| Marry Me, I'm Super Well-Behaved [Esports] (MARRY ME) |
Chi Yu stared at the name for a moment, discreetly pocketed the keychain, and turned to ask the youth.
"Can we get the ring now?"
Ning Nanzhou's throat was unbearably dry, as if something were burning inside. He thought he wouldn't be able to speak, but upon hearing the other's words, he still managed to say, "Okay."
His hand, which had been fumbling in his pocket, stilled. This time, it seemed he didn't need the medicine.
He walked toward the elevator, and in the next moment, another person's warmth covered his hand, wrapping his chilled fingers into a bundle before naturally intertwining their fingers.
Time seemed to freeze at that instant. At fifteen, he could only clutch a keychain engraved with Chi Yu's name; at nineteen, he could firmly hold Chi Yu's hand.
He was led by Chi Yu out of the hospital, stepping out from the dark shadows beneath the building.
To say they were retrieving the rings wasn’t entirely accurate—shortly after leaving the hospital, someone delivered an exquisitely packaged small box.
Under Chi Yu’s encouragement, Ning Nanzhou opened the box and froze the moment he saw the rings.
He had assumed men’s wedding bands would be simple, plain bands, but instead, they were an adorable pair of bird-shaped rings. Silver, droplet-sized chirping birds perched on the Platinum outer band, while the inner bands were engraved with their respective names.
The person who delivered the rings tactfully left, and the man with long dark hair suddenly spoke, “It doesn’t seem formal enough.”
Not formal enough?
Before he could process what that meant, amidst the snowflakes of the new year, the other man took off the ring meant for him, gazed at him calmly, and asked:
“Will you be my lifelong partner? Through good times and bad, supporting and relying on each other, until death parts us.”
Even though he knew Chi Yu was someone who took everything seriously, and marriage was merely a matter of convenience, his heart still skipped a heavy beat at those last words.
―
All the way home, Ning Nanzhou struggled to control his flushed earlobes. As soon as they arrived, he hurried to the bathroom and looked at his calm reflection in the mirror.
Good.
Another day of successful pretense.
After meticulously washing his face, he stepped out, and Chi Yu handed him a familiar object: “Your keychain fell on the ground.”
This keychain had been with him for three years. He instinctively reached out to take it, only for the other person not to let go: "Why is my name engraved on it?"
Belatedly realizing that he had engraved Chi Yu's name on the back, his grip on the keychain stiffened. Feeling the other's scrutinizing gaze, he spoke almost on instinct.
"It was from a seal-carving class at school. I just randomly carved it."
Chi Yu studied him for a moment, as if gauging the truth of his words, before finally releasing his hold.
Ning Nanzhou let out a sigh of relief and slipped downstairs to stream. Qin Yubai’s apology statement was still pinned, so his follower count kept rising. Was this the popularity of a star player?
[Here to see Daddy Qin!]
[Streamer, do you still need a daughter-in-law?]
[How about me, streamer?]
Ning Nanzhou had no strange fetish for playing father-in-law: "Let’s see your skills in King’s Descent first."
[??? Do you know how hard King’s Descent is? Diamond rank is already considered big shot territory. It’s not some trash mobile game.]
[South is rank one on the national server!]
[The streamer is this young???!]
[Losing to such a youngster, Captain Qin really crashed and burned this time.]
[I heard the Lion team is grinding day and night now, treating South as their nemesis.]
Ning Nanzhou wasn’t afraid of the Lion team targeting him. After all, they were separated by a screen—it wasn’t like they could crawl through the internet to beat him up.
What he feared was the livestream’s popularity. The real-time viewership had climbed from mid-tier to second place.
He really didn’t want to be famous!!!
Zhang Huai from the Universe Guild stared at the screen with bloodshot eyes, having monitored the rankings nonstop since last night.
At first, he hadn’t paid much attention to small-time streamers like South. No matter how popular the Star Cup was, it was still an unofficial tournament. Plus, with South having offended Qin Yubai, it’d be hard for him to survive on the platform. What Zhang Huai cared about was the All-Star Game a week later.
The All-Star Game was an official event, inviting not only popular players but also streamers from various platforms to form teams. Of course, he couldn’t beat pro players, but if he could pull off some standout plays, the resulting popularity would far surpass anything the Star Cup could offer.
Take last year, for example. The cat-themed streaming platform heavily promoted a face-cam streamer, Fourteen Moon, who’d been playing Support for so long but still couldn’t even handle Kitten properly. Yet, because of an overperformance at the All-Star Game and a single compliment from Ren Xingzhou about his talent, he instantly blew up.
The gaming world was just that brutal. The top tier would always belong to pro players—even the hottest streamers nowadays were former pros.
That was why Zhang Huai had to make it to the All-Star Game. But only the top three in real-time popularity would qualify.
He hadn’t expected Qin Yubai, who seemed so fierce, to be so stubborn. Dealing with a small-time streamer should’ve been as easy as crushing an ant—making him call you "daddy" or apologize on command.
Zhang Huai was barely holding onto third place. Watching South about to overtake him, he glared at the rankings and dialed a number.
The guild’s operations manager picked up. Given Zhang Huai’s decent performance over the past two years, the manager’s tone was especially warm: "What’s up, Brother Zhang?"
Zhang Huai cut to the chase: "Buy me 200,000 popularity points."
200,000 popularity points???
The manager was stunned. Although buying popularity was an open secret across platforms, Starry Sky TV’s prices were the steepest—20,000 yuan for 10,000 popularity points. 200,000 would cost 400,000 yuan!
Spending 400,000 yuan on an All-Star slot wasn’t cost-effective. After all, streamers were just there as filler—not everyone could have Fourteen Moon’s luck.
The manager couldn’t help but advise: "The All-Star Game only covers travel and hotel expenses. There’s no need to invest this much, right?"
Zhang Huai firmly believed his skills were underrated, and the All-Star Game was his best chance to prove himself. Watching South surpass him, he gritted his teeth and bought the popularity.
Priding himself as a skill-based streamer, he’d never resorted to such tactics before. But seeing South pushed beneath him, a twisted sense of satisfaction rose in his chest. The other might’ve just missed a life-changing opportunity.
Ning Nanzhou had no intention of attending the All-Star Game. An invitation would mean showing his face, and if he did, how could he keep his identity under wraps?
Discussions about the All-Star Game were already heating up on Weibo.
[Mango Ice Cream] This year’s All-Star Game gives out a full set of merchandise to attendees! Anyone wanna go together?
[Jumping Candy] The event lineup looks fun too. There’s a solo challenge tournament—I wanna see who’s the best in each role.
[Fellow Daoist Please Stay] Jungler is undoubtedly Chi Yu. AD is either Oliver or Pei Ji. Top Laner is Qin Yong. Mid Laner is Xue Mian. Support is up in the air—the League’s Support competition is the fiercest.
[Yogurt Mousse] The team matches also have a new map. Hope they don’t just shove a bunch of streamers in again.
[Eat Mille Crepe Not Crepe Skin] Are you guys only here for the matches? What about former teammates turned rivals? Or being forced to team up with your nemesis? Rumor has it the League’s got some big tea to spill this time!
Ning Nanzhou had already decided against going to the All-Star Game. It wasn’t like he was interested in anyone there anyway. But reading the discussions made him waver. He’d never seen Chi Yu in a solo match before, and there was even some juicy gossip this time!
If he went as an audience member, keeping his mask and hat on the whole time, and with so many people at the venue, surely no one would recognize him, right?
Once the idea took root, he immediately opened the ticketing app.
However, with China having just won the championship, demand for All-Star tickets was sky-high. Unsurprisingly, the organizers had implemented a lottery system.
Ticket purchases were tied to ID cards. Purchases could be made until the deadline, after which winners would be randomly selected to prevent scalping.
Ning Nanzhou had never had much faith in his luck. If he were lucky, he wouldn’t have failed to get World Championship tickets and ended up celebrating at a bar—only to end up in bed with Chi Yu.
This time, he washed his hands thoroughly before buying tickets and even watched a documentary about Europe for good measure.
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t win the lottery.
All-Star tickets were non-transferable this time. The lesson from last time was still fresh in his mind—even if scalpers were selling, he was afraid they’d just take the money and run.
It seemed the heavens didn’t want him at the All-Star Game. Just as he resigned himself to putting his phone away, he spotted a new event announcement from Advent’s official account.
—To celebrate the All-Star Game, the World Server is launching a duo queue event. Teams that make it into the global top 10 will receive two All-Star tickets.
Duo queue?
Lately, he’d been matched with pro players in ranked, none of whom needed All-Star tickets. Little Dragon Girl wasn’t on the World Server either. He opened his World Server friends list and saw Snake’s name.
Given his infamous reputation, he’d never added any fellow fans before. But if he could watch the match with one, wouldn’t that be great?
He sent a message to his fellow fan, who’d become a dad at a young age.
[South] Do you want to meet Chi Shen?
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