Chapter Text
Date: Year 2024, 05/29, Wednesday* at Happy Internet Cafe
“Hungry?”
“...Hungry…”
“Noodles?”
“Mmmm…”
“Beehoon*?”
“Ahh...instant…”
“Spicy?”
“…...Erh? Non-spicy.”
“Sure?”
“Ksing Wild Boss now, no time for the toilet…”
“...okay...vegetables?”
“...En…”
“Meat?”
“...En…”
“What type?”
“Anything…”
“Corn? Carrot?”
“...En…...wait, no peas…”
“En…… I just sent the list to your QQ, please check.”
“………...okay.”
“……”
“……”
“...Be right back. Help me leech experience.”
...Mmm…
Chen Guo stood there, with her eyes growing wider as she listens to their mono-syllabus conversation. The former battle god, currently the captain of Team Happy, was busy in front of the computer, stealing a Wild Boss from the major guilds again. Everyone in Happy was pretty much occupied in their assigned roles as Lord Grim issue out the orders like a general on a battlefield. Well, they are playing Glory and if they are not careful, this whole operation could blow up in their faces.
The order-taker, Linyan walks up to her and whispers something into her ears. Eyebrows raised, Chen Guo quickly nods her head and follows her out. The rest of the team did not take note of their departure.
QQ chat: Glory Pro-team
Dancing Rain @苏沐橙 v: Xiu-ge, 生日快乐！[Happy Birthday!]
Lord Grim @叶修 v: thanks :)
Troubling Rain @黄少天 v: Old Ye! Old Ye! Old Ye! Old Ye! Old Ye! 生日快乐！How does it feel to be one year older? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? Huh? I bet your APM is not as faster as it used to! Come to the Arena and let’s PKPKPKPKPKPKPKPK!!!
Lord Grim @叶修 v: 呵呵。[Heehee]
Desert Dust @韩文清 v: Happy birthday.
Immoveable Rock @张新杰 v: 生日快乐，前辈*。 [Happy birthday, Senior*.]
Lord Grim @叶修 v: Thank you, Old Han and Little Zhang.
Troubling Rain @黄少天 v: 你呵什么呵？！[What’s so funny?!] I dare you to challenge me to a PVP match at the Arena NOW!!!
Lord Grim @叶修 v: PVP, 700+ matches, how many have you won?
Troubling Rain @黄少天 v: ………...F*CK YOU!!! 我呸呸呸呸呸呸呸*！DESPICABLE! SHAMELESS! SWINDLER! So what it’s your birthday?! Come to the Arena and we settle this!!!!
Vaccaria @王杰希 v: Happy birthday, Senior.
Swoksaar @喻文州 v: Happy birthday, Senior. 少天 ^_^ [Shaotian ^_^]
Troubling Rain @黄少天 v: ！！！！！ 对不起队长！！！ (T_T)||| [Sorry, Captain!!! (T_T)|||]
Lord Grim @叶修 v: 呵呵。谢啦， 小喻。[Heehee. Thanks, Little Yu.]
Cloud Piercer @周泽楷 v: ...快乐... [...Happy…]
Empty Waves @江波涛 v: Captain said Happy birthday to you, Senior.
One Autumn Leaf @孙翔 v: ...Happy Birthday, Ye Xiu...
Lord Grim @叶修 v: 小Zhou, 谢谢 :) [thanks]
Lord Grim @叶修 v: 小Sun, thank you very much!
One Autumn Leaf @孙翔 v: ………...
Cloud Piercer @周泽楷 v: ...welcome… (///^///^///)
Troubling Rain @黄少天 v: How can you blush?! @周泽楷 You’re a guy! Act like one!!!
Windy Rain @楚云秀 v: Happy birthday, Senior!
Lord Grim @叶修 v: Thanks, Chu-mei! :)
Doubtful Demon @方锐 v: Oei, 叶修！[Ye Xiu!] Happy birthday!
Dazzling Hundred Blossom @张佳乐 v: Happy birthday!
Dark Thunder @林敬言 v: 老叶, Happy birthday.
Crying Devil @ 李轩 v: Happy birthday, Senior Ye.
Life Extinguisher @ 肖时钦v: Happy Birthday, Senior Ye.
Lord Grim @叶修 v: Thanks, Little Thing!
Flowing Cloud @卢瀚文 v: 生日快乐，长辈*！[Happy birthday, Elder!*]
Lord Grim @叶修 v: ...I’m not that old… (~_~)
Troubling Rain @黄少天 v: wahahahahah, got roasted by a junior!!!
Kind Tree @高英杰 v: 生日快乐，长辈。
River Sunset @宋奇英v: 生日快乐，长辈。
Lord Grim @叶修 v: 喂。。。 (Oei...)
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Combat Form @邱非 v: Captain, Happy birthday.
Lord Grim @叶修 v: Little Fei...I’m not your captain anymore, but thanks for your well-wishes :)
Moonlight Sonata @白林燕 v: 修哥[Xiu-ge], time to eat.
Lord Grim @叶修 v: En. Bye, everyone. Thank you for all the well-wishes and the rare materials too :)
Troubling Rain @黄少天 v: ?! Wait just a min…...
Ye Xiu refused to check the chat anymore. He knows the last sentence was a tongue-in-cheek remark that has no relevance to the topic but he just loves needling them. Especially Huang Shaotian. What he didn’t know was it isn’t the last comment he made that caused a commotion. It was him being summoned to eat and he acquiesces to the request that got everyone chattering nonstop.
“Here, your bowl.” Linyan passes him a small bowl of noodles as she returns back to her seat.
Ye Xiu looks down into his bowl and realized the noodles are not what he asked for.
“I remembered saying I want instant noodles,” he picks the thin strands of mianxian* up and examines it.
“I know. Later. Eat this first. And the red eggs* too.” Ignoring him, she took over her character, Moonlight Sonata, and start calling out all the enemies’ locations for the members of Happy to ambush.
No one bats an eye over the change of leadership, even Old Wei, who is a tactician. They know what to do during a KS session. But Ye Xiu has a bad habit of taking down the foes by himself instead of letting them decide if they could. When Linyan took over, the shot caller is passed to Wei Chen. Her responsibility was just an overseer and main support, with Little Cold Hands as the back-up. When she thinks the enemy is too close to one of them, Linyan just calls out the position and casts boost to ally or debuffs on the enemy. Her decision depends on the class matchup between the friendlies and the foes when they faced off. It was a refreshing and chaotic partnership at the start but everyone got used to it.
Why would they do that? Simply because Linyan is the only person in the room who can get Ye Xiu to stop playing Glory long enough to eat a proper meal, or get him away from Glory to do anything! Ye Xiu did sulk in the beginning and tried to play as he eats. So what Linyan did was to stop playing her account, and spoonfeed him. Every. Single. Time. Without fail. No matter how thick-skinned he is, his face starts to blush every time when he eats. Because she’ll be there with either a fork or spoon, looking at him like he’s a little child and said ‘Ahhh...’ at him. When he asked her to stop, she shook her head and said as the captain of this budding team, it is important to take care of his body.
‘Be a good boy and finish your food.’ that’s what she always says when feeding him. The team controlled their laughter, just barely. Only two people burst out laughing and Ye Xiu made sure the training routine for that day was extra long for the two.
“Alright, people. Once we’re done with this. Everyone logs out. Lady boss has ordered supper for everyone to eat.” Cheers can be heard and everyone gets their second wind to power through. The poor guilds didn’t know what hit them.
Ye Xiu shakes his head at their enthusiasm and quickly finishes his noodles and eggs. “I’m back, Linyan. Move over to assist Old Wei, I’ll join Little Tang and Yifan. Baozi, watch your tempo.”
With Lord Grim active again, Happy took only 20 minutes instead of the usual one hour to defeat the boss. Everyone files out, with Ye Xiu trailing behind. At his raised eyebrow, Linyan waves her stuff at him and shoos him off. She sighs in relief as she wore out her earmuffs and an eye mask to rest. Smiling cheekily at the sudden shout by Ye Xiu as the team surprised him with a birthday party. That was what she told Chen Guo about earlier. It’s Ye Xiu’s birthday today. Knowing she has some time before anyone starts to look for her, Linyan quickly messages a ‘Happy birthday’ to the other person sharing the same day of birth as the man she admired. Soon after, her phone rang.
“Brat, how’s my idiotic brother?”
“Having a party with his teammates.”
“Your idea?”
“..Mmmm...”
“...Thank you for your well-wishes. Take care.”
“I will, Qiu-ge. Happy birthday again.”
At last, it was quiet. Linyan drifts off to sleep, on the couch on the second level. It is big enough for her petite figure even with her height of five feet six inches. A soft rustling disturbs her nap and she felt a dip in the cushion at a spot above her head.
“Wake up sleepyhead, your dinner is turning cold...”
“...No...sleepy...” she turns her body and buried deeper into the cushion, knocking off her earmuffs. A soft sigh whispering near her ears was the only warning before her whole body was lifted upright by a pair of strong arms.
“...Huh?...Ye Xiu? What are you doing here? It’s your birthday today. As the guest of honor, you should be downstairs with everyone...” Linyan rubs her eyes with the eye mask on**. Ye Xiu pulls off the mask and sits back onto the sofa to relax.
“This guest of honor has fulfilled his obligatory purpose and has chosen to escape. You should know by now I prefer anonymity.” He replies, looking at her as she straightens her clothes and hair.
“Even on your birthday?... Never mind, do what you like,” huffs the girl. She knows when to choose her battles and she forfeits this without a fight. He gives her a cheeky grin and ruffles her head. She bats it away and gives him a pout, pretending her heart is not pounding like a jackhammer.
“Here, eat your dinner,” he passes one bowl of instant noodles, filled with sliced ham, bits of carrots and corn, immersed in spicy soup. He picks up the second bowl, filled with similar ingredients, in clear chicken broth, and starts eating.
They ate their food in silence as they listen to the group below let loose. Luckily they held the celebration at the cafe instead of their rental house, or the neighbors are going to complain. Linyan decides to break the silence between them, however comfortable it may feel.
“Say, this Saturday is the finals with Excellent Era…… Is everyone prepared?”
“All the preparations in the world will never be enough for the actual battle. All I can hope for is for everyone to do their best in their roles.” Ye Xiu spoke softly, his eyes seem to focus on some faraway landscape only he could see.
“..Mmm...” She kept mum to certain facts that are going on among the people she knows, like Wei Chen’s pain medication for his hand, Mumu-jie’s concern on the face-off, Tang-jie’s confidence in her abilities, Mo Fan’s hesitation in teamwork…
“Well, all that worrying wouldn’t do any good to anyone. Let’s rest for today and start afresh tomorrow?” Raising to her feet, Linyan collects their bowls and tries to leave. Ye Xiu grabs her wrist, stopping her. She takes a deep breath, puts on her cheerful mask, and turns towards her crush.
“Yes, Xiu-ge? You want to help me with the dishes? It’s just two bowls...” She stops her ranting when she felt the slight pressure where his fingers are. Slowly, he pulls her down to sit before him, takes away the bowls she was holding as a shield and put it aside.
“...Lady boss said something very interesting earlier during the birthday celebration. There I was, completely surprised at the party being planned and I decided to tease her about keeping it a secret. It comes as a shock to know that all the prep work was done today within the span of Happy team training through the KS session, courtesy of you, and her combined efforts. And that got the ball rolling about how everyone praised about your contributions to the team through me. By reforming my bad habits, it lessens the unknown burden everyone was carrying...”
Linyan is getting uncomfortable at the direction of the conversation Ye Xiu is taking. Trying her luck, she grins unabashedly at him and teased him for a bit.
“So, does that mean I’m like a great savior to the members of Happy by casting holy cure on you. Does that make you indebted to me then, hmm? If I remember correctly, there is an ancient saying: ‘救人一命，以身相许’，Since I ‘saved’ your life, are you going to pledge your life to me?”
Ye Xiu blinks for a moment before a peaceful smile graced his face. It is not a smile anyone who experiences his temperament would want to be subjected to. Linyan knows she has miscalculated and tries to break free from his hold. But the strength from a 21-year-old girl is no match for a 27-year-old-male, even if he was a shut-in most of his life. He looks at her with a serious glint in his eyes, not rebuking or even countering back with his shameless words of agreement.
“As I was saying before being rudely interrupted. Those little things that you did since your decision to stay on and help carry a different meaning when the rose-tinted glasses finally comes off. I may be dense when it comes to relationships, especially between a boy and a girl. But when someone points out the route glowing in neon light, even the blind can find its way.”
Ye Xiu tightens his hold for a second before sliding his hand down to twine his fingers with hers. Lifting the other hand to join its twin, he cradles them between their bodies. His eyes, now brilliant gold, gaze at her translucent jade eyes.
“When are you going to confess your feelings for me? After we won the Challenger League? After the end of Season 10? Or when I go back at being the heir of Ye Corp? Are you going to bury your unrequired love for me when I found someone else? When!”
He hissed his last word out, the usual dormant temper of the Ye, finally erupts. He hadn’t felt this emotional since his acceptance of his friend’s death, to his sudden revival. This female, with her delicate hands inside his palms, manages to uproot his foundation and resets him on the right path, and after all that, she’s going to walk away? I think not!
Linyan knows the gig is up, closes her eyes and sets her face neutral. “Never would be my answer. Because of my medical condition, I will never allow anyone to go through the pain that I had when I was a child. You’re eating healthier now, cutting down on your cigarette intake, heck, you're even doing those dance exercises I forward to you. You'll definitely outlive me. I’m a ticking time-bomb, not even the doctors know when…...”
Ye Xiu refuses to tell her continue, and covers her mouth with his hand. Because if she utters that word, he would not be held responsible for the actions he’ll take. Taking a shuddering breath, he speaks softly.
“One thing I learned about myself during my ten years in Glory, is that I will seize any opportunity, be as shameless as I can be, use all my knowledge and expertise and plan all possible outcomes to achieve my goal, but yet to temper those actions with the desire to guide and help those in need, whether they knew it or even want it or not. Glory is my true love… but you have the potential,... no, you are my true soulmate. Who else can give me the freedom to be myself and yet reform me to be someone better? I cannot think of anyone but you.”
Linyan shakes her head in denial, but Ye Xiu is not planning to let her forsake it. Using his hands to cup her face, he breathes his words as he presses his forehead on her.
“In all of Glory’s history. I have always said no to clerics because they are boring. But you, will never ever be a bore, whether you are a cleric in Glory or in person. You are the only cleric I will ever partner with. Be mine, Linyan. You saved me so I have to marry you. You have no grounds to refuse it.”
When she didn’t reply to him, Ye Xiu throws in his last-ditch. “Even if you reject me, I’m going to stick to you like a bear to honey. If any guy comes near you, I will keep you in my arms until the guy gets the message. Only you and Glory can sustain my happiness, nothing else will. Of course, since both of us play Glory, that means we will always have something to talk about. It doesn’t bother me too much about your current classification, but we can train another character for you, maybe an elementalist, a high DPS for a change...”
Linyan’s eyes widen when he actually puts her name ahead of Glory. It may not mean anything for normal people, it might mean something for those who experience Glory. But for someone who was willing to abandon everything he knows since birth to pursue a dream for ten years, to come back fighting despite the betrayals and regrets as time ticks away mercilessly. Putting her above his love shows how much important she is becoming to him.
“Stop. Ye Xiu. Enough... I accept.” Ye Xiu was still planning to rope in Muqiu’s name to convince her when he heard her reply. Slowly peering into her eyes, he sees the answer he is hoping to have and sighs in relief.
“As I said, you will never be a bore. Be mine, Linyan. Say yes, because I’m already yours...”
“Yes, I’ll be yours… I’ve always been yours from the first moment we met. Maybe ever since Musu starts talking about you. You’re all he ever talks about. Other than Glory, of course. He has literally ruined me for all the boys, none of them match up to you.”
“Then I’m glad my shameless friend did what he did. Otherwise, I would not have met you. So… marry me. Now.” He said, and she sputters in response.
“Wh-what?! No!!! You keep your focus on the final match! We can talk about this later. Ye Xiu? Xiu-ge? Don’t you dare pull my leg about this! Or else I’m calling it off!!!”
Linyan tries to shake him but it is very difficult when said subject is busy howling too hard for her to get a firm grip of him. Their commotion has gotten the attention of the rest of the team members as they gather around them in various expressions of concern, curiosity, humor, and confusion. Finally, Ye Xiu stops his fits of laughter and stands up, dragging Linyan into his embrace.
“Everyone. I have an important announcement I’m going to make.”
“Wait, let me leave a message to Mumu-jie and my brother first…And your brother too... Done.” And she promptly turns her phone to silent mode.
“You really didn’t need to do that, now he’s going to flood my QQ…...”
“What’s all the fuss about? I thought you didn’t want to celebrate your birthday in the first place,” complains Wei Chen. The unlit cigarette caught between his lips, twitching as he speaks.
The God of Glory looks at him in the eye and said, “Old Wei, prepare to be broke. Because I’m getting married.”
“Ahhhhhhhhh?!?!” “Ehhhhhhhhhhh?!?!” Everyone is in shock. How did a normal KS training session turn surprise party for the reclusive birthday boy end up with him getting married? As Chen Guo, Wei Chen, and Baozi try to get answers from the shameless man, Ye Xiu turns his head and whispers into her ear.
“You are the best birthday present I could have received.”
“En. Happy Birthday, Xiu-ge.”
“...Thank you...Yanzi...”