"What about it?" Lu Sicheng supported his chin with one of his hands, with a faint smile on his face. "You're nervous about going to a movie with me?"
Tong Yao was indeed nervous about that.
A single man and a single woman who were only just teammates going to the movies together. Tong Yao couldn't stop herself from having any wild thoughts.
"What if people see us--"
"You've already played a third of the games in the regular league seasonal competition. Haven't you gotten used to the fact that you're a public figure already and will be constantly under public scrutiny?" Lu Sicheng said flatly. "The first time I let you hide behind me because you had just joined the team. But it won't be the same for the second time."
"Why?"
"You have to learn to cope with it, that's the basics. You have to get used to the fact that you're a public figure, then learn not to be influenced by public opinion."
"Haven't you always said 'don't make trouble, conduct yourself well'?" Tong Yao raised up her chopsticks. "That's what you taught me before."
"Even if you manage to do that, people will still say things about you." Lu Sicheng gave Tong Yao a glance and pushed down her chopsticks. "For example, people will say you've gained weight during a stream."
Tong Yao abruptly covered her face and asked, horrified. "Really?"
"See, this is exactly how you'd be influenced by public opinion. Wouldn't you know whether you've gained weight or not yourself? Wait till you learn to confidently retort back 'I haven't gained weight, you're just blind.' Then you're ready to graduate."
"Oh..... But, what does all of this have anything to do with you and me going to a movie together?"
"It's training for you and it's free of charge." Lu Sicheng said seriously. "Are you done? I bought tickets for the next showing. I don't want to miss the beginning."
Tong Yao thought it was already a lot of work training, playing skirmishes, and learning new champions at base. Now she had to receive mental training even when she was out of the base. On top of that, she had her salary deducted just because she wasn't happy about someone. Why was it so hard to be a professional player?
"It's hard to play professionally."
"You want the crown, you have to bear the hardship."
"Don't look down, your crown will fall. Don't cry, the bad guys will laugh?"
"What's that?"
"....Nothing, I just made it up."
"Don't read those useless chicken soup books. Spend your time watching more famous matches. During the spring competition this year, which team was I against when I turned the game around by killing 5 enemies all at once?"
"......CK!"
"It's Qing Dynasty?"
......
"You just kept guessing. You don't even watch the matches during the spring competition to study the team that we're going to face this week. You're over inflated."
.......
Tong Yao was being lectured all the way to the movie theatre.
They took the escalator up to the theatre. Lin Sicheng went ahead to fetch the tickets. Tong Yao checked the time and looked at the people who were waiting for the same movie in the lobby, She was still uneasy. She made an excuse to go to the bathroom and planned to wait till it was about showtime and then enter the theatre when most of the moviegoers had already gone in.
When Tong Yao walked near the bathroom, she had unexpectedly saw people she knew.
Xu Tailun and his female companion stood in the area right in front of the bathroom. The two were whispering and giggling. Xu Tailun held two movie tickets in his hand. Tong Yao figured that they were going to see the same movie as Lu Sicheng and her.
What an unwanted surprise.
Tong Yao raised her eyebrows, then frowned when she remembered what Lu Sicheng said about who the woman was. She slowed down and couldn't make up her mind whether to greet Xu Tailun or not. The first match of this week would be against Xu Tailun's team, Qing Dynasty, it seemed awkward pretending not to know him.
As she was hesitating, Xu Tailun happened to look up and notice her. He had taken off his face mask by now and called out to Tong Yao. Tong Yao turned to face him and saw the woman hastily lower her head and put on a face mask.
She was carrying a canvas bag and something was moving inside.
Tong Yao walked towards Xu Tailun, planning to cordially greet him and leave. Before she could say anything, she heard the woman suddenly say something: "Mimi, don't move."
Tong Yao could hear the faint meowing of a kitten.
Tong Yao immediately turned to the woman and asked in surprise: "You brought the kitten here?"
"Ahh." The woman lifted her head up, carefully glanced at Tong Yao before turning to look at Xu Tailun. Seeing Xu Tailun hadn't made a sound, she then said in a small voice: "As long as the cat is quiet, no one would find out."
"It's early summer now, the kitten probably won't be able to take the air conditioning inside the theatre?" Tong Yao said, but then realized she might have been a bit meddlesome since it wasn't her cat. She softened her tone and continued. "Be careful not to let the kitten catch a cold. It's quite troublesome to take care of a sick kitten."
The woman nodded.
Xu Tailun stood next to them without saying a word, but looked at Tong Yao with a meaningful smile. Tong Yao didn't want to bother with them any further, briefly said goodbye, and walked into the bathroom. She waited until the movie was about to start then hurriedly came out of the bathroom to walk back to where Lu Sicheng was. Lu Sicheng was standing next to a full-body drawing of a character from the movie. He was surrounded by a few fans, both men and women.
Tong Yao: ......................................
What Tong Yao had dreaded happened anyways.
Lu Sicheng saw Tong Yao approaching through the corner of his eyes. He saw her locate him, stop, and begin backing away. His hand paused in the middle of signing an autograph for a fan. Then he took the autograph book from the next fan and quickly opened it to sign his name. He refused the request to take a picture together with this fan.
"My companion is here." He used a somewhat patient tone of voice. "Let's take the picture together next time, alright?"
Everyone turned their heads when they heard Lu Sicheng-- --
Then they all widened their eyes, as if they had all discovered a new world. A short distance away, they saw a person circling around trying to find a place where she could hide. That person was the new mid of ZGDX, Smiling!! !
"Ahhh, Cheng Ge, are you having a date with Smiling?"
"Why is she here too? Or is your entire team here?"
"Why is she hiding? Is she shy?"
"My goodness, you two aren't really dating, are you. I didn't believe them when they said it online."
The fans surrounding Lu Sicheng began chattering. Tong Yao had encountered something similar the day she went to buy slippers right after she joined the team. However, she could no longer tell the fans that she was just part of the staff like she had done last time. Now she had no choice but to go forward: ".....Hi everyone, I'm ZGDX's mid, Smiling."
She had used the standard introduction when she did MVP interviews.
The surrounding fans burst into laughter at Tong Yao's self-introduction. Tong Yao's ears began to turn slightly pink. She gave Lu Sicheng a glance. Lu Sicheng then said with a faint smile: "Don't laugh, you guys. She has thin skin. It took me quite a while to persuade her to see a movie with me."
One of the male fans doubtfully asked: "Just you two?"
Lu Sicheng nodded: "En. That's right."
One female fan hesitated: "So you two are really together now? I see a lot of discussion about you two on Tieba and Weibo."
Lu Sicheng: "We-- --"
"We're purely teammates. It just happened that we came to see the movie together!"
Tong Yao interjected. She could see that female fan obviously take a breath of relief, as did Tong Yao. She turned to look at Lu Sicheng at the same time. Lu Sicheng stopped talking even though Tong Yao kept trying to message to him with her eyes that he could say something in support of her statement. But Lu Sicheng didn't seem to have intent to say anything.
Tong Yao found Lu Sicheng's reaction quite baffling.
The last call for the movie called just then. Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng were finally saved from the fans. They walked one after the other into the theatre.
They sat down in the theatre for a while before Tong Yao noticed Xu Tailun and his girl companion entered the theatre in the darkness. Tong Yao tugged Lu Sicheng's sleeve: "Look at the two walking down there."
Lu Sicheng: "Who?"
Tong Yao: "The butterfly jungler."
Lu Sicheng: ......
He lifted his hand and pat Tong Yao's head: "Mind your own business."
......
That night after they returned to base Tong Yao collapsed onto the sofa and refused to get up. She watched Lu Sicheng poured the goldfish into his fishbowl while chatting with Little Fatty.
"Where have you two been?"
"Buying fish."
"Buying fish for a whole day?"
"En."
"You think I'm a fool."
"Actually, we went to see <Independence Day 2>. Let me fill you in about the plot?"
......
Little Fatty immediately covered up his ears. Lu Sicheng pulled off his hands with a stone cold face: "Come on."
Little Fatty: "I don't want to listen, I don't! Go away, go away!"
Lu Sicheng released him and said "Trying to trick me, hmph," while keeping his chin held high. Tong Yao wondered what he was proud of. Tong Yao watched him go upstairs, then turned around to lie down on the sofa to play on her cell phone. She clicked here and there until she happened to see Xu Tailun's stream. It looked like he had just started.
Tong Yao clicked to watch it.
The first thing she noticed was the kitten which had been grabbed from her hand was walking back and forth in front of the camera.
That's right, a kitten.
On the screen, Xu Tailun, with a warm smile, answered the bullet comments.
A fan gave it to me. A cute kitten, thanks. I'll take good care of it.
Tong Yao turned the volume up.
Little Fatty: "Are you watching Long Ge's stream?"
Tong Yao: "Yeah, we're going to play against them. I'm getting to know how their jungler plays."
Little Fatty: "Oh." He didn't suspect anything, turning around to focus on his own game. Tong Yao continued to watch the scream, watching him lie.
This afternoon? Went to a movie this afternoon? I didn't go to a movie this afternoon. You probably mistook me for someone else.
Xu Tailun said: I just brought the kitten back to the base. How could I go to the movie theatre with a cat? Ask my teammates if you don't believe me. With a woman? I have a girlfriend, how could it be possible that I've gone to a movie with a woman.
As he was talking, he turned the camera to face one of his Chinese teammates. His teammate paused for a second then grinned: "Oh, yeah, he was playing games with his alternate id this afternoon."
Tong Yao rolled her eyes once more.
The little kitten unsteadily walked back and forth in front of the camera. All the bullet comments were about how cute the kitten was. Then, the kitten stopped and sneezed, shaking its head after.
Bullet comments were like "how cute," "it sneezed, sneezed," "I really want to have a cat too,"
Only a few bullet comments mentioned: Is the cat catching a cold? Is the air condition in the base too cold for the cat to catch a cold in this kind of weather?
Tong Yao frowned, unable to stand it anymore, and logged off. Lu Sicheng came down from the stairs and saw Tong Yao sitting cross legged on the sofa, hugging a pillow, and looking like she was deeply disgusted with something. He walked over and pushed her head: "what's wrong?'
"That Xu Tailun is really disgusting, not a good person." Tong Yao said: "I dislike him."
"Oh."
"All the men who play professionally are disgusting. No one is good." Tong Yao said: "Really disgusting."
"Are you retarded? What does he have anything to do with me?"
Tong Yao stood up on the sofa. Lu Sicheng subconsciously stepped back a little. Tong Yao stuffed the pillow in her arms into his, then jumped off the sofa and went upstairs with eyebrows crossed. Lu Sicheng watched her shut her door close. He threw the pillow back onto the sofa and asked the others without even looking back: "What's wrong with that woman?"
Little Fatty: "Don't know."
Lu Sicheng: "She was fine a while ago."
Little Fatty: "She's yours, go ask her yourself."
Lu Sicheng turned his eyes away from the door on the second floor, then irritatedly scratched his hair: "Alright, alright." He mumbled: "I just can't let her out of my sight for a second."