You Boys Play Games Very Well

There’s a censored scene later in the novel so I dug around on Weibo a bit and found the smut, heh heh. so this will be a “yaoi” translation, not a “shounen-ai” one

Don’t try to access the urls in this section here, they’re just there to show the social media sites being accessed, they aren’t real

Chapter 23

Ling Meng, who had declared he wouldn’t play the game today, had an itch to do something after watching through the video of Shan Zhu’s match twice. So in the end, he got in the other’s black car and fought fierce battles with him the whole night.

The water friends who finally didn’t have to spend 80% of the time watching the anchor mine, weren’t stingy in throwing lots of cat food, determined to feed the anchor until he became a 200kg fat cat.

Shan Zhu’s message through Penguin arrived at almost the exact moment Ling Meng’s stream finished.

TeamShanZhu: Go for a late night snack after streaming?

Ling Meng had won five matches in a row tonight and the excitement had not yet faded; he received the invitation and agreed to it.

Lemon: Good, I’ll treat you!

After sending the message, he realized the Penguin notes were still set from the previous tournament, so he changed the nickname to Porn Anchor.

Porn Anchor: I’ll come to find you?

Lemon: No! See you at the entrance of the dormitories!

The snack street outside the North Gate of Yanshan was the most lively after nightfall. The barbecue stall where Ling Meng often went only had one corner table left.

Ling Meng grabbed his regular order, but saw Shan Zhu next to him was empty-handed.

“Why didn’t you take some?”

Shan Zhu squinted in surprise at the tray full of skewers that he had in his hands: “You’re saying you aren’t holding two servings?”

“Of course not, I can finish this much all by myself.”

Shan Zhu looked at this little fellow and reappraised him: “I can’t picture you eating so much.”

“I’m still growing.”

Ling Meng saw the expression on Shan Zhu’s face saying that he didn’t have the heart to strike him down and he shouted, “What’s wrong? I’m only nineteen. Isn’t it true that boys can grow until 25?”

“Yes, yes, eat more.” Shan Zhu heaped several more skewers onto his plate.

After Shan Zhu also made his selection, Ling Meng handed the tray to the stall owner and called for two bottles of beer: “My spicy order!”

“I remember, I remember.”

It could be seen Ling Meng really was a frequent customer, the owner’s attitude towards him was warmer than usual: “Only have those side seats.”

“Those are the ones I like.”

When the two were seated, the server sister gave them a huge smile as she came up with a plate of peanuts and edamame: “My dad said this is for you.”

Ling Meng’s face turned red again: “Thank you.”

This little sister was used to Ling Meng. She laughed and ran to bus the tables.

“Do you blush when you see any girl indiscriminately?” Shan Zhu originally thought he would only blush at beautiful girls.

Ling Meng didn’t want to answer this question. He grabbed handful of edamame and feigned a keen interest in eating them.

“It’s safer to sit in a corner, don’t have to be afraid of being recognized.” Ling Meng glanced from side to side and said, “Now I understand why you don’t stream with a face cam.”

“You’re so cute; I have people brushing your expression pack in several group chats.”

Ling Meng made a fierce expression, signaling he wouldn’t touch the word “cute”: “I’m not blaming you!”

Shan Zhu was surprised: “Blaming me?”

“Of course! I started streaming with the intention of stealing your audience!”

No wonder even the big tricks like the camera were used, Shan Zhu had an epiphany.

“So that’s how it is…”

“Who permitted your powder so much? I merely said a few words, now everywhere I go, I’m brushed by the screen, brushed all day, brushed all night; do you understand how I feel?” Ling Meng gloomily poured a glass of beer.

“I understand.” Shan Zhu helped him fill it quietly. “But I remember that there was a lot of Lemon Daddy powder before.”

“Can that be the same? Your powder give you gifts every day, mine only brush my expression pack.”

Shan Zhu tried to cheer Ling Meng up: “Then I’ll brush gifts for you every day.”

“Rejected. Don’t send me cat climbing trees again, can I crawl over so many? It’d be better to transfer the money to me directly than have it be drained by the platform and wasted in vain.”

(t/n: streaming platforms take a portion of the gifts/donations, usually 30-50%)

“I sent you the climbing tree to affirm your capability as an anchor, what is this direct transfer,” Shan Zhu’s tone suddenly chilled, accompanied by a sly smile, “keep you like a mistress?”

Ling Meng shivered, just like when he heard Shan Zhu’s chuckle through his headset. When he suddenly spoke like this, there was a deadly attraction that could capture even a straight man. No wonder there are so many voice-activated female powders who thought of him as their destiny without even seeing him.

“Can you not drive for just three sentences?” Ling Meng protested, “This isn’t a stream right now, can’t we walk?”

(t/n: this is referencing the “driving without words” saying from last chapter – filling words with erotic implications)

“Do you think my interactions with you on stream are for all for the sake of the broadcast?”

“Aren’t they? Porn anchor, faking gay to sell rot, that’s one of the techniques I know about to grow grass.”

“You lurked in my broadcast room for a while; except you, who else have you seen me selling rot with?”

“On the platform, beyond your group of rabblerousing friends…” Lacking confidence, Ling Meng was stubborn to admit his mistake, because he really couldn’t get the words out: with Mang God’s popularity, there was no need for him to stir up heat with anyone.

The barbecue came to the rescue and Ling Meng stuffed the steaming hot skewer that had just arrived into Shan Zhu’s hand: “Eat while it’s hot; it’s not good when it’s cold.”

As this was the first time Shan Zhu saw Ling Meng eating, he was shocked by his appetite. It turned out that his “all by myself” statement was not just bragging and was even a little modest.

“So you really can eat so much. In the morning, I saw you buy just one steamed bun.”

“That was the canteen’s steamed bun. Can you endure eating two?”

“I can’t.”

Ling Meng wore an expression saying “There you have it.”

“You can eat so much, how are you so thin?”

“Do you mean to say so short? Actually, I’m not short in my hometown. How could I know the average height of boys around here starts at 180cm (5’ 10”); are you a local?”

“Yes.”

“Tsk,” Ling Li clicked his tongue. “When you’re young, you Hebei people must be given a supplement to grow tall. Oh yeah, I watched your video yesterday. There was one particular outflanking play that was really exceptional. How did you make your hand speed so fast?..”

(t/n: typical hand speed, referred to as actions per minute (APM), is 100APM though pro players can reach 300APM+ in a match)

Energetically, Ling Meng chatted about the game. It seemed he’d be able to talk about it for three days and three nights without stopping. He completely missed seeing that a table not far away was frequently looking in their direction.

“Look at the boy sitting in the corner; isn’t he like the expression pack you sent me on WeChat today?”

“Ah? Seems like it really is!”

“Who is he?”

“A game anchor, super meng, I didn’t think we were so close to a deity!”

“Do you want to take a picture?”

“How would I take it?”

“Come over here and pretend to take a selfie…”

Ling Meng swept his eyes across a certain area and talked loudly. Shan Zhu subconsciously took a glance back and only saw two girls taking selfies.

“What’s wrong?” asked Shan Zhu.

“Nothing.” Just some selfies, Ling Meng thought, I must just be oversensitive, and he continued to talk.

“Wow, the boy who is sitting opposite to him is so handsome!” the girl taking the sneak shots was thrilled.

“Yeah yeah! Have you shot him too?”

“No! He suddenly turned back and I was too scared to move, I thought I’d been discovered.”

“Oh, what a pity…”

The two people flipped through the album. The barbecue stall wasn’t well lit at night; they only got the blurred expression on his face and the back of the handsome guy at the same table, so they were slightly disappointed.

Chapter 24

Shan Zhu and Ling Meng chatted until the lights were turning off before returning to their dormitories. As soon as Shan Zhu got to his room, he was bombarded by his housekeeper girl.

LittleBitsOfMango: Boss! Where are you?? If you don’t appear soon, you’ll become a green mango!!

Mangosteen:?

LittleBitsOfMango: Giving you a link to see for yourself!! http: //www. xinghebagua.hs/post-10086.html

[Gossip] The new red-hot male anchor had a late night rendezvous with a handsome man, they were very intimate as they talked and laughed.

LZ: [A hazy lemon photo.jpg]

1L: Sofa!

2L: Wooden bench?

3L: So vague, can you see ghosts? [ˉ\_(ツ)_/ˉ]

4L: Cannot see a ghost, see the Lemon Daddy [:)], real person recognition is still quite high, ah.

5L: The landlord actually saw the living Lemon Daddy? Asking the landlord for coordinates!

6L: Upstairs, Lemon Dad said that he was studying in north Hebei. If he’s a college student, there’s a high chance of meeting in the university town.

LZ: That’s right. This was taken in the university town Snack Street! Unfortunately, I forgot to bring a Master Ball [Cry sniff sniff]

……

38L: Where is the handsome guy? Poor evaluation to the Landlord’s title.

LZ: Here he is! [A hazy lemon photo with a red circle.jpg]

40L: You can really see a ghost this time [ˉ\_(ツ)_/ˉ]

LZ: It’s true! They sat in the corner, the handsome guy has his back turned to us and then looked back, so we didn’t take the picture! My bestie can testify!

…

95L: I certify, really super handsome! The two people chatted super happily, and the real expression is even richer than the expression pack! When we left around eleven o’clock, the two of them were still there, the expression pack had been eating, just like this!

96L: If this is true, @MangGod come quick, ah, your precious baby son is eloping with someone!

97L: No way! Lemon Daddy is my family’s Mang God’s. He has nothing to do with this silhouette guy.

98L: Wait a minute, Mang God and Lemon Dad have CP powder together? What kind of evil organization is this… asking how to join the club?!

99L: Haha upstairs, Mang Ning sounds delicious, doesn’t it? Come and eat my Amway [drooling face]

……

256L: My family’s Mang God has always been a serious anchor. Now since Lemon Dad has come, he’s been called a porn anchor. I’m very sad. In order to bubble up the clear stream anchor, the porn anchor should be the porn anchor, but how did the clear stream anchor run to a late night rendezvous with the handsome guy? That is not “clear stream” at all!

257L: The mango is a bit green, what’s that? Mourning in silence for Mang God becoming Green Mang…

……

Mangosteen: Oh.

LittleBitsOfMango: Oh???

LittleBitsOfMango: Boss, your calmness is beyond my imagination.

Mangosteen: Otherwise?

LittleBitsOfMango: We are the Golden Mango Band, we must not turn green! Look for Lemon Dad to clarify, it’s normal for boys to eat supper together at night! I don’t want to change my name to LittleBitsOfGreenMango!

Mangosteen: Since it’s normal, there’s nothing to clarify.

LittleBitsOfMango: It’s hard to… Are we misunderstanding you? It’s just like Lemon Dad said, faking what, what, what…it’s all just an effect for the broadcast.

LittleBitsOfMango: mainly because the boss has never deliberately sensationalized before, but also specially changed the CP avatar or something, the Mango Band sisters thought…

LittleBitsOfMango: it seemed that we thought too much! Ah, unfortunately, the boss sent those cat climbing trees!

Mangosteen: *headpat* don’t think too much.

LittleBitsOfMango: I understand!

Mangosteen: Don’t think too little.

LittleBitsOfMango: Hey???

LittleBitsOfMango: Wait! Boss, look! There are new materials on the 481st floor!

481L: That… I accidentally brushed this on Weibo today. Has anyone come to identify it? http: //www. weibo.hs/watermelon

482L: I am a big…constituent, ah…

483L: What, what

484L: Helping poster 481L. Would it be bad to directly post someone’s private photos directly? Invasion and deletion.

@watermelon: This morning, I met the expression pack in the canteen. The expression pack was very kind to me and I asked for a group photo, hehe! [A clear stream picture.jpg]

485L: Haha, as expected, Lemon Dad is really short. The two people behind him have deliberately hunched down and are still half a head taller than Lemon Dad.

486L: This selfie is clearer than the live broadcast quality, beautiful dimples.

487L: The right one is really handsome (wrong focus)

488L: I just wanted to say that!!

489L: Who knows if the blogger is the left or the right one?

490L: It’s the left one, he has other photos on his Weibo.

491L : Very good, seeking the right one’s Weibo [smile]

……

555L: Did anyone notice this detail? [blurred photo with red circle.jpg] [clear photo with red circle.jpg]

556L: Upstairs, true facts.

557L: The same clothes, so the same person.

558L: Originally I thought it was a passerby stealing the spotlight, the result is they’re the same male character.

LZ: The landlord just took a bath! That’s him! The handsome guy who rendezvoused with Lemon Dad is the person on the right side of the photo! Although I saw only one eye, he left a deep impression!!

560L: Looking at the close pose of the two people, this old fellow uses divination and calculates that the Mango Band should really want to be renamed the Green Mango Band.

561L: Why? I just got the materials and joined the club…

562L: *headpats* even if it is not officially recognized, we can still have a small private group

………

Chapter 25

Ling Meng saw this thread on the second day of live streaming. Some water friends asked him to read the thread live. He thought it couldn’t be worse than a ghost story. Putting it frankly, he ended up reading a story scarier than a ghost story.

Ling Meng, famous for his rich expressions, didn’t know what kind of face to show.

So the audience was shown a stiff expression, until finally he managed with effort to pull up the corners of his mouth; it was clear Lemon Daddy had a guilty conscience.

— Lemon Dad, what do you think?

“What do I think? The world is too dangerous to be photographed either openly or sneakily…”

— Who is the handsome guy from the rendezvous? Is your male ♂ sex friend?

“Haha, don’t you eat late with your same-sex friends?”

–Yes, sometimes, but none so handsome.

— Some handsome people rent a room, they eat at the stroke of midnight.

— Don’t smoke! I acknowledge only one Godfather! Only Godfather can be Godfather!

“Why does a clear stream anchor like me have a pornographic audience like you? Were you all sent from next door to give me a hard time?”

— Don’t change the topic, tell us something?

Ling Meng thought for a moment: “He is a very powerful person in the Galaxy.”

— Very good, it sounds like a boy.

— How powerful? Can he defeat my family’s Mang God?

“That’s hard to say.”

How would he know if Shan Zhu could beat himself.

— It’s not easy to be recognized by Lemon Dad, he should be really powerful.

— Lemon Dad personally identified him as very powerful, said he may be able to defeat Mang God … is it a professional player?

“Don’t guess, you can’t guess.” Ling Meng opened the client. He learned a lot from Mang God yesterday and couldn’t wait to put it into practice. “Tonight we play 1V1.”

Ling Meng took the initiative to open a room and invite Shan Zhu for a match. Their broadcast rooms were crowded with the gossip people who came to see the gossip. As a result, the whole night they just played games, played games, played games. They were purer than the white snow of the Alps; even Mang God’s daily flirting was gone.

— Wholeheartedly a gossip, not in the mood for games.

— You boys play games with fascination~

— Mang God doesn’t ask, Lemon Dad is resolved not to answer, such tacit understanding.

As a gesture of good will, Shan Zhu played like they were teaching matches and didn’t exert his full strength. The two people fought all night, each with victories and defeats.

As lights out approached, the contended Ling Meng stretched out. “Thank you for coming to my live room. Welcome, attention of any new friends. That’s all for today, see you tomorrow.”

Housekeeper Mangosteen: Wait a minute.

“What?”

[Platform Announcement] User Mangosteen presented the cat courtyard to the anchor Lemon and gave this message of encouragement: Baby played well today, you’ve worked hard. 𝘧𝑟𝘦𝒆w𝚎𝙗nov𝘦𝗹.𝐜o𝓶

—

Footnotes:

1. mei (妹): honorific for little sister; here indicating the server is a younger girl than the boys

2. cultivate (包养): cultivate a relationship based on money, like a mistress

3. LZ (楼主): pinyin acronym for lou zhu aka building owner/landlord, refers to author of topic on a forum. Replies to the topic are “floors” (first floor, second floor, etc.) so people say “upstairs” to talk to the previous reply

4. gui mi (闺蜜): literally lady’s chamber + honey; term for BFF, bestie, female bosom friend

5. running with people (跟人跑): slang for someone eloping

6. Amway (安利): passionate recommendation, to Amway is to passionately recommend; based on an American company that employed pyramid schemes to advertise their products in China

7. Invasion and deletion (侵删): phrase about copyright violation common on the Chinese internet, stealing images and adding these characters as a sort of copyright protection

8. open a room (开房): term for renting a room, usually for sex when it’s a couple

9. Open fumigation (开熏): netizen slang homonym for “feel happy” (开心), it sounds more cute so teenagers like to use it

—