“Although livestreams need topics, but…”
Yan Jie still remembered a certain night a few months ago when he and Jiang Nan’an were standing on the balcony of the training room, feeling the breeze. At that time, he had a cigarette between his fingers and casually waved his hand toward Jiang Nan’an while chatting-a mindless and natural gesture-but Jiang Nan’an had a strong reaction, taking a step back.
Although Jiang Nan’an said he was fine, that kind of reflexive reaction couldn’t deceive anyone. Yan Jie remembered this incident for a long time, guessing that he probably disliked cigarettes, so he never smoked in front of him again.
Before today, Yan Jie had only thought that Jiang Nan’an disliked cigarettes, or perhaps had some unpleasant memories related to them, which was why he instinctively avoided them.
He had imagined countless reasons for this, but never considered the possibility he was now facing.
Judging by the condition of those cigarette burns, they had probably been on Jiang Nan’an’s body for a very long time, so long that the scars had faded to the point of being almost invisible. But no matter how light the color, new wounds layered over old ones still looked distressing to see.
Yan Jie did know that some smokers, when they get a certain urge, might burn themselves with cigarettes, but they usually burned their arms, not these areas.
Moreover, from his observation, Jiang Nan’an couldn’t possibly be a smoker. How could this person possibly light a cigarette specifically to burn his own waist and back?
But if he hadn’t burned himself, then only one possibility remained.
“…”
Staring at someone’s body was impolite, so Yan Jie quickly averted his gaze. Jiang Nan’an hadn’t noticed his lingering gaze and quickly changed clothes before taking them to the bathroom to wash.
The fact that Jiang Nan’an could casually undress in front of Yan Jie meant he wasn’t afraid of people seeing these scars, and he probably didn’t care much about them himself. But that didn’t mean Yan Jie could ask about the stories hidden beneath those scars.
Some past events are like scars hidden beneath the hem of clothing-not exposed to others normally, and it doesn’t matter if occasionally seen by outsiders. But only the hands that lift the hem have the right to touch the texture of those old scars.
Yan Jie buried that glimpse in his heart, without asking.
He quietly made his bed, and with nothing else to do, played a small game he had recently downloaded on his phone, though he played absentmindedly, unable to concentrate.
Jiang Nan’an sat cross-legged on the bed reading a book. The ceiling light wasn’t bright enough, so he had clipped a reading light to the pages, turning them very slowly and carefully. Yan Jie noticed a pencil case by his bedside containing pens, highlighters, and index tabs. From time to time, he would pause his reading, pick up a pen, and make notes on the pages.
Thinking back to his own student days, Yan Jie had hated taking notes, minimizing record-keeping whenever possible. His “reading” was purely visual, and he had never been as meticulous about annotation as Jiang Nan’an.
From this, one could conclude that Mr. Hang must have been a top student before, the teacher’s pet who sat in the front row of every class.
Yan Jie’s eyes were initially on his game, but as he played, they wandered to Jiang Nan’an.
Jiang Nan’an’s pajamas were very loose, making him look slim. His long hair was casually tied back with an elastic band, and the strands falling across his cheeks were illuminated by the reading light. Combined with his lowered eyelashes and the soft sound of turning pages, he looked gentle and peaceful.
Yan Jie was momentarily entranced, not even noticing when the character in his phone game fell, until his gaze was discovered by the subject himself:
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Ah, you’re good-looking,” Yan Jie replied offhandedly, then belatedly realized it wasn’t quite appropriate. So he tossed his phone aside, grabbed the thermometer he had borrowed from inBlue, and naturally changed the subject:
“It’s late, let’s check your temperature and go to sleep, teacher. You shouldn’t stay up late when you’re sick.”
Jiang Nan’an had lost count of how many “when you’re sick, you can’t xxx” phrases had come from Yan Jie’s mouth.
In any case, since Yan Jie was particularly insistent on this matter, he would comply. So he obediently leaned forward, bringing his forehead to Yan Jie’s thermometer, hearing a soft “beep” as the screen displayed a safe temperature reading.
“Mm, very healthy.”
Yan Jie’s tone was like soothing a child.
“Can I start training tomorrow?”
After turning off the lights and lying under the covers, Jiang Nan’an asked.
Yan Jie was still looking at his phone. The room had fallen into darkness, with only his phone screen emitting a faint glow, illuminating half of his face:
“If your temperature is normal in the morning, you can, but don’t practice too long. You still need to rest properly.”
“Oh.” Jiang Nan’an pulled the blanket, burying himself in the soft pillow. Just as he was about to close his eyes and drift off to sleep, he heard Yan Jie say:
“Mr. Hang?”
“Hmm?”
“Actually, I have a question.”
“Ask.”
“Well, I don’t know if it’s appropriate to ask…”
“Then don’t ask. Good night.”
Yan Jie chuckled:
“That won’t do. I’m just curious, what did you dream about last night when you had a fever?”
“?” Jiang Nan’an hadn’t expected Yan Jie to ask this. Hearing the question, he was momentarily stunned, then lowered his eyes:
“Why?”
“Didn’t you want to know this morning why I was holding your hand?” Yan Jie turned off his phone, rolled over, and propped his head on his arm, looking at Jiang Nan’an’s silhouette in the darkness:
“To tell you the truth, you were the one who took my hand first. Yesterday, you seemed restless, frowning in your dreams, mumbling incoherently, and holding onto me without letting go.”
In the darkness, Jiang Nan’an couldn’t see Yan Jie’s expression, but judging by his tone, which was somewhat more serious than usual, it didn’t seem like he was making things up.
So he thought for a moment and asked:
“What did I say?”
“Guess.”
“?”
“Want to know? Say something nice and I’ll tell you.”
“No, take your secret and tell it to the Duke of Zhou. Going to sleep now.”
Jiang Nan’an turned over with a dramatic movement, facing away from Yan Jie, extremely coldly:
“Time to sleep.”
“Hey, don’t be like that.” Yan Jie suppressed his laughter and stopped teasing him:
“I couldn’t make out most of it, but I heard you mumbling ‘I’m sorry.’ I was being held and couldn’t let go-you’d panic if I did, as if you were always trying to grab onto something. I had no choice but to keep holding your hand.”
After saying this, after a moment, Yan Jie heard in the quiet room a “oh” so light it could almost be ignored.
“So, is there a story? Can you share it with your good friend?” Yan Jie probed.
In the darkness, he saw Jiang Nan’an curl up slightly, before answering:
“No, I don’t remember clearly.”
“Really? Is there no story, or you simply don’t want to share with me?”
“Both.” Jiang Nan’an’s honesty was heartbreaking.
“Oh, a secret?”
“Mm. Don’t you have secrets?”
“Me? Depends on the person. With you, I don’t seem to have any secrets. Last time I chewed your throat lozenges that were on the table, thinking they were unclaimed candy. Does that count?”
“…” Jiang Nan’an unconsciously ground his teeth:
“Is that why you folded the wrapper into a heart shape and put it back in its place?”
“Yes, although I didn’t know who the candy belonged to, I left a heart to express my gratitude.”
“Gratitude? That clearly seemed more like provocation. Why didn’t you say anything when I asked where it went?”
“I didn’t know it was a throat lozenge. The team fight was intense at that moment, and I didn’t look back.”
“Then how do you know now?”
“The next day when I saw you eating one, it looked familiar, and then it suddenly came back to me.”
Yan Jie raised the corner of his lips, his tone carrying a hint of amusement:
“Alright, secret sharing over. Let’s sleep. I’ll wake you up tomorrow morning.”
“…”
Jiang Nan’an didn’t respond to this.
After the room had been quiet for a long time, he finally opened his mouth and said softly:
“I dreamed of a tree.”
“Oh? What kind of tree?” Yan Jie was already feeling a bit drowsy, but hearing Jiang Nan’an speak, he quickly roused himself to respond.
“An elm tree.”
So, what was the connection between dreaming of a tree and mumbling “I’m sorry”?
Though curious, Yan Jie didn’t continue to probe.
“That’s nice.”
He just let out a breath, his tone lazy:
“If our Mr. Hang dreamed of it, it must have been a very large and beautiful elm tree.”
–
Jiang Nan’an’s physical constitution, which had grown up in a haphazard and chaotic manner, was truly remarkable. Despite nearly burning up with fever the day before, the next day after the fever subsided, he was back to his lively self without any signs of relapse. He didn’t even show symptoms of nasal congestion or cold aftereffects, making Yan Jie’s nagging and concern seem quite unnecessary.
The finals of “Burning Eternity” were said to be three days later, but in reality, the contestants didn’t have much training time left. This was because the live broadcast venue for the finals wasn’t in Linyun but in Beijing. The production team also needed to reserve a day for rehearsals, so the contestants packed their luggage two days in advance and left the film and television park where they had lived for several months, heading to the hotel in Beijing that the production team had booked in advance.
With busy schedules and travel fatigue, it would be a lie to say they weren’t exhausted. But the two teams still squeezed every minute like sponges to arrange training time. Very Nice, in particular, reportedly practiced until 3 AM the night before the finals, showing their determination to fight to the death against Makeshift Troupe.
In this regard, Yan Jie and Fangfei’s views differed. He firmly believed that the prerequisite for winning a match was being in good condition, so they trained when it was time to train and slept when it was time to sleep, allowing the warriors to rest well before going into battle.
Time quickly arrived at the day of the finals. Although the official live broadcast was in the evening, the studio was busy from early morning, making the final preparations.
To ensure maximum buzz, the platform set up a warm-up live broadcast in addition to the finals broadcast.
The warm-up opened three hours before the main broadcast, primarily to show viewers the preparations both on and off stage, giving everyone a sense of participation while building anticipation for the evening’s main event.
“Burning Eternity” had been running with great fanfare for several months, and countless people were looking forward to tonight’s ultimate showdown between esports and the entertainment circle. As soon as the warm-up live broadcast went online, it shot to the top of the platform’s trending list, with comments flying by at an incredible speed.
-Here it comes!
-A match with so little technical content can attract so many viewers. The entertainment industry’s ability to cultivate toxicity is truly impressive.
-If you think it has no technical content, then leave.
-Who’s barking? Show your rank and see if it’s as valuable as my baby Xiao Shan’s.
-The one who cursed your Spring daddy for playing esports as a young master was you, the one who cursed your Spring daddy for retiring was you, the one who cried and begged your Spring daddy to return to the scene to save esports was you, and now that your Spring daddy has graciously returned to play, the one saying it has no technical content is still you, 666~
-Go Very Nice! Fangfei is the world’s best female ADC!
-inBlue, little brother, make mommy proud and win the championship!
-Shanshan, beautiful baby, super strong support!!
-Xiao Shan, Xiao Shan, Xiao Shan, Xiao Shan, when can we see Xiao Shan??? I’ll die if I don’t see Xiao Shan’s beauty one second longer-
-North Star, North Star, husband-sister is amazing!
Fans frantically spammed the chat with their idols’ names and support phrases, while black fans battled fiercely like NPCs constantly refreshing. Amidst the chaos, the live camera entered the backstage, leading tens of thousands of viewers toward the preparation rooms of the two finalist teams.
-I heard Xiao Shan had a fever and got sick a few days ago, is that true? Has he recovered? Will it affect the finals? Worried.
-Seems to be true.
-Our strongest mid laner has worked so hard 555
The show’s live operations staff watched the backstage of the live broadcast room, casually taking a sip of coffee.
With controversy and topics already generated, at this rate, tonight’s viewership KPI was not a concern.
The operations staff also happily opened the live broadcast-related topics and clicked on a random post, which was also discussing Jiang Nan’an’s illness.
【[HOT] OP: J’s illness is real. I saw Spring captured by passersby, running back and forth in the hospital. He looked very anxious and it seemed serious. Don’t know exactly what happened.】
【3L: What’s this about Xiao Shan being sick and Spring running around… (there’s something I’m not sure if I should say)】
【4L: Let me say it for you, xxxxxxx! (manually censored)】
The operations staff’s coffee-drinking motion paused as they narrowed their eyes vigilantly.
【11L: I can testify, my cousin works at that hospital. J really did have a fever, high fever and unconscious. He was carried in by S, you know what I mean?】
【14L: What kind of carrying???】
【15L: What other kind of carrying? Of course the most romantic, arm-strength-testing kind!】
【20L: Disclaimer first, may rumor-spreaders die on the spot. S really stayed with J all night, and the next day they were holding hands. J was even hand-fed by S the next day. My sister even heard them talking about dying together, craving each other’s bodies, something about “sharing a pillow in sleep” and “husband.” Whether you believe it or not, as far as my sister and I are concerned, these two have already celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.】
The operations staff’s pupils shook.
Although livestreams need topics, this topic was too explosive???
No, how is this possible, spreading such serious rumors???
【This post has been deleted by the administrator】
【[NEW] OP: I really couldn’t stand the neighboring post, how dare they spread such rumors? Holding hands, sweet nothings, even calling each other husband… Why not say they held hands and got married in the hospital?! It’s too ridiculous, no one with a brain would believe it, right? If it’s true, I’ll eat boogers while doing a handstand!!!】
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(advanced chapters available on kofi)
I really love this novel.
Thank you for the chapter!