Chapter 6

Ying Nian curled up under the thin quilt, not moving for a long time. The hotel room was exceptionally quiet. Without Jiang Jiashu’s noisy chatter beside her, the peace was almost unreal.

Tugging at the corner of the quilt and rolling back and forth on the bed, Ying Nian felt a pent-up energy coursing through her entire body with no outlet.

Even though she had been tired all day, almost without a proper rest from morning to night, now that it was late at night, she didn’t feel tired at all. In fact, she wasn’t even slightly sleepy.

The scene of meeting Yu Linran at the hotpot restaurant kept replaying in her mind, like a movie clip looping over and over again.

Is this what it’s like to see someone you like?

Ying Nian had never chased after celebrities nor cared about any other person of the opposite sex, making this experience a groundbreaking first.

The phone on the bedside table buzzed, interrupting Ying Nian’s reminiscing. She picked it up to see a message from Xiaoxiao.

Xiaoxiao asked, [Have you returned to the hotel?]

Ying Nian replied, [Yes, I’m getting ready to rest.]

Another message came in: [You worked hard today. Let’s meet again if we have the chance!]

Before she could finish reading, another message popped up: [By the way, do you use Weibo? Shall we follow each other?]

Ying Nian responded, [Sure.]

Xiaoxiao immediately sent her Weibo account.

Ying Nian logged onto Weibo and searched. As she casually scrolled through Xiaoxiao’s homepage, she noticed that it was filled only with e-sports-related content and nothing else.

She curiously asked Xiaoxiao, [Why is your Weibo full of gaming content?]

Xiaoxiao replied, [Of course, this Weibo account is specifically for following e-sports.]

Worried that Ying Nian might overthink it, Xiaoxiao explained, [My everyday life is pretty dull, not very interesting, so my regular Weibo doesn’t have much on it. Many people around me aren’t into gaming and can’t understand it, so to avoid annoying them with constant updates, I created a separate Weibo just for e-sports.]

Hearing this, Ying Nian pondered for a moment. Her Weibo was followed by many classmates, should she be more mindful of her posts too?

In less than two seconds, Ying Nian made up her mind. She sent Xiaoxiao a message saying, [Give me a few minutes], and immediately started registering a new Weibo account.

She had two phones with different systems, which came in handy at this moment.

What should the new Weibo account be named?

Yu Linran…

Ying Nian instinctively typed his name, added a few words afterward, but felt it was off and deleted it. She repeated this several times, never feeling satisfied.

She ruffled her hair in frustration and placed a hand over her chest, deep in thought.

She asked herself, what do I really want to call it? Hmm?!

After a brief moment of soul-searching, an idea suddenly struck her. With a burst of inspiration, she quickly typed out two characters.

A five-character ID appeared on the screen:

“Yu Linran Marry Me.”

The two characters following Yu Linran were “marry me.” The system confirmed that this name had not been registered yet.

Perfect!

Ying Nian felt a bit flustered, her face warming up slightly, but her fingers honestly pressed the confirm button.

Seeing the new account “Yu Linran Marry Me” successfully registered, Ying Nian felt a strange sense of satisfaction. She admired the empty homepage for a while, then followed Xiaoxiao. After opening the chat interface, she said to her, [I’ve done it. Check your new followers, the one with Yu Linran’s name is me!]

Xiaoxiao sent a laughing emoji: [With Yu Linran’s name? So direct!]

Ying Nian defended herself: [No, no, I’m very low-key.]

After sending the message, there was no reply for over half a minute. Xiaoxiao had probably gone to Weibo to check her new followers list. Ying Nian got up from the bed and took a few sips of hot water.

When she returned to her phone, she saw several messages from Xiaoxiao:

[???]

[????????]

[Do you have some misunderstanding about the word low-key…???]

Ying Nian replied, [Hmm…]

Xiaoxiao’s tone was helpless, [Alright, whatever you want to call it, as long as you like it. I’ve followed you.]

In less than two seconds, she added, [By the way, tomorrow our support group’s Weibo will post some pictures from the event. Should we tag you? You’ve done so much for the support activities.]

Ying Nian quickly declined, [No, no! I’m a low-key person, let’s keep it low-key!]

Xiaoxiao sent two of ‘Face with Tears of Joy’ emojis.

They chatted for a while longer before saying their goodbyes since Xiaoxiao had work the next day. Ying Nian went to the bathroom to wash her face, then returned to bed. Before sleeping, she habitually took out her phone for one last check and saw Xiaoxiao’s new post about today’s match. Ying Nian liked the post.

Just as she was about to turn off her phone, Ying Nian thought for a moment, opened the editor, and posted the first update from this account.

Upon refreshing, the screen displayed:

【Yu Linran Marry Me:

Today’s match was very exciting [heart emoji] SF, Go forward bravely!】

The post included several photos from the event. Ying Nian didn’t include any selfies showing her face. The only photo featuring her showed just above her forehead, focusing mainly on the LED headband she wore.

Among the hundreds of spectators, there were only a few dozen supporting SF, and it was their first time showing support, all holding signs for the team. Only she had additionally ordered a custom sign for Yu Linran, fulfilling her small wish.

—She was there to support Yu Linran, and whether he saw it or not, she wanted to convey her feelings.

Xiaoxiao also liked her post. After checking the new notification, Ying Nian didn’t interact further with Xiaoxiao. She turned off her phone and placed it aside.

A good night’s sleep followed.

……

Ying Nian and Jiang Jiashu had booked a flight for the day after the match, departing around 3 PM, leaving them enough time to have lunch. Without the need to wake up early and rush, Ying Nian slept in and naturally woke up to find it was just past 10:30 AM.

She stretched lazily, then quickly threw off the quilt, got out of bed, washed up, and got ready. In just over ten minutes, she was all set.

Having packed her things the night before, Ying Nian picked up her phone and was about to grab her bag to find Jiang Jiashu when she noticed a notification at the top of the screen.

She casually clicked on it, and the interface switched to Weibo.

At first glance, Ying Nian thought it was Xiaoxiao tagging her and read it while walking towards the door. Her hand was just about to reach the door when she caught a glimpse of the content in a flash, making her forget to move. Her body didn’t obey her commands, and she almost tripped over her own feet.

The official Weibo account of the SF fan support group had reposted her Weibo, expressing their gratitude:

【Thank you to this ‘mystery fan’ for your support. Last night’s on-site support was all organized by this amazing fan. Thank you to everyone who attended! May all fans stand shoulder to shoulder with SF, Go forward bravely!】

Yesterday, Xiaoxiao had already told Ying Nian that the fan group’s official Weibo might tag her, and she had declined. She hadn’t expected them to directly repost her Weibo instead.

That would have been fine, as the fan group’s Weibo was managed by a few senior members of the group. However, after the fan group’s official Weibo reposted her Weibo, it was subsequently reposted again by another official Weibo account.

The more authoritative and official account, the real official Weibo, was:

—SF Esports Club.

The official Weibo of the SF team! The verified kind!

The official account reposted the fan group’s content, which included Ying Nian’s post from last night, with the caption:

【Thank you to the fans for your support, and thanks to everyone who came to watch the match. SF, Go forward bravely!】

It hadn’t been long since the official account reposted it, and the group chat was already buzzing with discussions about it. Group members were tagging Ying Nian one after another.

Ying Nian snapped out of her surprise and appeared in the group chat with a string of exclamation marks: [！！！！！！]

This string of punctuation perfectly captured her current emotions. She couldn’t think of anything else to say.

SF Team, having just restarted, valued this gesture highly as a team with few supporters, and thus reposted the Weibo to express their gratitude.

Because SF had a small fan base, if it were another popular team, a mere support group of just over thirty people would hardly be noticed.

With an indescribable feeling, Ying Nian clicked on Xiaoxiao’s profile picture and messaged her privately: [Sister Xiaoxiao!]

Xiaoxiao replied quickly: [What’s up?]

She added: [You got reposted by the official account! Are you happy?]

Ying Nian, typing quickly, sent several messages in a row:

[……]

[Happy for what……]

[This is too flashy, it doesn’t match my low-key persona at all!]

Xiaoxiao responded with a string of symbols expressing her view:

[……………………]

As long as you’re happy.