Chapter 72: Chapter 70 - Because I like you

Edited by Noks and xiin

Yu Yan was a bit confused. For a while, he didn’t know whether he should answer his question or ask him how he came to be here.

Good Show tugged at Yu Yan’s suit jacket and asked, “Your friend?”

Yu Yan’s chin was still in Yi Chen’s hand. He nodded, and Yi Chen’s hand shook a bit, as he confirmed, “Yes…”

Yi Chen didn’t expect to not only not get an answer, but for Yu Yan to start chatting with someone else on top of that.

He curled his index finger, tracing the side of Yu Yan’s cheek, then saw the person in charge of the gala head towards him at a quick pace. His tone was light as he said, “Get up, come with me.”

Yu Yan stood up and said, “How come you’re here?”

“President Yi.” The person in charge had reached them and bowed slightly from the waist as he said, “Your seat is in the front.”

Yu Yan looked in the direction the other party was pointing at. He didn’t recognize the other people who were seated at that table, but one of them looked very striking.

What made this person stand out was his headful of pale pink bleached hair and the mole under the corner of his eye. It was supposed to make for a charming look, but failed to do so because it was under a pair of sharp eyes. Lightly looking over this person, you could see that not only was he not feminine at all, but he also looked particularly attractive.

Being able to dress in such style and still get a seat at the center table, Yu Yan could blindly guess that he was the leader of that idol group.

That table was almost full, with only one seat left empty.

It was positioned right in the middle of the hall, perfectly facing the stage. One glance at it was enough to tell you about the identity of its owner.

At this time, Mo Nancheng had gone to look for his seat. On this occasion, he didn’t want to sit in the seat that would be the focus of most of the cameras, just to make sure that his ex-girlfriends wouldn’t discover his whereabouts. He had mentioned this matter to Yi Chen in advance and had told him to seat him at a table with more female anchors, but Yi Chen had ignored him and had told the person in charge of the gala to make whatever arrangements they wanted to.

Yi Chen asked, “Everyone is here?”

Yu Yan returned to his senses as soon as he heard Yi Chen’s voice.

The person in charge then bowed again as he replied, “All here, only missing you. Once you are seated at the table, we will immediately begin.”

Yu Yan wasn’t stupid. There weren’t many people who could have the manager bow to them and sit at the central table on such an occasion.

Yi Chen looked down at Yu Yan’s “seat mate” and said, “Arrange one more seat…”

“No need,” Yu Yan interrupted him reflexively.

Sensing everyone’s eyes on himself, he laughed and said, “…I’ll just sit here.”

Yi Chen was just about to say something when the person in charge braced himself and reminded him, “President Yi, the time specified for the start of the livestream is nearly here.”

Yi Chen raised his eyebrows, but after seeing that the person in front of him didn’t have any intentions of leaving without him, he could only let out an “en” and then lift his legs to walk away.

Yu Yan sat back in his original seat. Good Show had noticed something odd, but didn’t ask much about Yi Chen.

“Have you gone through the schedule?” Good Show asked, “The awards are first, but don’t be nervous. When you are called on-stage and get the trophy, just say whatever you like.”

Yu Yan didn’t have the heart to start chatting again, but nodded to show that he had heard his words.

Only after the background music started playing did Yu Yan drink from the glass of boiled water.

The host walked onto the stage and introduced the guests of honor first.

“Finally, President Yi, the chairman of StarTV, has also arrived on the scene. Let’s all applaud and welcome him—”

Sure enough. Yu Yan was holding his cellphone up to his face and subconsciously looked over the top of its screen.

The man who wore a suit nodded expressionlessly.

Yu Yan retrieved his gaze after taking only one look, but couldn’t help drinking a lot more water after that.

…He was so embarrassed.

Previously, because he had always been under the assumption that it wasn’t easy for Yi Chen to earn money, he had tried to give half of the gift money back to him several times.

Yet, in the end, it turned out that the platform had actually been the other person’s company all along, and thus the other half of the gift money would have returned to his pocket anyway.

Yu Yan thought of the notice that had appeared only once and then never again on the platform. Was that also because of Yi Chen?

The popularity of his stream… Even the right to participate in this award function, was it also because…

His cell phone violently vibrated, and he looked down at it.

1: Just saw your message, why didn’t you come and sit over here?

Yu Yan: Since I’ll be going on-stage later, it’s more convenient to sit here.

Such a reason was barely acceptable.

1: When it’s over, let’s leave together.

The host announced Yu Yan’s name just as he was about to type “When?” in reply.

Everyone seated at the table got up one after another and headed toward the stage. Yu Yan had originally wanted to be the last one on-stage, but with the other anchors standing back and letting people pass by them instead, he was “sent” to the second place, and stood just behind Good Show.

The presenter of the awards was Yi Chen.

As soon as the host finished introducing him, Yi Chen took the trophy from the staff member assisting with the distribution of the prizes and officially handed it to Good Show, who received it with a bow and then thanked him.

Yi Chen replied, “En.”

Good Show: “….”

When Yu Yan went on-stage to receive the award, he stood steady, took the trophy from Yi Chen, and thanked him.

Who would have expected this person to just stand firmly in front of him even after having given him the trophy.

Yu Yan froze, wondering if he had missed a step in the whole procedure.

Only to see Yi Chen slightly spread open both his arms, and in his usual tone, say, “Congratulations.”

Yu Yan was about to verbally thank him when he was hugged by the other party.

It was a very light and quick hug, and before he could even realize that he was being held, the other side had let go of him.

The next anchor to come on-stage didn’t even qualify for an extra glance, let alone a hug.

After he got off the stage, Good Show clinked trophies with him and said with a laugh, “Cheers.”

Yu Yan also laughed. “…Cheers.”

This scene was clearly witnessed by Yi Chen.

Just now, when he had hugged him, Yu Yan had been completely expressionless, and he hadn’t even thanked him at all. Who would have known that he would clink trophies with someone else as soon as he stepped down.

The second event of the gala was a casual competition.

What was interesting about this competition was that the organizer had designed a large spinning wheel for it, similar to the lottery wheel. All the required elements of the competition would be selected randomly. How random would it be?

——The anchors would be drawn at random, the teammates for each team would be chosen at random, and the game to be played would also be random.

The first draw was for the game, so as to determine how many anchors would need to be selected.

The lottery wheel rotated for a long time, and finally stopped on a level 3 Helmet — the first game to be played would be PUBG.

Then came the selection for the players for the games. The number wheel turned, and its first draw resulted in the selection of a… Hearthstone anchor.

The selected person’s face showed a muddled expression. His mouth could be seen moving on the side screen as he said, “Laozi can’t play that ah, do you think I can go up and just dance for you guys?”

Of course not.

Yu Yan was still immersed in his thoughts of having failed to say something in reply to Yi Chen on the stage and couldn’t pull himself out of it. Suddenly, he heard a loud sound emerge from the spinning wheel. He looked up to see— No.018.

No. 18 was Good Show.

Good Show got up. “Can I ask my friend to help me? He’s very good at PUBG, I’m not.” He crazily pointed at Yu Yan while saying this.

Three seconds later, his proposal was mercilessly rejected. Because the next number that jumped out of the wheel was— 019.

Yu Yan looked at the place card in front of him and resigned himself to his fate as he stood up.

It wasn’t until all the randomly chosen anchors gathered on the stage that Yu Yan realised why people had been cheering so much just now. There were eight people on the stage—

And among them were Yu Yan, Good Show, and two professional players from CN7.

On top of that, the two CN7 pros had even been put into the same team, and the remaining two members of their team were both PUBG anchors.

On the other hand, Yu Yan’s side consisted of… a Hearthstone host, a LoL retired player, and a LoL anchor.

Yu Yan looked at the prizes for the winner of this second event placed beside him and said farewell to them in his heart.

PUBG wasn’t a game where you could play a simple 4v4, but the organizers had taken that into consideration and had let them rest in their seats for a bit while a group of backstage staff logged into some accounts and queued for the match at the same time. Very soon, they handed over the accounts that had all entered the same match to the two teams for the game.

The rules of the game were very simple. At the end of the match, whichever team ranked closest to first place would be the winner.

Fortunately, even though everyone said that they couldn’t play, they did know how the basic operations worked. Yu Yan didn’t have to teach them how to operate the keys.

The most honest one on their team was Good Show. He had said he couldn’t play, and he really couldn’t play.

“Which is better, SCAR-L or Uzi? Which one should I pick up, Xiao Yan?” Good Show asked.

Yu Yan replied, “SCAR-L ba.”

A few minutes later, Good Show had nearly gotten himself killed. Fortunately, Yu Yan arrived in time to pull him up.

With barely any health left, he hid himself behind a door, applied a first-aid kit, and discussed with Yu Yan, “Xiao Yan, I’m too pitiful. It’s bad enough that I don’t know how to play, but it’s also really difficult to use the gun.”

Yu Yan replied, “The SCAR-L is quite suitable for novices.”

“I’ll pay you 100 yuan for your gun.” Good Show said, “Will pay you right after we get off this stage.”

Yu Yan choked. He looked at the names of the two CN7 teammates who were crazily filling up the upper right corner of the screen with their kill announcements. He then reasoned that since all of this was for entertainment, there was no need for him to be too serious, so he said, “…No need, just come and take it ba.”

The person in charge explained the preparations that had been made for tonight to Yi Chen with great dedication. It wasn’t until the other party raised his eyebrows that he realized that the big boss was not listening to him at all, but was instead looking up at the big screen.

He had played alongside the little anchor a lot, so Yi Chen knew his temperament very well. Besides himself, Yu Yan never gave the gun in his hands to anyone else.

But the little anchor stood there and threw his M416 onto the ground. The person next to him immediately picked it up, and the camera turned to Yu Yan and Good Show. The latter said something and teased Yu Yan into lifting a corner of his mouth.

As Yi Chen watched this happen, irritation brewed in his heart. He felt even more irritated right now than the time when he had found out that employees were being inattentive during a meeting.

The person in charge of the gala followed his gaze. “President Yi, that anchor is called Good Show; he’s the most popular anchor on our platform. You just awarded him a prize, so you should know…”

Yi Chen interrupted him, “Be quiet for a bit.”

“&#k2026;&#k2026;” The person in charge replied, “Alright.”

Fortunately, Yi Chen wasn’t angry for a long time, because Good Show was soon killed by others, and Yu Yan’s other two teammates soon followed.

Everyone was amused by Good Show’s aggrieved expression and felt that the match was over.

Who knew that five minutes later, then ten minutes later… The match was on-going even 20 minutes later.

yanxyan had 7 kills and had made it to the semi-final circle alone.

If he had achieved this during his usual livestream, the viewers may not have been surprised, but this match was different. There were two professional players from CN7 playing on the opposite side in this match.

Yu Yan hid in a bathroom while the two CN7 players appeared on his map.

The audience held their breath as they stared at the big screen, with not a single person even picking up their chopsticks to reach for the delicious dishes on the table.

The CN7 players were experienced and very careful. Instead of crossing the map in a straight path, they circled around its edges and skilfully avoided Yu Yan’s bathroom.

Just as everyone in the audience was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Yu Yan moved—from the corner he had been stuck in, he had managed to see the shadows of the two CN7 members.

Although he had seen someone, he didn’t know who it was, so he played in a very casual manner. He left the bathroom at once, and it seemed that he was going to ambush the two CN7 members!

At the instant the bathroom door was opened, it was discovered by a CN7 member. After revealing this matter to his partner, the two of them hid behind the hill as they also prepared to ambush Yu Yan.

It was a very interesting scenario for the audience— to watch the two sides test each other.

After spending a few minutes in a standoff, the CN7 duo obviously became impatient, and for a moment, the team member who had reported the location of their plausible enemy wasn’t sure of whether or not anyone had really been there— he only remembered that they seemed to have not opened the bathroom door, but he hadn’t seen anyone again after that.

So, in light of this, one of them carefully walked up the slope. The moment he showed his head, there were countless shots—Yu Yan had seized the opportunity to immediately fire ten bullets at the other side.

That person was beaten down to a sliver of health and ran back down the hill.

“Shit, my head nearly exploded. That person’s shooting is quite good ah.” He didn’t know that the opposite party belonged to the team directly competing with them.

“Xiao Yan,” Good Show said, “In this game, the team with the highest ranking wins. So wouldn’t it be better for you to hide?”

Yu Yan shook his head. “How is that fun to watch?”

The organizers of such a kind of activity just wanted to see the moment when the two teams collided against each other.

If he kept picking fights with people, he would eventually have to meet the two members of CN7.

Watching him, Good Show now understood how this anchor could stand out in such a short time.

The CN7 team finally made a move to break the continued standoff between the two sides. The poison circle was about to appear, and this wave of poison would be very painful. They couldn’t afford to be hit by it, so they discussed that one person would shadow while the other ran away from the poison circle first.

Yu Yan had the geographical advantage. His bathroom was just on the edge of the final circle, so he immediately leaned forward and shot the opponent as soon as he appeared while running uphill!

At the same time, the person who was shadowing him shot back quickly, and the sound of gunfire echoed throughout the banquet hall. The audience finally saw a line of white words appear on Yu Yan’s screen——

[You knocked down Hello999 with an M416]

“Fuck me, why couldn’t you beat him?” asked the fallen man.

The other man stopped fighting, and took advantage of the time that Yu Yan was taking to apply medicine to run into the circle. “I really couldn’t beat him, your entire body was in his line of sight. He was hiding behind the bathroom when he showed his head, how could I deal with…”

“Him showing his head makes it easier for you to deal with, you just had to hit him twice or thrice, and he’d be dead.”

“He’s not in the poison circle ah, he’s losing health slower than you.”

Bang——

While the two of them were discussing this, a heavy gunshot rang out.

[MIMIHZPT eliminated you with an AWM]

Yu Yan, who was applying medicine, was killed by an enemy who had been attracted to this location by the sound of the previous gun fight.

Yu Yan took off his earphones. “There wasn’t anything I could do about it, the area behind me was completely flat and I couldn’t hide.”

“It’s okay, you were already very powerful.” Good Show said, “In fact, I know a lot of PUBG anchors, but I only want to play with you.”

Yu Yan asked, “Why?”

Good Show blinked at him. “Because you’re willing to give a 98K to your teammates. I admire people like you.”

Yu Yan thought that Good Show may have misunderstood some things about him.

“Have you seen my livestream?” he asked doubtfully.

“No, but I’ve seen clips of your stream.”

“???”

Upon seeing an alarmed expression on Yu Yan’s face, Good Show laughed loudly and patted him on the shoulder. “You’re really cute.”

When he felt the cellphone in his pocket vibrate, Yu Yan took a look at the messages he had received—

1: Come find me after getting off the stage.

1: Have something to talk to you about.

After the second event had started, the guest anchors had already started to mingle about and no longer sat in their assigned seats. The whole place was full of people who were standing and chatting with their friends. Yu Yan also saw that Tuantuan and Lulu weren’t far away from the stage, and Mo Nancheng was standing right next to them.

Yi Chen was also standing, but hadn’t changed his position. He was still at the central table, where he was chatting with some of the men around him, but Yu Yan wasn’t familiar with any of them.

Their eyes met, and Yi Chen raised his head slightly, prompting Yu Yan towards him.

His former boss had suddenly become his direct superior. Yu Yan had no career experience and didn’t know how to face Yi Chen. All he could do was walk over and call out, “President Yi, what’s the matter?”

Yi Chen originally carried an official smile while discussing matters with these men. When he heard this form of address come from Yu Yan, he narrowed his eyes.

Because of the presence of other people here, he decided to set aside this matter of his title for later.

He raised his hand, pulled the person to his side, and introduced him to the people standing next to him, “This is him.”

The person right next to Yu Yan took the initiative and extended his hand in a greeting. “Hello, I’m Li Fei, the team manager of CN7.”

“……” Yu Yan froze for a while before reaching his hand out. “Hello, my name is Yu Yan.”

“President Yi, is this your Didi? You’re all so handsome,” Li Fei asked.

Yi Chen’s eyes didn’t show any change in expression at all as he tossed out an “en.”

When Yu Yan heard this, he felt his heart chill. He said, “If nothing’s the matter…”

“It’s like this,” Li Feidao said, “Our team is recruiting young trainees right now, and we’re looking for quality over quantity for this batch. By the beginning of next year, our team will undergo some personnel changes… so we’re preparing ahead of time for that. President Yi recommended you to me. I just saw you, and you do play really well. Once our two commandos got offstage, they both started praising you.”

After Li Fei finished saying this, he took out his business card from his pocket and said, “This is my business card, and so should we discuss things later?”

Even before this gala took place, Yi Chen had started to think that with the little anchor’s qualifications, it was time for him to stand on the big stage and conquer all sides. In livestreaming, entertainment was more important than technique, and that was too limiting after all.

This idea soon rooted itself in his heart, and since he had decided that he was going to pave the way for him, he would then pave the best path forward for him. CN7 had a lot of partnerships with the Yi Group, and the contract this time had been more complicated, so Yi Chen had come out to deal with it in person.

He had originally wanted to give the little anchor a surprise, but didn’t expect for the three people to fall into a long silence after Li Fei finished saying his piece.

Yi Chen looked sideways and after clearly seeing the expression on the face of the person next to him, felt stunned by it.

Yu Yan was just standing there with slightly drooping eyes. After he had gotten his hair cut short, any and all expressions on his face couldn’t be concealed.

There was no joy, no happiness, and no surprise—only confusion, shock, and sadness.

Sadness?

Yi Chen frowned, raised his hand, and touched Yu Yan’s shoulder, thus sensing his rigid posture.

Realizing that something wasn’t right, Yi Chen whispered, “Xiao Yan?”

“I’m sorry.” Yu Yan suddenly looked up, with an obviously forced smile on his face. “Thank you so much for the opportunity, but I don’t plan to play professionally… I won’t disturb you guys anymore.”

He took a step to the right, dodged Yi Chen’s palm, and quickly turned away.

Li Fei didn’t expect him to refuse. He was stunned and then looked at Yi Chen awkwardly. “President Yi, this is?”

Yi Chen didn’t answer, and instead turned to follow after Yu Yan. Suddenly, a female voice sounded out from behind him.

“It really is Yu Yan… When he climbed on-stage, I felt that he was really familiar. I didn’t expect him to have become an anchor.”

Yi Chen turned back around and looked at the woman who was talking. “Who are you?”

The woman hadn’t expected that her comment had been heard even when she had spoken with such a low volume. She was stunned at first, but then quickly got up and introduced herself, “Hello, President Yi, I’m CN7’s personal life assistant…”

“You know him?”

“Yes.” The life assistant pursed her lips, not sure about whether or not she should say something, and finally whispered, “I used to— be on the same team as him.”

…

Yu Yan went to the bathroom as he struggled to breathe, and thoroughly washed his face once there. When he rose up again, he saw that the person in the mirror looked like a mess, and a little bit like he was at his wit’s end.

… He seemed to have left too frantically, and he didn’t know if he had caused any trouble for Yi Chen by leaving in that manner.

He knew that Yi Chen was just trying to help him. CN7 was the top-ranked PUBG team in China, and even their youth-training program wasn’t that easy to get into. In order to livestream, he couldn’t play ranked matches regularly and so didn’t know which corner of the Asian rankings he fell into, but he was clear on the fact that he didn’t meet CN7’s entry requirements at all.

After he had calmed down and was breathing normally once again, he took out his cellphone.

Yu Yan: I’m sorry, I was in a hurry to go to the bathroom. Is Manager Li angry?

He didn’t get a response. He sighed, put his phone back into his pocket, and was about to leave.

There was a sudden movement in the stall behind him. Yu Yan looked around but only saw the closed stall-door again.

Yu Yan stopped there, utterly surprised.

… He seemed to have just seen two people inside the stall?

And there seemed to have been a flash of pink as well??

The vibration of his cellphone snapped him out of his shock.

Good Show: Where are you? Quickly come back.

Yu Yan returned to his seat and couldn’t help but glance at the central table, but he didn’t see Yi Chen there.

He was stunned and looked around the banquet hall instinctively.

“Are you looking for President Yi?” Noticing his gaze, Good Show said, “He just left with a woman, looks like they went to the lounge ba.”

Yu Yan froze, then looked away. “…did he?”

“En, it looked very urgent.” Good Show lowered his voice and continued, “That woman was sitting at the central table, and it doesn’t look like she’s a female anchor either… Maybe she’s President Yi’s girlfriend.”

“……”

Yu Yan looked at his WeChat chatbox, the one that hadn’t received a reply. Emotions carrying flavours of sourness and bitterness welled up inside him, which made him feel especially uncomfortable.

It made sense, after all, he had just caused Yi Chen to lose face, so why would the other party still want to reply to him.

Yi Chen had been so kind to him recently that he had become a little complacent.

Who all had been sitting at the central table just now?

Yu Yan tried to recall their faces for a long while but failed to remember any. At that time, all of his attention had been concentrated on Yi Chen, and he simply didn’t have eyes for anything else.

“Good Show!” A man came up to their table with a cup. “Congratulations ah. Remember when I said I was going to drink you under the table? You’re not going to wuss out now ba?”

“Wuss out my ass.” Good Show laughed. “We already have alcohol here, start now?”

“Come on!” That person took a sidelong glance at Yu Yan and asked, “This is the new friend you were talking about?”

“Yes.” Good Show said, “Xiao Yan, this is my friend, a LoL anchor, my defeated general…”

“You, how can you win and still mock after that?” That person laughed and looked at Yu Yan. “Meeting for the first time, let’s have a drink, and we’ll all be friends after.”

Yu Yan returned to his senses and tossed his cellphone back into his pocket.

Good Show said, “You wait a bit. Xiao Yan, can you drink?”

“Yes.” Yu Yan grabbed the bottle of red wine on the table, poured himself a small glass and then clinked glasses with that man. “Good meeting you for the first time.”

—

In the lounge, the life assistant’s face was tense. The man in front of her wasn’t very friendly, and she had to be very careful with each word she said.

Yi Chen asked, “The team he was in before, was it also a PUBG team?”

“No.” The assistant shook her head, “…at that time, PUBG hadn’t been released yet, and it was an FPS type game.”

Yi Chen let out an “en” and said, “Go on.”

“At that time, although the domestic e-sports industry had become more formalized, it wasn’t mature yet. Many players were minors, especially in the case of games other than LoL and DOTA.” The assistant explained, “When Xiao Yan came, he was also a minor, and he played for the team for nearly a year, during which he won many championships and MVP.

“They were all small competitions. The prize money awarded was usually only a few thousand or even just a few hundred yuan, and there wasn’t enough at all to split among the team members. After a whole year of playing in such competitions… The team members didn’t receive even a single yuan in terms of their wages.

“Everyone else complained, and quite a few people left, but Xiao Yan stayed the whole time. I asked him about it secretly, and he said he knew that the manager and them also had it hard, and he wasn’t worried because there was a contract.” The assistant said, “Until one time, when something seemed to have happened to Yu Yan’s family and they urgently needed money.”

Yi Chen’s eyebrows twisted, and he couldn’t help interrupting, “What happened?”

“I don’t know, I just heard that his relatives were seriously ill and needed to be hospitalized. He went to find the manager to get his salary… How could the manager just give it to him? Yu Yan really couldn’t do anything but take out his contract and ask the other party to fulfill it.”

Speaking up to here, the assistant paused for a bit before she continued, “…yet in the end, the contract was flawed. I don’t know the details, but in summary, it had no legal standing, and it was useless to sue the owner over it. In the end, it seemed that Yu Yan only managed to take 500 yuan as his earnings for a full year ah. Every night, he trained until midnight, ran east and west to take part in competitions, ate instant noodles every day, but could only take away 500 yuan… so he just left. ”

She heard the man opposite her take a deep breath.

“And then?”

“After that, I’m not clear on what happened, I didn’t see him again.” The assistant hesitated, but then said, “Although… I heard from teammates, who were also in his school, that after something happened to his family, he stopped going to school.”

Yi Chen unconsciously clenched his fist.

How many days’ worth of medical expenses could 500 yuan cover?

He had been so young back then, where else could he have gone to raise money?

Yi Chen only felt his heart being tightly squeezed by something, a sensation which made him feel extremely distressed.

After a long time, he nodded and stood up. “Thank you for your time.”

“……No need for thanks.” The female assistant stood up in a hurry.

Yi Chen turned and left. Just as he opened the door of the lounge, he stopped.

When he turned around again, his eyes seemed to be full of shadowed anger, but it disappeared in a flash. The female assistant even doubted whether she had just been seeing things.

But that was apparently not so, for the man’s voice was cold enough to force one into an icehouse. “Do you still remember the name or contact information of the owner of that club?”

—

Yu Yan had lost count of the number of times he clinked wine cups with someone. His eyes looked a bit vacant and he just stared at the red wine in his cup.

Seeing this, Good Show asked, “Xiao Yan, are you still okay ah, if you’re not okay, don’t drink anymore…Your face is red.”

Yu Yan shook his head and said, “I can still drink.”

Saying that, he raised his cup and sipped it.

The alcohol content in the wine served in the gala was obviously lower than that of the alcohol sold in the bar from last time. Although he was a little feverish, he was still awake.

“Yan Xiao Yan?”

Hearing someone call him, Yu Yan looked back and saw that it was the person in charge of the gala.

The other party looked around, his expression embarrassed. “Um, the signing ceremony between the platform and CN7 is about to start, but we can’t find President Yi. He’s also not answering his phone… Do you know where he went?”

“In the lounge.” Good Show spoke before Yu Yan could. But just after he’d said that, he lifted an eyebrow and pointed to the door of the banquet hall. “Well, he’s back.”

Yu Yan’s gaze followed in the direction being pointed at to look at the door, where he indeed saw Yi Chen.

He was being accompanied by a woman in a long pink dress. Most of her body was blocked from Yu Yan’s view, and he could only see her long hair hanging behind her.

They were even well-matched in height ah.

Yu Yan thought this bitterly and had just looked away, but soon realized that Yi Chen had turned around and was walking up to them.

The person in charge immediately went up to him. “President Yi, the signing ceremony…”

“I know, I’ll be there right away.”

Yi Chen kept on walking until he finally stood in front of Yu Yan.

He frowned, looked at the wine cup in Yu Yan’s hand, and then noticed that his cheeks were red. “Aren’t you clear about your own alcohol tolerance?”

Yu Yan replied, “…clear. I’m not drunk.”

Yi Chen still wanted to say something more, but when he saw that the person in charge looked like they were about to cry, he straightened his expression, grabbed Yu Yan’s wine cup, and put it on the table.

“It’s almost over. Wait for me here, I’ll take you back.”

In actuality, not only did Yu Yan not listen to him, but he didn’t even wait for him after the gala ended.

After imbibing a few more glasses of red wine, the person next to him leaned over and said, “Xiao Yan, the gala is almost over, so how about we slip away first ba? Recently, livestreaming has made my back ache. How about we all go get a “happy ending”?”

Good Show hit the other person a bit before scolding, “Scram, don’t corrupt little children.”

Yu Yan asked, “What’s a happy ending?”

That man smiled widely as he replied, “It’s a massage.”

Massage?

Yu Yan wasn’t really used to being touched by strangers, and he had never gotten a massage before, but he had experienced lower back pain recently. For any anchor who did this work for a while, waist problems became an inevitability.

He was a bit embarrassed. “After getting a massage, does your waist feel a bit more comfortable?”

“Of course, and since Good Show has won the prize this time, he said he would treat us.” That person bumped Good Show on the shoulders a few times. “Right ba?”

Good Show laughed and agreed, “I’ll treat, I’ll treat, just a little money.”

So the moment Yi Chen stepped down from the stage, he received a message.

Little Anchor: No need to bother with sending me back, I’m heading back first.

After seeing the little anchor’s empty seat, Yi Chen didn’t even think before picking up his coat and leaving the banquet hall. He then directly called him.

A long while passed before the other side picked up the call.

Yu Yan asked, “…What’s the matter?”

Hearing a clashing noise on the other end, Yi Chen asked, “Where are you?”

“I left first, didn’t you see my message on WeChat?”

“With whom? Where to?”

“With other anchors.” Because he had drunk wine, Yu Yan’s voice sounded a little low and he used the words he had just learned to reply, “To go get a happy ending.”

Yi Chen grew both angry and amused.

He gritted his teeth and asked, “Where are you?”

Why was it this question again? Yu Yan was even starting to wonder if he was really drunk now.

Yi Chen said, “Speak.”

“In the parking lot, they’re waiting for the valet.”

“You stay there and wait for me, you’re not allowed to go with them.” Yi Chen said, “I’m heading there now.”

Yu Yan hung up the call just as the valet arrived.

Good Show got into the car, and after seeing him still standing in the parking lot, he urged him, “Xiao Yan, get in the car ya.”

Yu Yan hesitated and said, “…You guys go first ba.”

“Then what about you?”

“It seems that President Yi still needs me for something.” Yu Yan said, “I’ll catch a ride back with him then.”

“Is he not sending his girlfriend back?” Good Show asked, “You’re just accompanying them to be a third wheelah?”

Saying this was most definitely like spreading salt on Yu Yan’s open wound.

Third wheel?

…He didn’t want to be a third wheel at all.

Yu Yan had just placed his foot into the car when his waist was suddenly grasped. Before he could react, the person who had grabbed him by his waist picked him up and placed him steadily on the ground.

Yi Chen’s voice was very cold, and because he had been in a hurry, he was also gasping a bit as he rasped out, “Is whatever I say just wind in your ears?”

Good Show was stunned at his sudden appearance and said, “President Yi, we just didn’t want to bother you, we’ll send him back ba. He’s a little drunk, and he doesn’t seem to be able to discuss matters.”

Yi Chen gave him a glance that was neither light or hard, but it was full of warning.

When another person sitting in the car saw him, they hurriedly dragged Good Show back. “Since President Yi is here to send him back… then Xiao Yan, we’ll be going first ah! See you next time!”

The car quickly drove far away. Yu Yan stood in place, only feeling that everything that had just happened was quite inexplicable.

But now that it was over, he had to ask in a depressed voice, “Why did you come find me?”

Yi Chen grabbed his hand and took him to the lounge.

A glass of water was handed to him.

“Drink this.”

Yu Yan took it and drank a bit of it.

Yi Chen’s brow finally relaxed. He asked, “Why didn’t you wait for me?”

Yu Yan’s eyes fluttered, and he said, “Didn’t want to trouble you.”

“Tell me the truth,” said Yi Chen.

“……” Yu Yan said, “I’m not that indelicate, and I didn’t want to be a third wheel.”

“Whose third wheel?” Yi Chen asked.

“You and your girlfriend’s.”

Yi Chen said nothing for a while. “Who is my girlfriend? Why don’t I know about this?”

Yu Yan paused and said, “The one who was just beside you.”

“That’s not my girlfriend.”

“Then it’s a girl you just took an interest in?”

“……”

Yi Chen looked at him and suddenly asked, “Are you jealous?”

Yu Yan was startled and shook his head very hard. “I’m not! What am I jealous about… How could I be jealous, don’t speak nonsense.”

Yi Chen looked at his stance and thought it was funny. He was just about to say something when a cell phone suddenly rang.

Yu Yan took out his cellphone and picked the call up.

“Hello… Good Show? I’m fine. En, I’m still here. No need, no need to come back to pick me up… It’s really alright. Tomorrow ma? Come to the hotel to find me? Alright ah, my hotel is called…”

Yu Yan felt his hand become empty just as he was about to convey the name of the hotel he was staying in. His cellphone had been stolen from him.

Yi Chen’s face was expressionless as he hung up.

Yu Yan was stunned and reached out to get it back. “What are you…”

Before he could finish speaking, the face of the person in front of him suddenly magnified infinitely. Before Yu Yan could react, he was pushed back, and his back was pressed against the lounge wall, which was immediately followed by the sensation of heat on his lips.

Yi Chen had suddenly leaned down and had enfolded him in a kiss.

His kiss was very strong, with his lips constantly rubbing against Yu Yan’s lips. Although he wasn’t proficient with his technique, he was particularly hard to get away from, as he kept repeatedly biting and sucking at him. Yu Yan even felt that his heart had stopped beating.

The smell of Gucci cologne surrounded him tightly, and all the alcohol he had consumed rushed to his head at this moment——

Only when Yu Yan felt that he was about to suffocate was he finally let go.

His whole body was red; his cheeks, eyes, and even his lips were red as hell.

His eyes had widened, his whole face was filled with disbelief. He opened his mouth, but couldn’t say anything for a long time.

Just as Yi Chen was thinking that Yu Yan had been scared silly, he heard him say—

“I’m not drunk ba?”

“No,” said Yi Chen.

Yu Yan let out an “oh” before saying, “…I’m not asleep either?”

“No.” Yi Chen said, “You’re very much awake.”

Yu Yan heard his heartbeat, which was banging in his ears.

“Then you kissed me?”

“En, I kissed you.”

“……Why? ”

The man’s voice was low and deep as he said very firmly, “Because I like you.”

He couldn’t bear to see him wronged, couldn’t bear to see him sad, couldn’t bear to see him treat others well, and itched to gather all the good things in the world in both of his hands and offer them up to him.

Always thinking of him when he was on a business trip, and as soon as he had time, video-calling him.

Upon hearing that he had been bullied, his chest had hurt with anger.

Upon seeing that he wanted to leave with others, he had wanted to tie him up at home, just to prevent him from going anywhere.

If this wasn’t “like”, then what was “like”?

Yu Yan was stunned. However, before he could bask in happiness, he suddenly thought of something, and his eyelids abruptly became droopy.

“Did you also drink?”

Yi Chen frowned. “I didn’t drink.”

“But didn’t you say that I’m your Didi?”

“……”

Yu Yan reminded him, “You said so in front of Manager Li.”

Yi Chen smiled softly and suddenly said, “I’m sorry.”

“I shouldn’t have taken you to see Li Fei.” He raised his hand to cover the back of Yu Yan’s neck, and rubbed it twice, as if he was placating him.

These two rubs were too gentle, and Yu Yan felt that his legs were almost unable to hold his weight anymore.

“Said you were my Didi… Because I couldn’t think of a relationship closer than friendship but this.” Yi Chen repeated, “I’m sorry.”

The man’s voice seemed to contain some kind of magic that caused Yu Yan to become dizzy, made his face flushed, and made his heart race. He opened his mouth, but was unable to form words for a long time, eventually answering in a shriveled voice, “En…”

He stared at Yi Chen’s lips; they looked thin and a bit red right now. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Kissing was something he hadn’t even dared to dream of in his dreams.

So it felt this good?

Yu Yan stared and stared, and couldn’t help licking his lips and swallowing.

Wine fills the heart with courage, and allows people to do whatever they thought they should do. He silently counted for three seconds in his mind, then closed his eyes, and leaned forward for a kiss—

The two of them had the same idea, and ended up hitting each other halfway.

“Hiss…” Yu Yan was hurt a bit by the sudden collision.

Yi Chen’s cheeks were dusted scarlet, but after seeing this, he laughed.

He raised his hand, first rubbing Yu Yan’s mouth with his thumb, and then negotiating, “I’ll do it.”

Yu Yan’s face was red enough that it would start dripping blood soon as he replied, “…okay.”

—

Juurensha: EEEEEEEEEEE THEY KISSED! And they’re so cuuuuute hahahaha, slamming into each other. So many things to talk about with this chapter! First off, poor baby Yanyan! Fuck up that company, Yi Chen! Next, I think Good Show means well, even though the whole thing with the “massage” is pretty shady. And it makes sense that he’d assume the girl was Yi Chen’s gf, but gdi, that caused a lot of drama. Yi Chen’s a bit possessive, but I think having claimed his little anchor, he’ll calm down a bit. And Yanyan is too cute as always, not even daring to dream of kissing! And I do appreciate Yi Chen going for it as soon as he finally figured out his own feelings (even if it took 70 chapters, gdi Yi Chen, you nearly took as long as Huanhuan).

Noks: We got a bit of everything in this beast of a chapter! Winning awards, playing a match, making new friends, getting jealous over said new friends, getting Yanyan’s background, a little back-and-forth tug of war between the two leads because of misunderstandings, drinking wine, realising feelings and finally… Kissing! 1YanTang fangirls, get ready for the lovey-dovey romance!!!

Check out this amazing fanart of Yanyan by Xai here!

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And there’s an audio drama for PUBG that came out! It’s more condensed than the novel, but it’s fun!

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