SITS CH43

Chapter 43: Post-Match Days

After a half-hour stroll, Shen Man fell asleep the second he hit the bed back at the hotel. His breathing turned steady and rhythmic in less than a minute; even his shoes were taken off by Xu Zhouye.

Xu Zhouye glanced at the person in bed, then looked down at his own hand, which had been held the entire walk back, letting out a somewhat helpless sigh.

He had so much he wanted to say, yet his intended audience had already drifted into slumber, his sleeping face as serene as an angel’s.

Xu Zhouye thought to himself that it didn’t really matter. In any case, they still had plenty of time ahead.

On vacation, there was finally no need to wake up early.

Shen Man slept straight through until eleven. Waking up, his mind was entirely blank; only after Xu Zhouye called him three or four times did he finally snap out of the daze: “Hm?”

“Ge.” Xu Zhouye had actually drunk quite a bit yesterday as well, but with his alcohol tolerance, red wine was nowhere near enough to get him drunk. He had woken up around eight, seeing Shen Man curled into a little ball on the bed, sleeping soundly.

Shen Man kept his eyes half-open, still sluggish: “Mm…?”

Xu Zhouye said, “Auntie called you several times. I picked up for you.”

Only then did Shen Man remember that his mother had arranged to have a meal at her place today. Clambering out of bed with great effort, his entire posture swayed unsteadily: “Crap, I forgot.”

“I replied to her. She said there’s no rush, just call her back when you wake up,” Xu Zhouye said.

Taking his phone, Shen Man dialed the number.

Fortunately, Lu Ni didn’t blame him. After all, they were young men who had just won a World Championship; it was only natural that celebrating through the night would throw off their schedule. However, it was too late to make it for lunch now, so Lu Ni told him to freshen up and head over for afternoon tea instead.

Shen Man thought for a moment: “Can I bring Xu Zhouye along?”

Lu Ni paused slightly, then immediately smiled: “Of course you can.”

Hearing her agree, Shen Man breathed a sigh of relief. Being alone with Lu Ni was genuinely a bit stiff and awkward.

“Pack up, my mom invited us over for afternoon tea,” Shen Man said.

Xu Zhouye pointed at himself: “Me too?”

Shen Man said, “Do you have other plans?”

Xu Zhouye said, “Nope.”

“Then come with me,” Shen Man said.

Xu Zhouye beamed, “Alright!”

Tidying themselves up, the two headed out.

By the hotel entrance, they ran into several ACE teammates and the coach shuffling inside with ashen faces. Their expressions and gait didn’t look like living humans at all, resembling zombies that had just clawed their way out of a graveyard.

Shen Man locked eyes with them, desperately wanting to pretend he didn’t know them. Unfortunately, while these zombies had dead hearts, their mouths remained stubbornly active, calling out: “Shen Man, how could you sneak back all by yourself!”

Shen Man: “…If I didn’t come back, was I supposed to lie outside all night? You guys drank until now?”

With sunken cheeks and dark circles around his eyes, Zhao Rui said, “You didn’t even say a word to us when you left…”

Shen Man thought to himself: Why would I call you? Call you over to take two bites out of me?

His expression was glaringly obvious, and Zhao Rui caught it instantly, turning even more aggrieved: “Everyone drank too much and collapsed at the drinking spot all night. My back feels practically broken waking up. Where are you off to?”

Shen Man said, “Going to see my mom.”

The manager glanced at Xu Zhouye: “Xu Zhouye is going with you too?”

Xu Zhouye had changed out of his team jersey today. His hair had clearly been styled with care, falling in soft, subtle curls, paired with casual trousers, a T-shirt, and a gray jacket. Tall with stellar proportions, he was a natural clothes hanger; standing beside Shen Man, he astonishingly wasn’t overshadowed in the slightest—a genuine miracle.

Shen Man said, “What about it?”

The manager said, “Nothing, you two just look like you’re heading out to meet the parents…”

Shen Man said, “Yeah, we are going to meet the parents.”

Manager: “…” He stared at Xu Zhouye’s radiant, sunny grin, momentarily zoning out, thinking to himself that he must still be drunk to hallucinate that these two were actually going to meet the parents.

Lu Ni lived in the suburbs, owning a small house complete with a private courtyard.

The greenery and blossoms in the yard were impeccably manicured, clearly tended to with great care.

“Hello, Auntie.” Xu Zhouye flashed his signature brilliant smile. Naturally cheerful and outgoing, he walked inside looking even more at ease than Shen Man.

The weather was lovely today. In the afternoon, golden sunlight spilled into the yard, gilding the fallen leaves in a gorgeous amber hue.

Lu Ni brought out black tea and pastries, and the three sat down in the courtyard.

The atmosphere was pleasant, allowing Shen Man’s tense posture to unwind somewhat. As a gentle breeze swept through, a maple leaf spun downward, landing right in Xu Zhouye’s hair.

Before Lu Ni could speak, Shen Man reached out and plucked the leaf from Xu Zhouye’s hair. His demeanor was completely natural, seemingly oblivious to the intimate air between them; on the contrary, Xu Zhouye gave an embarrassed, sheepish smile toward Lu Ni.

Watching the two, Lu Ni parted her lips slightly as if wanting to say something, but meeting the rare trace of warmth in Shen Man’s eyes, she swallowed the words right back down.

The desserts were very sweet. Xu Zhouye wasn’t particularly fond of overly sweet things, but still displayed genuine appreciation.

Lu Ni didn’t press the matter, turning to ask Shen Man if he wanted to stroll around the nearby outskirts tomorrow. There was a maple forest not far away that was exceptionally picturesque.

Shen Man said, “Anything works.”

He actually quite liked these exquisite little pastries; the taste was rather nice.

Picking up a small pink macaron, Shen Man popped it into his mouth and chewed, his cheeks puffing out rhythmically like a little squirrel hoarding nuts for autumn.

Lu Ni asked, “When are you heading back?”

Shen Man said, “The club gave us time off, letting us tour around here for a few days.”

Lu Ni asked, “How is the hand?”

“Decent,” Shen Man replied. “Didn’t damage any nerves.”

It was a conversation largely devoid of substance, yet Lu Ni was already thoroughly content. She never expected to rebuild their bond over just a few meetings; being able to chat peacefully like this was already wonderful.

Xu Zhouye chimed in from time to time, never letting the conversation lull.

Lu Ni spoke about her experiences over the past few years, which boiled down to a single woman traveling the globe—quite colorful and thrilling.

Shen Man wasn’t particularly interested, propping his chin with one hand while toying with an ant that had wandered onto the table.

This was where the value of bringing Xu Zhouye along truly shone. He could actually converse smoothly with Lu Ni; or rather, no matter what Lu Ni brought up, he could always contribute a sentence or two.

The ant crawled along the tip of Shen Man’s thumb onto the back of his hand, then scurried down along his wrist. Listening to the two converse, Shen Man let out a yawn.

“Sleepy?” Lu Ni asked him. “Is it a bit boring?”

“It’s fine,” Shen Man said. “A little hungry.”

He hadn’t eaten lunch, and sweet pastries did little to fill an empty stomach.

Lu Ni smiled, standing up: “Then I’ll go whip up something for you to eat, won’t take long.” With that, she turned and headed inside.

Xu Zhouye suddenly spoke: “I just remembered, I feel like I’ve seen Auntie’s name somewhere before.”

Shen Man said, “Hm?”

Xu Zhouye said, “If I recall correctly, it seemed to be on a fairly renowned domestic academic journal for wild botany…”

Wild botany journal? Those words alone were enough to give anyone a headache, but Shen Man recalled Lu Ni’s college major: “Quite possible.”

Lu Ni had graduated from a top-tier domestic university, giving birth to him shortly after graduation. As for what had transpired between her and his father—whose life or death remained unknown—Shen Man had never been very clear on the details.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to understand; his waipo had simply been unwilling to bring it up. Shen Man had asked a few times as a child, but his waipo brushed it off, so he eventually stopped asking.

Reaching adulthood, he had lost all curiosity regarding the matter.

Xu Zhouye pulled out his phone, searching to verify he hadn’t mixed things up: “It really is her! Published several impressive papers…”

Sounded quite cultured. Propping his chin, Shen Man watched the ant he had been teasing scurry down the chair leg in a frantic rush to head home, remarking wistfully: “What a pity, her son plays video games all day.”

Xu Zhouye roared with laughter: “Yeah, played all the way into becoming a World Champion.”

Shen Man smiled too, finding the absurdity rather amusing. Had she never moved abroad, perhaps he wouldn’t have entered competitive esports either; after all, no traditional parent could tolerate their child running to internet cafes every day.

Fate truly was mysterious and fascinating.

Lu Ni emerged carrying a piping hot pizza, alongside cola and fried chicken. Unsure of what youngsters liked to eat nowadays, she had specifically asked a colleague beforehand.

Her colleague had a sixteen-year-old son, answering that fried chicken and pizza were guaranteed hits, so she prepared these and brought them out happily.

Setting Shen Man aside, Xu Zhouye gave her plenty of face, picking up several slices and eating heartily.

A kid like Xu Zhouye was the quintessential “good boy” in the eyes of elders: cheerful, smiling, emotionally intelligent, able to strike up a rapport with anyone. Sitting beside him, Shen Man suddenly felt like a gloomy, moldy mushroom. But it wasn’t appropriate to say that in front of Lu Ni, so he secretly sent Xu Zhouye a message.

Xu Zhouye’s phone chimed. Glancing at the screen, he saw Shen Man’s text:

[I feel like a gloomy mushroom 🍄]

There was even a little mushroom emoji… Xu Zhouye looked toward Shen Man, who was currently gnawing on a slice of pizza with an expressionless face, his heart struck dead-center with overwhelming affection.

Xu Zhouye broke into a radiant smile. Baffled by his sudden laugh, Lu Ni asked what was wrong.

“Auntie, I heard from Shen Man that your field of study is botany?” Xu Zhouye asked.

Lu Ni said yes, asking what about it.

“I really love mushrooms,” Xu Zhouye blinked, uttering words only he and Shen Man could decode. “Especially the ones that look extraordinarily beautiful… Could you talk a bit about mushrooms?”

Touching upon her field of expertise, Lu Ni didn’t decline: “Of course.”

Shen Man: “?”

A moment later, Xu Zhouye’s phone buzzed with another message, this time a sticker—a little yellow chick with a massive question mark sprouting from its head.

Xu Zhouye doubled over with laughter.

Lu Ni wore a look of utter bewilderment, wondering what could possibly be so hilarious about mushrooms. Only Shen Man, sitting quietly beside him, silently picked up a second slice of pizza.

Although Lu Ni didn’t understand why Xu Zhouye was laughing, she took note of their interaction. When it was time to part that evening, Xu Zhouye tactfully mentioned he had an errand to run and stepped out early, leaving the mother and son some private time.

Unfortunately, such private time was pure agony for two introverts. After gazing at each other in silence for a long time, Lu Ni finally ventured carefully, saying, “Um… Man-man, you and Xu Zhouye…”

Shen Man: “Hm?”

Lu Ni swallowed hard, asking with utmost caution: “What… is your relationship?”

Shen Man: “…”

You couldn’t blame Lu Ni for overthinking. Shen Man’s attitude toward Xu Zhouye was vastly different from how he treated anyone else, so much so that even she couldn’t help wondering.

Same-sex marriage was fully legal in the country where she had settled. She wasn’t making a fuss, merely caring about Shen Man.

Shen Man glanced at Lu Ni, then toward the doorway, speaking with profound seriousness: “I need to dispel a rumor.”

Before Lu Ni could even relax her chest, she heard the content of Shen Man’s clarification: “I am the top.”

Lu Ni: “?”

Shen Man: “.”

The two stared at each other with wide eyes until Lu Ni burst out laughing with a pfft: “I wasn’t asking you about that—”

Shen Man smiled too: “Then what were you going to ask?”

Lu Ni waved her hands laughingly: “Never mind, I was just asking casually.”

“Alright, jokes aside,” Shen Man spread his hands. “He and I are just teammates. Things haven’t progressed into romance yet.” He said it calmly, completely unlike someone concocting an excuse, leaving Lu Ni no choice but to believe him.

“Though if it really does progress, I won’t go out of my way to tell you either,” Shen Man’s attitude was startlingly candid. He was never one to inconvenience himself for others’ expectations. “Just consider this advance preparation.”

Lu Ni couldn’t help laughing, looking at Shen Man with a gentle sigh before saying okay.

“I’ll be taking off,” Shen Man said. “See you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow,” Lu Ni waved.

Stepping out the door, Shen Man spotted Xu Zhouye standing not far off. This kid hadn’t left after all, waiting right outside the gate the entire time. Seeing him emerge, a wide smile bloomed across his face… just like a puppy spotting its owner.

Shen Man strode past him: “Let’s go, heading back.”

Xu Zhouye caught up with a grin: “How did it go with Auntie?”

He was asking about the conversation atmosphere.

You couldn’t blame him for asking; he had noticed early on that Shen Man and Lu Ni shared uncannily similar temperaments, the two capable of sitting together for half a day without squeezing out a single word.

“Great,” Shen Man said. “What wouldn’t be great?” He shot a glance at the gloating Xu Zhouye. “You’re a giant tree, you don’t know the hardships of a mushroom.”

The corners of Xu Zhouye’s eyes curved upward: “Then I’ll shade all the sunlight for you, so you can stay comfortably in your corner as a happy mushroom.”

Shen Man pondered for a moment and deemed it acceptable: “Much obliged, then.”

Xu Zhouye roared with laughter.

Vacation days slipped past quickly; in the blink of an eye, it was time to fly home.

Over the past few days, Shen Man had spent his time at Lu Ni’s place, naturally accompanied by Xu Zhouye, who served as their communicative bridge.

As Shen Man’s Support, Zhao Rui was swimming in sour jealousy, complaining, “What’s the meaning of this? Clearly I was here first, why didn’t you take me to meet Auntie?”

Hearing this, Shen Man sneered coldly: “Take you for what? Drinking yourself into a zombie every single day, am I supposed to bring you along to feast on my mom’s brains?”

Zhao Rui slammed the desk in indignation, yelling that Shen Man had a venomous tongue and that he personally thought his complexion looked fantastic.

Shen Man couldn’t be bothered with him, turning and walking away.

Zhao Rui cursed under his breath as he stomped back into his hotel room. The moment he entered the bathroom, the manager rooming with him heard a blood-curdling howl from inside: “Does my face look like I’m about to die?! Holy mother of god—!”

Lying flat on the bed like a corpse, the manager rolled his eyes. Shen Man had gone off with his mother, unaware of the misery the rest of them had suffered. After the first night’s celebration, before their hangover had even cleared, the official game tournament staff dragged them out for another celebratory banquet, drinking through another round.

On the third day, everyone was already half-dead, only for WM Club—who had lent them their practice room—to insist on throwing them a victory banquet, which they couldn’t politely decline.

Right now, forget Zhao Rui looking like a ghost; every single one of them sported dark purple eye circles, looking as though their yang energy had been completely drained away.

“Stop screeching, stop screeching,” the manager muttered feebly. “Hurry over and catch up on sleep. If we don’t sleep, we’re genuinely going to drop dead…”

Zhao Rui dragged himself to the bedside and collapsed face-first onto the mattress.

Thanks to Lu Ni, Shen Man and Xu Zhouye were the only two who still looked human when flying back home; everyone else was swaying and stumbling like walking corpses.

So much so that when the team boss welcomed them triumphantly at the base, she looked at the team manager with deep suspicion: “You guys didn’t mess around recklessly over there, did you?”

The manager said, “Mess around? We couldn’t even if we wanted to, couldn’t move an inch…”

That made sense. Looking at how frail and limp this bunch appeared, they hardly seemed capable of stirring up any wild antics.

With her team claiming the World Championship trophy, she as the owner was naturally the happiest of all. Waving her hand expansively, she declared that tonight’s victory feast would be a night of drinking until everyone dropped.

Hearing the phrase “drink until you drop,” everyone shivered in terror. Having barely made it back alive from overseas, were they truly doomed to perish at the hands of their own boss? Excuses began flying immediately.

“Boss, someone in my family is giving birth, I have to go home,” Zhao Rui said.

The boss looked at him strangely: “Giving birth? Since when do you have a wife?”

Zhao Rui said, “No, my mom is giving birth to a second child.”

Boss: “?”

The manager chimed in: “Boss, my hemorrhoids flared up. Drinking any more will cause massive internal hemorrhaging.”

Boss: “??”

Xu Xiaochong said: “Boss, I’ve been on a diet recently…”

The boss eyed his nearly two-hundred-pound frame: “???” Her gaze shifted toward Shen Man and Xu Zhouye.

Shen Man was different; he couldn’t even be bothered to invent an excuse: “Don’t want to drink. Not going.”

Xu Zhouye: “Hehe, if ge isn’t going, I’m not going either.”

The boss shrieked: “Do any of you have an ounce of respect for me as your boss?!”

Shen Man said, “Not much.”