Chapter 49

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These past few days on the set of "Tidal Order," Ning Shiyue started work every morning at the crack of dawn for makeup, and after wrapping up at night, he had to hurriedly memorize lines for the next day. Getting six hours of sleep was a luxury.

Finally, today ended early, and with the lead actor having fewer scenes tomorrow, Ning Shiyue decided to relax by opening a game he hadn’t played in a long time.

Just as he was about to queue for a solo match, he saw Ning Yuxuan unexpectedly came online and was already teaming up with others.

This game was originally how Ning Shiyue had gotten Ning Yuxuan hooked. But after a quarrel a few months ago over Gu Yunhao, Ning Yuxuan hadn’t logged in since.

Now she was supposed to be in a villa filming a show, where using a phone should have been impossible, yet she suddenly appeared online for no clear reason.

Recalling a trending topic he’d seen on Weibo during dinner — the guest star for this episode was an esports player — Ning Shiyue’s alarm bells rang loudly.

She wouldn’t play games with him, but if she ran into some younger prodigy a few years her junior, she suddenly was willing?

He sent a private message to Ning Yuxuan in the game, but she ignored it.

Unable to wait, Ning Shiyue switched out to send her a WeChat message.

Five minutes after sending, he finally received a reply.

Ning Yuxuan: "Want to join? There are three of us, two spots left."

Ning Shiyue furrowed his brows.

He had no intention of playing with that scrawny kid who looked like he hadn’t even grown hair properly!

Besides, she still hadn’t answered his question: how was she able to use her phone while filming?

Ning Shiyue typed: "Wait, you haven’t…"

Ning Yuxuan: "Coming or not? If not, we’ll start."

Ning Shiyue: "…"

"Coming."

He quickly logged into the game, then thought to invite another actor from the crew, Zhuang Yiming.

Zhuang Yiming played the third male lead in the drama. Their characters were good brothers, and off-set, they got along well.

To be pragmatic, Zhuang Yiming’s popularity was far below Ning Shiyue’s, and their career paths didn’t overlap much, so no competition there.

Actually, Zhuang Yiming had a pleasant personality—cheerful, good at lightening the mood, and never overstepping boundaries. Ning Shiyue got along well with him.

Since joining the crew, they had grown quite familiar with each other.

Ning Shiyue had seen Zhuang Yiming play games on set and knew he was quite skilled.

Normally, if Ning Yuxuan invited Ning Shiyue to play, he wouldn’t invite anyone else.

But this time was different. Ning Yuxuan’s team included a certain Duan Ziyao.

Ning Shiyue considered his own gaming skills decent, but Duan Ziyao was a professional esports player. What if...

To be safe, Ning Shiyue added a friend he thought was good at the game.

If he didn’t perform well, he’d have a backup.

The five players gathered, and the captain hit start to match.

In the matching screen, Ning Shiyue squinted, studying the avatars of the other two teammates besides Ning Yuxuan and Zhuang Yiming.

One was a pink rabbit with two strawberries hanging from its head.

Ning Shiyue thought for a moment and guessed this was probably Jiang Ning’an, the actress from the show.

A few days ago, Ning Yuxuan had sent him a message bragging about a pink rabbit-eared pajama set Jiang Ning’an had given her, mentioning Jiang Ning’an’s fondness for rabbits.

As for the other avatar, a blue-gray anime style...

Ning Shiyue stared at it for a long time, convinced it must be Duan Ziyao.

Just as the match was made, someone knocked on Ning Shiyue’s hotel room door.

"Brother Shiyue, it’s me!"

Zhuang Yiming was actually two years older, but since Ning Shiyue debuted earlier, Zhuang respectfully called him “Brother Shiyue.”

Ning Shiyue got up and opened the door for Zhuang Yiming.

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Holding his phone, Zhuang Yiming found a seat and asked, “Brother Shiyue, why suddenly ask me to play? Who are the others? The avatars look all pink and cute—is that your girlfriend?”

Ning Shiyue rolled his eyes. “No, I’m playing with my sister.”

Zhuang Yiming’s eyes lit up. “Yuxuan?”

Ning Shiyue frowned. “Yeah. Why do you call her that?”

Zhuang Yiming chuckled, “I’m a fan of Yuxuan. I watched two episodes of that popular ‘Mom Variety Show.’ She’s my favorite—beautiful, gentle, and has a strong personal charm!”

Ning Shiyue: “…”

Setting aside ‘beautiful’ and ‘charming,’ where did ‘gentle’ come from?

Ning Shiyue said, “Alright, ‘Taro Tapioca Milk Tea’ is my sister. If you’re her fan, then do your best and make her see you in a new light.”

Hopefully, he could outshine Duan Ziyao.

Zhuang Yiming readily agreed, “Sure, no problem! What position does she usually play?”

Ning Shiyue: “Marksman.”

Zhuang Yiming: “Perfect, I’ll go bottom with her. I… huh? She picked a mage? That usually means mid lane.”

Hearing this, Ning Shiyue’s brows knitted tighter.

When he used to play with Ning Yuxuan, she never went mid lane.

What was going on?

He recalled looking up Duan Ziyao’s profile earlier—he was a professional mid-laner.

The more Ning Shiyue thought about it, the deeper his frown became, his face almost crumpling with frustration.

What the hell? Had Ning Yuxuan’s gaming habits been influenced by Duan Ziyao? Or was he teaching her personally now?

Zhuang Yiming was still studying the picks: “This ‘Strawberry Rabbit Cake’ picked a warrior, and the last guy hasn’t picked yet. Brother Shiyue, why don’t you jungle and I’ll go bottom?”

Ning Shiyue hesitated a second: “Alright.”

The jungler has more freedom, so he could help Ning Yuxuan in mid.

The game started, and Ning Shiyue focused fully on playing.

As long as he performed better than Duan Ziyao this time, he could finally hold his head high in front of Ning Yuxuan!

He had already planned what to say when he saw her next—

That so-called prodigy pro? Overrated. He can’t even beat me in a 5v5 mobile game!

But barely a minute into the game, Ning Shiyue was farming jungle monsters when Zhuang Yiming suddenly shouted.

“Wow! Who’s this? The marksman plays so well?”

Ning Shiyue: “…”

At Zhuang Yiming’s exclamation, the sound of first blood played.

Duan Ziyao’s marksman had taken the enemy’s kill.

Zhuang Yiming, not noticing Ning Shiyue’s expression, continued excitedly, “This guy’s good! You think so too, right, Shiyue—”

He turned to look at Ning Shiyue, then quickly stopped.

Zhuang Yiming cautiously asked, “Brother Shiyue, who’s that bottom lane? Your rival?”

Ning Shiyue scowled, “No.”

“Then…” Zhuang guessed, “Yuxuan’s boyfriend?”

On set, everyone knew Ning Shiyue cared most about his family, especially his sister.

He had no interest in celebrity gossip, but if anything happened to Ning Yuxuan, he was always the first to jump in.

Cheng Xiyang was a perfect example.

If Ning Shiyue looked that grim, it was almost always about his sister.

Sure enough, upon hearing “Yuxuan,” Ning Shiyue’s face darkened further. “He’s not my sister’s boyfriend!”

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Denial wasn’t enough. After a pause, Ning Shiyue added fiercely, “That guy? No way!”

Zhuang Yiming grew more curious. “Then who is it? Tell me? If not, I won’t ask again.”

Ning Shiyue hesitated a second. “An annoying guy.”

Zhuang Yiming’s eyes shifted. “Want me to… purposely not use skills on him, or suddenly back off during a fight and ‘sell’ him? Help you get some revenge?”

Ning Shiyue: “No need, just play normally.”

He wanted to surpass Duan Ziyao fairly, carrying Ning Yuxuan with his own skill, not by underhanded tricks.

Besides, Zhuang Yiming was his invitee. If he played too rough, Ning Yuxuan would notice something was off.

Zhuang Yiming: “You said so? Then I’ll really play properly!”

Ning Shiyue: “Good.”

Two minutes later, bottom lane clashed again.

Ning Shiyue was pushing the lane with Jiang Ning’an up top when he saw Ning Yuxuan unexpectedly come down to assist bottom.

Five seconds later, good news arrived.

A triple kill for zero deaths: Ning Yuxuan got one kill, Duan Ziyao two.

“This guy’s really…” Zhuang Yiming started to praise but abruptly twisted, “I mean, his skill’s just okay! Basic operations, anyone with hands could do it!”

Ning Shiyue: “…”

Hearing Zhuang’s obvious backhanded compliment only fueled his anger.

He even wanted to type in chat to scold: “Can the enemy bottom lane even play? Less than two minutes and they gave up first blood, under five minutes zero for three, what level is this?”

But he held back.

The character Ning Shiyue chose had a growth curve favoring mid-game power, so he needed to farm a lot early on.

However, just as Ning Shiyue quietly farmed and grew strong, Zhuang Yiming and Duan Ziyao’s bottom lane duo had already torn apart the enemy.

Before Ning Shiyue could even come online, the game was over.

A huge victory, with Duan Ziyao scoring an impressive 12-0, easily earning MVP.

Zhuang Yiming knew Ning Shiyue disliked their marksman, so he said, “He just got lucky with MVP. The enemy bottom lane was too bad, kept feeding him kills.”

But his body was honest enough to click “Add Friend.”

Right after sending the request, he felt a cold stare land on him.

Looking up, he met Ning Shiyue’s icy gaze.

Zhuang Yiming gave a sheepish smile, “Well… I just wanted to mark who this guy is. In case we face him again, I can really give him a hard time!”

Ning Shiyue: “…”

Yeah, right.

In the friend request message, Zhuang Yiming had boldly written, “Bro, you’re awesome. Next time we queue together?”

Ning Shiyue ignored him and privately messaged Ning Yuxuan in the game: “Another round? You like marksman, right? I’ll support you next game, how about that?”

No reply in the game, but a WeChat message came instead.

Ning Yuxuan: “Not playing anymore! I’m logging off.”

Ning Shiyue almost choked.

Already quitting? He hadn’t even had a chance to show off his skills!

Ning Shiyue: “One more round, please! Finally playing together. What’s up? Is someone on your side not feeling it?”

Ning Shiyue: “No worries, if you want to play, we can start a separate game. Even if one or two are missing, I can still carry you.”