembered. The way he scolded people was awesome…”

Liu Xiaomeng didn’t play video games or nor understood esports competitions. However, her brother was a first-class god and was known as the number one Tangmen in the esports profession. Naturally, she picked up a few things and understood a bit that goes around in the professional circle.

Simply said, the esports leagues were similar to competitive events for basketball, soccer and so forth with many popular teams and players. The winning team would get rewarded with lots of prize money, businesses would sponsor teams, and players would get advertisement endorsements. The top players had many fans and some players even get treated like movie stars.

Liu Chuan, who was considered a first-class god in the league, once led the Huaxia team to successfully winning the Annual Grand Slam——the so-called Annual Grand Slam, which consisted of the Pro League Spring Games, T.G.A Summer Grand Prix, Pro League Fall Games and the T.G.A Winter Grand Prix, required the team to win the championship of all four competitions within a year to win the “Annual Grand Slam” special trophy.

So far, such a brilliant achievement was only achieved when Liu Chuan led the Huaxia team.

With the league full of strong teams, winning the Grand Slam was very difficult, which also helped Liu Chuan earn the title of being a first-class god in the league. He also had many rivals as well as friends in the league. Liu Xiaomeng was always confused with their names but her impression of Qin Ye was very hard to forget.

On the day that Liu Chuan retired, a guy named Qin Ye called to scold and curse at him. At that time, Liu Xiaomeng and Liu Chuan were at the airport. Among the noisy crowd, the man’s voice through the phone was clear and calm, and every sentence was harsh and piercing to the heart. Liu Chuan merely wore a small smile and silently listened. After listening, he simply said, “I had already decided, there’s no use trying to persuade me.”

……The other side immediately hung up angrily.

Liu Chuan put away the phone and turned to go through security screening.

Liu Xiaomeng watched the tall figure of her brother who turned away and somehow felt an indescribable lump in her throat.

Time flew by very quickly and now it was she who personally came to the airport to pick up her brother again.

Liu Xiaomeng felt apprehensive and asked, “Brother, you contacted Qin Ye. Don’t you want to go back to compete?”

Liu Chuan’s face held no expression and said lightly, “Talk later.”

Liu Xiaomeng whispered, “Don’t make mother angry again. You and her going at each other’s throats, it’s not good for anyone…”

Liu Chuan smiled, “I know.”

The car quickly arrived at the Liu’s courtyard.

Liu Chuan’s father, Liu Boyuan, was a leading figure in the country’s academic world and a well-known history professor. He was knowledgeable, gentle and a very nostalgic person. The interior design of the Liu’s house was similar to those typical of a scholarly family in China. The inside was filled with all kinds of valuable antiques and jadewares. Liu Chuan liked to say, “When people enter, they will feel a very heavy atmosphere.”

No one believed that Liu Chuan, who was a shameless guy, was actually from a scholarly family…

His father, Professor Liu, was well-respected with many students everywhere, so to have such a terrible relationship between father-and-son was completely impossible to make sense of…

When Liu Chuan entered, his father was practicing writing in the study room.

Professor Liu, who was the president of the Calligraphy Art Association, was skilled in calligraphy. It was at the master level where just a word written down can be used in an auction. Quite a few people would specifically ask him to write inscriptions. At home, there was plenty of calligraphy art that was in his father’s handwriting. When Liu Chuan was young, he was forced to practice writing, writing dozens of copybooks[1]. Eventually, he practiced enough to develop a beautiful cursive script[2].

[1] Copybooks

[2] Cursive script – last row

Liu Chuan’s writing was very bold and laid-back as well as unrestrained which was similar to his personality.

Liu Xiaomeng was a tragedy compared to him. Her father and brother all had good handwriting, yet this girl’s writing had always been like a kindergarten doggy paddling regardless of the practice.

Liu Chuan glanced at the pen, ink, paper and inkstone on top of his father’s desk and smiled. “Father, practicing writing?”

Liu Boyuan saw his son entered but was too lazy to raise his head. He only hummed in acknowledgement. Then he dipped his pen in ink and continued to leisurely write.

Liu Chuan sweatdropped. “Father, I’m going to put away my luggage first.”

Liu Boyuan hummed in response.

Liu Xiaomeng exclaimed, “Father, I’m going to the kitchen to prepare the food! We’ll wait for mother before we eat!”

Liu Boyuan once again hummed in response.

The two siblings silently slipped away from the study room.

Liu Chuan quickly cleared his luggage. His father, who was writing in the study room, was like a Wudang Taoist doing Tai Chi, every step slow but meticulous. When practicing any character, the expectations were high. The horizontal, vertical, press and throw strokes[3] weren’t allowed to a single mistake, it was the truth…if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, he would continue to have a straight face and even if there was a knife pressed against his neck, Professor Liu would still need to finish his writing…

[3] Many different types of strokes made up the Chinese calligraphy characters. The ones mentioned above are some of the basic strokes.

After taking a bath and changing his clothes, he went downstairs just as his mother returned.

The parent’s personalities were completely different, it could be said that they were two extremes.

Professor Liu was a phlegmatic, gentle and steady person, and always spoke sincere and earnest words whereas Yang Qiuning was short-tempered, swift and decisive, similar to being pounded until the head was full of bumps[4], her words fell like the crackling of beans falling.

[4] When I googled what *满头包 meant, these were the kinds pictures that came up]

Yang Qiuning wore a business dress with her hair pulled neatly into a bun. With one glance, one could tell she was a successful woman. When she saw her son coming down the stairs, her mood didn’t change and only gave a once over of him indifferently. “You came back?”

Liu Chuan smiled. “Mhm. Mother, did you just finish the meeting?”

Yang Qiuning nodded. Walking over, Liu Cuan took the bag in her hand and helped her hang her blazer.

Yang Qiuning changed into slippers and entered the study room. Seeing Liu Boyuan still writing, she couldn’t help frowning. “Isn’t it annoying to practice every day?”

The innocent Professor Liu who was shot: “……”

Liu Chuan who had accidentally overheard: “……”

The couple would quarrel every day. The short-tempered mother’s fighting power was clearly stronger than the phlegmatic father.

Rather than becoming cannon fodder, Liu Chuan consciously went to the kitchen to help his sister sort out dinner.

The two siblings quickly set up a table full of dishes, most of which were prepared ahead of time by Professor Liu and the rest were finished by Liu Xiaomeng.

Liu Chuan’s parents were considered the typical wealthy-girl-who-liked-the-poor-boy cliché at the time. Growing up as a member of the wealthy Yang family, Yang Qiuning didn’t need to do the household chores. After marrying, the chores were picked up by Liu Boyuan. Yang Qiuning was quite courageous when she was young. During that time when the parents had arranged their children’s marriages and business marriages were common, she ignored her father’s fierce objection and with no hesitation, she married Liu Boyuan, who at the time didn’t have a car, house or money.

It was said that for this reason, Yang Qiuning and the Yang family almost tore at each other and completely broke off. It wasn’t until after the birth of Liu Chuan did the Yang family gradually relaxed. With the help of her mother in secret, Yang Qiuning finally gained the approval of her father and returned home with the little one-year-old Liu Chuan and her husband.

Liu Boyuan was a gifted scholar when he was young. At the age of thirty, he was a well-known professor. Ever since Liu Chuan could remember, his father was famous in the academic world. His current status…simply said, from students and followers across the country, the house to some degree would be stuffed with fresh flowers on Teacher’s Day every year.

Although his parents argued often, they loved each other for many years.

Yang Qiuning had a poisonous tongue and appeared to be cold but inside she was warmhearted. Liu Boyuan was gentle and forgiving but had extremely principled points. The two people were usually bickering and quarrelling, but Liu Chuan and Liu Xiaomeng weren’t at all worried about them divorcing. Generally, as a child, when the parents argued, the children would be scared to tears. However, when they were little, Liu Chuan and Liu Xianmeng thought: Father and mother are arguing again, great, we can go out to play…

The family of four surrounded the table for a family reunion dinner. Liu Xiaomeng was clearly very happy, she kept filling Liu Chuan’s bowl with food. “Brother, give this a try. I made this myself.”

“This was made by dad…”

“And this, I just learned it yesterday…”

The two siblings had a great relationship, while the other two didn’t talk much at the dinner table.

After finishing dinner in a complicated mood, Yang Qiuning got up and said, “Liu Chuan, follow me to the study room for a second.”

Liu Xiaomeng gave him a sympathetic look.

As a child, mother’s “Follow me to the study room,” meant receiving a beating. After growing up, mother’s “Follow me to the study room,” meant getting scolded. The Liu siblings had long been accustomed to the implied meaning of this sentence.

However, much to Liu Chuan’s expectation, instead of scolding him, she asked seriously, “How many bank cards do you have right now?”

Liu Chuan said, “I only have one debit card.”

Yang Qiuning said, “How much? Show me.”

Liu Chuan took out the card from his wallet and handed it to her. “There is a million in this card. It’s from the competition rewards and advertising endorsements that I have received in the past few years. I haven’t spent it all yet.”

Yang Qiuning said, “You are a student so you don’t need a lot of money to go to school. I will take care of this money for you and wait until you graduate university before returning them to you.” She calmly collected the card from Liu Chuan.

Liu Boyuan, who was sitting on the side, calmly pretended he didn’t see anything.

Liu Chuan was surprised. “…are you confiscating my savings?”

Yang Qiuning nodded and she pulled out a brand new ICBC card from her wallet and gave it to Liu Chuan. “I helped you get this new card. The password is 012523 and inside is three thousand yuan. In the future, on the first day of every month, I will transfer a thousand yuan as an allowance. You are going to university so you need to act like a university student. For a university student’s speaking, giving you a thousand yuan every month to pay for daily expenses should be enough.”

Liu Chuan: “……”

Liu Chuan turned to look at his father, but his father pretended like it was none of his business.

Liu Chuan helplessly said, “Mother, this wasn’t necessary, right? I’m not young anymore, I won’t be spending reckless money…”

Yang Qiuning placed the new card in her son’s hand and said seriously, “What are you going to do, bringing so much money to school? It must be for flying to different places and running off to watch those competitions, do you think that I wouldn’t know?”

Liu Chuan: “……”

Yang Qiuning said, “Since you need to go to school, studying is important. Your father already talked with the school. You are to live in a dorm with your classmates. Your dorm is…” Yang Qiuning looked towards her husband beside her.

Immediately, Liu Boyuan, who was trying to hide, joined in and continued, “Room 301 in the boy’s dorm. The school had already arranged it so you can already go there to live.”

Yang Qiuning nodded and turned towards her son. “Room 301, remember. Go back and study hard and don’t touch the game again.”

Liu Chuan: “……”

Yang Qiuning frowned. “Did you hear me?”

Liu Chuan said helplessly, “I heard…”

Satisfied, Yang Qiuning went to take a shower. Just as Liu Chuan was about to return to his room, his father, who was usually introverted and silent, suddenly called to him, “Liu Chuan.”

Liu Chuan looked back confused. “Father, you still need something?”

Liu Boyuan took out a piece of paper from a drawer and passed it to him, then he calmly turned and went upstairs.

Liu Chuan opened up the paper in his hand. The paper that his father used to write on was of excellent quality, it felt very thick and heavy. He used practiced brush strokes to write in regular script, writing out perfectly an idiom——bear hardship with equanimity.

Turned out, it was these four words that he was writing out in the study room and it was to give to his son.

——Treat unfavourable situations and negative opinions with a calm mindset. Don’t bother to ask or listen, just let someone have their way.

——Bear hardship with equanimity.