Chapter Text
Fang Minghua has been quite busy lately.
The reason had something to do with his teammates.
After some time of observation, he had no choice but to admit painfully that Samsara was in a very tricky place right now.
It wasn’t that something was wrong with their performance in the matches - it was actually the opposite. Their team had risen to new heights, becoming even stronger than they had been for the last two years. It wouldn’t even be a stretch to say that they were leading Samsara to a new dynasty. It was especially so with the addition of Sun Xiang, who had expanded the team lineup and quickly became a favourite of Samsara’s commercial side because of his handsome face which attracted countless fans and sponsors. There had even been cases where female fans fainted because of them!
Whether their facial features, body shape, or their family backgrounds, this duo truly was perfect, and there was still their vice-captain Jiang Botao, a true gentleman. Even Du Ming was an outstanding young man. These few of his juniors were all extraordinary, but why… why did all of them fall hopelessly in love?
Leaving aside Du Ming’s crush on Tang Rou that most of the Glory pro alliance already knew about, just their captain alone was enough to make Fang Minhua puke blood - because the person he liked, was team Happy’s other female pro player, Su Mucheng.
As to how Zhou Zekai developed a crush on Su Mucheng, this Fang Minghua had no idea. He only knew that ever since the All Star Weekend, Zhou Zekai had developed a habit where he would stare at his phone in his hands with a timid smile on his face that was so handsome it made even the manager beside him drop all his documents.
Being a married man, Fang Minghua had a strong resistance to this. He was completely oblivious to this breathtaking beauty and instead was more interested in what Zhou Zekai was looking at.
And so, as he casually walked past behind his captain, he utilised his good eyesight and spotted what was currently on the phone - the official Weibo of team Happy.
Fang Minghua: ?
How can that make you so happy just by looking at it?
Curious, he stopped walking and was about to take a closer look at the phone. However, his actions did not go unnoticed by Zhou Zekai whose face went red as he hastily hid his phone behind his back and walked away with his face lowered.
His frantic reaction only made Fang Minghua more puzzled. Unable to contain his interest, he took out his phone, pulled up team Happy’s Weibo page and browsed through it.
There were two recently posted Weibos - The first one was a photograph of Ye Xiu squatting in front of their house in Forest Park playing with some stray cats and dogs; this one could be ignored. The other one was a poster picture of Su Mucheng for an advertisement for a new lipstick. The picture perfectly highlighted her beauty, making her look especially tempting…
...Su Mucheng.
Fang Minghua thought of Zhou Zekai’s reddened face just now, and his heart jolted.
Shit, did Zhou Zekai like Su Mucheng?
There was absolutely no consideration that they were already together - Nonsense, if they were really a couple, how come their captain needs to settle for looking at team Happy’s official Weibo!
He could feel a headache coming, because the person Zhou Zekai liked, was Su Mucheng! Even though their captain had wonderful traits, Su Mucheng wasn’t that easily swayed, or she wouldn’t be the girl that was the hardest to pursue in the whole pro alliance.
And adding to that, with their captain’s quiet, low-key personality and his tendency to never talk unless there was an absolute need...
For Fang Minghua, it was like he could already see the scene of Zhou Zekai being rejected by Su Mucheng and he instantly felt pangs of guilt in his heart. As a married man and Zhou Zekai’s senior, he must take up the responsibility to help his captain go after his crush!
So, one day, after practice ended, Fang Minghua did not immediately head home but instead knocked on the door of Zhou Zekai’s dorm room.
Zhou Zekai opened the door, invited him in, and enquired politely about his senior’s intentions. Fang Minghua sat in front of him, and after taking a sip of the tea he had been offered, went straight to the point, “Is it true that you like somebody?
“?!”
Zhou Zekai startled, his face once again flushing a bright red as his expression turned both worried and surprised at the same time as if he was trying to ask how Fang Minghua knew yet was too flustered to even do so.
“Calm down, don’t worry, I didn’t tell anyone else.”
Fang Minghua’s expression was very serious as he asked in a low voice, “if I’m not mistaken, isn’t she [1] very popular and has many admirers?
Zhou Zekai nodded vigorously.
“Is she in Happy?”
“!” Zhou Zekai was shocked, but he still gave an honest nod.
“She was in Excellent Era before?”
Zhou Zekai nodded once more.
“Then I should be correct,” Fang Minghua let out a sigh and continued slowly, “I don’t want to dishearten you, but… she is very hard to chase after. Even for you, I’m afraid that it would still be a tough task.”
“En…”
Zhou Zekai lowered his head, dejected.
“No need to worry though,” Fang Minghua patted his captain’s shoulder, “I’ll help you, I promise that it’ll work.”
“!!” Zhou Zekai’s eyes widened with surprise, “why…?”
“You’re my captain, of course I would help you.” Fang Minghua smiled.
“You don’t mind that he’s... a man…” muttered Zhou Zekai with the loudness of a mosquito
“I don’t mind, that’s not a problem.”
Fang Minghua didn’t hear the last two words clearly, but he just assumed that the other was only worried about complications of Su Mucheng being in team Happy or potential scandals that might arise because of this.
“As long as you’re happy, we don’t need to consider the other things now.”
“What about the other people…” Zhou Zekai was still worried, “You help me but you don’t help them…”
“Haha, this… you don’t need to worry, I’ll help you first!” Remembering that he had, in fact, not helped Du Ming with Tang Rou before, Fang Minghua felt a bit guilty, but it didn’t matter, he’ll just go help Du Ming later.
“Thank you.”
Zhou Zekai happily held Fang Minghua’s hand, his eyes bright as he repeated, “Thank you.”
“No need, you’re welcome.”
After that, Fang Minghua discussed with Zhou Zekai a plan to woo Su Mucheng - although it was mostly him talking and Zhou Zekai listening. However, while he did want to help his junior to the best of his ability, because Zhou Zekai wasn’t too close with Su Mucheng, he could only come up with more generic ideas.
In the end, this was what Fang Minghua suggested: First contact the other person on QQ, and if there are any other chances that allow them to interact with each other, Zhou Zekai should try to make the most out of it, especially if the two teams meet up, then he should ask her out for a meal. During the summer break, when their relationship gets even closer, he could travel to city H, letting her guide him around.
Other than that, pandering to someone’s liking would never go wrong, so he should send gifts to the other person. The good thing about that it that would also give them a topic to talk about, so there wouldn’t be embarrassing situations of running out of things to chat about. Plus, since they were both pro players, he could start a conversation revolving around Glory, and then gradually shift into other territories.
--And the most important point, don’t try to rush it! You must never try to rush it, unless you want to be as lonely as Du Ming!
Zhou Zekai sat straightly and listened seriously, noting down Fang Minghua’s suggestions as the other went on, especially the last one. He even circled it with a red pen, indicating that he would follow it word by word.
Fang Minghua was very satisfied, and gave his captain some more words of encouragement. Seeing that it was already quite late, and if he didn’t head home immediately, then there was a possibility of having to kneel on instant noodles, he hurriedly stood up and said goodbye.
He walked out of Zhou Zekai’s dorm, but before he even took two steps, he had been stopped by their vice-captain Jiang Botao.