Honey Stewed Squid

Chapter 11 - Founder?

He… was a fruit-flavoured candy lover, too?

“You don’t like this flavour?” Gun tried as best as he could to maintain his patience. From his pocket, he pulled out several more candies. Red, green, yellow, orange—they all lay there in his palm.

And so, the young, sixteen-year old team member, demo, who was taking advantage of dinnertime to purposely return to his room to get some thicker clothing and was planning on going back to the restaurant to have a slice of cake, just happened to… be right on time to make it into this elevator. There, he witnessed the Great Demon Overlord, his head lowered and five or six different colours of fruit candies in his palm, gazing at that little Sister-In-Law in front of him with an expression in his eyes similar to one used when coaxing a little child…

Little Sister-In-Law had a serious look on her face as she… chose a flavour?!

“This one.” Tong Nian picked a green one, then bowed her head, her cheeks flushed with a tinge of red.

Oh crap… Am I going to be killed to silence me? …

The young team member’s legs grew somewhat limp. “Leader.”

“What?” Gun answered flatly. “You want one, too?”

“No!” The young team member, in his heart, raised both his arms in surrender.

When Leader ate candy, it signified that he was “super annoyed, super troubled by something on his mind.” This was accepted, general knowledge in their club.

Are you kidding? Who’d dare eat it?

Oh, wait, no. Sister-In-Law dares to eat it…

When they arrived at the restaurant, the result was that that entire group that had already begun packing up and getting ready to leave saw the late-arriving Gun and Tong Nian. Immediately, as if they could read one another’s minds, they all… sat down again. A once-in-a-thousand-years type of moment. The Demon Overlord was actually, for the first time, walking side-by-side with a woman? And on top of that, he was going to eat at the same table with her?

Even though, uh, she was Sister-In-Law already, they still felt that this image was simply too exhilarating.

With a tray in hand, Tong Nian stood in front of the line-up of pan after pan of hot foods. Spicy crab. Ugh, you looked so unsightly when you ate that. Whole prawns. Ugh, also unsightly, and you also needed to spit out the shell… In the end, she had no choice but to starve her belly, reluctantly taking only a slice of mango cake and a cup of coffee… She didn’t even dare get any chocolate cake, for fear that she would get chocolate sauce on her mouth T.T…

She docilely walked back, wordlessly sat down, and quietly set her tray on the table.

Gun took a glance at the dinner she had selected and did not say anything. Raising his head to address the table that 97 was sitting at, he ordered, “Two of you, come over here.”

Everyone…

What was this about now? …

“Hurry up.” Gun was not happy.

Not daring to delay, 97 speedily grabbed a cup of cola and stood. He tugged on the arm of his team captain, Dt, who was beside him, but was unable to budge him… So, he had no choice but to pull along demo, that little teammate who had only just sat down after taking the same elevator as Gun and walking into the restaurant with him. Together, they moved to take a seat over there.

“Leader,” 97 grinned jokingly, “you’re having dinner so late?” You sure were held up for a long time. Ha ha ha ha…

Gun could not be bothered to reply, only asking in return, “You’re full?”

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“Full! Just waiting for training now.”

“If you’re done eating, then provide chatting service.” Gun motioned with his eyes in the direction of the utterly embarrassed Tong Nian. “I thought you know her really well.”

“……” I’m innocent, aaaah… A shudder ran through 97.

After Gun finished talking, he lowered his head and began to eat in silence. He had always hated when people talked while he was eating, and therefore, he had always eaten alone at his own separate table, never once making an exception to this. Today, though, he had suddenly broken away from his usual practice. 97 and demo were somewhat at a loss and did not know what they should say.

Besides, you guys are having dinner as a husband-and-wife couple. What can we, this bunch of… outsiders, even chat about?

97 and demo exchanged a look.

Alright, let’s start…

“Sister-In-Law…”

“Sister-In-Law?” Gun cut them off, a frown on his brows.

“Oh, oh.” 97 got the hint. Leader must be worried that Sister-In-Law will feel embarrassed. “We won’t call her that, we won’t call her that. Um, then, Sister-In-Law, your name is…?”

……

“Tong Nian.” Her head bowed, Tong Nian scooped at her cake with a spoon.

“Oh, oh, Sister-In-Law Tong. Oh, wait, no, Tong Nian… Is it alright if we just address you directly by your name?” 97 beamed, “We were just guessing earlier on, are you a cosplayer? These clothes and make-up of yours… It really does look like you are.”

She shook her head. “I am a songstress and do covers of Japanese songs.”

Gun, who had just taken a sip of beer, briefly paused the motion of his hands. He had not understood a single word.

97 also stared blankly, not understanding as well.

“Ah… I know about that.” demo immediately smiled obsequiously. “I used to have a classmate who was one as well. Sometimes when I’m practicing, I like to listen to some, too. Sister-In-Law, do you have an online handle? I’ll add you in Weibo?”

“Mm, I do. Fish Playing in Sealed Chambers.” She peeked secretly at Gun. He… shouldn’t be turned off by this, right?

Gun frowned. What was this now?

97 cried, “Ah, that… I know that. Hunter x Hunter!”

She nodded. “Mm-hmm. It’s Chrollo’s attack[1]…”

……

Gun did not even want to continue listening anymore. Pulling out his mobile phone, he began to clean out his received emails.

“Sheet…” demo exclaimed in alarm.

Gun’s eyes tossed a flat glance at demo, and only then did the latter clue in that he had just cussed in front of Leader while he was eating. Instantly, he reigned in his excitement, but his eyes still could not refrain from continuously throwing glimpses at Tong Nian. 97, who had no idea what had just happened, asked puzzledly, “What?”

Excitedly, demo held his mobile phone up in front of 97’s eyes.

“Sheet…” 97 was also shocked.

The two looked with burning gazes at Tong Nian.

What a long description on Baidu Baike[2] [online, collaborative encyclopedia]… Her fan count was second in numbers only to the few celebrity team members of K&K eSports Club. She was a “Big V[3]” on Weibo, a goddess in the online cover-singing circle, and a well-known singer of anime songs. Holy crap, sure enough, he’s our Leader. He either doesn’t make a move or when he does, the girl he gets is a cutie who’s like a gold-banded treasure… And… she’s also… such a good, docile little girl.

She’s just eating there across from Leader, not saying even one sentence of useless blather.

Just there, being a good girl, taking one bite and then stealing a half-glance at Leader, then taking another bite and stealing another half-glance at Leader…

And our Leader…

He’s eating so damn calmly, not even returning her gaze once.

That’s what you call having a good handle on the wife!!

The two men nearly wanted to grip each other’s hands and stare at one another with starry eyes…

“Um, well, uh, Sister-In-Law.”

… Gun already could not even be bothered to open his mouth and give them a warning.

97 completely ignored his Leader. “Um… I read in Baidu that your majors are biological engineering and electronic and information engineering? You… just started university?” Tong Nian’s face and features looked simply too young. She must have just… reached the age of majority?

Just started university? That should be pretty close, right?

And plus… those two majors were a little too… impressively brainy, you know?

“The write-up in Baidu is on… my undergrad double degree. My Tieba[4] [online, topic- specific forum] administrator hasn’t updated it.” Very apprehensively, she peeped at Gun. “I’m now in the first year of my master’s program already.”

“First year of your master’s?” 97 did not really dare believe this. “How young did you have to start uni to do this?”

“Fifteen years old.”

Fifteen years old?!

“Holy dang! How come I’m sixteen and still just in my first year of high school? …” demo felt like crying.

“The university… has a special juvenile class[5] [special class for gifted youth].”

Sheet… A super student!

The two who were there simply to provide chatting service instantly started to grow exhilarated. Surrounding Tong Nian, they asked all sorts of questions until, in the end, it became, “Sister-In-Law, I’ve always wanted to hack into a website. Do you know how to take care of that?”

Tong Nian felt awkward at this question and looked helplessly over at Gun. “Technically… it’s not hard, but infiltrating a server is against the law…”

……

……

97’s eyes followed her gaze and only then did he discover that Gun was already extremely irritated. Straightaway, he curbed himself. “Then, Sister-In-Law, you must like to game, right? Do you normally play LOL? DotA? Or Tempest of the Sealed Chamber?”

Tong Nian wordlessly kept her head down and ate the last bite of cake. “I don’t really play any of them. I suck especially bad…”

Writing code and playing computer games… are two completely different things, you know? Cries…

“Leader hasn’t brought you along to game with him?” 97 was shocked.

He had thought Gun had made use of his career history that was like a thing of legends to conquer Sister-In-Law’s young, girly heart. Could it be that wasn’t the case?!

“Never.” She hastily shook her head to clarify this.

She absolutely could not say that she had gamed with grunt before.

Otherwise… the misunderstanding would just grow even bigger.

And so, after dinner came to an end, a story started to spread within the entire K&K eSports Club: how Gun, in circumstances where he had not used the valuable tool of gaming to woo the girl, by virtue of his own charm and winsomeness (?), had vanquished the heart of this super-student-plus-great-cover-singer-goddess-plus-gaming-idiot, little girlie Sister-In-Law…

After dinner, Gun escorted Tong Nian into one of K&K’s work vehicles. As she sat in the front passenger seat, listening to Gun tell the driver to bring her safely back to her hotel, she felt somewhat nervous and uneasy. Was this considered their farewell?

He… shouldn’t dislike me, right? Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had dinner with me, right?

Right there, she asked the questions and then answered them for herself.

Over on his end, he had already finished giving his instructions to the driver, and straightening up, he gave the car door a light slap, indicating that they could leave now.

Tong Nian, not wanting to leave, stared longingly out the car window.

Gun nodded in farewell to her, then turned around, pulled out his mobile phone, and began dialing a number to call into a phone conference.

“Go now?” The driver could tell that this young girl really did not want to leave this place and did not have the heart to drive away directly.

Crestfallen, Tong Nian nodded her head, gazing after his tall, slender backside.

Not even… any words of goodbye…

When the car had driven far and she could no longer see any part of the scene in front of the hotel, she finally pulled her gaze back. With her head down, she gently doodled on her knee with her pointer finger. She did not even know when she would be able to see him next…

She returned to the hotel the festival organizer had reserved for her. After sorting out her things, she sat on the bed and stared vacantly, lost in her own thoughts and not even daring to recall in detail the super misunderstanding from this afternoon. Playing through over and over in her mind, though, were images of him—him eating dinner, him nodding his head in goodbye, him turning around and leaving… So… what was his stance on the fact that she liked him? …

It seemed… he wasn’t too turned off by it? …

In silence, Tong Nian sat for a while until all of a sudden, she started. How could she have forgotten to search?!

T.T Since that night, her IQ seemed to have fallen until it was nearly in the negatives.

K&K was so famous. Even if he wasn’t a professional gamer… there should still be some information on him as an individual, right?

She continued to search up on K&K.

The webpage opened:

K&K eSports Club is one of the nation’s well-known eSports organizations. It was founded in 2013, and using only a period of one year, it swiftly rose up to stand alongside SP as one of the two top eSports organizations.

Its founder and number one investor, Gun (real name unknown) is an inductee of the World eSports Hall of Fame. He was once the sole investor as well as a key player of Team Solo, which was famous in the world of CS [Counter-Strike]. He has won more than ten international tournaments and has also individually made many world rankings and awards: number 2 as Most Dominant Player, number 1 as Top Shooter, number 4 as Top Player for Opening Kills, twice nominated as MVP… From a world context, he has several million fans as well as a website dedicated to him. He has items christened by fans with his name, including brand-name keyboards, brand-name computer mice, brand-name computer accessories shops, and a chain of Internet cafés.

He once, with his gaming accomplishments and glory, changed the public perception towards gaming. At the same time, with his almost-legendary career, he witnessed that decade when professional gaming transformed from bare beginnings to a booming sport.

And now, as globally, the output value of eSports reaches nearly $50 billion USD and the golden age of eSports has arrived, he, carrying the identity as founder of one of the top eSports organizations, has returned in a low-key fashion…

At the bottom of that full page that introduced the founder…

……

… was his photograph.