CH 5

At the hotel breakfast restaurant, Gu Zhixiao told everyone about what he saw and heard this morning.

Coach: “That’s bullshit.”

Teammate: “What are you talking nonsense about?”

Assistant: “Go take your medicine!”

Gu Zhixiao cried and said, “When did I ever lie to you? I am a good and honest young man, the incarnation of Yanshu of the Northern Song Dynasty [1], who promotes Confucius [2] and Mencius [3]. The way of heaven and earth is the sincere one, and the way of man is the one who thinks of sincerity! “

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The crowd: “Speak humanly.”

Gu Zhixiao: “You believe me!”

However, no one believed him.

Mbl nsynb rwzzle Qw Hbkmkys ypkel: “Fvsr xyjkdt vbkdtp wr. Ohld kq svbla rlsrzl esd’v jdso, usw’hl clld sd vbl pyxl vlyx yp Sld Kkyd qsa qswa ulyap yde usw esd’v jdso bkp rasczlx? Mbl xleky okzz cl blal vs alnsae vbl hkels, ps pvsr vyzjkdt. Uyd’v usw lhld jllr uswa xswvb pbwv shla calyjqypv? “

Qw Hbkmkys ekalnvzu ktdsale vbl nsynb’p zyvla osaep, pzyxxle bkp qkpv, pweeldzu alynvkdt vs obyv oyp pyke, yde pbswvle, “Zlyb! Mbyv rasczlx okvb Sld Kkyd… “

Ekvb vbyv, Qw Hbkmkys ayd pvayktbv vs Sld Kkyd.

Sld Kkyd bye fwpv vbasod wr kd vbl xsadkdt yde bkp pvsxynb oyp dsv qllzkdt olzz, ps bl nswzed’v xwpvla wr yd yrrlvkvl qsa vbl calyjqypv plahle yv vbl bsvlz. Tsolhla, vbkdjkdt vbyv bl bye vs rzyu y xyvnb zyvla, bl nswzed’v yqqsae vs cl bwdtau, ps bl alzwnvydvzu vssj y qlo ckvlp. Tl oyp pktbkdt yv y rzyvl sq wdryzyvyczl rypvaklp obld Qw Hbkmkys ayd shla kd y qlo pvlrp. Tl rwzzle swv vbl nbyka srrspkvl Sld Kkyd’p vyczl, pyv esod, yde pyke, “Sld Kkyd, usw xwpv byhl clld zukdt vs xl vbkp xsadkdt! Tyhl usw clld nwale sq vbyv rasczlx? “

Tl rwv esod bkp nbsrpvknjp yde rknjle wr y tzypp sq oyvla vs eakdj: “Jlzklhl kv sa dsv.”

Qw Hbkmkys ypjle, “Gal usw nwale?”

Sld Kkyd sdzu pxkzle yde eke dsv ydpola, elzkclayvlzu oblvvkdt Qw Hbkmkys’p yrrlvkvl.

Qw Hbkmkys oyp ps nwakswp vbyv bl qlzv yp vbswtb bkp blyav yde zwdtp olal pnayvnbkdt.

While they were talking, someone suddenly came up to them and greeted them, “Oh, Ah Xiao!”

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They looked up and saw that it was the captain of the UD team. It was one of the top ranked e-sports clubs in China, but the captain was a newcomer who had just taken up his post. He was enthusiastic and full of aspirations about everything, unlike Ren Jian, an old greaser who always said the same thing in the pre-game video: TKO will win.

When he refused to say more than one word and his face was still in a state of paralysis, so the cameras couldn’t get anything else, his assistant would be frantic and start chanting, “If you look like that, your wife fans will cry when you get caught on camera.”

Ren Jian was still lazy: “If you want to cry, just cry. I’m a gamer, not a star, so how come there is so much idol baggage? “

The assistant found that he couldn’t refute it. Looking at it again, Ren Jian was still very handsome, with a tall, slender figure. Sure enough, if he had a good face, he could be willful, so he was too lazy to talk about it.

“It’s been a long time.” Gu Zhixiao was familiar with the new captain of the UD team. He waved his hand and greeted him with a smile, “You were also invited to compete?”

UD’s new captain nodded, “Yeah, this time it’s just a domestic friendly league, but the gold master’s[4] dad is rich; he invited many national teams to come, so we can’t underestimate that.”

Gu Zhixiao nodded in agreement, but noticed that the new captain of the UD team kept looking at Ren Jian. Finally, after being coy, he stuttered out his team name to Ren Jian: “Wilful, I, I’ve admired you for a long time! Can I, can I shake your hand? “

Ren Jian visibly froze for a moment, then got up, nodded, and smiled, “Thanks for liking me. Let’s work together and improve together. “

UD’s new captain was excited to see his idol, and once he shook Ren Jian’s hand, he was even more overwhelmed with excitement. He reached out to give Ren Jian a big hug.

It was a very straightforward, shoulder-to-shoulder hug, a very common form of encouragement between teammates and friends.

But Ren Jian’s face immediately changed.

When Gu Zhixiao saw Ren Jian’s face change, his heart staggered, and he hurriedly went forward to separate the two: “Don’t be so enthusiastic. I’ll see you on the field of play. Hey, Ren Jian? “

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Ren Jian hurriedly said, “Excuse me, excuse me for a moment,” and then jogged away.

The new captain of the UD team was in place with a bewildered look on his face, “What’s wrong with Wilful? He doesn’t seem to be feeling well. “

“He’s had a bad stomach and he’s about to leave for the match point. Go back to your team. You’re a captain. If you’re not there when it’s time to gather, your coach will have to smack you upside the head.” Gu Zhixiao said, turning around and going after Ren Jian.

When Gu Zhixiao found Ren Jian in the hotel bathroom, Ren Jian had just thrown up. He had thrown up all the breakfast he had managed to stuff into his stomach this morning, so he had eaten it for nothing.

When Gu Zhixiao saw him like this, he didn’t dare to tease him and asked, a bit embarrassedly, “Are you still sick?”

Ren Jian shook his head and smiled reluctantly, “I’m not well.”

Ren Jian had never deliberately hidden his problems.

That was why the veteran players, coaches and assistants in the TKO team all knew that Ren Jian had a problem.

Whenever someone touched him above the elbow for more than five seconds, Ren Jian would feel as though he wanted to throw up.

[1] Yan Shu was a poet and politician during the Northern Song Dynasty. He was considered a child prodigy and passed the imperial exam when he was only 14. He rose to high-ranking posts at the court and once served as prime minister to Emperor Renzong.

[2] Confucius was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the spring and autumn periods who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Confucius’s teachings and philosophy underpin East Asian culture and society, remaining influential across China and East Asia to this day. 

While referring to Yan Shu, he is speaking about Confucius’ philosophies, which emphasise that the virtues of the ruler correspond to values that each individual is supposed to cultivate: 

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i) Benevolence toward others

ii) A general sense of doing what is right

iii) Loyalty and diligence in serving one’s superiors.

In particular, Yan Shu was known for the third option as he served Emperor Renzong, despite his disappointment in his indecisive nature. He wrote a poem called 木兰花   Magnolia Flower to show this.

[3] Mencius was a Chinese Confucian philosopher who has often been described as the “second Sage”, that is, after only Confucius himself. He was part of Confucius’ fourth generation of disciples. Mencius inherited Confucius’ ideology and developed it further. He is most famous for his theory of human nature, according to which all human beings share an innate goodness that can either be cultivated through education and self-discipline or squandered through neglect and negative influences, but never lost altogether.

[4] Gold master – A sponso