Chapter 169

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

That made Xiao shut up, Heng handed Xiao’s equipment bag that was in his hands to Ji Zhiyao. “NoHomo, help Xiao the mutt carry it.”

Ji Zhiyao took it and packed Xiao’s other belongings then carried it.

The others were packing their own things when Yuan Wei happened to walk in and said, “The driver is already waiting at the entrance, let’s go, we’ll go to the hospital directly.”

Hence everyone packed as fast as they could, then left the gymnasium.

The van drove very quickly, heading right for the hospital.

Yuan Wei had called to check, the doctor who operated on Xiao was free. The entire group went right to the doctor’s office, when they were approaching, they were stopped by a passing nurse. “The office is only that big, there are so many of you, please don’t go in all at once, it will be an inconvenience when the doctor examines the patient.”

Mo Huaifeng frowned slightly, turned back and said, “Yuan Wei, NoHomo, both of you follow me in. The others wait outside for a while.”

Ji Zhiyao nodded. Mo Huaifeng called Yuan Wei along because they needed to give the club an explanation; he was called because he was Xiao’s reserve, whatever was happening to Xiao would concern him greatly. He understood.

Hence the four of them entered the doctor’s office.

The moment the doctor saw Xiao’s arm, his brows knitted together. “Didn’t I say that you must moderate the use of the arm after the surgery? Why did it become like this again?”

Yuan Wei smiled apologetically. “It’s our fault, we’ll certainly reflect on ourselves after this. But doctor, won’t you examine him first?”

“You don’t even take care of yourselves, what can I say?” The doctor pulled a long face and lifted Xiao’s wrist, turning it around a few times. Xiao seemed to be in some pain as he hissed out loud. The doctor put his hand down and opened his medical record. “There might be problems with the bones, we’ll take an X-ray.”

When the X-ray was developed, it was already half an hour later.

The doctor looked at it against the light for some time before he spoke up, “What work do you do? It hasn’t been a year since the surgery and your condition has worsened till it is almost as bad as before the surgery. If it continues on this way, you won’t even be able to carry heavy things on this arm anymore.”

“Doctor, did you see wrongly, is his condition really so serious?” Yuan Wei was the first to turn anxious. “It hasn’t been too long since his surgery, it shouldn’t be.”

“That’s why I asked about your work. It will only become this way if he had used his hand frequently.” The doctor continued, “It’s impossible to do another surgery. If you still want your hand, do take good care of it, quit your current job.”

Ji Zhiyao instinctively looked towards Xiao and found that his expression that already didn’t look too good earlier had instantly turned wan.

Mo Huaifeng glanced at Xiao and patted his shoulder in consolation as he asked the doctor, “About how long would he have to rest for?”

“The duration would have to be deliberated and set as you guys deem fit, but it would at the very least have to be half a year.”

Then Mo Huaifeng also became silent.

The doctor was immersed in writing his medical records. “I’ll first prescribe an anti-inflammation IV drip to reduce swelling, you’d be on it for a week. The aftercare would then depend on you guys.”

Yuan Wei thanked the doctor. “Sure, thank you. Please continue with your writing, we’ll go get the drip in a while.”

The doctor finished writing, Yuan Wei took it and the four people left the room. Ji Zhiyao was right at the back and closed the door to the office.

The others crowded around them once they stepped out, Nuo asked, “Captain, Yuan Wei, how is Xiao?”

Mo Huaifeng and Yuan Wei shared eye contact, Yuan Wei said, “We’ll go handle the procedures first, let Xiao get an IV drip.”

Seeing that things didn’t see quite right, Nuo immediately shut his mouth and stopped questioning. Him and Heng stood on one side each and propped Xiao up, moving towards the wards, Xiaofei and the stats analyzer followed behind them.

Seeing them leave, Yuan Wei unmasked himself, appearing rather bogged down as he said, “Captain, I’ll go pay the fees first.”

“Mm.”

Hence Yuan Wei left too. Leaving Mo Huaifeng and Ji Zhiyao alone.

Ji Zhiyao was feeling very down, after keeping quiet for a few seconds, he said hoarsely, “I shouldn’t have fought. If it wasn’t for me being banned and not being allowed to go on, Brother Xiao would not have to play consecutively for three hours, this hand also wouldn’t end up being in such a serious condition now.”

Hearing that he was putting all the blame on himself, Mo Huaifeng could not help but frowned as he corrected, “No. Previously during the training camp by Coach Kang, I asked Xiao in private. He said that the doctor said it was alright for him to continue gaming temporarily, that’s why I allowed him to train with us.”

“But with how the doctor spoke earlier, he obviously did not know.” Ji Zhiyao was drawn in by what Mo Huaifeng said and recalled the doctor’s words in the office earlier and concluded.

Mo Huaifeng tugged at the corner of his lips and did not continue on the topic, but said, “Let’s go to the ward first. Everything else, we can discuss later.”

Ji Zhiyao nodded.

The atmosphere in the ward was dull and depressed.

Up till Yuan Wei ended his called and entered the room, saying, “I just called the club, some things we will discuss next time. Xiao’s drip bottle is so big, seems like it’s gonna be another hour before he’s done. It’s almost 6 PM now, do you guys want to go get dinner first?”

K replied, “It’s okay, I’m not too hungry. We’ll wait till Xiao is done to go together.”

The others nodded in agreement.

Yuan Wei looked at Mo Huaifeng like he was seeking help, Mo Huaifeng was straightforward about it. “We have some things to talk about.”

“In that case, sure, then we’ll head out first, we’ll bring some food back for you guys.” Heng said.

Mo Huaifeng nodded. At once, with the exception of Yuan Wei and himself, the others all left the ward.

Yuan Wei stood up and closed the door tightly.

Mo Huaifeng had yet to speak when Xiao first smiled bitterly and admitted, “Captain, I know what you want to ask. I lied previously, actually all along, the doctor had not recommended that I use my hand, saying I should rest for at least a year, so I simply decided to keep my career from him too.”

Mo Huaifeng said quietly, “I should have called the doctor and clarified things, as Captain, this is on me.”

Xiao was so shocked that he sat up at once, “What has it got to do with you Captain? You’ve urged me so many times, I wanted to ruin myself, you won’t be able to stop me even if you wanted to.”

“You knew that you were doing yourself in too?”

Xiao instantly stopped talking.

Yuan Wei sat by the bed. “Xiao, I really don’t understand, can a competition be more important than your hand? You’re not a reserve, why must you push yourself?”

“It’s not.” Xiao rebutted. He seemed to be a little disconcerted, not knowing how to continue what he wanted to say next.

Mo Huaifeng and Yuan Wei quietly stared at Xiao, Xiao had no other choice and said, “Captain, Yuan Wei, I’m 23 this year. Frankly, it’s the peak of my career now. On the basis of my condition, I don’t have another three years that I can afford to wait out.”

“I’m actually especially thankful for you guys and also very happy to be able to stay on our battleteam. But if I take a break, then I won’t be able to participate in this national qualifiers, I can only wait for the next, by then I’d be 26, my condition would definitely have declined greatly.” Xiao paused for a moment and said, “To have never participated in the national qualifiers in my professional career, is really rather regretful.”

Yuan Wei sighed, “Even so you cannot joke about your own hand.”

Xiao rubbed his head with his left hand, saying, “I originally did my calculations, it ought to be fine, but I trained till too late yesterday and played too long today... Rather coincidentally too, everything is coming together.”

Mo Huaifeng asked, “What did the club say?”

“That makes me angry.” Yuan Wei stood up abruptly, “I haven’t even explained Xiao’s condition in detail and they were already hinting to me that we don’t have to renew the contract with Xiao next year. This bunch of rascals really needs beating up.”

Xiao’s face went white, Mo Huaifeng sneered. “Just take it that you didn’t hear anything. If they have any objections, tell them to come to me directly.”

“Sure, don’t worry Captain. I’m not as confident with others, but with pushing responsibilities, no one would claim to be better than me.”

Mo Huaifeng nodded, then turn towards Xiao. “Listen to the doctor, rest well. The international league will be next year, by then, your hand would’ve recovered too.”

These words were like a shot in the arm, traces of an agitated flush instantly showed on Xiao’s cheeks. He nodded repeatedly. “I will, don’t worry Captain. For the championship title of the national qualifiers, I would have to trouble all of you to win it first.”

Mo Huaifeng ended the topic there. “Do you want to stay at the hospital or return to the base?”

Xiao thought for a while and decided. “I’ll just stay in the hospital, saves me from coming back and forth everyday. By the way, tell them, there’s no need to come visit me everyday, I’m great here. There’s a canteen downstairs that has really delicious food, WiFi in the wards, I’ll virtually feel like I’m at home.”

Mo Huaifeng finally showed some traces of a smile as one tugged at the corner of his lips. “No one said they’d be coming to visit you, don’t flatter yourself.”

“What a remote brotherhood!”

“Heh, you never considered brotherhood when you lied to me.”

One sentence, successfully waned Xiao’s unbridled arrogance completely.

The three of them sat and chatted for some time before the door to ward was pushed opened, the others entered with several plastic bags in hand.

When Xiao finished eating, everyone boarded the van to return to the base. On the way, Ji Zhiyao asked about Xiao’s condition again, by this time, Yuan Wei did not hold back and told them everything.

Heng exclaimed, “This mutt, does he have a hole in his brain? Can such things be taken lightly? The next time I see him I will certainly beat his mutt head in.”

Yuan Wei smiled grimly. “Actually I was rather tempted to beat him too, but I could bring myself to do it. Please add my share when you do it.” Pausing for a while, he said again, “There’s one last competition left, Xiao won’t be able to play, NoHomo would have to do it. Oh yes, NoHomo, about those news on Weibo this afternoon, have you seen the follow-ups?”

Ji Zhiyao was suddenly called upon, he was dazed for a moment before he shook his head in reply, “No. I didn’t think about this matter at all.”

A trace of a smile suddenly flashed through Mo Huaifeng’s eyes. At least to him, the harmony of a battleteam was very important. No overt contention and covert struggle, everyone’s heart only has their teammates and eSports.

Thankfully, the person that he liked had never disappointed him.

Yuan Wei said, “Then we would have to ask our Captain. Captain, it can’t just be left at exposing, we got to keep it up with the follow up, quickly remove the title of intentionally finding trouble and starting a fight from NoHomo before the competition next week.”

Mo Huaifeng made an “mm” sound. “The day after tomorrow, at night, I will turn on my livestream.”

Ji Zhiyao looked towards Mo Huaifeng in puzzlement.

The thoughts had leaped a little too fast, he couldn’t catch anything.

Yet Yuan Wei understood and said, “Good idea, I think it’ll work.”

Ji Zhiyao continued to be confused.

Once Mo Huaifeng turned, he saw Ji Zhiyao with “who am I where am I what am I going to do” written all over his face, his gaze instantly became loving. “You don’t have to understand, you just need to go together with me.”

What was going on?

Hence in the night two days later, a confused Ji Zhiyao was dragged by Mo Huaifeng to the front of the camera. Mo Huaifeng changed his ear-mic into ear pieces, giving him one and taking one himself. After wearing it he said, “Whatever you have, you can ask now?”

[Knew this livestream wasn’t that simple.]

[Fi-god could please stop using your popularity to boost a trash in the teeth of the storm? If you continue, I’m going to stop being a fan heh heh.]

[Though it has nothing to do with the topic, but I must say, Mix is still very strong this year, looking forward to your championship match.]

[Ahhhhh time for sweetness, time for sweetness, raising my Windy flag up high, we will not fall!]

[So just why did he fight? Is it like how it is being said online? If it’s to defend a teammate, then I can prepare to send a silk banner to Mix’s base.]

[Wasn’t that a whitewashing approach?}

“You can prepare the silk banner, it’s true.” Mo Huaifeng crossed his arms before his chest, his tone indifferent as he continued, “What is there to whitewash, even that Weibo was something that I told him to check out. If it’s fake, according to that amount of reposts, that person would have long seen it and make a post to diss us.”

[So it’s true? Ahhhhhh! That b*tch dared to say that about you! I will go to profile and repost everything 180 times!]

[Everything about the unspoken rule and all is fake? Then do you treat him so well?]

[So he’d undoubtedly done a good thing, why was he still punished by the club?]

“Unspoken rule?” Mo Huaifeng laughed in a scornful manner. “Don’t bring those things from the entertainment industry into the eSports scene. When players game, you guys just have to watch on quietly. A good and proper scene, is now all foul and noisy.”

He tugged Ji Zhiyao who was in a daze. “As to why he was punished, no matter what the reason was, it’s only right to be punished when he has done something wrong. Do you feel aggrieved?”

“About what?”

“Heh, idiot.”

[Damn it HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA that dazed look, I’m virtually dying of laughter.]

[MelonRind: MelonRind doesn’t know, it has nothing to do with MelonRind.]

[I smell the scent of true love.]

[When are you guys going to register your marriage?]

[Can Fi-god please describe how it feels to be defended?]

“The last one comment, don’t ask me, ask him.” Mo Huaifeng was especially talkative today, with a long face, it was as if he was going to finish saying a month’s worth of talk today. Ji Zhiyao’s soul was out of his body the entire time, as he was cued once again, he blinked slowly. “Ask me what?”

“How does it feel to defend me?”

“The moment I was informed my salary was being deducted, I was slightly regretting it.”

In a sea of comments like [LOL], [snorting out loud], [Fi-god, he daringly said he regretted it], Mo Huaifeng was expressionless. “The earlier one doesn’t count, do it over.”

Ji Zhiyao was full of the desire to live. “Our Captain, people fall in love with him at the sight of him, flowers bloom once they see him, the incident happened right before my eyes, how could I bear to no defend him!”

[You are a big player.]

[All men sucks.]

[This couple has been locked in, locked in.]

Mo Huaifeng continued, “At first no matter how we asked, he just wouldn’t tell us the reason, didn’t care even after the club announced their decision to ban him from competing and deduct his salary. Up till the competition a few days ago, I kept ignoring him, he was very regretful and explained everything through snot and tears, begging for my forgiveness.”