Chapter 16

During the second match of the Summer Competition, the team of YYg traveled far away to Guangzhou and, again, easily won by two to one.

This time, Zhou Tian wasn’t called onstage to be interviewed, but the duo who did get called on, did mention her.

Wang Ren first mentioned her when he was asked by the host about the status they had comparing this season’s competitions to the spring competitions. Wang Ren, with a wide smile on his face, said that he adapted to this version quickly, and that the Jungler was also very helpful because she gave a lot of useful directions.

“I mean, if you have specific directions, then you only need a pair of hands.”

Host: “……”

And then it was Yin Yuanxia. When he was asked for his thoughts about the excellent strategies they had during this competition, he directly repeated Zhou Tian’s sentence that was in the microphone recordings, “According to our Jungler, just put Xie ge on the bottom lane, and he would be fine even if he’s 1v2. So I used the time wisely to wander around and back others up.” 

Again, the host: “……” What is wrong with your team? Why is it that, one by one, you’re all getting off-topic?

Because of this getting off-topic action, they were even teased quite a bit by the fans who came up to shake their hands later, during the fans interaction activities.

The only awkward thing was that, except for Zhou Tian, everyone else received presents from their fans. There were horizontal posters, cute puppets, etc. The best present came from Xie Yi’s fan, who gave him a delicate handmade boarding pass with his photo on it. The destination printed on the pass read: S Competition.

TL’s Note: remember that if they win the Summer competition they get to go to the S Competition? It’s the best competition there is.

After receiving a gift like this, no matter how cold and aloof Xie Yi was, he had to show some appreciation. He softly thanked the fan, and the fan ended up running off stage blushing, even forgetting to shake hands with the rest of the team.

This scene relieved some awkwardness from when no one gave Zhou Tian any gifts, and it also gave the host a chance to think of some stress relieving jokes along the way, as the night ended.

Because the team booked an airplane for tomorrow afternoon, they didn’t have to rush back to the hotel after the match.

Wang Ren and Han Ziliang joked around, and asked if Zhou Tian could pay for a midnight meal as this was half hometown to her. As a result, Zhou Tian, without any hesitation, replied: “Alright, what do you guys want to eat?”

As they discussed, the group walked out from the backstage exit. When they were halfway out, someone’s phone suddenly started ringing.

It was midnight, and the default ring of phones echoed in the gigantic exit tunnel. The effect was actually a bit scary.

“Whose is it?”

“Not mine.”

“Not mine either.”

Zhou Tian: “……It’s probably mine!”

She said, then skipped while moving her backpack, so that it was in front of her. She zipped it open and found her incessantly vibrating phone.

Zhou Tian actually couldn’t think of anyone who would call her at such a time, so when she found her phone, she was ready to pick up someone from a real estate company, or someone who wanted to scam her.

But when she flipped open the case and looked at the screen, the name that showed up made her instinctively frown.

“What is it?” It was probably because her expression was too conspicuous, but the teammates beside her all noticed it.

“It’s nothing, just my family.” Zhou Tian squeezed her phone, bit her lips, then swiped across the screen to answer the call.

As soon as she answered it, a familiar and rushed voice flowed into her ears.

“Tian Tian,” It was her sister, Zhou Lian, who was five years older than her, “Father, mother, brother, and I just watched your competition.”

TL Note: Tian tian = nickname for Zhou Tian. I suppose it could be like, if your name is Sam, then your nickname could be Sammy.

Zhou Tian wanted to laugh: “Do they even understand?”

Zhou Lian, on the other side of the call, was speechless and went silent.

“They told you to call me, so they must have something that they want me to do.” Zhou Tian made her words clear and direct, “I know that it’s hard for you to be stuck in the middle, so why don’t you just tell me. What do they want?”

“Ah…You guessed everything.” Zhou Lian’s tone was extremely awkward, and the rest of her words were as if they were spit out unwillingly, “So… Mother and father said that they want our brother to go to high school in Guangzhou.”

Zhou Tian: “……”

She understood everything else and didn’t need Zhou Lian to say anything else.

“If they want him to go to high school in Guangzhou and can afford it, then it’s none of my business. They can do whatever they want.” Zhou Tian said, “And as to anything else, it’s also none of my business.”

“Tian Tian–”

“Sister, I thought I told you this more than once?” Zhou Tian was never this impatient, even when she met an AFK teammate in a rank game, “Why is it that we can’t even go to high school?”

She could see the exit of the tunnel, and the night’s wind was blowing in, making everyone’s clothes fly.

Zhou Tian was walking at the very end of the group, and continued to use the Chaozhou dialect, as she spoke on the phone. 

“Before, you advised me not to reason with our parents, and that our parents’ money belongs to them. If they don’t want to use it on us, then it’s no use, no matter how many tantrums we throw.” Zhou Tian said, “Let’s not argue if this logic is right or wrong right now, but if I stopped spending money from our parents right then, then they shouldn’t come asking for money right now, right?”

Zhou Lian sighed and said, I know what you mean, but…

“No ‘but’s,” Zhou Tian interrupted, “I’ve said everything that I need to say, and that’s it. I still have things to do.”

“…Okay.” It was probably because she had seen how strong and tough this sister could be over the past year, Zhou Lian, after sighing helplessly again, finally hung up.

After hearing the “beep beep” sound coming from the phone, Zhou Tian finally stepped out of the tunnel and completely fell into the darkness.

She took a deep breath, quickly caught up with the team, and got onto the bus.

Just like when they came, she sat in the corner of the last row.

When they all got seated, Yin Yuanxia casually asked if there was something wrong back at Zhou Tian’s hometown, because she sounded very upset.

Zhou Tian: “They just wanted trouble.”

If the rest of the team first felt like she was acting abnormal because she used a dialect that the others didn’t understand when she answering the call, then now, when they heard her reply, the answer became more obvious.

The entire bus was filled with silence, and the coach and her teammates instantly thought of her family condition that she mentioned casually before.

At last, it was the coach who broke the silence. He was always older than the rest of them, and always cared a lot about the mental and emotional status of the team.

The coach coughed and said, “Little Zhou, if you are having some trouble, our team can help you. Just tell us, we’re not outsiders.”

As soon as he spoke, others started speaking up too and saying similar things.

Zhou Tian suddenly felt very emotional with her teammates’ reactions. She rubbed her nose and said, “I’m fine, you guys don’t have to worry. Why don’t you think about midnight snacks? If you don’t provide an option, I will just decide.”

“You should decide,” The coach said, “You’re the only one who’s familiar with Guangdong in this team, and your choice will definitely be great.”

“Alright,” Zhou Tian nodded, “Let’s put our equipment away when we arrive at the hotel, and I’ll lead you guys there.”

The hotel wasn’t too far away from where the competition happened, and so the bus arrived at the hotel in about twenty minutes.

The group did what they planned on the way, and gathered in front of the hotel right after putting away important items such as their mouses and keyboards.

“Our group contains a bit more than ten people, how many cars should we call?” When Zhou Tian got out of the elevator, she heard Han Ziliang discussing their plans with the other members who were early.

She quickly ran over to stop them and waved her hand to signal that it would be unnecessary.

“It’s not far away from here! Just a few hundred meters, we can just walk over there.” She paused, “It’s just that the location is a bit hard to find, and usually, only locals would go over there. So it’s not that famous.”

The others were very curious because of her explanation, so they gathered up and left the hotel.

It was a Da Pai Dang that mainly worked on fish. It was hidden in a deep alley downtown, and definitely seemed like a place where normal visitors would never have found. But even so, it’s business was still very good.

TL’s Note: Da Pai Dang = open air food stalls/restaurants

“Oh no! There are so many people in line.” When they were still ten meters away from their destination, Wang Ren, who had the best eyesight in the group, exclaimed.

“It’s fine, I know the owner.” Zhou Tian said, “She was my landlord, so I just need to let her know that we are here.”

While the rest of them were still surprised at her relationship with the owner of the Da Pai Dang, she had already fastened her pace, stepped into the smoky air and spoke up with her Cantonese.

Compared to the complicated Chaozhou dialect, Cantonese was easier to understand.

At least, the rest of the YYg Team almost all managed to understand a bit.

Zhou Tian was saying that she managed to find a job and this time, she brought colleagues with her.

Just as she finished, the owner, who was killing fish herself, immediately let a waiter bring them to a table, and very generously sent them two bowls of fresh cold jelly with fish skin for free. 

“Wow, how did Little Zhou get so many privileges?” Yin Yuanxia exclaimed after trying the food, “Holy shit, guys, try this, it’s so delicious!”

“To be honest…” Zhou Tian turned her head to glance at the owner, then said in a lowered voice, “It’s not about my privileges, it’s how Sister Zhi sends free food whenever she sees handsome or pretty visitors. And it depends on her mood of what she sends.”

As soon as they heard her words, everyone’s eyes shot at Xie Yi, as if unanimously and silently proving something.

Xie Yi: “……”

“For real. If you don’t believe it, wait until she finishes with cutting those fish. You guys can watch as she tries to start a conversation with Further.” Zhou Tian told them.

“What will she say?” Seeing that they were in an extremely good atmosphere and the coach was there, the rest of them were no longer scared of Xie Yi. They wanted to gossip.

Zhou Tian looked upward as she tried to remember, then said, “She’ll first compliment Further appearance, then ask where he came from. Then, at last, she’ll probably ask if he has a girlfriend, and whether he needs her to introduce a few candidates.”

Xie Yi’s expression finally changed. It was very obvious that he didn’t want this kind of conversation, or these kinds of questions directed at him.

And the others were already dying from trying not to laugh.

Zhou Tian saw his expression, and could only cough and was ready to apologize for her “evil action”.

She didn’t even open her mouth before the enthusiastic owner came over with her dish of fish.

The huge plate dropped onto the table with a “pa” noise, and the owner opened her mouth with a wide smile.

This time, she spoke chinese but with a thick accent. She first asked Zhou Tian: “These are all your colleagues?”

TL Note: She says in a literal accent. Basically, think of what she just said, then compare it to a countryside accent to a city person’s accent. Something like that.

Zhou Tian could only nod.

“That person with a black shirt looks so handsome,” The owner said, “He also looks a bit familiar.”

“He… He is very famous.” Zhou Tian said honestly.

“Are you Shanghainese? Do you have a girlfriend? Do you need me to introduce a few–”

“Nope.” Nobody expected Xie Yi to directly interrupt her at this time, “I dropped out of high school, and I’m not qualified.”

Zhou Tian: “……?”

Wait a second, you can decline someone’s offer to get you a girlfriend, just like that? That’s definitely something new!

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Credits for this chapter: Kathrien, Sydney, & a bit of Dora