Chapter 53: Quiet and Close are a match made in heaven!
Chapter 53: Quiet and Close are a match made in heaven!
Onlookers saw more clearly, while those involved were confused.
He was in the middle of it all and he was far from being able to see things clearly.
Yeah…
Did the captain like playing the jungler position?
Was the captain playing Glory for the sake of the jungler position?
Wei Xiao: “F*ck!”
The captain had said that he wanted to talk to him, but he’d been hiding up until now!
Wei Xiao couldn’t wait for another minute or even another second. He didn’t even take his cell phone with him as he rushed out of the door, running all the way back to the hotel room.
The hotel room and training room were on the same floor, so he only had a run a few steps to get there.
Reasonably speaking, it was such a short distance that it shouldn’t have affected his breathing, but Wei Xiao’s heart was beating too quickly, and he couldn’t breathe evenly.
The captain should have gone to bed, right?
Or was he waiting for him.
Damn it!
As soon as he thought of how the captain, who would sleep at midnight even if struck by lightning, might be waiting up for him, Wei Xiao wanted to hammer himself!
He took his room card out of his pocket, and the door unlocked with a click.
In the moment when he pressed down on the doorknob, Wei Xiao closed his eyes.
When he pushed open the door, only darkness entered his eyes.
Had he gone to sleep?
Wei Xiao let out a breath of relief, yet he also felt a sliver of loss.
It was okay! He’d thought it through. No matter why the captain had made this decision, he should talk to him about it properly.
Being depressed and smoldering on his own was really stupid behavior!
Although Wei Xiao was in a hurry, he couldn’t bear to wake Lu Feng up. His steps were light as he walked in.
The hotel room had floor lighting that would light up with movement. A yellow floor lamp lit up a circular area around it as soon as his foot landed.
Wei Xiao: “!”
Lu Feng: “I thought you didn’t plan to come back tonight.”
The voice that was slightly hoarse from staying up late rang out in the dimly lit room.
Wei Xiao almost jumped straight up, “Cap-cap-captain!”
Because it was a resort hotel, the rooms had huge French windows. At this time, there was a blurred figure seated on the high backed sofa in front of a window.
Behind the figure was the romantic view of the moonlit deep sea. Silver moonlight fell onto his shoulder sketching out an outline of his profile.
Lu Feng moved his hand and manually switched on the floor lamp beside him.
The orange light swept away the moonlight and brought with it a layer of warmth.
Wei Xiao felt ashamed and said, “You’re not asleep.”
He remembered the words Lu Feng had said when he left the training room, “I’ll wait for you in the room.”
So, the captain had waited for him for four hours.
Wei Xiao didn’t want to hammer himself anymore. He wanted to hammer himself dead (repeatedly)!
Lu Feng glanced at him, “Come here.”
Wei Xiao went over and sat down beside him.
Looking at the cautious and hesitant youth in front of him, Lu Feng’s heart melted into a soft mess. His voice couldn’t help but turn gentle, “There were too many people in the training room. It wasn’t convenient to say some things there.”
The matter of Lu Feng switching lanes, in fact, there was no need to explain it to anyone.
What Chen Feng had said before was already an objective fact.
Wei Xiao could do a better job in that position. Why not change lanes?
Even if the person in charge of FTW was Lu Feng, FTW belonged to everyone.
With a clearer path in sight, why not move forward?
He’d called Wei Xiao out for some more personal reasons.
There were some things that he didn’t want to tell others, but he wanted to let Wei Xiao understand why.
This involved the FTW from the past.
Even if the old FTW came to such a tragic, bitter end, even if his former teammates had all abandoned him, Lu Feng had no intention of publicizing the past.
Wei Xiao’s heart was full of the messages that the boss had sent him. He looked up at Lu Feng and asked bluntly, “Captain, do you like playing jungler?”
The answer Lu Feng gave him was, “I don’t hate it.”
Wei Xiao stilled.
Not hating it wasn’t the same as liking it.
Not hating it was just not disliking it.
Lu Feng spoke slowly, “When I joined the team, FTW was short a jungler…”
Four years ago, FTW’s jungler was Chen Feng.
FTW, which had drawn in a large number of talented players, had achieved excellent results the year before. Unfortunately, Chen Feng couldn’t keep up with the team’s pace.
At the time, the coaching team had hoped that Yuan Ze or Yan Jiang would switch lanes.
These two were absolutely capable of playing the jungler position.
However, Yuan Ze refused to play jungler. He just wanted to play in the top lane.
Yan Jiang’s answer was even more cold and aloof, “Since FTW doesn’t require a support player, I can transfer.”
FTW couldn’t afford to offend those two and rushed to pacify them.
At this time, Close joined the team. He was an all-round player, a very strong rookie who could play in any position.
The coaching team didn’t even think twice about it and said, “Then have Close play jungler.”
Nobody asked Close what position he wanted to play.
Nobody cared about his preferences.
What the team was lacking was a jungler, so Close became FTW’s jungler.
When he heard this, Wei Xiao became anxious, “How could it be like that!”
After saying that, he realized that this was ‘normal’. Many professional players didn’t have a choice about their position when they first joined the team, especially if they were new players who didn’t have a fixed position. It was normal for them to follow whatever arrangements the club made for them.
Lu Feng looked at Wei Xiao, “I haven’t had time to ask you…”
Wei Xiao’s heart trembled.
Lu Feng asked him gently, “Now that you’ve joined FTW, what position do you want to play?”
It was normal not to ask, especially for players who could play in any position.
However, Lu Feng wanted to ask Wei Xiao.
Not just Wei Xiao. He’d asked every player who had joined FTW.
Yue Wenle, Ning Zhehan, Bai Cai…
No matter what position they’d held in their previous team, he’d had a serious talk with them about this after they joined FTW.
Not hating a position was one thing.
Liking it was another matter.
Doing something one liked was a completely different thing.
Before, nobody had had the time to ask Wei Xiao. On one hand, Lu Feng understood Wei Xiao and knew what he liked; on the other hand, the matter of switching lanes hadn’t been made public, so he’d held back.
Now, he asked Wei Xiao formally, “Do you like playing jungler?”
Wei Xiao: “……”
Lu Feng: “Don’t feel pressured. You also don’t have to think about anything else. Just say what you feel in your heart.”
Wei Xiao’s eyes were red.
Nobody had ever said such things to him before. Nobody had ever asked him what he was thinking. Nobody had ever been like the captain…
His parents didn’t want him, and it had already been very difficult for his grandmother to support the two of them.
Wei Xiao wasn’t qualified to like anything, and he didn’t have the confidence to ask for anything.
Wei Xiao took a deep breath and said, “I like playing jungler.”
He liked playing the jungler position. He liked this profession.
This love had begun with Close, but over the past two years, it had taken over and filled his entire being.
He liked doing his own thing, liked being unfettered, liked being able to act unscrupulously.
He liked the jungler position that let him run around wantonly in the canyon and liked the shadow thief that was as free as the wind!
Lu Feng lifted his hand to wipe the tears from the corner of Wei Xiao’s eyes and spoke in a soft voice, “If you like it, then don’t give it up. Don’t give it up because of anyone, or anything.”
Wei Xiao raised his own arm and wiped at his eyes that had let him down by leaking tears, and spoke anxiously, “But…”
Lu Feng knew what he wanted to ask, “I’m not forcing myself.”
“To be precise.” Lu Feng looked into his eyes that seemed to shine after being washed by water and said, “Since the day you joined FTW, I no longer wanted to force myself anymore.”
The even tone carried the unique resonance that belonged to Close, but at the same time, a sense of relief overflowed from this inorganic indifference.
It was like setting down his shackles, unfurling his wings, and being eager to soar up into the sky.
Lu Feng, a newcomer to the team, had chosen to play jungler for the sake of the team.
He didn’t hate playing jungler, but nobody knew that what he liked was the top lane.
Guarding half the canyon on his own, guarding the team’s rear, a warrior that was like a sharp spear ready to cut off the enemy’s soldiers.
He wasn’t good at comforting people, and he was even less able to mobilize a team’s emotions.
All he could do was to do what he could and be the best at it.
The top-laner was a position that allowed him to do so.
A position that suited him.
“Four years ago, the team needed a jungler, so I became a jungler; three years ago, FTW needed Close, so I continued to play jungler; now that you’ve returned to the team, can I stop playing jungler?” Lu Feng asked Wei Xiao quietly.
Wei Xiao’s heart was beating extremely fast, “You really like the top lane.”
Lu Feng’s eyes carried traces of a smile, “Yes.”
Wei Xiao: “And I like playing jungler.”
Lu Feng: “Mm.”
Wei Xiao stilled for a moment. That little brain of his that usually spun really quickly was now somewhat overloaded.
Before he’d appeared, Close had always been forcing himself; after he appeared, Close was no longer forcing himself.
He hadn’t taken away something that Close had always held on to. His arrival had liberated Close and given him the freedom he longed for!
Yeah.
As the boss had said, what had Close been persevering for?
The jungler position?
The glory of being the strongest jungler?
No!
None of it!
What Close persevered for was FTW, this team, and the glory that belonged to them all!
Wei Xiao’s eyes lit up, and the haze in his heart was swept away to be replaced by a soaring happiness.
An indescribable happiness, a huge happiness, a happiness that he really wished he could share with the whole world!
“So that means…”
Wei Xiao was happy enough to explode, “You like the top lane, but you played jungler instead, and I like jungler, but I went to play the top lane instead. Now, after we trade, everyone will be happy!”
Lu Feng was also infected by his happiness, “Yes.”
Wei Xiao’s little brain had come back to life again!
“Shit,” He realized, “We’re actually so well matched!”
Lu Feng: “…………”
He had a bit of a bad premonition.
As expected, there was no saving an excited Wei Xiao’s mouth, “Captain, we’re a match made in heaven!”
Lu Feng: “……………………”
Wei Xiao’s heart was full of beautiful delight, and he really had to find someone to show off to.
Oh…
At 3:30 in the morning, it was probably only him and the captain who were still awake.
So, he…
Would just show off to the captain, then.
Wei Xiao stared at Lu Feng, “Me and Close are a team made in heaven!”
Lu Feng: “…….”
Lu Feng got up.
Wei Xiao was still chattering, “We’re a team made in heaven, a team blessed by nature, a team that incurs other people’s envy…”
As he continued speaking, Wei Xiao ran out of proverbs to play with and asked Lu Feng, “Are there any other phrases?”
Lu Feng turned off the floor lamp, “Yes.”
Wei Xiao’s gaze darkened briefly, and he couldn’t see Lu Feng’s face clearly, “Tell me, tell me!”
Lu Feng spoke slowly, “A happy pair flying wing to wing, a pair of interlocked branches, a harmonious pair, white…”
The shameless and oblivious Wei Xiaoxiao was shocked, “Wait a minute?”
Lu Feng: “Yes?”
Wei Xiao’s heart trembled, “Captain, what you mean by pair!”
Lu Feng understood him too well. He spoke calmly, “A team.”
Wei Xiao relaxed, patted his chest, and said, “You’re going to scare me to death.”
Lu Feng asked him, “Scare?”
Wei Xiao’s mouth had no filter, “I thought you wanted to fly together with me, be interlocked together with me, and live together forever with me until we’re old and have white hair!”
Lu Feng: “…….”
Wei Xiao began to be mischievous again. He put on an act, “Hey, could it be that you really…”
Lu Feng: “Wei Xiao.”
Wei Xiaoxiao: “Huh?”
The great demon king was angered, “Either go wash up, or scram to the training room and kill soldiers until dawn.”
Wei Xiao: “…………” He picked up his bathrobe and rushed to the bathroom.
While washing up, Wei Xiao was still happy and very elated.
He hummed a little song and thought about a better and brighter future.
He’d really never, ever thought that Close had wanted to play top-laner the most; he’d really never, ever thought that his arrival had liberated Close.
When he thought about the latter, Wei Xiao’s heart felt like a piece of sugar, incredibly sweet.
The captain was really nice.
How could the captain be so wonderful!
The ignorant youth’s heart was filled with one person, but he didn’t understand the true color of his feelings.
After washing up and coming back out, Lu Feng was already sleeping.
This time, he was lying flat on his back. It was clear that he was very tired, and at present, he had faint dark circles beneath his eyes, and his lips were paler than usual.
Wei Xiao propped his cheek on his hand and looked at him for a long time.
As he looked…
F*ck! The boss!
Only then did Wei Xiao remember that he’d left his cell phone in the training room.
And he’d also bailed on the boss while he was at it.
It was so late at night, and he still didn’t know what had happened to the boss that had put him in a bad mood. The boss had been in a bad mood and had come to chat with him, yet as a result, he’d chattered on about himself and even owed the boss thanks for helping him think things through.
And yet, as soon as he thought things through, he’d tossed the boss to the back of his mind and even left him in the training room!
It was now…
It was almost four o’clock in the morning!
Wei Xiao was really upset about it. He wrapped himself up in his bathrobe and rushed back to the training room to look for his cell phone.
Once his cell phone was back in hand, he was stunned when he looked at the messages.
Before, he’d been focused on the captain. Now, when he looked again…
Ummm.
The boss’s words had been a little strange.
In the first sentence, there’d still been the word ‘maybe’, but in the last two sentences, he’d directly said that Close didn’t like playing jungler? He’d said that he hadn’t been holding on for that? And said that he hadn’t been holding onto a jungler position?
This tone.
Wei Xiao was shocked by his own thoughts––
How come it was so much like having the captain say these things himself?!
The boss was the captain?
The captain was the boss?
How was that possible!
Wei Xiao’s brain spun wildly as he went through the recent conversations between him and the boss.
––He’d praised Close.
––Praised the captain.
––Praised Close after praising the captain.
These things didn’t matter. Wei Xiao praised the captain every day in real life, too, and that was nothing to be worried over.
However…
Wei Xiao thought of his own character set-up, and thought of his ‘girlfriend’ that he’d paid a 2 million breakup fee to.
If the boss was the captain, then he…
Wei Xiao groaned and wanted to die.
He turned to the last message in their conversation history.
LU: “Of course, these are just my guesses. From chatting with you, I think that your captain isn’t a person who would give up so easily, so you should go and talk to him.”
This was the message that LU had sent to him after Wei Xiao left the training room.
Wei Xiao stared at this message for a long time…
Well, it seemed to make sense.
Speaking of which, how could the boss be the captain.
How could an idea that had no logic behind it appear in his mind.
Were there any similarities between the boss and the captain?
One was a newbie at the game, and one was a big god.
One was a boss with a career, and the other was number one in the world.
One was someone who didn’t treat 2 million like it was worth anything, and the other had so much money they’d built a castle.
One was good to him, and the other one treated him even better…
F*ck!
There were a lot of similarities!
Other than when it came to the game, the similarity was a little too amazing.
And… Wei Xiao finally, belatedly, started to consider this game ID.
LU… and they were both surnamed Lu…
It couldn’t be!
Wei Xiao took his cell phone with him and went back to the hotel room. He stared at his sleeping captain for another three or four minutes.
The captain’s cell phone was on the bedside table…
Wei Xiao shook his head crazily. How could he touch other people’s personal belongings? It was too shameless!
Wei Xiao pressed down the restlessness in his heart and tried to hypnotize himself.
Sleep, sleep. The captain wasn’t the boss, and the boss wasn’t the captain.
Sleep, sleep. So what if the captain really was the boss, and the boss was really the captain?
Sleep, sleep. He’d merely treated the captain like his girlfriend, and treated the boss like his girlfriend!
Wei Xiao’s eyes opened up abruptly––to hell with sleeping!
Wei Xiao only fell asleep after the sky grew bright. He managed to sleep all the way until noon.
The doorbell woke him up.
Wei Xiao turned his head and found that the captain had already gone out.
Wei Xiao clutched at his hair and opened the door.
Bai Cai and his black eye circles met with Wei Xiao’s even bigger black eye circles.
The two people with black eye circles looked at each other, “……”
Wei Xiao: “Old Bai, are you lovelorn?”
Bai Cai: “……………”
Wei Xiao comforted him, “There are plenty of fish in the sea. There’s no need to obsess over a single flower.”
Bai Cai hadn’t slept well all night due to worry that this kid would do something bad. Who could’ve known that when he woke up…
The old beast was back?!
You were coaxed back to normal so quickly?!
Captain was really amazing!
Bai Cai poked his head in to look into the room.
Wei Xiao yawned, “The captain isn’t here.”
Bai Cai was doubtful, “Last night, you guys…”
“Come,” Wei Xiao slung an arm over his shoulders, “Let elder brother tell you a secret.”
Bai Cai: “???”
Wei Xiao blinked, “Ever since I joined FTW, the captain has discovered his true love.”
Lu Feng wasn’t willing to mention old matters pertaining to FTW, and Wei Xiao wouldn’t share it either.
Bai Cai was surprised, “Wh-what!”
Wei Xiao chuckled, “The captain discovered that he likes the top lane, and I like jungler, so…”
Wei Xiao shared the secret with his close brother, “Quiet and Close are a team made in heaven!”
Bai Cai: “………………………………”