You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Tong Yao felt apprehensive to her first ever professional match. After taking her morning shower, she now stood in front of the mirror watching herself in the team uniform. It felt so unrealistic, as if she had been teleported here.

Carrying her mouse and keyboard in her backpack, Tong Yao checked her cell phone before getting out of the door. There were many messages from friends and family wishing her good luck-- --

[I’ve already made plans with my classmates to sit at the back row during class so we can watch your match. Don’t let me down. Ahhhhhhhhhh, sister, whether your brother can boast about this for a whole year all depends on you.]

This one was from Tong Yao’s younger brother, who had never called her sister before.

[Are you on your way yet? I’ll be sitting in the front row this afternoon. See you in the afternoon.]

That was from her best friend Jinyang.

[I’ve asked your brother to teach me how to watch a stream so I can see you this afternoon, though I won’t be able to understand what I’ll be watching. Is your uniform short sleeved? Today is kind of coolish in Shanghai and it’s going to rain later today, be sure to wear a jacket. Do good on this afternoon’s game, you have to be worth the 800,000 salary they paid you.]

…...That was her mom.

There were many other messages from her gaming friends and non gaming friends. Those who also played games, would say things like “I knew this day would come”; those who didn’t play games all said something to the effect of “Though I don’t understand the game, I’ll still be watching you”......So far, everything on WeChat was quite normal stuff.

However, on Weibo, the comments were quite different-- --

[To tell you the truth, I have the feeling that my wife is going to get married.]

[You’re wrong. It’s the feeling of marrying off a daughter.]

[..........................Looking forward to the daughter doing well in the in-law’s family. Slap those who say ‘esports is a man’s world’......I also have a sense of loss that ‘my daughter is so cool, why am I giving her to you guys to beat her up’!]

[Right, right, right, right, right, it’s exactly like the person said above. qaq. Ahhhh, my daughter, come back and stream. Let’s not do competitions. Those stinky men aren’t good enough for you!]

[Do your best at the match this afternoon!]

[Baby, I’ll be waiting in the audience. Will it be alright if I propose to you when you win the match?]  

Tong Yao: “......”

Tong Yao stuffed the phone into her pocket, put on a jacket, slung her backpack on, and went downstairs.

Almost everyone was there already. Little Fatty was putting on his shoes near the doorway. He looked up to see Tong Yao coming over: “......What’s the temperature today? Why are you wearing a jacket?”

“My mom told me to wear it.” Tong Yao put down her bag and knelt down to get her shoes on. “She’s going to watch the stream. If she sees that I don’t have a jacket on, she’ll just bombard me…...Hum, where’s Cheng Ge?”

“He’s sleeping on the car.” Little Fatty rolled his eyeballs around. “Before he got on the car, he said something frightening: make it a quick battle today.”

Tong Yao twitched the corner of her lips. When she got on the car, she saw the man was sitting on the last row with eyes closed. It was pinkish in color both around his eyes and on the tip of his nose-- --He was saying two days ago that his cold would be gone by the day of the competition. Obviously, his wish hadn’t come true……