Hearing that heart-piercing “advanced age” comment, inBlue nearly spat out his water, lowering his head and pounding Yan Jie’s back.
Yan Jie couldn’t keep it together either. He laughed a couple of times, then pretended to stretch his arms and twist his waist:
“Well, indeed, I’m already twenty-nine, an old-timer in esports. I feel my reaction speed and mechanics can’t keep up with you young people anymore. Tsk, sitting in this chair a bit longer, my back aches, my legs hurt, my shoulders feel stiff. Come on, Mr. Hang, uphold the traditional virtue of respecting the elderly, give this old man a shoulder massage.”
Jiang Nan’an nodded, perfunctorily patting his shoulder, and encouraged him with a straight face:
“Keep it up! Age isn’t the issue. As long as there’s fire in your heart and light in your eyes, someday, it won’t be the new wave crushing the old, but Spring God’s second spring!”
“Great! Well said, teacher!” Yan Jie led the applause.
Behind the camera, the cameraman painfully held back laughter, shakily giving a close-up shot from his unappreciated corner.
–
After all three 5v5 team battles were completed, today’s filming was almost done, with only the coaching team’s class assignments left to announce.
According to the show’s rules, the thirty contestants would be divided into three classes-A, B, and C-with ten people in each. The classification standard was based on the coaches’ assessment of players’ actual skill level after watching the matches. Class A players generally had ranks of Master, Grandmaster, or above; Class B was for average players in the middle tier; and Class C was essentially for gaming novices, with players mostly hovering around Bronze or Iron ranks.
Jiang Nan’an’s game rank was already quite high, and his performance in the two matches was fairly impressive, so he was unsurprisingly assigned to Class A by the coaching team. Other familiar faces in Class A included Yan Jie, inBlue, and Cai Zheng, while Sheng Yujia was assigned to Class B.
After announcing the class assignments and distributing class uniforms, it was almost dinner time. Following a short break, they would take formal class photos and record player interviews in the evening. Before that, Jiang Nan’an was taken to the makeup room by the stylist to touch up his makeup and style. Long accustomed to being handled like this, he sat quietly in his seat, not moving, resting with his eyes closed while the stylist worked on his hair.
There weren’t many people in the makeup room, making it very quiet, with only the soothing R&B melody playing from the stylist’s phone.
This comfortable silence lasted for a long time, until the makeup room door was opened with a “click” from outside-
Someone had entered, bringing their own follow-up VJ and FPD.
The R&B melody was drowned out by the noise, and as the jumbled footsteps approached, Jiang Nan’an finally opened his eyes.
The makeup mirror opposite reflected the scene in the room, and as soon as Jiang Nan’an opened his eyes, he saw a very punchable face appear in the mirror.
Jiang Nan’an also noticed he was holding a phone. If he remembered correctly, contestants’ personal phones should have been confiscated during the first segment of today’s recording.
So Jiang Nan’an quietly tugged at the stylist’s clothes:
“Teacher, I need to report someone hiding contraband.”
“Hey, watch what you say! This is sponsored by our financial backers!”
Yan Jie explained, holding up the phone, then looked at the screen and laughed:
“See? You asked me to find him, and before I could say a word, he’s already accusing me of a crime. I’m really being wronged here!”
Hearing this, Jiang Nan’an raised an eyebrow:
“You’re livestreaming?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Didn’t the PD say the livestream was tomorrow?”
“Ah, this is just an informal little easter egg,” Yan Jie paused, glancing at the comments:
“They’re asking if Xiao Shan looks good today? Wait, let me check for you.”
After saying this, Yan Jie turned his gaze back to Jiang Nan’an, seemingly scanning him seriously, and then his eyes shifted slightly.
Class A’s uniform was primarily red with black and white accents. The T-shirt and jacket design was bold and beautiful, with the bright red making Jiang Nan’an glow with fairness. His makeup was light, completely highlighting his natural facial features. Perhaps to echo the color of the outfit, the makeup artist had added a few strands of fake hair to Jiang Nan’an-red fake strands hidden among the black hair, faintly visible. The passionate red balanced with Jiang Nan’an’s cool temperament, somehow achieving a subtle harmony.
When he met Jiang Nan’an’s slightly confused eyes, Yan Jie actually had a moment of distraction.
“Good-looking-”
But he quickly withdrew his gaze, straightened up, and casually chatted with his viewers:
“I’ve found that you all have quite good taste. Teacher Xiao Shan is indeed good-looking, really. How good-looking? Well, probably ranks first among all the people I’ve met. Today’s styling looks especially good. What? You want to see too?”
Yan Jie chuckled and deliberately asked Jiang Nan’an:
“Can they see, teacher?”
Jiang Nan’an looked at him through the mirror, then at his phone camera: “Whatever.”
“He says you can look. Happy? Excited?” Yan Jie curved his eyes, then changed his tone:
“But I’m not going to show you!”
Jiang Nan’an raised an eyebrow, giving him a slightly surprised look.
“Why not show them? No reason, just keeping some suspense. What’s the rush? Won’t you see when the show airs? Not the same? What’s different? You miss him? Just wait a bit longer-absence makes the heart grow fonder. Tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock, tune into Cat Paw TV’s ‘Burning Eternity’ program section, click on Teacher Jiang Nan’an’s personal livestream position, and you’ll get your fill! Alright, I’m off. Who’s next? Haven’t seen Xiao Shan? I have! You haven’t? That’s not my problem. Really want to see? Sorry, I control the camera. Yes, that’s right, I’m bad! I’m a charming bad boy. My name is Spring. Let me hear you scream, okay?”
Yan Jie left with his VJ and PD, rambling as he walked away. Jiang Nan’an instinctively watched him go, and the makeup artist beside him immediately exclaimed: “Wait, don’t move, dear, almost done.”
Jiang Nan’an obediently responded and closed his eyes again.
But soon after, he heard footsteps running from afar, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw Yan Jie returning with his phone. He said nothing as he approached, just placed something on the makeup table in front of him.
When Yan Jie withdrew his hand, Jiang Nan’an saw that he had left a strawberry milk candy wrapped in pink paper on the table.
Yan Jie didn’t say anything, just looked back at him, curved his eyes, clicked his tongue playfully, and ran out again, his clothes fluttering like a flame.
The makeup artist soon finished her work. Jiang Nan’an heard her say he was done and got up to leave the makeup room, but after taking a few steps, the makeup artist suddenly called out to him:
“Teacher Jiang, you forgot your candy.”
Jiang Nan’an looked back and saw the strawberry candy lying quietly on the table, casting a faint shadow in the makeup table’s light.
He hesitated for a few seconds, then withdrew his gaze:
“I don’t eat candy. You can have it.”
–
“Burning Eternity” was broadcast in both recorded and live formats. The livestream would begin the day after the official recording, mainly to show viewers the contestants’ training life in the program. Each contestant would have their own dedicated camera position on Cat Paw TV, emphasizing their most authentic state.
This was also Qi Hong’s purpose in having Jiang Nan’an participate in this show. When the program’s livestream ran for most of the day, as long as Jiang Nan’an behaved a little, acted a little, and restrained himself, stabilizing his cool persona, who could bring up the previous persona controversy? They could just throw the livestream replay in their faces and leave them with nothing to say!
She saw a bright future, and Jiang Nan’an had promised her he would stay steady and believed he could do it. But when he entered Class A’s classroom the next morning and saw that the name card right next to his position was “Spring,” he felt a sense of impending doom.
He wondered if the production team knew about the previous controversy and deliberately put them together to create buzz.
But it was clearly too late to change seats now, so he could only reluctantly sit down. The staff member beside him quickly came forward to start his livestream when they saw him arrive.
Jiang Nan’an hadn’t appeared for a long time due to the persona controversy, and fans were eagerly waiting to see a fresh, living Teacher Xiao Shan. Last night, Spring had also teased them, whetting their appetites, so early this morning, many people were already waiting in the livestream channel-both true fans and curious onlookers-pushing the livestream to the top of the trending list as soon as it started.
-Ahhhhh first!! Wife I love you so much, I miss you!!!
-No feminizing please! Husband I love you too!!
-Baby baby baby baby you’re the most beautiful, most adorable, most precious baby!
-Just woke up, husband? You look so dazed!
Jiang Nan’an was momentarily shocked by the flood of comments. After the staff helped him adjust the settings, he could finally see his face clearly on the screen.
“Mm, just woke up.” On a regular training day, Jiang Nan’an wasn’t wearing makeup, and his hair wasn’t styled either, just somewhat messily falling around his face.
Probably feeling that his loose hair was a bit in the way, he took a hair clip from his jacket collar, casually gathered his hair, and clipped it at the back of his head.
“Yo! Good morning, Mr. Hang. Already streaming?”
Yan Jie’s voice suddenly appeared from behind. Jiang Nan’an turned to look at him and nodded:
“Morning.”
“Have you eaten breakfast, sir?”
“No.”
“I think so too. Didn’t see you in the dining hall. Why aren’t you eating? Don’t tell me you’ve already had dew and flower nectar?”
“Woke up late,” Jiang Nan’an answered honestly.
-Baby, you’re such a dazed baby.
-No, husband, you must eat breakfast properly!
-I agree!! It’s already hard enough getting up early for work, you can’t skip breakfast!
“Your fans are right.”
Yan Jie dug into his pocket and, like a magician, pulled out a pack of small cookies:
“Sugar-free, make do with these. Hey, Lan?”
inBlue responded beside him: “What?”
“Can I borrow that carton of milk?”
The milk carton was tossed into Yan Jie’s arms. He said “thanks,” and casually pushed both the milk and sugar-free cookies toward Jiang Nan’an:
“Here you go, Mr. Hang.”
Jiang Nan’an looked at him, then at the cookies and milk, hesitated for two seconds, but still picked up the food sponsored by Teacher Spring.
It wasn’t yet time for class to officially start. Not all contestants and coaches had arrived, and the staff hadn’t finished setting up Yan Jie’s livestream equipment. With nothing else to do, Yan Jie glanced at the comments on Jiang Nan’an’s stream.
-Baby is so good, even eating cookies so obediently, I could kiss you to death!!
-Control yourself (can I kiss him after you’re done?)
-Let Spring kiss him!!! Damn, is Boating at Guazhou actually real? Feeding me this kind of sugar first thing in the morning???
-This is Xiao Shan’s stream, CP fans get out!
-Stop riding coattails, bro… Who is this guy… Been hanging around Xiao Shan since yesterday…
-Do you even know who your Spring daddy is? Does your Spring daddy need to ride anyone’s coattails? Still dreaming?
-What’s wrong with you? Can’t Xiao Shan have friends? Just normal interaction between friends, how is that riding coattails? If you can’t stand watching, leave, and stop bringing hate to Xiao Shan.
-Am I the only one curious why he’s called “Mr. Hang”? Could it be…?
-Don’t mention it, for Xiao Shan’s sake.
-I understand.
“…” During the previous persona controversy, there was one point that netizens suspected but never confirmed: whether the account “Hang Me Now” actually belonged to Jiang Nan’an himself.
Netizens could speculate all they wanted, but Jiang Nan’an’s side firmly denied it. The topic had died down, and Jiang Nan’an had almost forgotten about it, but now Yan Jie had casually called out that name, and the comments brought up this unresolved issue.
Jiang Nan’an didn’t know how to explain, but with more and more people asking, he couldn’t just ignore it. He could only throw the question back to Yan Jie.
So, eating his cookies, he coldly looked at the troublemaker:
“Yes, why call me Mr. Hang?”
Yan Jie paused, met Jiang Nan’an’s eyes, and from the context realized he might have messed up.
To cover his embarrassment, he very stiffly stretched and his brain worked at lightning speed.
“Well… Mr. Hang? No, of course not that Mr. Hang, don’t guess wildly. This nickname, well, it’s mainly because Teacher Xiao Shan is so free, so uplifting, so inspirational! So whenever I see him, I just want to dedicate this line to him…”
Jiang Nan’an stared at him expressionlessly, waiting to see what nonsense he would come up with.
Yan Jie leaned back in his chair, quietly looking at him. After a moment, he made a fist and held it to his mouth like a microphone, suddenly closing his eyes in rapture and singing:
“You are A Diao! You are a free bird-”
“?”
—
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
