Chapter 19
Before the gaokao, all are equal.
While the esports rookie Luo was enduring humiliation and filling out his Chinese exam, Yu Sui and Ji Yanhan, not wanting to be any different from the countless other parents, hadn't dared to leave the exam venue. They stood outside in the scorching heat, full of anticipation, their bodies and minds with the examinees.
Of course, the two of them had their car seats reclined, pillows supporting their heads, air conditioning on, and drinks in hand—the scorching heat couldn't touch them.
Ji Yanhan took a sip of Coke, glanced out the car window, and felt rather foolish: "Do we really need to wait here?"
"Of course." Yu Sui lay there in sunglasses, scrolling through his phone. "What if that little brat sneaks out?"
Ji Yanhan shook his head. "I was waiting for you guys earlier and checked the exam instructions. I think it said you can't submit early..."
"Everything has exceptions. What if he fakes being sick and comes out?" Yu Sui said lazily. "If he really runs, who's going to take the remaining three exams for him?"
Ji Yanhan figured that made sense. He squinted at Yu Sui's phone screen, leaned closer, and frowned: "Are you taking selfies?"
"No." Yu Sui took off his sunglasses, put on his business smile for the phone. "No training today, so I'm doing an outdoor livestream for everyone. Ji Shen is here too—Captain, say hi!"
Ji Yanhan: "..."
Ji Yanhan was about to break down: "Do you have any sense of atmosphere? That little brat in there is probably planning to come out and chop you up, and you still have the mood to livestream? What's the difference between this and those people who livestream funerals?"
"What's wrong with doing a gaokao livestream?" Yu Sui urged. "Come on! I'm still twenty hours short of my monthly streaming quota. I need to clock at least ten hours today."
Ji Yanhan had no fight left in him. He勉强 smiled and made a peace sign with Yu Sui, said hello to the fans, then embarrassedly put his glasses back on.
Yu Sui didn't think there was anything embarrassing about any of this at all. Waiting around was boring—what was wrong with starting a livestream?
"What did we come out for? To send Luo to take his exam. Right, the gaokao." Yu Sui stretched his legs out, radiating an aura of righteousness. "The sacred light of compulsory education shines equally on every student, and that includes our esports player."
"Luo agreed to it himself. Why wouldn't he? Something as wonderful as exams—of course he's willing. When he went in, his whole face was gratitude, and he even bowed deeply to me."
"Chop me up? You misheard. Ji Shen was joking. Luo is extremely grateful that his alma mater didn't give up on him and gave him this precious opportunity to take the gaokao. He'll cherish this opportunity. Really, I'm not making this up—why does nobody believe me?"
"Why does everyone say I never tell the truth?"
"As for how he did on the exam... I wouldn't know..."
Yu Sui suddenly thought of something and asked Ji Yanhan: "Can we hurry things along and get Luo's livestream contract finalized? What if we give his first livestream to his fans—直播高考查分? The gaokao score reveal. How about that? Thrilling, surprising."
"Livestream the gaokao score reveal..." Ji Yanhan looked at Yu Sui with complicated feelings, then threw caution to the wind. "Want me to call the marketing team over right now? They can film him the whole time, then edit and post-process it into a gaokao documentary? You want to bet if Shi Luo will smash up our base?"
That was entirely possible. Yu Sui had to reluctantly drop the idea.
Yu Sui continued chatting with the fans. He was a talkative person—didn't need to interact with the bullet comments, could just talk to his phone alone without things getting awkward. When he was happy, he could even laugh by himself for a while. While waiting for Shi Luo to come out, Yu Sui first energetically held his phone and chatted, then half-reclined and lay there talking to the phone. Another hour passed, and Yu Sui smiled apologetically: "I can't do this anymore. Didn't eat breakfast this morning, getting a bit of hypoglycemia. That's it for today."
Yu Sui's lips were pale. The fans also noticed something was wrong and urged him to go eat something. Yu Sui quickly ended the livestream.
Setting his phone aside, Yu Sui quickly opened the car door and walked to the trash can by the road, dry heaving.
Ji Yanhan in the car took off his sunglasses and grabbed a bottle of mineral water before getting out.
"The doctor told you a long time ago—you need to rest. Staying up all night and skipping meals again." Ji Yanhan frowned. "There's nothing to throw up anyway, since you didn't eat anything this morning?"
Yu Sui rinsed his mouth, rubbed his cramping stomach, and managed a smile: "Eat? I didn't waste a single second, and still almost missed the exam."
"So I was saying before—why not fly here, or take the high-speed rail?" Ji Yanhan couldn't understand. "You insisted on driving yourself. Who can handle打完比赛又连开了一夜的车?"
Yu Sui took two sips of water: "The plane... As soon as he sees where the ticket lands, he'll figure out what's going on. Will he still come with me? If he tries to run in the airport, I can't catch him. Even more trouble."
Ji Yanhan frowned: "Are you being a little too good to him?"
Yu Sui wiped the water from his chin with the back of his hand: "I made this mess myself... Let's not talk about it."
Ji Yanhan had no choice. "Then what do we do? Buy you some medicine nearby? What kind? Is BANLANGEN okay?"
"BANLANGEN really can't save lives..." Yu Sui said half-dead. "Medicine won't help. Just get me some hot water."
Ji Yanhan said, "Alright, get back in the car first. I'll go get you something hot from the convenience store."
Yu Sui nodded and got back in the car with his water bottle.
Soon Ji Yanhan returned to the car with some soup he'd heated up at the convenience store: "There's not much available. Just drink what you can."
Yu Sui wasn't picky. He slowly sipped the soup and relaxed: "Much better."
Ji Yanhan watched Yu Sui for a moment, then said: "Otherwise, just slowly step back, and then..."
Yu Sui had a headache: "Here you go again. Everyone has some stomach issues. Constantly checking—it just a minor problem. Is it really that serious?"
Ji Yanhan continued: "If you don't want to manage things either, that's fine. It's all something you learn gradually. When I first started the team, I was completely lost. Later when I started my own company, things got even more chaotic. Fortunately there was Minmin and her father helping out... Never mind that. Every time I bring this up, you never let me finish. I'm not asking you to come be my assistant."
"You're birthday is next month, right?" Ji Yanhan smiled magnanimously. "Birthday present—the FS club. The whole thing. It's yours."
Yu Sui didn't even think: "No."
Ji Yanhan slumped exhaustedly in his seat: "I'm not joking. Take it. I really don't want to manage it anymore. It hurts to hand it over to someone else. I'd rather leave it to you."
Yu Sui shook his head: "Impossible. There are plenty of good management talents. Find one yourself."
Ji Yanhan was helpless: "Why are you so stubborn? Did you end the livestream?"
Yu Sui checked his phone and nodded: "Yeah."
Ji Yanhan felt more free to speak: "A pro career only lasts a few years. You're saying you don't care now, thinking you can play for another ten years. I thought the same thing back then. Look how that turned out? Fine, I'll just assume you can play for ten years."
Ji Yanhan looked at Yu Sui seriously: "What will you do after ten years? Have you thought about that? We happen to both have free time这两天—tell me what you're thinking."
Yu Sui looked at him like he was talking to a crazy person: "Have you been in too many meetings? The last person who talked to me like this was my high school principal..."
"I'm sharing my precious life experience with you right now!" Ji Yanhan was helpless. "Better than getting old for nothing, right? There are things you haven't considered. I can think about them for you. Stop only thinking about training and competitions. Plan for your future."
Yu Sui said calmly: "I've already thought about it."
Ji Yanhan said: "Then tell me about it."
Yu Sui smiled but said nothing.
Ji Yanhan raged: "Ungrateful!"
Yu Sui smiled: "Alright, Minmin-sister has never liked me much because of that penalty clause thing back then. She's finally warmed up to me the past two years. Don't mess this up for me. She's already unlucky enough to have fallen for you, sticking by your side all these years without giving up. Don't make trouble."
Ji Yanhan had no choice but to put the matter aside again.
As they talked, more people started gathering outside the car. Yu Sui looked out the window and his eyes lit up: "He's about to come out, right? Come on, let's greet him."
Ji Yanhan sighed and got out of the car with Yu Sui, opening the back trunk and taking out two bouquets.
Yu Sui took the bouquet from Ji Yanhan, frowned, and cautiously voiced his doubt: "These hydrangeas... don't they usually get used for specific occasions..."
Ji Yanhan looked uncertainly at the flowers in his own hand: "Really? I don't know anything about this. Wasn't it you who told me to buy the most expensive ones?! These were expensive! Over two thousand yuan per bouquet."
"Fine then." Yu Sui wasn't entirely sure either. "I might be wrong. Hold onto them."
Yu Sui and Ji Yanhan stood side by side. Five minutes later, Shi Luo walked out of the exam venue, his entire being radiating murderous intent—like Hou Yi after shooting down nine suns, like a warrior emerging from hell, flames of fury burning around him.
Yu Sui inhaled slightly, then handed the bridal bouquet in his hand to Shi Luo, murmuring to soothe him: "No experience. I saw other parents holding sunflowers and they said it meant 'one shot, one success'... Just use these for now."
Ji Yanhan also handed his bridal bouquet to Shi Luo: "For tomorrow too, we'll hold sunflowers."
Shi Luo was so angry he couldn't speak. He even thought about turning around and going back into the exam venue.
"Come on, let's go eat. Rest for a bit this afternoon—you still have exams." Yu Sui urged Shi Luo to get in the car. "It's too hot outside."
Shi Luo was so furious his whole body was red, stiffly got in the car, sat alone on one side in his own world, refusing to speak to Yu Sui.
"Sigh... What's the big deal? I didn't earn less than you when I took my exams." Yu Sui barely held back his laughter. "But I didn't go around telling people I made tens of millions a year and wanted to come take your exams."
Shi Luo completely ignored Yu Sui.
"Really angry?" Yu Sui smiled. "Or upset we didn't hold sunflowers for you?"
Shi Luo was steaming with rage but still said nothing.
This did remind Yu Sui of something. He said: "Otherwise, how about we put up a banner this afternoon? More impressive. Is there still time?"
Ji Yanhan, who was driving, turned his head and asked: "A banner? What should it say? 'Warmly Welcome FS Substitute Player Luo to Our Street's Exam Venue'?"
"Why emphasize 'substitute'?" Yu Sui shook his head. "Forget it, big banners are too flashy. Did you bring any staff? If we all hold up a hand banner together, that should work for a small support event."
Ji Yanhan was more concerned about the content: "So what do you want on the hand banner?"
Yu Sui thought for a moment: "Take the gaokao once, be happy for life."
Shi Luo: "..."
Ji Yanhan went along with it: "Sure, but it would be good to have something different too."
"Easy." Yu Sui adjusted his sunglasses and leaned against the headrest. "Leave the arena, enter the exam hall. Ten years of studying isn't hard."
Shi Luo: "..."
Yu Sui added: "Sharpening the axe won't delay the woodcutting. Work again after the gaokao."
Yu Sui was practically in a creative flow: "One person takes the gaokao, the whole team gets glory."
"Yu... Sui..." Shi Luo finally spoke, grinding his teeth with barely contained anger. "One more word... and I'm jumping out of this car..."
Yu Sui was laughing so hard his stomach hurt. He waved his hand, signaling Shi Luo to rest.