Chapter Text
“What are you going to do now?” Su Mucheng asked, her eyes shone beneath the lights of H City’s night life, crystalline like a layer of glass layering her beautiful honey-brown eyes. She was close to tears and hid it as best as she could.
Ye Xiu put his hands into his coat to shield them from the cold, he smiled to her, “I’m going to rest for a year...” He said. What else could he do? The rule is a rule. He had retired and he needed another year to make a comeback.
Su Mucheng looked down, helpless.
Ye Xiu patted her head, “No need to worry about me, just take care of yourself.”
“Do you accept this?” Su Mucheng looked up, indignant in his place. “How could you accept this? One Autumn Leaf...”
“Is not rightfully mine anymore,” Ye Xiu smiled.
Su Mucheng’s shoulders slumped, “That’s... That...” she shook her head. “I’m so sick of them!” she stomped. “Just wait till my contract expired, I’ll come with you.”
“That’s for the best,” Ye Xiu agreed.
“If only... If only there’s a way to spit on their faces,” Su Mucheng gritted her teeth, frustrated that she couldn't do anything when Excellent Era treated Ye Xiu so unfairly. “I really want them to feel indignant and regret too!”
Ye Xiu looked as his sister figure fumed and cursed under her breath. For a moment he suddenly remembered his own real brother at home, he recalled that stupid and long-buried dream they had when they first started playing piano. “You know what? I know what to do,” Ye Xiu smirked. “If only to make you feel better, Mucheng.”
“Get out! How could you be here?!” Ye Qiu shrieked as he threw another pillow to the shameless man who just scaled the wall to get into his room on the second floor.
“Is that a pajama with the design like a tuxedo?” Ye Xiu narrowed his eyes accusingly when he saw the so-called tux that Ye Qiu slept with. “I knew it, that looks way too comfortable to be a tux.”
“Shut up! I have no time to get ready in the morning, okay? Why are you here anyway? And why my window?!” Ye Qiu clutched a pillow close to himself and protested.
“You begged me to go home in the QQ and when I’m home you cried why?” Ye Xiu said disdainfully as he took one pillow Ye Qiu had thrown and walked to the king-sized bed.
“Eh, you’re right,” Ye Qiu shook his head as Ye Xiu sat on his bed. “But how could you get in?”
“I have your face, idiot. The gate guard let me in, but I have to climb to your room if I don’t want to alert the people in the house,” Ye Xiu said lazily as he laid down.
“Are you ready to replace me then?” Ye Qiu questioned.
“No... I need your help,” Ye Xiu said.
“???” Ye Qiu tilted his head.
“I have no money left,” Ye Xiu even borrowed Su Mucheng’s money to return to B City.
“What? You need money?” Ye Qiu crossed his arms.
“Yes, and I want to mess with someone. Are you up?” Ye Xiu smirked.
“Mess with someone?” Ye Qiu raised an eyebrow. “What does that have anything to do with me? Take care of your own problem, will you?”
“I got kicked out and have no money left, my problem is a bit too emergency. Also, don’t you want to mess with father and mother?” Ye Xiu flopped over and put his chin on his palm.
Ye Qiu blinked and his lips curved into a smirk, “What kind of mess?” Ye Qiu had always been the ‘obedient’ side of the twins, that was a mistake people often made. They’re twins, they created troubles together. It’s just that Ye Qiu’s acting skill was higher than his brother.
“Let’s get famous,” Ye Xiu said.
“Excuse me?” Ye Qiu blinked and Ye Xiu pulled him down. Hugging Ye Qiu close, Ye Xiu whispered something to him and he chuckled. “Really?”
“I’m not really interested in that dream anymore, but now I’m free for an entire year. Let’s do it? You always liked that idea,” Ye Xiu said as he leisurely kicked the air.
“This might get me in trouble and father taking some of my authority away as the result,” Ye Qiu grinned widely. “Perfect. Mother will probably support us, actually.”
Su Mucheng sniffed disdainfully as she entered her room, ignoring the other members who were subtly mocking Ye Xiu to please Sun Xiang. She had no time for their stupid childish game and their childish captain.
The beauty finally sighed when she locked her door, she made her way to her bed and threw herself onto it. She might still in a good shape to play Glory but outside of that, she just didn’t have the passion to. There was no meaning of this place if she didn’t have Ye Xiu.
The only thing that could entertain her now was the Golden Generation Chat Group and Chu Yunxiu.
Ding!
Su Mucheng raised her head curiously as she looked at her phone by the bedside. She shifted closer to it and grabbed it. “Who?” Chu Yunxiu? Well, she could have some talks about the upcoming drama and gossip about other players’ drama as well.
However, Su Mucheng paused when she saw the QQ notification was from the big brother figure who had borrowed some money from her and disappeared a weeks ago. She immediately jumped, her heart bloomed in happiness that her wayward big brother figure actually remembered to message her. She opened the message.
Ye Xiu: Turn on the TV. Channel XX.
Su Mucheng blinked. She wordlessly exited the QQ and went to the TV app her phone had. She changed the channel to XX and stared blankly as two men wearing masquerade masks came up to the stage and were introduced as the upcoming idol group from OO entertainment.
A mask wouldn’t stop Su Mucheng from recognizing Ye Xiu.
“Oh. My. God...” Su Mucheng murmured before she broke into a grin. “This is your plan...?” She asked disbelievingly to no one and finally. Finally. For the first time in weeks, she laughed. A bit too sadistically, to be honest.
This is going to be a fun year.
With their mother’s connection, the twins could easily debut in a few days. After their debut, their popularity rocketed steadily and they gained many fans as the went. They went by the name Twin Stars, they were going by the cheesiest name. At first, they were gonna call themselves 'Gemini boys,' to stay true to their goal to disgust their family, but their mother opposed it like her life was depended on it so Twin Stars was born.
A month into their career, their fans asked them if they ever gonna unmask themselves. Ye Xiu and Ye Qiu already knew the answer.
“Well, if we managed to gain fans and success without showing our face, we’ll unmask ourselves,” Ye Qiu said with a beaming grin to the reporter. What did we say about peerless acting skill? Ye Qiu certainly nailed it. Moreover, the twins always wore similar outfits with only slight difference upstage, no one knew it was him who was beaming.
“Be patient with us, okay?” Ye Xiu chuckled charmingly as if he was consoling his upset girlfriend.
The fangirls screamed. “OF COURSE WE WILL!!!” They had no doubt the Twin Stars’s hidden faces would be extremely handsome, just look at those smooth jaws, ah! Furthermore, they had fallen for the newcomers because of their music and voice (and a little bit of fanservice), so they would stay true!!!
“What is the definition of this ‘success’, really?” The reporter asked again, not letting them go that easily. “Was it by your vague definition, or something more material?” he asked again.
“Hm, a solid proof that we had made it,” Ye Xiu answered.
“We would never dare to be vague with our beloved Constellation,” that’s their fanbase’s name.
The fangirls screamed again! “AAAAHHH!!! Twin stars!!! We love you too!!!” Let alone be vague, the fangirls would even accept any stupid reasons! Just keep on singing!!!
“What about an award?” A female reporter asked after holding herself back to not to swoon. “If you guys won an award, it’s a solid proof, no?”
The twins looked at each other and smiled, “Sure, why not?”
“Miss Tang, Miss Tang, are you sure you don’t want to play professionally?” Ye Xiu asked to the heiress in front of him. There was an appointment to have a dinner with Tang Family earlier that night and Ye Qiu had dragged Ye Xiu with him. The Tang Family’s patriarch, Tang Shulin, seemed to like the twins and so was his daughter.
Mainly because both twins managed to beat Tang Rou somehow when playing hard piano pieces. Ye Xiu with his speed and swiftness, Ye Qiu with his new speedy arrangement.
Ye Xiu had asked Tang Rou if she knew how to play game when the twins escorted them to the hotel they were staying at.
One thing led to another and the next thing Ye Qiu know, his brother and the Tang’s heiress were already on their computers with the lady playing with his brother’s smurf account.
“Less talking Mr. Xiu, let’s do it again,” Tang Rou said seriously as she waited for Ye Xiu’s Lord Grim to agree to her challenge. She had lost ten times, the other side was good.
“I’m actually making a team, a professional one,” Ye Xiu said as he declined the challenge and Tang Rou uncharacteristically pouted in disappointment.
“Sorry, I’m currently involved in a job. I can’t accept another one,” Tang Rou said.
“...” Ye Xiu looked at Ye Qiu who shook his head in response.
“But you’re not in your family’s business?” Ye Qiu spoke up.
“Not within my family. It’s a job outside that I gained by my own,” Tang Rou said elegantly.
“If you don’t mind, what kind of job is it?” Ye Qiu said gently, calculating the hidden risks of having an heiress working outside. Both for the Tang’s and their security reasons. And for the Ye’s for the danger of the upcoming problem.
“It’s a small job, not worth notice from Mr. Qiu,” Tang Rou smiled delicately.
“A small job?” Ye Xiu blinked. “What small job could retain your swift hand speed, I want to see.”
Chen Guo stared blankly when Tang Rou returned to Happy with a pair of handsome twins on her trail.
“Who are them?” Chen Guo asked.
“Friends of my family,” Tang Rou smiled bitterly.
“Your suitors?” Chen Guo gasped. Aiya, if the suitors are a pair of twins, it would be a hell of a drama.
“What? No,” Tang Rou shook her head disbelievingly. “They’re my friends, they came to see the place.”
“Hello,” Ye Qiu greeted Chen Guo and offered his hand, “Are you the owner of this Internet Cafe?” When Chen Guo took his hand, Ye Qiu bowed down to give the tip of her fingers a featherlight kiss.
Chen Guo flushed, “Um, yes. I’m Little Tang’s boss.”
“Boss, please don’t mind us. We’re Little Tang’s friends,” Ye Xiu mimicked the nickname with a smile. “I’m here trying to recruit her.”
“Recruit her? What for?” Chen Guo blinked in worry.
“To play for our soon-to-be-formed professional team for Glory,” Ye Xiu said.
Chen Guo was pleasantly surprised and looked at Tang Rou who showed no interest. Tang Rou was indeed talented but it was too hard for Chen Guo to convince her to play professionally, maybe, her family’s friends could?
Chen Guo looked back to the twins, one of them was looking at Excellent Era’s club building down the road and murmured something that sounded vague. (“Huh, so close to this place...”)
These handsome men, are they for real? “You guys play Glory?” Chen Guo asked.
“Only me,” Ye Xiu raised his hand. “I’m trying to drag my dear twin into this. Trust me, I’m getting there.” Ye Xiu glanced at his twin who huffed and looked away.
“How good are you?” Chen Guo asked.
“Really good,” Ye Xiu claimed shamelessly. If he wanted to convince someone about his professionality, he shouldn’t hold back.
Chen Guo didn’t believe him. The majority of people who tried to recruit Tang Rou couldn’t even beat her in 1v1. “Can you even beat Little Tang?”
“He did,” Tang Rou interjected. “I couldn’t win against him even once.”
Chen Guo gasped, “Really?” she turned serious. “So, you guys are serious then. What’s your name?”
Ye Xiu smiled, “I’m Ye Xiu.”
Ye Qiu nodded curtly, “I’m Ye Qiu.”
Chen Guo stared agape as she reached one conclusion in her mind.
Chen Guo tried to deny all the possibility, she tried, really. She didn’t want to jump into conclusion and looked like a fool.
But when the Alliance’s beauty herself graced her Internet Cafe with her presence in the next day, hugging one of two handsome guys after they looked at her and said, “Have a guess.” Chen Guo couldn’t deny reality anymore.
“Aww, going back already? Even though I already risk myself to sneak out to spend more time with you and laugh,” Su Mucheng pouted.
“We’re only here to recruit someone,” Ye Xiu looked at Tang Rou and Su Mucheng nodded. “Little Tang, this is Su Mucheng. Our future team’s member too, you can go and be chummy later,” he said.
Tang Rou, who was on the verge of being persuaded in B City alone, nodded seriously. Since Chen Guo had given her the green light and she was also beginning to be interested in Glory, she decided to see how much challenges she could get in the Pro’s Alliance.
“A sister!” Su Mucheng laughed. “Finally a girl in the same team as me! Phoning Yunxiu only did so much,” she approached Tang Rou and smiled.
“I’m Tang Rou, nice to meet you. My friend is a fan of yours,” Tang Rou smiled and looked at Chen Guo.
“Hello... I-I’m Guo, I mean, Chen Guo. Nice to meet you!” Chen Guo flushed and almost bite her tongue.
“Nice to meet you,” Su Mucheng smiled and offered her a handshake which Chen Guo accepted marvellingly. “I’m Su Mucheng. Thanks for letting your place being our meeting place, it’s been a long time since I saw Ye Xiu- have you explain the name yet?” Su Mucheng looked at Ye Xiu when she said the last sentence.
“We want to give her time,” Ye Xiu said and Chen Guo looked at him in daze. “Actually, I’m ‘Ye Qiu’, but ‘Ye Qiu’ is not my name, it’s my twin’s. When I applied in the first season, I mistakenly brought my twin’s ID and ended up using his name for almost eight years.”
“Indeed. His name is Ye Xiu, I’m Ye Qiu. He ran away from home at fifteen, that’s why he got himself into that situation,” Ye Qiu said.
“...”
“Yes, so you know the situation,” Su Mucheng smiled after they were done and looked at Chen Guo with a gaze of ‘please, excuse them.’
“I’ll take this to my death,” Chen Guo nodded dazedly.
Su Mucheng giggled, “No need to. We’ll solve it later anyway, I’m sure they know what to do,” she gestured.
“But...” Chen Guo hesitated. “Why did you retire from Excellent Era, if you still want to play professionality by going as far to recruit new bloods for your new team?”
Ye Xiu and Su Mucheng paused. Ye Xiu sighed, “Let’s just say we have a disagreement...”
Su Mucheng huffed, “They kicked you out just because you have no commercial value, even trapping you to break your contract and retire. Disagreement? That’s taking it lightly...”
“Mucheng,” Ye Xiu reminded.
Su Mucheng looked down, “Sorry...” she looked at Chen Guo and bowed, “You must be Excellent Era’s fan. I’m so sorry, I was a bit angry. Ye Xiu... Has always been my brotherly figure,” and she was forced to be apart from him after more than ten years being together.
Chen Guo shook her head rapidly, “No, no, no, I think I got the gist...” Chen Guo felt guilty. “Never mind that, I’m a fan of you, Excellent Era is just by extension. If they are so shameless as to trap their former captain, I don’t like them anymore,” Chen Guo assured.
Su Mucheng looked up and smiled softly, “Why don’t we exchange QQ sometimes? You guys can contact me anytime and I’ll reply as long as I’m not busy.”
The three girls then exchanged contact information and their QQs.
When she was done, Su Mucheng looked at the twins and said, “I love your last album. Let’s take a pic, I’ll share it when you guys are unmasked.”
“Wait, what?” Chen Guo blinked out of her delight of exchanging QQ with her idol.
Tang Rou was not surprised as she looked at Chen Guo, “They’re actually that idol duo, Twin Stars that everyone is talking about.”
“WHAT?” Chen Guo gawked again.
“You know...” Huang Shaotian started. “I always have this feeling that I knew them from somewhere...”
“Who? The Twin Stars?” Song Xiao tilted his head to look at Huang Shaotian who looked solemnly at the tv screen.
“Yeah,” Huang Shaotian nodded. “But I can’t put my fingers around it. I feel a terrible urge to exclaim indignantly and spew out curses when I see them. But in a good way.”
Song Xiao blinked, “Well, then, who are them?” Huang Shaotian had the sharpest instinct in Blue Rain. He might sound dense with his endless chatter, but don’t let it deceive you. If he said he knew them, then, he should know them.
“I don’t know...” Huang Shaotian shook his head. “But I’ll find out,” he narrowed his eyes dramatically.
Ding!
Huang Shaotian looked at his phone, “Oh! Old Ye is messaging me! That old asshole! He disappeared for a long time, I thought he’s dead in a ditch somewhere! Leaving in Winter Transfer, who the hell is he? What is he on about? He only now thought of messaging me? Hmph!” he said dissatisfiedly but still opened the QQ message with excitement.
“Huh? Help him in the tenth server? What the fuck is he on about? He’s still playing? In tenth server? Why the fuck he’s playing in a place full of noobs?” Huang Shaotian murmured to himself and snapped to glare at Song Xiao who tried to sneak a peek. “Don’t fucking tell this to captain.”
“How much do you dare?” Song Xiao raised an eyebrow haughtily and Huang Shaotian shoved a hundred yuan into his hands. “My mouth is sealed, Sword Saint,” Song Xiao playfully bowed and stood up to skip back to his room.
“Well damn, Old Ye. Let me see what do you need,” Huang Shaotian mumbled as he fastly typed back. He already forgot about the masked idols on tv.
“I already brought the best Blade Master around to show you how it’s done- why are you still such a klutz?” Ye Xiu complained.
“I don’t want to do this in the first place! I’m doing my best, okay?!” Ye Qiu retorted. “And this is too light! Let me try another class!”
“Hey, I’m okay about being ignored for most. But Old Ye, seriously, what the hell? You said we’re breaking records, I came here to break it with you. But I turned out to be a teacher also to your Blade Master? This calls for a larger fee, you know?” Huang Shaotian demanded.
“See? I’m humiliated because you can’t follow us,” Ye Xiu scolded Ye Qiu again instead. “And this is the fifth time you’re changing class!”
“Hey! Listen!” Huang Shaotian yelled. “He’s already pretty good for a noob, you know?”
“Not as good as me,” Ye Xiu said.
“No one can! Stop putting your impossible standard on upstarts!” Huang Shaotian yelled. “Who is he anyway? Little brother, don’t mind that shameless guy’s scolding, you’re already pretty good!”
“Haha!” Ye Xiu laughed. “How do you know he’s younger than you?”
“He’s not?”
“I’m not!”
“Who is he anyway?” Huang Shaotian asked.
“My little brother,” Ye Xiu said.
Huang Shaotian blinked in surprise, huh? Old Ye has a brother? “Well, I’m not wrong then. He is your little brother, it’s easier to call him ‘little brother’, how old are you, little brother?” Huang Shaotian asked cheerfully.
“Twenty-five,” Ye Qiu replied grimly.
“Huh? Twenty-five? But Old Ye is...” Huang Shaotian hesitated.
“He’s my younger twin,” Ye Xiu informed.
“HOLY FUCK, THERE’S TWO OF YOU!?” Huang Shaotian screamed.
“I’m pretty sure, I know them,” Huang Shaotian said with frustration in his tone as he watched the Twin Stars performing on tv.
“Yes, they’re kinda familiar,” Yu Wenzhou agreed with a nod.
“Yeah! You too, captain?! There’s this uncanny familiarity about them, I felt like I’ve seen them somewhere... Or perhaps one of them. But, I’m not so sure...” Huang Shaotian grumbled as he opened his can of soda. “They’re obviously brothers.”
“Twins according to their group’s name,” Yu Wenzhou said.
“Yeah... Ah, that’s right. I have a training session with Little Lu. I’m going first, captain!” Huang Shaotian stood up and made his way to the trainee’s wing.
Right, Huang Shaotian is very sharp... Really sharp... Though, maybe not the brightest.
“Come on! We’re heading back, Liu Xiaobie!” Yuan Baiqing said.
“Ah? But I haven’t seen the Twins Stars!” Liu Xiaobie said.
“What can you see in that crowd? And we’re only passing by, there’s no way we would be able to see them,” Yuan Baiqing huffed.
“Please, Baiqing. I need to see them, I love their songs!” Liu Xiaobie insisted.
“Um, let’s not fight...” Gao Yingjie said softly. When he saw that the two were still arguing, he looked at Wang Jiexi for a help, “Captain, Yifan is still not found yet.”
Yes. After their outing, Qiao Yifan was separated from the team because of the dense and packed sea of human screaming for Twin Stars.
“Qiao Yifan surely knows the way to return, right? Let’s return first. It would be bad if captain or any of the main roster is recognized by someone else,” Zhou Yebai said with an underlining tone of complaint.
Gao Yingjie pursed his lips and looked at Wang Jiexi and the others who were famous, he looked down, feeling guilty and reluctant. “Th-then... Everyone could go back. I will wait for Yifan.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Little Gao,” Liu Fei chided. “It’s impossible for you alone to search for him in this place, and if he chose to return straightly, you’ll be the one who is trapped here.”
Wang Jiexi sighed, “Enough. We’ll search for Qiao Yifan for a bit. If we didn’t find him in ten minutes, we’ll return first.” It’s a bad thing that Qiao Yifan’s phone seemed to be dead.
“Big-eyed Wang?”
Wang Jiexi’s eyes widened and he turned around to see someone who just seemed to disappear lately with the exception of his destruction trail in the tenth server. “Ye Qiu?” he raised an eyebrow.
“Yo, it’s really you and your children,” Ye Xiu smiled as he leisurely walked up to Team Tiny Herb. “I have your lost duckling with me,” Ye Xiu looked back from his shoulder and a teen stepped out of his back, looking visibly relieved to see his team.
“Yifan!” Gao Yingjie sighed in relief.
“I found him wandering around and I remembered him from your team,” Ye Xiu smiled and patted Qiao Yifan’s shoulder. Qiao Yifan flushed red and lowered his head. He couldn’t act like he thoroughly didn’t know Ye Xiu
“Sorry for being an inconvenience,” Qiao Yifan bowed down guiltily to his whole team.
“It’s fine, try to keep up next time,” Wang Jiexi mercifully nodded. “What are you doing in B City?” Wang Jiexi questioned at Ye Xiu.
“What am I doing? B City is my home city,” Ye Xiu smirked when he saw Wang Jiexi was visibly surprised. “It’s just a common sense for someone to return to his home after his job is no more.”
Wang Jiexi nodded and eyed Ye Xiu’s clothing. Branded clothes as opposed to Ye Qiu’s usual simple ones, Ye Qiu never wore a watch before but now he did. “You look better,” Wang Jiexi commented.
“Yeah,” Ye Xiu looked down on his clothes, he already bought the most simple-looking but, in a glance, you can see it was branded and very expensive. “Well, my new job didn’t really support me for my former cheap and plain life.”
“Job? What kind of-“
*Honk!*
Ye Xiu looked back and saw Ye Qiu’s sleek black car, the driver’s car window was lowered and the driver popped his head out as he looked at Ye Xiu, “Sir, young master is waiting inside.”, the car’s door slid open and they could see the silhouette of person inside, but it was too dark to see his face.
“Come on, our time is tight,” Ye Qiu coughed, his voice was low because of cold. Luckily, earlier’s short performance only required Ye Xiu singing.
“Right, right,” Ye Xiu sighed.
“Please enter, sir,” The driver said politely.
Ye Xiu sighed. By seniority, he should be called ‘First Young Master’ and Ye Qiu was ‘Second Young Master.’ But because Ye Xiu ran away ever since he was fifteen, the helpers around the house (including gate guards, securities, drivers, butlers, maids-) were too used to call Ye Qiu ‘Young Master.’ Hence, when Ye Xiu returned he was dubbed as ‘Young Sir,’ instead.
“Bye, Big-eyed Wang. See you around, Little Qiao” Ye Xiu leisurely waved at Wang Jiexi and got into the car.
“Goodbye. Thank you, Senior,” Qiao Yifan bowed down again, a bit flustered but Ye Xiu waved him off with a light smile and the car door slid closed.
Team Tiny Herb gawked as the car went off. Wang Jiexi was rigid, “Sir? Young master?” Moreover, new job? Branded and expensive clothings?
Wang Jiexi was too afraid to connect those together!!!
“Calm down, you. Let’s not jump into conclusion,” Deng Fusheng, who knew Wang Jiexi the best in the team, immediately comforted Wang Jiexi, which Wang Jiexi truly appreciated.
Wang Jiexi really didn’t want to entertain the thought of Ye Qiu being in that forbidden business.
"A current of repetitious days and mundane clouds
I see reflected in you a future you can't possibly know
Even if I wanted to avoid pain by not changing
That will only leave me without even hope nor dreams – So, let’s go!
Why am I searching? What is it that I want?-“
“What are you doing?” Han Wenqing asked and the resting members of Tyranny’s roster jumped violently in their seats, holding their hearts that almost jumped out of their chests.
“Captain!” they all cried out in horror.
Han Wenqing raised his brows, they weren’t this jumpy usually. Of course, Tyranny was a team that respected their captain so much, although their first few months often cost them an insurmountable amount of fear and horror, they got better to deal with it by time. Unless they felt like they had done wrong, they shouldn’t react this strongly to Han Wenqing casually asking them.
“We... We were just taking a break... Because, it’s- um... break time,” Bai Yanfei gestured lamely as he was pushed to the front like a sacrifice to the god... or the devil, whichever. “We’re only watching tv... of the latest famous duo group...” Bai Yanfei really wanted to cry.
“That’s right, captain.”
“Yes, he’s telling the truth...”
“Why are you acting guilty?” Han Wenqing furrowed his brows and they flinched again.
“I’m sorry...” A young sub sniffed softly under his breath.
“Because... Because we’re watching something... not serious?” one member braved himself and said.
“We tried to watch boxing, but the song was too catchy...” One confessed in a particularly pious way.
“?” To be honest, Han Wenqing didn’t care what they were watching as long as it’s not something immoral in a broad daylight. He didn’t know where they got the mindset that watching a boxing match was a must. It would be more productive if they watch a match from other teams instead.
“It’s wasteful to think they’re more involved in a popular genre,” another voice appeared and everyone jumped again.
Han Wenqing glanced to the newcomer, “Zhang Xinjie...” He greeted.
Zhang Xinjie pushed back his glasses, making it glinting in the light. “Captain...” he nodded back curtly to Han Wenqing and looked back to the tv.
Bai Yanfei noticed that and braved himself, “Vice-captain, are you a fan of Twin Stars?”
Han Wenqing scrunched up his nose at the cheesy name.
“No,” Zhang Xinjie answered pretty easily. “At least not entirely. I preferred when they performed way more classical music. They both are very talented in that. But they chose popular genre instead,” he said regretfully.
The others sweatdropped, “Well, because that’s what sells. And they only performed classical performance as a bonus sometimes, people are more hyped with pop genre,” Bai Yanfei nodded. He also liked the idols’ classical performance, difficult piano pieces and graceful violin's pieces. They were truly talented.
He heard they made their own song too...
“Do you guys have any common interest?” The reporter asked and the team turned to look at the tv again.
“An after performance interview,” they murmured.
“Ah, we like to play game,” One of the two male idols answered with a smile as the other one rolled his eyes. “We like to play Glory as of recent.”
“Oh wow! A popular game! You guys are singers, talented in music and also gamers, what else do you guys do?” The female reporter enthusiastically said.
“Stop it, you’re making us blushing,” One of them said with a charming coy smile and it was obvious that the female reporter had used all of her entire beings to not start fangirling there and then.
“Right! If you guys play Glory, who is your favourite pro player?” She asked eagerly.
The twins looked at each other and Ye Qiu subtly stepped behind his brother, letting him answer this particular question.
“Favourite, huh? I actually really admire Han Wenqing,” Ye Xiu smiled mischievously.
“Ah! He said captain’s name!” One of Tyranny’s members exclaimed in surprise and everyone was also very surprised. They didn’t expect someone so famous in the entertainment circle would bring up their captain’s name.
“Han Wenqing! The King of Fighting! Why do you like him?” The reporter asked.
“Well, he’s very steadfast from what I see. Very admirable and bold, I think it’s a charming point of him, no? His stage presence is so big, even we couldn’t compete honestly! Very admirable!” Ye Xiu smirked and winked to the camera.
Han Wenqing and the rest of Tyranny blinked in bewilderment. A sense of familiarity grew in Han Wenqing, but he couldn’t put his hands around it.
“Did he just... joked about Captain?” Bai Yanfei whispered to his teammates.
“What? From what I’ve seen, isn’t it a confession?” Another said unconvincingly and the others nodded.
“I see, hopefully, this interview reached Han Wenqing then, eh?”
It IS! The said captain was currently watching the interview!!!
“So, Castor’s favourite player is Han Wenqing. Pollux, who is yours?” When they started, the twins realized they needed stage names if they wanted to keep it going fun. So they chose the greek gods’ names of gemini constellation. Castor was for Ye Xiu, and Pollux was for Ye Qiu.
Ye Qiu smiled coyly as he grasped on his brother’s sleeve, “Castor is my favourite...” Ye Qiu replied coyly.
Ye Xiu smiled, “Pollux, you’re embarrassing me again,” just say that you don’t know any pro gamers’ names and saying Han Wenqing would sound suspicious and unoriginal, no? However, the female reporter was currently having a brief heart attack, so it counted as a success.
Ye Qiu glanced at his twin. Well, technically, he wasn’t lying. Ye Xiu was a famous pro player, even if Ye Qiu knew the entire Alliance by heart, he would still pick his twin brother as his favourite.
“-Ah,” The female reporter gasped out. “Of course, of course, all things aside, you’re always very loving to your brother. Good solidarity, Pollux!”
Shut!
Everyone blankly stared at the blank tv screen and looked back to see Han Wenqing had turned off the tv whilst Zhang Xinjie was checking his watch.
“Break time is over,” Zhang Xinjie observed.
“Get back to practice,” Han Wenqing said and everyone gulped.
“Yes, captain! Yes, vice-captain!” They all quickly scrammed out from the common room.
Han Wenqing tossed the remote to the couch and furrowed his brows. He didn’t know why, he usually wouldn’t care about something trivial like that, but when Han Wenqing heard that idol named Castor said that he admired him, Han Wenqing’s bullshit sense just went off pretty violently.
Han Wenqing brushed it off and walked back to the practice room with Zhang Xinjie perfectly three steps behind him. They didn’t know this news would be a very big news in a few hours and Han Wenqing would spend times being stressed about this.
“Modelling again today, Little Zhou?” A bit of too familiar voice called out.
Zhou Zekai slowly turned around and smiled at the masked idols behind him, “En...” He answered as usual.
“This should be the last day, no? You have a match in two days,” Ye Xiu said.
“Yes,” Zhou Zekai nodded.
“It should be okay,” Ye Xiu smiled. The first time Ye Xiu met Zhou Zekai was in their family’s magazine company’s branch in S City, the twins were forced by their mother to playfully model for some. Ye Xiu couldn’t resist greeting Zhou Zekai who was separated from his manager. That was two days ago.
Even till now, Zhou Zekai didn’t recognize it was Ye Xiu.
“Where’s your manager? Are you lost again?” Ye Qiu asked, tilting his head from his place behind his brother.
“No...” Zhou Zekai shook his head. “Thank you...” He looked at them and nodded curtly.
The twins looked at each other as if trying to communicate through their gaze and looked back at Zhou Zekai, “Are you thanking us for our support?”
“We’re just being good samaritans,” Ye Qiu nodded.
Zhou Zekai nodded, “Helping me too,” he said simply.
“We don’t do much,” Ye Xiu waved him off and handed him a canned juice. “Cheer up for your last day of modeling here. A gift from me and Pollux,” Ye Xiu said.
Zhou Zekai accepted the canned drink, accidentally brushing his fingers against Ye Xiu’s, he looked at Ye Xiu’s hand, “Hands...” he said.
It took the twins a while to make sense of Zhou Zekai’s word... and failing. “Hands?” Ye Xiu raised his hand unsurely.
“Mm. Your hands... are familiar,” Zhou Zekai said as he looked at the twins’ hands. Delicate and slender, it reminded Zhou Zekai so much of a certain someone who disappeared mid-season 8. It hurts... Zhou Zekai won the stage at season 8 but he didn’t even know where that wayward god-player is.
Ye Qiu held Ye Xiu’s hand and huffed secretly, “Is that so? People always said our hands are beautiful, we play piano after all,” he said to cover his brother’s identity.
Zhou Zekai nodded, “Play good,” he complimented.
“Thank you,” Ye Xiu smiled. “Good luck, Zhou Zekai!” he waved.
“No. Thank you. Good luck,” Zhou Zekai said and walked away.
“I still think he’s weird,” Ye Qiu said after Zhou Zekai left.
“He just doesn’t talk much,” Ye Xiu waved if off.
“And he didn’t even show an ounce of recognition when he met you even after you blurted out his nickname from you several times,” Ye Qiu said. “I think he might have some mental illness.”
“Ye Qiu,” Ye Xiu turned speechless. “You can’t say something like that about other people. Even a runaway like me wouldn’t be as rude as you just now.”
“I was just saying the truth! I’m not insulting him at all, I was just genuinely concerned. Maybe he needs a psychologist?” Ye Qiu argued.
“Little Zhou is just a bit dumb, cutely dumb, honest cutely dumb,” Ye Xiu said bluntly.
“You’re the one being rude now!”
“What? I know him! This is my opinion of him, and I didn’t insult him!”
A few hours later, Zhou Zekai was sitting in his car, looking out of the window with such a melancholic look in his eyes.
“What’s wrong, Zekai?” His manager asked after he snapped a picture of him for Weibo update.
Zhou Zekai shook his head wordlessly and the manager smiled, going back to his phone. Zhou Zekai sighed, the idol named Castor is certainly a catch and managed to make Zhou Zekai’s heart flutter a few times in the last three days whenever they accidentally met.
But his heart is already with Senior Ye. He felt like a two-timer when his heart flutter for a different man and that made Zhou Zekai avoided to look closely at the twins’ appearance. Normally, when someone is wearing a mask, you would focus on their face to figure out their real face beneath the mask, however, Zhou Zekai didn’t dare to and opted to look past their shoulders to avoid being rude.
If only Zhou Zekai paid more attention to the face covered with a masquerade mask, he would find something. However, Zhou Zekai was indeed too pure.
In the midst of ‘Ye Qiu’s scandal with Excellent Era with Excellent Era’s fans despising ‘Ye Qiu’ and calling him a traitor for going to another team to ‘purposefully’ block Excellent Era in the Challenger League.
Ye Xiu turned to his twin brother as everyone was watching the gossip and scandal mocking their captain with ease. “I think it’s the time,” he said.
“Told you so,” Ye Qiu, who agreed to play Qi Master just for the Challenger League, said blankly.
“Ooh, should I tell MuMu?” Tang Rou smiled a bit too wickedly for a young lady from a clean background. Seems like she’s enjoying this a bit too much.
“Dirty. Dirty. Excellent Era would get a lot of dirt,” Wei Chen commented, he almost pity those fools to mess with Ye Xiu. But then again, they were the one who pissed Su Mucheng which resulting in a pissed off Ye Xiu too... Which also pissed Ye Qiu off. So, no sympathy for the fools.
“Would it be okay? There wouldn’t be a rebound effect, right?” Qiao Yifan asked in worry.
“No worries, they have money,” a lot of it. An Wenyi pushed his glasses back.
“I think that’s the easiest way, alright,” Luo Ji sweatdropped.
“Are we going to beat up someone?” Steamed Bun asked. Usually, something like this was a prelude of ganging up on someone.
Ye Qiu smirked, “No, but we’re going to beat down their spirit.”
“First thing, first. Let me contact Old Feng, I don’t want his heart to stop beating after we do it,” Ye Xiu said as he looked at his new phone.