Today too, the esports circle was as lively as always.
The brawling between esports fans was no longer anything new, and there had also been many arguments between professional players before.
But a professional player who, after joining the team, publicly shaded another team before he had ever played in a single competition—this really was the first fucking time that had ever happened.
If this were any other person or any other team, Jian Rong would've long since been cursed to the heavens.
But out of everyone, this shady player was Soft.
Upon learning about this, the esports fans' first reaction wasn't anger or suspicion. Instead, it was an excited and even a bit hopeful—is he going at it again??
And this team also happened to be Squid, the team known for having the worst reputation in the LPL. Who knew how many players had been belittled by the people on this team while they cracked jokes. As a result, right now the other teams' fans shared the same sentiment as a certain image posted in Jian Rong's comment section:
[[watching the show.jpg]]
This comment was liked and pushed to the forefront by a crowd of other teams' fans who came to spectate. On the other hand, the comments flanking that one were—
[What trouble did my son cause now? It's not easy to start insulting if I don't know the situation, who's gonna give a summary?]
[That's it? That's it?? You're not even going to go through his family lineage?? Is Doufu your sworn brother, that's why you're giving him so much face??]
[Consider this as Dad begging you, please start flaming. I'll help you pay that 10k yuan, is that still no good?]
[I'll pay 100k, you can unleash a few more insults, send me your Alipay]
[How interesting, is it not a fact that they easily beat you guys in the practice match? All they did was accidentally destroy the Nexus. What, afraid that other people will see that trash match score? If you're gonna be a sore loser, then don't schedule practice matches, OK?]
[No way no way, even a brainless team like Squid has fans?? What, is it because it's been too long since someone played a practice match with your team that they even forgot what the rules were?]
[Is the point of a practice match to win? And also TTC was clearly practicing a new bot lane team comp ah?]
["Easily"? All of Squid was using the team comp from their summer season knockouts, someone who didn't know better would think that last night was the spring season finals. Just that still took 48 mins, only Doufu can spout some BS like 'winning easily.' And he also constantly goes around shading other people's appearances and bodies. Despite the way that his horse face looks, I have yet to see anyone tell him to scram back to the zoo?]
[@YY-Doufu your team won the practice match, but your [horse head] is gone, worth it?]
"Never mind about the rest, at least this Weibo post didn't have any profanity, so it isn't at the point where it would be fined." Ding-ge supported himself using Yuan Qian's chair, looking like he would collapse from anger at any moment. "—but why did you go and like that 'worth it' comment??"
Jian Rong was playing ranked, and he didn't turn around. He said, very insincerely, "My hand slipped."
Ding-ge: "...…"
Jian Rong asked, "Is there a penalty for a slip of the hand?"
Ding-ge: "…no."
Sitting at the side, Xiao Bai raised an eyebrow and nodded when he heard that before letting out a long "oh."
Ding-ge: "…what's that 'now I get it' expression on your face supposed to mean?"
"Nothing." Xiao Bai cleared his throat. "But logically speaking, I don't think Jian Rong really did anything wrong this time. They were the ones who decided not to follow the rules first. Forget about destroying our Nexus, he also acted like a prick in his stream, saying they won easily and commenting on Jian Rong and Qian-ge's figures. His stream's barrage last night was full of personal attacks. It's one thing if he didn't block them after seeing it, but he even kept responding and conversing with them… P-baby, don't you think this person deserves to be insulted?"
There were headphones hanging around Pine's neck, and he said concisely, "Yes."
"It actually doesn't really matter to me. He can say what he wants, it's not like he held back before." Yuan Qian paused. "I just dislike seeing his cocky energy."
"Exactly. He said Jian Rong looked like a monkey, but has he seen a blue-furred monkey before?" Xiao Bai said, "And he called Jian Rong short, what's wrong with being short? Is Doufu's son gonna inherit it? No matter how short Jian Rong is, he's still a thousand times more handsome and adorable than Doufu, okay?"
Jian Rong pretended the enemy laner was Xiao Bai and killed them while contemplating whether to curse out a "your mom's short" or a "your mom's a monkey."
Xiao Bai: "—isn't that right, ge?"
Lu Boyuan was in the middle of watching a recording of some random competition, and he only answered lazily a few seconds later. "Not short, he's still growing."
Jian Rong swallowed down his curses again.
"I'm not saying that there's nothing wrong with Squid. In the first place, they're a team with many issues." Ding-ge frowned. "I already took care of things last night. In the future, no strong teams will agree to play practice matches with them—there were obviously ten thousand different ways to resolve this matter, but now that that Weibo post is out, the situation has become serious."
The game finished, and Jian Rong looked back to ask, "Why?"
"Not mentioning the other negative effects that this could potentially lead to in the future, I'll just bring up the one that's the soonest… do you know what's happening next week?" Ding-ge paused for two seconds. "The spring season's opening ceremony.
"We have fifteen games during the spring season, consisting of a single round robin with each of the other fifteen teams. That means that you'll run into Squid very soon. If you don't perform well during that match, do you know what the outcome will be?
"Being ridiculed by antis is a given, but more than that, it'll strike a blow on our fans' morale. You're also a newcomer in the team, so some fans would even take their anger out on you unjustly and blame you for arguing with Squid when you couldn't beat them." At that, Ding-ge sighed. "Those anti-fans have the best memories, so it won't end with just the spring season. In the future, they'll pay attention to every single match that you play against Squid. Have you considered these things before?"
After he finished talking, Jian Rong stared at the floor quietly for a few seconds. "No."
Jian Rong's eyelashes were long, and his features still somewhat gave off the tender, youthful feeling of a teenager. When he lowered his eyes, he really did have a certain 'well-behaved kid' aura.
Ding-ge thought that Jian Rong was regretting and reflecting. He felt like he had spoken too harshly, so he reached out, wanting to pat his shoulder and comfort him a bit. "However—"
"Then won't it be fine as long as I always win?" Jian Rong lifted his head and asked in return, looking completely unperturbed.
"That's right." Xiao Bai said, "Last year, during the official competition, Squid didn't beat us a single time."
Ding-ge's arm froze midair before he shamefully withdrew it.
He had worried too much.
Lu Boyuan closed the video and asked, "When is the spring season's competition schedule coming out?"
Hearing that, the others also turned to look at Ding-ge.
Last year, the spring season altered its rules: no longer splitting into groups, single round robin, BO3.
Since every team would encounter each other during the season, and only once at that, there was no longer a need to draw lots; the LPL would directly announce the schedule.
"It's tonight, at seven." Ding-ge glanced expressionlessly at the time. "You guys really know how to pick a good time to argue. Normally, no one would be paying attention to this schedule… but now all the esports fans are praying that we'll run into Squid for our very first game, as faithfully as if this were their favorite team winning the championship."
—
The spring season's viewership had always been lower than the summer season. Adding on the fact that this was just the regular season and not the playoffs, not many fans paid attention.
In order to increase the season's popularity, the LPL contacted each major team in the hopes that they could stream the reading of the schedule.
As a result, that night at 6:40 p.m., Lu Boyuan started streaming. All the other members moved their chairs over and sat around him. Jian Rong got there fast and snatched the spot right next to Lu Boyuan.
Every time Lu Boyuan turned on his stream, the majority of the comments in the barrage were always "husband, you're here" or "husband, I'm here."
Jian Rong also had this kind of treatment, but his comments were more like "dumbass, you're here" or "your dad is here."
[Husband, are you going to be playing later~~]
[I want to see you and Soft play bot lane again.]
Lu Boyuan said, "Won't be playing, there's a practice match later. I'll be turning off the stream after we see the schedule."
[Darling Pine, come sit a little closer so I can see you QAQ why isn't Pine streaming?]
[Xiao Bai do you mind staying away from my Pine!!]
"Didn't you hear what my ge said? We have a practice match later, P-baby won't be able to stream." After Xiao Bai said that, he reached out and threw his arm around Pine's shoulders. "I won't, I'm gonna stick to him."
[Qian-ge, be happy, don't get mad for a dumbass like Doufu.]
Yuan Qian chuckled. "I'm not mad."
[Dumbass, you're here to mooch off Road's stream again? Because of you, laozi muddled around and got a fan icon for this livestream room.]
[When is the schedule coming out? Right now I feel like an old father waiting for his son to be assigned to a class.]
[Jian Rong, when you're backstage during the spring season, you better not get in a fight with Doufu ah. With your physique, you won't be able to win. Dad will help you curse him out online.]
[Actually, it's not that bad to change livestream rooms. Before this bluenette would constantly ban my accounts in his stream, laozi must have freaking created eight or ten side accounts by now.]
With a wooden expression, Jian Rong was about to pretend that he didn't see that when someone suddenly moved the computer mouse over to him.
Lu Boyuan's tone was casual. "Ban whoever you want to ban."
The barrage: "…???"
At first, Jian Rong didn't want to interfere with Lu Boyuan's stream, but after he stared at the other person's mouse for a few seconds, his hand still reached out and gripped it very honestly. He banned those dumbasses who kept calling him short from speaking.
[Even though you guys will encounter every team, I still want to ask, what team do you all want to play against first ah~]
They didn't even need to answer that. The barrage was instantly drowned out by the word "Squid."
Lu Boyuan didn't reply. He pulled up the official LoL Esports webpage and got ready to wait for the schedule's release before he looked over and asked Jian Rong, "For your very first match, what team do you want to play against?"
Jian Rong met his eyes for two seconds before he swiftly shifted his gaze away again. He said stiffly, "Want to play against the practice match champion team."
The others were all restraining their laughter, and countless "hahaha" and "666" also floated across the barrage. Only Ding-ge flew into a rage by himself off-camera.
Lu Boyuan also laughed. He pressed F5 one more time, and the page refreshed again, successfully revealing a new competition schedule.
He shifted his mouse, and before his teammates and the audience could react, he had already rapidly scrolled down the page.
Amidst the laughter and bantering, a familiar team icon and a large row of words entered everyone's vision—
[(Match #1) January 12, 17:00, Monday: TTC vs Squid]