Chapter 63 - That was fine, but it wasn’t necessary
Edited by xiin and Noks
Friday was September 26, which was a whole week before the day of the gala.
All the invited anchors received the flight information within three days. Because of this, the anchor groupchat finally grew a bit busy again.
“It seems that the platform had a good harvest this year, they’re actually comping a week’s stay in the hotel.”
“Are there fewer anchors on the invitation list?”
“No, I heard that there are a few dozen more than last year… Besides those whose contracts were terminated or those who don’t stream anymore, there are only two people from last year who weren’t invited this year.”
When this topic was broached, the groupchat went quiet for a moment.
Then everyone sent out all kinds of tacit satirical emoticons.
Yu Yan still felt at a loss upon seeing this. He didn’t understand what riddles they were playing at until he opened the platform’s official Weibo—banana and laoshu were not on the invitation list.
The discussion continued in the groupchat.
“There don’t seem to be many stars invited this year, so they had more budget for anchors?”
“You’re all wrong, it’s because on both the StarTV’s and hotel’s website, there’s a big Yida Group logo.”
“Are there any XX locals? If we check the ticket times, people in the same time slot can go together bei.”
There were many other such responses below, including some who stated they were from Manyang.
Yu Yan didn’t participate in the discussion since he felt uncomfortable traveling with strangers.
A QQ chat popped up at this moment.
Tuantuan: What time’s your flight landing, Xiao Yan? I’ll come pick you up at the airport ya.
Yu Yan: No need to take the trouble… I’ll take a taxi.
Tuantuan: It’s no trouble. Didn’t we have a deal that I’d welcome you when you come to Jincheng? When the time comes, after you put your luggage away, I’ll take you out to eat delicious things.
Tuantuan: Lulu and Sheepy will also be there. After eating, we’re planning on going to a KTV. The itinerary is all planned out, just missing you.
Yu Yan hesitated for a moment, and was just about to refuse—
Tuantuan: We’re doing a special tour just to welcome you. If you don’t come, we will have to disband right on the spot!
Yu Yan: …Alright ba.
He sent his flight information to her and then started his livestream.
1 and Lu Xiuhe both arrived at the same time in the evening. This time, Lu Xiuhe had brought his little baby along with him.
“Xiao Yan, she doesn’t know how to play PUBG very well. If she throws us into a pit later, you try to take care of it ah.” Lu Xiuhe said, “Stream followers, hold your tongue a bit as well.”
Yu Yan let out an “en”, inputted the ID and pulled Lu Xiuhe’s little girlfriend into the team.
Soon, an avatar of a black man with an afro entered the game interface.
Standing next to Yu Yan’s black woman avatar, who also had an afro, they looked just like a couple.
Lu Xiuhe was stunned and then asked, “…Baby, why are you using this avatar?”
Lu Xiuhe’s little girlfriend paused. Half a minute later, the avatar changed into a woman with a ponytail.
Yu Yan clicked to queue their team, while Lu Xiuhe continued, “Xiao Yan, give me your flight number, and I’ll buy a ticket for the same flight as you. Let’s go together.”
Yu Yan glanced at the details and said, “CZ3…”
“Say all this in a private chat,” Yi Chen interrupted.
“Huh?” Yu Yan responded, “This shouldn’t matter ba…”
[I, who just opened up a travel site to bump into Xiao Yan: ???]
“…” Yu Yan took out his cellphone and told Lu Xiuhe, “I’ll send it to you via private message.”
Upon entering the game, Lu Xiuhe grabbed the chance to first drop a marker. “Jump here, there aren’t many people here and it’s also rich.”
Yu Yan replied, “Okay.”
At the moment when their parachutes opened, Yi Chen glanced at the person next to him and asked, “Not running away this time?”
When his avatar landed next to 1, Yu Yan shook his head and denied weakly, “&#k2026;I’ve never run off before.”
After saying that, Yu Yan left the gun beside him for Yi Chen, turned around, and ran into a house. After searching for a long time, he only managed to scrounge up a Vector.
Lu Xiuhe said, “Xiao Yan, I’ve booked my ticket. When we get to the airport, let’s pick seats together sha. I can still book pick-up service right now; what’s your hotel called? I’ll call for a car to pick us up ba.”
Yu Yan was stunned and said, “No need, someone will be picking me up.”
“Who?”
Yu Yan opened his mouth, and then abruptly closed it, remembering the previous trending topic on the search hotlist. He kept silent and didn’t continue talking.
“Who?” This time, it was Yi Chen who asked the question.
Yu Yan hesitated before replying, “Just, a friend.”
He continued to ask, “A guy friend or a girl friend?”
“A female friend.”
Yi Chen thought back to Tuantuan’s Weibo post from before, the one with the intimate photo. He instantly understood how things stood, sneered, and didn’t speak again.
This person didn’t learn anything from his lessons, so then why should he be angry?
Although this was what he thought inside, when Yi Chen looked sideways to catch sight of a pen that laid beside his hand, he felt it grow into an eyesore the more he looked at it.
He picked up the pen, and not very gently, threw it into the pen holder, making quite a bit of noise.
There really weren’t many people in this area. Yu Yan had combed through most of the city before he finally heard a shot.
“Sorry, my baby misfired.” Half a beat later, Lu Xiuhe said, “Nothing happened, continue searching.”
After they finished searching, the group gathered in front of a sports car to share the gathered goods.
Yu Yan explained while tossing things down, “Expansion, scope, M24, it’s all there…”
Before he could finish speaking, 1 had already directly entered the car.
He was stunned. He switched his perspective and looked carefully. There was only one M16 and an Uzi on 1’s back. “Don’t you want it?”
“No.”
“…”
Lu Xiuhe ran all the way over to this spot from far away and asked, “What? M24 and scope? What kind of scope?”
Yu Yan quickly picked up the gun on the ground. “No, you heard wrong.”
Lu Xiuhe: “?”
After getting in the car, Yu Yan drove for a while before he saw another car when passing through the wild area.
“Let’s drive two cars ba.” Yu Yan said, “It’ll be a bit safer.”
In general, all squads liked to drive two cars when running from the poison circle, mainly to prevent any accidents along the way. One car carrying four lives getting into an accident could directly end the game for all four of them.
Lu Xiuhe jumped out of the car. “Okay, baby…”
Someone quickly followed Lu Xiuhe out of the car, but it wasn’t the character with the ponytail.
Yi Chen got out of the car and ran headlong towards the other one without looking back.
“…”
Everyone was quiet for a moment, and Lu Xiuhe only spoke after a while, “Um, Boss 1, how about you take Xiao Yan’s car? It’s safer.”
“No need,” said Yi Chen.
—But I just want to carry my baby ah, to live together and die together in the same car. Boss, you’re so rich, why can’t you see this at all?
Lu Xiuhe thought all this, but he dared not say any of it.
Yu Yan pursed his lips and jumped out of the car while Lu Xiuhe was still at a loss.
“You drive this one.” Tossing this sentence behind, Yu Yan forcibly occupied the driver’s seat in the car Yi Chen was in, stepped on the accelerator, and left.
Looking at the person in the back seat, Yu Yan decided to start a conversation even though there was nothing to say.
“1, you… Have you eaten yet?”
The man’s voice was neither cold nor light as he responded, “It’s already 9.”
He meant that he had eaten.
“It’s nearly October, has it already cooled down in Jincheng?”
“En.”
“Then when I go over there, do I need to wear warmer clothes?”
“Whatever you like.”
“…”
[Forced chat is the most deadly.]
[How come I feel like the atmosphere isn’t right tonight?]
[One look and it’s obvious that none of you paid attention in class, didn’t you hear what Xiao Yan just said? He said he has a Female! Friend! Coming to pick him up, hurry up and take notes!]
Yu Yan didn’t pay any attention to the barrage. He thought of a less awkward topic and quickly tossed it at 1. “I know an owner of a pet shop, and he has a lot of canned cat food. They’re all authentic goods, should I bring Yan… Little Fool some?”
Yi Chen didn’t expect the first thing that this person would think about with regard to him was actually that cat when visiting Jincheng.
Good.
Very good.
“No need.”
Yu Yan said, “Cat toys or cat…”
Yi Chen was just about to tell him to stop talking about cats when he heard a loud shot—a team of people were strafing at their car from a distance.
Yu Yan immediately turned the car around, wanting to leave that particular route. Unexpectedly, the enemy team targeting them wasn’t weak. His car couldn’t move very fast, so he had just turned it around when with a bang, it exploded in an instant. The fire blazed everywhere, and the screen went gray.
[MMXLEE eliminated you by detonating the vehicle]
“…”
Lu Xiuhe was surprised. “Xiao Yan, your car has been strafed and blown up?”
Yu Yan had a strong observational ability, so he would often spot an enemy even from a long distance away. After having played so many games with Yu Yan, Lu Xiuhe had never really seen him getting killed because his car had gotten strafed and blown up.
“My fault.” Yu Yan said, “I only saw two people, and thinking that they couldn’t strafe me to death, I wanted to just rush through.”
After explaining, Yu Yan saw that the icon in front of y11iic suddenly changed from X to a broken plug—the other party had directly exited the game.
Immediately, the barrage assistant popped up with a message.
[Yanyan’s Daddy has left the stream]
“It’s okay,” Lu Xiuhe said. “Watch me turn the tide and take you to eat chicken.”
Yu Yan switched screens to watch the battle and picked up his cellphone.
Yu Yan: Why did you quit, are you not playing anymore?
1: En.
Yu Yan: Just now was my mistake… How about we play another match, and I’ll definitely take it seriously.
1: Have things to do, not playing.
“…”
Yu Yan decided to face the problem head on.
Yu Yan: Tuantuan said that the girls have arranged a welcome wagon and tour for me. They have already put everything together… I felt too awkward to refuse them.
1: En.
Yu Yan: …
Yu Yan: Are you angry?
Angry that he hadn’t listened to his advice, and even after discovering that he had been used, was still willing to continue to stay in contact with her?
1: No.
After sending this curt message, Yi Chen decided to let him hang there for a bit.
He took out his clothes and was about to enter the bathroom. However, just before entering, he unlocked his cellphone and looked at it.
Fine, this person still hadn’t replied to him.
He dared to not reply to him, but didn’t dare to refuse that female anchor.
Really promising.
1: You don’t have to explain it to me.
He didn’t even have the energy to care about his own silly cousin, Yi Ran, so being concerned about what other people were doing fell even more into the category of ‘none of his business.’
With that in mind, he started typing, pressing especially hard on the cellphone’s keyboard.
1: You won’t listen to what I say anyway.
When he came out of the bathroom, and as he rubbed his wet hair with a bath towel, he noticed that there was a message on his cellphone.
His tight frown finally began to ease a bit, and he clicked it open.
“President Yi, the invitation list for the annual gala has been arranged. As per your instructions, the hotel has been emptied for the anchors to stay in for a week. The gala venue has also already been arranged, and the activity schedule and venue design have all been sent to your mailbox. Manager Liu has been arranged as your special reception staff. He will contact you on his own initiative when the time comes.”
Yi Chen’s expression was dark as he replied, “I didn’t say I was going to attend the gala.”
Just after he sent that message, his cellphone suddenly vibrated.
Little Anchor: I just went and told her that she doesn’t have to pick me up from the airport.
Little Anchor: Since the start of my livestream, she has taken care of me in many ways… Although the trending topic was a bit excessive, it didn’t hurt my actual interests, so that’s why I didn’t refuse her.
Little Anchor: I called a pick-up service. [picture]
After reading this message, Yi Chen’s displeasure finally faded.
In fact, he wasn’t opposed to the little anchor having normal social interactions. These days, most adult friendships also had some other ideas, either of gain or profit, mixed into them, just like his and Mo Nancheng’s friendship did.
However ba—
A single man and woman, as ordinary friends, climbing the mountain together to pray for blessings, and warmly getting picked up from the airport—
That was fine.
But it wasn’t necessary.
He switched back to the chat he had just had with his assistant.
1: 18xxxxxxx, have the manager contact me when the time comes.
The assistant who had just called Manager Liu to convey the news that the boss wouldn’t be coming: “…”
“Alright.”
As long as you pay me on time, whatever changes you make, I can put up with all of it.
—
Juurensha: ….Boss Yi, a bit immature, no? If you have a problem with it, you should directly tell Yanyan! Sigh, then again, he’s still ever so slowly working through his feelings…Yanyan is really the more mature one in this relationship sometimes.
Noks: Boss Yi just needs to go and read those fics that Yanyan was reading in the last chapter. I swear, he’ll realize his own feelings in a flash!
And Moss Piggy has more fanart, a colored version of the Yanyan from last chapter and a Boss Yi now to accompany him!
And since we now have 2 pieces of fanart, I am happy to announce that we will be releasing the entire StarTV Gala all at once instead of splitting it into parts!
Please check out and support the raws if you can!
And you guys can buy the published version here! Shipping was both cheap and fast!
And there’s an audio drama for PUBG that came out! It’s more condensed than the novel, but it’s fun!