Ch 1: The Vase Streamer (Part 2)
Ji Xiangkong shook his head and said indistinctly, “I lost my phone.”
Qiu Ying was quite frustrated, but was also hesitant to ask directly for his phone number.
“I don’t remember my phone number, either,” he said in advance.
Qiu Ying bit her lip and decided to find a piece of paper to write her own phone number on, but he suddenly stood up and waved quickly at the entire table. “It’s getting late, let’s drink one more cup.”
There were always a lot of people at the bar on a weekend. The walls were covered in big and small television screens, all displaying replays of the afternoon’s football game, so the bar was filled with endless cheering.
Everyone quickly drank together. Some took advantage of the opportunity to begin talking to Qiu Ying as they were tipsy and struck up a conversation with her. After politely replying a few sentences, she discovered that Ji Xiangkong was long gone.
Qiu Ying circled around before she found him. Ji Xiangkong was leaning on a corner of the bar by himself with his lips pursed in a line. The light cast a heavy shadow on his face, causing him to look extremely desolate.
Qiu Ying’s eyes suddenly softened. She thought, they lost the competition. His heart must be uncomfortable, but maybe, in order to stabilize his teammates’ emotions, he forced himself to smile.
A drop of spring water slid across her heartstrings, fell into the peaceful and clear pond, and rippled away.
She walked lightly to his side.
Ji Xiangkong didn’t seem to be aware that she was there and stared ahead fixedly for a long time without blinking.
A moment of solitude, such as this, was a good time to open the other party’s heart.
Qiu Ying racked her brain, trying to dredge up some inspirational sayings from the official chicken soup public account.1 As she was about to speak, Ji Xiangkong suddenly nudged her with his elbow.
“Look, that girl’s black silk top isn’t bad.”
“…”
A pleasant ringtone sounded. Ji Xiangkong lowered his head, casually took out his phone, and answered it.
After he hung up, Qiu Ying couldn’t help but open her mouth and ask, “Didn’t you say you lost your phone?”
Ji Xiangkong looked at her innocently. “I found it again.”
Qiu Ying took a deep breath and attempted to make her smile look a little less awkward. “Then… can we exchange WeChats?”
“Why?” Ji Xiangkong squinted at her. “Are we still going to see each other?”
Qiu Ying stammered, “I’m a game streamer…”
“Oh.” He nodded his head. “What do I have to do with it?”
Qiu Ying thickened her skin and said coquettishly, “If I have anything I need, you can help.”
Ji Xiangkong continued to be serious. “Professional players are very busy.”
When he finished speaking, he turned around and walked toward his teammates, not minding her.
After leaving, Qiu Ying followed Ji Xiangkong to the parking lot to his car. Walking on her 8-cm high heels, her heart was trembling in time with the sound of their footsteps.
What does this count as? Suddenly cold and suddenly hot, playing hard to get?
She pretended that she was experienced in conversation, but actually, she had no clue. Although usually she only had to speak softly and tenderly and then innocent teenagers would follow her everywhere, this was her first time trying to get close to a celebrity so purposefully.
“It’s late, do you want to go home?”
Ji Xiangkong finally remembered to look at her. Qiu Ying immediately straightened up and said sweetly, “I don’t mind, let’s hang out for a bit longer.”
Right now it was only the two of them. Ji Xiangkong stopped walking, turned around, and looked at her with interest.
Qiu Ying swallowed with discomfort, watching him walk step by step toward her and lean down. His tall figure covered the dim light of the streetlamp, locking her inside a shadow.
He raised his eyebrows. “Hang out where?”
She didn’t know why, but this guy, who was all smiles, suddenly had a terrifying aura. His breath brushed against the side of her face, moist and warm. Her nerves were stretched all over her body and her palms began to sweat. She did her best to wink in order to imply that she was well-experienced. Calm down, calm down.
She focused her attention on his face. A pair of deep peach eyes underneath handsome eyebrows, slightly upturned at the ends. They were not smiling but were still affectionate.
As he moved closer, Qiu Ying’s scalp felt numb and she could feel an electric current running down her spine.
“Plaza? Nightclub?” His lips were extremely close, ambiguously passing her trembling eyelashes, her thin nose bridge, her delicate jawline, until they finally stopped at her already-red ears. In a low voice, he said, “Or… somewhere else?”
Suddenly sirens rang throughout Qiu Ying’s mind; he, he wasn’t thinking that…
I just want your WeChat account!
Realizing that his breath was getting heavier and his hands were about to embrace her waist, Qiu Ying finally couldn’t stand it and unconsciously took a step back.
She looked up, cramped, and saw that the corner of Ji Xiangkong’s mouth was smiling. A cunning light gleamed in his amber eyes.
“I’m joking.” He straightened up a little further away, his hands in his pockets. The casual expression returned to his face. “Let’s go, I’ll drive you back.”
Golden particles floated in the air, flowing all around them. The previous heat had been long blown away by the wind. Qiu Ying lowered her head and vented her resentment by stepping on her own shadow, trying to calm down the agitation in her heart.
Once the mood was gone, it was difficult to regain it. It was an unfavorable start.
**
Qiu Ying returned to the hotel and immediately threw off her high heels. She’d played around for the entire night; she was exhausted to death. She had only been in contact with Conquer for two weeks, so the terminology sounded like gibberish to her. Moreover, she was bombarded with English over the past few days at the competition site, which made her develop a headache.
After lying in a corpse position on the bed for five minutes, she got up and crawled barefoot to the desk. Tapping away on the computer, editing today’s Seattle competition highlights with a video editing program she had just learned, she stayed up the entire night until 5 AM. She lay down for two hours until four alarm clocks blasted her back awake.
Skin OK, filter OK. Qiu Ying, with red eyes, moved the computer mouse to adjust the photo contrast. After she reached a point where she was satisfied with the result, she typed out a line in a new Weibo post, attaching the recently-edited photo she had taken with Legend.
“Go! There are no losers in this arena. Restore your morale and maintain your resolve, we’ll keep on fighting next year!”
She published the new post successfully and dozens of likes appeared within a few seconds.
Qiu Ying opened the comments section.
“Wow! Legend’s eyes are sparkling when they look at Ying meng-mei!”2
“When will Ying goddess transform into a professional commentator? The competition’s female hosts can’t compare to you at all!”
“Ying goddess said it right! Keep on working hard for next year! Love you!”
“I saw you crying on the last livestream, don’t feel sad, goddess. I really want a girlfriend like you!”
……
It was 7:30 AM Pacific Standard Time. Qiu Ying turned out yesterday’s bag and found a leftover sandwich that she swallowed whole. Afterward, she covered her eyebags with concealer, deftly applied on heavy makeup, and turned on the camera to start her livestream during domestic prime time.
After playing a game of Conquer, Qiu Ying’s pathetic handling could only be described as “dumbass highlights” — when she was in a crowded place, she often couldn’t even find her own character. Fortunately, there were still some high-value highlights that kept the popularity up. When the skills were on cooldown, she would unconsciously stick out her tongue. After being attacked, she would hit on the keyboard, flustered, and mutter, “Oops, that’s bad” with elegant slightly wrinkled eyebrows. When the male otakus watching saw this, it was like their hearts skipped a beat.
The audience’s comments quickly flew by on the screen—
“Overloaded from cuteness;” “Nice, not bad;” “It’s just a game, this brother will carry you on the next one” …
Qiu Ying was about to start another game when she suddenly saw a red comment: “Ying goddess, Qiao Xin from next door’s livestream has started a hot dance. If you don’t work a little harder, tonight’s popularity will go down again.”
Something heavy sunk down in her heart. Qiu Ying didn’t know why, but she wasn’t in the mood to sing or dance at the moment.
She remembered the conversation the Legend members had at the dinner table last night.
“C ge,3 let’s fight for one more year, this time it was us who didn’t play well…”
“I’ve played professionally for a decade and I know my own condition the best. I can’t return to how I was at my peak.” Cris took a drink from his wineglass and smiled bitterly. “There are times when I know where the opponents will be shooting and attacking, I know their moves, but I don’t have the reaction speed to evade them.
“What’s more, my hand speed and mind are deteriorating by the day…” He looked at his own open palms and his head lowered. “If I stay on the field like this, it’d just be disrespecting my teammates.”
One decade. But a person’s life could last for several decades.
“My career ends here. I’ll leave the rest to you guys.”
After that round at the bar, Legend’s captain, Cris, was drunk. Several of his teammates helped support him. The streetlamps cast their long shadows on the ground, the wind shook the trees, and it felt like it was about to rain.
Qiu Ying wasn’t an esports fan; she hadn’t been in contact with Conquer for a very long time, either. She stood blankly in the same spot, watching them move further and further away. For no reason, some bitterness emerged within her heart. Ji Xiangkong coughed lightly behind her.
Qiu Ying turned around. His handsome face was unaffected, so she couldn’t help but open her mouth. “How come you don’t look even a little upset?”
Ji Xiangkong shrugged, looking like he didn’t want to answer. “I cried just now, you didn’t see it.”
……
Qiu Ying came out of her memories and discovered that someone had gifted her a cruise ship on the livestream.
On the livestream platform Youxing, the audience could send five different types of gifts to the anchors. A cruise ship was the highest level, worth 500 RMB.4 Under normal circumstances, Qiu Ying would perform for the audience as a thank-you for the gift, but today the Conquer logo on the front page seemed unusually sharp. She thought of the players’ tears that day, as well as those of everyone in the gaming community. For the first time, she was ashamed of her behavior.
Upon seeing that she hadn’t moved for a long time, the chat started raging.
“What’s wrong? If I give you a cruise ship and you don’t perform, next time I won’t give one.”
“Beauty, everyone’s waiting, don’t disappoint us.”
In fact, in the eyes of these people, she was just a joke for them to have fun with.
She had put on a strong face and laughed for so long, but she still had to always remind herself to forget about self-esteem. She was so tired of acting.
Qiu Ying didn’t want to push it, so she took a deep breath and quickly pulled on the mask of a sweet smile. She lifted the camera up and played Yes or No, a new song by the popular Korean girl group Firework. As soon as she was about to go to the center of the room, her phone suddenly vibrated on the table.
“You dropped something in my car.”
Qiu Ying said “yes!” in her heart. Yes, she had deliberately left a tube of lipstick in Ji Xiangkong’s car, along with a card she’d written her phone number on.
**
Let’s rewind to last night.
As soon as Ji Xiangkong opened the door of his hotel room, someone hooked an arm around his neck. Lin Yixuan grinned and put their faces next to each other. “Hey, you left behind your brothers and sent back the girl alone.”
Ji Xiangkong glanced around. Aside from the drunk Cris, who had already gone to bed, the other three brothers of Legend were all together in his room. They had just drunk away their troubles, so at the moment they were much more energetic.
“You smell like perfume,” Lin Yixuan elbowed him in the chest and winked. “How was it, did you get close to her?”
“Nope, was rejected.” Ji Xiangkong tilted his head and blew into his ear. “Do you want to comfort me?”
Lin Yixuan jumped away, like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on. “Get lost!”
“I didn’t think we would see Qiu Ying in person, but only Ji shao5 would have so much patience.” Huo Yao, who was by the desk, gave a thumbs-up to Ji Xiangkong. “She’s prettier than how she looks in the camera. I didn’t dare to talk to her.”
Lin Yixuan wiped his ears with his sleeves and gave Ji Xiangkong a fierce look. “Like I said before, he has a face that makes women chase him.”
Lu Feng, who was sitting idly by, couldn’t help but ask, “Who’s Qiu Ying? You all know her?”
Lin Yixuan squinted at him. “Ignorant.”6
“A big celebrity on the livestreaming platform Youxing.” Huo Yao began to educate him. “She was originally on the National Stars channel, dressing up like a normal student, playing the piano, singing and that sort of stuff, but after being famous for a while her popularity dropped. A few weeks ago, she switched over to Conquer. Her playing is basically noob level, but how many people seriously watch female streamers for the games?”
Lin Yixuan took over talking. “Yeah, usually she’ll just play a game or two, and then start dancing or chatting. It’s just skirting the line and relying on Conquer, since after all, there are a lot of otakus who watch Conquer.”
Lu Feng was surprised after hearing this. “You guys have such a deep understanding of this. Are you actually watching her livestreams when you don’t have anything to do?”
Lu Feng waved a hand. “No, there are a lot of posts about her on the forums. If you search up ‘Youxing’s four big green tea b*tches,’ she’s on the top of the list.”
“But really, she dances really well.” Lin Yixuan touched his chin, like he was thinking. “That pure song, Yes or No, she danced to it with her own style and my heart started to pound.”
He stopped talking, hummed the song, and began to move, one hand on his hip and the other with a swinging index finger. “Oppa oppa no no no, oppa oppa no don’t go.”7 He froze and winked at the other three people. “The most important thing is the look in the eyes, teasing people until they’re on fire.”
Lu Feng clutched his stomach, laughing until it ached, and shook his head again and again. “I think she danced better than Miya’s original version.”
Lin Yixuan exaggeratedly called out, “Hey, hey, hey, you can’t say nonsense, beware of Ji Xiangkong.”
Lu Feng seemed to be wracked with laughter, laughing madly to the point of convulsing. “Right, we forgot that Ji shao is also a starchaser, hahaha… that girl group in Korea, Fire… Firework!”
“What are you laughing for, don’t look at him like that. Our family’s Kongkong8 is still very innocent.” Lin Yixuan knelt down on the bed and acted like he was offering a treasure toward the ceiling. “Noonas,9 this is my wallet, please accept it!”
Lu Feng and Huo Yao held each other and laughed. Ji Xiangkong fell on the bed next to Lin Yixuan, hands behind his head, and said lazily, “Yes, every morning, noon, and night I still have to knock three loud heads together.”
Lin Yixuan heard this and was in the middle of kowtowing obediently before Ji Xiangkong used his foot to step on his forehead and kick him off the bed.
Ji Xiangkong put on his headphones and got ready to go to sleep, and as a result was hauled out by his teammates to play poker through the entire night. Just as he was thinking about going to sleep, Lin Yixuan suddenly grabbed his collar and shook him like his head was a rattle.
“Look, look! Qiu Ying is streaming!”
Huo Yao and Lu Feng quickly gathered around the computer.
“Starfish, sailboat, cruise ship… what are these?”
“Gifts on the livestreaming platform. They’re 50, 100, and 500 yuan each.”10
“What do you mean? Pay 500 yuan to watch her dance?” Lu Feng scratched his cheek with an index finger, embarrassed. “How come I feel like this is some kind of bad industry…”
“Go away, what are you thinking of? It’s to let the streamers see their fans’ enthusiasm!” Lin Yixuan said exuberantly, “Look, she’s already been given a cruise ship. Should we support her, too?”
“Yeah, yeah, I also want to see her dance to Firework.” Huo Yao was eager to join in. “Right, if we spend some money, can we ask her to wear different clothes?”
Lin Yixuan fiercely hit him on the head. “What are you thinking of, maniac!”
The three of them were having a good time when they felt a chill behind them and fell silent. Ji Xiangkong had already gotten out of bed, and step by step walked toward them. The room was extremely dim, so they couldn’t see the expression on his backlit face. Lin Yixuan’s potato chips fell out of his mouth; the air pressure surrounding them was heavy enough to make their teeth chatter. The other two also trembled, letting him reach out and shut the computer screen.
Seeing that Ji Xiangkong was turning around to go back without saying a single word, Lin Yixuan hurried forward a step to catch his arm. “Go, going that far, do you like her?”
Ji Xiangkong turned his head back around and lightly clasped Lin Yixuan’s wrist. His peach-blossom eyes turned up at the corners in a smile and his mouth bent, like a movie in slow motion, playing frame by frame.
He answered, word by word, “What do you think?”
Lin Yixuan blinked and hadn’t even opened his mouth before he discovered that his bones were being squeezed together. Like he was being killed, his immediate howl echoed in the room for a long time.
Ji Xiangkong sat back down on the bed, with his elbows on his knees. He bent his head down and messed around with the cards in his hands, from his left hand to his right. His long bangs hung down and slightly covered his eyes.
He hated this type of woman, who pretended to play the game in order attract others, and he had heard rumors about Qiu Ying’s reputation online. There were many people who tried to proactively flatter him, but those like her, whose purpose was written clearly on their face… could you say that her acting was exaggerated, or was her IQ wasted?
Tonight he’d already discouraged her and thought she would stop there, but she’d actually dared to continue to provoke him. A mischievous thought suddenly came to him—go along with it and let her play for a while, and then have her suffer a little bit.
After a while, he took out his phone and then sent a text to the number written on the card.
“You dropped something in my car.”
By his feet was a trash can. Wastepaper and a snack bag partially covered a tube of lipstick, revealing a golden lid.
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Footnotes:
1 as in chicken soup for the soul. A public account refers to a WeChat account that anyone can view.
2 meng (萌) = cute; mei (妹) = little sister
3 ge (哥), “older brother.” Also used to address older men that you’re close to.
4 the “You” from “Youxing,” which is 游星, is the same one from the Chinese word for games in general, youxi or 游戏. The name of the platform can be translated as “Game Stars,” gaming celebrities. Incidentally, this 游 is also used in the word 游泳, which means “swimming.” Youxing’s virtual gifts may be a play on their name, as you will also see below… but this is my own guess, and Youxing should probably not be limited to only gaming, anyway
5 shao (少) can be used to respectfully address a younger person
6 he originally says 土鳖, which literally means “land turtle.” Basically, a person who doesn’t know anything because they’ve never been in the wider world.
7 original song is a mix of English and Korean loanwords, changed just slightly to keep it similar to a song. Ouba (欧巴) is the Chinese transliteration of oppa (Korean address from a younger female to an older male, often intimate, if not blood-related); Lin Yixuan also sings kaqima (卡起码), which I’ve seen could be the transliteration of either hajima, “don’t [do it],” or kajima, “don’t go.”
8 doubling a syllable in a person’s name is a way to form a nickname, as well as showing how close Lin Yixuan and Ji Xiangkong are.
9 he originally says ouni (欧尼), unni (Korean form of address from a younger female to an older female), but since Lin Yixuan’s a guy, I changed it to noona (younger guy-older girl)
10 around $7, $14, and $70 USD
***
tl notes:
words in italics are not only Chinese forms of address, but also those originally in English (though not words related to the game–“Conquer,” team names, IDs, etc–just because they appear so often). And, in this specific chapter, also Korean words that were converted into Chinese characters.
lilypad translations 
Thanks 🙏😍 I love when authors give us readers multiple POVs
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