After the live broadcast ended, a video from Mouse popped up.
In the small camera, Mouse and Big Peng appeared together.
Big Peng was awkward, desperately telegraphing to Mouse.
Mouse cleared his throat, "Captain, we're not here to gossip, let me tell you first. The issue of you and Xue playing doubles just now, it has caused a big stir on Weibo. We all know the relationship between you and Xue, even though Xue has retired for a year, our relationship is still good, but others don't think so, and now many people are saying we're not getting along. Some people are taking advantage of this to say that Xue's retirement is because of our internal discord, which is quite annoying."
Big Peng quickly said, "It's not, it's not, we're not worried about that, Captain. It's just that what you said to Lao Xue in the live broadcast room just now, it sounded like you were trying to hit on him. Captain, you're not trying to create some hype by faking a relationship with Lao Xue because our popularity is dropping, right?"
Mouse immediately covered Big Peng's mouth, "Bro, stop talking, you'd better not speak! Our team is the number one team in the entire China, with super high popularity, do we need to fake a relationship?"
"Huh? So Captain is really trying to hit on Lao Xue? What you said, seems exactly like the way I flirted with girls a few years ago!"
"Oh! Shut up!"
Shen Qing's face had already turned dark.
The atmosphere in the team hadn't been quite relaxed since Xueqing left.
Shen Qing had strict demands on people and didn't like to joke around. When Xueqing was around, he would tease and provoke Shen Qing every day, but now that Xueqing was gone, besides hearing Shen Qing talk during training and competitions, there were only a few times when he would talk more during live broadcasts.
They were all actually quite afraid of Shen Qing's reticence and coldness, his aura was too strong, inexplicably intimidating.
Big Peng couldn't read the situation, and didn't guess that Shen Qing and Xueqing really had that kind of relationship, but Mouse understood.
He had only intended to take advantage of this trouble on Weibo to indirectly stir up some gossip, but Big Peng didn't take the bait, so he had to quickly end this topic, afraid that Shen Qing would really get angry.
"Captain, we're hanging up, see you at the base tomorrow."
"Ok."
Shen Qing glanced at Weibo.
Comments under his and the team's Weibo posts were indeed being led by others.
Xueqing was emotional, and didn't speak properly. When he was in a good mood, he still had reason and emotional intelligence, but if he got upset, he wouldn't give anyone face.
He didn't care about his own Weibo, but on Xueqing's end...
Shen Qing opened his Weibo alternate account and found the only person he followed.
The phone rang again before I could open it.
It's Zhou Hongyu.
At this moment, Zhou Hongyu should have called after seeing the Weibo post.
"Lao Shen, you usually have a good hold of your temper. Why did you intentionally provoke Lao Xue by saying those things during the livestream today? You know Lao Xue's temper the best. Some remarks you two can make in private, but it's not acceptable for others to see!"
"Alright" Shen Qing's voice was cold, "Weibo is being controlled, over there..."
"It's not too bad over there. After the main account used by the team was retired, he hasn't been active. He's been interacting with his fans using a secondary account. Although it's been exposed as his secondary account, the haters haven't found it yet."
"Okay."
Shen Qing let out a sigh of relief.
Then, he frowned again.
"Is this not good?"
"What?" Zhou Hongyu was confused for a moment. "What do you mean not good? Talking nonsense during the livestream? Big brother, that's not your style! Your fans have already shown restraint by not reacting!"
"What I meant was those words," Shen Qing's tone contained a hint of impatience and annoyance.
It took Zhou Hongyu a while to realize what Shen Qing meant!
"Brother! Were you intentionally speaking like that today? Are you serious? Not to mention how those fans feel, I just want to tell you, your image doesn't suit such talk!"
Shen Qing was displeased, with a furrowed brow.
"Talking about taking care of yourself, taking you home, asserting dominance, it's not like you! You and Lao Xue don't fit this approach!" Zhou Hongyu sighed, "Lao Shen, in my opinion, you need to be normal first, back to your usual self, before trying to get closer to Lao Xue and play around a bit."
Shen Qing hung up the phone.
He was not being abnormal.
It was normal for him to want to take Xue Qing home and worry about his ability to take care of himself.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have bought the neighboring house, wouldn't have known when Xue Qing went out at night and followed him until he returned home, wouldn't have created a secondary account to follow his Weibo and livestreams, and wouldn't have someone report his whereabouts every day.
*
Xue Qing went to the balcony to smoke after ending the livestream.
Shen Qing's attitude was really annoying him.
He liked Shen Qing, but that didn't mean he would be entangled with his ex-boyfriend. He wasn't the kind of person who could forget the pain once the wound was healed.
After putting out the cigarette, Xue Qing was about to go back inside when the phone rang.
It was Jiang Xu.
Xue Qing answered the call with a sneer, "I thought you wouldn't dare to talk to me again, Jiang dog."
"Why are you saying that?" Jiang Xu laughed awkwardly, "I heard a rumor, so I wanted to check on you. I heard you retired because of a hand injury? You went abroad for treatment? Is it true? How's your hand now? Do you plan to continue playing professionally in the future?"
Xue Qing chuckled, "Where did you hear that? From my livestream? That was just to mess with Shen Qing. You believed it? You know well about my skills, right? Hey, why are you suddenly concerned about my hand? When I retired and came to see you, you didn't ask about the reason."
"Uh, ha ha... well, um..."
"Right, since you're calling me now, I'll ask you, what's the deal with you signing UL?"
One question followed by another, Jiang Xu couldn't stop him, so he angrily growled, "Xue dog! Shut up! Shen Qing is video calling me!"
"What?" What did he mean? Shen Qing was video calling him so late at night?
Before Xue Qing could ask, Jiang Xu quickly hung up the phone.
After a while, he sent a message on WeChat.
"Shen Qing asked me to call and ask about your hand. Who knew you were lying to him. Damn, he's really angry now."
Xue Qing was speechless.
This kind of complex emotion couldn't be easily explained in just a few words.
"Fine. Seeing that you and Shen Qing have a good relationship, why don't we start a company together and I'll withdraw my investment."
"No no no. The UL signing thing, I really... I'm in a tough spot too. UL is the number one team, with so much popularity and fans. I happen to meet them on the plane back after the competition. Zhou Hongyu talked to me about their expiring contract, so I thought, when someone takes the initiative to talk to me about an expiring contract, it's like they're hinting for me to act quickly, right? The money is right there in front of me, can I not be tempted? Today was Shen Qing's debut on Niu Mang, you probably didn't visit his livestream, do you know how high his popularity was today?"
"Even at your peak, you only had five or six million viewers, right? Today, in the first ten minutes of his debut, his viewership reached millions! Brother, if I don't take this money, am I losing out?"
Bringing their own audience to the platform can indeed bring a lot of benefits.
This reason was acceptable.
Xue Qing had planned to let Jiang Xu go, especially now that the deal was done. After all, he couldn't breach the contract and pay compensation. He didn't expect that Jiang Xu's next words almost exploded his temper—
"But I didn't know their contract hadn't expired, and people targeted me, with their coach, manager, and a whole team coming directly to me. They promised to take responsibility for the breach of contract as long as they could sign with Niu Mang, any conditions were negotiable..."
"Get lost!"
Xue Qing decisively hung up the phone.
If he doesn't hang up soon, I'm afraid he'll be enraged! It's all about the money and not keeping one's word!
Back in the room, Tang Da Meng had finished showering and was planning to sleep. Seeing that Xue Qing was not in a good mood, he sat on the sofa and waved to Xue Qing.
"Xue Gou, do you want a drink?"
"No." Xue Qing slumped on the sofa, looking at the door with lifeless eyes. "Go ahead and ask, I'm sure you called me just to gossip."
Tang Da Meng chuckled, "I'm just curious. I noticed that Shen Qing seems to care about you, so why did you break up?"
"What do you think it is?"
"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you."
Suddenly, Xue Qing sat up straight, squinting his eyes, "Don't be fooled by his honest and ascetic appearance. He's actually quite scheming. You think he looks pure and loyal, right? Ha, he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He may look like he's aiming to be a loyal husband but in reality, he's after bigger things. I thought he matched my taste with his restrained and aloof demeanor, but I'm not the kind to be caught easily. I'd rather not than give him a chance to play with me."
"Huh?" Tang Da Meng clearly didn't believe it, her face, soft and cute, filled with doubt.
Xue Qing got up, "I'm going to take a shower. We'll continue the live broadcast tomorrow. Don't you run away."
As soon as Tang Da Meng heard this, she exploded, "You and Shen Qing were acting like that in the live broadcast today, and now you want me to do a live broadcast with you? I have no shame!"
Xue Qing turned his head, smirked, "I'm different with Shen Qing, but if you're up for it, I don't mind getting intimate with you. Want to experience it for yourself?"
Tang Da Meng's face instantly turned red, then black.
"Get lost, you dirty old dog!"
After showering, Xue Qing found that Tang Da Meng had already closed the door and gone to sleep.
Xue Qing couldn't sleep for a while and lay on the window sill, lost in thought.
How did they break up?
There were quite a few people who liked Shen Qing. Although he didn't talk much, he had many good qualities, so it wasn't surprising that people admired him.
But just because of that, Shen Qing couldn't entangle himself with various young men and women.
He couldn't tolerate deception, and he didn't want to be a fool. Once he found out how many fish there were in the pond, he would eventually confront Shen Qing.
But the reason they ultimately broke up wasn't because of this.
It was Shen Qing who initiated the breakup.
It was very humiliating.
Clearly, Shen Qing was the disloyal one in this relationship, but in the end, it seemed like Xue Qing was guilty and was the one being dumped.
It wasn't just dissatisfying, it was enraging.
Just thinking about Shen Qing made Xue Qing want to smoke.
After the breakup, his smoking habit had increased significantly.
He took out a pack of cigarettes and lit it.
But before he could even smoke, his phone lit up.
[Smoking?]
[I've put it out, I'm going to sleep.]
After seeing the number, Xue Qing almost threw his phone out! "Damn it! What a lunatic!"
Xue Qing put out the cigarette with a snap and slammed the window shut.