CH 25

After dinner, it was close to 9 o’clock. The director was finally satisfied with the footage gathered, so he called it a day and let all the guests spend the rest of the day freely.

Holding the phone in his hand, Gu Wei sighed as he slumped on the sofa in his hotel lobby.

Not long after Chi Yunkai finished the phone call just now, he played a mobile game with him. Fu Zhi and Luo Chenxuan were both there, and they played together in a team. Gu Wei had not been playing this game for long, and besides, he sucked at this. He could only take his character to follow his teammate with his broken gun, sighing from time to time when encountering obstacles that he couldn’t jump over.

Jiang Xun originally wanted to go back to his room, but he saw Little Friend Gu who was playing a game.

After falling to the ground again and being rescued by his teammates for the nth time, Gu Wei resigned and didn’t want to play anymore.

“You guys can leave me alone. I know I suck at this, I’ll just embarrass you,” he said to his groupmates.

He simply put down his phone and leaned back on the sofa dejectedly, just in time to see Jiang Xun who sat beside him.

Gu Wei smiled as a greeting, and moved a little to the left to make room for Jiang Xun.

“Let me see?” Jiang Xun asked, and couldn’t help but rub the youth’s soft hair.

Gu Wei picked up the phone that was thrown aside and handed it to Jiang Xun.

“I’m not familiar with this kind of mobile game, but my didi plays it.” Jiang Xun said.

Gu Wei calmed down a bit: “It’s okay, I also don’t know how to play.”

Then Gu Wei looked at Jiang Xun – self-proclaimed “not very familiar newbie” – as he fought all the way to the final circle, with the MVP reward and ten total kills1I think they’re playing PUBG type of game. As he finished, he neatly left his remark in the team chat box: 

“Useless”  

Jiang Xun was slightly taken aback typing it, “sorry, force of habit.”

When he usually played games, he was very used to leaving taunting remarks and trash-talks. He forgot that this was Gu Wei’s account.

Gu Wei: “…It’s okay, you are really good.”

“It’s not difficult, I’ll teach you when I have time,” Jiang Xun said.

The two people here didn’t take this to heart. They casually bid good night to each other, and went back to their respective rooms to rest.

Meanwhile, iIn T.ATW’s dormitory, the three people who had invited Gu Wei to play the game just now looked at the word in the chat box and were left dumbfounded–

Gu Wei, who previously was being a baggage, suddenly awoke, harvested ten kills, made a diss at them, then just left. 

Chi Yunkai: “Look, I told you that there was something wrong with him.”

Fu Zhi: “…he called us useless…”

Luo Chenxuan: “…last time he threw a Molotov cocktail and burned our entire team to death. I didn’t even call him useless then…”

Chi Yunkai: “Then… what about the fact that he asked me to help find him a ‘duck’?” 

Luo Chenxuan: “Let’s just play along first, and play it by ear2being flexible with the situation.” 

Fu Zhi: “Why don’t we first dig around and see what happens? Maybe we’ll find out what his actual goal is.” 

Early the next morning, the guests of “Traceless Escape” all embarked on their return journey. Gu Wei and Jiang Xun both arrived in H City as they took the same flight. Their seats, which were booked by the director, happened to be adjacent to each other. 

“Little Gu, didn’t you sleep yesterday?” Jiang Xun asked.

Gu Wei’s eyes were red, “I’m fine.”

His assistant was newly hired by the company, and the young lady didn’t know well enough to pack along his usual medicine. On top of that, the environment in the hotel was unfamiliar. In the end, he wasn’t able to sleep last night.

The woody, floral scent on Jiang Xun’s clothes smelled very good, and when Gu Wei sat down next to Jiang Xun, he instantly felt better and relaxed.

He took out the script of “Like the Moon” from his bag, and started to write a biography of the second male lead Miao Zihan. But no matter how he looked at it, he still felt that something was missing.

“Ge,” Gu Wei called Jiang Xun who was beside him, “can you tell me about the daily life of an e-sports professional?”

“You are not my fan, why are you still interested in my life?” Jiang Xun took the script in Gu Wei’s hand.

Gu Wei’s handwriting was very neat yet delicate. At the script’s margin, it was littered with his notes, alongside a detailed background analysis of the second male lead Miao Zihan. Jiang Xun saw it and understood that this was Gu Wei’s new role in a TV drama. 

“Actually, it’s pretty boring. Every day we either trained by ourselves or made appointments for various practice matches. Sometimes, at the request of the club, we will do a live broadcast for the fans,” Jiang Xun explained, then he changed the subject, “but it does have its own charm, which attracts us. We e-sports professionals all have this intense passion and longing for our choice of game, and so we could devote countless hours in order to win the championship.” 

“I always feel that my understanding of your profession is missing something,” Gu Wei said, “I could only see what the script presents to me.”

Why did Miao Zihan give up school? He chose e-sports over his studies, but the script didn’t exactly tell him the reason why. It only wrote about his stubborn persistence for e-sports. There were things that Gu Wei had to deduce by himself. 

To play this role well, Gu Wei felt that he had to immerse himself in Miao Zihan’s life.

“I think I understand now.” Jiang Xun looked at the ray of sunshine hitting Gu Wei’s hair, “you were digging through my Weibo post because of this role.”

Gu Wei nodded, a little embarrassed of himself.

“I still suggest you experience it by yourself. See it with your own eyes and make your own conclusions,” Jiang Xun said, “Little Gu, do you want to come visit TMW’s training room?”

A gleam flashed in Gu Wei’s eyes: “Can I really make a visit?”

He didn’t understand e-sports, but he was interested in enriching his understanding for playing Miao Zihan. Naturally he was looking forward to visiting the famous TMW club3I’m differentiating between “Team TMW” and “TMW club”. The team is referring to Jiang Xun’s core five-membered team who play in the championship; while the club is referring to the whole management + trainees alongside the main team..

“Of course,” Jiang Xun said, “my little wife is going to visit, so naturally no one objects.”

Gu Wei: “…” 

Here we go again.

However, it meant he could see TMW club directly, he’s willing to play along as this “little wife”. 

“I’ll go,” Gu Wei reluctantly agreed.

“But you may find it boring, and you might have to stay up late with us,” Jiang Xun said as a warning.

“No, don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” Gu Wei shook his head and reassured Jiang Xun.

He suddenly wanted to see the enclosed world where this reaction meme lived its day-to-day life.

The matter of visiting the TMW club was settled like this. Gu Wei held his script while asking Jiang Xun a few questions about the life of an e-sports professional. In return, Jiang Xun answered every question in earnest.

Not long after, Gu Wei’s eyelids began to close, and he was too sleepy to hold the script properly.

When Jiang Xun was explaining some e-sports jargon, he saw how sleepy Gu Wei had become. He took away the script from the youth’s hand as he gently chided, “if you are drowsy, just go to sleep. Didn’t you get no sleep last night? Don’t force yourself to be awake now.” 

Gu Wei leaned on the back of his chair and slowly closed his eyes. He had only drifted off for a few seconds before abruptly waking up from a dream, gasping for air. .

Little Gu, who was not getting enough sleep, had no makeup at the moment. His lips and cheeks were sickly pale and he looked so frail. Looking at him made Jiang Xun feel distressed.

“Do you still want to sleep?” Jiang Xun asked in a very gentle tone, “it will take a while to get to H City.”

Gu Wei nodded.

“Come here,” Jiang Xun beckoned, “this will be more comfortable.”

Gu Wei did not refuse. He obediently leaned a little to the right, pillowing his head on Jiang Xun’s shoulder. But Jiang Xun pulled him down and let him lie on his lap. As Gu Wei drifted off to dreamland, Jiang Xun covered him with a thin blanket.

Jiang Xun’s body scent and perfume seemed to soothe his nerves, and Gu Wei did not wake up again. He was using Jiang Xun’s lap as a pillow, and fell into a deep sleep. When the youth was peacefully asleep, he looked very peaceful. As the last vestiges of wakefulness faded, his eyelashes fluttered close, brushing the back of Jiang Xun’s hand.

Seeing Gu Wei like this made Jiang Xun think that this arranged marriage was actually quite good.

Such a well-behaved kid, it made everyone want to pamper him well.

At the same time, the screen of Gu Wei’s mobile phone turned on. As the notification of low battery sounded, a string of unread WeChat messages flashed by and Jiang Xun happened to read it.

[Yunkai Sees Mooncakes]: Weiwei, please provide some basic information.

[Yunkai Sees Mooncakes]: That friend of yours, what type of boy does he like? 

[Yunkai Sees Mooncakes]: That friend of yours, how does he like to “play”?

[Yunkai Sees Mooncakes]: That friend of yours, what’s his “size”?

Jiang Xun: “?”