Chapter Text
“So, which team are you going to choose?” Tang Rou asked when the three of them gathered at the dinner table.
“I say, why don’t you go to Blue Rain? Tiny Herb?” Chen Guo suggested.
Ye Xiu sighed. “It’s a bit complicated. Although they all did state that I’m welcomed, the management of the team would not simply welcome me to discuss the terms of the contract.” It had been a few weeks since his twin brother happened to visit at the most wrong-yet-so-right time and learned about Excellent Era’s treatment of him.
Needless to say, President Ye simply cannot tolerate the fact that his bully was bullied and directly asked Ye Xiu to terminate his contract and tossed money to Excellent Era’s face and used Ye Xiu’s Weibo account to announce his contract termination.
Although many of his fellow pro players proposed, none of them struck Ye Xiu as serious enough to have him over at Winter, and he didn’t blame them for that. If the stable teams tried to add something so big like himself into the calculation, their performance might not be as stable for the second half of the season.
Winter transfer would be ending tomorrow and Ye Xiu was not so unrealistic that he would seal a deal with a team this very day so maybe the only other option was to wait till summer.
There were mid-tier teams that offered for him to join, but... They were all too far away from H City, nearly on the other side of the country, he couldn’t bear being too far away from Su Mucheng so he gently rejected them. As for low-tier teams, no one reached out. Ye Xiu wondered if it was because he was too intimidating.
“Well, I have half a year until the next transfer,” Ye Xiu shrugged and Chen Guo bit her lips.
“Are you sure?”
“Boss, let’s not be unrealistic here. It’s impossible for me to have a contract by the end of the day magically,” Ye Xiu said and put a piece of tempura into his mouth.
Ye Xiu really regretted it. If he knew this would happen, he would have sided with the Alliance when they wanted to move the Winter transfer to January. It would still be cold in January, but at least he didn’t have to stress himself with transferring around this time. If he, the three-times champion, said something alongside an agreement in regard of moving the winter transfer to January, it would probably finalize the deal immediately.
“Well, that’s true...” Chen Guo pouted.
“There really hasn’t been any offer?” Tang Rou asked, playing with her salad while eyeing Ye Xiu.
“No... Samsara’s people seemed to be pretty serious, but they were dragging their feet regarding this,” Ye Xiu said. “I guess they’re still calculating the loss and advantage.”
Tang Rou shrugged. “Well, that means I still have over half a year to defeat you.”
Ye Xiu snorted. “Good luck, young lady.”
“Don’t regret it when I do,” Tang Rou said seriously.
“You’re always welcome to try.”
“Chen-dajie.”
Everyone turned their heads to see a girl who usually took the weekend’s morning shift.
“Yes, Little Ling?” Chen Guo responded.
Ye Xiu pushed away his empty plate. “Sorry, for taking too long, Little Ling. I’ll take over now.”
“No, it’s not about that,” Little Ling expressionlessly shook her head. “It’s just, there’s a guest downstairs, asking about you, brother Ye.”
Ye Xiu paused. “A guest?”
“Mm, not one actually. Three,” the girl held up three fingers.
Chen Guo had some suspicions in her heart and she immediately looked at Ye Xiu with eagerness. “Speak of the devil and he will come!”
Ye Xiu patted his chest and immediately went downstairs, followed by the girls behind him.
Ye Xiu honestly didn’t have much expectation in regard to transferring in winter, but when he saw the three people dressed inconspicuously, he still felt a burst of expectation and eagerness, though he didn’t show it outright.
Chen Guo hastily arranged them to meet at an unused side room and left Ye Xiu with them with a slap on the shoulder and a thumb up.
Ye Xiu rubbed the shoulder Chen Guo had slapped and turned to his guests, smiling leisurely.
“I honestly don’t expect guests this late in the transfer window.”
Jiang Botao pulled down his mask and nodded curtly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you here, senior. My apologies for not being more haste.”
“Hello, god Ye, I’m Samsara’s manager, Kang Ming,” the only unfamiliar person to Ye Xiu introduced himself. “I’m here to offer you to join our team. Based on what Botao had said, you didn’t have any qualm in joining us so pardon me for being forward.”
“Forward? Rather, it’s flattering. You can just invite me to S City,” Ye Xiu said.
“Haha, we just so happened to be in H City so we decided to drop by to express our sincerity,” Kang Ming said.
“But why this late, though?” Ye Xiu asked. He usually wasn’t one to fuss over things like this, but Samsara came at a time so late that it sparked questions on what stopped them before this.
Kang Ming chuckled sheepishly. “Truth be told, the players and the management had a very long talk regarding this, we’re a bit intimidated with your presence as much as we’re eager to have you. But captain Zhou and vice-captain Jiang had been quite adamant in their proposals so the discussion was dragged for quite a long time. We finally realized that we shouldn’t be picky regarding a great player like you and now here we are.”
“Intimidated?” Ye Xiu’s lips quirked up. He knew it was just an excuse but decided to not press further. “So you are no longer intimidated, I hope?”
Zhou Zekai lowered his mask, shaking his head. “So glad.”
“The discussion has taken a really long time, Zhou and I were nervous that you will sign with another team, but we’re so glad that you actually haven’t,” Jiang Botao said. “It’s a shame if you don’t sign with any team in this period of time so we made haste to contact you this way.”
“Did Su Mucheng tell you guys that I live here?”
Zhou Zekai nodded. “Yes.”
“After a lot of persuasions...” Jiang Botao added with a sheepish smile. He didn’t know the Alliance’s prettiest girl could have such a strong gate-keeping ability to test out their seriousness in inviting Ye Qiu over.
Ye Xiu smiled. “Alright, I’m not going to play god here. I’m just merely a washed-up old player, I’ll be very grateful for a team like Samsara wanting to sign me.”
“You are very great,” Zhou Zekai said seriously.
“You’re more than a washed-up player, senior,” Jiang Botao denied.
“I know you two admire me deeply, but the reality is as you can see,” Ye Xiu said shamelessly. “Let’s start the discussion, shall we?”
Kang Ming took out several files from his file bag. “Since you don’t have any manager, please do read these first, god Ye.” He pushed the file to Ye Xiu.
Ye Xiu took the file and flipped it open, reading it carefully. He didn’t see any proposal regarding showing off his face, he felt a bit touched if not flattered. The management wouldn’t care about Ye Xiu’s attempt to hide and would probably still list it off in the contract, but the players such as Zhou Zekai and Jiang Botao probably erased that condition, knowing he wouldn’t agree.
This alone already made him feel welcomed despite not having signed any contract yet.
Ye Xiu’s eyes stopped at the salary details and his brows jumped. “Three million a year?” he looked up.
Zhou Zekai and Jiang Botao pursed their lips while Kang Ming smiled sheepishly.
“God Ye, I know it’s not much, but I hope you can understand,” Kang Ming said. “You can always renew the contract in summer if you fit in with the team, Samsara will not treat you shabbily.” In fact, this was already the bottom line Samsara was willing to give.
Zhou Zekai nodded along with the manager’s words.
Jiang Botao smiled. “It is a bit low, but the team will take care of all your daily necessities. We will not treat you badly.”
Ye Xiu was amused at this ‘your daughter will not be treated badly by our family’ talk. He shook his head, hearing their claims, he felt that they were too sincere. “To give me this kind of salary, you guys are really breaching your safe space. This is more than what I need to pay the fine and living. Just give me one million a year.”
The three paused.
“Pardon?” Kang Ming blinked. “How can we do that?” He asked in disbelief. This was Ye Qiu, the Battle God, the reigning three-time champion. Even if Samsara wanted to treat him shabbily, they wouldn’t treat him that bad!
Jiang Botao leaned over, he was familiar with Ye Xiu’s sarcastic leisure talk so he thought that he was mocking them. “Senior, there’s no way we can do that.” his eyes were begging for Ye Xiu to not throw off this discussion.
Zhou Zekai looked at his two companions before looking pleadingly at Ye Xiu.
Ye Xiu was amused seeing this. “I’m not mocking you guys. Do you guys know my previous salary in Excellent Era?”
“No...?” Kang Ming blinked. Not every player’s contract was known to everyone, sometimes, the team and the player wanted to keep it private between them and no one would ever know. Ye Qiu was one of them.
“Seven hundred thousand,” Ye Xiu said.
A pregnant silence followed.
“Seven million seven hundred thousand?” Kang Ming repeated.
“Seven hundred thousand,” Ye Xiu said.
“God Ye, you’re teasing us...” Kang Ming chuckled humorously and Ye Xiu smiled kindly at them.
“...”
“...Seven hundred thousand??” Kang Ming repeated as beads of sweat formed on his temples.
“It’s a bit above average for the time,” Ye Xiu said honestly.
“Are you serious?” Kang Ming blurted out incredulously.
“I can be said to be well-paid in the early alliance,” Ye Xiu said. That was not a lie, sure, other top-tier players were paid more than him even in an early alliance but that never bothered him. What he wanted was victory and only victory. Money came second.
The three looked at Ye Xiu in horror as if he was not a human.
“No, you must be joking,” Kang Ming said in denial. “You’re Ye Qiu, the Battle God, Excellent Era’s captain that led them to victory three times, you’re their figurehead.”
“Hang on,” Ye Xiu said as he patted around on his jacket. “Ah, I left them in my room, wait.” He left the three in the room as he went off to fetch something that the three weren’t sure what.
“Is he always this playful?” Kang Ming asked Jiang Botao.
Jiang Botao hesitantly shook his head. “He sometimes talked in sarcasm that people hardly picked up until much later, but I don’t think he’ll joke about this.”
“You mean he’s serious? Do you think he’s serious?” Kang Ming pressed.
“I... I find it hard to believe too, manager,” Jiang Botao smiled helplessly.
“Zekai, what do you think?” Kang Ming asked the silent captain.
“Not sure,” Zhou Zekai answered simply.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Ye Xiu returned with a handful of paper in his hands. “It should be here,” Ye Xiu smoothened the papers and put them on the table.
The three watched incredulously as Ye Xiu put the crumpled papers on the table. Zhou Zekai caught sight of one paper and hesitantly picked it up to see.
Zhou Zekai blinked unsurely when he saw the words in the paper.
“Oh, that’s my first season’s certificate,” Ye Xiu said bluntly.
Jiang Botao, who was peering to see, froze in disbelief.
“This is the second and third,” Ye Xiu said carelessly. “This one is the copy of One Autumn Leaf’s transfer right’s paper. This... This is my old contract until the fourth season,” he said as he held it up.
Kang Ming couldn’t believe it. When he saw Ye Xiu brought in the papers, he thought they were wrapping papers instead of important documents!
“One million is already acceptable if you feel signing with me is a burden,” Ye Xiu said sincerely. “I know not all team has a good finance.”
Zhou Zekai squeezed Kang Ming’s sleeve and tugged him desperately. Zhou Zekai did not spend time doing all those modeling to have his team being said as ‘not having good finance’ by the person he liked!
“God Ye, it’s three million. Please don’t reject it,” Kang Ming said seriously.
“Are you sure? It’s fine with the standard salary. Samsara doesn’t have to push themselves.”
“No. Please, I’m begging you. It’s three million or I’ll be guilty for life,” Kang Ming said desperately.
“I don’t have commercial value.”
“Zhou Zekai is the captain!”
Zhou Zekai nodded rapidly. “I earn money,” he claimed.
For some reason, Ye Xiu felt like he was being offered a marriage instead of joining a team.
“But—“
“Just sign the damn thing, Ye Xiu!” Chen Guo burst in from the door and cursed out. “Value yourself, dammit!”
“GuoGuo,” Tang Rou facepalmed. There it goes, their ‘sneaky’ eavesdropping.
“Ye Xiu...?” Kang Ming blinked and looked at Zhou Zekai and Jiang Botao in question.
“Senior...?” Zhou Zekai looked at Ye Xiu.
Ye Xiu scratched his head. “Ah, there’s another situation regarding my name...” he said. “You see, my real name is Ye Xiu. Ye Qiu is... my twin brother’s name...”
“...”
“...”
Kang Ming looked through the crumpled documents and they all referred to the Battle God as ‘Ye Qiu’. He was lost in his musing. “Did you sign with Excellent Era with your brother’s name?”
“Yes,” Ye Xiu confessed. “I didn’t have an ID card at the time.”
The three men from Samsara suddenly had an urge to jump onto a busy highway when they heard the terrifying truth.
Jiang Botao wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Senior, this is really a problem...”
Ye Xiu smiled guiltily. “We can return and you can just pay me seven hundred thousand a year for me to repay you?”
“No,” Zhou Zekai said firmly.
“Well, well, we meet again,” Ye Qiu said leisurely as he stepped through the door to the meeting room of Glory’s HQ, fashionably late for about an hour as Ye Xiu expected. “Here I thought the money for contract termination less than a month ago is not enough, but it seems like a different problem this time?”
“Sit here,” Ye Xiu gestured to a seat beside him when he saw none of the people in the room could react to Ye Qiu’s arrival.
Ye Qiu sat down. “Is this about your identity?” he asked knowingly. “So you’re finally using your real name.”
“This is Ye Qiu,” Ye Xiu introduced to Feng Xianjun, carefully eyeing the chairman to make sure he didn’t just collapse out of a heart attack. “He can be the key witness that I’ve always played for the Alliance, he never involves himself in this until a few weeks ago.”
Zhou Zekai glanced at the twin brother and felt a bit strange. All this time he actually said his name instead of the real person’s name, no matter what it still felt surreal.
“There’s no reason for Senior to just randomly change his name now, so aside for the wrong identity thing... I don’t think he did anything wrong?” Jiang Botao started.
“Ye Xiu, Ye Qiu...” Feng Xianjun sighed heavily.
“You never said a thing about this?” Tao Xuan said with dissatisfaction. He had heard about a twin brother from Cui Li and the others, but he didn't know anything about switching names.
“It never really came up,” Ye Xiu shrugged. “Originally I wanted to just end my career with that name, but things are different now so it’s better to just use my real name.”
“Why...?” Feng Xianjun wanted to cry. “That wasn’t even your name.”
Ye Xiu shrugged. “I’m just thinking about winning, nothing else. Besides, it makes a good gift.”
“What gift?” Feng Xianjun.
“My brother sent me some quaint rings with my name,” Ye Qiu smiled brightly.
...You gave your championship ring to your brother?!
Everyone was speechless.
“We can still fix this.” Feng Xianjun looked up. “As long as it’s only a name, we can just erase every trace of it. Excellent Era will work together with us,” Feng Xianjun eyed Excellent Era. After all, if this matter spilled outside, they would face a backlash and no one could be happy. “We’ll take care of the online registration.”
In the end, due to the nature of Ye Xiu’s transfer, it took longer to fix his identity and they couldn’t announce his formal transfer until after the winter transfer, but Samsara had a better idea instead and prolonged the formal announcement.
“We’ll officially announce your transfer on the All-Stars weekend!” Kang Ming exclaimed in excitement. “It will become a big breaking news to everyone.”
The pros would absolutely lose their minds.
“You’ll pose as a special guest before finally we’re announcing your formal transfer!” Kang Ming envisioned it clearly. “You might not be an All-Stars due to your voting had been scattered in your emergency absence but you’ll still be a star.”
Ye Xiu honestly didn’t want to.
“It will be one of the most memorable moments of All-Stars in the history of Glory!”
This year’s All-Stars weekend was destined to be Ye Xiu’s bad luck too it seemed.