Honey Stewed Squid

Chapter 13 – Love Rival?

Blueberry and her husband stared stupidly at one another.

Her Highness had specifically come running over, holding up his Baidu Baike page, to ask them to tell her in detail about this man. Therefore, it was apparent the two did not know each other.

What kind of secret, then, would cause a man to give a girl a fruit candy to eat? …

And it was… to comfort her?

Were it not for the facts that Tong Nian was already the age of majority, her intelligence was good, and furthermore, right at this moment, she was sitting in front of them, completely intact and unharmed, not looking at all like a weird old uncle guy had harassed her, Blueberry truly would have had an urge to report this to the police.

“You’re… not that acquainted with him, right?’ Blueberry once again tried to confirm.

“No, not really acquainted. I’ve only seen him twice.” Tong Nian was still immersed in that story of “Gun already has a girl whom he has liked for ten years.” Picking up her computer, she said, “I’m leaving now. You guys continue.”

Uh…

Continue with watching anime?

Obviously, this piece of gossip of yours is much more enticing than anime, ah, ah, ah, aaaah!!!!

Blueberry’s husband silently grabbed onto Blueberry’s sleeve, a crying expression of “Wifey! You must question her until you get the gossip out for me” covering his face. Blueberry rubbed her hand across her own forehead, throwing him a gaze of “There’s nothing I can do for you.”

Tong Nian walked toward the door.

Blueberry’s husband was noiselessly beating his own chest and stamping his feet. All of a sudden, he stopped. Flipping his whole backpack upside down, he pulled out a brochure from the pile of odds and ends. Immediately, with arms respectfully raised high above his head, he presented the brochure to his esteemed wifey.

By now, Tong Nian had already taken the doorknob into her hand and opened the door…

“Oh!” Blueberry instantly grasped the key point of that brochure. “Little Squidie!”

Tong Nian jumped in surprise and turned around.

“Tomorrow, I think they have some sort of sponsor’s event going on!” She snatched the brochure over and waved it excitedly. “It’s going to be in the exhibition centre here. All the well-known eSports organizations and teams will be going. Do you want to go?”

Blueberry’s husband nodded his head like a pestle pounding garlic. “Yes, yes, yes! There’ll be K&K!”

“Really?” Tong Nian did not let herself believe it.

“Really, really!” Blueberry’s husband continued chiming in, “Even though I will be flying back tomorrow morning to go back to work, don’t worry! My Blueberry will keep you company and go with you for sure!”

As a result, that night, Tong Nian instantly respawned with full HP, completely revitalized. Turning her suitcase totally over so that its bottom faced the sky, she found a blue dress that looked cute but was also not overstated. She even faced the mirror and practiced her smiles for a long time.

They were going to meet again… So nervous… Breathe. Add oil[1]! [Do it!]

For a brief instant, she wanted to do a search on the name, appledog, but in the end, she still chose to be like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, running away and avoiding this.

The following day, when she and Blueberry arrived at the exhibition centre, there were already mountains and seas of people. The two rushed out from the bombardment of people surrounding them and haggled for a full twenty minutes with a scalper before they were able to get their hands on some tickets. After going inside, they began straightaway to search for where the pro gamers’ organizations were. Rising up on her tiptoes, Tong Nian searched all around for a long time until finally, she saw that in the northeast corner, there was a sign with the words, “VIP lounge area” written on it.

Must be over there!

Elatedly, she dragged Blueberry by the arm, pushing aside the crowd and squeezing their way in that direction.

But in the end, though they squeezed and squeezed, they discovered that they were not able move forward in the slightest.

It turned out that the swarms of people were already beginning to retreat to two sides. There were security guards holding back all these gamers and gaming enthusiasts to make way for the special guests who had just now dared to step into the venue. Carefully, she made sure she did not fall while also continuously peeling her eyes to observe the clothing of the teams that were walking in.

It seemed… they were starting to come in now? Through the slivers of openings in the crowd, she saw outlines of figures walking by.

With all her might, she forced aside the throng, finally pressing her way up until she was by the security guards. Because there were simply too many people, beside her, there constantly were folks being bumped forward into the lane and then stuffed back into the hordes by the security guards… All of a sudden, someone let out a high-pitched squeal. “SP!!” Then, there was a massive force from behind her that shoved her and two other girls beside her out into the lane…

A pair of hands grabbed ahold of her arms and supported her.

She hurriedly steadied herself on her feet, and then, lifting her head, she found herself staring into a face that was smiling brightly. “You okay?”

So… pretty…

Eh? It was a blue and white team jersey? Not red and white? It wasn’t someone from K&K? Just now, it seemed someone had shouted out “SP”?

Wait, this wasn’t good. SP was his enemy.

Tong Nian hastily clutched her bag securely and took one step back. “I’m okay… Thank you.”

Nearby, the other girls who had been bumped out of the crowd had also been helped up by SP team members and returned to their original spots. The short-haired woman who had supported Tong Nian released her hold as well. Smiling with some of the people around her, she walked together with them into the VIP lounge area… As Tong Nian stared after that woman’s backside, an unexplainable sense of admiration sprouted in her. It was a different feeling from what she had felt when she saw the K&K team captain the other day.

This woman carried with her an air, a presence. It was… the same air that Gun emitted, that bearing and look in the eyes that one could only possess after having once stood on the very pinnacle of achievement. Moreover, it was evident that the several people who were walking side by side with this short-haired woman all very much revered her.

© 2013-2016 FANATICAL hui3r.wordpress.com ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r.wordpress.com. If you are not reading this from hui3r.wordpress.com, then this translation has been posted without the permission of the translator.

Oh, if only I wasn’t so slow and dense, that would be so nice…

If I could game really well, maybe I would have met him a long time ago.

While she was thinking this, she was pushed back behind the security line by the security guards.

Before her feet were even firmly under her, she saw the real K&K members striding in. Eh? Why were they all wearing black jerseys today? … And Gun, the one walking at the very front of everyone, was the only one not wearing a jersey, dressed instead from head to toe in only black casualwear and with K&K’s badge hanging from his neck. Wordlessly, he walked straight in her direction…

Tong Nian did not even have the chance to flash a smile at him.

Just like that, he walked directly… past her.

She was despairingly obstructed by the backsides of two burly security guards and could only watch as, one by one, the team members hurriedly strode past her. They had all recognized her, but as this was a public event, they did not dare open their mouths and call out in greeting. They all merely carried admiringly respectful expressions of “Sister-In-Law is so low-key, always appearing in the most unexpected of places… such as last time’s audience stands and this time’s… horde of fans…”

And so things were until the last person disappeared from her line of sight and all the members of K&K had stepped inside.

There were still several other eSports organizations making their entrances. Her heart slowly, ever so slowly, sank.

Behind her, Blueberry, who had been jolted and crammed away a few steps, finally jammed her way over to her. Gasping, she patted her on the shoulder. “Why are there so many fans? I thought I accidentally walked into some celebrity’s meet and greet event…”

She did not even get to finish her sentence.

They saw a boy jog out from the VIP entrance.

By now, all the teams had completed making their entrances, and only that boy was strolling back out alone. With all eyes watching him, he very deferentially headed over toward Tong Nian. “Sister-In-Law.”

Instantaneously, quiet fell all around them.

He scratched rather sheepishly at the back of his head. “Leader told me to bring you in.”

[1] 加油 “jia you.” This is a very common Chinese phrase of encouragement and literally translates as “add oil.” It probably most accurately translates as “keep going,” but contains connotations of “be strong,” “hang in there,” “go for it,” “give it your best shot” etc. Close English translations that honour the metaphor could be “put the pedal to the metal” or “go floor it.” It is actually not uncommon to see Chinese netizens type out “add oil” in English, and hence, I decided to keep it that way, too.