Chapter 39: Wooden Puppets. Coach Zuo Painted It So Uglily!
The Spring Festival fair looked small but was actually very large.
Zuo Chi felt as if he had grown a size wider from eating, and his calves were aching, yet he still hadn’t reached the other end of the fair.
Furthermore, while walking, many gazes of scrutiny suddenly appeared nearby—not malicious, mostly curious, with some being eager yet hesitant.
He instinctively felt something was wrong and pulled out his phone to check Weibo.
The topic #Encountered Arena Professional Coach and Player at Nancheng Arena# was hanging high on the hot search list. The disguises they thought would keep them tightly muffled under their hats had been thoroughly exposed in the comment section. Even the league’s official Weibo had come over to join the fun, with a pinned comment.
[Coach Zuo Zhao and Player Ning Chi, if you change your names, remember to submit a league report!]
[Hahahaha, caught an official.]
[Are Coach Zuo and Land still at that fair? Although I’m not a VEX fan, I still want to have a chance encounter with them in person!]
[They are, they are. They just passed the Yi-Dian-Dian milk tea shop. I originally wanted to go say hello, but I was too embarrassed. The photo I took is on my homepage.]
[Saw the photo. In person, they are tall and thin. You can tell they are handsome guys even through the masks—can someone introduce this team VEX to me? I want to enter the esports circle. Do esports players all have to pass a beauty test now?]
[Is it possible that only VEX passes a beauty test? Dog-head.jpg]
[I advise you not to join the VEX fandom now, because this team is about to be eliminated, and they’ll be sold soon. No one knows what the team name will be changed to once the new owner arrives.]
[Ah, that’s a pity…]
They reached a fork in the road. A small path had fewer people and hung an [EXIT] sign.
“Does Coach want to go back and paint the wooden puppets now?”
“Sure. You call a taxi, and I’ll send a WeChat to ask if Beyond and the others have reached home.”
“Mm.”
[Group Chat: Summer Won’t Scatter]
[Zuo Chi: Cubs who have reached home, please type 1. Just got off the plane, type 2. Still on the plane, no need to type.]
A string of “1”s scrolled by.
[Fugui: Coach Zuo, as soon as I got home, I found you and Ning-god on the hot search. Hurry and let us see the gifts you won at the arena!]
Zuo Chi took a photo and sent the bag of wooden puppets over.
[Zuo Chi: Everyone has one, Manager Li too.]
[Manager Li: I have one too? Coach Zuo is so fair; five-star review!]
[Zuo Chi: ^v^]
[Zuo Chi: However, the thousand yuan Land won has almost been eaten up by the two of us… so I won’t be fair about that.]
[Wall: Such cute wooden puppets. They look very much like my younger sister.]
[Wall Voice Message: Come, this group is all Brother’s coach and teammates. Give them a New Year greeting so these brothers will all give you New Year’s money.]
A soft, childish voice rang out.
[Happy New Year to all the brothers~ Good luck in your matches~]
[Fugui sent a Red Envelope: New Year’s Money]
[Wall: Fugui, you’re for real?]
[Fugui: Zhuo-god, it’s not for you; it’s for the little kid. Hurry and accept it!]
[Wall: Then I won’t be polite.]
[Wu Yang: Fugui, I r-r-un o-o-ut o-o-f t-t-oilet p-p-aper w-w-hile p-p-ooping. I m-m-essaged y-y-ou b-b-ut y-y-ou d-d-idn’t r-r-eply. T-t-urns o-o-ut y-y-ou’re s-s-ending r-r-ed e-e-nvelopes i-i-n t-t-he g-g-roup.]
[Fugui: Hai! It’s normal for there to be no paper at our house since no one stays here most of the time. I’ll get it for you, I’ll get it.]
The cubs had gone back to their own homes, yet having been apart for only a few hours, they seemed to have endless things to say. The messages in the group jumped to 99+ in an instant.
Zuo Chi got into the taxi and scrolled through the messages for a while, but he didn’t see a single one from Beyond.
[Zuo Chi: Where’s Beyond? Is his hometown that far away?]
[Wall: No. His home is only an hour’s flight away, and after leaving the airport, it’s only ten minutes by taxi.]
[Wall nudged Beyond.]
No response.
[Zuo Chi: I’ll give him a call.]
The phone rang for ten-odd seconds before Beyond’s voice finally came from the other end, carrying a slight nasal tone: “…Coach Zuo?”
“Mm. Have you reached home? I was asking in the team group just now, and seeing you hadn’t replied, I called to ask—you weren’t abducted into the mountains on the way, were you?”
“I’ve reached home.” Beyond seemed to be amused, giving a shy laugh. “I was playing ranked just now and didn’t see the messages in the group.”
“You just got home and started ranked? No need to push yourself so hard during the holiday. Just train with everyone in the evening.”
“There’s nothing to do at home… I’ll practice a bit myself. We can’t drag everyone down in the Round-of-16.”
Beyond’s answer was fine, but Zuo Chi looked at the red “End Call” button on his phone, and a faint sense of unease shrouded his heart that he couldn’t shake off. It was as if something were reminding him to ask a few more questions, yet he didn’t know how to open his mouth.
After a moment of silence, Beyond asked softly: “Coach Zuo? Is there anything else?”
“No, no. Don’t be too tired with your afternoon training. You still have the five-man queue with everyone tonight.”
“Okay. I’ll play two more ranked games and then rest.”
The call ended, and Zuo Chi gave a light sigh for no apparent reason. Beyond put down his phone, sat in a daze for a while, and then re-entered a ranked match.
But while last-hitting minions in the lane, his wrist trembled, and he missed the last hit on a minion.
He used his other hand to support his wrist before clicking the mouse for a basic attack. Tremble. Every few seconds, it would tremble lightly. With just that one tremble, he failed to dodge a skill he should have dodged, and his last-hitting was also a mess.
Yet his wrist had clearly been checked by the doctor just two days ago when Coach Zuo accompanied him. The doctor said he was recovering well. He had firmly remembered the doctor’s orders for the ointment and bandages and used them meticulously.
He hadn’t missed a single meal of the meat, milk, and fruit Coach Zuo had instructed him to eat every day.
Why was this hand still trembling? It didn’t hurt or feel sore, yet it began to tremble inexplicably. It had become like this while he was on the plane today.
If his wrist still wasn’t better when he joined the five-man queue with his teammates in the evening, what should he do?
What if… what if it still hadn’t improved by the day of the match against WIN, once they were on the stage? What should he do then?
Beyond’s eyes turned red, but his mechanics didn’t stop. After finishing one game, he took a sip of milk and started the next…
Returning to the base, the place felt different once there were fewer people. The training room, which was somewhat crowded with seven people, suddenly felt spacious. Before leaving, the cubs had cleared out the snack wrappers, half-drunk drinks, express delivery boxes… and all the miscellaneous junk from their desks. Their peripherals had also been disassembled and taken back. The tabletops were so clean they could reflect light.
Zuo Chi took out the wooden puppets from the bag and called Ning Luzhao over to pick first.
The craftsmanship of the wooden puppets was about the same, but there were some slight differences in their poses and styling.
Ning Luzhao picked a wooden puppet holding a small notebook, as if looking down while writing: “This puppet looks very much like Coach.”
“Does it?”
“When Coach is doing match reviews, he looks like this.”
Zuo Chi half-squatted, looking at the row of puppets at eye level. a hint of a smile crossed his ink-black eyes: “Then I’ll pick this one, the one eating candied haws.”
Ning Luzhao loved sweets, especially candied haws. Today at the Spring Festival fair, the other had bought a skewer of candied haws at the first stall, bought another at a middle stall, and packed two skewers when they left the fair…
He could be called a hardcore fan of candied haws.
The arena prize was very generous. Besides the puppets, there was also a large box of watercolor paints, entirely sufficient to color all the wooden puppets.
Zuo Chi observed Ning Luzhao’s hair color. He took some dark grey paint—too dark. Added white—too white. Added grey…
He tested the color on a napkin and held it next to Ning Luzhao’s face. There was almost no color difference. He began painting the hair of the wooden puppet, blowing on it while painting for fear that the paint would dry too slowly and he would accidentally smudge the painted area.
After carefully outlining the edges of the bangs, he raised his eyebrows and looked at Ning Luzhao: “I’ve already finished painting your hair, you—”
His original intention was to show off his progress, but seeing the wooden puppet in Ning Luzhao’s hand, he suddenly realized his painting talent was likely not very good.
The facial features of the wooden puppet in the other’s hand were already drawn. The dark almond eyes carried a bit of a smile, with a bright light reflected within them. The lips were slightly pursed, as if truly seriously studying that match review notebook.
The hair color even had layers: brighter where the light hit, and deeper at the ends…
Ning Luzhao dipped into some off-white paint and began coloring the wooden puppet’s clothes: “Is my painting okay?”
A question asked with an uncertain tone.
“Good enough to work as a part-time artist for the team immediately!” Zuo Chi lowered his head and looked at the Ning Luzhao he’d painted. Without comparison, there was no harm. He hadn’t even painted the hair strands as well as the other. He subconsciously covered the puppet he was painting and whispered, “Wait for me to touch it up a bit more. The final product will surely satisfy you.”
The smile in Ning Luzhao’s dark grey eyes deepened: “I’m already very satisfied. I only developed a bit of painting skill because I didn’t listen in class during high school and drew comic strips under the desk.”
“You could draw comic strips in high school?”
“I was a chuunibyou back then and loved playing games. I often fantasized about becoming famous overnight and winning a world championship. I must have drawn over a dozen comic strip versions of an esports team winning the championship.”
Zuo Chi was overjoyed: “I must see them if I have the chance—but today, I have to finish painting this wooden Ning Luzhao properly first. Stop making me laugh; my hand is shaking so much I can’t hold the brush steadily.”
He gathered all his focus. Painting and playing esports have similarities—for instance, to do well, one must pay attention to detail! For example, adding eyelashes to the wooden puppet, painting stars in the eyes, and decorating the candied haws with sesame seeds…
Two hours later, at 6:00 PM, the agreed-upon training time.
Zuo Chi started a Penguin Meeting and watched the cubs enter the meeting one by one and turn on their cameras.
Fugui: “Eh? Coach Zuo, what’s that dusty stuff on your face?”
Zuo Chi reached up to wipe it—a smudge of paint. “…Oh, it’s some paint from when I was painting the wooden puppets just now that accidentally got on my face.”
“Finished painting? Let’s see the masterpiece! How many did Coach paint?”
“No need to look, I guess… I painted one.”
“I bet it’s of Ning-god.”
Ning Luzhao spoke into Zuo Chi’s phone microphone: “You’re really smart.”
Then he displayed the wooden puppet with just-dried paint to the screen.
The cubs blinked their eyes and seriously admired the puppet.
Wall’s mouth opened and closed several times, but ultimately he stayed silent.
Wu Yang leaned closer to the camera: “I-I-s i-i-t b-b-ecause I’m n-n-earsighted t-t-hat I c-c-an’t s-s-ee c-c-learly?”
Fugui expressed his thoughts directly: “Wow! So ugly! Coach Zuo, the Ning-god you painted is so ugly!”
Translator’s Note:
Happy New Year everyone! Or at least, Happy New Year to the VEX team! Things are taking a bit of a serious turn with Beyond’s hand injury.
- Haishi Youth Training Camp (海市青訓營): “Haishi” is a fictional city name, often used to represent a major hub like Shanghai.
- Zhuangyuan Gate (狀元門): A Zhuangyuan was the top scorer in the imperial examinations in ancient China. A gate named after it is meant to bring good luck and success.
- Road King (路人王): Literally “Passerby King.” This refers to a high-skilled amateur player who is famous in the public ranked matches rather than in the professional scene.
- Chuunibyou (中二): A Japanese term (Chunibyo) commonly used in Chinese web novels to describe “eighth-grade syndrome”—where young teens have grandiose delusions or act like they’re in an anime.
- Penguin Meeting (企鵝會議): This refers to Tencent Meeting (Tencent’s logo is a penguin), which is a common video conferencing tool in China.
See you next time!
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