Chapter 10

The next day, Pei Ran was woken by a shaft of sunlight falling squarely on his eyelids.

He hadn't stayed up late in ages. After he shut down his computer last night, sleepiness had washed over him, and he'd fallen asleep soon after lying down, without even drawing the curtains properly.

Pei Ran instinctively raised a hand to shield his eyes and fumbled beside the bed for his phone to check the time. The moment he unlocked it, he froze.

His phone was still on last night's screen, displaying a line of large, bold text-

[Dear pr123, your order has been placed successfully! Click to view order details.]

Pei Ran's mind went blank for a moment. He opened the order and saw that he'd booked fifty hours of gaming companionship with "Zhunle."

Pei Ran: "..."

Sure enough, people were prone to impulse purchases late at night.

He switched to WeChat, which was still open to his conversation with Yan Zhun.

[Yan Zhun: Thank you, boss Pei.]

[Yan Zhun: Asleep? Good night.]

Pei Ran thought the gaming companion business didn't seem to be doing very well either. Even someone as good as Yan Zhun couldn't get bookings and had to try to retain a lousy player like him.

But after last night, he suddenly understood why so many people liked hiring gaming companions. If even Yan Zhun could say such nice things, the others must be even better at sweet-talking their customers.

[Pei Ran: I fell asleep...]

There was no response. Pei Ran checked the time. It wasn't ten yet; Yan Zhun probably wasn't awake.

He returned to the main WeChat screen and began looking through the messages he'd received that morning.

Pei Ran spotted Su Nian's name at once.

[Su Nian: You there?]

[Su Nian: Reply when you see this.]

Pei Ran unconsciously furrowed his brow. After hesitating for a few seconds, he still sent a polite reply.

[Pei Ran: Yeah.]

[Su Nian: You live in Mancheng, right?]

[Pei Ran: Yeah.]

[Su Nian: Want to go to Dali together the day after tomorrow? [Cat tilting its head]]

For a moment, Pei Ran didn't know how to respond.

Even Lin Kang knew he'd broken up with Luo Qingshan. There was no reason Su Nian wouldn't know.

[Su Nian: Where'd you go?]

[Su Nian: Oh, right, we made a little group chat. It's all people you know. I forgot to add you too, sorry. Should I add you now?]

[Pei Ran: No need. I'm not going to Dali either. Have fun.]

After sending that, Pei Ran got up to wash up. By the time he came back, WeChat notifications had filled his phone screen.

[Su Nian: Why?]

[Su Nian: Because you had a fight with Qingshan?]

[Su Nian: He told me everything last night. Don't be mad, Pei Ran. I was just drunk that night and mistook him for my ex. Besides, we only kissed a few times. We didn't do anything else.]

[Su Nian: Really.]

[Su Nian: If I upset you, I apologize. Don't fight because of me...]

Su Nian waited after sending the messages, but received no reply. He thought for a moment, then picked out a sticker of someone kneeling and begging for mercy and sent it over, only to receive a notification that he'd been blocked.

While Pei Ran ate breakfast, his knife and fork clinked together several times, repeatedly making noise.

The housekeeper looked at him worriedly and asked whether she'd overcooked the egg.

Pei Ran shook his head, speared the remaining egg, and finished it in one bite.

After the housekeeper left, Pei Ran carried the box he'd packed into the storage room.

Everything inside was a gift from Luo Qingshan. He wouldn't use any of it again.

Only after returning to his room did Pei Ran remember there were still some things he needed to clear out.

When Lin Kang's message arrived, Pei Ran was looking through his photo albums.

There was an album on Pei Ran's phone containing photos of him and Luo Qingshan. There weren't many-just over a dozen in three years.

Pei Ran wasn't in the habit of taking photos. Luo Qingshan had taken all of these and sent them to his phone one by one. Whenever Pei Ran changed phones, he always saved these photos to the new one first. He hadn't lost a single one.

There were pictures of them in their school uniforms, and one together outside the university gates. In the last one, he was asleep. Luo Qingshan had secretly photographed him, smiling into the shot himself.

Pei Ran took a deep breath. In the end, he deleted the intimate photos, leaving only the one of them outside the school gates.

Only after finishing did he switch back to listen to Lin Kang's voice message.

"Pei Ran, what are you doing? Got a minute?"

[Pei Ran: Yeah. What's up?]

"Oh, it's Su Nian. He asked me to find out whether you're angry, and why you deleted him without a word... What's going on with you two? I asked him, but he wouldn't tell me. He just asked me to pass that on."

Lin Kang was genuinely curious.

Pei Ran usually gave people a mild impression. He would never start a conversation, but whenever someone offered an opening, he would respond gently, neither cold nor enthusiastic. In short, he didn't seem to have much of a temper.

But who in this world truly had no temper? Pei Ran simply thought there was no need. There was no need to settle accounts with Luo Qingshan over his cheating; he couldn't untangle it all and didn't want to. Su Nian had even less right to demand his attention.

But though he didn't want to argue with anyone, they were falling over themselves to disgust him.

His eyes perfectly calm, Pei Ran typed.

[Pei Ran: Thanks for passing on one more reply for me.]

"What?"

[Pei Ran: Tell him to fuck off.]

Yan Zhun wasn't woken until the afternoon, by a phone call. He answered and held it to his ear without speaking.

The sounds of a mouse clicking and keys clacking kept coming from the other end. "You're still asleep?"

Recognizing the caller's voice, Yan Zhun said with his eyes closed, "Get to the point."

"Ah, fair enough. You did stay up playing until four last night." The young man clicked his tongue. "You practiced even later than me, and I'm a pro."

Yan Zhun said, "Lin Xuhuan, have you got nothing better to do? What's wrong with you, being snide at me this early in the morning?"

"Early in the morning? It's fucking two in the afternoon."

Yan Zhun opened his eyes and turned his head to check the time.

Just as Lin Xuhuan finished speaking, someone killed him with a headshot. He swore and promptly reported the enemy under four categories, then picked his phone back up. "I heard you've become a gaming companion. Hey, what were you thinking? You passed up being a pro in all its glory to fucking sell yourself as a gaming companion!"

Yan Zhun minimized the call screen to reply to his boss: Up so early?

"How'd you know?"

"The guy you ran into is a streamer under the platform our team signed with," Lin Xuhuan said. "He's pretty popular too. He recorded that match he queued into with you last night and posted it on a short-video app. It's only got two or three hundred thousand likes now... Man, why couldn't you have let me get that kind of free exposure?"

Yan Zhun said, "How was I supposed to know I'd run into him?"

"I've got to hand it to you, though. Whatever you do, you nail it. You've got all kinds of lines for sweet-talking your boss. Everyone in the Douyin comments is looking for your gaming companion ID." Lin Xuhuan leaned back in his chair. "All right, serious question. Did your family go bankrupt?"

Yan Zhun brushed at his messy fringe. "Sorry to disappoint. Not yet."

"Then why are you working as a gaming companion?" Lin Xuhuan was speechless. "I thought I could finally trick you into joining TZG."

Yan Zhun scoffed. He was about to say something when his phone suddenly vibrated several times.

[Pei Ran: Yeah. Are you up?]

[Pei Ran: I want to play.]

[Pei Ran: It's fine if you're not. I'll play by myself for a while.]

Lin Xuhuan said, "Oh, right, you're on break, aren't you? Come to our base. Someone on our second team took leave, so we're short a player. None of the youth trainees are really up to it. Come fill in for a custom scrim."

"No."

"Fuck, we'll pay you!" Lin Xuhuan gritted his teeth. "Three times your gaming companion rate... Wait, your rate isn't over two hundred an hour, is it?"

Yan Zhun got up. "No. Play by yourselves. I'm hanging up."

"Hey, let's talk a little more. What's the rush?"

"I'm in a rush. Got something to do."

"What?"

Pulling on his clothes, Yan Zhun drawled, "Attend to my boss."

"..."

Yan Zhun logged in with a piece of bread between his teeth. Seeing that Pei Ran was in a match, he checked his match history.

0 damage.

0 damage.

0 damage...

Pretty brutal.

Yan Zhun sent him a WeChat message telling him to wait for him after this match. Only then did he leisurely start reading his unread messages.

Yan Zhun didn't have many close friends. Because he'd once nearly entered professional esports, though, he had plenty of friends in the esports scene. They were all forwarding that short video to tease him.

Scrolling farther down, he came across a group chat he hadn't opened in a long time.

At the sight of a certain word, Yan Zhun frowned. He opened the group chat and scrolled up through two screens of messages.

[Lin Kang: @Su Nian, what exactly happened between you and Pei Ran? Why's he so angry?]

[Su Nian: No idea.]

[Su Nian: Maybe he just looks down on me.]

[Su Nian: Hasn't Pei Ran always been like this? Which of you can actually get close to him?]

[Su Nian: Rich young masters all have that sort of temper. He's out of our league.]

[Su Nian: @Everyone Dali trip, leaving the day after tomorrow! Message me now if you want to sign up!!]

[Su Nian: @Zhunle You coming, bro?]

Normally, Yan Zhun simply ignored messages like these.

He swallowed his bread, lowered his eyes, and typed without expression.

[Zhunle: We're not close. Don't call me bro.]

[Zhunle: Who added me? I've unfriended you. Don't drag people into these dumbass group chats again.]

Yan Zhun's hands were fast. While everyone in the group was still staring in shock, he'd already completed the sequence: insult them, delete Su Nian, leave the group.