CH 26

Early the next morning, Pei Feng took a taxi to the airport. He didn’t have much luggage when he went to the capital this time. He only brought a set of clothes to change into. It was an impromptu departure that was decided in a hurry, so he didn’t even have time to inform his agent.

It was only 8 o’clock in the morning when he arrived at the airport. Pei Feng received a call from the agent and Qi Hui’s voice was agitated. “Xiao Pei, why did you stop streaming? The announcement in the live stream room said that there is something wrong at home and the comments area is being blown up by fans. Is there something big happening at home?”

Pei Feng said warmly, “Sister Hui, rest assured. It isn’t anything big. I have some personal matters to deal with temporarily and I want to meet a very important person. My live streaming is only 100 hours a month and I have streamed enough this month. I will take a few days off.”

Qi Hui wondered, “Personal matters?”

Pei Feng said, “Yes, please help me deal with the problems on the platform side. I am going to board the plane soon, so I will hang up first.”

Qi Hui understood. “Okay, then come back as soon as possible after you’ve dealt with it.”

There was a boarding reminder over the broadcast. Pei Feng pushed the sunglasses up- the bridge of his nose, put on a mask and lifted his suitcase. He quickly walked through the VIP passage to board the plane.

After arriving at the capital’s airport, Pei Feng got into the pre-arranged car and headed straight to the hotel.

The hotel he booked was near the National E-sports Park. It was right across the street. Pei Feng put away his luggage at the hotel and immediately took out his phone to call the leader of the national team, Yu Mingxiang. “Sister Yu, I came to the capital on a business trip. I haven’t seen you for a long time. Can I invite you to a meal today? Are Brother Ye and the others still in the national team?”

Yu Mingxiang was stunned and a bit incredulous when she heard the voice of the young alpha on the phone. “Xiao Pei? Why did you suddenly come to the capital on a business trip?”

Pei Feng smiled. “I received an advertisement and I need to cooperate with the business promotion. I want to stay in the capital for a week. I know you are busy but you always have to eat at noon, right? You don’t have to hurry. I came directly to the national team to find you. I have already reserved a place at the private restaurant next to the E-sports Park. Call Brother Ye, Brother Zhou and Lao Lin. It has been a long time since I’ve seen them. Let’s go together.”

Yu Mingxiang was a bit confused.

What was the situation? Why did Xiao Pei directly come to the national team? Did Ah Yu know about this?

He asked her to call the old members of ACE but didn’t mention his master. It seemed he didn’t know about his master’s return to China?

There was silence on the other end of the phone. She seemed a bit embarrassed.

Sure enough, there was a problem.

The national team’s coach had resigned and there should be no training tasks these days. It was just old friends having a casual meal together. Was there any need to struggle over it?

Pei Feng took a deep breath to control his accelerated heartbeat and pretended to calmly ask, “What’s wrong, Sister Yu? Is there anything inconvenient?”

Yu Mingxiang hesitated for a moment. “This… I’ll go and ask them if they have time.”

Pei Feng smiled with a good temper. “Okay, I’ll wait for Sister Yu’s reply.”

At this time, it was 11:30 a.m. Ye Qingming had just woken up and was brushing his teeth when Yu Mingxiang called him. “Ye Zi, Xiao Pei has come. He said that he would invite us to eat at noon. What is going on?”

Ye Qingming almost ate his toothpaste and he hurriedly rinsed his mouth. “What? Xiao Pei is here?”

“Yes, he said he came to the capital for a business trip and wants to invite us for a meal. He also said that he booked a restaurant near the national team’s base.”

Ye Qingming scratched his head as he felt a headache. “F*k, it must be that we accidentally exposed some traces when we replied to his message yesterday. This guy has been clever since he was a kid and now he has even harder to deal with. It is over. Brother Yu said not to tell him. What should I do? He is already at the gate of the national team?”

Yu Mingxiang was startled. “…What are you talking about?”

Ye Qingming took a deep breath and regained his composure. “Okay, we can’t act too abnormally. Let’s pretend we don’t know about Brother Yu and go have a meal with Xiao Pei. You must not mention Brother Yu during the whole meal, understood?”

Yu Mingxiang wondered, “Why? They have been separated for so many years. Xiao Pei must be very happy to know that his master has returned.”

Ye Zi explained helplessly, “It isn’t that I want to hide it. This is what Brother Yu means! He doesn’t want Xiao Pei to know that he is the coach of the national team because he didn’t want to give Xiao Pei any pressure. He wore the cover of another identity to investigate whether Xiao Pei wants to play professionally. We can’t disturb his plan, understood?”

Yu Mingxiang suddenly realized. “Oh! Is the mysterious boss on the hot search yesterday actually Ah Yu’s side account?”

Ye Qingming sighed. “Obviously it is him.”

Yu Mingxiang didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Ah Yu, can you really hide this identity from Pei Feng? I always feel that Xiao Pei isn’t so easily deceived.

Moreover, Pei Feng suddenly came to the national team for a meal. Did he really receive an advertisement and traveled on business? Was there such a coincidence?

Ah Yu temporarily didn’t want Xiao Pei to know about him being the coach of the national team. Therefore, she wasn’t good at saying it directly and she could only send a message to Pei Feng: Xiao Pei, I have asked Ye Zi and the others. We will come find you at 12:30.”

Pei Feng: “Okay Sister Yu. See you later~”

Pei Feng unpacked a bit and walked quickly to the national team’s base to wait in advance.

It didn’t take long for Yu Mingxiang to walk toward the gate with Ye Zi, Xiao Zhou and Lao Lin.

Pei Feng smiled and waved at them. “Over here.”

The group of people saw the tall alpha in front of them and their mood was a bit complicated for a while.

In the few years when Jiang Shaoyu left, they actually rarely saw Xiao Pei.

There wasn’t much intersection between a streamer and e-sports player. Pei Feng didn’t accept invitations to be an official commentator and never went to the scene of the games. Most of the time, Ye Zi and the others were playing in the A-grade League while Pei Feng was streaming live on the Xing Network platform. It was difficult for them to meet in reality…

However, they had always maintained contact on the Internet and often liked each other’s Moments. They also greeted each other on the New Year’s holiday.

Lao Lin stepped forward first and hugged Pei Feng with a smile. “Big streamer, we haven’t seen each other for almost a year, right?”

Zhou Yiran said, “The last time I saw Xiao Pei was at the Xing Network streamer ceremony last year. Lao Lin and I happened to be guests.”

Ye Zi narrowed his eyes. “I haven’t seen Xiao Pei for a year but the older you get, the more handsome you become.”

Pei Feng smiled. “Everyone is usually busy so it is hard to see you. Therefore, after knowing I was coming to the capital for business, I came to see you first and wanted to invite you for a meal.”

Ye Zi thought in his heart, ‘I’m afraid you have an ulterior motive, right?’

The group crossed the road together and came to the nearby private restaurant. Pei Feng had already ordered the dishes. He had spent a year with these people at ACE and the dishes he ordered were everyone’s favorite foods. It was very intimate.

The four of them tried their best to show the joy of a gathering of old friends and chatted happily.

At the meal, Pei Feng asked inadvertently, “I heard before that Lao Lin is going to retire, right?”

Lao Lin almost choked on his tea. He hurriedly picked up a tissue to wipe his mouth and explained, “I originally planned to retire. Then I thought about it carefully and decided to play for another year. The oldest players abroad are 24 years old and I am 22 this year. It isn’t time for me to leave yet.”

Pei Feng still had a smile on his face. “I also think you don’t need to rush to retire. I can see that you are in good shape. Do you want to continue to go to the national team?”

“Cough, I will try it. It isn’t certain yet if I can enter or not.”

Based on Pei Feng’s understanding, Lao Lin wasn’t a person who made decisions lightly. This meant he wouldn’t easily change the decisions he made.

When he first decided to retire, it wasn’t only Ye Zi and Zhou Yiran who persuaded him. Pei Feng also tried to persuade him but it was useless. There must be a reason now that he didn’t want to retire.

Who made him change his mind?

A name was about to come out.

Pei Feng;’s heart trembled slightly but he forced himself to be calm on the surface. He pretended to be curious, “Hasn’t your national team disbanded yet? The World Series is over and the coach hasn’t been decided. What are you doing at the base?”

Lao Lin replied instinctively, “Waiting for the new coach to take office.”

Zhou Yiran said seriously, “Stay at the base for training.”

Ye Qingming said, “I don’t want to go back for the time being.”

Yu Mingxiang, “……”

What about your tacit agreement? Can’t you agree on a statement in advance?

The three of them performed the expression ‘rambling incoherently’ live.

Pei Feng’s eyes narrowed and he pretended not to notice. He continued to ask, “Has the new coach been appointed?”

Yu Mingxiang took the initiative to smooth things over. “We are still talking. You should know that the national team is difficult to manage now. If the new coach isn’t selected well, we will be scolded again in the next season.”

Pei Feng smiled. “That’s true. Okay, let’s not talk about this and eat.”

He pretended to continue eating as if nothing had happened and took the initiative to grab some dishes for the people using the common chopsticks. He was very warm and considerate. The other four people had difficulty swallowing. They always felt ashamed toward Pei Feng. They knew that Pei Feng had ruined his career to preserve the reputation of ACE.

They failed to protect the youngest team member. Instead, they made Xiao Pei go through so many twists and turns as he became streamer at the bottom and climbed up step by step. As a result, the master who knew Xiao Pei’s heart had returned, but they had to hide it.

Yu Mingxiang’s eyes were a bit sore but Ah Yu’s personality had always been the same. If they secretly told Pei Feng behind Ah Yu’s back that ‘your master is now the coach of the national team. Do you want to consider coming to the national team?’, Jiang Shaoyu would definitely be angry. He hated others disrupting his plans the most.

So… they could only hide it first.

The affairs of the master and apprentice should be left for them to solve by themselves.

The meal was finished in the midst of their worries.

Pei Feng took the initiative to send the four people to the gate of the national team. He looked at the E-sports Park through the fence and joked, “The national team’s base is quite large and it seems like the conditions are good. Can I go in and visit it?”

Yu Mingxiang hurriedly said, “The base is under closed management. The staff have access control cards and outsiders can’t enter casually. Or… once the national team is on holiday, you can tell me if you want to visit and I will take you in.”

Pei Feng nodded. “Okay, Sister Yu. You guys are busy. You can go first.”

The four of them turned and walked into the park. Pei Feng also pretended to turn around and leave.

Once the four people had left, Pei Feng turned back around the corner again and looked at their backs thoughtfully.

The reactions of these people at the meal today were strange. Yu Mingxiang was also nervous when he mentioned visiting the base just now.

Could it be that Master was at the base of the national team?

Pei Feng only knew that his master had returned but he couldn’t judge what his master had come back to do or where he was. He could only inquire about information through his old ACE teammates, but these people were tight-lipped and didn’t disclose any information about Jiang Shaoyu to him at all.

This was obviously instructed by Jiang Shaoyu or else they would’ve had no need to hide it.

Why? Master, why are you hiding it from me alone?

Pei Feng thought about it. Then he headed to the base’s guard and politely asked, “Hello, I am Jiang Shaoyu’s family and want to find him for an urgent matter. Can I go in?”

The guard was stunned for a moment. “I can’t let you into the base. If you want to find him for an urgent matter, you can call him to come out.”

Pei Feng: “……”

The guard was responsible for the visitor registration and knew who was in the park.

The other person’s answer wasn’t ‘we don’t have a Jiang Shaoyu here’ but to ‘call him out.’

Jiang Shaoyu was actually at the national team’s base!

No wonder why these people from ACE were so abnormal. Was it possible that the new coach of the national team that they mentioned was related to his master?

If this was the case, it would explain why Lao Lin didn’t want to retire and why Ye Zi didn’t sleep late.

Pei Feng’s heart was beating violently as he said with difficulty, “My phone is out of battery. Can I borrow your phone?”

“Yes, use this landline.”

The phone of the guard post of the national team’s base could be directly connected to the staff members’ offices in order to facilitate the handling of emergencies.

Jiang Shaoyu had just returned to the office after lunch when the internal telephone on his desk rang. He picked it up. “Hello, who is this?”

The voice entering his ear was even colder than his memories but Pei Feng still recognized it instantly.

It was Jiang Shaoyu.

He really came back.

Pei Feng endured the soreness from his nose and asked in a low voice, “Master, why don’t you want to see me?”

Jiang Shaoyu: “???”

Jiang Shaoyu’s back stiffened and his brain suddenly became a bit blank.

The voice ringing in his ear was sunny and warm. It was exactly the same as the voice of Streamer Fred when he played the ranking battles yesterday.

Master?

There was only one person in the world who called him Master!

Jiang Shaoyu raised an eyebrow. “Xiao Pei? How can you have the phone number for my office?”

Pei Feng answered, “I am at the gate of the national team’s base.”

Jiang Shaoyu: “……”

Pei Feng paused and his voice revealed a hint of grievance. “I have personally come to the gate. Will you still refuse to see me?”

Jiang Shaoyu: “………”

The voice of the adult alpha had matured a lot but the tone of grievance was the same as his little apprentice in his memory. Every time Jiang Shaoyu scolded him fiercely, Xiao Pei would become aggrieved and choked up while saying, “Master, I will definitely correct it next time.”

Jiang Shaoyu felt soft-hearted due to this and had to give up.

Unexpectedly, Xiao Pei would resolutely come to the gate?

How did he know that Jiang Shaoyu was at the national team’s base? Did those guys from ACE leak it?

Jiang Shaoyu fell silent.

Pei Feng didn’t urge him and waited patiently for him to respond.

This person had already arrived at the gate so there was no need to hide it any longer. Jiang Shaoyu sighed and said, “Yes, wait for me at the gate.”

Jiang Shaoyu put on his coat, headed to the entrance of the park and looked around.

He soon saw a tall alpha leaning against a tree and waiting for him. The man was wearing a light coffee-colored coat. His short hair was fresh and handsome, his eyebrows were deep and his facial features were handsome. This was completely different from the little teenager in Jiang Shaoyu’s memory.

The little child who followed behind him and called him Master every day was now an adult. He was tall and was half a head taller than Jiang Shaoyu.

Jiang Shaoyu didn’t dare to recognize this person for a moment.

He had just called out, “Xiao Pei?” when Pei Feng strode over. Pei Feng held out his arms and hugged him tightly.

The alpha’s choked up voice entered his ears. “Master, you’re finally back.”

Jiang Shaoyu who was hugged: “………”

Are you a dog? Pouncing and hugging people as soon as you meet?