Chapter 27 Part 2

Yan Zhun walked up to him in two or three steps, handed him the milk tea, and asked with his eyes lowered, "What did you buy?"

Pei Ran said, "A very small neck and shoulder massager."

Very small?

Yan Zhun glanced at the bulging bag and raised an eyebrow noncommittally.

Since it was still the competition season, Lin Xuhuan's birthday was celebrated at the Base. When the two arrived, a table full of food had just been served, and the drinks were all prepared.

In the middle of the lively meal, Lin Xuhuan unwrapped Pei Ran's gift, holding it in his hand and shouting, "Look, look! This is what you call a gift! Look at what kind of shitty things you all gave me..."

The Coach asked, "What did they give you?"

"Socks that came free with shoes, an umbrella from a bank promotion that has the fucking bank's LOGO on it... Am I a trash can?" Lin Xuhuan was furious, pointing at his Assaulter, "This fucking idiot even sent me 5G of porn!"

The Assaulter said righteously, "You think I wanted to? I'm just short on cash. What disastrous month is this? Why does it feel like everyone around me has a birthday this month?"

Lin Xuhuan grunted, "If I hadn't seen you on your side account gifting a female streamer twenty thousand yuan's worth of gifts last night, I would have believed you."

Pei Ran: "..."

After making enough of a scene, Lin Xuhuan took a picture of the food with his phone, preparing to post it on Weibo to share with his fans.

Lin Xuhuan always liked to talk about his fans, and he indeed had many of them. His number of Weibo followers could rank in the top three in the esports circle, a well-deserved favorite of advertisers.

So as soon as he opened Weibo, he was inundated by the enthusiasm of his fans.

Most were wishing him a happy birthday, some had directly sent red packets on Weibo, and a small portion had sent specially made birthday gifts.

The more Lin Xuhuan looked, the wider his smile grew, until he saw a private commission posted by a fan and couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy shit."

It was posted by a fan named "TZG Saigao." In the drawing, he was both cool and handsome, holding a trophy in his hands.

He looked at it several times and couldn't resist replying: [You draw really well.]

A few seconds later, the person on the other end went crazy, sending several "ahhhh's" in a row before calming down.

[TZG Saigao: No no no wait! I didn't draw it, it was drawn by @Fei Yu Yi Queen!]

Curious, Lin Xuhuan clicked on the Weibo account the other person had tagged.

Pei Ran ate very quietly. Even in such a rowdy environment, he rarely spoke, only occasionally laughing at a funny remark.

As they spent more time together, everyone had loosened up a bit. When the Assaulter was pouring himself a drink, he eyed the empty cup in front of Pei Ran.

The Assaulter casually tried to pour him a glass too: "Pei Ran, you have some too..."

Yan Zhun raised his hand and blocked the mouth of Pei Ran's cup: "He doesn't drink."

The Assaulter was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Why are you acting like his parent? Just a little bit, it's fine."

They had a competition coming up, and they had begged the Coach to allow each of them two small glasses of low-alcohol iced beer.

Yan Zhun looked at Pei Ran, realizing the other was asking for his opinion. Pei Ran said, "It's okay, I can drink."

The Assaulter smiled: "See..."

"Fuck!" Lin Xuhuan shouted, "Fuck! Bro!"

His voice was so loud that Yan Zhun frowned upon hearing it: "What is it?"

Lin Xuhuan held up his phone and turned it around: "Quick, look at the person in this drawing! Doesn't he look like you!"

Yan Zhun glanced over. Before he could get a clear look, the person beside him suddenly started coughing violently.

Pei Ran's expression was a rare flustered one. His eyes widened slightly, at a complete loss—

What Lin Xuhuan was holding up was his drawing.

To be precise... it was his drawing of Yan Zhun.

But... how could this be? He didn't have many Weibo followers, and this wasn't a commercial commission, there was no promotion whatsoever, so why was it discovered by Lin Xuhuan?!

Yan Zhun's voice drifted over from his side: "Bring it here, let me see."

Seeing himself in the drawing, Yan Zhun was first taken aback, then he clicked to enlarge the image and looked at it a couple more times.

After a long while, he finally looked at the poster's ID.

Fei Yu Yi.

"Damn, it really does look like him," the Coach next to him leaned over to take a look, saying in surprise, "Are you sure this isn't a drawing of you?"

Yan Zhun glanced at the person beside him. Pei Ran had his head down, pinching his chopsticks and picking up cellophane noodles one by one.

Finding it amusing, he said lightly, "Who knows."

"And from what I see in the poster's replies, she said she drew a real person who's also really good at gaming..." Lin Xuhuan said, "Is this for real?"

The Coach took another couple of looks: "Don't you guys think that even the background looks a bit like our training room?"

Pei Ran, who had lost his appetite, thought that he shouldn't have been lazy and used TZG's training room as a reference.

"Wait, bro, could it be like this?" Lin Xuhuan stroked his imaginary beard, "Could this person be a fan from back when you were in Youth Training? Though you've been gone for many years, she has always kept you in her heart..."

"No," Yan Zhun said, "My hair wasn't this long back then."

Lin Xuhuan looked again: "...That's true."

The Assaulter said, "Tsk, the more I look, the more it looks like you. This must be you... Has some little girl who's learning to draw been chasing you recently?"

Pei Ran's movements froze. It was as if he'd been called on in class, his heart beating like a drum.

"No," Yan Zhun said, "As for people who learn to draw, I don't know many."

The people at the table discussed the painting for a long time. Yan Zhun listened quietly until the person next to him had his face nearly buried in his bowl, then he said, "Alright, it's just a coincidence. We're full, are we going to play a scrim or not?"

Although today was Lin Xuhuan's birthday, they had a competition the day after tomorrow, so everyone still had to train.

Because last year on his birthday he didn't get to eat a single bite of cake and it all ended up on his face, Lin Xuhuan simply didn't order a cake this year. After they were full, the group stretched and moved towards the competition room.

The Coach arranged a spectator seat for Pei Ran as usual. He and Yan Zhun walked at the back, side by side. When they reached the fork between the training room and the break room, Yan Zhun tugged at his finger, and Pei Ran subconsciously stopped in his tracks.

Yan Zhun didn't stop. He brushed past Pei Ran's shoulder, deliberately lowering his voice.

"The drawing is very nice," he said, "Thank you, Teacher Pei."