[Oh no, he seems to know he’s cute and pretty and totally guys’ type. He’s getting smoother with the ‘Brother’ every time.]
[The blinking is too cute. A smug baby like this is gonna get gobbled up by this mama in one bite.]
Chu Fengyi had been lounging lazily on the sofa watching TV. At these words, his hand, worth millions on its own, trembled slightly.
He looked up and met the gaze of the woman sitting across from him.
The well-preserved, beautiful woman had been focused on the TV, but now turned her head, giving him a meaningful smile. She asked in a breathy whisper, “A friend?”
“Yeah,” Chu Fengyi felt a bit awkward under her gentle stare. Not wanting to explain further, he stood up. “Gonna borrow Old Chu’s computer.”
The woman’s gleefully schadenfreude-laced voice was particularly loud.
“Your dad will definitely break your legs if he comes back and finds you using his computer to play games again.”
Lin Linya had muted his mic the moment Chu Fengyi started speaking. Hearing that line, he blinked. “Bro, are you busy right now?”
Chu Fengyi didn’t reply. Lin Linya instantly transformed into a thoughtful little darling. “It’s okay, Bro Chu. I don’t mind losing six games in a row all by myself in the Canyon. Brother, just go do your thing.”
For the past two days, Chu Fengyi hadn’t streamed or returned to the club. He’d been living the disciplined life of a retiree, sleeping and waking early.
His dad had a strict personality. Living at home, the old man couldn’t stand seeing him glued to his phone and criticized him every single time. So, Chu Fengyi simply stopped using his phone altogether, living in complete isolation from the world for two days.
If he stayed idle any longer, he felt like he’d actually retire on the spot and start a life of sipping tea and playing with birds.
Now, hearing Lin Linya’s pitiful little whimpers, he found it rather amusing. He suppressed the smile threatening to tug at his lips. “Not that busy. What’s up?”
He clearly knew what Lin Linya meant but still insisted on putting on an act.
His market value is sky-high, he thought. The best club in the Glory Pro League was begging him to come back, and he couldn’t be bothered. He couldn’t let this little streamer think he was cheap, logging in the moment he was called.
Thinking this, his expression remained unchanged as he opened the computer in the study.
Lin Linya sensed an opening and drawled in a sticky, coquettish voice, “Is that so? Then could you carry me in a few rounds of Glory’s new Turbo Mode? I need a five-game win streak, or else I won’t be able to end my stream tonight.”
He complained pitifully, completely forgetting the bold claim he’d made when he first started the stream.
“Can you, Bro Chu?”
[A few words is all it takes to get a man to log on and carry me.]
[The baby who knows how to act cute has the best life, I swear.]
[How can he say those things so naturally? If I had to talk to a guy like that, I’d gross myself out.]
[I’m dying of laughter. He wasn’t like this when he said Gold and Platinum were baby ranks.]
“Is that so? So pitiful?”
Chu Fengyi’s voice was tinged with a hint of laughter. He raised an eyebrow. “Get ready and log on.”
He opened the computer, finding the desktop cluttered with documents and office software. This only made the Glory game icon stand out even more awkwardly.
The corner of his mouth twitched up in a hum as he muttered to himself, “The old man is all bark and no bite.”
He preached that games were poison numbing the youth’s will, yet he never actually uninstalled the game Chu Fengyi had downloaded. Chu Fengyi had already been prepared to download it again.
He opened the game, logged into his smurf account, and sent a friend request to Lin Linya.
Lin Linya remembered this smurf of Chu Fengyi’s. It was the one they’d matched against before, which led to them duo queuing.
He pulled Chu Fengyi into the room and greeted him enthusiastically. “Bro! Good evening! Missed you, it’s been a few days.”
Chu Fengyi responded flatly, “Start.”
Lin Linya thought he was annoyed by how much he talked, so he quickly and tactfully shut his mouth and clicked ‘Start’.
Right after entering, Lin Linya and Chu Fengyi were first and second pick. Lin Linya saw the voice icon for the third player flash. A girl’s enthusiastic voice came through the team voice channel, “Yaya! Yaya! Baby, is that you?!”
This was the first time Lin Linya had been recognized in all his time playing the game.
He turned on his mic and greeted her a bit shyly, “Hi, hello.”
The Miss shrieked excitedly, “Oh my god, I actually matched with you! Yaya, I’m your fan! I timed the queue with your stream.”
The gals who followed esports players were just as well-informed as idol fangirls. The audience in Lin Linya’s stream had skyrocketed the moment Chu Fengyi joined his room. But since the idol himself hadn’t spoken, most of them were lurking, occasionally sending a few free little hearts.
[So jealous, so jealous. I’ve been timing the queue to run into Yaya and I’ve never succeeded once. Crying so hard.]
[Such a lucky gal! I’m absorbing all this luck!]
[And she even gets to be on the same team as Fanta. Who’s salty? I’m not saying.]
Hearing her, Lin Linya’s eyes curved into crescents. “Then you’re amazing! Are you solo queuing? What role do you play?”
The Miss didn’t reply for a moment, then giggled. “Sorry baby, I was frantically taking screenshots to show off to my friends.”
She added sheepishly, “I’m not solo. The fourth pick is the paid carry I hired. I’m pretty bad, and I was afraid I’d feed if I ran into you. So I specifically hired a carry to duo with me.”
“Yaya baby, just play Kitty or Nana. The carry I hired is super good. Stick with him, and we’ll get carried to a win this game.”
She had deliberately turned off all danmaku and dual-screened to time the queue perfectly. So she still hadn’t realized Lin Linya wasn’t solo queuing.
Chu Fengyi had just been quietly listening to their chat, mic muted, saying nothing. Upon hearing that line, he remained silent, noncommittal.
He just glanced at his phone, where he was watching Lin Linya’s stream logged into his own anonymous account.
Lin Linya, however, was completely immersed in the joy of having a fan intentionally queue into his game, even a small-time streamer like him. So he froze for a second at her words.
He asked, “You even spent money? How much per game was this carry?”
The Miss said a number. Lin Linya’s heart ached instantly. “That expensive?! That’s enough for a whole hot pot meal! You’re spending too much, really.”
[Holy shit, that price for one casual game is insane. Rich sis.]
[When everyone is thirsting over Yaya’s body together, you can never tell… turns out I’m the only actual poor one. Crying poor tears. Rich sisters really are so down-to-earth and relatable.]
[A clap of thunder, and this old servant makes her grand entrance! Does the Young Miss personally play games?]
Under the Miss’s enthusiastic encouragement, Lin Linya picked Spirit Cat.
When it was Chu Fengyi’s turn to pick, he glanced at the fourth pick’s frequently used heroes—all Junglers. He unhurriedly locked in a Marksman.
Lin Linya saw him choose a Marksman he rarely played and felt a bit strange. He switched to party voice chat and whispered, “Bro, why aren’t you playing Jungle?”
Chu Fengyi’s tone was neither cold nor warm, betraying no emotion. “Suddenly felt like playing Marksman. Is that a problem?”
The Miss’s carry in the fourth slot picked a Jungler. As soon as the game loaded, he said to Chu Fengyi, “Shooter bro, can you hold your own for a bit? Let the Support follow me first, I’ll come to your lane to gank in a minute.”
Chu Fengyi didn’t turn on his mic and just typed back, [Sure, bro.]
[I can’t handle this, I’m really dying of laughter.]
[Does anyone actually know this carry? Can someone message him and tell him the Marksman is Fanta? I’m afraid he might feel so much regret he’ll die when he finds out.]
[The atmosphere is so… off! I keep feeling like Bro Chu is jealous, but Yaya hasn’t caught on at all. But Bro Chu is pretending so well, you really can’t tell if he actually cares.]
[I feel you, sis. I’m already clutching my hair and screaming internally. I’m going crazy.]
Lin Linya had originally planned to follow Chu Fengyi to the Farm Lane. Hearing this, he had no choice but to follow the Jungler. The carry had picked Wanxiang, a high-difficulty Jungle hero with flashy skill effects.
At the start of the game, the Miss had already instructed the carry not to worry about her life, just to take good care of the Support’s gaming experience. She also promised an extra tip for a job well done.
The carry was exceptionally dutiful.
Right from the start, the carry took Lin Linya to invade the enemy’s Blue Buff area. The enemy Mage had just finished clearing the Mid Lane wave and was passing through the river to gank the Farm Lane. Spotting the two interlopers, the Mage immediately turned back to defend the Blue Buff.
The carry left the Blue Buff, down to its last sliver of health, for Lin Linya. His pleasant, youthful voice called out, “Brother, take the Blue. I’ll guard for you. No one can steal it.”
Lin Linya carefully secured the enemy’s first Blue Buff, his mouth agape in shock.
“So this is the power of money?”
By the time Lin Linya hit Level 4, the carry had also just finished clearing his jungle. He told Lin Linya to attach to him. “Brother, let me take you kite-flying.”
Lin Linya asked curiously, “What does kite-flying mean?”
The carry took him to the Clash Lane. In the first ten minutes, a teleport seed spawns every two minutes in the Clash Lane. Using the seed allows instant teleportation from anywhere on the map to the middle of the river closest to the Farm Lane.
The Jungler killed the seed, had Lin Linya use his Ultimate to attach, and clicked the teleport.
Two seconds later, the Jungler teleported to the Farm Lane river. The Spirit Cat attached to him, however, turned into a Super Armor state and drifted rapidly towards the Bottom Lane.
From a skill effect perspective, it really looked like flying a kite.
Lin Linya was experiencing this for the first time. “Wow, this is so fun! Thank you.”
Lin Linya always sounded completely sincere and sweetly coy when complimenting someone. Anyone would be dazed hearing it.
The carry was utterly charmed, practically floating from the praise. His voice grew even softer. “You’re welcome, Brother. As long as you’re having fun.”
The Miss giggled. “Yaya, can you save me a friend slot later? I’ll gift you that galaxy-themed Spirit Cat skin. When you fly a kite, there’s a galaxy trail effect. It’s super pretty.”
Lin Linya quickly waved his hands. “No need, no need! A friend slot is fine, but don’t gift me the skin. Hiring a carry is already so expensive! And this isn’t even my account.”
In the Farm Lane, Chu Fengyi hadn’t said a word the entire time. His KDA was already 3-0. He’d solo-killed the enemy Marksman in the first wave, and after hitting Level 4, secured a double kill. The enemy Marksman was pinned under the Defense Turret, too scared to leave.
Bored, he was casually last-hitting minions. With his other hand, he dragged the camera over his teammates on the minimap and saw his own Jungler feeding a kill to his Support.
Lin Linya got the kill and casually sent the Jungler a cute little emoji.
Noticing Chu Fengyi’s skill, the Jungler even complimented him: “Shooter bro, you’re playing well.”
Chu Fengyi: “……”
He knew Lin Linya, as a streamer, was mostly playing along to avoid making the fan feel awkward. But still, he—frowned.
“Tsked” in annoyance.
