CH 13

Ch13 - Seven Years Ago, Did You Want To Eat Strawberries?

Seven years ago.

At a lively night market stall near the SVG base.

“Aiyo, we’ve finally made it. To think that when we first joined SVG, we weren’t even able to secure three meals a day. I was scolded by my dad for being a prodigal son that devours the elderly.” Yao Tong took a bite out of his lamb skewer. “I had thought that we would have half a year more before the boss’s investment into the team goes through and the official announcement, but now it feels like we’ve finally been rewarded for our hard work.”

Li Zhongchen had his head buried in his bowl of spicy noodles, and Xu Hang answered. “The official announcement will happen in the next couple days. We even said that the four of us would have a good meal. It’s a pity that the captain’s cousin is getting married, he actually took time off at the last minute to go back to his hometown for the wedding banquet.”

At that time, they had trained for nearly half a year.

As a popular online first player shooter game that took the world by storm, despite being on the market for less than a year, many clubs began forming teams in order to welcome the first Apex esports competition in the Asia region.

Among them, MW could be said to be the most outstanding and influential club within the country. The young owner with the last name Qin was a real estate investor, and messed around with esports business as a side hustle. It was no different from playing around for him, and it even led to the creation of the strongest team in Asia.

“MW is too popular. They’ve only debuted for half a year and are already this strong.”

“All of them are star players with a lot of fans. Their skills are the best too.” Li Zhongchen finished slurping his noodles and chimed in. “Their boss is also willing to invest a lot of money. That’s true luxury.”

Whenever MW was mentioned, Li Zhongchen would pretend not to care. He believed that he kept his thoughts well hidden.

It was just that not long after, Yao Tong and Xu Hang changed the topic towards various romantic experiences. His eyes became shifty and held his tongue.

Xu Hang’s thoughts became too active. “Captain is almost turning 20 too. It seems that it’s normal for people from his hometown to marry early. Don’t tell me he’ll become a father halfway through a competition!”

Yao Tong laughed wildly. “What about you guys? How many women have you dated, how many years later do you intend to become a father?”

“Fuck off, how many times have we already talked about this? You know it already.” Xu Hang glanced at Li Zhongchen. “Aren’t you just trying to pry secrets from Brother Zhong. We already know that he has his first love, but he’s not willing to say anything about her, hiding her like a treasure.”

“……” Li Zhongchen pretended not to hear.

“That’s right, Brother Zhong, you’re too much. I’ve even shared pictures of all the pretty ladies I’ve dated in the past, yet you’re still so tight-lipped when it comes to matters of the heart.”

“Just say it, Brother Zhong. Captain isn’t here anyway, you can even talk about porn if you wanted to.”

Their captain was too pure.

Even when he overheard someone secretly talk about lewd topics, his ears would turn completely red to the point that it made Yao Tong and Xu Hang embarrassed to talk about it at times.

Li Zhongchen dismissed them. “Didn’t I say this before? We met two years ago when he came to our town as a summer intern. He went back after that. We’ve been in a long distance relationship for a little more than a year, and we’re still doing great.”

As soon as Qiao Yi was mentioned.

The arrogance that Li Zhongchen portrayed to others would be completely restrained, his entire person exuding a pure and conservative aura.

“Two years ago, weren’t you only fifteen? She was even your first love.” Yao Tong was absolutely wretched. “Have you slept with her yet?”

“Oh, yeah, what is she like? You only mentioned last time she was really pretty. You didn’t even tell us brothers about how big her chest was, or how curvy she was.”

“Brother Zhong, stop stringing us on! Just tell us!”

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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After a few moments, he added another sentence as an afterthought. “……He has long legs. It feels good to the touch.”

“Fuck! Look at our Brother Zhong, his face is all red!”

”He’s definitely slept with her and never ran away!”

Li Zhongchen did not dare to respond. He felt that this topic was too personal.

Yao Tong and Xu Hang continued to ask, saying things like “Don’t just talk about the girl, what about you, Brother Zhong? Don’t be unfaithful, changing girlfriends after you’ve messed around and slept with her”, “aiya, that’s normal. How do you know if that girl doesn’t only like our Brother Zhong for his body? Mutual benefit, do you understand?” ……

Li Zhongchen responded rashly. “Fuck off, my relationship with him isn’t the type that’s just playing around. “

“We were wrong, we were wrong. Us little brothers were just mouthing off.”

“We were just joking. From what you said, we already know that she’s the type that’s like an obedient, good student. Then what about now, are you two still living in separate countries?”

“Not anymore.” Li Zhongchen remembered that tomorrow was Qiao Yi’s birthday. They had agreed on him taking the other out to play at a bar. It was the weekend, and they could play however they wanted to in the evening. His mouth became a little dry at the thought. “We meet up occasionally, most of the time it feels like online dating, I guess……”

Online dating?

The two younger ones thought to themselves. We spend every day holed up at the base for training. Where did you even come up with the time for online dating? Don’t just speak rubbish and treat us like foolish donkeys, okay?

.

The next evening, Li Zhongchen paced back and forth outside the newly opened bar that was owned by his friend.

It was not until Qiao Yi, who was wearing a black face mask appeared did he smile as he walked towards the other welcomingly, giving Qiao Yi a hug as soon as they met.

There was a traffic jam near the sports stadium,” Qiao Yi took off his mask, catching his breath. “Did you wait long?”

“Not too long,” Li Zhongchen held the other’s face, lowered his head, and kissed him. “Happy birthday. I can finally spend your birthday with you.”

Qiao Yi’s gaze was gentle. “My friends in America sent me messages. They told me I have to eat cake.”

“You were already willing to come back from America to see me,” Li Zhongchen laughed. “Is there anything that I would not be willing to prepare for you?”

“I only want cake.” The corners of Qiao Yi’s lips curled up in a slight angle. “I want it every year.”

“It’s a must. You’ll have it every year.” The tips of their noses touched, and Li Zhongchen kissed Qiao Yi’s lips again.

At that time, Qiao Yi already had a certain reputation.

A Chinese-American with outstanding appearance. Half a year ago, he was signed into MW by Boss Qin with a high signing fee, attracting countless fans. It was usually fine if he went out, but when it came to places like bars, it was better to keep a low profile.

And with that, Li Zhongchen put his arm around Qiao Yi’s shoulder. After greeting the bouncer, he led Qiao Yi inside.

The clothes that Qiao Yi wore was the typical western campus style – casual sweater, Converse canvas shoes. All he lacked was a backpack for class.

In all honesty, he rarely visited noisy places like these. When he was abroad, he also rarely went to parties. Instead, he preferred to stay home to watch dramas, or play online games with his friends who were similarly addicted to the internet.

Li Zhongchen was different. He had a rich social history and had many places that he hung out at. Working at the nightclub was most profitable and it was a job that he held for the longest. As a result, he had made a lot of friends.

Pushing open the private room on the second floor, Li Zhongchen’s buddies were all present. They were extremely enthusiastic about Qiao Yi’s arrival, and they had already met each other before, so it was not considered awkward—

“Happy birthday, Xiao Qiao!”

“Xiao Qiao, look at the cake that Brother Zhong prepared for you!”

“Happy birthday to you, Joe!” (English)

Qiao Yi smiled politely. “Thank you everyone.”

Li Zhongchen kept his arms around him. “Make a wish?”

This was the first time Qiao Yi celebrated his birthday in a different country. He was far away from his family and friends, and it was different from the American-style party.

But it didn’t matter much. Li Zhongchen held his hand, taught him how to sing the birthday song in Mandarin. And when he closed his eyes to make a wish, he stayed by his side. After he had opened his eyes and blew out the candles, he was suddenly kissed by the other. “Qiao Yi, I really, really like you.”

Everyone started catcalling and wanted Li Zhongchen to say even more mushy words–

“They all want you to say more.” Qiao Yi was in a particularly good mood. “So, are you going to send me off after saying you like me?”

Li Zhongchen gazed into the other’s clear eyes and said sincerely. “As long as it is something you want, I’m willing to give it to you. In this life, I will only love you.”

Qiao Yi had a genuine smile on his face, but deliberately did not let him off. “And?”

“In order to become the top assault player worthy of the god-tier Lifeline, I will work hard.” Li Zhongchen deliberately made things lewd, whispering in his ear. “I’ll also work harder in bed.”

Qiao Yi blushed as he heard it, wanting to laugh. “Alright, that’s enough.”

They messed around for a while.

As for his other buddies, those that wanted to drink alcohol drank, and those who wanted to sing K, sang.

In the past when Qiao Yi was not around, Li Zhongchen was the kind of person that had to compete with others on who could drink the most.

But now that his boyfriend was sitting next to him, he only ordered some fruit wine. As Qiao Yi ate cake, he would occasionally take a couple of sips while chatting about things regarding SVG’s official announcement.

“It was officially announced at 3pm today, right?” Qiao Yi scrolled on his phone. “The reactions online are pretty big, especially the viewers in your live broadcast room. They’re saying that the host that has never revealed his face was actually handsome and has a good figure.”

Then, he handed the phone over to Li Zhongchen to see.

“Before, I was just practicing on the streams. It’s true that I did not turn on the camera.” In all honesty, Li Zhongchen was indifferent towards the evaluations of netizens.

Qiao Yi chewed on the chunks of strawberries in the cake, voicing out thoughtfully. “The Asian regionals will begin early next year. This year, we’ll begin the domestic competitions.  Within the month, there probably will be many clubs making official announcements of teams. I’ve heard that there are some top-tier stream anchors that have been signed recently.”

Li Zhongchen responded. “Didn’t they also say that some players from the European server were signed? There’s more than one of them too.”

“I know who they are,” Qiao Yi responded. “A sniper and a healer.”

After saying that, Qiao Yi turned his head slightly to look at Li Zhongchen.

Under the blurry lights, Li Zhongchen noticed that the corner of Qiao Yi’s mouth was stained with a little cream. He casually used the tip of his fingers to wipe it off for him. His actions were gentle, and he had no intentions of continuing with their topic from earlier.

Qiao Yi truly liked how the other was. He pursed his thin lips, quietly looking at Li Zhongchen before licking at the corner of his lip that had just been touched.

The more he acted this way, the more Li Zhongchen felt as though he was seeing an illusion of himself playing with a little kitten when he was younger. The kitten did not resist him nor cater to him, only silently observing him. It was rather well-behaved.

“What are you thinking, seeing as you aren’t saying anything?” Li Zhongchen asked in an ambiguous tone.

Qiao Yi responded seriously. “The webnovel your younger brother recommended to me is called ‘After Being Reborn, I Became The School Tyrant’s Caring Cotton Padded Jacket’.

“…” Li Zhongchen almost spat out his mouthful of fruit wine. “What kind of nonsense?!”

Qiao Yi also wanted to laugh. “I said that I couldn’t stand reading literary works, so Xiao Xun got me a bunch of . He even said that after reading them, my vocabulary will definitely improve by leaps and bounds.”

“Don’t bother about him. You have no problems with communicating at all.” Li Zhongchen looked at him with a faint smile. “I’ll teach you whatever else you want to learn.”

“There is nothing much I want to learn.” Qiao Yi replied softly.

At this moment, they were both facing one another.

Qiao Yi deliberately moved closer and lifted his gaze to look at Li Zhongchen. His eyelashes fluttered, dense and long, and the flirtation was making Li Zhongchen’s heart undulate and throb.

“Do you want to eat strawberries?” Qiao Yi’s breath grew heavier.

What kind of strawberry was he referring to?

The ones on the cake, or something else.

Li Zhongchen’s heart beat wildly, his lips quivered. “I want to eat.”

As soon as the words were said, he clearly felt Qiao Yi leaning over.

That slender waist, that body that was as soft as a puddle, and that special touch. They were all exclusively Li Zhongchen’s. Qiao Yi was too beautiful. Ever since their first meeting, Li Zhongchen had been in awe. How could such a beautiful person like me and take the initiative to flirt with me?

The intentions were there, and they could have gone further to do things that a young couple should have.

Because it was a friend’s store, Li Zhongchen opened a room on the third floor. It should have everything he needed. He felt as though he could just head upstairs with Qiao Yi after letting others know.

But at this time, a notification sounded on Qiao Yi’s phone that came from a damned marketing account, suddenly destroying the atmosphere—

[Esports Entertainment: Exclusive news! C-position male god assault player in SVG official team announcement picture is a vocational school dropout. Campus violence, mixing in entertainment venues, chaotic private life of a minor! The women he has slept with cannot be counted with both hands!]

Noa’s Notes:

With regards to their discussion about QY and LZC’s relationship, I used ‘her’ when it was YT and XH because they assumed that QY was a female, and used ‘he’ when LZC was talking about QY. In Chinese, male and female pronouns (him and her) actually have the same pronunciation, but the characters are written differently. Since it was a verbal conversation, YT and XH did not realize that LZC was using the male pronouns instead.