Chapter 44 - Second change.
Thank you Teddy for the Ko-Fi!
The conversation was temporarily suspended but You Liangxing’s mood was not stable at all. With that last sentence, he almost thought that the other party had the intention to meet him. And even though the words were discontinued in the end, he could not help but think about it more.
What if [Ah Sheng] really offered to meet? Would he go?
He was a player met in game, and as they continued to interact and became more acquainted with each other, it was apparent that their interests and personalities were not similar but that was of no consequence. As a matter of fact, their relationship was fast approaching the word ‘friend’.
You Liangxing was unsure if he should meet him or not, but his heart seemed to already have its answer: Was there even any harm in meeting him…?
After staying rigid for a while, You Liangxing felt slightly stifled because he could not explain what he was feeling, and he constantly felt that something was not right with his heart. He pulled out his phone and logged into King’s Glory. For the past few days, he would open a game with Ah Sheng the moment he entered every single time, and he was rarely online on his own.
Still perturbed, You Liangxing planned to play a match to pa.s.s the time. However, just as he was about to enter the matchmaking queue, he noticed that on the game’s list, one of his friends [Monthly Refreshing Breeze] was online as well.
And [Monthly Refreshing Breeze] was Liang Chuhan, the older sister of Liang Chulin and she was a female school junior from the College of Liberal Arts.
While he shared little to no a.s.sociation with her, he recalled that she had asked if they could play together after the both of them had went through a few games with Liao Su as a three-man queue.
Furthermore, he was currently idle, and he thought that he should invite her while he was at it. Alas, after two to three seconds, the system gave a prompt:
— The other party has rejected your invitation.
Maybe she was busy, You Liangxing mused, but he did not delve too deeply into matter. Instead, he started the matchmaking queue and played on his own.
The game was quiet; there were not up and downs in the proceedings of the match, his teammates’ skill levels were alright and You Liangxing alone was enough to carry the entire team. The game lasted for eight minutes, and it ended with You Liangxing blasting the enemy’s crystal nexus on his lonesome, resulting in his victory.
It was played very smoothly, but it also felt rather boring.
Having grown accustomed to playing with [Ah Sheng], You Liangxing felt a little silly when it was just him. It was then and there that he decided to stop playing and shut off the game, lying back down on his bed and fell asleep groggily.
The next time he woke up, it was from a burst of shrills that the video call from Liao Su made. Yu Liangxing’s eyes wrenched open, and a wave of irritability from having his sleep disturbed surged. Changing the video call into a normal voice call, he lowered his voice and spoke.
“What do you want?”
The voice was soft, but it carried a thick and strong pressure. Liao Su froze for a bit on his end before he laughed loudly, “Brother Liang, that can’t be it, right? It’s only ten o’ clock at night, since when did you sleep so early?”
Around ten o’ clock? You Liangxing stilled and raised his eyes to look at the time. Sure enough, it was only a few minutes past ten, and had it not been for Liao Su’s video call, he would have slept through it.
It was by a stroke of luck that he was awoken. You Liangxing relaxed himself before he spoke again: “What do you want, do you need something?” His tone was still cool, but the anger within it had lessened significantly.
“Am I not allowed to find you even I don’t need anything?! Yi—you’re giving me such a cold shoulder, are you trying to tell me that you’re having other dogs behind my back while you are outside!”
You Liangxing: “…..”
You Liangxing: “Lessen your farce, if you have something to say, say it.”
Liao Su was very capable with regards to resisting blows, and he did not even frown as he continued to joke merrily: “I’m looking for you to game together ah, there’s not much meaning to playing alone. Either way, since I can’t reach King’s Division, it’s better to play with Brother Liang, yeah? Oh right, why don’t you call the friend we played with previously, we can play together.”
You Liangxing did not say anything, and an exclamation travelled from Liao Su’s end.
“s.h.i.t!”
After hearing another person’s voice come from what seemed to be Liao Su’s periphery, You Liangxing raised an eyebrow. The voice was not too high, the quality was unclear, but it did sound like he was talking to someone.
“What are you doing?”
Liao Su said: “Oh— nothing much, I’m watching a live broadcast on my tablet, KK’s live broadcast to be exact. Wah, let me tell you this, I highly suspect that G.o.d K is in love. Seriously, do you know how many times he laughs to himself in a night, hey, hey, hey, this is really too much.”
Upon hearing KK, You Liangxing was somewhat familiar with him so he chose to continue the conversation: “You can tell if someone is in love by listening to their laugh?”
Liao Su retorted: “I mean, who am I! I’m an enemy to all the couple dogs in the world, I will never miss any hints of it! Take a listen; just how obnoxious is the laugh in his voice?”
He did not know if Liao Su had brought his phone closer to the live broadcast, but KK’s voice became clearer all of a sudden. Currently, as the voice was speaking half-way, his words were abruptly dragged to a higher octave by a laugh.
The last syllable was turned upwards, and it was filled with thriving spirit.
Indeed, it seemed to allude to a sunlit and enchanting scene of spring.
Liao Su: “Am I right or am I right! Did you hear that! Disturbing! To! Death!”
You Liangxing ignored his statement and shifted the topic: “Aren’t you watching KK’s live broadcast at this time, why are you bringing up games?”
Liao Su: “Of course I want to watch, but he has to be willing to broadcast first ah. Wait for it, it’s coming, listen, listen.”
After a brief moment, KK’s voice flowed into Liao Su’s microphone. “En, time’s up~ We’ll end it here today, I’m leaving~”
His farewell was short, and there was no sounds in the immediate aftermath.
Liao Su exhaled a long sigh: “Did you hear that! He’s becoming increasingly loose in standards! He used to pull all sorts of shenanigans every day, but now he can’t wait to end the broadcast. He definitely has treacherous feelings! I feel like I’ve just been hurt severely!”
While You Liangxing was not a frequent viewer of KK’s live broadcast, the more important point was that he was too lazy to talk to Liao Su, so he made a noise as a response as he sat up on his bed.
Liao Su became stronger in his insistence, “Brother Liang, why didn’t you taken the initiative to find me to game, have you been busy with something else the past few days?”
You Liangxing and Liao Su scarcely kept up with one another via electronic messages, but they have been friends for several years, and he knew the turns of his mind well. Hence, You Liangxing replied: “Travelling around Beijing, and… talking to a friend.”
Liao Su was startled: “Ah? You have other friends besides me?”
You Liangxing: “……”
Liao Su: “I’m joking.”
You Liangxing did not find the joke funny at all, in fact, he felt like hitting him.
Liao Su chuckled impishly before he asked: “Boyfriend or girlfriend? You can’t possibly talk every day, right? You should spend some time to spoil me as well.”
But they had been talking to each other every day and that was the truth. You Liangxing could only answer one out of two of his questions and he said, “Boyfriend.” As the word fell out from his lips, he choked, realising that it sounded wrong. He tried again: “Male friend.”
Liao Su made a long ‘Yi—” noise, and his voice was full of teasing intent, “Boyfriend, turns out it’s a boyfriend. Brother Liang, are you following the trends now?”
You Liangxing went stiff, and he squeezed out a single word from his throat: “Scram.”
Immediately, Liao Su started speaking normally again as he replied: “If I had to congratulate you for being with another man, I could certainly go on and talk about it. Other than that, well, I just hate men; in our Inst.i.tute, nine of ten are men, ai, if it was not for a person like you, Brother Liang, I don’t think I would have managed to endure through it…”
Before Liao Su could finish speaking, You Liangxing hung up the voice call.
Liao Su: “…..Why QAQ!”
In spite of the impression his actions might give, the reason why You Liangxing had cut off the call with Liao Su was not arbitrary; it was just that as he was talking to Liao Su, he had checked the time and it was 10:35, which was when he and [Ah Sheng] had agreed on to go online.
He quickly logged into the game, and as expected, Ah Sheng’s in-game name of【don’t want to move】was already online. Seeing that You Liangxing had come online as well, the other party sent him a message in the next instant.
[don’t want to move]: — Did something happen? You were a few minutes late.
You Liangxing replied: — Nothing really, a friend called me.
Just as he was sending the message, Liao Su’s WeChat notifications had began to blot out the sky and threaten the earth.
[It’s Liao Su Not Plastic]: — Brother Liang! QAQ! You hung up on me! You actually hung up on me!
You Liangxing jumped out of his game to reply: — Stop being noisy.
Reading the three simple words, Liao Su’s spirit made a return: — Why did you go! Hmpf!
You Liangxing: — Log into the game.
Liao Su was filled with exultation: — Really! Quickly quickly quickly. I’ll log in now, you invite!
You Liangxing paused and did not even respond before he returned back to the game. On his end, Ah Sheng had already sent him three new messages.
[don’t want to move]: — En, okay.
[don’t want to move]: — What should we play?
After a minute, [don’t want to move]: — ….. Liang Liang?
You Liangxing pushed out a reply with due haste: — My friend called me.
You Liangxing: — He wants to join as well, he’s the friend from the previous session.
[don’t want to move]: — The Hou Yi who loves running?
The last time they had played together, Hou Yi was not a common pick for Liao Su, and he did not understand why Ah Sheng would call him that. However, the part about him loving to run was indeed applicable to Liao Su, so he replied simply: — En.
[don’t want to move] did not object: — Okay, you pull.
Since there were three of them, solo was naturally out, and what was left was either a rank queue or a normal matchmaking for three. You Liangxing entered the rank team room first before pulling Ah Sheng in. The next step was to invite Liao Su.
After a few seconds of inaction, You Liangxing abruptly returned to WeChat and tapped on the chat he shared with Liao Su to write: — You, play alone.
Instantaneously, Liao Su’s message arrived.
[It’s Liao Su Not Plastic]: — ????? Ah??
You Liangxing re-entered King’s Glory and started the queue. The game swiftly entered matchmaking and Kang Shengzhe felt that it only took an instant before they entered the hero selection page. Yet, among their teammates, the Hou Yi who loved running was not present.
[don’t want to move]: — En?
[don’t want to move]: — Is he not joining?
You Liangxing gave him a faint reply: — No, I didn’t bring him.
Kang Shengzhe went quiet, and the speed of his inquiry slowed. Picking a hero first, he later asked: — Why?
The atmosphere held a subtle tension, and in a short while, You Liangxing answered from his end.
[Little Angel Liang Liang]: — Because I wanted to game with just the two of us.
Kang Shengzhe: …..
In an abrupt manner, Kang Shengzhe dropped his phone and spread out his hands, plunging his head towards his palms and burrowing into them. With his tall and large stature, it was like a small mountain had fallen over, but this small mountain’s shoulders were shaking slightly, and his ears were gradually growing red.
Having been unresponsive for a long time, the game had already started. Beside his ears, the familiar “Welcome to King’s Glory!” sounded.
You Liangxing knocked a few words in the text channel: — Ah Sheng? What happened?
[don’t want to move]: — … This is bad.
[don’t want to move]: — I feel my heart moving.
You Liangxing: …..
Come again?
You Liangxing: — Am I a panda to you?
Kang Shengzhe did not answer, but his heart was thinking: You’re not a panda, you’re cuter than a panda.