Yan Jie sat with the other four prospective teaching assistants and the coaching team on sofas in the eastern area of the dining hall, chatting casually while waiting for the five temporary teams to reach their decisions.
Fifteen minutes wasn’t particularly long or short, and soon, the staff collected the five teams’ notes and brought them to the show’s head coach, Chenghua.
Chenghua held the five notes, opened them one by one and placed them on the tea table in the middle for everyone to see, teasing:
“Not bad, my Spring teacher, your popularity is quite high.”
Of the five notes, three had “Spring” written on them.
“Come on, why so surprised? It’s to be expected. Ah, young people will get used to such grand occasions after experiencing more of them. Not your fault,” Yan Jie waved his hand. After the routine banter, he changed the subject and asked:
“Which three teams?”
After the PD confirmed with the staff, he answered:
“Teams Two, Four, and Five. You can have a private chat with the three team captains before making your decision, or you can choose now.”
“Private chat? No need.” Yan Jie picked up one of the notes.
The navy blue ink from the fountain pen on the beige paper, the six letters of “Spring” connected together with a stylish, powerful stroke, somewhat cursive in style, was quite pleasing to the eye.
Yan Jie lowered his gaze and stared at the handwriting for a few seconds, then flipped the note to show the PD:
“This is from Team Four, right?”
Seeing the PD nod, Yan Jie chuckled:
“No need to drag this out. I choose this one.”
After the captains of Teams One through Five submitted their choice notes, the next period was spent quietly waiting for the final results in the training rooms.
Jiang Nan’an sat next to the whiteboard, his head slightly lowered, his gold-rimmed glasses having slid down his nose bridge without him bothering to adjust them. His fair, slender fingers held a somewhat old fountain pen, the metal barrel gleaming coldly as it spun between his fingers with his movements.
The other four teammates of Team Four gathered on the other side of the whiteboard. Jiang Nan’an was a bit distant from them, so their casual conversation topics naturally rarely involved him.
The always-on screen on the training room wall displayed the current time, with the seconds ticking away as time passed. Jiang Nan’an seemed slightly lost in thought. Until someone knocked on their training room door from outside, Jiang Nan’an instinctively looked over. The next second, the door was pushed open, the gap widening, and finally, Jiang Nan’an saw a smiling face.
“Hello, everyone?”
Yan Jie closed the door behind him as he entered, smiling as he greeted them. The four teammates who had their backs to the door all turned around at once, and upon seeing it was Spring, they cheered and applauded to welcome their teaching assistant.
Yan Jie looked at each of them, finally turning to Jiang Nan’an.
Jiang Nan’an met his gaze for a second, pushed up his glasses, stood up from his chair, walked over and shook his hand, giving him a gentle smile:
“Welcome.”
Yan Jie looked at that unfamiliar smile on his face, slightly taken aback. Perhaps to express his confusion, he raised his eyebrows at Jiang Nan’an.
But Jiang Nan’an ignored him, simply looking away first and releasing his hand.
Yan Jie briefly got to know the members of Team Four, getting a general understanding of everyone’s situation in the team.
It was getting late, and Jiang Nan’an was well aware of workers’ resentment toward overtime. So after a brief team discussion, he glanced at the time on the wall, pushed his glasses, and said:
“It’s getting late, shall we end here for today?”
Jiang Nan’an’s tone was cool yet gentle. After a pause, he continued:
“During the points competition, we’ll still need to participate in regular class training, with only Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons available for team training. Today is Sunday… so tomorrow, Monday afternoon, let’s meet in this training room at the regular training time. Any questions? The first round of matches is next Sunday. We’ll arrange evening and Saturday extra practices depending on the situation. Is that okay? If there are no issues, we can disperse and go rest.”
With everything explained so clearly, there were no questions. The four teammates said goodbye to their captain and teaching assistant, and left the training room chatting casually.
With most people gone, the room suddenly became quiet. The cool-toned light fell from above, casting faint shadows on the floor.
Jiang Nan’an leaned against the table, one hand supporting himself on the edge behind him, the other spinning the fountain pen. He didn’t speak, just quietly raised his eyes to look at the writing on the whiteboard, either spacing out or deep in thought about something.
Yan Jie stood to the side with his arms crossed, watching him.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, Jiang Nan’an blinked, removed the glasses from his nose bridge, and slightly turned his face to glance at Yan Jie: “You’re not leaving?”
Yan Jie chuckled: “You haven’t left either, have you?”
“I’m thinking.”
“I’m also thinking about something. Since we both have questions, why don’t we exchange them?”
Jiang Nan’an folded his glasses and put them back in his pocket along with the fountain pen, raising his eyes to meet Yan Jie’s smiling ones for a moment before looking away:
“You ask first.”
“Really?” Yan Jie moved closer to Jiang Nan’an, tilting his head as he observed him:
“…I was wondering, Mr. Hang, do you have some kind of second personality? With these glasses on, you seem like a completely different person-your gaze, tone, everything changes, even your speaking style. And now with the glasses off, my Mr. Hang is back! What’s the principle behind this? It’s truly amazing. Can you explain this mystery?”
When Yan Jie first entered the room and saw Jiang Nan’an, he instinctively felt that the man’s demeanor had subtly changed, but he thought it was just his imagination-until Jiang Nan’an came over to shake his hand and even smiled at him.
Yan Jie was completely stunned, his first thought being: has he been replaced, or have I traveled to a parallel universe?
After that, he kept observing Jiang Nan’an’s behavior and found that his language was not only more rational and thorough, but also included many gentle phrases like “is that okay” and “how about.” This was truly shocking, considering Yan Jie had sat next to Jiang Nan’an as a desk mate for half a month and had never heard such words from his mouth.
In his nearly thirty years of life, Yan Jie had never seen anyone give such completely different impressions in such a short time, down to the micro-expressions and small gestures, and the trigger for switching between these two styles was merely a pair of glasses on the bridge of his nose.
“First, I don’t have dissociative identity disorder. Second,” Jiang Nan’an pointed to himself, raising an eyebrow slightly:
“I’m an actor.”
“Such an addiction that you need to act even when chatting with teammates?”
“Yes, I’m a drama queen. I just love acting. If I don’t act, I feel uncomfortable all over, foam at the mouth, and die. Is that not allowed?”
“It is-” Yan Jie laughed, temporarily setting aside this topic:
“So what were you thinking about?”
“…” Jiang Nan’an nodded toward the whiteboard in front of him:
“Thinking that being eliminated in the first round is no longer a dream. Who can transform into a new jungle king in a week.”
“It’s not that bad.” Yan Jie laughed:
“After all, the teams were formed by drawing lots. Honestly, other teams also have position conflicts, but yours is particularly unfortunate. You can barely put together an ADC, but there’s really no one who can jungle?”
Jiang Nan’an sighed. Perhaps feeling stuffy in the room, he tugged at his class uniform jacket and turned toward the training room’s balcony.
The landscaping in the film and television park was well done. As soon as the terrace door was pushed open, the fresh, slightly bitter scent of plants swept in with the night breeze.
The early autumn night was deeply cool. Jiang Nan’an took a deep breath, leaned on the terrace railing, and gazed out at the night of Linyun.
Yan Jie walked over, stood beside him, and followed his line of sight to look at the stars in the night sky.
After a moment of silence, Yan Jie asked:
“Being eliminated in the first round is no longer a dream… Didn’t you say before that you wanted to be eliminated early? Why do you seem unhappy about it now?”
“It’s a team game. I’m the captain. I should be responsible for my teammates, right?” Jiang Nan’an tidied his hair and said coolly.
Yan Jie looked at Jiang Nan’an in the reflection of the training room lights behind them, seemingly surprised by his answer.
After a while, he chuckled:
“Our Mr. Hang has quite the team spirit.”
“What? In your mind, am I some kind of mean, treacherous, cunning, selfish person who acts on stage for personal gain?”
“How could that be? In my heart, Mr. Hang is like a flower.”
Yan Jie felt his pocket and took out a cigarette pack, turning it in his hand:
“Mind if I smoke?”
Jiang Nan’an glanced at him and shook his head slightly.
Yan Jie then took out a cigarette, lowered his head to light it with a lighter, turned his head to exhale the first puff of smoke, and said casually:
“It’s not that precarious, Mr. Hang. You’ve chosen me, how could I let you down?”
“Hmm?” Jiang Nan’an raised an eyebrow slightly.
“I think…”
As he spoke, Yan Jie’s right hand, holding the cigarette, moved away from his lips and waved slightly toward Jiang Nan’an.
This was originally just a completely unconscious, very natural gesture, but Jiang Nan’an suddenly reacted strongly by dodging to the side, the movement even momentarily stumbling, as if he could barely stand steady only by grabbing the railing.
Yan Jie hadn’t expected this reaction and was stunned for a moment. He switched the cigarette to his left hand before asking: “What’s wrong?”
Jiang Nan’an didn’t look well. He glanced at the cigarette with its burning ember now away from him, then at Yan Jie, before shaking his head: “Nothing. What were you about to say?”
“Oh… I was just thinking, do you think you could be that new jungler?”
Seeing Jiang Nan’an change the subject, Yan Jie cooperated by not asking further questions. He simply extinguished the newly lit cigarette and said:
“The world’s number one jungle king Spring needs a final disciple. I think you have remarkable potential and will achieve great things in the future. How about it? Consider it?”
—
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
