“Has anyone seen Wu-ge?” Men Wu asked, pattering his way to his computer with a yawn.
“Sleeping in?” Xi Zhe guessed, “he left so quickly last night, he was probably tired. He’s been working the hardest out of all of us.”
“I just hope it’s not because of that idiot Jiang Yu,” Chang Hui huffed, “whenever anyone mentions him, he gets all mopey, like he needs to be stronger. Really, he should just get over the bastard if you ask me!”
“You know it’s not that simple,” Men Wu frowned, “he really didn’t say anything to you that day?”
Chang Hui shook his head, “the two of them were completely fine before the competition. Then all of a sudden, bam! Wu-ge sent him flying, and then they were going to town on each other, and me and Mo Song had to pull them apart.”
The room filled with a stifling silence.
“How long did it take for him to start practicing again?” Men Wu asked.
“Three months,” Chang Hui replied, “we’d already been ‘let go’, more like kicked out, ‘cause they said they weren’t planning on forming a secondary team. Just a load of bullshit to get the ones who knew the truth to sign an NDA if you ask me!”
“The truth?” Xi Zhe and Men Wu repeated at the same time. confused.
Chang Hui hesitated for a moment, “well, last year’s Candy Cone Cup—”
At that moment the door opened with a loud creak and Wu Biaoqing entered, rubbing his eyes as he wandered idly to his computer, “Good morning.”
“Wu-ge, it’s 2pm,” Xi Zhe informed him, staring at him suspiciously, “why are you up so late?”
“I don’t have a live stream today,” he replied nonchalantly, “I’ll keep training now.”
“Something’s up with you! You never stay up late!” Chang Hui exclaimed with a frown, “if you forgot to set your alarm, that’d be one thing, but you wake up at nine every day.”
“And,” Men Wu continued, “you were acting strange after dinner last night.”
Wu Biaoqing blinked at them a few times, willing his sleepiness to fade, “why does it feel like you’re staging an intervention?”
“Maybe we are,” Chang hui huffed, crossing his arms in a way that reminded him of a concerned mother.
“Seriously though,” Xi Zhe sat next to him, “are you sure everything’s okay? Between that solo match, and the Candy Cone announcement…”
“I’m fine,” Wu Biaoqing responded softly, “just tired. I stayed up late last night, nothing else.”
Xi Zhe hummed, “do you want to get some more sleep?”
The other shook his head, “Can’t. We don’t have much longer until the tournament.”
“Yeah, the tournament a month away is so close that you can’t even skip a day,” Chang Hui butted in sarcastically.
“It is close,” Isolation countered, “why else would Yan-jie start visiting every other day? We only have a few more weeks to train, and the other teams there are strong enough that we need to be prepared—”
“Aha!” Men Wu exclaimed, “There it is.”
Wu Biaoqing turned to look at him with a blank face, not understanding what he was sounding so triumphant over.
“Wu-ge, are you…” Xi inquired hesitantly, “worried about playing against ZD?”
“Huh?” Wu Biaoqing paused, more awake now, before it hit him, “You think I was up late because of that?”
“Not necessary,” Chang Hui exclaimed, digging his own grave, “we just thought that maybe you, uh, we’re thinking a bit too much about it. It’s not like one team or- or one person is going to be the end of the world! And anyway, we’re all in this together, so there’s no need to practice so hard and stress yourself out, haha.”
“…you guys keep going on about that,” Wu Biaoqing sighed, “I’m really not stressed. It’s been a year, I’ve moved on.”
The faces of the three idiots surrounding him clearly expressed that they didn’t believe his words at all.
And they were right, in a way, to not believe him—
Because even if it wasn’t actually the reason for his late morning, the fear was still there, lingering in the back of his mind like a tiny, nagging sensation that led him to be extra focused.
“Seriously, I was up late talking to someone, it’s not a big deal.” He assured them.
“Oh, that girl you wanted to talk to?” Chang Hui, easily distracted, immediately started egging him on for more gossip.
“Wu-ge is talking to a girl?” Xi Zhe asked, his tone making it sound more like he was asking if the sun was rising in the west.
“What girl?” Wu Biaoqing rolled his eyes, “I added Zheng Shun on WeChat.”
When he was met with a sea of even more confused teammates, he elaborated, “RedCamellia. The one who’s always sending gifts on my livestream.”
“So that was who you were talking about!” Men Wu gasped, feeling a bit embarrassed, “the whole time, I thought you were talking about a girl too.”
Chang Hui laughed, “I mean the way you described it, you sounded like you were interested in him!”
“Are you sure it’s safe to do that?” Xi Zhe asked, the only sensible one there as always, “you need to be careful.”
Wu Biaoqing nodded, “I will. I’m not a kid.”
“Only you would have so much turmoil about making a friend, Wu-ge,” Chang Hui teased, “you were acting like you were going to be married off.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“I’m not going to marry him!” He exclaimed loudly, making them all go silent as he slowly realized his outburst was a bit uncalled for, “I mean… I’m not marrying anyone.”
His teammates stared at his bright red ears and, thankfully, didn’t comment.
“Maybe we should all just skip practice today?” Men Wu suggested, changing the topic, “We’ve been stuck here too long.”
“Oh yeah, and suffer the wrath of Yan-jie’s lectures,” sighed Chang Hui, “but I guess some chicken soup for the soul beats another day of training!”
They all looked towards their captain, expecting him to be the voice of reason that shut down their plan, only for him to nod in agreement.
“It’s good to get out every once in a while,” he said, “and we’re not going to have time to leave closer to the competition.”
“You’re skipping?” Wu Biaoqing asked, in the same tone of voice as Xi Zhe previously, making them laugh, “I thought we have a schedule?”
“It’s okay take rest easy,” Xi Zhe shrugged, “and my mom’s birthday is next weekend, so I need to go shopping.”
“Ah,” Wu Biaoqing nodded, tactically not asking anything about their plans, “together then?”
“You do have a good eye for gifts.” The captain smiled.
—
In the end, the team was caught by Yan-jie, as was expected, and they followed her along like little ducklings when she agreed to take them to the high end shopping center Wu Biaoqing frequented.
“One of my sister’s flower shops is there,” he explained, “she’s been bugging me to visit her. I’ll ask if she can put together a bouquet for your mom?”
“Oh god, do you even know how much money hers costs?” Xi Zhe sighed, “My mom would think I’m crazy to spend so much on her.”
“Why would she think you’re crazy?” Wu Biaoqing frowned, “they start at 8,000 yuan, it’s not as if they’re expensive.”
Wu Biaoqing’s little buddies were dumbfounded—
Sometimes, one forgets the ability of an unaware rich guy, and this time his teammates were forced to carry the burden of their normal lives.
“Really, no one else can compare to you, Wu-ge.”
Tall, rich, and handsome Isolation only blinked at him innocently, “Hm?”
He sighed meaningfully, turning away from him to stare out of the car’s window.
It wasn’t long before the team made it to the shopping center, and they were surprised by how simultaneously low-key it seemed while also screaming high-end.
“Wu-ge, this is that kind of place you shop at?” Chang Hui openly gaped as the team based by a multitude of brand name stores, “I feel like I’ve gained experience points.”
However, isolation merely meandered through the space with practiced ease, “isn’t this the closest mall to our team dorms?”
Yan Shufen, who had graciously driven them out despite them living across the street from three different shopping locations, almost fainted.
“Wu-ge,” Men Wu hesitated, smiling awkwardly, “we can’t afford anything here.”
Wu Biaoqing paused, thought for a moment, and shrugged.
“That’s fine,” he replied simply, “I can.”
Men Wu watched, stunned, as Wu Biaoqing casually tossed over his black card.
“You don’t have to do this,” he sighed, “you’re sure you aren’t worried? Before, when you gave out your card…”
“I know,” his teammate cut him off, “I know why you’re worried, you saw how badly I wanted to make friends. But this is different.”
Wu Biaoqing smiled at Men Wu in a way that completely calmed the nervous feelings his childhood friend had been having since that morning.
He’d never seen Wu Biaoqing look so content, and he found himself grinning back without thinking.
“You all wanted to cheer me up, right? Shopping together is perfect.”
And when he said shopping together, he meant it.
By the time they managed to stop at one of the malls restaurants, they’d accumulated enough bags to fill almost an entire table!
It was in moments like these that his upbringing shined the brightest—
Getting pampered by three older sisters was one thing, but he also followed them around when they went out like a lost puppy, so naturally, he learned the art of “shopping until you dropped”.
Especially with a fashionista who was obsessed with fine jewelry, making up and up to trend clothing, being one to help raise him, his ability to both get the best things while also spending an astonishing amount of money could only be rivaled by Wu Chengxiao herself.
His teammates realized quickly that they were simply the sacrificial lambs forced to lug around the triumphs of his shopping spree, but by then, it was already too late.
They sat down, thoroughly exhausted, and waited like hawks to finally get some food after hours of walking, waiting, and inevitably being forced to pick things out or be measured for whatever their friend decided to buy them.
Other than Wu Biaoqing, only Yan Shufen managed to look any different than a starving mess, a permanently content smile on her face after spending time satisfying her shopaholic heart.
A day like that was simply a dream come true for someone like her, who normally hid her mildly embarrassing tendencies to get overly excited buying new things, only to be suddenly dragged around and have long conversations picking out clothing, makeup, and other fun accessories all while not having to think about the prices.
Of course, such an experience wouldn’t come without any fee.
“Can you take care of them?” Wu Biaoqing asked, gesturing toward the three exhausted idiots, “I want to surprise my sister before closing.”
Yan Shufen, who had already made up her mind to be Wu Biaoqing’s ally for life, nodded.
“Leave it to me!” She exclaimed, saluting jokingly, and Wu Biaoqing couldn’t help but chuckle slightly at her enthusiasm, as if he were a general entrusting her with an important mission.
So, sparing one last glance at the table of ducklings, he made his way a few doors down, stopping outside of a bigger, modern-looking shop with a multitude of beautiful floral display pieces in the window.
He took a deep breath, paused for a moment to straighten up his appearance, and pushed the door open.
The interior was also incredibly modern, not at all what one would expect when thinking of an average flower shop.
It was for the elite, after all, and such a shoo had to reflect the personal taste of the majority of its clientele, so they opted for a more sophisticated look, clean and proper with a multitude of cases displaying a range of different colors, sizes, and themes.
There was a single woman at the front desk, and she smiled warmly as she greeted him while simultaneously making it seem as though she had been working diligently, clearly not expecting someone to have walked in.
“Hello, may I help you with something?” She asked, tone polite to a point that felt a bit awkward.
“I’m here to see Wu Yanxiu,” he explained, “I didn’t inform her of my visit in advance, so I understand if it will take a while for her to come out.”
The front desk worker looked him up and down silently, not even bothering to conceal her judgment, but Wu Biaoqing simply stood there with no awareness.
“Who are you to her? We don’t take walk-in requests easily,” She explained, “you may want to call and schedule. We still have spots available roughly six months from now, but they’re almost gone.”
He nodded, “she’s always booked. Just tell her that her brother is here, I’m sure she’ll find a way to free up some time.”
The woman paused, eyed him suspiciously again, before relenting.
“Alright,” she nodded, “give me a moment.”
That moment turned into half an hour, but he’d expected such since he didn’t recognize her.
New hires were always a particularly sensitive bunch, and they tended to be more thorough before biting the bullet and mentioning things to higher ups, let alone the owner.
Not to mention, there would be a few people here and there who would enter demanding discounts and such, claiming to be related to her, so their concern wasn’t entirely unfounded.
However, the door to the back of the store opened with a light click, and a tall woman wearing light pink glasses walked out of it with a bright grin on her face.
“Xiao Qingqing!” She exclaimed, Wu Biaoqing bending down obediently so she could ruffle his hair, “why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”
“My team wanted to go shopping, so I thought I’d stop by,” He explained, “how was your vacation?”
“It was good, though Weimin was nervous the whole time,” she laughed, “really, I don’t know how the kids haven’t gotten spoiled to death!”
Wu Biaoqing smiled softly, “It’s good that you’re back.”
“Mn,” she nodded, “the shops can’t own themselves, after all! And I know my husband is a cry baby, so I doubt he would have lasted much longer so far away from everyone.”
The two of them laughed quietly together, before the shop was doused in a comfortable silence.
It was pleasant, familiar—
He was glad she was finally home.
“Anyway,” she continued, “will you be coming back home soon? Dad has been dropping hints like crazy that one of us needs to drag you to the next family dinner.”
“Oh, I guess I haven’t gone home in a while,” her brother noted, “I’ve been training extra.”
“That’s good,” she added, “but you do need to take breaks. After all— wait, is that a new jacket?”
Wu Biaoqing paused, confused for a moment, before realizing it was the jacket he’d borrowed from that handsome stranger.
He’d been so dazed in the morning after reading Zheng Shin’s flirtatious good morning messages that he’d simply thrown on the first jacket he could find.
“Something like that,” he shrugged.
“‘Something like that’?” His sister echoed, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you finally found yourself a boyfriend.”
This time, he didn’t laugh at her jokes—
Instead he stared at her, ears flushing bright red, and she gasped loudly, “Oh my god?!”
“Shh!” Wu Biaoqing averted his gaze, “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
She eyed him skeptically, “really?”
“But,” he paused for a moment, gathered his thoughts, ““If I- if I let myself be pursued, would that be… alright?”
His sister gaped at him, “You’re being pursued?”
“Mn,” he nodded, “I agreed to let him pursue me. I know you won’t tell mom and dad, so you’re the only one I can talk to about it.”
“Qingqing, that’s amazing!” She hesitated, almost hugging him out of excitement, and Wu Biaoqing hugged her instead.
“I hope it goes well. You deserve to be happy.” She said, hugging her brother tightly.
“Uhm, Jie, I can’t breathe—”
“Ah! Sorry!”
Her usually blank-faced brother smiled at her, “It’s alright. You’re just excited, right?”
“Of course I’m excited! We’re all so worried about you, but you somehow manage to bounce back every time. You’re the most deserving out of any of us, when it comes to living a happy life, and you’re really,” she paused, staring at the man in front of her.
He was taller than her now, with a soft face that he’d grown into over the years, and he stood with an air around him much more comfortable than what she remembered.
He was no longer the young boy who cried in her arms, begging to quit school, or the heart broken youth who shut himself in his for three months the year before.
He was really…
“All grown up now!” She wailed, bursting into tears.
“J-jie?” Wu Biaoqing stuttered, hurrying to comfort her.
“I’m sorry,” she wiped away her tears, but a few lingered as she smiled up at him, “I just realized how much you’ve changed.”
Her brother hummed, looking out of the window at his team, who were making their way over.
Men Wu and Xi Zhe were arguing over who had to carry more bags, Yan Shufen standing between them trying to meditate, and Chang Hui laughing at their misery.
He felt a sense of calm wash over him, feeling fully at ease for the first time since the Candy Cone Cup announcement.
He turned back to her and laughed, “I think I have.”
—
As the team made their way out of the shopping center, Wu Biaoqing saw a familiar figure in the corner of his eye.
“Wait a second,” he said to Men Wu, who was looking at him with noticeable confusion, “I’ll be right back.”
Slowly, he made his way to a restaurant, watching a familiar face sit down.
Originally he thought he must’ve seen wrong, but upon closer inspection, it really was the gorgeous guy who’s jacket he borrowed—
Talk about a coincidence!
He waited for a minute, watched as the attractive man, who was wearing considerably more formal attire, stepped away to take a call, and slowly made his way over to the empty table.
“He won’t think I’m a stalker or something, will he?” Wu Biaoqing wondered nervously, before sighing and draping the jacket over the gorgeous guy’s chair.
He made his way back to the team, who were still waiting by the entrance, and it only dawned on him when they’d made it back to Yan Shufen’s car…
He’d forgotten to ask for the guy’s name.
Again.
The author has something to say
I apologize if there are any extra grammatical errors or formatting mistakes. It’s currently 3AM as I’m writing this, and I’m stuck in my hotel room with a cold… oh the joys of vacation. Apologies for the late update, I don’t have a charger so I’m fighting with 12% to get this out ;; It’s slightly longer than normal so I hope you enjoyed. Here’s a little bonus snippet:
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Shopping was just so… boring, though, as he’d never been the type of person to spend long hours outside of home.
As he got to his table, he realized with a bit of surprise that a jacket had been left on his chair.
Not just any jacket, though, was that…
No.
No way.
But it was, it really was his jacket, and Zheng Shun found himself laughing at the irony of the situation, at how they’d managed to be in the same place twice and yet he still hadn’t gotten the chance to explain who he was.
He really wanted to look around for that cute little gamer, but he couldn’t abandon his date, no matter how much he didn’t want to be there.
Well, there was still time, and he still had plenty of flirting to do.
With that thought in mind, the boring blind date passed much more smoothly than usual.
Wait, so he didn’t know Zheng Shun’s name? But in the earlier paragraphs above he said ‘I just added Zheng Shun’s WeChat.’ OvO?
But so far so good~ can’t wait for more flirting between these two cuties uwu
So far, Wu Biaoqing (thinks he) hasn’t seen what RedCamillia looks like. To him, the attractive stranger & Zheng Shun are two different people (/ω＼)
He doesn’t know that the handsome jacket-lending stranger and red camellia are the same person. He knows Zheng Shun is red camellia’s real name.
I can’t wait for him to find out that those two are the same person!
https://youtu.be/v-87vtFhCqI (⁎⁍̴̛ᴗ⁍̴̛⁎)
Excited for another chapter!!! Haven’t felt like this in a while
Ahh I’m honored (///▽///)