CHAPTER 90

By 12:30 in the morning, within 15 fifteen minutes after the comment about Jinyang was posted, Jinyang's Weibo account was discovered and reposted. People soon found out that Jinyang travelled abroad almost every couple of months. All of her luxury brand handbags, shoes, clothings, and even her luggage were reposted one after another-- --

"Shit, it's Louis Vuitton. Thirty thousand!"

"Shit, the newest style of Roger Vivier, 7,500! She even has every color of their shoes. No one is buying like this, they must be fake? !"

"I recognize that scarf, 2,000."

"The hat is also an Acne, 1,000."

"She's worn all the famous brands of sunglasses. I can't even count them all."

"This bag is a Dior, super expensive, starting at twenty-five thousand."

"Wow, Chanel 255. I've been eying this bag for twenty years. The price goes up every year, faster than my wages can increase. I still can't afford it!"

"It's the Hermes Birkin bag! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Do you guys see it! ! ! ! Crocodile skin!"

"Hermes bracelet, see?" "Tiffany's Key diamond necklace, ahhhhh!" "Check out the watch. I can't see it clearly, the picture is too small. I think it's Cartier's Ballon Bleu..."

"Damn, judging from the travel pictures from any one country, Ai Jia probably has to sell his kidney in order to pay for all of that? Not to mention the travelling expenses to all those countries....I'm beginning to believe that she's rich herself."

There were a few others who had started to analyze whether her long legs in those pictures had been photoshopped.

Tong Yao was speechless as she read the comments: these people really have nothing better to do. They didn't know that at least a third of those pictures had been taken by ZGDX's mid, Tong Yao herself?

Tong Yao was getting ready to engage in a fight with those online haters. But before she began she received a notification on her cell phone [YQCB, Ai Jia stream].

Tong Yao was surprised that Ai Jia would even start streaming after midnight.

Tong Yao dubiously clicked open Ai Jia's stream. As she logged on, she could hear the mid next door wailing-- --

[To hell with it. Let me tell you guys, you can eat whatever you want and the worst case is that you lose your life. But you can't say whatever you want because the result is that an innocent guy will instantly become a single man. Damn you're all committing a sin, do you know that? !]

Tong Yao: "..."

[Come on, don't talk nonsense. Don't talk about those things about my girlfriend. The keyboard that I'm playing games with is a gift from her.]

Since the club had rules about streaming, it couldn't be used just for chatting, so Ai Jia had no choice but to log onto the game and get in queue-- --But just by taking a look at his face, anyone could tell that his mind was elsewhere. He looked quite panicked as if his backyard was on fire.

[I chased after my girlfriend a long time ago. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I chased after her, I chased after her. Let me emphasize it again since it's very important that it be repeated three times. It was I who was chasing after her-- --To hell with you saying it doesn't matter who's after who as long as it's an affair with a fan. You guys have seen her numerous times. If anyone has seen her eyes flicker with light in worship, please let me know. I'll have to go back and burn some incense!][1] Ai Jia kept slapping his desk. Behind him, all of his teammates had turned around to stare at him. [What's wrong if I have a girlfriend?! Haven't you fallen in love early in your life?! With or without her, I would be playing relegation matches at the Spring competition. Dammit, what are you talking about!!]

Tong Yao twitched the corner of her lips.

Before she had time to send a message to Jinyang to tell on Ai Jia, Tong Yao saw Jinyang herself appear in front of the camera-- --Jinyang held her cat Ah Mao in her arms and leaned on the back of the Ai Jia's chair with poised composure: [Are you particularly proud to be in relegation games? Why bother shouting? Aren't you ashamed if the neighbors hear you?]

Ai Jia: "..."

Tong Yao: "..."

The bullet comments were covered with "66666666" "Young lady's courageous, facing the storm head on" "I like it, not afraid of causing more issues" "Her legs are really long".

[1]: Saying that he'll burn incense is basically equivalent to saying "thank god" in English.

Tong Yao nervously stared at her friend, Jinyang, as she lowered her head to get closer to the camera, giving herself a close-up: [I know you all are especially interested in me and have a lot of opinions about me. I've seen all those sincere wishes on Weibo. First of all, I have to reply to Rainbow Team, those Roger Vivier shoes aren't fake. They are all from brand boutiques at various locations that I carried back home with my own hard working hands-- --Furthermore, don't just bother with those small items. Look at this.]

She dangled a Maserati car key which she just pulled out of her pocket in front of the camera.

Then she used her long, lean fingertips to pick up Ai Jia's chin and kissed him on the side of his cheek: [Our Ai Jia gave me this on double 11 last year as my anniversary gift. Aren't you all happy now?][1]

The color drained from Ai Jia's face.

Tong Yao's face turned to the same color as Ai Jia.

Other people would avoid being involved in such a public opinion storm. But Tong Yao's undaunted friend went head-on to meet the storm and in the meantime, even pulled public opinion towards a new direction-- --

Tong Yao had to take her hat off to her.

Tong Yao used one hand to support her forehead as she watched her best friend deliberately complicate the situation. After she was satisfied with what she wanted to achieve, she grabbed the car key in her hand and said: "Carry on, guys." She stuffed Ah Mao back to its cat nest and headed out on her high heels without looking back-- --

Ai Jia was left in front of the camera in a daze and tried to fruitlessly explain: [You guys, don't listen to her. Do you know how much that car costs? I can't afford to buy it for her even if you sell me for it! She's just having some fun...]

It was a futile attempt.

After Jinyang left the club next door, Tong Yao logged on to Tieba and found there were indeed some retards who believed what she had said: [Damn, big gossip! Ai Jia's girlfriend admitted herself that Ai Jia had bought her a Maserati!]

Most of the comments underneath were excited about the news. There were only a few who doubted it: "Usually, professional league players earn on average between 20K to 80K a month. That car key looks like the newest Ghibli series, same as Lu Sicheng's. How could Ai Jia afford to buy it?" But these kind of sensible voices were soon buried under the ocean of craziness...

Some people even laughed at Jinyang as a dork who could only make things worse for herself.

Tong Yao sighed. She quietly changed her WeChat note on Jinyang's account to "Night time angler - the crazy fisherman" to show her respect.

...

Tong Yao tossed and turned in bed till after 1 am and still couldn't fall asleep. Her brain was busy with all sorts of thoughts. She thought about Jinyang and Ai Jia, as well as herself and Lu Sicheng. At some point, she even thought maybe she had committed an inexcusable sin-- --When it was closed to 1:30 am, her cell phone lit up. Lu Sicheng who was still playing downstairs sent a WeChat message asking her whether she had gone to sleep yet.

Tong Yao hesitated for a moment then sent him an emoji with the caption: Not yet.

A few minutes later, someone knocked on her door. Tong Yao jumped off the bed and ran over to open the door with her slippers on. She opened the door ajar and Lu Sicheng stuffed a bottle of water through the opening.

Tong Yao: "? ? ?"

"I told them that you asked me to bring some water to you." As he was talking, Lu Sicheng squeezed into Tong Yao's room through the crack in the door. He didn't close the door but lowered his voice to ask Tong Yao, who was currently looking up at him: "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

Tong Yao was staring at him with her big round eyes. Lu Sicheng lifted his hand, he was actually thinking of embracing Tong Yao in his arms-- --But he didn't do it after a short hesitation as if he was afraid of scaring her away. He didn't want to get fired while still on his probation period. His big hand finally landed on her head and he ruffled her hair...

"That chat you had with the ad next door tonight got screenshotted and put online by someone." Tong Yao used both hands to grab his hand to prevent him from messing up her hair. Yet she didn't let go of his hand, despite having pulled it down from her head. "Now it seems that everyone knows that the clubs are reshaping how they manage their players. It's said that even the management at Qing Dynasty has made major shake ups as well..."

"Oh." Lu Sicheng casually leaned against the door frame and held Tong Yao's hand. He kept squeezing Tong Yao's palm and the back of her hand as if he was addicted to her hand. Then he indifferently said: "Isn't that a good thing?"

"What's so good about it!"

Tong Yao pulled back her hand, now a little red from the squeezing.

"Why isn't it good?"

Lu Sicheng lazily grabbed Tong Yao's hand back.

"It's gone a bit too far." Tong Yao made a hmph sound through her nose: "Now they even want to interfere with players who have normal relationships. They said that Jinyang lives off Ai Jia and hangs out at the base all the time keeping Ai Jia from his training. A living example of a tramp!"

"Doesn't your friend have the same car as mine?" Lu Sicheng stopped squeezing Tong Yao's hand and lifted his eyelids to glance at her: "Ai Jia's yearly pay can only pay for the maintenance and gas."

"They don't know that!"

"..........They don't know that but I know it." Lu Sicheng frustratedly said: "Why are you huffing and puffing at me for?"

[1]: November 11th (11/11) is like the Chinese equivalent of Cyber Monday.

Tong Yao turned to grab her cell phone off her bed and looked for the post [Women are dreadful. I'm glad Cheng Ge is still single. I don't want any woman to influence his professional performance. I beg all men and women to do me a favor and stay away from him.] She stood on her tippy toes to raise the phone high up to show Lu Sicheng-- --

Lu Sicheng quickly glanced over it .

Then he finally understood what Tong Yao was dreading about.

He paused for a while, then before Tong Yao could react to it, he reached out with both of his arms and embraced Tong Yao who was still standing on her tippy toes and brought her very close to him-- --Tong Yao was still holding her phone up high at the moment. Without any warning, she widened her eyes and staggered forward, stepping on Lu Sicheng's foot and her nose hit the man's solid chest. She could feel his sturdy arms gather tightly around her waist.

Tong Yao: "..."

Her heartbeat suddenly stopped.

Three seconds later, her heartbeat resumed at a quick pace. Blood seemed to have surged from her toes to the top of her head all of a sudden-- --Her face turned pink, her ears were burning, as she slightly raised her head and looked sideways, she could see the earring dangling off the man's ear as he bent forward to hug her waist.

"You should know that a fan's opinion can't represent mine own, right?" The man's low and magnetic voice sounded right next to her ear: "Somehow, this does seem fair to me."

The man was like a small hill putting his weight on Tong Yao.

Both of Tong Yao's hands rigidly hung down at the sides of her body. A few seconds later, she hesitantly lifted her hands to twist the corners of his shirt...-- --Lu Sicheng felt the tug, he moved his head, and a faint smile could be seen at the corner of his lips, though Tong Yao didn't see it.

"En?"

"I know." Tong Yao said in a small voice: "It's just that what this person said makes some sense…...Maybe, in everyone's mind, it's better for you to keep the image of a bachelor who only thinks about playing games."

"I won't."

"...........It's not just the matter of you saying that you won't."

"At worst, we just won't make it public. It's fine to just keep it like this now." Lu Sicheng moved his chin up away from Tong Yao's shoulder and lifted his hand to fiddle the wispy hairs on her forehead with his lean fingers: "I'm not going to force you."

"...Really?"

"Really." Lu Sicheng lightly said: "I was the one who crossed the line first-- --Thinking about it, maybe, in your position, you don't need this kind of problem even more than I."

Tong Yao fixed her eyes on that pair of dark brown pupils.

The eyes were gleaming.

Tong Yao's heart seemed to have sunk to the bottom of the ocean again. She paused for a while, but before she could ask Lu Sicheng what he meant, Lu Sicheng spoke again: "But this doesn't mean that I've regretted my decision."

"?"

"If you want to blame someone, just blame me." Lu Sicheng once again embraced Tong Yao into his arms, just like how Dabing was holding the little kitten in the cat nest. He put his hand behind the back of her head and pushed her against his chest: "I started all this and I'm prepared to be responsible till the end."

"..."

"You, at most, are just an accomplice."

"...How am I an accomplice?"

"You play well and your attitude towards the profession is overly earnest and cute. All of that has seriously enticed me-- --

Tong Yao was confused and blinked, asking: "What the hell is this?"

Lu Sicheng lowered his head and buried his face between Tong Yao's chin and neck. Using his slightly cold face to nudge Tong Yao's slightly warm earlobe…...Lu Sicheng paused for a while then earnestly said: "To want to commit a crime."

"..."

"You've come of age, haven't you? Then I could get a lighter sentence-- --"

Finally Tong Yao stood on her tippy toes again and cupped her hands over Lu Sicheng's face and pushed him out of her room.

...

Lu Sicheng went downstairs with a dark face.

Little Fatty looked up at him: "Took you long enough just to deliver water?"

"She fell asleep after sending the message. She didn't open the door after a long time." Lu Sicheng sat back to his own seat, moved his finger around, and put his earphones back on, ready for another ranked game.

Little Fatty: "How dare she let the captain deliver water to her."

"...Yeah." Lu Sicheng leaned against his chair and lazily agreed as a smile flashed in his eyes: "Don't know who's been spoiling her. He has guts."