【34】 The Runaway Bride
Ye Xin was choked with rage by Wen Ran. He was just about to log off when he saw a notification flashing on the taskbar.
Clicking it revealed a tide of scrolling bullet comments. Ye Xin suddenly realized that he had forgotten to turn off the livestream just now.
But it was too late; the entire conversation between the two of them had been recorded.
The speed of the bullet comments was so fast his eyes could barely keep up.
[I was wondering how someone could be so strong, turns out it’s DS’s new Mid Laner.]
[Good lord, this rookie really talks big. Pressing Ye Xin to the bench? He really highlights the ‘dare to dream’ part, doesn’t he?]
[Uh, am I the only one who thinks Ye Xin has a problem? On what basis does he just open his mouth and claim someone is hacking? He’s even using his senior status to suppress others.]
[To the person above, truth be told, me too. The filter is shattered.]
[I’m actually laughing. The current strongest Mid Laner is Ye Xin, not this substitute. Can Peak Tournament be the same as a professional match?]
[Exactly, how could my hubby wrongly accuse someone? If he says there’s a problem, then there’s definitely a problem.]
[Heh, these rookies really get worse every year. A senior kindly reminds him, and he actually insults him publicly. What trash!]
[Fight! Fight!]
[DS is truly impressive. Thanks to Ye Xin, I’ve seen that internal discord can actually look like this.]
[Hahahaha, then those guys on Team VM fighting among themselves seems normal now.]
[Ye Xin, aren’t you going to explain yourself?]
[@DS Official, come look, your players are fighting!]
The matter had blown up too much. Ye Xin’s face turned green. He hurriedly shut down the stream and deleted the replay.
This was all he could do for now. However, Ye Xin wasn’t particularly worried. After all, he possessed millions of fans and had achievements and honors to show for it. Wen Ran was just a rookie about to debut; winning two Peak Tournament matches meant nothing at all.
At most, he would just personally explain that he had been drinking or something and brush it off.
Wen Ran had just returned to the training room when he saw Zhang Xu sitting there.
“I was just looking for you,” Zhang Xu said, placing a bag of clothes in front of him. “This is the team uniform. Put it on first. we need to take a promotional photo to use for the official announcement.”
“This is just to wear temporarily. Once the Autumn Split starts, the sponsors will make us new uniforms, and we’ll have our IDs printed on them then.”
Wen Ran gave a sound of acknowledgment and took them into the room to change.
His physique was naturally slender, so this set was slightly large on him, but it didn’t affect much.
A black team logo was printed on the red jacket.
It actually looked a bit like the WK uniform.
Wind was retired now. In this lifetime, he feared he would never have the chance to fight side-by-side with his idol.
But perhaps one day, he would wear the same style of team uniform as his idol.
Wen Ran finished dressing and went out to find Zhang Xu.
“Hey, you look really good in the uniform.” Zhang Xu couldn’t help but praise him the moment he saw Wen Ran. “I feel like we don’t even need a makeup artist. Just set up the lighting, take a quick shot, and we can post it.”
The DS team photographer felt this was the easiest shoot she had ever done.
Because Wen Ran was simply too good-looking.
The kind of good-looking that had no bad angles—outstandingly handsome.
His hair was soft, the bridge of his nose was high and straight, and his features were exquisitely balanced.
Even his fingers were like white jade. A simple glance from him was enough to make one’s heart skip a beat.
She couldn’t resist taking a few extra photos and sent them to a small group chat after getting home.
[Ahhh, sisters in the PR department, do you know how handsome our new Mid Laner is?!]
[If he turns out to be even more skilled, we’re going to be very busy in the future!]
The official DS announcement Weibo had been edited long ago and was set for a scheduled release.
The first post was the official announcement of the new DS Mid Laner:
After friendly communication and negotiations, we are very pleased to announce to everyone: From this day forward, Wen Ran (ID: DS.Dawn) has officially joined the DS Club. He will serve as the team’s starting Mid Laner, facing the upcoming tournament challenges alongside the other players.
Dawn is a player with strong individual skills who performed excellently during the trial training period. He has his own unique insights and ideas about the game and has received unanimous recognition. We look forward to winning more honors together in the future.
Generally, the comments under a transferred player would be fan-controlled praise and welcomes from old team fans.
But when it came to Wen Ran, the style was completely different.
It was almost entirely organic traffic from passersby, and it was obvious they weren’t bots:
[Dawn? Who’s this? Never heard of him.]
[I browsed around the familiar streamers too, no news at all. I’m baffled—where did DS dig up this talent that managed to remain completely unknown?]
[Brothers, I know. I’ve come with fresh data.]
[This guy, the Chenguang Cup Solo Division Mid Lane Champion.]
[???]
[???]
[Are you kidding me?]
[What are other teams’ new Mid Laners? National Server strongest, SDL champion, Draft Convention first pick.]
[What is the DS family’s? Chenguang Cup champion?]
[Laughing to death. What kind of low-tier competition is the Chenguang Cup that it’s even worth mentioning?]
[Unbelievable. DS, I thought you would throw, but I didn’t think you could throw this hard.]
[Good lord, they even dare to bring someone from the Chenguang Cup into the Professional League. Definitely a total fraud.]
[I’m going off-topic, but this little brother is quite pretty. His features are so exquisite.]
[Can the face-con ‘fandom circle’ fans get lost? Do you play games with your face?]
[Did I say I was going to fan him? Can’t I just look at his face? Mind your own business, what does it have to do with you!]
The team asked him to repost, so Wen Ran simply posted: [Fighting together]. He scrolled through the comments below; almost none of them were optimistic about him, all were mocking and sarcastic.
Even under Wen Ran’s own Weibo, a group of people swarmed in.
He had no fans to control the comments for him. Wen Ran originally didn’t plan to pay them any attention, but the more he looked, the more outrageous it became.
[I Have a Civil Service Job: Don’t know so I’m asking—can you play in the SPL from the Chenguang Cup now? Then I also signed up for the Chenguang Cup and am even at the Diamond rank. They won’t let me play, so how come I didn’t go pro? But you can? Did you use the back door?]
[DS.Dawn: At Diamond rank, you probably didn’t even reach the registration threshold. Please do some research before opening your mic. You’re truly like a person pulling a millstone naked—making a fool of yourself in circles.]
[The Egg Yolk Isn’t Crispy: This makeshift SPL team is doomed sooner or later, and DS is doomed sooner or later. Ye Xin’s substitute should at least have match experience. If you don’t replace this kind of person, I’ll stop watching the matches. You, DS, have lost a viewer forever!]
[DS.Dawn: Watch it or not. Are you Aristotle’s aunt, Jenny Ma Shi Duo? (T/N: A pun on “Are you for real?”)]
[Gay Men Please Stay Away From Me: My gaydar went off. He looks like a pretty boy who’ll die without heirs, yuck—]
[DS.Dawn: Don’t go crazy here. You’re forcing me to find the dog-catching squad.]
After picking a few to reply to, Wen Ran logged out of Weibo.
He had left too hurriedly that day and hadn’t brought a change of clothes.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was nothing to do in the morning, Wen Ran made a trip back home, planning to find a few sets of clothes.
Today was Monday. Song Zixuan had messaged him saying he was going to the hospital for a check-up, and Jiang Yan should also have classes, so the two wouldn’t run into each other.
Wen Ran had made his calculations and opened the door with his key.
The words Jiang Yan hadn’t finished saying that day had been lingering in his mind.
Whenever he was idle, his thoughts would wander. Only when playing games could he filter those thoughts out of his brain.
He wasn’t a fool; naturally, he knew the other party was confessing to him.
But Wen Ran couldn’t understand why Jiang Yan would like him.
He was clearly so excellent. Song Zixuan had also said that many people at school pursued Jiang Yan, and between himself and Jiang Yan’s circles, if it weren’t for these accidental twists, they almost never would have had any intersection in a lifetime.
Moreover, having experienced a failed relationship, Wen Ran didn’t dare to accept.
He was afraid.
Afraid that Jiang Yan just hadn’t seen someone like him before and only had a sense of novelty.
And once they were together, after the novelty passed, would Jiang Yan still like him?
If the final destination of a relationship was a breakup, then what was the point of starting?
Wen Ran pulled open his wardrobe, first finding a set of clothes to change into.
After throwing the changed clothes into the washing machine, Wen Ran sat and scrolled through his phone for a while.
A message from Jiang Yan came through:
[Where are you? I have something to discuss.]
Wen Ran had already ignored Jiang Yan for several days. He agonized for a while and eventually lost his nerve:
[I’m training at the base, very busy!]
As a result, right after he clicked send, he heard the sound of a key being inserted into the lock. Jiang Yan was carrying an exquisitely packaged box, and the two came face-to-face, staring at each other.
Jiang Yan chuckled: “Training at the base?”
“Very busy?”
Wen Ran: “…”
Could I lose face any more?
Wen Ran coughed, wanting to sneak out: “Just about to head back to train.”
He was grabbed by the collar and pulled back by Jiang Yan:
“Running again? Are you a runaway bride?”
Jiang Yan stuffed the white gift box into Wen Ran’s arms: “For you.”
Wen Ran: “?”
“Knowing you went for the trial a few days ago, I had a mechanical keyboard custom-made.”
Jiang Yan used this model before; the feel and tactile feedback were very good. You could also customize the keycaps and have a designer create a specialized theme.
Wen Ran saw the brand of the keyboard; it was one of the best among mechanical keyboards, not cheap at all, but the feel was incomparable to other keyboards.
Wen Ran stammered, his hands awkwardly holding the box: “Th-thank you.”
Jiang Yan: “There’s something else too.”
Wen Ran: “?”
Then he saw Jiang Yan take out a small floral bag from his pocket.
He handed it over.
Wen Ran was originally still guessing what on earth this was, but the moment he opened it, he was struck as if by lightning.
He froze on the spot.
This—this was clearly his own underwear!
He remembered it perfectly clearly; it was the pair he wore that night he got drunk, and he couldn’t find it the next morning.
Wen Ran felt his worldview collapsing. He spoke with difficulty: “You… you helped me… wash… them?”
Such a simple sentence, yet Wen Ran forced it into several fragments, almost popping the words out one by one.
Jiang Yan found it funny: “Well, what else?”
“Th… then what?”
“I’m carrying them on me, waiting to return them to you.”
Boom!
Wen Ran felt as if fireworks had exploded in his brain. He turned red from head to toe, as ashamed as a thoroughly cooked shrimp.
What on earth is this!
Why would Jiang Yan carry his underwear around? Even if they were clean, even he himself couldn’t do such a thing!
Jiang Yan crossed his arms, his tone lazy and casual: “Cinderella leaves a glass slipper for the prince; you leave a pair of underwear for me.”
“In a certain sense, you’re pretty awesome too.”
Wen Ran was currently steaming with heat, his face turning red with suppressed embarrassment:
“Can you shut up!”
“Shameless!”
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