Pandora’s Box

I suddenly realized that although they were more educated than me and had a greater knowledge capacity than me, there were still many things in this world that I was familiar with that they wouldn’t understand.

I sent a message to Zhuo Wenyang, sending him variations of beautiful pictures of the barbecue. I showed him how much fun I had today and shared my experiences. As Lee said, I had to let him see that I had another life and new interests.

Zhuo Wenyang sent a smiling emoji.

This meal included roasting, chatting, and eating for over two hours. After eating, a few people who didn’t feel entertained enough decided on heading to the Internet cafe to play games.

“Is Lin Jing going?”

“Let’s go, let’s go. Keke said that you’re good at winning.”

“Ah yeah, let’s see, let’s see.”

“Our Tao brother is also a master. Do you two want to learn from each other?”

Brother Tao they were mentioning was named Wei Yuantao. He was a T City native and his style was relatively pretentious, but he was indeed outstanding in all aspects. He was the epitome of arrogance and wouldn’t particularly associate with insignificant assholes like me.

Hearing this, he lightly said, “It’s useless to learn from each other.”

I actually wanted to go home for a little bit because I began to miss Zhuo Wenyang for no reason. Cheng Yichen said that he’d come to the house for dinner this evening and if I went back early enough, he may not leave yet.

However, I realized that I was almost on the way back to making a mistake again, so I quickly stopped my absurd idea and replied with a smile, “Okay, let’s play a couple of rounds together.”

Everyone was sitting in the Internet cafe. As an entertainment streamer, I had a lot of throwaway accounts and I casually selected one that had a similar ranking to theirs to play four rounds with them. Wei Yuantao claimed that his rank was too high to participate in and so, he simply watched the excitement from the sidelines.

It was a bit embarrassing since it felt like I was basically kicking kindergarteners and punching retired folks. I was the only one making moves and slaughtering people. Someone on the other team was so angry that they called me a cheating dog.

I led them to eat a few handfuls of chicken (wins) and was ashamed, but also quite flattered as they chanted, “Unbeatable” or “Beast!”

Lee was right. When people had other things to focus on, they could temporarily drive out people and other thoughts out of their head.

When everyone had a good enough time playing and was about to go back after the game, Wei Yuantao suddenly said to me, “Add me as a friend.”

Others laughed and asked, “Brother Tao, do you want to humble yourself and ask for advice?”

Wei Yuantao said, “It’s a competition.”

By the time I arrived home, it was already late at night, but I was still in high spirits.

As I pushed open the door, I saw that the lights were still on in the house. I couldn’t help but wonder, didn’t Cheng Yichen not have to wait for the door?

After taking a closer look, I found Zhuo Wenyang sitting on the living room sofa, staring at me.

I instantly shivered and straightened myself involuntarily. I was happy to see him from the bottom of my heart, but his expression caused my head and joy to shrink back down.

“You’re back.”

I stood up straight, “Yes!”

“How did you do on the test today?”

“I have written down carefully,” I honestly replied, “I chose C for all the multiple-choice questions.”

He frowned slightly and asked, “Why did you choose C?”

I said, “Because C is for Correct!” (amended joke because the joke doesn’t translate well)

Zhuo Wenyang didn’t smile.

He, who had always been the most supportive, did not respond to my lame joke.

He stood up, came towards me, slightly frowning and stated, “You drank again.”

“…..”

The lines between his brows deepened, “What happened? Didn’t you promise not to casually drink in front of people?”

At this moment, I was caught off guard by his oppressive air.

This was something I had never experienced before. He had always been a gentle and calm person, and he rarely seemed to be unhappy.

I had never seen him angry nor did I think he would ever get angry.

When he stood in front of me like a judge, I instinctively and involuntarily felt guilty and timid.

I suddenly realized that I feared him.

I didn’t know why, but I felt intimidated by him, as if I was an antelope facing a lion.

He was obviously very self-controlled and I had never seen him get irritated.

The trembling that originated from within me was as if I had felt his anger before.

“I’m sorry.”

Standing too close, his breath seemed to blow past the tip of my nose. This distance, which once made my heart flutter, now made me feel extremely nervous.

After being silent for a while, he suddenly stretched out his hand towards me.

I didn’t know why but I had the illusion that he would do something to me.

Before I had time to think, I instinctively raised my hands to cover my head in fear, “I was wrong!”

He froze for a second.

I hurried said, “I was wrong!”

His hand hung in the air and he did not touch me.

After a while, he slowly lowered his hand and whispered in a low voice, “You’re right.”

I still didn’t dare to move. “I’m sorry,” he repeated as if I didn’t hear clearly enough, “You’re right.”

“…..”

He said, “I’m sorry, Lin Jing.”

Zhuo Wenyang left.

I thought he was going to spend the night here, but for some reason, he left just like that without a word.

He didn’t return the next day, and he didn’t return again on the third day.

He didn’t show up at home throughout the week.

This made me feel very uncomfortable, and caused everyone to feel strange. Even Cheng Yichen quietly asked me, “Did Wenyang quarrel with you?”

There was nothing to mention about quarreling because, strictly speaking, we didn’t have any substantial disputes.

However, he ultimately decided to withdraw from my life.

I couldn’t understand this. Did he do this because I was drinking again? Although dishonesty was very annoying and I deserved to be punished, but it shouldn’t be like this, right?

Or was what I did really unforgivable to a principled person like him?

According to the rules that Lee mentioned, if I chased and pestered him at this time, it would only be counterproductive and increase his annoyance.

I could only be a little more self aware, try my best to endure, wait from afar, and suffer until he was relieved.

In the throes of endless self-doubt and self-condemnation, I desperately needed something and someone else to divert my attention.

However, Ke Luo’s heart was in S City and he seemed to be more tortured than me. Chatting with him now was like a competitive match of tragedy.

Thus, Yuan Keke became my outlet to relieve my emotions.

Out of maternal tenderness and sympathetic human nature, Yuan Keke would forcefully comfort me when I complained to her late at night due to my insomnia, patiently responding to my unreasonable wailings.

That was until it dawned on me that she didn’t have much time. She was too busy. She had a full schedule filled with part-time jobs to earn tuition fees during the summer. I was no longer shameless, persisting on bickering with her in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, a real idler appeared–Wei Yuantao would come to play games at first. He used to be apathetic when he first saw me, but his attitude became friendlier after gaming with me.

He even came to support my livestreams. Occasionally, he would generously reward a few airplanes, rockets, and even got a real platform manager. From time to time, he would talk a lot in my livestreams and repeatedly praise me, “This guy has something about him.”

After getting in touch with Wei Yuantao, I found that he was actually not so arrogant and annoying because he was at least willing to bow down when his skills weren’t as good as others. Although words spouted from his mouth weren’t pleasant, his heart was still true.

I was high spirited and my adrenaline was soaring when dealing with opponents in the game, gradually blurring Zhuo Wenyang’s figure within the hail of bullets.

This painkiller-like feeling quickly made me addicted.

I also hated myself for being in this state when I thought about it. It was so hypocritical to have a secret crush. I had never been in love, but it seemed that I had lost love ten thousand times.

This day, Wei Yuantao asked me, “Why didn’t you go online tonight? Bailing on me?”

“It’s not that I want to bail on you, Brother. There’s something wrong with my graphics card.”

“Then when will it be fixed?”

“I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out how to fix it.”

Wei Yuantao sounded impatient, “That’s very troublesome, I’ll show you.”

I was very surprised, “What? You can also fix graphics card?”

He asked, “What can this young master not do?”

When Wei Yuantao arrived downstairs, the first thing he said was, “The place you live in is a bit out of the way.”

“…it’s fine.”

People in the old T City always believed that as long as it was beyond the second ring of roads, then it was the countryside.

After opening the door and entering, Lu Feng and Cheng Yichen were sitting next to each other on the sofa, immersed in watching TV.

As he saw me bring someone in, Cheng Yichen greeted with a smile, “Are you Xiao Jing’s classmate?”

“He came to help me fix the computer.” I didn’t dare to disturb their two-person world so I quickly dragged Wei Yuantao to the bedroom, “Keep watching your movie.”

Wei Yuantao stared directly at Lu Feng and didn’t speak for a long time.

After entering the room and closing the door, he whispered, “Damn!”

“…..”

“Did I see it right?!”

I knew what he was referring to, and there wasn’t any internal fluctuation, “That’s right.”

“Is that Lu Feng? A real person? Why did he come to this sort of place? To experience the life of ordinary people at the bottom?”

“Don’t forget that you’re here to help the low-level people fix their computers,” I reminded, “Hurry up and get to work!”

Wei Yuantao took out a box from his bag, “Just put this in.”

“…..” So, the so-called repair was to fix it with a new graphics card.

After completing the repair, the computer screen returned back to normal. Wei Yuantao took out his laptop from his bag, urging, “Speed it up, get it started, and quickly pull me into the team!”

“You are too addicted.” I was a little amazed at him exposing his true face increasingly fast. “I didn’t realize that you’re such an addicted teenager to internet.”

Wei Yuantao was silent for a while and said, “Actually, when I was in high school, I only wanted to engage in e-sports.”

I was a little surprised, “Really?”

“In the end, my dad refused because he thought there wasn’t any future in this industry, but look at how fast it developed in the past few years. Now he is tempted and wants to start an e-sports club,” Wei Yuantao sighed, “It’s a pity that it’s impossible to play professionally at this age.”

“…..”

Was the rich’s ambition really that fickle?

I went online to play two rounds. The third round just started when the phone suddenly rang, and saw that it was Yuan Keke calling. I couldn’t free up my hands to pick up the phone and turned on the speaker instead.

“What’s up?”

Yuan Keke’s voice spoke crisply from the other end, “Are you okay? Seeing that you haven’t been upset for over 24 hours is rather worrisome.”

I vaguely said, “It’s fine. My mental state is relatively healthy today.”

“Then good. I had a big order today and I’m in a good mood. I’ll treat you to supper.”

“For real? I didn’t expect that you’d ever spend your money in my lifetime!” I exclaimed, “Wei Yuantao is also with me, so do you want to invite him together?”

Yuan Keke asked, “Then does he eat a lot?”

I grinned and turned my head to call Wei Yuantao, “Yuan Keke asked how much you eat.”

“…..”

Wei Yuantao’s face was tense and he didn’t respond.

Before he could answer, Yuan Keke spoke again, “I sent you the address. I’ll arrive in about half an hour. You two be here soon; don’t make me wait for you. Those who come late will pay for themselves.”

After hanging up the call, I saw that Wei Yuantao had been thrown behind a tree by someone, and he was completely knocked out cold.

“No, you’re too good at this game. Do you also play with your feet?”

“…..”

“What, you don’t want to go?” I glanced at his stiff face, “Just say it if you don’t want to go. Don’t force it.”

“No.”

“Or do you hate Yuan Keke?”

“…..”

Wei Yuantao stopped talking again.

I suddenly realized, “My God! You have a crush on Yuan Keke!”

Wei Yuantao immediately got upset out of embarrassment, “Keep your voice down!”

“Hahahahahaha…”

“…Ah, you laughing fart.”

I never thought that a person like Wei Yuantao, with eyes on top of his head, would ever crush on someone else. And that person happened to be Yuan Keke.

It wasn’t that Yuan Keke was not great, but she was simply a love insulator.

Apart from studying hard, her only interest was making money. What were men to her? Men would only affect her efficiency in creating wealth.

“Are you going to confess to her?”

“Stop joking!” Wei Yuantao said, “Confession is a triumphant song of victory, not the horn to charge forward.”

Oh, I forgot that he said those words that day.

It turned out that it was a cry from his soul. That was too sad.

“Do you think you have no hope?”

Wei Yuantao dully admitted, “Unless I look like the Chinese currency.”

“Hahaha…”

Although I shouldn’t be, but it was nice to gloat.

I thought about it and my thoughts gradually cleared up, “So, at first you didn’t like me. Could it be because you thought I had a thing for her?”

“…yes,” Wei Yuantao said, “but then I discovered that there’s no love in e-sports.”

I couldn’t stop laughing.

While laughing, someone knocked on my door abruptly.

I smiled and opened the door.

Zhuo Wenyang stood upright in front of me.

I felt my face stiffen as I was caught off guard.

Zhuo Wenyang looked at me, who was shocked, and then at Wei Yuantao.

“Am I bothering you?”

Wei Yuantao immediately stood up from his chair and respectfully greeted, “Senior Zhuo!”

Zhuo Wenyang nodded to him politely, “My father asked if you want to have dinner, and he went to cook some wontons.”

“…..”

I was still stunned since I had no idea when he came, and had no idea that he even came over tonight.

Uncharacteristically, Wei Yuantao was very humble and polite, “Ah thank you very much, Senior. Unfortunately, we are about to head out for dinner.”

Zhuo Wenyang nodded again, “Oh, okay.”

Then, he turned and walked away.

He didn’t look at me again.