Chapter 231: Athlete

“Go, go, go! Why are you stalling?”

Liu Xie shouted in front of the computer, “I already told you he’s critically low! He’s one-shot! Why won’t anyone go in?”

As everyone knew, if you saw an enemy, they were “one-shot,” and if you hit them once, they were “on the verge of death.”

Ye Qingchang had her earbuds in, listening to atmospheric rain music, once again entering the realm of a gloomy, literary youth. This was currently her most comfortable environment. Thanks to the powerful noise-canceling function of her headphones, she could barely hear anything, but she could still see Liu Xie gesticulating wildly next to her.

She took off her headphones and asked, “What are you doing? Flaming your teammates again?”

“I just can’t stand people who exhibit subhuman behavior. I feel like these things haven’t even developed intelligence yet,” Liu Xie said, pointing at the screen. “I feel like there are no humans left in this game.”

Ye Qingchang gave Liu Xie a flat look.

In reality, there were even fewer humans in this dorm room by comparison.

“Wait, no…” Liu Xie, with a Bluetooth earbud in one ear, seemed to hear something. A look of disbelief appeared on her face. “This jerk actually dares to talk back? No, I have to turn on my mic and curse him out.”

Then, Liu Xie cleared her throat. “I’m teaching you how to play, so just listen. How dare you talk back to your moth — “

Liu Xie suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Ye Qingchang, who was about to put her headphones back on, arched an eyebrow. “What happened? Did you get muted as soon as you started flaming?”

“No.” A hint of a twisted expression flashed across Liu Xie’s face. “He called me ‘mama’.”

It was actually quite logical. Liu Xie’s voice matched her figure perfectly — a seductive, bone-melting voice like that of a fox-spirit. It was normal for the opponent to have such a reaction.

Actually, maybe it wasn’t that normal.

“Who told you to play Val? The moment you took that step, you were destined to face such dilemmas.”

“I don’t think this is a dilemma; I’m actually starting to feel a bit nauseous.” Liu Xie silently muted her microphone and then simply turned off the game audio entirely. “I don’t want to play this game at all now.”

They were going to lose soon anyway.

She suddenly found herself missing the days when she played games with Liu Anran. Back then, she only needed to ensure that her dignity as the elder brother wasn’t completely crushed. If she could do that, she could perfectly enjoy the feeling of being carried through every match.

But she couldn’t ask Liu Anran to play games with her now. Although she knew that if Liu Anran were free, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to make time for her. However, if other employees saw their President Liu staring intently at a company computer, and while they thought he was handling work, they walked over and saw him playing Val…

Even though it would be Liu Anran who lost face, his reputation was seemingly tied to hers as well.

The red and black “Defeat” screen appeared in the center of the monitor, but Liu Xie’s thoughts began to drift.

The relationship between her and Liu Anran was different now. Now, she was the genuine partner of Liu Anran; the two of them were a real couple.

‘But… what exactly makes a couple a couple?’

Suddenly, she didn’t know how to interact with Liu Anran anymore.

In her memory, being a couple seemed to involve eating dinner as fast as possible to squeeze out enough time to find the other person and walk around the school playground. They would walk hand in hand, following their shadows under the sunset and evening glow. Then, in a frantic scramble to escape, they would be questioned by the high school dean about which class they belonged to and why they dared to engage in puppy love.

That was Liu Xie’s understanding of a couple.

But that perception seemed too outdated. She was no longer in high school; they should have a more mature relationship.

‘What would a more mature couple be like?’

Liu Xie began to think deeply.

‘Maybe it’s the kind where they wake up in the morning, cook a bowl of noodles, and happily eat together before going to the courtyard to soak in the sun?’

‘No, that seems too mature. That’s how people act after they turn 60, right?’

‘Then what would a relatively mature but not elderly couple look like?’

Liu Xie pinched her chin in thought.

‘It should be the kind where one waits for the other to get off work, then asks if they want to eat first, take a bath first, or… first… Then the other person would pin them down and start kissing, while simultaneously removing excess layers of clothing, and then they’d somehow end up in bed.’

Haha.

‘That’s obviously not right either, is it?’

But it seemed more normal and fitting compared to the other two scenarios.

However, when she thought about it carefully, now that she and Liu Anran were truly a couple, the maximum extent of their intimacy was just kissing on the cheek or holding hands.

‘Wait, could this be the legendary “Platonic love”?’

Liu Xie thought about it and felt that this was actually quite nice, just like their previous relationship. Was there not a saying that the best relationship was as pleasant as having a sleepover with your best friend? She was quite happy right now.

But she was the one who was happy. What if Liu Anran actually wanted to take things a step further?

Liu Xie started to worry again.

If it was Liu Anran… she still remembered the words he left her with this morning. He had told her not to engage in such seductive behavior because he didn’t want to hurt her.

Liu Anran would definitely not take the initiative to do such things. He wouldn’t invade that untouched territory unless she took that step first.

‘But if I never take the initiative, and An Ran keeps holding it in, won’t he eventually break?’

Of course, Liu Xie was referring to his mental state, not his physical one.

At the moment, she hadn’t thought about that aspect yet. Or rather, such things were a bit too early for her, or perhaps it was simply pure shyness that made it difficult to speak of.

‘Should I be a bit more proactive?’

‘No, no. If Liu Anran takes an inch and wants a mile, what if our current family hierarchy gets flipped?’

‘So what should I do?’

Liu Xie scratched her head in frustration, her long golden hair turning into a bird’s nest.

‘I should do something else to distract myself.’

“Hey, I remember we still have that campus run, don’t we? Didn’t they say the pace requirements for girls are much more relaxed than for boys?” A spark of inspiration hit Liu Xie as she looked at Ye Qingchang. “Why don’t the two of us go try it?”

“Are you saying you want to drag me along for exercise?” Ye Qingchang asked with a flat expression, pointing at herself. “Are you serious?”

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you an 800-meter gold medalist?”

“I want to unscrew your head right now and kick it like a ball.”

Liu Xie held up her palm. “Hey, you might not run faster than my head can roll.”