Chapter 331 – As If Nothing Happened
The All-Star event continued. Ye Xiu was already standing outside the stadium, all alone.
This sort of situation was something that he was quite familiar with. In his many years as a pro, he had always left the stage early. He had never participated in any of the press conferences before or after the matches.
As Glory grew, year by year, he received more and more attention and the media’s pursuit and blockade grew fiercer and fiercer. Being able to last so long without being exposed could be seen as no easier than creating an era.
He looked back at the great, brightly lit stadium. Compared to it, he looked so measly.
“Tsk, tsk.” Ye Xiu clicked his tongue. He had turned his head and prepared to head back to the hotel, when suddenly, he saw a girl sitting on a railing near the street in front of him. She carried a pair of binoculars around her neck and was currently waving at him.
“Amazing. You’re actually even faster than me.” Ye Xiu greeted back and went to meet her.
“He he.” Su Mucheng laughed and jumped down off of the railing. She was once again wrapped tightly in thick clothing, a cap, and a mouth mask. If Ye Xiu hadn’t been familiar with her, he wouldn’t have been able to recognize her.
“The match is over. You wanna grab some ice cream?” Su Mucheng said.
Ye Xiu was surprised and asked: “That store is still open?”
“It still is!” Su Mucheng lifted her binoculars and looked towards the other side of the street, “See.” She then handed the binoculars over to Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu looked and, sure enough, in a small street behind Samsara’s stadium was a small ice cream shop that still had its lights on.
“It’s winter, though.” Ye Xiu said.
“Winter’s the best time to eat ice cream. It won’t melt as quickly, so you can eat it nice and slow.” Su Mucheng said.
“Alright, let’s go!” Ye Xiu replied.
Su Mucheng climbed over the railing.
“Be more civilized……” Ye Xiu muttered, but also crossed over slowly the same way.
After crossing the street, they entered a small street. The small ice cream shop was still the same as ever. There were four little tables for two people to sit. The assortment of flavors was displayed on the refrigerator and they each had a small, handwritten price tag attached to them. The owner of the store was a forty or so year old uncle. When he saw that there were customers, he neither greeted them warmly, nor ignored them coldly. He simply stood in front of the refrigerator and quietly waited for their order.
“I’ll have this one, this one, this one, and this one. Can I have a quarter of each of them?” Su Mucheng selected skillfully.
“Sure.” The owner grabbed a large cup and evenly distributed each of the four flavors. He stuck a small spoon into the cup, handed it over to Su Mucheng and then turned his gaze over to Ye Xiu.
“Can I smoke here?” Ye Xiu asked.
“Yes.” The owner nodded his head and, seeing that Ye Xiu wasn’t going to order anything, he then ignored him.
At a little table inside, Su Mucheng fiddled with her ice cream and quickly ate it. Ye Xiu smoked his cigarette and quietly sat in front of her.
The weather was very cold and so was the ice cream. But this sort of familiar feeling made them feel especially warm.
Outside of Samsara’s stadium, Chen Guo and Tang Rou finally ran out.
Chen Guo also had her binoculars ready. She immediately took them out in order to scout around, but didn’t find any signs of Ye Xiu.
“How quick!” Chen Guo said. She and Tang Rou had exited the stadium fairly quickly.
“He said he’d head back first.” Tang Rou said.
“Go. Let’s go back!” Chen Guo stopped a cab and swiftly returned back to the hotel. They didn’t even enter their rooms. They instead, directly knocked on Ye Xiu’s door, but there was no response.
“He’s still not back?” Chen Guo asked, “Where’d he go?”
“Maybe he went out on a stroll. Let’s wait!” Tang Rou opened their door and went in.
“Is he really Ye Qiu?” Chen Guo followed behind Tang Rou.
“Yeah…… “ Tang Rou replied helplessly. Chen Guo had asked this question for the seventh time.
“This guy…….” Chen Guo mumbled to herself as she turned on the TV. She switched to the eSports channel. The All-Star event was still going on and, just like in the past, the pros would accept the challenges from the audience. This time though, nothing unexpected occurred. The pros easily dispatched the audience members, but the atmosphere never grew as excited as it was before. With such a high climax, aside from the audience members who were chosen to go up, no one could feel as excited as they did before.
Chen Guo stared blankly. Her mind clearly wasn’t on the TV. Whenever she heard a small movement from outside her room, she would rush out like an arrow, but it would not be Ye Xiu.
“Where’d he go?” Chen Guo mumbled. She would look outside the window with her binoculars for a while and then run outside her room to knock on the room next door to see if Ye Xiu had come back. After doing this over and over for at least an hour, the second day of the All-Stars Weekend ended, but Ye Xiu still wasn’t back.
“He doesn’t even have a phone.” Chen Guo grumbled. At this moment, the event broadcast had ended and the press conference for the second day soon began. The challenge competition’s unforeseen event was clearly today’s main focus. As one of the main players in it, Du Ming was naturally selected to participate in the press conference and he received God-level treatment.
Du Ming had calmed down quite a lot. If he couldn’t let go of a loss, how would he survive in the pro scene? Even though losing to a normal player was quite embarrassing, he had still won four matches in a row afterwards to prove himself. In addition, the girl’s skill had received a lot of acknowledgement after the match.
As for that even more abnormal second challenger, even though no one saw his true face, pretty much everyone was certain that he was Ye Qiu.
So in reality, there wasn’t much that could be given from Du Ming. It obviously wouldn’t be good for him to appear so unsportsmanlike, so he praised Tang Rou’s skill and then showed his respect towards the God.
“What are your thoughts on God Ye Qiu’s sudden appearance in the All-Star event?” This was a question that practically every reporter asked to all of the pros being interviewed. They had even gone and asked some of the audience members.
The replies from the audience members were obviously very brazen. As for the pros, they answered back cautiously and half-heartedly.
For this issue on Ye Qiu, the reporters obviously wouldn’t let go of the chance they had to interrogate Team Excellent Era’s players. In the end, Team Excellent Era’s players replied very plainly, saying that they hoped he was doing well. There wasn’t any substance to their replies. And since Su Mucheng, who was very close to Ye Qiu, was nowhere to be seen, no one could interview her.
The final highlight shined onto the interview with Han Wenqing. The domineering team captain stared at the camera and bluntly said: “I’ll be waiting for your return.”
This phrase became the reporters’ biggest catch and it became the headlines. The media had guessed that this meant Ye Qiu was planning on coming back. The fact that Ye Qiu had used Dragon Raises Its Head, a move that no one else could replicate and a move that he hadn’t used in two years… It was his way of telling everyone that he wasn’t done yet.
Seeing these assumptions from the media, Chen Guo felt a sort of pleased and superior feeling. While everyone was concerned about how he would do it, Chen Guo jumped up with her fists clenched: “Once that guy comes back, I’ll definitely ask him.”
As she said this, she once again walked over to the window and then to outside of the room. Seeing that it was getting late and Ye Xiu still wasn’t back, Chen Guo was finally beginning to worry: “Don’t tell me…… that after his revealing his identity, he won’t be coming back?”
Tang Rou was also startled: “No way, right?”
“He……. still hasn’t received his first month’s salary.” Chen Guo suddenly said. Her tone was full of sadness. She suddenly discovered that, even though she still wasn’t able to equate Ye Xiu with Ye Qiu, whether it was that lazy and irritating guy or that God that she respected greatly, him leaving so quietly left a bad taste in her mouth.
Chen Guo suddenly quieted down and sat on her bed silently.
“He’ll come back.” Tang Rou walked over to comfort her.
Just as she said this, they heard a movement from outside their door. It was just that with Chen Guo’s mood, she only let out a sigh, but didn’t move.
Except this time, the movements got closer and closer and then stopped outside of their door.
“Is he back?” Chen Guo was still lost in thought. This time, Tang Rou said this and checked. When she opened the door, sure enough, Ye Xiu was fiddling with his door.
“You’re still not asleep?” Ye Xiu turned his head and greeted. Chen Guo had already rushed out from the room like the wind. In the end, Ye Xiu simply opened his door, turned his head, said a “Try to sleep early.” and then went into his room.
Chen Guo had so many things she wanted to say, but the guy just slipped away.
“What’s going on?” Chen Guo’s mind wasn’t able to process what had just happened.
“It’s as if…… nothing ever happened……” Tang Rou forced a smile. She reckoned that Chen Guo was about to set off.
Sure enough, after a short pause, Chen Guo immediately rushed over and madly hammered at his door. Ye Xiu opened the door. His face was filled with puzzlement as if he didn’t know what was going on. Tang Rou was already speechless.
“What’s wrong?” Ye Xiu asked.
“Explain yourself!” Chen Guo said furiously. She had been thinking about how she would approach him. In her head, Ye Xiu and Ye Qiu were two completely different beings. Now that the two were one, should she talk to him like the poor Internet Cafe employee she knew or the idol she had respected for so many years?
