Lu Manman sat at the edge of the bed, the deep red blood dripping onto the sheets, forming a spreading circle.

Quickly wiping her nose, she ended up with blood all over her face and hands.

“Don’t move.”

Yuan Xiu pulled her closer, grabbing a tissue and pinching her nose bridge.

Instinctively tilting her head back, Lu Manman felt Yuan Xiu’s hand on the back of her head, “Don’t tilt your head back. Just like this, look straight ahead and focus on me.”

Obediently following his instructions, Lu Manman gazed at Yuan Xiu. His long eyelashes and dark eyes, tinged with hazel in the sunlight, made her realize for the first time that black eyes could be more captivating than blue or green ones, deep and weighty.

As she was lost in her thoughts, Yuan Xiu fetched more tissues from the bedside table to help her stop the bleeding.

Leaning against his chest, feeling his scorching skin and taut muscles, Lu Manman could even hear his steady heartbeat. Instinctively, she placed her hand on his chest to create some distance between them, only to accidentally touch a small bump on his chest. Startled, she quickly withdrew her hand, feeling her face flush with embarrassment.

Oh my goodness…

Yuan Xiu lowered his gaze to her face, pinching her nose and gently wiping the blood from her face with a tissue.

Seeing that Lu Manman had nowhere to look, he tried to cover himself discreetly with the blanket, frowning slightly, “What are you doing here?”

Speaking with a nasal tone, Lu Manman replied, “I came to wake you up.”

“Did they send you here?”

Lu Manman nodded, then shook her head.

“Don’t move.”

She stayed still.

Yuan Xiu changed the tissue, and the bleeding seemed to have stopped a bit.

He released the back of her head, “Wait outside for me. I’ll change and come down.”

Lu Manman held a tissue to her face, put on her cotton slippers, and turned to ask him, “What about the bedsheets?”

“It’s okay, you don’t need to worry about it.”

Feeling guilty, Lu Manman insisted, “Let me wash it for you.”

“No need.”

Reluctantly, she got up and left the room, heading to the bathroom to clean herself up and wash off all the blood from her face.

Thinking back to the scene in the bed just now, Lu Manman’s face blushed again.

That guy had such a great physique.

Oh no, she couldn’t dwell on that, she needed to stay calm.

After rinsing the bloodstains on her clothes with water, Lu Manman cleaned them off and returned to the living room. Ah Heng, Ren Xiang, and the others didn’t ask where she had been. After a few minutes of sitting down, Yuan Xiu appeared downstairs, dressed in a casual black sweater. He naturally sat beside Lu Manman, and she caught a whiff of his body wash, indicating he had just showered.

Lu Manman’s breathing felt heavy as she settled the prices with Yuan Xiu. She made several mistakes, but in the end, Xia Tian took the price list, glanced at it, and quickly calculated the total.

As Xia Tian pondered, tapping on a calculator, a few minutes later, he looked at her in disbelief, “This girl is like a walking calculator.”

Embarrassed, Xia Tian chuckled, “No, not really.”

Gu Zhefeng snorted, “You only calculated the total, but some of these cosmetics were bought at duty-free shops and included a 10% tax. The captain processed a tax refund at the airport, so your answer is not accurate.”

“Why are you nitpicking?” Ren Xiang patted his head. “Can’t stand someone being smarter than you?”

Gu Zhefeng divided the cosmetics on the table into two groups, “This part needs a tax refund, and this part doesn’t.”

After counting, he thought for a moment and came up with an answer ninety-nine dollars less than before, “This is the total after the tax refund.”

He raised his eyebrows, looking at Xia Tian provocatively.

Who’s the smartest of them all? Well, who else but the academic achiever.

Xia Tian smiled and waved her hand, “It’s okay, let’s just go with the price we calculated earlier. It’s already much cheaper than buying through a proxy in the country.”

Gu Zhefeng insisted, “No, it should be the exact amount. The captain never takes advantage of others, so it should be the price I calculated!”

He then winked at Yuan Xiu, “Right, Captain?”

Yuan Xiu sighed, “As long as you’re happy.”

The three girls pooled their money and handed it back to Yuan Xiu. As they were leaving, Cheng Yu thanked the X Team members, “The items were quite heavy, thank you for carrying them all the way back. Feel free to ask if you need any help in the future.”

Ren Xiang, with his hands in his pockets, grinned and said, “To serve the ladies is my pleasure.”

Standing next to Yuan Xiu, Lu Manman whispered to him, “I’m really sorry about dirtying the bedsheet. I can help wash it.”

“No need,” Yuan Xiu replied.

Ren Xiang’s ears perked up, “Dirtying the bedsheet?”

Ah Heng chimed in, “Oh my, what did you two do to dirty the bedsheet?”

Gu Zhefeng: “Dirty.”

Yuan Xiu rolled his eyes at them and left, saying, “Didn’t see your ears being so sharp during the match.”

On the way back, Cheng Yu and Xia Tian couldn’t resist gossiping about Lu Manman, “You two were in the room for a full twenty minutes. Come clean, what were you doing?”

Lu Manman casually replied, “I had a nosebleed, and Yuan Xiu helped me stop it.”

“How did you suddenly get a nosebleed?”

Images of someone’s naked upper body flooded Lu Manman’s mind again, their well-built physique stirring up unusual feelings in her. She had never felt this way about a man’s body before, but seeing Yuan Xiu made her have inappropriate thoughts.

The sensation of being embraced by such a strong and warm body was overwhelming. How could she breathe? She felt like a female rogue.

Taking a deep breath to calm down, she looked up to see Xia Tian and Cheng Yu frowning at her, their expressions strange.

“What’s wrong?”

“You’re having a nosebleed again.”

“Um!”

…

As the taxi was nearing the school, Lu Manman suddenly remembered she had left her wallet at the X Club.

Feeling a bit scatterbrained, she had forgotten such an important item. She told Cheng Yu and the others, “You two go back to the dormitory. I’ll go to the X Club to get my wallet.”

Cheng Yu offered to accompany her, but she declined, considering she was still carrying the heavy cosmetics.

Lu Manman called another taxi halfway back, heading towards the villa area. The estate covered several acres, and the houses all looked similar, making it easy to get lost on the winding paths. Despite only having visited twice before, she relied on her memory to find her way to the X Club.

As she approached the back door of the villa, she overheard a man speaking in the yard.

“The investors initially disagreed with M4 joining the team, but I agreed to meet because you recommended him. It’s normal for things not to work out, Yuan Xiu. I hope you won’t have any hard feelings towards the club because of this.”

Lu Manman stood by the dry vines near the door, recognizing the speaker as Yang Chen, talking to Yuan Xiu on the veranda.

“I’m not that unprofessional,” Yuan Xiu replied calmly. “I just don’t understand why there are still doubts when M4 won the national finals. Other teams in the top ten have signed players, so what’s the investor’s concern?”

“I’ve told you before, girls aren’t suitable for professional gaming. Last year, we signed a talented female player, invested heavily in training her, but within two years, she terminated the contract. She said she wanted to get married, and her husband didn’t allow her to continue playing. What can the club do? We ended up at a loss,” Yang Chen explained.

Yuan Xiu was about to respond, but Yang Chen continued, “I know you’ll bring up your ‘goddess.’ There’s only one ‘goddess’ in the world, and she became famous at a young age. She can’t be compared to anyone else.”

Yuan Xiu extinguished his cigarette, his hands in his pockets as he fell silent.

Seeing him quiet, Yang Chen patted his shoulder, “You’ve done a lot for her already. It’s just the way things are. Even now, with her winning the national competition, no club has extended an invitation. Everyone still weighs gender factors carefully and is hesitant to take risks.”

Yuan Xiu glanced at Yang Chen, “What if I told you she’s…”

“Yuan Xiu!”

Sensing trouble, Lu Manman suddenly called out to him.

Turning around simultaneously, Yang Chen looked surprised, while Yuan Xiu frowned slightly.

“m4, what are you doing here?” Yang Chen’s expression turned awkward upon being overheard, struggling to face the situation.

Lu Manman walked over with a smile, “Captain Yuan Xiu kindly offered to help me purchase some Korean cosmetics, but I left my wallet behind when I came to pick them up.”

“Fumbling around,” Yuan Xiu replied with a tone of resignation only close friends could use. He turned around, “I’ll go get it for you.”

“Thank you, Captain,” Lu Manman said gratefully.

Feeling awkward being alone with Lu Manman, Yang Chen found himself unsure of where to place his hands, so he resorted to putting them in his pockets, thinking Yuan Xiu must have orchestrated this situation deliberately.

After speaking ill of others, he was now left in this situation with her. This guy…

Clearing his throat, about to say something to break the tension, Lu Manman spoke up, “Manager Yang, don’t worry. You were just stating facts.”

Yang Chen licked his dry lips, “Don’t lose heart, talented individuals can shine anywhere as long as they persist.”

Lu Manman remained silent.

Awkward… so damn awkward.

Yang Chen looked at Lu Manman standing under the veranda, clad in a white down jacket with a red scarf, her head down, looking at her snow boots, looking meek and obedient.

Thinking she seemed down, Yang Chen pondered why Yuan Xiu hadn’t returned yet. It shouldn’t take this long to get a wallet. This guy… intentionally dragging his feet.

Five minutes later, Yuan Xiu emerged with Lu Manman’s light blue wallet.

“Let’s check,” he said.

Lu Manman opened the wallet and checked, “Nothing missing. I’ll head off now.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Yuan Xiu stepped down from the veranda.

“No need, really,” Lu Manman took a few steps back, “It’s okay, I know this way well. Goodbye.”

Turning around, she hastened her steps and left.

Yang Chen looked at Yuan Xiu with a hint of annoyance, but Yuan Xiu just shrugged, indicating it wasn’t his concern.

…

That evening, Lu Manman pulled down the curtains around her desk and didn’t even come out for dinner. Cheng Yu, holding a cup of hot water, walked over to Xia Tian’s desk and whispered, “What’s wrong with her?”

“I don’t know,” Xia Tian took off her headphones, “She hasn’t said a word since we came back from the club. She says she’s fine, but she doesn’t look fine at all.”

“She was fine just now,” Cheng Yu pondered, “Maybe she went back and saw something she shouldn’t have?”

Xia Tian curiously asked, “What shouldn’t she have seen?”

Cheng Yu shrugged, “Like Yuan Xiu bringing a girl back to the base.”

“Wow, your imagination is running wild.”

“Otherwise, why would she be so down?”

“Yuan Xiu didn’t bring any girl back to the base, and even if he did, it’s none of my business. Stop guessing. I get down a few days every month, leave me alone,” Lu Manman said from behind the curtains.

Cheng Yu and Xia Tian exchanged nervous glances and returned to their seats without speaking.

Lu Manman turned on her VPN, accessed YouTube, and prepared to watch a movie. However, the homepage banner featured an interview with Queen, who had won the intercontinental championship.

She couldn’t resist the temptation and clicked on the video.

In the footage, Qiao Xingye, dressed in a sharp suit and shoes, had just come out of the awards ceremony, his face flushed with excitement. Holding the gleaming Intercontinental Championship trophy, he shouted, “Queen is forever number one, incomparable, unparalleled!”

Quite the bold statement.

Even when Lu Manman led Queen through numerous victories in battles far and wide, she never dared to boast in such grandiose terms.

Unparalleled, could Queen truly bear the weight of such a statement?

Not even W dared to say such things.

The video then switched to Judy, her hair styled in a high ponytail, her blue eyes like glass beads. She had achieved remarkable results in the intercontinental championship, winning the singles competition and being hailed as the most promising professional player of the year.

Dressed in a red combat suit, Judy appeared as proud as a rooster, her flamboyant personality shining through even more boldly at this moment.

“I said I wouldn’t disappoint anyone, and now I’ve proved it,” she declared.

She smiled at the camera, addressing the Lu Manman on the screen, “With this, the former captain W can rest assured. My teamwork with the team is very harmonious. Queen is a team; teamwork should not be dominated by heroism, nor should it rely on any single member. I believe Queen will continue to improve, and I will work hard. Thank you for the fans’ support.”

Lu Manman casually clicked the red cross to close the video.

On Line, Akko sent a message to Lu Manman.

“@Twelve-year-old Lu Manman, we won the championship in the intercontinental competition, but it might not be good news for you. By the way, Judy is a bit of an airhead, don’t pay attention to her. I’ll send you the full video of the game. Qiao Xingye has designed new tactics, and they seem to be working well. You can analyze it when you have time.”

“Thanks, Akko. My phone storage is full, so you don’t have to send it to me. If I want to watch it, I’ll search online.”

“Pat pat.”