His escape thwarted, Jian Rong sat cross-legged at the head of his bed, staring anxiously at the jacket lying next to him.
The "borrowed" jacket was now thoroughly wrinkled, and it was obvious that he had tossed it around quite a bit yesterday. Jian Rong picked it up and sniffed it, getting a whiff of an alcoholic stench.
He took note of the clothing brand and decided that it would be better just to buy a new one.
After hanging up the jacket properly, Jian Rong started to read through the messages that Shiliu sent him.
Every few texts, he had to take a moment for a breather.
[Shiliu: How come all your water friends are here in my livestream?]
[Shiliu: What's going on, they said you're getting drunk…]
["Voice call missed"]
[Shiliu: It's over, that phone call was on speaker just now!]
[Shiliu: Who picked up the phone, where are you, are you okay]
After reading through the dozen or so messages, Jian Rong raked a hand through his hair and replied.
[R-ong: I'm fine]
A few seconds later, he couldn't help but send another text.
[R-ong: What did the person who answered the phone yesterday say…]
[Shiliu: What he said wasn't important, the main issue was you.]
Jian Rong's scalp prickled, and he quickly typed: Enough, you don't need to tell me…
[Shiliu: You kept trying to make him help you zip up your pants]
[Shiliu: Those dads of yours are also weirdly good at creating mental associations. Now they're all saying you're an unfilial son, liking men but not letting your family know, haha]
Jian Rong couldn't laugh at all.
[Shiliu: Are you really okay? How about we duo Q and talk using the team voice chat? You can turn on your mic and calm your fans down. The platform won't care if you slip through this loophole.]
Shiliu was Jian Rong's closest friend during these past few years.
They had become acquainted through LoL, and Jian Rong had played with him for a few days. At that time, Shiliu was already extremely popular. After finding out that Jian Rong was a new streamer, Shiliu had helped spread the word a little and had often invited him to duo queue together.
It could be said that the reason Jian Rong's streaming career got off to a good start had a lot to do with Shiliu. So even though Jian Rong's popularity grew higher and higher later, he still duo queued with Shiliu all the time, and if Shiliu didn't come then he would only solo queue for the most part. When other streamers contacted him, wanting to hype some streamer CP with him, Jian Rong basically rejected them all.
The contract was already signed, and Jian Rong didn't plan on hiding it. He held down the voice message button. "I signed a professional contract with an esports club for the next season. Before the official announcement comes out, management isn't allowing me to say anything yet… in short, nothing's wrong, no need to worry. I'll treat you to a meal in a few days."
Then Shiliu bombarded him with messages once more.
After Jian Rong finished chatting with him, he decided to take a shower.
When he was taking off his pants, those hands resurfaced in his memory, and he couldn't help but knock his head against the wall again.
Those are the freaking hands that have held countless trophies before.
What right does your crappy pants zipper have...…
After a very long shower, the phone on the desk lit up again with notifications from that "TTC's Fierce Men Workout Club" group chat.
[P-Baby's Little Support: @everyone it's already 3 pm, still not awake? Ding-ge brought food back, it's all congee. Come down and eat.]
[Pine: Change your nickname.]
[P-Baby's Little Support: No, I think this nickname is very cute.]
Jian Rong was about to reply that he wasn't going to eat.
[Da Qian: @R-ong @R how come you guys haven't come down yet?]
[R: Coming]
[Ding-ge: Go and let Jian Rong know on your way down, the congee won't taste good after it gets cold]
[R-ong: No need I'll be down soon]
TTC's members finally used the dining table today.
They sat around the table eating congee. Because of their hangovers, everyone was in low spirits.
Ding-ge felt his head hurt just thinking about their intoxicated appearances from last night. "I let you all drink a little to liven things up, not so that you guys could get wasted! Do you not know how much you can drink? I only went out to take a call for ten minutes, and when I got back everyone had collapsed, ridiculous. And you guys kept pouring alcohol for Jian Rong! He's only seventeen and still growing, he'll reach his limit after just one or two cups…"
Yuan Qian instantly took responsibility. "It's my fault, I won't let them drink baijiu anymore in the future."
Jian Rong had changed into a black sweatshirt, and he walked downstairs, head lowered, hands crammed into the hoodie pocket. He attempted to silently take a seat at the table without rousing the other people's attention.
"Jian Rong!" Xiao Bai unleashed a loud voice. "Do you feel better now?"
Everyone around the table stopped talking and looked over.
Jian Rong met Lu Boyuan's eyes the moment he lifted his head.
Lu Boyuan appeared the same as usual, with no obvious emotions in his gaze.
Jian Rong's heart had just calmed down when he saw the other person abruptly lower his line of vision and glance at Jian Rong's pants.
Jian Rong: "...…"
The back of his head went numb, and with stiff lips, he squeezed out an "en" as a response. Evading Lu Boyuan's line of sight, he walked towards the seat farthest from Lu Boyuan.
"Come sit here, it's easier to scoop the congee." Yuan Qian stopped him and considerately helped him pull out the chair.
To the left of that seat was Yuan Qian, and to the right was Lu Boyuan.
Jian Rong stared blankly at the chair for a few seconds before rigidly sitting down in it.
"Dove congee or century egg and pork congee, serve yourself whichever one you want to eat." Yuan Qian said, "Nothing's wrong, right? You seemed pretty drunk."
Jian Rong shook his head. "I'm fine."
"You scared me to death yesterday." Xiao Bai drank the congee and said indistinctly, "You couldn't even walk. My ge had to pick you up entirely in order to drag you along."
"It wasn't that excessive." Lu Boyuan said.
Jian Rong suppressed the urge to give Xiao Bai a beating. He forced himself to tilt his head over and say, "Thank you."
"My ge was also the one who carried you upstairs, starting and stopping like a penguin, and you kept harping on about something." Xiao Bai continued to describe the scene before he asked, "Do you still remember?"
"…I don't remember." Jian Rong raised his head and asked coldly, "Weren't you drunk too? Why do you still have so much energy?"
For some reason, even though Jian Rong's tone of voice was clearly flat and there wasn't anything particularly wrong with what he was asking, Xiao Bai felt as if he was actually implying "why didn't you just die from alcohol poisoning last night."
Xiao Bai: "…I wasn't drunk at the time, just tipsy."
Jian Rong was about to say something else, but then the person next to him suddenly stood up. The chair made a very faint scraping noise against the floor.
Jian Rong immediately shut up and continued to eat his congee without lifting his head, trying his best to separate himself from the rest of the dining table.
He heard Lu Boyuan walk into the kitchen before there came the sound of the refrigerator opening and closing. After a moment, Lu Boyuan made his way back to his seat again and bumped into Jian Rong's arm slightly upon sitting down.
"When's the interview that you mentioned before?" Lu Boyuan's voice was warm and deep.
A sentence suddenly floated across Jian Rong's mind—"It is zipped."
He buried his head even lower.
Ding-ge said, "The day after tomorrow, in the afternoon. They'll arrange for someone to come by and conduct the interview."
Lu Boyuan made a noise of agreement before he unscrewed the cap of the iced coffee and drank a mouthful. He placed the other cup of room temperature milk on the table and pushed it towards the person next to him very naturally. "Drink this after you finish eating."
Jian Rong almost choked on the congee. "…okay."
After Ding-ge finished discussing the interview with Lu Boyuan, he cleared his throat. "Also, Jian Rong… did you know that you were photographed last night?"
"Yeah." Jian Rong asked, "Were the rules violated?"
"No… don't worry, it's not that important. The only thing is that it's best if you don't drink while underage. I completely forgot about that last night." Ding-ge said, "However, I saw that they didn't manage to photograph your face either, so if someone asks about it in the future, you can just deny it."
Once breakfast was over, Ding-ge placed a ban on alcohol and forbade everyone from touching it before the spring season was finished.
Upon returning to the practice room, Jian Rong found several sets of the team uniform lying on his table.
TTC's team uniform had a black and white design, with a white logo on a black background. Many sponsor logos were printed on top, and "TTC" was written across the chest area. The team's crown symbol was on the back of the uniform.
Below "TTC" was a line of tiny letters: "Soft."
Jian Rong stared at his own ID for a long time before moving.
The uniform material was excellent, and he stuck his hands in the pockets and felt around a little before starting to pull them out.
"Try it on at night. If it doesn't fit, it can be altered." A voice suddenly came from behind him.
Jian Rong withdrew his hands. "…okay."
Lu Boyuan spoke again. "Someone called you last night. I was worried it was about something important, so I answered it."
"I know." Realizing that he couldn't continue feigning memory loss, Jian Rong rubbed the tip of his nose. "…I got your jacket dirty, but I can buy a new one to give back to you, is that alright?"
"It's fine. The jacket was a size too small, so I didn't wear it all that much." Lu Boyuan thought of something and broke out into laughter. "Although, it's custom-made and my name is sewn on it… if you mind, then just toss it. If not, you can keep it and wear it around the base. Up to you."
Right after he said that, the door to the practice room was pushed open.
Xiao Bai stretched and walked inside. When he saw that Lu Boyuan was still standing there, he shot a puzzled glance at the clock hanging on the wall. "Ge, didn't you say that you were streaming today at 4:30?"
Lu Boyuan gave an "en" and returned to his own seat before turning on the computer.
Jian Rong snapped out of his daze. He was about to put away the uniform, but Xiao Bai picked it up before he could do so.
"Wah, this—" Xiao Bai looked at the material in his hands before he turned to Jian Rong next to him. "Your clothing size is this small??"
Jian Rong expressionlessly snatched the clothing back before he stuffed it into the bag. "Mn, but my fists are very big, do you want to see?"
Xiao Bai: "…no thanks."
As soon as Jian Rong logged into the game, Xiao Bai scooted over to boot-lick. "Quick quick quick, get on your side account and take me flying, I'm on my Diamond 2 promo series now!"
At that current moment, Jian Rong would rather see him instantly plummet straight down into Platinum.
He was about to refuse Xiao Bai when an invite suddenly popped up in his game.
[TTC ་ Road has invited you to join the party.]
Jian Rong gave a start, and he subconsciously looked over.
Lu Boyuan had already started streaming. Jian Rong saw him click on a certain friend's chat box and start typing in it.
Soon after, an in-game sound effect came through Jian Rong's headphones—
[TTC ་ Road: Carry me?]
Less than a second after the message was sent out, Jian Rong had already joined the party.
Lu Boyuan chuckled and lazily greeted the fans in his livestream room. Then he shifted his fingers and changed the livestream name to [Soft carrying up the ranks].
"I'll start it?" he asked through the game voice chat.
[Just Watch My Gameplay: Okay.]
They swiftly matched into a game. Upon seeing the role that he got assigned, Jian Rong lifted an eyebrow in surprise.
Neither of them got the roles that they wanted this game. Jian Rong was support, and Lu Boyuan was ADC.
He was pondering over which champion to play when a bunch of messages jumped up in the chat—
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: !!!]
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: God Lu is that you QAQ!]
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: God Lu notice me!!]
Jian Rong pursed his lips and couldn't help but take a peek at the livestream pulled up on his phone.
Lu Boyuan was scrolling through the champion list and didn't seem like he intended to respond.
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: Is #4 there?]
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: Calling #4 big brother~]
It took a few seconds for Jian Rong to realize that he was #4.
[Just Watch My Gameplay: ?]
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: Can we switch roles? I'm mid.]
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: Please please >.<]
Usually, Jian Rong would've definitely switched without any objections.
He didn't say anything, but Peach Jam continued to talk in the chat.
Jian Rong tugged at his hair and couldn't resist sending a private message, asking: [Should I switch?]
Lu Boyuan swept a glance over the barrage. Jian Rong's fans had arrived on the scene, as always, and it was extremely easy to spot their rough style mixed among the comments.
[What kind of crap are you asking? Didn't you say you would rather be a Rift Scuttler than play support??]
[Things didn't end well for the last few ADCs who he played support for. My recommendation is for God Lu to immediately leave the game.]
[Did the little dumbass injure his brain from drinking? Do you mind sobering up a bit, nobody in this game deserves to have you play support for them!!]
Lu Boyuan looked away from the barrage and said, "Your choice."
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: #4 big brother answer me~!]
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: Switching or not!!]
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: God Lu, could you make some room for me on your friends list…]
[Just Watch My Gameplay: Not switching]
A row of question marks swept past the barrage.
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: Why…]
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: God Lu, I sent you gifts, do you mind saying the gift thanks out loud (lowly.jpg)]
[Love To Eat Peach Jam: #4 big brother, is it okay if I buy the support position? Send me your ZFB, I can transfer you the money?]
[Just Watch My Gameplay: Send me your ZFB, I can transfer you the money, can you be a bit quieter then?]
Lu Boyuan chose his champion, and he couldn't help but cast his gaze downwards and laugh.