Jiang Shuiyun hesitated a bit. Would all the variety shows in the future be like this?
Xi Rong noticed Jiang Shuiyun's hesitation and continued to persuade her, "Actually, Teacher Jiang, you don't need to worry too much. This is something that popular e-sports teams often encounter. And Teacher Jiang, please forgive me for being nosy, but Jin Bai has such great musical talent. Wouldn't it be a waste if he just stayed at home playing? Teacher Jiang, why don't you go into the entertainment industry first, get some connections, and pave the way for Jin Bai?"
Jiang Shuiyun hadn't really thought there was a connection, but upon reflection, it made sense. "Brother Xi, just handle it as you see fit."
"Alright, there's one more thing," Xi Rong himself felt that there was a lot going on today, "It's about Shen Dao. Shen Dao, that kid, was a bit blinded by evil spirits back then. He hadn't seen much of the world and made a mistake. Just now when he came, he dodged the sword light and they were begging me or something. He's having a pretty tough time."
"Brother Xi, do you mean to bring Shen Dao back?" Jiang Shuiyun raised an eyebrow. Everything else was fine, but this was a bit inappropriate.
"It's not about him coming back. Although he hasn't played any games, he's already crossed the line by accepting money, and he's already announced his retirement, so coming back is impossible. I'm just asking if we could let him be an assistant coach or something, just to help out on the team."
Xi Rong knew that this request was a bit excessive, and the scene that Shen Dao had just caused was also a bit embarrassing. However, they had known each other for a while, and Shen Dao had served the Miracle Team for several years and made many contributions. Now that he was in such a sorry state, it was really a pity that they were just leaving him to fend for himself.
Jiang Shuiyun didn't speak, but just looked at Xi Rong, making Xi Rong feel a little flustered. "Teacher Jiang, don't look at me like that. Whether this works or not is up to you. Actually, the e-sports environment back then wasn't as good as it is now. It was all about passion, and you couldn't earn much money. After the game became popular last year, the prize money for a single competition was much higher. I could also get those kids some variety shows to earn more money and save up. Back then, retired players were in a difficult situation, and I thought I should help them as much as I could."
Jiang Shuiyun felt that being too sentimental was both good and bad. If Xi Rong wasn't sentimental, he might have given up on the Miracle Team long ago. But being too sentimental could easily blind him and make him do stupid things. He would soften his heart as soon as someone played the victim.
"Brother Xi, I won't say whether it's okay or not, I just have one condition: you have to investigate and clarify the matter of match-fixing back then. You have the final say on this matter, otherwise, none of us will feel comfortable with it, right?"
“That makes sense. Don’t worry, Professor Jiang, I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly.”
Xi Rong nodded. Jiang Shuiyun was right. Match-fixing in the e-sports circle is basically a death sentence, a ban. Even if the news was suppressed and handled internally, it's not good to leave things so unclear.
Jiang Shuiyun was happy to leave the matter to Xi Rong and said, "Okay, then we'll wait for Brother Xi's news. By the way, Brother Xi, I think Captain Shen Dao's hand was injured before?"
"Hand injury? I really didn't notice."
Xi Rong scratched his head, then realized halfway through, "Don't worry, Teacher Jiang, I'll make sure I get to the bottom of this."
"Then we'll wait for Brother Xi's good news."
Jiang Shuiyun saw that Xi Rong understood, so she didn't say anything more. He would have to investigate the rest himself.
After speaking with Xi Rong, Jiang Shuiyun went to the kitchen to prepare some tea. Having been hungry for most of the day and having eaten something spicy, her stomach felt a little uncomfortable.
Carrying hot water, Jiang Shuiyun was about to stroll to the garden to bask in the sun when Yao Yao Ling blocked her way halfway there.
"Captain, did Brother Xi tell you about the Divine Blade?"
Jiang Shuiyun nodded hesitantly, "You were eavesdropping?"
“I knew it without even hearing it,” Yao Yao Ling said angrily, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. “Captain, to be honest, it would have been better if Shen Dao hadn’t come back. If he hadn’t come back, he would still be our Captain Shen Dao. It was only after he came back that we truly saw the real him.”
"What's wrong?"
Jiang Shuiyun didn't know what happened after she left, but it didn't seem to be a good thing.
"It's nothing, it's just really not worth it. We only found out now what kind of injustice it was. He, Shen Dao, took five million and sold us all out. To protect our faith and his image in our hearts, Brother Xi never told us the contents of the video. He has the nerve to come back and tell us himself. Five million. It was a fixed match. Even the prize money for winning wouldn't be that much. It's really worth it."
Yao Yao Ling, her eyes red with anger, complained to Jiang Shuiyun, "We were so blind! We complained about the company's unfairness and risked our futures to stand up for him. When he announced his retirement to us with a look of suppressed grievance, Jian Mang, who was usually so calm, insisted on terminating his contract with the company, saying he would never play games again in his life, just to get an explanation. He was only persuaded to stop by Brother Xi. Now that I think about it, we were blind!"
“It’s all in the past. Everyone has moments of blindness when they’re young. It’s youth,” Jiang Shuiyun patted Yao Yaoling on the shoulder. “Just remember to never give up your passion and future for anyone again, because no one is worth it. Your life is your own.”
“Yes,” Yao Yao Ling nodded heavily, “Captain, I wish we had met you sooner.”
"You wish you had met me sooner?" Jiang Shuiyun thought for a moment. "Don't you know what I looked like before? You would probably have wanted to chop me up with a knife back then."
Yao Yao Ling recalled Jiang Shuiyun's past as a spoiled brat that had been exposed these past two days, and burst into laughter through her tears, "I never expected the captain to change so much!"
"Alright, if you're free, go to the gym and work out for a bit. I can see you've all been slacking off these past few days."
Jiang Shuiyun waved his hand, and Yao Yaoling immediately wailed and ran to inform the others of this devilish news.
Jiang Shuiyun stretched her arms, drank some hot water, and prepared to sunbathe. Just as she lifted her foot, she noticed that the door to the music room next door was ajar.
Jiang Shuiyun looked at the crack with amusement and tiptoed closer. After listening for any sounds inside, she pushed open the music room door, startling Yi Jinbai, who was standing by the door leaning against the wall.
"Why is everyone so fond of eavesdropping?"
Jiang Shuiyun teased Yi Jinbai with a smile, watching as Yi Jinbai's fair face instantly turned bright red. He stammered, "I didn't, I... I just wanted to close the door, it was... it was you standing at the door of my music room who said that..."
"Okay, then we were wrong."
Jiang Shuiyun nodded readily, but Yi Jinbai's face turned even redder. He felt that Jiang Shuiyun didn't believe him, but he didn't know how to explain it.
Fearing that Yi Jinbai might do something wrong by holding it in, Jiang Shuiyun finally stopped teasing her. "I know, I didn't hear the door open, so it's been open the whole time. You probably heard the sound and wanted to come and close the door, but you accidentally overheard it, right?"
"Hmm!" Yi Jinbai nodded, looking at Jiang Shuiyun's knowing expression, and then realized that she was doing it on purpose, which made him somewhat angry.
"Alright, it's okay if you heard it. It's not a secret. Go practice your piano. I'm going for a walk in the garden."
Seeing Yi Jinbai like this was really amusing. Jiang Shuiyun reached out and ruffled Yi Jinbai's hair before closing the door for her.
"Wait," Yi Jinbai called out to Jiang Shuiyun just as the door was about to close, stopping it from closing. He nervously held the door and looked at Jiang Shuiyun, "You just said that everyone has moments of blindness when they are young. Have you ever been blind?"
Just like when Yi Jinbai met Jiang Shuiyun in the past, or when the Miracle Team met Shen Dao, they were all blinded by youthful ignorance. But looking at Jiang Shuiyun now, Yi Jinbai really couldn't imagine what kind of person could deceive her eyes. Jiang Shuiyun seemed to know everything and see through everything.
This question really stumped Jiang Shuiyun. After thinking about it carefully for a long time, Jiang Shuiyun smiled and shook her head, "No, I really haven't. My teacher taught me when I was a child not to look at people with my eyes, so I have never been blind."
"Are you kidding me? How can you see people without using your eyes?"
Yi Jinbai knew that Jiang Shuiyun was just being silly.
“This time it really isn’t. My teacher said that when you meet someone, don’t look at what they do on the surface or listen to what they say in front of you. Instead, you should have your own yardstick for judging people in your mind and measure what kind of person they are. After being trained like this, when I grew up, my sixth sense could tell me the right answer when I saw someone. So I’ve never been blind.”
Jiang Shuiyun now recalls the words her teacher spoke in her past life, as well as her life in the military camp, and feels a sense of disorientation.
A note from the author:
,Good morning.
Chapter 38
Coming to her senses, Jiang Shuiyun noticed that Yi Jinbai was looking at her intently. A little puzzled, she touched her face and asked, "What's wrong?"
"What did your intuition tell you when you first saw me?"
Yi Jinbai looked at Jiang Shuiyun and asked seriously.
Yi Jinbai's words instantly brought Jiang Shuiyun's thoughts back to that old alley and low, cramped house, surrounded by blurry, dark colors, with only a pair of bright, wet eyes standing out clearly.
Jiang Shuiyun's heart skipped a beat, and she pinched her brow to hide her embarrassment. "It's been too long, I can't remember."
"oh."
Yi Jinbai was clearly disappointed, but didn't press further. "Are you going to the garden?"
"Yes, I'm going for a walk, want to come together?"
Jiang Shuiyun breathed a sigh of relief.
"No, I'll practice a little longer. You go ahead."
Yi Jinbai retreated into the music room and closed the door.
Jiang Shuiyun rubbed her stomach, which was feeling a bit uncomfortable again, and walked towards the garden while drinking hot water.
Sitting in the pavilion that they had built themselves, surrounded by colorful flowers, Jiang Shuiyun didn't recognize any of them. She reached out and touched a flower bud that had reached into the pavilion. Then, she took out her phone and started looking up information about the variety show she was participating in.
Jiang Shuiyun had never been interested in these things before, but since this was work, she still needed to prepare in advance.
The variety show that the entire Miracle team went on to wasn't very well-known. It was a new lifestyle variety show that invited six members of the Miracle team to be guests for one episode. There were no hosts or regular cast members. They were just allowed to live there for two days and film some of the daily lives of esports players, so it was quite relaxed.
There's no problem with that. Jiang Shuiyun checked the variety show that Xi Rong had arranged for her to go on alone. It was a very popular variety show right now, with four hosts. It was quite funny and involved some games. Filming only took about a day.
According to Xi Rong, the plan is to do a Star Wars themed episode, and the invited guests are all gamers, so there shouldn't be any major problems.
After briefly learning about the background of the two variety shows, Jiang Shuiyun had a clear idea of what was going on. Just as she was about to turn off her phone, she saw a notification—an interview with Captain Jiang Bai.
Since it was related to her, Jiang Shuiyun clicked in to take a look. It turned out to be an interview before the competition. She thought it would be mostly criticism of her, but when she opened the comments section, she was a little surprised. The comment with the most likes made Jiang Shuiyun's eyebrows twitch.
[My sister is so cool, I love her!]
Jiang Shuiyun pinched her brow, feeling that she had made a point of not coming to see this. What's wrong with kids these days? Without knowing the context, her interview with that particular segment could at most be considered impolite, right?
Just as Jiang Shuiyun was about to click "out," she saw another message appear after the comment with the most likes.
[Gao Zhouzhou praised it]
Jiang Shuiyun shut down the app decisively this time, no longer wanting to know what would happen next.
Jiang Shuiyun turned off her phone, picked up her teacup, and took a big gulp of tea to calm her nerves. However, the tea was a bit cold. She put down the cup, didn't think much of it, got up and went back, planning to take a nap before getting up for dinner.
The alarm clock rang, and Jiang Shuiyun fumbled to turn off her phone. She grabbed the edge of the bed and prepared to get up, but before she could sit up, she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her stomach, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Jiang Shuiyun was all too familiar with this feeling. In her previous life, she had been involved in war for many years. Irregular diet, extreme harsh environment and countless hidden injuries had left her with a host of ailments. Later, as the wars subsided, she also had a long period of recuperation, and her body had recovered to about 70-80%. She never expected that living so comfortably here would actually cause her old ailments to flare up again.
Jiang Shuiyun gripped the bedsheets weakly, the extreme pain making her afraid to move. She even breathed cautiously, waiting for the pain to subside on its own.
It was dinnertime downstairs, and everyone was already seated at the table, but Jiang Shuiyun was nowhere to be seen. Yi Jinbai looked up and said, "I'll go up and call her."
Yi Jinbai stood in front of the door and knocked a few times, but there was no response. Feeling somewhat uneasy, he knocked a few more times, but still no one answered.
Looking down at the crowd below who were helping the auntie clear the table in preparation for dinner, Yi Jinbai hesitated for a moment before glancing at the door. Her unease grew, but she gritted her teeth and pushed the door open herself.
As soon as he opened the door, Yi Jinbai didn't see Jiang Shuiyun. He looked around anxiously and saw the messy quilt. He was about to go check if she was in the bathroom when he realized that Jiang Shuiyun was curled up unconscious on the carpet next to the bed.
"Jiang Shuiyun? Jiang Shuiyun!"
No one got to eat dinner. A large group of people rushed into the hospital. Yi Jinbai followed behind, looking at Jiang Shuiyun, who was pale and unconscious. He felt that his brain had lost the ability to think. His mind was completely blank, and he could only follow along aimlessly.
After everything settled down, Yi Jinbai sat in front of Jiang Shuiyun's hospital bed. Jiang Shuiyun's pale face almost blended into the white sheets. The IV drip was slowly being depleted, and the smell of disinfectant in the air was so strong it gave one a headache.
After Xi Rong finished the hospitalization procedures and returned to the ward, the doctor was explaining Jiang Shuiyun's condition. "It's acute gastroenteritis, not a big problem. She should wake up soon. Don't give her any spicy or irritating food for now. Just give her some light porridge. Also, her stomach is very fragile. As her family, you must supervise her. You must pay attention to her diet and rest in the future and avoid overexertion."
Yi Jinbai carefully wrote down what the doctor said, "Thank you, doctor."
Xi Rong saw the doctor out and asked with some difficulty, "Doctor, when will the patient be able to be discharged?"
"It depends. If things go well, it could be a day or two, but I suggest observing for a couple more days to be on the safe side."
The doctor glanced back at the people in the ward. "There are too many people here. It's easy to disturb the patients' rest. Please make arrangements. One person can stay and take care of the patients. The rest of you can go back. Staying here is also disturbing the other patients' rest."
"Okay, thank you, doctor."
After seeing the doctor off, Xi Rong wiped the sweat from his brow and returned to the ward. "Jinbai, don't worry too much. The doctor said it's nothing serious."
After comforting Yi Jinbai, Xi Rong looked at the rest of the Miracle Team and said, "Don't stand here anymore. The doctor said we shouldn't have too many people. You should go back. We have to get up early for training tomorrow. I'll stay here."
"Brother Xi, it's not convenient for you to stay here. It's only appropriate for me to stay. You should all leave."
After looking around, Viper concluded that Yi Jinbai and Jiang Shuiyun's relationship was fine to stay here, but the rest were all male Alphas, which was somewhat inconvenient.
"We can't let the two of you girls stay here."