The release of the group interview video created a small earthquake in the fans circle. Many players and people who worked in the esports business shared the Weibo post on their own. In a very short period of time, the post was shared more than ten thousand times. The responses varied...
[My idol said it well. Though we call him hubby all the time, everyone has his or her own life. To like a person should be to wish him a good life, right?]
[Liking can be presumptuous, but love should be with restraint.]
[How the hell is there any correlation between falling in love and playing a good game or not? Huh?!]
[Let me be frank, those fans who harassed Ai Jia's girlfriend should be taught a lesson. What does the couple's relationship have anything to do with you?]
[Hahahahahahahahahahahaha, well said. My Cheng Ge has a proper outlook on life. Those fans who hang around the gates of club bases everyday to stalk the players should know their limits.]
-- --These were the comments that agreed with Lu Sicheng's statement.
[I understand what he said. But they're paid so well, shouldn't they just play well when they're competing? Certainly, you can argue that we're not the ones paying them.]
[I can't accept the player I like having a girlfriend. Though I know it'll happen sooner or later, I'll stop being his fan when it happens.]
[Can't accept Cheng Ge having a girlfriend, it's as simple as that.]
[Oh, it doesn't matter. If you have a girlfriend, I'll just stop being your fan.]
[Even if the girlfriend is Marilyn Monroe, I'll still be against it to the end. Certainly if she died early like Marilyn Monroe, then nevermind. You're welcome to call me a moron, I am one! ! ! ! !]
[..................I understand everything. But all of you who stand on the stage don't really know anything about the humble love of us fans? Come closer to the stage and stay further away from your personal life? It's too selfish to say those words.]
-- --These were in opposition to Lu Sicheng's words.
There were some others that seemed to have missed the point-- --
[Damn, damn, damn, my Cheng Ge has someone he likes, ahhhhhh! This is the damn point, my friends!]
[I don't believe Cheng Ge could like a human being : ) I don't believe it.]
[Cheng Ge, you're either streaming at base or in the arena playing competitions everyday and at your base, everyone except Smiling is male, even the cockroach is male. Where can you find a girl you like!]
[You're just talking nonsense with a straight face.]
[Unless you have something going on with Smiling, otherwise the other possibility would be that support who always takes your siege minion or red buff.]
[Reading what was said above, I suddenly have the feeling that the fact that Smiling is still alive is powerful proof in itself that Cheng Ge likes her.]
...
"..."
Riding inside the bus on the way back to the base, Tong Yao read every comment under the post of that interview video. Then she suddenly noticed one which had only a few dozens like-- --
[Have a Cheng-Yao candy today. I know they've been paired together before, but I still want to say: When Cheng Ge was saying the last sentence, his right hand went under the tablecloth. At the same time, Smiling's hand was also under the table. Cheng Ge's hand moved a bit, so, what have you two been doing?]
Tong Yao gasped and her hand shook, dropping her phone onto her lap.
Tong Yao turned to take a look at the last row in the back of the bus. Her captain was curled up in the corner, soundly asleep with a team sweater covering his face…...Tong Yao stood up and walked over. With one hand resting on the back of the seat next to Lu Sicheng's head to support herself, Tong Yao used her other hand to lift up the sweater on his face-- --Disturbed, Lu Sicheng opened his eyes in irritation. After he recognized the face in front of him, his facial expression softened immediately.
Lu Sicheng looked around and noticed that everyone, except the driver, was asleep.
Then he lifted his hand to pull Tong Yao's loose hair behind her ear rather intimately and asked in a low voice: "What's wrong?"
Tong Yao lifted her cell phone and made sure the comment of the esports Sherlock Holmes was right in the center of her phone screen, then silently put it in front of him for him to see.
Lu Sicheng quickly glanced at it then laughed: "Really something."
Tong Yao: ".............Hrm?"
Really something?
What kind of reaction was that?
"This person's quite observant, almost got found out."
Lu Sicheng took over Tong Yao's cell phone and clicked a like under the comment. Tong Yao hissed and hurriedly grabbed the phone back to undo the like. She stared at Lu Sicheng. Lu Sicheng indifferently pulled Tong Yao into the seat next to him and lazily asked: "What are you so nervous about?"
Tong Yao sat down with legs crossed then started to read all the comments from his fans, both approving and disapproving ones. After she was done reading, she paused for a moment before saying: "...Now you know why I don't want to go public?"
Lu Sicheng: "?"
Tong Yao: "Once it goes public, your highness will lose half his domain."
Lu Sicheng: "Oh."
Lu Sicheng: "Then why do you think I would agree not to go public?"
Tong Yao wanted to say because of half of your domain, but seeing the spurious expression on his face that seemed to goad her to announce it, Tong Yao stopped herself from saying that. She shook her head and said that she didn't know.
"It's because I'm afraid that some crazy fans might throw mud on you." Lu Sicheng said flatly: "Not playing well during competitions because you're busy in a relationship, or not surprising that women only knew those things, or questioning your motive for playing professionally in the first place..."
"I don't care."
"I care." Lu Sicheng said firmly: "Though it may not happen like that and even if it happens, I'm confident we can slap those people's faces with our performance. It's still quite bothersome just thinking about it. You like to read gossip to begin with and would probably be troubled by all those posts-- --I was debating whether I should be with you or not before because of this concern. After all, I would be the first one to step out and voice my objection if any of our other teammates came out and confessed to you."
Lu Sicheng paused and continued without much expression: "Then I would coldly warn that person: Don't bother her, she's here to play well for her professional career."
It was quite dim inside the bus, the two people in the back row were almost covered by shadow. The man's tone of voice was low and seemed to be grappling with the thought. From the corner of Tong Yao's eye, she could see his expressionless face…...Tong Yao pulled both of her knees in front of her chest, then buried her face between her knees to keep her laughter as quiet as possible. Her shoulders shook as she tried her best to hold it in.
Tong Yao nudged him with her elbow at the person next to her: "Then?"
"...What are you laughing about?"
"Don't mind me." Tong Yao's shoulders continued to shake and the corners of her lips curled up: "Then?"
"Why'd there be any then? Before I realized what had happened, you already flew into my arms."
"..."
Lu Sicheng continued: "It's too late to regret that time…...En? It's not that kind of regret." Lu Sicheng sighed and raised his hand to pat Tong Yao's head. "Anyway, you have to play well, win competitions. It's my fault that I didn't hold myself back, I'm the one who committed the crime first."
"Oh."
"Don't let me get a life sentence."
Tong Yao turned to look at Lu Sicheng. At the same time, Lu Sicheng also turned his head to look at her as if he had sensed it-- --Their eyes met in the darkness; there was a moment of silence, neither of them said anything…...Lu Sicheng cast his eyes slightly downwards, glancing over her lips. He hesitated for a second, then cleared his throat and turned his face away first. He pulled the hood of the sweater over his face.
"That's all I have to say." His voice was muffled: "We'll be at the base soon. They should all wake up soon. Get lost back to your own seat."
"If you keep being mean then you won't pass the probation period."
"I'm going to tell, at this very minute, the person who questioned us what we were doing under the table that she's very observant."
"..."
Tong Yao stood up and strode back to her seat-- --
She put her cell phone away.
She knew that the concerns her captain mentioned were real; he was afraid that she would be the target of criticism once they went public about their relationship.
But her own concern was real as well; she didn't want his popularity to go down just because of her existence-- --Ever since he started playing professionally with the id Chessman, there was never any gossip or even a rumor about him. It seemed a bit paranoid and absurd to try to maintain his reputation this way…...Even though Lu Sicheng himself believed that it was him himself who had broken his original plan and committed an unforgivable mistake, Tong Yao, however, still stubbornly wanted to keep his reputation intact.
-- --There's no rules in the world that a man has to protect a woman. What exists is that both sides in a relationship would naturally want to protect each other.
It was fine the way it is now.
Tong Yao told herself.
She couldn't ask for more, she didn't want to ask for more either.
...
The bus arrived at base and all the others woke up from their dreams. Amid the bustling discussion about where they should order takeout, Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng acted as if nothing had happened before.
When they all sat down on the couch and continued their takeout discussion, Lu Sicheng would periodically be absent-minded, it looked like he was still thinking about his exchange with Tong Yao earlier-- --
It was obvious that Lu Sicheng was in agreement with Tong Yao at keeping the relationship a secret from the beginning. But when he found out why Tong Yao wanted to keep it from the public, he felt rather uneasy about it: The captain of ZGDX at this moment felt uneasy because he was being protected by someone else.
Tong Yao was sensitive enough to pick up the subtle change in Lu Sicheng's emotion.
She didn't say anything.
It wasn't until after dinner and 15 minutes after Lu Sicheng had said that he was going back to his room to sleep that Tong Yao, who was watching an American TV drama while holding her knees to her chest in her chair, suddenly called out: "Ah." Then she turned to tell Little Fatty who was looking at her with confusion: "My mobile power pack is still in Cheng Ge's backpack."
"He didn't use his cell phone that much today, why is he borrowing your power pack?" Little Fatty asked unsuspecting of anything and turned his head back: "Then you better go get it back quick, he shouldn't have fallen asleep yet."
Tong Yao jumped off her chair and dashed upstairs.
Tong Yao pushed the door to her captain's room open and saw the bundle on the bed inside. Her captain was facing the door with his back and playing games under the blanket-- --He probably had just showered as his hair was still wet.
When Tong Yao walked into the room, Lu Sicheng said without turning his head: "The hair dryer is broken, can't dry my hair, don't nag."
From the way he spoke, he probably thought it was Little Fatty who had come into the room.
Tong Yao stood behind him, squatted down, then opened her arms to bear hug the man together with the blanket and giggly cried out: "Trap you in bed!"
The cell phone fell from Lu Sicheng's hand, he confusedly turned his face to look into a smiling face-- --Lu Sicheng kept a blank face and turned himself around inside the blanket. Then he reached out with both of his hands to grab Tong Yao and picked her up to put her on his bed. His body was leaning forward.
Tong Yao was still giggling, but tried to keep her distance by leaning backwards.
Lu Sicheng continued to move forward.
Tong Yao continued to lean backward. The atmosphere between the two became somewhat complicated-- --Tong Yao's body was bent back almost 45 degrees; her smile disappeared and her face tightened: "Captain, I'm not that flexible, my back is going to break."
Lu Sicheng stopped and their faces were a finger length apart, very close.
Lu Sicheng cast his eyes downwards and said flatly: "What are you getting away for? You climbed onto a man's bed yourself."
A soft hand lifted up to push the man's expressionless face back. At the same time, Tong Yao said, with a voice that seemed to be a little flustered: "You're dangerous, full of dirty thoughts."
Her palm somehow touched his lips.
Lu Sicheng paused for a moment, then pushed away her hand but at the same time clasped her wrist to bring her into his arms. Then he lifted the blanket up to cover Tong Yao who had bumped into his chest. His other hand naturally landed on her waist: "What's up?"
"Do we have to keep this posture?"
"It'll also do for you to lie under me."
"..........Evil."
"Are you going to tell me or not?" Lu Sicheng exerted some force in his hand, pretending that he was going to push Tong Yao onto the bed.
"... I'll tell you, I'll tell you." In order to keep the currently seemingly more innocent position, Tong Yao reached out with both her hands to embrace the man around his waist. "I came here to thank you for trying so hard while playing 4 protect 1 today, showing everyone a textbook example of how to play at a disadvantage. And also to thank you for so courageously announcing in front of everyone in the country that you have someone you like already."
"Therefore you climbed onto my bed? I accept this appreciation."
When he finished, his arm was being pinched though it didn't hurt nor did it itch.
Lu Sicheng looked down and met the pair of sparkling eyes under the blanket. Then he heard the person in his arms excitedly say: "Cheng Ge, are you busy tomorrow?"
"Yes, get more points, move up to Challenger."
"........Other than that?"
"Nothing else."
"Then, let's go on a date? Ah? A date! Not the kind in the Summoner Canyon, a real one like any normal person."