Ch16 - Not as cute as you.

Edited by Noks

I’m going to cause a scene—what the hell.

Mo Chen couldn’t laugh or cry.

Even though he had smashed so much money down and had chattered away this much, it had all failed to trick Wen Xi into his own team, which made Mo Chen feel a bit frustrated.

However, he didn’t know why, but he didn’t feel like even a single cent he had spent on Wen Xi hadn’t been worth it. Towards Wen Xi, this person, he couldn’t dislike him at all.

He even kind of liked him?

In fact, before the face to face meeting, all of the “doting” and “flirting” Mo Chen had directed towards Wen Xi had been more out of admiration for him than anything else. In addition, he did indeed have a selfish desire—to gain Wen Xi’s good opinion. He felt that everything became easy to talk about when you had a close relationship.

But now, after this face to face meeting, Mo Chen had really become interested in this person—Wen Xi.

How could he be this cute?

“What kind of scene would you cause?” Mo Chen pretty much held back a smile and asked.

Wen Xi really considered it carefully, and then discovered a very terrifying thing—this meal was Momo’s treat, and this place was also somewhere Momo had brought him to.

If he wanted to cause a real scene, and it blew up and truly angered Momo, then not even mentioning the free lunch he would miss, he would also have to go home by calling a car at his own expense. It was terrible just to think about it.

But if he just caused a small fuss then… that would be a lot like flirting.

Wen Xi was in a bit of a dilemma, and he didn’t know how best to answer even after a while had passed.

Fortunately, Mo Chen didn’t let him keep struggling through it, and soon compromised. “Forget it, won’t mention it, won’t mention it for the time being. Sure enough, there has to be a gradual process.”

Wen Xi: “…”

He could tell that Mo Chen still hadn’t given up on persuading him to play professionally.

Wen Xi was really curious. “Why do you have to make me play professionally?”

Mo Chen looked at him and raised his eyebrows. “This time, you mentioned it yourself. I can answer you ba?”

Wen Xi replied,”… Answer ah.”

Mo Chen laughed and replied, “I just feel like you have such good skills, and it would be a great pity if you never played professionally. Livestreaming and that kind of thing, as long as you can still play the game, you can always do it, but professional competitions, if you don’t play now, after you get older, and your hands get slower, you can’t compete even if you wanted to.”

This was quite reasonable and stupefied Wen Xi for a bit.

However, when he thought of his current economic situation and the gap between his and Momo’s strength… Wen Xi curled his lower lip and finally held steadfast to his original idea. “Let’s talk about it later ba.”

Mo Chen shrugged.

This answer undoubtedly kind of disappointed him, but he still held onto a more optimistic and positive attitude.

After all, “Let’s talk about it later” and “Not considering for the time being” —these answers all translated into: “Although I don’t have such a plan now, who knows about the future.”

Mo Chen might have nothing else, but he had a great deal of patience.

For the “prey” that he had taken a fancy to—unless it was carried away by other teams first—then even if he had to chase him to the ends of the earth, he would still come up with all sorts of methods to capture him.

*

He said he wouldn’t mention it, and he really didn’t do so after that. Afterwards, until Wen Xi was sent home, Mo Chen didn’t even utter the word “professional”.

Instead, he asked him some questions about his life.

Mo Chen asked, “You live alone? Then are there any friends you know nearby?”

Wen Xi replied, “No… My home isn’t in district H, I just rented a place in district H to make it convenient to go to work. Even though I have quit now, but since I already paid the rent, and they won’t return it… ”

Mo Chen asked, “How long have you rented it for?”

Wen Xi answered, “Half a year.”

Alright ba.

Mo Chen was silent, still thinking about what he could do to help Wen Xi in this matter. Suddenly, the door of the private room was knocked on twice.

The two knocks were very light, but the two occupants of the room still noticed and turned their eyes to the door at almost the same time.

In fact, when he heard the knock on the door, Wen Xi already thought something wasn’t right—the waiter knocked louder and more boldly, and so this was obviously not the waiter.

Sure enough, two seconds later, the door opened a crack. A girl in a student’s uniform with very sweet features tentatively walked in and greeted them with some reserve, “Hello… um, can I come in ma?”

Wen Xi almost instinctively turned his head to look at Mo Chen, letting him make the decision.

Mo Chen narrowed his eyes in the girl’s direction, changed the gentle expression he had when facing Wen Xi, and used an ice-cold voice as he asked, “What’s the matter?”

The girl probably didn’t think she would be treated coldly. She was shocked and said, “Uh, I have a friend who likes you very much. Would you mind giving me your contact information ma?”

“I mind,” Mo Chen blurted out.

“Then if I say, it’s me who likes…”

“If there’s nothing else, please leave ba.” Mo Chen didn’t even give her a chance to talk.

The girl froze on the spot and stood in place for a long time before she reacted. She let out a string of apologies and exited the room.

Just as she left the room, the waiter in-charge of the room came and asked her what was the matter. She said nothing and left in a hurry.

Mo Chen looked back indifferently, his eyes falling on Wen Xi’s face again, and immediately, the corner of his lips pulled up again. “Where were we just now?”

Wen Xi blinked at him and was a bit surprised—it turned out that Mo Chen wasn’t this gentle with everyone ah…

He had to say, that girl just now was pretty cute. She had seen Mo Chen, gotten attracted by his high face value, and had hesitated for a long time before she plucked up the courage to come in and ask for his contact information ba?

Getting asked for their contact information by such a girl, it was only right that most boys couldn’t bear to refuse. Mo Chen, however, had actually refused so simply.

Perhaps he saw the hesitation in Wen Xi’s expression, but Mo Chen raised his eyebrow and asked tentatively, “What’s the matter? You like that girl just now?”

“How could that be?” Wen Xi blurted out, then felt that he had answered too decisively and reflexively added, “Although she was pretty cute…”

“Not as cute as you.”

Wen Xi: !!!

Wen Xi, who was about to use his chopsticks to carry some food into his mouth, heard these five words, and his hand slipped, with the food falling back into the bowl.

He glanced at Mo Chen with an expression that displayed part-helplessness and part-reproachfulness, but he saw the opposite side look at him and start to laugh.

“I’m serious,” Mo Chen added with a smile.

Wen Xi sighed and resignedly put down his chopsticks. “Do you know that all the stream followers in my livestream are shipping our CP?”

“En, I saw.” Mo Chen responded lightly, very obviously not taking this matter to heart.

“It doesn’t bother you?” Wen Xi couldn’t help but confirm.

Mo Chen didn’t answer immediately, but asked in reply, “Has it caused you any problems?”

Wen Xi thought for a moment. “Actually, no.”

On the contrary, it had multiplied his popularity…

“Then it doesn’t bother me.” Mo Chen replied, “If you don’t mind, then I don’t mind.”

Hearing this sentence, Wen Xi almost blurted out, “Do you really like me?” However, thinking that they just added each other as friends yesterday, and they had met in real life for the first time today… he still thought he was probably overthinking it.

If it was true, then it was really love at first sight. However, how could there be that many loves-at-first-sight in the world?

Not even mentioning the fact that both of them were men.

“Alright ba,” Finally, Wen Xi replied with these perfunctory words.

Mo Chen didn’t care and continued to chat with him about other things.

Then, after lunch, Mo Chen drove Wen Xi home.

On the way back, they finally exchanged their real names.

So he was actually called Mo Chen ah.

Wen Xi repeated the name several times in his heart, and unbeknownst to him, the corner of his mouth had lifted up.

*

Getting out of the car and saying goodbye—nothing unusual happened there.

Before leaving, Mo Chen’s last words to Wen Xi were also very normal. “Wait until I get home, and I’ll accompany you to play squad.”

Wen Xi let out an “en” sound.

However, when Wen Xi went back upstairs to his room and closed the door, his heart rate suddenly became super fast.

The moment he entered his bedroom, his legs went soft, and he nearly fell onto his bed.

——Delayed nervousness.

Wasn’t this just a normal online friends face to face meeting? Why was he so nervous?

Was it because Mo Chen’s image was even better than his imagination, so he feels pressure?

Or was it because he had to always be on guard against being tricked by the other party into playing professionally?

For a while, Wen Xi’s mind was a big mess, which made him unable to think calmly.

Fortunately, his self-control was still strong. When the 1:00 pm livestream began, he had already managed to make his mood as stable as it could be.

“Good afternoon, my Xi~”

Through his earphones came Ai Zhe’s beautiful male god voice.

He had clearly been shocked when he had heard it for the first time, but after meeting Mo Chen, he suddenly felt that Ai Zhe’s voice was nothing more than this.

“Good afternoon, Love Pig,” He replied obediently.

“What Love Pig! Call me Handsome Zhe!” Ai Zhe immediately puffed up and then instantly switched to a serious tone. “Today, Momo will join us in playing squad ba?”

Wen Xi very much admired his seamless switch. “….Yes. ”

“I have someone coming on my side too,” Ai Zhe said this then immediately asked, “Have you come in?”

This question was obviously for his partner.

Very soon, a sweet female voice rang out, “I’m in, I’m in!”

Female?

Wen Xi was stunned.

Before he returned to his senses, Ai Zhe introduced her, “It should be the first time the two of you are forming a squad. Let me introduce you ah – Wency, my bro; Ruby, my woman.”

As soon as he said that, he was shot down by the woman who had spoken just now. “You scram, who is your woman?!”

When she finished attacking Ai Zhe, she immediately switched to a gentle voice and said to Wen Xi, “Hi, Xixi ah~ My name is Ruby, and I’m Love Pig’s partner~”

“Ah, hello…” Wen Xi responded, a little nervous.

This was actually the first time he had played games with the opposite sex.

After he responded, he basically turned to clicking his friend list for help, and when he saw that Momo was online, he unconsciously let out a relieved breath.

Then, as soon as Ai Zhe pulled him into a team, at the first possible moment, he also pulled Momo in.

[Lolololol, God Xi pulls very smoothly!]

[Are Xixi and Momo finally going to fight side-by-side?!]

[It’s finally not loving you and killing you! I’m shedding an old mother’s tears of relief!]

Wen Xi had already grown used to seeing such unusual lines in the barrage. After he pulled Momo into the team, he immediately typed a line and asked him: Use voice?

Mo Chen saw this line of words and glanced out of the training room.

Through the glass door of the training room, he could see that at this moment, his three teammates were sleeping sprawled out onto the sofa in the hall….

He couldn’t help but smile as he turned his head back to the screen and typed a word in reply: No.

He had told Wen Xi that the 16th SGH professional league was about to start.

But he didn’t tell Wen Xi that he was also participating in it.

In two weeks, it would time for the domestic trials, which would be crucial for him personally, as well as for his team and club.

So these days, when he and his teammates weren’t training, they were playing training matches.

Even if he had made plans with Wen Xi, he hadn’t missed the morning training. Instead, he had gotten up nearly three hours earlier than usual to make up for the usual training time.

Was he tired?

It was impossible to say that he wasn’t tired.

That was also why his teammates were sleeping at the moment.

However, since he had promised Wen Xi to play two matches with him at 1pm every day, Mo Chen wouldn’t break his promise.

*

Seeing Mo Chen’s reply, Wen Xi was a bit disappointed, and everyone in the barrage was hollering about how it was a pity.

However, their CP fans were quite satisfied with watching Wen Xi and Momo fight side by side. They were curious what kind of sparks they would create in the game.

“If Momo isn’t talking, then I’ll still be the one in charge ba!” Ai Zhe said shamelessly and clicked to queue.

By now, all four of them were in the queuing map for squad matches.

Soon, once the number of people on the map reached 90 and stayed that way for more than 10 seconds, the match officially began.

“Still jumping to Area F ba! Don’t jump wrong, bros!” Ai Zhe said.

Wen Xi naturally replied with a “good”, but Ai Zhe’s partner Ruby complained on the spot, “Playing with you, it’s match after match in Area F, can’t you get some new tricks?”

Ai Zhe replied, “Hey, now that we have a new teammate, you’re getting a swollen head, is that it? If you can carry us to first place, then you can also direct us on where to jump ah!”

Ruby said, “If I say it, it doesn’t count, but the key is to look at your stream followers. You look, your stream followers all say I’m right!”

Ai Zhe replied, “What do they know?!”

Ruby exclaimed, “This is called public opinion! Do you understand public opinion! Do you still want presents or not?”

They deserved to be called partners-for-many-years, as this easy back-and-forth banter that went on for a long time proved.

Poor Wen Xi couldn’t get in even half a word.

However, Wen Xi didn’t care too much. He originally wasn’t good at chatting, and if it wasn’t for it being a necessary effect for the livestream, he would probably play a whole match without even saying a word.

However, just as he was pretending to have died in silence, a slightly low and magnetic voice suddenly sounded out. “Then let’s jump to Area C.”

Realizing that this was Mo Chen’s voice, Wen Xi was stunned.

The “let’s” that he had said was clearly referring to himself and Wen Xi.

Hearing his words, Wen Xi’s first reaction was—didn’t you say you weren’t using voice chat? So how come you turned on the team voice channel?

He had just wanted to ask, but before he had a chance to speak, he heard Ai Zhe say, “Bro, you’re too much ah. Since when was there a team that splits itself across two locations?”

Momo immediately replied, “Even if you haven’t seen it, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any.”

Ai Zhe said, “Don’t think I don’t know. You just want to create your own two-person world with Wen Xi ba!”

Momo retorted, “En, that has to be better than him getting stuck between you guys as a third wheel.”

Hearing this sentence, Wen Xi suddenly realized that Mo Chen probably thought that he had been squeezed out, and he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

He had to open his mouth and explain, “…I just wanted slack off a bit and not say anything. They’re in charge of talking, and we’re in charge of killing. A clear division of labor, how good that is.”

Finally hearing his voice, Mo Chen spoke again, his tone instantly growing softer, “Okayl, if you want to jump to Area F, I will accompany you.”

The misunderstanding could count as having been cleared up.

Ai Zhe couldn’t just pretend to have not heard Wen Xi’s words just now. “Wow, Xi, you’re a little too much ah! For better or worse, I’m also a skills-based anchor, so how can I not be one of the people responsible for kills!”

Wen Xi didn’t agree. “With Momo here, you try and see how many kills you can gather.”

Ai Zhe: !!!

“Wtf! I didn’t expect you to be like this, Xi!” Ai Zhe was surprised and shouted, “Talk! When did you start becoming a Momo fan? Have you two made any private py deals?”

Wen Xi replied, “No, I’m just stating a fact.”

Wen Xi would make an oath saying that he was really just stating a fact.

However, the tone of the comments in the barrage was obviously not quite right.

[Lolololololol, God Xi keeps saying between the lines: My family’s Momo is the best!]

[Momo saying just now that I’ll accompany you really poked me!]

[Would you please get married right here, right now!]

Similar comments in the barrage left Wen Xi speechless, but it was obvious that the atmosphere of the livestream had been perfectly saved.

Next, Ai Zhe’s and Ruby’s “duet” began again.

When they didn’t cue Wen Xi into it, Mo Chen switched to the private chat channel and said to Wen Xi, “I only heard them talking and thought you were being ignored.”

As soon as those words were uttered, the barrage in Wen Xi’s livestream started boiling over.

[Sure enough, Momo was fighting to champion justice for Xixi just now!]

[He can’t bear to see Xixi get wronged even a little. This is also too doting ba!]

Wen Xi somewhat helplessly made the game window smaller, opened the voice app, turn on his own mic, and then responded using a voice channel that only Mo Chen and his stream followers in his stream could access, “Although I really couldn’t get a word in edgewise, I originally didn’t want to say anything anyway, so it was fine la… If you’re afraid of them misunderstanding, I’ll help you explain later…”

“No.” Mo Chen interrupted him calmly, “I don’t care what they think of me. I’m here to accompany you to fight, not to keep them company and fight with them.”

Wen Xi was stunned.

[AHHHHHHH!]

[Fuck, I’m no more!]

[They’ve already said this much, and you’re telling me they’re not real?!]

It took a long time for Wen Xi to snap out of it, after which he glanced at the barrage.

Although he doesn’t mind the stream followers shipping their CP, he was still afraid that their brains would get overworked, and that they would end up spreading false information, so he still planned to explain a bit.

However, before he could organize his words, Ai Zhe warned, “Get ready to jump!”

Wen Xi pretty much rushed to switch his game mic on and glanced at the map after returning to the game interface.

Before he could see where Area F was, Mo Chen spoke to him again, “This match, I’ll carry you into soaring up the ranks, you just lie down and enjoy.”

—

Juurensha: Mo Chen is very flirty, and I think, really falling for him. Ruby seems fun!