“Am I right? Did I guess correctly? Is it Gu Qingze when you wear glasses?”
Who knows where Yan Jie got that excitement from, but before getting a definitive answer, he eagerly began describing his reasoning to Jiang Nan’an:
“Based on my observation, this Dr. Gu Qingze is an intellectual, refined and elegant with exceptional demeanor, and very skilled in the art of conversation. His tone makes people feel particularly comfortable.” Yan Jie paused, opened a random interview video of Jiang Nan’an he had found on the website, turned the monitor toward Jiang Nan’an, and lightly tapped the gold-rimmed glasses on the man’s nose bridge in the screen:
“Let me analyze this. When our Teacher Xiao Shan needs to engage in lengthy conversations with people, he pretends to be ‘Gu Qingze,’ right? Using Gu Qingze’s social mode to handle situations that Jiang Nan’an isn’t good at. This trick is brilliant. So during interviews, it’s Gu Qingze; when interacting with unfamiliar teammates, it’s also Gu Qingze; and the other day when you shook my hand and smiled at me, that was Gu Qingze too, right?”
“…” Jiang Nan’an stiffly looked away, took off his glasses, and clicked the mouse “click-click” to start another ranked match:
“…So what?”
“Nothing, just find it interesting.” Yan Jie chuckled:
“But I’m really curious about one thing. Can I ask?”
“If I say no, would you not ask?”
“Of course not. Am I the type to force people?”
“…Ask.”
“Why so formal with others, but not even bothering to act in front of me? What, am I not worthy of meeting Dr. Gu?” Yan Jie looked at him with curved eyes.
Jiang Nan’an glanced at him as if looking at a dead man:
“Would that work on you? Would you be less annoying if I acted?”
Yan Jie thought for a moment and answered honestly: “If you acted from beginning to end, I might not have the heart to tease you. But our meeting was too magical. Well, thinking about it this way, I really have a fated connection with our Teacher Xiao Shan, as if it were destined for us to sit here on such a beautiful night and bare our hearts.”
“Then I must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck,” Jiang Nan’an said expressionlessly.
But Yan Jie looked at him, gently curved his lips, and when he spoke again, his tone was a bit more serious:
“But I think it’s quite fortunate.”
“Fortunate how?” Fortunate to find a great source of amusement, to never lack a target in the boring training camp?
Jiang Nan’an thought coldly, but after a brief silence, Yan Jie answered:
“Fortunate to have met Teacher Xiao Shan before Dr. Gu? After all, compared to Gu Qingze, I still prefer Jiang Nan’an.”
“…” Caught off guard by these words, Jiang Nan’an was momentarily stunned.
When he came back to his senses, he found that he had accidentally clicked the wrong hero, locking in Ars in the champion selection phase.
“Ars?!” Yan Jie also noticed his choice and immediately pushed with his long legs, sliding over in his gaming chair:
“Awesome! You had this up your sleeve?! I’m impressed, little Spring sincerely admires you!”
“I clicked wrong,” Jiang Nan’an said numbly. “I’ll quit.”
“Don’t! The universe’s number one Ars is here. Quitting right after picking would be too disrespectful to me.” Yan Jie raised his eyebrows:
“If you want to play, play. If you can’t handle it, give it to me. Would I let you lose?”
Jiang Nan’an hesitated for a moment, perhaps considering the feasibility of Yan Jie’s proposal, but ultimately chose to exit the match with a heart of iron.
While waiting for the cooldown period caused by quitting the game, Jiang Nan’an picked up the glasses on the table, folded them, and put them in his pocket.
Yan Jie noticed his action, raised an eyebrow slightly, and asked again:
“Hey, teacher, I actually have another question…”
“Why do you have so many questions?” Jiang Nan’an glanced over coldly.
“Well, I just like to push my luck. I was wondering, since you can handle situations using ‘Gu Qingze’s’ approach without a script, doesn’t that mean you inherently have these social and language abilities? You could completely do these things as Jiang Nan’an, so why do you have to deliberately turn yourself into another person?”
In the entire reasoning process, this was the only point Yan Jie couldn’t figure out.
Adapting to the environment, playing along, and controlling one’s words and actions are abilities humans are born with. For example, a person’s state at work and at home will definitely be somewhat different, which is normal. But Yan Jie had never seen someone like Jiang Nan’an who directly adopted different roles to deal with different social occasions.
“Others have asked this question before.”
Jiang Nan’an lowered his eyes slightly.
“Oh? How did you answer?”
“I didn’t.”
“You don’t want to answer, or you don’t know yourself?” Yan Jie patiently followed up.
Jiang Nan’an fell into a brief silence. After a moment, as if silently sighing, he said:
“Maybe I feel that way wouldn’t be me anymore. I don’t know. I’m just a strange person.”
Yan Jie had heard this before. He shrugged, his tone natural:
“So what? People are inherently independent individuals. Having personality and opinions is the most normal thing. There’s no need to label yourself as ‘strange’ just because you’re different from most people. If you say that, then I’m strange too-parachuting into a professional team, playing for a year and then retiring on the spot. Who could be stranger than me? How badly was I criticized online at that time? Oh wait, I forgot we have a generation gap. Teacher Hang was only thirteen or fourteen then, right? Did you follow these things?”
“No.”
“That hurt.” Yan Jie touched his heart, pretending to sigh dramatically.
Jiang Nan’an glanced at him, ignored him, and reopened the ranked queue.
Outside, the sky gradually shifted from dark orange to deep black. The clean, transparent glass reflected shadows filled with cold light from inside the training room.
Jiang Nan’an practiced jungling all evening. While he played, Yan Jie sat beside him watching movies. Both wore headphones, neither disturbing the other.
After finishing “Spring Breeze,” Yan Jie browsed through two episodes of Teacher Xiao Shan’s high school drama limited to male leads. Honestly, Jiang Nan’an’s acting skills truly deserved the momentum and praise his fans spread everywhere. At least Yan Jie couldn’t see any trace of Jiang Nan’an himself in those characters. His handling of subtle character details easily drew viewers into the emotional core of the story.
Yan Jie, someone who never watched TV dramas, found himself engrossed in front of the computer. He wanted to watch more, but his uncooperative stomach growled at an inopportune moment.
“Hey-” Only then did he remember something they had both overlooked:
“Mr. Hang, did we forget to eat dinner?”
Jiang Nan’an had just heroically sacrificed himself in front of his base, watching it being pushed. He directly took off his headphones: “Yes.”
“It’s already past nine.”
Yan Jie looked at the time:
“The dining hall is probably closed, right?”
“If it’s closed, it’s closed.”
“What will we eat if it’s closed?” Yan Jie found it somewhat amusing.
“We don’t eat. Humans won’t starve to death from missing one dinner.”
“No way, I need to eat, and so do you. Three meals a day is a rule set by our ancestors. Eating regularly is the key to a healthy body! Come with me, Mr. Hang. Luckily, I have plenty of supplies. If a zombie apocalypse broke out tomorrow, you’d be clinging to me for survival. I’m the new-generation doomsday hoarding king!” Yan Jie said as he turned off his computer and stood up.
Jiang Nan’an coolly replied:
“You mean you’ll survive until the zombies die out with that box of candy and chocolate?”
“That’s so unfair. I have sausages in the other half of my box too.”
After saying this casually, Yan Jie noticed Jiang Nan’an hadn’t responded. He instinctively turned his head and caught Jiang Nan’an secretly glancing at him, their eyes meeting briefly before Jiang Nan’an quickly looked away.
Yan Jie raised his eyebrows:
“What is it?”
Jiang Nan’an seemed to hesitate, struggling internally for a moment before finally asking:
“…Do you have corn ones?”
Yan Jie couldn’t help but laugh.
He habitually wanted to ruffle Jiang Nan’an’s hair, his hand already reaching out before he realized this gesture might not be appropriate between them. So his movement awkwardly changed direction, stiffly waving before dropping back down, while he said with a smile:
“Why are you so funny? Yes! People who love corn sausages have taste! I’ve got plenty!”
Jiang Nan’an officially boycotted Yan Jie’s candy, chocolate, and snacks, yet ultimately compromised for a corn sausage.
This was his second visit to Yan Jie’s dormitory. Compared to last time, there wasn’t much change except for a bit more lived-in atmosphere. Yan Jie walked ahead and quickly hid a few worn clothes he hadn’t washed yet. Jiang Nan’an noticed his actions but kindly didn’t expose him.
Yan Jie’s roommate inBlue was also in the dorm, the deep blue-haired young man lying on the bed with his legs crossed, talking on the phone-one hand holding the phone, the other idly twirling his hoodie strings.
Yan Jie ducked into the bathroom and tossed all his dirty clothes into the washing machine, washing his hands on the way out.
He looked at inBlue, then at Jiang Nan’an, explaining:
“He’s talking to his partner, just ignore him.”
Although contestants’ phones were collected on the first day of filming, the production team wasn’t actually very strict about it. The artists’ phones were kept by their respective FPDs, and they could get them back on weekends. If they needed to use their phones during the week, they could simply ask their FPD.
In this era, phones are like humans’ second life. After all, they weren’t really bringing contestants for military training, so on these small life issues, the production team turned a blind eye.
Jiang Nan’an nodded in understanding.
Then he was invited by Yan Jie to sit on the bed, watching Yan Jie’s back as he rummaged through his large snack box. He casually asked:
“What about you?”
“What?”
“Don’t you need to call your girlfriend?”
Not taking advantage of rest time to maintain contact with a romantic partner, but instead sitting in the training room watching movies all evening-this didn’t seem like the style of a playboy or ladies’ man.
“Me?” Yan Jie seemed stunned for a moment, then chuckled:
“Do I look like someone with a partner?”
Jiang Nan’an nodded, honestly expressing his stereotype:
“You look like someone dating ten people simultaneously.”
“Oh my, you’re giving me too much credit.”
Yan Jie pulled out several boxes and bags from his box, tossed one package to Jiang Nan’an, and took the rest with him as he left.
Jiang Nan’an looked down and found that he’d been given an entire package of corn sausages.
Yan Jie returned shortly, carrying two bowls of heated instant pasta.
“Tomato meat sauce and creamy bacon, which one do you want?”
Jiang Nan’an took the tomato bowl.
He hadn’t felt it in the training room, but now smelling the aroma of pasta and corn sausages, Jiang Nan’an realized he was actually quite hungry.
He stirred the noodles with the plastic fork that came with the bowl, and looking up, found that Yan Jie had already sat down and started eating heartily.
The guest who was freeloading sat on the bed, while the host responsible for feeding sat on the floor-it seemed inappropriate no matter how you looked at it. So after some thought, Jiang Nan’an crossed his legs and sat down opposite Yan Jie.
Yan Jie noticed his movement but didn’t say anything. Soon, however, he realized that Jiang Nan’an seemed to be occasionally glancing at him, as if he had something to say.
Yan Jie wasn’t embarrassed at all. He directly met Jiang Nan’an’s gaze and asked loudly:
“Why are you sneaking glances at me, Mr. Hang? Finally dazzled by my handsomeness? If you want to look, just look openly. Don’t worry, I won’t charge you an entrance fee.”
“?” Jiang Nan’an’s pupils shook.
inBlue, who was on the phone nearby, also cast a confused and disdainful glance.
“You’ve asked me many questions today,” Jiang Nan’an said after composing his inner shock.
“Hmm?”
“I also have a question I want to ask you.”
“Ask away! What could I possibly hide from you?”
“…Do you like esports?”
Hearing that Jiang Nan’an had a question, Yan Jie had considered many possibilities, but never expected this one.
He was stunned for a moment:
“Yes, I do.”
“Then why did you retire so early?” Jiang Nan’an asked with some confusion.
This question had been planted in his mind since he first encountered the name “Spring” several years ago.
Jiang Nan’an was very curious about Spring’s motives back then, like why he changed his life trajectory and chose to stand on the competitive stage facing countless insults and rumors, and then why he ended it all without any apparent reluctance.
Jiang Nan’an couldn’t understand it, just as he couldn’t understand some of his own thoughts and decisions. Yan Jie was also a person he found incomprehensible and unpredictable.
“Why are you suddenly asking about this? Finally interested in my legendary and charming past?”
Yan Jie wanted to tease him, so he raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled, showing his canine tooth:
“Considering how good-looking Mr. Hang is… How about this? Say something nice, and I’ll tell you?”
—
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
