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>>>What to do when you decide to meet up with some online friends and find out they’re your ex-husbands?
Troubling Rain: Speaking of, it’s great that there’s no marriage system in Glory. Old games would have all kinds of marriage systems, like game friend, fated lovers, confidantes. Every time I played a game, it’s like I’m putting my entire fate into it, how annoying.
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: = =
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: What’s so annoying about this?
Swoksaar: Shaotian holds his White Moonlight dear to his heart, so he’s unwilling to form a cp with others.[1]
Vaccaria: Strange, you actually have a White Moonlight?
Troubling Rain: You sold me out again!
Troubling Rain: And it’s not some sort of White Moonlight, it’s just, when you’re young, you don’t really understand, playing games and cyberdating...
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: And then, like the stereotypical ending to such stories, you discover the other person is a man?
Troubling Rain: 我呸! [2]
Troubling Rain: I knew he was a guy from the beginning. He was the top god of our server. I’m not bragging, but I feel that his skills are genuinely awesome. His handspeed is no slower than mine, and he had amazing combat awareness. Bilibili still has his pk video hosted to this day.
Vaccaria: For you to acknowledge his skill, he must be very good.
Troubling Rain: He really was that good, if he ever plays Glory, he’d get to our level at the very least.
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: How come you’ve separated?
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: You realized you liked him but the other guy is straight, so when he heard you accidentally confess your feelings, he was deeply moved, and thus rejected you, and you haven’t moved on since?
Troubling Rain: …...
Troubling Rain: You wove quite the story, Zhang Jiale
Troubling Rain: I like him, but I didn’t tell him. We kept playing like that until one day he said he got tired of the game and then quit...
Swoksaar: You didn’t ask for his contact information?
Troubling Rain: His handspeed was too fast, immediately quitting the game after saying that so I had no time to ask. Then he never went back online again
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: Wow, he played with you until he got tired and left, definitely a douche
Troubling Rain: Fuck off
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: But I went through something like this too =-=
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: I was in a cp like this in the previous mobile game I used to play. Everything seemed to be fine, but he suddenly decided to quit. He said that he was here to experience the game, but he found it boring, so he was leaving. He did bid me a proper farewell though, so it’s not as tragic as your situation
Troubling Rain: My case happened quite a while ago, when it wasn’t so difficult to form a cp in games. Furthermore, the game bonus wasn’t that good either. I know of that mobile game you used to play as well; forming a cp was a very important event, the stat bonus was huge, which also made it hard to form a cp, right?
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: Right, so when he left, I also left the pit and focused on playing Glory. If I hadn’t met him in that game, I probably wouldn’t have played a stupid cunt game like that for so long anyways
Cloud Piercer: He?
Vaccaria: …...
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: …...
Troubling Rain: hhhhhhhhh Little Zhou hyper-focused on the most important point
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: Yes, like Huang Fanfan, my cp was a man. If they were a girl, they wouldn’t have been so heartless =.= [3]
Vaccaria: Says who
Swoksaar: Vacc, do you have a story?
Vaccaria: When I used to play QQFairy, I met a girl playing the Fairy Cat race. She was a pretty good player, and playing with her as a cp was quite fun
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: And then you discovered he was a man?
Troubling Rain: Can’t you let that go?
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: [disdain]
Vaccaria: She was a girl, but her skills were very good. Despite never throwing money into the game, she was always topping the rankings, with her skills reckoned to be the best or second best in the entire game.
Troubling Rain: ...ngl, I really think that they’re a renyao [4]
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: [disdain]
Vaccaria: I’m not sure about that. She never stated her gender, but a man most likely wouldn’t play such an adorable loli character, right?
Cloud Piercer: Mn
Swoksaar: If they’re playing a queen type character, it’s probably a renyao; if it’s a loli character, it’s a girl
Troubling Rain: Guild Leader understands this pretty well, do you have a story?
Swoksaar: ...
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: You won’t let even your guild leader off [disdain]
Swoksaar: When I used to play The Mythical Realm, I had formed a fated pair with someone, who was also a highly skilled player with a female avatar. At that time, many had accused him of being a renyao, and he didn’t bother to defend himself, as he had a very relaxed temperament. I knew him from when we first started the game. His skills were sharp, and I focused on acting as his exclusive support. Later when laying siege to the city, he went on voice to command the battle. We all learned he was really a guy then.
Troubling Rain: Renyaos are everywhere, but that doesn’t really matter. People can play with whatever they desire. Look at the two great renyaos Carved Ghost and Windy Rain. They’re both very good at the game and happy with where they’re at.
Swoksaar: It’s like this. At that time, through the fated lover system, we bound ourselves together...
Swoksaar: and then later I confessed to him
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: !!!!!!!!
Cloud Piercer: …...
Vaccaria: …...
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: Do you Blue Brook people specialize in churning out gays?!
Troubling Rain: Fuck off, your Hundred Blossoms has gays too! Didn’t you also form a cp with a man?! What about that “if I hadn’t met him in that game, I probably wouldn’t have played a stupid cunt game like that for so long;” I dare you to tell others that it meant nothing to you!
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: None of your goddamn business!
Vaccaria: Calm down, you two
Troubling Rain: ╭(╯^╰)╮!
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: ╭(╯^╰)╮!
Cloud Piercer: childish
Troubling Rain: who the hell’s childish, yo, Great Gunner, when you played games before this one, did you form cps?
Cloud Piercer: …...
Cloud Piercer: Played QQDance
Swoksaar: …...
Vaccaria: …...
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: …...
Troubling Rain: ………...
Cloud Piercer: When very young...primary, formed one then
Swoksaar: I heard that QQDance’s cp bonus is...actually really big
Cloud Piercer: Mn
Cloud Piercer: Other person gender don’t know, hands very fast, trained my hands to keep up with him
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: focusing on the main point: QQDance is a game to train handspeed [comical face]
Troubling Rain: say, our chat’s in fully swing, who are we missing?
Vaccaria: @Lord Grim
Troubling Rain: Fucking hell, Old Ye, come quickly @Lord Grim @Lord Grim @Lord Grim
Lord Grim: ??????
Lord Grim: What
Troubling Rain: read our chat history!
Lord Grim: boss!
Lord Grim: give tldr
Troubling Rain: @Lord Grim you fucker! Old Ye, you played a lot of games, right?! Did you form any cps?!
Lord Grim: yes
Cloud Piercer: !!
Vaccaria: so you actually did
Lord Grim: as I should, cp bonuses in game were huge, no reason to pass up on it
Dazzling Hundred Blossom: Any gossip, Ye Xiu?
Lord Grim: There’s nothing to gossip about. All that happened long ago, and they were just games. Who would actually develop genuine feelings from a cp?
Troubling Rain: …...
Swoksaar: …...
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: …...
Cloud Piercer: I hadn’t either
Troubling Rain: Because you were a primary school kid at that time!
Vaccaria: I haven’t as well
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: I remembered that Vacc liked men…?
Vaccaria: Mn
Vaccaria: I really admired that girl, too bad the gender was wrong
Lord Grim: So you guys developed real feelings from cp?
Swoksaar: …...
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: …...
Troubling Rain: …...
Lord Grim: Haha, being young is pretty good
Troubling Rain: fuck fuck fuck! Saying that makes you seem like you’re in your 70s! Hey Ye Xiu, we’ve played Glory for so long together, yet we still haven’t met face to face. There just so happens to be an offline Glory meet-up in S City soon, are you coming? I remember that you’re in H City, which is really close. Should take half an hour on the high speed rail.
Lord Grim: Meeting irl?
Vaccaria: That sounds good
Cloud Piercer: +1, I also want to see Senior Ye Xiu
Lord Grim: What’s there to see, isn’t it all the same?
Dazzling Hundred Blossoms: Say you’ll come!
Lord Grim: okay okay okay, I’ll come
Lord Grim: Tyrannical Ambition is shamelessly coming to steal this boss, see you later, ha!
Ye Xiu had been to S City many times. After all, it wasn’t far from H City, like Huang Shaotian had said, only taking half an hour by high speed rail. It was only one station away, very convenient, very fast.
He had dressed lightly and took along just his phone and ID for this trip. He napped on the train, and someone was there to welcome him once he got off—it was Zhou Zekai, guild leader of Guild Samsara in Glory. This guy could chat a little if it meant typing, like in-game and on QQ, but in real life, he was a closed gourd, taking a long while to choke out even a word. Ye Xiu originally didn’t want to let this man pick him up, but the guy had volunteered, even offering to host Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu hadn’t needed to even plan accommodations for the trip, as Zhou Zekai had offered his place for the night.
This was the first time Ye Xiu saw Zhou Zekai. To be frank, he was quite taken aback. He hadn’t expected the closed gourd Cloud Piercer to be such a lady-killer, a top-tier quality handsome man. He stood by the exit of the station with a sign saying “Ye Xiu.” With his long legs and beauty, he was very eye-catching. Girls passing by incessantly turned their heads back around to look at him.
He stood in front of Zhou Zekai and smiled. “Little Zhou?”
With a ‘I’m lost in thought’ expression, Zhou Zekai blinked before sweeping his gaze over Ye Xiu’s form. For some reason, his ears reddened. “...Senior Ye Xiu?”
“That’s me. Just call me Ye Xiu.” He offered an amiable smile.
He didn’t expect this handsome young man’s ears to become even redder. The young man bowed his head and then remained silent for a while before saying, “...Follow me.”
Ye Xiu trailed behind Zhou Zekai. Sensing that the silence between them was rather awkward, Ye Xiu took the initiative to start a conversation. “When are the others arriving?” Of those in the group, Zhou Zekai was the one living in S City.
“Already here…” After saying this phrase, he turned to glance at Ye Xiu before swinging his head back to the front. “They’re at a hotel.”
“Hotel?” Ye Xiu was surprised. “Then wouldn’t I be inconveniencing you by staying at your place?”
Zhou Zekai hurriedly replied, “No.” This quick response was unlike such a taciturn person. However, a good while later, he added, “...can’t accommodate.”
Ye Xiu understand what he meant and nodded. “So it’s like this...how about I say at the hotel as well.”
“My place.”
“...Okay, so long as you don’t mind.”
Wang Jiexi and the others had decided to stay at a hotel not too far from Zhou Zekai’s place. Once he picked up Ye Xiu by car, he set everyone a message on QQ, letting everyone know to go to the coffee shop on the fifteenth floor of the hotel to wait for them. As a result, Ye Xiu saw his young companions from the game soon after.
This was the first time he met everyone present.
He didn’t feel like they were strangers however and gave a cheerful greeting before taking a seat. It seemed that to Ye Xiu, the friendship between men was simple and straightforward. In addition, with Huang Shaotian’s chattering and Yu Wenzhou being a mediator, the group quickly began chatting with one another. It didn’t take a moment before the atmosphere in the private room was warm and lively.
Strictly speaking, Ye Xiu was a bit more awkward when interacting with Wang Jiexi, as this guy had confessed to him in-game. His guild Excellent Dynasty and Wang Jiexi’s Herb Garden didn’t have many dealings—when it truly came to things, Excellent Dynasty and Tyrannical Ambition were considered to be old rivals, while Herb Garden and Huang Shaotian and Yu Wenzhou’s Blue Brook were old rivals. Their Excellent Dynasty and Herb Garden had cooperated multiple times, so he and Wang Jiexi actually often run dungeons and pk’ed together… He never once imagined that this man would one day confess to him.
Ah, he had said ‘I want to see you,’ and ‘I think I really like you, so are you willing to try dating me.’
… Try what, they hadn’t even met face to face, so try what?
Now that they met, however, Ye Xiu actually held Wang Jiexi in pretty good regard. He didn’t look as gentle as Yu Wenzhou, with a somewhat quiet and cold temperament, but when Wang Jiexi looked at him, his gaze was quite gentle...a shudder ran up Ye Xiu’s spine.
Ye Xiu hid from Wang Jiexi’s gaze, only to turn and see Zhou Zekai quietly gazing at him. He wasn’t narcissistic, so he didn’t think that this little handsome guy held strange thoughts toward him like Wang Jiexi. Ye Xiu thus smiled at him. “What’s the matter, Little Zhou?”
Zhou Zekai shook his head and looked at Huang Shaotian.
Huang Shaotian was in the middle of running his mouth. “...is like that, forming cps hurt too much, so I avoided forming cps when playing games from then on.”
“After being hurt, I later heard Glory has nothing to do with all that, so I immediately joined. In the end, this game was really killer; I couldn’t stop playing.” Zhang Jiale looked at Ye Xiu and tilted his chin at him. “Look, the man who likes Glory the most in the world is here. He certainly has a lot to say.”
Ye Xiu blinked. “...Let’s play together tonight?”
Yu Wenzhou laughed softly.
Huang Shaotian: “ Wow , Old Ye! Say, you played a lot of games before, right? What were they?”
“Eh…” This was a good topic. Previously, Ye Xiu had missed their discussion in the chat. At this moment, they were just chatting casually, so he replied without thinking the matter through, “I played many. The first game was QQDance, have you heard of it? At that time, I was in primary school. I whaled so much for QQDance…”
“Hahaha, Lord Ye Xiu,” Zhang Jiale joked.
“I was young then. You asked about cp earlier, no?” Ye Xiu wanted to pull out a cigarette as he talked, his fingers tapping against the edge of the table, but he restrained himself. “That was the first cp I formed. I added them on QQ, and they had their photo as their profile picture, a very pretty child. I don’t know if they were a boy or girl.”
Zhou Zekai opened his mouth. “I also played.”
Ye Xiu was surprised. “Yo, Little Zhou also played? Wouldn’t have thought it.”
“...Mn, pretty fun.”
“I thought it was fun when I was a kid. Say, do you think the name ‘Little Darling Kaikai’ is a boy or girl?”
Zhou Zekai: “...?”
“Hahaha!” Huang Shaotian slapped the table as he laughed. “Definitely a girl!”
Zhang Jiale also joined in. “Girl! What boy calls themselves Little Darling!”
“...” Zhou Zekai turned to look at Ye Xiu. “Little Darling Kaikai?”
“Mn, my little cp’s game ID.”
Zhou Zekai: “...”
Wang Jiexi watched Huang Shaotian and Zhang Jiale bang the table in laughter and felt rather speechless. “I can’t believe you’re laughing at a name a kid picked, more or less to be expected. After that, Ye Xiu, what game did you play?”
“I think, ha...I played Dragon Valley for quite a while.”
Huang Shaotian choked. “Dragon Valley?! Holy shit, shit, shit, I also played that! For two or three years!”
“Yo, we played for basically the same length of time.”
“With how well you play Glory, you must have been some big shot back then. Hey, what was your server and ID, scare me.”
Ye Xiu smiled. “What. At that time, I naturally didn’t play as good as I do now, but I was regarded upon enough in that game. Don’t know if you know me...Southern China 3, Lion’s Heart, called One Autumn Leaf in-game.”
Huang Shaotian: “...called what?”
“One Autumn Leaf.”
“Which ‘one,’ which ‘leaf,’ which ‘autumn?’” [5]
“One as in one, two, three; leaf as in foliage; autumn as in the season.”
Huang Shaotian’s eyes widened.
“You know me?”
Huang Shaotian didn’t reply and just stared at him.
Yu Wenzhou tilted his head in thought. “One Autumn Leaf, this name sounds a bit familiar…”
Ye Xiu nodded. “Before you all joined the game, the account I played was a Battle Mage, named One Autumn Leaf.”
“So it’s like that.” Yu Wenzhou didn’t continue this line of questioning. “I haven’t played Dragon Valley. Have you played The Mythical Realm?”
“I did!” Ye Xiu sighed meaningfully. “At that time, I more or less tried out all the games on the market. After Dragon Valley, I played The Mythical Realm for some time...this game was suited for young girls. The pk wasn’t as fun as Dragon Valley, so I stopped playing after a while.”
“Then I might not have run into you.”
“Probably not. The world in that game is very big,” Ye Xiu said with a smile.
Zhang Jialei propped up his chin, smiling. “That might not be so. What were you called in The Mythical Realm? I’m a bit curious.”
“Lemme think…” This was a long time ago, so it took Ye Xiu a while to recall. “Listened Promise.”
The hand Yu Wenzhou was stirring his coffee with froze. “What?”
“Listened Promise.”
“Server 5, Sole Full Warrior?”
“Yo, you know me?”
Yu Wenzhou: “...You were very famous, a well-known God in that server back then, seems like later you bound yourself to someone in a fated love.”
“Mn...what are you smiling about?”
Yu Wenzhou was smiling, though his smile was a bit strange. When he heard Ye Xiu’s words, he dialed it back a little, his eyes filling with warmth. “Nothing, just reminded of some amusing memories. I think the Heavens have not been unkind to me.”
Wang Jiexi’s gaze shifted from Ye Xiu to Yu Wenzhou and back repeatedly. Then, he looked down, hiding the undercurrent rising within his eyes, and changed topics. “Then did you play QQFairy?”
“I did.” Ye Xiu drank a mouthful of coffee. This coffee house’s coffee wasn’t bad. He drank some more before continuing, “That game’s scenery is pretty good. I joined when the servers just went online. Originally, I wanted to play the Divine race, but I then felt that the Fairy race’s young female character was cute, so I played as a loli.”
“Mn, which server?”
“Server 1, Omnia Temporaria.” [6] He then introduced himself, but this name was a bit strange. He laughed and said, “ID Sullen Kitten.”
Everyone: “...”
Wang Jiexi: “...What?”
“Sullen Kitten. At that time, I played the Cat Loli, so I casually named my character this.”
Wang Jiexi: “...”
Since they came across the topic of online games, Zhang Jiale interrupted them. “Then did you play mobile games? The mobile games developed in the last several years have also been very good.”
“I played a few, but not for very long.”
“Did you play The Message?”
“I did play The Message. But after experiencing it for myself, I deleted the game after playing for several months.”
Zhang Jiale laughed. “Then we think the same. I also felt that this game was a fucking bitch. I was server IOS111, you?”
“Yo, what a coincidence! I was server IOS111 too, maybe we chatted together!”
“My name in game was Dazzling Spring, do you know me?”
Ye Xiu paused. “Ah...I was Enlightened Lord.”
Zhang Jiale: “...”
Ye Xiu: “...”
Zhang Jiale: “...”
Ye Xiu: “...”
This time, Huang Shaotian, who had returned to reality, interjected, “Holy shit, Old Ye, you...what’s up with his?”
“Enlightened Lord!” Zhang Jiale stood up. “This motherfucker, isn’t that the cp who string me along heartlessly?!”
Ye Xiu was baffled. “How did I string you along heartlessly?”
Zhang Jiale: “You actually straightforwardly quit right after you said you were! You didn’t even tell me what game you were going to play next!”
“Why on earth would I tell you this?”
Zhang Jiale: “...”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait,” Huang Shaotian cut in. “Zhang Jiale, that cp you were talking about is Old Ye?”
Zhang Jiale rolled his eyes toward the sky above. “You ask him!”
Ye Xiu acted innocent. “Ah...it’s me. Hehe, what a coincidence, ha.”
Wang Jiexi suddenly interrupted them. “Then do you remember Fiery Blaze?”
“Eh, my cp in QQFairy...you know them?”
Wang Jiexi stared at him silently.
Ye Xiu mulled this over. “...It was you?”
Wang Jiexi: “Mn.”
Ye Xiu: “...”
“Ye Xiu.” Yu Wenzhou grabbed his wrist. “Do you remember In Shallow Waters confessing to you, or rather, your Listened Promise?
“You know of all this?”
“I had said then, ‘I’m called Yu Wenzhou,’” his eyes darkened, “...you don’t remember me.”
Ye Xiu: “...”
“Little Darling Kaikai,” Zhou Zekai, who had been sitting silently to the side this whole time, suddenly spoke up, “is me.”
Seeing everyone look at him in shock, he also added, “...My mom set up my account.”
Ye Xiu: “...”
“Fuck...fuck fuck fuck!” Huang Shaotian reacted. He stood up and slammed his hands down on the table, his burning gaze focused on Ye Xiu. “Alright, Gaming God Ye Xiu, you played so many games and formed so many cps. God Ye Xiu, a playboy of the highest order.” [7] He laughed, but whether it was truly because he found something funny or because he was vexed, that was indiscernible. “You sure have some skill. Meeting face-to-face five of your former in-game husbands, how do you plan to explain yourself?”
FIN.