Chapter 6: Coach, I’ll Protect You!
The keyboard still held the lingering warmth from her frantic key presses.
Su Wanwan hung her head, pink hair falling to cover her cheeks.
Ji Shiyun was the first to react, pulling out some tissues to hand over.
Su Wanwan took the tissues and wiped away her tears roughly.
Though her mentality had collapsed, she was willing to honor the bet, gritting her teeth as she said:
“Dad!”
“Pffft—”
Qin Shu, who had been expressionless the whole time, couldn’t hold back.
Zhao Xiaomeng swayed her feet, looking between Su Wanwan and Jiang Yuan, suddenly shipping a strange CP.
Ji Shiyun looked heartbroken, gently patting Su Wanwan’s back, wanting to say something comforting but feeling that any words would be pale at this moment.
The scene was both heartbreaking and amusing.
Jiang Yuan looked at the girl: “If you’re bad, practice more.”
“I know, Dad!”
“Want to win?”
Su Wanwan looked up, tears still swirling in her eyes, but her gaze was fierce like a wounded animal:
“Duh!”
Her voice was hoarse:
“Just wait! I’ll beat you eventually! And when that happens, you’ll have to call me grandma in public, Grandma Su!”
This stubborn determination to bite back even when beaten down…
Jiang Yuan approved.
At least she had competitive spirit, which was basic for becoming a professional player.
He made his decision, thinking silently: “System, bind Su Wanwan.”
[Binding successful!]
[Currently bonded players (2/6)]
…
That afternoon.
Group queue training.
Jiang Yuan stood behind them, arms crossed, frowning.
“Top lane, watch the minimap. What should you do when the jungler is making plays bot side? Don’t you understand zone principles?!”
“Silly girl, don’t be hasty, wait for the jungler!”
“Support, stop roaming randomly. Do you think you’re Keria?”
“Objective spawning, everyone prepare for teamfight positioning!”
They continued training until dusk.
Ji Shiyun clapped her hands with a smile:
“Alright, that’s enough for today! Everyone worked hard! Tonight’s on me—let’s go get barbecue!”
Hongji Barbecue Food Stall.
Ji Shiyun raised her beer glass, beaming:
“Coach Jiang’s first day here, and he put his heart into preparing such an amazing replay analysis for us! He also led us through an entire afternoon of group queue. I propose we all toast our coach!”
“Yes!” the girls responded enthusiastically.
Su Wanwan reluctantly raised her iced cola.
Zhao Xiaomeng shook her orange juice bottle, Qin Shu picked up her mineral water, and Jiang Ruoxi held a cup of warm lemon water provided by the restaurant.
Glass cups, plastic cups, cans, water bottles… the colorful containers clinked together with various sounds.
“Thank you, Dad.”
“Coach, you worked hard!”
“Coach Jiang is awesome!”
Jiang Yuan tilted back and drained his beer.
He was genuinely in a good mood today.
These girls were too pure—through one system replay analysis and winning a 1v1, he had successfully earned their trust.
If this were a male team, sorry, they’d still be in the “nobody respects anyone” phase…
So the gloom from the Worlds failure, the troubles of leaving the team, the fatigue from staying up all night—all of it was washed away considerably.
As they say, when God closes a door for you, He locks you in the room completely.
Only today did things finally look up.
At the entrance of the food stall.
A group of guys walked in, chatting and laughing.
The two in front were Wang Hao, the fat president of the male esports club, and Yin Mingyu, wearing a well-fitted shirt with his hair meticulously styled.
Enemies are bound to meet—their gazes quickly fixed on Jiang Yuan’s table.
Wang Hao and Yin Mingyu exchanged glances, both wearing subtle expressions.
Before long, Wang Hao approached with a freshly filled beer glass.
“Yuan, what a coincidence.”
“The coaching situation in our team—I really handled that poorly. Let me take this opportunity to formally apologize. Don’t take it to heart.”
He drained the beer in one gulp:
“I see you’re helping out the girls’ team? That’s great!”
“Oh, and if you guys want scrimmages, just let us know anytime!”
“We’ve got nothing else, but plenty of people! We can easily put together seven or eight teams of Gold and Silver players to help you practice. No big deal, don’t be shy!”
“Might even solve the esports club’s age-old problem of being single, haha, killing two birds with one stone~”
The words sounded apologetic but were full of mockery.
Jiang Yuan couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge him, grabbing a chicken wing skewer to eat.
Jiang Ruoxi, who had been sitting quietly next to Jiang Yuan, eating roasted potato chips in small bites, paused her chewing when she heard “seven or eight teams to help you practice.”
She looked up and saw her coach’s indifferent expression, her delicate brows unconsciously furrowing.
She gently set down the half-eaten potato chip, then slowly stood up.
This action immediately drew everyone’s attention.
Even Jiang Yuan looked at her with some surprise.
Jiang Ruoxi looked at Wang Hao, her eyes like polished glass—clear and determined, without a trace of timidity:
“Thank you for your kind offer.”
“However, I believe in our coach’s abilities and our team’s potential.”
“We’ll arrange our own scrimmages, so we won’t trouble your club’s seventh and eighth teams to ‘help us practice.'”
“Heh.” Su Wanwan, who had been keeping her head down, looked up with a sweet smile: “Fatty, want a girlfriend that badly? Sexually frustrated? Here, call me Grandma Su and I’ll pack up my foot-washing water from last night for you to drink.”
Su Wanwan had been calling people “Dad” all day.
Now she was very fixated on becoming a grandma…
Wang Hao seriously considered for a few seconds, then suddenly remembered people were watching from behind!
He quickly coughed, his expression turning cold: “I remember your club barely made it into the internet cafe offline tournament, right? With that attitude, don’t blame us for not going easy when our second team faces you.”
Su Wanwan: “I suggest you go easy on your mother instead.”
Ji Shiyun covered Su Wanwan’s mouth, standing up with an awkward smile: “Sorry, sorry, she’s just a kid who doesn’t know better, don’t mind her…”
Wang Hao: “…”
If it were a guy talking to him like that, he’d definitely want to fight, but facing a girl, especially such a pretty young one, he could only swallow this insult and turn to leave.
Ji Shiyun knocked Su Wanwan on the head and let go.
Su Wanwan snorted, crossing her arms and looking at Jiang Yuan proudly: “Dad, we can win, right?”
Jiang Yuan suddenly found this girl somewhat endearing.
He smiled: “It’ll be very difficult. Their second team was also trained by me before—they’re strong.”
“Tsk…” Su Wanwan frowned: “If we lose, we’ll have to see that fatty’s smug face…”
“We won’t.” Jiang Ruoxi pressed her lips together, speaking seriously: “I believe in Coach, and I believe in us. We won’t lose!”
After saying this, she silently poured herself a glass of iced beer.
But her hand shook, almost spilling the beer…
She was clearly panicking inside, so why was she acting all passionate!