Chapter Text
“This is his new number?” Ye Qiu asked his secretary who nodded seriously at him.
“It’s not actually his, but a young lady by his side. First Young Master seemed to never hold a phone anymore since... the last time,” The secretary said carefully as she peered at Ye Qiu’s expression.
“Got it, go ahead, I’ll make a call myself,” Ye Qiu said as he went to sit down and played with his phone as he gazed at the number his secretary had given him. He spun his chair to look out the floor-to-ceiling window of his office and sighed tiredly.
When would he escape this tiresome lifestyle? He was only twenty-three but he already felt a sense of crisis at his fading chance of freedom. Not to mention, sitting here, alone, made him feel bitter. His twin brother was out there doing what he loved, what about him?
The last time Ye Qiu met Ye Xiu face to face was back when they were eighteen, he didn’t manage to convince him to return back then too.
Every day was only another day to forcefully labour himself in this family. Ye Qiu didn’t like it at all. Not to mention, he had nowhere to run to, since the only one who could ever listen and understand no longer wanted to hear from him. Sometimes Ye Qiu missed it, the time before they got into a fight, the time before Ye Xiu snatched his chance to run away, the time where they could act like normal twins without getting frustrated over the sight of one another.
Ye Qiu often wondered if Ye Xiu ever missed those moments too.
Tomorrow, he would need to go to Japan to finalize a deal there, afterwards, he would make a trip to Russia to observe the opportunity there. Ye Qiu often had half a mind in faking his death by a bear attack, but recalling his father would probably suffer a heart attack if he did that, he reluctantly put that idea aside.
He wanted to escape this family, but he didn’t want to make them suffer from the pain of losing him. Especially with deception. His mother would surely crumble down despite her tough character, the whole family would be ruined.
Maybe only if that happened Ye Xiu would finally willing to return home...
Ye Qiu shook his head to get rid of the depressing and dark thoughts dancing in his head. The exhaustion and resentment caught up to him yet again, making him think thus.
Ye Qiu dialed the number his secretary left and waited for a bit before the other side picked up.
It was a girl, or young lady, from what his secretary had mentioned. Ye Qiu perfunctorily greeted her and asked her if Ye Qiu was with her.
There were rustles, Ye Qiu could only imagine that she took his request and shuffled off to find Ye Xiu. He only waited for a bit before the phone changed hand.
“Hello? Ye Qiu here.” Ye Xiu’s unmistakable voice filtered through the speaker.
“Ye Xiu, it’s me, Y—“
Piip...
Pip...
Piiippp....
The sound of rejection rang faster before Ye Qiu could even say his own name. This was the fifth time Ye Qiu managed to get a phone number that could connect to his brother, but his elder brother hung up faster than before. His attempt to even have a connection was rejected, who in this world would even do that to Ye Qiu except for his own twin brother???
The resentment, frustration, and grudge because of his recent exhausting schedules mixed perfectly with the boiling anger that dawned in him when he heard the annoying tone of a turned-off call. Ye Qiu forgot about his exhaustion as all his emotions finally mixed into one big glob of fury.
Ye Qiu clenched his phone with his pianist hand and hurled it to the wall.
“Damn it! It’s just playing a game! Why are you so insistent to do it! Just you wait, I’ll do it too!” Was the sentences declared in fury by the second young master of the respected Ye Household.
It was just a sentence hurled out in anger. To some people, they wouldn’t take it seriously. But Ye Qiu, tired of his brother’s aversion towards him, would make sure he’d see this till the end.
Wang Jiexi rubbed his head as Fang Shiqian and the others discussed the result of their training, before drifting off to gossip and betting who would make it to the playoff. Season 6 had been very promising and optimistic for them as the champion of Season 5, it was not an exaggeration to say most people hoped for Tiny Herb to make the second era after Excellent Era if they ever win this season too.
However, the other teams also didn’t just watch on as they improved. They had also improved.
Blue Rain, in particular, had improved tremendously this season. Huang Shaotian steadily found new rhythms that he was more and more comfortable of, and Yu Wenzhou still held the foundation steadily as always. Not to mention Tyranny...
“If we win this season too, I’ll think about staying around for another year,” Fang Shiqian said to his juniors.
“Vice-captain Fang, don’t be like that, ah. Stay around longer, you’re still young. Look at Excellent Era’s Ye Qiu and Tyranny’s Han Wenqing.”
“Those two are the old generals, the pioneers’ pillars,” Fang Shiqian pointed out. “I’m good but it’s unrealistic to compare me with them.”
“What about Wind Howl’s Lin Jingyan? He debuted in the same year as you.”
“Old Lin is the captain,” Fang Shiqian looked away with a careless smile on his face.
“You’re the vice-captain,” Deng Fusheng sighed.
“I think Yuan Baiqing is ready, to be honest,” Fang Shiqian said calmly. “Don’t you think so?” He looked at Wang Jiexi.
“Hm?” Wang Jiexi blinked. “I think he’s not ready yet...” he said.
Fang Shiqian snorted. “What do you know? You’re a Witch, not a Healer.”
Why did you ask me, then? Wang Jiexi decided to ignore Fang Shiqian as he reviewed his notes for the day. Today’s training was going steady too, they could do something else for the second part of the day until the night. They couldn’t be too worn out too...
When Wang Jiexi was mulling about their regimen, the door to the training room was pushed open and the team’s manager popped his head in.
“Captain Wang...” Manager Qin called out.
Wang Jiexi looked at him and paused. “Manager Qin, what’s wrong?” He asked politely.
“Um, we need you in the director’s office now,” The manager winced. “Vice-captain Fang, you might want to come too.”
Wang Jiexi and Fang Shiqian shared a gaze. They then stood up and followed the manager out, leaving behind the curious but obedient members.
When they were a bit further away from the practice room, Fang Shiqian stuffed his hands into his pockets and asked casually. “So, what’s the problem?”
Manager Qin sighed. “Well, you see, there might be an addition to the team in a near future.”
“What?” Wang Jiexi frowned, even Fang Shiqian was bewildered. “What addition?”
“We got a guest today, a very distinguished guest. He wants to apply as a player,” Manager Qin said.
“What? Is there anything problematic in there?” Fang Shiqian raised his brows. While captain and vice-captain indeed have the right or duty to see over potential members, they were not the gatekeepers.
“Well, there are some problems regarding this. You see, he... is a newbie, and going twenty-four,” The manager winced.
“What the fuck? That’s older than I am,” Fang Shiqian protested.
“Yes.”
“Just reject him,” Fang Shiqian said. A newbie and older than him? That was basically no future!
“We did, but he was hard to reject...” Manager Qin smiled apologetically and looked away when Wang Jiexi stared at him for an explanation. “He tossed in thirty million yuan for us to evaluate him seriously into the team...”
“...”
“...”
“Which local tyrant that wants to dip his feet into E-sport?” Fang Shiqian whispered incredulously.
Wang Jiexi was still not impressed. “We’re nearing play-off. We have no time to be distracted. Besides, even if the summer transfer window is open, I don’t think we’re going to write him in.” A newbie? Older than Fang Shiqian? Yeah, why not ask them to sign in a random passerby on the street? That passerby would most likely know Glory better too!
They all stopped before the boss’ office. The manager shook his head. “I think it’s better if you two discuss it with him yourself.”
Clack.
The manager pushed the door open and pushed the two inside before shutting it from outside.
“Boss!” Fang Shiqian cheerfully greeted as if he didn’t already know the situation.
Wang Jiexi, on the other hand, eyed the person’s back as he walked inside. He briefly wondered how he looked like before his curiousity got an answer.
Wang Jiexi’s eyes widened and Fang Shiqian’s jaw dropped.
“Ye Qiu!?”
“Senior Ye?!” the captain and vice-captain of Tiny Herb exclaimed in shock when they saw the familiar face.
“Ye- what?” The boss paused in shock. He was Tiny Herb’s boss, while he certainly saw Ye Qiu’s face at least once before, he never actively interacted with other teams’ players. He didn’t even remember Ye Qiu’s face.
“I believe you two are the captain and vice-captain of this team,” Ye Qiu stood up and nodded curtly at them, polite and respectful.
Fang Shiqian immediately felt goosebumps crawling on his skin as he shivered. Even Wang Jiexi was disturbed.
“Why are you here? Is this a prank?” Fang Shiqian looked at his boss, wanting to see just what the hell Ye Qiu pulled to make his boss agree to prank them like this.
Ye Qiu was unperturbed, he took out his ID card and showed it to them with both hands respectfully. “My name is Ye Xiu, I’m here to respectfully ask this team to train me and let me play for Tiny Herb.”
Not enough one shock, the two immediately got another one when they saw the ID card.
Ye... Xiu???
Fang Shiqian grabbed the ID card and squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again. Fuck the second character didn’t change. It was still Ye Xiu. Not Ye Qiu. How the fuck??? Not only the face is ten points similar, even the surname is the same! If they’re not related, then his name was not Fang Shiqian!!!
Wang Jiexi frowned. “Are you, in any way, related to Ye Qiu...?”
“Yes,” Ye Qiu answered without batting an eyelid. “He’s my twin brother.”
Fang Shiqian staggered back, almost losing his balance had it not because he quickly grabbed Wang Jiexi’s sleeve and pulled himself together. Wang Jiexi, on the other hand, slowly calmed his heart down.
Alright, alright, it was just twins. It was not as if it was some kind of earth-shattering secret. No wonder Ye Qiu refused to show his face...
Oh fuck, it was an earth-shattering secret. The reason why Ye Qiu the way he was, was practically in front of them. It made Wang Jiexi questioned the friendship he had made with the other team’s captain, wasn’t having a twin brother should be one of the first things you told your friend???
If the other top-tier pros within the Pro Alliance knew about this, they would riot.
Calm down, Wang Jiexi... Wang Jiexi raised his gaze once again to find Ye Xiu’s (?) calm smile. If this man was related to that man, he would not be an easy one to handle.
“I’m the captain of this team, Wang Jiexi. Why don’t we sit down and talk about the topic, Mr. Ye Xiu?” Wang Jiexi calmly proposed.
Ye Xiu smiled, it certainly lacked ‘Ye Qiu’s leisure allure but it was still charming on its own right. “Of course, Captain Wang.”
Yeah, this one would certainly be a trouble.
“You know, I still feel it’s rather rude for you to hang up on your twin brother like that,” Su Mucheng said with a frown as she sat beside Ye Xiu who was smoking on the balcony.
“That was days ago, Mucheng, leave it. And he’s fine, he could take a few rejections,” Ye Xiu rolled his eyes.
“But what if you hurt his feeling?” Su Mucheng asked.
“We’re in a mutual relationship of hurting each other’s feelings,” Ye Xiu said blandly.
“That can’t be healthy.” Su Mucheng frowned. “You know, maybe you can just talk to him. Maybe he just wanted to talk, he’s a very amiable and understanding man...” She remembered him well, although he seemed strict on the edge, Ye Qiu was actually very gentle.
“I’m just kidding, Mucheng,” Ye Xiu sighed. “And it’s Ye Qiu. He’ll get over it.”
“What if he doesn’t? What if he does something drastic to get back at you?” Su Mucheng proposed.
Ye Xiu smirked in disdain. “What can he do?”
A few months later, Ye Xiu would remember this question well and cursed the heaven as it gave him the answer he certainly didn’t need.