Chapter 51: Will the Coach Take Me Away? Only Me?
A warm yellow light glowed in the dorm.
The curtains were half-drawn, blocking half of the night, while the other half was pushed back by the room’s lights.
Zuo Chi had showered and was leaning against the headboard, scrolling through his phone aimlessly. The sound of a drizzling shower came from the bathroom in the corner.
In the tenth minute of his daze, the bathroom door opened with a “click.” Ning Luzhao walked out with damp hair. After getting a hairdryer, he walked to the headboard, plugged it in, sat on the edge of the bed, and turned it on to the lowest setting.
It was enough to dry his hair and also allowed both of their voices to be heard clearly.
Zuo Chi put down his phone, first explaining the easier problem.
“You guessed right. The condition given by Shengxing Media is that if we reach the Top Four in the Spring Split, the team won’t need any changes. If we don’t win the next match, then… Wu Yang will be benched.”
After Ning Luzhao’s eyes were misted by the water, the lines of his features appeared even more handsome.
“Although the Coach and Manager Li didn’t explicitly say it in the training room… I think the others have guessed a bit too.”
They might not have guessed the specific person, but it was obvious that without a Top 4 finish, a starter would be replaced.
“Are you guys under a lot of pressure?”
Ning Luzhao chuckled low: “I never doubt our team can go further—can the Coach let me see the notes you made today?”
Zuo Chi stood up, went to the desk, and brought the notes over to him: “I wrote them a bit messily. I’ll have to organize them again tomorrow before I can explain them to you all; there should be enough time.”
Mainly, their opponent for the Quarterfinals hadn’t been determined yet, so they could only focus on practicing their own things first.
Ning Luzhao carefully opened the notes, which were filled with many sticky notes. He looked through them one by one, cross-referencing the circles, drawings, and various marks.
Seeing how focused he was, Zuo Chi unconsciously felt a secret sigh of relief in his heart.
Could it be that the little Jungle King had already forgotten the second question?
Then he would also pretend not to remember, and go to sleep once the notes were finished…
The little Jungle King flipped a page and suddenly spoke: “Coach, you haven’t answered my second question yet.”
For a moment, the only sound in the dorm was the slight “rustle” of the notebook page turning.
He rubbed his fingers. Ning Luzhao’s second question was “Do I still look like a child to you?”.
This question was naturally inseparable from the 1,000 Practical Praises to Build Confidence in Children.
“…The book says that sometimes child psychology also applies to adults.”
Ning Luzhao didn’t look up: “Then let me ask a different way: does the Coach treat me as a child?”
“No.”
Before Ning Luzhao could speak again, he repeated seriously.
“No.”
Ning Luzhao closed the notebook, carefully placing every sticky note in its most proper place. His fingertips were a bit red from rubbing against the book: “I thought… the Coach was planning to leave VEX.”
“…That’s so random. Why would you think that?”
“Because the Coach kept saying those strange things to me today, and with the team being acquired early today, your expression didn’t look that happy. I was afraid… the Coach would leave.”
Zuo Chi finally synced his brainwaves with Ning Luzhao’s. He had originally wanted to laugh, but upon seeing the boy’s deep eyes, a surge of bittersweet aching rose in his chest.
He picked up the hairdryer that had been turned off and placed on the nightstand again: “Your hair isn’t dry yet, turn around… watch out for migraines when you’re older.”
Ning Luzhao sat sideways with his back to him, obediently lowering his head.
The boy’s hair was on the coarser side; even though the tips weren’t fully dry to the touch, it was already quite fluffy.
“Don’t worry, I won’t leave. Even after the Spring Split ends, I won’t let anyone in the team leave the starting lineup. We agreed—we won’t disband in the summer.”
“Mm.”
“But, what if—I’m just saying what if—I really had to leave VEX, would you guys…”
Ning Luzhao’s back suddenly stiffened.
Zuo Chi repeatedly assured him that he was truly just asking out of “what if” curiosity before the boy replied: “If the Coach went to another team to coach, would you be willing to take me along?”
“Your contract hasn’t expired yet.”
“I’ll pay the liquidation damages myself.”
He couldn’t help but rub Ning Luzhao’s hair vigorously: “What are you thinking? You’ve just made some money and you want to squander it. Do you know how many professional players squandered everything within a couple of years of retirement because they relied on their high income when they were young, buying sports cars and stocks? By the time they regretted it, it was too late!”
“Don’t worry about the contract and liquidation damages, Coach.” Ning Luzhao uncharacteristically contradicted him. “If the Coach goes to another team, are you taking me or not?”
“…Taking you.”
“You’re not just coaxing a child?”
“Since when did I treat you like a child?” Zuo Chi checked over and over to ensure there wasn’t a trace of moisture in Ning Luzhao’s hair before turning off the hairdryer. “The reason I used that 1,000 Practical Praises to Build Confidence in Children is because I felt like during training and matches… I don’t seem to have praised you much.”
“Oh?”
He also let out an “Oh”: “After beating WIN, in the team car, weren’t you sulking because of that, watching that interview of mine four or five times?”
“…No.”
“No?”
“The Coach is good enough to me already.”
Which team’s coach would blow a player’s hair, remind a player not to waste money, and specifically go looking for 1,000 Practical Praises to Build Confidence in Children.
It was just… the Coach was good to all the players in the team.
That was how it should be.
Zuo Chi felt the matter was cleared up. He pulled back the covers and lay down, checking the time: “Sleep early; we have training tomorrow… I wonder which team will be our opponent for the Quarterfinals.”
The lights went out.
After lying there for two minutes.
“Coach?”
He responded.
“If the Coach goes to another team, will you take Fugui and the others along?”
“…What kind of power would I have to take you all along to whatever team I go to? Unless I became rich overnight and became the owner of some team.”
“Then, you’re only taking me?”
If he could only take one person, he thought about it quietly—the one he wanted to take along the most was indeed Ning Luzhao.
It wasn’t just because of Ning Luzhao’s talent.
Mainly, he truly couldn’t bear to leave him.
Imagine if one day he were on the competition floor doing BP, and he looked up to see Ning Luzhao sitting in the enemy team’s position, with the ID “Land” on the BP panel also on the opposite side, and he had to do BP targeting our little Jungle King… he wouldn’t be able to sleep.
“Yes, I’m only taking you.”
He saw Ning Luzhao’s blurred silhouette on the bed turn over: “Goodnight, Coach.”
“Goodnight.”
He hadn’t expected Shengxing Media’s acquisition speed to be so fast. They had only received the news last night, and when they got up to eat in the cafeteria in the morning, they received a non-stop call from Manager Li.
The person in charge from Shengxing Media was coming to the VEX base for an inspection today—to inspect their usual training situation.
The car was already on its way and was expected to arrive in half an hour. Manager Li had already headed out early to pick them up and told Zuo Chi to have the cubs tidy up.
Listening to this call, Zuo Chi felt his temples throbbing: “Inspection? There isn’t much time left for Quarterfinal preparations. Coming for an inspection at this juncture, we…”
“Train however you usually do. I’ll handle the person in charge.”
“Alright.” He stuffed the last bun into his mouth in two or three bites. “Let’s go, training!”
For the Quarterfinals, Zuo Chi prepared himself for a full five-game series (BO5).
In a five-game series, there were many situations where compositions might be taken by the opponent or key heroes banned. He had to further refine two more compositions that currently had only average proficiency.
In the morning, they scheduled a BO5 scrim with WIN.
WIN had already promoted their second-team marksman to start. With a strong opponent for practice, the problems arising in the compositions they were practicing would become very obvious.
One of them was a global support-flow comp, where the top, mid, and support all had global dashes, suitable for early-game small skirmish rhythms. Most importantly, these heroes weren’t very popular, so barring any accidents, no team should ban them.
The mid lane hero in this comp required very high proficiency because the comp lacked crowd control. The mid laner needed to both provide timely support and land CC on the enemy carries to pin them down during team fights.
Once the CC missed, even if teammates teleported over, it would be hard to catch up to the opponents. If an advantage wasn’t established through early-game small skirmishes, the late game would be very difficult to play.
They practiced three games in a row with WIN, but the results weren’t great.
Wu Yang wiped his face: “The skill missed, my fault.”
“It’s fine, next game. Your skill accuracy has already improved a lot compared to yesterday. If you can’t catch the enemy carries, catching the front line is also fine; our damage is sufficient in the early game.” Zuo Chi watched the cubs enter the next game, gave a few instructions, and then slowly walked out of the training room.
In the corridor, Manager Li was talking to a middle-aged man in a suit. Seeing Zuo Chi come out, Manager Li immediately introduced him enthusiastically.
“Mr. Zhang, this is our Coach Zuo Chi—Coach Zuo, this is Mr. Zhang from Shengxing Media. He will be in charge of the esports sector from now on.”
Mr. Zhang looked very amiable. Zuo Chi shook hands with him.
“The players are still in a scrim, right? Coach Zuo, you go ahead and get busy. I’m just here for a casual look around today, mainly to see what everyone is lacking… This morning, I’ve already ordered the new equipment the players wanted. It should be delivered this afternoon.”
“Thank you, Mr. Zhang.”
“No need to be polite… this water dispenser is too old; replace it with a new one—a multi-in-one machine for coffee, milk tea, and happy water (soda). I see the players’ chairs aren’t very good either; the leather is torn. Doesn’t it hurt your butts to sit in them? Replace them, replace them. Is the AC still working? Let’s install central AC in a couple of days. Come on, Manager Li, let’s go upstairs and see the dorms… VEX’s conditions are too arduous. It wasn’t easy for Coach Zuo and the players to advance to the Top Eight under such conditions!”
Zuo Chi: “…”
I’m sorry, I was too loud this morning.
Please, come for inspections like this a few more times!
Translator’s Note: A princess carry and hair drying? Ning Luzhao is really winning! And the new boss, Mr. Zhang, is a “Money God” (财神爷 – cáishényé) indeed! “Happy water” (快乐水 – kuàilè shuǐ) is Chinese internet slang for Coca-Cola or soda in general. VEX is finally getting the luxury they deserve!
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