novel
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Sleepy little mushrooms: Only two chapters this week. Sorry about that. But these chapters also pack quite a punch. =)
Chapter 12
Inside the private room, Shi Luo's chest was heaving.
Yu Sui stared at Shi Luo with complex look in his eyes. He slowly put down the wine glass.
"Don't you think this feels like deja vu?"
Shi Luo's eyes were red, and his voice was unsteady."In those days... when you found out why I gave you breakfast money, were you stung by your conscience?"
"The night before you sold me to NSN, when you saw that I had finally opened up to you, did you hesitate a little?"
"After killing Evil 34 times, when you finally found out that it was my new ID, you must have regretted it for a second or two, right?"
Shi Luo tried his best to make himself sound light and casual. He tried his best to suppress the sobs that were threatening to escape from his throat."I didn't guess wrong did I? But... Back then, weren't you pretty good at pretending?"
After Shi Luo joined the FS team, he brought up the old matter about the breakfast money. Yu Sui didn't reveal even the tiniest bit of shame but from that day on, he never let Shi Luo go hungry in the morning.
"What's going to happen now?" Shi Luo grabbed onto Yu Sui's wrists; his eyes full of hatred."Can't we treat this as if you never came back? Can't you pretend that you thought all the other nine glasses were full of alcohol? Obviously nobody else has found out. No one saw through it... just pretend you don't know; like you never came back to verify. Is that so hard to do?"
"Yu Shen..." Shi Luo hated how he couldn't just swallow whole the person in front of him."Everyone's already an adult. Hasn't anyone told you? Discretion is the better part of valor?"
Then I won't need to be embarrassed, and you won't need to be condemned by your conscience.
Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo for a long time and holding back his emotions, said, "Shi Luo, this is different from what you told me before I left."
"What's the matter if it is? So what if I lied?" Shi Luo's voice trembled."After all, did you keep you word? In the end, didn't you lie too? I'm curious how you can say such words... Someone like you actually has the nerve to blame others for not keeping their word?"
Yu Sui took a deep breath and after a moment he had calmed down. He took back his hands that Shi Luo held."Today's bet doesn't count."
Shi Luo's eyes suddenly widened."You..."
"About your transfer, I'll talk to your club about it and go through the normal process." Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo."Even if the bet today was real, I won't let you come to my team without any contract fee."
Shi Luo was so angry he laughed."Do you think IAC will let me go? Do you think you can talk them down?"
Yu Sui has resumed his calm state and said, "Then that's for me to worry about."
The punch that had been brewing for so many days finally hit cotton. For a moment, Shi Luo didn't know what else to say.
Shi Luo tried his best to hold back the tears so as not to make himself look even more pathetic. After a long time of saying nothing, he said, "... I'll consider the last time I'm played by you. You should treat it as if I had never even been here today."
Shi Luo put on up his baseball cap and pulled the brim down low. He picked up his mobile phone from the table then turned around and left.
By the time he had returned to the IAC base, dawn was breaking over the horizon. Shi Luo did not return directly to the base and turned instead to a breakfast place nearby that opened early.
Shi Luo sat at the innermost seat by the window and ordered himself a bowl of wontons.
The steam from the wontons rose up, warming Shi Luo's reddened eyes.
Actually, Shi Luo had long let go of that trivial matter about the breakfast money.
At the time, Yu Sui hadn't intended anything malicious and he'd only happened upon it by accident. He hadn't meant anything by it but unfortunately brushed against Shi Luo's sore spot.
It was just a coincidence.
What's more, after that, Yu Sui also stood in for him to put forth his resentment regarding breakfast.
It was back then, when it hadn't even been a week since Shi Luo joined the FS team.
At that time, Shi Luo's father, Ke Chunjie, was still unwilling to give up. Seeing that Shi Luo had followed Yu Sui's advice and moved from that seedy internet café into the FS base to become a professional player, he felt moved and felt that he could take it a step further and convince Shi Luo to go back to school.
Of course, it was much better to be a professional player than to do live broadcasts on some questionable platform, but it wasn't enough. Ke Chunjie always thought that being a professional player was not the proper way. Not to mention that when the rebellious Shi Luo was compared with the outstanding Ke Hao, Ke Chunjie had no way to lift his head in front of Shi Luo's grandfather.
The Ke family had two grandchildren. Compared with Ke Hao, who had entered the gates of a prestigious school, his son appeared to be too inferior to show in public.
So it hadn't even been a few days since Shi Luo moved to the FS dorms when Ke Chunjie wheedled the FS base's address from Ke Hao and came visiting.
This prim and proper father came, and Yu Sui had no reason not to let him in. Moreover, he himself was uncertain. He though it wouldn't a bad idea if Shi Luo agreed to go back to school. So without so many words, he asked Ke Chunjie to come in.
However, Yu Sui didn't bring him to Shi Luo's dorm and only asked him into the training room.
Yu Sui sat back on his seat and put on headphones to play the game, signaling to the both of them to do as they wished.
In the empty training room, Yu Sui trained as usual. There was a dark undercurrent between father and son, and the atmosphere quickly turned strange.
Seventeen-year-old Shi Luo stared furiously at Yu Sui's back. He eyed Ke Chunjie warily, without saying a word.
With outsiders around, Ke Chunjie was also very restrained. He looked around the training room and frowned slightly.
It was before noon, the other team members were still asleep, and the aunt, who cleaned the base hadn't had time yet to clean up. The training room was a mess. Except for Yu Sui's desk which was a bit more orderly, the others had various wires from peripheral devices all tangled up together. There were all sorts of action figures around. On the middle of the training room floor someone's jigsaw puzzle was spread out. The couch cushions were strewn on the ground. The takeaway boxes were still on the table in front of the sofa as well as a few unfinished cups of milk tea.
Ke Chunjie unobtrusively pinched his nose. He had just barely sat down on the sofa when he stood up instantly.
On the sofa were someone's keycaps.
Ke Chunjie didn't want to sit anymore.
Shi Luo's eyes flashed with a sneer. He picked up the keycaps and sat on the sofa. He propped his legs on the coffee table, looking down at the keycaps in his hand.
Ke Chunjie sighed."Luo Luo, I heard all that your cousin had to say. This is place is good, but they don't have a vacancy for you. You could go to school first and maintain a good relationship with the people here. Considering their relationship with your cousin, they wouldn't just cut you off."
Shi Luo raised his eyes and looked at Ke Chunjie like he was a f*cking idiot, smirking and not saying anything.
Ke Chunjie had no idea what was wrong with what he'd said, and he didn't feel that what he was proposing was at-odds with anything here. He continued to persuade him."The college entrance examination is happening soon. You have such good grades. Don't you think it would be a pity not to take the exam?"
Shi Luo held the keycap and asked "What would be a pity?"
"It would be a waste of all your good grades!" Ke Chunjie was filled with anger."You've studied for ten long years and this is how you end up? Don't you think it's a waste?"
"No." Shi Luo stared at Ke Chunjie calmly and said, "I got good grades not because I worked hard but just because I was smart. It wasn't any hardship to study so how can this be a waste?"
Ke Chunjie was angry to the point of almost suffocating."Shi Luo!"
Shi Luo tossed the keycap in his hand, and the corners of his mouth hooked up slightly."This is the truth, I don't feel distressed at all."
Ke Chunjie suppressed his ire."Then do you feel like you've achieved something glorious here?!"
"Not glorious, but nothing shameful either." Shi Luo's eyes were black and bright, staring at Ke Chunjie, "Is someone feeling ashamed? Maybe this someone can't justify it to grandfather?"
Ke Chunjie was jabbed at his core and was speechless for a moment.
There was a flash of pleasure in Shi Luo's eyes, and when he stopped. He didn't want to continue what he had to say. He set down his feet and squatted on the sofa to whistle quietly.
"I see." Ke Chunjie no longer tried to deceive him with flowery words, "You're purely out for revenge, right? Shi Luo, you're using your future to anger your father. Are you stupid? Won't you be the one who'll regret it? Am I the one you're angering? You're only interfering with yourself!"
Shi Luo's lips moved but said nothing.
"Childish! Ridiculous!" Ke Chunjie snapped, "When you're an adult and have really matured, you'll know how irresponsible your behavior is now! Not to me! It is irresponsible to yourself!"
Shi Luo exhaled.
"Don't make me say everything, it won't be very nice." Shi Luo narrowed his eyes slightly."You know best just who exactly I harm by dropping out of school, dad... There are some things that would be better left unsaid. I also don't want to insult grandpa so I think we're almost done here."
Ke Chunjie was unable to utter a word from extreme anger.
Shi Luo sneered and stopped talking.
Ke Chunjie looked at Shi Luo with dread. He took a few steps in place, took a deep breath, and slowed his tone."I understand, you still hate me, don't you?"
"Dad was too busy to take good care of you these years. But look at Ke Hao, did your uncle and aunt take good care of him? You're much better off than he was. He was sent to study abroad by himself when he wasn't yet an adult. All these years, he's been taking care of himself." Ke Chunjie whispered softly, "But look at your cousin, did he blame your uncle and aunt? The first money he made, he didn't spend a penny on himself. He used all of it to buy gifts for your aunt and uncle. Why don't you take a page from his book?"
Shi Luo laughed.
Shi Luo said grimly, "I'm really sorry, I bought breakfast with the first money I made. I have to feed myself before I buy gifts for you."
Ke Chunjie's face was extremely taut. He subconsciously glanced at Yu Sui and whispered, "Just when will you stop turning over old accounts?"
"Never." Shi Luo said faintly, "Sorry, I just like to turn over old accounts. It's not me who's embarrassed, so why can't I?"
"Okay, okay." Ke Chunjie tried his best to make his voice softer."Dad knows that he was wrong. Dad promises that he will never limit any of your spending in the future, okay? I will double your living expenses so that you can have money at any time, alright?"
Ke Chunjie took out his mobile phone and glanced at it."Two thousand... doubled to four thousand. I'll add another one thousand, five thousand, is that enough?"
Ke Chunjie couldn't bear to look at the overnight takeaway boxes on the table and whispered."You don't want to eat all the good food the housekeeper makes at home and instead you want to live this kind of life? And even if you play games here, just how much can they pay you?!"
Shi Luo paused.
He had joined in a hurry and Yu Sui hadn't talked to him about this yet. He really doesn't know how much it will be.
When Ke Chunjie saw Shi Luo had stopped talking, he said, "Don't you understand? You're not willing for dad to provide for you, so you insist on coming here to eat takeaway for all your meals, drink this kind beverage made from who knows what, and waste away your potential by making this little bit of money during your best years?!"
With a click, on the other side of the training room, Yu Sui took off his headset. Father and son instinctively turned to look.
"I'm sorry, uncle." Yu Sui smiled."I didn't mean to disturb you and your son. I just heard that you've been curiously asking so I thought I'd answer."
"The FOG branch of our FS club is quite heartless and faithless. It has never been our custom to provide our players with mental reassurance, so we only have one team and no secondary team, and definitely no substitutes. Shi Luo Xuanshou coming here was unexpected. Right now, he is nominally my substitute and the very first substitute player we've had in years. So, we had nothing to base his annual salary on, which caused a delay in resolving this issue. But we've arranged something now."
"Since he's just a substitute, a tenth of my annual salary should be enough. Right now, we don't have his manager's contract, so advertising fees, live signing fees and such are still to be determined. I can only tell you the basic contract fee..." Yu Sui smiled, "It should be 3. 5 million, equivalent to a bit less than 300, 000 monthly salary."
When Ke Chunjie, this outsider to matters regarding e-sports, heard this figure, his face gradually turned green.
Shi Luo resisted and coughed twice.
Yu Sui picked up his headset, "By the way, the takeaway on the table is specially delivered by a private food store we often go to, not the kind that can be ordered with a mobile APP. The ingredients are definitely not as good as yours, but they are all flown in on the same day from Japan. Please rest assured that we won't treat Shi Luo badly."
Yu Sui looked at Shi Luo."Also, those limited-edition keycaps are Puppy's. They're more than four thousand each. You can play with them but don't lose them."
Yu Sui put on his headphones and continued playing games.
Shi Luo, holding the five-figure keycaps in his hand, looked up at Ke Chunjie."You... how much were you saying my monthly allowance would be?"
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