Sister, Choose Me, I'm Super Sweet [Esports] - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: No Regrets, No Matter the Outcome

Li Qinghan spoke as if she was afraid Yuan wouldn’t come tomorrow. She took out her phone and sent a WeChat message, reminding her not to forget to come to the New Fire base for her tryout.

“I’m even more convinced now that she just doesn’t know the business, which is why she sent her resume to New Fire,” Xia Yun said. While it was true that she might not get a starting position immediately on a top team, with enough talent, she would quickly get into the first team.

“That’s okay. I’ll go learn how to hype up our team to players right now,” Li Qinghan said, determined to keep Yuan.

Xia Yun laughed when she heard that. “I’m dying of laughter. When has Coach Li ever been so humble? Coming to New Fire has really been tough on you, hahahahahaha…” Xia Yun patted Li Qinghan’s shoulder mercilessly, teasing her.

Then, the two of them started discussing what methods they could use to convince Yuan to stay. Their ideas became more and more outrageous, even suggesting someone should confess their feelings to Yuan to lure her into staying.

Meanwhile, Tong Yi hadn’t said a word since before. She was in a state of deep thought. Li Qinghan and Xia Yun were so absorbed in their discussion that they didn’t notice the change in Tong Yi’s mood.

During training later, Tong Yi was also a bit unfocused, but luckily it was just a regular practice session, so it didn’t affect anyone else. Li Qinghan’s attention was on the other players, so she didn’t notice Tong Yi’s lack of focus.

They finished training earlier than usual today. Over the past few days, Li Qinghan had been focused on the new players. All night, Tong Yi had heard Li Qinghan scolding people several times, and she wasn’t holding back at all.

For veterans like Tong Yi and Xia Yun, who were less of a worry for Li Qinghan, they were allowed to end training early once they completed the tasks the coach assigned. Xia Yun had already gone back to her room to live stream. With no matches this month, they had to log 60 hours of streaming, and Tong Yi still had a large chunk of hours left. But she was in no mood to stream.

Tong Yi grabbed her jacket and walked out of the training room. She had wanted to say hi to Li Qinghan, but as soon as she stood up, she heard Li Qinghan angrily shouting. “I told you to practice one hero for two days, and this is all you have to show for it? Your stats are so terrible. Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Look at how many times you have positioning errors in one game. Your jungle has been invaded to a pulp!”

Tong Yi, who had been about to say hi, quietly rubbed her nose and left the training room.

Back in her room, Tong Yi sat down at her computer desk. After a long hesitation, she finally opened her computer and logged into the game. She checked her friends list and saw that Yuan was online. She was playing a ranked game that was already over twenty minutes in.

Since the last time they streamed together, Tong Yi had been busy and hadn’t been online at the same time as Yuan, so they hadn’t played together again. Tong Yi opened a private lobby, but she didn’t enter a game. She just sat there, occasionally checking Yuan’s game progress.

A little while later, Tong Yi saw Qiaomu from the Lingxi team log in. Lingxi was an incredibly strong team in the league. They were ranked first in the regular season, winning every single match and not losing a single mini-game, winning 2-0 every time.

Qiaomu was their team’s support and also the captain. She was a player with a very strong sense of the big picture, serving as the team’s commander for many years and leading Lingxi to many victories. As a veteran professional player, Tong Yi had known her for a long time.

Qiaomu seemed to have seen that Tong Yi was online and quickly sent her a message.

Qiaomu: Wanna play?

Tong Yi: I’ve made plans with someone else. I can’t play with you this time.

After seeing Tong Yi’s message, Qiaomu started a solo queue game herself.

About ten minutes later, Tong Yi saw that Yuan’s game had ended. She immediately sent her a party invite, but it was declined. Yuan quickly followed up with a message to explain.

Sister, I’m not playing tonight. I have to pack. I have something to do tomorrow.

Tong Yi stared at the message for a long time, then scoffed. She didn’t beat around the bush and replied directly.

You’re packing to come to New Fire for a tryout, right?

As soon as she sent the message, the person on the other end fell silent and didn’t reply for a long time. So Tong Yi continued to type.

Come to my lobby.

After sending those three words, Tong Yi sent Yuan another invite. This time, Yuan quickly accepted and joined the lobby.

Tong Yi turned on her voice chat. “Speak.”

The small microphone icon under Yuan’s profile picture blinked. Then, a familiar sweet and soft voice came through.

“Sister, you know?”

Tong Yi lifted her hand and pressed her forehead. After a long silence, she asked, “You’re still in school, right?”

“Yes, but I’ve already taken a leave of absence,” Song Jin-yuan replied quickly.

Hearing this, Tong Yi felt her vision blur. “You’re too impulsive. The life of a professional player isn’t as great as you imagine, and giving up your education for esports is an irrational decision,” Tong Yi said earnestly to Song Jin-yuan.

Over the years, she had seen too many rookies who wanted a place in the esports world. They all gave up their studies for this path. However, reality was not as they imagined. This path was extremely cruel. There were too many talented people, and only a very small number ever got noticed. Most were forgotten and left with nothing but injuries.

After Tong Yi finished speaking, Song Jin-yuan was silent for a long time before she finally spoke slowly.

“Sister, I’m not being impulsive. This path is a choice I made after thinking about it for a long time. No matter the outcome, I won’t regret it,” Song Jin-yuan said with exceptional sincerity.

Hearing Song Jin-yuan’s serious tone, Tong Yi’s heart relaxed a little. At least it wasn’t an impulsive decision.

“How are your grades, and what about your family’s financial situation?” Tong Yi continued to ask. After asking, she felt like she was prying into someone else’s privacy, so she quickly added, “I don’t mean anything by it. I just want to help you make a good decision.”

“Both are pretty good,” Song Jin-yuan replied.

Tong Yi continued, “Then you don’t really need to choose this path. Being a professional is very tough.”

Just then, Song Jin-yuan chuckled. “If being a professional is so tough, then why have you stuck with it for so many years, Sister?” Song Jin-yuan asked.

Tong Yi was stunned for a moment and instinctively replied, “Because I love it, of course.”

“Then I’m the same as you, Sister,” Song Jin-yuan said. “My reason for becoming a professional is very simple: for my dream, to win a championship. I don’t want to have any regrets, Sister.” After all, if she waited any longer, she would miss her peak performance years.

Tong Yi was stunned. After a long time, she let out a gentle laugh. “Alright, then I’ll see you tomorrow,” Tong Yi said with a smile. She had overcomplicated things. In reality, Yuan’s thoughts were very pure and had nothing to do with anything else. It was just for her passion and her dream. It was in this moment that Tong Yi remembered that when she first entered the esports world, she also had the same dream-chasing heart.

“See you tomorrow, Sister~” Song Jin-yuan replied quickly.

Tong Yi always felt like the end of her sentences had a little ‘~’ in them, making it sound like she was being cute, but not in a forced way, which just made her seem adorable. In short, Tong Yi really liked listening to her talk.

After a few more words with Yuan, Tong Yi told her to get some rest.

When Tong Yi was about to fall asleep, Li Qinghan sent her an electronic version of Yuan’s resume. Tong Yi opened it and took a look at her information.

“Song Jin-yuan…” Tong Yi said, reading her real name. The resume didn’t have a photo. Tong Yi tried to imagine what she looked like, but she couldn’t. Although she couldn’t imagine her appearance, Tong Yi could picture her personality: a very sweet and obedient girl who was also great at playing games. If she really joined New Fire, she would make Tong Yi’s job as team captain much easier.

Then, Li Qinghan sent another message.

I won’t be at the base tomorrow morning. When Yuan arrives, please go and get her for me.

Tong Yi looked at it, replied with an “OK” emoji, and then put her phone away.

The next morning, Tong Yi woke up at her usual time to train. She walked into the training room at 9:30 AM, a piece of bread tucked under her arm and a carton of yogurt in her mouth. She was looking at her phone, replying to messages, as she walked to her seat.

Inside the training room, everyone was either training or live streaming. The room wasn’t too loud, but it was definitely not quiet. Next to Tong Yi, Xia Yun was leaning back in her gaming chair, expressionlessly chewing on a piece of bread, looking like she had just woken up.

“Why are you up so early today?” Tong Yi asked as she walked over to Xia Yun, raising a hand to steady the back of her chair.

“I’m live streaming,” Xia Yun said, looking defeated. “Half the month is gone, and I still have 36 hours left. I’m going to lose my mind.”

The live stream was open on Xia Yun’s computer screen. Since it was morning, there weren’t many people in the stream. But the moment Tong Yi appeared on camera, the comments started flooding in.

“Ahhh, Team Captain Tong!”

“Team Captain Tong just woke up, and her beauty is still amazing.”

“I came to check on Cloud, and I got a bonus surprise.”

“Hello everyone,” Tong Yi said, taking a sip of yogurt and greeting the viewers. Then she noticed that Xia Yun was playing a crepe-making mini-game on stream.

“Why are you making crepes?” Tong Yi couldn’t help but ask.

Xia Yun ran a hand through her hair and yawned. “I’m still half asleep. I’ll just make some crepes for a bit… Why are you up so early, too?”

“A new person is coming for a tryout today. I’m going to go get her in a bit,” Tong Yi said.