Chapter 41

In the middle of the night, Gu Zixing had just finished showering and was sitting on the sofa drying his hair when he heard a knock on his door.

“Come in.”

He just spoke when Gu Zixing saw Qiao Yanzhou walk in with a deathly pale face.

“The color of this foundation isn’t bad.” Gu Zixing looked at Qiao Yanzhou before turning his head around again to continue wiping at his hair. “It’s very pale.”

“.......”

Qiao Yanzhou finally understood what it meant to be frightened until his face was white. Gu Zixing didn’t even take a second glance and could tell.

“Gu… God Gu.”

“En?”

“Lord Gu.”

“Speak.”

“Mistress Gu.”

“The midnight snacks were too salty for you.” Gu Zixing turned his body around, “What's wrong?”

Qiao Yanzhou smiled embarrassingly as he entered Gu Zixing’s room. “I saw that your place is so spacious…”

Gu Zixing suddenly had a bad premonition.

“Can you… let me sleep on the floor?”

“.....”

Gu Zixing threw his towel to the side. He looked at Qiao Yanzhou as Qiao Yanzhou also looked at him.

“Xiao Qiao.”

“Yes Lord Zhou Yu?”

“In the future if you play horror games and become too scared, you can come to my room at any time to sleep.”

As soon as he heard these words, Qiao Yanzhou felt that Gu Zixing was the most lovely person in the world. His entire body emitted a dazzling holy glow!

“But you have to compensate with your flesh.”

The holy light was extinguished.
____

Time went by quickly and soon it was Tuesday, the day EG was to fight against STG.

It was obviously the first time Qiao Yanzhou stood in a corner and personally saw the team members of EG wearing their team uniforms. After they finished putting things away, they all sat together in an EG vehicle to go to the stadium. As they were leaving the Org there were even specially arranged photographers to take pictures of the players. It was just some few random street shots that were later going to be crazily edited.

It was probably the EG officials who wanted to use it. Qiao Yanzhou saw these types of photos before on Weibo and other official networking platforms.

En, how to describe this feeling ne.

Kind of handsome, kind of cool, the type of boldness from going out to battle. In any case, it was pushing him, this small little streamer, more into the limelight.

Taking advantage of when Gu Zixing was carrying a backpack as he was leaving EG Headquarters, Qiao Yanzhou secretly took a photo of him. He even captured the photographer, crouching at the side to take a pic of Gu Zixing, in it.

Qiao Yanzhou also didn’t really care and sent it to Zhao Lingling on Wechat.

Zhao Lingling responded immediately: So Handsome!! Like the debut of a superstar!!!

Qiao Yanzhou also looked at the picture. In the background was the massive entrance of EG, the appearance of the glass was also very classy. Gu Zixing had a smile on his face with his head slightly lowered as he was walking out from the entrance. The most important part was that Qiao Yanzhou also managed to capture his two long legs in the picture. It was indeed very good looking.

After taking pictures, Qiao Yanzhou was thinking of going back to his room to finish the rest of his stream, but as a result when he turned around he was carried by Coach Chen onto the car.

According to Coach Chen, it was to let Qiao Yanzhou experience the atmosphere of a professional competition. But according to Qiao Yanzhou, he could still enter to experience the liveliness without buying a ticket.

Since Coach Chen already ordered it, Qiao Yanzhou had no reason to refuse. He obediently got onto the vehicle and eagerly walked towards Gu Zixing to sit down with him, only to find Gu Zixing had sprawled across the seat and had his eyes closed. It seems as though he was sleeping.

Qiao Yanzhou quietly walked over and cautiously sat down. It seems last night Gu Zixing didn’t rest well. He remembered this morning Gu Zixing kept talking about something. Qiao Yanzhou specially asked him if he affected his sleep last night by sleeping on the floor, but Gu Zixing said no.

“Why did you take my picture?” The moment Qiao Yanzhou sat down, he heard Gu Zixing say this.

“....” Qiao Yanzhou was astonished. “You weren’t sleeping? Scared me to death!”

Gu Zixing turned his body around and opened his eyes to stare at Qiao Yanzhou. Mouth carrying a cheerful tone, “If you're selling my pictures, don’t forget to split it 50-50 with me.”

“You still think you can sell this ugly picture?” Qiao Yanzhou’s mouth twitched, “Disgusting.”

Gu Zixing collided with Qiao Yanzhou and laughed. He didn’t continue to respond and turned back around to sleep again.

Although they were bickering, Qiao Yanzhou distinctly and clearly saw Gu Zixing’s bloodshot eyes. His complexion was also not good, it seems that last night he really didn’t get any rest.

Actually it wasn't until he lived together with Gu Zixing that Qiao Yanzhou discovered, although the life of a professional player looked grand, it was really not that easy.

Qiao Yanzhou paid special attention to Gu Zixing’s hand. The swelling was already a lot better than before, but to compete with this kind of hand was still a bit far-fetched. But seeing Coach Chen and the other team member’s attitude, this kind of situation was normal.

“Don’t forget to put on the ointment for your hands before going onstage.” Qiao Yanzhou quietly reminded.

“En.”

Gu Zixing grunted out and went to sleep.

_____

It took about 40 minutes from EG Headquarters to the stadium. After arriving at the destination and until everyone else got off, Qiao Yanzhou discovered that Gu Zixing continued to sleep. It was Coach Chen who finally shook him awake.

“Laoge, you ok? Face looks like you've swallowed fly shit.”

“Did Commander Gu get carsick again?”

Compared with Qi Chen, Fu Xiaohai was a bit more concerned.

After Gu Zixing gestured at them to indicate that it was fine, everyone walked together to the backstage area. After arriving at the lobby, Team Assistant Qin Xiangnan started the final pre competition confirmation.

“In the first round, bot lane is Tang Xuan and Yao Le, mid is Gu Zixing, jungler is Qi Chen, top lane is Fu Xiaohai. Shouldn't be a problem ba.”

“No problem.”

“If we win the first round, we’ll change the people. We talked about it before so it should be no problem ba.” Qin Xiangnan looked around and seeing no objections, continued to talk. “Second round, bot lane is Gu Zixing and Yao Le, mid is Gu Zixing’s sub Zhao Qin, top and jungle don’t change.”

“But…”

Originally everyone thought that they would just quickly pass this segment, but didn’t expect to suddenly hear an objection.

Everyone, one after another, turned their head around only to see a bewildered Qiao Yanzhou.

Qiao Yanzhou wasn’t even sure why he said the word “but”. It could be because his brain broke or because he forgot he was at the org, but the moment he heard that in the 2nd round Gu Zixing would go bot lane, he subconsciously thought about his hand. The mechanics for his right hand as a bot laner were too complex and high. What if Gu Zixing couldn’t bear it and injured his hand even more, then what?

But the moment he raised an objection, he really thought it was foolish. Gu Zixing didn’t even say anything ne, what was the point of him foolishly hopping up? Afraid that the other person wouldn’t acknowledge him?

Seeing that everyone was staring at him, Qiao Yanzhou just stared blankly, unsure of what to even say.

But Coach Chen understood what Qiao Yanzhou was thinking. He twisted his head to look at Gu Zixing who was sitting down.

“During the match, regardless of if you’re winning or losing, as long as you feel that you start to feel uncomfortable you can surrender.” Coach Chen looked at the 5 members of the team, “If the commander starts a surrender, the rest of you have to accept it. Even if you already pushed into the nexus, just surrender if needed, understand?”

“Yes.”

Regarding this, everyone didn’t really have an opinion. They didn’t object because of two main reasons. First off, it was because everyone understood that it was already a bit far-fetched for Gu Zixing to compete with his hand that easily. Second, it was because in their souls, they knew Gu Zixing would definitely not surrender just because of this, so Coach’s words were said for nothing.

From beginning to end Gu Zixing didn’t say anything. Until he got on stage, he still looked like he wasn’t awake.

_______

You couldn’t look down on the lineup for STG this year. There was already Captain Chu Tao, but for the other team members, the worst of them had still gotten a trophy internationally.

Qiao Yanzhou was backstage with his eyes glued to the screen. From when they sat down to their pick/ban phase, Qiao Yanzhou’s eyes never left the screen.

“I heard you like Commander Gu.”

Qiao Yanzhou was watching enthusiastically when Qin Xiangnan, who was also sitting on the side and watching, opened their mouth.

“En, I worshiped him for many years already.'' The excessively warm atmosphere made Qiao Yanzhou forget what it meant to be reserved.

“Commander Gu is really good at getting more fans, both men and women.” Qin Xiangnan laughed and turned around to look at the screen again. “There are many professional players who are all Gu Zixing’s fans ne.”

“Yes, I heard that too.” Qiao Yanzhou nodded his head.

“In our team, Yao Le switched from TR to EG because he worshiped Gu Zixing.”

“Really?” Qiao Yanzhou was shocked and turned to look at Qin Xiangnan.

“Yep, otherwise why would someone who was happily in mid lane come to play support for us.”

Qiao Yanzhou has actually heard about this before on the news, but he still wasn’t very convinced. But today, even EG’s team assistant said it, then it must be at least 80% true.

Qin Xiangnan nodded his head. “Afterward when Yao Le arrive, he and Commander Gu had a good relationship, almost like they were one person. At the time, there was a rumor within the team that they were together. You say, isn’t that pretty amazing?”

“????” As soon as this came out from Qin Xiangnan, Qiao Yanzhou’s attention which was originally still on the screen, was instantly distracted.

Together?

Frankly, Qiao Yanzhou was a bit stupid. Qiao Yanzhouw as not familiar with Yao Le, but from watching the interaction between Gu Zixing and Yao Le these past few days, he couldn’t determine if their relationship was normal or not. If someone were to tell him that Gu Zixing and Yao Le were having an affair, then he was more willing to believe that Gu Zixing and Coach Chen were a couple. But if you switched the thinking and you stood in Yao Le’s shoes, then the relationship between the two, it seems not that normal.

Yao Le’s attitude towards others was good but only towards Gu Zixing did he become icy cold. But when Gu Zixing’s hand was injured, besides him who happened to be sitting next to Gu Zixing at that time, the first person to jump up was Yao Le. Not to mention, the other day Gu Zixing said he broke up with someone…

Qiao Yanzhou suddenly felt that his gay radar was about to come out again.

Gu Zixing and Yao Le were together before? Qiao Yanzhou frowned. What is this feeling? It was a bit subtle.

He knew that Gu Zixing had a boyfriend before, this was not fake, but to recognize the boyfriend as that person, Qiao Yanzhou suddenly felt that he was a bit unable to accept it. Why? Qiao Yanzhou himself didn’t even know.

“Alright everyone! Let’s take a look at our beautiful Summoner’s Rift! In the first round is EG on blue side vs STG on the red side!”

In the middle of the tv, the host’s passionate speech forcefully dragged Qiao Yanzhou’s attention back to the game.

Qi Chen picked Sejuani which was a farming jungler. Qi Chen was one of the people in the alliance who played a lot of ganking junglers so it was a bit unexpected for him to pick Sejuani.

It’s actually called “herbivore” and “carnivore” jungles in Chinese. The idea is that the herbivore/farming jungler gets most of their money from farming the jungle, while the carnivore/ganking junglers rely on getting kills in order to get money.

The opposing jungler took Rek’Sai. Compared to Qi Chen’s Sejuani, Rek’Sai’s early game flexibility and damage was better.

“Support, ward.” At this moment Gu Zixing was playing the poisonous Cassiopeia and using his E ability pressure the enemy Syndra under tower. Syndra, who is stronger in laning phase, could not play to her full advantage because her cooldowns were longer than Cassiopeia.

“Go top, there's no need at mid anymore.”

Seeing Qi Chen finish his jungle camps and intending to go mid, Gu Zixing said with a lowered voice.

Top lane Fu Xiaohai with his Camille vs the enemy top lane Kennen were considered evenly matched champions. It depended on the jungler to help gank to determine who would have an advantage.

“Bot lane, put ward at golems.” Gu Zixing suddenly said, “Don’t farm the minions. You two go together.”

???

Don't need minions? What kind of tactic was this?

Tang Xuan didn’t entirely understand, but Yao Le was already walking towards the golems.

As they were walking towards the golems, for a split second they saw the enemy Rek’Sai counter jungling.

counter jungling: when you invade the enemy jungle to steal their monsters. It puts the enemy jungler in a bad spot, but is more risky because if you get noticed, its easier for the enemy to come kill you before you get any help from your team.

“Kill.”

Yao Le without hesitation used Exhaust on the jungler. Having been discovered, Rek’Sai was about to flash when Tang Xuan’s Tristana used W to jump in front of him and shot him twice. At the moment, Rek’Sai’s Fury bar was not yet full, so her bite attack did not do enough damage. In addition, Yao Le’s Zyra hurried over to make up for the missing damage from Tristana. Because it was their own jungle, Gu Zixing was able to come over and help rather quickly. By the time the enemy mid and bot lane duo came to help, Rek’Sai’s corpse was already laying there…

First Blood!

A wave of minions was exchanged for a kill without any blood lost.

“Awesome!” Qin Xiangnan was so excited he almost jumped up. “How did Commander Gu know that the enemy jungler was there! Awesome! Too amazing!”

“Experience, Commander Gu has been in the professional scene for a few years.” Gu Zixing’s substitute, Zhao Qin, spoke. “I’m a bit nervous. If they win this one then I’ll be onstage for the next one.”

Watching the replay of the first kill, Qiao Yanzhou was completely distracted.

Gu Zixing and Yao Le were together before….
****

JADE: Happy Lunar New Year everyone!