You Boys Play Games Very Well

Chapter 81

Shan Zhu knew that once Ling Meng set a target, he was more persistent than anyone else, just as when he was in a long-distance race. From that day on, in addition to eating and playing games, there was one more additional thing in Ling Meng’s world.

He watched all kinds of Galaxy videos whenever he had free time – post-match interviews, entertainment shows, serious interviews; watching at dinner, watching before going to bed, watching when he was walking by using his antenna.

He would listen very seriously when Shan Zhu was commentating a match and then at the end of the match would draw up a little quiz about the players.

He would collect all kinds of fresh and interesting jokes from the active communities of various Galaxy players and, before he knew it, his audience had doubled for his streams.

He even, under the lead of the producer, went to the A League as a one-day trainee reporter to interview a team he wasn’t familiar with at all, studying up on the players for a week in order to avoid making low-level jokes.

Shan Zhu’s own desk was completely overrun by Ling Meng, full of his handwritten notes.

The annual Legend of the Galaxy Yearly Award Gala voting channel opened. Shan Zhu took a picture of Ling Meng seriously working and sent it to Weibo to canvass for him.

@Mangosteen: I’ve been wondering if the filter blinded my eyes to make every movement of this man attractive to me, until I saw him like this. No one can resist a man who shines, this hardworking @Lemon is worth your vote.

[MengMeng’s Seriousness.jpg]

Next up was Shan Yao selling meng:

@Yam: Please support my Lemon SAO…..ah, no, Daddy. One vote. @Lemon

[Even if I’m naughty, Daddy also won’t hit me.gif]

And then Bo Luo singing:

@Pineapple: With my moving song, I canvass for @Lemon Lemon Daddy~~~

[If you don’t vote, I’ll sing on a loop, heh heh.gif]

The “I’m Not Black Powder” official account sold misery:

@I’mNotBlackPowderOfficial: Lemon Daddy and Xiao Black’s acting reporter contact is only until the next episode. If you want Lemon Dad to stay just like Xiao Black, please vote with your precious ticket for @Lemon, maybe Lemon Daddy will win most popular male anchor and won’t leave us in his good mood. [Pitiful]

[Lemon Dad Expression Pack Nine Square Grid.gif]

Most incredibly, Xiang Jiao, who had claimed to have forgotten his password, also returned to Weibo and sent two posts:

@Banana: Vote @Lemon

@Guava: Forwarding Weibo//@Banana: Vote @Lemon

— FanA: Xiang God, you finally remembered that you had one……wait, you have two Weibo?

— FanB: And on that day, Xiang God finally remembered his Weibo password.

— FanC: [Ling Meng: Do you still remember your Weibo password? Xiang God: Forgot.jpg]

— FanD: Thank you, Lemon Dad, for curing my male god’s amnesia.

— FanE: When I got the notification, I thought it was a bug.

— FanF: I didn’t get the notification, my special pass must have broken down.

— FanG: Extremely happy to get a notification. I thought my Xiang God was finally spoiling the powder. Unexpectedly I clicked it and found it’s a groupie post.

— FanH: Xiang God really opens his purse for the anchor, I hope this time he can draw a good card

….

Ling Meng knew his own popularity couldn’t be compared to Shan Zhu’s. It was just more fun for everyone to follow suit and canvass for him. He jokingly asked everyone to vote for him when he was live.

“Vote for me, come on, vote for me. That way I’ll be on top of Mang God on the voting list.”

— Save the child, it’s the only chance he’ll ever have to top Mang God.

“By the way, are there going to be a lot of powder on the scene? Holding up the light boards,” he asked Shan Zhu.

“Should be.”

“So, wouldn’t it be pretty sad if no one raised my light board?”

“I’ll give you a lift?”

“Aren’t you going to go down the red carpet with me?”

“I’ll give you a lift as we walk. Of the whole show, you’ll be the most extravagant.”

“Don’t make a fuss,” Ling Meng smiled and pushed him, “Why don’t I hire a few people to lift in advance? Does anyone know what the market rate is?”

— 50 yuan a sign, 100 yuan to lift for the day.

— Lemon Dad, hire me! The light board comes with!

— Hire me, hire me! Just half price!

Ling Meng jiggled his legs with pride, imagining that he had stepped one foot on the red carpet and powder on both sides frantically rooted for him. “What will you write with the light boards then? ‘Lemon Dad, Lemon Dad, I’m calling for you’?”

— Such a wise light board, or let Mang God give you a lift, farewell!

— The other side didn’t answer your call and blackened you.

— Lemon Dad: You can’t lift it? Mang God: Don’t dare to not lift.

— Mang God: I can’t lift it……not capable, ah, MengMeng will be angry.

(t/n: for context of these jokes, the character for “lift” is the same as……..get hard)

— While sitting on the kindergarten bus, who suddenly stepped on the throttle???

“Eh, you guys just now, your words can’t be trusted…….Housekeeper, while you’re at it, ban the ones who changed the meaning of lift.”

……

Chapter 82

The speaker spoke casually, but the audience listened with interest. Several of the main players of the Lemon Dad Global Black Powder Support Association conspired in private. Usually black was black, but at this big scene, they couldn’t let their Father not be extravagant, so they arranged crowdfunding and set up the light boards, aspiring to shine all over the field.

After all – at being black (secretive), they all were professionals.

When the Mang God girlfriend powder heard about it, they said that their momentum couldn’t be crushed by Daddy, otherwise wouldn’t their boyfriend lose face? So that was another secret plot.

Xiang Jiao’s powder caught wind of this. As powder of the league’s most popular player, naturally they refused to lag behind and made a large set of light boards of the same size. The red carpet show hadn’t started yet, but the three sides had already fought several hand-to-hand rounds in their great war.

So on the days of the Awards Ceremony, Ling Meng and Shan Zhu arrived at the venue in a sponsored luxury car. They exited the car and saw this sort of scene of extravagance:

The red carpet was lined by the Lemon Dad Black Powder regiment on the left, eight people in the front row each holding a huge single-letter light board, spelling out:

— LemonDaddy, A Father’s Love Is Like A Mountain

Next to them was the Mang God Girlfriend regiment, with eight similar one-word boards:

— MangGod Husband, Beautiful Face of the Golden Age

Directly across from the Girlfriend regiment was the Xiang Jiang Powder group. The light boards were like two items in the same Taobao store, even the fonts were the same:

— Hatred of the Father Is Unmatched Under Heaven.

Ling Meng: …….=.=#

“Is there still time for me to withdraw?” Ling Meng asked Shan Zhu next to him in a low voice, “It’s so embarrassing, it’s not as good as ‘Lemon Dad, Lemon Dad, I’m calling for you’.”

Shan Zhu smiled and grabbed Ling Meng’s hand, leading him to the red carpet: “Smile, there’s a camera at 11 o’clock.”

“…….Galaxy dog.” With that, he forced an awkward smile in the direction of 11 o’clock.

Fighting Cat was broadcasting the entirety of the Award Ceremony live. Water friends who couldn’t be on the scene could also lie under the covers and watch while eating snacks and brushing the barrage to nourish themselves.

— Mang God’s suit, full marks!

— You boys are so handsome in suits!

— So handsome I’m going to split my legs!

— Double standard party, clearly my MengMeng is wearing a suit too!

— The black suit is handsome, the white suit…….he’s merely a shou ┓( ` )┏

— The height difference is really cute, ah.

— Are these game anchors? Not a male god model group?

— My Godfather and Dad are holding hands and walking the red carpet and will get married around the corner.

— Speaking of them holding hands, wasn’t Lemon Dad dragged over by Mang God? His expression was very wronged.

— The grievance was because of the hatred of the father, the person who arranged the light board knows Xiang God quite well.

— Xiang God powder against WULI Mang God, reported.

After checking in, the outside host wanted the two people to say a few sentences before entering, according to the routine.

“Are the two of you confident that you will win an award today?”

The two people looked at each other. Ling Meng answered first: “I have a lot of confidence in him winning the award.”

“Don’t you have faith in yourself?”

“I’m here to buy (alternatively: hit) soy sauce.”

The host pointed the mic at Shan Zhu: “What does Mang God think?”

“I’m here to accompany MengMeng in buying soy sauce.”

“Alright, I have just one question left: What did Soysauce of Team FLAVORING do wrong, that you two are going to do this to him?”

Ling Meng: ……..

— Hahahahahaha!

— Soysauce:???

— Soysauce: The beautiful conjugal love of you two, why did you hit me?

— Soysauce: A sudden CUE.

— People sit in the venue and dog food comes from heaven.

The Award Ceremony began with a high-level speech from the Legend of the Galaxy development company, announcing some of the most gratifying developments of the year: first, the number of online matches doubled; second, that the number of people watching the game hit an all-time high; third, they signed an agreement with several famous universities in the North Hebei University City to send excellent pro players for further education who could be issued a diploma if they completed a certain number of credits.

On the player side, Bo Luo won Best Rookie, Shan Yao took Most Improved, and, as for the Most Popular Player decided entirely by a popular vote as well as the award with the highest value, MVP of the Year, those were indisputably awarded to Xiang Jiao. FRUIT also deserved to be crowned Best Team of the Year.

Moving to the Anchor Awards section, the first one up was also Ling Meng’s most promising award, the Best Newcomer Anchor Award.

When the nomination for Ling Meng appeared on the big screen, the daily swearing against the sky of Lemon Daddy had Ling Meng’s palms let out a thin layer of sweat. Shan Zhu, in a place the cameras couldn’t see, gently patted him on the leg, making the motion for his peace of mind.

The Award host opened the envelope: “The Best Newcomer of the Year Award, the winner is -”

Real-time feeds of the five nominated new anchors were lined up on the screen in turn, they were all clearly inexperienced and hadn’t learned expression management yet; the tension and anticipation was clearly showing on all of their faces.

“- Passionfruit!”

— Wow, my Lemon Dad wasn’t the best newcomer, it hurts.

— Look at MengMeng’s expression, looking like he has smelled something sour.

— Terrible, wuwu, brush a cat climbing tree to comfort Daddy.

Ling Meng quickly bit his lower lip, passively joining in with everyone’s clapping. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t disappointed. The award-winning anchor went on stage to receive the award, happily delivering his acceptance speech. Ling Meng was shown on camera, lost inside but still smiling.

Shan Zhu squeezed his hand: “There’s still a chance later.”

“Later is yours,” Ling Meng put on a smile. “When you’re on the stage, remember to say a few extra words, say my share too.”

Thinking of how Shan Zhu would soon go up to receive an award, Ling Meng didn’t feel so upset anymore.

“The next award is the Most Popular Male Anchor Award, selected through the Galaxy player voting, the nominated candidates are –

“Mangosteen, contracted Fighting Cat anchor, with his superb gameplay skills and a unique interpretive perspective, he has become one of the most popular anchors for Legend of the Galaxy. As he began his commentating, his quick-thinking and thorough analysis were well-received by a majority of players. He is the strongest of the future e-sports pro league commentary candidates.

“Lemon, the new popular anchor of Fighting Cat, the best singing among the game anchors, the highest ranked middle tier entertainment anchor. He was sometimes majestic, sometimes selling meng, sometimes selling meng, sometimes selling meng. Fans have respectfully called him — Lemon Daddy. The web show produced by Lemon was widely disseminated among players and it also made him a rising star in the Galaxy media circle.

……

“I declare, the winner of the Most Popular Man Anchor of the Year is -”

Ling Meng started to pose for applauding, looking at the person next to him with a smile on his face, just waiting for the Award host to declare the result so he could be the first to give his best wishes.

“ – Lemon! Congratulations!”

Ling Meng: *Clap clap clap clap clap* –???

His image was magnified on the big screen. All of the audience on the scene and the millions of water friends in the broadcast room witnessed the whole process as Lemon Dad went from “so happy, so happy” to “eh???”.

— Did my Lemon Dad think this award was a clinch for Mang God? The clap was so natural and such a stiff stop too [facepalm]

— MengMeng’s daily meng stupidity 1/1

— I can laugh for a year over a gif from just now.

— Lemon Dad: Organizing committee, mess with your Daddy again.

Shan Zhu clapped at him from the beginning until he realized Ling Meng was stunned on the spot. He stood up with a forced laugh, pulling the frozen lemon out of his seat. He gave him a hug and then a little push towards the stage. Ling Meng was like an object on a frictionless surface receiving some acceleration, floating and drifting to the stage.

He took the trophy from the award presenter and moved with a confused expression to stand before the mic. The soles of his feet seemed to be stepping on cotton. The audience laughed when they saw him – he really deserved to be an expression pack. The other anchors were narrators, he was like a folk arts performance.

“……” Finally the laughter subsided. Ling Meng struggled to choke out a sentence, “Was the voting system broken?”

The people back home struggled not to laugh and teased him back and forth.

— Shocked! Award-winning anchor on the scene questioned the fairness of the voting!

— Ouch, I laughed so hard my eight abs popped out.

— Most of the Galaxy pro circle came out to canvass for Lemon Dad, is Lemon Dad not confident in his strength or is he misunderstanding the popularity of pro players?

Ling Meng hadn’t prepared for this acceptance speech at all. He had planned what he would have said if he took Best Newcomer before but he forgot all of it right now.

“Well, I never thought I’d win this award, I previously thought……I still think the voting system might be broken.”

“Hahahahaha…..”

“And I don’t have anything prepared to say,” Ling Meng looked down at his toes, “Everyone likes to say ‘don’t forget your original intention’. In fact, the original intention of my live broadcast was to compete with Mang God. After I burst into popularity overnight because his broadcast room, I was actually really envious of Mang God, because he had a lot of powder. His powder was like a ladder, lifting him high. I wanted to compete with him, but I couldn’t even touch the dust beneath his feet. Until I started to stream and gradually more and more powder came. Of course, I pretty much forgot my original intention……”

“Hahahaha…..”

“Now I’m very grateful to my powder. If I hadn’t been streaming, I wouldn’t have met you all. I’m grateful to you every day, for you blowing me, for you blackening me, for you brushing my expression pack…..”

“Hahahaha….”

Ling Meng looked affectionately towards Shan Zhu: “And, of course, thank you for lifting me high, so I can stand shoulder to shoulder with the person I like, so that I can match him……”

— wuwuwuwu suddenly moved

— MengMeng’s acceptance speech is so touching.

— Trying to raise my hand, raise MengMeng higher!

— The sky is blue with clouds, the ground covered in yellowed leaves, I am Lemon Dad’s little ladder!

Ling Meng choked up for a moment, pausing for a long time before the phrase finally emerged: “…..as a man.”

— Pop—-

— All the just-brewed touching emotions all spurted out.

— Shocked! MengMeng calls himself a man, what do you misunderstand about yourself?!

— Laughing too hard to lift.

— Shocked! The ladder collapsed from laughter! MengMeng fell off!

— You boys giving an acceptance speech was really awesome…..

The director, with deep understanding, cut the camera to Shan Zhu. He, too, had covered his eyes like everyone on the scene and was laughing hard.

Ling Meng took the award, very touched. Actually, he was trying to stir up feelings and didn’t want to get the whole audience laughing, so he was angry and cosplayed a live pufferfish on the stage.

“Well, I know the sensational route doesn’t suit me, but I hope you can give Daddy a little more respect.”

“Hahahahaha….”

“Chinese virtue: filial piety comes first”

“Hahahahahahahaha…..”

— Don’t laugh, my Lemon Dad is serious!

— We are all very serious and obedient! Daddy was the first to crack a joke!

— Copying Lemon Dad: filial piety laughs first!

— Silly Father’s filial laugh.

“Finally, thank you to all the people who helped by canvassing and voting for me. Streaming has changed my life. I love being an anchor and that’s how I found out about my favorite career. I’ll hard for it always.” Ling Meng took a bow on the stage, “‘Legend of the Galaxy’ is so fun, Mang God is so handsome!”

*Clap clap clap clap clap clap*

Ling Meng finished up his final words and, with a long sigh of relief, jumped away from the podium to the applause of the crowd. He exchanged a tight hug with Shan Zhu – previously when he was totally muddled, the two weren’t able to celebrate properly.

In the end, Shan Zhu won the company’s official Special Award for Best Game Communication, to thank him for his contribution to the promotion of the game.

The most handsome male anchor in the room got up and straightened his suit, taking the stage:

“Thank you to the organizing committee for selecting me for this award. Thanks to the Galaxy company, thanks for the Fighting Cat platform, thanks to the powder……”

He formally gave his thanks all around, then added, “I would also like to thank –”

During the time when he deliberately drew out this word, the camera cleverly cut to Ling Meng. The director thought he was going to say his name and ordered the camera to switch to Ling Meng. That’s what Ling Meng himself thought too.

He subconsciously sat up straight, tightening his facial muscles to keep from smiling too happily and not being reserved.

Shan Zhu built the tension to a climax, then smiled and went on: “The infamous Galaxy random matching system.

Ling Meng:???

This didn’t seem to match the same speech??

“Regardless if it’s qualifying matches or casual matches, we’re all in the game and we’re all going to randomly match with a lot of people.

“We might match to a similarly-minded teammate, we might match to an equal opponent, and, of course, as rookies, it’s possible to make a match to someone who makes us throw the mouse in anger or smash a keyboard.

“We may never see them again after the GG message, we may meet friends who we ride the black with together, and, of course, it’s possible to match with someone we stay up until dawn chatting with.

“You never know who your next random match will be, if it’s the one you like, the one you hate, or the…..” from the stage, he accurately locked his gaze on Ling Meng, “one who’s going to be together with you.”

“Thanks to the Legend of the Galaxy random matching system, I was able to meet this man of mine. Of the thousands of players all day, every day, we pressed match at the same time and were able to come across each other. This is the rare encounter that Galaxy Universe gave me.

“It’s just a game, but it’s people who play the game. The point is, you can only conquer the person you want to have if you play games very well.”

Beneath the stage, the crowd who had just been moved to tears laughed at this sentence.

“By the way, it doesn’t matter if no powder lift you high, because I’m going to lift you to the highest level, higher than everyone else.”

Ling Meng clapped frantically. fre𝙚𝓌𝒆𝚋noѵel.c𝚘m

“Finally, I wish everyone a match with the man they want to match. Thank you.”

Just as everyone was distracted and moved by Mang God’s acceptance speech, the message of someone in the barrage broke through:

— Wake up, hey, wake up! Million Galaxy single dogs, engine handles are most likely! Mang God has cursed us and now all of us will become gay!

—

Footnotes:

1. to root for (打Call): internet slang term from Japanese idol fans called wota who cheer through jumping, clapping, and chanting

2. don’t forget the initial heart (莫忘初心): saying from the Avatamsaka Sutra of Buddhism, saying not to get caught up in worldly things and forget the original intention of your heart

3. 碧云天，黄叶地: line from the poem Su Mu Zhe by Fan ZhongYan, expressing a beautiful landscape and strong emotions

4. engine handle (带把): a boy; Northern slang for male genitalia, used when pregnant women are talking about wanting their baby to be a son

Fanart Sources: ,

—

I was also moved to tears, just like the crowd. Both speeches were so beautiful T_T

Our boys are all grown up, I’m so proud ?