| Marry Me, I'm Super Well-Behaved [Esports] (MARRY ME) |
Outside the house, the wind howled. Song Mingjie had prepared a full table of dishes, placing down the final lamb and radish soup: "Today I'll show you my cooking skills."
After setting it down, he suddenly remembered: "Xiao Zhou, do you eat lamb?"
Ning Nanzhou nodded: "I do."
Xiao Qiao first served the teenager a bowl of lamb soup, then served himself: "Song-ge, your cooking isn't bad! When did you study at New Oriental?"
"When would I have time to study at New Oriental." Song Mingjie wiped his fogged-up glasses, "Back in S5 before you joined, the club was struggling financially. We couldn't even afford a cooking auntie. I had to be both manager and cook, and still got criticized for my dark cuisine."
"Don't rewrite history." Yu Jin'an quickly retorted, "What dishes were you making back then? Salted egg fried pumpkin, green pepper fried mooncakes, salted herring... My only thought back then was to play well so we could afford an auntie."
Ning Nanzhou remembered that FKW was invincible in S5 - now he understood why.
"So you little brats have no conscience, calling the food I worked so hard to make dark cuisine—only Chi Yu is polite enough to give a few compliments." Song Mingjie readjusted his glasses.
Ning Nanzhou wasn't surprised by this. Chi Yu had always been a gentle person, and after spending time together, he discovered he could be even gentler.
He looked down at the dumplings Chi Yu had specially cooked for him, but he couldn't help wondering—if Chi Yu had married someone else back then, would he still be this gentle with them?
It was almost seven when they finished dinner. The sky outside hadn't darkened yet as the two walked out of the club.
There was some distance from the main building to the parking lot. The wind blew down countless plane tree leaves, swirling like a blizzard, while light snow began to fall from the sky.
The other man shielded him in his embrace as they walked forward. Snowflakes drifted onto their heads, as if they were walking together until their hair turned white.
Ning Nanzhou suppressed the strange thought, got in the car, and returned home.
After arriving home, he wanted to find an excuse to stream. Just as he was about to say he was going to study, the tall man handed him clothes: "Change out of your wet clothes first."
The silver-white haired youth slowly took the clothes.
Chi Yu noticed faint blue marks on the youth's wrist, as if someone had gripped him hard. He slightly lowered his gaze and called Song Mingjie.
"Do you have any ointment? Bring me a bottle."
"Wait, it hasn't been that long since you got back." Song Mingjie's tone was full of disbelief. "You already hurt him?"
"Where's your mind going." Chi Yu spoke calmly. "I'm just treating him like a child right now."
Song Mingjie on the other end of the call didn't believe it at all—he'd never seen Chi Yu be this patient with any child.
The moment Chi Yu finished speaking, the child started changing clothes right in front of him.
Soft pants fell to the ground, revealing a straight and slender leg.
Closed tightly together, making one unconsciously want to open them.
Chi Yu restrained his gaze from looking upward, hung up the phone, and walked out.
Just how much did he trust him?
―
The Star Cup was the most popular unofficial tournament besides the Kitten Cup. The matches started at 9 PM on Tuesday, with the groups announced on Monday night.
Ninety-six teams participated in the tournament. Because there were so many competing teams, the first day featured direct head-to-head matches—winners advanced while losers were immediately eliminated.
The team they drew was a streamer team, whose captain was Jin Hao, a streamer from the Universe Guild. That night, he emotionally complained in his livestream room.
"As a streamer myself, I know this industry isn't easy, but I never expected someone would use 'calling daddy if you win' to insult a seven-year veteran just for clout. I'm a fan of Team Qin myself, and I won't tolerate such people appearing before Qin Yubai."
Ning Nanzhou almost laughed hearing this. This guy wouldn't even spend two yuan on a fan badge, yet he had the nerve to call himself a fan?
Meanwhile, the Lion team fans were completely taken in.
[This streamer has such strong morals, there aren't many like him these days]
[Never knew this streamer was also a fan of Team Qin, following now!]
[Supporting the streamer to win the match]
[Go go go! Charge!]
Ning Nanzhou: "Don't bark before your daddy before we even play—you're louder than moaning in bed."
[Our son's mouth is really something else]
[Glad those idiots from yesterday are finally gone, the livestream room is much cleaner now]
[What's most ridiculous is that Qin Yubai was the one who accused our son of cheating, but now it's become our son insulting a seven-year veteran]
[6]
The first match started at 7 PM. The competition server's network was indeed much better, as his frame rate increased from a barely passing 60 to 80.
The Streamer team was significantly weaker than the Lion team, with a stark difference evident even from the ban/pick phase.
Jin Hao probably thought that by restricting him, he could win. He banned five Top Laner heroes in a row and gave them the most popular bottom lane combination. Even the usually talkative Oliver was stunned.
[What kind of insane BP is this!]
[A free win?]
[Is the opponent an anti-fan?]
Jin Hao’s skills couldn’t compare to his guild’s big streamer Zhang Huai, but he knew this kind of BP couldn’t beat South.
The problem was that the opposing team had two star players. No matter how fancy his BP was, he couldn’t win. So, he might as well ban all of South’s signature heroes and try to gain an advantage in the laning phase against South.
South picked Titan, a hero he had never used before, while Jin Hao picked his own comfortable hero and entered the game in high spirits.
Titan was an early Tank hero. The characteristic of such heroes was high health and durability, serving as a frontline tool during Team Fights. In the late game, they were even weaker than super minions. Jin Hao didn’t take this hero seriously at all.
He had chosen a long-range hero with a long attack range, capable of hitting South even from under his own tower.
The opponent’s lineup was clearly focused on the bottom lane, with the Jungler leaving the top lane unattended. Jin Hao wasn’t worried about the enemy Jungler ganking him. Relying on his long range, he managed to chip away one-third of South’s health.
The match livestream room was flooded with comments.
[Hahahahahaha, this is so satisfying to watch!]
[And he still wants to go pro like this?]
[He doesn’t want to go pro—he claims teams are begging him to play professionally.]
[Quick, kill this streamer!]
[Pentakill! Pentakill! Pentakill!!!]
Although Jin Hao couldn’t see the comments, he had already planned to make a pentakill highlight reel after the match. The title would be "He Lost the Match, But He Didn’t Lose," which would surely attract many team fans.
Of course, he didn’t quite understand Qin Yubai. Why would a star player bother with a streamer? Whether they won or lost the match, only South would benefit.
At this moment, South posed no threat in his eyes. He directly pushed the minion wave under the enemy tower.
However, just as he was about to take down the tower, South, who had been playing defensively, suddenly moved.
Short-range heroes had a hard time against long-range heroes, but it was only difficult, not impossible. Seizing Jin Hao’s moment of carelessness, South launched a fierce attack, executing a beautiful combo that instantly took away more than half of Jin Hao’s health!
The previously excited livestream room fell silent in an instant. On the battlefield, Jin Hao broke out in a cold sweat and immediately used Flash to escape!
The pressure South exerted was overwhelming. He never expected a Tank hero to have such a presence, like a fierce deity appearing before him. But before he could retreat to his own tower, the enemy Jungler actually showed up.
Wasn’t this lineup supposed to focus on the bottom lane?!
Until the moment his screen went dark, he still didn’t understand why the Jungler had come.
Ning Nanzhou: "Thank you."
The other person replied with a "No problem."
It took a while for the match livestream room to recover.
[Who is this Jungler?]
[This lineup is actually helping the top lane?]
[Forget this lineup helping top—how many Junglers actually help top lane?]
[Why is AD called ADC? Because they carry the game. Top lane can’t win games.]
Ning Nanzhou secured the first Kill, turning the disadvantage in the laning phase around. He quickly bought Titan’s most important Equipment, Titan’s Hammer.
In previous versions, Titan was indeed a Tank hero, but after the patch update, the effect of Titan’s Hammer was enhanced, allowing health to be converted into attack power. In other words, the higher the health, the higher the attack.
After respawning, Jin Hao returned to his tower. Learning from his previous mistake, he refrained from recklessly pushing the tower without his teammates around.
But the one pushing towers became South!
Jin Hao had no idea what was happening—the opponent's attack power had increased dramatically, and he'd been solo killed three times in just ten minutes!
By the time the game ended, Ning Nanzhou had secured a pentakill.
The elimination matches followed a best-of-three format, and the competition ended after just the second game, making them the fastest team to advance.
The young man rubbed his hands and stood up, about to close the game when he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening.
At first he thought he was hallucinating again, but upon hearing the man call out "Ningning," he immediately shut down the client, opened CNKI with lightning speed, and then pulled out a book from his bag.
After setting everything up, he opened the door. The long-haired man was holding a glass of milk and, looking at the open book, asked: "Studying so hard?"
He forced himself to nod calmly.
The other's gaze lingered on his computer for a moment, leaving him uneasy all night.
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