CH 49

Internet-addicted youths spend their Spring Festival quite simply. It’s nothing more than enjoying a good meal and then continuing to play games to pass the time.

Shu Lou brought a variety of ingredients. Being from the northern part of the country, he adhered to the traditional custom of making dumplings as the main dish. He also cooked a few side dishes, and that was the New Year’s Eve dinner for him and Jiang Min.

Jiang Min, as a professional gamer, had outstanding skills in the gaming world. However, in everyday life, especially in cooking, he was a complete novice.

Once, he attempted to cook and nearly set the kitchen on fire.

Since then, he either ate out or ordered takeout.

After joining the esports club, he had his meals prepared by the club’s chef and occasionally ordered takeout to satisfy his cravings.

After the New Year’s Eve dinner, Jiang Min and Shu Lou huddled on the sofa, playing console games.

They were playing a two-player adventure RPG game, a relaxing and enjoyable process with minimal difficulty—perfect as a casual game.

“By the way, Amin, how do you feel at JW?” Shu Lou chatted with Jiang Min while handling the game controller.

“It’s okay; the teammates are pretty good,” Jiang Min said. “The manager and team leader are nice, and the boss…”

The image of Ji Xiuyan flashed in Jiang Min’s mind.

Speaking of which, since returning from H Island last time, he noticed that the frequency of Land Team visiting the boss’s office at Fortune Branch seemed to have increased.

Did Land Team have such a good relationship with Boss Ji?

Jiang Min found it a bit strange.

But speculating about the boss was not a good practice, so he didn’t dwell on it.

Ji Xiuyan had spent a considerable amount to buy him from CC, preventing him from falling to the Second League. Jiang Min was genuinely grateful to Ji Xiuyan.

“The boss is also good.” Jiang Min spoke.

Shu Lou stared at the TV screen connected to the console and nodded. “That’s good. I was worried you might not adapt to the new club… after all, you’re quite… shy.”

Having been teammates with Jiang Min for so long, Shu Lou understood Jiang Min quite thoroughly.

To outsiders, the seemingly aloof Sugar God was actually just a bit shy and hesitant to initiate conversations. He was reserved and appeared aloof due to his discomfort with unfamiliar people.

In the online world, where there was no face-to-face communication, Jiang Min would transform into a different person—outgoing and fond of interacting.

This was probably a mild form of social anxiety.

As for Shu Lou, despite his gloomy appearance, as a team captain, his communication skills were on point.

Professional players who had good relationships with Jiang Min in real life all shared a common trait—they were of the proactive and social type.

“To be honest, we’ve never had a deep conversation. Why did CC suddenly sell you? Everything was fine before,” Shu Lou, being Jiang Min’s close buddy, naturally talked about more personal matters.

“I don’t know,” Jiang Min shook his head slightly. “But I think it might have something to do with the boss and other teammates.”

“The boss? Lin Zong, right? I’ve heard some rumors about him,” Shu Lou had transferred before Lin Hong took over CC, so he wasn’t very familiar with the current CC boss.

However, in the esports circle, there were always some rumors, more or less.

Lin Hong was rumored to be an academically uninterested second-generation rich, with a not-so-great reputation.

“Uh-huh…” Reminiscing about his days at CC, Jiang Min felt a bit emotional.

He had been with CC since joining the youth training team. Suddenly being demoted to the second team and then transferred—these were all club decisions kept secret from him.

He felt he hadn’t done anything to betray CC and couldn’t understand why the boss treated him this way.

If it was because he had turned down the boss’s nonsensical invitations a few times, then staying at CC would be meaningless.

Thinking about CC, Jiang Min also wondered how Manager Xiang was doing.

Jiang Min took out his phone and sent a New Year greeting to Xiang Mian.

Checking his phone, he realized the JW WeChat group was quite lively.

It was the grand group of the entire JW club, containing players from various branches, club staff, and management, including Boss Ji.

Jiang Min entered and found out everyone was snatching red envelopes.

Boss Ji sent out several big red envelopes, and everyone was joyfully grabbing them.

The official account manager, Aunt Xin, even danced excitedly in the group, saying she would stay up all night guarding her phone just to snatch the big red envelopes.

Competing in speed with professional players to grab red envelopes was undoubtedly a challenging task for Aunt Xin and the staff.

Boss Ji sent out another red envelope.

Jiang Min, with a trial attitude, clicked on it

As a result, he politely posted a “Thank you, Boss” emoji in the group.

Surprisingly, this emoji prompted the usually silent boss, Ji Xiuyan, to explode.

The all-powerful Boss Ji: [Sugar God, hasn’t Yu Hao arrived at your place yet?]

The chat names in this group were quite interesting, and Ji Xiuyan was quite confident in himself.

Jiang Min was confused.

Sugar God: [Ah?]

What? Yu Hao?

Yu Hao was coming to his place?

What did this mean?

It was New Year’s Eve, and wasn’t Yu Hao supposed to be back at his hometown? How did he end up here?

Also, how did Yu Hao know where he lived?

Suddenly, Jiang Min remembered that when he joined JW, he had filled out a personal information form. At that time, he provided his contact details and home address mainly for emergency contact purposes by the club.

He casually filled in the address of this house in S City.

If Yu Hao had asked Manager Shen, it was indeed possible for him to know where Jiang Min’s house was.

But that wasn’t the point!

The key question was, on New Year’s Eve, when Yu Hao had already returned home, why didn’t he spend the holiday with his family and instead came to find him???

Upon this reply, Boss Ji got the fact that Yu Hao hadn’t arrived yet.

The all-powerful Boss Ji: [Wait a bit more; he should be here soon.]

Ji Xiuyan’s words not only shocked Jiang Min but also surprised others in the JW group.

I’m the mouse waiting for red envelopes: [What? The captain is going to find Sugar God? Celebrating the New Year together?]

I’m the most handsome: [Didn’t the captain go back to his hometown?]

This was Wei Yafeng.

I’m even more handsome: [Did he go home and come back again? Why bother so much?]

This was Wei Yabo.

However, no matter how lively the discussion in the group, Jiang Min had already exited WeChat.

Because he heard someone ringing the doorbell.

Pausing the console game, he stood up from the sofa and walked to the door, pulling it open.

Outside the door stood Yu Hao, smiling and holding a suitcase, as expected.

—

After putting down his luggage, Yu Hao, who had rushed here in a dusty state without having dinner, sat on the sofa.

Especially sitting between Jiang Min and Shu Lou, separating the two.

“Little… Captain Yu, why did you suddenly come to my house?” Jiang Min felt that Yu Hao’s gaze at Shu Lou was strange. Without thinking, he tried to divert Yu Hao’s attention.

His “Little Fish” in the fish pond was related to Yu Hao, and he hadn’t made it public yet.

Because, what Little Fish did when streaming with him was too subversive for the image of Captain Yu.

For the overall image of the team and for Yu Hao’s personal image, Jiang Min still kept it a secret.

“Call me Little Fish.” Unexpectedly, Yu Hao revealed it himself.

Jiang Min: “…”

Shu Lou seemed unaware of the issue with “Little Fish.”

He thought Yu Hao had asked Jiang Min to call him “Little Yu.”

Yu Hao’s surname was Yu, and Jiang Min was a bit older, so calling him “Little Yu” was normal.

However, even though Yu Hao actively asked Jiang Min to call him “Little Yu,” Shu Lou thought that in the future, in private, he should remind Jiang Min to be careful with the way he addressed Yu Hao, calling him “Captain Yu” or just “Captain” would be better.

“Shen God, a coincidence.” Yu Hao’s attention was completely not drawn by Jiang Min, and he stared at Shu Lou.

“Uh, yeah, hello.” Shu Lou awkwardly greeted.

He and Yu Hao didn’t have much interaction, not quite familiar, just polite greetings.

“Oh. Shen God, don’t you need to go back home for the New Year?” Yu Hao asked.

“No, my family is not at home, so if I go back, I’ll be alone. I might as well come and spend the New Year with Amin.” Shu Lou said truthfully.

“Oh. Shen God seems to be familiar with this place. Do you often come here?”

“…Not really, occasionally. But during holidays, I come more often, especially during the off-season. Amin isn’t good at taking care of himself, so I often come over to check on him.”

Yu Hao: “…”

It turned out that at some unknown time, Shu Lou had entered this room several times to take care of his Sugar God.

This guy is indeed of a high threat level!

Jiang Min, watching on the side, felt that Yu Hao’s sudden appearance at his house on New Year’s Eve was quite curious.

“Captain Yu, seeing you holding luggage, did you just come back to S City from elsewhere?”

“Yeah, I came from home,” Yu Hao replied while playing.

“Little Fish, you’re back home; why did you come back here?” Jiang Min was also puzzled by Yu Hao’s sudden return.

“Uh, there were some things to deal with, so I came back early.” Yu Hao lied.

In fact, he had begged his mother persistently to allow him to leave home and return to S City on New Year’s Eve.

After the conversation with Jiang Min that day, Yu Hao dragged his mother to plead.

His mother asked, “What urgent matter requires you to rush back to S City before the Chinese New Year? We only have the Spring Festival once a year. Why don’t you stay at home honestly?”

Yu Hao, pitifully: “Mom! If I don’t go back, your daughter-in-law might end up with someone else!”

Author’s Note: Hahaha, Little Fish is too vigilant~

Shu Lou (confused): What? Why does JW’s captain look at me with such a fierce expression? QAQ

There should be another update today if nothing unexpected happens~

1TL: YSIAD “You can support me if you like my translations by leaving a comment below, or by sending me a Ko-fi. Thank you ️”