Chapter 90
Since Yu Sui had taken on handling Shi Luo's family matters, he needed to be thorough about it. With the competition schedule tightening over the next few months, and Yu Sui being a player himself who also needed to compete, he couldn't guarantee he'd always have internet access to handle emergencies immediately. After discussing it with Shi Luo and getting his approval, Yu Sui brought the matter up with Zhou Huo that evening, and顺便 gave Zhou Huo his lawyer's contact information.
Zhou Huo was cautious. After understanding the gist of it, he said uncertainly, "This is a medium-sized issue, isn't it? Evil's already an adult now, his father has no right to interfere. But we're worried he might really go scorched earth and cause a scene, which could affect our club's reputation… Hopefully that won't happen. Evil's family is pretty prominent, isn't they? They should be afraid of making the news."
Yu Sui didn't want to comment on Shi Luo's father. He just said, "Hard to say. When there's property to divide, desperation can drive people to do things. Best case scenario, he doesn't continue making trouble. If he does, we just need to respond in time. Try not to let too much about Evil's family situation get out—his parents' divorce and everything else… Keep it all under wraps if possible."
"Got it." Zhou Huo nodded. "Our club's players are pretty good about keeping things private. Hardly anyone knows your family situations. But there's another problem—what if his father uses the contract Evil signed when he was a minor to make trouble and sue us? He can easily search and find out you once transferred Evil. We're really tired of dealing with guardians of young players making trouble about this stuff. Was Evil over sixteen back then?"
"He was over sixteen. The contracts are all legal, no problem." Yu Sui sneered. "If he wants to make trouble about that, I don't care. That was when Evil transferred out from FS."
Zhou Huo paused, then laughed: "Alright, if he tries to go that route, he can sue Ji Yanhan. Has nothing to do with us."
"Best case scenario is it just dies down. He…" Yu Sui's voice softened, and he paused before saying, "doesn't have a heart made of stone, just pretends to be fine. Every time his parents cause trouble, he feels like hell inside. Let's hope nothing else happens."
Zhou Huo nodded: "Of course."
Yu Sui pulled at his team jersey jacket and was about to head to the training room when Zhou Huo suddenly remembered something and said, with a headache, "Speaking of hoping nothing happens, do you know your little Evil has been quietly stirring up trouble?"
Yu Sui froze: "What did he do?"
Zhou Huo took out his phone, tapped a few times, and showed it to Yu Sui: "Don't tell me this isn't him."
Yu Sui frowned and took the phone.
Yu Sui: "……"
Zhou Huo hesitated: "Seriously, if I weren't afraid that Shi Luo would be mortified and beat me up after the truth came out, I'd have warned him to tone it down ages ago. He's really over the line."
Yu Sui's lips threatened to curl up into a smile.
What Zhou Huo was showing him was Shi Luo's alt Weibo account.
Shi Luo could hold back for a while, but not forever. Today, he finally couldn't contain himself and posted from his alt account.
Three posts, no less.
After they ate takeout for lunch, Shi Luo had crouched on the small sofa by the bed, pretending to play mobile games. Actually, he had the Weibo app open. Seeing Yu Sui was chatting with someone on WeChat and not paying attention to him, Shi Luo quickly logged into his alt account, made the posts, then logged out just as fast. His expression stayed cool as ever, pretending nothing happened.
Shi Luo probably still had no idea how Free fans had discovered his alt account from among countless users. When posting, he boldly typed Yu Sui's real name.
【Didn't consult Yu Sui, privately told my dad about us. Did it to spite my dad. Shouldn't have said it… got my brain muddled because my dad made me angry. Yu Sui's not mad. He's not mad. He almost never gets mad at me.】
【Wait, Yu Sui HAS gotten mad at me before. He was mad that I didn't tell him I was sick. Last night he was worried I'd be cold, so he unbuttoned his clothes and held me while we slept.】
【My cold's already better. I like him so much. I never want to break up with Yu Sui in this lifetime.】
Yu Sui looked up, through the wide-open door of the training room, and gazed sympathetically at the distant silhouette of Evil at his computer, playing games. He couldn't help but sigh.
Yu Sui figured that in another two years or so, when Evil looked back at the posts he made in his teens, he'd find every single one a bloody embarrassment,恨不得炸了 the software's entire server.
Yu Sui's personal bias was strong. He had no intention of warning Shi Luo. He found this boyfriend diary流水账 (casual account of daily life) absolutely delightful and entertaining. Worried that Shi Luo might delete everything after passing through his edgelord phase, Yu Sui returned the phone to Zhou Huo, opened Shi Luo's alt account on his own phone, and carefully took screenshots, saving them in a dedicated album with backup enabled.
Zhou Huo had his own苦处 (difficulties), and said, "Go ahead, open the comments yourself. Just open them and see…"
Yu Sui忍俊不禁 (barely contained his laughter), and followed instructions, opening the comments.
[Please, go see a doctor!! I'm begging you!!]
[You've been a little too猖狂 (arrogant) lately.]
[Yu God held you while you slept?? I know exactly where the Free base is located. No outsiders can get into that neighborhood. How exactly did you sneak in? Did you ride a rocket in?]
[I've lost my mind. Can someone please control this person?!]
[??? Did I read that wrong? You told your dad you're dating Yu God, and then your DAD disapproves of Yu Sui? Setting aside the fact that you're making stuff up, your dad doesn't approve of you dating Yu God? Honestly, what royal lineage do you come from?]
[This isn't just simple delusion anymore.]
[I live with my husbands at their base every day, sleep with my big husband every night, my billionaire husband is attentive to my every need, yet your relationship isn't blessed by your father… I suspect you're under twelve. Such Mary Sue plots don't exist. Wake up.]
[Don't bother replying. Report button, one-click.]
[Fine, at this point I don't want to hide it anymore. I've been with Shi Luo for a while now. This comment was posted sitting on Shi Luo's lap. Shi Luo's smoking pose is truly handsome, but since he knows I'd cough, my husband hasn't smoked all night! Shi Luo just told me to wait for him for three more years, and when he comes of age, we'll go get married! How can he be so perfect?]
[@Free Esports Club, are you guys dead? How many times have I at'd you?! Is the official account blind or dead? Can you actually do your job? Protect our four players! I'm extremely worried this lunatic will actually break into the base and hurt our four brothers.]
Zhou Huo looked up at Shi Luo in the training room, then lowered his voice, teeth clenched: "From way back, when the fans first came to me about this, I could tell it was Shi Luo's alt account! How could it be more obvious?! But the fans have no idea this is their Evil husband!?"
"The fans asked me to ban the account, to make a statement clarifying things. They blamed me for playing dead and pretending not to see, called me useless, called me garbage… How could I dare? Do I have the guts to report him?!" Zhou Huo was caught between a rock and a hard place. "More and more people are finding out about this alt account! Everyone thinks it's a fan with mental issues, worried this person might try to kidnap you! I…"
"Shh…" Yu Sui, while screenshotting Shi Luo's earlier posts, frowned and said, "Lower your voice."
Zhou Huo委屈地 (wrongfully) lowered his voice: "The fans blame me for not protecting the players. What am I supposed to do? Turn a blind eye, play dead. But Shi Luo was somehow so happy today, suddenly posted three in a row, THREE! I didn't dare tell Shi Luo directly. He could at least not use Yu Sui's actual name in the posts…"
"He's usually so cocky and cool, why is he so敢 (reckless) on his alt account?" Zhou Huo couldn't understand. "Isn't it because HE didn't want to go public in the first place? I thought he absolutely didn't want to show off his relationship."
Yu Sui carefully finished saving the screenshots. Looking at the images, he murmured softly: "Not wanting to go public is about not affecting the team. Just started dating—wanting to share a little, to keep a record, isn't that normal… Haven't you ever been young?"
Zhou Huo was speechless.
"No one reports him. You keep playing dead." Yu Sui looked up and gave Zhou Huo a warning glance. "Don't hint at him. He's pretty thin-skinned about this stuff."
"Fine, fine." Zhou Huo sulked. "I won't say anything."
After sending Zhou Huo away, Yu Sui returned to the training room. He queued for solo ranked, then opened Shi Luo's alt account again to reminisce.
Yu Sui looked up and glanced at Shi Luo, cold-faced and busy fragging in-game nearby. He smiled.
His little boyfriend was so cute.
Yu Sui cancelled his solo queue, opened the in-game friends list, and checked Shi Luo's current status. He was in a solo queue, had been in-game for twenty minutes, probably about to finish.
Yu Sui didn't queue solo again. He waited for Shi Luo to finish that game so they could duo together.
Less than ten minutes later, Shi Luo's previous game ended. Yu Sui sent him a party invite, but there was no instant accept.
Yu Sui took off his headset and asked, tilting his head, "Already scheduled a duo with someone else?"
Before Shi Luo could answer, Chenhuo said lazily from beside them, "Shi Luo's duoing with me in a bit. Want to steal him? Feel free to try. Actually, neither of us is particularly enthusiastic about it. Convince Lao Qiao if you can. He assigned us to practice coordination for the playoffs."
Since the coach had arranged the training, Yu Sui couldn't just snatch him away. Waiting for them to finish was fine too. He asked, "Until what time? I'll solo queue first."
"Two AM." Chenhuo said coolly. "Don't bother waiting. Evil and I already hit our quota for today. If you want to duo, come back earlier tomorrow."
Shi Luo helplessly looked at Yu Sui: "Lao Qiao assigned it just now."
Yu Sui held his headset in one hand, smiled: "Is Lao Qiao doing this on purpose? He…"
Nearby, Puppy, who was solo queuing, suddenly coughed and interrupted Yu Sui: "Just a heads up for a certain someone who just entered the training room—I'm streaming."
Yu Sui knew Puppy was afraid he'd say something that would let fans figure things out. He nodded and didn't continue the conversation, going to solo queue on his own.
Chenhuo couldn't help but complain: "Streaming again? Tell your stream fans in advance! Shi Luo and I aren't fighting or estranged. Do teammates calling each other idiots and telling each other to die count as fighting? No need to fill the forums with discussions about whether our team's two assault players aren't getting along."
"Don't worry. Although I don't know why, today's stream chat clearly has nothing to do with you. I don't really understand what they're discussing." Puppy was waiting for queue, squinting at the stream chat, completely confused. "Can't figure it out. They're all telling me to remind Whisper to stay safe… What could possibly be unsafe about him?"
Yu Sui and Shi Luo had both put on their noise-cancelling headphones at this point, not hearing a single word.
Puppy sat with his hands tucked away, studying the chat. Furrowing his brow, he read aloud word by word: "I originally hoped you four would stay single forever. Now I've lowered my expectations. Just find a normal partner, so you won't be watched by weirdos."
Puppy was bewildered: "What did I miss? What is all this? Who's not normal?"
The chat went quiet for a few seconds, then flooded back.
[It's nothing. Just reminding you to stay safe.]
[It's nothing. Please also remind our little Shi Baby. He's the youngest and easiest to be targeted by people with bad intentions.]
[It's nothing. You're better off not knowing.]
[Shh… Major competition is coming. Everyone don't scare the players. Handle it discreetly.]
[Nothing happened! Absolutely nothing happened!]
[May I ask a question? I sent a gift! Can I ask?]
Puppy saw the gifted comment, nodded in confusion: "Go ahead, ask."
[I just want to know—has someone recently moved into the Free base?]
Puppy, who had no idea what was going on, answered without thinking, one sentence that completely sealed the deal on Shi Luo's alt account rumors: "How could that be?! Are you kidding? Our base has had the same people these past few months. No more, no less."
[Relieved.]
[Relieved. Stay safe.]
[Relieved. Confirmed that person was making stuff up.]
[Relieved. Also, one more reminder—please protect our Shi Baby. Speaking frankly, he really does have a way of attracting weirdos.]
[Relieved. Also remind Yu God to stay safe. Although I don't think any ordinary criminal could touch him, he really is high-risk right now.]
[Relieved. Everyone keep reporting. Let's get that account banned tonight.]