The end of the third season was undoubtedly the most turbulent period for the Miracle League. The FTD team disbanded, Li Cangyu led his team to transfer games, Xie Shurong suddenly left the Flying Feathers team and his whereabouts were unknown, Ghost Spiritsâ captain Mo Quan retired and Lou Wushuang took over as captain, Timeâs vice-captain retired and the newcomer Cheng Wei took over as captainâ¦
Every team went through personnel changes and the official website of the professional league was almost constantly refreshed by fans. However, a person who left would still go. Cheng Wei was very clear that Li Cangyu wouldnât change his mind because of his fans. Since Li Cangyu had made up his mind to leave Miracle, there was no room for persuasion.
Nevertheless, Cheng Wei didnât give up.
He sent a message to Cat God every day until he finally received a reply three days later. [Donât worry about me. Iâm currently in the United States and after coming home, I will take my teammates to play another game. I heard that you took over as vice-captain. Continue to refuel and Iâll wait for you to win the MVP award.â
Cheng Wei saw the calm reply and was speechless as his eyes turned red.
These days, he had been watching the forum posts and knew how difficult it was for Li Cangyuâs team. He was angry that Li Cangyu didnât tell him anything but on the other hand, he couldnât help Li Cangyu with his ability. He didnât understand anything or take care of himself. How could he help Li Cangyu?
A person who cared about was in trouble but he couldnât do anything. The deep sense of powerlessness made Cheng Wei frustrated.
Cheng Wei made a long-distance call and choked back tears. âCat God, after you return home, why donât you consider coming to the Time team? Captain Xu said he will retire next year. Once he is gone, you can become captain!â
Li Cangyu smiled at the phone and replied, âI wonât go to the Time team.â He could feel Cheng Weiâs concern for him but Cheng Wei hadnât grown up and his understanding of things wasnât comprehensive. He naively thought that Li Cangyu could switch to being captain of Time and didnât understand why Li Cangyu was leaving.
Of course, Li Cangyu didnât want to explain these complicated things to Cheng Wei. He wanted to see this young boy grow up happily under the protection of his teammates and seniors.
âWhy donât you want to come to Time?â Cheng Wei refused to give up and anxiously tried to persuade the other person. âIf you donât like Time, you can also go to Flying Feathers or Wind Colour!â
âThis is something you donât need to worry about.â Li Cangyu softly interrupted him. âI have made the arrangements so donât worry. Even if I donât play Miracle, we can stay in touch⦠I have something to do here and have to hang up.â
âOh⦠take care.â
After the call, Cheng Wei was still depressed and upset. His ability was too limited and even if he was as anxious as an ant in a hot pot, he couldnât think of a way to help the other person.
***
That night, Cheng Wei couldnât sleep and woke up the next morning with dark circles.
He stumbled and pushed open the bathroom door, only to see a tall person shaving in front of the mirror. Cheng Wei froze for a moment before remembering he had a new roommate, the newcomer Tan Shitian.
He lowered his head around Tan Shitian and walked to the side to squeeze out toothpaste. As result, he became dizzy and squeezed toothpaste onto his hand. Tan Shitian glanced at him and took the initiative to help him with the toothpaste. He handed the toothbrush to Cheng Wei and asked softly, âYou didnât sleep well last night?â
Cheng Wei whispered an agreement and took the toothbrush to brush his teeth.
Tan Shitian stood next to him and watched. Cheng Weiâs brushing action was child-like. As he cleaned each tooth, he was obviously worried about something. His dull eyes stared at the mirror like he was sleepwalking.
Did he have insomnia because he was reluctant about his idol leaving?
Tan Shitian didnât expect the fierce competition of the professional league to have such simply feelings. Only people like Cheng Wei would like a senior player so seriously. This type of liking didnât have any purpose and made people feel moved.
Before seeing Cheng Wei, Tan Shitian always heard that the Time team had a very talented teenager. He had been radiant from the beginning of his debut. Tan Shitian thought that Cheng Wei was a proud and capricious young player.
In this era, there were many children accustomed to being unruly at him. Whatâs more, Cheng Wei was a talented player and the darling of the club. It was normal to be a bit arrogant.
Unexpected, Cheng Wei was such a simple person, simple enough to be a bit stupid.
However, the idiot standing in front of the mirror and brushing his teeth in a daze made Tan Shitianâs heart soften. They might be the same age but this person was a whole head shorter than Tan Shitian and was still so simple and pure, like clean white paper. His character would definitely suffer a big loss in the league where dragons were mixed with fish.
At this moment, Cheng Wei was busy thinking and his right hand slipped. He suddenly poked his chin with his toothbrush and his chin was covered in white foam. Tan Shitian wanted to laugh but he forcibly resisted and helped bring over a towel. Cheng Wei accepted it and wiped himself up. Unfortunately, it wasnât clean and there were still many traces of foam left at the corner of his mouth. He looked especially funny.
Tan Shitian smiled and reached out, using his thumb to help wipe the foam at the corner of his mouth.
The skin that his fingers touched was warm and soft, just like touching a little animal.
Cheng Weiâs head was a mess and he didnât notice the movement. He just felt the warmth of his lips and looked up at Tan Shitian with a puzzled expression. Then he lowered his head and used cold water to wash his face. After a while, he found that Tan Shitian was still standing next to him. Cheng Wei couldnât help looking over and asking, âWhy are you still standing here? Do you need the toilet?â
Tan Shitian discovered that he was standing in the same place and watching Cheng Wei brush his teeth and wash his faceâ¦
Realizing that something was wrong, Tan Shitian touched his nose and turned away.
***
Cheng Wei finished washing his face and found breakfast already prepared on the table. Tan Shitian smiled at him and explained, âI heard the captain say that you like to eat the dumplings from the store across the street. I was going to buy breakfast anyway and bought it for you.â
Cheng Weiâs spirit lifted slightly after seeing the savoury buns and he sat down. âThank you!â Then he smiled, picked up a bun and stuffed it into his mouth.
Cheng Wei had been very depressed these days and Tan Shitian rarely saw a smile on his face.
He had a chubby face and when he smiled, there were two dimples. The soft hair that curled over his ears was particularly cute. Was this what a 16 year old boy should look like?
This was unlike Tan Shitian. From an early age, he had been trained by his parents to be independent. He started cooking at seven years old and by the age of 10, he could go shopping alone. This made him develop a personality that was calm and unsettled.
After seeing Cheng Wei burying himself in the buns with dark eyes, Tan Shitian couldnât help comforting him. âYou donât have to worry too much. Cat God definitely has his own ideas and at his level, he wonât suffer.â
Cheng Weiâs mouth was stuffed with buns and he couldnât speak. He just nodded in agreement with the second part of Tan Shitianâs words.
They finished eating breakfast and headed to the training room. Cheng Wei only saw Captain Xu and several new recruits. Xu Luo was clearly very surprised by the sight of Cheng Wei. He came over and asked, âDidnât you go home?â
Cheng Wei replied, âI have nothing to do when going back. I want to stay in the team and see if I can help.â
Xu Luo smiled and patted Cheng Weiâs shoulder. âThis is the awareness of a vice-captain!â
Cheng Wei scratched his head and looked serious. âWhat does a vice-captain do? Captain Xu, direct me to do some tasks.â
Xu Luo thought carefully. âWell, Tan Shitian is a newcomer being trained by the team. Since you live in the same dormitory and usually have to communicate, I will leave the task of training him to you. Play with him every day and let him adapt to the rhythm of the game as soon as possible. I want to take him to play next season.â
âUnderstood.â Since it was a task assigned by the captain, Cheng Wei didnât shirk away from it. He turned around to Tan Shitian and opened an arena room with him.
At this time, Tan Shitian had just entered the training camp while Cheng Wei already had a whole season of competition experience. The two people played three games and Cheng Wei won three consecutive victories. Tan Shitian didnât have the power to fight back.
In order to encourage the newcomer, Cheng Wei seriously typed on the public channel: [In a real game, the rhythm will be must faster than it is now. You have to adapt as soon as possible since Captain Xu said you will play next season.â
Tan Shitian sent a smiling expression. [I know. Thank you, Vice-Captain Cheng.â
***
During the seasonâs holiday, Cheng Wei dutifully trained tan Shitian. He wasnât like Li Cangyu who developed a separate training program based on the characteristics of the players. He only transferred what he learnt to Tan Shitian, forgetting that the tactics for a white magician would be different from an archer. In fact, his experience wasnât necessarily useful for Tan Shitian. Fortunately, Tan Shitian was savvy and very talented so he didnât take a crooked path because of Cheng Wei.
The days passed quietly and Tan Shitianâs level leapt forward. By the time of the last training session before the Spring Festival, he was able to tie with Cheng Wei in the arena.
Xu Luo was very satisfied with this. He smiled and patted Cheng Weiâs shoulder. âAfter seeing you and Xiao Tan, I really have confidence in the future of the Time team!â
Cheng Wei didnât understand Xu Luoâs meaning at the time. He didnât expect that Xu Luo would actually hand over the captainâs position to Tan Shitian.
***
The Spring Festival ended and the fourth season started. Cheng Wei still missed Cat God but the increasingly heavy pressure of the matches meant he had to fully engross himself in playing.
In the fourth season, many teams changed and there was a big shuffle in the rankings of the league. Thanks to Xie Shurong leaving and Yu Pingsheng changing to a berserker, the third seasonâs champion, Flying Feathersâ decline was particularly severe. Wind Colour was stable and Ling Xuefeng was still one of the hardest opponents. The Lou Zhang combination of the Ghost Spirits team werenât as honed and werenât too much of a threatâ¦
The most optimistic one turned out to be the Time team.
Tan Shitian had received media attention since he debuted. HIs handsome appearance was eye-catching. Combined with his good temper and smile on his face when answering questions, his popularity rose quickly. He became the darling of the Time team fans, even more than Cheng Wei in the third season.
More importantly, this handsome person wasnât a vase. He played an archer very calmly and could often hit a key playerâs chest from a long-distance. His accuracy and attack rate were terrible. His reaction speed might not be very fast but he was a newcomer who just debuted. It wasnât easy for a newcomer to do this.
It was due to Tan Shitianâs presence that the Time team had a very high winning percentage in the regular season and consistently topped the scoreboard.
At the end of the first round of the fourth regular season, Xu Luo made the bold and amazing decision to hand over the captainâs position to Tan Shitian.
Tan Shitian was only 17 years old. It was his debut yet Xu Luo made him the captain?
Many people questioned this decision and Xu Luoâs explanation was, âI will definitely retire at the end of the fourth season. I selected the Time teamâs next captain in advance to facilitate a smooth transition. I think Xiao Tanâs personal standards are obvious to everyone. The thing he lacks now is commanding experience. In the second half of the regular season, I will let him command the matches as captain.â
No matter how surprised the reporters were or how fans opposed it, Xu Luo was very firm about his decision.
Tan Shitian became the youngest captain of the Miracle Professional League.
***
Cheng Wei wasnât convinced when he heard about it.
In his view, Tan Shitian was a slightly gifted newcomer. Captain Xu handing him the position in the middle of the season was too exaggerated and impulsive.
Besides, Tan Shitian debuted later than him. Wasnât it more reasonable to let the vice-captain take over as captain? Why was a newcomer selected over Cheng Wei to be captain?
Cheng Wei didnât want to be the captain. He just thought that Tan Shitian wasnât qualified for the position and Captain Xuâs decision was likely to ruin the Time team. Thus, he was full of resistance to Tan Shitianâs takeover as captain.
Sure enough, after Tan Shitian took over as captain, he lost several consecutive matches and the Time team slipped from first place to fifth.
Cheng Wei was distraught and as a straightforward person, he ran to Xu Luo and proposed, âCaptain Xu, I think your decision is a bit impulsive! How long has it been since Tan Shitian debuted? Only half a year! He is too junior and inexperienced. He isnât qualified enough to be the captain!â
Xu Luo faced the helpless Cheng Wei and helplessly said, âBut Xiao Wei, apart from him, what other player do you think can be the captain?â
Cheng Wei thought about it and replied, âHow about Ah Jun? He debuted even earlier than me!â
Xu Luo smiled and shook his head. âHe is a healer and has to take care of his teammates on the field. It is too difficult to command the game while adding blood. Ah Jun doesnât have the ability to look at six roads and listen to every direction.â
Cheng Wei suggested, âThen what about Brother Kai? He is an output!â
Xu Luo shook his head again. âHis personal level is excellent but he doesnât have a good idea about the bigger picture. He is a good soldier who obeys orders but he isnât a good general.â
âThere is stillâ¦â Cheng Wei wanted to continue but Xu Luo interrupted. âXiao Wei, I can understand why you arenât convinced about Tan Shitian being the captain. After all, you looked after him when he first came to the team. He debuted later than you and his qualifications are lighter than you. You consider him as a junior, right?â
Cheng Wei frowned. âIsnât this the case?â
Xu Luo smiled and patted Cheng Weiâs shoulder. âYou are misjudging Tan Shitian. Age and experience arenât a problem. The reason I took a great risk by giving him the captainâs position is because I like his calm personality. In addition, he is the player with the strongest idea of the big picture and the most sensitive tactical thinking among the new batch of players. Believe me, you and Xiao Tan will be the pillars of the Time team. As long as the two of you work together, the Time team can stand up in the storm and wonât fall.â
Cheng Wei, ââ¦â
Captain Xu was so certain that Cheng Wei had nothing more to say. He could only go back to his dormitory.
***
Cheng Wei didnât know that before he knocked on the door, Tan Shitian was discussing the tactics for the next match with Xu Luo. After he came in, Tan Shitian actively avoided him and heard all his words.
Tan Shitian knew Cheng Weiâs dissatisfaction and therefore became more motivated. He was eager to prove his strength in front of Cheng Wei and let Cheng Wei know that Tan Shitian was actually qualified to be the captain of the Time team.
Perhaps this was the mentality of young people who were more aggressive with their peers. Cheng Weiâs doubts caused Tan Shitianâs pride to be hurt. From that day on, Tan Shitian was more diligent than before. He went every night to discuss things with Xu Luo and stayed up late in his dormitory. He often watched matches all night and studied the tactical characteristics of every team, not wasting any minute. He was staying in a room with Cheng Wei but because Tan Shitian went out early and came back late, the two of them were rarely able to meet.
It was this type of effort that made Tan Shitianâs tactical ideas improve rapidly. In addition, there was Xu Luoâs guidance and analysis. After the first few failures, the Time teamâs performance gradually improved.
The thing that stunned everyone was that in the fourth season, Tan Shitian actually led the Time team to win the championship!
***
At the celebration party afterwards, Xu Luo officially announced his retirement. The Time team opened a brand new chapter with Tan Shitian as the captain and Cheng Wei as the vice-captain.
Originally, it was a happy thing to be able to prove his strength in front of Cheng Wei who looked down on him. If it was an ordinary person, he would taunt and laugh at Cheng Wei.
However, Tan Shitian saw Cheng Weiâs red eyes and depressed expression at Xu Luoâs departure and forgot all his previous unhappiness. Instead, his heart was soft and confused.
As Xu Luo disappeared down the corridor, he couldnât help extending his arm and placing it around Cheng Weiâs shoulder. He spoke softly like he was coaxing a little child. âDonât be sad. Captain Xu is gone but there is still me. We will work together in the future, okay?â
Cheng Wei didnât speak and just looked up at Tan Shitian. It seemed he wasnât very happy to be bound to this person.
Tan Shitian smiled at his expression and gently touched his soft here. âThere is no way, unless your leave Time or I pack up and leave⦠otherwise, we will be the new generation of leaders and will accompany the Time team until we retire.â
At the time, they were still young and didnât expect this simple agreement to accompany them for so many years.
Tan Shitian didnât think that one day, he would like this person around him and didnât want to separate from him.
Later, every time he remembered these past events, he thought it was very fortunate that he came to the Time team and became the captain.
Over the years, he met many reliable teammates and experienced the glory of winning the championship, gaining an enviable popularity⦠but the rarest thing was that he met a person who he wanted to cherish all his life. This person was called Cheng Wei.