After a moment, Yan Chengfeng heard Zhen Ning say, “Sorry.”
“This afternoon, Tao Luo helped me find a lot of peripherals, and she mentioned that she’s always hoped someone would listen to her share stories from her streams.”
Zhen Ning continued, “She was so enthusiastic that I agreed. Since I’ve already agreed, I don’t want to break my promise.”
“Break your promise?”
Yan Chengfeng repeated the phrase. After a moment, he sneered, “That’s new. When have you ever kept your promises?”
“You promised her you’d listen to her dull stories, but didn’t you also promise me four hours under my control?” He stared coldly at Zhen Ning’s profile. “Stop making excuses. If you don’t want to play with me, just say it.”
Zhen Ning didn’t respond.
Yan Chengfeng looked at him for a moment, and after a while, he forced himself to calm down, realizing that what he had just said sounded… kind of jealous.
His frustration grew even more. He simply turned and walked away.
“But I really want to play with you,” he heard Zhen Ning say.
Yan Chengfeng’s footsteps suddenly faltered.
A moment later, he abruptly turned around and asked, “…What did you say?”
“I said, I actually really want to duo with you.”
Zhen Ning spoke softly, “Even if, as you said, my experience isn’t as much as Lei Tao’s, I still really want to make it onto the starting lineup. I wasn’t satisfied with my performance in my first match, so these past few days, I’ve actually been wanting to play a few more games with you.”
Yan Chengfeng stared at him, stunned.
“I really can’t go back on my commitment to Tao Luo. If I tell her I have something else to do and then go off to play ranked with you, that would really hurt her.”
“But as compensation, I can give you the whole day tomorrow. Not just four hours—we can play the entire day.”
Zhen Ning looked straight into Yan Chengfeng’s eyes and said, “Tomorrow, you’ll be my top priority.”
“Is that okay?” he asked.
Yan Chengfeng didn’t know how much time passed before he finally averted his gaze and turned away.
With his back to Zhen Ning, he spoke dryly after a long pause, “Do whatever you want.”
In reality, Yan Chengfeng wasn’t the type of person who was easily swayed.
He had a bad temper, a sharp tongue, and a rather questionable moral compass. On top of that, he was incredibly stubborn. Nobody could win an argument against him, and if anyone softened in front of him, he’d just see them as spineless.
But if the one who softened was Zhen Ning, the situation was entirely different—because Zhen Ning had always been the exception for Yan Chengfeng.
Zhen Ning had faced Yan Chengfeng and openly said that he wanted to play with him.
At that moment, Yan Chengfeng couldn’t find any words to counter. Not only that, but the knot of frustration in his chest unraveled at an astonishing speed the moment Zhen Ning finished speaking.
He even felt his heart beat a little faster.
Back in the dormitory, lying on his bed, Yan Chengfeng stared at the ceiling for a long time, but he still couldn’t suppress the flutter deep in his heart.
He kept replaying their conversation over and over in his mind, analyzing each word. The more he thought about it, the more inexplicably pleased he felt—until he remembered the phrase “broken promise.”
Suddenly, a memory from long ago resurfaced.
Yan Chengfeng and Zhen Ning had met in an internet café when they were about 15 or 16 years old. After playing a game together, they hit it off immediately.
Later, Yan Chengfeng convinced Zhen Ning to try out for the KYM youth training team. They played a few rounds together, and just like that, their contracts were signed on the spot.
Despite his sharp tongue, Yan Chengfeng was incredibly popular. Simply put, he had a natural leadership quality. The younger, inexperienced kids in the training team liked to gather around him. He had only been at the base for a few days but had already made many friends.
The only person who didn’t constantly hover around him was Zhen Ning.
As a teenager, Zhen Ning was aloof and quiet, like a cold, beautiful snowman. Back then, he spoke even less than he did now, to the point of seeming almost reclusive. He kept everyone at arm’s length, always polite yet distant. At the time, Joe, who was still a youth training coach, once worried that Zhen Ning might be too withdrawn from others.
Although the two were highly compatible in-game, during the first few months of their acquaintance, whenever Yan Chengfeng asked Zhen Ning anything, the responses were typically limited to a few words like “okay,” “no need,” or “not interested.”
For a while, Yan Chengfeng wondered if Zhen Ning didn’t like him. It wasn’t until later that he realized Zhen Ning’s attitude toward him was actually quite “enthusiastic” compared to how he treated others.
But at that time, Yan Chengfeng genuinely enjoyed playing games with Zhen Ning. The feeling of fighting side by side, building perfect synergy, was something he couldn’t experience with anyone else.
By then, Yan Chengfeng was about to turn seventeen. They had just broken into the top thirty on the national server’s ranked leaderboard, and in high spirits, Yan Chengfeng asked Zhen Ning, “Hey, my birthday’s coming up this weekend. I’m not planning on inviting a bunch of random people. Just the two of us. Want to go out for dinner that night?”
At the time, Zhen Ning was watching a match replay, analyzing his lane play for any flaws.
Hearing the question, he glanced at Yan Chengfeng and then, after a moment, replied calmly, “Okay.”
Yan Chengfeng’s heart skipped a beat. “I’m heading home this Saturday, so how about we meet at 6 PM on Sunday in front of Ah-Jiang’s stir-fry place?”
Zhen Ning turned back to the replay, sat quietly for a moment, and then responded with another “Okay.”
After eagerly asking two long questions, only to receive two identical, curt replies, Yan Chengfeng felt like his warm enthusiasm had crashed into a cold wall.
He couldn’t help feeling a little uncertain, unsure whether Zhen Ning actually wanted to go or not, leaving the verbal agreement lingering in his thoughts.
The following days were busy with training, and so much happened that Zhen Ning didn’t bring up the dinner again. As a result, the agreement became just a vague memory in Yan Chengfeng’s mind.
On Saturday, Yan Chengfeng went home, and when he was preparing to return to the base on Sunday evening, his mother suddenly stopped him. She made him a bowl of longevity noodles and brought out a big cake, insisting that he eat the noodles before leaving.
Because of this, Yan Chengfeng didn’t get back to the base until after nine.
He carried the packed cake around the base, searching for Zhen Ning, determined to let him try some high-quality dairy cream. However, after asking around, he still couldn’t find him.
Staring at the empty gaming chair beside him, Yan Chengfeng suddenly realized what he had forgotten.
No way… Yan Chengfeng cursed under his breath.
Thinking back to their brief conversation a few days ago and Zhen Ning’s two indifferent “okay”s, Yan Chengfeng suddenly panicked.
He held onto some wishful thinking—that since Zhen Ning had responded so flatly that day, maybe he hadn’t really taken it to heart.
However, when Yan Chengfeng finally arrived at Ah-Jiang’s place, out of breath, the shop had already rolled down its shutter and closed early for the night.
Yet, sitting on the steps in front of the restaurant was a slender figure.
It was Zhen Ning. Yan Chengfeng had no idea how long he had been sitting there.
Zhen Ning sat quietly, holding a large bag in his arms, his gaze calm and unwavering as he watched the flickering lights of the nearby neon sign.
He had actually waited all this time.
Yan Chengfeng felt his heart skip a beat.
“—I… I forgot.”
He ran up to Zhen Ning, flustered and stumbling over his words. “My mom insisted on giving me a bowl of noodles before I left. Once I was full, I completely forgot about dinner.”
Zhen Ning sat on the steps and looked up at him.
After a brief pause, he met Yan Chengfeng’s eyes and shook his head.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Don’t feel bad about your family’s kindness.”
Zhen Ning handed him the bag and said, “Happy birthday.”
Yan Chengfeng took it.
It was a keyboard—the one he had been dreaming about for ages.
He had talked about it endlessly, saying he’d buy it once he got his paycheck, enthusiastically describing the perfect color scheme and the exact type of switches he wanted.
At the time, Zhen Ning hadn’t joined the conversation. He had just quietly sat to the side, playing ranked, looking intensely focused.
But the keyboard Zhen Ning bought for him was exactly the one Yan Chengfeng had described, down to the smallest detail.
Even the “greenish color that looks a little blue and purple” he had mentioned wanting was the exact one Zhen Ning had found, officially named “Lotus Green.”
Clutching the keyboard in his arms, Yan Chengfeng stood there, utterly dumbfounded. “I—”
Before he could finish his sentence, he saw Zhen Ning push himself up from the steps, struggling slightly as he tried to stand.
Having been sitting for so long, Zhen Ning’s legs must have been numb, and when he stood, he stumbled forward.
Startled, Yan Chengfeng instinctively reached out to steady him—
For a brief moment, they hugged.
The embrace between the two boys was simple and pure, with nothing else mixed in—just a gentle wrapping of their arms around each other’s backs.
But when they parted, their breaths were a little quicker.
Zhen Ning’s eyes were even clearer and more beautiful than the neon lights beside them. Yan Chengfeng stared at his face for a moment, then suddenly let out a chuckle.
With a smug grin, Yan Chengfeng asked, “So every time we talk near you, you’re actually listening, even though you’re wearing headphones, right?”
Zhen Ning was silent for a moment before calmly replying, “It’s not eavesdropping. It’s just that, on rare occasions, I can hear you because you guys are just too loud.”
Yan Chengfeng secretly rejoiced in his heart.
Trying to suppress his laughter, he said, “I don’t care. Anyway, you remembered my birthday wish, so that means you really care about me, right?”
Zhen Ning looked at his face and then turned to walk away.
Yan Chengfeng couldn’t help but smile, his lips curling up. He ran a few steps to catch up with Zhen Ning and grabbed his wrist. “I was wrong! Don’t be mad anymore! Oh, your hand is so cold! How about this—after we go back, you help me set up the keyboard, and I’ll ask Auntie to make us some food and get you an extra bowl of hot porridge. How does that sound?”
Zhen Ning: “…I’m not mad.”
Yan Chengfeng continued, “And next time, I swear, I won’t forget any of our agreements. Let’s never break our promises to each other, okay?”
After a long silence, amidst the cold, biting winter wind, he finally heard Zhen Ning softly say, “Okay.”
