“Fire, you played well just now.”
Hearing Jiang Nan’an’s cool, clear tone through the headphones, Yan Jie sat in the coach’s seat with his legs crossed, unable to hold back a smile.
He really had a way.
After Jiang Nan’an’s rare praise, Fire’s voice became much more energetic, happily responding: “Thank you, Brother!”
The little orange-haired boy’s eyes became noticeably clearer, probably having completely understood, been inspired, turned over a new leaf, and transformed. Afterward, he played very hard in the bottom lane by himself. Yan Jie watched the Arrow Poison Flower on screen working so hard to position itself that its waist seemed about to break, showing the spirit of “one man holding the pass against ten thousand.”
“Fire has improved so much in just one week. How did you train him?”
Fangfei sat beside Yan Jie, exclaiming:
“If I didn’t see him sitting there, I would suspect you found a substitute player.”
“Hey, watch what you’re saying,” Yan Jie waved at her:
“Keep it low-key, it’s not that dramatic, and it’s not all my credit. It’s mainly the kid’s own effort. Of course, when it comes to training, our Captain also deserves credit. How about this: next time he opens a class, I’ll sign you up. You can bring a small stool and sit in to listen and learn. Listen and learn more, and in the future, you’ll know how too!”
“Don’t get too cocky. Last time you had an advantage but we turned it around before the screen could even finish. If we turn it around again this time, let’s see if you can save face.” Fangfei mocked mercilessly.
“Come on, it’s not a big deal.” Yan Jie waved generously:
“If I can’t save face, I’ll just lose it. My skin is thick enough.”
The match continued on stage. In this game, Jiang Nan’an had chosen Plum Blossom Scholar, a hero he had never revealed in either official or training matches. This hero had very fast support speed. After gaining an advantage in the early game, he practically set up camp in the bottom lane, ganking so effectively that Team Five’s ADC didn’t dare to leave the tower.
Seeing the situation, Team Five’s captain Suave Bro decided to exploit Fire’s impulsive and easily tilted weakness to find an opportunity. But to his surprise, the little orange-haired boy who would usually take the bait and engage at the slightest provocation had suddenly changed his nature today. No matter how obvious the enemy’s vulnerabilities were, he showed no intention of engaging. He farmed when he should farm and retreated when he should retreat. Knowing he couldn’t win, he absolutely refused to fight without his teammates present, surviving tenaciously. Suave came several times but couldn’t even touch a corner of his clothes.
Unable to gain an advantage in the bottom lane, Team Five’s traditionally weak top lane was also dominated by Qin Hua. After losing several neutral resources in the early game, Team Five’s jungle was constantly harassed and invaded by Jiang Nan’an. The economic gap between the two teams grew larger and larger. Team Four gained advantages in all three lanes and finally won the match at the 31-minute mark.
Team Four had played three weeks of points competition, experiencing eight consecutive losses, internal disputes, and public opinion storms, and finally secured their first victory today.
The moment Team Five’s crystal was destroyed, Yan Jie couldn’t help but stand up from the sofa. He instinctively looked toward the competition area and happened to see Jiang Nan’an’s face on the broadcast screen.
Jiang Nan’an’s emotions didn’t seem to be affected by the victory before him. He calmly removed his headphones, and as he stood up, he was suddenly embraced by Fire.
Jiang Nan’an was visibly startled, his body slightly stiff, but he didn’t reject Fire’s hug.
Through the live broadcast screen, Yan Jie saw that when he lowered his eyes, he seemed to slightly curve his lips, like a subtle smile.
Yan Jie stood there, his eyes reflecting the lights of the competition area and Jiang Nan’an’s smile, momentarily unable to look away.
Until Fangfei beside him saw his expression and asked:
“Are we going? What are you looking at? Has victory gone to your head?”
“Am I that small-minded?” Though he said this, Yan Jie didn’t shift his gaze.
He watched as all five members of his team excitedly hugged each other on screen. Among them, Jiang Nan’an, probably unaccustomed to such closeness with people, was noticeably uncomfortable being squeezed in the middle.
Yan Jie said absently:
“Our captain is really good-looking, isn’t he?”
“?” Fangfei found his sudden compliment quite puzzling.
She followed Yan Jie’s line of sight, looking up at the broadcast screen, then back at him, very confused:
“That’s Jiang Nan’an. Is this the first day you’ve noticed he’s good-looking?”
The thoughtless director moved the camera away from the winning team’s five members. Yan Jie regretfully withdrew his gaze, sighing:
“I hadn’t noticed before how especially beautiful he is when he smiles.”
When Yan Jie returned to the preparation room, his teammates were still immersed in the excitement of their first victory, especially Fire, who stood to the side gesturing and describing his emotional journey:
“You don’t know, at that point I thought I was definitely going to die, but then Fangfang came down like a god with a flash kick that sent all three of them flying, and then Brother Jiang rode in on a rainbow cloud to collect the kills. Awesome, awesome, awesome, it felt so good!!”
After speaking, Fire saw Yan Jie come in and quickly approached him, wagging his tail:
“Brother Spring! How well did I play Arrow Poison Flower this game?”
“Good, good, good, super awesome!”
Yan Jie gave a thumbs up:
“I’ll give you a like.”
Qin Hua sat nearby, leisurely opening a bottle of the sponsor’s yogurt, drinking while saying:
“I think the captain praising him once is more effective than a red buff. He’s so excited, I’m worried he might fly straight into the enemy fountain.”
“Isn’t that right?” Monica also laughed:
“During that last team fight, he was almost jumping up, ‘I’m attacking, I’m attacking! I can kill him! Brother, we won, Brother!’ It killed me. Hey, teacher, you definitely need to include this clip later. I’ve already thought of the trending topic for you: ‘Fire the Screaming Chicken.'”
“Hehe…” Fire scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. After that, he was quiet for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.
Finally, he straightened himself up, as if having made some kind of determination, and suddenly stood in front of his teammates, bowing to them.
Everyone was surprised by this unexpected gesture. Jiang Nan’an also raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise and glanced at Yan Jie.
Yan Jie immediately understood and went over to help Fire up:
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, why so formal all of a sudden?”
“I just feel a bit embarrassed. I’m sorry, everyone.”
Fire awkwardly messed up his own hair:
“I want to apologize to everyone for not following instructions before, being bad but not practicing, and making Brother Jiang angry! If I had taken things seriously and listened earlier, we might have won much sooner, and wouldn’t have suffered eight consecutive losses so embarrassingly. I… also want to thank all the brothers and sisters for not giving up on me, thank Brother Spring for practicing with me so late yesterday, and especially thank Brother Jiang for scolding me awake and making me realize my problems! I’m sorry for causing trouble for everyone!”
The atmosphere in the team was relaxed, with everyone taking turns comforting Fire. Jiang Nan’an sat in the corner of the sofa, probably not knowing what to say, and remained silent.
It wasn’t until Yan Jie kept winking at him that he quickly tried to reach for his pocket to put on his glasses, but when he touched his flat clothing, he realized he hadn’t been carrying those gold-rimmed glasses representing Gu Qingze for many days.
But Fire was looking at him with clear, expectant eyes, and it would clearly be inappropriate if he didn’t say something.
So Jiang Nan’an nodded and cleared his throat lightly:
“Mm, knowing your mistakes and correcting them is a great virtue. Keep it up, I look forward to your every transformation.”
After these words, the preparation room was silent for a few seconds. Later, Jiang Nan’an heard the staff members trying to stifle their laughter.
Yan Jie was especially amused. He walked over and sat on the sofa armrest next to Jiang Nan’an, leaning down to say quietly with a smile:
“…You’re so funny.”
In the third round of the points competition, Team Four finished with one win and three losses.
Although they had resolved their internal issues, they still lagged behind the other teams in terms of skill. After all, the gap in player mechanics and awareness couldn’t be ignored just by a week of emergency practice, self-reflection, and team spirit building. This result was within their expectations.
To celebrate this hard-earned victory after three weeks, Yan Jie took the initiative to hold a team dinner, though they still couldn’t freely leave the training camp. This so-called dinner simply meant pushing two tables together for a meal.
“It’s just one win, yet you’re creating an atmosphere as if we’ve already won the championship.”
After dinner, Jiang Nan’an went for his usual night run in the compound, but after less than half a lap, Yan Jie pulled him to a bench by the landscaped area, calling it “star and moon appreciation.”
During their casual chat, Jiang Nan’an thought of Yan Jie’s excitement during the dinner and couldn’t help saying this.
“Of course! Regardless of the outcome, we need to build up the momentum first. Isn’t that what team building is for?”
Yan Jie crossed his legs and snapped his fingers in front of Jiang Nan’an, then pulled out a phone from his jacket pocket-one he had just retrieved from his FPD that evening.
Jiang Nan’an watched his actions and raised an eyebrow: “What are you doing?”
“Adding you on WeChat.” Yan Jie opened the “Add Friends” interface and waved the phone at Jiang Nan’an.
“I don’t have a phone, can’t add you.” As he spoke, Jiang Nan’an pulled out his empty pocket lining to show Yan Jie, proving he wasn’t lying.
“You really have no desire for a phone at all, Mr. Hang. Look at everyone else-as soon as it’s a rest day, they have their phones in hand, can’t get enough of them. What about you? Your phone at your FPD’s place must be gathering dust by now.”
Yan Jie had truly never met someone like Jiang Nan’an before-not at all like a modern young person, not using phones, not eating snacks, not drinking beverages. His daily entertainment activities were limited to running and reading. Yan Jie thought that when the show ended, he might give him a parrot, so his Mr. Hang could add another entertainment activity called “walking the bird cage,” allowing him to perfectly join the ranks of park grandpas, chatting about his little parrot, never running out of topics.
“Phones aren’t that interesting. If someone needs to find me, Xiao Sun will tell me.” Jiang Nan’an leaned back against the bench, looking up at the starry sky.
“So there’s no one you want to contact proactively?” Yan Jie looked at him and asked.
Jiang Nan’an thought for a moment, then shook his head.
“No friends?”
“No.”
“Don’t like making friends?”
“I am a lonely wolf from the north, destined to walk alone on the snow plains. Are you satisfied now?”
“Okay, okay, okay.” Yan Jie chuckled:
“What about family? Don’t you contact your family either?”
Jiang Nan’an still shook his head.
Yan Jie had wanted to ask whether he didn’t like to contact them or had no one to contact, but thinking about it, he felt the question might be too provocative or potentially touch on a sore spot, so he gave up.
He brought the topic back:
“Well then, add me as a friend, you can contact me in the future.”
“?” Jiang Nan’an looked at him, then at the phone he was offering, and repeated:
“I don’t have a phone, can’t add you.”
“No problem, I’ll send you a request first. When you get your phone, just click add, and we can start chatting, right?”
That made sense, and Jiang Nan’an couldn’t find a reason to refuse, so he recited a string of numbers.
Yan Jie first recorded the number in his notes app, then copied it to WeChat’s search bar.
The search result for this number showed a blank profile picture, and the nickname was also simple and straightforward, simply “Jiang Nan’an.”
“Oh, not ‘Hang Me Now’ on WeChat? That doesn’t seem like our Mr. Hang’s style,” Yan Jie raised an eyebrow slightly as he filled out the friend verification, teasing.
“Are you suggesting directors and co-stars should talk to a hanging ghost every day?” Jiang Nan’an gave him a cool glance.
It’s unclear which word hit Yan Jie’s funny bone, but he couldn’t stop laughing. After laughing enough, he deliberately asked:
“Hey, Mr. Hang, I’m sending a friend request here, you won’t refuse to add me, right? If you just click reject, giving me hope and then disappointment, I can only cry over that friend request that will never get a response. Years later, when I’m at the end of my life, my grandson will lean over my bed, crying, ‘Grandpa, grandpa, your friend request still hasn’t been accepted, what should we do, grandpa’…”
“Don’t worry,” Jiang Nan’an interrupted his spell-casting:
“I’ll click accept, then immediately put you on my blacklist. Rest in peace, grandpa.”
“Wuwuwu, Mr. Hang is so heartless, wuwuwu… Oh, isn’t the first season of our show airing today? This is my first time on a variety show, I’m a bit excited. Let me see how many trending topics are praising Grandpa Spring’s peerless elegance?”
As he rambled on, Jiang Nan’an slightly curved his lips but ignored him, just looking up at the twinkling stars.
“‘Jiang Nan’an’s beauty’? Good taste. ‘Jiang Nan’an Siren,’ ‘Jiang Nan’an Sheng Yujia i-person mutual pursuit’… ‘SpringinBlue love-hate relationship’…” Yan Jie read the trending topics, mostly iconic moments from the day of the camp division competition, and various fan praises for their idols.
These were all normal promotional trending topics for the show, nothing special, and Jiang Nan’an listened casually.
“…’Boating at Guazhou is real’? What does that mean, and why does it show it’s related to me? Wait, this sounds familiar, where have I heard it before…”
Jiang Nan’an’s pupils shook.
—
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
