Second Brother Had Chosen a Dead End!

[If I remembered correctly, this club of Second Brother's had been a coming-of-age gift from Eldest Brother.]

[The club hadn't lost money these past few years, but it hadn't made much either.]

[If Eldest Brother hadn't gone easy on him, Second Brother's club would probably have been cut by Yan Corporation's investment planning department long ago!]

Having been so poor in his previous life that he had nearly had to sell blood to survive, Yan Xianjue thought rather viciously:

[Once Second Brother can't secure any sponsorships, he'll know to kneel on the floor, hug Eldest Brother's thigh, and call him Sugar Daddy.]

Yan Yi'an: "..."

That was unnecessary. Totally unnecessary. He hadn't committed such a grave offense.

He was starting to lose track of whether Yan Xianjue was punishing Yan Ci or punishing him.

However, Father Yan's eyes lit up, and he exchanged a glance with Mother Yan.

They both revealed delighted expressions.

Their little fool's idea was actually quite good.

*

Father Yan said sternly to Yan Ci, "Your eldest brother entered Yan Corporation as an intern at twenty and started as middle management at one of its subsidiaries."

"Now you're twenty too." Father Yan paused. "You'll start by running your esports team's club."

Only after Yan Xianjue said that did he recall that Yan Ci's team was also under Yan Corporation.

"The esports industry has developed well in recent years, but the reports the club submits to the board every year aren't very pretty."

Yan Ci's eyes widened in disbelief. "Dad, you actually believe him?"

He meant Yan Xianjue.

Yan Xianjue, however, thought that pronoun referred to Eldest Brother.

Speechless, he complained inwardly:

[No way, no way. Does Second Brother think Eldest Brother would falsify the reports?]

Yan Ci gritted his back teeth and forced out a low roar at Yan Xianjue, "Shut your fucking mouth!"

Yan Xianjue stared at him in shock.

He had no idea how he had provoked this powder keg.

[Is Second Brother really this easy to ignite?]

He didn't care whether Second Brother had been provoked.

The moment he opened his mouth, he started calling for his mother.

"Mom!"

He said in heartbreakingly aggrieved tones, "Second Brother wronged me! I didn't say anything at all!"

"Second Brother just thinks I'm the softest persimmon in this family, easy to bully!"

Father Yan and Mother Yan: No, child, you were clearly a cactus covered in thorns!

But Yan Xianjue's suggestion tempted them greatly.

Father Yan and Mother Yan expertly took Yan Xianjue's side without the slightest guilt.

Since Yan Ci thought they favored him, they would show him what favoritism looked like.

*

Yan Ci's authority in his club was even more absolute than Yan Yi'an's in Yan Corporation.

He didn't run esports as a business.

His club was known as the last pure land in the esports scene.

His players didn't need to waste training time cooperating with sponsors on all sorts of commercial promotions.

Yet whether it was the training base, dormitories, or equipment, everything was top-notch.

Even though Yan Ci, the team owner, was famously terrible at management within the esports world.

So what?

Behind Yan Ci stood the Yan Household, whose influence was at its peak throughout Shenzhen.

And he had Yan Yi'an, an eldest brother who was young but shrewd and seasoned, helping him keep watch from behind the scenes.

Who could possibly cheat him? He didn't even need to seek investment.

Countless people eager to establish ties with the Yan Household would rush to offer him funding.

Naturally, a team with such conditions was the place every player who truly wanted to compete in esports flocked to.

*

After tattling, Yan Xianjue happily sprawled back on the sofa, idly playing with a phone whose screen he hadn't even turned on.

He quickly analyzed the situation in his head:

[If Dad has Second Brother manage the club first, he probably won't enter Yan Corporation.]

[This is wonderful!]

[Even if Second Brother entered the company, he'd only work in reverse. He should just settle down.]

[Eldest Brother diligently works and earns money for me to spend. How could Second Brother possibly dislike a life this heavenly?]

Yan Xianjue simply couldn't understand it.

[Second Brother is narrowing his own path!]

[But this only treats the symptoms, not the root cause. Second Brother's knot must be untangled, or his one-track mind will be far too easy to brainwash.]

[Even a drug addict among his team's new players can talk Second Brother around in circles.]

[As expected, this is what happens when you never go to college!]

*

Yan Yi'an couldn't hold it in and tried hard to suppress the corners of his mouth.

He covered his mouth with a fist and coughed lightly. "Yan Ci, you entered the Esports Youth Training Camp at sixteen. After that, you devoted yourself entirely to esports. You were the one who decided not to attend college, and the family agreed."

"I now think college is still a necessary step. What do you think?"

Before Yan Ci could speak, Mother Yan immediately nodded. "Xian Jue still has half a semester before the Gaokao. Yan Ci can go together with Xian Jue."

Father Yan immediately picked up where his wife left off. "Since you're interested in entering the company, why not study something related to business management?"

Yan Ci looked in disbelief at his family, who had made the decision for him back and forth without caring in the slightest whether he lived or died.

"Dad, Mom, esports will join the Olympic Games for the first time next year. Every match an esports player competes in this year could determine whether they get selected for the national team!"

"Didn't you say before that you hoped this family could produce an Olympic champion?"

The Olympic Games were held once every four years, while an esports player's career was brief.

This might very well be his only chance, and just because Yan Xianjue had spouted a few nonsense thoughts in his head.

They were going to make him retire?!

Yan Xianjue rested his chin on one hand.

[Good idea. As expected, the old are wiser.]

[Anyway, Second Brother's team will be banned from competition for a full year soon. As for the Olympics, Second Brother can only dream about them at home.]

*

"Impossible!"

Yan Ci's abrupt retort startled Yan Xianjue.

[Why is Second Brother always jumping out of his skin?]

Yan Xianjue suddenly thought of an unpleasant possibility.

Based on his eighteen years of experience living with Yan Ci, Yan Ci might be simple-minded and impulsive, but he was definitely not stupid.

Yet when he read the novel, Yan Ci's character had seemed as though his intelligence had been reduced.

[Could it be that Second Brother wasn't brainwashed, but hypnotized?]

Yan Ci's face darkened. Yan Xianjue was getting more and more outrageous.

He stubbornly dragged the topic back from a hundred thousand miles away. "What I'm talking about today is Eldest Brother! I heard Eldest Brother used Yan Corporation to cover his own company's losses!"

Only then did Yan Xianjue understand the source of Second Brother's performance today.

[That was something Second Brother's new player told him, right?]

[But Second Brother believed it just like that? Isn't that too stupid?]

[Didn't he consider how a professional player like his teammate could possibly have the ability to know news like this?]

Yan Yi'an narrowed his eyes. He knew Yan Ci's team had recruited new players to strengthen the roster.

The club management had completed the full background-check process.

But what Yan Xianjue was implying was that there was something wrong with this newcomer?

*

Yan Ci's heart tightened. He had indeed heard about this from the new player on his team.

But it didn't entirely count as that.

Yan Ci's expression was too obvious. Everyone in the living room saw it clearly.

Yan Xianjue recalled the plot.

[Right!]

Yan Xianjue suddenly raised his voice, making Mother Yan unable to resist covering one ear.

She felt as though she had tinnitus. How could a voice in one's head raise its volume?

[I remember now! This new player is a drug addict, and he has a stepbrother!]

[That stepbrother is the male lead's assistant. The brothers took money to do a job and arranged for him to join the team specifically to drive a wedge between Eldest Brother and Second Brother.]

[I wonder what the new player looks like? Supposedly, he has the kind of face that's really convincing.]

[He looks upright and refined, but behind the scenes he's a parasite living off his stepbrother.]

[In the team, he portrays himself as a pitiful little victim oppressed by his stepbrother.]

[Then, when he gets "accidentally" drunk, he tells Yan Ci—who wasn't even close to him—that his stepbrother is insatiably greedy and wants to drive him out of the house.]

[Having a secret rapidly closes the distance between two people.]

[Yesterday, he suddenly told Second Brother that he had heard some news from his stepbrother about the president of Yan Corporation.]

[Second Brother stupidly believed him.]

[Tsk, tsk. But he doesn't get a good ending either.]

[It seems that on the day after he first represents the team in an official match, he gets reported under his real name for using drugs.]

[The novel even specifically says at the end that the person who reported him under their real name was his stepbrother.]

[Looks like there's plenty of dirty business between those brothers too.]

[No wonder he's a tactician. His heart is filthy.]

*

Father Yan and Mother Yan nodded along. Exactly, that heart was far too filthy.

[Right, to get paid from both sides, this new player also acts as a spy for the neighboring team.]

[Most of Second Brother's team data has already been sold off!]

With a bang.

Yan Ci couldn't catch his breath and fainted from holding it in!

Father Yan and Yan Yi'an hurriedly helped him onto the sofa.

Mother Yan called the family doctor.

[How did Second Brother talk himself into fainting? His health is way too poor.]

[No wonder he gets angered to death in a hospital bed in the end.]