Chapter 19

It was already late at night when Pei Ran finished his homework. He got up and washed his coffee cup, then casually checked Weibo before bed.

He hadn't logged into Weibo in a long time. There were hundreds of unread private messages, many of them asking about commissions.

Pei Ran had taken a few commercial commissions in high school. He liked trying different things, and had experienced how demanding clients could be back then. After those commissions, his follower count had risen to sixty thousand, but he hadn't taken any more since starting university.

He skimmed his messages and was about to post a statement saying he wasn't taking commissions when the preview of one message caught his eye.

[TZG is the best: Are you taking private commissions? I'd like a drawing of Lin Xuhuan...]

It was a fan of Lin Xuhuan's. They had sent several photos of Lin Xuhuan playing games before the message. His hair was very short, and the pictures looked old.

[Fei Yu Yi: Do you have any requirements?]

The reply came instantly.

[TZG is the best: !!! Aaaaaah!]

[TZG is the best: No requirements! None!! Just... roughly how much would it cost QAQ...]

[Fei Yu Yi: How much do you usually pay?]

[TZG is the best: My last commission was 800...]

[TZG is the best: Ahhh, I don't mean I'm asking you to draw it for 800! I know your art is expensive! It's just, I'm a student QAQ, and I really can't afford too high a price. Please name your price. If I can afford it, I'll commission you, and if not, I'll just quietly stay your little fan. I really, really love your art!]

Pei Ran's art was indeed expensive. His last commercial commission had paid over ten thousand.

Pei Ran pressed and held the images, saving the photos of Lin Xuhuan to his phone.

[Fei Yu Yi: Thank you. Eight hundred, then. Could you give me your email?]

After noting down their email, Pei Ran closed his messages, posted on Weibo that he wasn't accepting commissions, then turned off his phone and went to sleep.

The next time Lin Xuhuan called, it was the weekend.

"Ran Baby, your computer's fixed," Lin Xuhuan said. "When are you free to pick it up? Or should I have someone deliver it?"

"I'll pick it up myself." Pei Ran took out a pen and paper, holding the phone between his shoulder and ear. "Could you give me the address? Or leave it at the security office?"

"No, come straight to the base. You can hang out with me while you're here." It was a little noisy on the other end, and Lin Xuhuan sounded hurried. "All right, that's settled. I'm going to order takeout. I'll send you the address on WeChat."

By the time Pei Ran finished breakfast, Lin Xuhuan still hadn't sent the address.

Had he gotten busy training and forgotten?

Pei Ran thought for a moment. Just as he was about to open WeChat and leave him a message, a voice message arrived.

"Ran Baby, hang on. My bro's coming to pick you up in a bit."

The instant the voice message ended, a WeChat call from Yan Zhun came in.

It took Pei Ran two taps to answer.

"Had breakfast?" Yan Zhun sounded a little hoarse, as though he'd just woken up.

"Yes," Pei Ran said. "You?"

Yan Zhun said, "I'll eat when we get there. Got anything on this morning?"

"No, it's the weekend. I'm free all day." Pei Ran checked the time. "Why don't you sleep a little longer?"

A short honk sounded from the street. Yan Zhun said, "I'm almost at your campus gate. Come out when you're ready."

After hanging up, Yan Zhun slipped one hand into his pocket and lowered his eyes to continue reading the WeChat group chat.

TZG's active players were all boys in their teens or twenties, talkative and rowdy. Whenever they weren't training, the group easily racked up 99+ messages.

Today's topic was Pei Ran.

That brat Lin Xuhuan had found out about his twenty-yuan gaming companion gig, and within two hours of returning to the base, everyone knew.

[Your Assaulter daddy: @Yan Zhun I'll pay fifty. I want your fully kitted M4 too.]

[Your sniper god daddy: @Yan Zhun I'll pay eighty. You don't even have to do anything, just be my target and let me kill you for a few rounds.]

[One shot straight to a girl's heart: @Your Lin Xuhuan daddy Are you sure his boss isn't a pretty girl?]

[Your Lin Xuhuan daddy: Not a pretty girl. A pretty boy.]

Yan Zhun gave a cold scoff and typed.

[Yan Zhun: @TZG coach Yong-ge Their cigarettes are hidden in the vase in the first-floor lobby. Go confiscate them.]

[TZG coach Yong-ge: .]

Question marks instantly flooded the group.

[Your Lin Xuhuan daddy: Bro? I trusted you so much? And this is how you treat me? Bro???]

[Yan Zhun: Know what day it is?]

[Your Lin Xuhuan daddy: ?]

[Yan Zhun: TZG base's annual no-smoking day]

[Your Lin Xuhuan daddy: How the fuck have I never heard of this holiday!]

[Yan Zhun: Just established today]

[Your Lin Xuhuan daddy: ...]

Yan Zhun pocketed his phone. The moment he looked up, he saw Pei Ran.

Pei Ran had hurried over. The campus gate was some distance from the dorms, and he was slightly out of breath. "Have you been waiting long?"

"Just got here." Yan Zhun turned around. "Let's go. It's not far."

Pei Ran followed him. After two steps, he took something from his pocket and handed it to Yan Zhun.

"I didn't know if they had milk at the base," Pei Ran said, "so I brought a cup. You can have it with breakfast."

After a bout of commotion, everyone at the TZG base was now gathered in the living room eating breakfast.

The front door opened. Everyone looked up together and saw Yan Zhun strolling in, his face as indifferent as ever, an unopened cup of milk in his hand.

Another boy followed behind Yan Zhun, wearing a white T-shirt and a gentle expression. He nodded at them. "Sorry to intrude."

"Fuck." The assault player sitting on the right-hand side of the couch came to his senses and said, quietly enough that only the few of them could hear, "He really is a pretty boy."

"Ran Baby!" Lin Xuhuan immediately waved him over. "Come have breakfast!"

"I've eaten," Pei Ran quickly said.

Lin Xuhuan gave an "oh." "Then sit and wait a bit? I'll get your computer after I finish eating."

As one of the esports world's aristocratic teams, TZG had a very luxurious base. The living room couch was big and comfortable, and the players liked using the couch area as their dining table.

The individual armchairs on either side were occupied. Yan Zhun walked over to Lin Xuhuan. "Move over."

Lin Xuhuan made some room. Yan Zhun sat down, lifted his eyes to meet Pei Ran's, then indicated the empty spot beside him.

Pei Ran slowly sat down, keeping his hands and feet neatly in place without speaking.

The man sitting on the left picked up his glass of water and raised it toward Yan Zhun in a toast. "I just confiscated four packs of cigarettes and fined them twenty thousand. I'll transfer your informant reward in a bit."

"Like I care." Yan Zhun gave a faint smile. "Save it. I've got nothing to clink with you."

"Didn't you bring a bottle of milk?" The coach frowned in puzzlement. "What's gotten into you today? Don't you hate drinking that stuff?"

Pei Ran, his back against the couch, froze for a moment at that.

Yan Zhun pierced the milk's seal with his straw and clinked it against the glass. "Yeah. They say it's good for the stomach."

Pei Ran: "..."

He noticed that Yan Zhun was very relaxed here, and talked more too.

Yan Zhun seemed close to everyone on the team. All the players called him bro, and occasionally took a jab at him as they chatted. Yan Zhun let them.

"So this is my bro's legendary boss?"

Suddenly addressed, Pei Ran instinctively sat straight. "No, I'm not his boss. We go to the same university."

The player nodded and pointed at Yan Zhun. "You're not the one who gave him that weird buff?"

"I am," Pei Ran said.

Another asked, "You're not the one he toured every little house in the wilderness with?"

"I am," Pei Ran said.

"You're not the one who made him blow himself up with you?"

Pei Ran said, "...I am."

Someone suddenly stood and held a hand out toward Pei Ran. "Boss, boss, shake my hand... If I may ask, how many hours did you buy from him? Got any time left? I'll buy it back at five times the price. How about it, boss?"

Before his hand reached Pei Ran, Yan Zhun slapped it away. "Get lost."

The guy grinned. "Ran Baby, let's discuss the details on WeChat. I'll use Lin Xuhuan's account to message you tonight."

"No way. I need to interact with my female fans tonight." Lin Xuhuan paused. "Of course, if you pay me a little rental fee..."

"Sure, I'll expose your Weibo alt right now and let everyone see how a world champion spends every day chasing female idols on his alt."

"Motherfucker... Then I'll expose that your phone wallpaper is a female streamer!"

They traded barbs until it escalated into a challenge to a tile-matching duel.

"Let's go! Get over here!" Lin Xuhuan bristled. "If I don't smash your head in, you won't know what Constellation Match is!"

"Who's scared of you? Let's make this clear first: best of five. Loser posts an ugly photo on Weibo!"

The training room was on the first floor, surrounded by clear glass. Only when they began their first heated round of tile matching did Pei Ran remember he'd forgotten to ask Lin Xuhuan for his computer.

The other players slowly returned to their seats as well. Just then, the coach stood up. "Yan Zhun, come upstairs with me. We need to discuss something."

The coach looked serious. It was clearly a private matter.

"Can't we talk here?" Yan Zhun asked.

"No," the coach said flatly.

Pei Ran was just about to tell Yan Zhun not to worry about him when Yan Zhun got up from the couch.

"Go find Lin Xuhuan in the training room. Have him set you up on a computer to play for now." With Pei Ran's head within easy reach, Yan Zhun naturally lifted a hand and stroked it, then quickly moved his hand away. "Wait for me to come down."

When Pei Ran entered the training room, Constellation Match player Lin Xuhuan had just lost a round.

"Fuck. Again." Spotting Pei Ran out of the corner of his eye, Lin Xuhuan pulled a chair beside him. "Ran Baby, come sit and watch me destroy him."

Pei Ran sat down as told.

Lin Xuhuan wasn't as fast at clearing tiles as his opponent, but he certainly was loud. Pei Ran silently watched them play, then finally couldn't help raising a hand to rub his ear.

Yan Zhun's casual movement earlier had brushed the rim of his ear. His fingertips had been warm.

The tile-matching showdown ended in the third round. Lin Xuhuan lost three straight.

"Constellation Match, my ass. Embarrassing." The assault player smirked mockingly. "Hurry up and post your ugly photo."

Lin Xuhuan was furious, but accepted his loss. He picked up his phone. "Fine, I'll post it. Wait till I take one..."

He pressed his phone twice, but the screen didn't light up. The battery was dead.

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Once the coach comes down, it'll be time for scrims. I bet you're just stalling so you can post it late at night when everyone's asleep."

"Stalling, my ass! I'm logged into WeChat and Weibo on the computer. Just you wait." Lin Xuhuan rolled his eyes at him, then said, "Ran Baby, take a picture of me with your phone and send it to my WeChat. Mine won't turn on for a while."

Pei Ran opened his camera. Lin Xuhuan expertly pulled a funny face. "Take a few more so I can choose."

"Okay," Pei Ran said.

After taking the photos, Pei Ran handed his phone to Lin Xuhuan to choose. Then he heard movement behind him as two people came down the stairs.

The coach was still saying something to Yan Zhun, too indistinct to make out. Pei Ran turned to look. Yan Zhun's lips were lightly pressed together, and he said nothing.

Just then, Lin Xuhuan's hand moved too fast, and he accidentally swiped one photo too far.

Only as they neared the lounge did Yan Zhun finally speak. "I'm not considering it for now. Later..."

"Holy shit!!!"

Lin Xuhuan suddenly shouted, cutting Yan Zhun off.

Everyone instinctively looked at him.

Lin Xuhuan blinked, excitedly lifting Pei Ran's phone and turning the screen toward him, both shocked and delighted. "Ran Baby! You've saved so many pictures of me!!! Are you my fan? Why didn't you say so before? Even I can't find pictures this old anymore, and you actually have them... Have you liked me for a long time?!"

Yan Zhun, who had just entered the training room, stopped in his tracks.