The corridors of the club were deserted.
There was also deathly silence in Xue Yuanshan's office.
Xue Lan and Duan Wenzheng stood side by side in front of Xue Yuanshan's desk. He lowered his head and recalled the situation in front of him with a depressed look. For a moment, he didn't know whether he should worry about Duan Wenzheng, or worry about himself who turned against his teammates after being warned not to have bad thoughts about Wen Yan.
"Hands and feet?"
After a long silence, Xue Yuanshan finally raised his head and looked at Duan Wenzheng: "Workplace harassment?"
"… "
Xue Yuanshan pressed his brows and asked again: "Leave LGW?"
"… "
No answer.
Xue Lan turned his head curiously to look at Duan Wen Zheng beside him, and saw that he was also lowering his head like himself, looking completely cowardly.
In the past, no matter who it was, Duan Wenzhen would always talk back directly.
He had never seen Duan Wen Zheng being scolded without saying a word.
After a long while, Duan Wenzheng finally raised his head slightly, and said after careful consideration: "I didn't know you were Lanlan's father before, so I had a misunderstanding, but I did consider it from Lanlan's perspective, and I was not worried..."
Although Xue Lan felt that the atmosphere was unusually serious at the moment, he couldn't help but want to laugh when he saw Duan Wenzheng's nervous expression.
But who would have thought that as soon as he raised the corner of his lips, Xue Yuanshan fixed his sharp gaze on him.
Xue Lan quickly put away his smile and stood aside obediently.
"Worried? How come you just did something to your son?" Xue Yuanshan said tiredly, then changed the subject and asked sharply, "Is this what is called workplace harassment?"
"..." Duan Wenzheng was choked again: "It's really Lanlan..."
Xue Lan seemed to have guessed something and hurriedly tugged at the corner of Duan Wenzheng's clothes.
"What are you doing?" Xue Yuanshan scolded, "Are you blind and can't see anything?!"
"… "
Xue Lan quickly withdrew his hand and pretended nothing happened.
"In fact, we have been together for a long time." Duan Wenzheng said seriously, "But his mind is all on the team, so we can only follow his wishes and put his things after the game..."
Although Duan Wenzheng's words seemed sincere, Xue Lan was still terrified, because what Duan Wenzheng didn't know was that Xue Yuanshan had repeatedly warned him not to have any bad thoughts about his LGW teammates.
When Xue Yuanshan said this, he was referring to Wen Yan, but he would never have thought that in just a few short months, his son, who was willing to die for Wen Yan, would hook up with another team member.
Thinking of this, Xue Lan buried his head even lower.
Sure enough, Xue Yuanshan raised his hand to signal Duan Wenzheng not to say anything more.
"I found the keyboard incident strange. If Xie Zhi hadn't told me that I was being overly suspicious and not to disturb my training, I would have come to talk to you about it."
"Yes, I'm sorry." Xue Lan said awkwardly but firmly: "We haven't missed any training during this period, and it won't affect our performance in the international competition. We won't let anyone else know about this..."
"How can you guarantee that no one will know?" Xue Yuanshan interrupted him coldly: "There is no impenetrable wall in this world. We have been exhausted from dealing with so many women's clothing issues, and now there is another sudden incident..."
Xue Yuanshan glanced at Duan Wenzheng standing beside him, and said tensely: "Don't lie to your teammates and come out... No one will buy into this even if you win the world championship! You, you, you will all be gossiped about, saying that you are not here to play the game, but to force your teammates to fall in love. All the public relations you have prepared during this period will become meaningless!"
"We play our own games. We are e-sports players, not celebrities. We just need to play our own games. Why should we care about other people's eyes?"
"You don't care, and he doesn't care either?" Xue Yuanshan glanced at Duan Wenzheng coldly: "You guys are not even 20 years old, how can you know what cyber violence and what people's words are? Not to mention Wind, people like Scalpel haven't said a word for more than a month because of these things. You haven't experienced it, how dare you say you don't care?"
Xue Lan consciously wanted to say that he didn't care, but this time, Duan Wenzheng held him back.
"You haven't considered this matter properly." Duan Wenzheng said seriously, "What matters right now is the international competition. We will definitely play well in the competition. During this period, we will keep our distance from him. We will talk about everything after we win the championship."
Xue Lan looked at Duan Wenzheng in disbelief.
He could never have imagined...that these words would be spoken by Duan Wenzheng.
"If one champion can't make everyone downplay their disapproval of us... if one can't do it, then everyone will do it. If everyone can't do it, then three." Duan Wenzheng looked calmly into Xue Yuanshan's eyes: "Esports players always speak with their strength, and I will prove to you that I can protect him."
After saying this, Duan Wenzhen bowed deeply, turned around and walked out of the office.
Xue Lan stood there at a loss, watching Duan Wenzhen's back disappear at the door. He hurriedly saluted and quickly chased after him.
Fortunately, Xue Yuanshan did not call anyone this time. When Xue Lan ran out of the office, Duan Wenzheng was no longer in the corridor. Even in the training room, the lounge, and Duan Wenzheng's room, there was no trace of him.
Just as Xue Lan frantically dialed Duan Wenzheng's number, she caught a glimpse of Duan Wenzheng squatting at the door of the club with Zhou Kanqing.
Xue Lan's heart finally settled down. He hung up the phone and walked to the door of the club.
"You're so sentimental, what the hell, when I was your age, I always held the team back and was terrible at assaults!" Zhou Kanqing held a cigarette in his mouth and patted Duan Wenzheng's shoulder as if to comfort him, "You were the rookie king when you first started playing professionally, and now you're the top sniper. You've won the domestic championship all the way and have such a strong teammate like me. What's so regretful? Why do you suddenly say you regret playing professionally with me not long ago?"
Xue Lan paused.
Duan Wenzheng said he regretted not playing professionally several years ago
Duan Wenzheng also held a cigarette between his fingers.
Xue Lan had never seen Duan Wenzheng smoke, so he asked Zhou Kanqing for a cigarette and squatted beside him, smoking slowly, but did not answer his question.
Duan Wenzheng glanced at the glass door beside him and saw the person standing behind the door, then he put out his cigarette.
Xue Lan walked up to the family, and Zhou Kanqing tactfully took the cigarette butt from Duan Wenzheng's hand, then turned around and left with a smile.
Xue Lan walked to Duan Wenzheng's side and squatted.
"What's wrong?"
"It's okay." Duan Wenzheng smiled as relaxed as usual: "Have you packed your things? You have a flight tomorrow, so go to bed early today."
The more he acted like this, the more worried Xue Lan became.
Xue Lan carefully looked at Duan Wenzheng's expression and said, "I didn't tell you before... because I didn't know how to talk about this matter..."
"It's okay." Duan Wenzheng said again: "I'm a little surprised. How could the son of the owner of an e-sports club be broadcasting live in a rental house?"
Xue Lan was amused by his words, and her tense tone unconsciously became a little more relaxed: "I didn't expect that the son of the boss of a film and television company would become a professional player."
The family smiled at each other, and Duan Wenzheng took out a candy and handed it to Xue Lan.
Duan Wenzheng also stood up and walked towards the dormitory with him.
Xue Lan peeled off the candy wrapper, letting the sweet taste spread between his lips and teeth, and whispered: "Don't take what he just said too seriously. I don't care what people say online. Like he said, we are playing games, not being celebrities. Anyway, I'm used to being scolded a lot before. The endorsement will expire after the world game. We can just not renew it then... At least, he has gotten used to your orientation, and now he doesn't object to us being together?"
Duan Wenzheng put his hand on the top of his head and rubbed his head hard.
"How could anyone get used to being scolded?"
Duan Wenzheng's sigh made Xue Lan's eyes ache. He followed Duan Wenzheng quietly and heard him say in a very soft voice: "How can I watch you..."
Before Duan Wenzheng finished speaking, Xue Lan raised her head and looked at him quietly.
"Why do you regret not becoming a professional player earlier?"
Duan Wenzheng stopped and raised his chin slightly to signal, "We're here, go to bed."
Xue Lan, however, was not happy.
Duan Wenzheng opened the door of his room, pulled him over and entered the room: "Go to bed early."
But this time, Xue Lan stubbornly grabbed his wrist.
"I know." Xue Lan looked into his eyes stubbornly. Those eyes that were always ignorant and childish were now full of determination: "You can listen to me if you want to."
Duan Wen Zheng sighed slightly, as if all his persistence and forbearance had vanished in an instant.
He lowered his eyes and stared at the person in front of him.
"Because I missed too much time before I met you. If I had known earlier, I could have started playing professionally when I was fifteen. Now I could probably tell my father with my achievements that even if I fell in love with my teammates, it wouldn't affect everyone's view of me. I don't have to worry about being criticized for being in love right after joining the club like I am now with the rookie number."
"Or, if I met you later, three or five days later... I would have been like Wen Yan, when everything had stabilized. I could have ignored other people's expressions, but I couldn't calmly watch me being pointed at."
"Lanlan, your father is right. It's because you were not mature enough that you didn't meet me earlier or later."
Duan Wenzheng breathed a sigh of relief after saying this. Just as he was about to let Xue Lan rest early, the child who was holding his wrist tightly suddenly pulled him into the door.
Just as he was pulled into the door, the culprit had already put his arms around his neck and kissed his lips in a familiar yet awkward manner.
The sweetness of the candy and the softness of his lips invaded every nerve of his, and imitated his past actions to open his lips and teeth little by little. Duan Wenzheng's body was stiff, and the tight lips and teeth made it difficult for Xue Lan's tongue to move. Her eyes full of mist were like a deer lost in the forest, staring at his eyes like an accusation.
Duan Wen Zheng surrendered instantly, and kissed his child back as if he was greedy and trying to comfort him, letting him take the initiative, and the kiss tickled every nerve of his body.
Finally, Duan Wenzheng pulled the child away.
"Okay, it's time to go to bed." His fingertips moved through his broken lips with restraint, and his joking voice was a little hoarse: "If you continue like this, you won't be able to control yourself..."
"Then don't control it."
Xue Lan raised her head stubbornly and kissed his lips bit by bit in an unbearable and torturous manner.
"I want..." Xue Lan's cheeks flushed, he lowered his eyes and whispered: "I want it."