Chapter 21

Chapter 21 \nChapter 21\n

 

After the preliminary competition had ended, most of the bigger eSports teams had entered the sluggish period after a large competition.

 

For two days in a row, there were not enough training competitions, and since the recent results of the team were quite alright, He Xiaoxu decided that he might as well give everyone a day off. Bu Nana and those who had homes in the same city returned home. Yu Yang made use of this time to go create his passport in preparation for the competition in Busan.

 

In the base, the old Captain Qi Zui who was in an empty nest1, was currently climbing rank2 in the American server.

 

“I’ve finished paying this group of youth trainees, and have sent them all away. It’s the New Year already, and these children have it tough. So I decided to give each of them an extra 3000 RMB red packet.” Lai Hua closed the file in his hand and sighed. “It’s been two months, and only Youth is left.”

 

Qi Zui played his game as he said mildly, “It’s normal, it’s already quite good to have one per season. I was talking to Luo Feng the day before… TGC recruited more than ten youth trainees before the new year, and after training for three months, they did not keep a single one of them. It was a waste of effort.”

 

“Having youth trainees is just like finding a needle in a haystack.” He Xiaoxu was so troubled he was about to gain wrinkles. “If you don’t want to go through the trouble, it’s fine too, you’ll just have to buy someone who’s already trained over to the team. However, there’s a shortage of good players everywhere, and it’s hard to buy someone over. Also, the worry is that they might take the money and play badly.”

 

“It’s better to cultivate talent by ourselves.” Lai Hua frowned. “Look at Yu Qianxi…”

 

He Xiaoxu was silent. Indeed, the people in HOG’s Team One now were all cultivated by them. One benefit was that they did not need to worry about them3, furthermore, there would be better teamwork in the team, which made it harder to change eSports teams.

 

Qi Zui held his breath, then killed off one person. He started to use a first aid kit as he said, “Continue to recruit youth trainees.”

 

Lai Hua nodded. He Xiaoxu thought for a moment before he said in a low voice, “Wh-When will you roughly…”

 

“It’ll depend on Youth’s condition,” Qi Zui’s tone was calm. “I’ll do my best.”

 

He Xiaoxu probed, “Then, about Busan…”

 

Qi Zui smiled, “I’ll do my best.”

 

He Xiaoxu looked towards Qi Zui’s right hand. There was no one in the base today and Qi Zui was not scared that others would see it. The bandages he used were wrapped all the way from his forearm to his wrist.

 

He Xiaoxu felt upset just taking one look at it. He turned his head away and said in a low voice. “He’s so young and he doesn’t have much experience. If we suddenly promote him to Captain, he needs to face the large competition just one month from now…”

 

“When I was pushed up to this position by you two, I was also quite young.” Qi Zui looked towards Lai Hua coldly, “Am I right, Captain?”

 

Lai Hua laughed. At that time, he was already quite old and his waist injury had a relapse. His condition was going down quickly, and even though he had a lot of regrets, he could only retire. The other main team member had been headhunted by another North American club and Qi Zui had sacrificed himself during such a critical time to take up the job, and the situation at that time was not much better than now.

 

“Youth’s overall consciousness is not bad. It can be seen from his solo matches, he has a brain, and there’s definitely not going to be a problem cultivating him to become the leader. It’s just that…” Lai Hua was a man who was as straight as a steel rod4 was a bit slow and numb, not understanding romantic feelings. However, these days, he managed to notice something. He marvelled, “Why did I hear that you and Youth… Have something between you two?”

 \n

Qi Zui smiled.

 

“They were together before, but they broke up,” He Xiaoxu was full of worries. “That’s why I’m always worried that if Qi Zui left, Youth might break down mentally and leave as well… If that happens, I really can’t bring myself to live anymore.”

 

Lai Hua marvelled, “When did that happen?”

 

Qi Zui liked talking about this with others the most. He smiled, “During the Goblet of Fire.”

 

Lai Hua calculated the date, and his face was full of disgust. “How old was he then? Are you even human?!”

 

Qi Zui fired and killed someone, then nodded. “You said it very well, I’ve been thinking back and regretting lately. I shouldn’t have acted like a human5.”

 

Lai Hua looked at Qi Zui in disgust, and changed the topic back to the main one, “So how are you planning on telling him?”

 

Qi Zui’s lips moved a little, but he did not speak.

 

He Xiaoxu said coldly, “That’s why I hate relationships in the team the most, if it fails…”

 

Qi Zui glanced at He Xiaoxu, and He Xiaoxu shut up.

 

“Age is not a problem. Nineteen is not too young in the eSports circle. I was already considered a ‘veteran’ at this age,” Qi Zui said calmly, “And he is more responsible than you think…Didn’t you say that before? Just give him a chance, no matter how bad the situation is, he will be able to climb up…What I can do, he will only do even better. “

 

He Xiaoxu sighed, recalling the extraordinary times of the past. He Xiaoxu frowned, suddenly remembering something, “Eh… Lao Lai, are you still in contact with that doctor who treated your waist injury in the past? The Australian one! That damn expensive foreign doctor…”

 

Lai Hua nodded. “I’m still in contact with him, he rarely comes into China these days, and his consultation fees have increased by many times.”

 

He Xiaoxu’s eyes lit up. “Are you joking, do we lack money? Contact him quickly, ask him…”

 

“There’s no need.” Qi Zui finished his match and he placed down his mouse. “I went to find him half a year earlier.”

 

The smile on He Xiaoxu’s face faded and he said dully, “Oh, you’ve contacted him already…”

 

Lai Hua frowned. “The doctors in the country, the doctors in Germany, the doctors in Thailand, we’ve all…”

 

He Xiaoxu felt his throat tighten as he regretted talking too much.

 

Did he even need to remind Qi Zui about this sort of thing?

 \nQi Zui was the one who was the most reluctant to leave.

 

It’s been half a year, and all the doctors that they could contact, they’ve already contacted a long time ago.

 

He Xiaoxu did not dare to think carefully about how Qi Zui had been contacted doctors to discuss his injury in private for half a year. If he thought too much about it, he would feel that it was a little overwhelming.

 

He also did not dare to think in too much detail about what would happen when Yu Yang finds out about everything. How was Yu Yang going to take over Qi Zui’s place and hold up HOG’s flag and continue to walk on6?

 

“We can talk about it again,” He Xiaoxu awkwardly forced himself to smile. “That might not be true, there are many good doctors. I’ll be sure to take note and have people help to look around…”

 

Qi Zui leaned on the gaming chair, looking back and forth between He Xiaoxu and Lai Hua’s serious faces7, then smiled and nodded. “Alright, continue to look around, believe in science… believe that there will be miracles in modern medicine.”

 

“Then we’ll do that. You can find a chance yourself to… tell Youth about it, and prepare him for it.” He Xiaoxu felt upset in his heart, hurriedly giving a few instructions before standing up to leave.

 

Lai Hua discussed with Qi Zui about Yu Yang’s shortcomings for a short while, then left as well.

 

Qi Zui continued to play solo.

 

“By the way,” He Xiaoxu came upstairs again after half an hour. He did not enter the room, but knocked on the door frame. “Youth asked me today, if I can pay him a bit of his salary ahead of time.”

 

Qi Zui turned his head to look towards He Xiaoxu. He Xiaoxu gave a distracted look towards Qi Zui, before he laughed in a teasing way8. “If it were someone else, I would have allowed it, but for him… I told him that the New Year had just passed and the team’s working capital was limited, so I couldn’t give him his salary first. I even told him that you normally have quite a lot of cash at hand, and had him ask to borrow the money from you.”

 

He Xiaoxu raised his index finger, elegantly moving it from left to right. “Don’t thank me, I know that you like this sort of things. An ex-lover borrowing money from you with a red face, and being unable to return the money, and you collecting the payment this way and that way9, aiyo…”

 

Qi Zui: “…”

 

“You’re overestimating him.” Qi Zui said sincerely, “He’d rather go around stealing batteries than open his mouth and ask for money from me.”

 

He Xiaoxu shrugged. “How is that possible, isn’t it great if he borrows it from you? There’s no need to even return it… Eh, do I still owe you money? That time when we went Russia, there was a sum of money that you paid for, did I pay you back after?”

 

“… Get lost.” Qi Zui could not be bothered to deal with him and frowned. “How much money did he ask from you?”

 

He Xiaoxu quipped, “Four hundred thousand RMB… did he have some big expenditures lately?”

 

Qi Zui smiled coldly, “Alright, I know what he wants to do already.”

 

He Xiaoxu was curious. “What does he want to buy? A car?”

 \n\nQi Zui looked at Yu Yang in interest, quite curious about how he was planning on returning the money.

 

Yu Yang straightened his neck. “Take it as I borrowed it from you. I’ll pay you back in the ‘nine out thirteen returns’ way.11. I’ll return it in half a year. If I’m unable to return it in half a year… then we can have compound interest of three percent.”

 

Qi Zui laughed, muttering, “Nine out thirteen returns… You really do know quite a lot.”

 

If one asked He Xiaoxu and the rest about the slangs used by the loan sharks, there might not be a single person who can understand.

 

How Yu Yang knows about such things… one can imagine.

 

“Open your eyes and take a look,” Qi Zui said mildly, “Am I a loan shark? Who are you looking down on?”

 

Yu Yang pursed his lips, stammering, “I-I didn’t mean that…”

 

“That’s exactly what you meant,” Qi Zui laughed. “Do you know that He Xiaoxu was not giving you money on purpose?”

 

Yu Yang frowned. “On…On purpose?”

 

“Yes, you think that’s already going too far? If you continue to do stupid things in the future, I may have to take over your salary card12,” Qi Zui smiled. “Do you know what kind of people in the team are supervised? Those who are below the age of eighteen and are naughty and unruly, we would contact his parents and ask them to take over the child’s salary card.”

 

Yu Yang felt embarrassed for some reason and lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at Qi Zui.

 

“I’m not joking with you now, if you make another stupid contract with someone else, I’ll take over your financial affairs on behalf of your guardian.” Qi Zui reminded him kindly, “For this sort of thing that’s liable to suspicion from others, I will need to inform the club headquarters. At that time, the headquarters will send a lot of people over, and all the members of our team will be gathered together, like the meeting that other day, and we will tell everyone, Youth, Yu Yang…”

 

Qi Zui purposely lowered his voice, “He’s very childish, and he’s also very disobedient. The Captain, in order to supervise him and punish him, needs to take charge of his salary card, to prevent him from acting naughty again, alright?”

 

Yu Yang’s ears were red, and he could not say anything.

 

“That means that at that time, even if you’re hungry and want to eat a bowl of noodles, you’ll need to beg me first.” Qi Zui smiled. “Do you understand now?”

 

Yu Yang’s ears were so red they looked like they could bleed, and he forced himself to say, “I understand…”

 

“Good child,” Qi Zui was done scaring him, and threw Yu Yang’s card back at him. “Really needing to be given a lesson13… Go down and eat.”

 

“Captain…” Yu Yang felt awkward. “I really have to give this to you, please accept this…”

 

Qi Zui smiled lightly, “Are you sure? Perhaps one day, I’ll have to pass you my salary card, so is there any meaning in me taking your money now?”

 

Yu Yang was stunned for a moment, then his face turned fully red.