Ch.18 – Does Love at First Sight Exist in Esports?

Shao Han only found out that Yao Sen’s birthday was on Wednesday when he happened to see the scrolling banner on Titans’s official website—and today was already Monday.

Ever since Noah’s Ark settled in Yiyou, Yao Sen had helped him out many times. This would be Yao Sen’s first birthday since he and Shao Han became friends, and Shao Han felt that he shouldn’t be so perfunctory. 

If Yao Sen had insomnia… then give him sleep-aid fragrances? But does that stuff really work? What if there are side effects?

Give him headphones, a mouse, a keyboard or something? But Yao Sen already owned a lot of them himself.

Since Yao Sen was always on the computer, then was it possible that his neck might not be too good? Then give him some… herbal plasters?

Shao Han thought that he might be out of his mind. 

He nestled in his chair and lightly turned, staring blankly at the picture of Yao Sen on the website’s homepage. Shao Han truly had no experience in giving people presents. In the past, he would usually ask Xiao Meng to give him ideas. But now, when it comes to Yao Sen, Shao Han subconsciously felt that he should be more sincere when choosing a gift.

Shao Han suddenly remembered that Yao Sen had a habit of running in the evening, so giving him a pair of sneakers should be quite suitable. What’s more, most men like new shoes, and Shao Han was more confident about his taste. 

There were several big shopping centres near Yiyou that housed well-known sports brands. Shao Han could go and buy it tomorrow.

After making up his mind, Shao Han wondered how he was going to find out Yao Sen’s shoe size and favourite colour and style—there was no way he could ask the person directly.

Shao Han found Wang Yuxi in his friends list, whom he had added when they met at B City’s training centre. He seemed to remember hearing Yao Sen tell him that Wang Yuxi is his roommate. 

After making up his mind, Shao Han sent a message to Wang Yuxi.

When Shao Han sent the message, Wang Yuxi happened to be taking a break from training, and Yao Sen was sitting next to him, currently in the middle of a solo queue. Wang Yuxi yawned as he picked up his phone, and when he saw the message, he instantly sat up straight, completely refreshed.  

Shao Han: Hello, Xi ge, are you busy right now? I want to ask you something.

“Aiyo, Yao Sen,” Wang Yuxi grinned and leaned over with his phone, “Shao…”

Shao Han: If it’s convenient, please don’t tell Yao Sen yet.

Wang Yuxi: “Sho… If you are lazy in your prime, you’ll be sorry in your old age.”^[1]

Yao Sen looked at him expressionlessly, as if he were looking at a fool, “What are you doing?”

“I meant to advise you to train well so you won’t regret it someday.” Wang Yuxi quickly sat back down and gave Yao Sen a thumbs up.

Yao Sen: “…Did you dump your brain along with your sniper?”

Seeing that Yao Sen didn’t get suspicious, Wang Yuxi immediately turned away and replied to Shao Han’s message.

Wang Yuxi: It’s fine, it’s fine. Don’t worry, Shao ge, you can ask whatever you want. Feel free to say anything and everything. 

Shao Han: Thank you, I want to give Yao Sen a pair of sneakers for his birthday, and I wanted to ask about his shoe size, favourite brand, style, and color. 

Wang Yuxi: OKOK, I’ll go back to the dorm and help you take a look.

Shao Han: Mm, thank you.

Wang Yuxi: It’s nothing~

After Wang Yuxi sent out the flirty tilde, he put down his phone and said to Yao Sen, “Yao Sen, I’m going back to use the toilet.”

“Isn’t there a toilet here too? What are you going back for?”

“I like the ambience of the dorm’s toilet more.” 

“…Whatever you want.” Yao Sen stared at him, “Why is your face so creepy when you’re only going to the toilet?”

“Who’s creepy?” Wang Yuxi immediately withdrew his gaze, then stood up and left in a puff of smoke.

Wang Yuxi returned to the dorm and directly pulled open the shoe cabinet at the door. The shoe cabinet had five compartments, three of them belonged to Yao Sen while two were Wang Yuxi’s. Wang Yuxi randomly took one of Yao Sen’s sneakers and flipped it over to look at the size. After he noted it down, he was still unsure, so he found another pair to confirm.

In order to confirm Yao Sen’s taste in shoes, Wang Yuxi poured out all of Yao Sen’s shoes and arranged them in a row on the floor, carefully observing the style and color of the shoes. At the end, he felt quite like a pervert. 

After he surveyed them all, Wang Yuxi put the shoes back in their original position and sat down to reply to Shao Han.

Wang Yuxi: There are size 43.5 and size 44

Wang Yuxi: Most of them are either black and white or red, and there are two pairs of dark blue ones. There’s a lot of low-cut shoes

Wang Yuxi: The designs aren’t too excessive, the material is breathable and flexible. Most of them are Nike, but there’s also Brooks and NB ones

Shao Han: Okay, thank you.

Wang Yuxi: Sure thing!

Yao Sen owes him a favour for this, Wang Yuxi thought, when the time comes, he’ll definitely extort him well. With that in mind, he cheerfully returned to the training room.

The four of them trained until dinner time. Yao Sen took off his headphones and stretched his body, saying to the three of them, “Let’s go out to eat.”

Wang Yuxi: “Why are you always going out to eat lately?”

“Stop by Wanda after dinner to shop,” Yao Sen said, “I’ve been wanting to buy new shoes lately.”

Wang Yuxi immediately slapped the table, “No way!”

Yao Sen: “Why not?”

You’ll regret it if you buy it now! Wang Yuxi yelled in his heart. For the sake of Shao ge’s perfect gift, Wang Yuxi was willing to go to the trouble to prevent Yao Sen from buying them. “Why the hell would you have so many shoes? You wither away inside all day long, and the shoe cabinet is stuffed to the brim, you might as well go and have a nice meal.”

“Isn’t it called a shoe cabinet because it fits a lot of shoes? You don’t have to go then. Lao-Bai, Lao-Song, let’s go buy shoes together later.”

“Wait!” Wang Yuxi persuaded painstakingly, “…it’s not cost-effective to buy some now. That’s right—there’s still more than a week until 11.11, it’ll be more profitable to buy it then. And in this half month, you can pick out shoes you don’t like and wear them until they’re used and dirty, just in time to throw them away to make room for more, right?”

Yao Sen stared at Wang Yuxi for a while. If he ignored the secretive look on Wang Yuxi’s face, he did have a point, “All right then.”

Meanwhile, Shao Han was completely unaware of how Wang Yuxi had sacrificed himself for him. After noting down the information he got from Wang Yuxi, he first browsed through the official websites of various brands, specifically looking at the shoes that were directly available at physical stores. 

As he was making his choice, he suddenly received a message from his sister. 

Shao Meng: Ge!

Shao Meng: Ge!!!

Shao Han: What’s the matter

Shao Meng: The day after tomorrow is Yao Sen’s birthday aaaaaa!!!

Shao Han: I know

Shao Meng: Can I go to Yiyou to celebrate Yao Sen’s birthday? (whispers

Shao Han: You can’t, you have class

Shao Meng: [crying.gif]

Shao Meng: [Am I no longer your most beloved piggy?.jpg]

Shao Han: You can’t

Shao Han: …….

Shao Meng: Then ge, can you help me give a gift to God Sen?

Shao Han: Sure, what do you want to give him?

Shao Meng: I want to give him passionate roses!

Shao Han: …….

Shao Han imagined the scene of him seeking out Yao Sen with a bouquet of roses in two days and felt that it would just look wrong. Shao Han’s spine numbed at the mere thought, and he promptly rejected his sister’s proposal. 

Shao Han: No

Shao Meng: Why!!!

Shao Han: The flowers will wither in two days, it’s not practical

Shao Meng: Fine……

Shao Meng: Then ge, why don’t you help me buy a scarf to give to God Sen?

Shao Han: This one’s fine

Shao Meng: I’ll pick a good color and design and send it to you in a little while! Ge, you have to say that it’s from me! Don’t claim it as yours!!!!

Shao Han: I got it

Shao Meng: [mwah mwah.gif]

Shao Meng: Ge is the best!!!

Shao Meng: Oh yeah, what are you going to give him?

Shao Han: Sneakers

Shao Meng: …….ge what are you giving presents like a straight guy for?

Shao Han: What’s wrong with shoes?

Shao Han: Go study, don’t play with your phone!

Shao Meng: Hehe, okay

The next afternoon, after training, Shao Han went to a nearby shopping mall with one of his teammates. Shao Han first visited the clothing area to pick out a scarf that Shao men instructed him to buy, comparing scarves with the picture Shao Meng had sent him for half a day before finally receiving a satisfied nod from his younger sister. 

After buying the scarf, Shao Han directly went to the Nike store. Luckily, he did his homework beforehand and quickly selected several pairs. Since he was afraid that the new shoes would not be comfortable, he wanted to try them out himself, but his shoe size was half a size smaller than Yao Sen’s, so he asked his teammate what his shoe size was.

His teammate’s shoe size was exactly the same as Yao Sen’s. After trying on a few pairs, Shao Han finally decided on a pair of black and red sneakers, which matches the colours of Titans’s team uniform.

Just after 12 o’clock that night, Shao Han’s phone received a Weibo notification.

@Titans_Sen: [Today is my birthday, November 3rd, send birthday wishes]

Although it was an automatic birthday post sent out by Weibo, Shao Han still left a happy birthday comment. As soon as he pressed send and refreshed the post, the number of interactions below Yao Sen’s weibo increased by a lot.

Shao Han couldn’t help but marvel at the enthusiasm of Yao Sen’s fans. He thought twice, then sent another message to Yao Sen’s WeChat, wishing him a happy birthday.

He had to get up early for training today. Guessing that Yao Sen was probably already asleep, Shao Han didn’t continue to wait for a reply and went to bed after washing up.

Two minutes after he turned off the lights, Shao Han’s phone on the headboard quietly lit up.

Yao Sen: Thank you

Yao Sen: I’ll take you to dinner tonight

On the other side, Yao Sen was lying on his bed and staring at his phone screen, waiting, and yet Shao Han didn’t reply. He guessed that Shao Han had probably fallen asleep right after he sent his message. 

Wang Yuxi asked, “Did Shao ge get back to you?”

“Nope, guess he’s asleep.”

“Looks like he specially prepared in advance to say happy birthday to you,” Wang Yuxi teased, “Not bad, you two are promising.”

When Shao Han sought him out to ask about Yao Sen’s shoe preferences—Wang Yuxi was internally choked to death. Truthfully, he not only felt that Yao Sen had a chance, but it was also an extremely large chance. Although a straight guy like him couldn’t fully understand this Bent Boy’s mind, he relied on his years of experience in reading shoujo novels to come to the conclusion that Shao Han at least cared quite a bit about Yao Sen as a friend. 

“What’s up with you these past couple of days?” Yao Sen side-eyed him, “One minute you’re telling me to train well, and then you’re urging me to save money, and then the next thing I know, you’re telling me that Shao Han and I are promising.”

“Isn’t this just me caring about you?” Wang Yuxi refuted with a guilty conscience and quickly changed the subject, “Aren’t you going to post a few words on Weibo?”

“Let’s talk about it in the morning. Didn’t Weibo already send out an automatic post?” Yao Sen set down his phone and turned over contentedly, “Lao-Wang, where’s my present?”

“What’s the rush? Tomorrow… bah—today—I’ll give it to you after dinner.”

“What is it?”

“Ten gigabytes of XXX on a cloud drive, you better believe it.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“……..”

☆ ☆ ☆

Footnotes:
[1] 少壮不努力，老大徒伤悲 shao zhuang bu nu li, lao da tu shang bei. the shao has the same tone as shao han’s shao (邵) 

⟵ Chapter 17 | TOC | Chapter 19 ⟶