SITS CH51

Chapter 51: Marry Him, Marry Him

“What about you?” Shen Man asked Xu Zhouye. “When was your first love?”

“First love? I haven’t had a first love yet…” Propping his chin in one hand, Xu Zhouye fixed his gaze squarely on Shen Man’s face as he spoke those words, wearing a deeply meaningful smile.

“If you haven’t, you haven’t. Why are you grinning so happily?” Shen Man said.

“Seeing ge just makes me want to smile,” Xu Zhouye said. “Hehe.”

Looking at Xu Zhouye’s goofy grin, Shen Man found it thoroughly amusing.

“I wasn’t great at school, though I had a pretty good relationship with my teachers,” Xu Zhouye said. “When they found out I was leaving to play video games, they all tried to talk me out of it…”

In the eyes of teachers, playing video games was a crooked path—let alone pursuing it as a full-time career, which was practically turning the heavens upside down!

“But I really wasn’t cut out for studying,” Xu Zhouye continued. “I scored barely thirty-something points on my high school entrance English exam…”

Shen Man asked in surprise: “Isn’t your English pretty good?”

When visiting the hospital abroad, Xu Zhouye had handled all communication with the doctors, even tossing out obscure medical terminology. He called that bad?

Xu Zhouye scratched his head: “I can speak it, just can’t pass written tests.”

Shen Man: “…”

Xu Zhouye said, “Luckily my mom is open-minded and supported me.”

Shen Man recalled Xu Zhouye’s mother whom he had met previously. She truly was an impressive woman; looking at her, one could vaguely understand how Xu Zhouye had developed such a temperament.

Only a child raised in abundant love could grow into someone as relaxed and radiant as Xu Zhouye.

Like a dazzling sun, infecting everyone around him with warmth and light.

“Mm… so ge has never liked anyone before, and never had a girlfriend either.” God knew what Xu Zhouye was feeling so elated about, watching him grin made irritation flare in Shen Man’s chest.

Bracing one hand down, Shen Man vaulted off the parallel bars, turned around, and walked off.

“Hey, ge, ge, wait for me!” Xu Zhouye hurried after him.

After strolling around the campus, the two found a spot outside the school gates to grab lunch.

Food outside school gates was always cheap and delicious: vegetarian skewers were one yuan apiece, meat skewers three. Once fried to perfection, brushed with vibrant crimson chili sauce, and sprinkled with a generous handful of white sesame seeds, the mere sight was enough to whet anyone’s appetite.

Taking a bite of a fried pork cutlet, Xu Zhouye nodded in deep satisfaction: “Delicious.”

Shen Man said, “This stall was already open when I was in school. Didn’t expect it to still be running.”

Xu Zhouye remarked: “That must be almost ten years now.”

Shen Man said, “More than that…”

Eateries near schools couldn’t survive unless the food was genuinely good; lasting this long naturally meant it had real merit. Coupled with the flavors of youth, filtered through nostalgia, it tasted even more divine.

“We’re heading back to the base tomorrow,” Shen Man said.

“So soon?” Xu Zhouye had assumed Shen Man planned to stay for a few more days.

“Didn’t bring many changes of clothes,” Shen Man replied.

He didn’t tell Xu Zhouye that if he had returned alone, he would have driven straight back right after sweeping his grandmother’s grave. The old house was freezing cold, and being all by himself, lying on that icy bed was no different from lying in a coffin—no, at least lying inside a coffin wouldn’t come haunted by those horrifying memories shadowing his every move.

Xu Zhouye mumbled: “Alright then, whatever ge says. Still feel a bit reluctant to leave, though.”

Seeing straight through his soul in a split second, Shen Man deadpanned: “What you’re reluctant to leave are the fireworks, aren’t you?”

Xu Zhouye: “…”

Shen Man: “Kid?”

Xu Zhouye: “I am not…”

Shen Man: “I~ am~ not~“

Xu Zhouye abruptly realized Shen Man truly knew how to push people’s buttons.

“Come on, let’s go buy some more. You can light them to your heart’s content tonight.” Wiping his mouth, Shen Man stood up and headed outside.

“Yay, yay!” A kid was effortlessly coaxed; looking utterly crestfallen a second ago, his tail began wagging furiously at a single sentence, trailing behind while gesturing wildly with his hands: “I want that giant box, the giant one looks super pretty! And I want the spinning wheel ones too…”

Shen Man said, “Giving up on your down jacket already?”

Looking down at the cluster of tiny black burn holes dotting his chest once more, Xu Zhouye cursed: “Fuck!”

Shen Man burst out laughing.

Still, a few tiny burn holes were trivial and failed to dampen the kid’s passion for playing with fire. That evening, he was right back outside bending over to light fuses. Sneaking around in the dark in his black down parka, Xu Zhouye looked just like the Black Bear Demon stealing the monastic cassock in Journey to the West, keeping a persistent smile curved on Shen Man’s lips the entire night.

Another burst of fireworks bloomed across the midnight sky. Tilting his head up to watch, Shen Man felt an unprecedented wave of anticipation for the year ahead.

After the New Year, the players gradually returned to the base one after another. The spring split schedule had dropped at the end of January, with official matches kicking off in mid-February.

Arriving back at the base even earlier than the players was the team boss.

Before the holiday break had even officially concluded, Shen Man saw her standing at the doorway clutching two boxes of New Year snacks, glaring at him with the mournful resentment of a wronged ghost.

Shen Man shot her a look asking what she wanted.

Storming over aggressively, the boss slammed the snack boxes onto the table with a loud thud. Shen Man braced himself for a harsh lecture, only to hear her choke out in a trembling voice: “Shen Man, you absolutely cannot toy with Xu Zhouye’s feelings and abandon him!”

Shen Man: “?” Toy with what, abandon whom? Did he slack off on his idioms and misunderstand the phrase?

The sheer bewilderment written across his face was unmistakable. The boss snapped furiously: “Don’t tell me your ungrateful ass already forgot that phone call on New Year’s Eve?!”

Shen Man: “.”

Oh. He actually had forgotten.

The boss shrieked: “Are you even human?!”

Her pitch was so piercing it made his ears ache. Shen Man said, “Then Boss, if I really do toy with Xu Zhouye and dump him, whose side are you taking?”

Boss: “????”

Shen Man blinked innocently: “You wouldn’t not take my side, right?”

The boss let out a shriek of utter mental collapse.

Coincidentally, Xu Zhouye walked past just then, witnessing the entire spectacle.

His captain was calmly launching the game client to queue for ranked, while his boss stood beside him looking ready to end it all, her face twisted like a hanged spirit.

“Just messing with you, silly boss.” Unaware of Xu Zhouye’s presence, Shen Man let out a soft chuckle. “Don’t worry, we’re completely innocent.”

The boss demanded: “Don’t lie to me!”

Shen Man said, “If it were true, you’d be the one with the headache. What do I gain by lying to you?”

The logic was so airtight the boss couldn’t even formulate a rebuttal.

“What are you guys talking about?” Xu Zhouye strolled over.

Spotting him, the boss let out a long, theatrical sigh, walked over to pat Xu Zhouye’s shoulder without uttering a single word, and drifted away in melancholy.

Thoroughly baffled, Xu Zhouye asked: “What’s wrong with the boss?”

Shen Man said, “Nothing. She was complaining about employees engaging in office romances, asking what to do if they break up.”

Xu Zhouye scratched his head: “Oh…”

Shen Man let out a quiet laugh.

With the holiday break concluded, the entire roster was back.

Having gone half a month without serious practice, everyone felt slightly rusty. The manager scheduled several scrim blocks to warm up their mechanics while briefing them on rival rosters for the spring split.

“MIN is truly done for. That Marksman Luo Zhile whom Zhang Chaoyun mentored left for another club, forcing them to promote another rookie from their youth academy…” the manager said. “Even he admitted this will likely be his final year competing.”

Everyone sighed heavily upon hearing the news.

MIN had been formidable back in the day, practically dominating the HCC for an entire era. Unfortunately, evergreen dynasties rarely existed in esports, with rising newcomers constantly overtaking veterans.

“Didn’t TKR swap Marksmen too?” Zhao Rui chimed in. “They actually poached inner.”

Importing foreign players was common practice, yet successfully poaching a star straight off 3B’s roster still forced everyone to marvel at TKR’s owner’s bottomless pockets.

It inevitably reminded everyone of when TKR had poached ACE’s roster years ago; clearly, their owner possessed an obsessive determination to assemble an unstoppable super-team.

Judging by inner’s performance at Worlds, his buyout tag certainly wasn’t any cheaper than Qin Yixing’s.

“Anyway, the transfer window is officially closed.” The manager turned his gaze toward Shen Man. “Let me ask one thing… did anyone reach out to you?”

Shen Man said, “Probably.”

Manager: “Probably?”

Shen Man: “Yes.”

Manager: “Which club?”

Shen Man: “TKR, I think?”

Hearing the upward inflection in his tone, the manager asked in confusion: “You aren’t even sure yourself?”

Shen Man said, “No idea. They didn’t add my WeChat, just sent a text message. I didn’t read it closely.” Even less did he bother replying.

Manager: “Uhm…”

Shen Man said, “Couldn’t they just add me on WeChat? Sending an SMS is so abrupt.”

Zhao Rui murmured darkly: “Maybe try turning on your WeChat friend request permissions first?” This guy had all friend requests locked down tight; not even an immortal could add him.

Shen Man said, “Adding people means having to chat. Too troublesome.”

Zhao Rui was thoroughly defeated.

Equally defeated were the rest of the spectators listening in. Turns out TKR’s poaching attempt had failed simply because they couldn’t reach the target—a reason bordering on the absurd.

“With them buying inner, isn’t TKR going to be even stronger this split?” Zhao Rui spotted the core issue.

“Can’t be helped,” Shen Man said. “Who told our boss to be too stingy to buy OI?”

OI was UN’s Support, universally acknowledged as the #1 Support in the league and playfully dubbed by casters as the “First All-Hero Support.” While others picked off-meta Mage supports to tilt opponents, only OI embodied the philosophy of: “As long as I slaughter the entire enemy team, nobody can touch my Marksman.”

Back then, TKR’s original blueprint had been to poach both OI and Shen Man. Shen Man declining wasn’t surprising, though unexpectedly, OI hadn’t gone either.

Zhao Rui wailed dramatically: “I knew it! You’re wearing my shield on your body, yet your heart is still thinking about someone else!”

Shen Man: “Mm.”

Zhao Rui: “Shen Man, you have no heart!”

Shen Man shot Zhao Rui an expressionless glare.

Zhao Rui shut his mouth instantly.

Beside them, Liu Shishi sighed wistfully, remarking that cold violence was indeed a form of bullying.

“By the way, your birthday is right around the corner. How are you planning to celebrate this year?” Having finished his theatrical performance, Zhao Rui moved on to business.

“Let’s all grab a meal together,” Shen Man said. “Same as every year, nothing special to celebrate.”

Shen Man’s birthday fell on February 18th, right on the tail end of Aquarius.

Birthdays held very little ceremonial meaning for him; most years, it was only celebrated because his teammates clamored for a party.

Still, the mention of birthdays jogged a memory. Turning to Xu Zhouye, Shen Man asked: “Isn’t your birthday just one day apart from mine?”

Xu Zhouye paused in surprise, never expecting Shen Man to remember: “Yeah! Mine is February 19th.”

February 19th—though separated from Shen Man by a single day, that placed him squarely in Pisces.

Xu Zhouye beamed: “Ge actually remembers my birthday!”

Shen Man said, “Saw it by chance when reviewing team files.” Being just one day apart made it hard to forget.

“Such a coincidence?” Zhao Rui grinned. “In that case, shouldn’t we throw a massive joint bash for the two of you?”

Lifting his eyelids, Shen Man warned: “Don’t pull any weird stunts on me.”

Zhao Rui: “Hehehehe.”

The spring split officially kicked off on the 20th, though ACE had no matches scheduled during Week 1, offering the perfect window to celebrate their birthdays.

Shen Man hadn’t intended to make a big fuss, yet virtually everyone kept asking about it—including league officials.

Since winning the World Championship, he had kept an extraordinarily low profile; aside from a handful of livestreams, he hadn’t even posted a celebratory Weibo update.

Using his birthday as an excuse, everyone on good terms with him wanted to gather, celebrate, and check on how his injured hand was healing.

WeChat messages flooded in one after another, giving Shen Man a splitting headache.

Left with no choice, he asked the boss to reserve a private banquet room, deciding to combine his and Xu Zhouye’s birthday celebrations into one.

Xu Zhouye was far more enthusiastic than Shen Man, heading over early on the day of the party, claiming he needed to help Zhao Rui and the others decorate the venue.

Before leaving the base, Shen Man glanced at the gift tucked in the corner of his room. After a moment’s hesitation, he decided to give it to Xu Zhouye once they returned.

With a crowd gathered at the venue, things were bound to be chaotic and prone to mix-ups.

That evening, Xu Zhouye and the teammates arrived ahead of time. By the time Shen Man stepped through the doors, the private banquet room had been transformed into an elaborate birthday setup.

Balloons, fresh bouquets, ribbons draped everywhere—as Shen Man reached the entrance, a restaurant staff member spotted him with radiant delight, exclaiming: “Shen Man, congratulations!”

Assuming the staff member was congratulating him on winning Worlds, Shen Man offered a polite thank-you.

To his surprise, the staff member added: “Wishing you a successful proposal!”

Shen Man: “? Proposal?”

Staff member: “Yes! Your teammates told us… asked us to decorate the room extra beautifully!”

Shen Man: “…” He knew it.

Stepping into the wedding—no, birthday venue—Shen Man looked at the crew seated around the banquet table grinning like blooming flowers, caught between exasperation and amusement.

This harebrained scheme was undoubtedly Zhao Rui’s brainchild. Spotting Shen Man walk in, Zhao Rui gloated eagerly, asking if Shen Man liked the decorations they had prepared.

Shen Man let out a cold laugh: “Love them to death.”

Zhao Rui said, “We even prepared a bouquet for you!”

Beside him, Liu Shishi stepped forward to hand over an enormous bouquet of crimson roses.

Shen Man: “…”

Everyone had assumed Shen Man would refuse to take them. Instead, Shen Man reached right out and accepted the bouquet, sweeping his gaze across the room before finally locking onto Xu Zhouye.

Xu Zhouye had clearly played a hand in orchestrating this prank too; sitting in the corner, the kid had been grinning from ear to ear watching Shen Man, only sensing trouble the moment Shen Man’s gaze landed squarely on him: “Ge.” He worried Shen Man had gotten mad.

Naturally, Shen Man wasn’t angry. With everyone putting so much heartfelt enthusiasm into celebrating his birthday, what was there to be angry about?

Cradling the red roses, Shen Man strode straight up to Xu Zhouye.

Everyone wore bewildered expressions, having no clue what Shen Man was planning.

“Xu Zhouye, after dating for several months, it’s time to make our relationship public.” Never one to stop halfway once he decided to shock people, Shen Man asked smoothly: “Will you marry me?”

The smile froze solid on Xu Zhouye’s face.

The entire room stood stunned for two seconds before erupting into thunderous, uncontrollable laughter.

“Marry him! Marry him!!” Never ones to shy away from escalating chaos, everyone cheered wildly with the carefree spirit of watching someone else walk the plank.

Xu Zhouye: “…” Having calculated ten thousand scenarios, he had never foreseen this twist.

Still, it didn’t really matter. A sudden smile broke across his face.

Facing this spectacle, Shen Man had expected Xu Zhouye to flush beet red and stammer in panic. To his surprise, after freezing for a mere two seconds, the kid flashed his signature brilliant grin, rubbed the back of his head, and said: “How embarrassing… I do.” With that, he reached out to accept the roses from Shen Man, smiling gently: “Thank you, ge.”

Shen Man: “…”

Everyone else: “…”

Why wasn’t this following the script they had imagined at all?!

“What are you guys doing?” Carrying a birthday cake, the boss stood frozen at the doorway with wide, horrified eyes, repeating in a trembling voice: “What on earth are you doing?”

Before even opening the door, she had heard thunderous chants of “Marry him!” ringing out from inside. Utterly bewildered, she wondered if someone was seizing Shen Man’s birthday to propose—though considering how young these kids were, getting married now seemed a bit rushed. Yet pushing open the door, there wasn’t a single girl in sight; instead, she witnessed Xu Zhouye beaming happily as he accepted a bouquet of crimson roses from Shen Man…

Was she hallucinating? The boss’s eyes widened to their limits: “Shen Man, Xu Zhouye, did you two actually hook up?!”

A soul-piercing interrogation, leaving one unsure whether she was grieving for her superstar Marksman or mourning her newly recruited Rookie-of-the-Year Jungler.

Shen Man: “…Would you believe me if I said we were joking?”

Looking at Shen Man with pitiful, aggrieved eyes, Xu Zhouye murmured: “Ge, that’s not what you were saying last night when you were in my bed.”

Shen Man: “…” Xu Zhouye, getting addicted to acting now, are we?

The boss stammered in horror: “Wh-What?! Y-You’re already sharing a bed?!”

“Ge,” Xu Zhouye pressed on, “I’ve already said yes to you. Why are you still unwilling to give me an official title?”

Shen Man: “…”

Exchanging a glance, both tried desperately to hold it together until Xu Zhouye finally cracked, bursting into uproarious laughter until tears spilled from his eyes. He had wanted to keep the act going, yet Shen Man’s deadpan expression hit his funny bone dead-center, leaving him doubled over gasping for breath.

While everyone else roared with laughter around the table, only Shen Man wore a hollow, mirthless smile: “So hilarious, haha.”

Boss: “…” These rotten brats were seriously messing with her for laughs?!