God's Left Hand - Book 1: Chapter 18

“The following question is very basic, a give-away question --- ---”  Halfway through the commentator’s words, the little boy behind Ai Qing had already stood with his hand raised high above his head.

“Eh?” The commentator started laughing.  “This boy had gotten two chances to answer, but wrong both times.  Do you want an autograph that badly?” The young boy was so excited that his face was flushed.   “I want Solo’s!”

……

Ai Qing suddenly wanted to dig a hole to bury herself.

But she had already made a promise, she had to carry it out.

“For this award, the questions will be the toughest I can think of.”  The commentator bowed his head and began to ask five consecutive questions.  “Usually in a competition, what kind of keyboard do most contestants favor?”

She said in a low voice.  “Mechanical keyboard.”

The boy repeated.

“What is a mechanical keyboard?  Briefly explain it?”

She continued to answer for him without even thinking.  “Every key in a mechanical keyboard is composed of spring, stand, and circuit switch.  Every key has its own mechanical switch. It’s the most popular type of keyboard in the early days and a game enthusiast’s first choice.”

The boy continued to repeat the answer.  There were already people beginning to marvel at his answers.

“But there are exceptions.  There was a professional player who used just a normal membrane keyboard to beat a world ranked……”

“Solo!”

The boy didn’t wait for Ai Qing to tell him and answered the question full of confidence.

It’s a wild guess from him, made entirely from his hero worshipping…..

The commentator couldn’t help but laugh.  “Alright, last two questions.  What year was that match?  Who’s the opponent?”

This was absolutely set up as a difficult question.

They probably figured that no one except Solo himself could be sure…...because it wasn’t an official match.

She hesitated, then said, “2008, it was a private battle to settle some personal grievance.  The opponent was Korea’s King of Animals, Nani.”

The boy was quite amazed, opened his mouth, but he then quickly repeated it again.

It was silent for a while inside the stadium, followed by loud applause.  They were all admiring this young boy who knew so much about esports history and legends.  That commentator was quite surprised, too.  The person next to him, who knew Ai Qing, smiled and whispered to him, the commentator who was holding the mic finally understood.  He laughingly asked the boy, “Do you know who’s that long haired Jie Jie[1] sitting in front of you?”

Everyone in the stadium looked towards her after hearing him speak.

Very quickly, some people found out what had happened.  Some were surprised, others curious, there were all kinds of emotions.

Some people already raised their cell phones towards her direction trying to take pictures.  Ai Qing could only bow her head low, looked at the flyer about the competition in her hand, and tried very hard not to show her face.

She regretted not listening to Ai Jing……

While she was anguishing over the situation,

The boy thought hard for a while, then said, “I don’t know.”

The audience exploded into laughter, all felt that this boy was too cute.

The commentator wouldn’t let up on the subject and continued leading the boy.  “At the conclusion of this morning’s competition, we mentioned 16 of the strongest players.  Were you listening carefully then?”

The boy was embarrassed and grinned.  “I was so hungry at that time and went out to eat……”

The other commentator who knew Ai Qing thought that it was enough and pulled the commentator’s arm.

The commentator finally gave up making fun of Ai Qing.  “The award this time isn’t just Solo’s autograph, there’s also Solo’s favorite keyboard and mouse.  Congratulations.”  After that, he deliberately added, “You have very good luck.”

The boy was extremely surprised and kept thanking the commentator.

After he sat back down, he couldn’t help himself but to lean on the back of the seat to ask Ai Qing in a low voice, “Jie jie, are you really that awesome?”

“......nah, he’s having fun with you.”

She continued to stare at that thin piece of paper until all the questions were answered one after another.  She raised her head when the competition finally started again and concentrated on the elimination rounds on the big screen.

Just like the commentator had previously predicted, the result of competition was full of surprise but yet without any suspense.

97 was third place, Dt was the biggest black horse, winning first place at the Guangzhou stop.

When the winning three stood on the podium, Dt’s quietness almost became another focal point of everyone’s attention.  The commentators also discovered the interesting situation and began to ask him all kinds of questions.  Dt, with both of his hands behind his back, just nodded or shook his head.

“How do you feel about your own performance this time?”

“Not……”Dt abruptly stopped, then spoke after thinking for a while.  “It’s alright.”

Ai Qing watched him from the audience.  She couldn’t help but make a funny face when he raised his head.  She left the stadium before the audience began to depart.  It was almost dark outside when she walked out the gate.

This time of the day was rush hour.  She waited for a full ten minutes at the curb and couldn’t get hail a single taxi.

“It’s not easy to get a taxi this time of the day.”  Dt, who supposedly should still be doing interviews, suddenly appeared behind her.  He had his black backpack on and lowered his head to look at her.  “Let’s walk back together?”

[1]:  Jie Jie is pinyin for 姐姐, which means literally older sister.  Normally used for both blood related older sister or as a term to address a female older than you.