“What’s this?” With a french fry in his mouth, Lu Zhaoying took it and placed it at the side without looking at it immediately. “A leaflet?”
An advertisement for treatment for baldness?
It was so crumpled that besides an advertisement leaflet, Lu Zhaoying could not think of anything else.
“No.” Qin Ran did not explain and let him place it at the side.
“Just stay here and don’t leave. I’m going to watch the exhibition match in the afternoon. Come with me,” Lu Zhaoying said to her.
Qin Ran laid on the table and yawned. “I don’t really want to go.”
“You can’t not go and waste my tickets.” Lu Zhaoying snorted softly in annoyance. “The tickets from Yunguang Consortium are hard to get and I only got them from Cheng Mu after a huge effort. I haven’t even obtained the meet and greet ticket for tonight yet.”
“Yunguang Consortium? That must be difficult.” The butler smiled after he handed a glass of water to Lu Zhaoying.
“Butler Cheng, you’ve heard of it before?” Lu Zhaoying asked curiously.
Butler Cheng nodded and respectfully answered, “Madam’s company has a technical department that wants to work with Yunguang Consortium, but there has been no news so far.”
Lu Zhaoying immediately understood. This was the company Cheng Juan gave to his sister after working on it for a while.
“Why didn’t she ask Master Juan?” Lu Zhaoying wiped his hands with a tissue and looked at the peaceful Cheng Juan who was in front of him.
Cheng Juan was casually turning over a page. His eyes were lowered and he had a cold expression.
He did not even raise his head.
Lu Zhaoying withdrew his gaze.
Butler Cheng cleared up the items on the table, including the used utensils, plates, and napkins.
He saw the crumpled “flyer” beside Lu Zhaoying’s hand and paused before saying, “Young Master Lu, do you still want this trash?”
“Wait.” Lu Zhaoying reached out to take it. With one hand holding his fruit juice, he opened the flyer up casually. “This is something Qin Ran gave me as a gift. How can I randomly throw it away?”
He had never seen such a gift…
Butler Cheng looked at Qin Ran and could not help but laugh. Finally, he sighed. She was a child, after all.
He put away the plates and left.
Just as he took two steps.
Bam—
There was a sound.
Butler Cheng spun around and saw that the glass of fruit juice was not stable in Lu Zhaoying’s hand and had knocked against the table.
Butler Cheng paused in his footsteps.
Cheng Juan flipped to the next page and raised his head. He tapped his slender fingers on the table. “What’s going on.”
“Ah, no.” Lu Zhaoying held the ticket with one hand and touched his ear stud with his other hand. “Qin Ran, you… you…”
“If you have something to say, say it.” Qin Ran looked up and glanced at him.
“What exactly did you give me?” Lu Zhaoying’s voice was shaking.
“A ticket.” Qin Ran took out her phone. The first message she received was from Gu Xichi, who asked why she scolded him. She casually replied, “It’s a meet and greet ticket. I thought you wanted it.”
After hearing Qin Ran’s answer, Cheng Juan looked up from his book.
“How did you get tickets for the meet and greet?” Lu Zhaoying carefully placed the ticket on the table and smoothed it out carefully. “No… Who would crumple it up like you and treat a ticket like that?”
Qin Ran half leaned on the table and lazily replied, “Someone gave it to me.”
Only then did Butler Cheng realize that the ticket in Lu Zhaoying’s hand was from Yunguang Consortium.
A ticket that Cheng Mu could not get no matter how hard he tried.
He looked at Qin Ran in shock.
Initially, he thought that it was a piece of trash.
After all, judging from how difficult it was for Lu Zhaoying and Cheng Mu to get the ticket, he was a little baffled.
How did Qin Ran manage to get such a difficult ticket?
Of course, if these two people knew that Qin Ran gave Qiao Sheng a stack of tickets, they would collapse.
Lu Zhaoying took an hour to digest the fact that Qin Ran gave him a ticket.
After Qin Ran was done giving him the ticket, she wanted to go to the hospital to see Chen Shulan.
After some thought, Cheng Juan asked the chauffeur to take her there.
When Qin Ran left, Butler Cheng withdrew his gaze and asked in a low voice, “Young Master, are you returning to the capital at the end of the month? There’s a birthday feast.”
“You can make the arrangements first,” he responded as Old Master Cheng had mentioned it before. Cheng Juan buried his head in his book again. “It’s time to go back.”
**
Qin Ran arrived at the hospital early today. Ning Wei and Mu Ying had not arrived yet.
After she looked for Chen Shulan’s attending doctor, she went to the bathroom instead of going directly to the ward.
She looked in her pockets but could not find a cigarette. She leaned against the wall in a daze.
There was some redness in her eyes.
After a long while, she finally turned on the tap and washed her face.
Looking up again, she still appeared cold, aloof, and a little wilful.
She stared at her reflection until she confirmed that she could not see anything strange before she going to visit Chen Shulan.
When Qin Ran arrived at the ward, Chen Shulan seemed to be in good condition. There was some color on her usually pale face.
“Ran Ran, what a good time for you to visit.” Chen Shulan waved to Qin Ran and smiled. “Look.”
She let Qin Ran look at the things in her hands.
“What’s that?” Qin Ran looked over and saw a concert ticket for a VIP seat.
“Master Wei sent these two tickets over. He wants the two of us to attend his concert,” Chen Shulan said. “I can’t go, so you can find someone to accompany you.”
Qin Ran did not accept them, but she was a little moved. “Why hasn’t he given up yet?”
Some voices were heard from outside the ward. They were from Ning Wei, Mu Ying, and Ning Qing.
Chen Shulan did not say anything and stuffed the tickets into Qin Ran’s hands.
“Mom, what are you doing?” Ning Wei was the first to enter. Her leg had recovered a lot recently, and if one did not look closely, one could not tell that she was walking differently.
“I’m giving Ran Ran something.” Chen Shulan leaned back on the bed and said rather weakly.
“Oh.” Mu Ying nodded. She knew that Chen Shulan had a pile of rubbish that she could not bear to part with and did not mind.
Ning Qing said a few things to Chen Shulan. On the other hand, Qin Ran sliced an apple in a corner and did not look at Ning Qing.
Chen Shulan knew about the situation between those two people, so she lowered her head to drink water and did not say much.
After a long stalemate, Ning Qing took out two tickets from her bag. “Ran Ran, these are tickets sent over by your sister from the capital. One’s for me and the other’s for you.”
Qin Ran continued to cut the apples. She lowered her head and crossed her legs as if she did not see anything.
Ning Qing pursed her lips. “Music experts will be gathering at this concert and those watching are all high-profile guests from large households in the capital. She had to ask a favor from her sister-in-law to get these tickets.”
Qin Yu’s purpose for sending these tickets was very obvious. Wasn’t she just eager to show off in front of Qin Ran?
After hearing Ning Qing’s words, Mu Ying could not help but glance at the tickets.
Qin Ran finished cutting the apple and felt a little annoyed. “Grandma, I’m going to watch a match in the afternoon, so I’ll be making a move first.”
Looking at her back-view, Ning Qing exclaimed, “Ran Ran, it’s a really rare chance!”
Chen Shulan closed her eyes and did not say a word.
**
In the afternoon.
OST’s exhibition match officially started.
There were no standing tickets, only sitting tickets. As there were less than a thousand people, there were not a lot of people queueing to get to the venue.
Qin Ran was rushed by Lu Zhaoying to get there since 12 pm.
Cheng Juan was not interested in this at all, but he drove both of them there.
“Pay more attention. When the time comes, there will definitely be more people.” With his hands on the steering wheel, he turned his head to the side to look at Qin Ran in the passenger’s seat. “Don’t run amok with him. Safety comes first.”
“Don’t worry.” Qin Ran lowered her head to take off her safety belt.
She looked totally unconcerned.
When they got off the car, Lu Zhaoying urged her to move quickly. After Cheng Juan drove away, he said, “Master Juan used to be a fan of the matches. He almost wanted to be a professional. If he did, he would definitely be more famous than Sun God. However, he did not have enough perseverance and gave up halfway.”
The two of them joined the queue.
Qin Ran put on her baseball cap, lowered it, and acknowledged him softly.
The two of them sat in Row 5 of Zone A. At a glance, Lu Zhaoying saw a few prominent teenagers sitting in Row 2.
“Hey, aren’t those your classmates?” Lu Zhaoying recognized Qiao Sheng and clicked his tongue. “Your classmates really have good backing. How did they manage to get the tickets…”
Halfway through, Lu Zhaoying fell silent again.
He remembered Meng Xinran, frowned, and did not say anything more.
Qin Ran did not mind. She lowered her baseball cap and took out her phone to start playing games.
This time, the exhibition matched was organized by Yunguang Consortium and there were several teams in the playoffs.
Once Yang Fei went on stage, the director gave him a close-up, and his almost flawless face was enlarged on the screen. The female fans at the scene went crazy and the male fans were almost on par with them.
Each game lasted almost half an hour.
There were three matches today.
Yang Fei took out the god card Nuwa in the first match.
There was another wave of crazy screams in the crowd.
“Nuwa, the card that made Sun God famous!” Lu Zhaoying touched his armed and felt the goosebumps rising on it. “Do you know about Nuwa? It’s the first god-level card that appeared in the East Asian Division! Many commentators laughed at us for not having a god card and a few days later, Sun God took it out during the competition!”
In the second match, Yang Fei used Fuxi.
The crowd grew wilder.
“Now, besides the life and death game, I rarely see Sun God using these three cards!” Lu Zhaoying excitedly explained to Qin Ran.
In the third match, he took out Yao.
The venue erupted in cheers.
The three god cards, which were OST’s signature moves, were feared by all teams!
It was rare to see them being used in a competition. However, in this competition, all of them were used and it was a visual feast.
Qin Ran looked at Lu Zhaoying expressionlessly.
“Forget it. It’s normal if you don’t know. Those three cards rarely appear and I don’t even have the god card fragments…”
After the three matches were over, it was time for interviews.
“Today, the fans are very emotional. The audience knows that OST god cards rarely appear. Did you enjoy yourselves today?” After the emcee asked a few routine questions, she began to question the fans.
Holding a card, she smiled when she saw a question. “This netizen called ‘ReturnofaTeenager’ has a question. Sun God, do you have any favorite eSports professional player that you liked working with the most?”
Yang Fei paused. He was not wearing a baseball cap, so his face was in the spotlight and he looked awe-inspiring.
After a while, he responded in a decisive and clear voice, “Yes.”
Someone in the audience shouted, “Yi Jiming!”
“Well then, can we know if it’s a male player or a female player?” The emcee smiled.
Yang Fei raised his dark eyes. He paused for two or three seconds before smiling. “A female player.”
The crowd that was calling “Yi Jiming” stopped and there was an explosion of cheers.
There were few professional female players in the Kyushu Tour.
Especially in the OST team because Meng Xinran was the only female that appeared before.
The director spent a lot of effort to locate Meng Xinran in Zone B and gave her a special close up.
Qin Ran clearly heard Lu Zhaoying curse at her.
**
The three boys from the First Class looked at Meng Xinran in shock. “Student Meng, you’re so awesome. Did you hear that? Will the Sun God look for you later?”
The people sitting in front of and behind Meng Xinran could not help but turn to look at her.
Meng Xinran was also somewhat startled and sat up straight. She was very young and no matter how mature she was, after being called out by a celebrity and put under the spotlight, she could not help but shake.
The corners of her smile could not hide it.
“I’m also not very sure…” Her face turned slightly red and her heart beat faster. “I barely spoke to Sun God before.”
The exhibition match ended.
The audience in the furthest sections left first, followed by Zone B and Zone A.
Qiao Sheng recognized Qin Ran and Lu Zhaoying at a glance and brought his group of friends over excitedly.
When he saw Lu Zhaoying, he slightly concealed his emotions.
Lu Zhaoying kindly greeted them. “The few of you are quite impressive.”
They managed to get tickets for the second row.
Qiao Sheng did not understand what he meant and only humbly bowed his head. “I wouldn’t dare.”
Xu Yaoguang looked at Qin Ran and Lu Zhaoying strangely but did not say anything.
The two parties felt that their attitudes towards one another were really strange.
Meng Xinran and the three boys that accompanied her did not leave. The boys stayed by Meng Xinran’s side as they wanted to wait for Yang Fei to look for her.
When Qin Ran and her friends walked past them, Qiao Sheng and the boys could not help but look at Meng Xinran’s direction.
Meng Xinran flashed a pitiful smile at Qin Ran as if they were not worthy of her caring about them.
After that, she looked away and raised her chin very proudly.
Qiao Sheng almost wanted to curse at her.
Qin Ran put her cap on her head and lowered her voice. “I want to go to the toilet.”
“Sure. We’ll wait for you.” Qiao Sheng waved.
The other people respectfully said, “Be careful, Sister Ran.”
Qin Ran only walked away for less than two minutes.
Qiao Sheng rubbed his nose and said, “I also want to go to the toilet…”
The other people were focused on Meng Xinran’s situation and ignored him.
Qiao Sheng sighed, put on a fan support cap, and went to the toilet.
There were few people going to the toilet at this point in time.
The male and female toilets were very quiet and nobody seemed to be there.
When he came out of the toilet, he heard a few people talking in the corridor of the toilet. It was a slightly lowered but clear voice and it sounded familiar.
Qiao Sheng wiped his hands and was about to go out.
As soon as he looked up, he saw two people standing in the corridor opposite him.
The men were wearing OST uniforms and Qiao Sheng heard one of their voices. “God Qin, Yi Jiming also wants to see you…”
Qiao Sheng was about to go crazy.