Honey Stewed Squid

Chapter 7 - God Gun?

With one earbud in his ear, he was still listening to the phone call, but those gorgeous eyes divided out some attention to look Tong Nian up and down before turning toward 97. “What did you call her?”

“Si-Sister-In-Law…” 97 legs had gone somewhat limp.

Those deep black eyes swept back to her. “Why is he calling you Sister-In-Law?”

Tong Nian was about to cry. “I don’t know…”

How in the world would I know why this guy wants to call me Sister-In-Law? …

He cast a glance at grunt. “grunt, you know her?”

With his eyes closed, grunt shook his head. “No.”

“Really?” he countered suspiciously.

“Really… Leader, just stab me with a knife and let me be.”

Narrowing his eyes, he once more turned them back on Tong Nian. “Do you know him?” He motioned with his chin toward grunt.

Tong Nian felt terribly wronged as she madly shook her head. “I honestly don’t know him.”

How in the world would I know who he is? …

He fell silent for several seconds before, in English, telling the person in charge of the European team, “Continue talking. Don’t stop.” Then, he stood up from the large sofa beside the window and made a motion at Tong Nian, indicating that she should come with him into the side room. Tong Nian felt so awkward she did not dare even to raise her head, nor did she notice the admiring look of “Leader sure does manage his wife well” in 97’s eyes. Head lowered, she obediently followed him into the side room.

He made a gesture that was very pleasing to the eye: close the door.

Tong Nian straightaway reached behind and pushed the door shut.

Walking up behind the door, he turned on the room’s heating, adjusted the temperature, and tossed the black jacket that had been draped on his shoulders onto the empty sofa. He pointed again, this time at the chair beside her: sit.

Tong Nian sat down with lightning speed.

The wheels on the chair slid, and she narrowly avoided falling over.

Immediately, she adjusted herself so she was seated properly. Only then did she discover that it was not because she had sat down unsteadily, it seemed, but that the wheels were broken…

But she felt that the atmosphere in this place was simply too weird. Not daring to move, she could only self-consciously sit on that chair with the broken wheels until he finally finished his phone conversation and sat down across from her.

“The chair’s broken?” His eyes slid over the chair beneath her.

“Huh?” Tong Nian at once shook her head. “It’s okay. No big deal. It can still be sat on.”

He cast a doubtful glance at those few small wheels on the bottom of the chair but then did not concern himself anymore about this. Offhandedly tapping open the Texas Hold’em Poker game in his phone, he began a match. “If I recall correctly, this is the second time we’ve seen each other?”

She replied, “Mm…”

Gun asked, “The first time was the all-nighter in the Internet café. The second time was just now.”

She replied, “Mm …”

With head bowed, she stared at her hands, which she had placed on her thighs, and her fingers that were intertwined together, so dejected she was about to cry.

After running that whole mix-up a moment ago through her mind a few times, she was roughly able to figure out what blunder she had made. It was all because of that forever-unreliable Soy Milk. He actually “put the hat on the wrong person’s head[1]” and gave her the wrong name.

The one called grunt was clearly that girly man with the glasses…

It wasn’t him at all…

A pretty good hand of cards? He wagered five thousand, then continued to query, “So do you know anyone else in K&K? Besides me?”

“No…”

He confirmed again, “So, in this entire stadium, you only know me?”

“Mm…”

“So you’re here to find me?”

“Ah?” Her head jolted up in alarm, and she blurted out a denial. “No, not at all. I wasn’t looking for you.”

Was she supposed to say, “A few days I go, I fell in love with you at first sight. Then this morning, I saw you again at the airport, so I got all excited and searched all over to find information on where you were. And then from the anime expo, I chased you down all the way to the site of the gaming tournament”? …

Of course not!

He raised his brows. In his mobile phone, he threw in everything he had to wager, successfully scaring away all his opponents to win the game and collect the countless number of chips into his purse. “That’s weird. You only know me, but you didn’t come to find me… Then why did you specifically come into K&K’s lounge area?”

“I…” she stammered, “I was just passing by and thought it seemed fun, so I came to check out the excitement.”

“Oh? Check out the excitement?” The corner of his lips curved up, and a shallow dimple appeared on his cheek. “You flew all the way on a plane here, passed by this stadium, thought it seemed fun, and deliberately bought a ticket to come in and check out the excitement. And then, you suddenly heard someone say, ‘A player named grunt has GI bleeding,’ and felt that this person named grunt was very worthy of pity, so… you came into K&K’s lounge area to pay a visit to the unlucky chap whose stomach was bleeding?”

He finished his summary and, in passing, even added a sentence in emphasis. “Oh, right, I forgot to mention, that unlucky chap is someone you don’t even know.”

She was about to cry. “I honestly don’t know him. Honest…”

Even though it sounded a lot like she was fibbing…

Taking all these answers, Gun compiled them together in his mind and, after arriving at more or less a reasonable conclusion, stopped his questioning.

Based on the expression this girl had had and the content of what she had said when she was talking to grunt just now, to say that they did not know one another was not very likely. Yet, the two of them were both insisting that they did not know each other. He reckoned it was… a romantic entanglement of some sort? The little girlie had come searching across miles and miles, only to be rejected, and furthermore, to protect him, she had not told the truth?

But why are they saying she’s my wife?

He’s making his boss be his scapegoat?

He frowned, suddenly feeling that, of the several key players on his team, there was not a single one whom he did not have to worry about. Why did they all have love and relationship issues?

Why wasn’t he asking anymore?

Tong Nian furtively lifted her head again and stole a glimpse of him. And once again, completely unexpected, she was caught in the act.

Gun shut down his game and in a mocking tone, said, “What? You have questions you want to ask?”

Huh? She really… was allowed to ask?

Hesitating for half a second, Tong Nian mustered up her courage and asked, “Are you also a professional gamer?”

“Me?” He pondered for a moment. “Can’t be considered one.”

“Then why do they call you Leader?”

As for this question…

He truly had never answered it for someone unfamiliar with the profession and merely replied vaguely, “They play in matches; I take care of their food, clothing, shelter, and transportation.”

Oh… So he was like the planner for an exposition, responsible for organizing all of the special guests who would be coming, arranging their food and accommodations, arranging the entire schedule… It must be very tiring work. Gee, those professional gamers won so many awards and got so much glory, but who actually thought about the hard work of the people who worked behind the scenes?

Tong Nian secretly, and a little sheepishly, fantasized for a bit. If, in the future, he saw how many fans she had, would he be given a huge shock? Would he feel pressured? Did a man not really like it when a woman had more fans than him? …

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

“Um, well… Leader, are you and…”—a couple of dry coughs—“done yet?” The voice of the person who asked was quavering. It was obvious that 97 had coerced the chap into throwing himself into the line of fire.

He unhurriedly put away his mobile phone, then said rather impatiently, “Something the matter?”

“… No. Just that… we’re hungry…”

The implied words: “You and Sister-In-Law have locked yourself up together in the room to do who-knows-what. How can we, this-pitiful-bunch-of-single-dudes-who-have-not-eaten-a-single-bite-of-anything-from-this-morning-to-now-and-also-had-to-compete, even take it? Oh, how can we take it?!”

“Have everyone get on the bus.” He lowered his head and took a look at his watch, feeling as well that it was very late already.

As for this little lady…

He would be the scapegoat for now. Tonight, he would take care of the matter between her and grunt.

He stood and picked up the jacket from the sofa, casting another look at her sitting posture. “Are you sure the chair isn’t broken?”

“It’s not.” Tong Nian shot up onto her feet.

With a bang, the chair responded to her words by toppling over.

……

……

……

……

He glanced down at the fallen chair, arched his brows, and, without saying anything, headed directly out of the room.

As Tong Nian stood there alone, she had an urge to run on and on and on, with tears streaming down her face, and race straight back home.

She swore, all the most embarrassing things she could possibly do in her entire life had been done in these last few days.

The conference room was completely empty already. Whether it was the ill girly man or the doctor and nurses who had come to see the patient, everyone had already left. All around, it was quiet. After spurning herself silently for a full three minutes, she finally gloomily pushed open the door and stepped out.

This was the working area for all the tournament operations. Today’s competitions had not come to an end yet, so naturally, there were still many staff and workers present.

When everyone saw Tong Nian walk out from the conference room that had been specifically assigned to K&K, they immediately looked her over a few extra times, speculating and inferring who exactly was this girl, who looked even sweeter and more of a cutie than the cosplayers who had come today?

……

Tong Nian wordlessly took a few steps before her mind at last cleared a little.

Wait, something wasn’t right. Her luggage.

Her luggage was still with that boy who had brought her in.

Pulling herself together, her gaze travelled around everywhere, trying to find the room where she had left her luggage. By chance, 97, a broad smile on his face, was pulling a small, silver suitcase and coming toward her.

“Thank you.” Tong Nian awkwardly stretched out her hand, wanting to take her luggage from him.

“Sister-In-Law, no need to be so polite,” 97 grinned, with no intentions at all of giving back her suitcase. “Hurry and get in the bus. I’ll help you bring your suitcase.”

“Huh?” Where were they going?

“Leader is discussing something with the event organizer. He told me to bring you onto the bus first. A victory celebration. We’re going to eat.”

“Huh?” A victory celebration?

“You’re going to have to see everyone sooner or later.” 97 dropped his voice and softly comforted, “Don’t be scared, Sister-In-Law. Let’s not be scared.”