Miao Yingying's Formidable Rival
The New Year's Day holiday, plus Saturday and Sunday, was a three-day break. The first day was fulfilling and enjoyable, but Liu Chang'an had some free time on the second day. He ate hot braised noodles with shark skin for breakfast and ostrich paws for lunch.
For lunch, we had ostrich paw soup, made with matsutake mushrooms. Ostrich paws are rich in collagen, and we made the soup to nourish Zhou Dongdong and Zhou Shuling.
In terms of collagen, there's not much difference between the collagen in ostrich feet and chicken feet, but ostrich feet taste better, with more meat and a more delicious flavor.
Shangguan Dandan doesn't need to supplement collagen, but she filled her thermos to the brim with ostrich soup... If anyone remembers how huge her thermos was, they'll know who the biggest eater is.
Fortunately, an ostrich's foot weighs several pounds, and the soup made from it is plentiful enough that the others won't go hungry. As usual, Zhou Dongdong only drank three bowls. Zhou Shuling, like a housewife from twenty or thirty years ago, only eats a little bit of any rare dishes herself, but is keen to let her family eat more. However, when Liu Chang'an slandered her for having wrinkles around her eyes, Zhou Shuling sullenly drank three bowls to replenish collagen for repair.
At the same time, Liu Chang'an told her that ostrich feet are now considered a common dish, and supermarkets often sell them, so Zhou Shuling wrote that down.
For dinner, we ate another ostrich foot. Liu Chang'an had excellent knife skills; he removed the large bone, sliced the rest, and made a stir-fry. The ostrich foot weighed several pounds, which was enough for everyone.
After finishing dinner, Liu Chang'an went out.
Gao Dewei returned on December 31st. A classmate came to Junsha for the New Year's holiday and came back with Gao Dewei, who was in charge of entertaining him.
On January 1st, Gao Dewei spent the day with his classmate at his home, and on the 2nd, he came to the city to visit his old classmate.
The same old classmates were there, but An Nuan couldn't come because she had to spend her grandfather's birthday with him. Lin Xinhuai was in charge of treating everyone today.
Lin Xinhuai's team is expected to start playing in the LPL professional league next year. A few days ago, they participated in the Demacia Cup. Although the team was eliminated, the performance of several players was commendable. The only reason for the loss was a lack of experience, and their growth potential was very impressive. In particular, Lin Xinhuai, as the jungler, helped the team gain a significant advantage by ganking all three lanes. If it weren't for the support's wrong timing initiation in the mid-game that squandered the advantage, Lin Xinhuai might have won an MVP in his first professional appearance.
Lin Xinhuai's team signed a contract with a live streaming platform to increase the income of the team members. Lin Xinhuai's RANK score has been ranked first for a long time and he is still in the top ten in the Korean server. Even when he was in bad form and had a losing streak, he never fell out of the top twenty and was always able to adjust quickly and climb back up. Youth is indeed courageous.
Lin Xinhuai's income is now quite good, especially compared to his classmates who don't have any income yet.
Actually, the richest person here is Liu Chang'an. Even though everyone knows he owns a restaurant, it's hard to shake off that preconceived notion in a short time. Moreover, he doesn't show any signs of being a nouveau riche. His social media posts don't feature trendy shoes or brands, nor do they contain any travel photos. He continues to live an ordinary life, just like he did in high school.
"Hello." Liu Chang'an arrived at the room Lin Xinhuai had booked at the e-sports hotel and knocked on the door. The person who opened the door was neither a classmate he knew nor the team leader who always accompanied Lin Xinhuai.
She looked somewhat familiar. Liu Chang'an remembered; he had sent Gao Dewei some food, and Gao Dewei had sent him a video in which a girl's face appeared—this was the girl.
At the time, An Nuan compared her to Miao Yingying, thinking that Miao Yingying was prettier, and that this girl had some inner double eyelids, etc. After Liu Chang'an expressed a different opinion, they finally reached a consensus: An Nuan was right.
"Liu Chang'an, right?" The girl's eyelids twitched as she glanced at Liu Chang'an, then she immediately smiled as if to say, "I knew you all along," and pointed at Liu Chang'an.
"Yes." Liu Chang'an nodded as well. He already knew that her double eyelids were created with tape, because she had inner double eyelids.
However, he wasn't a typical straight man like Gao Dewei, so of course he wouldn't compliment her on how well she applied the double eyelid tape.
"I'm Gao Dewei's college classmate. I'm here in Junsha. My name is Tao Peiyuan." Tao Peiyuan stepped aside and led Liu Chang'an in.
"Welcome to the hometown of a great man, have a great time." Liu Chang'an was very hospitable. Although Tao Peiyuan was having a good time, someone else was definitely not. But Liu Chang'an wouldn't meddle in other people's business. He wasn't the kind of person who would get excited at the smell of gossip like An Nuan and Bai Hui.
The rooms in the e-sports hotel, while featuring the same level of detail and design as international luxury brand hotels, were still quite spacious, making it a great place for young people to gather. Liu Chang'an walked in and saw Gao Dewei, Lin Xinhuai, the team leader of Lin Xinhuai's team, and Bai Hui. Miao Yingying was also there, which was a bit unexpected. In addition, there were two high school classmates, Zhao Chenchen and Lei Hong.
Zhao Chenchen and An Nuan had both received volleyball training from Liu Chang'an. This Lei Hong was quiet during high school, but unexpectedly, he had already won over Zhao Chenchen. The two were holding hands, clearly in the throes of a passionate romance... As a member of the beautiful volleyball team at Xiangtan University, Zhao Chenchen couldn't possibly be a beauty on the same level An Nuan, but her height and long legs were still quite eye-catching.
"Haha, you're here." Gao Dewei quickly stood up and gave him a bear hug. "I feel so much better seeing you. I don't know what's wrong with me today, I feel hot and cold all the time, and my whole body feels off."
Liu Chang'an glanced at the seating arrangement. Before Tao Peiyuan opened the door, Gao Dewei should have been sitting between Tao Peiyuan and Miao Yingying. Does that make sense?
"You've lost weight." Liu Chang'an touched Gao Dewei and was then embraced by Gao Dewei as they sat down on another sofa.
Liu Chang'an, Lin Xinhuai, and other classmates also greeted them.
Seeing Gao Dewei and Liu Chang'an sitting together, Bai Hui pulled Miao Yingying to sit on the other side.
That left only Tao Peiyuan sitting in her original spot.
Tao Peiyuan stood up gracefully and walked over to talk to Liu Chang'an, chatting about what she had learned about Liu Chang'an from Gao Dewei.
"This woman is difficult to deal with." Bai Hui was worried for Miao Yingying after seeing this.
"Yes." Miao Yingying nodded.
"It was just a reunion of old classmates, but she insisted on coming... We two slipped away, leaving her sitting there alone, to make her understand that forcing her way into someone else's circle would inevitably lead to isolation. Who knew she would immediately go after Liu Chang'an, the one who's easiest to talk to." Bai Hui's expression was serious. This Tao Peiyuan seemed to be just as cunning as An Nuan.
"She's been talking to Liu Chang'an the whole time, aren't you worried?" Miao Yingying was somewhat hoping that Tao Peiyuan would be interested in Liu Chang'an, feeling that this posed no threat to Bai Hui, since Liu Chang'an wouldn't like a girl like Tao Peiyuan who wasn't particularly outstanding in appearance or figure.
Gao Dewei is another story; Miao Yingying still hasn't figured out what kind of girl this fool likes.
"What does this have to do with me?" Bai Hui pinched Miao Yingying's arm. "Liu Chang'an... as long as you don't cause trouble, just chatting with him will automatically liven up the conversation. Look... just now Tao Peiyuan was trying to find topics, but now Liu Chang'an is rambling on about random things, and Tao Peiyuan has naturally blended into the conversation, and it even lets Gao Dewei's friends get to know her."
"I heard them talking about mathematical weapons and equipment, what the hell is that?" Miao Yingying asked, baffled.
"Now they're talking about games again. Gao Dewei said he often plays duos with Tao Peiyuan... My God! Miao Yingying, what do you usually do?" Bai Hui looked at Miao Yingying with exasperation. "He spends all his free time playing games with Gao Dewei, and what about you? What are you doing?"
"I don't like playing games, and besides, how would I know she played games?" Miao Yingying looked stunned, as if she had just found out. "She must have started playing games for Gao Dewei, pretending to like them so she could get closer to Gao Dewei!"
"Gao Dewei is clearly not the kind of person who particularly loves playing games, but even so, she still made preparations... Look at you... Sigh." Bai Hui sighed. This girl is particularly good at catering to people's interests. Miao Yingying, on the other hand, can be quite arrogant at times.
Miao Yingying stomped her foot in anger. She just didn't like playing games. The reason she came today was to guard against Tao Peiyuan. Another reason was to show that she and Lin Xinhuai could get along like ordinary friends and that there were no grudges between them.
After chatting for a while, Lin Xinhuai invited everyone to play a 4v4 game. There were five computers in the e-sports room, plus three gaming laptops that were temporarily rented from the hotel, making a total of eight computers.
"How should we group them?" Liu Chang'an asked Lin Xinhuai. "How about you take Miao Yingying and Bai Hui, plus Zhao Chenchen, one person leading three."
"Okay, that's fairer." Gao Dewei agreed with Liu Chang'an's suggestion as always.
"What kind of fairness is this? Bringing these three is worse than bringing three computers. This is bullying professional players." Lin Xinhuai refused without hesitation.
Miao Yingying playfully nudged Lin Xinhuai and laughed, "We're not even willing! Who wants to be in a group with you!"
"I'm in a group with Lin Xinhuai," the team leader said softly, her cheeks slightly flushed.
Miao Yingying couldn't help but turn to look at Bai Hui, her expression one of utter disbelief. Why were these women so unreserved? They were girls, after all! Couldn't they be a little more proud, a little more reserved, a little more demure? Tao Peiyuan was like that, and this team leader was the same.
"Think about An Nuan..." Bai Hui sighed softly. Wasn't An Nuan the same? These days, most boys who approach girls like lapdogs during the pursuit phase aren't very good. They know they don't have anything to attract the other person, so they can only rely on fawning. Take Liu Chang'an, Gao Dewei, and Lin Xinhuai, for example. Not to mention Liu Chang'an and Gao Dewei, Lin Xinhuai is also extremely outstanding in the e-sports field. They have plenty of girls pursuing them.
If Miao Yingying still refuses to lower her pride and reserve, and always acts as if she's just playing around with him but doesn't intend to pursue him, then they probably won't take the initiative as she wishes.
--
Please give Zhou Dongdong some hearts and star points, because the Empress Dowager drank all the soup.