Accompany You Ch 11.2

Chapter 11: To Accompany You is the Longest Confession (Part 2)

Several days later, Qiu Ying happened to receive an email from the high-end internet cafe, Dream Traveler. She used to be one of their regulars and every time she visited, she attracted the attention of a considerable amount of the otakus there. This had left a deep impression of her on their manager, who went out of his way to inquire about her recent circumstances.

Ever since she continued to drop by Sun Zeyi’s internet cafe for Ji Xiangkong, Qiu Ying had stopped visiting Dream Traveler. Dream Traveler’s manager extended an offer to her: a part-time job as a waitress at the cafe’s VIP area’s bar, provided with exemptions for all of their fees as well as a high salary. The number of people in the VIP area was fundamentally small and there was also a computer at the bar; Qiu Ying needed to keep studying right now, so if she could kill two birds with one stone — she agreed.

Although she didn’t expect that she would bump into Pei Xi on the first day of her part-time job. After all, even if it was his own family member’s business, that facially-paralyzed dude really was quite thoughtful.

Qiu Ying respectfully served him the drink he’d ordered, sat next to him, looked at him still staring at her, and couldn’t help but look up and sternly say to him, “I’m working honestly, so don’t go thinking that I have any sort of hidden motives.”

She still hadn’t settled things with him yet for baselessly slandering her that time at the end of the Fall Season!

Pei Xi indifferently spoke, “Your Conquer skills have improved a bit recently.”

“…You watch me fight?” Qiu Ying found this slightly difficult to believe. Why was this big god watching her lousy operating?

“Was that Ji Xiangkong’s alt with you in duo queue?”

Alright, she knew it.

Qiu Ying nodded. “So you figured it out…”

Pei Xi didn’t reply. Ji Xiangkong was on the list of accounts he was secretly following on Weibo, but his posting frequency was extremely low and practically revealed nothing.

Qiu Ying suspected what was in his heart, so she supported her cheek with her palm and raised her chin at him. “You want to know what’s going on with Ji Xiangkong? I’ll tell you.”

Pei Xi side-eyed her, his back straight and his expression wary, like she was about to eat him.

Qiu Ying gave him a meaningful look and beckoned him with her finger. “Come over here.”

Extremely reluctantly, Pei Xi stiffly came closer to her like a jammed robot.

Qiu Ying lowered her voice and urged him, “A little closer.”

Pei Xi could only comply with an ashen face.

Qiu Ying cupped her mouth in both hands and said into his ear, “Your previous guess was wrong. I’m not using Ji Xiangkong, I truly like him.”

They were slightly close together. Heat blew onto his skin whenever she spoke. Pei Xi’s ears suddenly turned red and he moved a little further away from her in discomfort, eyebrows drawn together. Who cared about that? He only wanted to know what time Ji Xiangkong was usually online and which heroes he was playing recently.

Qiu Ying suddenly extended her palm to him, a fire in her eyes. She said sincerely, “We’re going to be rivals in the future, so let’s shake hands.”

The corners of Pei Xi’s mouth twitched. Qiu Ying guessed that he definitely really wanted to curse her out, but he had to choke it back because of his upbringing. Still, Qiu Ying didn’t forget to put on a hellishly taunting face.

Pei Xi’s face instantly darkened, and he turned to walk toward the box as if he no longer wanted to waste his words with her.

He hadn’t yet taken a few steps before he heard Qiu Ying, behind him, humming, “I know a lot of his little secrets, but I won’t tell you, I won’t tell you, I won’t tell you.”

**

After a chaotic and riotous week, Qiu Ying gradually returned to her calm and collected state in the midst of the whirlpool of gossip and rumors. She devoted even more energy toward improving her own level.

On Monday night, she received a notification. Her aunt and uncle were vacationing in America, so she would have to go in place of them to her cousin Gu Jiayi’s parents’ meeting, which was the consequence of it not being enough to simply get lectured by the teacher in the classroom. Gu Jiayi, a problem student who committed an offense, needed to be claimed by one of her family members after the meeting. During class, she was writing stories with her own classmates as the main characters.

The teacher’s reproaches were endless as she told Qiu Ying about Gu Jiayi’s crimes: “Your sister wrote a love story between two boys! What was it, walking together, and their hands unconsciously slipped into each other’s, oh dear, what on earth is in this girl’s head?!”

Gu Jiayi defended, “What I wrote was a pure friendship, Teacher! You’re the one with a twisted vision!”

Qiu Ying put her head in her hands in speechlessness.

She endured the lecture with her in great difficulty. Afterward, upon finding out that the hero of the story was her crush, a classmate from the same class, Qiu Ying glanced sideways at her. “Why didn’t you write a story with him and yourself? How profitable!” With that said, she curiously opened the notebook she wrote the story in.

“Oh, don’t read it don’t read it, it sounds so shameful when I hear it to my face!”

Qiu Ying dodged Gu Jiayi’s hands to raise the notebook up high and lyrically read aloud, “Gu Kai looked at Xia Ling’s charming and delicate figure. His heart stirred. When he grasped his hand, his entire face turned red…”

Abruptly, she bumped into someone. Qiu Ying looked up to see a teen wearing the winter uniform. He was very tall, with large hands and feet. His facial features were deep and three-dimensional, his browline slightly shading his eyes and his eyebrows drawn together impatiently with a bit of hostility.

“Sorry.” Qiu Ying turned to give way for the teenager. He paid no heed to them and disappeared around the corner.

Qiu Ying softly asked, “Who was the handsome boy just now?”

Gu Jiayi pointed, trembling, to the notebook and looked at her like she wanted to die. Her voice was near tears. “Xia… Xia Ling.”

Qiu Ying nearly threw the notebook at her face — you wrote “charming and delicate” with his body? You’re blind!

Gu Jiayi covered her face and wept, “It’s over it’s over it’s over… he heard…”

Qiu Ying rolled her eyes at her.

When she saw him disappear around the corner, her heart couldn’t help but sink. Just now, when he was walking on the road, he was limping, slowly and laboriously. Such a tall and handsome boy was disabled.

On the way home, Gu Jiayi told Qiu Ying about Xia Ling’s past.

She and Xia Ling were in different classes in middle school. He had been the captain of the school’s basketball team. In their third year of middle school, he led their team to the semifinals of the National Middle School Basketball League and for a short while, they were unstoppable. As Xia Ling’s hardcore fan, Gu Jiayi was so happy when she first found out they were going to be in the same class in high school that she couldn’t sleep for a couple days. She didn’t imagine that when she saw him up close…

Harsh and rude, never participating in classroom activities, sleeping dazedly in class, terrible grades…

Obviously, he wasn’t such a person.

After they graduated in their third year of middle school, Xia Ling severely injured his leg due to an accident. Without even mentioning playing basketball after rehab, he couldn’t even walk on the road like an ordinary person. Gu Jiayi still remembered how he looked as he jumped high to make a slam dunk, but she never imagined that it would become a scene she could only see in her memories. Xia Ling’s temperament completely changed as he abandoned himself to despair. The miracle-maker who went bravely onward in the face of adversity, who didn’t give up even when their score was far behind, disappeared without a trace.

Gu Jiayi’s father, Gu Yiqun, was the school’s computer teacher. He got along very well with the students and was also someone who loved games. He had purchased the latest game console for his house, which drew a number of students every weekend. Gu Jiayi pulled Xia Ling into this field. Unexpectedly, he was so talented that as soon as he learned a bit about Conquer he quickly grew accustomed to it. One month later, his skill was advancing in leaps and bounds.

“My male god is smart and can play anything! I heard that he’s in the top 20 of the Conquer China server!”

Qiu Ying sighed slightly and hoped that his achievements in the game could help Xia Ling find a little bit of his confidence and life’s passion once more.

Gu Jiayi suddenly remembered something and asked, “How about you and the professional player who almost kissed you in the private box last time? What base are you at?”

Qiu Ying startled as her throat went dry. “Not even first base, but he treats me really really well. I think that it’s not bad, right now.”

“Then will he get a girlfriend later on?”

“I don’t know.” Qiu Ying shook her head. “When I was streaming before, and I danced for the audience as long as they sent me gifts, I often liked to learn Firework’s Miya’s dances. He straightened me out when I first got to know him, but now thinking about it, he did that because I was always imitating his first love when I streamed.” Her eyes dimmed. “I don’t know if he’s like the others, that the way he looks at me has never changed.”

“Oh my God! His first love is Miya? That guy’s so awesome!” This news was comparable in intensity to the idea that there was someone next to you whose first boyfriend was Daniel Wu.¹ Gu Jiayi was so excited that she only realized there was something slightly wrong after half a day. She coughed lightly a bit. “What’s wrong with dancing on stream? If he dares to love Firework, you can’t dance? Isn’t the money they earn from their fans?”

“It’s different.”

“How is it different?”

Qiu Ying pursed her lips and lowered her eyes. “I don’t know. It’s just different.”

Gu Jiayi slapped her on the shoulder. “Work hard and bring him for us to see! All of the boys like playing Conquer, and when they heard that my cousin is a game streamer they all started yelling that they want to see a professional player, you know.”

A small share of pride poured into Qiu Ying’s heart. She nodded with a smile.

After walking past several blocks, they saw Xia Ling being surrounded by two boys on the side of the road.

“Captain Xia! Will you come watch the basketball tournament with the school team on Saturday? Right now, you…” The boy who was speaking had close-shaven hair. Gu Jiayi knew him; he was Xia Ling’s previous teammate from middle school.

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by the person next to him. The boy with a hedgehog-like hairstyle said sarcastically, “Zhou Yu, he can’t even run now, aren’t you deliberately trying to upset him?”

“I didn’t…”

“He was swaggering around so much before, so spirited and daring, everyone could see so. And what he’s like now is really a trick of fate.”

Zhou Yu said angrily, “Why are you saying something like that?!”

“Ugh, so I don’t have an ounce of sympathy, sorry sorry.” Hedgehog Hair shrugged and sarcastically said, “But don’t humiliate yourself even if you can’t play basketball, Xia Ling. I heard that you can’t even test into a college with your grades?”

Gu Jiayi’s brows drew together. Her fingers that were holding onto Qiu Ying’s arm were tight. Xia Ling’s back was to them, so they couldn’t see any of his expression. When they passed each other, Hedgehog Head deliberately bumped into Xia Ling’s shoulder, hard, so that the latter staggered and nearly fell to the ground.

“Captain Xia!” Zhou Yu hurried to help him up. His hand was coldly thrown away.

After the two of them left, Xia Ling moved to slowly sit on the ground, his fingers deeply thrust in his black hair. His back was bent, the lines of his back twitching slightly. Gu Jiayi and Qiu Ying hurriedly stepped forward to help him but were roughly rejected.

Xia Ling’s nose seemed to be constantly inhaling because of the cold. Under his long eyelashes were pitch-dark empty eyes. His face was pallid. Impatiently, he spoke, his voice resentful. “Can you guys go?”

Saying this, he struggled to get up from the ground, limping, swaying back and forth, and struggled onward.

Gu Jiayi wanted to chase after him but was held back by Qiu Ying. With overcast eyes she slowly shook her head at her cousin.

Everyone always had those few humiliating moments in their lives, when they wanted to hide themselves away, when they didn’t wish for anyone discover them.

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^{1 Daniel Wu, a Chinese-American actor, director, and producer.}

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any scene involving Pei Xi is guaranteed to be a comedy, 100% guaranteed.

Happy Chinese New Year and Happy Valentine’s Day!