Chapter 09: If You Love Two People, Hide It Well
It was the last day of Xie Jingchu’s trial.
Pei Zhi had arranged a training match with an upper-mid-tier team. The opponents fielded their full starting lineup; they had tactics, coordination, and were not to be underestimated.
Yet, NAVA still swept them away with a 2-0 record, winning so decisively that the opponents had no temper left.
When Xie Jingchu came out of the training room, he happened to see Shen Guanchao and Lu Wuxu walking shoulder to shoulder in the corridor, talking and laughing.
Shen Guanchao had his team uniform draped over his shoulders. As he spoke, he turned his face to the side, exuding an air of intimacy that seemed both there and not there.
“Is there anything else, Ah Ting?” Lu Wuxu caught a glimpse of the figure at the corner from the corner of his eye. He deliberately softened his tone and called Shen Guanchao by his nickname.
“A lot. Go in and call Siren for the things that require his signature; I still have things to do.” Shen Guanchao didn’t notice his little scheme. He put on his uniform properly and made to walk into the training room. As he passed the corner and saw Xie Jingchu frozen at the door, his steps paused.
Then, he quickly pushed open the glass door of the training room and walked away.
Only two people were left outside the door. Lu Wuxu spoke first, “Jingchu, come with me to the conference room to discuss the contract. You passed the trial.”
“Mn.” Xie Jingchu raised an eyebrow and asked, “What did you just call Flesh?”
Lu Wuxu smiled and asked back, “His nickname. You didn’t know?”
“Sorry, I thought you two were very close. I spoke out of turn.”
“…”
The air pressure around them suddenly dropped.
Pushing open the conference room door, the club’s legal counsel and Pei Zhi were already waiting inside.
Xie Jingchu took a stack of contracts from the legal counsel. Pei Zhi stood by and explained thoughtfully, “Some contents of the team contract were requested by Guanchao and Manager Cheng. It’s short-term, signed season by season. Although it’s troublesome, it guarantees the player’s freedom to a certain extent, unlike a deed of sale. Then look at the live streaming contract. apart from the signing fee being different, everything else is basically the same. You must stream for a full 30 hours a month. The price offered by the streaming platform is also reasonable, and the split for tips is the same.”
“Take a look yourself. Be serious about it. If you have any opinions, you must tell me.”
Signed season by season, with a first signing bonus of 1.7 million. The contract content was very friendly to the player, and the conditions were loose and generous. Knowing that someone had fought for this for him, Xie Jingchu had no objections. After reading it through seriously, he took the pen and signed.
“Regarding the calculation of streaming hours, it doesn’t just count gameplay streaming; everything counts. As long as it’s your own time, you can also stream your daily life like Guanchao does when not playing games,” Pei Zhi added. “Some players owed 29 hours at the end of the month in the past and only made up their homework when school started. I don’t hope you’ll be like that.” As he spoke, he glanced at Lu Wuxu.
Lu Wuxu smiled. “It’s me. I’m the negative example.”
Xie Jingchu nodded and asked, “Is there anything else?”
“Nothing else. The contract is signed. From now on, everyone is a teammate fighting side by side. The new season is starting soon, do your best.” Pei Zhi packed up his things as he spoke. “One last thing. Since the contract with the streaming platform is signed, you’ll have to start streaming successively. The team will officially announce you at the end of the month, probably after Superstar Showdown passes.”
“Go take the induction promotional photos this weekend for publicity. I’ve already arranged for the team uniform to be made; it should be delivered in two days.”
“Before the beginning of next month, you need to prepare for your first stream after the official announcement. We will arrange activities for you, fan voting benefits, and so on. Keep it confidential before the announcement. No objections, right?”
It wasn’t his first time streaming, so Xie Jingchu said indifferently, “None.”
“That’s good.”
After Pei Zhi, who always upheld a gentle policy, finished speaking, Lu Wuxu stopped smiling and began to play the bad cop, talking about the detailed rules for signed players. “During the normal training period, the team rule is that you must be at your computer by 2:00 PM every day, and collective training ends at 10:00 PM. Within these eight hours, forty minutes are for your dinner. Players cannot leave the training room for more than fifteen minutes during a single break, nor can they take multiple breaks in a day.”
“After collective training ends, there are four hours of individual training time until 2:00 AM. In the latter four hours, players can stream, duo-queue with teammates, or do mechanical training. During this period, you cannot play other games. The daily basic training duration for players must be a full ten hours. Requirements will be relaxed slightly during the competition cycle, and players can manage their time freely. But the preparation period will only be stricter, with training hours raised to anywhere between twelve to sixteen hours.”
“In addition, there are no vacations in esports.”
“Players train almost all year round. No weekends, no holidays. Each person only has one day off per month. The specific day depends on the team’s arrangement at the time. You can ask for leave, but the reason must be legitimate; trivial matters won’t be approved. During the New Year, the team will arrange holidays for players to go home and reunite, provided there are no matches during that period.”
“You cannot be late for daily training matches, cannot be absent, and cannot slack off. During post-match reviews, if you played poorly and get scolded by the coach, you have to listen; no talking back. I came from being a player too; I know you will be under great mental pressure and negative emotions. If there are problems, you can come to chat with me, or Manager Cheng and Coach Pei are fine too. NAVA’s management is very easy to talk to, and the team also hires psychological counselors.”
“Also, once a professional player is registered, whether inside or outside the competition, you are not allowed to go AFK, feed kills intentionally, or insult others. You are not allowed to fight or brawl in public places. Otherwise, you will be fined by the Alliance and have individual points deducted. If the severity is high or points become negative, the Alliance will impose a suspension punishment for a certain period.”
“Finally, remember our team motto—”
“Work together with one heart, turn stone into gold.”
“Welcome to NAVA, Siren,” Lu Wuxu said solemnly.
“I understand. Thank you,” Xie Jingchu, whose pressure resistance had always been good, said expressionlessly.
This 1.7 million was earned like serving time in prison.
But it didn’t matter. Shen Guanchao was here.
He calmly walked back to the training room.
In the pantry on the other side.
Fox was messaging Shen Guanchao while making Ovaltine.
[Fox: Has President Cheng confirmed signing Siren?] [Flesh: Mn, the team has already decided.] [Flesh: We’ll be teammates from now on. Wait and see.] [Fox: Don’t you feel awkward?] [Fox: I’ve noticed a little something recently.] [Flesh: ?] [Flesh: What something??] [Fox: Nothing.] [Fox: Just reminding you, loving someone cannot be hidden.] [Fox: But if you love two people, you must hide it well.]
Shen Guanchao: ???
Having the messy business between him and Xie Jingchu pointed out made him feel inexplicably guilty.
But aside from the guilt, what was this “loving two people” business??
When did he love two people?
[Flesh: What two people do I love??]
Fox asked back: [You haven’t noticed?] [Fox: Then pretend I didn’t say anything. Goodbye.]
He was the smartest in the team, scoring over six hundred in the college entrance exam, the city’s top scholar of his year. His EQ and IQ were both online, and he could always see through things hidden in the open or in the dark.
But he wouldn’t deliberately stir up trouble.
Since the captain hadn’t discovered Lu Wuxu’s feelings, he would pretend nothing had happened.
When Xie Jingchu returned to the training room, Zoe was exiting the game settlement page while turning back to call him, “Brother, come, come, come. Come duo-queue.”
Over the past few days, Zoe had slowly become familiar with Xie Jingchu. He wasn’t as reserved as in the beginning and even started calling him brother, like he was making friends at 8x speed.
“Here, a gift for officially joining the team.” After howling, he put down the mouse and pointed to the front of Xie Jingchu’s station. There was a beautifully packaged large gift box, a secret gift he had dragged Shen Guanchao and Fox to prepare together.
“Open it and see if you like it.”
Hearing this, Xie Jingchu smiled almost imperceptibly, walked to his station, and opened the box.
Inside the gift box was a brand new set of three esports essentials: headset, keyboard, and mouse. Everything was top-spec, and sticky notes with blessings were carefully attached.
The keyboard was a custom model Shen Guanchao had specifically asked someone to make a few days ago, with blue switches. The sticky note read domineeringly: [Use the keyboard I gave you to flame people in the future, understand?]
The headset and mouse were from Fox and Zoe, equally cool and high-end. Fox’s blessing was “Success all the way,” while Zoe came up with something unique.
He didn’t know where he found some red fabric, cut it into strips, made a mini banner, and pasted it abstractly and comically at the bottom of the gift box:
[Wishing Student Xie Jingchu good health, to become white and chubby, achieve career success, and have smooth competitions — Your Little Support, Zoe]
Xie Jingchu: “…”
“Thank you… but ‘white and chubby’ isn’t necessary.” Looking at these items, he inexplicably felt a sense of belonging he had never had before, like the timidity of a wandering traveler returning home—a fear of being near one’s hometown.
“No need to be polite. Come, come, carry me to rank up.” As Zoe spoke, he pulled the person into the party.
They were a four-stack. Apart from Zoe and Xie Jingchu, the team included Shen Guanchao and a sub-attacker/swordsman from an external team.
Fox wasn’t around, so Shen Guanchao pulled RSG’s sub-attacker Lihua Na (RSG·Flower) to group up.
Lihua Na was a rare female player in the circle. Her popularity was second only to Shen Guanchao, with a huge fan base. As a super A-list esports star, she was equally powerful, young, and beautiful.
Before entering the industry, she knew Shen Guanchao. The two had a deep friendship, practically half-childhood friends, and were known together as the “Toxic Twin Stars of the Esports Circle.”
Over the years, these two old hooligans were the ones fined the most by the Alliance for flaming people. Before and after matches, they sprayed whoever provoked them.
Killing gods if gods blocked, killing Buddhas if Buddhas blocked—they tolerated nothing.
In the third minute after the game started, Xie Jingchu coordinated with Zoe to hook and kill the opposing sub-attacker, taking first blood.
When the kill notification sounded, Shen Guanchao raised his eyebrows in surprise, thinking that this guy’s coordination had really improved at god-like speed.
At five minutes, he arrived at Point A and coordinated with Lihua Na to catch and kill the opposing main attacker and medic.
A top-tier main attacker grouping with a top-tier swordsman—a dual-god configuration—had extraordinary suppressive power.
They won continuously all night with almost no effort.
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