Li Xuan opened her phone. “How do you explain these? Don’t assume that we will accept someone like you in our small place.”
Luoluo glanced over, she placed her wine glass down and stood up.
Li Xuan laughed. “You don’t intend to say anything?”
“Your phone is recording, it seems like you are prepared.” Luoluo placed a hand on the table and lowered herself. “Can you pass on the truth if I said something?”
Li Xuan hadn’t expected her to find out she had turned on the voice recording.
Luoluo spoke calmly. “I was pranked in the past but never again.”
Li Xuan smirked. “Seems like you don’t have anything to say.”
Luoluo glanced up. “Humans are generally like this. At the start, there was a lot to say but gradually, when I realised the person asking is interesting, I decided not to say anything anymore.”
Li Xuan laughed. “You’re diverting the topic, should I be complimenting the technique?”
Luoluo shifted her gaze. “If I really have to speak, I can. I still want to compete with that group of people. The only thing that these things defeated me in is that it took away my innocent vision. The person behind it all is clear and that is the reason I don’t even want to touch the mouse. Because I hate the thing that had once been a passion.”
“Doesn’t that sound beautiful?” Li Xuan said casually. “I just want everyone to know that your team, and even your Captain doesn’t want to play anymore. You clearly can’t make it anymore, but you don’t have to be here…”
When Luoluo heard that, she suddenly stopped. “What did you say? Doesn’t want to play anymore? Who?”
“Your Captain, Luoluo, don’t tell us you don’t know…”
Luoluo didn’t listen to the words at the back, and her mind went blank in that instant. Before she could react, she had already glanced down and sent out a text. “Where are you?”
“In the car.” He replied very quickly.
Luoluo took a deep breath. She wanted to ask but couldn’t. She changed to another screen and called Zhao Sanpang.
Zhao Sanpang was in a cheerful mood when he answered the call. “Hey, Luoluo, you…”
“He retired?” Luoluo asked, interrupting him. Her eyes started to turn red uncontrollably. “Did he retire?”
Zhao Sanpang cursed internally. “Luoluo, listen to me, retiring is normal, right? You retired as well. Everyone would retire, it’s just a matter of time.”
“What’s the reason?” Luoluo’s fingers dug into her palms. “His condition didn’t drop and he still has massive commercial value, no one would… is it because of me? Did I implicate him?”
Zhao Sanpang bit down on his teeth. “No….f*ck, alright. It’s because of you but you didn’t implicate him.”
“There are many reasons. First, there is his age. Next, you told him to accommodate to some things, to change? If you really have to talk about implicating, it’s me. There are things I shouldn’t be saying. He didn’t want me to apologise hence he made the decision to retire.” Zhao Sanpang lowered his voice. “Luoluo, do you know what he said to me last night? He had wanted to bring you back but thereafter, he said that it wasn’t bad for you to remain here since it would take a while before you found out about his retirement. He said that it isn’t scary to wake up from a dream, what’s scary is when you no longer even want to dream. Even though you know it’s an illusion, you would still want to persevere because he didn’t want you to think that everything hadn’t been worth it. Luoluo, he treats you as a team mate and a person he likes. It isn’t contradictory.”
