Honey Stewed Squid

She was lovelorn…
For three entire days, Tong Nian did not step out from the doors of her house and remained within her own little bedroom, staring at her monitor and watching, one after another, videos of various matches of Tempest of the Sealed Chamber. She began first with all the matches for K&K and SP’s secondary rosters, and when she finally finished all of those, she went to watch the big, famous matches that could be found online. By the third day, which was already the eve of the new lunar year, she had even watched every interview of K&K’s and read through all the available textual information about them…
Gun very rarely gave interviews. There were only two or three, few and far between, and in total, he spoke less than ten sentences.
And none of them were very proper or serious.
Truly, they were not very proper or serious. They felt entirely unlike the words he had spoken the other day, as if those had been voiced by a completely different person, and they also did not sound at all like the image of him formed from his Baidu Baike profile page. It seemed his answers could always defuse the reporter’s questions, and then he would toss back a jeer.
The most important thing was, she at last somewhat understood his background, how back then, Team Solo had dissolved, which had also resulted in Gun completely retiring from gaming at the height of his career. Leaving behind only a short row of words, he had disappeared for ten years.
As she stared at those words that he had left at the time of his retirement and departure, she even felt a sense of heartache.
How sad must he have been at the time when he retired and left.
Currently displayed on her laptop screen was a little screensaver, one she had made herself. On it was a cartoon image of a man alternating through various different facial expressions and speaking to a Loli girl, who was sitting astride a big cat. Every three seconds, the words the cartoon man was speaking would change. They were all things he had once said to her, and word for word, she had input them exactly as he had said them.
For fear that her parents would sneak a look, she had translated everything into Japanese.
When the mouse touched the image, there would even be a voice that spoke, and that voice had been specially created based on his vocal tone and quality…
……
She mechanically touched her mouse to that cartoon-drawn man, and a sentence rang out: “Little girl, the intelligence information you received is far off the mark. Didn’t you say you like me? How could you not even know that I am single and, moreover, uninterested in women?” These words that suddenly popped out caused her to pause in surprise. At once, her face reddened… And then, she immediately also felt even more heartbroken.
Alright, sure. Even being lovelorn required an adjustment period to get over it…
Otherwise, she would seem too fickle in love.
Or so she comforted herself.
Behind her, the door was noiselessly pushed open, and her mother stepped in. After taking a look at the listless Tong Nian, she smilingly urged, “Get ready, get ready. We’re going out to eat.”
Despondently, Tong Nian turned around. “Is it okay if I eat in my room?”
“That won’t do. How can you have Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner[1] by yourself?” Her mother continued to coax her softly, “Come downstairs first to say hello. Your [paternal] aunt[2] and the others are all here.”
… Alright.
She moved her arms around a bit and stood, pushing open the door and following the stairs down.
Eh? So many people—
!!!!
Why did that man, the one who was dressed completely in black casualwear and sitting there at the end of the sofa, drinking tea with his head down … look so much like him?! She must have gone silly…
Bowing her head glumly, she gave a fierce kick to the staircase bannister, turned, and… headed back upstairs.
“Nian Nian?” Downstairs, Auntie’s voice immediately rang out. “I was just asking why you’ve been holed up in your room this entire time. You’ve been studying until you’ve gone silly?” Auntie greeted her warmly. “Here, come over. Your [elder, female] cousin just got back. The two of you haven’t seen each other for a long time already, right? Two or three years? Why don’t you two have a nice chat?”
……
The thing she was most afraid of was running into this elder, female cousin of hers who was the elite and outstandingly talented career-type.
But, it was the Lunar New Year, and there was nothing that could be done about it. She was, after all, a relative.
Tong Nian could only reluctantly turn around once again. And then, she completely froze. By now, the man who had been drinking tea had lifted his head. It was him. From the expression in his eyes to his sitting posture to that sense of impatience that he emitted—all of it was him…
In this way, she stupidly stood there on the staircase, dressed in her lemon-yellow jogging suit.
All over her jogging suit, there were even little pictures of Winnie the Pooh…
Gun’s brows lifted slightly, but then, pulling back his gaze, he carried on drinking his tea with lowered head, as if none of the people in this room had much to do with him.
She had no idea how she got downstairs, nor did she know how she ended up being surrounded by her auntie and mom as they prattled on and on, introducing her and her cousin’s occupations and educational backgrounds and then presenting the both of them to a grandfatherly gentleman.
“Nineteen is a good age, nineteen is good. I have a grandson[3], and there is only a few years’ age difference between the two of you. He also studied computers. In a little while, the two of you must get to know each other. You will certainly have lots of common things to talk about.” The elderly man listened to Tong Nian’s mother give the introductions while he examined the dumbstruck Tong Nian with a warm expression. The more he looked her over, the more he felt that she would make a wonderful match with his youngest grandson, and he could not refrain from turning his head to the side to ask Gun, “Where is Little Bai? What time will he be arriving at the restaurant?”
“Don’t know,” Gun answered, his voice so hoarse it sounded as if he should not be able to speak at all.
“Call him. The Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner is not something he should arrive late to.”
The grandfatherly man chuckled in a much more easygoing manner than him.
Very soon, with Tong Nian’s mom’s invitation, everyone rose and prepared to head to the restaurant that had been reserved for the Lunar New Year’s Eve dinner.
Tong Nian dazedly slipped on her coat, wrapped her scarf around herself, and followed her mom outside. With more than a dozen people and four vehicles, they had no choice but to split up into groups to be sent off. “Nian Nian.” Her mother offhandedly fastened her scarf tighter for her while lowering her voice to instruct, “I’m giving you a task. Your cousin and that big brother over there are having a blind, matchmaking date. You are all young people. You go sit in the same car as the two of them. Listen to what they talk about, and use your own discretion to help if you see any opportunity. Be good.”
Matchmaking date?
He was having a matchmaking date with her cousin?
Didn’t he say… he had no plans to get a girlfriend? …
Lifting her head, Tong Nian saw that not far away, Gun had already opened the front door of a vehicle and, with his back to everyone, tossed the jacket he had been wearing onto the front passenger seat. “I don’t want to sit in his car…” Her nose tingled, and she bowed her head.
Idiot, who said he doesn’t intend on getting a girlfriend?
Clearly… he just doesn’t want to be around you, that’s all.
“Be good.” Mom thought it was because she felt awkward. “If you don’t go over there to them, are you going to call a taxi and just go yourself?”
“Mm.” Tightly, she gripped the bottom of the sleeves of her coat. “I’ll call a taxi and go there myself…”
“Why would you call a taxi?” Behind her, someone had already slipped an arm through hers. Then, with a lowered voice, her cousin implored to her, “This is my first time meeting him. Let’s go together. That way, if there are any awkward silences, we can still talk to each other.”
No… I’d rather die than do it…
She looked down, refusing for the life of her to shift even a single step.
But, it was only a short two or three minutes before everyone had already divided up and gotten into vehicles, leaving only her and Cousin standing downstairs of her home. The latter, of course, did not know about her internal struggle, and half pushing, half tugging, and with some convincing, Cousin brought her into Gun’s car.
One car, three people.
Cousin had originally wanted to sit in the front passenger seat. However, he had tossed his jacket there, and he did not show any intention of removing it, nor did he offer any polite invitation for Cousin to sit there. Of course, then, she had no choice but to rather displeasedly sit with Tong Nian.
“I’ve had a few blind, matchmaking dates now, but this one takes the cake for lack of chivalry,” Cousin whispered in her ear.
… Wordlessly, she sat there and gave an arbitrary “mm” in response.
Her entire being felt as if it was hanging from a very fine, steel wire. She dared not move and only prayed silently with all her might, “Get there quickly, get off the car quickly, and finish eating quickly. Then I can go home…”
The car drove out from the community compound and headed directly onto a main road.
Cousin was the first to break the quiet in the vehicle. “We’re all young people. Let me introduce myself first, then. I do marketing in a luxury goods company. How about you?”
“No real proper job.” With one hand, Gun held onto the steering wheel while the other pulled out his mobile phone.
After a short while, a navigation voice was heard coming from the phone. “At three hundred metres ahead, bear right…”
The atmosphere was rather weird. Cousin could perceive his aloofness, but still, she politely replied, “Then… you should at least have some sort of profession you’re in. I hear you’re starting your own business.”
“Profession?” He sounded rather impatient. “Does playing video games count?”
……
Navigation voice: “Keep right for two hundred metres, then enter the frontage road…”
Navigation voice: “Warning, speed camera one hundred metres ahead…”
Navigation voice: “Warning…”
……
Cousin was speechless. Leaning in close, she murmured by Tong Nian’s ear, “A second-gen rich kid[4] who doesn’t do any honest work himself.”
“No, that’s not it,” Tong Nian blurted, but straightaway, she dropped her voice again. “Gaming is a serious and proper profession.”
“Serious and proper profession?” Her cousin gawked at her like she was staring at a freak.
“Professional gamers can win championships. eSports is recognized as an official sport by the country.” Tong Nian could not hold herself back from explaining for him. “And plus, if they win, their prize money is really big… The main thing, though, isn’t the prize money. It’s about the pride and honour. China is a world leader in a lot of the gaming events and has taken a lot of gold medals.”
Cousin looked as if she half-understood, but after some thinking, she still felt that it did not make sense. “Well, they can’t spend their whole lives playing video games, eh?”
……
The car came to an abrupt halt.
They had arrived?
Tong Nian took a look out the window. Huh? Why were they stopped on the side of the road?
While she was still caught in a foggy state of confusion, the person sitting in the driver’s seat had already turned around and, for the first time, was looking directly at his blind date for the night—Tong Nian’s cousin. “There are some words that, if stated from the get-go, will make things easier. I don’t have any interest in you, nor will I ever have any interest in the future. Of course, you definitely are not interested in someone like me, either.” Bearing through the pain in his throat, he stated with a hoarse voice, “We are both adults. We’ll cooperate with our elders’ arrangement, we’ll have a dinner, and then it will be done. How about that?”
Cousin’s expression was frozen onto her face. She swore, absolutely never before had she seen a man like this one!
“Also,”—Gun’s gaze shifted slightly to land on Tong Nian—“you do not need to pretend that you don’t know me.”