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Han Wenqing retired at 32. 

When he retired, he was the oldest professional player Glory had ever seen. He had managed this only because he had cut back on his team contributions and play time, but he wasn’t sad about this fact. After all, if he hadn’t done so, he wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the competition. Still, even with his hand speed deteriorating, especially over the last two years, he had desperately clung to professional Glory until he knew he absolutely no longer could.

“Old Han! Why are you brooding in the corner? You’re the man of the hour!” shouted Zhang Jiale as he brought Han Wenqing a drink. It was most likely suanmeitang; since the majority of people at this party were still pro players, there wasn’t any alcohol.  

Zhang Jiale had retired last year but still kept in contact with Tyranny, because he had learned from his previous partner and team the value of keeping in touch with friends.

Han Wenqing stared at Zhang Jiale for a moment before he accepted the cup. This was the second time Zhang Jiale had handed him a drink tonight, and if this was anything like the first, he wasn’t looking forward to the taste. 

“Thanks,” he nodded before taking a sip and making a face. It was still too sweet for his liking, but because it was Zhang Jiale’s favourite drink, Han Wenqing drank without complaint. It was an acceptable price to pay for the sake of friendship.

“Hey, you’re welcome,” Zhang Jiale smiled at him, his eyes roving over Han Wenqing’s face. “Worried?” he asked. It wasn’t the first time Zhang Jiale had asked this over the last year since Han Wenqing first announced his plan to retire.

“No,” Han Wenqing replied truthfully.  He was more restless than worried. Just three years ago, he was practicing 13 hours a day and going over strategies daily with Zhang Xinjie. Then, he’d spent the last two years changing his play style so he could last longer as a pro. At one point, he had been forced to practice 16 hours a day so that he could find the maximum amount of aggressiveness he could keep without deteriorating his condition further. Sadly, it hadn’t helped as much as he had wanted. In the end, he still had to step back as core and retire soon after.

Zhang Jiale stared at Han Wenqing curiously before shaking his head and smiling. “If you’re bored then just go take a breather, I’ll distract everyone.”

“I’m not bored,” Han Wenqing said,glaring slightly at the other man. 

“Then what are you?” asked Zhang Jiale, drawing Han Wenqing closer to the centre of the room. All of his teammates, both past and present, were here to celebrate along with a few of the pros who knew him from the early days, like Sun Zheping, Fang Rui, Wang Jiexi, Yu Wenzhou, Huang Shaotian, and of course, Ye Xiu. 

Huang Shaotian was complaining about the party being a sausage fest, with the only women being Su Mucheng and Chu Yunxiu. Su Mucheng was currently beating Huang Shaotian’s ass at Mario Kart. Everyone else was engrossed in a game of Werewolf. 

“I’m disappointed that all these pro players are here but not even one brought a computer to play Glory,” he joked, half serious. He would have loved to have his retirement party online, maybe have everyone run a dungeon or two and play several matches in the arena. It would have been a fitting way for him to retire.

“We play Glory all the time,” Zhang Jiale said before his attention was stolen by Wang Jiexi. “I’ll be back later—I just need to—hey, Wang Jiexi, what’s—” 

Han Wenqing tuned him out and looked around the crowded room before heading to the balcony, drinking from his glass as he went. He wasn’t being antisocial, but being in the cramped room was somewhat overwhelming, which was why he stuck to the corners whenever he wasn’t drawn into conversations. He still liked it though, even with all the people and the lack of Glory. After all, he had his friends here with him.

Upon stepping out into the balcony, he was immediately aware that he wasn’t alone. The acrid smell of cigarettes filled his lungs, causing him to scowl. He disliked cigarettes because of the health issues inherent in smoking them, and the smell inevitably reminded him of exactly one person.

“Ye Xiu!” he barked, his scowl deepening on his face as he closed the door to the balcony. Ye Xiu was leaning against the outer wall of the apartment, cigarette in hand as he looked up at the night sky.

“Old Han,” he greeted with a slight nod before he took another drag of his cigarette. 

Han Wenqing looked over Ye Xiu critically. He was standing a bit straighter than usual, no longer as hunched over. He was also dressed slightly neater, with clothes that didn’t look like they came straight from the basic wardrobe section on taobao. But, there was something about Ye Xiu that looked slightly vulnerable. Han Wenqing wasn’t sure how to deal with that. In his mind, ‘vulnerable’ and ‘Ye Xiu’ just didn’t mix, despite knowing that even the strongest people still had moments of vulnerability.

The pair stood in silence as they stared at the cityscape, the quiet broken only by the sound of Ye Xiu inhaling his nicotine. This was fine by Han Wenqing. This made him less likely to want to fight with Ye Xiu, and it gave Ye Xiu time to collect himself as well.

“Glory is really fun, isn’t it?” Ye Xiu said lightly. Calling Glory fun was an understatement of how much the game meant to a pro player; it was what they lived and breathed. It forged  connections and friendships, and it brought people who wouldn’t normally get along together. It was really something special. It also helped that it allowed Han Wenqing to beat people up without getting in trouble or actually causing bodily harm.

“Is there a point in stating that?” Han Wenqing asked as he tried to look for a deeper meaning in Ye Xiu’s words. It sounded like Ye Xiu was avoiding a topic, which meant there was a 50% chance that he was actually avoiding something. Speaking with Ye Xiu was like deciphering a code that had deeper meanings everywhere, and you had to learn when he was deflecting or when he was being honest.

“We’ve spent so many years playing Glory. Over 15 years,” Ye Xiu smiled to himself. It didn’t look much different from his usual smirks, but with Ye Xiu, it was always more about what he was talking about that differentiated his smiles from his smirks. Glory was just one of those reasons for Ye Xiu to smile.

“They were years well-spent,” Han Wenqing said, ready to argue his point. Ye Xiu smiled like he was amused by Han Wenqing’s statement.

“Haha. Yeah, I don’t disagree, it’s just amazing that we can love something for that long.”

“I don’t think so. It’s only natural. We play Glory because we love it.”

Ye Xiu paused before taking one last drag from his cigarette. “Yeah, the game really is the best,” he said as he put out the cigarette and turned his face towards the sky.

“Ah. There’s a meteor shower, how rare it is to be able to see one.” Ye Xiu watched the streaks in the sky, barely visible thanks to the lights in the city. In turn, Han Wenqing watched Ye Xiu. The vulnerability on his face was gone, leaving only his usual smirk. Han Wenqing was relieved. 

“You know, in the West, people think that if you wish upon shooting stars then your wish will come true. Come, Old Han, why don’t we make a wish?”

“Meteor showers are just bad luck,” stated Han Wenqing, “besides, when did you learn about the West?”

“When I had to.” Ye Xiu turned to him, a cat-like smirk on his face; a face of challenge. “Why don’t you want to make a wish? Here, I’ll start: I wish that my oldest friend was playing Glory with me.” 

Sardonic and teasing. Mocking in his sincerity. That was how Ye Xiu was. Han Wenqing struggled to remember the first years of Glory, but his memories were largely dominated by the arena and his first meeting with Ye Xiu.

“Autumn Tree,” uttered Han Wenqing, watching Ye Xiu for a reaction. It was the only avatar that he remembered being near Ye Xiu that didn’t go pro. He had vague memories of Ye Xiu giving Han Wenqing’s orange weapon to the other player and never getting it back.

“Ah? Have you ever met him?” asked Ye Xiu, watching him intently. Han Wenqing felt a rush of anticipation for the thrill of a fight, and pushed his instincts down. He couldn’t believe that he had a Pavlovian reaction to Ye Xiu staring at him, and if the other man ever found out, he was sure that Ye Xiu would milk it for all it was worth. And then somehow find a way to teach someone from Happy how to replicate that look. He wasn’t going to be responsible for that.

“No,” Han Wenqing shook his head, “but I remember hearing about him from various people,” he said, mainly because he remembered rumours about One Autumn Leaf having a Sharpshooter companion, and later a Launcher companion who played Dancing Rain, before Su Mucheng. 

“Too bad. He was very good. I met him when I was 15, in Hangzhou. Could have made the competitive scene interesting,” Ye Xiu said simply, but Han Wenqing felt that there was more to the story. Instead of smoke and mirrors, Ye Xiu was mirrors and water: he showed you exactly what you expected, yet there was depth that could be dangerous if you weren’t careful enough to check first. 

“Where is he now?” he asked, curious about this person. Ye Xiu, while not stingy with his praise, never spoke like this about anyone else. Ye Xiu looked away to stare at the stars once more.

“He died.” Ye Xiu said as he put out his cigarette and walked to the door. “Congrats on retiring,” he said just before he left. 

Han Wenqing was left alone under the stars, in the glass box that was his balcony with the lingering cigarette smoke. Han Wenqing felt like he had misstepped in the middle of an arena match and was left wanting a rematch. But this was real life, not Glory. 

He looked at the cigarette stub on the small ashtray he had placed outside, expecting that Ye Xiu would come out for a smoke break eventually. Why did he feel hollow staring at it?

I wish I could help him, he thought, before the idea was quickly wiped away. Ye Xiu didn’t need his help, and Autumn Tree was a story from long ago, so there was no way Han Wenqing could help Ye Xiu even if he tried. All he could do was take one last look over the city and walk away.

Han Wenqing woke up in an unknown room. There was a messy desk on one side, and the walls were rather plain. It was confusing; he remembered going to his bed last night and now he was waking up to this one. If it was a kidnapping, it seemed to be rather ineffective, since he had a window that he could look through, and he view was of a side street that had a couple of stores lining the—

Wait. He knew those stores. That was Uncle Ma’s electronic wholesale shop that had always looked like it was 10 seconds away from decaying into dust -- and that one! That was Auntie Hua’s wet market that caused the whole street to smell like fish at 6am each day. If he was seeing that then…

“Xiao Qing! Get up already!” called his mother as she opened the door. His mother barged through, looking noticeably younger and angrier than the last time Han Wenqing saw her. 

“Why are you still in bed?” She asked sharply, glaring at him before going over to get his uniform from his closet. It felt rather surreal, considering that it had been over a decade since his mother last did this for him. “What are you looking at? Hurry! Get changed! We didn’t get you a uniform just so you could skip school!” 

Han Wenqing blinked at her before he started moving while she made approving sounds. His mother was a force of nature. A lot of people said that he got his personality from her, and he wouldn’t disagree with them. 

“Come, I have food for you. Hurry now. Xiao Feng and Xiao Yu are waiting for you.” 

“Mama?” Han Wenqing was vaguely unsettled by how high his voice was, more used to the deeper tone of what he was beginning to suspect was his future self.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Is this real?” 

“Are you dying?” his mother said while glaring at him suspiciously just to check that he wasn’t really dying. She clicked her tongue at whatever she saw. Han Wenqing didn’t question it, because otherwise she’d probably call one of the neighbours over to check if there really was something wrong with him.

“No. Just... what’s the date today?” he asked as his mother handed him his high school uniform. The blue and white track uniform made him long for the red and black uniforms of Tyranny. Blue and white just didn’t suit him, and the jacket was way too long.

“July 20th. Why? Did you forget that this is the last day of school? You can go directly to helping at the restaurant after today.” 

Han Wenqing felt very grateful that he hadn't woken up in the middle of his exams, because he remembered none of the content and probably would have done worse than he did the first time around. But considering that he was meant to work at the restaurant when school was out, it would have to be around 2012? Maybe 2011; high school was a long time ago.

“Thank you Mama for everything you’ve done for me,” he said instead of saying anything else. It wasn’t that he thought his mother wouldn’t believe him if he admitted that he had time travelled; he was more afraid that she would beat him if she knew he had plans to go into eSports. The first time around hadn't been pretty, but his parents came around in the end since he had agreed to return to the restaurant after his eSports career. 

His mother stared at him for a second with an impressive scowl on her face. 

“Why are you thanking me now? Thank me after you graduate high school or after you get married! Not now, you’ve barely lived your life to start thanking me yet,” she huffed, but he could tell that she was pleased because she smiled a bit. “Go! You’ve got school!”

“Okay,” he promised as his mother walked out.

Han Wenqing paused for a moment before going into the bathroom to wash his face. He hadn’t spoken with his childhood friends in a long time.They used to play with him when Glory first became popular, but once he was recruited into Tyranny, there was no time for his friends and they slowly drifted apart. 

Staring in the mirror, Han Wenqing was vividly reminded of the reason he didn't like showing people photos of his younger self: he was baby-faced, almost ridiculously so. He quickly put his uniform on and rushed downstairs, running past his parents serving baizhou and youtiao to the hungry customers. Hanging around outside were Li Feng and Wang Dongyu, both of them his close friends in his youth. 

Li Feng was a lot bigger than he remembered. He was a good guy though, and Han Wenqing vaguely remembered that Li Feng also had a girlfriend. Wang Dongyu was more plain looking, and Han Wenqing’s most prominent memory of him was that Wang Dongyu had a heavy interest in idol groups. He enthusiastically followed each one and would cry whenever he couldn’t get tickets to idol shows. 

Han Wenqing didn’t know what happened to either of them after he began his pro career, only remembering that Wang Dongyu went off to college while Li Feng only got a high school certificate. Han Wenqing hadn’t even bothered finishing high school.

“Hey Wenqing, we’re going to be late! Hurry, hurry!” shouted Li Feng as he leaned against a pole with a helping of Han Wenqing’s family baizhou and youtiao in hand. Wang Dongyu was on his phone, avidly watching something, though he muttered a hello and gave a wave.

“Dongyu, come on,” whined Li Feng, grabbing Wang Dongyu’s arm with greasy hands and nearly causing his phone to drop on the ground. “The gates are going to close soon!” he shouted as his other arm wrapped around Han Wenqing’s neck, spilling drops of baizhou on Han Wenqing’s uniform. 

“Careful!” shouted Han Wenqing as he was forced to head to school instead of ditching in favour of seeing if Glory was out yet. Wang Dongyu protested as well, but quickly resigned himself to their friend’s manhandling.

“We wouldn’t be in this situation if you weren’t late,” stated Wang Dongyu as he lightly glared at Han Wenqing. “And Li Feng, let go already! I can smell your armpits from here and I’m not even under your arm like Wenqing is!” Wang Dongyu squirmed to get free before Li Feng let them both go, probably spilling more baizhou in the process.

“So why were you late?” asked Wang Dongyu as they got to the intersection. If Han Wenqing remembered correctly, it was a subway ride for a couple of stops and then another few blocks’ walk to the school. 

“Slept in,” said Han Wenqing, unwilling to say any more. Li Feng and Wang Dongyu looked at each other before shrugging it off. Han Wenqing felt a temporary moment of loss for his friends back in the future. They may not have pushed him to reveal personal information, but they would have made him feel better by playing some Glory with him.

“Hey, wait for me!” said Wang Dongyu after a moment as he rushed to a vending machine. Han Wenqing wasn’t very impressed. When he came back, he handed a drink to Wenqing. It was a Wahaha Nutri-Express. Han Wenqing looked blankly at the bottle before looking at Wang Dongyu.

“Why aren’t you drinking it?” Wang Dongyu asked, concern lacing his tone. “You aren’t sick are you? Do we need to get you a mask? I think there’s this one cute idol one we can--” 

Han Wenqing shoved Wang Dongyu lightly - more of a heavy pat than anything else - but he was grateful as he smiled. He remembered that Wahaha was his favourite drink when he was younger, but he didn’t think that his friends would buy one for him.

“I’m not sick, but thanks,” Han Wenqing said as he opened the bottle and drank. He realised that he forgot his breakfast when he left home, so he appreciated being able to put something in his belly before school started. It was nice. Li Feng and Wang Dongyu kept up the chatter while they scanned their cards, mainly about what they were doing for the holidays and also talking about a concert that Dream Girls was doing in Guangzhou.

Han Wenqing wondered why they had drifted apart. Was it just because they weren’t in the same school anymore, or was it something more?

They’d finally arrived at the subway, and Han Wenqing had forgotten how bad the 6:30 a.m. traffic was here, what with all the students lining up to catch the train. It really was a sea of students with the noise echoing in the tunnels. Han Wenqing and his friends had to stand since all the seats were full, but they managed to get to school on time.

The day passed quickly. Han Wenqing barely remembered anyone from high school—maybe about 10 people maximum apart from his friends—and he was beginning to get antsy. He wasn’t used to neither exercising nor playing Glory. There was nothing to learn from his classes either, since it was the last day of the school year. Besides, Han Wenqing already knew that he was going to drop out of school as soon as Glory came out, so school was useless to him. 

After classes finally ended, Han Wenqing and Wang Dongyu lingered around the main gate, waiting for Li Feng. Wang Dongyu was alternating between looking up and watching his phone, and Han Wenqing was observing the students that passed them by in groups of twos and threes. 

“Wang Bingbing is watching you,” commented Wang Dongyu, who had looked up from his phone to watch a group of girls. Han Wenqing couldn’t even tell which one Wang Bingbing was supposed to be. He thought it might have been the girl with the few strands of hair falling over her forehead, too short to reach her ponytail. 

“Not interested.” He dismissed Wang Bingbing with a scowl. She was young. Too young for Han Wenqing, who still felt like a thirty year old man. Besides, he barely remembered her; how was he meant to like a person if he didn’t even remember them? Wang Dongyu hummed in response before going back to his phone. There was an odd sense of detached nostalgia as he did this, and it hit him in a way that nothing else did, that this was all real.

Han Wenqing’s hands were itching to go through his technical combos. Addiction was a hard thing to stop, and he had been a Glory addict for over 10 years. He really wanted to go into the arena and just fight with Ye Xiu again--

Ye Xiu.

Oh. 

Yesterday, Ye Xiu was telling him about a friend he met when he was 15. When did Ye Xiu turn 15? Did he somehow go back to that time? Ye Xiu met his friend in Hangzhou, right? It was going to cost a fair bit to get there.

“Wang Dongyu, what’s the fastest way to make money?” Han Wenqing asked. He didn’t know where he could make fast money—no Glory tournaments were currently going on, and while he was good at other games, he wasn’t fantastic at them. 

Wang Dongyu looked up from his screen, his face blank. “...like legally?” he asked after a moment. 

Han Wenqing glared at him. “Of course legally. What else would I be doing?”

“Selling your body?”

“I need my organs to survive, thanks.”

Wang Dongyu was quiet for a moment, staring blankly at the road like a mother who just saw a poor grade on her child’s report card—the calm before the storm—before he looked at Han Wenqing again. 

“You could try becoming an idol. You have the face for it, and if you grew a little bit more then you’d easily make it.” His face was perfectly honest as he said this. Han Wenqing vaguely remembered that Wang Dongyu used to say things like this to him constantly. 

“Don’t want to. I’d much prefer playing games.”

“Yeah, but how are you meant to make a living playing games? The tournaments barely pay anything. You’re better off spending time either studying or becoming famous.”

“I’ll find a way.”

“Heh,” Wang Dongyu snorted before grinning, “Wenqing, please don’t change.” 

Still, the thought of how to get enough money to travel to Hangzhou lingered. As he went home with Li Feng and Wang Dongyu, he stopped by an internet cafe and looked at the signs on the windows. CSGO was being advertised along with League of Legends, World of Warcraft and DoTA. 

“You want to go in?” asked Li Feng, peering at the internet cafe as Wang Dongyu shrugged. It wasn’t their usual internet cafe, which was closer to their homes, but it was the closest one to their school and there was no guarantee that they would be let in because of the no minor policy. Though Wenqing didn’t want to go in, he just wanted to know what games were currently out. So far, it didn’t look like DoTA 2 had been released, or at the very least it wasn’t available in China yet. But, there was a little poster saying that there was a League tournament happening soon for teams.

“I need to go to cram school soon, but if we spend half an hour playing I can still make it if we go to our usual place,” Wang Dongyu said, somewhat anxious because he was uncertain how much time he actually had left to spend playing around. Han Wenqing stared at the posters a bit more before shaking his head. He didn’t even remember his old League account anymore. He was too used to simply needing to insert his card.

“No need. I should go home instead,” said Han Wenqing, to Wang Dongyu’s great relief and Li Feng’s disappointment.

“Your mum should be happy with a boy like you. So obedient!” Li Feng teased, a large grin on his face.

“Have you seen his grades? She’ll kill him first before praising him,” Wang Dongyu added, his lips turned up in a smirk.

“If you don’t see me again, then know that I have died,” joked Han Wenqing as they left the area of the cafe. He still had some time before Glory came out, so maybe he had some time before he could go meet Ye Xiu?

“Don’t worry, I’ll put flowers on your grave.” Wang Dongyu said gravely with a large grin on his face.

As Han Wenqing thought about his rival, he immediately knew the answer to his question. There was no way that he could wait until Glory came out to meet Ye Xiu. Sure, their rivalry was based in Glory, but he was still Han Wenqing’s good friend, and seeing the other man again would be nice.

Soon enough they finally arrived at Han Wenqing’s place. Li Feng went inside to pick up an order for his mother, and Wang Dongyu left with a wave. Han Wenqing’s mother was waiting for him, standing with a scowl as the regulars chuckled from their plastic and metal tables.

His mother immediately put him to work, and as he walked upstairs he could hear the voices of his friends joking around and calling up to him about what a good boy he was. It wasn’t quite the trash talk he’d gotten used to hearing in Glory, but it was alright—enough to be a good substitute for what he wanted to hear.

That night, he asked his parents for a trip to Hangzhou. His parents glanced at each other and said they’d look into it. He suspected that it might actually cost too much, and that he would need a job or something to raise the funds, but he’d have to move quickly since he didn’t know when or how long Ye Xiu would actually be in Hangzhou.

As he prepared for bed that night, he had the oddest craving for Chun Mee tea. He blamed Zhang Xinjie.The other man brought him a couple of cups a day to ‘promote good health,’ especially in his last two years. He had gotten addicted thanks to this, and now it was hard for him to sleep without the soothing taste of that tea. Han Wenqing sighed as he got dressed for bed. He relaxed into his mattress and stared up at his ceiling. He could only hope that he could start settling back into his past soon, and also somehow manage to get enough money to go to Hangzhou.

His parents didn’t speak with him about Hangzhou the next day or the day after. 

Instead, he was put to work at his parents’ restaurant, serving people food and drinks, washing dishes, or getting the till. When business was slow, his parents allowed him to play on his phone, and messages from his friends occasionally popped up—sometimes it was Wang Dongyu with a meme, and other times it was Li Feng complaining about how his parents were upset with him. But, when the restaurant was busy, Han Wenqing was forced to work hard. 

It was nothing that he couldn’t handle though. There was a certain nostalgia involved. The old memories and muscle memory of working in his parents’ restaurant made everything feel sweeter than it actually was. His father taught him simple cooking tricks, occasionally telling him how to make a dish for a customer as his mother taught him how to sell things even with a scowl on his face.

“Xiao Qing, what do you want to do in Hangzhou?” his mother asked curiously while they were manning the front. Not many customers were around since everyone was still at work. Han Wenqing thought about his words carefully. While he and his mother had similar personalities, they didn’t have the kind of relationship where they could tell each other everything, or tell each other nothing and have the other understand exactly what they were thinking. 

“I want to visit a friend there.”

“You have friends in Hangzhou?” She was baffled by the concept. Han Wenqing was not surprised. He wasn’t the type to easily make friends after all, but online was different. Respect could be earned through battles. He couldn’t even remember how he became friends with Li Feng and Wang Dongyu. He was ill-tempered as a child, especially when being called cute or handsome by others.

Nevertheless, Han Wenqing nodded. He did have a friend in Hangzhou, and more importantly, he had a mission to accomplish there. 

“Okay,” she said, edging her way around the bain-marie with her bare hands born of experience. She barely had to look at the metal to get the tray out.

“Okay?” he asked, confused over her easy acceptance.

“Okay, now help me with the pot. Work hard and you’ll be rewarded.” And that was the end of that, apparently. 

Over the holidays, Han Wenqing occasionally went to his local internet cafe to level up a League account. He didn’t touch CSGO, knowing that while some of his skills in Glory would transfer well given the first-person nature of both, it just wasn’t the same. After all, he couldn’t just melee his opponents in CSGO.

Then, a few days before the end of summer break, his parents surprised him with train tickets to Hangzhou.

“You actually got me the tickets,” he said, surprised. His father had handed it to him while they were watching a drama on tv after they closed the store.

“Sorry it took so long,” his father said with a kind smile. Han Wenqing sometimes wondered how his parents got together. They were very different people. His mother was tough; a strong woman who willingly and enthusiastically took on men in fights. Sometimes his mother’s friends would call her “Jiejie” and bow their heads to her in respect while she glared at them with a cigarette in her mouth, and then they’d all laugh and talk about the old times when she was a great gambler. On the other hand, his father, while physically strong, preferred to leave confrontations to his wife. 

“Thank you,” Han Wenqing said, very grateful for their generosity. 

“You leave in 2 days and come back the day before you’re meant to go to school. You better not come back late, or I’ll have to come and find you,” his mother warned before going back to her drama.

For the next two days, Han Wenqing worked harder than he did before. When the store was quiet, he wiped tables and mopped the floor, and when things got busy, he took multiple orders at once and even tried his best to smile at people. 

The regular customers, who all knew his mother and who Han Wenqing was beginning to suspect were actually very shady people, laughed whenever he tried smiling. One of them even went so far as to tell him that he looked better with a scowl, like his mother. Han Wenqing couldn’t help but scowl at him in response, making everyone laugh.

His two friends were surprised when they found out about his trip. They didn’t know that Han Wenqing had other friends, and to be fair, if Han Wenqing really was his 16-year-old self of the past, then he wouldn’t actually have any friends apart from the two of them. 

He only brought a duffel bag with him to the train station. His mother kept asking him if he wanted a suitcase all the way until he had to insert his ticket at the station gates for verification, and told him that if anyone tried to kidnap him for his organs to stab them first. The trip to Hangzhou was long, but he was used to travelling a lot for his work as a pro player. 

He watched as the city went by as he sat in his hard seat, surrounded by strangers when he once would have been surrounded by his team. He half expected Zhang Xinjie to pass him some water, or for Zhang Jiale to tell the same terrible jokes he told every trip, which doubled in number whenever Lin Jingyan egged him on. 

The jokes had been a reliable occurence ever since Zhang Jiale transferred to Tyranny. There was something comforting about knowing that there would always be cringe-worthy jokes ready for them. Bai Yanfei always took photos of their trips, trying to get everyone involved, and Zhang Jiale enjoyed joining in the photo-taking once he joined the team.

It was a long ride to Hangzhou. He stood  to walk around and stretch his muscles a few times, and ate the lunch his mother sneaked into his duffel bag. He checked his messages, scrolling past texts of good luck from Li Feng and Wang Dongyu but not much else. He eventually fell asleep on the train, lulled to sleep by the sound of the tracks. By the time he woke up, the announcer was telling everyone that the train was now in Hangzhou and people were already beginning to disembark. Sleepily, Han Wenqing grabbed his duffel bag and walked off. 

Excellent Era wasn’t a thing yet, but he still made his way there—after all, old habits were hard to kick. He actually managed to find his way to the McDonald’s next door, but the Excellent Era building wasn’t there. Han Wenqing didn’t know if that fact saddened him or not. 

At the beginning, Excellent Era symbolised Ye Xiu, and later it symbolised the failure of Glory to take care of its brightest star. It represented the fact that nobody could help Ye Xiu when he needed them the most, with most people in the community only realising Ye Xiu was struggling after everything had already blown up. Ye Xiu didn’t care though, he created his own new legend and brought the entire league with him. He respected that about his rival.

Excellent Era and Ye Xiu were so intertwined that it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see him here, even though the team hadn’t formed yet.

Han Wenqing had just stepped into the McDonald’s when he saw Ye Xiu in line. He couldn’t be faulted for the way he shouted Ye Xiu’s name as if he was a charging bull who just spotted red. 

Ye Xiu looked shocked to see him, briefly giving him hope that Ye Xiu knew who was, until Ye Xiu asked, “Ah, who are you?”

4 words. Just 4 words to kill Han Wenqing’s hope. It was probably stupid in hindsight to expect that Ye Xiu knew would know who he was, given that he somehow got thrown back into the past, but this was his rival. They had a special bond and often understood each other even without words. 

It didn’t matter. If Ye Xiu didn’t remember Han Wenqing, then he would just have to make new memories for Ye Xiu.

“Han Wenqing,” he said, which was followed by, “Let’s fight,”

Ye Xiu stared blankly at him. “Violence is bad, why would you want to fight anyone?” he said.

“I mean online,” explained Han Wenqing.

“I only play games that I can win at,”

Han Wenqing scowled at Ye Xiu and huffed. “Fine, then we play something that you can attempt to win at!”

Ye Xiu opened his mouth to say something more but they were interrupted by a teenager around their age. Han Wenqing had already almost forgotten that they were in a crowded area.

“Hey, what’s going on?” asked the random teenager. “Do you know him?”

“Nope, just met him,” said Ye Xiu. Well, technically that was the truth, but Han Wenqing knew Ye Xiu, he wasn’t at all different from when he was 17. The teenager turned to Han Wenqing.

“Why are you challenging him? Do you even know how to play any games or are you too busy being a model?”

“A model?” asked Han Wenqing furiously. “I’m not a model,”

“Oh? But so pretty, any agency would love you, ah! Maybe you’re actually an idol,” the teenager nodded his head a couple of times, “yeah, I can see that,” the teenager muttered under his breath.

“Hey, pretty boy, what’s your name?” called the teenager, much to Han Wenqing’s annoyance. Just a couple more years left before his face matured, and by then his body would be in peak condition to start doing his regular workouts without destroying his growth.

“Han Wenqing,”

“And yours?” the teenager asked, turning towards Ye Xiu.

“Ye Qiu,” 

Han Wenqing hadn’t realised that Ye Xiu was using that name even as far back as now. It seemed weird to call Ye Xiu ‘Ye Qiu’ now that he knew the truth, but it wasn’t Han Wenqing’s place to reveal Ye Xiu’s secrets, so Han Wenqing decided to call Ye Xiu, ‘Ye Qiu’ from now.

“And I’m Su Muqiu. Let’s stop making a scene here, alright?”

“Sure,” Ye Xiu said as Han Wenqing nodded.

“Great! We can celebrate this new friendship by one of us treating everyone else!” Su Muqiu said as he snapped his fingers. The other teenager was really animated, Han Wenqing noted. “I nominate the person who started this all—Han Wenqing!”

“Hey! Why do I need to buy everyone something?” protested Han Wenqing, almost prepared to walk out of the McDonald’s and find another place to eat. Unfortunately, he didn’t know how he’d find Ye Xiu again if he did walk out.

“Brother Han, you started shouting first, so you should pay,”

“I’ll take a chicken burger meal,” Ye Xiu said shamelessly. Han Wenqing knew that Ye Xiu couldn’t even finish a burger, much less an entire meal! It was pointless to even buy him that much!

“I’ll take a hotcake deluxe meal since it’s breakfast. Thanks Brother Han!” Su Muqiu cooed with a shit-eating grin on his face.

“We’re getting a happy family meal,” said Han Wenqing, resigned to the fact that he was going to have to feed these bastards. A happy family meal was at least cheaper than buying 3 separate meals. 

Even as he was paying for the meal, he still couldn’t believe that he was actually buying food for the other two. He had really just gotten scammed into giving his rival and a complete stranger a free meal. This was his life now.

His mind kept revolving around that even as he was eating his burger and drinking his tea. Han Wenqing distracted himself from these thoughts by observing his companions. Ye Xiu ate slowly, with little precise bites. Su Muqiu downed his burger like a man starving, and within minutes he had demolished everything and was already turning his eyes onto his next source of free food.

Ye Xiu didn’t exactly nudge his food over to Su Muqiu, but he didn’t defend it either when Su Muqiu’s greedy hands found their way into his fries.

“So, what game did you want to play?” asked Ye Xiu, and Su Muqiu’s head popped up at the word ‘game’.

“1v1,”

“What 1v1 games are there? Do you play WoW or Wushu?” 

Han Wenqing wasn’t even sure he’d ever played Wushu in his life.

“No, can’t we 1v1 somewhere else?”

Ye Xiu paused and looked at Han Wenqing suspiciously. “Do you even have a WoW account?” he asked.

“I forgot it,”

“How can you forget your WoW account?” asked Su Muqiu incredulously.

Han Wenqing glared at him and said, “How do you forget anything? You don’t pay attention to it for a while and then it goes away,”

Su Muqiu stared at Han Wenqing for a moment. “Wow, so intense!” he exclaimed before laughing, “You need to get a better face for that glare! You’re so pretty that it does nothing!”

“Stop calling me pretty,” growled Han Wenqing.

“Okay, okay! I promise brother Han!” Su Muqiu said, laughing. “But if you don’t have an account for anything then how are you going to challenge him?” He asked. Han Wenqing frowned. That was true —he couldn’t even challenge Ye Xiu at all at this rate.

“Can’t you get your account back by asking for the password?” Ye Xiu asked.

“Oh! I know an internet cafe you can use, it’s right across the street,” Su Muqiu said.

“Then we can settle it there, and if not, maybe we can try board games,” Ye Xiu said as he finished his meal. Ye Xiu and Su Muqiu waited for Han Wenqing to finish eating before walking next door to a tall building where Excellent Era would stand in the future. When they arrived at the 3rd floor, they were greeted by a sign saying ‘Excellent Era Internet Cafe.’ Han Wenqing blinked in surprise. 

Is this the same place? He wondered.

It was, as Han Wenqing quickly found out. Tao Xuan and Cui Li were working inside. Cui Li was on duty at the desk while Tao Xuan was talking to a few people.

“Brother Li! Hey, I have a couple of new people, can we get 3 computers?” asked Su Muqiu, grinning widely.

Cui Li sighed but let them have 3 computers without asking for IDs, despite the fact that there was a sign right next to him that said that minors weren’t allowed in. Han Wenqing hated the man on principle.

Han Wenqing glared at Tao Xuan and Cui Li. He was glaring at them so much that Su Muqiu had to come over and drag Han Wenqing away, asking why he was so angry at the pair. 

“Nothing,” Han Wenqing said, putting the pair out of his mind for now. While he was confident that they would get what was coming to them eventually, he’d rather they not mess with either Ye Xiu or Su Mucheng. “Besides, what kind of owner illegally sells to minors?”

Su Muqiu glanced at Han Wenqing, unimpressed. “The kind that wants regular customers—as long as nobody tells on them, then I’m safe to keep coming by.”

“But why come here?”

“There are exactly three internet cafes in this area that will serve minors—one is in a bad area, the other has crappy service, and then there’s this one. It’s a no brainer which one I prefer going to.”

Han Wenqing had to concede that this was probably the best option for them, it just annoyed him that Tao Xuan was the owner. “Fine. I won’t do anything to make them kick you out,”

“Thanks,” Su Muqiu said as he pushed Han Wenqing towards a chair next to Ye Xiu. “Now we play. Since we’ve all just met, what about playing a game together?”

Han Wenqing looked at Ye Xiu before he shrugged. “Sure.”

“Okay, so we have Miss Han who doesn’t have any accounts—a real blank slate, but wants to do pvp. How about you?”

“I don’t care what game, as long as I get to play,” said Ye Xiu, who was already logged on a computer and was browsing a website about the newest games.

“Ah,” Su Muqiu sighed. “You two are very difficult to cater for. How about we play one of my favourite games?”

Han Wenqing shrugged. He probably wasn’t going to be able to do pvp anyway, unless he managed to get a leveled up account in whatever game, and he wasn’t sure about Ye Xiu’s current situation either.

“Sure. Just don’t come crying to me when I beat you in it,” taunted Ye Xiu, casually drawing aggro to himself like usual. Han Wenqing was rather relieved by this familiarity.

“Haha! Brother Xiu, so full of confidence! Well then, let’s fight it out in Jade Dynasty!” 

With that, both teens logged in. Su Muqiu was surprised to see that Ye Xiu actually had an account—a high leveled Incense Mage called Effortless Strength. Su Muqiu had a female archer called Jade Vase. They made an agreement about the terms of victory—whoever gets most kills in 10 minutes will be the winner, since the game was a free-for-all PvP rather than a 1v1.

Han Wenqing was a little disappointed that the game they were playing wasn’t 1v1, but it was still interesting. On one side of Ye Xiu’s screen, Han Wenqing could see trash talk appearing in the game chat, with people cursing both Ye Xiu and Su Muqiu out for killing them so easily. Sometimes, Su Muqiu would write ‘ggwp’ after killing a person before hunting for Ye Xiu’s avatar again, and sometimes Ye Xiu would write ‘did you mean me? I’m sorry, this is just good skill.’ in response to people complaining that he was using cheats.

Ye Xiu and Su Muqiu’s match against each other impressed Han Wenqing, especially when it looked like Ye Xiu had planned for where the two were going to meet up, and actually buffed his character and brought out various pets beforehand. Su Muqiu was no slouch either. He used his skills very well and looked like he almost got Ye Xiu—until Ye Xiu upped his APM. Ye Xiu chained his combos together effortlessly and ‘Critical Strike’ messages filled the screen before Su Muqiu’s character died.

[Effortless Strength]: ggwp

[Jade Vase]: :’(

[Lu Bu’s Grandson]: Haha! Finally that damn archer has been beaten!

[CCDP]: lol

[Pinnacle of Beauty]: hey effortless strength, can you kill her again for me? I’ll send you a picture of me if you do
[Random Mob]: Don’t Fall For It! It’s A Trap!

“Hey brother Han, do you want to play?” Su Muqiu asked, distracting him from reading off of Ye Xiu’s screen. “I have a spare character that I’ve been levelling up,”

“Do you have a close-range character?”

“Um…” Su Muqiu started, trailing off in thought. Han Wenqing could almost see his brain working trying to figure out what characters he had. “I have a Lupin,” Su Muqiu continued after a second of thinking. “It’s an assassin,” he clarified when he saw the blank look on Han Wenqing’s face.

“I think I could play that.” 

“Excellent!” exclaimed Su Muqiu as he took over Han Wenqing’s keyboard to log into the game. Han Wenqing looked curiously at the character, another female, but this time in a black outfit instead of Jade Vase’s red and gold outfit. It was called Striking Shadows, and was noticeably lower in level than Effortless Strength. “Ah, once brother Han gets better at this game, we should gamble on who is better.”

“Oh? But you’re so experienced at this game, how will we be able to keep up with you? Surely we’ll need a handicap,” Ye Xiu said, seemingly ignoring the fact that he had just both killed Jade Vase and gotten more kills than the other within 10 minutes. Su Muqiu, however, couldn’t forget this point. “Haha, but brother Qiu, you’re so good! This is just to make everything more interesting!”

Oh Gods, there’s two of them, thought Han Wenqing as he got used to the controls.

“Yeah, but brother Han here hasn’t played before, and as the challenger you should give us a handicap to make it even—he’s at a disadvantage and I should get it because it's only polite to give me a handicap too if you’re going to give him one.”

“Old Han,” said Han Wenqing. He didn’t think he could stand hearing Ye Xiu call him brother Han again, it was weird.

“Eh?”

“I prefer Old Han, if you’re going to call me anything,”

“Are you older than me?” asked Su Muqiu. “How old are you?”

“I’m 16,”

“Already, or turning this year?”

“Already,”

“Huh, then you are older than I am. I guess we could call you Old Han then,” said Su Muqiu. “Well then, are we going to gamble?”

“I guess I could do with the money, but you’ll need to give us an advantage,” said Ye Xiu, a smirk on his face.

Su Muqiu scowled and held up two fingers. “Fine. You drive a hard bargain, but I’ll give you guys a two kill advantage each for the first time.”

“Ah, thanks Brother Su.”

It was no surprise that Ye Xiu won, as he seemed to know the game better. Although, Han Wenqing thought smugly, I did manage to kill him a few times . He had gotten better at assassin during the course of the game, but a few of the attacks were still a bit off, and some of his combos didn’t connect properly thanks to his loose grasp of the cooldowns, but it was alright. 

It still wasn’t Glory though.

“Come on, let’s play a few more rounds. I have to give you guys some chances at winning back your money,” said Ye Xiu. 

Han Wenqing could tell that Ye Xiu felt slightly awkward about the whole thing, so he backed off a bit. “I don’t care about the money, I just want to fight.”

“You two…” Su Muqiu sighed, before turning his attention back to Jade Dynasty. 

It was fun playing with them, but as much as Han Wenqing enjoyed it, he was also pretty sure he lost a fair bit of his money to the other two. The money he lost was well worth it though, since apart from re-experiencing the high of playing against good competitors, he also got to meet Su Mucheng, who visited her brother, again.

Han Wenqing ended up meeting with Ye Xiu and Su Muqiu everyday, and they were also often joined by Su Mucheng, who always brought Su Muqiu lunch. The three of them had ended up agreeing early on that they’d rotate who’d buy breakfast, but even though they traded off regularly, Han Wenqing seemed to always end up buying the most expensive breakfasts.

On the second to the last day that Han Wenqing was in the Excellent Era Internet Cafe, he caught himself staring at an advertisement with pink flowers on it, and got the oddest craving. “Do they have any suanmeitang here?” he asked. He really wanted a suanmeitang for some reason, even though he normally didn’t even like it that much since it was too sweet.

“Suanmeitang?” pondered Su Muqiu as he scratched his head, looking down. “Hmmm, I don’t think so. At least, I haven’t ever seen any in here. Is apple juice okay?” 

Han Wenqing pulled a face, making Su Muqiu laugh at him. He already disliked suanmeitang, and just wanted to fulfill his weird craving. Drinking any other sweet fruit drink would just be torture without any reward.  That stuff was full of sugar. He was better off eating tanghulu instead of getting apple juice, and he already disliked tanghulu.

“I take that as a no,” grinned Su Muqiu, who then turned back to his computer. 

“Hey, I have a question for you,” Su Muqiu said as he started up a game of Minecraft. From what Han Wenqing could tell, the other teen levelled up accounts for various games and sold them for money.

“Hmm? Go ahead and ask,”

“You know, you focus a lot on Ye Qiu,” Su Muqiu said, glancing at Han Wenqing from the corner of his eye. “Why is that?” he asked.

“He’s going to be my rival,” stated Han Wenqing. He won’t be accepting any disagreements about this.

“Haha! You make it sound like you're an anime protagonist,” laughed Su Muqiu as he killed someone using his bow. Han Wenqing frowned before thinking about it a bit more.

“I’m definitely not one, but Ye Qiu could be,” he joked.

“Hah, you really respect Ye Qiu,”

“I do, I think he’s a great person,” agreed Han Wenqing.

“Thanks, old Han,” said Ye Xiu, coming out of nowhere and walking past Han Wenqing, smirking at him as he did so.

“Don’t sneak up on people like that,” he growled. “And you should know that you’re special, so don’t forget it.”

Ye Xiu stared at Han Wenqing for a moment before sighing, rubbing his head, and dropping their breakfast on the table. “Isn’t it embarrassing to say those kinds of words?” he asked.

“No, why would I be embarrassed about things I mean?” countered Han Wenqing.

“Wow, what a rare kind of guy, so honest,” deadpanned Su Muqiu as Ye Xiu distributed the food. Han Wenqing took a bite of the youtiao and baizhou. It was in his very biased opinion that his parents’ cooking was better, even only just.

“I don’t see the point in not being direct with what you want.”

“Then what do you want?”

“To make my friends happy,” stated Han Wenqing, taking a spoonful of baizhou. Su Muqiu and Ye Xiu both looked at him like he was an ultra rare item, full of awe and disbelief. “What?” he growled.

“Nothing at all,” said Ye Xiu at the exact same time as Su Muqiu said, “Ah, Old Han is very cute!”

“I’m not cute.”

“Nope, you’re super cute—you’re so pure-hearted!”

“Just you wait. I will grow more manly and make you bow down to me.”

“How scary! Ye Qiu, our Old Han is very scary too, how can a person be both so cute and scary?”

“Stop that.” Han Wenqing said.

Su Muqiu raised his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine!” he said while laughing.

“I don’t know,” Ye Xiu suddenly said, smirking in Han Wenqing’s direction, something aggravating and teasing in his tone. Han Wenqing even dared to think Ye Xiu sounded a little bit flirtatious, but that shouldn’t be possible considering it was Ye Xiu . “I think it just comes naturally to Old Han,”

Han Wenqing blinked to make sure that this moment was real. “I’m not cute,” he stated.

“You say that, but it doesn’t change anything,” said Su Muqiu.

“Come on, let’s play more. Old Han is only here for a few more days,” Ye Xiu said, putting all his trash away. “Come, come, enough teasing, we have games to play,”

“Alright,” sighed Su Muqiu as he threw his trash away. He patted Han Wenqing on the shoulder a couple of times. “Thanks for helping me level the assassin,” he teased as he moved to log in. 

Han Wenqing sighed before logging in himself. Su Muqiu gave him the account information for Striking Shadows a couple of days ago, and while he was essentially functioning as free labour for Su Muqiu, he got to fight Ye Xiu, so everything was fine. 

Here we go again , Han Wenqing thought as he delved back into PvP. 

It wasn’t what he was hoping for when he came to Hangzhou, but in some ways it was better than he expected. He got to play with Ye Xiu and Su Muqiu, even if it wasn’t Glory. He’d just have to wait until the game came out to really have fun again.

When he left for Qingdao, he added Su Muqiu and Ye Xiu on QQ so he could message them—not that he expected to receive anything from Ye Xiu; he knew by now that Ye Xiu generally didn’t message anyone unless he wanted something from them.

Han Wenqing was getting into his seat when he got a message: 

[Su Muqiu]: Come back to Hangzhou soon!

Han Wenqing sent out a quick reply about definitely coming back, and settled back into his seat. The trip home was uneventful, and when Han Wenqing got another message when he was almost at Qingdao, he thought it was his parents or one of his other friends, so he idly pulled out his phone to read it.

[Ye Qiu]: See you online.

Han Wenqing stared at the message and grinned. Yeah, he was definitely coming back to Hangzhou. He had a challenge to meet after all.

High school was boring. He was constantly being bombarded with subjects he would never use in his future as a pro player—music, ideology and political science, technology, computers—there were far too many classes to attend within a week, and certainly too much homework on top of that. He barely saw Wang Dongyu anymore, as he was in another class and had cram school. They only saw each other in the mornings, when they walked to school together. At least Li Feng was in Han Wenqing’s class, but Li Feng was talking to some other classmates when Han Wenqing’s phone went off.

[Su Muqiu]: You, me, Ye Xiu, CSGO competition? : >

[Su Muqiu]: I need a fifth

[Su Muqiu]: Hey, answer me!

[Su Muqiu]: Oi! I need to know soon

[Su Muqiu]: Do it for me!
[Su Muqiu]: Wait, no, do it for my little sister!

[Han Wenqing]: I need to ask my parents

[Su Muqiu]: Great! See you in three weeks!

Han Wenqing checked his calendar. There were no holidays scheduled anywhere near that date. He glared at his phone. Fucking—

“Mama, I need to go to Hangzhou again.” Han Wenqing said after dinner. If he was a normal healthy teenage boy, he would have asked his father, since his father would likely say yes. But, since he was a grown man that loved to face challenges head on, he went to his mother, because in the end her decision would be the deal breaker.

She paused in washing the dishes and looked at him sharply. “Why? Your school year just started!”

“My friends need me there,”

“Who are these friends? Why do they want you there?”

“They’re called Su Muqiu and Ye Xiu,” Han Wenqing hesitated for a moment. “They want me there to play games.”

“Games? Games ?” she asked sternly, which Han Wenqing knew meant that she was angry.She never shouted when she was angry—she got stern like this instead.

“I want to play games for a living,” Han Wenqing said, bracing himself.

“Games? What can games do? Can they feed your family? No. You’re not going.”

Han Wenqing closed his eyes and opened them again. He had already gone through this before, back when he started to skip school when Glory first came out. His mother refused to speak to him for 2 days, but she still left food for him whenever he left for his local internet cafe each day. But, experiencing it once before didn’t mean that it hurt any less the second time around, and he would rather not go through that again.

“This is what I want to do for a living. I can plead with you and make you promises, but I want to do this, and most of all, I want to help out my friends. I don’t know why they’re asking this of me, but I assume it’s important, or else they wouldn’t have even asked,” he said.

His mother fell silent for a moment, and stared at her soapy hands before shaking them dry. “I haven’t told you this before, but your father gave up his future for me. I don’t want you to regret anything, or give up on your own future, for anyone’s sake,” his mother said, her voice carrying her worry for Han Wenqing. He felt touched that she was showing her care for him so much right now. Usually, she only showed her affection by feeding him.

“High school is an opportunity for you to go higher.” She put her hand on his face. It was a little clammy and damp. She was still his height right now, but he knew that he would soon outgrow her. “You understand this, right?”

“I do, but I wouldn’t have brought this up if it wasn’t important,”

His mother sighed. “We’ll talk about this later,” she eventually said before she let go of him and went back to the dishes. He couldn’t read the line of her shoulders, and had no idea what she was planning to do.

Resigned to leave it alone for now, Han Wenqing went back up to his room to complete his homework. As he was doing this, his father soon arrived and patiently waited at his door until Han Wenqing took notice.

“Baba,” Han Wenqing said as he nodded his head in greeting. His father smiled, bemusement evident on his face at how calm his son was acting. Han Wenqing was well aware that if he had been an actual teenager he would have been upset instead of composed.

“Xiao Qing,” his father said after a moment, and then came inside to sit on Han Wenqing’s bed. Han Wenqing watched his father approach, wondering if this was related to his request to go to Hangzhou. “You’ve grown up a lot recently,” his father started.

“It would be weird if I didn’t grow up.”

“Ha ha, that’s true. It’s been so long since you were small. Children grow up very fast.”

Han Wenqing had nothing to say to that. After all, what could he say? He already lived through a chunk of his life, he was no longer a child mentally. There was nothing he could tell his father that would make the man feel less like time was getting away from them.

“Did your mother say anything when you asked her about going to Hangzhou?”

“Mama said that you gave up your future for her.”

“Is your mother still worrying about that?” his father asked, surprised. “I’ve reassured her so many times that I don’t care about it,” he sighed before looking at Han Wenqing again. “Did I tell you about how we met?” 

Han Wenqing shook his head. He knew it had something to do about the restaurant, but not much else. His father smiled at him.

“I worked at this restaurant during university. I was studying teaching at the time, when I met her outside, at the back. She had just finished beating some gang members up when she turned around and threatened me. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, even with the blood on her hands,” 

His father sounded so in love, it both awed and humbled Han Wenqing. He didn’t know if he was ever going to find a love like that, but he wanted to.

“I offered her dinner—just some food from the restaurant, but she got spooked and ran. Every now and then after that, I’d see her again, and every time, I’d go up to her even if she was around her shady friends, and ask her out to dinner. I was so happy when she finally said yes, but I was so scared too, because what if she didn’t like my food?” his father laughed.

“When we got married, she was so scared that she had ruined my chances in life, but I just can’t imagine a life without her. So, every now and then, I’d tell her how much I wanted to be with her. And every time, she’d play it off and pretend that I was just being a sap, but I think she was also always glad to be reminded,”

His father got up and placed a hand on his shoulder. “If you want something, make sure you keep appreciating it, even after you get it” he said. “Now, the reason you want to go to Hangzhou—is it special?”

Han Wenqing thought about it for a few moments. Ye Xiu was special to him, that would never change, and Su Muqiu was quickly becoming a friend as well. Han Wenqing nodded. “It is special,” he said

“And not just because you want to play games?”

“I want to do that too, but more than that, I want to help my friends.”

“I’ll help you talk to your mother then, but don’t expect a yes just because of that,”

“I won’t. Thank you Baba,” Han Wenqing said gratefully. His father patted his shoulder twice before leaving him to do the rest of his homework.

The next couple of days were tense. He never heard any yelling from his parents, but it was clear that they weren’t happy with each other. He felt guilty because he’d never seen his parents like this before. However, both of them reassured him that everything was alright. His father even pulled him aside and explained that relationships weren't always sweet, and that sometimes people argued, but as long as both sides communicated then everything would turn out alright.

It came to a head two weeks later, cutting it close to when Han Wenqing absolutely had to finalise everything with Su Muqiu, when his mother sat him down and made him explain how he was going to finance himself later in life, how he was going to finance them , and then proceeded to make him promise to return when he was done with his esports career. He already knew from his past life that she would ask him for this promise, but no matter how prepared he was, the way she said it was so effective and efficient that he was sure that Zhang Xinjie would want tips from her on how to secure deals without mincing words.  

“Just...don’t regret it.” she said after everything. “Whatever you do, don’t regret it.”

“I won’t. I will never regret it.”

His mother stared at him in surprise. “I wonder what happened to my son?” she asked out aloud.

“What do you mean?”

“You grew up,” she simply said. Han Wenqing wondered what she was going on about. Of course he grew up, he did that a while ago. 

“All children grow up.” he stated.

“I know, but you grew up so much while I wasn’t watching you.” she sighed. “Don’t worry about it, I’m just being sentimental. Remember your promise though. If this doesn’t work out, then you have to come back and work with us.”

“I’ll come back when I’m finished.” he vowed.

“That’s all that I need to hear. Now, it’s time for dinner,” his mother said, patting him on the back as she turned to leave.

Apparently, that was the end of that.

Hangzhou was exactly the same as before: busy as all Chinese cities were, but not overwhelmingly so like Beijing or Shanghai. Han Wenqing followed the instructions on the messages on his phone, which directed him to the McDonald’s next to Excellent Era. Han Wenqing felt his lips tug upwards upon seeing Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu was wearing a blue jacket and grey track pants, but despite his casual clothing, he was still a sight for sore eyes. Or, maybe it was because he was wearing casual clothing that he was having that effect on Han Wenqing, reminding him of the future and better times. 

“Yo.” Ye Xiu greeted him with tired eyes and a lackadaisical wave of his hand. Han Wenqing felt concern for his friend swell up, but knowing Ye Xiu as he did, he knew that if he asked about it he would just get a deflection in return.

“Ye Qiu.” Han Wenqing greeted as he hiked his bag higher up on his shoulder. 

Ye Xiu stared at Han Wenqing for a moment, his listless eyes categorising everything before gesturing for Han Wenqing to follow him. “Come on, Muqiu’s place is this way. By the way, do you have money?”

Han Wenqing nodded, smiling as he walked with Ye Xiu. Ye Xiu immediately launched into a story about something cute that Su Mucheng did. They played with each other nearly every day so they already talked about gaming strategies regularly, but these stories about their day to day lives were a treat. On top of that, on the rare occasions that Han Wenqing would hear about these kinds of things, it’d be from Su Muqiu. Hearing Ye Xiu talk about the simple, everyday things was definitely new. 

He enjoyed listening to this; Ye Xiu had a way with words—he knew when to pause, how to change his tone, and he always carefully chose the most direct and impactful words.. No word was ever wasted. It was probably why, when Ye Xiu had immediately and shamelessly asked for money to take the subway, Han Wenqing gave it to him.

It wasn’t until they got to the housing trust area that Han Wenqing started suspecting about the Su siblings’ background. He knew that Su Mucheng never talked about her family. Even when directly asked about it, she wouldn’t say anything beyond ‘they were understanding and happy for her to play.’ Han Wenqing had no idea that she used to be poor. It had never come up, and neither Su sibling, now nor in the future, had ever said anything even hinting at it. Han Wenqing decided that he’d make an effort to help them out a bit more. 

“This way,” Ye Xiu pointed to an apartment building. “I hope you’re okay with sleeping on the floor. There’s not much room.”

“Not a problem. Muqiu warned me beforehand to bring a sleeping bag.”

“You talk with him a lot,” Ye Xiu said. It sounded innocent enough, but something about it—maybe it was a tonal emphasis, or maybe it was Han Wenqing’s instincts—sent a familiar feeling of anticipation and adrenaline through his body. “You guys are very good friends.”

Han Wenqing frowned, trying to decipher the heart of the problem. There had to be more to it than just his and Su Muqiu’s friendship, otherwise Ye Xiu wouldn’t be talking about it—or at least he wouldn’t be saying it like that.

“I’d talk with you more too if you were online more.” Han Wenqing said, taking a shot in the dark at the problem.

Ye Xiu didn’t even bat an eyelash before saying, “I’m always online.”

“I mean on QQ,”

“Don’t feel like it, when I could be logging into League or Wushu instead.”

“Then don’t complain. It’s your own fault for not making more of an effort for our friendship.”

“Ah, but aren’t I your rival instead of your friend?” Ye Xiu teased, his aggravating smirk in place on his punchable face. Han Wenqing always felt a strange mix of annoyance and affection whenever he looked at Ye Xiu, and there was something comforting about it.

“Always, but that doesn’t mean you’re not also my friend.”

“Their apartment is on the 6th floor.” deflected Ye Xiu. “Come, Mucheng is excited to see you again.”

Han Wenqing nodded and followed Ye Xiu to the Su residence, which was a one bedroom apartment with a small kitchen. It looked a little run down and cramped, with two old-looking computers shoved against one side on one long desk that you had to awkwardly shuffle around to get anywhere. But, the room was clean and had a lived-in feel to it. Han Wenqing put his shoes away after going in, and was shown to the space opposite the desk, which was the only available place left to set his things up.

“Muqiu and Mucheng will be back soon, they’re just out getting the groceries,”

Han Wenqing nodded Ye Xiu as he set up his sleeping bag, and worked in silence as Ye Xiu did his own thing. Honestly, considering the weather, Han Wenqing probably didn’t even need the sleeping bag, but Su Muqiu insisted he bring one, saying something about the nights being cold. Han Wenqing had personally never felt it though in all the times he’d been to Hangzhou previously.

“Here,” said Ye Xiu as he thrust a bottle of water in Han Wenqing’s face. Han Wenqing gratefully accepted it since he was rather thirsty. 

Ye Xiu sat down at one of the computer chairs and swung it around with his legs crossed. It was just a cheap desk chair, but he made it look like a professional gaming chair with the way he acted. Ye Xiu grabbed the notebook and pen on the table and started flipping through the pages until he found what he was looking for. “I have some ideas about different map strategies that I’d like to go over with you. Muqiu has already heard all of this and has given his input, but I thought that hearing your thoughts would also be good.”

“Attack,” stated Han Wenqing, entirely seriously. He wasn’t big on CSGO, he played it previously but it didn’t give him the same excitement as mmorpgs did, since he thought that the lack of physical combat was a bit of a shortcoming. 

Ye Xiu snorted, and a grin spread across his face. “Haha, you really don’t change! I bet if we were playing league you’d choose top as your lane,”

“I can top but I prefer mid actually, but I like using close range mids rather than mages,”

“You keep on surprising me, old Han! I learn something new about you every time we talk,”

“If I don’t keep on surprising you then you’d walk all over me. I think you play anything,” said Han Wenqing confidently. He didn’t actually know what Ye Xiu played in League, but he was confident that if Ye Xiu was serious in the game, he’d want to know how every champion played in each lane. Han Wenqing was sure that Ye Xiu would put his all into it, just like he did in Glory. 

Ye Xiu stared blankly at Han Wenqing for a moment.

“Yeah, I do. How did you know that?” he asked in shock.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, because you’re the type to put your all into a game if you loved it.”

Ye Xiu hummed in agreement. “Come Old Han, let’s talk strategy!” he said before explaining all the maps and their weaknesses to him. Han Wenqing got up and sat on the other computer chair to look over the notes that Ye Xiu had created. Just because he didn’t play much CSGO didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be able to contribute to the team. 

Ye Xiu shot Han Wenqing considering looks whenever he thought Han Wenqing wasn’t looking. Han Wenqing wasn’t too sure if he was meant to notice that Ye Xiu was doing it, but after some time he started staring right back. An odd aura he couldn’t quite pinpoint built up between them, something that felt somewhere between coy and competitive. 

Soon, it became a game between them. Ye Xiu would stare at Han Wenqing covertly while Han Wenqing stared him down each time. As this was happening, Han Wenqing couldn’t help but notice that Ye Xiu’s collar was open, revealing his neck all the way down to his collarbones, and that Ye Xiu’s hair was growing a little too long. Each time Ye Xiu turned his head, his hair would brush against his neck. Every time it happened, Han Wenqing was tempted to brush it away, but in the end he didn’t act upon it.

The odd aura broke when Su Mucheng cheerfully greeted Han Wenqing upon the Su siblings’ return home. Han Wenqing mourned its loss, but accepted that he could probably build it up again later. When he got up to help Su Mucheng with her bags, he noticed that Su Mucheng looked almost like her adult self; the only differences being the baby fat still on her face and the length of her hair. He was surprised at how much she had grown up since he had last seen her—last year she had still looked like a child. 

That night, while Su Muqiu was out at work and Su Mucheng was asleep, Ye Xiu cornered Han Wenqing just after the latter came out of the bathroom. Ye Xiu was waiting on his computer chair, the screen reflecting blue light on his face. Han Wenqing started to walk past him, thinking he was busy, but was interrupted by Ye Xiu’s voice carrying quietly through the small apartment. 

“You should help me strategise again, Old Han,” he said. “You helped a lot,” Ye Xiu’s lips tilted upwards, and Han Wenqing’s eyes were drawn to them like a moth to a flame. He remembered seeing these small smiles from Ye Xiu through the years, and loved each time, even though they were not always for him.

“We can scrim with each other to practice before the competition.” Han Wenqing said, a familiar feeling of longing rising in him. “It’ll help us create feasible strategies,”

He wasn’t ashamed to admit that this wasn’t the first time he’d felt this feeling of longing that would eventually turn into lust and love. He wasn’t expecting to feel it again so soon though; he didn’t want to feel it for a Ye Xiu who was just 15 years old, but Ye Xiu hadn’t really changed much, so it just felt like going down a familiar trail back home.

The first time he fell in love with Ye Xiu was when he was 19 and Ye Xiu was 18. He had been interested in the other man since they first fought in the first server, but at that point it was just respect for a talented player. But the first time they met each other face to face was an experience, to say the least. That was when he fell for Ye Xiu, right in front of Wu Xuefeng who was trying to protect his captain from people seeing his face. But by the end of the season, Han Wenqing got the message that Ye Xiu wasn’t interested, and let it go after failing a few attempts at asking him out. 

After that, Han Wenqing categorised the years by whether or not he was in love with Ye Xiu. There were times when it almost seemed like they could date, but instead they passed each other by like two parallel lines so close to each other but doomed to never intersect. It wasn’t always Ye Xiu doing the rejecting, however. Han Wenqing remembered a couple of times when Ye Xiu smirked at him flirtatiously, only to stop when he found out that Han Wenqing was dating someone. In season 10, he thought that maybe they could finally reach each other, but Ye Xiu left without a word and became busy with his family’s business.

If people really had red strings of fate like everyone claimed, then surely the threads between Ye Xiu and Han Wenqing were tangled so thoroughly together that there was no longer any end nor any beginning. Han Wenqing never said anything about their romantic feelings, never held its unfulfilled nature against Ye Xiu or himself, and never let it interfere with their friendship. But, all of this meant that he knew the signs of his own budding feelings rising again after a long winter.

Ye Xiu smirked and said, “I’d like that. Tomorrow then?”

“Of course,” Han Wenqing said as he took a step away from Ye Xiu. It felt like leaving a gravitational pull. “We have to sleep now.”

“Of course,” echoed Ye Xiu in a faintly mocking tone, which meant that he would continue playing online instead. Han Wenqing scowled at him, but when he slipped into his sleeping bag, he smiled. He was glad to see Ye Xiu content, a state Han Wenqing hadn’t seen Ye Xiu in since Ye Xiu was in Happy.

Over the couple of nights before the competition, Han Wenqing and Ye Xiu played a few scrims to test out each strategy until they had all been perfected within reason. It was a rather nice feeling to play against Ye Xiu, even if it was in another game. CSGO felt closer to Glory than the other games he played against Ye Xiu in this timeline. It also helped that after each new game they played together, the both of them became bolder in their play. 

Ye Xiu became sneakier in his attacks as the game progressed. Each time Han Wenqing’s avatar got hit in the head, Ye Xiu noted it down in his notebook. Han Wenqing became more aggressive in response, getting in Ye Xiu’s face more. It was fun, and when Su Muqiu hung around he gave them pointers about where and how far away to hit from. Su Muqiu begged to play a couple of times too. He always ended up killing Han Wenqing and Ye Xiu, but the two of them made him work for each win.

On the competition day, Han Wenqing met the other two members of their team, who were friends Su Muqiu made while playing. Han Wenqing wasn’t too impressed with them, since the reason they haven’t been able to do full-team scrims yet was because the two were too busy with other games to play. However, his opinion of the two changed slightly once they all actually played in the competition. While the two weren’t pro-level, they held their own reasonably well. 

But, comparing them to Su Muqiu or Ye Xiu was like comparing a mortal man to a god, the skill difference was just too big! Su Muqiu in particular, with his steady hand and calm mind, seemed to be made for shooting games. It was rather surprising to learn about this part of Su Muqiu, since he had never shown this side of him during their scrims. Han Wenqing frowned. He would have to check later when Glory came out to confirm his suspicions, but he was fairly sure that Autumn Tree was Su Muqiu. It seemed obvious, but he didn’t have any concrete proof of this.

To everyone but Su Muqiu and Ye Xiu’s surprise, they won the top prize of 5,000 yuan. It wasn’t much, especially compared to what Han Wenqing was used to getting, but it was pretty impressive for an amateur competition. Their other two teammates left with their share of the pot and shouts inviting the three to the next competition.

“Hey, do you think we have enough money for hot pot?” Su Muqiu asked, counting the money between himself and Ye Xiu.

“You want hot pot? I want KFC,”

“KFC? We could get KFC at any time! Hot pot is where it's at!” Su Muqiu cried. “We need to celebrate in style!” Su Muqiu turned towards Han Wenqing, “Old Han, back me up on this!”

“Homemade food is best,” stated Han Wenqing. Ye Xiu and Su Muqiu stared at him, clearly disgruntled over his answer. 

“How boring,” said Su Muqiu.

“We should have known better,” sighed Ye Xiu.

Su Muqiu turned to Ye Xiu, “Should we ask Mumu?”

“She’ll agree with you,” accused Ye Xiu.

“So what?” Su Muqiu had a shit eating grin on his face. “She’s a part of this decision too!”

“Fine, ask her what she wants,”

While Su Muqiu was on the phone, Ye Xiu came over towards Han Wenqing, who noticed that Ye Xiu looked a little tired.

“You should have agreed with me. Muqiu wouldn’t have said no if you asked for KFC too,” Ye Xiu said.

“I wouldn’t lie about what I want just to satisfy another person. What’s the point in that?”

Ye Xiu sighed and said, “Just don’t be surprised by what happens next,”

Han Wenqing wasn’t shocked in the slightest by Su Mucheng saying she wanted hot pot as well. After all, he figured that Su Muqiu would know his sister well enough to know her tastes, or at the very least that she would be willing to go with what her brother wanted. 

They ended up going to Haidilao, where Su Muqiu kept joking that he was going to tell the staff that it was one of their birthdays so they could get a cake from them and over the top service. Somehow, Su Muqiu managed to get a suanmeitang for Han Wenqing. Han Wenqing didn’t even mind when Su Muqiu started laughing at the face Han Wenqing pulled as he drank it, because he was surprised that Su Muqiu even remembered about the drink at all.

It was nice, and Han Wenqing enjoyed eating there, even if he couldn’t stand the soup they used as it was too spicy. 

Han Wenqing found himself missing the camaraderie as soon as he left for Qingdao the next morning.

Over the course of the next month, Han Wenqing quickly established himself as a gamer willing to play anything he could get his hands on and being rather good at whatever was thrown his way. He was starting to attract the interest of a few guilds in League and Dota, but he ignored their offers. His parents were still worried about his future, but as he slowly earned more money from various competitions, they grew more accepting of gaming as a career. He still went to school to appease them, but he didn’t spend as much time doing his homework as he did in the local internet cafe. 

He invited Ye Xiu and Su Muqiu up to Qingdao a few times but they never accepted, mainly due to money problems. Han Wenqing didn’t mind, since he managed to go down to Hangzhou a couple of times for competitions with them instead. During those times, he would go out to dinner with Ye Xiu exclusively in order to catch up, since Ye Xiu was still bad at communicating via QQ and the games that they played together weren’t very good for socialising.

There were only two times that Ye Xiu messaged Han Wenqing on QQ. One was to invite Han Wenqing to a competition, and the other time was to send him a picture that Su Mucheng took of him and Ye Xiu from one of their after match dinners. Han Wenqing normally hated having his picture taken because of his baby face, but this was such a good picture of him and Ye Xiu talking to each other close together that he ended up saving it as his phone’s background. Each time Han Wenqing left Hangzhou, he always felt the loss more keenly, the loss of his friends. Even in Qingdao where he had two good friends already, they just couldn’t match the energy and excitement that the Su siblings and Ye Xiu gave him. It kept growing worse as well. At this rate, he felt like he was going to end up either moving to Hangzhou or kidnapping Ye Xiu and his mystery friend to Qingdao.

The passing months were also very exciting for Han Wenqing because he knew that Glory was about to come out. He had already convinced his local internet cafe that it was a good investment, even offering to pay for at least one card reader himself despite the cost. The owner of the internet cafe, Uncle Yuan, just laughed him off, telling Han Wenqing that he’d get one just to satisfy Han Wenqing’s interest. Han Wenqing was planning on spending opening day in that internet cafe, but life had other plans for him. A month before the release date, he received a message from Su Muqiu.

[Su Muqiu]: A new game is coming out next month and it looks really cool! It’s called Glory. You want to join us on launch day? Old Tao is buying the consoles needed for it—can you believe that it needs a card reader?

[Han Wenqing]: I’ll be there

[Su Muqiu]: Wow…

[Su Muqiu]: I didn’t even need to say that much about the game. Don’t you want to know anything more about it, even just the genre?

[Han Wenqing]: No need, I’ve already gotten an account card for it.

Han Wenqing had purchased the account card during the special release two months ago, and each card sold had a special design. In his original timeline. he had spent three days trying to buy a card but still ended up missing out because his local internet cafe didn’t sell them, and the only place where he could get them sold out. He was prepared this time.

[Su Muqiu]: You did?!

[Su Muqiu]: Didn’t they sell out within a few hours?
[Su Muqiu]: Hey! Answer me!

[Su Muqiu]: Tell me your secrets!

[Su Muqiu]: This is Ye Qiu, can you get me a card as well? It can be my late birthday present.

Han Wenqing grimaced as he read that message. There was no way he could still get one of the special event cards for Ye Xiu.

Miraculously, Han Wenqing managed to get a special event card for Ye Xiu. He didn’t even need to pay for it—some guy wanted Han Wenqing to join his Dota team for a competition in exchange for it. After they won the competition, the guy became rather insistent about Han Wenqing joining his guild, saying something about becoming pro. Han Wenqing wasn’t interested in Dota professionally though, so he ended up having to demand for the card and left quickly after getting it. The look of surprise on Ye Xiu’s face when he presented the card at the apartment was worth it though.

“Ha, now I have a special edition account card too!” bragged Ye Xiu as Su Muqiu stared in dismay.

“Hey, old Han, why couldn’t you have gotten me a limited edition card too?” Su Muqiu asked pitifully, though his lips were starting to turn upwards as he struggled to not grin and give the game away.

“Because you didn’t ask for it,” Han Wenqing said, crossing his arms. He was happy to note that his voice was finally getting deeper and that he was definitely growing taller—he was taller than Su Muqiu now. He was still baby-faced, but it was only a matter of time now until he outgrew that.

“Old Han, should I use this special card for my first avatar?” Ye Xiu asked in a teasing tone. 

Han Wenqing thought about it for a moment, but he remembered that the card would eventually belong to Excellent Era, and it hurt to think that the card he gave Ye Xiu would eventually belong to another person. So he shook his head and said, “Save it for a special avatar rather than the one you’d go pro with,”

“Wah!” Su Muqiu made an exaggerated sound, “You think that we could actually go pro with this game?” he asked. “What faith! Don’t you know it might not be good enough to play professionally? It’s from a new company after all, and all the components are expensive. Brother Tao was telling about the cost,”

“It’ll do well,” Han Wenqing said confidently.

The two didn’t disagree with him. They teased him for his confidence in the three of them becoming pros, but never disregarded his words. The day after Han Wenqing arrived, the server opened, and Excellent Era Internet Cafe became filled with people curious about the game, since it was the only internet cafe in the area that had the card readers. Tao Xuan had reserved some seats for the three boys, and Su Mucheng joined them with some of her homework, though she ended up procrastinating by playing around with the character creator. 

He had always wondered how One Autumn Leaf was named. He had always assumed that it was just a pun on Ye Qiu’s name, and then later thought that it was a nod to his brother whose name he had borrowed. He should have known that Ye Xiu wouldn’t be that sentimental over a name.

Han Wenqing even let Su Mucheng have some fun creating his own character, since he wasn’t fussy about what he looked like as long as he was named “Desert Dust”. He wrote down the exact characters he wanted as well, just in case she got creative. Su Mucheng pouted at him, and Han Wenqing noticed that it was the same as Su Muqiu’s. He wasn’t sure why that surprised him. 

Han Wenqing left her to her fun and got up to get some drinks and snacks with Ye Xiu, who looked amused by this all. Han Wenqing lo oked at the menu board of available hot drinks, and was vaguely disappointed to see that Chun Mee tea wasn’t on the menu.

“Are you looking for something in particular?” Ye Xiu asked as he helped himself to some cup noodles and crisps. He placed the items directly in front of Han Wenqing in an unspoken ‘you’re paying.’ Han Wenqing stared at the items then glared at Ye Xiu, who only smirked in response and backed away slowly, leaving the goods with Han Wenqing.

“Chun Mee tea. I was hoping that this place sold pots of it,” Han Wenqing admitted when Ye Xiu came over again. “And at least pay for half of your stuff,”

Ye Xiu sighed. “Fine, I’ll pay for half of it, but you have to get me a cup of tea too.”

“You’re in no position to barter. This is your stuff.”

“Yes, but I’m going to get you Chun Mee tea. Otherwise, you’re stuck with Dynasty tea,”

Han Wenqing thought about it for a moment. He didn’t mind Dynasty tea, but he was craving Chun Mee tea right now since it was nighttime. “Fine,” he grunted. 

Cui Li watched this exchange with an air of amusement and a smile on his face. Han Wenqing glared at him and quickly paid for his half of the stuff while Ye Xiu convinced Cui Li to let him bring in tea from another shop, before leaving for the convenience store a street away. Han Wenqing carried Ye Xiu’s half of the goods with him, knowing Ye Xiu would get billed for them properly. 

“Brother Han!” shouted Su Mucheng as he came back, “I just finished your character. I think I did a good job!”

After putting everything down near the three computers they were occupying, Han Wenqing looked at the newly made character and willed himself not to frown. It was a skinny male striker with thick eyelashes and an alluring face. It looked nothing like his old Desert Dust, and he wasn’t quite sure how to feel about it. She made Desert Dust a twink. He knew he said that she could do whatever she wanted as long as she typed the right name for his avatar, but he wasn’t expecting this. It didn’t really matter though, since it wasn’t like he’d be seeing his character much anyway, as Glory was played in first person. 

“I made it look like you,” Su Mucheng explained. Noticing the blank look on his face, she hesitantly asked, “You don’t like it?”

“I didn’t expect you to make him look like me. You did a good job. Come, we have snacks,”

When Su Mucheng was distracted with the food, Su Muqiu came over and draped himself over Han Wenqing’s shoulders, doing his best impression of a scarf. “Thank you for not hurting her feelings,” he whispered into Han Wenqing’s ear.

“She did her best, I wasn’t going to make her feel bad about that,” he murmured as he looked at the beta reviews of Glory so far. He remembered there being some issues with certain bugs early on, but he couldn’t remember what those bugs were exactly.

“You know, I’ve noticed that you don’t like your face despite how pretty you are. It’s a shame. If I had your looks, I’d become a model,”

“You’re already good-looking. You just don’t want to be a model because it’s too slow and there’s no guarantee of success,” 

Su Muqiu dropped all his weight onto Han Wenqing and gave him a noogie. His breathing was too loud in Han Wenqing’s ear. “I won’t pressure you to answer, but why don’t you like your face?”

“It’s too young,” Han Wenqing simply said. He felt Su Muqiu pause at this unexpected confession. “Don’t worry about it, it’ll change soon enough,” Han Wenqing continued.

“Okay,” Su Muq iu got off of Han Wenqing and leaned against the table facing him. “Just- if this is about Brother Qiu, then don’t worry about it. He likes your face even if it is ‘young’.” Su Muqiu made air quotes around the word “young” making Han Wenqing smile.

“It’s not about him, just me,”

“Okay. Where is Brother Qiu anyway?”

“He’s gone off to get us some tea,”

“But they serve tea here,”

“Not Chun Mee tea,”

“You made him get you a special tea?” Su Muqiu asked dubiously.

“You can’t make him do anything he doesn’t want to do,” stated Han Wenqing. “Besides, in exchange I had to buy him a cup and pay for half of the snacks for tonight,”

“Mmmhmm, I believe that. Are you still going to go out to dinner with him like usual the day before you leave?”

Han Wenqing scowled at Su Muqiu. He knew what Su Muqiu was doing. Han Wenqing already had enough issues trying to gain back parts of his old life, he didn’t want to deal with being matchmade with Ye Xiu on top of it. He was about to tell Su Muqiu to stop, when Ye Xiu came back with a metal pot and two ceramic cups.

“I’m back. What are you two standing around for? It’s almost time to log in.” Ye Xiu said, placing the tea down on the table. Su Muqiu shot Han Wenqing a look, and when Ye Xiu passed Han Wenqing some tea, Su Muqiu gave a sneaky thumbs up. Shaking his head, Han Wenqing decided to focus on Glory, quickly adding Ye Xiu to his friends list.

“Hey Old Han, what’s your name? I want to add you,”

“Desert Dust,”

“What a masculine name! What class are you planning on playing? I need to know so I can work out an optimal class comp for us.”

“A Striker. I prefer to get up close to my enemies,”

“Scary,” there was a pause as Su Muqiu typed something, and then a message showed up on Han Wenqing’s screen. It was a friend invite. “Okay, I just sent you an invite,” Su Muqiu said, sounding excited. Han Wenqing could barely hear him, as he was focused on his screen.

[Autumn Tree has sent you a friend invite! Would you like to accept? Yes/No]

Son of a—

Life didn’t change that much, even with the revelation that Su Muqiu was the person he was supposed to be saving. For one, Han Wenqing didn’t even know what he was supposed to be saving Su Muqiu from. It could have been anything from 81 lightning strikes to cancer or some other genetic disease. 

Han Wenqing still visited Hangzhou. He entered competitions with Su Muqiu and Ye Xiu—mainly CSGO, because there weren’t any Glory competitions yet, and Su Muqiu and Ye Xiu also had a reputation that they wanted to keep as the best amateur CSGO players in Hangzhou.

When Han Wenqing wasn’t in Hangzhou, he was in Qingdao putting serious hours into leveling up in Glory so he could reach the arena quicker. Ye Xiu wasn’t online as much since he was still farming other games, which was surprising to Han Wenqing. It was odd to think of Ye Xiu as someone who didn’t instantly love Glory. 

But, whenever Ye Xiu was online, Han Wenqing felt like he could hear Ye Xiu’s voice as if it was coming from right next to him. It was something he missed from all the other games: the idle voice chat. Instead of only hearing Ye Xiu give coordinates and commands in the middle of a game, Han Wenqing could now ask about Ye Xiu’s day, or about particular strategies that Ye Xiu wanted to test, and he’d hear the answers in Ye Xiu’s mocking lilt or calm tones rather than through Su Muqiu telling him or the rare QQ message. 

It reminded Han Wenqin g of meeting Ye Xiu face to face for the first time in the original timeline. At that time, Excellent Era and Tyranny had a match against each other in Hangzhou. Ye Xiu was hiding so his face wouldn’t get broadcasted—not that it was likely to happen in the first place, since no one was bothering to stream the Excellent Era players because everyone thought that Tyranny was going to win. Han Wenqing found Ye Xiu while the latter was talking to a janitor in plain clothes, just asking about the janitor’s day. He remembered thinking that it was so easy to find Ye Xiu—his voice was distinctive, with the faint Pekingese accent bleeding through. Ye Xiu’s accent eventually faded, but Han Wenqing remembered that little quirk fondly.

“What are you doing now?” Ye Xiu asked as soon as One Autumn Leaf came out of a dungeon run.

“I want to head to the arena,” Han Wenqing answered as he looked at One Autumn Leaf. He kind of wished that Su Mucheng had made One Autumn Leaf actually look like Ye Xiu, instead of just vaguely similar. The avatar just didn’t have the same feeling as the player—it was missing the aura of smugness that made everyone want to punch Ye Xiu. “Do you want to come?”

“Sure, I’ll beat you up and make your record cry. No need to thank me, I’ll do it for free.”

“Amazing, the first free thing you want to give me is a beating. Unfortunately, I can’t accept it. Don’t worry, I’ll compensate you by giving you a thrashing.”

“Ah, don’t be too sad if I can’t accept that. I like winning more than losing, so I can’t let myself get beaten up. I’m sure you can understand that.”

“What kind of person likes losing more than winning?” Han Wenqing asked rhetorically. “Come to the arena with me and I’ll show you the meaning of defeat.”

“Scary,” joked Ye Xiu as One Autumn Leaf came closer, “Well, come on, let’s go to the arena.”

During this battle, Han Wenqing realised that he knew everything about this younger Ye Xiu’s playstyle. This playstyle wasn’t as refined as when Ye Xiu was 18 or even at 16; instead, it was still raw with potential. Han Wenqing hadn’t realised that it would be like this, so he was able to kill Ye Xiu’s avatar with a fair margin. It wasn’t easy since Ye Xiu knew his combos already, but Ye Xiu didn’t know the calculations for damage or the hidden features of the skills yet. Ye Xiu didn’t know how to be a Battle Mage yet. Ye Xiu didn’t know Han Wenqing yet.

“Hah, I guess this is the gap between our experience? Ah, but don’t worry, I’ll pay you back for this tenfold. I’m a nice person like that.” Ye Xiu said after the battle. “Fight a round with me again?”

Han Wenqing set up a room again, and they battled for the entire night, only pausing to get drinks or go to the toilet. Han Wenqing could see Ye Xiu slowly getting better. Ye Xiu improved just a tiny bit after each battle, quickly getting used to his Battle Mage and becoming more invested in the game. It was almost frightening how quickly Ye Xiu picked up the tiny nuances of Glory, like the hidden bleed effect for Double Stab and the fact that he could block using Dragon Tooth. Ye Xiu was progressing so quickly that Han Wenqing was pretty sure within a year Ye Xiu would be at the level of his 18 year old self instead of his level in the previous timeline, and Han Wenqing was looking forward to it.

“Who are you and what have you done with Old Han?” Ye Xiu asked when he saw Han Wenqing again in front of the McDonald’s, a few months after their last meeting. Han Wenqing was now proudly changing into his adult self; his jawline was extending and widening, and his shoulders were broader now too. He could even do his usual gym routine now without fear of damaging himself—he didn’t have to settle for the lighter version of it anymore.

“I grew up,” Han Wenqing said in a deeper voice.

“What in the world did you take to get from skinny to buff so quickly?”

“Nothing, I just ate well,” said Han Wenqing pointedly. He knew that Ye Xiu was constantly eating instant food and takeaway, he could hear it sometimes when they were playing Glory together.

“Could Mama Han be feeding you drugs without your knowledge? How terrible,” Ye Xiu sighed dramatically. Han Wenqing was about to defend the honour of his mother just as Ye Xiu asked, “Should we test those drugs out?” aloud and threw a challenging smirk towards Han Wenqing. The blood coursed through Han Wenqing’s body as he grinned at his friend.

“Should we settle this in Glory then?” suggested Han Wenqing, knowing no other way to fight Ye Xiu than through Glory and words.

“You’re on. I guess Mucheng will be there for you to cry into her shoulder when you lose,” declared Ye Xiu as he went towards Excellent Era Internet Cafe with Han Wenqing following him. The surprise on Su Muqiu’s face when he saw Han Wenqing was worth all the teasing he got in the past—that is, until Su Muqiu started to tease him about becoming a triad member.

A few more months passed, and Han Wenqing’s 17th birthday loomed ahead of him. He had basically abandoned high school by this point, and the only times he saw Li Feng and Wang Dongyu was when they went to the internet cafe or when he passed by them on the street. Li Feng was slightly envious that Han Wenqing’s parents let him become a professional gamer, while Wang Dongyu took one look at Han Wenqing’s life and declared that he was going to become a manager to help him. Han Wenqing was grateful for Wang Dongyu’s support, he knew that Wang Dongyu wasn’t like this before.

The beginnings of Tyranny were also building with rumours of the Alliance being formed. He hadn’t heard from Tyranny yet, but he knew that it was just a matter of time, and he was looking forward to taking control of his team again.

He wakes up one morning with 5 messages from Su Muqiu. Groggy, he left them on read until he was done with his morning exercise and had a shower. 

[Su Muqiu]: Hey, let me make you a weapon

[Su Muqiu]: Fuck, sorry I didn’t see that it was 3am
[Su Muqiu]: Are you up?

[Su Muqiu]: What kind of gamer are you if you aren’t enjoying the nightlife?

[Su Muqiu]: I’ll talk to you later.

[Han Wenqing]: Don’t need one.

[Su Muqiu]: Come on, I make weapons for the people I care about! I can even make a gun, make you look like a real thug!

[Han Wenqing]: Please don’t make me a gun.

[Su Muqiu]: I promise!

Han Wenqing could hear the unspoken ‘promise to make you one’ and shut his eyes, almost resigned to his fate by this point.

[Han Wenqing]: No guns.

[Su Muqiu]: :’(

He hoped that his words could carry his feelings of exasperation through the phone screen, but he doubted that Su Muqiu would listen even if they did.

Naturally, Han Wenqing woke up on his 17th birthday to a couple of well-wishes, even getting one from Ye Qiu, and a message from Su Muqiu.

[Su Muqiu]: Hey, can you cosplay for me so I can get more money?
[Su Muqiu]: Mumu says happy birthday! <3

He wanted to go back to sleep but instead he went to take a shower while his mother yelled at him about a package. Han Wenqing felt a feeling of trepidation rise within him. Whatever Su Muqiu gave him, he really didn’t want to know. 

He opened up the package anyway because it would be rude not to. It was a big box and slightly heavy. The form said that it was a costume, but Han Wenqing had his doubts. Inside was a big model gun, dark in colour with an odd rounded container on top of it. It looked like the bastard child of a sniper gun, an assault rifle, and a paint gun. Under it were clothes that looked like a military uniform, an account card for Glory, and a note which read:

Happy birthday Han Wenqing! I hope you have a great day today! 

Here the penmanship changed. 

Yeah, happy birthday! I made you a water gun, isn’t it cool? No need for thanks! Just take many pictures of you in the costume with it so I can sell them.  

Then a heart and what appeared to be a cake with candles was drawn, and the penmanship shifted again. 

Happy birthday! You should try playing on another account. You’ll learn much more about the game by doing so. 

What appeared to be an account card was drawn on the note, along with a few hearts. It was probably Su Mucheng who drew the hearts on the card, but he couldn’t be certain considering how much Su Muqiu liked to joke around.

Han Wenqing allowed himself to smile fondly. He was really becoming a softie with the Su siblings and Ye Xiu wasn’t he? Running a hand through his short hair, he decided that he would wear the costume next time he went over, but that he was also going to thoroughly beat Ye Xiu and Su Muqiu in the arena until he was satisfied. 

When Han Wenqing rocked up to Hangzhou wearing the costume, he decided that all the embarrassment he felt while wearing it and all the blackmail photos that would be taken were worth it. After all, as soon as he met Ye Xiu again in front of their usual McDonald’s, Ye Xiu looked like he never wanted to look away again, and Han Wenqing even heard a faint gasp from Ye Xiu. He wanted Ye Xiu to look at him like that forever.

In the July after Han Wenqing’s 17th birthday, his father slipped and sprained his ankle, and Han Wenqing had to help out in the restaurant for 6 weeks. His playing wasn’t affected much by this incident and he was happy to help out, but he was worried because he didn’t remember that happening in the first timeline. In fact, he could only remember a few bits of the far future in that timeline, and he was starting to sense that something wasn’t quite right. He tried to recall why he’d looked up beta bugs on the night that Glory launched, but he couldn’t. There was no reason he could think of for doing that, all he knew was that it had something to do with the future he had already lived.

This was when he started to write things down and date them; he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t forget. Just in case, he wrote down the main reason he was doing this too: the prevention of Su Muqiu’s death. As the days passed though, he realised that he could remember less and less of the events he wrote down. He always carried that notebook on him from then on.

In November, Han Wenqing decided to stay a few nights in Hangzhou as a stopover for a competition he, Ye Xiu, and Su Muqiu were attending in Guangzhou. It was cold, with dark grey clouds covering the whole city. The night before they left, Ye Xiu and Han Wenqing went out to their customary dinner despite the weather and were on their way back to the Su’s apartment, when Han Wenqing saw an advertisement with pink flowers on it and felt a strong craving. 

“Do you know any place that sells suanmeitang?” he asked.

“Suanmeitang?” asked Ye Xiu as he looked at the ad. “Hmmm, I don’t think so. I haven’t seen any. Do you want apple juice instead?” 

Han Wenqing pulled a face making Ye Xiu smirk up at him. Ye Xiu was fully aware that Han Wenqing hated sugary fruit juice.

“I’ll get some Chun Mee tea,” Han Wenqing muttered as he buried his face in his scarf. Next to him, Ye Xiu shivered slightly. Ye Xiu’s thin Taobao jacket wasn’t good enough for the weather; in fact, whenever they were in the apartment Ye Xiu usually wrapped himself up in a blanket to compensate. Han Wenqing slowly unwrapped his scarf.

“Take this and stop fishing to get more clothing,” Han Wenqing said, thrusting his scarf in Ye Xiu’s face. The grin that Ye Xiu gave him was almost blinding; it was brighter than the lights that lit the street.

Later, they decided to stop by a small cafe that sold Chun Mee tea that Han Wenqing didn’t even know existed. Ye Xiu confidently guided them to the shop. It was a little out of the way, but Han Wenqing thought it was worth it if he could have his bedtime drink.

“You really like that tea. You ask for it every time you come down,” Ye Xiu commented while causally glancing at Han Wenqing from the corner of his eye.

“What about it?” scowled Han Wenqing, trying to decipher what Ye Xiu was thinking about. Speaking to Ye Xiu was always an experience. Half the time you needed a dictionary to understand what he meant, and the other half you needed patience because whatever came out of Ye Xiu’s mouth would make you want to punch him.

“It doesn’t fit my image of you. Chun Mee tea and suanmeitang? Very odd.” Ye Xiu paused before a wide smirk appeared on his face. “Ah, but that’s okay. Most people actually do have odd sides... well, apart from me. I don’t have any odd sides.”

“Your only odd side is how much you make me want to punch you at times.” grunted Han Wenqing as he took another sip of his tea, feeling better about everything as the hot liquid warmed him from the inside.

“Yet I’m still here, unpunched. It’s a miracle.” drawled Ye Xiu as he took a sip of his bottle of coke. He was going to get fat at this rate, and Han Wenqing was going to relish getting Ye Xiu to a gym and on an exercise bike when that happened. 

Then, Ye Xiu turned to Han Wenqing. Ye Xiu’s lips were faintly wet from his drink, and the nighttime lights hitting his face made him look warmer. Then, Ye Xiu smiled. It was just a small thing, so small that Han Wenqing thought that maybe Ye Xiu didn’t even notice he was doing it. 

Han Wenqing finally fell in love with Ye Xiu again, just like that.

Han Wenqing, Ye Xiu, and Su Muqiu left for Guangzhou the next day. They won their competition by beating Wei Chen’s team thanks to a combined play by Han Wenqing and Ye Xiu. Wei Chen’s team cursed up a storm at the loss, but the sight of Han Wenqing’s stern face quickly stopped them. However, their newfound silence didn’t stop Su Muqiu from happily mocking them as they all parted ways.

Han Wenqing spent the next year feeling the invisible knife at Su Muqiu’s neck, ready to come down at any moment.He knew it was just a matter of time now, since the Alliance was beginning to prepare for a proper season, and Su Muqiu died before he could play in the Alliance. Antsy, Han Wenqing spent his days mostly battling Ye Xiu in the arena, watching the man he loved grow so fast; and preparing to be captain for Tyranny, who had finally contacted him with the offer. He was glad they’d approached him before he could storm the Tyranny Headquarters to demand the position. 

Han Wenqing spent more time in Hangzhou than usual, going down every month now. Su Muqiu alternated between giving him concerned looks and thumbs ups, depending on whether Han Wenqing spent more time with him or with Ye Xiu. Han Wenqing’s notebook burned in his backpack with the knowledge that there wasn’t much time left. Han Wenqing had no idea if Su Muqiu was dying from some condition or not, and any sign of fatigue from the blond teen would result in Han Wenqing demanding for him to go to the hospital. It had gotten to the point where Su Mucheng had to take him aside and tell him to back off because he was freaking out her brother. 

He couldn’t do this alone, but he wasn’t sure if Su Muqiu would believe him. In the end, Han Wenqing made the decision to approach Ye Xiu during the holidays around New Years, confident that Ye Xiu would still be in Hangzhou instead of with his family.

“I need to talk to you,” Han Wenqing said when he met Ye Xiu at the McDonald’s. 

Ye Xiu gave a little smirk and asked, “Where do you want to talk?”

“Let’s take a walk by the river. I think I’ll need a long time to explain,” 

Ye Xiu gave Han Wenqing a considering look and nodded. Ye Xiu guided them to West Lake, and they walked in silence, hands barely brushing as the sun warmed their hair and faces. Eventually Ye Xiu stopped at a quiet place by the lake that was free from most tourists, and Han Wenqing followed suit.

“So, what did you want to say?” Ye Xiu asked in a deceptively light tone. “These theatrics aren’t like you”

Taking his notebook out of his bag, Han Wenqing looked Ye Xiu in the eyes and said, “I’m a time traveller,” before handing over his notebook. “This is my proof.”

There was a beat of silence as Ye Xiu took this information in, and Han Wenqing vowed to forever remember the stunned look on Ye Xiu’s face. 

“I thought you were going to confess that you’ve been working for my family this whole time,” Ye Xiu said in shock as he took the notebook and flipped through it.

“What? Why would I be working for your family?” Han Wenqing asked, frowning.

“You called me Ye Xiu the first time we met, and nobody but my family could have sent people after me that fast.”

Han Wenqing was not going to touch that subject until he absolutely had to.

Unexpectedly, Ye Xiu’s lips started to twitch upwards. “Hey, old Han, did you really fall in love with me?” he asked.

“What?” Han Wenqing growled, trying to remember when he wrote that.

“September next year, it says you fell in love with me for the first time,”

“That’s right,”

“Should I wait until next year then?”

“For what?”

“For you to fall in love with me again.”

“No need, I’m already in love with you,” Han Wenqing said. Han Wenqing wasn’t embarrassed about it since by now he’d already been dealing with his feelings for over a year. His heart only wanted this asshole in front of him. Ye Xiu’s cheeks flushed slightly and he gave Han Wenqing a pleased smirk, tapping the notebook to his lips. 

“You could have said something earlier,” Ye Xiu said. “I was beginning to think that you were developing a crush on Brother Muqiu,”

“Read the end of the notebook,” Han Wenqing said as he crossed his arms. Han Wenqing could tell the exact moment when Ye Xiu read the part where the first Ye Xiu told Han Wenqing about Su Muqiu dying. It wasn’t anything obvious, but Han Wenqing could tell by the way Ye Xiu tightened his grip on the notebook slightly, and the way Ye Xiu’s eyes seemed to read one part over and over again.

“You think Su Muqiu is going to die this year?” Ye Xiu asked eventually, his voice calm as the ocean on a sunny day. Any sign of turmoil was hidden beneath the surface.

“I know it. You do lie, but not without reason, and there was no reason for you to lie about this,”

“What do you want us to do about this? We can’t keep Su Muqiu protected forever.”

Han Wenqing couldn’t help the relief that coursed through him when he heard Ye Xiu say ‘us’. “Come to Qingdao with me. All of you,” he said. “Bring Muqiu and Mucheng so we can keep an eye them.”

Ye Xiu smirked infuriatingly as he leaned against the railing facing Han Wenqing, the sun bathing him in sunlight. “You really don’t waste any time do you? Making me meet your parents already? And for New Years? You’re very fast.” Ye Xiu teased before he became serious again and said, “I’ll convince Brother Muqiu and Mucheng to come with us.”

Han Wenqing couldn’t help the pleased smile on his face as Ye Xiu came closer to him. “Good. I can get you and Muqiu positions on Tyranny, and as for Su Mucheng—my parents wanted a daughter as well, but they couldn’t afford it. I’m sure they’d be happy to take care of her when we’re out for matches.” he said. 

Ye Xiu shoved the notebook in Han Wenqing’s chest, and when Han Wenqing was momentarily distracted by looking down at it, he got blindsided by the kiss that Ye Xiu gave him. The kiss was sweet, with just enough intent to let each other know their feelings. Han Wenqing wasn’t particularly romantic, but he wanted to remember this moment until they met each other in the next life as well, so he could remember even then that Ye Xiu was the man he had decided on.

Ye Xiu smiled at him, impish and warm. He still looked tired, and they probably had a lot more to discuss even after this, but Han Wenqing believed that they could work their way through it.

“I never gave my answer to your confession,” Ye Xiu said.

“I’m not going to kiss you again until you turn 18.” Han Wenqing could tell that Ye Xiu was going to treat this like a game if he left it there so he explained himself, “Even if we’re almost the same age physically, it still feels a little weird for me to do anything with someone not even legally an adult yet,”

He smiled as he saw how disgruntled Ye Xiu was and knew that Ye Xiu was willing to wait now. I think this can work, he thought as he kissed Ye Xiu's forehead. 

“Thank you,” Han Wenqing said quietly.

Han Wenqing retired at 32. 

When he retired, he was the oldest professional player Glory had ever seen. He had managed this only because he had cut back on his team contributions and play time, but he wasn’t sad about this fact. After all, if he hadn’t done so, he wouldn’t have been able to keep up with the competition. Still, even with his hand speed deteriorating, especially over the last two years, he had desperately clung to professional Glory until he knew he absolutely no longer could.

“Old Han! Why are you brooding in the corner?” Su Muqiu said as he interrupted Han Wenqing’s musings. He was carrying Han Wenqing a drink, most likely suanmeitang; since the majority of people at his party were still pro players, there wasn’t any alcohol.Su Muqiu had retired three years ago, claiming that it was finally time for him to stop. He decided to work in Tyranny’s R&D, where he could work on silver weapons to his heart’s delight.

“Brother Xiu has been looking for you.” he said, his eyes flashing with mischief and grinning like the mad man he was. Han Wenqing fondly shook his head at Su Muqiu as he accepted the drink. He was constantly telling Su Muqiu that he didn’t actually like suanmeitang, but the other man kept getting it for him anyway. Han Wenqing found it hard to refuse it though. There were just too many memories associated with the drink for him to do so.

“Thanks.” he nodded before taking a sip and making a face. Su Muqiu laughed at him and called him a grump before moving further into the room; his job of being a messenger was done. 

Han Wenqing scanned the room for Ye Xiu before figuring that Ye Xiu probably wasn’t in the main room. Han Wenqing paused for a moment, suspicious that Ye Xiu might be in the bedroom, but decided that the younger man wasn’t that shameless, which left only the bathroom or balcony. Han Wenqing waited for a few moments before he chose the most likely scenario. Since Zhang Jiale was missing and likely to be in the bathroom, Han Wenqing went directly to the balcony.

Upon stepping out into the balcony, he was immediately aware that he wasn’t alone. The acrid smell of cigarettes filled his lungs, causing him to smile reflexively. There was only one person who was constantly near him that smelled like that. It was turning their balcony into a smoke box since Ye Xiu still smoked like a chimney despite Han Wenqing and Zhang Xinjie’s clear warnings about its health repercussions, but Han Wenqing couldn’t help but smile whenever he smelled it anyway.

“Xiao Xiu,” Han Wenqing greeted, “you wanted to see me?”

“Old Han!” Ye Xiu greeted back as he reached a hand out towards Han Wenqing. Han Wenqing closed the door and took a step closer to Ye Xiu, allowing the other man to kiss him. The kiss tasted like cigarettes, but Han Wenqing was used to it by this point. Han Wenqing mentally despaired at the possibility that if Ye Xiu ever went away, he might end up smoking just so he could have the taste of Ye Xiu on his lips at all times.

“Did you ask for me to come here just for a kiss?” Han Wenqing asked incredulously as he looked over his lover, checking to see if Ye Xiu was alright, despite having seen him earlier. Han Wenqing led them over to the small bench along one side which was installed since Ye Xiu spent so much time on the balcony.

“Yeah. You forbade me from kissing you in front of everyone today, so I had to ask Brother Muqiu to send you to me. You’d be too suspicious if I asked you to come out here directly.”

“For good reason.”

“It’s not like they don’t know by now,” Ye Xiu pointed out. “We’ve hardly been discreet about our relationship.”

“This is my retirement party. I’ll kiss you when they’re about to leave.”

Ye Xiu burst into laughter at hearing this. Han Wenqing smiled, which sent Ye Xiu further into hysterics. “Hahaha, you really are too possessive! I bet you would tell the whole world that I’m yours if you could!”

“No need to tell the whole world since it doesn’t matter what they think anyway,”

Ye Xiu smiled, reaching for Han Wenqing again. This time it was a gentle kiss, sweet enough to give Han Wenqing diabetes. When they parted, Ye Xiu’s hand was on Han Wenqing’s face, tracing circles on his skin. Han Wenqing closed his eyes and leaned into Ye Xiu. Too soon for Han Wenqing’s liking, Ye Xiu’s hand left him to carry on smoking. Han Wenqing sighed but let it go instead of demanding a cuddle.

“Glory is really fun, isn’t it?” Ye Xiu said quietly after a bit. Han Wenqing felt something like déjà vu at those words. A faint memory of another time stirred in his mind, but couldn’t quite connect.

“Is there a point in stating that?” asked Han Wenqing as he tried to look for a deeper meaning in Ye Xiu’s words. 

“We’ve spent so many years playing Glory. Over 15 years.”

“It was time well-spent.”

“Haha. Yeah, I don’t disagree, it’s just amazing that we can love something for that long.”

“I don’t think so. I’ve loved you for more than that.”

Ye Xiu paused, choking on his cigarette for a moment. Han Wenqing watched in amusement as his lover struggled to breathe before going over to help stop him from choking to death. Han Wenqing was pretty sure that Ye Qiu would kill him if he let Ye Xiu choke to death because he told him how much he loved him.

“Don’t die because I told you I love you.” scolded Han Wenqing as he whacked Ye Xiu’s back. Ye Xiu winced but soon managed to control his coughing.

“I wasn’t choking because of that. You told me not to be shameless when interacting with you tonight, but you’re allowed to? This is unfair.”

“You got your best friend to get me out here just so you could get a kiss.”

“That’s not true.” Ye Xiu lied like the liar he was. “Mucheng told me something that I wanted to show you.”

Han Wenqing cocked an eyebrow as he sat down on the bench, his glass placed down far away from the cigarette tray that had made a home for itself on the floor. The tray was a gift from Su Muqiu, something that he’d gotten from the gift shop in the Tyranny building.

“There’s going to be a meteor shower tonight. Mucheng was telling me how romantic it was meant to be,” Ye Xiu smirked. The sarcasm in his smirk was almost overwhelming, making Han Wenqing suspicious. “You know, in the West, people think that if you wish upon shooting stars then your wish will come true. Come, Old Han, why don’t we make a wish?”

“If you wanted a date then just ask, no need to plan it like this.” Han Wenqing said, exhausted from the amount of trouble his lover was going through just to watch a meteor shower with him. Ye Xiu plopped down on the bench without grace like he was 15 again—like the day they first met all over again. 

“I could, but it’s not exciting that way. Besides, most of our dates are in Glory, and they haven’t put a meteor shower event in there yet so I can’t show it to you in-game.” Han Wenqing felt his lips twitch upwards in amusement. The way that they were obsessed with Glory probably inspired the younger generation to work harder , he mused.

“Old Han, it’d be a shame if we missed an easy wish-granting, so let’s make a wish.” Ye Xiu had a lazy smirk on his face, like he didn’t actually believe what was coming out of his mouth but was willing to stick to his words anyway because it was funny. “So, what would be your wish?” Ye Xiu asked, turning to face Han Wenqing fully. 

Han Wenqing ignored the flash of heat that made itself at home in his gut as soon as Ye Xiu turned to face Han Wenqing. Ye Xiu’s eyes were half lidded, his shirt open at the collar to reveal his neck, where a little mark from 2 nights ago peeked through. Ye Xiu looked unbearably warm and welcoming. Han Wenqing was going to have to suffer through the rest of his retirement party before he could put his hands on Ye Xiu, wasn’t he?

“I--”

“Oh, it’s already starting. Let’s make a wish, shall we?” Ye Xiu smirked smugly as he leaned in until his lips barely brushed against Han Wenqing’s. “Well?” 

Han Wenqing felt himself soften inside. Ye Xiu didn’t often actively try to seduce him like this, especially not without Glory involved, but despite Ye Xiu’s often unromantic nature, Han Wenqing was grateful. This man—his rival, friend, and lover, was someone precious to him, and Han Wenqing was lucky to have Ye Xiu nearby, even if Ye Xiu did act like he deserved a punch in the face sometimes. 

If he had to wish for something though... 

He wouldn’t trade his first wish to help Ye Xiu for anything else.

Ye Xiu was happy, Su Muqiu was safe, and Han Wenqing was able to play Glory for another 15 years. The 15 years wasn’t nearly enough for him, but it was more than anyone else would be able to play professionally. 

He had everything that he could ever want.

“Wish for what? I already have my wish,” Han Wenqing said, leaning in to kiss Ye Xiu once more under the light of the meteor shower. Han Wenqing rested his forehead against his boyfriend’s, their hands finding each other.He knew that Ye Xiu was going to set up a branch of his family’s business in Qingdao so they could live together. And whenever Ye Xiu had to go to Beijing for conferences? They had Glory for that. Afterall, they had all the time in the world and they had it together, and nothing could change that.