Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com

Playing Fish Trapped in Secret Room

Book 3: Glory on the Other Side

Chapter 17

She went to bed too late.  By the time she woke up, it was already the afternoon.

She finally saw the message he had sent her in a sleepy haze.  He asked her to let him know after she woke up.  Ai Qing laid her chin on the pillow and texted him: “I’m awake.  Ah. I have lots of things to do.”

She rolled down from the bed, quickly took a shower.  As she was blowing dry her hair, lunch was delivered to her room.  The food he ordered was…. quite lavish…...

Originally, she was going to make do with just instant noodle for lunch.  Now she had no choice but to sit down and eat it all.  Then she called Xiaomi to come to her room. Xiaomi walked in, looked around, and saw a full table of food.  “So much?  Did your man leave already?”

“......What are you talking about!”  Ai Qing was irritated and laughed,  “And also, don’t say ‘picking up a boyfriend’ again. It sounds really bad.”

Xiaomi shrugged his shoulders, “Then what should I say?  Getting a date?”

…...She just couldn’t win.

She pushed all the things on the table aside and pressed Xiaomi’s shoulders forcefully.  Fortunately, he was a small man, so she could settle him down.  If it was a tall guy like All, then she wouldn’t be able to force him to sit down.  “Quick.  Help me to record the video.  I have to broadcast it tonight.”

“Didn’t we already complete the recording last night?”

“It wasn’t long enough.”  Ai Qing pulled out the video and opened it.  “Continue.  You will record the entire show.”  Xiaomi suddenly became quiet.  “What’s wrong?”  She pushed his shoulders.  “You can’t be lazy.  You promised me.”

“Gou Gou.”  Xiaomi cleared his throat,  “I know what you are trying to do.”

“What am I trying to do?”  Ai Qing took out 2 cans of c.o.ke and pa.s.sed one to him.

“Help me restore my confidence?  Just like when you went to America with Inin with the same mission?”  He opened the can of c.o.ke.  “As for me, I don’t need it.  It’s unnecessary.  You are wasting time.  Inin’s just lacking confidence, but his skill is still there.  His ranking has never dropped out of the the top 10.  I’m different.  I have been thrown out of the top 100 already.”

Ai Qing tried to stop him from talking.

But obviously, though Xiaomi didn’t like to talk much, he had his own ideas. For example, he left his hometown of Shenyang to come all the way to the south to join Solo’s team.  He was the only northerner on the team.  It took a lot of courage to be so far away from home and join a new team that lacked major sponsors.

Xiaomi sighed, “My skills are not up there.  It’s of no use to say anything.  Gou Gou, if I were the head of the club, I would have kicked myself out a long while ago.  So you don’t need to say anything.  I have made my own decision.  You don’t need to ask anything.  I’ll talk to Solo directly when it’s time.”

Ai Qing drank the c.o.ke without speaking.  She didn’t know whether she lacked the words for it or if it was something else entirely.

After a while, she laughed, “Ok.  Let’s record the commentary!”

Being a man, Xiaomi didn’t dwell on the subject any further after he had said what he needed to say.

The two watched the video of the second match between K&K and Buff and exchanged their opinions for a while.  He then helped her begin the recording. A northeastern man with a sharp tongue, his biting comments were of a totally different style from Ai Qing’s.  She couldn’t stop laughing from time to time.  Xiaomi had to re-record again.  He kept complaining to her, “How did you become the top commentator?”

“Ah?  I’m very professional.”  Ai Qing waived her fist.  “Don’t complain about me.”

Actually, I just haven’t heard you roast others in a while.  It looked like Secret Room wasn’t your kind of game and you didn’t enjoy the game either…...When we played CS, you were the person with the most scathing, but accurate, comments.

She thought.

They worked until dinner time. Except for going to the arena to meet with Slide, they stayed in the room for the whole day.  Dinner was also delivered to the room.  They continued to work after dinner.

Until around ten o’clock, Ai Qing still needed to edit the video.  She finally realized the time and sent Dt a text message telling him that they had finished recording and Xiaomi would leave soon. Since she still needed to work on the video, she asked him not to wait for her for dinner.  His response was that he was in a team meeting and they all ate boxed dinners.  Alright…...both of them were busy.

Not long after, while she was wearing her earphones and busily working on the video, she was interrupted by the doorbell.

She ran over to open the door.

Wu Bai?

After working for a whole day, it took her a while to switch mental gears.  She saw him walk in and closed the door without thinking.  She stuttered,  “Didn’t you just text me that you were in a team meeting?”

“Intermission.”  His answer was very short.  “We’re right next door.”

“Oh.”  Right, Gun’s room was right next to hers.  She completely forgot it.  The compet.i.tion video was still playing in front of her. The bluetooth earphones she had on were playing Xiaomi’s narration…...She turned around, about to go back to the desk. The man behind her suddenly pulled on her arm.

She was confused and turned her head back.  He was pointing to her earphones.

“Aren’t you coming in?”  She took off her earphones and hung them around her neck.

He didn’t answer.

The wall lamp shone on their faces.

He was still holding her arm. Then his hand slid down slowly until he held her hand which was a lot smaller than his…...soft and slender.  Her finger moved slightly over his hand, then became still.

She would blush this much just from holding his hand?

He looked at her. Her eyelashes moved up and down.  He looked downwards and saw her tightly pursed red lips…...his heart was. .h.i.tting his chest.  He never felt his heart thump so strongly before

His pain and feeling of suffocation were all…...real.

“Wu Bai?”  She called to him in a small voice.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com