Chapter Twelve: A Bit Irritable
Qi Leyu gave her mentor a thumbs up, then retreated to her room and quickly started the next match.
Yuan Zhong continued to assign “No Love for Stingy Ghost” the support role, to which Lin Hui remarked, “Then you might as well take the marksman yourself.”
“No need, I’ll fill,” Yuan Zhong refused decisively.
“Impressive,” Lin Hui said admiringly. “When are you going to team up with that person? Your skills are already quite flashy now.”
“When I reach King rank.”
“Why do you need to hit King?” Lin Hui asked curiously.
Yuan Zhong thought for a moment. “Well, just want to get more practice. Besides, I promised to bring my little apprentice up to King as well.”
A message popped up from No Love for Stingy Ghost: Master, which support should I play this round?
Yuan Zhong switched on voice chat: “Pick Zhuang Zhou. The enemy has a Zhen Ji—her crowd control is a pain.”
Someone chose Yun Ying for jungle, so Yuan Zhong took Sun Ce for the solo lane, joking, “This is great—Sun Ce’s got a luxury cruise ship. I’ll take you all on a tour of the King’s Canyon.”
No Love for Stingy Ghost replied: Master, you’re awesome.
Lin Hui laughed beside him.
Yuan Zhong felt a bit embarrassed, quickly saying, “Apprentice, we should keep a low profile.”
No Love for Stingy Ghost: Okay, I’ll do whatever Master says. Master is the GOAT.
Lin Hui couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Yuan Zhong turned off voice chat and chuckled too.
“Where did you find such a little follower? But honestly, their skills are pretty bad. If it weren’t for the fact that they’re your apprentice, I’d have cursed them out by now,” Lin Hui said.
Yuan Zhong rolled his eyes. “How bad could they be? It’s just a game.”
“Alright, my bad. I forgot you’re so protective,” Lin Hui quickly covered her mouth.
The game started. Yuan Zhong had sharp instincts; Sun Ce became the engine for every team fight, always arriving just in time to support. Before they even saw the Storm Dragon King, they’d already pushed down the enemy’s crystal and won.
“We won without any challenge,” Yuan Zhong said with a hint of humblebrag.
Lin Hui nodded. “Master is the GOAT.”
Just as she finished, No Love for Stingy Ghost messaged: Master is the GOAT.
Yuan Zhong turned off voice chat and said to Lin Hui, “Are you two in sync or something?”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re never this chatty,” Lin Hui said, exiting the game and tidying up.
Yuan Zhong checked the time; it was still early.
“I need to go, got some things to do. We’ll queue together next time,” Lin Hui explained.
“I’ll walk you out,” Yuan Zhong stood up.
“No need, I’ll go myself. I’ll pick up a few things on the way back to the dorm,” Lin Hui put on her coat.
“Alright, just hang in there. We should all be heading home in a few days anyway,” Yuan Zhong swung his arms back and forth as if ready to take flight.
“Got it, keep coaching your apprentice.”
Yuan Zhong saw Lin Hui off to the elevator, watching her leave.
Qi Leyu waited patiently, even made herself a cup of white tea with a small plate of snacks, feeling more and more at ease.
Original Young Mistress: I’m back, sorry, just walked a friend out.
No Love for Stingy Ghost: No worries, I just had something to eat and a drink. Let’s keep going.
Original Young Mistress: Sure.
Back in the game, Qi Leyu couldn’t hold back her curiosity and typed: Master, where are you? At school?
Yuan Zhong activated voice: “No, I’m at home. School hasn’t started yet.” Then, realizing something was off, he asked, “How did you know I’m a student?”
No Love for Stingy Ghost: You mentioned winter break before.
Yuan Zhong: “Alright, you’re really attentive. What about you?”
No Love for Stingy Ghost: I’m a student too.
Yuan Zhong thought to himself, just as I suspected. He wanted to ask which school, but changed his mind and steered the conversation back to the game.
This round, Yuan Zhong picked Old Arthur—actually a very versatile hero, can play solo lane or jungle. Thinking double Smite was best, he brought Smite even though he was planning to go to the solo lane.
The Kay player was confused and messaged: Jungle from second pick?
Yuan Zhong replied, “Not jungling, just bringing Smite to the solo lane to help contest the camps.”
Kay didn’t respond.
Yuan Zhong made sure his team voice was on: “It’s totally normal to bring Smite to the solo lane. Don’t you know? How did you make it to Star rank?”
Still, the Kay player said nothing, but at the last second, changed his summoner spell.
Yuan Zhong didn’t mind; Arthur could jungle just fine.
At the start, Yuan Zhong politely waited a moment. When he saw Kay heading to the solo lane, he picked up a jungle blade and entered the jungle, summoning his apprentice to follow.
No Love for Stingy Ghost’s Sun Bin trailed behind, diligently working.
The enemy jungler was Lanling King, who had the vision advantage and stole their blue buff right away.
Kay: Arthur jungling is dumb.
Yuan Zhong wasn’t having it: “What’s dumb about it? I started red like normal. Losing blue isn’t Arthur’s fault.”
No reply from Kay.
After clearing one side of the jungle, they contested the river spirit at mid. Yuan Zhong said, “Stingy Ghost, block the enemy mage.”
After Arthur got the river spirit, Sun Bin got roasted to half health by Angela.
Yuan Zhong: “Why didn’t you dodge? You really took that hit.”
Qi Leyu was typing a reply when Lanling King snuck up and finished off the half-health Sun Bin.
Yuan Zhong: “What are you daydreaming for?”
Kay dropped a “666” in chat, mocking them.
Yuan Zhong: “Are you out of your mind or just trolling?”
After a while, Kay typed: Told you, Arthur’s stealing jungle, and he’s this bad!
Yuan Zhong was fuming: “Hey, get your facts straight. You changed your spell and went to the solo lane yourself. How am I stealing?”
He used his speed boost, chased down Lanling King with Arthur, and with help from their mage, nearly finished him off.
Yuan Zhong: “Invisible enemies are just annoying.”
He slipped into the enemy jungle and took a camp while Lanling King was low.
No Love for Stingy Ghost: Sorry, that was my bad earlier.
Yuan Zhong said, “Just be careful next time.” Forgiving his junior.
Kay: This Arthur jungles so professionally—only farms, never ganks.
Yuan Zhong replied: “Didn’t you see the fight just now? You really must be blind.”
Kay again fell silent.
Thus, Yuan Zhong and this Kay player kept trading lines, but the conversation never went smoothly.
Qi Leyu observed quietly; since her master’s friend left, his language and demeanor had changed—was he in a bad mood?
No Love for Stingy Ghost reminded: Master, maybe he doesn’t have voice chat on.
Yuan Zhong: “……” Well, guess I wasted my breath.
No Love for Stingy Ghost: If Master wants to say anything, I’ll type it out.
Yuan Zhong: “Why? It’s not like I can’t type.”
No Love for Stingy Ghost: Master, focus on playing.
Taking advantage of their mage wearing down the enemy mage, Yuan Zhong used a leap skill to finish them off, tanked two tower shots, and quickly retreated to his jungle.
Kay was fighting red buff; Yuan Zhong glanced over, saw it was low, and walked up to finish it off with Smite.
Kay: Why did you steal my red?
Yuan Zhong ignored him, kept farming, healed up, then went to support the marksman.
Kay: Damn you, Arthur!
Yuan Zhong just laughed, “I’m very much alive, thanks.”
No Love for Stingy Ghost typed back: Damn you, Kay, you idiot.
Kay: I didn’t even curse at you, you crazy Sun Bin.
No Love for Stingy Ghost: You’re an idiot.
Kay: Screw you, you cripple.
Cripple? Yuan Zhong’s mind spun for a moment: “At least he knows his history—he knows Sun Bin.”
Yuan Zhong figured Kay must really be angry now. Kay just stood in the fountain, not moving, typing insults over and over—always the same old words: dead, stupid, dull, nothing new.
Yuan Zhong finally managed to kill Lanling King once and felt a bit better. “Have him turn on voice chat, I’ll teach him how to curse properly.”
No Love for Stingy Ghost: You idiot, can’t even insult people right. Turn on audio and watch my master show you how it’s done.
After a moment, Yuan Zhong heard a lot of static through the headset, then a man’s voice, but the noise was so bad he couldn’t make out the words.
Yuan Zhong: “Since you at least know who Sun Bin is, here’s a quick lesson: bringing Smite to the solo lane is perfectly normal. Double Smite has a lot of advantages, but those might be a bit advanced for you, so I’ll spare you—wouldn’t want to go beyond your syllabus.”
Another burst of garbled sound.
Yuan Zhong: “Hey man, what country are you from? Can’t understand a word you’re saying. Let’s not comment on content—let’s talk about your voice: honestly, you sound a bit sleazy.”
Kay switched back to typing: I XXX your ancestors.
No Love for Stingy Ghost: He’s cursing, report him!
Yuan Zhong: “Go ahead. I respect you for standing up. Good luck.”
The mid-lane mage couldn’t take it anymore: “Stop fighting already, just focus on the game.”
After being scolded by the marksman, Yuan Zhong retreated to the base to swap Arthur’s equipment. Seeing Kay nearby, he greeted, “Hello, looks like you’re done. Why not just quit? Stop hogging the spot, squatting there and doing nothing. Who are you putting on this show for?”
Kay typed to all: Opponents, hurry up and push. Our Arthur and Sun Bin are crazy.
Yuan Zhong: “Looks like I was right from the start—you really are out of your mind. To put it simply: you’ve got issues.”
No Love for Stingy Ghost: Master, looks like we’re about to lose.
Yuan Zhong rolled his eyes: “You only just realized?”
No Love for Stingy Ghost: So we’re going to lose a star?
Yuan Zhong: “No need to rub it in. It’s fine, we’ll earn it back next round.”
No Love for Stingy Ghost: Okay, I’ll listen to Master.
No surprise—the game ended in a crushing four-vs-five defeat. When it was over, Yuan Zhong promptly reported Kay.
Third game: teammates seemed normal, but the opponents were not, especially the enemy jungler Zhuge Liang, who got a triple kill right from the start.
Ten minutes in, the score was 12 to 0—all twelve kills for the enemy.
Yuan Zhong was using Dian Wei. Once on the gold lane, he saw Zhuge Liang coming and thought that with the marksman, they could take him down. But as the fight began, the marksman just cleared the wave and hid in the bush.
Watching Zhuge Liang walk off unscathed, Yuan Zhong frowned, getting frustrated. “Di Renjie, what are you standing in the bush for, looking for treasure? Something stinky or something good?”
No Love for Stingy Ghost respawned and hurried over: Master, I’m here!
Yuan Zhong sighed to himself, thinking: What good does that do?
In the end, Dian Wei got nine kills, but the marksman was too timid, and they lost again.
Yuan Zhong: “That marksman was useless.”
No Love for Stingy Ghost: Exactly, marksmen that bad are rare.
Yuan Zhong laughed again, thinking: You’ve got some nerve to say that.
Maybe they’d won too much before—now the matchmaking was terrible. Yuan Zhong looked back at his recent games, puzzled.
No Love for Stingy Ghost: Maybe we should take a break?
Yuan Zhong said: “Good idea. Let’s continue tomorrow.”
Actually, Qi Leyu wanted to say: Master, you were a bit irritable today. Oh well, a girl has a few special days each month—gotta understand.