Although Yu Hui had deleted Jiang Lele’s WeChat, it seemed like it was just for fun this time. He added him back shortly afterward, and the two returned to their usual way of interacting.
But something felt different.
Jiang Lele could sense an invisible line between them. Every time he tried to cross it, Yu Hui would kick him back. And Yu Hui himself never crossed that line.
Jiang Lele didn’t understand what it was. He chased after Yu Hui and asked several times, but he couldn’t explain it clearly, and Yu Hui never answered. Eventually, with time, he gradually forgot about the existence of that line.
But after the team’s new AD started dating Xie Xu, he seemed to sense that line again.
After the World Championship ended, the atmosphere at the base finally relaxed for a bit.
During the late-night snack time, everyone decided to eat the dumplings Xie Xu’s mom had sent.
Xie Xu and Jiang Shi were in the kitchen boiling dumplings, while Zhao Jiu, Yu Hui, and Yuan Yang were playing “Fight the Landlord” in the living room.
[Child] Jiang Lele only had spectator privileges.
Still, Jiang Lele managed to squeeze into Yu Hui’s arms, resting his head on Yu Hui’s shoulder. After seeing his cards, his eyes lit up. “Wow, Back, your hand is amazing!”
Yuan Yang looked speechless. “This guy’s luck is insane. He even drew the king bomb.”
Jiang Lele’s eyes widened. “Crap, Yang-ge, how’d you know?!”
Zhao Jiu laughed. “Your tone gave it away. Too easy.”
Jiang Lele was about to say more when Yu Hui poked him in the face with a card. “Shut up, Jiang Lele.”
Even with his hand exposed early, Yu Hui still won as the landlord.
Before the next round started, Jiang Lele complained about being uncomfortable leaning like that, so he wrapped his arms around Yu Hui’s neck and snuggled his head into the crook of Yu Hui’s neck to adjust.
But he was pushed away by a hand gripping his shoulder.
Yu Hui said with distaste, “Don’t lean on me. I don’t care if you’re not hot, I am.”
This time, not only did Jiang Lele fail to get more comfortable, he lost his human pillow too, replaced with a cold little couch cushion.
He tried to sneak close to Yu Hui again but was rejected.
He tried to drink Yu Hui’s water but Yu Hui had already moved it out of his reach.
Once again, Jiang Lele felt that line — and after trying to cross and getting tossed back out, it was reinforced even more.
“Whatever,” Jiang Lele huffed and threw the pillow into Yu Hui’s lap. “Stupid Back! I’m going to find Time and eat all the dumplings in the pot. I won’t leave a single one for you!”
With that, Jiang Lele ran off to the kitchen. As he reached the doorway, he asked the people inside, “Are the dumplings done yet? I can help taste test if they’re cooked—”
Halfway through the sentence, he froze.
Jiang Shi had his back to him, held in Xie Xu’s arms, head tilted up. They were making out discreetly in the kitchen.
Xie Xu held down Jiang Shi, who was about to turn his head, and looked toward the unexpected guest at the door. “The dumplings aren’t ready. Wait outside.”
His tone was calm, in stark contrast to Jiang Shi’s bright red ears.
Jiang Lele stumbled back to the living room in a daze.
Even though he’d teased Jiang Shi countless times, this was the first time he’d actually seen two guys being intimate. It left him shocked.
Just as he was about to walk straight into the coffee table, Yu Hui called out to him.
“Jiang Lele.”
Jiang Lele snapped out of it. “Huh?”
He walked around the coffee table and over to Yu Hui. “What is it?”
Yu Hui shoved his cards into his hands. “You play this round.”
Zhao Jiu let out a wry laugh. “Back, do you even care about your teammate’s survival?”
They lost this round without suspense, but Jiang Lele was thrilled. While eating dumplings, he was still reviewing that last round with Yu Hui and talking about how they could’ve turned it around.
Zhao Jiu dipped a dumpling in sauce and said, “Little ancestor, could you stop playing? You’re basically a spy for the landlord.”
“But did you see a ghost in the kitchen or something? You looked totally out of it when you came out.”
“I didn’t see a ghost.” Jiang Lele said with a mouthful of dumpling, words muffled. “I saw Time and the captain kissing.”
As soon as he said that, there was a loud clang. Someone dropped their chopsticks.
Jiang Lele turned to Jiang Shi and said sweetly, “T Bao, you dropped your chopsticks in your bowl!”
Jiang Shi glared at him. “Your head’s gonna drop in there too, you believe me?”
The peaceful dinner table instantly turned chaotic. Xie Xu wrapped an arm around Jiang Shi’s waist to calm the flustered man in his arms, while Yu Hui shoved a dumpling drenched in chili sauce into Jiang Lele’s mouth to forcibly shut him up.
During the free time that night, Zhao Jiu and Yuan Yang went out to buy some necessities for the base. Jiang Shi and Xie Xu were nowhere to be seen, clearly off being lovey-dovey. Meanwhile, Jiang Lele was playing the game alongside Yu Hui.
Yu Hui frowned as he looked at Jiang Lele’s position. “Stop flanking, the enemy jungle will probably catch you.”
Ever since Jiang Shi got a pentakill during Worlds by flanking, Jiang Lele had been obsessed with it.
Sure enough, as soon as Yu Hui finished speaking, Jiang Lele got one-shotted.
Leaning back in his chair, Jiang Lele whined, “Ahhh, I’m so unlucky!”
He had barely entered that bush before bumping right into the enemy jungler.
Yu Hui asked, “Do you really have to be this persistent?”
“Of course!” Jiang Lele answered firmly. “A mage flanking and taking out the backline? That’s badass!”
While waiting out his 40-second respawn timer, Jiang Lele absentmindedly opened up his phone to scroll through Moments. He saw something Jiang Shi had posted ten minutes ago.
[Fat cat.]
The photo showed Xiao Hei lying on the floor, belly up in a pampered pose. Jiang Shi’s foot was lightly touching its tummy.
Totally normal post, but Jiang Lele noticed something different.
In the corner of the photo, printed on the floor, was part of a team uniform with Xie Xu’s ID. And beside Xiao Hei, the shadows clearly showed two people.
Jiang Lele mentally reconstructed the scene and commented under the post:
[The Group’s Most Handsome Guy Jiang Lele: Are you sitting on the captain’s lap?]
But before he could refresh the page, the post disappeared.
Jiang Shi had deleted it.
Just as Jiang Lele was about to DM Jiang Shi and interrogate what he and the captain were doing, Yu Hui’s voice suddenly came through his headset:
“Stop goofing around. You’ve respawned, come clear the wave.”
Jiang Lele quickly put his phone down. “Coming~”
He waited in the bush near blue buff for Back to leash it for him, casually saying, “T Bao is totally in the captain’s room right now, acting all sneaky. I’ve even seen him come out of that room in the mornings a bunch of times.”
Yu Hui replied, “That’s normal.”
“Then why won’t you let me in your room?”
Jiang Lele sounded frustrated. “Even during Worlds when we were assigned to the same room, you wouldn’t let me on your bed.”
Ever since Jiang Shi got together with Xie Xu, Jiang Lele kept noticing that invisible line between him and Yu Hui again, one he couldn’t cross.
Yu Hui lowered his eyes, not answering the question directly. “Come get blue.”
Jiang Lele muttered an “okay” and listlessly picked up the buff.
However, that gloomy mood didn’t last long. Seeing Jiang Lele once again trying to flank from behind, Yu Hui marked a spot on the map and said, “Go to this bush. Don’t come out unless I say so.”
When the enemy mage passed by, Jiang Lele asked, “Can I go now?”
Yu Hui: “No.”
Then the marksman and support walked past. Jiang Lele asked again, “Surely now I can go?”
Yu Hui: “Wait.”
Right after saying that, he sent a signal to his teammates to gather and ambush. While Jiang Lele was still stunned, Yu Hui initiated a teamfight with his teammates.
But Yu Hui ended up sacrificing his teammates, failing to kill the enemy’s main damage dealer. He only got them to low HP before blacking out himself.
At this point, Jiang Lele didn’t need any signal. He rushed to the battlefield, gleefully cleaning up the fight. Because his entrance was unexpected and the enemies were low on health and out of skills, Jiang Lele easily secured a quadra kill.
[Quadrakill!]
Listening to the excited and arrogant yelling in the voice chat, a small smile tugged at the corner of Yu Hui’s lips as he watched Jiang Lele destroy the enemy crystal.
The enemy crystal exploded. They won.
Yu Hui took off his headset. “Happy now—”
Before he could finish, the chair beside him screeched as it was dragged back, and his arm was suddenly hugged. A warm, soft, unfamiliar touch landed on his cheek.
Jiang Lele kissed him hard, even making an exaggerated smack sound. “Back, I love you so much! I’m declaring it, you’re officially my favorite jungler baby!”
The victory screen still shone on the monitor, but Yu Hui’s gaze, though seemingly fixed on the screen, wasn’t really focused on anything.
Listening to Jiang Lele chattering excitedly in his ear, Yu Hui rubbed the spot on his cheek that had been kissed.
No need to ask.
This kiss was just like the one from before. Jiang Lele was influenced by Jiang Shi and Xie Xu, got too hyped, and did it as a way to show brotherly love. It didn’t mean anything more.
The next day, as usual, Jiang Lele went next door to wake Yu Hui up—but there was no response.
At the breakfast table, Yuan Yang said Yu Hui had taken a day off early in the morning, saying he had to go out for something.
Just as Jiang Lele was about to call Yu Hui, he got a message from his mom on WeChat.
[Mom]: Remember to tell Yu Hui to be nice to the girl when they meet. She’s been asking me about him forever, and he finally agreed to see her.
[The Group’s Most Handsome Guy Jiang Lele]: What do you mean?
[Mom]: Oh, I’ve been discussing this privately with Xiao Yu. I forgot to tell you.
[Mom]: Remember how you asked me during Chinese New Year to introduce some nice girls to your teammates? I put Yu Hui’s info out there, and there’s this girl from A City who really likes him. I’ve told him about her many times, and yesterday he finally said yes.
[Mom]: I think they’d be a great match. Tell him to make an effort. I’m off to play cards now.
After the chat ended, Jiang Lele was left a little dazed.
So Yu Hui went on a blind date? Behind his back?!
His first reaction was to rush out and crash it—but as soon as he got to the door, he remembered he didn’t even know where Yu Hui had gone.
He tried calling, but no one picked up.
Seeing Jiang Lele pacing anxiously by the door without even touching his food, Xie Xu said, “Yu Hui’s probably sipping milk tea and eating cute little cakes with a girl right now. Why are you getting involved?”
That only made Jiang Lele explode more. “This is huge and he didn’t even tell me!”
Xie Xu slowly handed a bowl of wontons to Jiang Shi and said calmly, “Why should he tell you?”
That shut Jiang Lele up completely.
Jiang Shi took a bite of his wonton and glanced meaningfully at Xie Xu.
Until the sun began to set in the afternoon, Yu Hui still hadn’t returned.
Jiang Lele looked like he’d lost his soul, all bottled up and miserable, so he finally went to find Jiang Shi. “T Bao, why hasn’t he come back yet…”
Jiang Shi was sipping orange juice that Xie Xu had freshly squeezed. When he saw Jiang Lele’s red eyes, he paused, put the juice down, and asked, “Have you figured out what exactly it is that’s bothering you?”
Jiang Lele bit his lip. “He snuck off to go on a blind date and won’t even answer my calls!”
Worried something might’ve happened, he begged Xie Xu to call, and the line connected quickly.
Seeing Jiang Lele get angry again, Jiang Shi was speechless. “Is your brain just for show?”
Jiang Lele gritted his teeth. “Don’t think you can insult me just because Back isn’t here.”
Jiang Shi: “Idiot.”
Jiang Lele: “…”
He lowered his head, fiddling with his fingers. “I’m really upset. Don’t tease me right now.”
Hearing this, Xie Xu turned to Yuan Yang, who was also obviously paying close attention to Jiang Lele’s mood, and said, “Want to go have some coffee? I’ll make you a cup.”
Yuan Yang nodded. “Sure.”
They got caught in the kitchen~