【Zhou Xiang】The Tropic

1.

Fang Minghua asked himself why he was with Zhou Zekai?

Sun Xiang was a little confused for a while: "I just met, and then he sent me home... No, how did you know?"

On the other end of the phone, Fang Minghua was about to vomit blood, and suddenly spoke Shanghai dialect: "Nongxing, please, the whole world knows how to cut!"

Sun Xiang was super surprised: "The whole world—?"

Fang Minghua pinched his eyebrows and tried to slow down his speech: "My friend, open Weibo and look at the hot searches. Behind the entries of double, one, split, hand, compound, and combined, there are not only small flames, but also explosions!"

It turned out that after the paparazzi took pictures last night, they didn't intend to cover them at all, so they sent them directly with a few watermarks.The timing was perfect: 11:11 a.m.Night cat netizens are most awake and active.

The marketing account smelled the gossip, and immediately went crazy like a chicken blood, and drove out the Jiugongge strip in minutes. From Zhou Zekai's retirement to the past few years, any clues that the two of them could connect with each other have been rolled out, and they just made up. A bloody "truth" that even Fang Minghua almost believed was revealed, and under the relay of the melon-eating crowd, it quickly made headlines.

"Oh, I knew I would have checked Weibo even if I was sleepy last night!" Fang Minghua sighed.Originally, he should have found out earlier, but yesterday he happened to catch up with his daughter's manual work. After the firefighting newspaper clippings were finished, he was so sleepy that his eyelids were fighting and he didn't have the energy to touch his phone.The news was read to him by his wife at the morning table the next day.

Sun Xiang laughed so hard that tears almost came out: "Good thing, free data delivered to your door! Or, while the trending search is still there, I will quickly promote our team?"

As soon as the words fell, Sun Xiang heard Fang Minghua's teeth grinding as he wished: "Hehe."

"Hahahaha, I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding." Sun Xiang quickly became serious, and changed the subject, "To be honest, I don't think this matter has much effect on me. Don't spend money to find someone to remove the trending search, just put the play Bar."

Hearing his tone, Fang Minghua had a bottom line in his heart: "Tell me first, what happened last night carrying Zhou Zekai home?"

2.

Sun Xiang focused on describing a series of coincidences clearly, and finally emphasized: "If this kind of thing is clarified, no one may believe it. I think it's fake. The more it gets mixed up, the more lively it gets. Just don't respond and let the heat go away naturally. .”

In the past few years, Sun Xiang has also experienced bigger storms, and his heart is like a mirror, so he can see the situation clearly and not panic at all.

I remember that the summer of the eleventh season happened to be the node where the e-sports and entertainment circles became idolized.He and Zhou Zekai have great performances, they can fight, and they are called the "best partner". They poured in one after another, having a great time knocking.

But this "grand occasion" only lasted a year.

Zhou Zekai retired in the twelfth season, and the rumors about their lover turning into an enemy became rampant on the Internet for a while. The marketing hype was so convincing that even the manager of the Samsara PR Department couldn't help asking Sun Xiang if they were in a relationship. He responded with an awkward smile. As popular as "Double One" used to be, it was so earth-shattering at that time.The smoke cleared, and the surviving cp fans kept a low profile. The only fans on both sides had been purified, so don't even think about seeing the name of the former prime minister in your own super chat.

In another three years, Sun Xiang retired, and most of the fanatic fans with the strongest fighting power climbed to new walls, leaving behind a group of long-lasting Buddhist fans.Sun Xiang posted on ins to show equipment and took selfies, they licked and licked pictures, shouted that husband/cub/son is so handsome, Sun Xiang was free to live broadcast and play in the arena, they went to vote for rocket light sticks, Sun Xiang created a new Weibo account, and the focus shifted to For the operation of the e-sports business, they helped to shout and followed the transfer.All in all, it is no longer a celebrity fan group in the usual sense, but more like a group of old friends.

Sun Xiang reckoned that as long as he didn't turn on the mic, it would be a matter of minutes for his old friends to understand. Without them, the water would not be muddy.So he wasn't too worried about being affected.

It was even simpler for Zhou Zekai.

After this guy retired, the "Samsara-Zhou Zekai" account was abandoned, and even his old teammates couldn't get in touch, let alone ask him to come out and create a new social account.On Weibo, Sun Xiang swiped with a pad, and saw a bunch of people at the bottom of Aite he and Zhou Zekai's abandoned accounts, he could only sympathize—what were he thinking?Do you think Zhou Shao, who is busy with everything, has time to respond?

All of the above, when Sun Xiang answered Fang Minghua's question, he quickly went through his mind.He originally thought that Fang Minghua was just taking the dual standpoint of a partner and a friend, worried about his situation, and was quite moved, so he deliberately expressed his attitude in straightforward words, and wanted to tell the other party not to worry.Unexpectedly, after listening to the suggestion of "don't respond", the person on the other side neither heaved a sigh of relief nor protested, but asked a strange question inexplicably: "Sun Xiang, now you secretly open the curtains to take a look. Are there any strange people coming and going?"

Sun Xiang: "?"

He glanced out of the window in confusion, and replied, "No way. What's the matter?"

Fang Minghua said again: "You didn't borrow your car, did you?"

Sun Xiang: "No."

Fang Minghua: "That's good. There will be a little bit of traffic in these two days. In short, don't be low-carbon and environmentally friendly. Your community is safe, but you must pay more attention to parking outside. Don't pick the corner of the underground garage."

Sun Xiang was very confused by the sudden transition of the spy war drama: "Brother, it's 20XX now, my illegitimate meal has already climbed the wall, no one will have ulterior motives."

"Can't you just do it!" Fang Minghua suddenly roared irritably.After yelling, his tone softened immediately, and he explained wearily: "It's not about illegitimate meals, I'm worried that Zhou Zekai will fuck you!"

Sun Xiang thought for a moment that he had misheard the sentence: "Who do you think is going to mess with me?"

Only then did Fang Minghua realize what he had said, and he wanted to hit the wall: "Come to the company first, let's meet and chat."

3.

Half an hour later, while Sun Xiang was processing the documents, he heard Fang Minghua talk about the bloody rumors that only circulated among the high-level Samsara.

The central idea is summarized as follows:

Zhou's mother originally hoped that Zhou Zekai would retire after the tenth season, but for some reason, she agreed to renew the contract.

Zhou's mother was very dissatisfied with Samsara's acquiescence to the popularity of "Double One" cp after the eleventh season, and insisted on terminating the contract.

Samsara disagreed, and Mother Zhou threatened to destroy Sun Xiang's hand.Finally successfully terminated the contract.

"...This is a dog blood TV series!" Sun Xiang signed the last document, raised his head, his face full of disbelief, "Also, did she really say she was going to cut off my hand?"

"I also heard it internally. Since it's called a rumor, there must be exaggeration. It's hard to tell if it's true or not. But Xiao Zhou's family is indeed not simple. You should be more careful during this time. After all, you are not afraid of ten thousand, just in case." Fang Minghua He took out the electronic cigarette, gritted his teeth and put it away.He has a strong willpower in the matter of quitting smoking, and today's behavior is a rare irritability.

"Zhou Zekai's family..." Sun Xiang didn't pay attention here.He lowered his eyes, clenched his fists, opened them again, looked at them for a while, feeling faintly lingering.

"Wait," he suddenly thought of a key point: "No matter how awesome Zhou Zekai is, he can't force him to sign. If it's true, I'm afraid I have to thank Zhou Zekai..."

The exaggeration of the rumors is definitely true. If it had been a few days earlier, Sun Xiang would have looked at the whole matter more rationally.But today, as soon as Fang Minghua finished speaking, he couldn't help but think of Zhou Zekai's words before he left, that look in his eyes, and the gaze left on the certificate in the living room. The balance in his heart unknowingly tilted towards "believe" .

Fang Minghua got up, put his hands on the table, and stared at Sun Xiang: "It's either like this. You should post a Weibo, clarify, so that you can take precautions to kill some people's ideas."

"Oh, okay." Sun Xiang picked up the phone and said to himself: "How should I write it? I forgot to drive yesterday. It rained heavily. I was lucky enough to meet my old teammate and go home by car. I didn't expect this guy to have a fever halfway. I can't even walk, Brother Xiang can't just ignore death, so I have to carry it back and give some medicine first..."

The corners of Fang Minghua's mouth twitched more and more as he listened. It wasn't that Sun Xiang was lying, but that this kind of clarification really became darker and darker.He finally couldn't help it, "You can't do this—"

"Wait!" Sun Xiang stood up almost at the same time, and interrupted him, very happy: "I forgot such an important thing!! Brother Minghua, listen to me, yesterday I went to Shanghai TV to record a program, in which Someone just asked me about my relationship with Zhou Zekai, so I asked the director to check the contacts on my phone. Back to the director, let them edit the episode quickly and let the wind out first, which not only helped me clarify but also gave them a boost Flow, how is it?!"

4.

Sun Xiang's proposal was completely unexpected to Fang Minghua, but it was indeed the best of several proposals.He gave a thumbs up without much hesitation.

After that, Sun Xiang called the TV station.Both sides are a pair, very happy.It turned out that they were also planning to contact him, but after all, they were considered traditional media, and they still had a little professional ethics. If the person involved was not willing to use traffic, wouldn't it be the same as eating human blood steamed buns?Now that Sun Xiang took the initiative to express his opinion, the program team was overjoyed.The materials were all ready-made, and they edited them long ago, so this news was missing, so before ten o'clock in the morning, the TV station's official Weibo posted the sideshow video with key words on the Internet.

5.

Doing one's best and knowing the destiny, there is nothing more to do for the time being, Fang Minghua suggested: "Go to the club?"

club?Sun Xiang immediately realized that Fang Minghua wanted to see the poached team members, and laughed loudly: "Haha, I knew Zhao Yaoyao was in a panic, it's impossible not to call you!"

Zhao Yaoyao is Sun Xiang's team manager, one year older than him, but it is said that he has been watching Sun Xiang's games for nine years, and when they met for the first time, he was so excited that he called him brother Xiang, and Sun Xiang accepted it calmly.

Fang Minghua had no choice but to pat him on the shoulder, leaned closer and said in a low voice, "Give me some face. Classmate Zhao's business is quite reliable, but he needs to practice for a few more years. Not everyone is born like you. Don't panic."

Sun Xiang nodded, put the car keys in his pocket: "I know."

The club was four or ten minutes away from the office they rented, and Sun Xiang chatted casually with Fang Minghua along the way.From his daughter's primary school homework to the fact that the club's rent will probably increase by 10% next year.

"Before the financing came in, I didn't dare to sign a five-year contract," Fang Minghua frowned, "I don't know if it's too late to bring it up now."

"It's okay." Sun Xiang wasn't very worried. "The cost, we have to bear it. As long as we play well in the first season and get advertising sponsorship, the hole can be filled in minutes."

"That's what I said," Fang Minghua said with emotion, "Maybe I'm more cautious, and it's better to save a little money. You know, I talked to your sister-in-law several times about the gambling agreement you signed, and I couldn't help being terrified. "

Back then when Wan Shi started the club from scratch, the one-time investment was huge. The little money Sun Xiang had saved after playing Glory for ten years seemed considerable, but throwing it in was not enough at all.Just when the outside world was about to see Sun Xiang's jokes, no one knew that he went to several investment institutions without making a sound, and finally signed a betting agreement with one of them.

According to the contract, if the profit does not reach the specified number within five years, Sun Xiang must sell [-]% of the shares he holds. On the contrary, once the profit is reached, Sun Xiang can ask the other party to sell the shares for free, lower the share ratio, and increase investment by a certain amount again.

After the summary of the agreement was disclosed, the e-sports capital circle was in an uproar.After all, even established clubs dare not easily say what kind of results they will achieve after entering the new league. Sun Xiang's paper agreement is tantamount to betting all his wealth accumulated over the years on a boat to Bermuda.And in the eyes watching him leave Hong Kong, almost no one thinks that he can reach the other shore smoothly.

Now, a full year has passed since the signing of the agreement, and the Mercury team successfully obtained the tickets for the first season, which is tantamount to giving a resounding slap to the speculators who were originally bearish.At the end of the challenge, Yu Wenzhou presided over a special summit, and in the special awarding session, he handed over one of the "New Glory League's Most Potential Club" trophies to Sun Xiang.After that night, the wind of public opinion turned in an instant. The e-sports media praised Sun Xiang's business vision, and more and more people came to visit and try to increase investment.

Even so, for an "expert" like Fang Minghua, he couldn't breathe a sigh of relief.He, Sun Xiang, and the entire Mercury management team knew very well that only after finishing the first season and achieving results above the expected value, the team could be considered truly "on track".

"Brother Minghua," Sun Xiang held the steering wheel and looked straight ahead, "I panic too, but panic is useless. Remember, Jiang Botao always said that sentence at the reflection meeting——instead of wasting energy Instead of worrying about anxiety, it is better to use it to sum up mistakes and find new ways.”

Fang Minghua was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "That's right! You remember it so well, Xiao Jiang will be moved and cry later!"

6.

They arrived at the club just in time for their lunch break.

Hearing a commotion in front of the corridor, he saw young players joking and joking coming out of the training room.As soon as they met Sun Xiang, their eyes immediately became excited and nervous, and they shouted "Hello, Brother Xiang!" That head seemed to be full of pride that Fang Minghua didn't see.

This address was specially requested by Sun Xiang. Compared with "Boss" and "Senior", being called "Brother" by a group of young men made him more addicted. The boss of gang fights.

"Brother Xiang, you are here!" Zhao Yaoyao squeezed through the crowd and lowered his voice: "Then who is still in the training room, how about I go..."

"So hardworking?" Sun Xiang raised his eyebrows, "That can't disturb others' training. Let's be quiet and take a look."

7.

The moment the dazzling "Fail" appeared on the screen, Wu Yue couldn't control his anger, and pushed the keyboard hard, making a "bang" sound.

This is the seventh time his No.20 has fallen on the same flexibility training.His teammates comforted him because the weather was too hot, eat more ice at noon, just calm down.He rushed the other party to eat first, and stayed to practice more, but the situation didn't get any better.

Failed so many times, the superficial reason is rhythm disorder, the deep reason... only he himself knows.

"What kind of low-level mistakes are you making? You don't need two combos to use triple combos when crossing tree thorns. You will always have two more cells when you roll. You can't wait for the acid rain cloud to pass before jumping on steps?" Suddenly someone wanted to add fuel to the fire.

"You fucking shut up—" Wu Yue turned his head angrily, and then closed his mouth after seeing the appearance of the person.

"What? I'm not right?" Sun Xiang laughed very hard.

Wu Yue pursed his lips, remained silent, and looked past Sun Xiang, not knowing which corner to look at.

hateful!

He secretly clenched his fists hidden by his side, a strong yet subtle embarrassment flooded his heart.

Sure enough, the previous mental construction was in vain!Only when he sees Sun Xiang, this senior whom he has admired, envied, and always wants to surpass his achievements, and sees the eyes in the other party's eyes that seem to see through all his thoughts, will he know that he has accidentally contacted the poaching agency. , how many hotheaded ingredients are in it.

"Wu Yue, I remember correctly, you won the Challenger Most Valuable Player?" Sun Xiang stared at him with interest, as if he didn't know that he was a guy who "attempted to betray the team"—what are you pretending, Wu Yue is inexplicable I thought uncomfortably: If you plan to fire me or educate me, please speak up.

However, he only dared to think about the above words in his mind. In reality, Wu Yue only made a low "hmm".

Sun Xiang glanced at him: "Why are you keeping your head down? You won this title for the first time in the national competition. It's amazing. You should feel proud. It's not normal if no one poachs you."

This development was completely out of Wu Yue's expectation, he raised his head suddenly, and there was a hint of happiness in his tone that he didn't know: "You also think it's normal for them to dig me?"

"That's right." Sun Xiang walked to Wu Yue's table in two steps with his chest in his arms, lowered his head and glanced, "Hey, have you changed your earphones? Have a good eye! Isn't this the one I bought from Amway last time? It's more expensive , but it feels better to wear and is suitable for long-term training.”

Wu Yue couldn't quite keep up with Sun Xiang's rhythm: "Ah, um...it's quite comfortable to wear."

Sun Xiang: "Play games, get bonuses, and buy more things you like. I always think that e-sports events are a more reliable and legal way for young people to get rich."

Wu Yue: "Legally...to get rich?"

Sun Xiang: "Yes. If you think about those peers who are studying, besides the daily pocket money, the biggest income is probably the New Year's money, right?"

Fang Minghua and Zhao Yaoyao looked at me and I looked at you, but they didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Sun Xiang's gourd.

But Wu Yue began to think seriously: "Almost. I earned a lot more than them. My mother had been against my dropping out of school before. After seeing the bonus figure, she finally stopped nagging me."

Sun Xiang said: "That's why I understand. After all, I have also gone through your stage, and I was suddenly offered a very good price. It is strange if I am not tempted!"

Wu Yue wanted to nod, but subconsciously felt something was wrong, so he forcibly held back: "Brother Xiang, what exactly are you trying to say?"

Sun Xiang laughed and rubbed his hair: "Don't be nervous, I'm here to help you analyze the situation."

Afterwards, he asked Wu Yue what conditions the other party offered, but Wu Yue obediently said it.This surprised Zhao Yaoyao——he didn't figure it out because of all kinds of beating around the bush before.

However, Zhao Yaoyao was even more surprised at the back.

After listening to the conditions, Sun Xiang didn't immediately offer a higher price, but asked a new question: "Do you know the configuration of that team?"

At this moment, Wu Yue's embarrassment was over, he simply opened the webpage, searched for the name of the team, and directly showed Sun Xiang the official website.

Sun Xiang leaned in front of the screen, studied it for a while, and shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Wu Yue asked nervously.At this time, he seemed to forget for a short while that Sun Xiang was the boss of his team, and he was a core player who had been poached secretly, showing full intimacy and trust to Sun Xiang.

Sun Xiang dragged a chair, sat down, and talked decently: "The mage, I've seen a few videos of him, he is really strong. But the rest are, uh, not so good. You think, if If you turn around, the original formation will inevitably need to be adjusted. A mid-range and long-range team, after joining your short-range front row, must compress the distance to avoid gaps, and there may be a risk of transition in terms of rhythm. Glory is the team I have never seen a warrior in the entire league who endured the rhythm difference and played the game without going crazy for a year or two. Not to mention the specifics, you are also someone who has experience in major competitions, so think about it yourself."

Halfway through the conversation, Wu Yue fell into deep thought.In fact, these things are not profound truths, and anyone who knows a little bit of glory can tell one, two, three.The problem is that Wu Yue was inquired by Zhao Yaoyao before, and his whole attention was focused on "is it good to betray the team for money", and he didn't have time to think about such practical things at all.

Sun Xiang glanced at him, curled his lips together, and added further anger: "Either way, later I'll ask Brother Zhao to pull a team according to their configuration and play a team game. You can try it and see how it feels. If you feel like you If you can persevere, and you want to transfer at any time later, there is nothing embarrassing about it.”

"No need!" Wu Yue stood up suddenly and interrupted Sun Xiang very loudly.He was extremely imposing at that moment, but when he met Sun Xiang's eyes, his face flushed immediately: "Brother Xiang, I..."

Sun Xiang propped his head up and looked up at him, as if he was looking at himself back then: "What's the rush, speak slowly."

Wu Yue nodded heavily, took a deep breath, and exhaled: "Brother Xiang, I want to make more money and win. Don't blame me for being selfish, I plan to stay, because, because I think Mercury's current team configuration is better. suit myself!"

8.

Sometimes Fang Minghua wanted to kneel down for Sun Xiang.A genius who doesn't play cards according to the rules is probably a person like him.

This kind of impulse, I heard that Sun Xiang used his long-term endorsement as a stock to participate in the brand of keyboard, mouse and ergonomic chair. When the upstream and downstream industries of e-sports were booming, he gradually thought that he would no longer be taken by surprise, but this time, someone gave him a stroke of magic again.

Thinking of this, Fang Minghua's knees softened, and his eyes met Zhao Yaoyao's, and they both saw the smile in each other's eyes.

This poaching incident was easily resolved by Sun Xiang.

Afterwards, Sun Xiang took Wu Yue out for lunch alone, and left Fang and Zhao very unceremoniously.

After more than an hour, when Fang Minghua came out of Zhao Yaoyao's office, Sun Xiang also happened to accompany the children back to the team.What Fang Minghua saw was such a harmonious scene that was more like a brother - I don't know what Wu Yue said to Sun Xiang, but he immediately patted the other party's back in disgust, and pushed towards the training room: "It's more used at noon Time, remember to train yourself!"

"Go, go, capitalist!" Wu Yue joked back, waved and ran away.

"It's done?" Fang Minghua went up to meet him.

"It's done! They're stinky and self-respecting, alas, kids these days are so troublesome." Sun Xiang stretched his waist, as if complaining, but actually he had a confident smile in his eyes.

The two walked downstairs while talking.Fang Minghua's relatives got in touch with them, and they finally got in touch with the Cultural and Education Commission, so they had to pay a quick visit.

"I'll drive later, you can look at the plan that Zhao Yaoyao has compiled, and if you need to modify it, you can change it in the car." Fang Minghua said while throwing the laptop bag to Sun Xiang.

"Well, I hope that the degree of agreement between our two demands can be higher. Not only do we need some money to apply for the project, but it would be better if we can get some other resources." Sun Xiang has obviously thought about it.

Fang Minghua paused, and suddenly said with emotion: "In the tenth season, I really can't imagine that I will communicate with you about such a thing one day."

"Eh?"

"It doesn't stop. When I was in the training room at noon, I heard someone coaxing and lying to Wu Yue, and Fang was in a very complicated mood."

"Haha, I feel the fear of the junior!" Sun Xiang laughed.

"Hey, hey," Fang Minghua thumped him helplessly. He didn't know what to think of, and joked: "Actually, you just said something too exaggerated. It's not really impossible for the warriors who endured the rhythm difference to play the game..."

"That's right." Sun Xiang interrupted Fang Minghua, and there was a bit of gnashing of teeth that he didn't know about in his tone, "For example, that guy named Zhou Zekai."

Fang Minghua was taken aback, and went to see Sun Xiang.

The latter was originally immersed in his own emotions, but with Minghua's eyes on the top, he suddenly remembered the rumors about Zhou Zekai's retirement in the morning. In order to cover up his inexplicable guilt and irritability, he staggered his eyes and hurried to find the car keys. He groped in his pocket and muttered: "Hey, I'm talking nonsense. This kind of guy who never goes to parties, why mention him, spoils the fun."

Fang Minghua stared at him for a few seconds, sighed, and stretched out his hand: "You just gave me the key, so you forgot?"

Sun Xiang froze on the spot in embarrassment.

Fang Minghua rubbed his nose and said, "Well, well, actually...I have Zhou Zekai's number."

Sun Xiang's eyes widened suddenly: "What?"

Fang Minghua faced his "you're kidding me" stare, and finished speaking bravely: "...and didn't you two borrow shirts from each other? You have to return it to the original owner. When Jiang Botao comes back, I'll secretly save it for you." For this game, it’s good not to let the media take pictures. After all, we haven’t met for five years, so it should be lively.”

TBC