Chapter 25: No! Land Cannot Be Sold! Heaven and Earth as My Witness…
The van fell dead silent, and then it suddenly exploded.
Wall looked over: “Sell who? Fugui, what did you just say?”
Beyond was so anxious he began to stutter: “S-s-sell, s-s-ell off Brother Ning? Is it, is it because we lost the scrim yesterday?”
Wu Yang: “Wh-wh-at?”
Fugui: “Coach Zuo, say something!!”
Zuo Chi was also frantic: “When did I ever say I wanted to sell Land?!”
“…How about you guys clarify things first before we go to the amusement park.” Manager Li slowly drove the van to the side of the road and stopped in a parking space.
The entire van resembled a “Court of Three Judicial Departments” scene.
“…It’s like this. This morning, the ZAP coach called me and asked if Land had any intention of being listed, wanting to invite him for a trial.” Zuo Chi explained the matter roughly.
Thinking of the ZAP coach’s “poaching” move early in the morning made his teeth itch slightly.
“Then I asked Land to carefully consider the transfer—Heaven and Earth as my witness, if I weren’t thinking about not delaying a player’s future, I would have resolutely told the ZAP coach, ‘No, Land cannot be sold!'”
The few gazes staring at him piteously all swiveled toward Ning Luzhao.
At some point, Ning Luzhao had turned his body slightly to face him.
Ning Luzhao was taller than him. Usually, when they were sitting, his gaze had to be slightly upward to see the other’s eyes.
But today, perhaps because Ning Luzhao was leaning against the seat with his eyelashes lowered, his somewhat sharp features suddenly softened from this angle—to be precise, he looked a bit pitiable, like a small animal that had fallen into water.
A pair of phoenix eyes hooked at the corners, holding a faint light: “So… the coach didn’t want to list me?”
“If you want to go, I give my blessings. If you don’t want to go…”
Then I’d be ecstatic.
Although thinking like that might be a bit selfish.
But good players were hard to come by. Even with his ability to see attribute entries, finding another jungler who could stand on par with Land would be extremely difficult.
Zuo Chi’s mind wandered for a moment.
In an instant, many images flashed through his mind, most of them scenes of him getting along with the players after coming to VEX.
People aren’t cold machines, and players aren’t something that can be summarized by simple entries.
“Of course Ning-god doesn’t want to go! Right, Ning-god?” Fugui made a few “sob sob” sounds.
“Mm. I don’t.”
“See, Coach Zuo! Ning-god said he doesn’t want to go!” Fugui, always straightforward, immediately became happy. “Brother Li, it’s fine now, it’s fine. Let’s keep driving and head for the amusement park!”
Zuo Chi was a bit worried: “You really don’t want to go try? ZAP is a powerhouse team with deep heritage. The opportunity to trial for a starting spot doesn’t come all the time…”
“Didn’t the coach just say I can’t be sold?”
“Don’t worry about whether I’m willing to sell you; consider yourself first.”
Wall hesitated for a moment and also added: “Right, Land. We’re all family here, so I’ll be direct. In esports, you can’t be too sentimental. I won a championship with ZAP; I count as an old player, right? And the result? After ZAP made me a sub, they even blocked me from transferring. During that period, I didn’t even get to play in the second team’s scrims. I wasted a year for nothing.”
Manager Li: “Exactly. Land, if there’s a good place, go. If you can actually secure a starting spot at ZAP, it proves our VEX players aren’t as cowardly as those people online say, right? Hahahaha…”
“I really haven’t thought about leaving VEX.” Ning Luzhao paused for a moment. “Since the coach arrived.”
Zuo Chi’s face suddenly felt a bit hot. He raised his hand to touch the base of his ear—it was quite warm. Then he heard the other say:
“ZAP is currently the champion team, but it’s hard to say who the future champions will belong to.”
Wall laughed: “Fair enough. Young people still have that drive.”
Fugui: “Ooh, Ning-god usually stays quiet, but he’s really a hidden dragon—in the future, let Ning-god handle the pre-match trash talk segment!”
Wu Yang let out a breath: “S-s-cared the l-l-ife outta m-m-e j-j-ust now. I th-th-ought our t-t-eam was g-g-onna d-d-isband.”
Beyond: “Then… can we continue to the amusement park?”
Zuo Chi pressed down the corners of his mouth, but still couldn’t hide the curve. The heart that had been hanging since that phone call finally landed on solid ground.
“Let’s go, let’s go—I’ll call the ZAP side right now and tell them Land is not for sale.”
“Coach Zuo, Coach Zuo, if Land can’t be sold, what about us?”
Zuo Chi was cheerfully dialing when he was stunned by those words: “What about you?”
“If Land can’t be sold, can we be sold? Sob sob sob.”
“…Fugui, speak properly.”
“Coach Zuo, you’re unwilling to give me a direct answer! I’m heartbroken!”
“Not a single person here is for sale.”
“If Land and I were both scouted by ZAP at the same time and only one could be saved, who would Coach Zuo choose to list?”
Before the call connected, Zuo Chi raised an eyebrow: “You’re dreaming quite well. Come back and ask me that when you can solo-kill ZAP’s current side-laner.”
“Hmph!”
“Hahahaha…” Wu Yang laughed loudly. “Y-y-ou b-b-rought th-th-at h-h-umiliation on y-y-ourself, F-f-ugui!”
Zuo Chi waited for a bit and found the ZAP coach wasn’t picking up. Guessing the other was busy, he left a message on WeChat first and put away his phone.
About half an hour later, they arrived at the entrance of the amusement park. Peeking through the van window, it was almost entirely families of three with children. Many vendors were set up at the entrance selling snacks and balloons.
Having rushed to go out, the cubs hadn’t eaten much breakfast. After getting out of the car and smelling the fragrance of stinky tofu, grilled sausages, and egg burgers, their eyes were practically glued to the stalls.
Zuo Chi conscientiously walked over to queue: “What do you want to eat?”
“I’ll have a bowl of stinky tofu.”
“Coach Zuo, I want two grilled sausages!”
“Grilled sausage plus one.”
“What about Land?”
“Two sticks of Tanghulu, please.”
Zuo Chi nodded: “You like sweets?”
He remembered the time he was carsick and Ning Luzhao had given him a chocolate. On the desk in their dorm, there were also several boxes of candy stocked in various flavors.
Ning Luzhao gave a soft “Mm.”
Zuo Chi paid and distributed the snacks into the hands of each cub. When it was Ning Luzhao’s turn, he only handed over one stick of Tanghulu.
“Eating too many hawthorns seems bad for the stomach. Can I have one stick?”
Ning Luzhao curled his lips: “One stick was originally for the coach.”
The one selling Tanghulu was an elderly man. The sugar coating on the hawthorns was just the right level of sweetness; it neutralized the sourness of the fruit without being so cloyingly sweet it was hard to swallow. It was quite addictive.
Having bought food, they began discussing which attraction to visit first.
Fugui and Wu Yang wanted to go straight for the roller coaster.
Manager Li and the marksman-support duo felt they’d easily throw up if they rode the roller coaster right after eating, so they wanted to queue for the bumper cars.
Zuo Chi looked at the Tanghulu in his hand that he’d barely touched: “Uh… is there a slightly gentler attraction?”
The kind that wouldn’t send a Tanghulu flying.
“Over there.”
He followed Ning Luzhao’s gaze toward a gorgeously decorated, lifelike, and fully occupied carousel surrounded by a crowd of children. Visually, the maximum age of the riders appeared not to exceed ten.
“…Are you serious?”
“We can finish the Tanghulu on the carousel before moving on to other attractions.”
Zuo Chi gritted his teeth: “If you come with me, I’ll go.”
In short, he couldn’t be the only one feeling awkward in a swarm of children!
Translator’s Note:
- Heaven and Earth as Witness (天地良心): An idiomatic expression used to emphasize one’s sincerity or a clear conscience.
- Tanghulu (糖葫蘆): A traditional Chinese snack consisting of sugar-coated fruit on a skewer, most commonly hawthorn berries.
- Court of Three Judicial Departments (三司會審): Referring to the high court in ancient China. Used here to describe the intensity of the team’s interrogation.
- Hidden Dragon (真人不露相): A proverb meaning “true experts do not show off.”
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