Chapter 11 Training Max-level Big Shot Sweeping the Novice Village
He was really going to start hating the rich.
After arriving at the stall, Shi Wen, with his height of 190 cm, sat cramped on a small stool provided by the stall owner, looking constantly aggrieved.
Suppressing a laugh, Mu Jiu directly handed the menu to Shi Wen. As long as he was traveling with someone, he never hailed a cab when going out, and he never ordered dishes, because he was lazy. But he was also very easy to serve and never talked too much.
Shi Wen not only remembered his habits, but also remembered his tastes, and even all his preferences.
After he finished ordering, he looked up only to find that Mu Jiu had already disappeared. Sweeping his gaze around, he finally spotted the familiar figure in front of a handicraft stall not far away on the opposite side.
Anyway, the dishes were already ordered. Shi Wen returned the menu to the boss and conveniently walked straight across to the opposite side.
The items on the stall were scattered and miscellaneous. Mu Jiu’s eyes were sparkling, but he didn’t point at anything. However, Shi Wen could tell at a glance which one he liked.
He was still the same as before, liking sparkling, shining things. Back then, if he hadn’t stopped him, Mu Jiu had almost dyed his hair silver. Paired with that reflective jacket he often wore, his whole person would have looked like a sparkling silver cutlassfish.
Mu Jiu was originally a minor when he came out to play tournaments, and his parents were extremely unsupportive. Since Shi Wen had brought him out, he had to take responsibility. If he really let him return home looking like that, his parents would tear Shi Wen apart.
The crystal keycaps on the stall refracted gorgeous light under the illumination of the lamps. Under Mu Jiu’s watchful gaze, Shi Wen picked it up, weighed it twice in his hand, and frowned slightly.
It was a carved spacebar. It was a bit heavy. Even if it could be installed on a keyboard, no one would use it; it would ruin their hands. It would probably only be used as a pretty and interesting ornament.
Mu Jiu’s gaze had been locked on the crystal keycap the whole time. Only when a hand suddenly intruded into his line of sight did he notice Shi Wen.
“Boss, how much is this?” Shi Wen asked.
“Two hundred and sixty, no bargaining,” the boss replied.
Before Shi Wen could speak, Mu Jiu exclaimed first, “How much?”
He had hesitated for a long time just now, not daring to ask, because he knew how shady the items at this night market were. But he truly liked this one, and was really afraid he might act on impulse, so he prepared himself mentally beforehand. However, he didn’t expect his preparations still fell short.
The stall owner was a young girl. She clearly saw who was the real sucker willing to spend money on such flashy but impractical things. Smiling at Mu Jiu, she repeated: “Two hundred and sixty, dear.”
Her gaze returned to Shi Wen. “This is carved from pure natural amethyst, absolutely you get what you pay for.”
“Alright.”
The barbecue stall boss opposite them had served the food and shouted twice to remind them. Shi Wen didn’t waste any more words and decisively scanned the code to pay.
After paying, he casually tossed the item into Mu Jiu’s arms and returned to the barbecue stall.
Mu Jiu clumsily caught it. Before his brain could even react to the fact that the item was already in his hands, he looked up and saw Shi Wen had already walked far away. He quickly chased after him.
“You can play with it, but you’re not allowed to install it on a keyboard.” Seeing the way he liked it, Shi Wen didn’t doubt at all that Mu Jiu would actually do such a thing.
As if his inner thoughts had been poked, Mu Jiu instantly wilted, lowered his head, and gave an “Oh.”
Putting the keycap in his pocket and biting into a lamb skewer in his hand, Shi Wen asked him for his phone again. Mu Jiu blinked twice, confused, but still handed over his phone.
Mu Jiu’s phone still didn’t have a password, again because, lazy.
Shi Wen first used his phone to send himself a friend request, then prepared to save his own number into the contacts list. He had no intention of prying into Mu Jiu’s privacy, but he didn’t expect that after clicking open the contacts list, there wasn’t a single phone number inside. The phone didn’t look newly bought either. He looked up at Mu Jiu, who was seriously eating, and raised an eyebrow.
This meant that if Mu Jiu had gotten into any accident at the internet cafe today, the police and doctors wouldn’t have been able to find a single person to take care of him.
Shi Wen saved his own number, returned it to Mu Jiu, and said: “You’re attending school here by yourself. If anything happens, call this number to find me.”
Dazed, Mu Jiu put down the half-eaten lamb skewer and took the phone. His gaze fell upon the only number in the empty contacts list. He hesitated for a moment, wiped his hands, and changed the contact name from “Shi Wen” to “Ge“.
“If you want to play professionally, you’ll definitely have to suspend your studies. Do your parents agree?” Shi Wen asked.
Not far away was A Da‘s newly built school gate. The rather classical design strongly reflected the profound heritage of this university.
Previously, he only knew Mu Jiu’s studies were good, but he didn’t expect him to be such a favored son of heaven. No wonder his parents objected so strongly when he wanted to go pro back then. Looking at it now, it indeed had delayed him.
Mentioning his parents, Shi Wen could clearly see Mu Jiu’s figure stiffen for a moment, though it was quickly concealed. Mu Jiu forced a smile, “I’m already legally an adult; I can take responsibility for my own actions.”
Although he didn’t answer directly, Shi Wen wasn’t stupid either. He could hear the implied meaning—his parents still objected.
By returning, what he faced was far more than just his parents’ opposition; there was also the abuse of fans and prejudiced gazes. Even though the whole world was stopping him, he still insisted on acting willfully.
Mu Jiu lowered his head and sped up his eating, not wanting to continue answering Shi Wen’s questions. Shi Wen was too sharp; he could always easily see through his disguise.
After finishing the meal and walking Mu Jiu to the school gate, Shi Wen uneasily instructed: “Take good care of yourself.”
Mu Jiu nodded, and after going inside, waved towards the outside, bidding Shi Wen farewell.
The feeling of having someone drop him off at school was also quite novel.
He had dragged his luggage to A Shi all by himself, arriving in this unfamiliar yet not entirely unfamiliar city. Because the SG club was in A Shi, he had stayed here for a period of time. However, because he was a minor, the manager, the coach, and Shi Wen had kept a very strict eye on him. Furthermore, he was always busy preparing for tournaments, so he basically never stepped foot outside the front door, let alone the second door. Even if he did go out, there was someone to pick him up, drop him off, and accompany him.
At that time, he never thought that when he came to A Shi again three years later, he would be penniless and without a single relative to rely on.
But that was all in the past; he could handle it by himself.
It wasn’t until Mu Jiu’s figure disappeared from sight that Shi Wen dialed a number.
“Dad.”
“Alright, alright, alright, I know what you want to ask. Don’t be anxious, do you think your dad is part of the mafia or something? How could it be that easy to investigate.” The man on the other end was extremely impatient.
Previously, he only felt his son didn’t care about home, not calling even once in half a year. Now it was one call every three days; truly annoying!
“But I remember that young man used to be your teammate, right? If you have something to ask, why not just ask him directly? Investigating people secretly behind their backs… don’t tell me you have some bad intentions. Our whole family are law-abiding good citizens.”
Shi Wen massaged his forehead and sighed, “Don’t worry, Dad.” He wouldn’t break the law or disrupt discipline either.
“Fine, fine, Little Liu will contact you later.”
“Okay.”
When Mu Jiu returned to the dorm, his three roommates immediately surrounded him, inspecting Mu Jiu from head to toe. Only after confirming he was completely unharmed did they breathe a sigh of relief. Then, surrounding Mu Jiu, they began a struggle session to criticize him.
Mu Jiu lowered his eyes and brows, his apology extremely sincere.
It was indeed his lack of consideration; he didn’t expect there would be people who cared about him so much.
Seeing the situation, Li Qingming patted Mu Jiu’s shoulder neither lightly nor heavily. “But bro, you’re really something. Rushing the leaderboards for three days, tsk tsk tsk. You’ve blown up, did you know that?”
“What?”
Seeing Mu Jiu was unclear, Li Qingming took out his phone, switched to the forum interface, and handed it to Mu Jiu. “Look.”
Because Mu Jiu had stopped playing after pushing into the top 100, the heat of the posts was also gradually declining. Mu Jiu scrolled from top to bottom. The first thing he saw was a post written by his full-time dedicated anti-fan: [Counting the sins Nine committed]. His hand scrolling down the screen instantly froze. Fortunately, Li Qingming didn’t grow suspicious, only complaining that Mu Jiu was moving too slowly. Taking over himself, he quickly found the topic [When exactly does Brother Juice rest?] and clicked into it.
Since Mu Jiu stopped playing ranked, the number of replies inside hadn’t increased much. It wasn’t until a netizen dug up that ‘juice’ was also in a participating team for the Gaoxiao Bei that the post gradually became active again.
[I’m a fan of NK, haha. Originally, I only cared about my idol, but I suddenly saw a familiar ID in the team roster. May I ask if it’s this bro?]
[It definitely is. I have this bro’s ID memorized backwards.]
[Wow, wow, Guozhi ge and NK are on the same team, I’m so looking forward to it.]
[So, Guozhi ge is also from A Da? Damn it, God never treated me like a biological grandson. Not being able to beat him in games is one thing, but I can’t even beat him in studying.]
NK was the ID Si Yan used when streaming. Since he was going to play in the Gaoxiao Bei, he had informed his fan group in advance. He didn’t expect the fans to directly follow the vine to get the melon and find their way to ‘juice’. Following that, fans asked: [NK previously said he wanted to focus on streaming and wouldn’t play tournaments. What happened this year?]
[Then we have to mention the untold stories between NK and juice.]
Si Yan had only told his fans that he was playing in the Gaoxiao Bei because ‘juice’ invited him. But of course, his fans understood his temperament; he wouldn’t easily agree to others’ invitations. Coupling that with ‘juice’ risking his life to rush the leaderboards for three days straight, they instantly concocted a deeply touching and lingering love story, actually blindly guessing a part of the truth by mistake.
[juice risks his life rushing the leaderboards for love, NK enters the sea for love.]
“No wait, I’m just playing a tournament, how did I ‘enter the sea’?”
The next day, Si Yan rushed to the place Mu Jiu and the others had agreed upon. Seeing the post, he was so angry that smoke practically blew out of the top of his head.
“That’s not what the fans meant.”
Thinking that they were going to play team practice later, Mu Jiu somewhat non-perfunctorily comforted him. But right after he spoke, Si Yan jumped up, “Of course I know that’s not what they meant, but it carries that meaning. Couldn’t they use more rigorous wording!”
Besides, he wasn’t entirely playing the tournament just because of Mu Jiu, okay?
Li Qingming had just returned from buying drinks. Placing several bottles of soda water all at once onto the table, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. Not understanding what they were talking about, he urged the few of them to log in. “What meaning? Hurry up, let’s train first.”
Si Yan actually had nothing to worry about. He was already a top-leaderboard boss several seasons ago, and he frequently queued into professional players. Playing in the Gaoxiao Bei was basically like a max-level big shot sweeping the novice village, right?
Hearing their thoughts, Si Yan remained noncommittal, casting a meaningful glance at Mu Jiu, who was silently adjusting his peripherals nearby.
There was an even more max-level player right there.
Scheduling a team practice match this time was mainly to see the level of the human team. Li Qingming and the other two used to three-queue frequently, but they had only played with Mu Jiu those few times. Before the official tournament, they still needed to build more synergy.
Translator’s Notes:
- A Shi (A市): City A.
- A Da (A大): A University.
- Ge (哥): Older brother, often used as a respectful or affectionate term for an older male friend.
- Xia hai (下海): “Enter the sea.” Slang for stepping out of one’s comfort zone, often into business, or playfully implying doing something compromising. Here, it means stepping out of streaming into the competitive scene.
- Follow the vine to get the melon (順藤摸瓜): An idiom meaning to follow clues to find the truth.
- Struggle session (批鬥大會): Originating from the Cultural Revolution, now used humorously to describe a group interrogating or scolding someone.
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