translator: Oyen editor: Ciel
Sky was originally ranked fourth on the leaderboards, with Mojue in fifth. As a result, because of their 0:2 defeat to Mojue, four points were deducted from their score. The team behind them also won four points in this week’s game, causing Sky to drop to sixth place in one go.
At present, the top six teams were all backed by powerful clubs—— Dynasty team was backed by the Huaxia club, while Without Fire and Frost Moon were the teams of Bronze Sparrow and Seven Star Grass clubs respectively. Behind Mojue was the Dragon Song club, while National Grace was backed by the National Grace club, and Sky team was backed by Wind Colour club.
Among the ten teams in the first professional league, four were non governmental teams, and their scores were always at the bottom. Among them, Lin Shuangcheng and Sword Song did not pursue the championship, while Interlude and Whisper had distinctive playing styles but lacked overall strength when compared to professional players from the clubs, and were still slowly progressing.
The teams with strong overall strength were still the six teams from the big clubs.
And Sky happened to rank last among the club teams.
The Wind Colour club was one of the best in China. It was reasonable to say that Sky team, with such strong backing, ought to be able to place in the top three after entering a new project. However, the results of the new team were far from their fans’ expectations. Especially after today’s game, in which Sky now ranked the worst among all the club teams.
Qiu Zongping had been the captain for three years, allowing the team to return to the ranks of the first-class teams after Qin Mo’s retirement. Naturally, his fans trusted his ability. However, Sky’s performance was really poor, and it was natural for them to find an outlet to vent—— What was the problem? The cooperation between the double summoners was not as tacit as before. Captain Qiu was the backbone and had been very calm, Xuewei was their milk god and had been very reliable, so who was wrong?
The fans would naturally think of Yuan Xi.
Moreover, judging from today’s game, Yuan Xi’s goal of focusing on attack was not clear, and he was out of sync with captain Qiu, causing the Sky team to fail to catch the best opportunity for a counterattack.
By now, the internet was full of curses. Yuan Xi looked at the thousands of messages in his Weibo, most of which were full of sarcasm.
During the interview after the game, the reporter had asked. “Yuan Xi, how do you feel about your performance in today’s game?”
Having lost with a score of 0:2, Yuan Xi naturally could not say that he had played very well and could only respond awkwardly. “My cooperation with captain Qiu had some mistakes. I really didn’t play well in this game.”
This sentence was misinterpreted by fans as him taking the initiative to admit his mistake. The more sensible fans encouraged him to adjust his state as soon as possible, but the more radical fans scolded him even more fiercely.
Next, the reporter handed the microphone to Qiu Zongping. “We’ll reflect on it, adjust our states and prepare for the next game,” captain Qiu replied calmly.
He obviously didn’t want to be interviewed, so he left with Yuan Xi and Zhou Xuewei after his statement.
Qiu Zongping happened to meet Dynasty’s players backstage. Qiu Zongping politely greeted Chu Jianxin and Sang Jun, before taking the team members back to the hotel.
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.
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Sang Jun turned around to stare at him. “You’re very compassionate.”
Chu Jianxin slung an arm around Sang Jun’s shoulder, showing him a cheeky smile. “Hey, while we’re both captains, I’m so much luckier than he is. With such a powerful vice-captain like you, Sangsang, I can afford to relax. Qiu Zongping is so miserable; not only does he need to do everything by himself, he also has to carry the burden by himself. It really is true that different people lead different lives!”
Faced with his cheeky smile, Sang Jun couldn’t help smiling. “Now you realise how important I am?”
“Of course,” Chu Jianxin immediately nodded. “Sangsang is our Dynasty’s most important advisor, the IQ of our team, and our super brain…”
“Your words are insincere.” Sang Jun interrupted.
The captain and vice captain bickering was an everyday occurance, and the rest of the team members were laughing. Only Lin Yao didn’t join in, his face twisted into a frown, as if thinking about something that was troubling him.
Sang Jun had long noticed that he was in a bad mood. “A-Yao, I know you used to be a member of the Wind Colour club. Seeing Qiu-Yuan’s lack of cooperation today probably has you troubled.”
Stunned, Lin Yao raised his head. “I…”
“You and Yuan Xi are best friends.” Sang Jun added. “I’m not an unreasonable person. If you would like to see him, you can go at any time.”
“Thank you, vice-captain,” Lin Yao replied gratefully. “Then I will ask for leave during dinner to go speak with him. I’m very sorry, captain Chu, I will not be attending today’s dinner, but I will treat you next time.”
“It doesn’t matter, just go!” Chu Jianxin waved his hand.
After Lin Yao left, Chu Jianxin approached Sang Jun and whispered in his ear. “In the end, A-Yao is our core player. Aren’t you afraid that he will be soft-hearted and go back to his old club to help?”
“I believe that he won’t.” Sang Jun replied calmly.
Withdrawing his hand from Sang Jun’s shoulder, Chu Jianxin replied seriously. “Then, I believe in your judgement.”
“Should I thank you for your trust?” Sang Jun questioned.
“Who are you talking to! Why are you getting more polite?” Chu Jianxin huffed.
Smiling, Sang Jun said nothing more, and led the team members out for dinner.
As the Dynasty team was ranked first in the scoreboard, the atmosphere in the team was more relaxed than ever before. However, Sang Jun knew very well that there wasn’t much time left for them to relax.
***
The headquarters of the Sky team was in Shanghai, but due to official regulations, all players had to stay in designated hotels during weekend competitions. This was to facilitate unified management and for ease of official announcements. Therefore, all the members of the Sky team were currently staying in the hotel.
After the game, Qiu Zongping wanted to take everyone to dinner, go back to the hotel for a night’s rest, and return to the club tomorrow. However, as soon as they reached the door of the backstage passageway, they heard a voice from behind them. “Yuan Xi.”
Qiu Zongping turned around and discovered that it was Dynasty’s Lin Yao.
Among the five players brought out by god Mo, Yuan Xi had the best relationship with Lin Yao. Even though Lin Yao later transferred to Huaxia Club, Yuan Xi had always kept in touch with him.
Seeing Lin Yao’s appearance, Qiu Zongping was inexplicably displeased, but Yuan Xi looked very happy, and went up to Lin Yao. “A-Yao, are you looking for me?”
Lin Yao smiled. “I haven’t seen you for a long time, and wanted to chat for a bit.” Looking up at Qiu Zongping, Lin Yao asked, “I would like to have dinner with Yuan Xi alone. I don’t know if captain Qiu minds?”
Everyone: “…”
Many newcomers in Sky were pretending to be calm, but in fact, they were earnestly trying to listen to his gossip. Zhou Xuewei looked at her mobile phone, swiping away at its screen as if all this had nothing to do with her. Qiu Zongping was silent for a few moments before he finally replied. “Go. I am not so overbearing as to control what the team members do in their private time.”
Nodding, Lin Yao took Yuan Xi’s arm and left.
After the two men left from the backdoor, Lin Yao searched for the taxi he had just called. He waited for Yuan Xi to get in before telling the driver an address.
On the way there, Yuan Xi was utterly silent, and Lin Yao said nothing until the car was parked before a nice restaurant. After thanking the driver, Lin Yao brought Yuan Xi into a private room.
They closed the door after ordering their dishes, leaving them the only people in the room. The quiet atmosphere was extremely awkward, forcing Yuan Xi to find a topic to break the silence. “God Mo seemed to have brought us here a few times when we were newcomers in the training camp. I remember that this restaurant has very delicious desserts, haha…”
His reluctant smile was actually worse than if he had cried. Lin Yao sighed, “Don’t pretend to be fine in front of me.”
Yuan Xi: “……”
Looking at his best friend’s concerned gaze, Yuan Xi awkwardly looked away. “What do you mean by that?”
“I have known you for so many years, don’t I know you well enough by now? When I called the last time and asked about the carnival, you suddenly got angry at me. I had already suspected from that time…. In fact, you really like Qiu Zongping, right?” Lin Yao asked helplessly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Yuan Xi replied stiffly.
Patting the back of Yuan Xi’s hand, Lin Yao continued seriously. “Yuan Xi, your acting skills are not good. If you really treat me as a friend, don’t act in front of me.”
Hearing this, Yuan Xi’s eyes turned red. “Xuewei asked me this,” he admitted in a trembling voice. “You’re also asking me this. Is it really so obvious?”
“To the people who know you, yes,” Lin Yao replied. “We can tell with one glance.”
What he did not dare to say was that even vice-captain Sang who didn’t know Yuan Xi could also tell that there was an emotional problem between Qiu and Yuan. Among the sharp-eyed players from other teams, especially those who participated in the carnival such as Nie Yuzhu, Su Cheng, Lin Shuangcheng, etc. would also have noticed. It was just that everyone was pretending not to know.
Yuan Xi blushed. “Then, do you think… I am ridiculous?”
“No, I don’t think so,” Lin Yao comforted him quietly. “There’s nothing wrong with liking someone. It’s just… I don’t understand how you can like Qiu Zongping, that piece of stone.”
Yuan Xi lowered his head. “I don’t know when it started. At that time, in order to prove that I was better than him, I led the team to the new district, but the new team did not have any unique characteristics… I suspected that Ink Mark of telecom district 1 had something to do with god Mo, so I went undercover to find out his identity. As a result, I was found out, so I had no choice but to ask captain Qiu for help. Captain Qiu soon found out the real identity of Ink Mark, but at that time, I had some conflicts with him and almost left the club. He then persuaded me to go back…”
Although Yuan Xi’s words were a little messy, Lin Yao listened attentively.
Yuan Xi paused for a few moments. He told me that a truly outstanding player does not have to be a captain to prove himself. He also said that I should play an output in peace… At that time, I thought his words were very reasonable, so I gave up the position of captain … When we practiced cooperating together in the new project, he took care of me … Gradually, I felt that he was a very good person. When I went against him, he didn’t get angry at all, and instead took care of me…”
At this point, Yuan Xi’s words trailed off as he stared at the cup of water in front of him.
Lin Yao was a little distressed. He knew Yuan Xi, and was well aware that he was the type of person who was fierce on the outside but soft on the inside. Yuan Xi was someone who always remembered people who were kind to him. Back in the training camp, he often disagreed with Qin Mo and publicly declared his hate for him, but after god Mo left, Yuan Xi was the one who cried the most.
Such a person was very simple. The reason he was attracted to Qiu Zongping was probably because Qiu Zongping helped him to adjust his awkward mentality of constantly opposing people, and let him find his own way. Yuan Xi felt guilty, grateful, and might have even had a little admiration for Qiu Zongping. Slowly, these complex emotions converged into a kind of love.
Unfortunately, Qiu Zongping did all this only because—— he was the captain.
Poor Yuan Xi. 🥺 It’s good, that he has a best friend who he can talk to.
=> [ Seeing Lin Yao’s appearance, Qiu Zongping was inexplicably displeased ]
Was QZ here jealous? 🤔 I always kind of feel that QZ is jealous of Lin Yao because he has a good relationship with Yuan Xi…
Lol, Zhou Xuewei just minding her own business 😄
Thank you for the chapter~~! 💜💜💜
I don’t know if he jealous or not, maybe he is, but he still a long way to go to realize it?🤣
Xuewei pretends to not see or hear anything lol 👀
You’re welcome~ ❤
I didn’t expect him to be dense. 😌
Such an ominous-sounding chapter 😑
Thank you!
Lol, really ominous 🤣
You’re welcome~ ❤