Chapter 62#

Let’s Go Home#

Shen Fang finished his sentence in one breath without even a tremble. Little Zhou behind him let out a small gasp, and the other teammates also looked excited.

The captain has grown up!

“Hello, I am Uncle, named…”

The teammates behind him pricked up their ears to listen carefully. However, at the critical moment, the clear male voice was covered by the sound of heavy objects being dragged.

Little Zhou: “Crap.”

Teammate: “Crap.”

Afterward, they watched helplessly as Shen Fang and Uncle walked away together.

Their captain, who usually didn’t have much expression, was now smiling more brightly than the sun, almost as if he were in heaven.

Little Zhou sighed vicariously, “In the end, the captain still ran away with someone else.”

The more the teammates looked, the more they felt something was wrong, with envy mixed with doubt: “No, this netizen meeting, why does the captain look like he’s meeting an online lover?”

“The path has narrowed, brother,” another teammate said deeply, “what if it really turns into an online lover meeting?”

The teammate found it impressive and seemed to have some realization, suddenly shocked.

Teammate: “That’s correct.”

To let their captain meet the netizen he had been thinking about for several years, the four teammates didn’t disturb them and kept a distance behind.

After arriving at the booked restaurant, they watched helplessly as Shen Fang consciously took his netizen to another table.

The manager chose the seats very cleverly. Mo Xuzhi happened to be facing away from the several teammates. Little Zhou and the others could only watch Shen Fang talking nervously, but couldn’t see what kind of expression the person opposite had.

Mo Xuzhi and Shen Fang were chatting.

Since they met and Shen Fang said he was “shen_”, they had been chatting openly.

“shen_” is Shen Fang, and also the “friend who wants to go professional” he mentioned.

Shen Fang habitually put his hand in his pocket to take out a candy, then remembered that someone was sitting in front of him and restrained himself. He smiled a bit shyly and said: “I was indeed very afraid at that time, so I didn’t dare to say it directly.”

At that time, after he had the idea of going professional, he told his parents directly. As a result, his parents were so angry that they almost kicked him out of the house overnight. Finally, he said repeatedly that he only mentioned it casually, and only then was the computer not smashed.

His parents said he was not doing proper work.

His friends also advised him to just play games in his spare time and not get too obsessed.

His parents and friends had no intention of truly understanding this circle and directly negated his thoughts based on their inherent impressions.

He finally asked “shu”, and “shu” said he didn’t understand this industry either.

He was almost about to give up.

Before that, he had collected a lot of information, understood many related matters, knew what he wanted, and also knew what he should do, but the reality that “everyone thinks it shouldn’t be done” hindered him.

Once he embarked on this path, his parents wouldn’t understand, his friends would laugh at him, and everyone would say he was obsessed with playing games and had become a useless person.

But afterward, “shu” sent him a message again.

The message box of the game has a character limit. He typed a lot of words, which couldn’t fit into one message box, so he sent several messages in succession.

“shu” didn’t understand professional e-sports, so he went to understand it during the period he disappeared. He analyzed a lot from various aspects, then combined with the actual situation he mentioned, and finally said that if he had thought it through and had a goal, then go for it.

So he went for it and joined the youth training camp of a club that “shu” recommended.

At first, it was the same as he thought. His parents angrily said they would kick him out, and his friends laughed at him for being obsessed with games and giving up his future.

No one supported him.

But he was able to continue firmly. No matter how much the people around him attacked him, he wouldn’t waver for a bit.

After truly entering this circle, he knew he had chosen correctly, and “shu” was also not wrong.

After entering the youth training camp, he was quickly selected as a substitute player. Later, the starting stomach had a problem during the game, and he went on stage.

From that day on, he truly left his name in this circle.

Then there were small leagues, national competitions, and world series.

After standing on the podium draped in the national flag, his parents said they were proud of him, his former friends sent messages to congratulate him, and people online were also praising the team and him.

But the person he most wanted to share the joy with never appeared again.

The days when he could chat until late at night as soon as he chatted seemed to be just his imagination. No matter how many messages he sent, that profile picture never lit up again.

“Did something happen before?” Shen Fang said, “I sent messages for several years and no one replied, and I was a bit worried. Fortunately, it’s fine.”

“At that time,” Mo Xuzhi thought for a while, and then with an indescribable expression, said, “I was caught and taken to the laboratory in advance.”

The Jingda dogs are really dogs. They said they would let him see an experimental result, but as a result, they directly pulled him to do an experiment, and it was the kind that he couldn’t quit midway at noon.

Shen Fang was startled, as if something was collapsing in his eyes.

Mo Xuzhi guessed what he was thinking as soon as he saw his expression, and explained: “Not caught to be an experimental subject, but to do experiments.”

Shen Fang then breathed a sigh of relief.

Mo Xuzhi praised: “Your imagination is really rich.”

Shen Fang didn’t speak. He glanced sideways at the other table of people who were leaning on the desks and stools and trying hard to look over here, and said: “They seem to be very concerned about your social situation. Do you want to go over and say hello?”

Shen Fang followed his gaze and saw the teammates who hadn’t had time to adjust their movements and gaze, and his eyebrows jumped fiercely.

The teammates were caught peeking and smiled at him awkwardly.

Shen Fang slowly wiped his face and said: “They also want to see you quite a bit. If you don’t mind…”

In the end, the two tables of people sat at one table.

The other teammates always felt as if Uncle’s face were covered with a layer of soft light, and they couldn’t see clearly no matter how. They wanted to see clearly but didn’t dare to keep looking, and could only peek from time to time.

They greeted each other, and afterward, perhaps because they had already heard the name “shu” many times from Shen Fang, the teammates didn’t feel very constrained. They were all open and soon mingled.

Before eating, they took a photo together.

They didn’t specifically change positions to pose; they just took a casual shot. Shen Fang, the captain, was at the very edge, with half of his body already out of the photo. Mo Xuzhi sat beside him, still wearing a mask and a hat, and both of them very stereotypically made a heart sign.

Someone wanted to post on Weibo but was slapped on the forehead by someone else, saying that if there were any errors in the game, the netizens online would certainly catch this Weibo and curse hard. They were not allowed to post; if they wanted to, it must be after the game.

Afterward, other teammates kept chatting with Mo Xuzhi. Shen Fang sat aside with no right to speak, and finally couldn’t bear it anymore and took Mo Xuzhi back to the table where they had sat before.

Little Zhou also said: “Stingy.”

Mo Xuzhi couldn’t help but smile.

After the dishes were served, Mo Xuzhi took off his mask and finally could breathe a sigh of relief.

Shen Fang didn’t dare to look at him.

He hadn’t done his psychological preparation yet.

Earlier at the backstage exit, he reacted for a long time after hearing the name “shu”, and finally combined the person in front of him with the person who had been widely rumored on the internet.

Unexpectedly, yet within reason.

So he had been seeing him all along—although it was on various news and screens.

Mo Xuzhi put the mask aside, just in time to see the phone light up. He said: “Sorry, I’ll send a message.”

He usually wouldn’t touch his phone when eating with others, but the one who sent the message was Wang Zhifeng. Wang Zhifeng usually wouldn’t talk nonsense when sending him messages; it was mostly about something, and now at most it was about something related to Mo Xiaobao.

“Ah?” Shen Fang was stunned first, then nodded: “You send it, it’s fine.”

Mo Xuzhi then clicked on the phone.

Unlike what was expected, Wang Zhifeng didn’t talk about work or Mo Xiaobao. He sent a photo and told him what lunch he and Mo Xiaobao had at home today.

And an extra photo of Xiaobao burying its head in the bowl was attached.

Mo Xuzhi smiled and typed a reply.

The person opposite lowered his head and smiled shallowly, and his whole expression became vivid in an instant.

Shen Fang only felt a thumping in his heart, followed by an unstoppable sense of panic.

He was smiling so happily… Who was he chatting with?

Is it with a partner?

I heard on the internet before that he liked someone named Luo, and seemed to have a very good relationship with a singer.

“A message from a friend,” Shen Fang was thinking about things in his mind, and Mo Xuzhi turned the phone around, smiling and saying: “This is a puppy from a friend’s house.”

The creature in the photo could no longer be described as a puppy, or a piglet was more appropriate.

The piglet had a rice bowl on its head, and its eyes were resentful.

Mo Xuzhi retracted his hand, put the phone back on the table, and said: “A meal prepared by a friend according to the pet doctor’s advice. It feels like it’s not enough to eat and has protested several times.”

Shen Fang commented fairly: “Very cute.”

This sentence hit Mo Xuzhi’s point. He was not being modest and nodded with a smile: “I think so too.”

Then the two talked about other topics, talked about a lot without boundaries, and then it was Mo Xuzhi who took a look at the time and found that it was not early anymore.

The short lunch time ended. Mo Xuzhi went around the surrounding business circle and then changed into a simple white T-shirt and casual pants.

Not covered up all the time like the previous shirt, plus the air conditioning in the business circle, although wearing a mask and a hat, Mo Xuzhi still felt a lot better.

The sales clerk sent away this tightly wrapped customer in fear.

When returning to the venue, Mo Xuzhi saw that the surrounding seats were already filled up neatly, except for his in the middle and the two next to the boy beside him.

Just as he sat down, the boy next to him leaned over, and started to frantically output with a pitter-patter.

“Did you hear from others? I heard that Uncle really came today and also met the TTK people. Hey, it’s just that no photos were taken. Then…”

Mo Xuzhi raised his eyebrows and clicked into a certain topic on Weibo.

This topic was also told to him by the enthusiastic teammate called Little Zhou.

It looked very active here, and there were indeed many people guessing that Uncle came today.

The most direct evidence was the WeChat message on the phone screen captured during the interview today.

Pictures cannot be directly sent in the topic, so the captured pictures are only interspersed among the Weibo posts sent by the topic participants. Just click in and you can see your 1080P ultra-clear picture.

If this person next to him clicked it, he probably wouldn’t come to discuss these with him so excitedly.

Mo Xuzhi felt a faint pain in his temples. He stopped the boy at the right time and asked: “Where are your other two friends? The ones who were sitting with you this morning.”

The boy said: “They went out late when they went to eat. The surrounding shops were all full, so they ran to other places to eat and haven’t come back yet.”

That means he has to endure a bit more.

The boy couldn’t see Mo Xuzhi’s emotion at all, looked at him, and was a bit surprised: “Friend, you look quite good in this outfit.”

Mo Xuzhi: “Thank you.”

When there was no one around to chat with him, Mo Xuzhi became the boy’s main chatting object. He was young and very energetic, and even after saying a lot of words, his mouth didn’t get dry.

It had been a long time since anyone had spoken like this in his ear.

Maybe it’s also because he’s getting older. The more Mo Xuzhi heard later, the more flat his mood became, and his tolerance was infinitely magnified, and even the previous pain disappeared.

Anything is fine, anything is good; there’s no problem at all if he continues to talk.

Then, shortly before the scheduled game began, the boy’s two friends finally came back.

This afternoon’s game was more exciting than the morning’s, and the level was obviously higher. The atmosphere at the scene continued to rise and reached its peak directly when it came to TTK.

When the TTK members went on stage, Shen Fang walked at the very front. He first looked around the audience, found it was all black and couldn’t see people at all, and then moved his gaze back.

Today TTK seemed to have a good feeling all along. the commentator at the scene became excited as he spoke, almost jumping up and shouting “TTK is awesome”.

TTK successfully advanced to the quarter-finals as the first place.

When the host announced the results, the whole audience was jubilant. Mo Xuzhi was not as excited as them and still sat in his seat clapping.

The TTK members who were still laughing very happily at the dining table at noon today were very steady; they only showed an appropriate smile.

They were all young people. The smile was restrained. Although not arrogant, it still looked ostentatious and warm, looking very dazzling.

Mo Xuzhi left the venue after the game ended and prepared to take a taxi home.

It was already past five o’clock, and it was time to eat.

As a result, maybe because there were too many people taking taxis, a certain Didi couldn’t get a car immediately, there were still dozens of people waiting in line, and the bus was also ridiculously crowded.

Zhifeng called and asked him when he would be back. Mo Xuzhi told him about the general situation and let out a breath of stale air: “There are still quite a few people here. I’ll probably be back a bit late today.”

The other end of the phone was quiet for a while, and then Wang Zhifeng’s voice came: “Pinkan Arena, right?”

“Mm.”

“I’ll come and pick you up. Is it convenient for you there?” Wang Zhifeng said, “If I don’t come to find you, Xiaobao is going to make trouble and break off with me.”

“No…”

Reflexively wanting to refuse, Mo Xuzhi stopped again. He looked up at the thin clouds that had turned crimson in the distance, then lowered his eyes and said, “Thank you, Professor Wang.”

“Are there any friends with you? Do you need to pick them up together?”

The sound of slippers stepping on the floor came from the other end of the phone, followed by the crisp sound of pottery pots colliding. Wang Zhifeng was probably in the kitchen again tinkering with something. He said, “Find a coffee shop or something to sit and wait first. You can’t stand for long with your body. Send me the location after you find a shop.”

“It’s just me.” Mo Xuzhi smiled and said, “Then I’ll wait for Professor Wang to come.”

“The soup is already boiling. It should be cooked by the time you come back.” Wang Zhifeng put down the pot lid, picked up Mo Xiaobao who had been spinning at his feet, and emphasized, “Be sure to find a place to sit.”

“Okay.”

Mo Xuzhi squinted at the business circle opposite, his eyebrows with a smile.

The two hung up the phone.

Mo Xuzhi looked at a few traffic lights, a bit unwilling to move, but then thought of Wang Zhifeng’s repeated instructions, and finally put the phone in his pocket and slowly walked to the business circle opposite.

There were two adjacent storefronts on the first floor of the business circle: a coffee shop and a milk tea shop. The coffee shop was a branch of the shop where he often bought coffee.

Mo Xuzhi was originally prepared to walk into the coffee shop, but glanced at the [No Pets Allowed] posted on the glass door and stopped his steps.

There was no relevant notice at the door of the milk tea shop, and there were just people taking photos of their big dogs inside, so Mo Xuzhi went in.

He didn’t go to milk tea shops much and couldn’t understand various names like “Colorful Passion” and “Yellow Summer”. Finally, he randomly ordered a drink, found a seat to sit down, and then sent the location to Wang Zhifeng.

Wang Zhifeng replied very fast, saying he would come soon, and also reminded him not to drink iced coffee.

Mo Xuzhi said very confidently that he didn’t order iced coffee this time.

Fortunately, he didn’t go next door this time, otherwise the iced coffee would have been arranged.

Wang Zhifeng was probably holding something in his hand and it was inconvenient to type, so he sent a voice message.

He praised him a few times and then smiled.

Mo Xuzhi accepted all the praise.

There were not many people in the shop at dinner time, and the waiter soon brought the drink he ordered.

Mo Xuzhi couldn’t explain what this was, but it looked quite good.

The milk tea was at the bottom of the cup, a layer of white milk cover was on the milk tea, and a circle of strawberries was around the top of the milk cover. It also tasted not bad.

After two bites, the big dog sitting at another table slipped to his side while the girl was not paying attention, and its head was still constantly rubbing his leg.

It kept rubbing and looked a bit like acting spoiled. Mo Xuzhi was stunned for a moment, and then tentatively touched the dog’s head.

The big dog narrowed its eyes comfortably.

Mo Xuzhi was a bit surprised.

Before being hit by a car, he had always been a “dog hater”, and even cats would go around him. He originally thought Mo Xiaobao was an accident, but he didn’t expect other dogs were also willing to approach him.

“Dahuang, come back quickly!”

The girl at the next table just took out the dog toy, but when she looked up, the dog’s shadow was gone. Looking sideways, she saw her own stupid dog was still rubbing a stranger very affectionately. That stranger was also wrapped very tightly, and the brim of the hat on his head was pulled down a lot, covering half of his face, looking extremely suspicious.

The girl immediately came over and pulled the leash, wanting to take the dog away, while apologizing: “Sorry, sorry, I just didn’t pay attention and…”

“It’s fine.” The suspicious person said, “The dog is quite cute.”

The voice was also quite nice to hear.

The big dog called Dahuang was forced to leave. Mo Xuzhi glanced out the window and found that it had started to rain at some point.

The glass door was soundproofed, and only when there were guests coming in and out and opening automatically would there be sound leaking in. Another guest came into the shop, and the pitter-patter of rain followed into the shop.

The rain was very heavy. The rain fell on the ground and then splashed up, wetting a large piece of glass.

Mo Xuzhi made a phone call to Wang Zhifeng.

The clear male voice sounded in the shop, and the girl began to think while rubbing the dog’s head.

I always think this voice is a bit familiar. “Hmm? You brought an umbrella? Then it’s fine.” Mo Xuzhi took a sip of milk tea and said, “I’m not in a hurry. You drive slowly and pay attention to safety.”

He hung up the phone.

The girl regretfully withdrew her ears.

A sudden heavy rain caught many people off guard. Mo Xuzhi could still see the silhouettes running quickly in the rain, and after that, there were few people on the street.

A blurred silhouette appeared in the rain.

Ding-ling

The wind chime hanging on the door made a clear sound. Mo Xuzhi looked up and saw the man standing at the door who had just closed his umbrella.

His white shirt was still unchanged for ten thousand years, and a gray sweater was worn outside, looking a lot milder than wearing a shirt alone.

He was holding a small white fur ball, and as if he had a sense, he looked toward Mo Xuzhi’s side at the first sight.

Mo Xuzhi propped up his chin and smiled.

The puppy also smelled the familiar scent, and its eyes suddenly rounded, locking the position where Mo Xuzhi was, and pounced with its short legs.

Mo Xuzhi stood up and hugged Mo Xiaobao.

It was raining heavily outside. Mo Xiaobao’s fur was the same as usual, not stained with a single water droplet, and it still felt fluffy and warm to the touch. On the contrary, Wang Zhifeng’s hair and the previous trouser legs were obviously wet.

After handing over Mo Xiaobao, Wang Zhifeng didn’t sit down. He took out a coat from the bag he brought and draped it over Mo Xuzhi’s shoulders.

He explained: “The coat I bought for you is not suitable for wearing now, so I took mine. If you catch a cold now, you have to go to the hospital. If you enter, you can’t come out. Can you make do for now?”

Mo Xuzhi also noticed that the coat on his body was obviously a size larger. Originally he felt it was nothing, and he was even a bit happy to be cared for by someone, but he was directly amused by Wang Zhifeng’s words.

The familiar light and nice scent came from the tip of his nose. Mo Xuzhi’s nerves relaxed a bit, and he rubbed Mo Xiaobao’s belly in his arms.

“Is there anything else you want to take?”

Mo Xuzhi shook his head, then nodded again, took the packed milk tea from the waiter at the front desk, and said: “Okay.”

Wang Zhifeng took the milk tea consciously and said: “Give it to me. You just hold Xiaobao. He’s too naughty.”

Wang Zhifeng took the milk tea, then opened the umbrella and walked into the rain screen, stretching the umbrella over, and said:

“Let’s go, let’s go home.”

Ding-ling

The wind chime on the door sounded again, and two silhouettes walked into the rain screen together.

The rain wetted the glass and blurred the vision. Looking from the shop outside, only a bit slanted big umbrella and two blurred silhouettes could be seen.

The girl was rubbing the dog and thinking at the same time.

I always think the person just now was very familiar.

Both of these people were familiar.

I really couldn’t think of it. The girl turned on her phone and casually swiped twice, and her movement stopped suddenly.

Holy crap! The idol was just in front of her! And she didn’t see it!

After passing a road, Mo Xuzhi and Wang Zhifeng together with Mo Xiaobao finally got into the car.

Wang Zhifeng fastened his seatbelt, stepped on the gas, and asked: “How was your play today? Happy?”

Mo Xuzhi purred Mo Xiaobao and said: “Quite happy.”

“You might not be very happy tomorrow morning.”

Wang Zhifeng turned his head and said, “Remember the documentary mentioned before? The documentary still lacks some materials. There will be reporters sent by the central government to interview tomorrow.”

“I remember you said you would go out tomorrow afternoon, and the morning is a vacancy.” He said, “The reporter has already called me, and I reckon it’ll be your turn in a while.”

Mo Xuzhi’s smile gradually disappeared.

A five-day holiday, including one press conference and one interview.

He would rather go to work at the Institute of Technology for ten days.