Chapter 58: The Taste of Home

It's past eleven at night.

The training room was empty; Liang Yan had finished his current Rank match and was getting ready to go back to the dorm to wash up and sleep.

But Ka Lao Si came up to him.

Liang Yan knew he had something to say, so he sat down again.

Ka Lao Si got straight to the point:

"Liang, tomorrow is our third match; I want to ask your opinion."

"About what?"

"Do you want to play?"

"Oh, this? First of all, it depends on your arrangement. What's the opponent's level?"

"The opponent is ROC; we played them in a scrim... oh right, that day Lao Li played, you didn't take part in the scrim, um..."

Ka Lao Si paused to recall,

"ROC placed second-to-last in the spring split, then barely avoided relegation in a promotion/relegation match, but this season they swapped the top and bottom lanes while keeping the jungle/mid; their first two opponents were H2K and SPY, both games ended in draws, so they don't look weak."

"Being able to draw with H2K..."

"That suggests they still have some strength."

Liang Yan thought for a moment and said:

"How about Lao Li goes first in game one, and I'll see?"

"No problem; I'll put you and Zhang on the bench."

"Okay."

Watching Ka Lao Si return to his desk to start drafting the starting lineup announcement early, Liang Yan couldn't help but smile.

The coach is getting more sensible.

Each day feels more hopeful.

……

To everyone's surprise, the next day's match was surprisingly easy.

"Perhaps ROC underperformed, or maybe G2 Zhong Ren had gained confidence from their recent scrims, and the match tilted one-sided from the first game."

So for game two, Liang Yan didn't plan to play; he stayed in the lounge cracking seeds with Lao Zhang while watching TV.

——The seeds were Lao Zhang's stash.

After the two games, Perkz and CyanideFI each got an MVP.

After returning from the interview stage, Lao Li beamed with happiness; Liang Yan lavished him with praise, making him glow even more.

After winning, they went out for dinner as usual, but instead of going to a Chinese restaurant, Ka Lao Si—being considerate—chose a Western steakhouse because Liang Yan and Lao Zhang always felt awkward at Chinese places; they ordered steak and pork tenderloin, each costing dozens of euros, quite pricey, and unfortunately Liang Yan and Lao Zhang couldn't enjoy it.

Because the restaurant could only cook it to medium at most—though not bloody like others' steaks—when he cut into the blackened exterior and saw the juicy pink meat inside, Liang Yan gulped, but he just couldn't bring himself to eat it.

In the end, they gave their portions to others; Lao Li and Ka Lao Si each took a piece, while the two of them each ordered a plate of spaghetti—edible, but they couldn't judge its quality, since they'd hardly ever eaten Western food before going abroad.

To Liang Yan's surprise, shortly after he returned to the base, someone knocked on the dorm door.

When he opened the door, Tang Anna stood outside holding two packs of instant noodles.

"…Here."

Tang Anna shoved the noodles into his hands, lowered her head, and walked away.

She seemed quite cold.

Liang Yan watched the girl's hurried back as she left, then looked at the instant noodles in his hand, feeling a bit puzzled for a moment.

He flipped the packet over to check the back; the ingredients list even had a Chinese version, showing the flavor as 'old hen soup.'

That was thoughtful of her.

Liang Yan could feel her goodwill.

He guessed the girl saw that he and Lao Zhang hadn't even finished a plate of spaghetti at the restaurant and worried they'd go hungry.

"What's up?"

Lao Zhang came out of the bathroom in a pair of boxers, drying his wet hair with a towel.

Liang Yan closed the door and raised his hand:

"Enthusiastic Miss Tang brought us a late-night snack out of kindness; want to eat?"

Lao Zhang's eyes lit up, but then he frowned.

"Won't eating this late affect tomorrow's match?"

"Suit yourself, but I'm going to eat."

Liang Yan put the instant noodles on the table and started looking around for something to cook them in.

But after searching a while and finding nothing, he simply gave up on utensils, carefully tore open the noodle packet, dumped the seasoning in, and positioned it under the water dispenser's spout to pour in boiling water.

Soon, the rich aroma of the chicken broth began to fill the air.

Lao Zhang, who had originally decided not to eat, finally couldn't resist the smell's temptation and mimicked him, preparing the other packet.

After letting it cool a bit, they were ready to eat.

Liang Yan opened the window, stood by it, gazing at the Western European night sky where the moon wasn't any rounder than back home, held the noodle bag in one hand, slowly poured a sip of broth into his mouth, smacked his lips, tasted it, and sighed wistfully:

"Ah, the taste of mom."

The slurping sounds from behind stopped instantly.

All that could be heard was Lao Zhang's surprised question:

"Do you have a mom?"

"…Indeed I don't."

"Then it must be the taste of home."

……

After eating till full, I went to bed, but my stomach felt a bit bloated, so I sat and scrolled my phone for a while, also exercising my brain to aid digestion.

On Twitter I saw the Europe Region's official account post today's match flash.

Most of the comments were Lao Li's fans celebrating, but some netizens were venting their dissatisfaction in the comment section, all meaning roughly the same:

We want to watch Firrrrrre's match!

Quickly let Monster Brother go on stage!

Although it's unclear whether they are his fans, Liang Yan is still pleased to see these comments, at least indicating that someone is looking forward to his appearance.

But there is also a small portion of netizens whose remarks are overly extreme, already suspected of personally attacking Lao Li; Liang Yan frowned upon seeing this.

This really is one fan outweighing ten haters.

Brainless fans are too scary; from now on I really need to screen them.

Liang Yan silently kept this realization in mind and continued scrolling through comments.

Fortunately, Lao Li's fans are immersed in happiness, and the slight noise did not affect their celebration.

Thus Liang Yan couldn't help but sigh.

Still the same saying: don't look at his current high popularity; his actual fan count might not even be a fraction of Lao Li's.

Suddenly a feeling of boredom welled up in his heart, he also lost the urge to surf, he shoved his phone under the pillow and lay down to sleep.

……

The next day, G2 had another match.

But that portion of the audience's wish remained unfulfilled.

Mainly because Liang Yan felt that after he took power, Lao Li probably wouldn't get many chances to play; coincidentally, Lao Li's recent form was good, and judging from their previous results, the opponent didn't seem particularly strong either, so Liang Yan gave this match to Lao Li as an advance compensation.

He also made up an excuse to send Ka Lao Si away; Liang Yan ultimately didn't even go to the venue, staying alone in the base to focus on remodeling his G2.

Amidst the busyness, time slipped away quietly.

After most of the day, Liang Yan lifted his head from the screen, stretched his arms and yawned, looking at a draft plan taking shape in the encrypted document, his heart full of accomplishment; then checking the time, he realized it was already past eight in the evening, and the G2 vs. SPY match was likely over.

Before leaving, Ka Lao Si patted his chest and said he would definitely give SPY a good show today, but he didn't know the result.

Liang Yan opened the match live-stream official website, saw the score result, and fell silent at once.