【Zhou Xiang】The Tropic

1.

NFC is an important project that Sun Xiang has been thinking about, and Ye Mingkang is willing to talk to him, his first reaction is of course happy, followed closely, speechless.

The place to talk about business is nothing more than the same: conference room, office, no matter how casual it is, it must be a coffee shop or tea house with a strong business atmosphere, so that it looks formal and reliable.

……

So why did the three of them huddle together under the eaves of the dilapidated blacksmith shop next to the fountain square to talk about this topic at the risk of being blinded by Ye Mingkang's fried RMB? ? ?

Ye Mingkang explained this in this way: "I'm so busy. I want to play games with you and also want to talk formally, so I can only kill two birds with one stone. Surely everyone agrees?"

"Is Ye Mingkang serious?" Sun Xiang was silent, and complained to Zhou Zekai.

"It's always been like this." Zhou Zekai asked him to accept the reality.

"Okay." Sun Xiang sold Zhou Zekai's second face, silently said "Don't try to understand some people's brain circuits", took the initiative to pick a copy, and suggested to Ye Mingkang: "Typing is troublesome, turn on the voice."

This decision, which Sun Xiangmei said was to take care of Ye Mingkang's hand speed, actually had another purpose - words revealed more information than words.Although the hope was slim, he also tried to catch clues from the communication between the two uncles and nephews.

——Yes, although he kept telling himself not to wonder what happened to Zhou Zekai during the day, but in fact, he couldn't stop the irritability and worry in his heart.

Even if you know, what is the use?One made complaints about himself.

Of course it works!It's better than a black eye.In case there is anything I can do to help?Another rebutted himself.

It's a pity, Ye Mingkang is very magical, he seems to have heard Sun Xiang's little calculations, and he just didn't mention a single word of non-item things to Zhou Zekai from the beginning to the end.Not only that, but his tone was also flawless, completely unlike a "good uncle" who was about to go crazy half a day ago.

With the fall of the recurring mission boss, Ye Mingkang ran out from the safe corner where he was hiding, and while manipulating the selfie pets in the game to take a group photo, he suggested: "It's almost done, I'll ask the secretary to organize the frame, and then we will meet Let’s face it, sign the cooperation intention first?”

"OK." Sun Xiang and Zhou Zekai said in unison.

Ye Mingkang teased: "Tsk, do you want to be so harmonious? If you don't know, you two count down to 321 together!"

Hearing this, the two people with different thoughts hurriedly exchanged a helpless look.

Ye Mingkang didn't know about it. He finished the fun on his own, thought for a while and asked: "Next Thursday? My daytime schedule is empty, what do you say?"

"No." Still in unison.

"I have something to do." Again.

This time, all three fell into silence.After a long time, Ye Mingkang coughed: "Oh, I remembered, Zekai is going to Chongqing?"

Zhou Zekai: "Yes. The second half of the week."

Sun Xiang was surprised: "Chongqing? Be careful not to cry, haha!"

"Are you on a business trip too?" Zhou Zekai didn't answer and asked a new question.

Sun Xiang: "I'm not on business, but I'm so busy. Did you forget? I have to prepare for the press conference!"

Zhou Zekai suddenly realized: "He Xi's?"

Sun Xiang nodded: "There is no room for mistakes, you must watch in person."

2.

After that, there was nothing about Ye Mingkang.The latter didn't know whether he was busy or interested, so before the topic progressed to the details of the press conference, he said hello and ran away offline.

Before going to bed, Sun Xiang habitually cleaned up WeChat messages, and found that his father had shared several large high-definition pictures in the family group, such as stir-fried fat intestines, eel, squid, and spicy rabbit heads... Is it tolerable or unbearable, Sun Xiang Immediately not to be outdone, return to the Chuan Chuan Xiang stock that was photographed today.

The pretty girl was bubbling up in seconds, throwing two "meh dah", Aite and his son, and then posted a cat pick nose.

Sun Xiang protested angrily: This beautiful girl, staying moderate will only deeply hurt the heart of your son who is working outside.

Father Sun immediately followed up: Don't be so miserable, your father is still working hard at this age!

Sun Xiang copied and pasted the cat nose-picking emoji of his pretty girl.

Father Sun: Hehe, don't believe me.

Dad Sun: Your dad has been keeping up with the times recently, and he is busy with an Internet-related project every day.No, the investors who just sent away from Beijing will receive friends from Shanghai next week.

Sun Xiang was delighted: What a coincidence, a friend of mine is going to Chongqing soon.

Coincidentally, at this time, Sun Xiang didn't think about these two things in tandem.Afterwards, he and his parents talked a little bit about family matters. Seeing that it was late at night, he obeyed the beautiful girl's order to say good night to each other, and each went offline to rest.

3.

As the end of the year approached, not only Sun Xiang was in a state of distress, Zhou Zekai was also too busy to touch the ground.

The next day, he said he would go back to the apartment, but he called around 11 o'clock, apologetically telling Sun Xiang not to prepare any more supper, and he would probably sleep in the company.

At that time, Sun Xiang was also frowning to check Zhao Yaoyao's freshly completed plan - the school recruitment tour plan, which was extremely important to the team.

So the next day, the two met again, laughing at each other's dark circles at the same time - but that's all.In fact, the place where they met wasn't even in the apartment—it was in the company that Ye Mingkang secretly worked with Zhou Zekai outside.

Ye Mingkang, who squeezed out time to come, was also speechless.He looked at the two pandas for a few seconds, then directly removed the coffee he had prepared.

That's right, time waits for no one. The matter of NFC has been detailed to such a specific level. After thinking twice, they still plan to give it a go and get permission from the league and game companies within the year. In this way, they may be able to open a small game before the Spring Festival. conference.

The next day, Sun Xiang went to the team.Although towards Zhao Yaoyao, he has a hundred hearts.But at special moments, there is one more person to check, and one less omission.Especially as someone who has experienced it, he knows best how important this kind of thing is to new players who are on the boat halfway. Public opinion is a double-edged sword, which can be praised or destroyed.He has to make sure that nothing goes wrong to ensure that the children and the team can get a relatively good start.

Check media releases, check publicity and distribution channels, register alliance procedures, take photos for medical examinations, and arrange questions.These things are mainly done by the team members, and Sun Xiang is responsible for confirmation.

Then there was one thing that he had to do by himself.

Internal ventilation will be.

4.

The meeting was scheduled for 1:[-] in the afternoon. Sun Xiang arrived at the team ahead of time, and stayed until the end of training in the morning. He said hello to Qian Jin and borrowed He Xi directly.

He Xi was confused but excited. When he saw his idol, he was so excited that he didn't know where to put it. Sun Xiang asked him to get in the car, and he got on obediently. Boss's exclusive "super strong hair rubbing" treatment.

"You can do it, kid. I gave them some ecstasy soup. It's only been a few days, and you are more nervous than the other." Sun Xiang finished rubbing, and started the car refreshed. I must bring you back with all your beard and tail, tsk, you make me sound like a villain."

"No way~" He Xi stuck out her tongue mischievously, "Brother Xiang is so handsome, he is also the most handsome villain in the universe!"

Sun Xiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "It's just you who are poor, that's fine, now it's just us brothers, what's the matter, tell me, how are you adapting, is there anyone on the team who bullies you?"

"Uh..." This question seemed to have stumped He Xi, he thought for a long time, and confessed a name, "It's not bullying. However, Wu Yue is different from what I imagined?!"

Sun Xiang: "Ah—?"

5.

It was beyond Sun Xiang's expectation that He Xi would point out Wu Yue's name. What surprised him even more was that for quite a long time afterwards, He Xi kept complaining about Wu Yue and couldn't stop at all.

His slots are various, big and small, but they basically revolve around one theme: "Wu Yue Kuge's character design is broken, and it's super annoying in reality!"

For the first example, He Xi cited when he first joined the team.The dormitory was vacated in advance, with Wu Yue on the left and Qian Jin on the right.After putting down his luggage, he lived a life of being knocked on the door for rounds every morning and evening.Moreover, except for the team leader Qian Chen on the first day, all the people who came to the ward rounds were replaced by his partner, classmate Wu Yue.

If it is just ward rounds, it is not enough to reflect the word "annoying".In fact, in many respects, he was far more worried about He Xi than anyone else.

"Forbid me to put the credit card my mother gave me in my wallet, and turn around and buy a safe from JD.com, insisting that I put it in it every day, for fear that I will lose it. Do you think I am a three-year-old child?"

"Also, I casually said that I wanted to buy new headphones, and he got excited and insisted on giving me a 10-minute class. Which website is more comprehensive and cost-effective to go online, which transshipment company to look for, and there are minors. Don't worry. Go to Pacific Digital, if you really go, you must ask some strong supporters in the team..."

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!" Sun Xiang laughed so hard he couldn't breathe when he heard this.Across the door of the fitting room, He Xiren was muttering inside, while Sun Xiang was outside covering his stomach and wiping tears.

He Xi stopped talking.After a while, the door slowly opened.

While arranging the hem of his clothes, the completely new kid looked at Sun Xiang helplessly: "Brother Xiang, are you tired from laughing, do you want some water?"

6.

Sun Xiang felt relieved.He could feel that He Xi wasn't lying, even though the kid complained about hitting the whole map, not only Wu Yue was shot, there were constant disputes similar to the usual training, except for him, everyone's useless ability to eat spicy food, and others The adult party headed by Qian Li always threatens him with tooth decay to prevent him from buying Coke and eating sweets, etc... But the subtext can be summed up in one sentence——

Brother Xiang, don't worry, we get along very well.

The briefing in the afternoon also confirmed what He Xi said.

In the first half of the meeting, Zhao Yaoyao presided over the practice of Mercury: write your own opinions on a note, anonymous or not.

As a result, Wu Yue firmly stated that he stood by He Xi's side throughout the whole process; several realistic factions in the team were indeed worried about the fluctuation of the results, and discussed several possible situations with Sun Xiang, but they were frank that glory is not a game for one person. Qian and Qian are firm, so they are also willing to wait and see and support.

This was followed by Sun Xiang's speech.

He cleared his throat and looked around at the young people in the team. What he wanted to announce was very simple.

"I won't talk about winning the championship by playing games. The Mercury team does not allow bullying within the team. Violators will terminate the contract directly."

Because no matter what personnel changes, Sun Xiang would say this, so everyone nodded seriously, and no one felt that he was protecting He Xi on purpose.

But to everyone's surprise, after this, Sun Xiang did not clap his hands as usual to announce the end of the meeting.

He called Zhao Yaoyao over, and the latter announced another thing: the new incentive policy.

"Thank you for your recent outstanding performance. We have successfully settled several new contracts." If they can go further in the first season, both individuals and teams can get corresponding cash rewards and even endorsements.

Since ancient times, money has warmed people's hearts the most.As soon as the words fell, "Thank you Brother Xiang!"

Before Sun Xiang left, he patted the captain Qian Chen on the shoulder and said that it would be hard work for everyone.I also emphasized that I hope everyone will do what they say. If there is a violation of the rules, as long as the captain reports to me, I will absolutely believe him.

Qian Chen knew that this was to help him consolidate his authority, so he looked at Sun Xiang gratefully, but Sun Xiang gave him a thumbs up without saying anything, and turned to leave.

7.

That night, Sun Xiang found in the mirror that the black part on the top of his head had grown back.Although it was late, Sun Xiang yawned and prepared hair dye for himself because of his long-term insistence on being fashionable.

Halfway through wiping, because he was thirsty, he went out to find water to drink, and happened to run into Zhou Zekai who was working overtime and came home late.

Sun Xiang knew that his image was very strange at the moment, he wished he could cover Zhou Zekai's eyes, or cover his hair.But he had coke in one hand and ice cubes in the other, so it was too late no matter how he looked at it.

After the silence, Zhou Zekai took the lead in smiling friendlyly, pointing at Sun Xiang's head: "Want to help?"

The least handsome side has already been seen, Sun Xiang didn't know whether it was too sleepy or a broken pot, but he nodded in a strange way: "Yes!"

So, half a minute later, he went back to the bathroom, and beside him was a friend who was eager to try.

At first Sun Xiang was a little worried that Zhou Zekai was a stranger, but soon he found that this man handled his hair very meticulously, and he quickly wiped off every hair dye that accidentally got on with a cotton swab.

Afterwards, I had to wait for 10 minutes to wash my hair. Normally, Zhou Zekai could leave, but he didn't.

"Have we talked?" He squeezed some hand sanitizer and asked Sun Xiang while slowly flushing the water.

With three words without beginning or end, Sun Xiang miraculously connected to his brainwaves: "You asked He Xi? Yes, we talked about it. Don't tell me, this little guy does have two skills, and he gets along well with his teammates." pretty good."

"His own?" Zhou Zekai didn't immediately follow the joy, but calmly reminded Sun Xiang that He Xi himself had a moderate problem—a desire to win far stronger than his peers.

"Are you worried about his mentality? No, do you remember the last time we PKed with us, he won't be arrogant in victory or discouraged in defeat, he has a strong self-regulation ability."

Zhou Zekai shook his head: "The official competition is different."

Sun Xiang: "It's okay, we didn't all come here like this..."

Zhou Zekai interrupted him: "The next three games, ARK, Tiny Herb, NT."

"Of course I know the race schedule, why... oh, um." Sun Xiang frowned slightly.He understood what Zhou Zekai meant.The qualification rankings of the three opponents are all above Mercury.In the Glory arena, any situation can happen, including three consecutive losses——

For other players, losing three games in a row is not serious. At most, they will be depressed for a few days and then regain their strength. But for a newcomer, if he does not adjust his mentality well, the impact is really uncertain.

"It makes sense," Sun Xiang's expression gradually became solemn, "I've been too busy recently, so I've been negligent. I really should talk to him later."

After that, Sun Xiang smiled at Zhou Zekai in the mirror: "Thank you."

Zhou Zekai smiled, dried his hands, said good night, and left.Leaving Sun Xiang alone, he realized later: Zhou Zekai is so busy that he still has time to follow the league schedule?

8.

Sun Xiang ran to the team after finishing his work the next day, just in time for Mercury's tea time.

"Have you had your hair cut?" He Xi's new look caught his eyes, "You're pretty handsome."

"Hmm!" He Xi stroked Liu Haili's temples embarrassingly, "Originally they wanted to perm me again, but Wu Yue forbade me to do it, saying it would be more handsome, Brother Xiang, what do you think?"

Sun Xiang folded his chest and looked around: "Indeed, at your age, freshness is more important, the simpler the better. Wu Yue has always had a good aesthetic, so listen to him more about this."

They continued to chat about the styling issue, and He Xi couldn't hold it back: "Brother Xiang, are you busy? You made this trip specially, do you really have nothing else to ask me for?"

"Hahahaha! Clever ghost!" Sun Xiang rubbed his head again unceremoniously, "That's right, there is a little thing."

9.

"Three consecutive defeats?" He Xi hesitated for a moment after hearing Sun Xiang's words, but immediately met Sun Xiang's gaze confidently: "Haha, it's not that bad, Brother Xiang!"

At his age, he is quite good at concealing his emotions, but it's a pity that Sun Xiang was the captain after all, so he is not generally astute.

He smiled: "So confident, so have you estimated your adaptation period?"

He Xi hesitated a little longer this time: "Well. Up to two months."

"Two months?" Sun Xiang raised his eyebrows.

He Xi got nervous and lost the battle: "I actually want to hear Brother Xiang's opinion!"

Sun Xiang laughed loudly: "I don't know."

He Xi: "Huh?!"

"Well, I don't know." Sun Xiang's eyes changed from joking to serious, he bent down to stare at the kid, and rubbed his hair, "Anything can happen, the most terrifying thing in the e-sports industry is the conflict between intuition and reality. "

"Brother Xiang, don't you have confidence in me?" He Xi's hand holding the cup unconsciously clenched a little bit. Sun Xiang caught a glimpse of it, moved it away as if nothing had happened, and sighed helplessly: "Of course not, I have great confidence in you, otherwise It’s impossible to decide to sign you right away. But I can’t grasp any changes other than you, so I decided to be more realistic before my debut.”

He Xi regained his composure and nodded.

Sun Xiang straightened up and looked out of the window: "Even losing three times in a row is not the worst situation. The cruelty of this industry is far beyond imagination. If you choose the path of e-sports, you will always go against the current, and you will always face being eliminated in the next second." The risk. The following situations may occur—”

"What's going on?" He Xi asked curiously.

"Training is boring and exhausting."

"I haven't been able to get the ideal grades, it's very tiring."

"He is in poor health, suffers from frequent illnesses, and is very tired."

"But these are not the scariest things." Sun Xiang lazily leaned against the window sill, his eyes drifting into the distance, as if he was recalling some past, "The scariest thing is being overwhelmed by exhaustion, depressed, and denying his own life. There are many such players.”

"Then what should I do?" He Xi was so clever that he was stunned and surprised for a moment, and immediately recognized that there was something in Sun Xiang's words.

Sun Xiang turned around and looked at him approvingly: "Good question. There is only one way. If you have any difficulties, you are not allowed to keep them secret from me, whether in life or in spirit."

"But you are very busy..."

"But you are also very important." Sun Xiang shook his head. "Remember, the bottom line is that you must communicate with others. Even if you are embarrassed to find me, you can find your captain, partner, or team management. It is very good like today. I am more than It's your boss and your brother, and he will definitely protect you!"

"En! Remember it!" He Xi looked at Sun Xiang with bright eyes, and nodded heavily.

10.

After pretending to be a handsome and mature adult, Sun Xiang was a salty fish who was too tired to breathe.

In the evening, he felt a splitting headache when he read every word on the computer. He couldn't take it anymore. He dripped eye drops and put on a Kamen Rider blindfold.

Who knew that Zhou Zekai could successfully break through the assistant's defense and walk in when Sun Xiang was most unprepared.

"...Brother," being bumped into his image completely ruined twice in a row, Sun Xiang's heart was no longer fluctuating. He consciously stretched out his hand and asked Zhou Zekai to pull him up, "Can I say hello next time?"

"Hehe." Zhou Zekai didn't answer, "Going to eat?"

It turned out that Zhou Zekai planned to fly to Chongqing early tomorrow morning. In order to increase the success rate of the negotiation, he had to continue to work overtime tonight.In Zhou Zekai's words, coming to Sun Xiang for dinner is his "last chance to rest."

Having said that, Sun Xiang knew very well in his heart that this person was afraid that he would starve to death before the press conference, and instead secretly expressed his concern.

Usually he complained about Zhou Zekai's irregular diet and rest, but now there was a day when he switched positions, and Zhou Zekai reminded himself that this experience cannot be said to be fresh and interesting.

It's a pity that under the premise of racing against time, it is impossible for them to go out and eat.In Sun Xiang's office, the two spread out the "takeaway lunch box" brought by Zhou Zekai, and settled for dinner in a simple and efficient way.

Before leaving, Sun Xiang shared the QQ message sent by He Xi to Zhou Zekai.What Zhou Zekai noticed was a passage from Sun Xiang earlier, "Actually, it's not just my idea to talk to you about this, Brother Zekai also cares about you very much."

He pretended not to see it, and returned the phone to Sun Xiang, but when he turned around, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

11.

"Safe trip, everything goes smoothly! Oh yes, I have a chance to visit Chongqing, have fun!" Sun Xiang waved before the elevator closed.

On the front foot, he wished Wanren a good time, but on the back foot, he realized that he was not happy.

Even though he didn't know, it was because Zhou Zekai was not around, which made life a little bit boring.

Sun Xiang couldn't figure out his own psychology for a while, and he didn't want to be entangled, so he simply concentrated on his work.

As a result, this state lasted only half a day.

At noon the next day, Sun Xiang first received the first message.

Dad Sun chatted with him privately on WeChat: Son, you will never guess who Dad met!

Sun Xiang replied:?Father Sun actually ignored him.

What the hell, it's so mysterious!He didn't want to complain, and continued to work hard.

When he finally had lunch, opened a can of Coke for himself, and took the first sip, the new WeChat popped up again.

This time it was Zhou Zekai.

Zhou Zekai: To visit uncle and aunt tomorrow, do you want to help bring things?

"Pfft—" Sun Xiang's Coke almost sprayed on the screen.

What? !Zhou Zekai, go to his house? ? ? ?

Things seem to be wrong, nothing is right!Sun Xiang tried his best to recall the previous information while looking for a tissue... Isn't Zhou Zekai going on a business trip? ?Didn't his father receive customers from Shanghai? ?Fuck, are they talking about the same thing? !

The next second he realized this, cold sweat covered Sun Xiang's forehead.

Among other things, he suddenly thought of his dark history!

That's right, black history!

And my mother's style of entertaining relatives and friends on weekdays!

… Sun Xiang covered his face, and began to seriously consider whether to move out of the apartment before Zhou Zekai came back.

Just kidding, if Zhou Zekai sees those things from the second year of middle school, will Brother Xiang still lose face? !

TBC