WCG Chapter 101.2

The next day, after getting some rest, the members of TLG returned to their base.  

Having just finished the world championship, Yuan Yang generously gave them a week off. But instead of going anywhere, everyone stayed at the base.  

The sudden relaxation after the intense matches left everyone exhausted, especially Jiang Shi. Even after sleeping a whole night at the hotel, he was still asleep when they arrived at the base, only waking up as the sun was about to set.  

Feeling like his body had fallen apart, Jiang Shi sat sluggishly in the lobby, drinking porridge.  

Jiang Lele had just returned from messing around outside with Xiao Hei when he saw Jiang Shi drinking porridge without much enthusiasm.  

Stretching his neck to peek at the bowl, he saw a few pieces of green vegetables floating in the porridge and asked curiously, “Why are you just eating this? Yang-ge isn’t restricting our meals anymore. Want to order some takeout?”  

Jiang Shi: “No.”  

He needed to keep his diet light for now.  

Fortunately, Jiang Lele didn’t dwell on his porridge choice. Instead, he looked at his phone and brought up another topic. “Why are your fans all guessing whether you’ll livestream today? They even said that if you don’t go live by evening, then it’s basically confirmed.”  

“They even started a poll, and the majority think you won’t stream. What’s that about?”  

This was the first time Jiang Lele couldn’t understand what Time’s fans were talking about.  

Jiang Shi glanced at Jiang Lele’s phone — the poll results were 20,000 to 100.  

All betting that he wouldn’t stream.  

Jiang Shi swallowed his porridge, his expression blank. “Childish.”  

This kind of trick? He had stopped falling for it in his last life. Only an idiot would take such a lame provocation seriously.  

By the time Xie Xu walked out of the kitchen with a warm glass of milk, Jiang Shi was already gone from the dining table.  

Xie Xu asked Jiang Lele, “Where’s Jiang Shi?”  

Jiang Lele glanced at his phone’s notification bar, which had just popped up with a stream alert. He pointed upstairs to the training room. “He went to livestream.”  

Childish fans and their equally childish streamer.  

When Xie Xu arrived at the training room, Jiang Shi was sitting at his desk with a sour expression, aggressively muting people in the chat.  

[Oh my god, why is he streaming?]  

[Didn’t Xu take him back to the hotel last night? They just won the championship. It was such a great moment. No way they just laid in bed and talked, right?]  

[Don’t fall for this little idiot’s act. He’s pretending!]  

[Suspicion #1: It’s hot as h*ll, but this kid is still wearing his team jacket. The collar is pulled up, and the zipper is practically at his chin. If I remember correctly, he switched to short sleeves a month ago.]  

Jiang Shi sneered and explained, “Korea was freezing. My body’s weak now, so I’m taking care of myself. Got a problem with that?”  

[Suspicion #2: There’s a cushion under his seat!]  

Jiang Shi: “It makes me look taller.”  

[Suspicion #3: I counted, he’s shifted his butt ten times in less than five minutes!]  

Jiang Shi couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you idiots fucking sick in the head? Now you’re monitoring how much I move?”  

“Want me to start keeping track of every time I curse at you too?”  

[Yo yo yo! He’s mad! He’s mad!]  

[T Bao, how many times last night? How was Xu’s technique?]  

[If you’re too tired today, don’t push yourself. Just lie down and rest, okay~]  

[So… could you see the ceiling?]  

Jiang Shi: “……”  

His feet didn’t even touch the ground last night, how the hell would he see the ceiling?  

And it was so dark anyway, what was there to see?!  

“Forget it, there’s no reasoning with you people.”  

He directly muted the fans spamming suspicions. Just as he was doing that, the door behind him opened.  

Xie Xu placed the warm milk on his desk. “Why are you streaming so early?”  

Jiang Shi picked up the milk and took a sip, mumbling, “Didn’t want them to miss me too much, so I popped in for a bit.”  

[Oh, we missed you all right, we want the details from last night.]  

[Little White Hair is so stingy, won’t even spill a single word. Xu, what about you?]  

[Did he cry last night?]  

[Bet his tears were streaming down, huh?]  

Hearing that, Xie Xu glanced down at Jiang Shi, who was bundled up tightly.  

No, there weren’t tears. Just by the end… his voice had a bit of a sob to it.  

Jiang Shi looked at the ridiculous messages filling the chat and coldly bit down on the straw. “Stop guessing. I’m streaming, so go cancel your stupid poll already.”  

Just as he was about to end the stream, the chat suddenly exploded with exclamation marks.  

[Fck! Look at Xu’s neck!]  

[Right side, a bit toward the back! Am I seeing this right?]  

[Is that a hickey? Not bad, T Bao!]  

[Hickey my a*s, that’s a bite mark!]  

[No wonder the little idiot is wrapped up so tightly. Looks like last night’s battle was pretty intense.]  

[Time isn’t covered in marks, is he?]  

Jiang Shi’s eye twitched violently. He shut the stream down in a flash and immediately reached out to pull down Xie Xu’s collar—  

There really was a bite mark on the right side.  

And it looked quite deep. 

Jiang Shi recalled last night and felt his face heat up. “You bullied me first.” 

Xie Xu had refused to let go, kept messing with him at that one spot… he really couldn’t hold back.  

Xie Xu followed his lead. “Mm, my fault. I’ll be more careful next time.”  

“How was the porridge? There’s more in the kitchen.”  

“It was bland.”  

“I simmered it all morning.”  

“…Fine, I’ll have another bowl.”  

---

A few days later, TLG was preparing for their new season’s team uniforms.  

Yuan Yang held a form and called out to Jiang Lele, who was playing with the cat. “Quit playing and come get your height and weight measured. I need to confirm sizes.”  

Jiang Lele stepped onto the scale while Yuan Yang observed. “Weren’t you trying to lose weight? How are you one kg heavier than in winter?”  

Shocked, Jiang Lele turned to look at the scale. After seeing the number, he declared, “The scale is broken. I definitely lost one kg.”  

Yuan Yang smacked him. “Get off. Yu Hui, Zhao Jiu, your turn.”  

The two stepped on, their weight unchanged.  

Jiang Lele: “…”  

To make himself feel better, he put Xiao Hei on the scale — 6 kg, five more than when the cat first got to the base.  

Jiang Lele was at peace again.  

When it was Jiang Shi’s turn, Yuan Yang read out, “177.3 cm, 66.5 kg[mfn]…the OG said 113 jin, which is 56.5 kg. There’s no way in hell that’s healthy, so it’s probably a typo. I made it 133 jin, and it’s much more normal[/mfn].”

Jiang Shi was clearly satisfied with this result. He hopped off the scale cheerfully, caught by Xie Xu.  

Xie Xu glanced at Jiang Shi’s smug expression and chuckled. “Grew 2 cm, gained 2 kg, not bad.” 

Jiang Shi nodded modestly but corrected, “It’s 2.3 cm.”  

Jiang Lele pointed at Xiao Hei. “T-Bao, Captain feeds you every day, but you gain weight slower than the cat?”  

“Also, I never see you exercise. Where does all your food go?”  

Jiang Lele’s eyes darted between Jiang Shi and Xie Xu. Just as he was about to say something, a heavy weight landed on his head.  

“Ahhh, Little White Hair, why did you put the cat on me? I just styled my hair!”  

“Back, save me!”

Yu Hui dodged quickly.

Zhao Jiu found this hilarious and laughed. 

Yuan Yang looked at the mess, and his eye twitched. He pretended to hear nothing, continuing his duty to record everyone’s new sizes. 

Jiang Lele hugged the cat, shed fur flying in the air. “Little White Hair, I’m going to fight you!”

Jiang Shi was sitting on the sofa eating an apple. Hearing this, he bit off the last bite and threw the apple core accurately into the trash can. He looked up at Jiang Lele and said calmly, “Come on, let’s see who has the harder fist.”

Jiang Lele: “Fuck, Back, don’t pull me. If it weren’t for the captain’s protection, I would beat you up-“

“Ah? You really won’t pull me…?”

Yu Hui let go of his hand, “You go.”

Zhao Jiu: “Hahahaha…”

Jiang Lele was scared and hid behind Yu Hui, but he was very imposing, “I warn you, don’t be too arrogant. If you have the ability, let’s 1v1, no help from the captain. I will beat you sooner or later!” 

After that, he gestured to Jiang Shi.

Jiang Shi’s fist was really hard this time. He was about to pull Jiang Lele out, but his fist was held by the person next to him.

Xie Xu smiled and said, “Your assumption is not true.”

“Because I will always protect him.”

Jiang Lele whimpered and went to Yu Hui to complain.

The sunlight from the doorway fell in, casting a connected shadow on the clasped hands between Jiang Shi and Xie Xu.

Jiang Shi slowly opened his fist and shook Xie Xu’s hand.

Xiao Hei noticed their movements and walked over to rub their clasped hands with his tiny head.

The shadows swayed slightly in the light.

Jiang Lele kept on chattering about something with Yu Hui. Zhao Jiu was discussing the new season’s team uniforms with Yuan Yang.

And Xie Xu was looking down at him.

Jiang Shi tightened his grip, looking at his lively team members, his lips curling up.  

“Captain.”  

“Mm.”  

“Xie Xu.”  

“Mm.”  

“Boyfriend.”  

“Mm.”  

“I like you.”  

“I love you.”  

No matter how much time passed, they would always find each other, and fall in love.

——End of main text——