CH 56

The city of A and the city of C span across half of Huaguo (China), one in the north and one in the south. The temperature difference between the two cities in November is also significant.

This year, the weather turned cold quickly, even in the south. In November, it was as cold as December in previous years. Xie Yao had already put on a thick coat when he was in C city. This time, when he went to A city, he brought a thick cotton jacket.

However, he didn’t have much stuff in his luggage. Besides necessary items and two pieces of clothing, he only had the trophy he won in the live-streaming competition.

The flight from C city to A city took more than two hours. By the time Xie Yao arrived, it was already past noon.

He walked to the exit carrying his luggage and unlocked his phone while walking, wanting to let Jiang Song know that he had arrived safely.

As soon as he unlocked his phone, he saw a message that he hadn’t had time to read before.

Jiang Song: By the way, the temperature in A city has dropped a lot recently. Did you bring your long johns?

Xie Yao: …

He pretended not to have seen it and only sent a message to Jiang Song that he had arrived in A city, then turned off the screen.

Manager Chen had already told Xie Yao that he would pick him up at the airport. They even talked on the phone before boarding the plane.

Xie Yao walked out of the airport with his luggage and was immediately chilled by the cold air from the north. He wore a hat on his head, which covered half of his face. He only wore a hoodie with thin cotton inside, and he didn’t wear long johns. When he lowered his head, his collar was so low that he could see half of his clavicle. Compared to the people around him wearing cotton jackets, he didn’t look like he was in the same season.

Manager Chen sent Xie Yao his location via WeChat.

Xie Yao, who was taught to be patient by the cold air, exhaled a breath into his palm and walked to the destination with a straight face.

Manager Chen had been waiting in the car for a long time, and his patience had run out. He grabbed his coat from the passenger seat, wrapped it around himself, got out of the car, and went to look for the stupid kid who hadn’t come out yet.

As soon as he got out of the car, he saw a figure in a thin coat, covered in black, and with a hat on his head, looking like a contemporary non-mainstream person who was autistic. The person was looking down and not paying attention to the road, and only half of his chin could be seen.

Manager Chen cleared his throat for a long time and finally uttered two words, “Stupid idiot?”

Occasionally, people around looked at Xie Yao. Manager Chen quickly walked up to him and gave him a knock on the head, making a cracking sound.

“Are you trying to die by wearing so little?”

After cursing at Xie Yao for a while, Manager Chen took off his down jacket and covered it on Xie Yao. He even wanted to kick him a few times.

“Hurry up and get in the car.”

After speaking, Manager Chen rubbed his hands together and ran back to the car, ignoring the two curses from Xie Yao.

Xie Yao pursed his lips and exhaled.

As soon as he got into the car, the air conditioning turned on and the temperature instantly warmed up.

Xie Yao looked at Manager Chen, who was driving in front of him with an angry face, hesitated for a moment, and couldn’t help but defend himself, “I didn’t expect it to be so cold, so I brought thick clothes in my luggage…”

Manager Chen replied with a “hmph,” and Xie Yao shut his mouth.

The hotel was booked by Jiang Song for Xie Yao, and it was very close to the KPL competition venue. It looked very high-end and expensive.

This hotel had good business and was usually difficult to book, but with the doubled flow of people during the KPL period, rooms needed to be booked a month in advance.

After dropping off Xie Yao at the hotel, Manager Chen took out Xie Yao’s luggage from the trunk without waiting for his refusal and handed it to him.

“Let’s go.”

So Xie Yao swallowed his “I can carry it myself” and followed Manager Chen to the hotel.

After showing his ID and completing the check-in process, Xie Yao took the room key and carried his luggage with Manager Chen following behind him to the elevator.

“Did you eat on the plane?”

Xie Yao obediently answered, “No.”

Manager Chen frowned, “Do you want to become an immortal by not eating?”

Xie Yao stuttered, “No.”

“Alright, after you finish unpacking, do you want me to take you to dinner or do you want to order room service?”

Manager Chen followed Xie Yao to the door of his room, opened the door, looked around and made a sour face, “He’s generous to you. This hotel costs more than 2,000 yuan per night and we can’t afford to stay here, but during the KPL period, the room rates double.”

“How long did Jiang Song book the room for you?”

Xie Yao’s hand trembled, “…seven days.”

The air was suffocating for a moment.

Xie Yao put his suitcase away and obediently walked up to Manager Chen.

Manager Chen looked at him with a bad temper and asked, “What do you want?”

Xie Yao replied, “I want to go eat with you.”

Manager Chen sneered, but his expression improved noticeably. He patted Xie Yao on the shoulder and said, “Change your clothes first, don’t freeze to death before we even get to dinner.”

Luckily, Xie Yao had brought thick clothes and didn’t feel cold at all when he put them on. When he came out of the bathroom, Manager Chen finally looked satisfied.

“Let’s go, I’ll take you to a private kitchen.”

The SUS headquarters had been in A city for a long time, and this time it was a home game for them.

When Xie Yao was still in the youth training team, he had also lived in A city for a while.

When he followed Manager Chen into the private kitchen, the owner came over to greet them.

The owner looked about fifty years old, with a kind face and a good temper.

She walked over and looked at Xie Yao for a moment. Xie Yao also looked up and was surprised.

“Hey, you’re Xiao Xie, right?”

The owner raised her hand as if she wanted to touch Xie Yao, but then she was afraid that she had mistaken him for someone else, so she put her hand down.

She smiled and explained, “Ah, our restaurant has been open for over ten years. There used to be a little kid who looked a lot like you and used to come to my house to eat. I guess he’s grown up now and looks just like this guest.”

“If I got the wrong person, I’ll apologize to you first.”

Xiao Yao was stunned for a moment, and he pursed his lips. “Liu…Aunt Liu, I am Xiao Xie, Xie Yao.”

He paused when he called out, afraid that he had called the wrong name, but the landlady immediately smiled and replied.

“Oh, I knew I didn’t get it wrong. You look so alike…It’s been so many years, and you’ve grown up so much even when you haven’t visited.”

The landlady felt close to Xie Yao, and he smiled back.

“Okay, okay, I’m here to eat today. I won’t delay your time. Since there are no customers right now, I’ll go to the back and urge your uncle.”

The landlady took the menu from Manager Chen’s hand, turned around, and walked into the kitchen.

After they left, Manager Chen turned his head and looked at Xie Yao. “This private kitchen was a small restaurant a few years ago. The chef’s cooking skills were excellent, but it was always unlucky and couldn’t take off. Later, he met a person with a lot of money who sponsored some money, and it became a famous private kitchen.”

Xie Yao nodded.

When he was still in the youth training camp, he was still a little young master. Although he had a falling out with his family and ran away from home, he was still spoiled and had a very picky taste.

During that time, he didn’t eat very comfortably and searched for a long time before he coincidentally found this small restaurant that suited his taste. Later, he became a regular here.

He didn’t expect that this place had changed so much over the years.

“Jiang Song is busy these days, but he should be able to make time to see you in the evening.”

Manager Chen finished eating and wiped his mouth, not noticing that Xie Yao became instantly nervous after he finished speaking.

“A city will cool down in the next few days, and you brought too few clothes. It’s best to stay in the hotel when there’s nothing to do. It might snow in a few days.”

Manager Chen looked at Xie Yao, who was wearing a down jacket, and rubbed his head.

“Let’s go, I’ll take you back to the hotel. Rest well this afternoon.”

“Okay.”

The hotel had the heating on full blast, and as soon as Xie Yao entered the room, he felt himself come back to life.

He fiddled with his luggage for a moment, staring pensively at the two cotton jackets inside. Although the jackets were not cold to wear, they could hardly be considered warm, and given that his pants were only a thin layer, as soon as he stepped outside, the cold wind would blow into his pants and chill him to the bone.

Xie Yao opened his phone and browsed Taobao for a while, but ultimately didn’t make any orders.

“Forget it, by the time the package arrives, I’ll probably be able to go home.”

Finally, he took a hot shower, climbed into the warm bed, and sent a message to Jiang Song only a few seconds before he fell asleep, just as the drowsiness was setting in.

On Weibo, there was a lively discussion about SharkTV for half a day, but the heat disappeared quickly and was soon replaced by news of the KPL finals flooding the screen.

SUS and YQ lived up to everyone’s expectations and made it to the finals. The two teams were very close, and the players often hung out and joked around with each other, so they were recognized as brother teams by the fans.

This time, as they competed for the championship, there wasn’t much tension between the fans, and even when they threw trash talk at each other, it was filled with friendliness.

Xie Yao won the championship of the live streaming competition, and after the game, he would participate in the championship team’s exhibition match, which was a good opportunity for him to ride the wave of popularity. Quite a few people came to check him out, and after seeing his photos on Weibo, they quietly followed him.

Oh my god, the last handsome guy who played King of Glory that they knew was SUS’s former captain Jiang Song, and this little broadcaster was also too good-looking!

Xie Yao had posted his recent schedule on Weibo, and the fans knew that he was in A City, but he hadn’t asked for leave from Cat’s Claw, and a group of people were waiting eagerly in the comments, asking if he would be streaming while in A City.

Meanwhile, the person they were discussing was sleeping soundly in his hotel bed.

The weather in A City had been particularly unstable lately due to the influence of cold air currents, and the weather forecast was not very accurate.

Xie Yao slept until after seven o’clock. When he woke up, it was already dark outside, and he had an unread message on his phone.

Xie Yao rubbed his bleary eyes and swiped open the screen, the light shining on his face. It was a message from Jiang Song over an hour ago.

Jiang Song: Are you awake?

Xie Yao woke up and put on his jacket, rubbing his eyes before going to the bathroom.

As he came out, someone knocked on the door. After 7 pm, the hotel would deliver dinner to his room, so Xie Yao thought it might be that and went to open the door.

As soon as he opened it, he saw a familiar figure.

Looking up, Xie Yao met a pair of smiling eyes. The owner of the eyes was incredibly good-looking. With just one glance at his face, one would think, “Wow, he’s so handsome!” He had a straight nose, thin lips, and a slightly longer crew cut on the top.

“Good evening…”

Bang!

Xie Yao’s pupils trembled. Before he could react, the door was closed with a bang, leaving only the shadow of his hair standing on end.

Thump, thump… his heart was beating wildly.