You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 3 Part 2

Chapter 3 Part 2

As they spoke, a Benz van emblazoned with the China Telecom logo sped by and parked in front of the hotel ahead of them. When they parked their car, the doors of the van were open and several staff wearing the team’s uniform walked out first. They cleared a path through the media for the young men who followed them off the van-- --

They all looked very young. The oldest one was no more than 25 years old. The first one to get off was a chubby guy, wearing the black and red, short sleeved uniform with a “ZGDX” logo and black loose sports pants…...He gave a good-natured smiled and waved to the media.

Several people came out after him. When the last one got out of the van, Tong Yao noticed every camera turned to face one man-- --

If the first few who walked in the front could be referred to as “teenagers”, then this last one had to be referred to as a “young man”-- --he was a head taller than his other teammates. Though he wore the same black and red uniform, he wore a jacket over the uniform…..He put his hands into his pockets with earphones in his ears. He had a high nose, single eyelids, thin lips and looked somewhat harsh when his face was at rest.

Yet, he was handsome.

When a teammate turned around to talk to him, he took one earphone off and listened attentively…...his lips slightly curved from what he heard-- --it was an expression which couldn’t really be referred to as a “smile” on his expressionless face.

Tong Yao, “......”

Tong Yao had seen his picture on Weibo when someone shared his public team photo. People all mused, “He’s good looking enough to be a star, why play esports.” Now that she had seen the real person, the real person was a spitting image of the picture-- --

Had he gotten cosmetic surgery while training in Korea? How could he topple the stereotypical image of an internet addicted teenage boy like this? Look at Tong Yao, even she knew that it was more fitting for an internet addicted girl’s image to not wash her hair-- --

“Wow, take a look at that forced smile on Cheng Ge’s face. I figure we lost the skirmish to the Korean team again today.”

The lady, who just parked the car and came over, sighed behind Tong Yao…...There was no response from Tong Yao as her eyes were fixated on the back of the man who was walking slowly away after his teammates with a slightly hunched back-- --

This man was the ADC player, “Chessman”, of Tong Yao’s new team and the same person whom her best friend idolized with fervor, “Cheng Ge.”

The real name of “Chessman” was Lu Sicheng. “Chessman” in Chinese meant “the chess piece.” Yet, his importance to the team was hardly as minor as his ID suggested. Ever since he started playing professionally, half of the top ten most memorable game highlights of each season were of him. Numerous times, he’d turn the tides of a game and led his teammates to the victory-- --

He had represented the Chinese region for two consecutive years as the ADC player at the All-Star competitions. He had tens of thousands of fans and it is said that his annual salary had at least one more zero than Tong Yao’s 800,000. He was tall, handsome, quiet, stable and had superior decision-making and leadership skills. His existence in the team was a reassuring force to his teammates……

While other players would be trolled from time to time on their Baidu fan page, only Chessman, after playing professionally for many years, was like a clear steam; everyone loved him, there was no one who didn’t like him.

Though it was said that he had a bad temper, a handsome man with a bad temper usually would be referred to as having “character”-- --

Lu Sicheng could be said to be the heart and soul of ZGDX.

Yes, to be more exact, it would still make sense if the “ZGDX” was replaced by “the esports community of China.”

Before she came here, Tong Yao had imagined thousands of times what it would be like when she met such an influential man for the first time. By now, she could only say-- --she wish she could perform well in her future professional career so as not to make that handsome face frown. She simply couldn’t imagine what kind of mean words would come out of that usually harsh face.

“Is it just me or does Cheng Ge look kind of mean.”

The lady answered, “......correction, he doesn’t just “look” mean.”

Tong Yao, “......”

Now she was very scared.

While Tong Yao was lost in her own thoughts, her future teammates had already entered the hotel.

“Let’s go in, too.”

The lady sympathetically patted Tong Yao’s shoulder and led her into the hotel. She got the room key from the front desk, put her luggage into her room, went to report to the manager, then she was free to do whatever she pleased.

Tong Yao checked the room and found there wasn’t enough drinking water in the room. She went down carrying her purse-- --she had noticed a supermarket was nearby on their way to the hotel. She found the supermarket without any difficulty and luckily, there was one bottle of water left. Tong Yao picked the bottle and found it quite heavy.  There weren’t any cart nearby……

She also wanted to buy some ice cream and fruit.

Since she would be earning 800,000 a year, she decided to treat herself better by getting some other stuff first then come back to pick up the bottle…...however, there were a lot of shoppers around. To avoid the chance that some other shopper would take the bottle away before she came back, she came up with a creative solution-- --

She tiptoed up and hid the bottle sideways on the back of the top shelf.

No one should see it.

She clapped her hands with satisfaction and checked again that the bottle was well hidden before walking away

What she didn’t expect was-- --

Soon after she left, a tall man came out from behind the shelf. He had one hand in the pocket and underneath his unzipped jacket there was the red logo that read “ZGDX”. He stopped in front of the shelf where the bottle was and used his other hand to take down the supposedly hidden bottle with little effort

He turned around, paid, and walked away.

……

When Lu Sicheng opened the door with his room card, a guy with red hair, who was playing a mobile game, raised his head abruptly and cheered when he saw the bottle of water in Lu’s hand-- --

“Next time, you go yourself.” Lu Sicheng put down the water.

“I will, I will. Long live the honorable captain!” The guy twisted open the bottle and began gulping down water-- --

Then, he felt that there was someone quietly watching him.

He gobbled down another mouthful of water and turned around to look at the man doubtfully. “What?”

“This is the last bottle in the supermarket.”

“Okay?”

“I saw a shorty tiptoed to hide it on the top shelf-- --a place where all the shorties in the world would think as a good place to hide when I can see it with just my chin.”

“......”

The man paused, then quietly said, “Even I’m embarrassed for her stupidity.”